Part I: The Search for Dagaal
Chapter 12: Rhokki’s Lost Love
In order to move my plans forward I needed to make sure the lumenarc Rhokki didn’t discover that I was using his identity to influence a branch of mankind now called The Drokka. A long time passed. I started pretending to be Rhokki in order to give the Drokka people ‘a god of their own’ – since their prior god – another one of my alter ego’s name Baal – had done nothing to ever help them. Furthermore, since Baal had actually rewarded the Derkka clan for enslaving the Drokka, the latter were even more ripe for the picking. As a result it was all rather easy – I gave The Drokka Rhokki when I helped Ajax The Freemaker outwit the Derkka King Basumel and lead the Drokka to freedom – escaping to the mountains and building a new life. Luckily for me, after real Rhokki’s escapades with Gabriel a while back, the lummox had gone off in pursuit of other endeavors and stayed out of the limelight – leaving me free to steal his identify and do with it what I pleased.
You might be wondering – what did the lumenarc Rhokki look like? And did I mimic his form when I pretended to be him?
The answer to the second question is – yes. The answer to the first question is as follows: when the fallen angel that was Rhokki took a form on Terra he chose to display himself as a huge physical specimen: a two story tall, broad chested brute, with big muscles, a full beard, long wild black hair, heavy leather boots and a leather loincloth around his waist.
[All of which made him look like a fool]. As an interesting side note, Rhokki really was one of the most powerful lumenarcs and even the so-called ‘God of War’ Gwar was terrified of him – avoiding a confrontation with him at all costs.
Perhaps it was for this last reason about Gwar or perhaps it was simply that I didn’t care to spend a lot of time trying to come up with a new disguise – either way I used the real Rhokki’s chosen form as my own whenever I pretended to be him.
So what exactly was the real Rhokki up to? After realizing he could never fulfill Gabriel’s charge to rescue all the stolen stellarones in order to get back into Illyria, Rhokki gave up all hope of getting back to heaven and instead returned to his other vice – for Rhokki was blinded by love – that same tragedy that has caused the downfall of so many humans too.
The fact is that Rhokki had always loved the lumenarc Gaia – and when I say “always” I mean it, for Rhokki loved Gaia when we were all back in Illyria at a time that marked the very beginning of their own individual creations.
And Gaia loved him back.
[In truth, Gaia was a bit of a goody two shoes – she never would have joined Lucifer’s rebellion against A’H if not for Rhokki. And Rhokki only joined because he was too stupid to think for himself. If you want to visualize Rhokki, picture Gwar – only bigger…and dumber. Recruiting Rhokki to the rebellion was therefore all too easy for Zebub and Lucifer, and when he joined our cause, so did Gaia].
As you may recall, our rebellion against A’H didn’t quite work out – all of us got cast out of Illyria during The Fall, and while Rhokki initially remained loyal to Zebub, it was clear very early that Gaia might falter in her faith. That’s part of the reason why Lucifer and I duped her into joining us for a little experiment on Terra – little did Gaia know that she was the experiment and that we would end up using her essence to bring Terra to life.
(Things worked out well for Terra, if not for Gaia individually – but such is life, right?)
When Rhokki discovered that his eternal love had been taken from him, he wanted to destroy Lucifer (thankfully the big nitwit never realized it was my idea to imprison Gaia within Terra). Never knowing that he’d one day become a thorn in my side, I decided to help Rhokki and stop him from taking on Lucifer. I talked him off the cliff (literally, he was standing on the side of a mountain on Terra and threatening to track down Lucifer to murder him) and I made him realize that so long as Zebub was protecting Lucifer, Rhokki would never get near enough to lay a finger on his enemy.
My counsel to Rhokki was to be patient – after all, I had a plan in mind that (I thought) would solve both our problems. As you know, I later duped Zebub and Lucifer into creating the Illusia – during which Zebub became trapped in that hell world – and I later got Lucifer imprisoned there as well, while at the same time securing free reign for myself, Rhokki, and all the other lumenarcs to return back to The Middle Plane and do as we pleased. [#PatOnTheBack]
How was I to know that Rhokki would turn against me and outright rebel against Lucifer’s leadership – causing the illuminati Gabriel to get wind of the problems on the Middle Plane and stick his nose into our business. Worse yet, the brute nearly cost me my life when Lucifer learned of his treachery and blamed ME for it! With Lilith inciting Lucifer to destroy me, it was everything I could do to keep my head – thankfully I did.
As it turned out, Rhokki had never forgotten about Gaia – even after she was no longer a singular being and essentially had become the plane-t Terra. Yet the dumb fool was stupid enough to still be in love with her! And so it was that Rhokki became enamored with the flat plane that was Terra – convincing himself that ‘she’ loved him back and doing his best to take care of her.
Writing him off as a mere nitwit, I then only casually paid attention to his actions – finding myself amused to see that he spent so much time in the bowels of the flat earth. Rhokki hung out mostly around the magnetic ‘north pole’ – the location where Lucifer and I originally had imprisoned Gaia – apparently believing that this kept closest to Gaia’s essence.
I remember once I actually went there myself to spy on him. I watched as Rhøkkí stood alone on the rugged cliffs overlooking the magnetic north pole, the harsh winds whipping through his long, wild hair. To keep myself amused to imagined to myself what he was thinking – building a little fairy tale about it…
The biting cold was nothing compared to the emptiness gnawing at Rhokki’s heart. He had once been a titan among the lumenarcs, his strength unmatched, his resolve unwavering. But now, all that remained was a hollow shell of his former self, consumed by the eternal void left by Gaia’s absence. In the dim light of the polar night, Rhokki’s thoughts drifted back to Illyria. He could still see Gaia’s radiant smile, her eyes shining with the light of a thousand stars. They had shared countless moments of joy and hope, dreams of a future where their love could flourish without the shadow of rebellion. But those dreams had turned to dust, scattered by the winds of fate and the machinations of his own kind. Gaia was gone, her essence intertwined with Terra, and Rhokki, despite his immense power, was powerless to bring her back. His every breath was a reminder of his failure, his eternal love forever out of reach.
Pretty touching, huh? And yet, who knows if any of it is even true? It might simply be that the brute was too dumb to know what to do and so he just stood there powerless to take any action. Whatever the case, he was out of my hair and that was good.
I was initially worried that by moving the Drokka clan into the mountains, it might bring them to the real Rhokki’s attention – but as it turned out, this simply never happened. For Rhokki kept himself near Gaia at the ‘north pole’ and the Drokka remained in the Rhokki Mountains – where the real Rhokki never actually went!
Thus I was free to be the god Rhokki of the Rhokki Mountains to my heart’s content. Best of all, I could do anything I wanted without Gwar getting wind of it – since the God of War was so afraid of Rhokki, Gwar wouldn’t dare to get anywhere near Rhokki Pass, afraid his nemesis might return at any moment. [As you can see, the mutual stupidity of Gwar and Rhokki made them a perfect match!]
I know, this all sounds like it’s easy. And quite frankly it was. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t have my own issues. I remember many a night sitting alone in my library at The Cauldron, my thoughts racing. The satisfaction of impersonating Rhokki and manipulating the Drokka filled me with a dark glee, but it was tainted by an undercurrent of frustration. Why did I have to waste my brilliance on such trifles? The quest for Dagaal had begun to consume my time and energy when I should have been unraveling the mysteries of life, the universe, and everything!
“How can I ever ascend to become the God of all planes of existence,” I fumed, “if I’m constantly bogged down by these menial tasks?”
The weight of my ambitions often pressed down on me. Yet, at times like these, in spite of my grand designs, I knew I had no choice. The dagger was a threat, one that could undo all I was working for – it had to be dealt with. With a resigned sigh, I accepted my reality. I had to stay the course, bide my time, and ensure my ultimate triumph – I had to play the long game.
And so, for now at least, I chose to continue to play the role of Rhokki. It was therefore time for me to put the next phase of my plans into action.
It was time for me to begin The War of The Ghast…
The Apocrypha of Azazel 