The assembly of the Big Four plus Gilles and Father was hidden away in a separate space. Alexander specifically had requested for it before he left for Sehuyun’s realm, as he could sense Keilan’s discomfort. Father had, at first, insisted that every co to see him off, but Keilan’s insistence that the information he held couldn’t wait won Alexander over. Originally his brother had been too tired from the journey to really function properly, and had fallen prey to Father’s nervous energy. So gentle nudges from Alexander had given him the push he needed.
Besides, Alexander wanted to hear news about the One World. How were they handling the impending collision on their end? Was everything proceeding according to plans?
He had not expected the answer to that question, even if it was no answer.
“The One World was failing.” Gilles said bluntly, folding his hands into the sleeves of his robes, shadows dancing about his face. Everyone in the small conference room stared at him blankly.
“Co again?” Father said, leaning forward, resting his elbows on the table.
“The One World was failing. I fear its weak internal structure has compromised the One World’s abilities to construct proper defensive asures.” Gilles explained again, going deeper this ti. Alexander shifted slightly in his seat, attention fully upon the Deity of Shadows. He sensed no lie in the man’s words…which bode ill.
“I do not recall seeing any evidence of that during my visit to the One World, and I was there for ten years.” Father argued, crossing his arms as he reclined in his chair, eting Gilles’ eyes.
“We are not doubting your powers of observation, Father,” Keilan said, his large, bat-like wings fluttering on his back, betraying his discomfort. Alexander’s frown deepened. Keilan’s reaction only made the information more unsettling. “We can only tell you what we saw. Curie confird it for us; they intentionally hid the cracks from all the other Origin Deities during that ti.”
“Is that still the case?” Elvira asked, voice tight. Alexander nodded his agreent to the question, and the spirit in which it was given. Undoubtedly, if the One World was still crumbling and they had not willingly volunteered that information until now it complicated things.
“As far as we were able to see, I am uncertain. Curie claims it is on the nd and has been since the original eting of the Origin Deities. The information they gathered there supposedly helped them to stabilize their World.” Keilan said, the corners of his eyes tightening in the way they always did when he was thinking too hard about sothing. Alexander rumbled, drawing attention to himself.
“The question, then, becos twofold. One, does that fragility endanger the One World even more and how does that effect our current plans. And two,” he glanced at Father, whose expression was grim, a variety of emotions flickering behind those piercing green eyes of His. Alexander was not yet adept enough to read Father’s emotions like He could read his own, but he could imagine the confusion, and perhaps, maybe, the sense of betrayal lurking there. He was close to Yueya and the others. Why would they hide that from Him? “How did they manage to hide this from Father? Is there anything else they are hiding?” This set his siblings to nervously shifting in their seats, his own gut twisting with unease at the very idea.
“I’m not saying I don’t believe you.” Father said slowly, rubbing His chin. “But this is a lot to assu, and is coming completely out of left field for . We sowed good karma on this trip; your actions in the One World has given us an extra rope to grab on to – and even now, I see that karma growing in strength, as whatever changes you helped cause compound. I just…”
“We’ve been able to hide things from you before.” Reika said softly.
“Only because I willingly blinded myself. Even the Shadow was less like you hiding things from , and hiding from myself.” Father said bluntly, eting Reika’s eyes. “I believe you children should have so of your own autonomy, which is why I restrict my vision…oh.” Alexander perked up at Father’s expression, sothing akin to realization flashing across His face that quickly morphed into sothing more thoughtful.
“Oh?” Alexander pressed, urging Father to continue.
“Do not worry about it. Gilles, Keilan, please continue. What caused the fracturing in the first place? Was it because it’s too big?” Father asked, dismissing Alexander’s question off-hand. He frowned at Him, but did not press the matter, allowing his attention to shift fully back onto Keilan and Gilles.
“It was not just a matter of them not having enough energy to sustain the One World, or enough hands to man it, and that is sothing I can say for certain. I am firmly of the belief that is part of the nature of the universe, though I would need more ti to examine it more to confirm that theory. The One World is an ever-expanding singular stretch of land, a land of endless new horizons. One endless artwork. The reason for the cracks was sothing else.” Keilan shook his head, tail thrashing against the floor. He chewed his lip and Alexander waited patiently for his brother to continue. But as the silence stretched, he began to realize his brother had no intention to expand upon his words.
“Well? Don’t keep us in suspense. What is the cause?” Elvira urged, eting her husband’s eyes. Alexander closed his own eyes, already guessing the response that ca next.
“We don’t know. The greatest hint we received was from a goddess nad Astraea, and even she didn’t know what the truth was. She ntioned she was an existence much like Randus; what that ans, I am uncertain. She was no deity of dreams, but a goddess of the stars.” Gilles said. Alexander opened his eyes again. Their lack of knowledge had been expected, else they would have shared the cause right away, but what did they an by an existence like Randus? Perhaps a Pillar, in their own right? Or, perhaps, the Right Hand of the Origin Deity. Alexander t Father’s eyes, seeing the sa realization reflected in His own face. There was no other god who knew Father better than Randus, besides Morgan itself. Randus was constantly by His side, inhabited His dreams…the right hand of god.
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An existence like that had warned Keilan.
He had much to think about, on his journey.
The eting continued for a while longer, Keilan and Gilles going into specifics about their ti in the One World, how Keilan helped them begin construction on a true afterlife for them, how Gilles explored the inner shadows of their world, and gave so guidance to a few of the younger gods. But the weight of their initial statent left Alexander with a heavy feeling in his heart and a somber tone in the room itself.
Only when Father stood did the eting end, even though the conversation had been circling the sa few topics for so ti now. He t his eyes, and Alexander knew that he could put it off no longer. It was ti for him to begin his own journey.
“The portal is ready.” Father told him. Alexander nodded and rose from his seat, floating in the air as Father waved one hand. The sa kind of portal that had taken Keilan to the One World appeared in a flash of blue light, a power of…sothing zapping it into existence.
For a brief mont, the power hesitated, and seed to look at him. Alexander’s breath caught in his throat, the overpowering pressure of that thing’s attention bringing his entire body to a standstill, his power freezing, his heart stopping in his chest –
Father pressed a hand against his snout, His power wrapping itself around him, shielding him from the weight of that existence. A gasp left his mouth, ti resuming.
“Co on.” He said softly, eting Alexander’s eyes. He held Father’s gaze, fully aware of the strange looks his other siblings were giving him, searching for an answer to the question that now presented itself to him. Was that…had that been…the being Father communicated with? “Let’s get you to Sehuyun before you see sothing else before you’re ready. I swear, you all take after far too much.” He chided, his words only confirming his question, despite it not being a direct answer. That had been…but it was…so big.
Father gently guided him forward, whispering words of encouragent as they neared the portal. Only when they paused before it, dark, looming chaos barely visible on the other side, did Father pause once more.
“If you get into trouble, just holler. I’ll be only a skip, hop, and a jump away.” He promised. Alexander lowered his head to nuzzle Father once more, then looked at the portal, casting aside the strange feeling that plagued his chest in favor of steel-like determination. Whatever was on the other side of this portal, he knew, would allow for none of his usual perfectionism. He would have to adapt quickly, if Sehuyun gave him a chance to at all.
He sucked in a deep breath.
Then he dove into the portal.
***
I watched Alexander slip through the portal, disappearing like a fish beneath the surface of a stream. For a mont all was still, and I was left with nothing but my heavy heart, which was weighing down for more than one reason. Alexander was brave, and the wisest of all my children, but I was still going to worry about him like I did Keilan and Gilles. I trusted him to do the right thing. The question was what Sehuyun wanted him for. She, I only trusted as far as I could throw her…with my children, at least. She herself was a predictable beast.
And then there was the elephant in the room.
How did Yueya hide the fracturing of the One World from ? It was no boast for to say my eyesight was fantastic – it had been praised by the Overgod himself, after all. I had seen through the barriers of the Overgod when I wasn’t supposed to, and peered through the text boxes he loved so much to behold the true form of the avatar he chose. My vision could pierce through the disguises of all my fellow Origin Deities, to behold their true domains even when they tried to hide it from . So how had I missed this?
I feared I already knew the answer, and it ca from one simple word. “Blinding.” I had thought it before, about Yueya’s beauty. Before, it had been ntioned that her Beauty was the sa sort of intrinsic power as my Sight; I hadn’t fully understood how that would work, and in many ways I still did not understand it, but now I could sense a part of it.
Her beauty had literally blinded . And I feared she was hiding sothing else; such was why she had cranked up her beauty during the last eting, to the point I had actively avoided staring too long at her.
“Isn’t there supposed to be soone coming through to our end?” Reika asked softly, seconds ticking by as we waited for Sehuyun to send her own creation through. Seconds turned to minutes, and I began to fidget. Maybe –
It burst through the portal in a flash of light, a swirling mass of fla and destruction. Eyes burned within the smoke and ash that attempted to conceal its form, a curling tail of fire lashing at the ground. It hissed at , long tongue snaking out to flick the air, lifting its head up.
“A being, made of Sehuyun’s fire? That’s insane,” I admitted freely, circling the little beast. It was no stronger than one of the high deities of the Four Realms, but considering the nest of the Prival Dragon had been almost completely devoid of life the last ti I visited, that was quite the impressive improvent. The snake-like being hissed at again, little gouts of fla shooting out of its nostrils, the fire and smoke that swirled about it condensing against its coal-orange scales, slit-pupiled eyes keeping themselves trained on .
I brushed off the fire it breathed at with ease, revising my earlier assessnt of it. A better example of this things power would be more akin to Alexander, when he was first born. So still around the level of a high deity or older elental god, like Aeriel, but with deeper applications.
“Teach that one so manners for . It’s being obnoxious.” Sehuyun’s voice, deep and rumbling with the fire that burned in her chest, echoed through the portal. I turned to ask her what exactly she ant by that, only to have it snap shut in my place. The snake hissed at , no spoken language, just hissed with the intent to bite if I tried to touch or move toward it.
“Did she just dump a child into our laps?” Reika demanded, her disbelief coloring her tone. I nodded slowly, smiling genially and gently at the snake, which hissed at my calm approach and spit a little bit more fire at .
“I believe she did. We’re now playing babysitter, apparently. Hello, little one. What’s your na?” I asked, kneeling to make myself less threatening.
The snake responded by striking, fangs pressing uselessly against the skin on my forearm and spraying the fires of destruction all over . I sighed heavily, standing and holding up my arm, the snake dangling and refusing to let go.
Elvira and Reika t my eyes, my two daughters frowning at the snake’s blatant disrespect. Did it even understand what that ant? Had Sehuyun taught it anything? I pondered that question, but only for a mont. I could imagine what her teaching thods were like, and it made pity the poor snake.
Didn’t make it less aggravating to have it biting my arm like this.
I would have my work cut out for , with this one. Especially since Alexander was gone, and I was now assuming direct control over the Spirit Realm. Ah, well. What was one more child to teach?
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