Greed by JJRollo | World Anvil Manuscripts | World Anvil
Following

In the world of The Territories

Visit The Territories

Ongoing 1774 Words

Chapter 1 The Gods

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Chapter 1
As Zenithis lounged in his chair, he couldn’t help the feeling of anticipation run through his veins. The coming conflict between the Gods was going to be so entertaining. One by one they began to arrive, having all received a summons from Solanor, the God of Prophecies. Zenithis watched them all carefully; after all, one of them was plotting his demise. 
He had discovered their plot when a demon, of all creatures, had approached him with the information. The demon had unfortunately been of a lower level and had not recognised the voice of the would-be assassin. Zenithis had his own ways of finding that out. He did a quick head count of all those present, realising they were waiting on only one more. As he scanned the room once more, he was able to see that it was Nyxar the God of the Night. They had never seen eye to eye since Nyxar had created the Vampires, so it didn't surprise him that it was Nyxar who was the last to attend. Solanor approached looking rather nervous. 
“Zenithis, Sir, this newest prophecy must be mistake. Surely it cannot be true.”
“I assure you Solanor it is true.”
The doors were slammed closed before either could talk on it more. Nyxar must have arrived as the doors could only close with all the Gods in attendance. They each took their place in their designated seats around the room. Seats that had been added as Zenithis had brought each God into existence. How dare one of them try and kill him, they wouldn’t even be here without him. He was the God of all Creation they should respect him; and he would see to it that they would. He stood to address them all.
“As you are all aware it was Solanor who called this meeting, which as we all know by now means that we have a prophecy to hear. So, without further hold ups.” He motioned to Solanor to stand, as he did a hush fell over the room. Everyone sat waiting with bated breath to hear this prophecy. Solanor stood and took a step away from his chair and as he looked up, they could all see as his aye changed from normal to looking like they had been filled with galaxies. It would have been beautiful if it wasn’t so eerie. Especially when it was joined with the sound of his voice. Only loud enough so that everyone could hear and in a voice that seemed to echo everywhere he said,
“In a realm where darkness and temptation intertwine. 
A prophecy foretells of a fate by design.
 
The Seven Deadly Sins, reborn and renewed,
In supernatural forms, their destinies pursued.
 
Greed, the Werewolf, yearns for riches untold,
To find his mate, Charity, is the key to break the mould.
 
Sloth, the Warlock, seeks Diligence's guiding light, 
Their bond must ignite to set things right.
 
Lust, a Summer Fae, desires chastity's pure grace, 
In love's embrace, they'll find their place.
 
Gluttony, the Vampire, hungers for temperance's touch, 
To quench his thirst, they must love so much.
 
Wrath, the Dragon Shifter, fierce and bold,
Patience holds the key to a future untold.
 
Envy, a Winter Fae, yearns for kindness's warm embrace, 
Their love will erase envy's bitter trace.
 
Pride, a Hybrid of seasons, stands tall and grand,
Only Humility's love can break his command.
 
Born on a single day, marked by fate's decree,
The sins and their mates, their destinies they cannot foresee.
 
But heed this warning, oh Supernatural Council wise, 
For if even one mate bond fails to arise,
An imbalance with the Gods shall be unfurled,
Chaos and discord shall shake the world.
 
The Gods may guide but not intervene, 
Their hands won't force, their voices won't demean.
 
Seek love's path, let free will prevail, 
In the end, true love will set the scale.
 
The Sins have until their thirtieth year's sun, 
To find their mates and become as one.
 
Let this prophecy guide your actions and your fates, 
For in love's embrace, the balance awaits.”
 
The Gods and Goddesses all stood around in shock looking at each other. For the sins to be released it had to have been Zenithis. No one else had the power to do such a thing. Eventually one of the gods found his voice.
“Zenithis, what is the meaning of this? You released the sins? To what end?” boomed Drakos, the god of the Dragon Shifters. 
“I’ve released the sins because one of you have been plotting to at best take over my throne or at worst kill me. So, this is a test of sorts. For each sin who finds their mate each of you who has that sin in their heart will have a symbol of the sin appear on your forearm. Whoever ends up with all seven is the one plotting against me. If one of the sins does not find their mate by the deadline, then my power will transfer to the one who would have had all seven marks: but mark my words if that happens then chaos will descend on the Territories.” With that Zenithis disappears from the room, leaving all the gods wondering what was going to happen.

Zenithis reappears inside a rather grand looking boardroom, with a table big enough to seat at least 50 people in the centre of the room. Two walls are floor to ceiling windows, one looks out into a reception style area, the other look out onto the main square of the neutral zone at the centre of the Territories. The other two walls are lined with hundreds of books. Zenithis walks around the room looking at the books on the shelves, most of them are the laws and histories of the Territories. He keeps himself hidden as the council members and the old and current rulers of each Territory enters the room. The Council was made up of previous rulers, their children now retired until their parents pass away and their grandchildren were the current rulers of their territory. The council had been set up this way for as long as their histories had been recorded; it allowed for the oldest and wisest to make decisions that affected everyone and settle any disputes.

As the last of the rulers come in and take a seat you could feel the worry permitting the air. Not often did the council call everyone like this. The Chairman of the council stood up from his seat. He cleared his throat to gain everyone's attention.

“Family and Friends, it has come to the councils' attention that a prophecy has been found that concerns the Territories. We hope to have everyone’s cooperation going forward so that we can do everything in our power to keep the balance.” He then proceeds to read out the prophecy. Once he is done everyone is looked shocked and the current rulers are looking ashen.

“I know this comes as a shock to all of you and not all of us here have had to deal with one of these before, but we must take heed of this warning and do what we can to prepare. We must support and guide these seven future children in finding their mates. From the line ‘their destinies they cannot foresee.’ I think that they will not be able to sense the mate bond like everyone else.” As the Chairman says this one of the current Queens of the Fae sobs. Most of the room turns to look at her. She slowly lifts her head sniffling, tears running down her face.

“I know who the seven are.” The shock can be felt around the room. She looks to the other current rulers and whispers out “Our sons” and bursts into sobs that rack her small frame. Her husband puts his arm around her to sooth her whilst looking around the room at everyone else with a look of horror on his face.

“What do you mean our great-grandchildren are the seven sins?” The chairman pipes up. One of the other mothers clears her throat turning everyone’s attention to her.

“Our sons were all born on the same day. It’s part of why we are all as close as we are, we all bonded over our firstborns. The boys are all now 5 years old and best friends. How can we possibly help them find their mates? Their mates may not even live in the territories anymore.”

Zenithis has been invisible to them all and has been pacing the floor listening in and watching. He’s starting to feel rather guilty about his plans now. He had been so focused on finding out who could want him gone, he hadn’t fully thought about how his actions would affect others. Looking at the worry and horror on these young leaders faces at what their children would face was making him feel uncomfortable. He also hadn’t thought about whether the virtues would also be in this realm rather than the human one. As he had been pacing, he had been looking at the spines of the books trying to focus his thoughts. He stopped when he caught sight of a very old history book. A smirk crossed his face. If the council took heed of the advice, he would give them then that should sort out the different realms issue. It also went a little way to lessen how guilty he felt about using these poor women's children as the sins. He slowly reached out any pulled at the book with his finger. The book fell to the floor. Everyone in the room jumped and a few squeaked at the thud. As everyone started discussing what to do the nearest person went to pick up the book and froze when they saw the cover. They walked over to the table and slid the book up towards the chairman. He stopped it by placing his hand over the cover looking up in askance at the person who had picked it up, all they did was nod at the book. People were starting to notice this strange interaction. When the chairman lifted his hand and looked down his head quickly snapped back up and looked at them.

“Do you think that would work?”

“I don’t see why it shouldn’t.”

“It would need a lot of preparation done before we could use it.”

“Yes, it would, but we should have enough time.”

“What are you two on about? What should work?”

“The Academy” they said together.

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