Chapter 1.36 Of Fate and Fools
"You would raise a hand against Your own child?" the Shadow asked, baring its fangs even as sadness crept into its tone. I smiled thinly, keeping my posture relaxed and sword at the ready, held loosely in my grip as it was. The blade seemed to vibrate in my hand, as if sensing my intentions. "They truly have corrupted You, haven't they? Great One, I will remind You of Your true self."
I did not verbally respond, stepping forward and swinging in the same motion, space warping around me to make the strike connect. The Shadow yelped and tried to leap away but was too slow, my blade slipping into it and reverberating off of something held tight, deep in the Shadow's core. With a grunt I stumbled backward, caught off guard by the fierce backlash, and inability to cut through the Shadow's core. Was my resolve not strong enough? I narrowed my eyes at the Shadow, whose eight eyes were wide as it inspected itself for an injury that was not there, the blade having seemingly harmlessly entered its body, then back out again.
No, my resolve was fine. As much as I wanted to talk to the Shadow, to understand it, this had to end now. It was the Shadow's fate that was stronger than expected.
"What was that?!" it howled, scrabbling away from me, limbs flailing. I glanced to the side, at Elvira and Keilan, who were hastily mending the barriers between Realms. They needed more time before they could leave. That was fine. I would handle this.
"The Sword that Does Not Cut." I said simply, stepping forward once more. Space warped, the Shadow attempting to flee, to dart around me and aim for the Realm Sun once more, but found I was always in front of it. It howled, power it had kept in reserve for my entrance surging outward and upward, dwarfing the power of its siblings by threefold yet still not reaching my height. Dark miasma rushed toward me, flowing off of my skin like mist – seeking to enter my body, but unable to.
The sword flashed, the Void that comprised its edge, twisted with my intent and purpose, soaking up the rays of light from the Sun. Once, twice more I struck, the first time once again rebuffed with an echoing clang like metal upon metal, while the second swing finally cut through. I grunted as a weight unlike anything I had ever felt launched itself at me, the Shadow's fate severed at its core. The shield on the sword's hilt rung like a bell, vibrating terribly as I was sent skidding backward through the faux void, toward the primordial chaos, the Shadow howling in confusion and surprise.
"What have you done?!" it roared as I steadied myself, gripping the sword with both hands and gritting my teeth. This was far, far heavier than I expected.
"Severed your fate," I ground out, feeling out the Shadow's fate. At a quick glance I couldn't tell exactly what it was beyond destruction, and an intense connection to the Sun. A wolf, devouring the sun? That sounded familiar. "The blade to sever, the shield to block the backlash and catch the strings, and a brush to rewrite it all. I saw the truth of what you are, Shadow, in the depths of my meditations. Not even you know it, I suspect. This will give you something…else," I muttered. Disconnecting the Shadow from the fate of the Sun was a tactical move, and the first step to truly defeating it. Just capturing and imprisoning the Shadow, or even wiping away its soul, would not solve the problem. The fundamental cause of the Shadow ran far deeper than that.
"What I am?! No, I know what you are, Great One!" it snapped. I took a deep breath and flipped the sword around, so the brush on the pommel was held outward like a knife. The weight of the Shadow's severed fate hung as heavy as the cosmos, from the shield. "I need to remind you-" I gave it no further time to speak, darting forward and grabbing it by the scruff of the neck, shocking it with my speed. It yelped and struggled – odd, I expected more resistance from it – limbs flailing; its snarl deepened into a foul growl, four remaining spidery legs stabbing forward and sinking inches into my chest.
A burst of power silenced all of its protests, its limbs remaining in me. It was not painful, the wounds largely superficial, but that was not the point. It was the principle of the matter.
"Child," I ground out, glaring at it and readying the brush. "That is enough. Now sit still and let me work." Two quick strokes was all it took, to seal the ends of the Shadow's severed fate. I pressed no purpose onto the Shadow, not replacing it with anything else. That was not the point of this. Its crimes could not go unpunished, but neither could it be erased, either. The weight of what it had been still sat heavy in my hands, the sword vibrating from the pressure, but…I stilled.
Something was wrong. I looked down at the Shadow's face to see it grinning, and found I could not move my limbs. What?
"I know who and what you are, Great One. I saw those memories you keep locked away, hidden from the Others. They, just like my siblings, have tainted your greatness with imaginings of what was. I will free you of your bondage," the Shadow promised. My eyes widened as I peered into the Shadow's being, peeling back its layers, forcibly hidden from my eyes. Seven drops of my blood swirled beside the Shadow's soul, tainted and twisted to its own purposes, alongside a few void shards. That was not what was surprising; upon seeing how it had empowered the dark gods with my blood, I had expected this much.
I did not expect to see threads of power linking said droplets to me, binding my limbs with chains of my own power. It was not a seal that would hold me for long, a few seconds at most, but I dreaded what the Shadow could do in those few seconds – were I not still holding it by the scruff of the neck, and therefore containing it. Oh, we were going to have words.
"FOOL!" The Shadow yelped. "NOW!" Fool? I wondered. What…?
And the Sun exploded. Fire and heat washed over the two of us, singing my robes and searing the Shadow's fur. It cackled madly despite the pain it had to be feeling – and suddenly the fires of the Sun began to recede, sucked into a single point, almost as if a vacuum had sucked it up. Light beamed off of the being that stood where the Sun had been, no less radiant than when it had been a giant, celestial object, its power now concentrated into a single person.
"Sol! What are you doing?!" I demanded, straining against my chains. The Shadow continued to cackle as the Sun God stepped away from the primordial chaos, sparing me only a single, furious glance before descending upon the Realms. Heat rolled from him in waves, distorting the air and searing all of creation. Alexander rose into the sky weakly, a bit of his power returning as he charged heedlessly at Sol – the Sun god spared him barely a glance, dodging around him in a flash of light.
I turned my gaze upon the Shadow, fury writ across my features as it looked up at me smugly, still held by the scruff of its neck, even as it retracted its spidery limbs from my chest.
Such an expression would not last.
Sol stopped before Elvira, who bared her teeth in a feral snarl. His mere presence so close to the realms burned away energy and land alike, threatening to boil oceans and burn away the Tree. The miniature suns in the physical realm flickered, reacting to his presence, their flames seeking to reach up to join him.
"I should have been emperor." He told her, raising a hand. A miniature sun appeared in his palm as he glared at her, beams of white light shooting off of her. "None of you know what it's like, to be told you have been found wanting, that your purpose is inadequate, to have your authority infringed upon by your own parent! The skies are mine! As the Four Realms should have been!" Keilan's karmic strings leapt up, trying to reach out to snag Sol, but he was too far away, his heat too intense.
"You're a damn fool," Elvira ground out, fingers twitching as she prepared to release the Realms and leap out of the way. "As soon as I let go, I'm going to crush your head like a grape!" Sol snorted out a half-laugh, and I jerked my limbs forward, one leg breaking free of the Shadow's binding seal.
"Quit stalling, fool! Finish it!" The Shadow roared, frothing at the mouth for destruction. "I can only bind the Great One for so long!" I flexed my arm, the hand holding my sword breaking free as I smote the Shadow across the back of the head, effectively silencing it for a brief moment.
"You have a place in my future kingdom." Sol said to Elvira, lowering his hand and turning to the Physical Realm and his brother, Gilles. Said god was racing up toward him, shadows curling about his form, the chaotic goddess he had been fighting standing back and watching with a small frown.
"Brother, no! What are you doing?!" he shouted, desperation filling his chest as he tried to reach Elvira and his brother, torn between who to tackle away. And Sol hesitated. I saw it in him, upon seeing his brother, the other half to his light. Another flex of my power and another shackle was broken, allowing my movement of my other arm. All of this had happened in less than three seconds.
"Shadows do not have a place. All will know my Light," Sol promised, and unleashed the sun in his palm. It raced toward Gilles, who could do nothing but blink in surprise at the betrayal of his own brother. It was a powerful strike, meant to wipe out something completely and utterly. And many things happened at once.
The sun struck Gilles.
"GILLES!" Elvira screamed in horror and pain.
Randus snagged him away at the last second, reaching the god of shadows just in time to protect him and pull him into the land of dreams, saved from annihilation.
And power rippled through the primordial chaos as the Will was awoken.
I thought I was already mad. Mere anger did nothing to justify the absolute rage that pounded through my veins now.
"SOL!" I boomed, the weight of control freely taken from my shoulders as the Will of the Four Realms activated. The constant, mighty power that flowed through me, strong enough to break reality even without the added weight of the Lunar Star, stored though it was, given an extra set of hands to keep it precise as punishment descended. The bonds that bound me shattered, lightning crackling all through the primordial chaos as it writhed, a face forming in it.
My face.
Sol paled as I stepped forward and reached out a hand, the primordial chaos matching my movements, a hand half the size of the Four Realms itself surging from the chaos to reach toward him.
"YOU HAVE COMMITED A CARDINAL SIN, ATTEMPTING TO DESTROY THE TRUESOUL OF ANOTHER DENIZEN OF THE REALMS." I boomed. My voice echoed through the chaos, through all of creation. Even the Shadow was pacified, eyes wide as it stared up at me. I had expected you to try this. Not Sol. I thought to myself.
"No!" Sol shrieked, backpedaling. Fire surged from his form, his bronze skin melting as the power within him sought to change his body back to that of a sun – and he surged downward, toward the physical realm and away from my hand. I grit my teeth and reached for him, waves of fire lashing out to bath the Realms in flames and heat in some last-ditch effort to do something– only for arrows of pure light to strike him, sinking into his chest. It did little more than startle him, backing him off, away from the realm as he stared down at the spiritual objects in his chest – for it being spiritual was how it bypassed the sheer heat he radiated – in surprise.
Fang Xu stood above the tree, firing arrow after arrow as Sol descended; one archer, trying to shoot down the Sun. Formations sprang to life around him and from the arrows he launched, a small cage forming around Sol in an attempt to mitigate the damage.
In that next split-second the Hand reached Sol, shrinking in size but not in strength as it closed around him and tore his body from his power; the light of the Sun separated from his soul.
"No! You can't do this to me!" Sol raged, struggling against the fate he brought upon himself.
"PUNISHMENT COMES FOR YOU NOW. I STRIP YOU OF YOUR POWER, YOUR TITLES, YOUR DIVINITY, YOUR IMMORTALITY! I STRIP YOU OF ALL THAT YOU WERE, DOWN TO THE VERY LAST INCH!" Each statement was punctuated by another piece of his being, being wiped away, until all that remained was his truesoul. That last piece I would leave alive, though I would lessen it greatly. It was a truesoul that decided whether a being would reincarnate as a mortal, like a Fae, or an insect or a plant. It was a truesoul that contained one's dao, one's path to becoming greater. When I said that the truesoul contained all that which most important, I did not lie. Personality, memories, all those could be built up again, and remembered. Losing the core of one's self, letting it die, that could not be.
Even that, I lessened in Sol.
He would rejoin the Realms, starting as the lowest of the low. In time, he might rise up again, with new lessons learned, and new purpose. I didn't much care, though I would be watching for him. It is a punishment I wish I could give to the Shadow. I thought icily, almost begging it to cross one of those lines, to give me that final reason. The Shadow squirmed in my grip, trying to break free of me and reach the energy of the Sun, contained though it was. It was in that moment the Shadow tried to do something stupid.
Power surged within its gut as it ignited my blood, pooling within it. I scowled and turned my full attention to it, the explosion building within itself as it tried to self-destruct, clearly hoping to do some final amount of damage, perhaps even make me lose control over the Sun –
"Enough out of you!" I snarled, letting go of the sword – which floated beside me all the same – and grabbing its forehead with my now-free hand. The raging explosion stilled for a moment as I wrapped my power around my blood, the void shards, and the other thing that made the Shadow what it was. It took a moment. We wrestled with each other for a moment longer than I wanted it to, the Shadow resisting me with all its might. But eventually the Shadow's grip slipped, and I yanked that which was mine to begin with free of its grasp, loosened as it was by the severance of fate.
The Shadow sagged as I hauled this chunk of power and being free, the thing that made its fate what it had been shifting in my grip like a ball of smoke and darkness. I bared my teeth at it, hissing in momentary indecision what to do with it. In an instant I cooled the explosion threatening to rip through those droplets of blood, separating out the void shards. A bit of primordial chaos floated up to me, forming a cage in which I stuffed the now-defeated Shadow into, then promptly sealed away the power I had taken in a glass jar, to be dealt with later.
I turned back to the Realms, and what I saw surprised me.
The Shadow's final gambit had made me lose a bit of focus, even with the Will of the Realms aiding me. Some of the Sun's power had slipped through the grip of my hand of primordial chaos, rays of fire and heat shooting off through the realms – most not hitting anything important, but a few coming dangerously close to certain objects. Alexander batted away two with his tail, his scales now blackened from the heat. The gods of fire and water contained another, directing it away from Keilan, injured though they were. Elvira took one to the face with gritted teeth. It was Fang Xu who surprised me the most, however, standing before the Tree with arms spread.
Five streaks of fire and light flowing into his chest as he channeled it into his soul, the power burning him inside and out. Celene screamed from below, the immortal woman too far away to reach him as he stood before the Tree, absorbing all the rays that had threatened to hurt it further. His soul shuddered under the strain, another ray of light curling around to sink into him. I narrowed my eyes.
Wait…all the rays were flowing to him now.
Alexander blinked in surprise as residual energy clinging to his scales, heat and light from the Sun seeping out of his form to rejoin the rest of itself in Fang Xu. My eyes narrowed further as the other rays of light, such as the one which was contained by Fire and Water, for example, gently turned and flowed to Fang Xu as well. The man's face was red in pain and frustration, his soul shaking – and I realized what was happening.
The Sun was seeking its core, the power that manifested it trying to remake itself and return once more to being that great big ball of fire in the sky. And Fang Xu, in his brave stupidity, in his attempt to protect the Realm and his loved ones in the only way he knew how, had thrown himself in the way and unwittingly offered up himself as the core. There was just one issue.
Sol's destructive intent still lingered in the Sun's essence, fading though it was. It burned Fang Xu not just because it was too much for his immortal body to maintain, but also because it sought to destroy him inside and out. And destroy him it would try, right down to his truesoul.
I scowled and made a grasping motion with one hand, Fang Xu hurtling out of the Realms to float before me – I had to get him out of there before the power imploded to become the Realm Sun once more.
"You idiot," I hissed, looking the man over as he struggled before me, sweat beading his brow – only to be evaporated an instant later. "You bloody idiot. You're killing yourself again – when will you learn your lesson, damn it?!" I barked, though the man couldn't hear me. Already pieces of himself had burned away into free energy; his immortality was gone, as was his qi and a large chunk of his soul. His will, however, remained, and kept him from collapsing.
Then I stilled, staring at him, mind working in overtime, fully aware of the Shadow's eyes upon us, greatly weakened though it was. Fang Xu's soul was whispering to me, begging me not to save him, but to simply end the threat of the Sun exploding and destroying everything, unaware as he was that I already had. The corners of my lips tugged into a frown as I grabbed him by the chin, unable to control my unrestrained aura and uncaring that it put even further pressure on him. And something tickled the back of my mind. Visions and dreams came to me as I studied Fang Xu for what felt like an eternity, but was in fact mere nanoseconds.
Eight pillars. And the Sun does need a guide…
"Damn fool. Fang Xu, you foolish, brave mortal, I have a proposition for you. It's going to suck, but it will give your soul a chance for survival." I promised, touching his soul and easing its pain for but a moment. I put a hand upon the power of the Realm Sun, slowing its eager flow. There were no words of comfort here. It was either this, or watch his soul burn away under the pressure of the Sun – in fact, the pressure was the only thing keeping what little remained of his soul together; stopping the process could even shatter him. I could maybe protect his truesoul, but that would mean the Red String that connected him and Celene would instantly shatter, as well. Even this was likely to sever it…unless. The orb of the Lunar Star burned cold in my pocket.
Do it. Fang Xu's soul beseeched me, clutching tightly to that red string. I stood and held out my hand, the Sword that Does Not Cut flying back into my palm. In one smooth motion I swung it down upon the man, severing the burned pieces of his soul. He screamed in pain and anguish – for there was no pain like having your soul injured – and held out my other hand, what remained of Sol's divinity flying into the other. This, too, I cut in half before stuffing it into Fang Xu. Immediately his expression slackened and relaxed, red hair igniting in flames, eyes glowing gold…then rolling up into the back of his skull as he passed out.
"It's up to you now. It will take tens of thousands, if not millions of years to assimilate the divinity and the power of the Realm Sun – it will not be comfortable, that I promise, as it burns away your mortality. But you may yet survive to find Celene again." I whispered, before shoving him away and letting the rest of the Realm Sun's energy go.
It flowed to him instantly, igniting in a burst of power and flash of light – and then the Realm Sun floated once more outside the Realms, its light no longer harsh and burning, but soft and warming. Immediately I felt the Realms sigh in relief as it was returned to some semblance of normalcy; even the hand of primordial chaos started to fade, though I directed that raw stuff of creation into the cracks in the Realms to act as glue and begin the mending process. Elvira and Keilan sighed in relief as a weight was taken off their shoulders; even Reika pulled herself out of her Tree, green light radiating from her as she began to heal the Realms.
I, however, turned my attention back to the Shadow, who stared at me despondently.
"What…" it rasped weakly. "Did you take from me…?"
"What was originally mine." I said bluntly, retrieving the jar I had sealed that dark power in. I cast a critical eye over it, knowing what I had to do. But not yet. My children deserved an explanation as well. "And I don't mean just the blood. This was my weakness."
"…weakness?" The Shadow asked.
"Yes. Becoming a god is hard enough, but becoming a creator god? That is another matter entirely. Parts of my soul had to be removed - weakness in my being, that could not stand up to the unfiltered power of creation - so the right, stronger parts could grow to the required levels. That weakness of mine clung to you. Empowering you, growing in strength just as I did." I explained, twisting it back and forth. I hadn't taken it all away from the Shadow, because it had been born of that weakness. As one of those first, weak little souls I made, that weakness had latched onto the Shadow and twisted its growth. But I couldn't let it be controlled by my own weakness, given purpose by some foul machination of fate and the nature of creation.
"What…are you going…to do with it?" The Shadow asked.
"For now, nothing," I said, turning away from the Shadow, leaving it in the cage I had made for it. It wouldn't last forever, but it would do for now. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have your mess to clean up. Then we'll decide what to do with you."
This decision, however, would not be mine alone to make. The severed fate was far too heavy for that.
Chapter 1.37 Aftermath
The immediate aftermath of the battle was as messy as all battles were. Perhaps this one even moreso, as it was a fight between gods.
Burial shrouds were laid out for those who had been slain, or whose souls had been so grievously injured they might have to re-enter the cycle of reincarnation to heal. Many of the Heavenly Host were among the dead. Two of Elvira's angels had been victims of such a fate, and one god. More were so badly injured, they would take millennia to heal properly.
Reika walked among the injured, supported by Kei, who I had retrieved from my palace, her healing green light washing out to heal wound of all involved. Gods and other spiritual beings alike crowded around her, licking their injuries and staring out over the realms at the smoking destruction. She even did this for many of the mortals, her healing light washing out to right as many of the wrongs as she could, as quickly as possible. Argent, the god of metal, was a particular focus of hers, injured as he was from holding back the Shadow. The god just laughed at his wounds, pressing Reika to look after others first.
Reika's presence would be instrumental in healing the Realms; her biggest role, by her own begrudging admission, was not to fight, but to pick up the pieces afterwards. I daresay her knowledge in the healing arts were nearly as good as, if not better than, my own. Add to that the large Treants she had made, who walked the wilds of the Physical Realm, healing the land and cleansing it of whatever foul miasma the Shadow and its forces had inflicted upon it, and things were quickly looking better for the mortals. Even the lesser planets had these creations upon them, little battle though they'd seen.
After ensuring the barrier between realms was secured, Keilan immediately set about fixing the Karmic Palace and sorting out the lines of souls, easing much of the ill karma that had been accrued and taking it upon himself to handle. This was a war, after all, a near apocalyptic-level event. It would be wrong of us to not lighten the burden of karma. An incarnation of mine aided him – the karma of the Realms was my karma as well, and it would be remiss of me to not take an active hand in dealing with it. Thankfully, now that things were wrapping up, it seemed like I wouldn't be forced into meditation for a while yet and I could actually get some work done.
Manasa, his holy beast, and the few karmic angels he'd managed to raise flit about the Valley, directing souls and aiding the karmic kings. His security force proved instrumental in the process, as well. Asuras and Psykers, he called them, beings of intense karmic ties with strong psionic powers.
Elvira rallied what remained of her army, praising them despite the way her own heart raged at her inability to end the battle. She, like most of my children, refused to meet my eyes out of shame, when it should be I who apologized to them. Despite needing to let things play out this way, to draw out the Shadow so I could handle it properly, I still felt like I should have done more to mitigate the damage. I just…I couldn't imagine what it all would have been like, had I let the Shadow continue to fester and lurk. At least now we had a chance to keep growing.
She directed much of the relief efforts, sending those who were healthy to go rescue any they could from the aftermath. What remained of the Heavenly Host marched with them, armor gleaming. I asked Elvira what they were called, beyond that. She said she hadn't thought of a name for them yet besides Heavenly Host.
She cried tears of relief and grief both when Randus returned with Gilles, the god of shadows' body burnt, but alive. I told her to tend to him, and I would handle the relief efforts. She refused, though her gaze lingered upon Gilles as he was tended to.
Alexander was the most injured, and I – or, at least, a part of me – spent a great amount of time ensuring his well-being. Tanking multiple direct explosions from all manner of spirits, as well as doing direct battle with the Shadow itself, empowered as it was by my blood, had left him in bad shape. I ignored his protests as I eased some of his pain, fixing his broken horn and meeting his sad eyes with a proud smile. He lived up to his namesake, despite falling victim to the Shadow's scheming. We had all done that. Nonetheless, I knew he felt inadequate. But I saw him as a paragon of virtue, the fiercest of guardians and most powerful of the Four. He tried to rise, to aid in the efforts, but I told him to rest.
I would handle the Spirit Realm while he healed. I would handle much while all my children healed; take the reins back into my own hands, as it were. They had done well, and I was proud of them all. As he slunk away to go sleep in his cave, the god of fire and goddess of water joined him, fussing over his wounds together, he muttered his thanks.
Randus waved me off when I approached, the butler god standing tall with shoulders set. The land of dreams had been damaged by the Shadow's presence, and he needed to calm it to keep giving the mortals more positive dreams. I didn't leave, however, without giving him a hug, which he stiffly returned. He had done excellently, even if I knew he felt inadequate in his ability to fight. His duty had never been to fight, though, and he had bought me more than enough time.
Most of the other gods I personally visited as well. The wind goddess Aeriel smiled at me as she spread news of victory across all the Realms from where she was laid up in the healing branches of the Tree, under Reika's care. The wind carried words of joy and sadness with it to all who would listen, proclaiming victory. I praised her for her bravery, and she responded by blowing a light breeze in my face. It smelled faintly of cinnamon, and carried with it the whispering sounds of birdsong.
There was still more to be done for all the gods and mortals and angels, after I made my first rounds, but before that I had something else to do. There were dark spirits to deal with.
I walked among the dark spirits and dark angels. Many were sealed away, or had fled back into the hidden realms the Shadow had come from. Those would need to be explored later, but for now no one had the energy to go chasing after them – we needed to focus on healing first, and then that could be dealt with. But, primarily, I had to deal with a specific few beings.
The Shadow had imbued a few dark angels with my blood. They didn't have full drops, usually only half or quarter of a drop, but that is what gave them the power to contend with the gods. For each one I, personally, went up and retrieved that drop. Partly because it was symbolic. Partly so the sudden absence of power didn't collapse their souls. Each one collapsed in a heap afterwards, power draining from them as they lost the status of "dark angel" and fell back into merely spiritual beings – I personally sealed each away in jade talismans, gifted to me by the Heavenly Host.
Then I came upon the chaotic goddess Gilles had battled.
She had been knelt just outside of Reika's palace, atop the Tree, alongside the other dark angels I had needed to deal with. Golden rope bound her, shackles of jade fixated upon her wrists and ankles. After the fighting she had apparently willingly surrendered, not least because she had been surrounded by gods and powerful spiritual beings alike. She sneered as I approached, able to do little else.
"Well? What are you waiting for?" She challenged me. The caging of the Shadow had taken much of the fight out of her…or so I had thought, but the defiance in her shifting, red eyes told me otherwise. "Strip me of my powers, oh great god. Lay upon me the terrible might of the Heavenly Dao, which will not stand for one of my path! Do it, you coward!" I was silent, Fu Hao and Stilicho bristling from where they walked beside me.
"Put respect upon His name, cur!" Stilicho raged.
"Silence your tongue!" Fu Hao snapped. The goddess rolled her eyes as I observed the chaotic aura that rolled off of her, stroking my chin and observing bits of her past. Now that she laid before me, I could see her past quite plainly…
"Or what, assholes? God will smite me?" she argued. I smiled, not unkindly as I met her eyes. The expression seemed to catch her off guard, especially when I knelt before her, laying a hand upon her shoulder.
"Thyia." I said, nodding. She blinked.
"What?"
"Thyia. That will be your name, if it's alright with you. Sorry it took so long to name you, I just…well, I didn't know you existed if I'm honest. And wow, that makes me sound like an absent parent, doesn't it?" I mused, patting her shoulder and standing. She gaped at me. "It's a decent name for a goddess of sacrifice and catastrophe, I think." She wasn't just the goddess of suicide, after all. There was a touch of something else there, unfinished and unrealized, that bordered on the catastrophic. It was an...interesting revelation, that I could see clearly now.
"But – aren't you going to…I mean, the Shadow," she stammered.
"You gained divinity through a legitimate way. The other dark gods committed suicide, and had been artificially elevated through my own blood; I would have stripped them of their divinity were they still here. As had the Shadow, who would have likely been around Alexander's level had it not ingested my blood." I explained calmly. "You still did some bad things, many bad things, and will be imprisoned for a time because of it. Even I can see how the Shadow manipulated you, cut you off from my influence to make you as you are now. But you will not be stripped of your divinity."
"But – I'm a dark god! Not of sacrifice, but suicide!" she spluttered.
"Are you? Is that all you are?" I asked sharply, trying, and failing to have patience. "Suicide is a dark, and dangerous thing. Sacrifice is the surrendering of something to an end. Were the angels who suicided themselves not sacrificing their existence to a greater goal? Is a man who throws himself to the wolves to distract them and save others, not still a suicidal act? There is nobility in self-sacrifice, just as there is a light within suicide. Heed my words, Thyia, or a goddess of suicide is all you will ever be, when you could be more." I told her, standing and shaking my head. She gaped at me as I walked away, Fu Hao and Stilicho following. Anger burned in my gut still at all that had happened, but I had to do my best to play the role of an impartial judge.
It was one thing for mortals to make decisions like this, to imprison or kill. It was another thing entirely for one in my position to.
I'd visit Thyia, wherever she ended up being imprisoned, of course. We needed to make up for lost time…time the Shadow had prevented me from having with her. I resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of my nose, to stave off the coming headache. There was something someone had said in my old life, though for the life of me I couldn't remember who it was, that said something to the effect of "If I can't be a ruler who never uses cruelty, I want to be a ruler who only uses cruelty once."
The worst part was, I hadn't been expecting to have to use that cruelty on Sol. I knew he'd been disgruntled about the pending Lunar Star, but not that angry. A large part of me had expected to have to use it on the Shadow…that same part still expected to, still wanted to. But that decision wasn't wholly mine, anymore.
So I continued down the line, examining the dark spirits, sealing many away. The worst offenders, though, had all blown themselves up. Those who remained, were those who were not as dedicated to the Shadow. They were the least of the offenders.
Then there were no more. The imprisonment was finished for all save one – the most important one. And for this, I would need to gather my first four children. With a quick word of thanks to Fu Hao and Stilicho, who bowed in respect, I vanished, sending out a silent call to my kids. We had a Shadow to deal with.
We sat together in a small room, the walls carved stone, like a cave. Outside, the thundering of the true Abyss, where the primordial chaos met the Void, echoed like waves against a cliffside as it raged against the true Void. Alexander was curled up near the entrance, head held high and injuries still healing. Elvira and Keilan sat opposite each other, arms crossed, both of their wings bandaged and set in splints as the bones mended. Reika sat closest to me, her hands twitching with the desire to get back to work. This shouldn't take long, though.
Before us stood a large, round table of reddish stone, flat and smooth, unadorned. And above it floated the Shadow, bound in a cage of primordial chaos, head resting on its paws as it stared out at us despondently.
"I believe I owe you children an explanation." I started. "Of what, exactly, the Shadow is, and what made it strong."
"Besides devouring your blood?" Alexander ground out, glaring at the Shadow. I nodded and procured the jar of essence I had taken from it. The black mass within swirled and writhed, pressing against the container as it sought to rejoin with the Shadow, whose eyes locked onto it.
"This is my weakness." I said simply. "That which was removed from me when I became an Origin Deity, so the necessary things could grow. Parts of my soul that were too weak to handle the power. It had to go somewhere, and it latched onto the Shadow – a soul created in the darkness of my own Light. This, moreso than the Void, is what kept it hidden from us all. It is the part of myself I did not want to see." At this explanation, even though it had heard a bit of it before, the Shadow perked up slightly. In fact all of my greatest children leaned forward in interest. "It twisted its fate, creating something that mirrored destruction and hatred. The Shadow, as my child, wanted to show me some truth. Ironically it did, just not what it was aiming for; and what it was aiming for would end in nothing less than the total annihilation of creation." I explained, shaking my head.
It was a fool's goal, that would end in all of our deaths. And to make matters worse, almost all the blame could be laid upon me. How I designed the Realms, what I created first, my desires when creating the universe…all of it had culminated in this storm. This was the consequence of creation, beyond even the Void trying to consume us. We managed to weather this storm, but if I did not handle it delicately, the next storm might overwhelm us. Which was why I sought a permanent solution to that which was called the Shadow.
"What are you going to do with it?" Reika asked, gesturing to the jar. I smiled at her.
"This." In one smooth motion I popped open the lid and sucked it all into my mouth, swallowing it whole. All of them sat directly upright as I groaned in relief, the power flowing down into me and rejoining my soul, filling a hole I had not even noticed was there. In an instant it was overwhelmed by the rest of my being, assimilated and made to join with the rest of me once more, immediately being raised up to the necessary level of power. "I am strong enough now, that such weakness is immaterial to me. And, in fact, only makes me stronger – oh!"
Relief surged within me, some nexus of power being restored as I straightened upright, an itching sensation burning behind my eyes, and along my lost arm. I blinked rapidly, banishing my prosthetic arm of primordial chaos, noting that nearly two inches of flesh had been restored by that one simple action, before remaking it once again. Then my sight blurred. Things I had never seen before became far more clear – even the Shadow's hidden realm became visible to me, stretching across all of the Realms like a spiderweb, hidden just under the surface.
My smile died on my face as I turned back to my children, each of them flinching in turn as I turned my gaze to them, seeing deeper into their domains and selves than I ever had before…at least, with such a casual glance. I could see the breaths catch in their lungs, their eyes flitting away from my piercing gaze instinctually…
"Well, that was a pleasant surprise." I mused, then shook my head. This was only step one. "Now, however, we must decide what to do with the Shadow." They were all silent for a long, long moment, while the Shadow continued to stare at me.
"Destruction is not an option, I assume," Elvira asked.
"No. Not just for the reason you're thinking, either; if we destroy this version of the Shadow, another one will rise to take its place." I said. I could, technically, absorb the entirety of the Shadow into myself…but I had no idea what that would do. The future of such an action was dark and mysterious to me – and considering how delicate a situation this was right now, I couldn't take the risk of it being a bad future. "This Shadow, at least, feels some sort of connection with you all, myself, and all of creation. Even if I have been rejoined with my weakness, the nominal cause, the Shadow is something that will return in one form or another." It annoyed me to no end, but that was the truth. Because of Balance, there had to be some chaos. Because of freewill, there would always be discord to fuel it.
Better the devil you know, in a way.
"What if we banished it to the Void?" Keilan suggested, glaring at the Shadow. "Never to return."
"Eternal imprisonment might not be bad, either, though I am loathe to keep it beneath my Tree. Perhaps some other prison? Creation is painful for it, is it not? So imprisonment near the Sun could be fun. For us. A bit of well-earned revenge for everything it put us through." Reika suggested coldly. The Shadow turned to look at her, and she raised an eyebrow at it. "You stabbed me in the chest, tried to destroy my Tree, but most importantly, threatened to kill Kei. No, I will not be lenient."
"I do not think banishment will work, brother Keilan. Imprisonment is good," Alexander said slowly. "For it must be punished for its crimes against us, against the Realms, and against Father. But for all its faults, it did not seek to truly kill us, not like Sol. It actively sought to not damage the truesouls of most beings – even its own forces, that self-destructed, kept their souls intact. Do not misunderstand, the damage it wrought is inconceivable, but we must also look at all the facts." Elvira scowled and ran a hand over her face, while Reika looked away with a frown.
"It had void shards in its stomach." Keilan said softly. "Mother told me that, after the battle. When it stabbed you, Reika, it had enough time to potentially spit one out, send it through the core of yourself and shatter all that you are. It could have swallowed a few of us, most likely, with the power granted to it by Father's blood. Repeatedly it said it did not want to kill us." He reasoned.
"Just because it did not do what it could have will not win it any favors. It shouldn't have done any of this in the first place." Elvira snapped, Reika nodding her head in agreement.
"I do not disagree, I am simply trying to sell it to myself, for Father is right. I fear the Shadow cannot ever be truly destroyed. As much as it would please me to tear it limb from limb, we cannot. The loss of Sol will have to be enough. I vote for imprisonment." Alexander snarled.
"Imprisonment. Upon thinking it over, banishing it to the Void makes the Shadow someone else's problem, and that does not sit right with me." Keilan agreed.
"Fine. But I expect it to either never see the light of day again, or put some work in to helping the Realms eventually." Elvira snapped.
"Is wiping its soul away, so the truesoul remains, truly not an option, Mother?" Reika asked.
"…if you all ask me to, I will do it." I allowed slowly, stressing each syllable to make sure she understood how little I thought of that solution. She met my eyes, and nodded firmly.
"Imprisonment is not punishment enough for its actions. We need to come up with something else for it, then I will agree to imprisonment." Reika said. Her siblings rumbled in agreement, and she nodded, sitting back. Not satisfied, but abated for now.
"That's it? You're going to lock me away for all eternity? Pitiful." The Shadow snapped. I looked up at it, eyebrows raised, expressing my thoughts on the matter in one simple look. Give me a reason. It said. Its imprisonment would not be some simple, sordid affair – the Shadow liked and wanted solitude. "You should kill me while you have the chance."
"But this meeting cannot be about something as simple as imprisonment." Alexander continued, drawing my attention and meeting my eyes. "Father, you have something else you require of us." I nodded as all eyes turned to me, lifting one palm, facing it skyward. The Sword that Does Not Cut appeared above it, floating and spinning, still holding the Shadow's fate on the shield. I could see it now, with my new eyes, as a round, pill-shaped ball, fist sized and sitting in the center of the buckler-sized shield.
"We need to take a piece of the Shadow's fate." Elvira said bluntly, realizing what I was about to say before I even said it. I nodded at her.
"For each of us to take a share of the burden." Keilan muttered. "To spread out the Shadow's fate between each of us…so not one is overburdened."
"It does not mean you will change as a person, though it may evolve your divine domains." I said.
"We will take the weight." Reika said, cutting me off. "Evenly. Between the five of us; the Shadow was born of it, so it cannot escape that fate even if we stripped it down. Don't even think of touching it, Mother." She accused, her brusque tone directed not at me, even if her words were. I nodded in agreement – it wasn't like I could, even if I wanted to. I already took back what I needed to.
"Split it into four, Father." Alexander said. Quietly and without preamble, I grabbed the sword and gripped the fate it had severed with my other hand, using the void-coated blade to cut it into four equal strips. None of my children spoke as I circled the table, handing a sliver to each of them. Reika was the last, and she stared at hers without blinking, expressionless and cold. Before anyone else could speak she put it in her mouth and swallowed, her soul and divine essence shuddering.
"Feels weird. Tastes awful." She complained under her breath. Following her example, each of the others followed suit as well, making similar faces of disgust. And the Shadow was forced to watch through it all.
There was not much more to talk about, after that. My children filed out one-by-one, each saying their own farewells and leaving myself alone with the Shadow. I would make the cage for it. No other could do so, even grossly weakened though it was. And I had something special in mind for it.
"So that's it?" the Shadow asked as I twisted the cave we resided in, fashioning it into a cage suitable for it. "You're just going to leave me here, alone? Pitiful."
"Make no mistake," I spoke over its next words, uncaring as to what it had to say. A wave of my hand created a small window in the rapidly shrinking cave, allowing the light of the Realm Sun to shine through. The Shadow hissed as the light hit it, its cage of primordial chaos vanishing and allowing it to scurry away into the darkness. "This is about as cruel of a punishment as I could think of. You feed off of pain and misery. You thrive on darkness and hate. You had to sit there and watch as everything you had built yourself up to be was divvied up and given to those you think unworthy, without losing everything you were. You know exactly what you lost. And now I am giving you a view, to watch them continue their work. And soon, when I create the Lunar Star, it, too, will shine its light upon you. There will be no hiding from this." I told it, pulling out the orb that contained all the power of the Star.
Its light would shine in this cave eternally, reaching even the hidden realms of the Shadow, as a light in the darkness. A light for the darkness. I could feel it would be so.
Even now I could sense its power raging within the orb, begging to be let out and allowed to become what it needed to be. But it couldn't yet. The Shadow hardly even reacted, though, just watching and listening.
"But I will leave you with something special. A personal gift of mine, to show you exactly what it means to be me – to show you what I do, why I do it, in the way I do it. I'm going to give you dreams. The dreams of all those in the Four Realms. Experience all the pain you caused, to each soul you caused it to. Experience all the joy of living, from the day-to-day doldrums of mortality, to the greatest of successes, and to the worst of days. Then, only then, after you have experience all that, will we talk." I said, fixating it with a look. It stared back at me, and I had to set my heart to the side to keep my expression firm.
It looked so lost. A child who hadn't been given the proper upbringing. But that did not excuse its actions in any way – and wiping away its soul would have been a mercy to it. No, it needed to understand the pain it caused in the truest, fundamental sense. I snapped my fingers, and its prison finished with a rumble.
"Be seeing you, Morgan," I said, floating upward. The Shadow furrowed its brows at me.
"Morgan?" It rasped, as I reached the ceiling. It was there that I paused, still meeting its eyes.
"It was high time I gave you a name." I told it. "It's a little late, but better late than never. The name itself has a meaning, but…well, I didn't choose it for the meaning. I chose it for lack thereof; it will be, what it is. As will you now." And with that, I vanished through the ceiling, intent on moving forward. There were still two more important things I had to do.
I had mortals to talk to and a Star to create.
Chapter 1.38 The Star
I watched Sol's memories, having not destroyed them, so I could understand his actions and motivations. Every passing second made me madder and madder at him; he'd felt cheated out of being the greatest thing in the sky, with the Lunar Star; he'd felt cheated by Elvira, who had rebuffed his attempts to woo her, more out of sense of duty than of a dislike of the sun god; his possessiveness of the Realms gradually increased, desiring nothing more than to have all of creation be his, to the point he grew to hate Gilles for representing that which avoided his light; and it all culminated with his finding of and approaching the Shadow.
The Shadow may have bound the two of them together with its dark magic, the two of them intent upon betraying each other in the end, but Sol had been ruthless in his suggestions.
He had been the one to suggest the suicide bombing, having taken inspiration for that from my detonation of my blood, and the explosive force of a sun. He had been the one to tell the Shadow to give droplets of my blood to other spirits and souls, to artificially elevate their power. Ironically, the Shadow seemed largely determined to shoulder the entire burden itself, leaving its minions to distract the gods while it devoured the Sun and destroyed the Tree. Without Sol, the battle would have been far more straightforward – though, ironically, I could see the Shadow having a greater chance to devour the Sun without him, too. Sol had intentionally lured it away from the Sun, after all, to protect his demesne.
His memories I made into a small book, and gave to Keilan for safekeeping in the archives of memories. The other half of his divinity, the part I didn't press into Fang Xu, I bundled up into a little ball and wrapped around the orb containing the Lunar Star. It was finally time to create the Star, now. And I had someone I needed to talk to about that.
I visited Celene. Or, more accurately, she came to me. Randus picked her up from the Physical Realm and brought her to my palace, the great doors slamming shut behind her. I stood at the far end of the grand hall, in front of the massive glass windows that gave me a perfect view of the freshly-remade Realm Sun. Out of the corner of my eyes I could see the Four Realms, the gods – and many incarnations of mine – hard at work stabilizing and fixing things. I purposely did not turn to look at Celene as she approached, her foot steps shaky and light, echoing in the silence of my palace. Each step took longer than the last, as I was not restraining my aura as much as I normally would have. Only when she was twenty feet away and unable to step closer did I turn to face her.
Her legs gave out the moment the weight of my full attention landed upon her, driving her to her knees with head bowed. Even an immortal is struck like this, in my presence. I mused, clasping my hands behind my back. The chandeliers and torches that illuminated the large entryway, decorated with artworks made across all the Realms, flickered slightly as I studied the immortal woman.
"Rise, Celene," I told her. Struggling, Celene lifted her head, but remained unable to meet my gaze. She looked terrible. Not physically; physically she looked as young and healthy as ever, such were the perks of immortality. But spiritually she had lost all will to live. Fang Xu's death sat upon her shoulders like a mountain, weighing her down, and she did not have the strength or will to shake it off. Even that little red string her soul so desperately clutched was fading, despite it only having been a month since the battle. Such was the distance between them now.
"Walk with me." I said, turning and heading down the hallway to my left, illuminated with a series of torches. Celene lingered for a moment, pausing before the windows to stare at the Realm Sun, before following a safe distance behind. "Beside me. We cannot talk with you so far away." Although I colored my tone with amusement, my mood was anything but. I restrained my presence a little bit, and Celene walked faster, to walk beside me.
There was a point to all this. What I was going to offer her required strength of will, not the shell she was in danger of turning into.
My mind wandered a bit as we walked in silence, my steps echoless, hers heavy and thudding. We walked a fair way, past libraries and my workshop, beyond the doors of my meditation chamber – still cracked open, the interior of the room glowing a bright blue, as the stone had been saturated and transformed by the amassed power – and toward the opposite end of my home.
"I feel I owe you an apology," the words just came out of my mouth, surprising even me. "The attention I placed upon you two put a large amount of pressure upon your souls, turned the nascent attention of the will of the realms upon you as well. It gave and gave, putting more pressure upon you until…well, here we are. One of you became the Sun. The other remains an immortal." I said, shaking my head. Celene frowned, but didn't say anything, my meaning going over her head.
I was tied to all things in the Four Realms, be it through karma, fate, or anything else. Things happened when I merely thought about it. Energy reacted. People sensed it. I had to be more careful with myself – it was a lesson I had to keep learning, especially as I continued to grow along with the Realms.
I had sought to aid the two of them, repeatedly. To keep them together. The attention of a being like myself is a great and mighty thing, and fate twisted upon itself in response to my inner desires. They likely would have reached immortality and remained together, even without my attention and desire to help. Now, because of it, they were being torn apart unless I did something drastic.
"You…sought to keep us together. You guided Fang Xu back to me, and me to him, all those years ago, didn't you?" Celene suddenly asked, as we came to the end of the hall and a set of mahogany double-doors. I paused before them, and turned to look at her. She met my eyes, smiling sadly. "For that, I thank you."
"You consistently found each other. And don't thank me yet." I warned, stepping through the doors. The vastness of the false void lay before us, the Four Realms now visible to the left, empty space and the shell of primordial chaos in front. Celene stood beside me, and for a moment, we were silent.
"Father Luotian," she began. I glanced at her. 'Father.' Is that who she saw me as, right now? "Why did you bring me here?"
"The Four Realms need balance. That is one of the reasons the Shadow attacked when it did – I am about to complete a great work, and it sought to destroy it all before that happened." I explained, slowly, pulling the Lunar Star out of my pocket. The orb glowed with a dim light, its radiance kept under control by my will and the container I had placed it in. "A Lunar Star. Something to balance the Realm Sun, which is only light and pride and heat. Fang Xu's soul and personality will temper much of what made it problematic before, but a foil would do even more." I said, and Celene's gaze snapped up to my face.
I smiled at her. Now she understood why I brought her here. Why I continually pressured her with my aura, to force her to understand the weight of what I was suggesting. I expected to see light return to her eyes, color to her face, hope and joy in her heart. I did not expect to see sadness reflected in her expression, and pity. Her gaze drifted up along my horns, lingering on my face, specifically searching my eyes.
"I heard you were injured," She said, softly. "I heard it in my dreams. And the wind told me, when I asked it about Fang Xu."
"Yes, well. The power I had been building for the Star had to be contained somewhere so I could intervene. But I healed." I said with a shrug. A lucky break is what it really was. I don't want to have to keep surrendering body parts to protect the Realms, thank you very much.
"Where is Mother Statera? She didn't…she wasn't…injured, was she?" she asked, and I couldn't help the small chuckle that escaped me. Silly mortals, and their insistence in thinking there were two of me.
"I am she, and she is me." I said. "My full name is Statera Luotian. There is only one of me." Celene's eyes widened, and I pressed forward before she could ask more questions, extending the contained power of the Lunar Star to her. "This power, I now offer to you." And I explained to her what it was. How it would remove and burn away parts of her soul, pressure her into becoming something more than what she was now. That she would, in many ways, become a different person – in a method far more severe than even reincarnation implied.
She stared at it for a long, long moment, once I had finished. Then gently reached out, and took it.
"It's cold." She muttered.
"Cold fire. Blue flames, a passion as deep as winter, not opposite, but different than the passion of an orange sun. Yes, it is." I said. The nature of it was not lost on Celene, her own qi revolving around ice and snow. Cold did not necessarily mean frigid, emotionless. Some of the greatest moments of passion were held in winter. The Yin to the Sun's Yang.
"Thank you," she breathed, tears beading the corners of her eyes. I opened my mouth to speak, but once more she surprised me, throwing herself forward and wrapping her arms around me in a hug. The top of her head barely reached my chin, her horns, curling around the sides of her head, pressing into my chest awkwardly. My voice caught in my throat. "Thank you, for everything. For giving me the chance to chase after my idiot husband. For letting us be who we are, and find each other. You made the world, but you let us make it ours. Thank you for loving us."
Tears pricked the corners of my eyes, the genuine confession catching me off guard, and I returned the hug.
"What else would I do?" I replied, shaking my head. For a moment longer she hugged me, then pulled away and looked at the orb once again. "I'll give you six months to get your affairs in order, then we can do this." I told her.
"No. We can do it now." She said firmly, wiping her eyes, a bit of steel entering her expression. "I already said goodbye to my children and grandchildren. They knew I wouldn't be coming back, when I told them I was leaving on a trip. What kind of parent would I be if I did not prepare them for my passing, immortal or no?" she asked. I felt a stab of guilt pierce my heart at the statement, one I hid behind my smile. I had no intentions to die soon, but she did have a point, and there was always the possibility. My children would not be able to maintain the Realms without me.
"So be it," I said, my words carrying with them a sense of finality.
"So, how do I…? Is it like a pill? I don't really want to eat your…flesh? That would be patricide, or cannibalism, right?" she started. I laughed and shook my head, gently taking the orb back from her and putting one hand atop her head, pressing the condensed Lunar Star against her forehead. "Is it going to hurt?" she asked.
"Yes." I told her. She took a deep breath, and I smiled as encouragingly as I could. "Here we go." And pressed the star into her forehead.
She screamed in pain as her soul was seared, body all but disintegrating. With a single wave of my hand I pushed her out into the false void, blue light radiating from her, ever expanding. In a brilliant flash power exploded outward, the Moon, the Lunar Star, falling into orbit around the Four Realms opposite to the sun, a soft whitish-blue color, to the Sun's burning orange. I stood there and watched it for a short time, hands clasped behind my back.
Sweet, sweet relief flooded me in an instant, my shoulders sagging a little as the rest of the power needed to fuel the Lunar Star flowed out of me, that which was excess and leftover seeping out to go join the Four Realms, accelerating the healing process. There wasn't much leftover, though, just a drop in the bucket compared to what had been used, as I watched the Star finish settling in place. The tugging sensation of the Sun eased – the weight of its existence, both spiritually and gravitationally, had been tugging the fabric of the Four Realms in a specific direction. There was a reason planets usually circled a sun, even if it was only because of mass. The addition of the Lunar Star provided a counterbalance for that – and that was among the least of its additions.
I sighed, feeling tension flee my muscles, but my attention quickly drifted. My gaze sharpened, peeling back the layers of reality to stare at Morgan, in its little cell. The light of the Lunar Star crept toward it, racing through its cell. It was hesitant at first, bracing for pain…that never came. I could see the confusion racing through it as it stood to the side of the cell, away from the central beam of light that was from the Realm Sun, yet unable to hide from the light of the lunar star.
Soft blues rolled over its fur, gentle and soothing, as compared to the harshness of the Sun. Morgan stared at it in wonder, cocking its head to the side as it moved about experimentally. My voice echoed across space to reach Morgan's ears.
"See now? That wasn't so bad." I whispered. Morgan's ears twitched, eight eyes darting about, searching for me as it settled back down on its haunches, a complex expression on its muzzle. A myriad emotions roiled in its chest, not least of which was bitterness, and acceptance. I stayed watching Morgan for a time, judging its reaction, and ensuring that my assessment was not, in fact, incorrect.
This, in my opinion, was the greatest gift of the Lunar Star. Its light was softer, gentler. Designed for those who found the light of the Sun to be blinding. The "nocturnal" beings of the realms. As these creations weren't just physical, but also spiritual, this new form of light represented a fundamental change to the Realms; just as the moon was spiritual. A guide in the dark; a promise that the light is still there. Though I had called Morgan's punishment cruel, it was only cruel in the fact that there was little pity. Isolation was, in many ways, important, to let everyone's heads cool.
But for now, I'd keep an eye on Morgan. Make sure everything was still going…alright. Even if I was mad right now, that didn't mean I could neglect the Shadow – I doubt I'd even be able to stay away that long, not visiting, despite what I said earlier. There were just things I had to deal with right now.
A quick roll of my head had my neck cracking pleasantly, even as I settled my gaze firmly upon the Lunar Star, and the little red string binding them together.
It was up to those two now. They could keep their red string together, or let it fall apart as their souls were changed and remade – somehow, I didn't think it would matter much. They would stay together until the end of time. I turned my back to them. There was one more house call I needed to make.
Dei was dying. I could see it in him. His aura was that of a failed immortal – all the cultivation he had built up over the past ten thousand years was slowly fleeing him, and his subordinates knew it. The Shadow's miasma still coursed through his veins, eating away at his body and hastening his demise; yet he seemed to welcome death with open arms, denying even Reika's light as she healed what she could. The gods had been the cause of this mess; it was only right that, in many ways, they aided as best they could.
Lines had to be drawn. Not everything could be done for the mortals; the Realms still had to be healed and stabilized, after all, and preventing another collapse superseded most other things, but some aid could still be given. Many incarnations of mine were dedicated to that. This one was dedicated to visiting Dei.
I, however, did not go directly to him.
Once again, he found me.
I sat outside, on a veranda in his palace, a little table next to me and a glass of whiskey in one hand. A single, large ice cube rested in the glass, clinking merrily as I gazed up at the new Lunar Star, visible as a little more than a giant moon in the sky, bleeding pure, silver light onto Pangaea. The stardust of the Physical Realm filtered its light so it didn't look blue, I supposed, but I was pleased all the same.
His footsteps echoed loudly in my ears as he approached from the palace behind, gait firm and confident despite his weakening body. I didn't turn to him, even as he sat beside me with a grunt like an old man. Together we sat there, looking out over his city. It had only been eight months since the battle, and things were starting to go back to some semblance of normalcy. Buildings had been rebuilt. Walls fixed. The great chains that held up the flying island tempered and the formations redrawn. People still mourned the dead, and cultivators still healed the worst of their wounds, but the city was well on the path to full recovery.
I envied the mortals, in this case. How quickly they seemed to bounce back, from my perspective. Rubble remained, as did sadness and grief, but life continued…I would be fixing things for centuries, if not millennia to come, and only after that did the real work begin. The seeds of the Tree needed to be spread…
"All those times we met…they were all you, weren't they? The woman. The man. Now. You're the creator." He accused. I nodded, but did not reply. He let the conversation topic drop as we both looked out over the city.
"The restoration processes are going well," I said conversationally, casting those thoughts aside. Those were thoughts for other incarnations, or my true body. Not this one. I was here for Dei.
"Yes. Not that I've been much help. Whats-her-face, Allana, the avian girl, she's been handling most the efforts. Been trying to keep me holed up and surrounded by healers." He grumbled. I cast a glance over at him. His arm was bandaged up, almost immobilized up to the shoulder. Some of my power had stabilized his wounds when I had appeared behind him, but it wasn't quite enough. I could heal it. I had half a mind to offer it.
I didn't think he'd take me up on it. No, I knew he wouldn't.
"She means well." I said.
"'Course she does. Don't mean I want to spend my last days chained to a bed." He said, shaking his head. "…already named her my successor. She's a good egg. Be a better leader than I ever was."
"Better is the incorrect word. You were the leader they needed you to be." I corrected him, gently. He scoffed, plucking at the snow-white robe he had on with his good hand, then running said hand through his grey hair, touching his horns absently. We were silent for a second longer, and I waved my hand, procuring a second glass of whiskey. "Drink?"
"Normally I'd say yes, but Allana told the doc to keep me away from liquor and on this tea-only diet…hate to say I've grown to like the taste." Dei said. I shrugged and poured the second glass into my own, taking a sip and savoring the burn.
"…those words you said, to Randus. 'Keep the bridge.' Why use them?" I asked suddenly. Dei shot me a look.
"Why do you ask?"
I swirled my drink in my glass, watching the way the amber liquid splashed against the ice. "…it's nostalgic. An echo of a memory." We sat in silence for a long, long moment, Dei's breathing steadying as he sat there, tugging on his beard but not answering the question. I was content with that. I don't think he knew the answer.
"I want to be stronger, in my next life." He said, finally, staring at the moon. "My entire life has been 'not strong enough.' Not good enough. I couldn't prevent the fall of my first city. I couldn't save Fang Xu – had to rely on you for that. Couldn't even do anything to protect Manu Ti; even holding the Shadow felt like a fluke, possible only because of literal fucking gods helping me." I listen to his lamenting words, but most importantly, I listened to his soul.
"Oh, so you admit gods exist now?" I mused.
"Doesn't mean you're not an asshole." Dei snapped. I chuckled.
"Fair enough. Though I can't help you with getting stronger." I said.
"What, no reward for sacrificing myself to stop the Shadow?" Dei asked, half-joking.
"Not in the sense you're thinking, certainly." I said with a chuckle. A part of me wanted to say "there were no rewards for war," but that was a little misleading. This situation was tangled. I understood that. Karma understood that. And now that Dei had proven his mettle…well. "I can give you a few hints at what awaits you, however. After your actions, your future is no longer so simple." I allowed. He had proven himself a strong soul, and earned the respect of many. Dei's full attention landed upon me as I took a sip from my glass, letting the burn of the fine, primordial whiskey, aged for ten thousand years, slide down my throat.
"If you are willing, if you wish to become stronger, you will be put through a growth phase. Eight lives, with this as the first. Each one with its own lesson, its own challenges, its own reason for existing – a cycle to build you up, until you reach that which is your peak." I told him. It was the same deal that had been made for me, though I never got to see the end of that cycle and become a true god. Or did I? "And in the final life you will regain memories of all your past. You will no longer be Dei, but something and someone more."
"I need eight lives to learn all I need, huh?" Dei mused. A small smile danced on his lips. "I'll do it in four." I blinked at him in surprise, then tossed my head back and laughed, slowly standing.
"Don't tempt fate like that, Dei," I warned, a small smile still dancing on my lips. He cracked a grin at me, letting out a wheezing laugh that devolved into a hacking cough – he covered his mouth with a clenched fist, and when he pulled it away blood stained his knuckles. My expression morphed into one of concern, and he scoffed, wiping his bloody fist on his pure-white robes.
"Be off with you." He said. "For all the help you've given me, you still piss me off. Did you know that was one of the first thoughts I had, when we first met? I swear, someday I will punch you in the face."
I smirked, leaning down just enough to get him to look up at me, life-force slowly fading, even as the fire in his eyes burned as bright as ever.
"I dare you to try." I whispered. He coughed out a laugh, reclining back in his chair and looking up at the sky. Above, spirits danced, catching rays of moonlight and playing with them, twisting them into a multitude of shapes that reflected in the healing leaves of the Life-Giving Tree. His last thoughts echoed in his mind, words pressing themselves against his lips as he whispered a promise to his old friends, in the skies above. I did not listen, for it was not meant for me, but remained by his side all the same in his last moments. One last breath escaped him, and so died Dei, the failed Immortal through no fault of his own, his soul ascending to return to the Spirit River.
A scream echoed in the hall behind us and I turned, watching as Alanna, the little avian girl Dei had named as his successor, came running out of the palace to his deceased body. She did not see me as I floated into the skies above, watching not his body, but his soul, as it reentered the cycle of reincarnation.
"Kei," I said, knowing the girl was watching. For a moment there was no response, only a light breeze blowing, then space warped and she was standing beside me, looking down. Her tails drooped sadly, ears folded atop her head. "You've been avoiding me." She nodded in response, and I turned to fully face her.
"Grandpa…" she trailed off, and I responded by setting aside my glass – which floated in the air beside me – and wrapped both of my arms around her in a hug. She shuddered, shoulders shaking as she returned the gesture.
"You were amazing." I whispered. "I am so very, very proud of you."
"I – it wasn't – I wasn't strong – and then I said, to you – and Dei." she stammered out, voice cracking. My heart went out to the sweet, playful girl; I wished there was something I could do to comfort her. But she had seen war, and it struck her harder than anyone had expected. Seeing her mother almost die, almost dying herself, struck with chaos…it was a lot for anyone. And she had proven herself to be far more powerful than anyone, besides myself and Reika, had expected. A few gods even called her one of the Big Four now – Big Five, they called it, though the title was incorrect. She had cemented herself as one of the Eight Pillars through her actions.
"Would you like some ice cream?" I asked her, instead of voicing any of that. She may have grown bigger, but she was still just a child in many ways. A bit of normalcy would do her good, I think, and she could talk about what she needed to in her own time. Whether it was to me, to her Mom, or anyone else, it didn't matter. "I think you earned a little bit of a break, don't you? Let's go relax some, play in my garden."
Kei was silent for a moment, tails and ears flicking as she tried her best not to cry. "…will Dei be ok?"
"Of course." I told her. "He wouldn't settle for anything less, and he made a promise to punch me." At that, Kei chuckled a little, though it sounded a little wet.
"Ok," she said finally, voice muffled by my robe. "If you have time, let's go." I patted the top of her head, right between her ears, and hummed, getting ready to teleport her and myself to my palace. "And grandpa?" she said, pulling away just slightly and looking up at me. "Thank you."
I beamed down at her. "Always." I said, even though I wanted to say sorry, sorry that everyone had to go through this. Kei just smiled, eyes wet with tears, and together we vanished into the sky.