Chapter 98: Book 3 prologue

Book 3 prologue

    Siofra could barely contain her annoyance as she sat at her spot in the holy court’s realm. It had been nearly a month since she learned of Valor’s transgressions against the world, yet she could do nothing. 

    It took no small amount of convincing from Ashmit and her brother to keep her from out right attacking Valor, knowing he had been weaken by having multiple relics broken in succession made it even harder for her not to put an end to whatever he had been planning yet Soter kindly reminded her that even if she were to win the ensuing battle, she herself would be punished for shattering another soul regardless of the reason. 

    Soter had explained that even if they couldn’t contact the Primordial court now, eventually, they would catch wind of what is happening in this world and investigate. She needn’t be reminded what the punishment for shattering a soul was, though Soter had felt the need to remind her that if she was lucky, she would be erased alongside Valor… if she was lucky.

    The Primordial court isn’t known for the leniency with such things however, making it clear many times in the past that no matter the reason the shattering of a soul will not be tolerated…

    Under the threat of the primordial punishment, she was powerless to do anything but answer the call for a holy court meeting in hopes to at least see the extent that Hecatolite had damaged the “god-king”, hopefully it would at least bring a bit of amusement to her until she could come up with a more permanent solution to her current problem. As it stands now, she knew Valor was attempting to take over the system, if not the world by some sort of underhanded means, as to what she couldn’t figure out. And to what end? So far, he had been very careful to cover his tracks, so well in fact, that even she had a hard time linking him to anything aside from the collar that had been used on Eryl and even then, there was no evidence that his followers hadn’t acted on their own…

    She bit her lip as she scrolled through her own terminal, Taika had arrived a while ago and went to work quelling the whispering gods around the room though Siofra paid the woman no mind. She knew why Valor had called this meeting, after all since Hecatolite was still in stasis from the formation of her body as far as she knew, meaning there was only one other noteworthy event in the last month.

    She sighed tapping on the terminal, pulling up a message she had received a month ago.

    “Ascension detected. Assigning a new Deity. Designation, “Singularity, the lucidity of Bedlam”. Domains, “error” domains already assigned, reassigning domains. Deity, Singularity, the lucidity of bedlam, devil of judgment and goddess of mercy has formed.”

    Congratulations Amethyst, you truly have followed in your sisters’ footsteps, haven’t you. Siofra sighed dismissing the terminal, it was no surprise to her that once the two girls split Amethyst had been given divine domains, the only shocking thing here was how long it had taken Valor to react to the creation of a new Deity. Though it was likely due to the large amount of his soul that had been broken in freeing….

    Sofia’s thoughts were cut short as an ear splitting crack filled the air, the entire realm filling with a blinding light as what looked to be a lightning bolt struck the center of the room silencing the whispering gods around as Valor appeared in the middle of all of them.

    He stood, scanning the crowd that sat stunned by his arrival. Nodding to himself as he noticed that every god had answered his call, “brothers,” he swept his arms out in a grand gesture as he called out over them, “sisters, I thank you all for coming. I do truly wish it was under better tidings that we all gathered, but” he dropped his arms to his sides, casting his gaze down to the ground as he shook his head. “I come bearing dreadful news.”

    Wait… something's not right… he looks fine? Siofra was stunned as she inspected Valor’s back that faced her. She could see no signs of damage, even his once missing finger seemed to be fine as he held his arms out… how?

    “As many of you already know, another of these mysterious Deities has appeared in our world, a strange divine that bears both godly and demonic domains… I do not believe it is happenstance that these strange demons appeared while our world is in turmoil, only showing themselves when we have no way of contacting the other worlds; while our very own system seems to have rebelled against us and our admin is absent from her duties. No, I believe this is deliberate. It is no coincidence that a demon lord had appeared shortly before the first Deity arrived, merely moments before a god, one of our own brothers, was erased from existence. And now, not even a day after several of my very own heroes had been ruthlessly attacked did the second appear.” He took a deep breath turning to face Siofra who’s jaw clenched as their eyes met.

    Standing there, in all his glory, the god-king, his single blue eye fixed on her as golden flames danced in the now empty socket. His long blond hair swept back framing his scowling face as he continued. “It cannot be by chance that soon after this “Singularity” appeared that the world was thrown into chaos, the docile southern nations suddenly baring their fangs towards the north throwing the whole world into turmoil as a war unlike any this world has ever seen is on the horizon. No, I believe these “Deities” have orchestrated this. Hiding away, dividing us by convincing our very own followers to turn on one another. To what end you may ask, to weaken us. It is no secret that for years this very court has been divided, tensions over the actions of the mortals have long since pitted us against one another.``

    Siofra glanced at the gods around her, the minor gods in their seats muttering to one another as Valor spun his web around them… I forgot how charismatic this prick was. She ground her teeth as she looked to her brother who sat stoically, what now? He’s going to attempt to pin it all on Hecatolite and Amethyst. If he does that… she paused… if Valor attacked the twins in earnest… Well, she wouldn’t have to worry about shattering him herself then.

    “Now, for why I have called you all here today.” Valor held his hands out, power swirling around him, holy flames dancing around him as what looked like electricity ran down his right arm…

    Is… is his right arm shorter than his left… and since when does he use lightning magic, hasn’t he always used radiant… again Siofra found herself confused as she waited for his dramatic pause to end.

    “It is long past time; this court has been divided for far too long. So, I ask you all here and now, please, offer me your strength. Together we will stand against these strange divines that have invaded our world, if we cannot hunt them down within the divine realms then we will scour the mortal realm and destroy whatever foothold they have formed. If they continue to hide in the shadows, we will drag them to the light, now more than ever we need to be united against this foreign threat! You all cast your votes when you appointed me as the head of this court, and now I, Valor, the god of heroes; here by vow to remove these “Deities” from our world with the full force of the Holy court that has been bestowed upon me.”

    That's his game. Siofra watched as several minor gods clapped, the influx of aether immediately filling the room as several gods worth of power rushed into Valor. 

    If it had been before she had met Hecatolite, Siofra may have been confused by what she was seeing. But given that several times now she herself has been used to transfer a divine soul's power… he’s convincing them to give him their power… he’s going to bleed them dry…

    There was a long pause as several more gods gave their “support” to Valor, before finally someone’s voice called out.

    “You're wrong.” Soter’s voice cut through the clapping cheers causing the entire court to turn to him.

    “Soter, my friend, I know…” 

    “I Soter, god of protection here by vote to remove Valor as the head of the holy court.” Valor stepped back as Soter cut him off. 

    “On what grounds!” Takia scowled as she pointed a finger at the god sitting beside her, “who do you think you…”

    “I, Siofra, goddess of wisdom and nature, second that vote.” Siofra called out. She did not know her brother's plan, but she would be damned if he would stand alone.

    “Siofra,” Valor turned to her, “I know that we have had our differences in the past, but is this the best time for petty squabbles?”

    “No time like the present,” she smirked as she stood from her seat, “if you wish to apologize I would love to hear it after you are removed from your mighty throne.” 

    Valor glared at her before turning back to Soter, “fine, you have the right to bring a vote before the court, but who do you think will replace me in this time of turmoil? You?”

    “No,” Soter shook his head as he stood, scanning the room with a cold gaze before speaking. “This is no time for warriors; you claim these divine have invaded us and intend to hunt them down, yet I believe you to be wrong Valor. What we need now is one who has shown the ability to not only lead those around them but to inspire even the devils to move to protect this world. I nominate Jaki of the blue moon as head of the holy court.” One could hear a pin drop as all eyes turned to the tiny bunny woman who trembled violently in the corner of the room.

    “wh… why!” she cried as even Siofra found herself unable to argue with her brother's logic.

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    Valor, after looking at the bunny goddess, began to laugh. “You nearly had me there for a moment, old friend. Soter, i always knew you were one for jokes…”

    “I agree with Soter’s vote.” Siofra called again, cutting the god-king off, “Jaki has proven to be not only compassionate but wise beyond her years, Valor as you said this is time for action, but not for war. What this world needs now more than anything is someone who can remain rational in the face of diversity. Valor if you brazenly attack the deities… if you attack the “mad devour” then only death awaits you. Jaki has the best chance; she’s already used to cleaning up after her anyway.” Siofra paused, hoping no one caught her slip of the tongue as she coughed into her hand.

    “Siofra,” Veritas pulled her attention away from Valor, “is this truly what you believe to be the best course of action?”

    Siofra clenched her fist as she looked at the woman beside her, Veritas was nearly as old as the siblings and just as short tempered when it came to “political” games. As the goddess of contracts and deals she hated the muddling of words and intentions…

    “Yes. I believe that Valor will lead us… no, this world to, ruin.” She answered bluntly, turning her back to the winged woman.

    “And your deal with this “X47” has no influence on this at all.” The words felt like ice on her back as she became acutely aware of the mark on her own back. “If you wish to convince us to follow you, I believe now would be the time for truth, don’t you?”

    “Deal with the Deity?” Valor nearly erupted as he heard what had been said, “you betray your own, have you not said you know nothing of the Deity, the very creature that had slain a god!”

    Siofra sighed, glancing back at Veritas. “I, Siofra, of sound mind under no influence aside from my own swear to you that I came to this conclusion of my own accord. Soter is correct that attempting to attack X47 would be foolish and pointless. She is harmless as she is now and wishes no more than to live her own life.”

    Veritas nodded at her words, “fair.” She muttered standing from her seat. “I have chosen to believe Siofra’s words. I, Veritas goddess of contracts, give my support to Jaki of the blue moon.”

    “You all are fools! Do you really think that now is the time for this!” Valor hissed pointing to Siofra, “I should have known you were in on this elf. A ruse by that demon to divide the court even more than it already was.” He turned to Soter, “but you. I never would have guessed you to betray me!”

    “Betray you?” Soter shook his head, holding a terminal that simply displayed a dozen “Error” messages on it. “Valor, I told you nearly a lifetime ago you had my support against anything in this world. However, you brought this upon yourself, you wish to fight devils or gods, that’s fine. But this,” he pointed to one of the errors, “this is not a battle I wish to be any part of.”

    Siofra raised an eyebrow as she looked at the terminal, she knew Soter’s true domain would allow him to see through things that were hidden but that was an error not a…

    “Fine, you wish to vote then vote.” Valor slammed his foot down sending a wave through the realm, terminals appearing before all the gods as they all started casting their votes. “But once we are done with this waste of time,” he hissed, turning his eye back to Siofra, “we will need to discuss what to do with you, traitor.”

    In the end it… was closer than Siofra had thought it would be. Valor only barely kept his position, with 23 votes to Jaki’s “20.5”. As to why it was a fraction, Soter rolled his eyes as he whispered, “damn system, a Deity only counts as half a vote because they’re not gods.”

    “Now that we are done wasting time.” Valor growled from his seat, “I need to speak to you elf…” his words were punctuated by a rumbling…

    “Since when can he shake a realm?” Siofra asked out loud as the entire court shook.

    “He can’t.” Soter answered bluntly as he grabbed her arm, “we should leave, now!” He called out, turning to Jaki, “get everyone to the shared realm!”

    A dozen thunderclaps rang out as terminals appeared all around them.

    “Universal threat detected, enacting safety protocol one. ERROR, protocol failed. Chimera detected outside of the harvester world, repeat Chimera detected. Error, error, error, unable to contact mother system, unable to contact primordial court, error. Sending a message to the nearest world, message sent. Enacting secondary protocol. Chimera found outside of containment, locking system from universal systems, attempting to lock the world from dimensional travel… ERROR, failed. Limiting dimensional travel… success, world travel now off limits until chimera is destroyed. ERROR….” The messages continued before the screens all turned black, falling from the air and crashing into the ground around them before flashing red and vanishing.

    “What in the hells was…” Valor’s head rocked back as a scream tore through the court, an immense pressure forcing a handful of the minor gods to their knees as the ear-piercing sound continued.

    Siofra went to cover her ears only to find the act useless against the terror filled scream as it resonated in her mind, the sound feeling like a spike driven directly into her thoughts as her brother grabbed her arm and forced her through a portal to the shared realm.

    “Is that everyone?” he called out, holding his head as he looked around.

    “All I could grab.” a strangely smiling Ashmit replied, dropping a nearly unconscious Jaki onto the ground next to him. “Even grabbed your girlfriend while I was at it.” He said pointing to a very unhappy looking dark elf who was currently being held in place by a very angry looking red dragon.

    Veritas fluttered her wings as she crashed into the ground beside Siofra, “what is happening?” She ground her teeth as she held her ears, Siofra noticing that some people seemed to be affected worse than others as the mind piercing scream continued. 

    Siofra turned to her brother, choosing to ignore everyone around her as she attempted to summon a terminal only to be greeted by a darkened screen that fell to the ground as soon as it appeared. “Brother, please tell me you have a plan to keep them from following us?”   

    Soter did not answer as he knelt, muttering to himself as he wove a spell. From what Siofra could see of it, it appeared to be a simple concealment spell, yet something seemed… different… “Heed my call, I Soter, protector of secrets here by shroud this land from all who wish to find it. Upon deaf ears will this location ever be spoken, through blinded eyes shall this land ever be seen, none will know of its location lest they have already set foot upon its soil. Binding concealment, Shroud!” 

    The entire realm stilled as his power washed over the shared realm, an eerie silence falling over all of them as Soter seemed to sway.

    “That…” Veritas got to her knees as she took a deep breath. “Was impressive.”

    “That…” Soter rasped, looking back with hallowed eyes, the color seeming to drain from his face as his entire body appeared to… distort, his features shifted from human to slightly more elven.“Was a coincidence.” He said falling to the ground with a thud.