Chapter 158: Omen – Chapter 147: The Shadow Grows

Mayeia let out a sigh as she looked through the list of notifications again. The silver messages all said the same thing, just with a different name for every deity. All 'fallen from grace'. The number of deities that the All-Mother had killed would lead to a great deal of trouble for her and all those that had not fallen to Aperio's wrath.

The Goddess of Magic shuddered slightly as she recalled the whisper that had run through her mind that day. It had only been a word — one that she heard a thousand times a day — but coming from the All-Mother and spoken with the intent she had, it had some drastically different effects. Even those deities that had not been meant to fall from the order had to deal with some of the strain it brought. And they thought they could fight here…

To Mayeia it had long been clear that Aperio had gone of her own will for one reason or another. It had never made sense to her how the literal creator of the universe could die by anyone's hand but her own. Her verdict of the deities that stood accused of Heresy only drove that point home. A single word had been spoken with enough power to not only kill all the deities that had banded against her, but also to ripple out from the Court into every corner of her creation. Even at the furthest edges it had been felt. At least according to Ediscio.

She was willing to trust the God of Knowledge and Love; he had been around before nearly all of the Gods that now remained and had thus far not spoken a single lie to her. At least, none that she or anyone she knew had caught.

With a shake of her head, Mayeia put the notifications back in the folder she had made for them. Still one of the best functions. She was unsure how she had ever managed to get by without the System’s ability to store the notifications she had received. Technically, she could just dismiss them and get the System to bring them back at a later date, but that required her to remember what the notification was about and the general time frame in which she had received it. Putting them in a folder that she could label was much easier.

"Now," she said to herself as she stood up and clapped once. "Time to prepare."

A thought caused a piece of paper and a pen to appear in front of her with which she quickly composed a message for Laelia. She would have to leave the All-Mother's temple for a while and the Scion would probably have to send someone else to look after the people that still lived here. Especially since that group had just recently grown by a good amount. All people who followed Epemirial, too.

With a sigh, she added another sentence to the paper before letting it appear on Laelia's desk. So far, nothing had happened with the newcomers, but Mayeia was fairly sure that was because she was a literal Goddess that sat just outside what was now their home. One in cahoots with the one that killed theirs.

They wouldn't — couldn't — do something against her, but she would still rather have someone she trusts watch over Aperio's temple while she was gone, and Laelia was not yet on that list. "Minia is, though," the Goddess of Magic mumbled to herself as she stood up and stretched. "Been a long time since I had to ask a favour of her."

The [Dragon of Ebenlowe] was a lot less frightening than her title might imply. First of all, she was not a Dragon. That honour belonged to her husband. The universe had seemingly seen it fit to give a Human woman the personality — and magical ability — to be a Dragon, and make the actual one a loving man that could not be happier spending a day sitting at home with a good book and a cup of tea. Or molten rock. His tastes did not always make sense.

Despite her rather vengeful streak and rather unpredictable nature, Minia had yet to fail a request to keep the peace. A thought and a swipe of Mayeia's hand caused a small, blue window to appear, fill itself with text and promptly disappear. Using a divine summon for something like this was perhaps a little overkill, but it would ensure that Minia got the message and not ignore it for three days. It was either that or giving her a basket of sweets.

It did not take long for Minia to accept the summon Mayeia had given her and, with a little help from Roots-Beneath-All, to appear in front of her. Instead of a bow or any other formal greeting, Minia simply raised a brow as she looked at Mayeia and the books that surrounded her.

"I did not know the All-Mother was fine with littering in her temple," the [Dragon of Ebenlowe] said. "Or would let so many people in her temple wearing the clothes of the Goddess she just killed."

"You seem awfully calm," Mayeia said, narrowing her eyes slightly. "Did something go wrong at the orphanage?"

"Besides some idiots trying to blow up the entire island?" Minia turned to look at the temple that now housed the now God-less mortals. "Idiots that look just like the ones you want me to guard."

"You of all people should know that looks mean jack shit," the Goddess of Magic replied as the books that had been strewn across the field vanished. "I would not have asked you to watch over them if I had not thought it necessary. They lost their Goddess and had their Souls messed with. I doubt they will do anything stupid, but if they do I would rather have someone I can trust be there to take care of it."

The branches of Roots-Beneath-All shook slightly at her words, causing a few leaves to fall. "Nothing the mortals can do could damage the temple," it said. "The most they could do would be to injure themselves."

"And we don't want that," Mayeia said, giving the tree a glare. "I'll be back once I’ve taken care of the lunatics in Ebenlowe and Quill Vayne."

"Quill Vayne?" Minia asked, rubbing the back of her neck. "Wait, don't tell me they are trying to wake up Ginieal."

"They are."

The Human heaved a sigh before she bowed slightly. "I will not keep you, then. Having another Elder Dragon awake would not be good."

Why people had built a university-turned-city right next to the sleeping place of the [Elder Dragon of Water] was not something Mayeia would ever understand, but she would be damned if she let that annoyance add itself to the mess that was already underway. Probably thought it was a God. The city of Quill Vayne was older than she was herself, after all, and mortals had a tendency to declare something a God when it was strong enough. Especially during the dark age.

Aperio did not move as Maria crashed into her. The girl's attack had not been a surprise — she had seen her start running as soon as she had appeared in the mansion’s main hall, after all — but she had not expected Maria to be this quick. Or sturdy. A quick check on her youngest follower showed nothing wrong, even though the girl had essentially run into a brick wall at full speed.

"Aperio!" Maria exclaimed, her voice only muffled by Aperio's dress she was speaking into.

The All-Mother shifted one of her wings slightly, wrapping it around Maria as she began to slowly and very carefully began to pat the girls head. "Hello?"

"See," Caethya said, a smile spreading across her face. "She missed you."

"I did," Maria said, her voice still muffled by Aperio's dress. She held on a moment longer, trying and failing to reach around the All-Mother before she pulled herself away and looked up. Before she could speak further, Aperio lowered herself, brushing away a tear that had appeared in Maria's eye. "Why did you not answer me?" the girl finally managed to get out.

"I…" Aperio began, only for her voice to trail off as she tried to find a way to express herself. The obvious answer was that she had not heard Maria, but that would not be the whole truth. She had heard her prayers at the back of her mind — had heard a great many ones dedicated to her — but she had ignored them, had not wanted to hear the hate most of them had brought with them. Had not wanted to hurt the few that she did care about.

"Lady Aperio," the voice of Geshton Terenyk sounded from behind the All-Mother. "I did not know we were expecting you today."

"You weren't," Aperio replied as she began to stand up before she thought better of it and offered to carry Maria. The girl took the offer with a bit too much eagerness for Aperio's taste, but it was better than having to explain to the girl that she could have been killed if she had so much as thought the wrong thing. "Caethya suggested that we should visit, actually. I was quite… busy, lately, and also made Caethya and myself go back on our word."

"I got taught by a Dragon lady!" Maria exclaimed at Aperio's words. "She is also trying to teach Adam, but only the janitor seems to be able to do that."

"The janitor?" Aperio asked. "Natio?"

"Yes! He is a really good teacher even though he can't do magic himself."

The All-Mother narrowed her eyes slightly at the words. "I bet he is."

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She would have to visit the House of Healing and check in on the fallen God, but that had to be done later. For now she needed to deal with the masses of people on Verenier that had just lost their Gods and would do who-knows-what because of it.

"I am sure there are good reasons to postpone her lessons," Geshton said, gesturing towards a set of double doors to the side of the main hall. "Still are, I assume."

"Yes," Aperio replied, shifting Maria a little in her arms. "Sadly, I do not know how long it will take to solve this particular mess."

While the All-Mother was sure that her decision had been correct — had been the only one that was adequate for their crimes — she had seriously underestimated the fallout it would cause. She could feel the anger of the mortals that lived on Verenier, could feel it brushing against her own mind as the collective emotions of a world tried to influence her as they had after the death of Vigil and Inanis.

Now, however, they did not taint her mind. She knew what she had to do, just not how. Somehow, she would have to stop the people that used to follow the now-dead Elder Gods from doing what they probably thought of as righteous retribution. Of course, she could just force them all to do nothing, but that would require either restraining them somehow or messing with their minds — both of which she would rather not do if she could avoid it.

"Couldn't you just make them go away?" Maria asked as she began to play with a few strands of Aperio's hair. "You can do that, right?"

"There is a difference between what I can do and what I should do," Aperio replied, unbothered by the glare of Maria's maid or the fact that the girl was playing with her hair. "I could just put them elsewhere, sure, but that would not solve the issue of them being angry and confused."

"They are trying to sink Ebenlowe," Lord Terenyk said. "Parts of it at least. Luckily they have not managed to do that or anything else yet."

"I see," Aperio said, a thought pulling out a chair for her disciple to sit on. "I assume the Guard needs some help with that?"

Caethya sat herself down after the Lord of the house had done the same, while Aperio simply remained standing with Maria in her arms. The personal maid of her youngest follower did not seem to like the arrangement as she glared at the All-Mother's back.

"They do," Lord Terenyk replied. "But we have done our best to support them, together with the [Guides] and your daughter."

"I noticed," Aperio said. The knights in their red armours with stylised suns engraved on them were hard to miss, after all. So were the random assortment of people who, for some reason, all wore black and blue armour with a small symbol depicting two wings that wrapped around one another. Almost like my armlet…

She had most certainly not given Laelia any official imagery to use for her church, so this was probably what she had come up with. Could be worse.

"I assume you organised the people that now bear my colours?" Aperio asked, stretching her wings slightly to show their blue edges. "I did not know that you chose to follow me."

"That is because I don't," Lord Terenyk said, his voice pitched slightly higher than before. He cleared his throat and took a sip of the water that stood on the table for him before he continued. "I do not follow any deity."

"For Maria, then?" Aperio asked, holding onto the girl a little tighter. She did not like the idea of him using his daughter to get into good standing with her. "Or for Ebenlowe?"

"Both," the Human replied. "I do not wish the city I love to be destroyed by raving lunatics, and neither do I want my daughter to be in danger.

"I just want this to be over so my family can finally have some rest." He slumped slightly in his chair before mumbling his next words so quietly that Aperio was certain only she had heard them. "Actually have a family."

Aperio's hand reached for Caethya's shoulder, giving it a squeeze as she frowned slightly at the man's words. "Then I will do my best to make that happen."

The last of the maids that stumbled out of Jester's room, holding her uniform closed with one hand, gave him a sly smile before the door shut behind her. He had needed the distraction after the accursed All-Mother had deposed most of the Gods that had helped the Order of Inaru in their goal. Sadly, he still did not know if the Creator had done that because she wanted to stop them from reviving Inaru, or because those deities had done something to upset her. Probably the latter.

The few people that had known about Aperio in their order had been told by the Gods themselves just how fickle the woman was. There was no rhyme or reason to her actions, something they underlined with the fact that she had been gone for millennia. Though their narrative conflicted there… Some had claimed they had killed the All-Mother — something both he and his mother found to be a ridiculous idea — while others had said she had merely left for one reason or another.

"And that's why the Vinmaiers don't follow any of you numb-nuts," Jester mumbled as he directed his gaze upwards. "How did you even become Gods?" He stood up from his bed, kicking a piece of clothing one of the maids had forgotten across the room. "Doesn't matter anymore, I guess."

What did matter was how they would get the resources for their project back. Dead Gods didn't revive themselves, after all. No one in the Order was under the delusion that Inaru would magically rid the world of the accursed All-Mother, but they did have the hope that he could at least shield them from her tantrums and let them live the life they deserved. "Far away from the vermin that infest this city."

His father — and Jester himself, when he was allowed to attend the Gathering of the Isles — had always advocated for stricter rules and proper segregation, but their voice of reason had always been drowned out by the insane idiots of Feranir. Fuck Geshton. The lone Lord of the Terenyk family had been a thorn in their side for a while and, despite having lost his wife because of his demonic child, he was still pushing for the same reforms he always had.

That it turned out the child had been blessed by the All-Mother had not helped their goals any. Most people viewed the Creator in a favourable light, after all. "All because of those [Guides]," Jester mumbled as he slowly made his way to the desk at the other side of his room. The tiles on the floor lit up as he stepped on them, always lighting his way without the need for torches or other flammable things. Dying in an 'accidental' fire was something for his enemies, not himself.

A small expenditure of mana caused a piece of parchment to appear on the desk. Jester had a letter to write. The people currently running amok in Ebenlowe did more harm than good for his taste so they had to go, preferably before the All-Mother did something to stop them. Can only be a matter of weeks before she reacts.

He still wasn't quite sure why she would even care. She had not cared for millennia, but suddenly the ideals the majority of Verenier lived by were wrong? That did not really make sense to him or anyone else in the Order. Still, the answer to this confusion was simple. The Elder Gods had lied to them. Not something they hadn't thought of before, but not really something they could change.

Even with the power they had gathered, they could not stand against a God. Not yet. They needed Inaru for that. Guess he won't have to fight now. With the Elder Gods dead their plans had both become easier and harder. They no longer needed to pretend to follow one of them to not get removed from the world, but they also had to find a new source of divinity to fuel their ritual.

The demon child of the Terenyk's was still an option, but she was directly affiliated with the Creator. Not something anyone wanted to risk for now. The same was true for the Elven Adventurer that had now seemingly evolved to become the toy of the All-Mother.

For now, however, Jester had to make use of his family name and get the Guard to crack down on the rampant lunatics. "I have to do my duty to protect Ebenlowe, after all."

GamingWolf

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