Chapter 121: Chapter 121

Elvira met Solana’s eyes the moment she entered the Holy Palace in a swirl of black from Gilles’ teleport, seated as she was upon her throne. The phoenix was in her bird form, shrunk down to her usual palm-sized form as she perched upon the Rival’s shoulder, her golden fires dimmed to a manageable level. She had been unsure what she would feel upon seeing the ex-sun-god again, if she was being honest. Sol had caused a lot of pain, and damaged the Four Realms in many, many ways. She knew Father was the forgiving type, but was uncertain if she would truly be the same when faced with someone who had tried to force himself to become her emperor despite her rejecting Sol’s affections, and tried to usurp Father…even if this was a reincarnation.

Yet as she met the bird’s golden eyes, she could feel nothing but relief.

Though maybe that was because she no longer had to listen to the prattling of the Sun and Lunar Star gods as they talked over her head, and now had something more interesting to focus on.

“I’m telling you, it would look better in blue!” Celene argued, crossing her arms and stomping one foot defiantly as she stood to Elvira’s left. At this point, she was no longer certain what the two were arguing about. She wasn’t even certain how it started in the first place.

“We’re not talking about how it will look, we’re talking about symbolism. Blue –“

“Blue is fine! You’re overthinking things!”

“Solana,” Elvira interrupted, resisting the urge to pinch the bridge of her nose and instead smiling warmly at the bird. That one word was enough for Fang Xu and Celene to shut up, their gazes snapping to the fire bird as she puffed up her chest – half in a pride display, half to hide the anxiety swirling about in her chest, setting her wings to twitching. Xing Wu looked up from where he sat in his chair of stars below, one arm around Inesa, who leaned against him from her own chair. The impromptu court session was effectively ended as all the few spirits and angels attending turned to Solana.

“Elvira,” she chirped cautiously, body tensing, her divine energy curling about herself as if she was preparing to be reprimanded. Silly girl. She did not realize the truth, yet. Solana was not here to be judged; Father had already done that. She was here to be reintegrated; the realization crystallized itself in Elvira’s mind, her wings twitching as she sat forward, purpose set and no longer doubting her own feelings.

The Rival’s eyes scanned the crowd, a bored expression on his face as he looked about. Despite being the weakest being present physically and spiritually, he was not cowed in the slightest.

“I truthfully expected you to take longer to rise back up,” Fang Xu remarked, stepping forward. Celene followed, the two gods towering over all the others as they approached Solana and Gilles. Her husband met her eyes, asking if he should intervene, and she shook her head gently. As much as she wanted to have blind faith, she did need to present temptation to the ex-sun god. How would she react, when faced with her replacements?

“Who are you?” Solana chirped, cocking her head to the side in genuine curiosity. Her golden fires were dim compared to Celene and Fang Xu, their gold and blue light dwarfing all other sources.

“Fang Xu, the new god of the Realm Sun. This is my wife, Celene, goddess of the Lunar Star.” He introduced. At his full nearly eight to nine feet of height, he towered over the Rival and Solana both in a way that had nothing to do with his divine presence. Solana peered up at him. The Rival had his gaze fixated firmly at eye-level, raising an eyebrow at the massively tall man’s chest.

“You’re a big man,” he said casually.

“I do not recognize you,” Solana chirped. Elvira searched her power, her aura, her very soul for any sense of her reaching out toward the Realm Sun’s power, jealousy at Celene’s presence, anger at having her old place in the sky removed…and found nothing. Even faced with the evidence of her replacement, she felt nothing. Elvira nodded to herself, and relaxed. That was encouraging in more ways than anyone beside Father probably realized. Solana had fully accepted her new role.

“That makes sense. You never did care to look at the mortals below you, not really,” Gilles said softly. Solana clacked her beak and shifted her position on the Rival’s shoulder.

“You never really gazed at those beneath you. That was part of your pride; you never truly descended from the skies, even when you made yourself a body. Only came to my court, and those you deemed worthy.” Elvira spoke, her words echoing truth through the fabric of the Heaven Realm. Even the formation node spinning beneath the Holy Mountain resounded with her words, the defensive formations vibrating.

Solana met her gaze, genuine confusion flashing in her eyes, then realization, and finally acceptance. With a clack of her beak she leapt forward, transforming into her fae-like, and completely nude save for her fires, form. A few gasps echoed through the halls. Inesa covered Xing Wu’s eyes even as he averted his gaze. Gilles paled even further. Elvira raised an eyebrow, while Celene covered Fang Xu’s eyes, the god of the sun not even blinking, almost seeming confused that Celene even covered his eyes.

Elvira could see the red string between them hum, narrowing her eyes to practically read their quick qi messages out of the air. She was not Father, she could only casually read intents – he was confused, knowing he would never look at another woman, nude or not, the way he looks at Celene. As much as that assurance made her happy, Celene still felt the need to cover his eyes.

“I sincerely apologize, for everything I did. I know that words are not enough.” Solana said, bowing dramatically, flames licking at her sides.

“There is nothing to apologize for,” Elvira said smoothly, dismissing the apology with the wave of her hand. The spirits and angels below all looked up at her, as if waiting for her approval to join the forgiveness, or perhaps a reason to. Many didn’t remember the Sun War. Many did, and still bore the mental scars. She had to put on a show, give them all a reason to forgive Solana, beyond merely being a different person entirely now. In other words, she had to nip any potential bias from bleeding toward the once sun-god from the beings who did not know how to forgive yet. “Besides, you are a different person now, are you not? Not entirely, but almost completely. I have been watching you live in the Physical Realm for a long time, aiding mortals, freeing the oppressed, giving light where none seems to shine…you are fulfilling your purpose better than you ever did as Sol. Calling you Sol would be a disservice to who you are now, Solana. You are she who rebuked the Shadow.”

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Her words echoed throughout the Heaven Realm, as firm as the Holy Mountain itself.

And it was echoed by others.

“Karma has seen you absolved of all sins. Your good deeds behoove you,” Keilan said, appearing in a swirl of black to settle on his throne, right next to Elvira.

“The spirits feel your fires of redemption, and they heal the lingering burns the other one left in his wake.” Alexander rumbled, emerging from the Spirit Realm in a ripple of water, curling up on his stone slab of a throne to peer down at Solana.

“The Tree is nourished by flames, from time to time, and your flames purge parasites rather than burn bark.” Reika stepped out of thin air, her hair changing to a wintery white as the Physical Realm – or at least, the main Tree – slowly slipped toward the winter season. Snowflakes and autumn leaves fell from her hair as she sat in her own throne, dusted with snow as it was, her eyes roving over Solana.

The phoenix was trembling with emotion, unable to quite take the forgiveness she had already earned long ago, but clearly needed to hear from the mouths of the gods themselves.

“…though perhaps we could get her to preserve her modesty more.” Keilan said with a cough, covering his slight smile with a fist as he observed Solana’s bowing, and still nude, form. Gilles had his face in his hands, the Rival scoffing.

“Modesty?” Solana asked, as if confused about what that word meant.

“He means clothes, girl,” Alexander remarked dryly. Tʜe source of this ᴄontent ɪs Nove1Fire.net

“Clothes? But I’m a bird. Birds don’t wear clothes.” Solana immediately complained. “They look stuffy and restricting. Alexander doesn’t wear clothes, and he’s a dragon.”

“Alexander is also not in his Draconian form. If he was, he’d be wearing clothes. Kei wears clothes. If you don’t like them, stay as a bird,” Reika said dryly. Elvira laughed a little, already knowing how this conversation was going to go. Solana was stubborn at the best of times.

“But I have thumbs . Thumbs,” Solana protested, wiggling the appendages just to prove a point. The Rival sighed and, in a move that had nearly everyone sighing in relief, made a blanket out of qi and tossed it over Solana’s head, nearly covering her entirely. It didn’t burn from her fires, and Solana squawked, flailing about until she managed to poke her head out from underneath the garment, the rest still covering her form.

She glared at the Rival.

“No. No being stubborn. I have better things to do than to listen to you complain about clothes. I’d be nude too all the time if I could, but then I’d be beating both men and women off with a stick and no one wants that. We’ve been over this,” he deadpanned. Solana glared at him while Reika chuckled to herself, hiding her smile behind her hand.

“I do like him,” she said, grinning madly. Elvira rolled her eyes. Of course the one with the worst sense of humor liked the Rival.

“Which does bring me to my next point. Solana, as a new divine being we will have duties for you, to a degree. Beings like you, Alexander, and Kei are more difficult to give distinct duties to, but this is not the time to be difficult. However, you do have a grace period to learn to control your new powers.” Elvira reasoned.

“I will aid in that. Your symbolism is closer to rebirth and reincarnation; and such things fall under my and Alexander’s jurisdiction. Me moreso, as the manager of karma,” Keilan interrupted.

“Indeed. One the other hand, we have the Rival. An immortal has entered my palace for the first time, no less one of your…situation. What shall we do about you?” Elvira asked, leaning forward. “I believe we have much to talk about.”

“Yes, we do. Maybe. I have embarrassing stories of a certain someone you know, if you’d like to hear.” The Rival said, pointing upward subtly. Elvira felt her smile widen, while the spirits below muttered in confusion.

“Oh, yes. I believe we have much, much to talk about.”

Xing Wu was a little out of his depth, if he was being honest. Inesa lay curled up beside him, head on his chest and playing with the hem of his robes as they listened to the banter of the Big Four and the immortal everyone called the Rival. They all currently sat in a little back room of the Holy Palace, a little wooden table set out while the Big Four drank, Gilles talked with Solana, and he and Inesa simply watched.

“…her hair was green for a month! Lime green! Oh, she was pissed, had to cancel all of her appointments just because of that one little mix up. I called her goth for months!” the Rival slapped his knees, the Big Four cackling openly at the emotional ammunition they were getting from the Rival, against Statera Luotian.

“Remind me what we’re doing here?” Xing Wu whispered into Inesa’s hair, planting a kiss on the crown of his pregnant wife’s head.

“The Rival asked for you,” she whispered back.

“Why? Does it have something to do with the Mad Scientist?” he asked. “Don’t think I don’t see the similarity in their names.”

“It’s because you have major protagonist energy, and I am super jealous!” The Rival suddenly shouted, head whipping toward Xing Wu. He blinked at the sudden shift in conversation, privately wondering what “major protagonist energy” meant. He knew the definition of each of those words, but not when put together in that particular order. “Think about your story, man. The first mortal to become a god. Your entire situation. The whole thing screams that you’re a main character – front and center, the kind of person stories follow. ‘Heaven defying luck, and all that jazz.’ The Mad Scientist specifically told me I needed to meet you, and I don’t need to talk with you much to know why.” He pointed a finger dramatically at Xing Wu, the entirety of the Big Four had their attention on him now.

“That’s ridiculous,” Xing Wu scoffed. “Everyone is the hero of their own story,”

“Yes, but you misunderstand. It’s not just you, it’s a lot of you. Everyone who became a pillar, even the mortals below. They’re all following a path laid out for them, not unlike a story. One about advancement, following it because their parent did. It took me a while to see, honestly. I get why Statera and the Mad Scientist both told me to travel the Realms, and meet the Big Four.” He mused, shaking his head. “Though this is all just me rambling, honestly. Your lives aren’t a storybook, it’s merely a metaphor for a lot of parallels I see, and that your stories end in very similar ways. Building your own house.” Silence descended for a bit.

“You are strange,” Alexander told him.

“You do not know the half of it,” Solana chimed in, the Rival puffing his chest out proudly. “That was not a compliment!”

Xing Wu shook his head and settled back down, pulling Inesa tighter. His lover curled closer into his side, humming in content and placing a hand on her stomach. It hadn’t started to swell yet. Godly pregnancies clearly lasted longer than normal.

Still…Xing Wu thought back to something Statera Luotian had said to him, way back when, when he had first died as Dei. They had asked him why he had used the words “keep the bridge” while holding against the Shadow. He hadn’t thought much about it then or since, even when they said that it was an echo of a memory, but perhaps there was more to it than that. A little hint in there, somewhere, about who they actually were, and what the Rival actually meant.

He closed his eyes as the Big Four and the Rival resumed their conversations, listening to starlight as it shuddered down from the skies, singing their song for all to hear, including his own star that hung from Inesa’s neck.

Maybe later he would figure it out. Maybe some other time.

All the pieces were in place. Finally. I stood above the gathering listening and watching, feeling immense pride for all below. There was little left for me to do to prepare us, now. It had all come together, with time to spare for the collision.

There was only one more meeting left between Yueya and myself, and then we would face whatever Fate we shared. I had prepared my children as best I could. Now I had to be ready for what came next.