The Divine Realm was a place of infinite light, an endless city of glass where divinity resided and ruled over the garden that was the world.
Those chosen by the gods would be transported into this city for eternity after their mortal lives ended.
All divinity, from lesser deities to the greatest of gods, lived here and ruled over the city of glass.
Each building led into domains of the god that the soul worshipped.
The city was usually quiet, with only the flow of mortal souls making any sort of noise. This time, however, it was different.
Greater gods had gathered inside the Glass Palace, which floated above the endless city landscape.
The interior of the Glass Palace was drastically different from the glass exterior. While the exterior was pure glass, the interior could be changed according to the will of the occupants.
It was a palace inaccessible to anyone but the greater gods.
As the goddess of monsters and misfortune made her way to the palace, she left the scenery of light and glass behind. With one step through the great door, she entered an interior that looked like an empty cosmos. Yet she was not floating or flying. She stood on a hard floor, though the floor itself could not be seen.
Stars lit the way, and the world was below them. Twelve great golden thrones floated in place, bathed in divine light, each meant for a greater divinity. Only six were filled.
The thrones formed a semi-circle, with a large crystal orb floating in front of them.
As the goddess stepped into the hall, she was greeted by a rumbling voice of one of the greater gods.
"Laleyn! Long time no see." The voice shook the realm each time it spoke, "I see you still like pretending to be a child," he said before starting to laugh, his laugh shaking the entire city of glass.
Laleyn shook her head before giving a bow and answering with a warm smile on her face, "Good to see you too, Venerable Elder."
Laleyn slowly walked toward the throne before kneeling before the great god.
His body was chiseled and brimming with muscle, with a flowing white beard reaching down to the bottom of the throne, and his eyes were glowing with golden divine light.
He was the head of the entire pantheon, his title earned by not only power alone but also his wisdom and leadership, his status showing with his throne floating above the rest.
"Please, Laleyn, take your place." Peron's tone softened as he motioned for the goddess to sit on the throne.
The palace was usually quiet, as it was only ever used in cases of emergency, and this time it indeed was an emergency in the divine realm.
All of the greater gods knew, including the six absent ones, that Red Dawn was on the move to subvert the divine will once again, as they did so many times, but an additional threat in the form of the unknown had descended on their garden.
While Red Dawn was only a mortal kingdom, they possessed the power to resist the will of the divine due to the power of their so-called "God King."
Due to the heretical power of their king, they could not directly influence the affairs of the kingdom, and so a meeting between greater gods needed to happen eventually.
And the moment was now.
Peron looked around before speaking, "Six out of twelve greater gods have gathered here, thank you all for answering my call, Laleyn- Goddess of Misfortune and Monsters, Runas the God of Magic and Knowledge, Mortas the God of Life and Death, Lan the Goddess of Light and Day, Len the Goddess of Darkness and Night."
"I, Peron, your Chief Deity and God of Divinity, have summoned you all. I'm sure all of you noticed a shift in your domains, not only your domains but a shift in the world as a whole." The Chief's voice echoed in the void that was their chamber.
The gathered deities nodded as the Chief spoke.
The first god to speak after the Chief was Runas, a scrawny-looking deity, covered by a cape black as midnight and an oversized wizard hat obscuring his face, letting only a golden glow pass the shadow of his visage.
"Yes, Venerable Elder, actions of Red Dawn have caused massive issues with control of our subjects," stated the scrawny deity as his hands conjured images of thirteen entities.
"While even we, greater gods, can't get much info about Red Dawn, I have learned about actions of the thirteen Inquisitors over the past century..." he stated as the image shifted.
"Our influence is nearly nonexistent in that heretical kingdom; we must do something about it. I will not stand for even one more century of their existence!" shouted Len, interrupting the god of knowledge.
"It's enough, Sister! If we could, we would have already dealt with their king long ago before the Age of Frost Ended, but it was not possible, and neither is it now with his following growing," stated Lan bluntly.
Both goddesses glared at each other, two sisters representing two sides of the same coin. One wore a divine gown black as the midnight sky, while the other wore one white as fresh snow. One had long golden hair almost as blinding as the sun, while the other had short pitch-black hair that swallowed the light around it. Their eyes glowed with the same golden divine light as the other gods.
"Listen to your sister, Len, you are a relatively new goddess, so you do not understand the terror of their so-called God King.
It is because of his usage of the Black Hand to end the Age of Frost that we lost a great deal of authority over the world!" said Mortas, the skeletal god, as he moved his hand in the air, his skeletal frame hidden beneath robes usually worn by the priests, only leaving his pristine skull with two golden lights in the sockets where eyes were supposed to be.
"But Mortas, we are supposed to be rulers of the world! How can some mortal prevent that?" shouted Len.
The Chief raised his hand, and with a stern face, his booming voice echoed in everyone's ears, "Silence! You are all greater gods. I will not have you acting like children. Let Runas finish with his discovery, and everyone here will get a voice afterward!"
Laleyn looked at the Chief with admiration in her eyes, her divine glow leaking beneath her facade. His authority over the divine was truly something to behold. The Chief was always so cool!
She thought with childlike fascination despite being one of the older gods.
In the instant that the Chief spoke, all of the present gods fell in line, letting Runas continue speaking, "Thank you, Venerable Elder, I shall continue with my discoveries over the last century!"
He started explaining the state of Red Dawn, changes in their politics, and various activities of Inquisitors, while most have acted the same way for ages, one man, in particular, was of note.
Runas waved his hand, switching the crystal orb's image to a hooded man before speaking, "This man here is one that carries the title Inquisitor of Mind".
The crystal's image switched once again, showing masses of slaves being processed. "In the last century, he developed a method to reprogram the mind of captured living beings, basically modifying our divine creation to his twisted image."
The silence in the hall was deafening, but Runas did not stop as the orb switched the image again. "Not only did he reprogram many of the humanoids we rule over. The so-called disciples of mind have been on the rise for the last fifty years, their abilities second only to the Inquisitor himself..."
Runas sighed as he continued, "Their brainwashing has cost us many followers, but unfortunately, I have no information about the elusive inquisitor's whereabouts or specifics of his methods. He has proven to be difficult, no... impossible to track, even more so than others."
The Chief scratched his beard before speaking, "So is he the biggest threat at the current time, Runas?"
Runas bluntly stated, "No, while he is dangerous, it still takes a long time for him to reprogram great numbers of sentient beings, and so we have time to find a way to stop him from taking our followers".
Runas took a deep breath before continuing, "What I will show you next is a direct danger to us as divine!".
With another wave, the image switched to an empty sky, but instead of a still image, it showed the sky breaking open, a great crack that showed a void between worlds opened, and from the crack fell two entities.
One looked like a heap of divine flesh, burning in black fire, and the other was what looked like an elf but with an aura to rival even the gods.
In the next moment, the elf approached the divine corpse before the black flame fully consumed it.
A collective gasp from the gods followed as the entity with divinity as high as the Chief was consumed by black fire, and his essence was consumed by the elf.
Len was first to speak up, "WHAT IS THAT!? Wasn't that thing on a similar level to the Chief?"
Laleyn raised her hand. "May I have a word, Venerable Elder?"
The Chief answered, "Go ahead, my child."
Laleyn took a deep breath before speaking with a worried tone, "Recently, I have noticed a similar aura to the elven demon that used black flame close to my favored child."
The Chief nodded, with a booming voice, he said, "Do we have any more information about who the absorbed god is, and who the woman is that killed him? Neither seems to originate from this world."
Lan answered softly, "Very recently, both Len and I sensed a being without a patron deity appear in the world."
Len nodded before continuing, "We both tried to establish a connection with the woman, but she resisted our full efforts, and not only that, when we tried to push our will on her, our whole being screamed in pain, which forced us to back off. We felt like we were being burned alive!"
Both sisters nodded.
Runas stood still for a moment, full of thoughts.
These two beings might have been rival gods from a different world, but that does not explain how they appeared here. It is not easy to travel between worlds!
He silenced the voices of his fellow gods as he thought about it.
Perhaps we should approach her diplomatically, there is a small chance she would be more cooperative than Red Dawn, Runas thought to himself, his mind calculating possibilities.
An unknown god with the same level of power as the Chief had appeared, and beside him stood an elf wielding a heretical flame capable of devouring divinity.
And now she can resist two goddesses and even fight back against their influence. We must proceed with caution, Runas sighed before speaking.
"You might have questions, but we must gather more information; do not act carelessly."
The Chief nodded before shouting, "Indeed, and because of that, I have made my decision since Laleyn seems to have some knowledge and is closest to the dangerous stranger. She will have the honor of gathering information about this danger, and if possible, find a way to control her!"
He silenced himself for a moment, letting information be absorbed by his fellows before continuing without noticing Laleyn's anxious face. "Nobody is to interfere with this entity without permission. If you disobey this order, you will be severely punished!"
He then turned to Laleyn before speaking, "You will work with Runas to gather information about who she is and who the dead god was, and make plans to neutralize this threat. Understood?!"
Runas and Laleyn spoke in unison, "Understood, Venerable Elder, we will not fail!"
Laleyn tried her best to hide her panic; her mind was a jumbled mess from the information she had received.
The woman traveling with my child was some god-devouring monster, and now I am supposed to gather information and plan against that entity, and what is worse, I have to put my Azure in danger...
She shut out other gods' voices as they continued speaking about Red Dawn, but to her, it did not matter; she did not care about Red Dawn after all. Whatever the creature that had the appearance of an elf was, it was a threat to them all, including her and her child.
Perhaps I could ask my Azure if she knows anything. She chuckled in her mind.
Indeed, it was ideal for her child to gather information. The devil with the appearance of an elf did not seem to wish Azure harm, but she was still too dangerous not to control.
Why did I have to speak? Now I have to work hard, or else Venerable Elder will be disappointed.
She groaned softly before being pulled back from her thoughts by Peron.
Peron smiled at her once again before speaking, "I know you do not wish to endanger your children, but if you require support, the entire pantheon will rush to your aid, Laleyn."
She couldn't help but smile. After all, Venerable Elder had supported her ever since she ascended to the status of a greater divinity; without his support, she wouldn't be who she was.
She smiled warmly at the Chief before answering, "Thank you, I promise I will do my best."
And she would. The mission might put her child in danger, but she would hate for the great Peron to think less of her.
Peron clapped his hands, making the other gods stop talking. He took a deep breath before speaking once again.
"While Runas and Laleyn work on finding a way to deal with the new threat that appeared, the rest of us, including others who were absent, will work on finding a crack in Red Dawn's defense, so that we may finally put a stop to their heresy and reclaim full control of the world!"
With those words, Peron, God of Divinity, stood up from his throne and disappeared, leaving other gods behind in the Glass Palace.
Len turned to face Laleyn and, with a strict gaze in her eyes, spoke, "Laleyn and Runas, do not fail your task. I don't want god slayers walking around the world I am supposed to rule, you hear me!"
Lan couldn't do much but shake her head at her sister's antics, so she decided to stay quiet as the two sisters departed the Glass Palace.
Laleyn sighed as the two sisters left the palace, leaving only Runas, Mortas, and Laleyn on their respective thrones.
Len is really something, isn't she...? But at least her sister keeps her in check.
Mortas was next to leave, with the only parting words being "Good luck."
He never likes to speak much when the Chief isn't around, does he? Laleyn shook her head as the skeletal god left only Runas and herself in the Glass Palace.
"Laleyn, I know you do not interact frequently with mortals, so if you require support in gathering information, tell me. After all, we depend on each other, and knowledge is my domain!" Runas spoke with his hands crossed and face completely hidden by the oversized wizard hat.
Laleyn did not know how to respond to such offerings of support. When dealing with mortals, she was feared and despised, and her fellow deities mostly avoided her, but the Chief and Runas always offered their support.
She could never get used to it, no matter how many eons passed.
All she could do was smile and thank Runas.
"Thank you, Runas, I will return to my domain to prepare." She rose from the throne and gave Runas a small bow before she was transported to the black lake that was her domain.
Her mind still racing, she was afraid for her child that she was about to put her in danger, but she knew that Azure had it in her to succeed in her divine mission.
"Now let's see what Azure is doing," she giggled as the lake rippled under her feet.
As the lake rippled, its dark surface changed, colors shifting to reveal events in the world below.