Brey
The God Wizard makes his way to Node 22. He has a desire to ally with The Serpent god. Together they would make a powerful alliance. ((WIP post, by the way))
He wondered if he should be aggressive in the conflict with the others, or if he should attempt a more defensive, long term approach. Simultaneously he had pity on the mortals who would suffer in the years to come.

Summary: He goes to Node 22.

“Thank you, dear,” Benea turned her radiant smile to Xavior. “I’m excited for you to join me and Monica in our little journey. I’m sure a lot is to be said as we walk and so we shouldn’t dally too much longer.”

The goddess turned to place her hand on the tomb of Peninal and closed her eyes for but a moment. Opening them, she looked to Hydra, the beast lifting a head in response to the stimuli.

“You be a good boy, okay?”

A tongue flicker.

“Aww, I know you will be.”

Another flicker. Hydra wrapped it’s mighty tail around the node twice before pressing its body against it like a brooding parent. Two heads continued the wrap while the third presented itself to Benea for a final tap on its snoot. Content with her creation, Benea let her fingers fall from its scales and took her first few steps away from the node and the tomb. Her perfectly white dress trailed behind her, picking up no stains or disturbing a single blade of valley grass as it did.

The long sleeves of her costume fell past her wrists as she held her hands low, hiding all but the very tips of her fingers as she walked. Clearing past Monica, her voice rang out. “Come, darling, we have a walk ahead of us.”

Without looking back, she continued her stroll down the gentle slopes of the valley. A small gathering of mortals started to follow her, having been piqued from her speeches at the node. From that, even more followed the gathering, having nowhere else to go, and from that, even more. This continued until a stream of mankind was following Benea north — her quest having begun.

Ten Minutes to Sunset

The chatter of the gods started to fade as Dzallitsunya crossed the verdant fields, to the edges of the valley where she had seen the group of humans venturing into a cave. It was notably distant, a few hills away from the glowing red of the unstable parts of the crucible, a testament to how far she had been looking for an excuse to leave and/or how tall that Hydra stood, nevertheless, by the time she arrived the humans were gone, only their tracks remaining behind.

The goddess didn't hesitate to walk into the cave, on the contrary, she found it far more welcoming than the intense sunlight outside even if that had gotten milder as midday passed. Walking down one of the naturally made corridors she quickly noted odd patterns on many of the cavern walls, hand marks against the rocky surface in strong red colour, hands of all sizes too, but one, in particular, seemed the freshest so she followed it.

And as she expected, this led her straight to where one of the humans was, two in fact. One seemed to be struggling, trying to walk about but clearly lacking balance, his red-stained hands from time to time pressing against the walls. The other man, a paler one, seemed to be able to follow him just fine, sighing at the man yet again going down a dead end.

"Come on my friend. You are staining all of my walls, I do not need you and your tribe's filthy hands all over my place." the man who could see complained. "And you are still going in the wrong direction..."

"No, you will just lead me to a hole, just you wait, I will find the big sky fire again and it will all be fine."

Although it was amusing, the goddess decided to politely knock on the rock to bring their attention to her. "Excuse me, mortals," she said gently. "I am Dzallitsunya, one of the gods of this world, could I have a moment of your time?"

---

From what the goddess understood within the cave there were not only one group of human but two. A smaller one led by Zed, which had woken up already in the cave, and the ones she saw entering, a larger group led by Croll. The latter had spent their time collecting berries and moved in when they heard the commotion as the Hydra was created, going to the cave to hide and feast upon their bounties, quite rudely forcing themselves in. That of course quickly backfired as the sun moved past the valley, shadows overtaking the holes and opening that worked as the cave's light source, in moments the whole tribe found itself almost blind. Zed's people, still able to see, seemed to be helping as they could, mostly because Croll's people had been trashing up the place even more now than they were stumbling and finding their way by pressing their red berry stained hands over any surface they found.

"And that is the gist of it. Look at my poor cave now, it looks so garish with all these red hands all over the walls, nothing like the minimalist decor I had gone for," complained Zed, now sitting with all of the two tribes in the middle of the main chamber.

"Now, now. Let us stop this senseless fighting, okay? Let us be mature here." the goddess sighed.

"Anything you say, o beautiful goddess." Croll declared. "You were the first thing I saw since darkness fell upon us. And since then, my vision has returned, if only a bit. Surely it must be a blessing of yours, my generous deity. We will worship you forever, offer you half our harvest, and I will kiss your feet if you so desire!"

"Please don't?" Dzallitsunya sighed. "Though that is curious, seems like your people are now able to see again? I cannot say I understand..." the goddess rubbed her chin, many within the cave imitating her just for the sake of acting like a god.

"Nevertheless, Zed, I know you really love this cave, being your birthplace and all, but I cannot recommend you live here, this has a real chance of being a battleground of the gods. I am off to claim land for myself, and I would be honoured to have your people along with Croll's to be the ones who inhabit such a land."

Zed seemed pensive. "We did not like the outside very much, one of ours tried to walk into the light and they say they saw a great round spirit who blinded them immediately."

"That... That is called the sun. Do not stare at it." the goddess stood up. "And as a goddess, I will be able to protect all of you from the dangers." as if to demonstrate this, she walked outside, the sky now starting to become golden as the sun was setting. She focused on her cape and imbued it with greater power, it extended over the land like a veil, the strong winds, the red glow of the unstable lands and even the very light of the sun faded under the protective mantle.

Unlike Croll who had fallen head over heels for the presence of a deity, Zed had been unsure about this goddess until now, though seeing that starry world under her cape he immediately felt as safe as he was within the cave, he smiled. "Quite the display my goddess. I am sorry for doubting you." he looked to his tribe who nodded at him. "I, no, we, can say for sure, there is no one else we would rather follow."

---

As the first sunset ended, the afterglow announced another debut into this new world, as the first night started, and it was quite a sight to see.

The column of travellers, Zed and Croll's combined tribes along with one or two stragglers, had been enjoying the sight quite a lot, the goddess too, from the moon, so much gentler than the sun, to the sea of stars that spread like a garden of flowers above. Zed hummed, walking closer to the goddess. "Dzallitsunya. I was having a discussion with my sister Daga. When did the little lights move into the sky? She says it was when Muma tripped and fell, but I remember seeing them before."

The goddess laughed at that, causing the man to blush a bit. "What?" he questioned.

"Oh no no, nothing, I guess it's harder for the mortals to see, or maybe it is my cape, but they did not move in, they were always there, since the start."

Zed looked confused. "What? Not to doubt you my goddess but they clearly moved in after the sun set."

"They were there, they were just hidden. The light of the sun was hiding them, you see? As it left the skies, it became easier to see them." the goddess explained.

Zed chuckled. "Well that is quite rude of the sun, isn't it? Interrupting and overtaking those little lights like that, reminds me of my noisy brother, or maybe... you know who." he tilted his head towards a distracted Croll.

Dzallitsunya chuckled too but then contained herself. "Zed... No more mean comments, okay?" she sighed and tried to look him in the eyes as much as she could without turning back to face her followers. "He is a good leader to his tribe and so are you, I am counting on both of you, for the sake of our people, and my own, too, okay?"

---

As the second day dawned, the sun heavily contained by the dark veil, the group was well out of the protection range of the central node, skirting the lands of another zone to avoid the central chaotic area surrounding its untamed node. Her cape kept her humans safe as winds became scalding hot and heavy with dust, thunder fell upon the land and flames seemed to sweep about randomly. The only real trouble was that the group was getting tired of walking non-stop and as such the goddess made her protective cave roll once in the shape of a ring, similar to a tent, and moved it to a secured area nearby, giving the humans a chance to rest.

Food and water were lacking but the goddess could provide for that, creating such supplies with her innate powers. One human from Croll's people had a brilliant idea of using a dry stick they found to help them walk and the goddess provided for them, she also create simple clothes to better cover up the humans and allow mothers to carry their little ones more comfortably. It was sure peculiar how humans were created yesterday yet already came with pre-packed family ties, though seeing how it bound them together it was easy to see why Peninal had made such decision.

Before they lifted camp and left for their destination, one last incident took place, as Daga, Zed's sister, had walked out of the mantle during midday to pick some nearby plants and rocks, she returned safely but had been squinting and rubbing her eyes since.

"I don't see anything wrong with them, when I try to heal it my powers just washes through with no effect." the goddess explained as she held the girl's face with both her hands, observing her beautiful violet eyes, now somewhat bloodshot. "Outside of the itchiness, is there any other issue?"

"It's a bit darker under the mantle now." she confessed "Darker than it was before I left... I hope it isn't permanent..."

The goddess sighed. "It was foolish of you to leave into these scorched, sun-baked lands like this. Thankfully only your vision has been hurt from the reflected light upon the sands. If Croll's group is any indication, you will slowly start to see better in the dark again very soon." or so she hoped, truth was, Croll's group had never been as able in the dark as Zed's group.

Later, as they were marching forward again, she called Zed to her side. "I was thinking. About the visions issues, we have been having, about what Daga experienced." the goddess whispered, trying to not get the attention of anyone else.

"Hmm? What is it, my goddess? Are you worried about her?"

"Well, do you know how the sun hides the stars from the night sky?" she started. "I was thinking... what if it's the same with our eyes? It seems that when people look at a strong light, they become unable to see weaker lights."

Zed rubbed his chin, a behaviour he had mimicked from Dzallitsunya and now could not really stop. "Well... could be something like that. Light sure is weird. Do you know what I noticed? That when the sun is closer to the ground our shadows start to grow bigger." he said and when seeing Dzalli gasp upon that "revelation" he chuckled "But you know... If a goddess is struggling with understanding it, I feel like a poor old mortal such as me does not have a shot at it."

"Hmmm but you are as old as me if you stop to think about it. Everyone is equally old, that mother and the babe resting against her chest? Born at the same time."

He laughed. "True my lady, very true. Still, you just seem a bit wiser than all of us. I will try to help you understand things, but I feel like the best I, my people, even Croll and his tribe, can do, is to take care of the mundane so you can look at these higher things."

The goddess sighed. "As you wish, but know that I find talking to you very interesting, yes? Easier than talking to my siblings, it seems. So please do share your mind with me whenever you feel like it."

Vatarr had been prepared to simply leave the neutral zone behind, but a loud announcement by one of his kin that he overheard caused him to pause for a moment. While on a personal level the deer skulled deity believed that mortals should be allowed to live out their lives as they so wished and thus if they decided to pledge themselves to the service of a deity or another mortal of their own decision was a perfectly valid method of spending ones life, the deity who had spoken had provided... something of a falsehood. That the only path to living laid in following them northwards.

That had to be corrected.

"You can travel north if you wish, but there are also lands to the south that are going to open for new inhabitants in the near future as well. I do not demand or require your worship or faith, but I would welcome your company all the same." Vatarr announced in a manner so that all the various mortals could hear them... before once again turning south and moving with haste. After all, he had just invited others to his domain, it was only right as the host that he made it presentable.

---

It was... difficult to put into words the chaotic madness that seemed to be the default state of the world outside of a stabilized node. Even as they trudged through it, the closest description that Vatarr could come up with in the event that someone ever asked him what the wild Nodes were like was... complicated and honestly kind of a lie anyway... or at least a highly simplified version of the truth so mortals could understand that it that, in turn, made it so that it wasn't the truth anymore.

Imagine a landscape of a picturesque forest with plenty of room to move around and the ability to see sun and sky if you looked up, only it's silent as it's devoid of all forms of life that might make a noise. Now imagine a second landscape, but instead of a forest it was a barren cliff face covered in jagged, sharp rocks and violent, howling winds. Now imagine both of those landscapes are in fact the exact same landscape you're trying to walk through while trying to perceive them both at the same time. Now try to imagine this with at least a dozen different, conflicting landscapes that are all trying to be at the forefront of your mind and yet all exist equally in the exact same space in the exact same time.

A mortal would either die incredibly quickly or, in the highly unlikely event that they actually survived for any meaningful length of time, go completely insane. Vatarr however made their way through the chaos to the one place in the region that remained constant, despite the chaos that it was the heart of.

Node 26 looked exactly like it's stable counterpart, the sole exception simply being the environment around it. Reaching out and placing a hand on the black stone, the world... suddenly stilled. The chaos stopped instantly. For a few seconds as Vatarr just stood there with his hand pressed against the stone, he could see all the possibilities of what could be. He could shape this part of the world as he saw fit... and taking a deep breath he decided.

The first signs of life in this new region would be lichen, moss and fungi of various types as they started to grow out of the ground. Compared to the grasslands of Node 18, the ground of Node 26 would be a mixture of colors raging from a variety of greens to reds, browns, grays, yellows... among the plants would grow the fungi, many of which would be a variety of whites, but some of them were quite colorful and beautiful to behold in their own way. Maybe of these fungi would be rather small, barely poking up out of the moss and lichen... but others would start to grow bigger.

Some where big enough that a mortal could comfortable sit on them. Others big enough that Vatarr could easily take a seat. Others grew bigger and taller still, growing so large that they provided shade from the sky and you needed to look upwards in order to properly see their tops. That wasn't to say it was devoid of wood. A variety of trees grew among the fungal giants, providing a contrast to the view and providing a number of resources that fungi along couldn't provide.

After that came the wildlife. First insects, mollusks, birds and mammals that would thrive on the fungi, moss, lichens and other plant life that the realm had to offer. Then of course creatures that would strive to hunt and feast among the herbivores and fungivores in turn. Opportunists and carrion feeders would follow, as well as those lifeforms that could enjoy a variety of foods. In time the region was rich with countless different lifeforms, and Vatarr felt at home.

It soon started to rain for the very first time on this brand new land... and Vatarr decided that this land would be a wet one, with rainfalls coming fairly often but broken up but periods of sun and calm all the same.

Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes, Vatarr leaned against the black stone as his work was done and just relaxed as he listened to the world around him. Mortals would come in time and he would focus on grander projects then but for now... he just listened to the song of life and death in its most natural state.

He knew it was a dangerous risk, and yet even after Asvarad had gained the knowledge promised by the dying elder god and spoken his piece to the bickering divines he had lingered. The action wasn’t impelled by some budding interest in his peers or their affairs, though one of them had prompted it. Asvarad had seen the inquisitive little grey one study the remains of their creator and if the short god’s hushed exclamation was anything to go by? He had discovered something worth knowing. The great serpent longed for the chance to explore that possibility and so took on the risk of remaining, but the presence of other divines precluded him from doing as he pleased.

Asvarad had many eyes, and so had noticed as one goddess paled to see what Eleanna had done. Another had cleaned and clothed the elder gods lifeless corpse when they’d first awoken. To meddle openly with the creator’s body would bias them against him, and while he hadn’t any interest in their friendship the serpent god was in no rush to make enemies. Whatever their attachment to the last victim of this world-trap, he would have to respect it. At least, he would have to appear to have respected it. So, while some of the divines began to head off, and the one named Benea’s ridiculous pet set to the task of turning the babbling Xavior’s proposal into a demand by wrapping itself around the node, Asvarad breathed in.

In the span of the serpent’s breath he watched Xavior build a tomb around the elder god’s body, another peer predisposed to needless sentiment, and Benea’s nascent little faction depart alongside her. Only as Asvarad watched them begin to shrink in the distance did he exhale, and when he did? His breath was alive. Before the serpent, invisible in the air, was a creature that could not be seen nor felt without magic or power. At least, when it didn’t wish to be.

Asvarad looked into the emptiness and shaped the air with the slightest exhalations. Coiled up in the warm sun he lounged away from the others, crafting his own servant in plain sight. The flowing currents of air, hidden from all but the serpent who was watching for them, took the shape of a gaunt approximation of a human. One whose hands had too many fingers and who looked out from two sets of serpentine eyes facing both ahead and to the side. In lieu of skin the servant sported minuscule fine black scales, and each one of their thick nails ended in a sharp dark point. When his servant’s body was complete Asvarad began to work on its mind. Unlike others, he had no need for a pet. A thousand thousand careful adjustments to a floating knot of air and power, and at last the invisible creature fell to the ground without a sound or any clear indication it existed at all.

It had been created with a purpose, and Asvarad welcomed it into the world with terse explanation and a projected thought laden with the serpent god’s authority, “Servant, you have not been created without reason. I require the skull of our-”

“Excuse me, Servant?” A shrill thought bursting with indignation cut off Asvarad and the Servant’s not quite Human features contorted in invisible annoyance, “You're naming me Servant!? And now I’ve gotta a pull skull out of a warm body!? That’s disgusting. I was just created and from what you bothered to put in my head I already know that’s disgusting.”

“I have given you no name” Asvarad thought back forcefully enough to give his creation a headache, “That is for you to decide, your obedience however is not. You will do as I ask. Whatever aversion you feel is passing, I would create nothing ill-suited to its purpose. Be grateful, of all creatures Servant you alone will always find joy in your work. I have made certain of it.”

For a moment Asvarad’s Servant simple stood there, half sunk into the ground and totally still. Any thought of learning how to walk without substance abandoned to listen to its creators painful retort, and issue one of it’s own, “So I have to scoop out brains, and I’ll enjoy it even if I don’t want to, but I get to pick my name? Geez, aren't I lucky.”

“More than you know, ingrate.” Asvarad’s thought boomed in the Servant’s head and took on a such a weight that it couldn’t be gainsaid or denied, “Fetch the skull as soon as it can be done without attracting unwelcome attention, bring it to the place marked twenty one on the map, and present yourself to me there. I’ve no time for this asinine quarrel.”

That said, or thought, Asvarad turned and slithered away with all the speed a small mountain of muscle could provide. The Servant watched their creator depart, carving a great path through grass and brush that seemed to attract a few of the humans already enticed south by the horned god and seeking an easy route, and cursed as it looked back to the node, “Just couldn’t have been created by one of the others. Nope, it’s brains and gore for me. Good thing I’m a freak who’s already excited just thinking about it. Stupid fucking snake.”

Of course, Asvarad hadn’t taught the Servant proper speech. Had he, those few who remained around the first node would have heard the increasingly foul-mouthed specter as it figured out intangible locomotion and made its way to the tomb Xavior had erected with a mix of anger, building exhilaration, and more anger about that.

Sunset and then...

Ahead was a sea of glowing red, lethargic waves of molten rock moving slowly but causing nearby rocks to crash with great force, for any mortal a second of exposure to this and they would be a charred lifeless husk, for the goddess, however, the whole place was survivable, but far from pleasant.

She had never realised how much of her nimble movement was tied to her cape, not until she found herself struggling to skip properly between the flowing rocks atop the lava, though there was no option, the closer she got to the node, the more chaotic the world became, so it was better to leave the humans behind with her cape as a shield while she went alone for this last stretch of the journey.

The node was getting closer, yet to finally reach it there was one last challenge, the flat lake of lava gave away to a massive pillar of stone rising from the earth, the molten rock pouring down it in torrents of flame further making it harder to climb. Despite the task ahead, the goddess couldn't even imagine herself giving up now, not because of courage or diligence, but because the closer she got to the node the more attracted she became to it, not unlike a moth to a flame.

At the top of the volcano, she could see the small black pillar at its centre, the Node, the core of this region. There was no safe path to it, so there was nothing left but to go for a leap of faith, diving down with hands extended and touching the mysterious obelisk. She wondered if the slick black stone would even be possible to grab, it did not matter, with the mere touch of the finger of her finger upon the unclaimed stone her fall stopped, the bubbling of the lava and the very heat it emanated stopped, everything was frozen along with time itself. And then she felt everything at once.



A flower rising up, a flower growing down, these were the images spreading across Dzallitsunya's mind as her power exploded across the environment before reaching its limits, be it the skies above or the world below as well as the still chaotic nodes nearby, then it all flowed back in equally violent and sudden power.

All she had done before felt like the acts of a mere lowly magician, this power, this feeling of having a presence that was greater than her body, this was what godhood truly had to be, this was her land now and she was its ruler. It was now time to shape it.

---

The final design was perhaps unusual but far from impossible. Making use of the lava carved topology already present but now as a cradle for life and civilisation, Dzallitsunya made Node 7 into a massive green valley.

The zone was surrounded by a massive ring of mountains with some chains splitting and marching inland though smaller and broken, around these mountains were mostly highlands and plateaus, dry but inhabitable, the jewel of the province was however the lowest stratum, formed of dense jungles and swamps. Finally, at the very core, the last remnant of the region's previous state, a tamed volcano crater, the swamp turning into hot springs and geysers as it approached the mountain that contained the lava and the temple that now housed the Node.

The water cycle of the region was peculiar, the high peaks at the border kept humidity in, that humidity went down in the form of rivers, which pooled around the volcano, where the hot temperatures evaporated them, it was a notably sunless water cycle and very much self-contained. This also made rain a constant factor in the region, no four seasons much less the tropical dry vs wet seasons, the only seasonal change in this swampland was the amount of snow melting off from the peaks.

In stark contrast to the wetlands below, the highlands lacked rain, having humid air yet very dry soil. This was also a factor in the unusual water system of the province. Hot air can carry more water than cold air, rain is created when hot air cools down, the highlands however were in general hotter than the lowlands, the reverse of the process that makes rain, this trapped all water, creating a constant wet mist in the air that rarely ever turned into rain. To further make the issue worse, the rivers that streamed down the mountains were centred around canyons, leaving them out of reach for most animals and any people without the proper technology.

These stretches of highland were thin enough to avoid becoming too dry however, with one exception, directly south there was a massive plateau that created a full dry frontier between this land and the coastal one to the south.

With the constant fog even in the drylands, the rain clouds and the volcano's own black smokes, the skies of Node 7 were always mantled with a thick layer of this or that, always blocking the sun, at night, however, with cooler winds, the skies cleared up to reveal the moon and stars,,, The goddess had not put an intentional effort towards that way, but her preference was unquestionable and her rule upon the land had unconsciously worked towards that. And as she finally fell down, not unto a lake of lava but the cool and elegant floor tiles of the Node's temple, she was more than happy to look up and see no blazing sunlight overwhelming her vision.

... Afterglow

In her first outfit change since birth, the goddess had made her skirt knee high and then raised it further by tying it to her wait, her cape too had shortened and her blouse was airier and looser. Most importantly, she had weaponized herself, carrying a less than formidable sharp wooden spear to slay equally puny beasts of nature, such as fishes.

Zed, sitting in nearby mangrove branches, whined. "My goddess, is it really necessary for us to mudlark? Not that I am lazy but... I get a bit tired of having to untangle my feet from river reeds or plop out those dreadful leeches. Can you not cast today's dinner with your divine will? Why since you became more powerful since this land was established, with that pleasant glow of yours only increasing, I was thinking..."

The goddess merely pressed her lips together and the message was understood by the cave tribe leader. The surface tribe leader however did not make things silent and understood merely by subtext.

"Bah! What happened to mister oh my goddess we will work the land while you watch the heavens? Stop being so delicate and come help me get these eels, we all gotta suffer and struggle here!"

Dzallitsunya sighed and smiled. "It's not about struggle or suffering, it is merely that it is necessary. I cannot be a provider and caretaker because I cannot guarantee I will always be around, no? Furthermore, it is a bit offensive that you think of this blessed jungle of my making to be that unpleasant, Zed. Do you think I am unpleasant as well?" the goddess added, splashing at him, not that it mattered since it was already raining, as it always was.

"No no my goddess, on the contrary," he said. "It is just that perhaps... you could have gone lighter on the mosquitoes?" he dared to add.

"Gonna have to agree on that one with ol' Zed here lady." Croll added. "They are a bit annoying."

"Well... I will admit I did not expect them to be so widespread. That said, there is a root around here that when burned will repel them. a mischievous grin spread over her face. "Which one though? It is a mystery~""

Having guaranteed a meal, the group returned to their current base. Near the rivers land that was stable and dry, especially those held by a large rock, had proven themselves to be prime space for settling when natural formations weren't available, a series of reed huts could be built and provide for good enough long-term (for the time, a year or two) homes, wooden logs were used to make less stable temporary platforms as the united people of Zed and Croll worked together to make a living in this lush territory.

Although they worked together, the goddess could not help but notice how the ties between the two tribes were still mostly among themselves. She had been thinking about solutions to this, from forcing a new culture by her own hand to promoting marriages between the two groups, though she did not like to overthink such topics and felt like she had more time to wait and observe these humans before actually making decisions.

The central part of the village was a gazebo of bamboo pillars with a thick thatched roof, under it, a rock cauldron would receive what had been gathered or hunted down in the day was now added to a stew. Eels, frogs, fishes, roots, even fruits as well as some of the tastier grasses. In the jungle, this was also a good way to keep the food from spoiling by keeping it bubbling constantly, everyday one person had to spend the night keeping the low fire alive and stirring the soup with a stick, not even the clan leaders or the goddess (by her own request) had been saved from the soup duty and today it was Zed's turn.

It was a lone job, but he found himself in the presence of a pouting goddess, of course, he assumed it was something he was doing wrong. "I am sorry for whatever I did, my goddess, even if I am yet to know what it was!" he blurted, wondering if as he was stirring with a distracted mind he had allowed some bug to fall in, and not one of the tasty ones at that.

The goddess looked at him and smiled, her pallid face and flowing silk white hair gaining a new lively tint when lit by the low fire, the contrast of light and darkness only making her look more ethereal. "Oh I am sorry, it has nothing to do with you, no." she looked south for a moment and then back. "It is just that I think some of my siblings have settled south of here, and I was wondering if it wouldn't be nice to give them a few gifts from these lands."

Zed nodded. "Better to be on good terms with the neighbours, I say."

"I will prepare a basket when I have the time then, amber, river pearls, fancy feathers..."

"You should get some food too, just saying, maybe a caiman boot, or a live one to put on her pond, assuming she has a pond."

The goddess nodded and then just sort of stood there, humming for a few moments, making Zed nervous before he decided to have a go at more small talk. "I don't know how you managed to spend your time on soup duty, it's boring for me, I imagine for a god it's ten times more boring, with it being something so lowly, and yet you were humming and happy the whole time."

"What do you mean? What do you do when you are stirring the soup?"

"Well I uh... I just think about things all the time." he started "I have so many responsibilities and so many plan, my mind focuses on that while I am stuck on it"

The goddess put a hand on her hip and widened her eyes. "And then when those responsibilities and plans come, you do them poorly because you are so distracted." she immediately noticed how harsh she was being with Zed and shook her head. "What I mean is... I do not believe that is the way to go. You had to live in the present, be here in the moment, and focus on what you are doing. Otherwise, you will just waste your whole life thinking about the next thing and never be focused on the current one."

Suddenly she stepped forward, between the man and the pot, and seized his arm, holding the stick with him. "I feel like I am not saying it well with words, so lets try to do it together, so I can lead you." she announced. "Your focus should be here, in the movements you do, in the bubbling of the water, in the aroma of the ingredients within. Think about the taste of the food you are making, see how it cooks in the fire. If at some moment you are without things to think, then just allow your mind to go blank, you do not need to be busy thinking." she explained, as she guided his arm and helped him about, the man now trying to not get too distracted with the goddess leaning against his arm.

Dzallitsunya felt help with things as they were right now. The land was pleasant, the tribe was full of people she loved, Zed, Croll, Daga, Muna, Bima and Tuug, Yud, Rida, Boto, and all the other humans who she knew by name. She didn't need much more in life, fishing and cooking the fish, sharing that meal with everyone, sleeping, wasn't that good enough?

and yet

The thoughts of the explosion of power she felt when claiming the node filled her mind, that high was now long gone, but it had been more than just a preview, even right now, she could feel she was more than just her body, there was an echoing hum, a flower-like wave, but weaker and quieter, that was also her, spreading from west to east, north to south, within her node, all of it was under her presence and if she stopped to focus, she could feel it all.

and although she had just said one should not be distracted, whenever she focused on that hum, she could not help but wonder

wonder if maybe, with more nodes, that feeling couldn't reach farther, if it couldn't go deeper and if it couldn't rise high to touch the sun and the stars.

Anak'thas

Anak’thas moved through the storm-scarred realm alone. The screeching wind was assailing him from all sides. The ground beneath him had ceased obeying whatever laws of nature governed here. Mountains folded into each other, as stone trees curved back into roots. For the two days Anak’thas kept himself going with the promise of his own realm. Whenever he saw the stone trees he did not see the blight it was but the lush, green forests it could be. Whenever he walked over the cracked, rocky ground he saw tranquil hills covered with fields. So he kept going, until finally, he reached the node. It was a simple thing, akin to the first node where they were all born.

The lantern creature reached out and put his hand on the stone. In an instant the howling wind ceased. Rock and stone began to crack and crumble around him as reality took back control of the world. Through the node and with his will he wrangled the impossible mountains into submission. All bowed for Anak’thas. When he was finally done sundering the blight of the realm, he began replacing it. He forged gentle mountains up in the north, from which life-giving rivers flowed down into the verdant plains below. The stone trees had crumbled and formed the seeds for the living forests that dotted the whole area. A singular vale ran towards the node he came from, which would guide the mortals here.

Finally Anak’thas took off his hand and realized that was not a god, not truly, until now. Ever since his birth he had thought about shaping the world by his desire. To do so, in reality, was a completely different feeling though. He felt powerful like he had never felt before, not even when he witnessed Benea summon the Hydra. No, this was something else. This feeling, it demanded contemplation. With a single motion from his hand Anak’thas raised a pedestal-like throne and rested his lantern atop of it.

Days passed by without recognition to the second-born god of order. It felt like he was in a slumber as he examined the memories of the power that had coursed through him. A slumber that he was raised from the second the first of the mortals appeared before him. Slowly they made their way up the hill Anak’thas had made around the node. None of them spoke. They just knelt. But the Lantern-God felt something brewing in him as they whispered their prayers to him. Their faith felt like a sprouting seed within him. A seed – he knew – that would grow into the creating power of akin to that of the nodes.

“My subjects!” He bellowed as he raised up from his throne. “You’ve come to me. Know that I am honored by your faith. I can feel it within me. As promised, I give you a verdant land where prosperity is everywhere to be found. All I ask is your faith.” He stepped towards the first few of his new followers.

“Rise.” He then said. The human with a walking stick, no doubt the first of many boons provided by the Lantern-God, rose up slowly and carefully. “For your benediction I give my blessing.” With two fingers he touched the man’s head and filled it with the skill and knowledge of how to work the land. It was foundational knowledge at best, but knowledge that would get them started either way. The blessing spread, from the man to those he was growing to love along the way. Soon it found its way throughout his faithful followers.

Through the direction of Anak’thas his followers began to stack loose rocks and dig up clay to make their houses around his throne. They were ugly things, with little refinement or beauty to them. The Lantern-God still smiled. These buildings would be the first houses of his worship. The people of his land did not rest there, however. They took seeds from berries and plants that they found in the beautiful realm and began to plant them in tilted fields around the node-hill. The first fields were being sown already.

---

Anak’thas wanted more though. There was something underneath the power of the nodes. Something more, waiting to well up like a flooding river. But that power was blocked by stones of oblivion. In the end the conclusion was a simple one: he would have to claim more land. He summoned a man, young of body, and gave him a simple command. Make way for Benea’s chosen realm and relay his message: Anak’thas shall claim further eastwards. For the good of his followers.

With that task done Anak’thas set forth for the second node that would be his.

The pace was slow because of the mortals who trailed the trio of gods, but step by step the entourage was making its way out of the central valley and into the foothills that framed the unstable lands of Node 12’s border. Either due to eagerness or foolishness, the company didn’t rest in the hills but pushed onward until the wild yonder became the wild present.

Pillars of wind tore up the cracked ground that seemed to move in liquid waves and plumes of fire erupted wherever possible. The once midnight purple sky of the valley had given way to a pale red of the unstable lands — and with it the threat of annihilation.

Luckily for all the mortals who decided to follow Benea, the goddess was ready to protect her flock and no sooner did humankind step foot in the unstable land of Node 12, did Benea use her godly powers to bend reality around them, turning the sky into a calm blanket of stars over a still barren, but sedentary ground.

As they walked, Benea held her spell, keeping the immediate weather calm as they made their way forward — up until exhaustion began to smirk in her visage and the pace of the tired humans became apparent. It was time to sleep, something that should have happened in the hills, and it was up to solely Benea (or at least in her mind) to keep the sphere of calm weather up while her entrusted dreamed.

That’s where she found herself, looking quizzically at her sleeping herd, standing next to Monica’s right shoulder while Xavior stood to Monica’s left. The winged goddess looked at her with a contemplative gaze. “Sister, can I help you carry this burden? If there is any way I can aid you, please let me know.” Monica murmured, concern evident in her voice quiet enough not to wake the slumbering humans.

"Worry not, dear sister," Benea's quiet voice hummed back, "I can handle such a burden today… but come the future days, I will need you." Her eyes flickered to Xavior.

"And you. Order depends upon it in such a volatile world."

“And what order, might I ask, would you request my aid in enacting?” the god asked with a level tone tinged with curiosity.

"Where do I begin?" Benea exhaled slowly, her exasperated grin recurling into one of politeness as she smiled at Xavior. "Surely you noticed the chaotic designations of some of our fellows as well as the wilderness of the crucible and gruesome end of Peninal. It's up to us few level headed to make this world the best it can possibly be, free from destruction and chaotic hands. I have need of you, darling, this world has need of you."

“The latter is a need I can serve without a thought” the god replied without hesitation, before seeming to pause to pick his words for a moment and then saying “as to the former, well, while first impressions are going well so far, but you will, I hope, forgive me reserving a full on commitment at this early hour. Not that I won’t pay you back for this” he made a vague gesture to the protective dome keeping the humans safe and the other two gods burden free “and your support at our birthplace in full, as well as give you aid freely in the coming days as a show of good faith. But you will not have me” and on that last he seemed quite firm.

"Oh dear." Benea's eyes widened and she pulled a hand over her mouth. "You misunderstand me, Xavior. I am not attempting to advance upon you in a romantic fashion. Your solidarity is well enough and has my humble appreciation."

The god let out a rather undignified surprised snort of a laugh “That is not what I…” he began to reply, before seemingly giving up and waving the whole final point off along with a “Never mind.”

“Hmm… We will all need each other, I think.” Monica softly remarked, looking between the other two deities with a hint of bemusement. Slowly, she reached out with her wings, and gently brushed both of them, connecting them with feathers pleasant to touch.

Benea looked over at Monica and smiled. "I have a plan, regarding some immediately relevant nodes if you two would want to humor my thinking."

Monica merely nodded while Xavier leaned in with interest.

“So it should be no surprise that I intend to claim Node 12, as we are already nearly there. Node 13 is to be taken by an ally of order, Anak’thas. Node 7 is to be taken by Dzallitsunya… Monica.” Benea put a hand on her sister’s shoulder. “You’re to take Node 11.”

Looking at Xavior now, Benea continued. “It may be much of me to ask you to do this for me — but could you escort Monica to Node 11? I’d be beside myself if anything were to happen to her on her way over — such a chaotic land this is. Afterwards, I have two more favors for you, darling.”

Benea flicked her wrist and a tiny scroll appeared in her hand. “Please head East and deliver this letter to Dzallitsunya — keep the ribbon tied, if you will. Then, I’d ask you to claim Node 8 further East. Should this be done, I can then reconnect with dear Anak’thas and we can all — Dzallitsunya willing — convene at Node 7 to discuss the future of the nodes as a solidified unity. The first nodes we should discuss the distribution of are that of the surrounding area… but we can deliberate after everything is in place. Our end result will be a united assembly already in possession of an equally united and stable territory. From there, anything can be done, and in peace.”

A pause as Benea held the letter forward. “Do you understand, dear?”

The god frowned for a moment, before taking the letter in hand and saying“I’ll deliver your letter your letter without removing the ribbon, and, should she” he paused then, and re-addressed the answer to her first request to Monica herself rather than speaking past her “If you agree to head to node 11, and if accept my presence, then I will gladly journey there alongside you.”

Monica bowed her head slightly, and replied. “I would be delighted to travel in your company, Xavior. We shall go to the eleventh node then.”

“I have, however, a request of my own when it comes to the longer term. As I will be holding off so long on claiming a node and laying down roots” he said, while lightly twirling the note in between his fingers “I would request that you both use a touch of your strength to grant me access to your nodes, specifically so that I might borrow the knowledge held within. If I understand our creator’s gifted wisdom correctly, accumulating a connection to more nodes will provide ever greater innovations to be shared with mortals, and as I am to be traveling through several before making my mark on the world, I think you can see the potential of this paying dividends in the future, yes?”

"Don't fret, dear Xavior," Benea offered a kind smile, "you of course will have access to my node — we are indeed unified are we not? If all goes according to the idea of a unified front, there will be 5 nodes shared between us founders."

“Before I set off?” the god pushed.

"Sweet Xavior," Benea crinkled a brow. "My power has already been spent in joining your decision to protect the neutral area as well as tender mortality from the wilds we find ourselves in."

“Unfortunate” he said with a frown, only to smile just a little and then suggest “Of course, I still have some left, thanks to your taking up the burden of protection, so we could always do it in reverse. I claim this one and share it with you instead.”

“Now there’s an idea,” Benea smiled wide. “We switch roles! I’ll escort Monica and deliver my words to the East, you stay here and tend to the mortals. Lucky for you, I can easily write down the plans for Node 12 for your possession. A splendid solution I must say.”

The god raised an eyebrow at the sudden turn, and then stroked his beard thoughtfully at this different way of doing things and then finally saying “I suppose I do not need to be present for a node to be shared with me. Why, if you go along and request/provide that sharing once your strength has returned, then I could enact all of the advancements and impart all of the gifted of wisdom right here, where the mortals already reside,” before adding more offhandedly “and I’m sure your suggestions on how to use the area would be most welcome as well”

“Oh!” Benea was clearly excited as she gripped Xavior’s shoulder. “You’re precisely right.” A hand came down and she tapped the letter in Xavior’s hand, the parchment changing to vellum (and the word changing from letter to list). “I knew I could trust in your judgment. I’ll escort Monica and then reach out to you after my meetings with the other two are completed, and hopefully we will be then convening in Node 7 for our summit.”

Benea pulled away from Xavior. “Until then, dear, please do mind that the first thing you do after stabilizing the node is to create a gentle landscape for our flock. They are most weary and would benefit from meadows, babble streams, and flowers, don’t you think? After settling them, please do them justice and teach them the ways of tools as well. It can only benefit their living.”

She shook her head and her voice fell into a quiet contentment. “Excuse me, Xavior, I seem to be spouting what’s already on the list a little too freely. I trust in you to get the job done, of course.”

“I don't see why speaking freely would be an issue.” Xavier admitted before asking, rhetorically, “What is there on this list of recommendations that could need to remain a secret after all, and from whom present would it need to be kept? Besides, you will, of course, be there for the start of this so there is plenty of time for discussion. Unless you wish for me to take over so that you can both be away as soon as possible?”

Letting out a single shrill laugh, Benea closed her eyes in humor. “You silly thing, of course there are no secrets. I simply don’t want to be redundant.” She opened her eyes to give the god a sly and perhaps coy look. “We are getting ahead of ourselves now, and the time to wake up is quickly approaching.”

Looking over at Monica, Benea curled a gentle smile. “Are you ready to move on, darling?”

Monica looked over the sleeping humanity, sharing the same expression as her sister, and she answered with another nod of assent. Her gaze turned back to Xavior, a wistful glitter in her silver eyes. “Farewell, until we all meet again.” Then she was ready to begin the next step of her journey beside Benea.

“We have a few steps together, yet,” Benea corrected before falling from the other two and walking towards the slumbering people.

For Xavior, the journey to the 12th node was an easy one, the chaos of the unclaimed node held up by Benea and the pace kept slow by the tramp of mortal feet. It left Xavior restless, and conversation with his fellow divines could only draw so many topics from their short lives before it became repetitive. He found that while Benea seemed to mean well she was also overbearing in a way he could not yet put words to, to a degree that it made speaking with the rather passive Monica and gauging her own intent rather difficult.

It was then as much to get out from Benea’s smothering will as it was to elevate his boredom and sate his curiosity that he began periodically excusing himself from divine company to meander among the mortals as they marched towards their destination.

The first time he tried this was a frustrating experience, for the mortals shied away from his attempt to interact with them with a mix of wariness and awe, leaving what talk was to be had stilted as a result. After a few failed attempts he retreated back to divine company, only for what had already driven him away to do so once more.

The second time on a whim he trailed back, further and further to the very back of the pack of humans surrounding the gods. There he found something interesting, at least to him. A tall alabaster man with short red hair and the patchy beginnings of a beard, who despite his muscled physique, was walking with faltering steps. Supporting him by draping one of his arms over her shoulder was a dark haired woman who’s sweat gave a shine to her warm brass skin. There were a few others around them keeping them company, but most of the humans were well ahead of them.

Despite the end of the safe boundary nipping at their heels the woman was smiling and talking animatedly while the man looked mostly embarrassed, though as the god watched he did give a brief nervous glance at the chasing doom behind them. Xavier assumed the woman had the right of it, as he did not take Benea as the kind of person who would leave stragglers behind to die in the madness.

Still, it would be better for everyone if their trailing was no longer an issue, and so the god decided to intervene.

“Hello there. What seems to be the matter here?” he asked, strolling back to them, causing the pair to freeze up for a moment before the woman tugged the injured man to keep moving. She put on a smile while the man looked worried, likely thinking he was in trouble. Most of those around the pair quietly tried to move away from them without it looking like they were doing so.

“Ah I’m so sorry. You see-” he began to say falteringly before the woman spoke up and explained “this idiot didn’t look where he was going and stuck his leg in some kind of borrow and ended up hurting himself as a result. Don’t worry though, I’ve got this handled.” She gave him a toothy smile, as if daring him to say otherwise.

“And why are you helping in the first place? You look quite strained from the effort” he asked with a purely curious tone as he matched his steps with theirs, hands clasped behind his back as he strolled.

“Oh well now, it's just the right thing to do isn't it?” she insisted, though he did not quite buy it. A bit too much pride in her voice for it to just be kindness.

“That does not explain why you specifically are providing aid. Why not you for example” he said, pointing at one of the humans who had given them space, a man far more muscular than the woman providing the aid. He looked a touch shocked to be singled out, before saying “I’ve got this pain in my side, you see.” while rubbing it and then adding “Also Annie insisted” which got a few nods from the others.

“Because I’ve got this, and that all there is too it” the Annie insisted once again

Definitely pride, he thought, but there was, he expected, a fair bit of genuine kindness and selflessness in there too. Interesting. A quick survey of the others in the stragglers revealed either injuries or others who, like Annie, were helping out said stragglers with moral support or helping fetch/carry food for them.

A touch inspired by the latter group he instructed Annie and the man she was helping, Edgar, to stop. When they worried about the danger behind, he simply stepped behind them, held up a hand, and when it hit the edge of the protective bubble red lightning coursed against it, stretched the bubble of calm out so that they would not be let into the madness behind them.

“Now then, if you’ll just let me reach down and touch your leg” he said to Edgar, who after a few stunned moments agreed to let him do so, and then a few moments after that gasped in surprise “my leg! It doesn't hurt any more?” he said, taking a few steps forwards to make sure it was so, and then turning and saying “thank you so much. I don't know what i can do to make this up to you?”

“Oh, think nothing of it. It's just the right thing to do isn't it?” the god said, echoing Annie’s words as he stood back up and moved forwards, letting the bubble return to its original shape, before asking “now then, who’s next?”

After that it was a quick succession of light touches on hurt areas and everyone was feeling right as rain. That got lips loosened and wiped away any fear of the unknown among them, which was quite the useful side effect in Xavior’s opinion, though Annie did look a touch irritated about being shown up.

“And is there anything I can do for you?” he asked her, leaving out the implicit to make it up to you part of that sentence

“I’m good, fit as can be. No aches or pains here” she insisted, then after he stared expectantly at her for a few moments said “Well. I don’t suppose you know where any streams or pools are? I’m kind of thirsty after carrying this big guy so far” as she clapped Edgar endearingly on the back.

“No I am afraid I do not, but I can cut right to the water part” he said, flicking a wrist and creating a little orb of water hanging in the air from nothing. Then he frowned, thought for a moment, and created a shallow stone bowl for the water to sit in before passing it to her. She looked amazed, and then even more when she took a sip and found it cool and pure as could be.

He ended up distributing a bit of food by the same method as well upon request. They were a small group, so it was no effort.

They talked a little longer until they caught up to the main mass of humanity, at which point he felt it was time to bid them farewell. But before he did he offered them one last kindness.

“If any of you need help again, then simply come ask, and I’ll see what I can do” he told them.

And that is where the trouble began.

---

At first he was occasionally approached by members of the group again who asked for things on their own accord or on others behalf. Then word got out and a few others started to carefully approach him, then more and more came more and more boldly until he found himself surrounded by a clamor of humans all asking things of him, from the petty to the serious and with the petty all too often drawing out the serious. Feed me, fix this rash, give me water, make me not tired, they asked, while the more imaginative asked for miracles more selfishly. Make me strong, or beautiful, or let us walk the chaos beyond. While he tried to serve at first it all to rapidly became too much for the god to handle and so he put a stop to it.

“ENOUGH!” he commanded, silencing the crowd gathered around him with a word laced with a trace of power.

“Shame on you all, for expecting something for nothing, even from a god. For drowning out real need with selfish desires” he chided them, and then set down the law “From now, if you want something, you must pay me something in kind, or have a request worthy of a god’s intervention”

There was a heavy pause, and then the uproar began again only now with offers piled on top of requests for aid, but it lasted for only a heartbeat before he silenced them once again with “I was not done!” and then set about dealing with that half of the issue

“Annie” he pointed at the brass skinned woman who had only ever asked him for aid on others behalf, and who had been making attempts at getting the worthy request through the noise already, and charged her with that in an official capacity “pick a group of people. Together you will find those requests that are worth my time, and reject those that are not. Do this for me, and I will reward you handsomely for your services with power and acclaim”

There was a heavy pause as all eyes turned to the stunned woman, before the god broke through it stepped towards her and offered her a hand to shake “just take my hand, stand by my side and we can bring order, such that the needy are helped and worthy are rewarded”

He saw the way her mind turned, and after a moment the woman he had seen prided herself on helping someone nodded and clasped his hand in hers. He squeezed it, pulsing power into her, which rushed to her head and formed into two small horns jutting out from her hairline, and then shook her hand once before releasing it.

“Then it’s a deal” he said with a grin, and thus the first priesthood was born.

The wilds of Node 12 were relentless. Blast of thunder rocked the airscape, sending shockwaves that rippled even into the peace Benea struggled to project against the unstable energies of the node. She walked ahead of the group with her eyes shut tight, having sent Monica and Xavior away from her with the excuse that she needed to concentrate — when in reality she wasn’t keen on them seeing her face contort as it was, with wetness leaking from her eyes as she strained against the world.

It would bend to her will, she demanded it.

A loud crack of lightning answered her thought, blasting shards of rock from the grounds outside her control. She growled at it, her divine energy shaking in her arms as she rebuked the shrapnel, keeping the weather calm in her sphere. Another crack, and another answered her until she was leading her followers through the heart of a raging storm that could tear even a god. The monstrosity of the chaotic world was clear to her as she pushed, her ears deafened by howling spirals of wind and the eruption of lightning.

Benea’s will wavered for just a moment and an explosion of electricity and stone blasted next to her. A mist of jagged stones bloomed from the impact and wincing, she braced for the shards to dig into her — but it never came. The sound of someone else’s flesh entered her ears and she opened her eyes.

A muscular and ugly face was staring at the ground right in front of her. The owner of the face stood with his timber-like arms outstretched, as if to cover as much of Benea as possible. Blood trickled down his rib and turning away from his Goddess, Benea could see a forest of shards wrenched into his back, rivulets of scarlet carving down his swarthy skin.

Standing tall, Benea found her will once again — her protective veil strengthening once more. Her voice turned stern. “Who are you, to jump in front of me?”

Turning back to the goddess, the injured beast of a man bowed low to nearly a right angle. “I am Jermane.”

“Why, Jermane?” Benea couldn’t find her usual tone.

Without straightening his bow, Jermane answered obediently. “For your order, Lady. I remember the words of Peninal, and your words that came after. I stood in awe at your beast, and walked peacefully under your veil. In return for the spirit and dreams you have gifted with your divine might, I return it by giving the power of my flesh and mortality to you.”

“Stand, Jermane.”

The man stood to face Benea, standing well over a foot taller than her. His face was stoic, but not without passion and care in his eyes.

A smile appeared on Benea’s face as her surprise finally faded. “Do you believe mortality really has such power to offer?”

Jermane didn’t shift. “I do.”

“And you wish to use it on me?”

“I do, as you have used yours for me.”

Benea put a hand on Jermane’s shoulder, the shards falling out from his back and his flesh stitching closed. “Then Jermane, I will hold your dream next to mine. You will be the first among many. You are Jermane… my shield.”

Jermane bowed his head again. “My lady.”

It was a matter of days before Vatarr was roused from their meditations.

There had simply been no reason to stir or move. The world around him was working as it was meant to, with countless creatures being born, living their lives, dying and their remains being used to fuel or create some new form of life even in this sort amount of time. Insects might only be around for a short time in the scheme of things, but they lived to the fullest none the less. While he knew for a fact it was only a small part of a grander stage, for many of the creatures living within the fungal forest and marshlands he had created this was the world and nothing existed outside of it.

...In fairness to this line of thinking, the only direction where life could actually exist so far was to the north... and only a somewhat narrow path that connected the region to its north-most neighbor. Everywhere else lead to a shift, painful death. Vatarr was likely going to have to fix that at some point if one of their peers didn't move into one of those regions first.

But what had caused an early end to Vatarr's meditations was a disturbance to the natural rhythm of the region he had created that had started around the northern most point. It wasn't a disruption so much as... two different but similar songs had come into contact with each other and they hadn't figured out how to harmonize with each other yet. Having a fairly decent idea about what was happening, Vatarr calmly rose to his feet and walked to confirm if he was correct or not.

---

It didn't take all that long to come across the humans and their camp. They had found a location that was higher up and shielded by one of the large mushrooms that dominated the skyline, blocking the occasional rain from falling directly onto their camp, instead having streams of water falling down from above on the edges of their camp away from where they would sleep.

Most of them had not been sleeping when Vatarr arrived, but the appearance of the deity was cause for those few who had been asleep to be awoken in a hurry as a rather... tense atmosphere started to descend. Mortal eyes gazed upon the larger, horned entity with a mixture of uncertainty, respect and even fear as there was a drawn out silence.

It was Vatarr that broke it, their deer skull face remaining passive but their voice suggesting a wide, warm smile as he greeted "Welcome to..." There was a slight pause as the deity stopped to consider something. "... huh, I haven't given this region a name yet." After a moment they shrugged to themselves as he continued in their jolly tone "Anyway, welcome all the same! How are you finding the place?"

There was a moment of stunned awkwardness among the mortals as they glanced quickly at one another in silence, none of them having the slightest idea of how to talk to a entity like Vatarr and what terrible things might come about if they did something wrong. However, in the end it was a young boy that slipped away from his distracted mother and looked right up at the larger entity... and Vatarr gazed down in return. "...It's a lot more colorful then the last place. And there isn't a giant, scary monster glaring at us in the distance. I like your mask... what's your name?"

Vatarr couldn't help but chuckle as he heard the self strangled cry of a woman who wanted to rush forward and drag her child away from someone they really shouldn't have gone up and talked to, but at the same time didn't want to risk offending said person in the event they turned violent. "I'm Vatarr. And thank you little one." Thinking for a moment, the deity knelt down in order to give the appearance of trying to whisper to the small child, even if it was more of a stage whisper. "...To tell you the truth, I was worried that people wouldn't like it."

"Why wouldn't they? It looks awesome!" The small boy cried out in that manner that all small children who hadn't developed a social filter tended to do when they got excited. If nothing else, the whole situation did help break the ice as some of the adults who were more inclined towards leadership stepped forward to talk (alongside the child's mother, who saw an opening to step in and retrieve her little one among quick apologies before withdrawing).

"So... What exactly is your deal? Because we came this way because the deities heading north wanted us to have faith in them but... you said we didn't need to worship you." The self appointed leader asked, taking their turn to meet the gaze of the skull headed entity.

Vatarr tilted their head slightly at the question. "You're correct. You don't need to worship me or have faith in me to be here. The fact that you are here and that there is a here for life to exist is enough. As for what I am about..." Reaching up to dryly scratch his chin, the deity pondered a moment before snapping his fingers as an answer came to him. "I could tell you. It might take a while because to understand it in full would require understanding a number of things prior... but as a welcome gift for coming to make a life here, I'm going to give you a gift that will not only answer that question, but also teach you a few other useful things in the process if you want."

The mortals glanced at each other for a moment... before their leader slowly nodded his head. "Alright..."

---

Before the gift could be presented to the humans, it had first needed to be made and the tools and methods required to do so had to be produced first. Thankfully, this was part of the teachings that Vatarr had in mind. First had been the pottery kiln in order to... well, produce pottery from clay by heating it up with fire. The second step had been introducing them to a use for some of their new pots alongside the addition of a gem ore that was common in the ground that could be melted down in the kiln to create a hot, coppery colored substance... and that substance could be, with care, harden and be used for a variety of things.

One of those things was the creation of a metal, copper tablet. Two dozen or so in fact. Upon each of these tablets about the size of a full grown human man, Vatarr wrote a variety of different subjects and insights... but the mortals were only able to read the first one with any sense of understanding.

"I've designed each tablet so that once you truly understand the first one and its insights, the second one will start to make perfect sense. Each tablet is a step that not only unlocks important information that you'll be able to make use of going forward in their own individual rights, but will also allow you to understand the next one." Vatarr explained when he was done before giving a small, knowing chuckle. "I'm honestly looking forward to seeing what you end up doing with this knowledge once you start working it out. But until then, if you wish to speak with me I'll be at the heart of this realm. I promise it isn't hard to find."

Palace of the Moon

"So. Up between Modzu Tsonya and Poya Tsonyamiri?" the goddess questioned, making a gentle but firm point of calling the rivers in her new language, over Zed or Croll's alternatives. "A safer passage up to the high lands. Hmm. That could be useful Croll, however... I do not see the tribe going that direction any time soon."

The man nodded and then sighed, before creating the courage to make his proposal. "But what if we were to let an offshoot group go hunt up there? We need the warm furs and wool of the animals up there, we cannot wait for too long."

The goddess side-eyed the tribal leader and rubbed her chin. "You know I am not for the idea of us splitting. It could lead to trouble, especially when I am not around to protect the tribe from monsters and hostile gods..."

He adjusted himself, nodding in acknowledgement and yet not agreeing. "A split... sort of implies a full division. I do not wish to do that, I am saying, a group of say, six? Eight? Of course, from both tribes."

This changed the goddess's disposition, she turned towards the tribal leader and seemed more interested. "That is more feasible. I will give it thought..." she straightened up her position and squinted her eyes. "And I assume your son will be one of them, yes? Not that that would be an issue, he is a good boy, growing up to be a fine man."

He laughed nervously, his intentions unclear to the goddess, the suspicion of power play did not feel unfounded but she did not want to rush to conclusions.

"Bah. Boy needs to keep his head on the ground. I get worried sick of he getting hurt because even during the hunts his mind is in the future." he complained. "But it would be silly to exclude him from a hunting group no matter what, perhaps some isolation will do him some good."

The goddess chuckled. "He is young, it should be fine." she then looked towards the city centre. "Speaking of which, even if I allow the split group to leave for the highlands, I still want them to come back for the festivals, especially the marriage ceremony."

"That seems fair." Croll nodded. "Wouldn't want my boy to go unmarried, right? I want grandsons after all. Though, again, can you believe him, such a dreamer that when I asked about what girls he had an interest in, he had the gall to... no offence my lady but... to add you to the trio. I had to shout off such insolence from his mind."

The goddess laughed louder at that. "Now I will wonder what my position on that list was. Such a silly boy." at that she stepped back and bowed gently to Croll. "I think I will be taking my leave to rest for the night. Thanks for your hard work Croll, these new homes you are building are lovely and even Zed was forced to compliment them."

The man smiled and nodded before taking his leave as well to leave his goddess to rest without worries.

---

There was however no true rest to be had. As the humans went to sleep and the village chatter quieted down the goddess was left to think over things far greater than this village's mud walls and eel soups. She had aimed to be active and integrated with the community, almost letting them to forget she was a goddess, and in turn, she had learned there was some joy in truly not being a goddess. But the fruit of knowledge could not be regurgitated, the fate of the crucible and the taste of what she could really do were constantly in her mind.

Today, she decided she would pay a visit to the node at the centre of it all again. With her cape and the cover of darkness slipping off from the village was trivial, so was traversing the volcanic swampland and rising up the volcano. The villagers were aware of the magical node and the volcano, they called it the Podja Fa, Red Lake, what they did not know, was that in the creation of this land a structure was made as if carved by the hands of man, not nature. It could perhaps be called Dza Padjilli, House of the Moon.

However, with most of her power going to shape the land and seed it with life, the structure was left malformed, a stone skeleton of something clearly unfinished. On the day of the formation of these lands now called Twilight Swamp by many, she was too tired to fix it, but today, she was not.

Once again she stood by the chamber with elegant black tiles, lit by the lava below, with the node at its centre, under the moonlight that seeped through the open roof. Focusing her energy, she placed her fingers down against the floor right by the node at the very centre of it, soon power started to surge, and the solid stone walls of the building started to be reshaped.

---

Dzallitsunya was partial to designs that were solid, somewhat blocky with hard angles, it stood in contrast to the villagers who enjoyed round shapes for their home, however, they had imprinted in her some preference for high contrast decorations, though as a goddess she could work in platinum and gemstones instead of red paint made from squashing a type of bug with some clay.

The entrance had been carved out of a reddish rock in contrast with the dark blue of the volcano. Cyan, purple and yellow in designs of stripes and triangles decorated the wall, pearlescent gemstones cut into lunar circles and bright yellow topaz cut into a rhomboid surrounded the trapezoid-shaped open entryway.

Past that, one was greeted with a large corridor. Here the stone was cute in sharp squares, forming a smooth flat texture. This area tried to be more discreet than others, rock carvings decorated the borders of walls and windows, some plants and railings followed a series of small water canals and fountains. Light seeped in from the lava cave outside, filtered by colourful stained glass windows with very geometric patterns in them. The side doors of this zone led to a library, a kitchen, and a dormitory, among other amenities for the more bureaucratic side of godly work, clearly meant to be a place to be populated by her servants if she ever were to make some, at the end of the corridor were the staircases that led upward, to the node room and the garden area.



The node area was the same one Dzallitsunya had visited before, now with some more flair and less dust, the difference was that now it was not surrounded by the void but an open garden area. This garden was mystically kept alive, this same magic also was imbued in the local decorations, shining stones and walls that looked as if decorated by the starry sky were common here, the same system of canals and fountains also decorated this area, along with the magical spring that condensed this water that fed the whole garden from the region's fog. The rooms in this area were meant for the gods, including Dzallitsunya herself, the main meeting area for the gods visiting Node 7 however was still above this garden, past the volcano walls.



A ring-shaped room existed above the node temple, inner walls were made of glass and there was no outer wall, instead, the roof was held by a series of pillars. The normal view of this zone was that of the misty twilight swamp and the highlands beyond, one could even see the sea past the mountains and the layer of clouds far below the observatory. However, the room was also able to cast an illusion, a view of the crucible as if one was high in the sky, of course, not a real one, just a pleasant version of it that was made of tamed pleasant nodes and a blue ocean hugging the land. Dzallitsunya felt this would help remind the gods of what was at stake if they were ever to hold a meeting in this carefully crafted meeting room.

The goddess found herself in her room by the end of the process, looking up at the gold and silver stars that decorated the borders of the glass roof and the far more beautiful true stars above. In this bed, she could rest as Dzallitsunya the goddess, this whole palace was like an anchor keeping her linked to this higher world she was a part of. She smiled with the results and got up, ready to return to the village down below and the dingy mud hut barely held up from the swamp water by rough wooden stilts, she had an immortal time to come to inhabit this palace, but not so much to share with her mortal human comrades.

Anak'thas

The realm of the next node was not ruled by impossible storms and cyclical, stone trees. Water reigned here. Vast seas were suspended up in the air and raging around like clouds of a storm. Below, the ground was swept clean of any features. An endless torrent had blunted any edge. Form itself was reduced to an overflowing state. The Lantern-God continued on his trek. Even now, so far from the first node he put his claim on, did he feel the worship of his followers. Like a wellspring of golden light inside of him. Without it he would have turned back already but with it he could push on. For his people.

Until a divine sense of premonition alerted him to…something. The swirling mass of water in the firmaments here blocked almost all light. Anak’thas could scarcely see shadows. But he did see something move. What was that? It shape seemed to roil like the crashing waves of the heavens-bound water. It uttered out a cry akin to the song of whales. The Lantern-god believed it to be a greeting. With his divine faculties he mimicked the sound. It answered something, but it sounded lower. Almost… disappointed.

Tentacles of ever swirling blackness shot forward and pierced Anak’thas’ physical manifestation. The god screamed out in pain. His core was narrowly missed. Too narrowly. The tentacles retracted again. The Lantern-God dropped low to the proverbial knee. The creature came closer. The mote of Anak’thas’ was illuminating it slightly. The creature was nothing but a formless mass of inky darkness. It let out a low wail again as it approached from the fathomless skies.

The god of order had acted too rashly. He did not consider the possibility that the anarchic chaos would manifest guardians of its own. Because of that he was now bleeding divine ichor. Two tentacles formed from the amorphous blob and slapped the god away. He was sent flying, then barreling through a floating pocket of water before he came out the other way again, drenched and beaten. His physical form would not survive such an onslaught for long. Slowly he rose up again. Gold began to play across his fingers. “You will not end me.” He vowed, and the vow strengthened the golden force playing across his fingers. “I am Anak’thas. Ruler of the Verdant Realm. God of Order. And now Tamer of Chaos as well.”

The blob just slapped him away again before he could even finish conjuring the power he wished to wield. The Lantern-God was sent flying until he crashed into a featureless, stone pillar. The cracks he caused were quickly washed by the endless rain, carrying away the sharp edges until the god’s crash site looked like nothing more but a dent.

Anak’thas himself realized that calling upon his power of divinity and faith took too long. Slowly he got himself up as the amorphous blob came closer again. It manifested a sort of opening on its body. No doubt ready to swallow him whole.

Gold began to shine across the forearms of the god of order. The light itself materialized into golden, lattice-like filigree. The chaos beast came closer still. Its maw grew larger, stealing away the light from Anak’thas’ mote. Until the god of order reached out with a single hand. The golden crystal embedded in the bracer lit up like a sun. A straight line of goldlight made manifest pierced the creature. It shrieked and trashed as it lashed out with its tentacles again. Some of them hit, sending Anak’thas flying again. But others were sliced from its body by a trellis of goldlight.

Again the god of order picked himself up. His physical shape was badly battered and bruised but none the less he rose up. Divine ichor did drip from his physical body. One more strike and his lantern would drop, unprotected. He wouldn’t let it come to that. Again he summoned the golden force across his fingers. This time it was brighter, stronger, and shaped in an orderly fashion. “I will destroy you.” The beast shrieked at the challenge and rushed forward, ready to deal the killing blow.

It collided with the conjured honeycombed wall of goldlight. It flew straight into his trap. Light from all sides shaped itself into similar walls and began to retract. “This land of sea will be mine!” Anak’thas declared as he manipulated the goldlight. “It will be prosperous and great! And it – like all other realms I will claim – will serve as a testament of my glory. And. My. Power!” He squeezed the goldlight together. The creature released a death shriek before it was reduced to the basest particles of its existence. An ashy dust slipped through the holes of the already fading goldlight walls, to be carried away with the endless rain.

---

The god of order found the node not much later. He was still injured but the sight of the only stone with any discerning features pushed him to reach it. He put his hand on the node and the seas of the sky came down.

Even in his exhausted state, Anak’thas’ will was absolute. When the water was flushed down into the ocean mountains began to raise again in the north. To join their brothers from the west. Fertile rivers flowed down across the land. Seeding fields and forests with green and verdant life. The coast was dotted with soft, warm, sandy beaches alternated by steeper cliffs. Where the first node he claimed would serve as a welcome for anyone who came from the south, this node would serve to provide his realms with food and sustenance. With a singular motion he again raised a pedestal throne and took his place. His mind was already drifting towards the next node in the east. The power of creation was addictive. But really, who else was best suited to create a world as prosperous and good as he?

And yet, it was not the only thing on his mind. The bracers he carried drew equal part from the divine essence he imbued them with and the prayers of his distant faithful. It was clear that there was more power in being a god than simple divinity alone.

Eleanna panted for air as she rested most of her weight on her spear’s shaft. Blood and sweat dripped freely from her body, and she lifted her arm to wipe her brow…

Only for the sensation of a thousand knives stabbing her left side to flare up.

She fell to her knees and threw up a foul concoction of blood and bits of flesh and bone.

She heaved, struggling to get any of the polluted air into her lungs, one of which felt more like a goo than an organ inside her chest cavity.

The ever-shifting, non-corporeal corpse that her spear was stabbed into soaked up her divine blood and flesh and shimmered.

Eleanna’s followers slowly found their footing behind her. Most of them walked on wobbly legs, while a couple walked on one leg, and one was being carried on someone else’s back. It hadn’t been an easy two weeks for the humans, even though they had been chosen by Eleanna herself to brave the wilds… Not to mention that their number had steadily decreased every day, no matter how hard Eleanna tried to protect them.

She knew the humans were behind her, although somehow she couldn’t find the strength to turn her head to look at them, and just breathing made her feel like she was dying. She loved the feeling.

One of the males, average in looks but just as bronzed as her and covered in various scars, walked up to her and patted her on the back of her head.

“I’d give that… 6 out of 10. Not a big fan of that moment you almost got crushed. A Goddess having to be saved by her tribe? Isn’t it supposed to be the other way around?” The man chuckled. Eleanna tried to laugh as well, but the sound that came out resembled a dying rhinoceros instead.



Best thing about hunting ever-shifting, non-corporeal corporeal monsters? You could get a lot of vegan non-meat out of their non-existent bodies, to feed hungry mouths.

Worst part (Or also best part, according to Eleanna)? Broken bones, missing limbs, internal organs turned to mush…

Eleanna sat with her back against the node she’d claimed just a couple hours ago. Most of her organs had healed within the hour following her battle with the monster, but healing a nearly completely pulverised ribcage seemed to be taking much longer. At the very least, she could walk again, and grab things such as her spear. Not that she wanted to do it, but…

She stood up with a soft grunt of pain. The unique shuffling of her torn and damaged leather and chainmail armour alerted her partner, the bronzed, scarred man she had named Sun.

“Hungry?” He asked, eyeing her carefully.

“Nop. I just want to taste my kill. Anything left?” She asked, her voice hoarse from all the screaming she’d done while she was in the process of being crushed.

“Our kill. Lots of people lost body parts to save you.” He said nonchalantly, and handed Eleanna a small piece of lightly cooked, gelatinous non-flesh. It felt unnaturally cold to the touch, as if it wasn’t actually there and she was just holding a vacuum of some sort. And yet, she could squeeze it and she could smell it.

“Bizarre.” Eleanna muttered.

“Big word.” Sun smirked.

“I’m not as dumb as I act.” Eleanna chuckled before stuffing the whole thing in her mouth.

It was bland. It also smelled like her clothes after a week of marching.

“It’s food isn’t it?” Sun said with a knowing smile. Eleanna smiled and looked at the palms of her hands. She was proud of him. She felt weird. The world started to wobble.

“Sun, do good feelings make you feel like you’re about to black out too?” She asked, bringing herself to look at her partner just in time to see him hastily sitting down, almost paler than the Shy-friend.

“Sun!” She gasped, rushing to his side only to trip on one of his feet and fall face first on the dirt. Her vision blurred and, for a second, she felt bile rise up her throat… Only for it all to go away almost as quickly as it started.

She crawled her way over to Sun’s side as soon as she could regain proper control of her limbs and pressed her fingers against the side of his neck.

He was alive, but… His body was glowing. She listened closely and felt him and noticed that muscles were shifting and organs were moving. What had previously been smooth skin was now being covered by a layer of thick hair, and his mouth pushed outwards and teeth turned sharp and animalistic.

There was nothing Eleanna could do as she sat there, and even if there was something she wasn’t sure she would have stopped the changes either, since part of the Grand Struggle was to roll with the punches after all.

A quick scan of the other tribespeople revealed they were undergoing similar changes. They were all becoming more bestial in appearance, although their looks didn’t exactly match. Some looked mammalian, while others looked reptilian and some looked more aquatic.

A very small minority of them… Well… They were more beast than man. Those regained consciousness quickly and fled into the wilderness.

Eleanna was relieved however when she saw that the injuries many of them had endured after their latest hunt were healing. Limbs were regrowing and tissue was stitching itself together.



It had been months since the node had been claimed. In that time, Eleanna had managed to teach many of her new friends the secrets behind firekeeping and tool making, and was now just starting to teach the smartest among the demi-humans how to build homes out of wood, mud, clay and a little bit of stone. The times were busy, stressful, and fun. With everyone getting used to their new bodies and instincts, no one day was the same and there was always some sort of struggle going on. And all of that isn’t even mentioning the occasional encounter with the descendants of the First Predators.

In the time that had passed, several small settlements had already formed within all the different sub-biomes she’d splattered over her land. The arctic demi-humans settled in the snowy tundras to the west, the aquatic ones settled in many of the great rivers cutting through the land to the north, the wilder demi-humans settled in the hot, treacherous rainforest to the east, and the demi-humans more suited to hot and dry weather settled in the grand dunes to the south.

The land’s centre was left as a sparsely wooded plains, where everyone who wasn’t a fan of extreme climates remained.

The unforeseen mutation of Eleanna’s followers had come in very handy, with their newfound instincts and abilities more often than not being the difference between life and death in the wild lands of Dama.

Life looked promising, was Eleanna’s most regular thought.

And just like that, things got… Boring.

So she said farewell to her loved friends and partner and set out on a journey, making sure to pack all of her pieces of armour that had been damaged beyond repair during her battle with the First Great Predator. She couldn’t repair it herself out of principle, so she had to seek out someone that knew how to work with metal and leather.

As Vatarr returned to the node at the heart of his realm, the skull headed deity gazed upon it in thought for a few moments. Despite feeling somewhat taxed after putting in all that effort on the tablets he had left behind to the mortals of his realm, something about seeing the Node caused a sudden rush of energy. Not nearly enough to do any of the wider scale plans that had been running in his head, but enough to do something before he stopped to rest and simply bask in the glories of the eternal cycle for a while.

What to do through was the question... and honestly it was a hard one. Much like the question of what one wanted for breakfast, the smaller questions were generally the harder to answer. Enough possibilities for their to be a choice, but not enough to really do anything special with it either...

Suddenly, there was a spark of inspiration as Vatarr raised a hand and gestured towards the base of the node. A mushroom started to grow out of the dirt, it's back resting against the black stone of the node as it shifted and grew into a throne. Walking over to it and taking a seat, Vatarr was pleased at how soft and comfortable it was. Leaning back, their eyes closed as they simply listened to the world around them once again.

Brey


The Node Monster.
An ever changing chameleon like creature, The Node Monster wandered the territory Brey wished to claim as his own. Brey wasn't a martial deity, so a creature that ate gods would be a little harder to take down for him than for some other gods. Brey had a plan. He had the knowledge of how to smelt metals that would be superior to any mortal's forge work for centuries to come. Cautiously, Brey observed the Node Monster hunting down other fauna, observed it's habits and then finally, after studying it, struck. First, a poisonous arrow was fired from his bow, from out of sight of the creature. The arrow struck it's target.

Seeing Brey firing, from some distance away, the Node Monster then gave chase to the deceptively old looking deity. After passing many trees, the tiring monster, who, with poison ravaging it's insides, triggered trip wire, and suddenly a metallic battering ram slammed into it. It was Brey's chance, he made haste towards the Node.

The man approached the node. He desired to lift the people out of the horrors of their primitive conditions. No knowledge. This wizard among the gods would first teach these people the ways of knowledge that would be, for them, like magic, before teaching them actual magic later. Raising them to the level of civilization, they would begin to smelt copper and brass, and had a currency. Hunting, farming and agriculture, and medicine, as well as a calendar was developed. For now Brey would be somewhat of a king. He was called "The Sage".
Claiming the node, Brey created a great library. For now it would be almost bare, but would contain knowledge of medicine and other important subjects before it would be improved on greatly later.

Eventually, Brey planned to exalt knowledge of all kinds, but for now, the people would be educating themselves in lesser sciences, perhaps eventually becoming renowned astronomers. Surrounded by a vast wilderness of wood, and stone, there would be no shortage of materials to construct the Great Library. People would still fish, farm, and hunt, but would not be ignorant.

Things had gotten much, much worse as they approached the final stretch leading to the 12th node. The storm outside grew more violent, angrier and almost ravenous. Thunder howled around Benea’s area of clam as lightning hammered down to attempt to wipe it from reality.

Enough was enough.

Xavior set aside Benea’s pride and strode forth into the chaos to spare both her and the mortals. Or well, he snuck out the back to avoid walking straight into the focus of the thunder, and only then raced ahead, aiming to reach the node as swiftly as possible.

At first his smaller form could avoid the storm, which focused on the bubble, but as the goddesses and their charges pulled away and headed instead for the next node, it found him. Yet he only had to protect himself, and so the god could afford a smarter way to handle the raging storm than simply standing firm as Benea had done.

As he approached the node he left a trail of fried malicious metal objects in his wake, each one tossed to the wind to draw the lightning to strike them instead of him.

Yet as he approached, the storm turned into something else. Crackling energy, mountains of it, coursed through the sky and around the node. So close to it, the god himself could not see the shape of the titan bearing down on him, yet to the north, trailing behind the others, the horned Annie could see it in full: A roiling mass of cloud and lightning moved like a predator, one that towered over the landscape, that flicked from form to form in an instant.

Like a fox it pounced upon where the god stood, great spears of electricity hammering down on Xavior’s position. Like a viper in struck when he dodged, like a wolf it hounded him, like a lion it leapt and then like a dragon it disgorged a torrent of thunderous breath to scorch the land clean. Into this a retaliatory storm of steel retorted, a shower of metal that punched up into the beast, warping it as it struck compulsively at the fragments within itself until they were naught or fell to the earth.

Having expended most of his power, the god reached for the only other power available to him.

The node.

As the predator reformed he ran for it like salvation. The monster chased him, bearing down atop him. And then his hand hit the node and the land turned to his will. The ground cracked in thousand and one places and torrents of molten metal burst from it, sapping the lightning from the air, drawing it down into the earth.

The beast stumbled backwards as the source of its power was sapped by the god, but it clung on and tried to steady itself to strike, only for a mountain erupted from beneath it. A volcano that exposed the magma of the planet's core to the titan and spat smoke and ashes into it, sapping its power and beating it back. Then another erupted, and another and then finally a towering mass of stone infused with metals of all kinds burst forth and finally, at last, drew down the lighting, scouring its surface with lightning and killing the beast for good.

Xavior, panting, hand held to the node, slowly straightened himself. He briefly glanced at the note from Benea, skimmed it and then tossed it aside.

It was time to leave a mark on the world.

At the rear of the human mass a bout of jubilation was ongoing at the slaughter of the titanic beast and an end to the storm when Xavior’s vision of the world washed over them, turning what had once been barren green, and from atop the small hill they found themselves on they could see it all.



Beyond the node to the south where they had pilgrimage across to where they were now vast meadows and grassy fields, crisscrossed with rivers that were fed from hundreds of tiny rain filled ponds, bubbling aquifers and roaring geysers. Dotting the land where a few lingering wounds where lava churned, but outnumbering those were hot springs by the dozens. To the west across a great river, this land was mirrored, yet at this moment it was drowning in ashfall from the three great volcanoes that had struck blows against the titan. These ashlands would bloom even richer than the west thanks to the fertilizer in time, though the periodic ashfall would present a challenge to any who would live there.

Across these fields grazed hares, horses, iguanas and goats a plenty, while around the magama rifts and hot springs giant lizard sail finned lizards, Edaphosaurus, bathed in the heat. Hunting these were lone coyotes and packs of beautifully feathered velociraptors. Soaring above them all where tonnikala, a species of truly flying fish.

The great river splitting the ash dusted lands from the ones the pilgrimage had crossed wound its way down from a grand lake that itself between the Node and the first volcano. This in turn was fed by numerous rivers filled with fish and fished by herons, spinosaurus and bears. One was grand and flowed from a massive lake tucked behind a short pale stoned mountain range to the east, while the rest were smaller, trickling down from numerous lakes tucked away in the the the northern parts of the forests that surrounded the edges of the region and now stood in the way of the goddess’s intended path.

Living in those forests where deer and pheasants to hunt, olives and fruits a plenty to pick, but also wolves by the score. And among these wolves were some that were larger. Stronger. Smarter. Their eyes holding the lingering spark of a titan of chaos not quite as dead and buried as Xavior had hoped. Forest kings in the making, who’s may coordinated packs would become a terror of the lands on either side of their forest domain.

That, however, was in the future. For now the humans stood a gasp at the landscape that had been forged around them in but moments. A silence that was broken by the bleating of a nearby goat, its horns mighty, its fur black as midnight and eyes red as flames. Its imposing appearance did not prevent it from taking off at a run when a hundred eyes wandered to it in response to its first vocalization, its leaping gait taking south, it towards the far distant node.

“Come on! Let’s go already” Annie, first of Xavior’s followers, suddenly shouted and, taking this as a sign, took off on a jog after the goat and towards where her patron awaited. A trickle started to follow, those in the god’s service or who were grateful for/had bartered for his aid at first. Then after them went the curios, the ambitious and the desperate but most of all went the tired of traveling. Within a handful of moments about a third of the humans had broken off from the pack, and where heading down the the shores of the great lake and the node that lay there, ready to brave one last stretch of the journey on their own, to end their pilgrimage and make themselves a home here, in the 12th realm.

The rest remained, too faithful or fearful to leave their goddesses' side. Considering the giant fish eating dinosaurs hanging around some of the rivers, that second point was entirely valid.

Asvarad, the serpent god, slithered across the world he knew and towards its dark boundary. Muscles wider than trees flexed, the god’s long body carving a deep trail into the ground below with every movement. Such was the serpent's pace that Asvarad neared the boundary by the time he even noticed he was being followed. Humans had seen a path and followed it thoughtlessly.

If nothing else, that proved to Asvarad that they were as foolish as his own kin. Seeing the chaos beyond the serpent didn’t need to guess at how likely it was a mere trail would protect his pursuers. They would all die. Before Asvarad swam a sea of possibility, and yet? It was structured, at times, in places. Searing deserts flickered out of existence only to be replaced by stinking flooded swamps which hardly lasted before being supplanted by a strange land of red stone and bloody fog. Reality crumbled, reconstructed itself, and all the while pretended it was never broken. As a last unkindness the region beyond the influence of the elder god’s node was also being blasted by weather that belonged in none of the places Asvarad saw it.

All this only told the serpent there were more possibilities in the chaos than could be imagined. Or perhaps, as many as there had once been. Asvarad had stopped moving and coiled up at the precipice, unconsciously positioned to strike in the face of a suspicion that frightened the serpent to his core. He’d suspected this world was a trap from what information he’d gleaned from Peninal, but this? It was only a suspicion, but Asvarad wondered if every possibility he saw in the chaos beyond was a reality that had once been only to be extinguished because there was no will strong enough. Or perhaps, it had nothing to do with will at all.

Asvarad beheld the certain death of his pursuers, and his own likely end if his worst fears were more than that alone, and decided that none should have to face it unprepared. He began to move again, still carving a serpentine trail into the world, but now it felt solid behind him in a way that the rest of this world did not. Where chaos encroached, the trail did not yield. So long as the humans kept to his path, they would arrive where he would. The serpent god would not be their caretaker, but if they sought to follow him regardless he would not deny a fellow prisoner his aid in escaping their box. Even if it was a hopeless struggle and this world was set to tarnish and wither until only a memory in chaos remained.

He would do what he could to avert that. Whether or not the crucible had birthed and slaughtered not just one world, but worlds beyond counting as the serpent god feared. As Asvarad caught sight of the twenty first node, his target, he thought again of the humans that made their way towards him, following a road with no protector, risking everything because for one reason or another they knew they could not remain where they had been. Mysteries and threats beyond counting beset him, so perhaps some company would not be so bad. Just to… Ease his burden.

With that in mind, Asvarad decided on a different plan for his node than the one he’d been considering. The others hadn’t left a positive impression on the great serpent, and so he’d meant to dissuade them by fashioning his node into an inhospitable and unwelcome land. That would not do now. Instead, Asvarad planned for something greater. The serpent reached the black node, and beholding it he wondered why these pillars were the foundation, but there was no time to study this one now, not while the serpent god’s peers set about claiming the whole of this world.

So he lunged for it. Asvarad coiled his body around a node that rose to prevent him from ever climbing it, though on instinct he tried. Such was the serpent’s enormity that within moments he towered above the swirling chaos below and felt the battery of weather unbound by the laws of reason, logic, and time. As Asvarad pivoted his head to bear witness to it all, it froze. Chaos halted, trapped as whatever it had been when he staked his claim to the black monolith he climbed and coiled around. It waited for him.

He was awash in a river of power, able to command its bend, ebb, and flow, but from the very moment he felt its touch Asvarad knew he was not its source. The power was intoxicating, it was everything that was, but the serpent god felt nothing in it but for the unease one might feel hefting a weapon they did not truly control. The serpent sat in the flow of possibility, able to foresee anywhere it might go, but unable to turn around. Asvarad could not behold the font from which energy beyond imagining stemmed and it nearly frightened him to the point of abandoning the idea of claiming a node at all.

But then what? Travel the world alone, unaided and weaker than his unstable fellows? Asvarad steeled his nerves and so poured his desire into the node, wary at all times that it would betray him. It did not. First a vast field of thick mosses, vines, grasses, and more besides shot out across the node to cover every inch of it. Then, when all the land had been rendered fertile, did Asvarad raise it. A terrible rumbling overtook the world and the lands of node twenty one began to rise as vast mountains that verged on the vertical pulled themselves from the dirt and flanked every edge of the node but for where the serpent’s road held them down and permitted a pass.

The mountains encroached into the interior, but there they began to fade and turn into the rolling green hills of an enormous valley. Warm water exploded from a thousand thousand springs and caves in the border mountains and colorful sediment filled rivers, still steaming, cut their way through towards the lands lowest point: the mysterious node itself. There a great lake formed, and at its edges wide fields already seeded with what would be lurid tubers and ashen grains. Asvarad had not willed that, but accepted it. The node read his desires, and he would not lie to himself and pretend he alone could uncover every truth.

Humans would be indispensable. To that end, he did not leave them a land of grass and steam alone. The vines in the soil, at the lightest prodding, swirled around each other and grew wooden and thick until they began to curl on themselves and rise from the ground in great bulbous trunks covered in little leaves. Species of vine both thin and thick rose and wove themselves into odd bulb trees great and small across the node. Some would bear succulent fruit, others strong woods to build with, and yet more varieties produced stranger things still.

Healing herbs, both for the body and for the spirit. That and, poisons. Those would grow only in dark caves and dangerous places, but Asvarad would not pretend he or his… People would have no use for them.

That done, Asvarad withdrew from the node as fast as he was able. That he would have to spend much time studying, even claiming, more of the things made the serpent god uneasy. The less introspective of his peers would not be able to resist that. Asvarad, terrified as he was, still yearned for the freedom and control he’d experienced as he twisted the world itself into an image he enjoyed.

It had not been by accident that his node resembled a fortress, only with walls miles high and caked in snow. The conflict Asvarad had feared at the beginning would play out, but this time it would not be remotely comparable in scale or devastation caused. Xavier had been a fool to talk them all down. It would have been better to have it out then, for them and for everyone else.

Especially for everyone else. Asvarad felt them enter his newly claimed territory, marveling at the land that awaited them on the other side of chaos, and began to slither towards the pass. He would keep to his word and never be their keeper, but they would need him to show them the fields, and warn them of other things besides. He needed them, in time, and so too did they need him.

It was disconcertingly neat, as natural arrangements went.