The longer Kendall and I spoke, the more the churning undercurrents of fear and anger seemed to subside. Changelings - both my allies and the townies - drifted to the back of the room, forming a vigilant barrier around the exits to prevent any escape attempts.

Marlene had shifted back to her human form, her clothes hanging in shredded tatters. She hovered near Jim, her whispered assurances falling on deaf ears as he gazed into the void, his eyes vacant and unfocused.

On stage, Tom paced like a caged animal, his eyes darting to Ragger's imposing figure every few moments. I couldn't tell if he was looking for a way around the massive pup or trying to provoke him. Either way, it was doomed to fail. I rolled my eyes at the thought.

Voices occasionally rose from the crowd, fear and confusion poorly disguised by false bravado. "How'd you know Alec was safe?" someone demanded.

"How long's he lived here?" I fired back. "Any of you seen him snacking on neighbors all this time? Sudden uptick in your local headhumper population? There's your damn answer."

But it was the revelations about Alec's unique nature that truly ensnared their interest. The fact that he was no common Turned, that his form had been warped into something wholly alien even to the Visharath.

"He was the thing that killed all those raiders?" A woman's voice, shrill with awe. "So it was defending the town! I fuckin' told you it was defending us!"

"That's what he turns into? What the fuck is he?"

"The aliens, the Visharath they call themselves - for those who don't know - they call him the-" I paused, searching for the right words.

"In our tongue, he is known as 'The Destroyer'," Ragger's voice rumbled, shaking the very foundations of the room. A collective shudder rippled through the crowd, myself included, as the weight of his words settled upon us like a heavy fog.

The Changelings, both townsfolk and our own, snapped to attention, their eyes blazing with an almost manic intensity. Marlene, seemingly forgetting Jim's presence, rose to her feet, her face a mask of wonder as she drifted towards Ragger, drawn by some unseen force.

"The Karagaunt," Ragger continued, his words echoing in the silence. "A genetic anomaly within our species, or so we're told. In truth, he represents the pinnacle of our evolution, the apex we were all meant to reach before our Queen's schemes twisted our path. Now reduced to a one-in-a-billion chance, a cosmic accident. He is the source of her deepest fears, the phantom that haunts her across the ages. Rising again and again on new worlds to destroy her."

"And who the fuck are you?" someone hurled the question from the crowd, their voice dripping with hostility.

Ragger's presence swelled, his shadow dancing across the walls. He drew a breath that made the flames flicker, then exhaled in a whistle between his teeth.

"I am Anubsika," he intoned, his whisper chilling my core. "Once high regent of the Vit, second only to the Queen herself. First Karagorn, Protectorof the Empress, sworn General of the Iron Skies." His eyes flashed. "Your kind named me Anubis. God of Death."

The faces in the crowd froze, their eyes wide and unblinking as Ragger's voice reverberated through the cramped space. His words hung in the air, dense and oppressive, but he paid no heed to the stunned silence. He continued, his tone unwavering, each syllable precise and deliberate.

"For thousands of years, I have walked upon your world. I first arrived under the guise of scouting, deceiving my Queen with tales of boredom and a desire to explore new realms. I spun falsehoods of effortlessly subjugating the filthy savages inhabiting pre-civilization planets, hastening our conquest by cultivating an eager host of soldiers who would willingly accept our dominion, believing they were embracing divinity. Sluggish, foolish sheep that would open their necks for us, both in the literal and figurative sense. No protracted wars, no drawn-out conflicts. Only swift subjugation followed by the harvesting of resources."

He paused, his gaze sweeping across the room, ensuring every eye remained fixed upon him. "But as you have likely surmised, this was a deception. I gathered my closest confidants, those I believed I could persuade, and convinced them to accompany me." His voice lowered, each word weighted with significance. "We arrived on your world approximately six thousand years ago. Myself, Isiska, Osirita, Horusana, Ka-Set, and Raka."

My eyebrow arched. Our entire pantheon of ancient gods, the very foundation of our mythology, had sprung from these beings. Osiris, who later became known as Jupiter and Zeus. Anubis, who transformed into Hades. And the others... It was a staggering revelation, one that sent my mind reeling. Yet, I knew enough of the mythos to understand that, in the grand scheme of things, we had never truly abandoned the old gods. Their influence, though altered and obscured, had persisted through the ages.

"Initially, we adhered to the plan I had set forth. We established ourselves as deities, legends that endure to this day. We imparted knowledge to your species, teaching advanced mathematics, agriculture, and metallurgy. These we taught so that you would create centers of civilization for our people to arrive in, plenty of hosts, great and sprawling cities."

"I tried to persuade them, to open their eyes. But they reveled in godhood as centuries passed. I, on the other hand, watched humanity, witnessed the riot of emotions we were taught to revile. The splendor of it ensnared me. I fell in love with your untamed brilliance, with every scintilla of your souls. I ached to kindle the spark I saw within you."

The words poured from Ragger, his voice resonating in my bones. I tasted the ancient yearning, the desperation of an outsider captivated by the dancing flame of humanity. Of a being who would defy an empire to protect what he treasured.

Around me, the changelings shivered, Ragger's passion igniting something primal within them. Marlene drifted from Jim, drawn to the towering figure on the stage, her face alight with fiercely tangled emotions.

I leaned close to Marlene as she walked by me, my lips nearly brushing her ear as I whispered urgent instructions. Her eyes widened, a maelstrom of emotions flickering across her face, but she gave a curt nod and wove through the restless crowd toward the back of the cramped room.

"My fellows, however, did not share my perspective. Despite my efforts, they scorned my pleas as the centuries crawled by, and the most I could do was convince them to go silent with our Empress, to live as rulers and gods. Even so, they were not content. As the years ticked by, their cruelty intensified. They concocted blood sports and horrific games for their own twisted amusement, reveling in the suffering of humanity. Even Isiska, my mate, succumbed to their depraved delights."His eyes grew distant, lost to memory. 

"Reason held no sway. And so, in night's blackest hour, when plasma-fire seared the air and Isiska's treachery sought my throat, I shed my human shell and found refuge in this beast's form." His hackles rose, phantom sensations of scorched fur and blistered flesh. "From the shadows, I witnessed her fall, her attmept on my life. And when she was done, as she tried to confirm that I was naught more but a corpse... My jaws ended her madness."

"I destroyed our link to the stars, our sole tether to the Empress. Then I culled the infection, one fallen deity at a time, until only I remained to walk the Earth. Thus, I became known as the god of death..."

A ripple ran through the crowd. I slowly sat down in a chair, emotions a roil. I could not imagine the toll that would take on a sentient, conscious being with feelings, hopes and fears. The tale would certainly originate a godhood within any civilization. Godkiller, kingslayer, we had many words in all of our languages for what he had done. I wondered how many sprung from his actions. 

"For thousands of years," he continued, repeating his earlier words, "I have traversed your world, striving to warn your species of the impending arrival of my people. The horrors that lurk within your tall tales - the vampires, werewolves, krakens, medusas, dragons, and titans - all echoes of the myriad forms my kind would bring to bear against you. I have walked beside your great figures, your deities, whispering from the shadows of their minds, padded alongside the likes of Christ himself, the Buddha, several iterations of the Dalai Lama, instilling what was coming into the foundations of your societies, your beliefs... I underestimated your creativity, the way these stories would evolve and spread, twisting and contorting until they became mere legends and myths, easily dismissed."

Ragger's muzzle dipped, shame bowing his neck. "Forgive me," he rasped, each word raw with pain. "I could have chosen another world to darken, to sacrifice in my rebellion. Perhaps I should have continued as a God, leading you from the front so that you would be bettere prepared... But after losing my fellows, my friends, my love... I could not muster the courage of the task. My lack... The cost to your species... it rends my soul. And yet," a fire kindled in his eyes, "I cherish these ages spent among you. My reverence for humanity only grows. Your courage, your tenacity, your will to overcome impossible odds... You are singular. Magnificent."

"The Turned here, the infiltrators in your midst? Never before have so many Visharath spurned their Empress. Dared to hope. Perhaps it's humanity's spark that summons such courage. Your very essence calls to us, rekindles the guttering flame of our conscience." Ragger's gaze swept across the petrified faces, human and changeling alike. "You may be the key. The lynchpin to stem our relentless advance. To stand against the Visharath and emerge unbroken."

"Together, human and Turncoat, united beneath the Destroyer's aegis... I dream we might shatter the Empress' hold over my people. Expose her fathomless evils for all Visharath to witness. This world, Earth, is our home now. We will defend it to oblivion. With every resource, every warrior, every drop of blood in our veins. I pray you'll stand with us. Fight with us. Bleed with us. Because together, I believe we can mend the wounds my species has torn in the universe's flesh. I know none of you. But know that I, that every changeling here, loves you. Loves you enough to risk annihilation."

Ragger began to retreat from the dais, but then paused. He looked back at the gathered faces, human and changeling alike, hesitation etching lines in his ancient muzzle.

"I have long held a question." The words scraped from his throat, raw as a fresh wound. "One that's haunted the hollows of my mind since before your ancestors dreamed of fire. To whom does a God pray?"

His muzzle dipped, jaws parting to taste the air. Acrid fear, pungent confusion, the salt-sting of unshed tears... and beneath it all, threading through the mélange like veins of gold in dark earth, something else. Something bright and fierce and achingly familiar.

His eyes slipped shut, savoring that scent. When he spoke again, his voice thrummed with quiet wonder. "In my long sojourn among you, treading paths you've yet to dream, I've pondered this riddle. And what I've found..." A wistful smile pulled at his grizzled jowls, and a rumble built in his cavernous chest, part laughter, part sob. "It's been here all along. Reflected in your eyes. Branded into your defiant souls. The real face of divinity, staring back at me from mortal flesh."

"A God should pray to those who kindle in him a blaze of compassion. Those who stoke the embers of selflessness in an immortal heart grown cold with centuries. In you, I've found a wellspring of hope. A reason to believe that growth, that change, is possible... even for a creature as ancient and steeped in blood as I."

Ragger's lids snapped open, pinning the assembled faces with a molten gaze. "You, children of earth and sky. You who spit in the eye of oblivion, every day of your mayfly lives. I would have you know that no world has ever withstood our might for as long as your species has. You have taught a God the meaning of faith. Not in some distant, unfathomable power, not in his own self... but in the glory and grit of the beings beside you. The mad, stubborn creatures who stare down the abyss and dare to dream of tomorrow when all reason screams that it is futile. For in your blazing spirits, I've found a light that sears away the dross of centuries. A crucible in which even a weary old fool that once dared to hope, might be reborn."

His massive frame shuddered, as if bowed by the weight of millennia. "You, humanity, in all your fractured glory, have taught me that true godhood is not a mask of worship and power, but the unvarnished truth of shared pain. Of soldiering on, shoulder to shoulder, through the unforgiving crucible of existence. In a universe that cares nothing for our struggles, we find in each other a refuge. In the bonds we forge, the sacrifices we make, we carve meaning from entropy."

A tremor shook his outstretched paw, betraying the tempest of emotions raging beneath his battle-scarred hide. "And so I pray to you, you mad, brilliant, beautiful creatures. I pray not for absolution, but for the mettle to stand with you. To bleed for the future we might yet build together. In your unbreakable spirit, I've found my lodestar. A light to steer by in the gathering dark."

"Let us walk this road as one, my brothers and sisters in arms. Let us reforge ourselves in the flames of redemption. And in so doing... Let us make the universe tremble at our audacity. And if the cosmos would deny us..." 

His voice faltered, ancient eyes clouding with a sudden, soul-deep weariness. "Then let us carve what solace we can from its unyielding fabric. Together. For however long we have. Let us be a warning to the Empress, let us be a force she never forgets, long after we are gone, let us stand as a reminder that she is not invincible, and that just as I stand before you a mortal, she is not a God!"

The words hung in the air, a promise and a plea all in one. Ragger's massive head drooped, as if the weight of centuries pressed down upon him anew. "I have walked this path alone for so long," he murmured, more to himself than the assembled throng. "Borne the burden of my choices, my sins, in solitude. But now..."

He trailed off, gaze sweeping over the sea of upturned faces. Human and changeling, united in this moment of reckoning. A shudder rippled through his battle-scarred frame, a lifetime of longing and despair distilled into a single, crystalline instant.

"Now, I dare to hope." The words were soft, almost lost beneath the rasp of his breathing. "That in fighting beside you, in bleeding for the world we'd build... I might find some measure of redemption. Some whisper of the absolution I've long sought."

His eyes glistened with a sheen of unshed tears. Slowly, painfully, he dipped his head in a gesture of profound humility. A god bowing before those he once called subjects, now hailed as equals. As family.

With one voice, the Turncoats spoke his final words with him. "From now until the end, we are yours."

Ragger finished his retreat, his presence dwindling until a mere hound stood before the shocked assembly, the divine colossus vanished. Tom scrambled away, arms pinwheeling as he teetered on the stage's edge.

A hush fell over the room, the silence so profound it seemed to devour sound itself. The air felt heavy, as if Ragger's words had physically pressed down upon every soul present. What does one say when a being of unfathomable power and ancient wisdom offers an apology? How does one respond when confronted with the knowledge that the creature before them, now a humble canine, had once been part of our pantheon? That it had slaughtered its friends, its own lover, to bring some peace and hope to humanity, a species and people that owed them nothing?

Martin, Alec's friend that had drunkenly rebuked the crowd, rose unsteadily to his feet, swaying as he fought for balance. His slurred voice cut through the tension. "Fuck it," he shouted. "That's good enough for me! This is America! We fought a war to get rid of royalty, and we don't like no fuckin' slavery, no matter who it is! Fuck that highfalutin bitch! I ain't ever stood shoulder to shoulder with a God out there in the shit, but I've stood by a few good dogs, and I'll trust a dog over a God any day! That's a good boy right there!" He jabbed a finger towards Ragger.

Another stood and shouted out their support. "A good God, and a good dog!"

I turned back to look at Ragger, who sat alone at the rear of the stage, his head hanging low, as if the weight of his memories and the enormity of his actions were too much for him to bear. His tail, usually so expressive, lay still and lifeless behind him, speaking to the depth of his sorrow and regret.

Danny's voice rose above the murmurs, thick with unshed tears. "Aye, he's a good fuckin' boy! Y'all have no idea! Let 'im hear it! Good boy, Ragger, good fuckin' boy!"

Another voice joined his, then another. The room filled with people rising to their feet, a chorus of support swelling. "Good boy!" they chanted, the words raw and heartfelt.

The changelings at the back added their voices, a rumbling undercurrent to the human cries. "GOOD BOY," they yelled, hands clapping in unison.

"Good boy! Good boy! Good boy!" The words bounced off the walls, filling the room with a sense of unity. The assembled crowd had come together, offering forgiveness and support to the ancient being who had risked everything to stand with them.

Ragger's eyes, brimming with an almost human vulnerability, met mine across the stage. His tongue lolled out in a moment of pure, unadulterated canine joy, his tail beginning to wag once more. He padded back to me, each step lighter than the last.

I buried my fingers in his thick fur as he sat beside me, finding the familiar scars behind his torn ear. The tremble in my hand betrayed my own surge of emotion. "I think you made an impression," I murmured, voice thick.

His answering bark shook the rafters, igniting a fresh round of cheers. Whatever came next, we would face it together – humans, changelings, and one very good boy.