Divine Discussions

The interior of the Central Hall was raised slightly off the ground, allowing for more weaved branches to form the floor. The foyer was wide and open, with a curved staircase leading to the second floor, wrapped around the center tree. Golden flowers glowing with soft light dangled from the ceiling, illuminating everything. A small number of artfully decorated chairs, carved with elegant vine patterns, sat along the walls next to the arched doorways that led deeper into the building.

Drawn by some pull in the back of his mind, John led everyone up the stairs, his fingers brushing against the twisted railing. He could feel the faint pulse of mana flowing through the wood, a clear sign that the building was still a living tree.

‘Well, five of them,’ he thought. ‘Really hope there isn’t some care routine we’re overlooking to make sure they don’t die.’

‘It’s not like we have a goddess with a very oblivious plant motif walking about two feet behind us,’ Senka sarcastically interjected. ‘Do you really think if there was an upkeep cost, we wouldn’t be made aware of it right away?’

‘Fair point,’ John admitted. ‘Guess I’m just a little brain fried after everything.’

‘We had a good run of things going well,’ Senka remarked. ‘I wonder if there was some serendipity to that.’

‘Like Gaia was keeping us in the tutorial area until Sunday?’ John asked.

No such luck there, kid. Everyone moved to their own tune.

“Well, that’s a worrying pop up,” Aeolia said as she read it over John’s shoulder as they reached the second floor. “Especially without context.”

“Just thinking about how we had a good run of nothing really bad happening last week,” John explained as everyone joined him. “And then Sunday happened and everything went crazy. Bill’s attack, the Order looking into us leading to what happened an hour ago. Wondered if Gaia was keeping us safe for a bit. And she said she didn’t have anything to do with what everyone was doing last week.”

“The leader of Phantom Reach decided to not pursue you at some point before last Wednesday,” Harker said, turning slightly to look at Kiera.

The bluenette blushed slightly and averted her gaze. “I-I don’t remember if he gave a reason. But, he and Flora didn’t seem bothered by you guys surviving, which was weird. I remember calling him about, um, seeing you use magic and he took it seriously. But after that, something changed his mind about you.”

“That was Monday, right?” Martius cut in before looking at Harker. “That was when you had that attack right before we used my machine the first time.”

Kiera scrunched her face tight in thought, clearly trying to remember those events, but after a moment, she shook her head, her expression drooping.

“Sorry, can’t remember anything that stands out,” she softly said.

“That might be for the best,” Harker muttered. “I don’t think what happened that night was something you’d want to remember.”

“Oh,” Kiera exhaled shakily, her posture shrinking.

“Dude,” Beth sighed, “saying that makes it worse.”

“It’s-it’s okay,” Kiera said in a subdued voice. “I know they, we, did horrible things. I don’t need to remember all of them for it to stick.”

Harker sighed and locked eyes with Kiera. “That was a poor thing for me to say in any case. I apologize for that, Kiera.”

“It’s okay,” Kiera repeated. She flinched slightly as Vierda placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“I think we should adjourn to where we’re going to be hosting the Order,” the goddess said softly. “I think everyone could use some time off their feet, no?”

“That’s probably a good idea,” Vivian added before frowning. “But what about when Lynn gets back?”

“I will know when she does,” Verida answered. “You probably can too, since you helped grow this domain. You felt the Order’s intrusion. But I suppose that is something related to everything going on with me, so we can address that in time. Let’s get settled and we can start that discussion.”

“Certainly have a lot on the metaphorical table,” Martius commented as the goddess led them on.

“Consequence of having gods mucking about with stuff,” Harker remarked. “Even a subtle touch has wide effects. And we have a kid with the strongest one watching his life and making sassy comments and generating a veritable cornucopia of items out of nothing.”

I’d complain, but he’s not that wrong.

“Gaia says you're close to hitting the nail on the head,” John commented as the pop up faded. “Not entirely sure I want to know whatever detail you missed or got wrong.”

“Let’s tackle one god-related issue at a time,” Harker said. “I think we’ll have an easier time with the one we can actually talk to.”

“I will be as accommodating as possible.” Verida smiled back at Harker before her lips curled back into a neutral expression. “But there are questions I may not be able to answer. Especially ones revolving around my origin. Those are hazy, I’m afraid.”

“Of course there are no easy answers,” Martius grumbled. “At least you have something, right?”

Verida nodded. “Something, yes. But I fear not enough to be of any real aid. Some ancient history, some of the current state of Amarlis, but it's fragmented. Flashes that mean little, even taken as a whole.”

Verida sighed and shook her head. “In any case, I believe we’re here.”

They stood before a wide arch with a set of deep green curtains obscuring their view, a hint of light peeking out from the seam between the pieces of fabric. Verida brushed one aside, letting them see the meeting room. It was a long room, with floor to ceiling windows along each wall. Green curtains hung in each, held open by a series of twigs, letting the light in.

In the center of the chamber, a long oval table sat, with fourteen chairs evenly placed around it.

“Not a bad look,” Aeolia commented, flying ahead to take one of the seats. “Cushioning’s pretty good.”

“I’d hope the furnishings would be,” John remarked, pulling one of the chairs out for himself. “I really don’t want to think how the meeting tomorrow would go with uncomfortable chairs.”

Everyone followed his and Aeolia’s example and sat down.

“What should the order of discussion be?” Vivian asked, pulling a notepad and pen from her choker’s pocket space. “I’d say we could wait for Lynn to return with the food, but I’m not sure we could wait that long without anything answered.”

“I’m sure sheer curiosity would **** some questions out long before she returned,” Verida said with a light laugh. “I think we should delay our planning for tomorrow’s meeting until Lynn gets back. Do you think she would have any issue with being absent for a discussion on my story?”

“I feel that’s a topic between you and them,” Harker said, sweeping his hand over John and the girls. “They’re the ones that set things in motion. Lynn doesn’t have a say there.”

“You’re really underestimating how she is,” Beth muttered, a slight bitter tone entering her voice. “She’ll want to know.”

“Then she can ask for a summary,” Verida said. “Harker is correct, this mainly is something between myself, John and the girls. A pity we’re missing one. I hope my emergence hasn’t caused her any undue stress.”

“What do you mean by that?” Vivian asked, a worried note in her voice.

“I reached out to all of you,” the goddess answered. “You felt it, the surge of power, the enhanced sight. John and Senka have it permanently, likely because of his powers, but everyone who helped to grow the world tree can harness it while here. I don’t know if her being not present would prevent my power from reaching her.”

“Shouldn’t you be aware of where your power was going?” Martius asked, leaning forward in his seat. With his height, it reminded John of when he would lean over a restaurant table to snag a fry from one of his parents’ plates.

“I was still in the process of gathering myself,” Verida explained. “And when I felt John invoke a power closely aligned to my own, I felt my magic resonate with it. But what truly drew my power out was your unyielding willpower. None of you faltered, even with things falling apart and terrible creatures bearing down on you. And my magic responded to that. Flowing into you like water in the roots of plants.”

“Are you sure your magic flowed out or did our resolve pull it in?” Vivian asked as she toyed with a strand of her hair. “Your plant simile makes it sound like the latter. And in that case, there would be nothing drawing power to her. Or at least, I hope there wasn’t.”

“I can’t be sure if it was my magic that moved on its own or if it was truly pulled to you,” Verida admitted. “I can’t put it into words what it was like to assume a proper form. My attention was torn between that and watching the battles. Which may be why my magic acted on its own to help you.”

“If you’re worried about it, I can pop out and call her,” John said. “And we should probably look into figuring out how to get service here.”

“Shouldn’t be too difficult,” Martius remarked. “Even Detreye has relays, legitimate ones. If it was any more complicated than plant them down and power them up, I doubt the council would have let them in.”

“Something tells me it’s going to put a massive dent in our funds,” John muttered. “If not completely dropping me to zero. Can’t imagine that kind of thing’s going to be cheap.”

“It most likely won’t be,” Harker chimed in, stroking his chin. “I believe I can scrounge up the funds for one. Given that this will likely become our base of operations for some time, I have to pull my weight in getting it up and running.”

His serious tone invited no complaint or counter offer. Before the silence could stretch on into uncomfortable territory, Harker continued, “I can’t say it will be a quick transaction. The Auction might be efficient but items of that size aren’t something their drones can deliver.”

“As long as we get our phones working at some point. That’s what matters,” Vivian remarked. “But that’s something we’ll have to do once we get done with our planning.”

“Indeed.” Verida nodded. “Now, I believe it’s best to start at the beginning. I…”

She stopped suddenly and her head snapped towards one of the windows. A window that looked out in the direction of the Kingdom’s entry point.

“It would seem my power did go out on its own,” she muttered. A second later, John felt someone step into the Kingdom, his head snapping in the same direction as Verida’s. He wasn’t the only one as the girls did so too, with Aeolia going a step further and launching herself at the window, landing on it in her small form.

“Well, looks like we’re goin’ to have everyone here after all,” she commented. “It’s Teri.”

That got everyone who knew her to rush to the window to look. They were too far away for the goblin gal to make out, but their movement attracted her attention upwards and she sent Kitai up to investigate. The dark mini dragon only made it about halfway to them before darting back to her owner.

“That’s a smart little dragon,” Verida remarked. “She recognised you and is letting Teri know. They have quite the bond.”

“I’ll go down and get her,” Aeolia said and jumped, quickly soaring down to the goblin. In short order, Aeolia greeted Teri with a quick side hug, then shrank her down before flying back.

“And we’re back,” she announced as she perched back on the window for a second before hopping down to the floor, where she carefully deposited the mini Teri before returning her to full height.

“Oh, that’s an interesting experience,” Teri commented before her attention locked onto Verida. Her eyes widened before she fell to her knees and began to mutter something in her native tongue.

“Now, now, none of that,” Verida said in a soft voice, going down on one knee herself and placing a hand on Teri’s shoulder. “I owe my being here in part to you. I find it inappropriate for our relationship to be one of deity and acolyte. A forest isn’t just one tree dominating the others after all. It’s an ecosystem, each piece playing its part. And you aren’t some minor undergrowth, living in the shade of the canopy. Stand and reach for the sun.”

Verida’s words were said quietly but with the weight of an impassioned speech, one that seemed to strike a chord with Teri as she looked into Verida’s eyes.

“Then I think we should stand up,” Teri managed to say after a moment, looking away from the goddess.

“Or we could sit. The chairs are quite comfy,” Verida remarked in a light tone.

“Y-yes, that’d be nice,” Teri stuttered. “It seems some interesting things happened.”

“You feel some surge of power about an hour ago?” Vivian asked as the goblin and goddess got back to their feet.

“Something happened,” Teri answered. “There wasn’t some burst of power, but it was a tickle. I couldn’t stop feeling something drawing me here. And I got worried.”

Vivian pulled Teri into a hug. “It did kind of go pear shaped, but we made it out all right. But what about you? Won’t the elders get mad at you sneaking out?”

“Got Gryit covering for me,” Teri replied. “Though she was ready to follow, consequences be damned.”

“Hopefully, with this place up and close to running, there won’t be any,” John said. “But we should probably explain what happened. Which should dovetail nicely with what Verida has to tell us.”

“Verida,” Teri muttered, testing the goddess’ name on her lips. “That’s a good name.”

“Thank you.” The goddess beamed. “Now, who wants to recount things?”

In the end, they all provided some part of the story, along with introducing Teri to Harker and Martius, and properly to Kiera. Once Teri was caught up, Verida cleared her throat.

“I suppose this means it's my time to elaborate on things,” the goddess said, a serious expression growing on her face. “I suppose I should start with my mother, Yerda. She is the god of the forests of Amarlis, and ultimately the protector of the native elven populace. And she has been dying for around a millenia.”

“One hell of a way to start a story,” Aeolia commented which earned her a shush from Vivian.

“I don’t know the details about that,” Verida continued. “Only that the power that wounded her has poisoned the Kingdom. Goddess and her domain both dying a prolonged ****. And both holding on stubbornly like a tree growing on the side of a cliff.”

Her eyes found John’s. “And then someone starts to use magic on things with a connection to Amarlis. A connection that makes no sense, but shines with the light of the sun. But between her own limited strength and the magic that sealed Amarlis off from the rest of the Abyss, she couldn’t reach out. Not even when a seed thought lost was planted and set to grow a new Kingdom. But then something else broke through the seal.”

“The vision we experienced by way of the weapon that sealed the Kingdom,” Harker interjected. “My former apprentice has been building up a charge of blood magic with it in an attempt to undo the seal. That a simple empowering was enough to allow some of the power back through means they are close to achieving their goal.”

Kiera jumped in her chair and let out a shuttering gasp, like she had just been woken up by a bad dream.

“Kiera, are you alright?” Senka asked in a hurried voice, the spirit quickly bounding out of her chair to tend to the bluenette.

“I’m-” Keira wheezed out, “I’m okay. I just… A memory came back. I saw Flora after- after she killed someone with the sword. She said something about the power changing as the blade was being charged. It cut off right after.”

“If that’s the case,” Harker murmured, drawing everyone’s attention back to him. He drummed his fingers on the table. “I assumed that the magic related to the seal would simply be rendered active once there was enough power within the sword. But if the nature of the sword’s magic is changing, that might clear up how it managed to establish a psychic link.”

“Too many variables to be certain unfortunately,” Martius gruffly added, his brow furrowed in thought. “‘Changed power’ could mean the sword has begun to take on the magic of the victims, not some hidden attribute that needed to be unlocked, but we can’t know without getting the damn thing. Going off on half formed theories is just as bad as going in completely blind.”

“I’d say it’s worse,” Harker said. “Wrong assumptions can lead us to making the wrong decisions. But we’ve gone off topic enough.”

“But gained another piece to the puzzle,” Verida countered. “But yes, we should get back to my tale. There isn’t much left to it. With the seal weakened by whatever caused the vision, Yerda was able to be reached and able to project some of her power in aid.”

Verida looked at Teri and the goblin flushed under her smile.

“While Yerda had a way to send her power to Earth, she severed a piece of herself and infused it into the World Tree seed. That was me. I believe my presence and a bit of Yerda’s power helped to accelerate its growth.”

“And that’s all, is it?” Vivian asked, jotting down the last bit of info before tapping the page with her pen.

“As much as I can recall,” Verida replied. “I’m sorry it’s only a cursory summary. I believe Yerda only had moments to, how’s the best way to put this? Spawn me?”

“Fits the video game theme my life has now,” John commented, drawing a chuckle from Beth.

“Whatever term I settle on, Yerda only had moments to prepare and act,” Verida continued. “Even for a god in their prime, that’s not a lot of time. Unless they’re one of the uber powerful ones.”

“Still, we know more than we did,” Harker said. “Your mother still lives, correct?”

“As far as I know, yes,” Verida answered. “But not forever. When a god sires another, their power begins to wane. And given the state she was in, I can’t imagine she’ll last for long. Especially given the damage she’s taken.”

“I wonder about that,” Martius muttered. “The seal is holding the usurper elf in check and isolating the Kingdom. If Yerda is heavily tied to the state of it, the seal might be keeping her together.”

“If that’s true, then what happens if they break the seal?” John asked, though he had a good idea of the possible answer.

“She could die in that instant,” the gnome answered. “At the very least, she wouldn’t have much time left before her end came.”

“That’s something she’s come to terms with,” Verida softly said. “Has spent the last thousand years coming to terms with it. No matter what happens, she’s ready to die.”