Defiance of the Demigods

DEFIANCE OF THE DEMIGODS

SHORT STORY BY JUSTIN FERRANTE

The characters and events portrayed in this story are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

This piece of fiction is part of a greater expanded canon known as the Magneno Universe. Find out more on www.magneno.com.

No part of this short story may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

How interesting, he thought. He stood on the atmosphere of planet Earth, looking down to the civilization below. It was a wretched place, full of confused beings. Nonetheless, it was beautiful in his eyes.

This was Sin. Not the act of sin, but the Demigod of Chance: Sin. In a time long ago before the Demigods had been banished from their physical bodies to the void, Sin looked down at the Earth’s current civilizations, and the manipulations of a fellow Demigod.

As fate, or their creator, would have it, there were five Gods. The God of Justice, the God of Chance, the God of Intellect, the God of Space, and the God of Time. The first was Justice, Intellect and Chance came second, and the two new Gods were Space and Time. All of which had Godly Assistants, such as Angels and Demons.

As the two news Gods were being taught, all five Demigods were free to roam the universe, the opposite side of existence to the void. The five were: the Demigod of Justice named Death, the Demigod of Chance named Sin, the Demigod of Intellect named Pathos, the Demigod of Space named Impetus, and the Demigod of Time named Scription.

The Demigod of Chance took on an unrighteous name. Sin was the name used for those that defy the original creator: Archesphore. But the intention was to be ironic, to be the one that brought defiance to its knees. Sin found that the God of Chance was going against the wishes of Archesphore by sending Demons to Earth without his approval. The Demigods were supposed to be the new ones to lead the Godly assistants. So Sin abandoned his own God. Their relationship became rocky, as they were dependent but separate.

But at this time, Sin stood above Earth. He looked down at the empires of the world, seeing the chaos that was ensuing daily. This is when Sin decided to go investigate. He knew that the last place he had seen Pathos was Earth. So he pursued Pathos.

Flying through the skies, Sin landed on the planet as a meteorite does. Sin walked out of the crater to find a large civilization that the humans that lived there would refer to as an ‘empire.’ There, Sin disguised himself. Sin took on the appearance of a young man in the empire’s soldier outfit, and headed for the city. While on the way, he was stopped.

“Who are you?” One of the soldiers asked. Sin responded with something incomprehensible, but it tricked his brain into thinking of something reasonable, he continued, “One of us, eh? So you should know what’s been going on here. Take a look at this,” the soldier shoved a collection of books out of the satchel he was wearing. Sin’s eyes could immediately see right through them, absorbing all of the information in an instant. He opened one of the books.

“Could you take me to him? This… ‘leader’ the people speak of?” Sin asked the soldier. The soldier simply pointed to a large camp of troops. Sin was over in no time.

He slipped past the outer defenses, feeling the familiar pull of a fellow Demigod’s energy. He found Pathos, but not as a simple man. Pathos had taken possession of the human known as Constantine, a general on the verge of a major battle, the Battle of the Milvian Bridge.

Pathos, through Constantine’s eyes, was staring at the darkening sky, his face contorted in an expression of intense concentration.

Suddenly, all time froze, with only the Demigods being able to move. Out of the shadows, another figure began to move. As Sin analyzed who it was, he came to realize that it was Scription, the Demigod of Time. Sin had never before seen Scription.

“This isn’t how time is supposed to go, Pathos,” Scription started, walking towards the possessed general, “The path of this timeline includes this man suddenly converting to monotheism moments before a decisive battle. The Gods have decided this, yet no matter who they send you to possess you always end up messing it up.”

Sin approached the both of them through frozen time. “Scription and Pathos… What is the meaning of this?”

“Sin. How unfortunate can your timing be…” Pathos mumbled, his voice emanating from the mouth of Constantine.

“You were supposed to inspire great minds, and now you will become a great military leader and affirm the entire course of human history with one vision. If not…” Scription materialized a whip, lashing out and striking the host body of Constantine. Pathos agonized, not from physical pain, but from the spiritual shock.

Scription angrily looked down, “There will be more to come if you feign incompetence. You keep trying to change the timeline of your defiance, you will truly feel the full weight of a mortal’s consequence if you attempt to change this event.”

“Scription… I’m sorry. I have sinned against you… I was to come down here and make humans believe in solely myself and the God of Intellect. So I deceived them…” Pathos cried out through Constantine’s throat.

Sin interrupted. “I care not what the humans think. I do not care what the God of Chance thinks, either. But for the mortals to cast hatred upon the leader of the demons seems beyond their understanding. But from what I see and hear, this is not the first time you’ve come to the Earth. Are you the one who came up with the prospect of ‘Satan?’”

“I did… I admit to it! But all I’m trying to do now is shift humanity’s entire devotion! The Gods’ rules will be reinforced after this vision! Why must you punish me for doing so, Scription?!” Pathos cried out. Sin didn't know how to feel.

Scription asserted his power. “I’m the only one who knew what you were doing from the start. Even if the great God of Time is still mastering the ability to control the flow of many possibilities, we were able to determine that your defiance was necessary to get to the most peaceful timeline for the humans. This would help serve Archesphore. But do not lie to me. I have seen you bend the orders of the Gods before. Do not this time, you’ll shift the timeline!” Scription whipped the host again.

“I shan’t! People will fear the power coming from the one true God that they will believe I proclaim! If that is confirmed as their truth, they will revere Archesphore!”

“What is this… this ‘vision’ you speak of?” Sin questioned.

“The moment Pathos intends to use. Right before the battle, he will present a celestial sign that will proclaim devotion to the Gods. That way our rule can course-correct humanity. This moment may be the most famous moment of this entire millenia. The other Gods believe this to be a good idea, but I alone have seen Pathos bend orders before,” Scription explained.

Pathos cried out to Sin. “Scription took the shapes of my followers, keeping tabs on me, Sin. I do not recount the bending of rules that Scription speaks of!” But he only earned himself more lashes.

“I can’t keep this up much longer… You’ll have to help me keep the timeline on its current course… Sin,” Scription requested. Suddenly, the three were thrown back to their positions before the time-stop as time resumed.

Constantine blinked, looking at the sky. A flicker of immense light filled the sky, a symbol of the Demigod of Intellect, and a voice only Constantine heard, due to Pathos’s influence, boomed, "By this sign, you shall conquer! A sign from above!"
The two other Demigods watched as one soldier suddenly looked up from the ground. All three Demigods noticed him. It was as if he heard their entire conversation somehow. Terrified, he ran away.

“Let him go,” Sin muttered to Scription “It was inevitable that at least one man here would have had an affinity with demon blood.”

“I thought you were preventing demon possession. Were you not?” Scription asked.

“I can only do so much. This time it’s nothing for us to worry about. The only reason human’s blood reacts with demon blood, the servant-beings of the God of Chance, is due to their coding being based on the demon’s form. We should continue forwards,” Sin replied.

Scription and Sin watched from the sidelines. The battle was a resounding victory for Constantine's forces, his banners emblazoned with the symbol Pathos had projected. After the victory, the Demigods watched as Pathos, still possessing Constantine, rallied his troops.

Scription grinned, feeling relieved. “This does it. After this act, we’ll have to punish Pathos. But at least this will affirm the current course of human history in a way that... contains his influence.”

“I have seen the face of God…” Pathos as Constantine declared, before taking a dagger from a nearby soldier’s belt and plunging it into his own chest, sacrificing the host body.

But he wasn’t finished. The bleeding out corpse stood, unaffected by the wound, “the one true God has spoken. We shall bow down to none but the one true God of intellect and righteousness!”

“NO!” Scription shouted, stopping time once more. But it was too late. Scription fell to his knees in stopped time.

“PATHOS! Even I can tell this is not what the Gods intended! How did you reanimate the corpse?!” Sin questioned.

“I cannot tell what time will bear now… as the path has almost entirely changed. If we can get another being to become Constantine… then we may be able to salvage this!” Scription cried out.

A giant presence formed above. The Demigods knew immediately that this was bigger than they were. “What’s happening here? A change in time?” The atmosphere grew dark as the God of Justice blotted out the sun, casting a shadow from above within stopped time.

“Pathos has changed the course of time! I was unable to stop him!” Scription cried out. The God of Justice saw what was going on.

Justice stopped their very being from flying into a rage. “First, the defiance of the God of Chance. Now, the Demigods are using the will of Archesphore as their playground. What has become of you?”

The God of Justice disappeared, bringing Sin and Pathos. Suddenly, time rewound. The only one left there was the dead body of Constantine. Scription started to panic, but could not move, thinking, What just happened? What’s going to happen to me? The other two Demigods are gone? What happened with the God of Justice?

Scription was left in a scramble. But he was left alone. “If I possess Constantine for a moment, I can play out the rest of his life in an instant using the God of Time’s power. I can restore time for now, but Justice will return before I can see the far future!”

Pixies, the Godly Assistants of the God of Justice, appeared behind Scription. “You are hereby banished to the void!” They came to grab him, but he dodged out of the way, putting his hand atop Constantine’s chest and possessing his body.

Time suddenly flew forward, and Scription followed every move of the timeline he remembered before Pathos had completely decimated it. Constantine ran from the Pixies for his entire life. They were there to forcefully remove Scription on the day Constantine was originally supposed to die.

They dragged Scription after they went to pick him up, and sent him to the void. There, Scription saw all the Demigods. He had one to angrily greet.

“Congratulations, because of you we were all banished to the void. I do not see Death here, though…” Scription complained to Pathos in this void dimension. It was a non-euclidean chaos of formulas and space that was impossible to comprehend.

Pathos lamented. “I WAS ONLY FOLLOWING ORDERS!” The Demigods settled into their new home.

“Pathos… we’re here because of you…” Sin angrily told Pathos. But Pathos would not accept this easily.

The Demigods ended up blocked off in the void due to their defiance. The void became their place to stay as the banishment was unlikely to be reversed.

But one Demigod did not give up, using what little power they had left to stop the majority of mortals from becoming demon-possessed.

Sin. Sin refused to let Chance get their way, and became the main barrier to demons going to the physical plane.

God of Evil, despite us both being bound, I refuse to let you murder the world I found beautiful.