Part 81

Excerpts from the Gospel of Zalius, First Chapter of the Testament of Descent

--1st Chalk, 118--

...and yea, with the coming of the Cleansing Fire, the dwarves of the fortress of Headshoots fled in terror, for their sin was great and deep and they knew not the truth. For years had they lived in the presence of a god! and yet they denied her deity, held themselves level with perfection. Indeed, some even considered themselves greater than the One True Deity HOLISTICDETECTIVE, and the impurity of this thought ate away at their very souls:



And as the Blood of the Earth ran down the stairs and filled the hollows of the profaned citadel, its inhabitants were left with a choice: Submit to the cleansing fire, or retreat to the darkest depths of the mountain.



Many chose to hide deep within the bowels of the earth, escaping the purification and sowing the seed of perfidy deep. It was then that Zalius had a vision of that which was to come. The dwarves would be destroyed by wave after wave of fire, madness, disease and chaos; they had rejected salvation, and were damned. Zalius wept for the ruin of his people, and cried out to HOLISTICDETECTIVE for their sake.



And yea, he was answered. The voice of HOLISTICDETECTIVE spoke thus: “My servant, though your people have rejected salvation, I will give them the chance to redeem their infidelity. Pray for them, and I shall end the Time of Cleansing, and hold back the fire. A time of testing will be upon them; they shall see neither sun nor trees nor grass, nor shall they drink of spirits, for they must be purified. Those who survive this trial will be my Descended, for their sake shall I cool the flames. Those who maintain impure thoughts shall burn in the eternal fires, until they give up their wrong ways or are consumed utterly. So speaketh the Champion.”



And so Zalius remained where he stood, wreathed in cleansing flame but unharmed, and prayed for the Time of Descent, when all dwarves would leave their amusements behind and learn piety, or else face destruction. Thirty days and thirty-two nights he prayed, until at last HOLISTICDETECTIVE, in her mercy, breathed upon the face of the fires and calmed them. Zalius was freed from his vigil, and though weak from hunger and thirst, offered thanks for the mercy of HOLISTICDETECTIVE. Where he had stood serpents were born from the fire, to keep watch over the dwarves and to punish those whose will was impure. Seriously he stood there on a tile of magma for an entire season without food or water then walked it off when the magma cooled



--12th of Chalk, 118--

And so began the Time of Descent, marked by trials of misfortune brought upon the impious that they might better see the dark. First came the Trial of Madness; the noble Eiba the Second, a most impure and terrible being (indeed so foul was his soul that he willingly stripped fellow dwarves of their means of living) became as an angry child.



In his madness he lay waste to all about him, his divine wrath granting him the strength to destroy even the very stones at his feet. He seized all of his earthly possessions and hurled them into the depths of a deep pool of clear water, where they hissed and crackled and burned as in a fire.



He then roamed the halls screaming hideously. His cries were so piercing that it was said any who listened would lose their sanity as well.



One, Otto Print, became so incensed by the screaming that he cursed the name of HOLISTICDETECTIVE; of a moment his body withered as a twig, his fluids boiled into steam, and he fell down dead.

-1st of Malachite, 118--

brute_force the renowned Engraver was another whose faith was weak. Unable to bear the loss of his works, unaware that mere carven rock means nothing to the Champion our God, he sat weeping in the wilderness, unwilling to Descend. HOLISTICDETECTIVE sent an avenging camel to teach him the folly of his ways.





The camel, its eyes glowing with the fires of purity, tore brute_force limb from limb, scattering his pieces to the four stones. Such is the fate of all who place material goods before the majesty of the Champion!

--22nd of Malachite, 118--

Verily, those who had thought themselves noble were truly unable to accept the reality: that all dwarves are as dust before HOLISTICDETECTIVE, and until Descended none have earned the right to own any piece of this world.



In her desire to grasp the objects she had once possessed, her divinely enhanced strength caused her to crush to dust several doors, a wall, and a number of valuable tables and chairs. This so enraged her husband the Count that he too took leave of his wits.



--30th of Malachite, 118--

Thus ends the First Chapter of the Testament of Descent. HOLISTICDETECTIVE, in her mercy, spared the impure from molten destruction on the condition that they submit and be tested. Those found unworthy would surely be destroyed. Such was the grace of the Champion, however, that she spared her Prophet, Zalius, though he fasted and lay full upon the face of the fires. His faith had preserved them from the fire of the physical world



but now they would have to survive the burning fires of their own sins. Those whose souls were not consumed might rise as the Descended and lead a new race of dwarves to glory!


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It is now Autumn, and by the Champion this place is hard to destroy. For those who are confused, I didn't open  WEAPON , I just channeled a magma pool into the fortress' main level. At least some nobles are going insane. Dwarfed this chapter: Fly Molo, Oni Elem, veekie, FlocksofMice. Full list of surviving dwarves coming at the end of my turn.

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  That is incredibly bad-ass. You're right, temperature appears to be off and I didn't notice. If this works it'll be the most awesome ending ever. Thanks! 

Edit:  Just tested it and it does in fact work. Not all dwarves were exposed to magma, but it's going to be quite the party nonetheless.