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The Great War
Written by Enly
Story by Enly & Roja
Edited by Annatira, Phildaburn, and Roja
Artwork by Roja
Chapter 7
Mortos groaned and rubbed the back of his head. Squinting his eyes open he looked around at the dusty cell he was sitting in. Grunting, he hauled himself to his feet. He breathed deeply and tried to recall what had happened. He remembered waking up in the forest, walking into town. Slowly the scene at the tavern came back to him.
He clenched his fist. He had to get out of here and find a way back to the realm of the gods. With a slow, measured step, he began to pace. Trying to think back to before waking up in the forest, he rubbed his forehead, scratching at his black hair. The awfull headache he had awoken with in the forest was receding, but still a dull pain. Something as trivial as pain would not distract him, however, he had to focus.
After much thought, things began to come together clearly again. There had been meetings without him, quiet glares. The anger had radiated so strongly from many of them. They had called a council without him, made the decsion, and summoned him.
"Confined indefinitely," Mortos muttered to himself. He continued to pace his cell, chanting the words under his breath. The sounds slid together, and soon it was no longer words but a meaningless jumble of noises.
*****
A tall figure slowly walked toward a slighter slender one.
"Unolas." The smaller figure looked up and smiled.
"Jayden," he nodded.
"What brings you here?" She questioned.
The male was silent for a moment, thinking before speaking again. "It worked didn’t it?" he asked. "We successfully locked him away for good?"
"Well I would assume it did," Jayden smiled. "He is not here, where else would he be but imprisoned?"
"I thought as much, yet, it seemed we were failing when everything went black. By the time I made my way out of the dark clouds I still had not seen anyone else. I want to call a council again," he finished. Silence sharply fell.
"Again?" Jayden questioned. "You know how long Aluwen worked to convince Lucaa and the others to come and sit at a council."
"Have you even seen Aluwen since the council?"
"No, and I haven't seen anyone else either. Everyone seems to be going about their own business as usual. Things are finally turning back to normal, there is no need for another council. I surely will not come," Jayden spoke quietly.
Unolas looked at her for a moment, then sighed and walked away.
*****
Nel walked slowly through the town watching the quiet people go about their lives. Finally he resolved to go question Winston. Winston Jefferies was sitting at the gate again, trying to seem very alert.
"Where did you put Mortos?" Nel asked curious as he fiddled with a buckle on his brightly colored coat.
"Huh?" grunted Winston, he looked as if he'd been dozing again. "Mortos?"
"The man in the tavern, Mortos," Nel pressed, peering intently through his small glasses.
"Oh, that fellow." Winston looked over at Nel. "Well, he wasn’t really Mortos, obviously not. Mortos is a god and if that man had been a god we’d all be dead probably for imprisoning him."
"He said he was Mortos though," Nel pointed out.
"And what good is his word?"
"Well somebody's word is good or else everything is a lie, so why isn’t his the truth too?"
Winston grunted and didn’t respond.
"So where is he now?" Nel asked again.
"Over in the jail, of course," he gestured tiredly down the street. "That way."
"Oh." Nel tried to make out where he had pointed, but couldn’t quite tell. Giving Winston a smile, he bid him farewell and wandered off to see if he could locate the jail. Mortos was probably getting mighty lonely just sitting in a jail. Nel resolved to go chat with him to keep him company.
*****
Mortos kept up his walking; the same pace, each step exactly the same. He had ceased repeating the words aloud, but they still echoed in his head. All of what Aluwen had said, it all came back and repeated itself endlessly in his mind.
They had imprisoned him here on Draia forever. Or only until he died? Could he die? It would make sense. No power as a god, his immortality was no doubt gone as well.
Foul oaths of vengance rolled off his tongue. They would pay for this outrage, how dare they imprison a god as a mortal like this! It was unthinkable! Unless…
A door slammed down the hallway and Mortos stopped and steered his piercing gaze towards the door. The gnome whom he had first encountered stood at the end of the hallway, closing the door behind him. The gnome then turned and gave Mortos a cheerfull smile, pulled his jacket straight, and came whistling down the hallway.
"Unless… Unless…" Mortos murmered again to himself.
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