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The Apple-of-the-Eye, thanks to its close bond with the all-pervasive Glory, had been privy to the events that had ensued - the attempted assassination of the Delver, as well as parts of the greater conspiracy to control the Assemblage by followers of The-Liar-Most-High. These distant visions prompted it to call upon the other patron-Hours of the Assemblage of Holy Vessels, the Spark and the Peacock with its Vizier, to dismantle the growing conspiracy.
As far as he could feel such negative emotions, the Peacock felt his umbrage rise at the revelation the pretender-Hour's servants were working to undermine his collaboration with the other Hours. His winged Long scattered to the winds, keeping an eye open for seditious whispers and promising untold delights to any who could offer useful information. The Peacock FNORDed FNORD Suitors and the Suitresses of the Lady in Red, with their seemingly human visages and charming countenances, slipped into the ranks of the Assemblage and the Liar. As both spies and "interrogators", the infiltrators they found parted with their secrets almost immediately. The Vizier also did FNORD.
The Spark FNORDed extensively, FNORDing FNORD wanderer and visionary, wandered now with a rare sense of purpose. It traversed the Histories and sought out the minds of those connected to the Deceiver, plumbing their depths for evidence of their wrongdoings and planting ideas for a change in religion, although it is unknown how many acted on the processinspired notion.
The Glorious Lie, meanwhile, composed twin missives to the twin snakes. It was clear that neither Hour was willing to sit still after what had happened, so their efforts would need to be redirected towards a more helpful cause. The Wrong-Serpent would receive word on what had injured his sister - a fearsome war-module of the Engine of Cycles, still containing a part of the vast heat it was made within. The Anaconda, meanwhile, would be told of the would-be assassin, and his alliegance with the secret group of Deceiver-Long that sought to take control of the Assemblage by first leading it against the serpents.
The Architeuthian wrathed and raged, furious at the betrayal of St. Darwin. Darwin and many other Maker Long recruited after the Maker's consumption had turned against him, proving that the Squid was not as powerful as he seems, and that he was not considered the true bearer of Forge-power in the House of the Snake. The Squid devoted any and all power he had toward the destruction of these traitors, and to the eventual destruction of the Engine and all allied with it. Seawater, he said, will cause even the mightiest of machines to rust. These are the words of power that his followers used against the opposing forces.
The Apple and the Sneks FNORDED
=Confrontation=
While this had been going on, the Architeuthian had not been idle. Tiring of words and irritated by his agents' failures to destroy the Assemblage, the Squid directly emerged into the history in the form of the Kraken, becoming the first Hour to manifest in the mortal world in FNORD years. This signaled a total route of the Assemblage, who could not hope to stand against the raw, undiluted power of an Hour incarnate.
The Squid would have utterly destroyed the Assemblage then and there, had it not been distracted by the object of his wrath: St. Darwin himself. In a move that cemented his position in the eyes of the Assemblage as a living Saint, Darwin confronted the Squid alone in an effort to buy his people a chance to escape. Darwin was strong in the ways of the Maker, and had always been counted among the greatest of its servants. But as a mere Long he could have never hoped to match the Dweller in the Depths.
Nonetheless, although he was quickly felled by the great leviathan, he at least managed to last ''just'' long enough for the Assemblage's patron Hours to begin spiriting them away from the battle, hiding them from the Squid's wrath. Enraged, the Squid took his fury out upon Darwin, shattering his body and forcibly tearing from him the last embers of his gods essence, leaving him a broken old man.
With the evacuation still not fully complete and facing not just death but total oblivion at the tentacles of the Squid, Darwin did the unthinkable by calling upon the Hour of the Peacock, who permits no ending. As he lay dying under the moon, he vowed he would give himself to the Upstart, in exchange for the survival of himself and the Assemblage. In the sight of the Dolomedes the Peacock accepted, and the bargain was struck.
Immediately Darwin was filled with unnatural life, and the Squid was shocked to see he was unable to destroy Darwin, no matter what he tried. His focus however was quickly torn from Darwin when the Peacock intervened to rescue his new Long from the Hour of Survival.
==Full Description==