It had been several weeks since Roxom’s miracle. The humans had worked quickly building him his requisite temple, the temple of the priestess of flowers, as they were calling him. Presumably his host human had been female. Roxom was indifferent to all matters of the flesh and took no offense.
Their worship was unrestrained, the healed came bearing many gifts, and their families came to worship at his church. A massive cathedral that had been constructed for an absent snail god had been repurposed and the stained glass depictions of her had been knocked out of the windows and filled with his blossoms. It was everything he had wanted but not realized. The humans were excellent devotees, and he took care to remind them of their need for him by regularly dosing them with his nerve agent through his children so that they would never forget his might and continue to seek his blessing.
‘Ah, I see you took my advice.’ The star-beast had returned. He turned from the wooden swing he had taken to sitting on, hanging from the branches of his old body, which he had instructed the humans to transplant to the temple, growing in a place of honor, his altar nestled in its roots. He begrudgingly responded ‘Your advice was fruitful.’ He was loath to attribute his success to another, yet he had to admit wouldn’t have taken such measures without prompting. The star-beast looked at him, a slight smirk on its lips. ‘Come,’ it finally said, making a beckoning motion, ‘Let’s go meet the family.’
The beast led him to the ocean, walking straight into the waves. Roxom lingered on the shore, uncertain about the effect of the salt on his blooms. ‘What are you waiting for, you’re a god, aren't you? Act like it.’ The beast said harshly, its eyes challenging. Roxom took a deep breath, drawing on his power, more comfortable with it than he had been before. He gathered it around himself like a cocoon, enveloping himself in a barrier of hardened gasses, impenetrable, and stepped into the waters to follow the beast. The star-beast had sunk to the bottom, walking on the sand. Seeing Roxom, it turned, walking into a thick current to be whisked away. Roxom followed.
They arrived at an island, a barren volcanic rock, not fit for living things, with black sand that turned red with each step on its surface. Beings of some sort had begun to gather. A tall pale human passed them each a glass of some sort of liquid upon their arrival, greeting the star-beast with deference. A bonfire of black fire suddenly flared as it was struck by lightning out of nowhere, a starry golden calf stepping out from the flames with grace. A flower bloomed from the ashes, bell shaped and lovely, before the petals peeled back to reveal another humanesque figure, though with skin as silken as the petal’s had been and vines for hair, dragging behind it, filled with more of the same bell like flowers. Datura, Roxom thought, looking at the familiar trumpet-like shape of the flower. A howl ripped through the air, drawn out and eerie. The sound took form, a blue wolf with six legs and four eyes materializing. A toad emerged from the ocean, brightly colored gems emerging from the warts on its back, eyes a wide and unblinking orange. ‘How delightful, another new face!’ The star-beast exclaimed, approaching the golden calf god that had emerged from the black fire.
Roxom had been playing a card game he didn’t quite understand with the Datura god and a being that introduced itself as Luz, a sunbeam made flesh, almost too bright to look at, starlight peeking out between the cracks in its skin.
‘So you’ve taken devotees?’ Datura was asking Roxom, carefully examining her cards, before selecting one to play. ‘I couldn’t stand the annoying things, always asking for things they are unworthy to receive. Though,’ she paused here, a malicious glint in her petal colored irises, ‘I did technically grant their requests for heavenly wisdom, just a little dose of my flesh and they were delirious until they perspired.’ Luz laughed, the crackling sound of fire snapping.
Roxom frowned. All the power available to them, and all they seemed to enjoy was playing cards together and gossiping. They were just as short sighted and self-absorbed as the humans. Pretentious, odious bunch of beings. If he had the same power available to him…He looked at the star-beast. It was whispering with the tall pale being that had greeted them with the wine. He excused himself, making his way over to it.
‘If this is my family I am sorely disappointed.’ He interrupted, ignoring the other being. The star-beast paused, eyebrow raised, dismissing the other being. ‘Oh? And how does the family disappoint?’ The star-beast asked, eyes sharp but voice amused. Roxom paused, displeased at being taken so casually. He expected a stronger reaction. ‘They have no drive, no interest in anything beyond their immediate gratification. Frivolous, all of them,’ he pronounced. The star-beast tilted its head. ‘We are the endless. We have all the time in the world, what is there besides our gratification?’
