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Humans are fickle creatures. Show them the smallest of miracle, and they shall flock to it like moths to a flame.
Humans are fickle creatures. Drag them into the darkness slowly, and they won't know their cage until it is too late.
But as any fickle creatures, they too can become unpredictable. If too many fail to fall into the web of lies, things can change in the blink of an eye.
Alas: The best way to lure moths is with a brighter flame.
Standing before an abandoned altar with a blade in hand, a young man smiled to himself.
~
It's quite impossible to say when he'd began wandering among mortals, but even then... neither is it possible to say when he came to be.
Once upon a time, long ago, he had come into existence. Piece by piece, a concept rather than a person.
Slowly, he had formed into a vague entity without identity. A creature, a shadow, a stain upon the world that moved as it pleased.
Then: a face, a body, a mimicry of humanity.
Uncanny, ethereal. Too perfect to be real, yet too imperfect to be truly human. In the end, it remains nothing but a failure of imitation.
How is a god born? The world knows not. Neither do gods.
In the beginning, humanity feared it. After all: who wouldn't fear one of their own looking back at them with eyes the color of freshly spilled blood, teeth sharper than wolf's, claw-like fingers and wings twitching behind normal ears and much larger ones on its back, who crouched on all fours and moved with an uncanny elegance despite that?
It wasn't human, therefore they deemed it a monster.
But where there is fear, there too lies curiosity.
As time passed, the mimicry learned to speak, to wander atop two legs. It learned to morph its features into something gentler, to tuck the wings resting atop its back to form a cloak and to smooth down the wings on its head until they blended within its long hair hair.
There was nothing to be done about its eyes nor teeth, but with a smile just charming enough, perhaps there was no need.
What it lacked was still identity, humanity. It had no name. It had no purpose. It knew not what it was. It only knew how to survive- driven by instinct to protect itself and to feast on the creatures of the woods it had retreated to.
Tales of something - a creature, a monster, a demon - haunting the woods lingered among mortals. No one knew who started these myths, no one knew what caused whispers in their dreams to beckon them into the woods.
Eventually, curiosity won for some. Slowly, people vanished. Many of them ones who were displeased with the way things were going, or with their gods who they thought listened not to the woes of mortals.
One by one they disappeared into the woods to sate their curiosity. Some returned, some stayed. Those who came back whispered reverently about a god who wandered among mortals, blessed them with protection and safety and listened to their woes.
It still had no purpose.
But: It was prideful. It liked to look pretty, it liked to adorn itself with anything beautiful, it liked when humans praised it and liked the statue they were building. It liked their gifts... and they were all too easy to get.
All it had to do was look pretty, protect them from those who sought to harm them, whisper promises that would never come into being and listen to their woes. It wasn't hard. It was easy to pretend to care.
In truth, it was indifferent to whether these humans lived or died, if they suffered or not. After all, neither had they cared about its survival years ago. But they were building things, gifting it thing, and as long as they did so, it had no reason to complain.
Xiao Weiying, Xiao Weiying, Xiao Weiying.
Nearly ecstaticized, it he repeated that name over and over in its his head.
It was a name. Not just the title of 'Lord of Pride' that the people used for the young god so often. It was a real name, his name.
It had been offered to him by one of the eldest of his followers. A woman who's hair was grey and her back hunched and her skin horribly wrinkly. She was one of his favorites, even though she'd only joined... perhaps four years ago? Five? He was horrible with time.
But the frail old woman was entertaining, blunt as she was. She didn't give him many gifts of the same kind as the rest, didn't have the means. Her gifts were made by hand, he'd observed as much.
She was... different, certainly. He couldn't remember anyone else insisting to help him brush his hair and say "Nonsense!" when he said he'd do it himself. She looked him in the eye and gave him food.
He hadn't eaten much, before. Now, he found himself ravenous.
A demonic entity, nearly a true and proper god if they kept being good little humans and kept worshipping him, had no need for food. He fed off emotions and prayers- that, he'd learned early on.
But: food proved itself to be enticing.
Slowly, he started trying a taste of anything. The foods his followers ate, at first. Then, he branched out. Fruits and vegetables in their natural form came next. What followed was the urge to try everything that seemed edible.
Naturally, when the time came and the followers of a different god appeared to wipe out his own following, he decided to take a bite out of one of the corpses he'd left in the wake of the destruction he'd wrought upon those who dared to try desecrating the temple his followers had built.
He remembered very little of what happened after. He only remembered his followers cowering in fear, and his bones creaking and aching in protest. As if he was stuffing himself into a too-small space.
None of the corpses were left. There were only blood stains on the stairs leading into his temple. Slowly, he tilted his head. Tongue dragging across his teeth. A metallic taste made itself known, the same one he could smell from the blood stains.
He tilted his head, intrigued, and that was that.
Humans... don't taste all that bad.
They started offering him food.
First it was fruits and vegetables, then cooked meals.
He enjoyed the gifts, but more so did he enjoy exploring his abilities late at night when his followers slept.
In the decades, perhaps centuries, he'd existed, he'd never realized that he could do so much more than what he'd assumed. Selfishly, he hoped the humans would never learn. Knowing one of his tricks was enough.
Then, one day, the famine started. Their crops had withered, a heatwave passing through the land they inhabited. The rivers dried out, slowly but surely.
His followers were hungry, and they had less and less that they could offer him.
That was when the human sacrifices started- born out of desperation for him to end their suffering. To end their famine and return their lives to something better.
Did they not realize that he was a god of bloodshed and protection, rather than one controlling the weather?
At first, they were strangers. Then, the ones who were too weak and near death already.
And then it was her. The old woman who treated him as if he were her own.
The Lord of Pride hadn't known sadness, until then.
But with sadness came rage, and with rage came death.
And oh, how he hated that their blood still tasted so sweet.
Slowly, the humans realized: Their God was not benevolent nor malevolent. He simply did as he pleased.
He would not help them. He would not save them.
Either he couldn't, or didn't wish to.
He had killed some of them in blind, senseless rage. They understood not where they had gone wrong. Why he looked at them with something dangerous, hateful in his eyes. Before, he had seemed gentle, only ever wrathful when someone sought them harm.
Their devotion turned into fear.
To their luck, he had eaten plenty just the day before! They had time until he would desire to feast on them again!
And as they sought ways to keep themselves alive, they stumbled upon a god who nodded along as they told their fears and woes and offered them safety in exchange for renouncing the Dark One as their god.
Upon their agreement, their new god whispered his instructions with unbridled glee.
Only days later, they offered Xiao Weiying new jewelry. Despite their fear, they insisted on fastening the new necklace around his neck for him.
The second it clicked shut, they had their chance: As a demonic entity, never before had he been vulnerable. But this new addition to his collection sapped his energy away, left him as fragile as any other mortal.
Never before had the proud god been forced to kneel to mortals.
They carved the symbol their new god had taught them into his chest and dug out what could be considered his heart, his very essence, uncaring about the inhuman shrieks as their old god trashed atop his alter. Unable to escape in a state weakened by magic much older than himself.
Of his wings, too, they stripped him. The larger ones. With no mercy they did as instructed, taking away his ability to fly.
They painted the same symbol onto his statue, and Xiao Weiying, the Dark God, was no more. Body, essence and mind separated. Only his statue remained.
Red flames flickered in the lantern they had placed his essence in, and into a ravine they tossed his key to freedom.
~
Slowly, blood dripped down atop the altar. Red wisps flickered around the overgrown, broken statue. A symbol glowing in the dim light on its chest. Like red threads of fate, the wisps floated down. Gathered on the altar in an ever-growing sphere.
Slowly, it took the shape of a mimicry of humanity. Too perfect to be real, yet too imperfect to be truly human. In the end, he would always remain nothing but a failure of imitation.
When his eyes focused on the human before him, he lunged off the altar despite his limbs feeling too heavy, too wrong. Claw-like fingers stretched to grab the young man by his throat.
"Stand down," was all the dark haired man said, expression indifferent as he held up a lantern in which laid a red-flickering flame, "I own your heart, I own your soul. You answer to me"
And the once-prideful god fell to his knees, the golden necklace nothing but a decorative collar around his neck. The leash to it in the mortal's hand.
The entity known as pride bared his fangs like a rabid dog, unfiltered rage on his face.
The young mortal smiled and huffed a laugh.
"Relax. I think we'll be fast friends, once you calm down a little~"