fic snippet under the cut, bc it's way too long to comic lol...
Anja and Berry set up camp for the night in the shelter of a particularly large coral outcropping while Tyno fished for dinner, and then prepared it, too. Anja hadn't quite worked up a camaraderie with the two yet, considering it'd been half a day so far, but they'd made the initial connection, and the two were competent enough besides, so the evening was comfortable. Anja insisted they both sleep first--they'd had a long day, after all--and they would wake Berry to keep watch in a few hours.
This meant that, finally, Anja had a chance to really sit and dig into the prophecy. Not that there was much left that they hadn't figured out already. There was a Crown; they were going to find it and, like it or not, claim it. It was hidden in a space apart, theoretically accessible from anywhere in these lands. They were going to be followed--probably by the Bishops, but apparently also in a completely different sense by Tyno and Berry.
And things were going to change. Because there would be a new god--of what, exactly, Anja still wasn't sure. The new Crown seemed to be in some way opposite the Red Crown, but not necessarily in a life-versus-death way. Maybe more…inevitability versus…flexibility? The unexpected?
They were staring into the darkness, pondering this, when movement caught their eye, and all at once the darkness was staring back. Anja froze; the eyes that watched them grew a wide, toothy grin, and then a red snout as its owner entered the very edge of the firelight.
"What's this?" said the fox, leering down at Anja. He was massive--at least as tall as Forneus had been, but certainly less friendly. "A little cat, all alone…ah, not alone," he added, as his eyes darted aside to Berry and Tyno's soundly sleeping forms. "Brave creatures, to venture this far into these wild lands. You never know what lurks in the darkness."
Anja could hardly breathe. He'd be terrifying anyway, but a corner of their mind noted there was something else happening--a greater force pressing down on them, making them shiver. Something godly.
The Fox grinned. "But I see you are a follower of the little Lamb, yes? And still under their protection." His eyes flicked down, maybe to the missionary necklace they wore. "Then perhaps we can make a deal."
Anja, already frozen, stiffened further. That was clearly a terrible idea, but they couldn't get a word out.
The Fox seemed encouraged by their silence. "It's simple," he said smoothly. "You're out here for a reason, yes? You must be looking for something. I can help you find it." He leaned in and the firelight glinted in his eyes, turning them orange. "In return…perhaps I can take one of these useless creatures off your hands." His gaze moved meaningfully to their sleeping companions. "Or…if you take after your so sentimental leader…let me have a bite." Now he looked Anja up and down, slowly, and they would have shivered if they hadn't been more taut than a drumskin. "Just one bite. I'll even let you choose where."
The size the Fox was, one bite would be enough to swallow them whole. Anja opened their mouth to say no but the word still stuck in their throat--and Aym had said to ditch their companions if they needed to but this was different, this wasn't like that, they weren't like that and anyway they could hardly trust this strange godly creature looking to make a meal of them.
And then they remembered what Clauneck had said. If a request was made of them, ask for the same. The Fox had no apparent companions to ask for in exchange, but a bite…
"One bite," they forced out, making the Fox grin impossibly wider, "if I can have a bite, too."
The Fox's grin vanished immediately. A soft laugh came from the darkness behind him.
"Good answer," said a light voice--much friendlier, and somehow familiar. Its owner emerged from the darkness a moment later and stepped more fully into the light than the Fox had. A normal-sized raccoon, with a much gentler smile and a familiar face.
"Curie?" Anja asked, too baffled to be afraid for a moment. Curie had been a fellow follower, and not a particularly notable one--two centuries ago.
"Nice to see you, Anja," said Curie. Which was impossible. "Get out of here, Hunger--these ones are mine. Go on."
The Fox growled. "I found them first."
"Technically, I did. How do you think they know who I am?" Curie smiled sweetly, mere inches from the Fox's bared teeth. The Fox snarled, but retreated into the shadows--his glaring eyes were the last to disappear.
His presence lifted and Anja breathed again. "What…"
"You're lucky I was here." Curie came the rest of the way into the circle of the light and plopped herself down in the sand next to Anja. "I'm sure you have a million questions, which I totally understand, and I'll answer them, but first, let me re-introduce myself." She stuck out a hand to shake. "I'm Curiosity. And the god thereof. But you can still call me Curie."
Anja, hesitantly, shook her hand. "How… You died. I know you died. But that--you were on mission. Wait--you went missing. We just assumed."
Curie smiled ruefully. "Yeah. If I stuck around too long, one of you guys would've gotten suspicious. I do really want to know what's happened while I've been gone--the Lamb's the most interesting thing to happen to these lands in a loooong time. How about a deal? I've got a better one than Hunger, I promise. A question for a question?"
Curie was a god. Of Curiosity. And the Fox must be the god of Hunger. And…Curie had joined the cult out of curiosity, probably, but she'd never hurt anyone or even changed anything, just observed. Anja nodded slowly. They certainly had plenty of questions.
"Great!" said Curie. "You can go first."
Oh, hell. Where did they even start. Of course the most pressing question they had was the location of the new Crown, but they had so many other questions and so few chances to talk to a god who might actually be able to answer them--not even Shamura could do that, let alone would. The other former Crown-bearers didn't seem to know anything even about their own Crowns.
Which gave them a place to start. "Can you tell me--what are the Crowns? I see you aren't wearing one." Neither was the Fox, but they were gods nonetheless.
Curie beamed. "That's a great question. Very meaty. Let's see…" She paused thoughtfully, shifting slightly as if getting comfortable. "Yeah. Let's start at the very start. Once upon a time, there was only the First god, and then she made everything else."
Okay, Anja hadn't thought it would be a simple question, but they hadn't expected to get the entire history of the gods out of it, either. They leaned in, fully attentive to Curie's story.
"She also made a bunch of gods to watch over her creation," Curie continued. "The First Gods represented, and were embodiments of, aspects of the world and life itself--really basic ones, like Hunger. Not that you'd guess from meeting him now that he's one of the oldest beings in existence." She rolled her eyes. "But the rules hadn't been set yet, back then. Mortals were barely more than animals, only just starting to form towns and villages that you'd recognize as such, but they kept finding ways to become gods themselves. Like myself! Every time someone found a new path to godhood, the First would make sure no one could follow.
"But this kind of godhood is different than the kind you're familiar with. When I became a god, I was woven into the very fabric of creation--to try to cut me out would leave a hole, at best. What's more, my domain--curiosity--was once part of Hunger. When I ascended, I took it from him."
She paused, looking at Anja, maybe because they were fidgeting.
"I have so many follow-up questions," Anja admitted--particularly how she became a god--and Curie grinned.
"We'll get there," she said, "but remember, you owe me an answer after this, too." Anja nodded.
"So," Curie continued, "this problem seemed unsolvable. But it also didn't seem like a big problem, until a mortal ascended and claimed the domain of death. And broke it.
"I don't mean the way your friend Narinder broke it, by the way, because he didn't--his resurrection ritual makes an exception to the rule, but the rule still stands. People die. They don't come back. This god of death, though--the First rendered his name unspeakable, that's how bad this got--he changed the rule, so that nothing and no one could die. Death itself ceased."
Anja blinked. "That…doesn't sound that bad."
"Then give it more thought," Curie said, not unkindly. "You've seen a lot of people die by now. What if everyone you've buried crawled up out of their graves, even the ones that were no more than skeletons? Walking around covered in rotting flesh that couldn't heal, ever? It's not a pretty sight. And it wasn't just people. You eat fish." She gestured at the remains of dinner. "What if your fish--filleted and cooked--still wiggled in pain while you took a bite? What if you swallowed poorly-chopped beetroot and it sprouted roots in your stomach as your body tried to digest it and failed? What if you couldn't eat, therefore, but couldn't starve, either? What if every leaf that fell in the forest couldn't rot away--how fast would you find the world buried?"
Anja's stomach churned. "…It was bad." They could barely even comprehend it.
Curie nodded. "It was extremely bad. Death is a constant, but it's also the destination that enables the journey in the first place. Without it, nothing can change. Obviously we had to do something. But this new god was, as I said, part of the fabric of the world. He was death. How do you destroy death without destroying death?"
"Oh! That's why the Bishops chained Narinder." Lambert had kind of explained it, but it hadn't really clicked until just now. Of course you couldn't kill death. Death can't die.
"More or less," Curie said cheerfully. "It's a perennial problem. But, as you'll see, there's a reason the rest of us didn't intervene in Narinder's case." She sighed. "Against that first god of death, we waged a war. It almost unmade the world. But, in the end, we were able to remove Death's domain from its keeper and kill the man who was once a god. And everything that was supposed to be dead died, and that was a whole mess in itself. But, barely, the world survived.
"Obviously, some small communities of mortals survived, too. And for a while they were too busy rebuilding to go around stumbling into godhood, but we knew it could be a problem again. The First made a realm where the gods could go to be separate from the world, since most of us former mortals ascended by interacting with the gods. But she wouldn't force us to leave, and anyway, people had found other ways to ascend. So we came up with another solution."
Aha. "The Crowns."
Curie nodded with a smile. "Yep. And some other godly tools, but mostly the Crowns. Give mortals an obvious path to godhood, we figured, and maybe they don't go looking for secret ways. And make it something that could be revoked without breaking everything. Godhood, but with limits. So far, it's worked phenomenally."
"But there was at least one war among the gods, after the Crowns," Anja said. "And the Bishops…weren't great."
Curie shrugged. "Yeah, no, they weren't great, and sure, plenty of Crown-bearers fought and killed each other. But, crucially, none of them broke the world. I suppose it sounds cruel to say we let it happen," she added, ruefully. "But it's not our place to interfere in the business of other gods, save any world-breaking, and despite what I said about the Crowns, their wearers are gods. Just…lightly insulated ones."
"…Huh." Damn if this didn't answer questions Anja had had since their very first life. But now they had about a million more. They trusted Curie enough to believe her, too. "Is it okay for me to know this? Sorry, I guess that's another question."
"Eh, I'll give you that one for free." Curie leaned back on her hands. "Normally, no, but you're not exactly a normal mortal, are you? Even for now." She winked.
Curie just grinned. "My turn," she said. "What's happened in the cult since I left? Tell me everything."
Okay. Anja took a deep breath. That was easily answered, even if it might take a while. "Okay. Uh, you left sometime between Heket and Kallamar, right? Well…"
tbh I've been trying to shake the hyperfixation so I can work on other creative projects. but also what else am I gonna doodle while I'm on the phone at work lol.
trying to figure out a timeline for them lmao. I left out SO much that's in my head. but I have drawn Anja redoing Leshy's bandages, Kallamar piercing Anja's ear (under the cut), and the context around Shamura's arrival (though I didn't draw them attacking Anja which is where that scar comes from lol).
also, prophet au picks up exactly where this leaves off, so I drew that too. I hope this all is readable...
once again i must diverge from fanon on the matter of leshy's face. i draw him cartoony usually but i need you to know that in every drawing i've done of him that man does NOT have lips. his teeth are just out there.
Does Narinder try to capture Anja’s crown so he can be a god again with very obvious and badly assembled traps or challenge them for the the crown
nah right off the bat my Narinder understands (if not quite accepts) that he's been defeated and there's no way to get his own crown back without the Lamb choosing to give it to him. so most of his angst is "why did they let me live, what are they planning" rather than "how do I regain godhood" lol. and regardless, by the time Anja gets their crown, he's had his character arc and is fairly chill about his new role in the world/the cult, so he doesn't try to take theirs from them either way.
okay more soulmate au! just leshycat this time bc narilamb in this au is mostly angst and I prefer to draw shenanigans lol
I think this is a kind of soulmates where you can kinda sense each other but there's a ~connection~ formed when you first meet. cue Leshy wondering why that didn't happen when they met, and then Anja (once willing to talk to him) having to tell him they actually "met" him by holding his still-beating heart after the lamb carved it out of him lol
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