Chapter 109: Chapter 109

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 come 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. Some 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.

“Come 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 measures.” Gilles explained again, going deeper this time. 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, meeting 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 confirmed it for us; they intentionally hid the cracks from all the other Origin Deities during that time.”

“Is that still the case?” Elvira asked, voice tight. Alexander nodded his agreement 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 mend and has been since the original meeting 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 something. Alexander rumbled, drawing attention to himself.

“The question, then, becomes 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 assume, and is coming completely out of left field for me. 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 me, and me hiding from myself.” Father said bluntly, meeting Reika’s eyes. “I believe you children should have some of your own autonomy, which is why I restrict my vision…oh.” Alexander perked up at Father’s expression, something akin to realization flashing across His face that quickly morphed into something 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 something 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 time 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 something 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, meeting her husband’s eyes. Alexander closed his own eyes, already guessing the response that came next.

“We don’t know. The greatest hint we received was from a goddess named Astraea, and even she didn’t know what the truth was. She mentioned she was an existence much like Randus; what that means, 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 mean by an existence like Randus? Perhaps a Pillar, in their own right? Or, perhaps, the Right Hand of the Origin Deity. Alexander met Father’s eyes, seeing the same 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 meeting continued for a while longer, Keilan and Gilles going into specifics about their time 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 some guidance to a few of the younger gods. But the weight of their initial statement left Alexander with a heavy feeling in his heart and a somber tone in the room itself.

Only when Father stood did the meeting end, even though the conversation had been circling the same few topics for some time now. He met his eyes, and Alexander knew that he could put it off no longer. It was time 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 same kind of portal that had taken Keilan to the One World appeared in a flash of blue light, a power of…something zapping it into existence.

For a brief moment, the power hesitated, and seemed 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, time resuming.

“Come on.” He said softly, meeting 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 something else before you’re ready. I swear, you all take after me 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 encouragement 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 moment all was still, and I was left with nothing but my heavy heart, which was weighing me 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 me? It was no boast for me 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 me. So how had I missed this?

I feared I already knew the answer, and it came from one simple word. “Blinding.” I had thought it before, about Yueya’s beauty. Before, it had been mentioned that her Beauty was the same 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 me. And I feared she was hiding something else; such was why she had cranked up her beauty during the last meeting, to the point I had actively avoided staring too long at her.

“Isn’t there supposed to be someone 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 – Thᴇ link to the origɪn of this information rᴇsts ɪn ɴovelfire.net

It burst through the portal in a flash of light, a swirling mass of flame 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 me, 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 Primeval Dragon had been almost completely devoid of life the last time I visited, that was quite the impressive improvement. The snake-like being hissed at me again, little gouts of flame 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 me.

I brushed off the fire it breathed at me with ease, revising my earlier assessment 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 elemental god, like Aeriel, but with deeper applications.

“Teach that one some manners for me. 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 meant by that, only to have it snap shut in my place. The snake hissed at me, no spoken language, just hissed with the intent to bite me 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 me.

“I believe she did. We’re now playing babysitter, apparently. Hello, little one. What’s your name?” 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 me. I sighed heavily, standing and holding up my arm, the snake dangling and refusing to let go.

Elvira and Reika met my eyes, my two daughters frowning at the snake’s blatant disrespect. Did it even understand what that meant? Had Sehuyun taught it anything? I pondered that question, but only for a moment. I could imagine what her teaching methods were like, and it made me pity the poor snake.

Didn’t make it less aggravating to have it biting my arm .

I would have my work cut out for me, 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?