The Underground City

"Bo," he replied simply, giving the fellow a bit of a forced smile. He was still very confused, and concerned, and trying not to panic, so it was the best he could manage.

"You wouldn't happen to know where we're at, would you? I seems I've gotten a little lost."

"I'm in the same boat," Telós admitted, holding the light up so he could get a better look at Bo. He really was an intimidating man, wasn't he? He would have felt threatened in most scenarios, but his demeanor made it easier to push aside any fear Telós might have had. "I woke up here not that long ago. You're the first person I ran into, but I'm pretty sure my chosen are here too."

Bo raised a brow in confusion. "Your what?" Bo asked. Did he hear that right? A chosen?

"My chosen," Telós repeated. If he hadn't already been certain that he was dealing with someone from another world, the question would have been the only indicator he needed. Everyone on Minecraftia at least knew the chosen existed. "There's two of them. Aleks and Lex, though we just call them Lexal a lot of the time. It's easier than trying to figure out who's in control of the body."

"Okay so, I know you took the time to explain and all, which was really nice of you," Bo began, trying to be as polite as possible. "But I uh, still have no idea what the heck that means. I mean like... control what body? Heh, heh," he smiled nervously. "What kind of stuff are ya'll into, man?"

The sight of Bo smiling nervously at what he was saying made Telós pause for a moment and mull over what he had already said. Everyone from where he was from knew about Lexal and accepted them; it was hard not to when they hung out everywhere from the End to the Nether to Hero's place. He couldn't even recall the last time he had to explain what was up with them to someone else.

But Bo was probably not from his world, which meant he had a bit of explaining to do.

"Let me back up a bit," Telós said. "I'm not used to talking to people who don't already know about them. Er, Lex and Aleks share a body. It's two souls for the price of one, I guess? It's technically Aleks' body, but Lex ended up there after he died in a auto...auto..." What was the word again? "automobile crash, I think? It used to be pretty bad back when Lex first ended up there, but they're slowly getting it together now."

So, this god was a micromanager. She could relate, though it reminded her of a deity she wanted to forget. Not a good sign. "The size and complexity of the kingdom makes it impossible for the king and his family to address it all," she said. "Hence, the bureaucracy. I personally tend to the security of the royal family, whether at home or during visits to other parts of the state. Or, more rarely, to other nations. Not everyone, it seems, is content with the monarchy." She tried to remember the number of assassination attempts she'd had to put a stop to in the last week alone, but lost count.

Lex smiled, though he was a little distracted by the duties she listed. "That explains your quick reaction to me pulling out the sword."

The thought of working for an actual monarchy was an overwhelming one. Telós was a king in name alone - he didn't even go by the title. He just happened to be the sole, very reluctant leader of the entire End. And he and Aleks just happened to be his chosen. It was definitely one of the more daunting things he had done in his life, but it had nothing on a traditional monarchy.

Especially when you threw in the bureaucracy and need for diplomacy with other nations.

"That sounds kind of similar to what I do," Lex said. Telós could easily fend for himself, but the entire point of the chosen were that they'd be support for their gods in whatever way necessary. In Telós' case it was mostly by being a good friend, but a little bit of fighting here and there was needed too. "When my god and I travel to some more dangerous areas, I usually end up saving his skin once or twice."

"Your God sounds like a klutz," Ryder said without thinking. When he realised what he had said, he held up his hands
"I didn't mean that in a bad way! I just...like, he sounds like one, at least."
Some light reflected off one window of the large building they were walking towards. He turned his head to maybe get a better look.
"By Notch, that thing is huge," he said breathlessly. He had seen big buildings before, but in this low lighting and the general look of the area, this building looked simply majestic from his view. Absent-mindedly, he wondered if the Space Drugs would do anything to his vision.

Casey stayed silent, listening to the other members of their group talk about their lives and their gods. He studied the buildings as they came into view.

"It must be nice to believe in something.." he thought, not realizing he said this out loud.

Enide nodded. "An extreme situation, to be sure, but I have personally aided the king before. He is nothing if not a reckless man. Much like his grandfather, I suppose, but more open about it."

She glanced back at Casey, frowning slightly. "The world seems to treat us all the same, whether we choose to believe in something or not. The key is to find someone to believe in. In my case, the king."

Casey glanced behind him, not sure if Enide was talking to him.

"Oh, I didn't mean to offend you! I only meant that it's nice to have someone to look up to and follow. It's good that you have someone like that."

His eyes widened and his palms started to sweat at the confrontation.

"Telós isn't exactly reckless," Lex hesitantly said, having spent the last few minutes trying to think of a good response. "It's more like he's unaware of certain things, if that makes any sense? He's, er, kind of lived a sheltered life." It wasn't exactly the reason for his ignorance, but that was something they all avoided bringing up unless the situation called for it. It was close enough, and that was all that mattered.

He turned to look at Casey. "I don't think you offended her," Lex reassured him with a smile.

Bo blinked.

"Okay so uh. I'm going to be honest with you. That made like, no sense to me at all."

Of course it didn't.

Telós let out a heavy sigh. He had definitely gotten it faster than that, but he was starting to guess that actually seeing them and seeing the shifts in personality had helped with that. It looked he either had to wait for his chosen to arrive, or just try to explain it again. Seeing that he was stubborn and had no idea when they would show up, it looked like it was going to be up to him to explain things.

"Lex died," he said, "and his soul didn't want to move on. So it found the next body it could go into, which happened to be Aleks'. They've been sharing the body ever since, although they've only really be aware of the two souls thing for about a year? Aleks was completely in control until they ran into someone that Lex once knew, and that's when they started fighting over who got control. It's gotten better since then."