Get On Your Knees and Pray

Mmm, now wasn't this a treat. While she was hardly one who would approve of the fruits of a false god these were absolutely divine. The seeds of discord that had been sown by Shadow Fall all those years ago were in fact her's to reap.

As a timeline of events as to how we get here. Arcadia had gotten word of Shadow Fall's grip being removed from the otherworld, excellent. It made her able to get closer to her goal of reclaiming her role within the society of her subjects. It is sad how time truly wore down the divine but alas, so many children and figures of this awful place had been left abandoned. Tempered by the demon presence, which was now gone.

It was only natural they'd need succor from a demon, many of these children knew not life without the fist of Shadow Fall above them. A demon's touch. This is how this small part of the land had become her's, she was that succulent being that offerred the need of relief to them.

Under her guidance life became peaceful, orderered. The rapes, murders and crimes that ensued after the jarring calamity of the year gone ended with her presence. All it required was one thing, divine acknowledgement of her superiority as the apex of all gods within the pantheon of the heavens.

That was how we got to where we are now, a humble little microcosm of Arcadia's cultish influence that had taken advantage of the population scarred and abused by causing them to become reliant on her for relief just as their worship was nourishment for her godly being.

The Grandmaster of the Sternritter- No. The Elect of the Vandenreich walked coldly through this small little cut of America. He had not gone to war simply that others might take authority to unilaterally as that, and upon hearing tale that there may well have been such a thing taking place, Cyrus took flight of his own accord. He was still in a place of impersonal authority, having put a friend to rest, and as he entered the domain of this fiend, he simply allowed a faint sliver of his divine power to show itself.

Come along, whosoever you are. Let us not make this any more extravagant than it must be.

He was not one who enjoyed great shows of force, even if he once had been. His proud nature had lessened a great deal through the months since his ascension, and in this moment, he cared only for results. If this could be resolved quietly, then that was the ideal outcome.

The scene was somewhat warped, while it still looked infantile there was definitely the shape of potential. In this little space the seeds of eikons had already begun to take shape, symbols of obvious worship despite being minor. Even Arcadia knew that these abused people couldn't manage great feats, people were like a garden after all. The way in which the god tended them determined the yield they would get.

It's why the priority laid on them for the moment. She had fed them, dressed them, educated them as to what was happening in the world and maybe emphasised how she was the salvation of them in the process. She did not exude disgusting amounts of power like their other overlords, perhaps it made her more appealing in that sense but there was still that faint aura of a foreigner attached to her. Of something more than them or others that was not power.

She felt it before they notified her. Giving a pout at this pathogen that snuck into this system like a vile insect-- No, it was different than the others. It felt so familiar it felt foreign. Godly. It's why she demanded it be brought to her, sending the place into a small riot of activity as they looked for the source before a group found and insisted Cyrus come with them to the small temple complex she had personally wasted time creating herself.

Leading by example after all.

The scene she presented was no more like a symbol of old reinassance art when he came in. Barely covered with fabric, in a lavish scene befitting Greek depictions of their deities; or maybe it was a foreign style the greeks adapted from somewhere else. Who knew, she was putting memories back together and all.

So the blessed figure of the divine mother looked at him curiously with a silent expression, befitting that of a bird of prey as she tried to scope his purpose for being here. Her own aura in full force in response. He sure wasn't a demon, that was for sure.

As the people-- Ah, perhaps followers would be a better word-- Brought Cyrus toward the temple complex, there was a sense that he had seen all of this before. It was not that he had, but simply that it was all so blase, something that he could understand merely in a moment. As his eyes met the barely-dressed woman in front of him, he matched her aura with ease, the authority of a protector god fully made manifest for her to see.

"Extravagance, I see, is not something you wish to set aside. I would ask you give me a reason that I not cast you down for the Earth's protection here and now."

Kouroush Atar Vazishta was not a being which wasted any time with pleasantries, which spoke around an issue or made it palatable for others. He desired an answer from the woman sat before him, and he would have it.

With the stage opened with a declaration that lingered with a threat in its words she gave him a grin and floated. Slowly rising until she was floating a few inches off the ground and in front of him before giving a little cackle that showed no signs of nervousness. She was immortal after all, even if he killed this form the image of her being lived in the subconscious of these people and demon history. So long as that concept existed it didn't matter. Their prayers would reach into the sky and conjour her back if they so wished--hopefully better to the shade she was now.

"Ahahah. Such brazen behaviour. I beseech you to settle, you stand in my presence and chastise me. You speak of casting me down? Ah, sweet and naive man that is so strange. Your casting down of me would ensure the very end to this frail peace!"

She declared, raising her arms wide to emphasise the point of it.

"Your kind force your way into this place. Destroy all semblance of law and order, destroying these peoples' lives and world! Before I came here this land was oh so broken; people killing each other, raping each other. All kinds of terrible things only the frail of compositions could do. If you would cast me down you damn this place like every other pocket of this state you would liberate."

Dropping the arms back to her side, Arcadia finally touched the ground and cocked her head.

"You've yet to introduce yourself, might I inquire the indentity of the one who would suggest iconoclasm this day? I am Arcadia, the first divine being who's birth tore the heavens unsunder."

She said it with absolute confidence and the smug expression not hinting any concern at the fact he was stronger than her. Only lesser beings would get so hung up with stuff like that, he could kill her this day but at the end of the day it was as she suggested, pointless if the concept of her existence still held true. Such was the nature of a davana.

"Settle? The people have settled long enough, I think. They are to be protected, not merely shepherded along as if they are mindless."

Her demeanor was one Cyrus found difficult to understand. She wore confidence in spades, perhaps moreso than any other foe he had faced. He wondered if this was simply second nature to demonkind, and if his dear secretary were simply an anomaly. Well, it was no matter. The questions were irrelevant when faced with an issue in the here and now.

"The old ways must be burned away before new law and order may be put into place. I cannot offer the people peace and comfort when the systems of the evils which came before are still in place. To force them into compliance with peace does not teach them, merely bends their knee to a new oppression."

It was a simple enough response to her claims. Controlling the people was not the role of a god, but- At her claims, he could not help but cock his head a touch higher, his gaze certainly looking down at her now.

"The divine mercy which outshines sick truths, Ahura Mazda."

"Gah. You would take from them the peace I provide. For what? Independent existence? Tssk tssk. These people are no more children looking for the guidance of a higher power, the world is such a cruel place you know? I am the succor to that sufferring."

She sneered at him. Daring him to fall so low as to strike her down. Knowing full well he would destroy any hope he had of gaining her subjects trust or compliance. She was the wedge of this place, the chains that bind it and make it work.

"Yes. YES! They ought to be. Ehehe."

Floating before moving towards him, going next to him before snaking behind him and laying down behind him like there was a cushion behind her. The boons of her magic.

"You're right, Ahura Mazda. This is what I need-- what everyone need, a usurper in the form of Deveta has the space I occupy. The beings you call demons live under a lie, I am the guiding light that was extinguished. Hence, I implore you to aid me to reclaim that role. Even you my fellow divinity must see the boons of this."

Arcadia tempted the offer, rushing ahead while running her finger down his shoulder. Surely he'd help a poor defenceless goddess like her?

"Whether children or not, they must be given the right to enjoy the world of their own accord. To exist with no choice is no better than death. An ideal world is one wherein they will not require your 'guidance.'"

Cyrus knew, however disdainfully, that it would not be so simple a matter as simply cutting this woman down. She had the potential to be of use to him, to their cause. Perhaps more pressingly, her knowledge of her kind would always be welcome within the Vandenreich. It was inevitable that they would need such things again.

"The hierarchy of demonkind is not my immediate concern, Arcadia. Even so, if your guiding hand is that which would keep demonkind in line, then there is ample reason I might offer my assistance. Even should heaven and Earth find proper balance once more, there is no guarantee that those creatures will let such balance lay to rest."

His gaze was marginally less scornful, for he was still all too willing to purge this creature from the Earth if she did not comply. But behind that scorn lie still some faint degree of earnest hope. A world wherein even the vilest of the realms lay in peaceful unity with the others... A world which seemed closer by the day.

"Ahaha, such a far away dream you speak of. A utopia built on idealism. Wouldn't that be nice. A world that is as perfect as the heavens themselves."

While it came out in jest and a mocking tone there was a pique of curiousity. As a figure who was motherly in nature, it was only natural that she would be as curious however no, that was all it was. A curiousity, even if the masses attained physical perfection she never believed that they would ever attain spiritual perfection. Their bodies growing strong while their core rotted from within. That is why things like hardship and strife existed.

When he spoke she cocked her head, be of assistance to her? No. To request something of her. In exchange for being willing to aid. Now why would he rather do that than submit? Couldn't he fathom how happy these people were under their divine benefactor?

"Rejoice Ahura Mazda. Your wish has come true. My blessings are your's."

She shifted from her smug attitude and her arms rose while she smiled at him from her raised platform. To assist this man for now, through his journey he would learn and come to need what he was missing out from her. It was just a matter of time, right?