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The Writings of Wormwood

The Writings of Wormwood, last of the Hidden Order.

I normally don’t write things down. It’s not my style. I usually leave it to others of the Order. Not that I cannot write, obviously, since you are reading this. It is more that I prefer to be doing rather than musing over pen and paper for long periods into the night. I have more important things. Usually. This takes exception. And since I am the only one of us that understands or even suspects(well, they all suspect now), then it's up to me to leave this behind in some form. Like I said, doing. And this needs doing. The Order, after the ordeal with Taenitek and his son, Wrake, was left to just me. I have found 4 others that have been willing to be part of this messed up concept of universal order we stumbled upon so many years ago. We have wanted to create more Protectors, the Ker Al ‘ian. Frankly, we don’t have the time. See, we are being hunted. I have spent countless lives studying people and situations. I am about knowing the odds, knowing when to risk detection and the like. Ever since I made my discovery, I have known the score. Which is to say, we don’t have much time. I have weighed these odds and this time the House is going to win. I am hoping that someone, someday will be able to find this and tell others. Before it is too late.

The Hidden Order has a function. To take down gods that are destroying the balance of a universe hopefully before they war among themselves. And we are not talking the rivalries that always occur between opposing forces. Those are love taps compared to the complete destruction that happens in a God War. We, the Hidden Order, made it our business to try and save the universe from those who are more powerful than mere mortals. In the end, we screwed ourselves. We were blind in our belief that if we searched hard and long enough, we could change the very stars themselves. Take down the petty children that kill thousands or millions without a thought. The irony is not lost on me, how much suffering has happened at our expense. But we meant to give people a fighting chance, the ability to have a way to be the masters of their own fate. And the Order both succeeded and failed in grand fashion. Some of us have not only watched the universe spin, looking for the next god issue, but they have also tried to improve upon the methods that we had found. Each attempt ended with the death of one of us, or a bunch of us. We continued for countless generations to fail to improve upon this method we had “created”. To improve Yannith. As of now, I know why we failed. Magic and power, of any magnitude [has to come from somewhere]. A God’s powers comes from tapping into some aspect of a universe. In the same way, a spell comes from tapping into something. In short, all energy comes from the same source as any other. But depending on who or what you are, will result in what you will draw out, and how much. The Hidden Order had thought we had discovered a new, never before discovered, a way of harnessing Universal Power. I had thought, more specifically, that we had invented it. We had found a method to give mortals a fighting chance. After our most recent escapades, I began to do some recon. There had to be a way to improve or fix Yannith. Some way to keep us from bringing our Curse on others, a way to stop having to influence someone, or thing, to take the place of a god. Sure, many had tried before, but it is an avenue worth pursuing. We succeeded once, there had to be other ways to refine and harness universal power. Did I mention I will most likely repeat myself? I said I could write. I never said I could do it well. This is what has recently perplexed me. Gods tap into the universe. If a God unbalances, that is one thing. But if a God dies, the others will gain a power shift. Or more simply, the Universe can shift the power and disperse it among those who are taping it. Can you imagine it? No gods, just Forces. Or possibly, the universe will “decide” to make new gods and pantheons all on its own. There is a belief I have come into, an understanding that the Universe itself is sentient. A force among forces. We see its work and what it does all the time. But it has never shown itself as a single “face” or form. But it is. And I am getting far from my point. My recent proof has been this new universe that has connected to this one; Red Autumn. There is only one god left. Only one. Which from Our experience in the Order should be impossible. She would be like a child trying to drink everything coming from a waterfall. She should have been destroyed outright by the sheer amount of power, or been cut off completely because of the lack of opposing forces to her aspect. She is not the Goddess of Balance anymore, this Deidre. Without a god of Chaos, the Red Autumn Universe should have unraveled. But it didn’t. She has become so much more than she professes to be. And this fact has both brought me hope to the end of the Curse and disturbed me to the core. Because it means we should have been able to come up with something to remove a god without needing to replace it. So I have to conclude our development of Yannith has a flaw and tinkering with what we have means we are working within the Rules we are given. Something in our original discoveries had to be wrong. A god Slaying weapon should work. The universe, or perhaps the multiverse, would find a way to either fill the gap or disperse the lost energy. So I went back to the beginning or our research. While an idea can be an inspiration, you are caught within a set of rules given to you by the universe and the idea is more than likely built on the knowledge of the previous tries or previous discoveries. As a member of the Order, we are able to share each other’s thoughts and memories. We retain personal skills and abilities, but the memories belong to all of us. But where did this notion come from? Where is this power being drawn from? To Be Unseen means our power and abilities cannot be detected by the gods. So then I had to think: where did this ritual really come from? Where did we start with the notion of the Weapon? For some reason, it was not in Our memories. These rituals and plans pre- date people coming into the Order. If you look deep enough, you realize “WE” didn’t discover anything. We had information brought in by new members, ancient texts and hints at alternate powers, of hiding from the very gods so you may work in secret and silence. These ways are old. Period. And we tapped into the universe from very old text. Sure we pieced it together and had to tweak it here and there. But, again, the ORIGINS or the path were not our lucky discovery. It was there long before us. So instead of trying to tweak the little we had, I decided it was about time to search again, to see if after all this time, we may come upon who was able to figure it out. To those among you that worship gods: have you ever noticed anything strange in your pantheons? I mean like, say, your god of war is also a fertility god, or how maybe there are conflicting myths about what a god was a god of? Think on that a second. I will get back to it. I spent the past few years looking into our older places, looking for the ancient texts we pieced together. I found many of them, but not all. I then went back to the places we had found the texts. It has been ages. It was a long shot, but something may remain. Somewhere. In this case, I was right. Deep in a cave in the Northern mountains. It doesn’t matter where it is, so don’t ask. Its not important, and I didn’t leave anything behind once I found it. Want to know something interesting? It was written in the same script Taenitek used. One of the scripts the Dark Carnival uses. What does that mean? Its not a coincidence. In my experience, there is no such thing. So lets assume its all connected. Go with me on this. Want to know something else? This new universe, Red Autumn. The script shows up there as well. Isn’t that a kick in the teeth? Turns out these “anti – life” runes show up in a lot of places. In a lot of Whens. So it stands to reason, the origin of our rituals and weapons are based on a much wider net that just some old mortals that figured it out. The runes point to a bigger picture. To creatures OUTSIDE of the multiverse. Living between the cracks, infiltrating, scheming. Some kind of different Pantheon. So then I got to thinking. What if Death and Time Cursed us for an entirely different reason? They said it was for screwing with the balance, but that is crap. We have seen that the checks and balances already exist. So why are we Cursed? What’s the real reason? Red Autumn has been the key to my final understanding of what has been going on. I mean really going on. In their history, a long time in their past, a race of gods from OUTSIDE their universe came locked away the existing gods, and took over. They taught the mortals magics that eventually almost destroyed their world. Eventually, the original gods escaped and attacked these Strangers using a weapon that could slay a god. Anything sound familiar? Ah you must be the bright one in your family. So I propose this notion. What if there is a Pantheon that lives outside of the multiverse? Or maybe they got bored and left their universe somehow. I mean, they would need to have a way to tap into foreign universes. They would need a doorway. A single person to believe in them. And then they have a foothold in that universe. But it doesn’t explain where they tap their power from. Wouldn’t the power and magics of foreign gods destabilize any given universe? Does it make sense that, if you use that power in full force, it can rip and tear at a universe, unravel it? I began to believe. I began to believe we were bigger suckers that we realized. That there are a slew of gods, Strangers from “beyond the stars”, whose primary goal is to get into a universe in any way they can, and destroy it from within by bestowing their followers with monstrous ability. Which means, Death and Chronos did not Curse us. They were trying to Save us and this universe from the power we had re- discovered. Tried to have it used to a good end, as good as it could possibly be. Because Yannith is not an equalizer. It was meant to unravel it all. It is a weapon that allows these Strangers to take the place of existing gods. Its their magic. And thus, the final thought I came to. We are not Unseen. We are seen by Them. These Strangers. Because its their power we are using. All this time, we have been doing their bidding. Some ancient race was able to undo whatever They want, and we brought them back. Called to Them from Beyond the Stars. And We, the Order, are at Their mercy. Because no god will help Us. And now that I know, the Order knows. And since we Know, we are no longer of any use to them. All of our powers are gone. All of our magics have stopped working. The Curse is still up and working, because that is all on Death and Chronos. But everything else, well. We are helpless to feel the brunt of the god’s wrath. They won’t even have to lift a finger. Those vengeful gods, the ones who saw us a meddling, will take us out. If you think I am verging on madness, think a moment. Back to my question about your pantheons. Have you noticed? Maybe, maybe not. There may not seem to be anything out of the ordinary. Maybe they didn’t get to yours. But they did get in. Like, how the heck does Taenitek even exist? Seriously; he is clearly NOT native to the Void. So where did he come from? What is he up to? Legions of undead on the brink of oblivion? When does that become fun? I have no idea what their plan is, even if they have one. But they have been doing this a very long time. Slowly, but persistently. Destroying everything in their path. Whomever you are that finds this. Fear the Strangers. Forget all of the pettiness if you can. We tend to get caught up in the little things and miss the big picture. So I am telling you. They are out there, and they are up to something. I just won’t have the time to find out what. Good luck to you, if you find out. Even more luck in trying to stop it. I’m going to see if I can find anything more, before I meet my end. Who knows, I might get lucky after all.
Created by Janna Oakfellow-Pushee at 04-08-19 07:28 PM
Last Modified by Janna Oakfellow-Pushee at 04-08-19 07:28 PM