The romance of Bellum and Legatia

Of the many gods of the Imperial Pantheon, few are as renowned for the Empire as Bellum, the God of War, and Legatia, the Goddess of Diplomacy, for they are the living embodiment of the ways the Empire has grown and expanded over time. Yet these two gods would naturally stand at odds with one another, for the art of one is in many cases used to avoid the occurrence of the other's.   Yet this is not the case, for these two gods are loyal and loving partners, whose relationship goes way back, to before the Pantheon's uprising against the Firstborns.   Bellum was always a ferocious and fiery individual, even as a mere godling: always brawling with anyone who mocked him. This hostile behavior meant that few attempted to interact with him, which suited Bellum perfectly: from his perspective, only those determined and strong enough to face him in a brawl were worthy to become a good acquaintance, as he used to call them. So it was quite surprising when he was confronted by another godling who was angry that in one of the many brawls Bellum had gotten himself into, one of his books was accidentally split by an impact. This godling was more scrawny than many of the rest, and always carried a small copybook around, yet in his sight there was a clear fire of anger in his eyes, as he stood up to the bully of the generation, and told him to knock it off.   Although they would not actually fight, the sheer defiance that this clearly weak kid posed was found quite impressive by Bellum: all others either ran, avoided or challenged him, so being confronted without actually looking for a fight was a novelty for him. The respect this first encounter sparked developed eventually into friendship, for although these two gods had very different attitudes, they mingled well with one another the times they chatted.   It was thanks to Administratios that Bellum gained a higher control of his innate anger and fury, which allowed him to make actual connections with other gods. His connection with Administratios was the main factor behind Bellum joining a small group of gods, all united in their common friendship with Administratios, and eventually, with one another. It was in these circumstances that Bellum and Legatia first met.   In these early stages of their lives, the two gods didn't think much of one another, primordially interacting with other members of the small group. However, despite this lack of overall interactions, Bellum couldn't help but become absolute furious when Legatia was humiliated and punished by the High Council and the Almighty himself when she attempted to plead Scientiar's release: Legatia was a close friend of Administratios, and by extension someone Bellum needed to protect, and in this case, avenge. But he wasn't blinded by his emotions as he had once been, thus allowing himself to listen to the advice of the then caged deity: he would have his opportunity to make the High Council pay. And that opportunity eventually did come, once the Pantheon's uprising occurred, where Bellum (alongside his lesser versions, the Pantheon's first Army) slew the entire High Council.   It would be then that another chapter on the story of Bellum and Legatia’s relationship would start: as fellow members of a new High Council, at the head of a new realm of gods. Due to the nature of their new positions, they interacted far more than before with one another, and this...provoked many frictions. Bellum, as the God of War and commander-in-chief of Paraborn’ s military, wanted to wield it to wage war against all the outsiders who had taken many of the territories the former realm of the Firstborns once controlled. Legatia was completely against this, seeing it as unnecessary bloodshed, where deals could be made to recover those lost territories, not to mention potential trade agreements and alliances against mutual strong foes; In simple terms, neither god stood in good terms with one another, which each one of them developing a skew and negative view of the other and their role on the pantheon: Bellum thought of Legatia as cowardly and therefore weak, while Legatia (despite her kind nature) couldn't help but think of Bellum as nothing more than a warmongering brute whose small code of conduct barely kept him in check. As for the rest of the council, they mostly agreed with Legatia, prioritizing internal development and stability over recovering territories that once were controlled by their predecessors, and forced Bellum and his troops to remain ready to defend the realm if invaded, but otherwise unable to attack unless expressly permitted to: this particular course of action angered the God of War, who had grown to view conflict as glorious and something to be aspired to (given his heroic reputation after he single handedly defeated the High Council in combat), an opinion shared as well by many of his own soldiers. Only his long-standing friendship with Administratios kept the God of War from even considering disobeying and going on a warpath of his own doing.   However hostile the mutual opinions of Bellum and Legatia might be, a singular series of events would shape both their eventual relationship as well as teaching the God of War a lesson about the truth of his work.   Hyderok was a region of Heaven that once belonged to Paraborn, but since the fall of the Firstborns it had been left abandoned, and so it soon occupied and became inhabited by a vast horde of demons. These fiends quarreled and fought each other, but wherever threatened by an outside force they would unite to expel what to them was an intruder to their home. It was in this environment of constant struggle that many warlords rose, first and greatest among them was Victorum the Conqueror: he managed to fully unify the Hyderokian demons into a cohesive force, with a single intended goal: the expansion of his realm. Under his command, Hyderok’s size grew as it conquered and annexed other regions of Heaven, and soon enough, it ended up limiting the current eastern borders of Paraborn. Victorum was impressed by the wealth and riches these gods’ possessed, and he wanted them all for himself. He started at first with small scale raids and skirmishes, but once he was confident enough, he gathered the full might of his demonic legions, and invaded the realm, beginning what would be known as the Great Hyderokian Conflict: legions of gods and demons clashed across many battlefields, while the champions of each side dueled and bested one another in singular combat before unleashing their might against the multiple lesser foes.   Soon enough, the demonic hordes were in great part defeated by Bellum and his troops, forcing the demons to return to their home region in shameful retreat. For the proud Victorum, this defeat was an affront he couldn’t stand: not only had he been defeated for the first time in his entire existence, but also in a most complete way. Yet he wasn't dumb, for he realized that the main ace of his foes was their commander, Bellum himself: he was an expert commander, always making the most out of his troops, while making sure to keep order and stability on the border territories of Paraborn, making it easier to focus primordially on defeating the enemy rather than to manage the chaos and instability war inevitable brings to the Homefront; lastly, there was no foe that could best this commander in combat. In simple terms, he was the best for the job, yet this also meant that the gods' strategy relied primordially on his existence for victory. If Victorum could somehow put the God of War in a detrimental position and eliminate him, then victory would be assured. And he had the perfect idea on how to draw the fierce yet cautious god to a trap.   A message reached the High Council of Paraborn, informing that the ruler of Hyderok wanted to negotiate peace terms between the two realms. However, he wouldn't accept starting the negotiations except in a designated area, and that the would-be diplomat(s) of the gods be escorted by the God of War himself and he alone. When presented with this proposal, Bellum rejected it outright: his forces were close to victory, so there was no need to negotiate any terms with the soon-to-be vanquished foe, not to mention that the conditions demanded sounded like it was a trap. The other High Councilors mostly agreed with Bellum's judgment, but were willing to consider accepting it: after all, why keep fighting if this proposal was actually genuine? Besides, if this was indeed a trap, then they trusted Bellum would be able to defeat it, and escort the diplomats to safety: this argument convinced the God of War to accept the proposal, and so he went to his room to prepare himself for the meeting, equipping himself with whatever he could need in case this was a trap as he feared.   Once he was ready, he came out of his quarters to find himself with a nasty surprise: the diplomat that he would escort was no other than Legatia herself. When Bellum demanded to know why they weren't sending someone else, the fellow High Councilor argued that since this was a very important reunion, she wanted to make sure that negotiations were to go as smoothly as possible, something that was agreed by the rest. Bellum snorted angrily, but otherwise remained silent as he accompanied the goddess he so much despised into hostile territory, aboard one of the gods’ heavenly vessels.   When they arrived at the meeting point, there were demons in fancy clothing, in a similar fashion to the clothing of Legatia herself: these would be the diplomats of the Hyderokian side. As the negotiations began, the demons at first acted as if they were actually trying to prepare terms for negotiations with the gods, but as soon as Legatia read the proposed talking points, she realized this was a sham due to the absurd nature of the proposals, and decided to leave and return to Paraborn. It was at this moment that the demons sprung their trap, destroying the vessel of the gods, to then strike at Bellum in the order of several thousands in an attempt to overwhelm him.   No demon came out alive from the small open building in the middle of a hellish canyon, but now the two gods were stranded on hostile territory, several kilometers away from the frontier. With no other option, the two started the journey, and in very bad terms with one another.   It took them several weeks, time that they spent chatting and talking with one another in the times they had to rest before standing up and keep walking, while at the same time dealing with the many hunting parties Victorum had sent to find and finish them both. It was in this period that the mutual opinion of the two gods started to...shift. For Bellum, he found out not only that Legatia was not a weak and squishy individual by any extent of the word, standing up to any creature that dared try to attack them, as well as not complaining about how harsh this trek was. She also impressed him when they found themselves facing a Greater demon, an independent creature of such power that Bellum couldn't defeat it in combat, yet was convinced by Legatia's words and soft voice to let them go through his small territory. He also discovered that although she preferred not to fight, if push came to shove she would give her utmost to ensure her survival. At the same time, Legatia learned that there was more to Bellum that she had once thought: the warrior was a man of loyalty and honor, always prioritizing his current job as her bodyguard over his own personal comfort, which in some occasions led him to suffer tremendous wounds. She also discovered that even if one as skilled and experienced with words couldn't convince everyone to be at peace: some individuals just didn't care or wanted to negotiate anything, they would just take what they wanted regardless of others opinion on the matter, and in these circumstances one cannot do anything else than fight back for what's rightfully yours. This was represented in another event of the journey, where despite her best efforts, she couldn't convince a particular strong independent demon to leave them alone, the creature laughing and mocking her attempts before attempting to kill them for the thrill of it, a foolish move that ended up on the demon's demise under Bellum's blade.   By the time they finally managed to return to Paraborn’s frontier, the two "opinions had changed for the better. It would be at this time that another key event would affect Bellum's opinion on war forever more. As the two gods approached their lines, Victorum and his elite personal guard troops arrived, with the intention of defeating his now hated foes once and for all. The sudden battle was vicious, ending up in the gods’ first pyrrhic victory of their history, with the only major benefit being the death of Victorum and his elite forces. The conflict had been won, and the remaining demons were forced to negotiate a peace treaty which benefited Paraborn. Yet, it was on this day that Bellum learned that war was not glorious, nor heroic: many of his most trusted soldiers were butchered, and the remaining would forever carry the marks of this battle and the war overall; these were the so-called "lucky" ones. Bellum visited a field hospital due to his own wounds, and for the first time was witness to the agony most of his casualties were enduring: brave warriors who were dying slowly despite the medics best efforts. All of them begged the God of War to end their misery, a request that with a heavy heart, the god fulfilled.   He had always been a lone fighter, even when confronting the firstborn; in that key day, he had actually fought alone: the copies he deployed that day were truly expendable, for they weren't real people, unlike these fighters that followed him in this conflict. He had remained utterly oblivious from his position of supreme commander, and due to both the respect and fear he inspired on the troops, no reports regarding the consequences of his actions and the actual casualties he provoked by his orders reached him. He felt an utter failure for the first and only time of his life, even for a second considering resigning from his position.   It was at this low moment where Legatia came to assist him, explaining to the demoralized commander that true, he had made mistakes, but overall there was a reason why he was the general of the gods: because like it or not, no one had the character and attitude required to command and wage war like him, where hard decisions were needed to be taken, and the weight of their consequences forever carried on one's shoulders. This judgmental yet overall supportive speech lifted the spirit of the God of War, who thanked her, and promised to learn from these experiences.   After this day, the relationship between the two gods only improved, as the once warmongering spirit of the War God vanished, replaced with grim determination, and a desire to only deploy his might if needed. He started to support many of the diplomatic agendas proposed by Legatia, while at the same time making sure his troops and subordinate commanders were ready and properly trained to fight, so that the carnage of the Hyderokian Conflict never happened again. Beyond this, the two gods started to chat, discussing many topics that ranged from the serious to the informal. And as time went on, it became clear to the two that there was something else happening, beyond mutual respect or friendship. No...They were in love.   It was this love that convinced Bellum to remain loyal despite his prior problems to the High Council once Superbios attempted to dethrone his brother and king Administratios. And it was with this same love that would inspire the couple to publicly become engaged with one another, in a parallel wedding alongside the king and his wife Adulteria. It was in this moment where they became forever united, two faces of the same coin, extensions of one another rather than opposite forces forever fighting for dominance. And from their union, many children would be born and raised, most of which sharing the direct blood of their common fathers, and becoming the living embodiments of a key aspect of their progenitors: one of them would even be crowned the new monarch of the gods, once Administratios decided to let go of the position to fully focusing on the administration of the realm, while the more ritualized and pompous matter of being a king being left to someone more apt for it.   As for the one exception, well...she has a very special story of her own.