As Nergal observed, a portal opened, through which his sister entered.

"Nergal, I came to apologise for my behaviour. Striking you was not the right thing to do, I should have explained how I treasure my creations properly."

"I really don't care, what I do care about, is what the hell those things are.

"Oh, I believe they're called elves. Seems they are trying to reproduce but the young are born mortal, I guess existence has slightly more meaning for you now."

"Not really, look, their souls are so fragile, they evaporate as soon as they enter the city."

"Maybe it's because you built a place they can be at rest? I don't know, anyway, I only came to apologise and warn you."

"Warn me about what? we're immortal, so noth-"

"Immortals can kill each other. You have been gone a long time, missed the creation of several pantheons, ours has remained peaceful so far but the others not so much. I hope you never need to know this, but do you know how to magnify your senses?"

"I do."

"Well, do so on me and follow my power to its source..." Nergal did as she instructed, finding what looked like small canals of golden energy flowing throughout her. "...We've named them divinity channels, destroy them and deplete them before an immortal can recover and they'll die."

Nergal's only thoughts were of how happy Death must be to have finally claimed them. That changed quickly however and his thoughts turned to the true gate.

"Thank you for the warning and enlightenment. Now, I must ask a favour of you."

"What is it?"

"My existence and this city, just became meaningful in a way I can't explain. Please spread the word that any who come here will die, I must fulfill my purpose at all costs."

"Brother, that sounds terribly lonely, be sure it doesn't drive you mad."

"If it does, just strike me again, you have enough power to force insanity from any mind."

Ishtar huffed and complained, but she was happy, to act with Nergal as she acted with her other siblings was an experience she never thought she'd have with the one the others called "The Estranged Elder-God".

"I'll take my leave then, but seriously, come and talk to me if your duty is too heavy to carry alone." Ishtar gave her brother a hug, then left him to fulfill his request.

Nergal became much more focused after that and gradually new species started appearing at the gate, and those which held themselves together after entering, even made themselves at home in Kur.

Eventually, some of the dead souls tried to escape and return to the realms of Life, which led to Nergal dragging them back by himself. He tore the first few apart to try and set an example that no one left his realm, but there was always another soul willing to take the risk.

In the end, he got bored of the meaningless chore, the only reason he even took their souls in was to hide his true purpose and so he created something else to perform the task. He used his own form for inspiration, the bestial upper half of his head, then remembered his sister's advice and kept their purpose in mind as he worked.

"I'll call them death-lions. Now! Tear any soul who tries to leave t-"

As he tried to give them their orders, one lunged at him, sinking its teeth into the bubbling flesh of his arm, before dying almost immediately in what looked to be indescribable agony.

Nergal shook his head, then killed one of the others that lunged at him, when another one lunged after that, he batted it away then grabbed the corpse that wasn't plague ridden and retreated with a good deal of embarrassment.

"Never thought they would attack me, but I don't want to kill them and start again, I'll have to train them..." He skinned the dead lion and turned its flesh into sleeves infused with massive amounts of his power.

When they were ready, he returned and trained as many as he could, setting them on the path to fulfilling their purpose. He found the process much more fulfilling than he had imagined it would be and formed a letter that he could send to his sister to demonstrate that he hadn't yet gone mad.

She replied with excitement, all but demanding she be allowed to visit and see the creations for herself, but Nergal refused for fear it would make the others test the weight of Ishtar's warning.

She couldn't deny that it would likely cause an incident of some kind, so she resisted the urge to visit him and instead the two of them sent letters regularly and maintained indirect contact.

It was a time of progress for Nergal, with every new species that started making its way to Kur giving him a new degree of purpose and his existence a new degree of meaning. He didn't want to peer out into the other realms, less it drew eyes towards him too, but he also grew curious as to how many immortals had fallen.

He resisted that curiosity for as long as he could, but eventually, could do so no longer.

He descended into the deepest depths of Kur and spoke words that he had been given only to fulfill his purpose.

When the true gate was ready to open, he did so and was thrilled to find the realm of Death beyond still largely uninhabited.

Curiosity sated, he closed the gate and returned it to non-existence, then made to ascend into Kur and that was when he discovered his soul purpose had been shattered and he had robbed his own life of meaning.

"I know your secret!"

The words were carved into the wall, higher up the staircase than he could go and still see, which he used to get a rough idea of the size of his target and then he used his senses to follow the intruder.

What followed was an event that would become known as the first war.

Nergal tore open a portal and found himself amidst gods he didn't know.

"Who are you!? Wait! Mesopotamian, you have no right to be here!"

"uš!"

The moment Nergal spoke the word, it was as though he had summoned his father. The divinity channels and even their mind and soul forms withered away into nothingness.

The next instant multitudes of gods from several pantheons arrived at the scene.

"Brother!? Why did you do this?"

"I made it clear the price of intruding upon my realm."

"You are the only intruder here Mesopotamian. You hav-"

"If you plan to threaten me, you should do so before I can speak."

"HAHAH-"

"uš! You arrogant fools are immortals?"

"Nergal, stop! You don't have to kill them all."

"Stop? I made it clear did I not? Some fools, decided to ignore my fair warning, then when I prove my words true, their pantheon decides to play victim?"

"Ishtar, I'm sorry, your brother has clearly gone mad as you feared. We must stop him."

"No! He isn't mad, h-" The seven family members that had accompanied Ishtar, pushed by her and ignored her.

She saw her brother's eyes, the look of utter dejection and unwillingness, she saw his hesitation and him looking for a way to stop it...

Then she saw him steel his resolve and call upon his father's power, the sensation was that of absolute despair and the weight of utter oblivion in the wake of complete annihilation.

The next instant, she saw her brother wiping his eyes through the tattered remains of her family dissipating into the cosmos.

"Nergal! You didn't need to do this!"

"Don't be mad at me sister! I asked a favour of you and your failure birthed this tragedy!"

That was the last words spoken between them as Ishtar and Nergal...

From that day on, he was dubbed "Kin-Slayer".

The first to kill those of his own pantheon, the event sent ripples throughout existence the remainder of the pantheon he had attacked in his hunt made several attempts to invade his realm in search of vengeance.

Ishtar had grown reclusive as well, generally believed to be a result of her being unable to completely deny that she had failed to do her part out of an idealistic belief that he was exaggerating.

The issue at large though, was that Nergal had proved that the difference in power between some and others could be much greater than believed and with not much to do for entertainment, violence inevitably became the pass-time.

The casualties were immense, pantheon versus pantheon, brother versus brother, mother versus daughter, stranger versus stranger. Anyone who had a grudge against another or even a simple desire to see who was stronger.

The elders tasked with filling Thingness with worlds, stars, systems, nebula and galaxies quickly found their lovingly crafted work reduced to battle-scarred wastelands.

The elders-tasked with creating life, soon found themselves creating pawns and monstrosities for those engaged in the war to play out larger scale fantasies of savagery.

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