Alastair bellowed in laughter as he tossed another trainee out of the ring.

               “You need to watch your feet boy,” he spoke in a jovial tone as he stepped over to the young man, lifting him easily and placing him on his feet. “Be careful not to overstep, it leaves you open.”

               “Thank you, sir!” The boy yelled a little too enthusiastically as he saluted the older man.

               “Alright who is…” just as he turned to return to the ring a muffled scream tore through the courtyard followed by a shock wave that shook the very wall itself, the blast knocking many to the ground as it seemed to radiate outwards traveling up the streets into the city.  “Just what in the holy court was that?” he asked looking around, the clouds themselves parting above the barracks, pushed outwards by some unseen force.

               As an eerie silence seemed to fall, he took a deep breath, a wide grin spreading across his face as he turned to the stunned crowd of guards. “And just what are you all doing? Catching flies? get moving!” his command snapping all the guards present to attention, “get into the city, be sure everyone is safe. You three!” he pointed as a small group that had been knocked down, “get to the wall be sure no one was knocked off! Send a squad to the gate and secure it, make sure no one sneaks in while we figure out what that was.”

               He did not wait for a reply before striding confidently towards the epicenter of the blast, the guards springing to life at his words falling into uniformed well practiced motions as they split into squads and rushed into the city each taking a sector to search for any damages.

               “I wonder what my girls have done this time.” He said unable to contain his joy.

               Alastair had a mix of emotions as he walked through the silent barracks, not stopping to help the guards who were picking themselves up from the floor.  He was overjoyed if one of his daughter’s managed to shake the whole city like that, however if it was not one of his girls that had caused it, he was just as excited to fight someone capable of such a feat, after he checked on his daughters of course.

               He could feel his skin tingle as smoke began to rise from his shoulders, ever since the attack on Amethyst and Hecatolite his rage never fully subsided, his whole body bristling with power screaming for an outlet. He strode right past the armory, noticing it was closed meaning Alexa and Hecatolite had already moved back to the office.

               He took a centering breath as he stood before the commander’s door, willing his power to subside as he gripped the handle and pulled the door open.

               “Is it locked?” he spoke, putting more strength into his pull, ripping the handle from the heavy solid wood door with a loud crunch causing him to laugh again as the door limply swung inwards. “Oops, Hans is going to be mad about that.” He discarded the handle and pushed the door open.

               Alexa was standing in the corner of the room, attempting to help a dazed Hans up from the floor as she muttered something about “all that useless armor” being too heavy as she pulled the man to a sitting position. A dent with small cracks in the wall above him, it looked to Alastair that the man had taken the brunt of whatever that shockwave was as he scanned the room, spotting a small blond bun peeking over the desk, the sure sign his wife was behind it.

               He loomed over the desk, not bothering to step around as he looked down to see his wife sitting gently rubbing Hecatolite’s head. The young girl was clearly unconscious, a strange rifle clenched in her hands. He held his breath as he watched the young girl, only allowing himself to breathe when he saw the gentle rise and lowering of her chest.

               Taaffeite looked up at him, and he gave a small nod as he asked. “Guessing we aren’t being attacked then?”

               She let out a small huff as she shook her head, “sorry to disappoint you smokey,” the old nickname catching him by surprise, “I assume the whole barracks felt that?”

               “Barracks?” he laughed, “my love, the gods probably felt that. I haven’t seen anything part the sky like that since the dragon.” He stepped around the desk and knelt next to them. “Is she alright?”

               “She’s still alive if that’s what you’re asking.” Taaffeite sighed, “so much power shoved in a little girl, Alastair… what if we were wrong.”

               “We weren’t.” he said simply as he looked into his wife’s eyes, they were always full of so much confidence, the woman who followed him into the dragon’s den without blinking now looked so scared as she held the limp body of her daughter. “Hecatolite is our child, the same as Amethyst, and both of them will be fine.”

               “a little help?” Alexa called out as she attempted to strip Hans of his chest plate, “think he broke a rib, can’t heal it until I’m sure it’s in place.”

               Alastair chuckled as he kissed his wife’s head. “With a mother like you do you think a little soul mix-up would be able to keep our girls down.”

               She couldn’t help but chuckle as Hecatolite’s nose scrunched being assaulted by the thick smell of smoke coming from him. “It’s their father I’m worried about. Now go,” She said motioning towards Alexa with her head, “before she rips his arms off trying to drag him.”

               Alastair stood turning his back to his wife and daughter, his smile cracking as he did, I pray we are right. His unspoken prayer to any power that could hear it went unneeded and unheard.

               He picked Hans up by the scruff of the neck much like one would a dog and with one hand pulled the clasps that held the chest plate on letting it clamor to the floor soliciting a groan of pain from Hans as Alexa quickly went to work removing the man’s shirt, instructing her father to keep him upright as she did.

               There was a large bruise forming on his back and side that he watched Alexa slowly prod feeling along each rib before she chanted a small healing spell, a green glow crawling across Hans seeping into his skin as the discoloration slowly faded and the man took a deep breath his eyes opening. She made sure to be careful not to over heal him noticing Hans arms and torso was covered in deep scars, they webbed his body carving over the man’s imposing frame. She knew some people prided themselves in such things and would hate to heal them thinking if he still had them, he must want them.

               “Morning sleeping beauty, have a nice nap?” Alastair asked as he set the man back down as he gave a small cough.

               “Why are you here? … what happened?” Hans asked stretching, noticing his scarred chest was bare. “Where is my shirt?”

               “Aww you don’t remember?” Alastair beamed as he ruffled the man’s hair, Hans was by no means a small man, yet everyone looked small next to Alastair. “You passed out and only a prince's kiss would wake you.” Alastair winked at the man.

               Hans rolled his eyes as he looked at Alexa, “what really happened?” He asked as he picked up his armor and began reattaching it.

               “Hecatolite had a very violent magical discharge.” Alexa stated as she walked around the desk and began checking her sister's pulse. “Nearly put you through the wall.”

               “Shook the dust off the whole city too, sent the guards out to check the damages.” Alastair added as he took a seat, “hopefully she didn’t rattle the people too much, tossed a few guards about but nothing nearly as bad as you got.”

               Taaffeite sighed, “There are going to be a lot of questions.”

               “What would you like in the official report?” Hans asked as he finished dressing himself. “Unless you want it to state “Hecatolite shook the foundation of the city.””

               “Magical item disposal gone wrong. Tell them that a cart tried to enter the city with an unknown enchantment on it, during investigation it was deemed dangerous, and during disbarment it was discharged.” Taaffeite stated quickly, as if summarizing the exact report she wanted to see.

               “Understood, Lady Lapidary.” He said taking a quick note, “any particular group you want it tied to?”

               “Yes, but it would be too obvious so leave it a mystery for now.”

               Neither Alastair nor Alexa could say they were happy with this outcome, but they knew it was necessary, lying to the people did not seem right to them. Alastair however knew it was exactly that reason that he left all the “politics” to his wife.

               “Be sure to compensate for any damages caused,” Alastair added knowing it did not need to be said.

               “Of course, sir.” Hans replied as he stood. “I’ll take my leave then, to be sure that the cart didn’t hurt any of my men.” Hans was an amazing guard, would do anything to protect the people of the city, even lie to them as long as the damages weren’t too great.   

---

                    Valor stood in the middle of Eryls realm, his “Angels” moving system terminals about attempting to access them.

               “What is taking so long? Don’t tell me you fools can’t get past some artificial souls defenses.” His voice boomed causing a nearby man to drop part of a terminal he was carrying.

               “Of course not your magnificence… it is only a matter of time until we decipher what she…”

               Valor grabbed the man by the collar, lifting him from the ground with one arm as he spoke. “You have had time. I don’t need excuses, or have you forgotten who it is you are sworn to.”

               “Of course, not your magnificence.” The man made no attempt to struggle as Valor held him. “I mean no offense sir. It's just Ascended Eryl was very thorough in protecting her systems.”

               Without a word the man burst into flames, his soul expelled from the holy realms as his blessing was pulled from him, exiling his soul into the cycle of rebirth.

               “Don’t ever refer to that thing as an Ascended.” His voice shook the realm as he hissed his words. “She is nothing but a construct who has long outlived her usefulness in this world.”

               No one spoke as all of his followers fell to their knees, they knew the man he just banished was their best hope of deciphering the system. 

               “You,” he stood above one of his pleading followers. “What have you learned about my system?”

               “Sir, we have made it past most of the defenses that were in place but we still cannot access the world system. It seems that E… the construct, has removed a large portion of the system. The system though functioning cannot be accessed without the part that was removed.”

               Valor growled as he looked down at the shaking form below him, “useless” just then a slight cracking sound, barely audible but to Valor and the followers closest to him, rang out as one of Valor’s fingertips became hazy almost as it was removed.

               The immortal god, slayer of the last demon king, now head of the holy court, let out a bellowing scream as a sliver of his very soul was broken. A small thread, barely larger than a fingernail, yet the god Valor screamed out in pain as he clutched his hand, grabbing the nearest follower and pulling his power from them, he continued this on the next 5 of his followers before the pain subsided, his middle left finger one knuckle shorter now.     

               Soter watched from the entrance to the realm as Valor banished six mortals in the blink of an eye, Soter knew those souls would be fine having their blessings removed; doing such just returned the souls to the cycle of reincarnation early. Instead of their promised afterlife in service to their god to stand by their sides those six will now have to start over in their hopes of ascension without godly backing they will now need to vow fealty all over again and work their way back up to “angels” as Valor called them.

               “What has you in such a foul mood old friend.” Soter’s voice called, “if you keep banishing followers like that you will have no one to warm your bed for years to come.”        

               “Someone… destroyed one of my relics.” Valor hissed as he tossed a follower aside and turned on the God of protection. “That fucking soul golem must have something to do with this. She was always trying to get rid of me, sending reports to the primordial court…” 

               He pulled his blessings from six people for that. Soter thought razing an eyebrow. The measly scraps of power left on them would barely work as a pain killer. It should only take a couple hundred years to regrow a fingertip, I don’t know what he is so up in arms about.

“And here you are trying to break into her system,” Soter shrugged, “seems her distrust was valid. Though I doubt a mana soul could even scratch one of your artifacts, I won’t say I told you so.” Soter had warned Valor that creating relics was a bad idea. Providing a blessing was simple it’s a contract for a god to provide you with power under a certain pretense, normally for a specific skill. This left what was essential a small net of the gods power on someone’s soul, the god could increase that net for more power or pull the power back removing the blessing. A relic however, required a god to infuse an item with part of their very soul to power it. It is the highest form of enchantment possible, and its excessively dangerous because it leaves part of your soul away from the main body not to mention the backlash if it fails or is destroyed. Most gods or devils only create one possibly two of these items to instill faith in their followers; however, Valor had foolishly created several of these items when he ascended.

               “I don’t know why you hate her so much; she is just doing her job.” Soter finished as Valor flexed his hand, using the power of blessing he had on the souls of his followers barely being enough to numb the damage to his soul.

               “It is a false soul,” Valor corrected, “a construct made by the system to oversee a world. A job that should rightfully go to the gods of this world, not some golem. If not her than who? No soul left in the mortal realm should be able to even touch a thread of aether, more less break one.” He strode over to Soter, Valor standing a head shorter than the god of protection. “Unless you have something you wish to confess to Soter.”

               “Careful Valor, remember who your friends are.” Soter did not flinch as Valor approached, instead looking over Valor’s shoulder at a flashing terminal with a slight grin on his face. “I came to deliver a message from Vala, she had the human city your blessed vanished in searched, and nothing came back as odd. My guess is whatever that thing that ate your blessed also just broke the relic you gave him.” 

               Soter was a much older god than many left in this world, only his sister Siofra and Eryl herself could claim to be his seniors. Soter saw the trashing of this young one somewhat amusing. Valor may be powerful claiming the title as God of heroes and valor, but Soter was known as the god of protection and by another long-forgotten title, one he was positive that no one in this world, even the world system, remembered. And he knew Valor was not a threat to him, however he had no plans to be a threat to Valor, hoping that this young welp would at least bring some amusement before he bit off too much than he could chew.

               “I don’t need guesses friend,” Valor snarled, “tell that overgrown dog to search again.”

               “She’s a wolf.” Soter shrugged, “Looks like you have message.” Soter couldn’t help the grin that grew on his face, even grinning he knew he did not appear threatening, so he made no motion to cover it.

Relic Scepter of Valor destroyed, Scepter of Valor reformed. Relic “Scepter of Valor” renamed “safety stick” by “unknown”

               “Who would defile my relic? Valor gritted his teeth as he read the message. He stood unblinking as he stared at the screen, almost as if it were a lie. Soter considered saying something before another message came into view.

“ Unnamed” Relic created by “unknown”

Forbidden item detected, requesting administrator override to remove.

               “A relic! Who dares create a relic without informing me!” Valor boomed as he grabbed the terminal, as it began scrolling its normal illegible string of text that was the state of the world.

               Soter almost laughed as he looked at the message, his godly domain allowing him to see through the hidden message. “Unnamed relic created by X47 Hecatolite Lapidary”, the very same soul that ate his blessed 3 weeks ago. But Soter, the protector of secrets, couldn’t share such a wonderful thing with Valor, that would ruin his fun.

               Just what kind of creature did you set loose in the world Eryl? Soter chuckled dryly as he left Eryls' realm leaving Valor to his fruitless efforts to take over the world system. I wonder if my dear sister has any idea.