When Gods Are Judged

I. The Duel That Broke the Sky

It should have ended there.

A single duel, between mortal and chosen, where honor was tested and balance restored.

But the Many-Faced God broke that law.

Its intervention—subtle, insidious—bent the rules of the duel.

And the people felt it.

So did the gods.

II. The Return

The Many-Faced God vanished in smoke, fleeing to its highlands and gathering its followers—mortals cloaked in masks, dancing in sacred mist.

They welcomed it home with chants and offerings.

But something else followed.

Two lights in the dark sky.

One silver, one crimson.

Descending like judgment.

III. Arrival of the Erzulies

Erzulie Freda stepped from misted moonlight, her beauty terrible, gaze cold as polished glass.

Erzulie Je Roug came in crimson veils and flame, her eyes burning with righteous fury.

They did not speak.

They did not ask permission.

Before the masked faithful could react, the two goddesses struck.

IV. Wrath of the Sisters

The Many-Faced God raised a hand to plead, to speak.

But Erzulie Freda slapped him across the face, and the very wind went silent.

Erzulie Je Roug drove her heel into his chest, collapsing him into the dirt before his people.

"You cheated against our chosen," Freda hissed.

"You touched a priestess without right," Je Roug snarled.

Then together, before the gasping crowd, they beat him.

Not in god-war. Not with summoned beasts.

But with hands, and wrath, and the dignity of insult answered in kind.

He bled ichor. He whimpered.

The people—his followers—fell to their knees in terror and disbelief.

V. Dragged in Chains

With his masks shattered and limbs broken, the Many-Faced God was chained in silver vines conjured by Freda's command.

Je Roug yanked him by the throat.

Freda snapped her fingers, opening a tear in space.

"Nouvo Lakay will judge you," she said.

"As you judged falsely."

And they dragged him screaming—a god, beaten and bound—through that rift, back to the temple city.

VI. The Execution of a God

The people of Nouvo Lakay gathered, thunderstruck.

The priestesses stood watchful, and Negative Seal, still wounded, stood beside them, a quiet flame of defiance.

The Erzulies did not ask permission.

They nailed the Many-Faced God to the Gate itself, his four faces twisted in agony.

The people watched in silence.

Erzulie Freda kissed his Joy face—softly, gently.

"You would have harmed my daughter."

Erzulie Je Roug whispered into his Rage face:

"And so you will be remembered… not as divine… but as coward."

And with a single motion, they tore him apart.

A scream echoed across the continent.

VII. Ripples

Across the divine realms, gods turned their eyes toward Nouvo Lakay.

Across the mortal world, tribes whispered the unthinkable:

"A god was executed… in public… by other gods."

Some knelt in fear.

Some sharpened weapons.

A few began to believe that the age of untouchable gods was ending.

And in a shadowed canyon far away, Kasa felt the echo in his ember-bound soul and whispered:

"The rules have changed."