Greetings, stellar seekers! Welcome back to another installment of the Seven Archons Deep Dive on The Astral Assemblage Blog. Last time, we danced with the divine and delved into the mysteries of the Fool, weaving a narrative of whimsy and wisdom. Today, we’re switching gears and submerging ourselves into the celestial depths, coiling around the cold enigma of the Serpent.
In this edition, we’ll unravel the tale of ‘Salvific Scales: The Serpent’s Deadly Stare’, a story steeped in cosmic conflict and shrouded in interstellar intrigue. As we navigate the celestial currents of this tale, we’ll shed light on the origins of the Serpent Aspect Card, revealing layers of the cosmic drama that birthed it. So fasten your astral seatbelts, as we venture into the inky depths of the cosmos.
Introduction
Within the cosmic expanse of the Hypostasis, myriad millennia in the future, the Archon Thorne was entrusted with a monumental task. His dominion over black holes and deep understanding of the fabric of time and space made him the ideal candidate for the job at hand. The aim was simple yet crucial: expanding the reach of the Hypostasis.
As the master of interstellar voids, Thorne set out to fabricate new wormholes – cosmic shortcuts through the fabric of spacetime itself. These conduits would serve as gateways, opening pathways to the uncharted and undeveloped reaches of the Material world. Awaiting beyond these wormholes were untouched celestial bodies, brimming with potential, ready to echo the resonating pulse of the Hypostasis.
As Thorne embarked on this significant endeavor, little did he know that his actions would inadvertently set into motion a chain of events that would test the very limits of the Hypostasis and its archons. The cosmic web was about to be rocked by an unforeseen crisis.
The Unforeseen Rift
With the grand design in mind, Thorne embarked on his voyage towards the edges of known space. His destination: a stellar nursery, the cradle of celestial bodies, a hotbed of creation and destruction. It was here, amidst the galactic playground of cosmos and chaos, that Thorne would attempt to mold his wormhole.
Immersed in the marvel of the star-making spectacle, Thorne let his powers flow freely, experimenting with the elasticity of reality. Methodically, he dissected the cosmic tapestry, discerning the nature of the universal fabric, meticulously identifying all the ways in which one cannot create a wormhole. It was a delicate dance of destruction and construction, testing the limits of the possible and the impossible.
In a moment of mad-scientist brilliance, a spark of inspiration ignited within Thorne. He reached deep into the gravitational heart of a black hole, a point where time and space converged into nothingness. His grasp extended further and further, seeking a corresponding point in space-time on the other end. He connected with something – something vast, endless, alive. Encouraged by this connection, he clenched his astral fist and pulled.
The ensuing strain against the cosmic fabric was immense, stretching the limits of Thorne’s powers to the brink. Yet, he persisted, drawing on every ounce of his strength until, with a cataclysmic tear, he rent open space-time.
The void was breached, an unforeseen rift opened, and the ensuing consequences would be more significant than Thorne, or any of the archons, could have ever anticipated.
The Void Unleashed
Like a cosmic tsunami, the Void Creatures poured forth from the rift, their ethereal bodies shimmering with eerie luminescence in the dark vastness of space. Driven by a relentless hunger for the life-giving Zoe-tropic light and drawn to the irresistible power of the Archons, they were a force of insatiable destruction.
Thorne, the Archon of the Abyss, found himself overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the unleashed menace. Against the onslaught of the Void Creatures, he had no choice but to retreat, leaving the cosmos to fend against a rising tide of oblivion.
The ensuing havoc wreaked by the Void Creatures was a symphony of devastation on an unimaginable scale. Their presence, a malignant cancer in the cosmos, set about extinguishing the Zoe-tropic light and consuming entire planets in their wake.
Nyarlathul, the Harbinger of Desolation, descended upon civilizations that had blossomed over aeons, reducing them to a barren wasteland within moments. Empires crumbled, cultures vanished, life extinguished – all at the whim of the Harbinger. Entire galaxies fell silent, their stars dying out, as Nyarlathul passed through them, leaving only icy darkness in his wake.
Azathogros, the Dreamer in the Dark, brought about the end of worlds not through physical destruction, but by seeding madness and chaos into the minds of sentient beings. Societies collapsed from within, drowning in their own insanity, their cries echoing through the cosmos, unheard.
Cthulgrith, the Abomination, violated the very fabric of reality, warping and distorting it to the point of breaking. The physical laws governing time and space bent and twisted under its influence, creating pockets of existential paradoxes where nothing made sense.
The Deep Leviathan, Dagonexus, turned his insatiable appetite to the aquatic worlds. Water worlds drained dry, their aquatic inhabitants meeting an untimely demise, their bodies left to float in the vacuum of space.
Shub-Nagarr, the Shapeshifter, infiltrated entire species, propagating and spreading among them, until it became impossible to distinguish friend from foe. Civilizations were torn apart by mistrust and fear, eventually succumbing to the Shapeshifter’s manipulations.
Nyarlathotep, the Primordial Terror, awakened ancient and dormant cosmic horrors that fed on stars, causing them to go supernova and wipe out entire star systems.
Yog-Sothorg, the Void Devourer, exhibited a terrifying display of its hunger by consuming a pulsar, its immense gravitational force simply absorbing the celestial body, leaving nothing in its place.
The cosmos trembled as the Void Creatures ravaged through it, leaving a trail of desolation in their wake. The Archons looked on, their powers proving inadequate to halt the ceaseless destruction.
The Council of Seven Spirits
Thorne, carrying the weight of his catastrophic error, returned to the council of The Seven Spirits Before the Throne. His countenance was haggard, a shadow of his former radiant self. He relayed the horrific calamity he had unleashed upon the cosmos, the seemingly unstoppable Void Creatures, and the overwhelming destruction they had brought in their wake.
The council chamber, once a place of serene cosmic harmony, erupted into chaotic discord. Accusations flew, a stark contrast to the normally level-headed deliberations of the Archons. The councilors pointed fingers at Thorne, each question an arrow piercing through the stoic facade he maintained.
“Why did you not come straight to us?”
“Why disappear into the nebula and hide while the cosmos faced devastation?”
“Why would you even think to pull something from a black hole?”
Despite the barrage of questions, Thorne remained silent, guilt etched across his features.
The council failed to reach a consensus on a solution, their unity fractured by the severity of the crisis. Each Archon, disheartened and confused, retreated to their respective dominions to contemplate the impending doom and possible solutions.
The Timestream and The Void
Orin, the celestial hermit and Archon of Comet Trails, was one to listen to the whispers of the cosmos. His solitary nature often led him on trails etched in the fabric of space and time, learning from their silent stories. The calamity that had befallen the Material world was a deafening cry among those whispers, a dissonance that shattered the cosmic harmony.
So, it fell upon him, the stellar drifter, to attempt a solution few could fathom – to weave the strands of time backward and unmake the catastrophe. Isolated in his cosmic trail, he drew upon his celestial might and made a plea to the universal constant of time itself.
His mind became one with the timestream, the cosmos flashing backward in his consciousness. Stars unburned themselves into cosmic dust, galaxies rewound their spirals, and nebulae sucked in their ethereal veils. He journeyed back to that pivotal moment, where Thorne had rent a hole into the void.
But as he reached out to pluck that thread from the cosmic tapestry, he felt a chilling resistance. The Void, an entity far older and vaster than he had imagined, had become intertwined with his efforts. It was as if the Void was a malignant tumor on the body of time, inseparable, irremovable.
Orin pulled harder, trying to untangle the knot, but the Void held fast, lashing out with vicious tendrils that followed Orin’s connection to the timestream. His attempt to retreat only exacerbated the situation, pulling the Void Rift further back into the Material world’s history. A bitter realization chilled him to his core – he had inadvertently spread the Void’s influence, allowing it to consume aeons worth of cosmic history.
Shocked and drained, Orin retreated back to his celestial trails, the gossamer threads of time slipping from his grasp. He pondered over the monstrous repercussions of his failed endeavor. As he watched, the Void’s influence spread rapidly throughout the cosmos, carried on the tides of time he himself had manipulated. Aeon after aeon fell to the Void’s hunger, the Material world overwhelmed by a nightmare from beyond its conception. They were indeed running out of options, and time – Orin’s own domain – had betrayed them.
And there you have it, cosmic voyagers, the first part of our serpentine saga, ‘Salvific Scales: The Serpent’s Deadly Stare’. The celestial dance has just begun, and the cosmos teems with questions. How will our Archons maneuver through this interstellar chessboard? Can they reclaim control and stem the onslaught of the Void Creatures? Will the Serpent’s deadly stare make the difference?
The answers lie in the astral ether, ready to descend upon us in the next installment. So, join us next week for part two of ‘Salvific Scales: The Serpent’s Deadly Stare’. The cosmic saga continues, beckoning us to dive deeper into the celestial depths. Till then, keep your eyes on the stars, and your minds open to the mysteries of the cosmos. Stay tuned, and stay curious!
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The Saga Continues! Click Here to read Part Two of the Salvific Scales Saga