The Elangulation

(Thanks Templin Institute)

The clouds of contagion that wreathe these slab-sided, rusting fastnesses are inimical to life. None but the Gods and Maegor's creations can endure even a single breath of them. Replete with hideous spectacles and places of foetid power. Amongst the suppurating valleys rise tri-lobed platforms of rusted iron upon which mortal tribal champions battle for the right to join Maegor's ranks as his Plaguelords laugh at the entertainment.

Hanging from twisted and mutated trees are the bodies of animated mortals, at which the Plague Fleets suckle like flies on a carcass. Shrines to Maegor, crawling molluscoid fortresses, smog-spewing plague factories churn out new poxes on a whim.

Morbid fascination worms its way into Hades's face as once again he is greeted with Maegor's art. The disease factories of the Garden are as bloated and corrupted as the beings that wander their halls. They are sprawling abominations of gurgling pipes, bubbling vats, belching smokestacks and rusted cages crammed with test subjects and living ingredients. So vast are they that their masters, the Foul Blightspawn and Biologus Putrifiers, have divided them up into virtual nations, each ruled by the Blightspawn elders that fester at their hearts.

Hephaestus and Athena could only look on in awe at the sight as his mind wondered to what disgusting and beautiful works of architecture would greet them as they deepened into this place. "HAHAHAHAHA!, HELLO OLYMPIANS, I AM KU'GATH, PAPA'S FAVORITE PLAGUEBEARER!!!" A voice of deep, sadistic glee screamed at them as if it couldn't contain its excitement.

What they saw was absolutely hideous by their standards but the way their faces twisted into digust only widened Ku'Gath's smile. 'AHHH, THEY GAZE UPON MY APPEARANCE AND THEIR FACES TWIST INTO THAT? HOW BEAUTIFUL DID PAPA MAKE ME???'

Aphrodite and Hera in particular flared up. Their powers activating at what they considered a 'Eye-melting, hideous monster!'

The pox ridden sky's of the garden creaked under her control as she forced her divinity into action. Being the goddess of marriage appointed her a portion of the person she married powers. "You will step no further deamon! Lest I strike you down!" She spewed hatefully as Aphrodite took her side in a instant.

Dove wings appeared from her back and her powers erupted from her. The joy a parent feels when a child is born, the pride a General feels when his army executes a cunning battle plan, the stirring of a lover's heart when in the embrace of a paramour, the heady rush of pleasurable relief that reminds a soldier how good it feels to be alive after an unexpected skirmish -- all of these sensations, on some small level, are pleasing to the Master of Pleasure.

As such, she was perfection in visage and if she wanted it, she could enforce her will of perfection into reality, changing it to her specifications. And so she did-…..tried.

The pure…vileness of the realm she found herself in already contained its perfection and beauty. The Orchestrator of Lust was perplexed. No matter how much she willed the destruction of the ugly being and this entire plane, it did not work. 'How could such filth reject my ultimate idea of beauty and perfection.'

"Because Lord Maegor's creations are perfection given form." A tall, well-built yet fairly slender woman with free flowing long red hair that reached down her back sauntered up upon a great, bulbous bubble ridden mountain. "Please follow me to his personal place of stay."

Aphrodite's eyes narrowed as she gazed upon the woman's true from. A beautiful transcendent, scarlet flower waiting to bloom covered her body, ethereally. On her back were two wings made up of rotting butterflies and dead, Red camellia flowers held together by some sort of fungal, red disease that waned and waxed at her control. "What are you, woman?"

Athena, who had been in awe at her surroundings, found the time to answer. "That is Maegor's little toy, Madea."

"Slaanesh! You owl faced whor-"

"PAPA SAID NOT TO CALL THEM MEAN NAMES!!! PAPA DONT LIKE THAT!!"

His incessant loudness had irked the gods once more. Many of them had their tempers in control only by the til of their pinky fingers. Apollo was set to scorch this place and all its citizens in a blaze of glory and genocide.

"You're right. Lord Maegor awaits." Slaanesh turned quickly and led the gods away.

———

Hephaestus POV

This unwholesome realm is home to every pox and affliction imaginable and is alive with the stench of rot. This 'garden' is not a barren wasteland, but rather a macabre paradise of death and pestilence. A thick sheet of buzzing swarms of black, furry flies litter the sky, and twisted, rotten boughs entangled with grasping vines cover the moldering ground, beneath an insect-ravaged canopy of leaves. Defiled fungi both plain and extraordinary breakthrough the leaf-strewn mulch of the forest floor, puffing out vile clouds of spores. Muddy rivers slither across the bloated landscape.

I found it absolutely gut-wrenching...…and absolutely stunning to a degree I couldn't explain.

———

Athena POV

The thing led us to what could be considered the center of the garden. What we came across was a great fortress. Or what that thing called it, 'The Blighted Mansion of Misery and Mirth.'

From what my eyes could even comprehend it, architecture could not be thought of in a way. Me…the Goddess of Architecture actually considering looking into how he achieved such a work of art.

Half hidden by a miasma of decay infused into its very structure. Rotten is its foundation, wracked and twisted so that its entire structure groaned and creaked when we set upon it. The fortress was battered by toxic winds as shutters hang from broken, filth covered windows as sewage pours from rusted and decrepit pipes.

What perplexed me was the paint that continually cracked and peeled away but as I observed, the mansion never lost its sickly hue. Along the broken roof, hundreds of advanced chimney's belched out dark clouds of buzzing insects. When I asked for explanation of how this place did mot collapse, what I received from that thing was, "This is the dwelling of the Plague God. He who finds limitless joy and perfect peace in the inevitability of decay." She said with glee and pride in her voice.

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I will have my answers.

———

Maegor POV

Ever since they stepped feet in my lands, I watched their short journey here. And while the my mansion would definitely be a 5 star hotel by any standards.

I was sure some people, Aphrodite and Hera, simply could not stomach true beauty. But that was ok, I get how they could be overwhelmed, they would need some time to come around.

Momma always told me to be a generous host. So they would be seated in my private park. I called it 'The Well of Lazarus' or 'The Lazarus Pit'. A little utopia of beautiful plants, animals and colors that housed a lake that could cure any and all diseases and illnesses in creation, no big deal.

"Lord Maegor! Your guests have arrived." My newest Daemon Prince flew down to me as I reclined in a simple beach chair, that I made. I had made him by combining the entirety of Greek army that was given my creation's merciful gift.

"Hello Mortarion. Could please tell them to meet me here?" I asked but not really asked. He nodded hurrily(?) and soared off with his wings. I reclined back again, a sweet smile graced my face as I said…

"G̴̵̳̱̲̩̭ͨ̎ͦ̓̊͒ȑ̶̨̠͓̱̺͉̊̅͐o̵̼̎ͩ̎̈͐̃͠o̥̘̯ͫ́ṽ̧̳̱̏́y̝̏̾͘."