The Fall of the Dieties - When Peace Becomes War

The air became frigid and his breath turned to vapor as beams continued as the Enemy came near. The linnet cried and flew about as Brighton’s eyes glowed in a way that was anything but serene.

“Fly to the North and hide in the willows,” he said as a wind whipped his mane to the side and his voice was raised over the coming storm. “You will be needed there.” The linnet obeyed, as always.

He closed his eyes and bent his head to the icy wind, his teeth bared as bits of ice tore at his flesh, but he did not move. Nothing would move him for he was the Earth. When the winds died and his eyes opened, he fought hard to not gasp at the sight.

His Temple, his lost paradise, had been taken brutally by the storm. The wind had blown the leaves from the trees and ice had stuck itself like daggers into the flesh of the now aging oak. Shards of ice stood horizontally where the wind made the waters freeze. Everything was destroyed, including the roof of his beloved sanctuary and the sun was gone. He made to move forward but his hoof scraped something before him. Looking down, part of him died.

A family of rabbits had died.

“Always the innocent,” he whispered, completely aware of the Enemy who stood before him, ready to end everything.

“You sob for a lesser species, Brighton?,” came the voice of the Enemy, a dark and sinister sound that made the ears flattened and the stomach turn in anxiousness.

“I sob for your pain,” Brighton said softly, still not facing the Enemy. “It must have been so difficult for you….to destroy the very Earth that gives you power….to kill those who were not against you….for what? For glory?”

“There are better things in life than just flowers and sunrises, you old hippie. And who are you to talk? A few hundred years ago, you were in my position. You brought the world chaos. You killed the innocent.”

“And yet,” his voice was soft again. He stared into the face of the mother rabbit, his eyes no longer glowing. “You have not learned from my mistake.”

The Enemy laughed and its shrillness made the icicles hum at the sound. “Your mistake?! Oh, please! You are a God among mortals! You are a King among peasants!”

“I am forever cursed to remember…”

“Yes, Brighton! Remember your glory! You lived a good life. It is time to die!”

Brighton’s head was lifted and his eyes glowed brightly in the dim light offered by the even darker heavens. A slight smirk was on his face and he looked so much like his mortal form, a form that conquered the Earth for himself. A warrior that killed without mercy.

But it disappeared as quickly as it came and his face became warm again. At his feet, the rabbits began to twitch to life as his power grew with his confidence. “Have I ever told you about the man who had everything?”

The Enemy clicked its teeth and shook its head, “Not now, Brighton. I want to end my quest for dominance in silence.”

“There once was a man who had everything. He had the grandest kingdom.”

“Brighton, you fool!”

“The most beautiful partner”

“Quiet!”

Brighton spoke more quickly, his eyes darkening. “He had it all. He could want no more. He wanted to be envied above all others and, God, did they envy him. They snuck about. They tried to rob him, but in the end, they poisoned him into a long sleep. When he awoke, it was gone. Everything was gone.

The man who had everything became the man who had nothing.”

The Enemy smiled, “And who is the man who had nothing, Brighton?”

The Earth shifted and the air glowed as ice began to form. “Well, my Enemy, that is where we end the story.”