Medio: A hug, like the ones we used to have ~ Present

“I see you are getting used to your new gifts, your divinity,” Said the priest, looking at Mors with admiration.

From the moment the priest looked at Mors, his corrupting influence finally reached her with its full strength. She had already felt weaker than before, but only when meeting did the mutation hit her with its full brunt.

“Now, how does it feel to also reign over the domain of dreams, Goddess of Death?” Asked again the priest, cheerfully, as if his own dreams had become true.

“You profane the sanctity of death with your endless meddling, and you dare call it a gift?” Was the answer that Mors managed to slur through, her throat tense as if she hadn’t spoken in years.

No, the problem was that every muscle in her body was asleep. With no God of Dreams in the land, the power fell on her, and without the due preparations, the consequences struck her fully.

When a God possesses a human they replace most of their soul with their own essence, retaining their memories, but transforming into something that can no longer be called human. Mors was the most human God there was due to her own failings, but even she could only seethe in rage as any of her companions when their domain was trespassed and damaged.

“This ends now, trespassers of this world.”

Her voice was still slurring every single word she said, but when she changed her language to her mother language, that one that every single telchine knew, her tone was perfect. For a human it sounded like babbling, but every single marked vest in the plaza started to shine.

“Electryone, did you… you finally are embracing your roots!” Screamed Halia, who had found a newfound joy she hadn’t felt in a long time.

Every single dancing person in the plaza stopped at once, still high and confused, but when their clothing stopped shining again they started running away from the central square.

The three telchines were looking here amazed, to have such a refined control over their ancestral magic, every single word she slurred was a showing of her own dedication and preparation for this day.

Fortunately, the distraction was enough, as when the enormous telchine got distracting watching Mors, Ases saw a chance to escape. He was pinned to the ground with his stomach to the ground, but he put his fists to the side and pushed himself off the ground with a burst of strength.

The enormous telchine had to let him go to avoid losing balance and falling to the ground, but then tried to grab him again, as if he was nothing more than an oversized toy. Prepared for the attack, Ases grabbed two of the fingers of the claw that tried to grab him, and before it could close around him, he crushed them to the bone with his hands.

The enormous beast let out a growl and then with his other fist tried to crush Ases like a bug. Still feeling the effects of the poison, Ases took a moment too long to dodge. He jumped, but the hit reached his legs, breaking the bones of his lower left leg. He would have screamed, but the poison had also inhibited his capacity to feel pain.

“Leucothea, get your child under control, I want to try this one now.” Said the priest, looking at Ases who was trying to raise back again.

Fortunately for Ases, his blessing of undying was restoring his broken bones while the enormous telchine was trying to alleviate the pain of his hurt hand.

“Careful, his blessing will eventually nullify the poison.” Said Halia, not wanting to follow his instructions, but deciding that it was better to take care of Mors herself.

“I hope so!” Replied him, excited by the idea of seeing him with his full strength.

Halia moved towards Mors, who was still chanting in the telchine language, far after the people had already abandoned the plaza.

“Electryone, as proud as I am of your progress, you have to stop this.”

Mors didn’t listen to her, not even responding to the fact that she used her old name. Halia looked at her for a moment, and after weighing her options, moved forward to caress her cheek. She hoped to look her in the eyes, but they were still shut.

“I am sorry it had to come to this.”

Halia hit Mors’s crown again, with more strength than she had done before. Before being hit she was barely able to stand on her feet, so instead of feeling the brunt of it she simply collapsed into the ground.

Even then, she didn’t stop her chants.

“Electryone, this is ridiculous. Whatever you are doing, you are far too young to use these kinds of spells. Do you have any idea how long it took me to learn them?”

After another moment, Mors finally stopped. She wanted to stand up, but she couldn’t summon any strength in her limbs. She managed to put her arms under herself, but unlike Ases, had no way to push herself upward.

Halia looked at her for a moment, unsure of what to do, but finally her deepest feelings won the battle and she helped her rise up again.

“Really, how much trouble are you gonna cause me today.” Asked Halia, tired, but slightly satisfied with the whole situation.

Halia was holding Mors upright, in a gesture that reminded her of when she was helping her give her first steps. Her feelings got more complicated, but unfortunately, it seemed like this would be the only situation in which she would be able to touch her granddaughter without her running away.

Suddenly, Mors shot forward and hugged Halia. As she couldn’t summon any strength yet, what she did was throw her arms around her and with a strike of luck, grab her hands behind her back.

“Rot in hell.”

Mors activated her power and the square started rotting. The stone below them gave way as it eroded into salt and the ground below started to soften. Halia was an extremely powerful mage, a telchine with an unspeakably long lifetime, but even she was starting to notice the consequences of the attack.

“You fool, you’ll rot the entire city down with you!”

“Whatever it takes to bring you down Halia, I’ll drag you to the depths of the underworld, even if I have to go down with you.”

The eroding, noxious power expanded, and with it, it waned and transformed. It started to change properties, the aura changed colors, changing intervals between white and black.

All the people who were now trying to escape the city, that was now eroding down to its foundation, could only see the spectacle while trying to run away, all the exits forbidding them from retreating.

When the white aura reached them, they felt drowsiness overtaking them. When the aura changed to black, they started to get old at a breakneck speed.

Panic started to spread as every citizen of the city was now a mere bystander to the power of the God that fought to the death in the center of their city.