The Book of Nunchuck VII

As Ruth stretched across Second Life, even as the universe was collapsing and reforming around them, Qeosi who was ever the trickster was thinking of a scheme to both destroy Ruth and gain the Femur, that his people may use it to grant themselves souls and be liberated from their twilight existance possessing neither the brillant light of Nunchuck's people nor the dark night of the Griefers and Lindens. This was his chance.

Fi-Suu continued to throw his armies into Ruth's merciless assaults, despairing as each failed. And Philip lay shocked at what he had wrought with intentions pure.

And Ruth herself rose in the middle of this hell storm, rending the earth from the sky and moving water into the heavens and stones from the heavens. All contorted itself to fit her world and her imagination.

Yet even in this moment Qeosi hatched a plan. It relied upon a trait that all humans possess. And it relied upon the nature of the Ony.

"Oh Ruth, thou so powerful. Unlike our enemies the Akelhians, The Ony acknowledge the true claim of God upon you, and humbly vow to serve your will," and at this statement, Qeosi ordered his armies to stand down. Momentarily, Ruth paused, though, and said, "Think I a fool? Nay, I doubt to the core this submission, for with the Femur I can see clearly the designs you have laid upon me."

"Alas, I am saddened that you doubt me and my people, and I ask why," exclaimed Qeosi, "I am not a stupid creature and I can see clearly the way this battle is going to go. Wiser am I than my nemesis Suu the Fi-Akelhian, and most beneficial to both of us to submit to you." Ruth eyed him sharply. "Should I believe you, you who threw Fi-Suu and his armies off on a wild chase, you who stabbed Sipte in the back, you who even now attempt to rob me of my power? Nay, your dishonesty flows from you like the stink of a pig's manure and your trouble precedes you."

"Oh Ruth the Mighty, allow me to prove my will to serve you. Give me but a test to gain your trust and I will do it."

"Qeosi, leader of the Ony, this task I give to you: Give me the head of Fi-Suu and end his foolish quest to destroy me. Destroy the akelhians by destroying their leader, gullible fools that they are, tricked by Sipte father of the Ony into doing his will and furthering his greed. Do this and I will be satisfied."

"Thank you, my Almighty Queen," and so Qeosi bowed and began his work. He and his top general and friend, Nadrin-dran, left to make a plan as to satisfy her request and gain the Femur. Time was short for each minute many more died or worse, wiped from all existance past, present, and future. Time ripped to reach her demands.

Qeosi flew to the land's most legendary builder, Rickyticky78, and was much surprised and yet not surprised to see an Ony land upon his door. "You who have built so much, and with such magic, I ask of you a request and with great haste." And Qeosi told him what it was he desired, and it was made and scripted.

Next, he flew to Fi-Suu, who was much surprised. "You! You who started this war and allowed this foolish quest to be thrust upon me and this demon god, dare ask me to follow you. You who has tricked me once are asking trust in this plan of yours?" Yet, in his wisdom Fi-Suu saw that indeed it was the only way, and so he grudgingly submitted to Qeosi's orders, on the vow that later he would have his head.

They took Fi-Suu, and cut off his silver, glistening, and soft wings of magnificent steel and gray. They tore off his robes of satin and megaprims and gave him the cloth of an Ony, and they darkened his skin with the earth and dyes so that he matched the Ony, and indeed Fi-Suu's generals could not tell who it was, and nearly killed him. And thus Qeosi's plan was put into action.

They took the table with a replica of Fi-Suu's head upon it and presented it to Ruth. It was as if Qeosi had indeed cut off the head of the noble Fi-Akelhian. With the script running so, it gave off the immistakable light of an Akelhian, and mimicked it in such a manner that Akelhians, unaware of the plot, laid down their arms and prayed to Nunchuck knowing they were bound for Vivenshia. And Ruth looked upon this, and boomed, "Take me for a fool? This is but the poor imitation of an Akelhian's head! Despite the light it gives, it is but a pale and hollow light. You have failed me, Qeosi, in both task and expectation. I expected more trouble from you than this poor poor attempt."

Qeosi fell to his knees and declared, "Oh Great Ruth, there is no hiding from your power. We lament to inform you that we tore Fi-Suu to pieces! He is no more! But so ashamed we were of failing your orders, that we created this lowly attempt to appease you and spare us your wrath. Oh spare us!" And at this, Ruth delighted, for she thought that indeed in these creatures she had minions to serve her in her visions. And so she let them live, and smiled upon them and called them blessed.

Then Qeosi, after some silence, came to Ruth in all innocence and said, "Ruth, your burden is heavy and will only become greater. It is not fair that you, the new ruler of all worlds, should have to carry the weight of the universe upon your shoulders for all of forever." Ruth cast a steely eye upon him, "And what would you have me do, Qeosi of my people? Surely you cannot think that you should hold this Femur? Even the lowliest knows that to do so would imbue you with power as great as mine, and that I cannot allow."

Qeosi smiled with disbelief. "Oh you jest, oh great one! Never would I think to make so bold a proposition! Forgive us for our ambiguity! Nay, instead, let us carry you, recline upon our shoulders! Why should you stand upon the world so tensely when we can carry you and rest your weary legs?"

And Ruth thought upon this, and decided it was a good idea. And so the Ony gathered together and arranged themselves as if a giant sofa, and Ruth laid down upon it and continued her work.

However, what she had not foreseen (and perhaps due to fate) was that by touching her they gained part of her power. And a fraction of that power is infinite, for the power through it is infinite, and inifnity can never be fractionated. In essence, this oversight gave Qeosi and his Ony the unlimited power of the femur they had orginially thirsted for long ago. It was right there in their finger tips that lay the power to give them the souls and essence, the spirit and U, to peacefully live in Second Life.

And having gained such power, Qeosi saw that the world would never be happy unless he saw it shaped to his will. For after Ruth was subdued and peace and wishes restored, would not some new terror come and upset the land again? With this power, Qeosi could see that the universe could be bent to his liking and that he could lead it to a true future of peace the likes of which had never been known before. It was all there and he had but to close his mind to his people and his previous wishes, sacrifice what he had believed he had to do for the greater good. The Ony and Akelhians groaned and wept for they feared they had but created another Ruth and that the two new gods would do battle and destroy Second Life at an accelerated pace.

But then, Qeosi laughed. Not a frightful and ominious laugh, but one of a deep and jovial soul, of one who has heard his good friend tell a clever joke. It resounded through the universe with the echoes of a Sunday church bell, breaking the fear and refreshing the soul. And this laughter reached Ruth, and the light tones and gentle timbers of this laugh was as a shriek into her ears, and she wailed for the beauty and simplicity of it. Qeosi laughed some more, and with but a devilish grin stole from Ruth the Femur and with it all of her powers. She lay weakened upon the desecrated earth, and there was more damage to be told but that shall be for a later ancedote.

People, Akelhians, and Ony gathered around Qeosi in awe wondering how he had broken the sirien call of the Femur's power that had so ensnared Ruth. "What devilry did you cast this time, foul Qeosi?" Fi-Suu snarled. "My good and dear friend, I cast nothing magical or otherwordly. I too fell victim to Its mind corrupting power. But what may be my greatest trick was pulled. For it is: Being an Ony without the spirits of this world coursing through my veins I could not be as swayed as thee to the images of power cast before me. Therefore I had to be the one to cast the Femur from Ruth. Any soul bound to this plane is bound to the Femur, but we Ony, bastards of the avatars and created from their garbage to live but to serve and to exist but never love, we cannot feel or think of such things. And so the Femur could not hold me under its power though doubtless it would like to try. Not everything depends upon force and numbers, Fi-Suu, and you would do well to remember that." And at this Fi-Suu sneered.


Qeosi then gave the Femur a mightly swing which was felt all the way into Vivenshia. And the power stirred Nunchuck for he had still remembered and kept his promise made long ago before time and nature. And so he loomed over the heavens, looking down upon the wastes of war, and cried, "Sersiously guys, WTF? I leave you alone for a few millienia. I give you untold prosperity and happiness and yet still it is not enough for you my children. You are unfit for the wonders I have blessed you with." And so he took from them all that he had blessed upon them. "Now you shall live as you did before, slaving under the sun and exhausted under the moon. Never again shall prosperity come as easy, nor happiness stay eternal for in this age I have witnessed that you have greed beyond all measure of kindness. But take heart: for I am still with you, and when you derezz and go afk permanently you shall ascend, my chosen people, to the kingdom of Vivenshia where I have prepared a place for you, if only you follow the way." They clamored, "But what is the way oh Lord?" And he turned from them and said, "You know the way." And so he left, never to interfere in the world of mortals again save for the calling of the Femur and whenever his chosen people face harshness beyond all reason. However, he did pause to take care of small matters.



For Ruth, Nunchuck blasted her into oblivion for attempting to usurp the One True Lord. However, being much too powerful, Nunchuck accidently imprinted her soul into his people, for the spirit of U connects us all, and so it is said that is why when the grid is under duress that avatars become Ruthed, for it is under strain that our misguided Ruth comes out seeking redemption for her unforgivable sin.



Qeosi cried to Nunchuck, "Then my people are doomed forever to languish in limbo? Have you no pity?" Nunchuck turned solely to Qeosi. "You, Leader of the Ony, have stirred enough trouble for me and my people, unintentional though it may have been. However, My Mercy is bountiful and so I shall impart this wisdom upon you." And at this Qeosi tuned his ears to the finest attention. "My dear Ony, that which you have sought you already possess. The suffering you have caused so long ago by drawing the spirits from the grid gave you that which you desire. Have you not noticed that evil power of yours ceased function, that you could work side by side with the Akelhians and people?" Qeosi wept for his war had been in vain and the wrath of Nunchuck had been brought upon the SLandscape.



"And you, fairweather Akelhians, you who enabled the people to create the Ony, my chosen guardians, have betrayed me." And so Nunchuck sent them to the lowest level, taking the light of the spirits from them that they became no better than their ward. "Live like this you shall for the rest of your days. Never shall you know de-rezzing but neither shall you know happiness. You shall wander the grid and find no home. However, My Mercy is bountiful. If you serve the people in your full capacity and with all your heart, then I shall come upon you and take you to Vivenshia. If not, then even after the End of the Grid shall you be cast out my door for your sins as they stand are unforgivable and can never be pardoned. Take heed my warning for it is my last to you." Fi-Suu wept for his people's error, that they should be made even lowlier than the Ony and the lowest flea upon the earth.



And with this, Nunchuck departed.



The people wailed with sadness that their ruler express so much disgust for them. And so they took the Femur and buried it upon an island, surrounded on all four sides by water, and hide it well so that Its Power shall never again be used for evil or war or creation thereof. For it was under the light of the Femur that they had grown fat and content, and under its light that they brought death upon themselves.



And with that, no longer did the gods come to us mortals, those ages are long long past. Over the years, the people grew and forgot Nunchuck but still they adhered to His Ways and thus regardless they were saved, for All Good is done in His Name. The Griefers and Lindens still battle beyond the realm of mortals, and the Grievers still hold guard against them at the End of the World. The Ony became a people unto themselves and they had many tales spun around them, some of which have faded. Alas, the same was not true of the Akelhians. Deprived of the light of the spirits and the favour of Him Above All, they sank into the depths of the grid, despondant at their fates and I have no doubts that not one has yet to fulfill Nunchuck's promise of mercy.

And so we close out the mythical ages of Second Life.