Meeting Nekros [private]

Karina looked around the temple, finding it rather empty. Sure there were the monks and priest and all, but there were very few common people. This was the problem with the swine of this world. They seek no enlightenment. They seek only to be in the passionate throws of love with some man, only to forget his name next week. Karina was much different. She needed no man, as she was one of the most powerful beings on this earth! All she needed was to meditate her every few weeks. It helped her maintain her grip over Alliez, the God that lived in her necklace. He was constantly struggling to escape her grasp, but never could he seem to escape. She had an airtight grip on him, as should be expected from someone of Karina's considerable stature in life.

She fiddled with her necklace as if to mock him for a few moments, before going into the garden in the temple. It was filled the scent of relaxing incense, and beautiful flora. She cracked a smile, looking around. It was almost if she could already feel his grip loosening. She saw a single other man in the Garden, who appeared to be a janitor cleaning the floors on the wooden deck around the square garden, but other than that she was alone. "Perfect" she thought to herself. It was not like she would have minded any company, she didn't need it! Being alone helped her concentrate after all. She sat down on the bench, closed her eyes and thought to recount on the events of the past month. A lot had happened after all.

Temples, solemn places of peace and tranquility. These buildings were made and constructed for worshipping Gods and Goddesses. People would always go to their local church to pray and ask for forgiveness. Nowadays, they’ve tacked on weddings, funerals, and other such important rituals and events. Why? Likely for blessings and such from their gods. People have always put too much stock into such things. They should worship more tangible things, such as the planet the live on. It was all too complicated anyways!

On one such night, a ball was held at a temple in Midi. Oh the beautiful landscape and the well taken care of facilities, it was all too perfect for the occasion. The guests were all gussied up, women in their pretty dresses and kimono while the men were in suits and the male variant kimono. Jaeger, a drifter who grew up in a temple, was there for work. It wasn’t anything glamorous, but jewels were jewels. The mage was a janitor for tonight! He was to help clean up messes and other utility based work. Fun, right?

Eventually, the party died out and all the guests left. All that was left was the trash that needed to be cleaned. The mage hobbled and clunked around, taking his sweet time cleaning. No one was really there, right? There was no reason to over do it, he did have all night to get this place cleaned. So, Jaeger shuffled around, picking up trash, washing tables, and in generally taking care of everything. The other employees left him to it,which was fine, they’d just bug him with talking or complaining of it being such a late night.

As the man was getting close to being done, he noticed a young cocoa skinned girl was still there, sitting alone. It was rather odd, why would this young lady be here much later than everyone else? There wasn’t a reason in the world Jaeger could think of. With that thought, he put down his cleaning supplies, wiped his hands off, and casually walked up to the lass. He fixed his tie that way to make sure he looked proper.

“Miss… Why have you stayed so late? The party ended a few hours ago.”

How rude! The lowly janitor saw fit to ask Karina such a silly question as if it was any of his business in the first place! If she wanted to, Karina could obliterate him in an instant, she was after all packing the power of a God. She was about to send a legion of owls after his head when her guardian spoke up. "That man has a powerful magic with him"

To this she gave a momentary pause. Gazing at the man as if to stare him down. It would be rather unfortunate if he ended up being more powerful than she was after all. In that case, she would instead learn who he was through conversation, of course as she was a queen this wouldn't be a hard feat. "Meditating. A thing temples were supposed to be used for, not these poisonous gorging sessions"

While she only said that to seem polite in response to the man, there was a number of truth to it. In her eyes, you don't respect a diety if you believe you have the right to hold celebrations on their hallowed ground. Whenever she took over the world, she would have to implement a rule banning all celebrations from happening near any shrines she wanted to have.

What? Oh the greatness of that response. A poisonous gathering to gorge oneself on food, good times, and celebrating another. Clearly, this young woman was not a fan of the festivities that had come to be held at such places. She was correct, temples were once used for meditation and prayer, and of course it’s still practiced and done so, but it is usually held during the morning or afternoon. Nightly meditation at temples tended to be done in solitary manner and away from the party. Which would lead into his next question, why here?

“Hahaha, of course. Gaining the favor of the gods is also what temples are for. Parties and celebrations such as the one here, attempt to have their celebration and lives blessed all in one go. Though, i do wish it wasn’t quite so noisy.”

Jaeger replied, momentarily forgetting his question as to why here at the party and not in a different room or section of the temple.

“But why meditate at a party? There are likely other rooms the Monks and Priests would have for such things.

…

Oh, where are my manners. My name is Jaeger.”

It was close, but the man almost lost his own manner and gentlemanly nature! One can never lose that composer. So, he bowed slightly and introduced himself to the lass before him.

How dare he? Questioning her places of meditation. Truly this was the rudest thing this man could've done at any given time. Karina would soon be the queen of this world, and yet there was filth like this who she just knew would oppose her. She formulated what she thought was a clever and stoic response, as he did seem to acknowledge her wisdom. "If you must know, the meditation is easier around such filth. One should not turn away from the destruction in the world, rather seek to cleanse it. I am in possession of a 'weakened' God." Her face twinged at the words. He wasn't so much as weakened as he was trapped, but the world didn't really need to know about that did they?

"As for my name? It is Karina Farrar."

A God? How does one possess a god and not the other way around? Surely the gods will would be much stronger than that of some normal mage. The very concept of a god is that they’re omnipotent, infinite power and all that. In general, it would be blasphemy to have claimed such a thing and even more to to have done it. What sort of being could just capture a god, even a weakened one? It was all heretic talk!

“Karina, huh? That’s quite the lovely name.

…

So, Karina, How does a young woman, such as yourself, come to possess a ‘weakened’ God? Surely doing such a thing would be impossible and blasphemous.”

Jaeger stood there with his hands in his pockets. Was it ego that made her act this way? Or perhaps she was of a wealthier background given her attire. Her dress was much fancier than even the focus couple of tonight's evening, maybe he hit the nail on the head! Was that where the heretic thoughts of this young lass came from.

Karina was not sure how to respond. For a moment, she blushed. As long as she had lived, she had never heard anyone else compliment her. It was odd, she was supposed to be the one making others feel things! She was supposed to be the one who was valued by the rest of the world! Though he said something afterwords that made her twinge a tad. Speaking of her being blasphemous, hmph! The gall!
She cleared her throat in a way that resembled laughter.
"You see, Alliez was a powerful God. He reigned surpreme over the emotions of others around him. Every day, he'd captured the humans around the area and invite him to his "eternal party". Once their he'd do the usual. Draining their life force and all. He never expected a mage clothed in black to show up one day and break his control over them! There could only be two explanations. The mage was either some sort of God Slayer, or another God was targeting him, for reasons I could never begin to understand."
She paused for a moment. She knew she had the tendency to ramble, but she never really did it when she was lying! That only added more room to be found out! Regardless, she hid the fact from this man that she had captured Alliez herself for... what reason? Why did she want him to like her? No, not like her. Not just like her? Definitely not hate her? No one had ever made her question herself so much, all she knew was that the prospect of upsetting this man was not something she ever wanted to go through.

So, she was able to capture a god though godly sabotage or for being a God Slayer. Both would be interesting tales of how it was to be done. Later, he’d like to know more about the story behind the god and what ultimately led to his capture. Now, he’d just have to get to know this enchanting cocoa  skinned lady.  Who exactly was she? How did she come to visit this temple, did she normally live in Midi? If not, coming to the Temple of Wei was a rather out of the way place to meditate.

“I see… So this mage now possesses this god?  You’ll have to tell me more about it some time.

So, Miss Karina, Tell me, what brings you all the way out to midi to just meditate? Unless you live in this country, then I guess my question would make less sense… but, it seems a long way to go to clear ones mind and to help 'cleanse the filth' from the world. Did you have other business here before hand?”

Jaeger replied and sat in a chair next to her. Cleaning the temple could wait, there wasn’t much left to do and there was plenty of time. His job could wait as he entertained such a lovely young lass for the night. How will this turn out for them? Is this a fated meeting that’d replace his old love? Or has he made a new rival to eternally do battle with? Or  perhaps it was a little bit of both, if you catch my drift. Only time would tell how they move forward, what sort of relationship they get themselves into.

"Midi is simply the best place for now, it was on the route to a job I've taken. I'd thought I'd pay my respects on the way there." This man was odd. Karina didn't usually find herself victim to the whims of such creatures, but he was so odd. Most people had no respect for God's now a days anyways. When they heard someone was a God Slayer, they thought "powerful" not "blasphemer". As a matter of fact, people sometimes yearned for that power to become more accessible so that they too could utilize it! But... being odd didn't necessarily mean he was bad. His eyes were a kind brown, that complemented his almond skin. Clearly, he was not nearly as attractive as Karina herself, but surely he was nothing to sneer at.

It was the best place and convenient, huh? It made sense, travelling around doing work. She just had to stop and pray or meditate. So far, she had been a much better devote, even despite the fact she has a trapped god with her. Jaeger had grown up in a temple, he would have a portion of his day to meditation and prayer, though he sometimes bailed on it. Talking to Karina, it really made him miss the monks at that temple. Honestly, the man should go back and visit at least once a month or every few.

“Ah, makes sense! One should always make time for their deity or just to meditate in general. It’s good for the soul to just have that time to reflect, ya know?

This god you have trapped. Was he a deity you once worshipped? Tell me how you exactly came to be bound to one another? What’s the full story behind it?”