Lux sat on her throne in the Conflux of Creation. The one place on Heimfold where the Artificial gods were allowed to be physically due to their mutual agreements barring other visitation. Normally, they rotated on a seasonal basis. But meetings such as this were an exception. The doors were shut as her siblings arrived in flashes of energy, taking their designated thrones.
“We all are now here,” Lux began. “We must decide what to do with the problem of the New gods.
Umbra crossed her legs and stared at her opposite sister, “Must we? If anything, we should decide what to do with our own problematic god.” She pointed at Caeli.
“I ‘ave joehsy been doin me jahb!” Caeli replied.
Ignis’ voice grumbled out, “Schut up. You’fe fiolated seferal pacts.”
Lux sighed and snapped her fingers as she performed a miracle, pushing her divine Heat into the room as, temporarily, their accents were removed. “You were saying, Ignis?”
“Caeli has violated several pacts,” the only male Artificial god stated plainly.
Terra nodded, “She takes risks.”
Caeli stood up and shouted, “Then what good am I? I was made to fight The Void. And now?” She gestured around the room as she turned in a circle. “My job is to protect the skies and the wilds.” Her face turned to one of rage, full of hatred. “Every person on Heimfold despoils the land and air with their very presence!”
Terra stood up and the room seemed to crack as her feet touched down. “Without our people, we are nothing.”
Aqua shook her head, speaking in her calm, measured way. “Caeli, you are too unpredictable.” She turned to her fellow siblings. “We cannot fall to this madness. Our primary function of holding back The Void may have ended, but we must find new purpose.”
Caeli turned on her sister and stomped up to her, “Oh yeah? And what’s miss pissy storm going to do? Watch the water?”
Aqua turned on her sister as the watery pool her ornate throne sat in began to roil and bubble with her anger. “I will protect Heimfold and the oceans. My followers will use my power to heal and mend.” She shook her head, “You are truly losing your mind. Professor Slate’s warnings were spot on,” she muttered just loud enough for Caeli to hear.
Caeli pulled back her hand as if to strike her sister, but Terra stepped forward and grabbed her wrist. “Stop it!” Terra yelled.
Caeli pulled her wrist away and fumed at her siblings. “We should be doing what he would have done.” She pointed to the empty dais where Caelum’s throne once stood, the once-mighty beacon of the Arch god. “He would have killed off all of the New gods to reclaim the Aether Shards. We don’t need them anymore!”
Ignis shook his head, “No. He was not cruel. Harsh, but not cruel.”
“And” Umbra began, “These New gods either left Heimfold or are not causing us any problems.”
Caeli turned and stomped to the other end of the hall, approaching the shadowed lady. “Tell that to the Guildmaster,” she said with as much spite as she could muster. “He is interfering with my duty!” She was practically frothing at the mouth as her eyes dashed back and forth, wildly, amongst her siblings.
The Artificial gods – all except Caeli – shared a look and a silent thought. As one, they raised their hands, and channeled their Heat into the wrathful goddess. She gasped, frozen in place from the combined power of her siblings.
“We cannot risk all-out war between ourselves,” Ignis stated, bringing his logic to bear. “If you continue this path, then eventually you will cross a line. And we will be at each other’s throats.”
Terra nodded and approached her wild sister, “I’m sorry. But this is for your own good.”
Lux stood up and walked in front of Caeli, “We banish you to your realm. Your Afterlife. Never to tread on Heimfold again…Goodbye.”
Caeli vanished in a multi-colored array of light with a silent scream of frustration written on her visage.
The other five Artificial gods all breathed a mutual sigh of relief, returning to their thrones. “It had to be done,” Ignis stated, leaning forward with his arms on his knees. “We each have our own functions to perform. I’ll keep the technology level in check, as Caelum wanted.” He vanished in a column of flame.
Terra stood up, “I will continue protecting the cities and the outer reaches of our creation. With other worlds, we don’t know if we may be attacked. I shall keep vigil.” She vanished in a puff of gemstones and dust.
Umbra smirked at Lux, “Tell me, how is that whole ‘keeping Heimfold pure’ situation going?”
Lux raised an eyebrow, “I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“You can’t lie to the goddess of lies. I know you lost a whole expedition force and an archangel. Sure, the expedition force will eventually reconstitute on The Sun…but the archangel?”
Lux stood up, righteous fury in her face, “How do you know!”
Umbra smirked, “I have my ways. I will go and continue to foster the passions of all creatures on Heimfold…especially the passion of those two hungry, hungry monsters.” She cackled with glee as she vanished in a puff of smoke.
Lux unleashed a beam of holy radiance at Umbra’s throne after she departed, huffing in rage at her sister’s tacit statement of collusion with those things.
Aqua walked over and placed a cool hand on Lux’s shoulder, turning the goddess of light to face her. “Calm, sister.”
“You’re one to talk!” Lux yelled as she threw off Aqua’s hand. “You have it easy! Just healing people and watching the oceans?” She threw her hands up and groaned, “I have to deal with honesty, purity, and cleansing Heimfold of anything not intended in our creation.”
Aqua held her arms open for her sister, and Lux, for the first time in many centuries, hugged her sister and felt tears running down her face. “I can’t control it,” Lux sobbed into her sibling’s shoulder. “I can feel it. Pure hatred. My angels are dying. Souls that are marked as mine are taken. I want them all to burn.”
Aqua shushed her and ran a hand through her hair, “You’re doing what Caelum intended. He made you to keep Heimfold pure, and you’re trying your best.”
Lux pulled away to look her sister in the eyes. “I feel my mind slipping. Just anger. All the time. So much impurity. Everywhere I look. My followers are faltering in their devotion.”
Aqua brushed the tears off Lux’s cheek. “May I make a suggestion?” Lux nodded and she continued, “Don’t go after them. The Monster of The Guild and The Maven of the Blade.”
Lux slapped her hand away, “Why?”
Aqua held up her hands, “Just…listen. They are hunting other monsters. Leave them be – for now – and let them do your job. That will give you time to build up your forces and improve your armies.” Aqua smirked, “Then, when they’ve killed and eaten all of the monsters on Heimfold, you send your full force after them.”
Lux nodded slowly, “You…make sense.”
Aqua smiled, “I am the most rational of us.” She stepped away and waved at her sister, “Relax. Don’t worry about those two.” A large burst of water surrounded her as she vanished.
Lux looked to the empty dais where Caelum’s throne once stood. “I’ll ensure your creation is kept pure.” She transported herself to The Sun.
“Did she buy it?” Umbra asked as Aqua walked into her throne room in The Deluge.
Aqua grinned, “I think so. With luck, she won’t focus on your monsters.”
“Good,” a third voice joined them as Malvir oozed out of a corner. “They will eat all other monsters on Heimfold, find Tiberius now that he is revived, slay him, and return my cube.”
A fourth voice joined the conversation as Vythin stood up, “And then, they can fight Lux. We all keep our hands clean; we get rid of a mad god-”
“-And you take her place,” Umbra said.
Aqua nodded, “You are more rational, this is true. And I saw Lux’s madness beginning with my own eyes. But I want assurances.” She channeled her heat as a watery scroll appeared in front of her. “We form a pact. Us four. We will not work against each other’s interests.”
Vythin nodded and added his head to the pact as it glowed golden. Umbra did the same, and Malvir joined last as the floating scroll glowed with vibrance before snapping shut and infusing each of them with the dictated terms.
Aqua sighed, “Terra and Ignis have defined enough secondary functions that they shouldn’t go mad. But eventually, Caeli will escape from her Afterlife. When that happens, we need a valid replacement.”
Umbra nodded, “I have one in mind that I’ve been cultivating.”
Malvir chuckled, turning to Vythin. “How’d you come up with this crazy scheme?”
Vythin smirked, “Oh, I’m not the architect of this plan.”
All three deities looked at him with confusion. “If not you, then who?” Umbra asked.
The two monsters plummeted to the surface of the water. Echo held up his hand in front of him and channeled his Quintessence through his water Affinity. “Splashdown.” The water underneath the two monsters rippled and coursed with his silver Quintessence as the surface tension was reduced.
They both slipped through the water – suffering no damage thanks to his spell – and their Tideborn Innate Ability activated. Their skin shifted to that of fish scales, webbing grew in between their hands, their eyes were covered with a light filter, and gills opened on their necks.
This is so cool!
Echo dove deep, Fumi just a few kicks behind him. The deep, blue ocean was terrifying and exhilarating – there was nothing but water in all directions. If he had thalassophobia, he surely would have passed out by this point. The cerulean water turned darker and darker as they descended, and the temperature began to drop.
Echo reached opened the pocket dimension above him – so that the air pressure inside would prevent it from flooding – and popped his head up. “Rose, mind handing me those rocks?”
Rose handed Echo the small pile of rocks. He pulled his hand up, “Alter Substance.” The rocks warped and turned into magnesium, which he ignited with a small burst of flame magic before dipping back into the water, closing the portal, and dropping the burning metal into the depths below.
“Come on, Fumi.” Echo dove down after the burning slag as Fumi followed.
“Won’t the light attract creatures?” Fumi asked.
Echo nodded, “Yeah. Didn’t think of that.” He pushed his hand out and cast another spell, “Sonar Pulse.” The shockwave burst through the water and – surprisingly – there was nothing within kilometers. He shared that information with Fumi.
“Strange,” she stated as they continued into the inky blackness.
They descended for over an hour – easily reaching depths over ten thousand meters.
As deep as the deepest parts of Earth’s oceans.
Echo kept casting Sonar Pulse, and as he finally started to get a ‘ping’ back from the bottom of the ocean. The two caught up to the smoldering metal that slowly let off bubbles that coursed past them.
Fumi looked around, “Any idea where this place is?”
Echo shook his head and put his hand onto the soft sand. “I don’t think my sonar spell will help with this.” He looked around for any type of landmark, but the darkness was near absolute save for the burning metal. Their Darkvision, Tideborn, and Far Sight were doing nothing to help with the inky blackness.
It has to be big for a huge dragon to hide in it.
He went through the process of making a spell: tap into the Quintessence, envision the effect.
I need to find something.
Determine the Affinity and name the spell. “Guiding Light,” he uttered the spell. A silver ray of light tracing with red sparks arced from his fingertip to their side, shooting off into the darkness.
Fumi reached down and grabbed the burning magnesium as Echo held the spell – the minute Quintessence cost of maintaining it almost negligible given his vast reservoir. They arrived at an underwater cliff and glanced over. The beam went down into the darkness.
It goes deeper?
Fumi and him both swam down, with Echo pausing a few times as his fear started kicking in as the inky blackness seemingly absorbed them. He alternated Sonar Pulse and Guiding Light spells, feeling relief each time, the sonar returned a null signal. Staring out into the infinite darkness filled him with a horrible sense of dread as his mind filled in all types of horrors waiting in the unknown.
The enormous cavern wall opened, and the sonar mapped a tunnel going into the oceanic cliffside. The monsters swam forward, undaunted. They saw a glimmering light – an illuminated pool that promised an air pocket. Breaking the surface they found a cavern that was the size of a castle – easily large enough to hold the water dragon – and completely empty. There was some type of bioluminescent moss on the ceiling illuminating the space.
The two walked onto the sandy floor as their bodies shifted back to being suited for terrestrial travel. “Why tell us to come down here if there is nothing here?” Fumi muttered.
Echo released another Sonar Pulse and began walking towards a part of the cavern that did not ping – despite clearly being a rock wall. “Maybe an illusion?” He touched his hand to the wall, and it felt real enough.
Weird.
The sound didn’t bounce off it, but the surface was solid. And sticky. He tried pulling his hand back, but the wall pulled back with him, his hand stuck to the surface. Planting himself with Immovable Object he heaved all his strength against it and the surface released him with a loud pop as the suction released.
Fumi grabbed his hand and channeled Quintessence into the pocket dimension ring, “Rose, come here.”
The Lich Queen stepped out of the pocket dimension and looked around the chamber as the portal shut, “Intriguing. A grotto.” She turned around, taking the room in. Echo filled her in on the situation and pointed at the wall-not-wall. “Very peculiar,” She muttered as her eyes glowed white and blue. “This…thing isn’t a spell. It’s not living or dead.” She took several steps back and gestured for the other two to do so as well. Raising her scepter she pooled her power into the staff, “Wither before entropy, Death Touch.”
The inky-black stream of power burst out and impacted the stony-membrane, wobbling back and forth.
And an enormous, singular eye opened far above them. And the cavernous wall shook, oozing purple ichor.
