As two vertical suns appeared on the shore, their divine chi lit almost everything from horizon to horizon. The kraken alone defied their gilding, his abyssal body a midnight blemish on an otherwise holy scene.
The light vanished, my vision returned, and twin gods pressed their foreheads into the sand at my feet.
“Mighty Traveler,” Dolos said, his proud face hidden. “We have long awaited your arrival.”
“Thank the heavens!” Apate cried. “I never thought the prophecy would co true!”
“Guys . . .” I scrunched my face. “Can we skip the whole groveling thing? I’m not even a little into it.”
Both shot to their feet and bowed their heads. Their beauty struck , perfectly symtrical features highlighted by high cheekbones, strong yet petite jaws, and hair right out of a shampoo comrcial.
“Before you condemn us based on past events . . .” Dolos’s eyes t mine. “Know that our actions were necessary to bring about your arrival in this ill-fated realm.”
I raised a brow at Theo, who gave a conflicted look before mouthing, Truth.
I returned my attention to the deities. “Explain.”
“We—” Apate’s lip quivered. She took a mont to compose herself. “We had to debase ourselves. We were once the twins of truth and order, yet we have been—” She choked up, and Dolos laid a hand on her upper back, rubbing it softly until she continued. “We’ve been immortalized as deceivers, betrayers, and worse.”
The kraken, his core remarkably still, moved to respond, but I stalled him with a raised finger and a pulse of essence. Nothing the gods had claid so far was a lie. Even without Theo confirming it, I could sense the truth radiating from every fiber of their being.
“Details. Now.”
They shared a look, nodded, then reached out to with their chi, drawing —
“Nope,” I said, interrupting their broadcast mories with a slight flex of will. Their eyes flinched, but I ignored their shock. “I can feel that you’re being truthful, but I don’t have the stomach for any more depressing stories today. Tell with words.”
Again, their gazes flashed, then Dolos nodded. “To tell it as succinctly as possible, the reason that the heavens above are now empty was because of the water gods’ betrayal. They, out of sheer hubris and greed, stole wealth that was not theirs to take, and embraced power anathema to life . . .”
Apate picked up where he trailed off, her hand shaking at her side. “An aspect capable of absorbing all.” Still trembling, she extended one finger. “The kind of evil that consus all that is good and right and just in this world.” Her expression was laden with anger, sadness, and regret as she pointed at the kraken. “The very chi this beacon of the void now wields.”
“I see . . .”
Dolos licked his lips. “You . . . you truly believe us? Most interpretations of the prophecy warned that we would be scorned at first . . .”
“To the great detrint of everyone,” Apate added, wiping tears from her eyes. “But all prophesiers agreed you would eventually learn the truth. Only then would you allow our help in making you the head of this world’s, this universe’s, new pantheon.”
I said nothing, neither my body nor words revealing a thing.
“If you don’t trust us yet . . .” Dolos continued. “Please, even if temporarily, detain this poor, misled soul.” He gave the kraken a look of such remorse that it reverberated in my core. “He was just a pawn to the betrayers, and though it is not his fault, he cannot be allowed his freedom.”
Letting out a slow sigh, I turned to the octopus homie. “Would you mind, mate?”
“With pleasure,” he rumbled, a giant wave of pitch-black catharsis released from his soul.
The shift happened so quickly that they couldn’t respond in ti. One mont, the twin gods of divinity were grief-stricken, the next, their facades were cleansed away by my pure light, revealing aged bodies and wicked smiles even uglier than I rembered.
The golden siblings responded by dropping to their knees and pressing their wrinkled faces into the sand once more. “Forgive us!” Dolos yelled. “The facade of youth was also necessary!”
Apate nodded, not looking up. “The prophecy is—”
“A bunch of horseshit?” I interrupted. “I’m well aware. It’s fascinating that you can actually lie to and . . .” I pouted at Theo. “What are you, again?”
“Your octo-pal called a Truthsayer, but for what it’s worth, I identify as a fisherman.”
“Damn,” I whispered. “Octo-pal. I should have thought of that . . .”
“Please!” Dolos said, his aged hands clutching at the sand in an accurate show of indignant frustration. “If you do not believe us, lock us away!”
The expression on her face did its best to tear my heart in two. “Look how weak we have beco. There is no risk in imprisoning us. We lack the power to . . .” She trailed off, turning to glance behind her. “What . . .”
Double damn, I thought. Terrible timing . . .
A silhouette raced in from the east, his essence unmissable even through the divine and abyssal chi between us. He’d had a breakthrough, and his core now felt . . . old? Like the shelves of a seldom-wandered library, its books in perfect condition despite apparent disuse.
“Hellooo!” Ellis called, sitting atop a small, thin, and dolphin-powered skip.
No one spoke as he skidded up on the sand, the three porpoises wheeling away to disappear into the depths, their job complete.
“Thank you!” Ellis yelled, hands on hips, smile wide as he watched them go. “You should consider getting so of those, Fischer. Wonderful creatures . . .”
“Ellis . . .” I said, pointing a hand at the kraken and the other at two divine gods. “This—”
“Hold on,” he replied, patting his simple brown robe down. He withdrew a long pipe from one pocket, packed it with dried and chopped leaves from another, then resud checking his many hidden pouches. “I know I left it . . . oh!”
Rocky had sauntered over and was extending a claw high, its lines growing a bright red.
“My thanks, Rocky,” Ellis said, squatting to let the crab give him a light. “Much appreciated.”
Rocky nodded, raised an already-lit cigarette in toast, then gave it a long drag, the forrly belligerent duo both sharing a wordless mont of calm.
I cleared my throat. “Right. Well. As I was saying, this is our new octo-pal. Damn,I really wish I ca up with that. He’s a kraken, has lived for thousands of years, and channels chi that can stand against the beings that used to rule this realm. Speaking of . . .” I gestured toward two such gods. “Ellis, et Dolos and Apate. They’re twins of deceit or so shit. They were trapped in the giant cuttlefish over there, who was actually an earth elental. Well, he still is, but he had evil-dictator vibes before and like dozens of other elentals of different aspects assimilated to his soul because of the corrupting spear of”—I took a gasping breath and finished in a rush—“divine chi that Dolos and Apate the twins of deceit or whatever had turned into so that they could remain alive in his soul like one of those parasites that take over insects’ minds and turns them into zombies that intentionally get eaten by birds in order to further the life cycle of said parasites do-you-know-what-I-an?”
I took another heaving inhalation. “Any questions?”
“Fascinating . . .” Ellis said, not looking at them or as he puffed on his pipe. He was busy perusing the pelicans, Maria, Claws, the bees, and Snips and her crustaceans.
Yeah! Claws chirped, her upper torso wiggling around with that fraction of attention.
Yeah! her raccoon agreed, zipping over to steal Ellis’s smoking instrunt, only to get summarily denied via swift backhand from the forr archivist.
“I’m a boyyy!” Slis yelled, flying from Maria’s shoulder.
“A pleasure to et you.” Ellis extended his hand and shook the familiar’s whole body when it slapped into his palm. “Sorry to interrupt, by the way.” He stepped back, lobbed Slis toward Maria, withdrew a notebook and pen, then started scribbling away. “Please, carry on where you left off. Pretend I am not even here.”
More shocking than Ellis’s apparent shift in personality was the fact that I could still be surprised after the events of the previous twenty-four hours. I’d thought it terrible timing for his arrival, because no matter how calm he’d seed when we sailed past him last night, the existence of deities should have broken him.
Apparently, I was wrong.
Beneath his library-like chi, I recognized an odd pattern circulating—the exact sa technique that currently swirled around Rocky’s volcanic core. I peered at the plant they were smoking, paused for a mont, then looked at Dolos and Apate once more. “Right. Where were we?”
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They returned my gaze, but I could feel their attention constantly tugging back toward Ellis. Did his breakthrough hold so kind of significance? Interesting . . .
“We were discussing our imprisonnt,” Apate said, remaining on her knees and sitting upright. “Even if we are evil, which we absolutely are not, we can be reford. You are compassionate and just, which is the exact reason you are the traveler of prophecy.”
I crossed my arms, closed my eyes, and nodded slowly. “Yeah, nah. Fuck all that.”
“What?” they both asked, genuinely confused by my answer.
“Listen, I’m all for reform.” I gestured at the royal family, the handlers, and even the two noble Osnans. “These guys previously sucked to varying degrees, but look at them now—aren’t they adorable?”
Tryphena raised a brow, the handlers looked confused, and Tom Osnan Jr. glared so hard that he appeared one second from reverting to evil.
“But,” I continued, “you are literally gods of deception, and I’ve seen firsthand . . . wait, is it secondhand if you witness a mory directly?” I shook my head. “Doesn’t matter. The point is, I’ve seen for myself just how twisted you two are. I’ll give you props for the attempt, though. ntion a prophecy, plant the seed of doubt that said prophecy warned I wouldn’t trust you at first, and, finally, drop the bomb that you want to help beco the chief deity of so universe-spanning pantheon. It might have worked on another bloke, to be honest, but you got the wrong—”
“Please do not dismiss our truth!” Apate blubbered, interrupting her ugly-crying. “A force is coming! Sothing from the far-distant heavens! You love your followers, yes? You care for them? If you do not stop the approaching army, they will lay ruin to all that you hold dear!”
“Lady . . .” I shook my head, growing annoyed with how her ostensibly honest tears were making my chest ache. “I co from Earth. We might not have had magic, lightning-wreathed otters, or guard crabs that can shoot aura blades like ani protagonists, but you know what we did have? The internet, dia giants, and billion—”
“Please!” Dolos interrupted, but his power was slipping, the ability to mask lies beginning to falter. “My sister is right. I know not the world you co from, but this enemy is so vast, so powerful. Even if you think us evil, you cannot hope to survive without our help.”
“Riiiight. Unite the people against a common enemy.” I rolled my eyes. “That’s like . . . step one in the propaganda playbook. I grew up with John Howard as my pri minister, mate. I’ve had the existential threat of ‘boat people’ shoved down my throat since I was a little fella.”
“What are boat people?” Barry stage-whispered to the person beside him.
“No idea,” Helen hissed back. “Why?”
“Well, whatever they are, it can’t be pleasant having them shoved down your throat. Do you think that’s why Fischer is the way he is?”
“You know, you just might be onto sothing. It’s the best theory I’ve heard so far . . .”
The mont I turned to give my dissenters so stink-eye, the divine twins made one last desperate attempt. “Please!” they both yelled, their true, disgusting emotions shining through their crocodile tears. “You must believe—”
In response, I did sothing so strong, so powerful, that they had no choice but to stop talking and listen.
I blew a raspberry.
“Yeah, nah. Letting you two evil idiots marinate in a cell while you regain power is one Chekhov’s gun I don’t plan to leave hanging on my wall.” I pointed up. “Besides, I can literally see the tunnel you’ve been slowly constructing up into the sky.”
Their eyes went wide.
I grinned. “Hit it, Claws.”
Spurred to action by the second oath they’d taken, a chaotic otter and a thieving raccoon shot forward. Golden beams exploded from Dolos and Apate as they both turned into streaks of light, flashing toward the thin tunnel they had weaved skyward. I slamd dozens of layers of chi into place; the siblings smashed right through them, their divine essence piercing my unaspected shields.
But it wasn’t just they had to contend with. The kraken, having also been aware of their efforts, had sent his own tendrils of power into the clouds. They ca pouring down the tube as a black morass, hitting the twin gods with a sickening thud that pressed them into the sand—right next to a pair of deviants.
Corporal Claws and her familiar glowed with energy. They took hold of the divine beings, pretended to steal it for themselves while looking at for a reaction, then cackled and chittered, both mad with power as they sent the golden essence barreling down into the open arms of the network below.
Dolos and Apate scread in protest, and daggers of their sickly yellow light started clawing its way to the surface.
A thought occurred, and I tried not to do it. I really did. If I showed a little restraint, a better opportunity would certainly co along. But in the end, I couldn’t help myself.
So I took a deep breath, cupped my hands to my mouth, and yelled for all to hear, “Release the kraken!”
My octo-pal’s abyssal chi hit them with a sound even more sickening than the earlier thud. Dolos’s and Apate’s gilded blades warped, the edges growing dull as they tried and failed to find purchase. Against , all my pals, and a kraken straight from mythology, the two gods stood not a chance—they were absorbed in their entirety by the network, then into .
The mont it touched my core, I braced with every ounce of will I had, half expecting their hatred and bitterness to co stomping into my awareness. Instead, I received bliss. Contrary to the feel of it in my visions, the golden essence flowed into my own pure light, assimilating with my complete lack of an aspect.
Before I could consider it further, power stread from both and my Domain, dozens upon dozens of distinct spirits flowing to the surface. All the elentals that had been forced to join the cuttlefish.
Trusting the combination of thieving and abyssal chi to finish off the two divine dickheads, I gave the untethered souls my full attention—what I found transcended physical and ntal senses both.
First, I saw them in my mind’s eye, the ethereal blobs lit by colors reflecting their respective elent. When they erged from the sands, I could sll their aspects. A red spirit zood around before shooting off. His soul was incredibly hot and slled of burning grass; he was undeniably a fire elental, and his ideal was . . . to go fast?
A green decay elental with the scent of leaf litter was trailed by a purple rot elental that slled like fernted wine. The forr’s ideal was to destroy, and the latter’s was to create life, yet they both swirled around each other, their purposes harmonious.
As more and more erged, I lost sight of the individuals, their unique temperatures, scents, and ideals overshadowed by a singular emotion coming from the many—rapture. No longer were they forced to adhere to earth, and they celebrated the return to who and what they had once been.
When a pair of humanoid souls called out to , I set them aside and sealed their mory away—it wasn’t yet ti. I focused elsewhere instead.
The elentals had to make a choice, and each of them froze as three distinct forces pulled upon them. All I could decipher at first was that one anchored them in place, while the other two tugged in opposite directions—above and below. After they started making their decisions, I learned the nature of the possibilities.
They were simple: beco a part of the world, leave this realm, or . . . live.
Hold up, I thought. Live? Am I about to unlock a nagerie of elentals?
That hope was imdiately denied. Most left, their disembodied wills vanishing into the sky as if they’d never been. So, perhaps a dozen, chose to remain here, their souls zipping down into the network. I trailed them there, curious what would happen, but they outsped my will and disappeared—so I turned my attention to the “divine” beings instead, witnessing the last shred of their power getting absorbed.
It all happened so fast, and when all was said and done, a single being had decided to live. It was a soul I recognized—the volcanic elental the cuttlefish had once called his sister. Choosing to remain had caused her to regain a body, and she was now a palm-sized slug made of magma.
She was sitting next to the unconscious cuttlefish, which was fine except for the fact that her molten form was making parts of Bob burst into flas! The congregation-turned-crabs leaped into action, the stack of crustaceans using gouts of saltwater to put out literal fires.
The cloud of steam was stunning in the predawn hues, and I watched it until I felt a certain eldritch horror’s resolve shift. “Hey!” I yelled at the kraken. “Bad octo-pal! I forbid you from deciding to unmake, unravel, undo, or—you know what? Nobody is allowed to un-anything until further notice! You hear ? No un-ing!”
The cheeky bugger didn’t look even a little sorry about taking advantage of my distraction. “I suppose I should not be surprised that you saw through . . .”
“You shouldn’t, no. As calm as you look on the outside, your disappointnt is deeper than the ocean.” I shook my head. “What I don’t understand is why. You clearly want to stay, so stay.”
His face shifted, and just like the divine twins earlier, his facade shattered to reveal an expression that matched his internal state. “No matter which way I look at it, I have dood myself.”
Dood himself? All at once, it finally clicked in my head. “Oh. Ohhhh. Damn, dude. That’s dark.”
“Okay,” Barry said. “Officially lost.”
Maria looked similarly perplexed. She’d seen the sa visions as but had yet to reach the sa conclusion. I nudged my suspicion across our bond.
“The oath!” Maria’s eyes were saucers as, for everyone’s sake, she quoted the relevant part. “I will not rest until I have avenged the unmaking of my masters and found a purpose worthy of their mory. If I turn from this course, let join them in being unmade.”
“You did it that way intentionally, didn’t you?” I asked him. “Nothing was more valuable to you than your bond with them, and if you accepted that fact, the mont they were avenged . . .”
“It seed prudent at the ti, yet now I am bound.” His eyes grew dull. “I had dared to hope that things would be different after I helped destroy Dolos and Apate . . . but they are not. I believe that the second I apologize to my brother, I will no longer have any purpose holding to this realm.”
A silence stretched. I broke it before his thoughts could spiral. “You know, mate, there are multiple angles to attack that resolve of yours from. Your duty to your bro. Your ability to assist against any further attacks from divine gods. Or even the existence of Claws, a newborn elental who could certainly use your guidance.”
My otter pal made a dismissive sound and waved one paw. Her familiar’s upper torso made a gesture of similar sentint, if much, much more aggressive. He slowly gesticulated his two raised fingers at .
“But,” I continued, shaking my head, “I assu you’ve already had those sa argunts with yourself?”
“I have, yes,” ca his resigned reply. “None of them worked. My brother has his sister by his side, and you’re strong enough to have obliterated the divine gods imdiately if you’d wanted to. Do not give that look, Traveler. I was not born yesterday. As for the chaos and lightning elental . . .” His eyes showed a flicker of life again, amused circles appearing before fading away. “I feel the love you hold for one another. She will be fine with you as her protector.”
“Hmm. I can see you’ve exhausted your options.”
“Indeed.”
“If only I had a pair of aces up my sleeve. A couple of cultivators that I’d been saving in reserve for just such an occasion . . .”
His eyes narrowed as my grin widened, and when he was just about to ask what I was hiding, I snapped my fingers.
Two beings appeared on the sand, the chi within them imdiately reaching out toward him.
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