POV: Statera Luotian

After ten years of light meditation, my true body moved. Dei was about to undergo his tribulation, and I wanted to be present in more than just mind. And, truly, I also wanted to see what Dei had created after all these years. I'd sensed it, but I had refrained from sending my incarnations there because I would end up going there anyways. Now was the time, and I teleported directly to the city. Standing in the clouds above the land of Pangea, looking down at the floating city of Manu Ti as it sat above the glossy waters of the Immortal Lake, as it had come to be called, I marveled at what my children had built. The city itself was built atop a large plot of land, far larger than the small city of two thousand cultivators itself, that hovered in the air and was bound to the surrounding shores by five massive chains that could be severed in an instant if the city itself needed to fly away. On the shores, where the chains met the ground, small towns were beginning to pop up with mortals living inside, drawn by the safety provided by the most powerful group of cultivators in the entirety of the Four Realms. Not that anyone knew that other than myself and the other deities.

Dei himself was standing on the veranda of the City Lord's office, gazing out over the city from the relatively tall tower, a satisfied expression on his face. Celene and Leo stood behind him, along with Kei, who had formed a sort of familial bond with Dei, who viewed her as a little sister of sorts. Over the past millennia the nine-tailed fox had grown into a beautiful woman, with long, luxurious hair and fur, dazzling eyes, and an aura that made anyone who met her either fall in love or wish to bow to her. She wore red silk robes and had her hair pinned into a bun behind her head as she watched Dei with half-lidded eyes, a scroll on her lap. When she noticed my presence she looked up into the sky with a conflicted expression, before turning back towards Dei.

"It's time." Dei said after another long moment. His cultivation base surged upwards, pushing him past the peak of the Mortal Stage of cultivation and towards the Immortal Stage. In response to this the sky flashed with a myriad of colors, and Dei shot into the sky to accept his tribulation. He would be challenging the Qi Tribulation, and thereafter the Flesh and/or Elemental Tribulation, successfully breaking into the Immortal Stage with two separate cultivation methods. They would be a century apart, but he would still do so.

The Qi from the Heaven Realm surged, vast amounts of very pure qi flowing towards Dei and encircling him in a cyclone of power, pouring into his flesh and tearing at his meridians. The viciousness of the attack startled Dei, but he swiftly recovered and caused his aura to flare, absorbing everything he could from the surrounding qi. With a chuckle I shook my head -most people would've tried to push away the qi, but Dei being Dei, he instead took it as an opportunity to cultivate and thus began absorbing it. This was the first Trial, one that essentially stripped away the cultivation that was stored in his meridians and replaced it with something that would drastically increase his lifespan. The entire process took a total of four hours, and when the attacks ended Dei was pale-faced and sweating, staring into the sky with a gleam in his eyes. Below him the entire city watched with admiration, knowing that this was a turning point in history itself -the birth of the first (Mortal) Immortal.

"You're here." Kei said, teleporting beside me. I looked at the girl and smiled at her, a smile that instantly caused her to relax and give me a hug. "You didn't come see me."

"I wanted to watch Dei's tribulation in person." I responded with a chuckle. "And I was angry." Didn't want her to see me angry.

"Not anymore though?" Kei asked.

"Not as much." I responded, patting her on the head as the next stage descended. The qi seethed once again, forming a visible mist of pure energy, before condensing into a bridge of pure white that was no more than seven miles long. Dei would have to traverse the entire thing, on foot, in order to reap the benefits. Dei just chuckled and descended onto the bridge, slowly walking forwards as, with each step, an invisible pressure continued to bear down on him.

"Will he make it?" Kei asked worriedly, her tails twitching as she watched Dei struggling to walk by the end of the fifth mile.

"Of course. This is Dei we're talking about. He has to succeed so that he can punch me in the face." I laughed. Kei giggled and shook her head, falling silent as Dei finished the entirety of the seven mile walk, his body weak to the point of breaking as he took the final step. Then the bridge turned back into mist, and a certain amount of it flooded Dei, nourishing his flesh and turning it into something eternal. As of this point in time he was functionally immortal, but...where's the fun in that. That tribulation was way too easy. An invisible force from the Karmic Realm struck Dei's mind, nearly knocking him out of the sky as he closed his eyes, falling into something like a deep slumber, floating in the sky without a thought in the world. This was a test of the heart and mind -if they were not strong enough, then he had no right to become an Immortal. I had no worries about Dei, though. His Heart was strong. Though this tribulation in particular also had another function -furthering the path of karma. The invisible force of Karma swirled around Dei, judging his deeds as he struggled through the illusions of the Karmic Realm, transforming into a strange grey light that radiated from him. He was neither good, which would have resulted in a golden or silver light, nor bad, which would have resulted in a blood-red light. This was one of Keilan's ideas that he had come up with after his enlightenment on karma; Karmic Light. He intended to have it appear on mortals as well, but hadn't figured out how to make that work yet and so had instead incorporated it into the Immortal Tribulations.

Dei sat there for three months before opening his eyes and taking a deep breath, radiating a power far and above that of what he had before. Kei nodded to herself as she looked at this, watching as he tested out his newfound power. Then he let out a breath and shook his head, descending back towards his office and his people, before pausing mid-air to look up at the sky -straight at me. I merely smiled at him and turned to leave, Kei following. Without so much as a whisper of my presence I disappeared, Kei following right behind.

POV CHANGE: Elvira

I understood Father's grievances, and the reason for His actions, but I still didn't like it. Father didn't like it either, judging from His reactions and flustered attitude He had when showing the rest of the Big Four, my siblings, but He was still doing it anyways. Not like I could blame Him though...really, I hadn't thought about how hard it would be to be the creator of the entirety of the Four Realms, had I? We are all practically a part of Him, born from He Himself, and so He does not even feel the same towards the dark angels as me and the rest of my siblings do. They are His children as well, are they not? His creations, even though they have taken a different, more evil, path. He does not condemn them, He is merely disappointed in them for not following His path.

Still, though I understand, I don't like it. Ah. I've already said that.

"...are you paying attention." Gilles said with a frown, the shadow deity glaring at me. I yawned and shook my head, peering at what Gilles was trying to explain to me. I couldn't make heads or tails of it. "For the love of the All Heaven..." Gilles muttered, causing me to frown slightly. All Heaven...? Ah, right, that was yet another term for Father that the mortals had come up with during His period of meditation, as He had been more of a realm to reach rather than an actual being. Come to think of it, wasn't that incredibly accurate? That Father had just reached an incredibly profound realm of enlightenment, to the point of being able to create something out of nothing...? That thought give me a headache. I don't like it. "Pay attention! It's like this..." Gilles began again, once again diving in-depth about his theories on the Void. To be honest, for a moment, I considered that Gilles was the Enemy, as I had come to call it, but then I waved such a ridiculous notion off. Gilles was the foremost expert on the Void within the Four Realms, besides maybe Father, but he's not evil.

Speaking of which, I wasn't the only one listening to Gilles' as he Expounded Upon the Dao of the Void. It wasn't quite as good as when Father did it, but he was still pretty good. Sol was also present, as were a few other, lesser deities, and...oh, when did one of Father's incarnations get here? Gilles seemed quite thrilled at that, though as I watched Him, Father seemed to both frown and shake His head in confusion at Gilles explanations. After the lecture, Gilles went over to talk to Father about his theories and tests, which Father thoroughly praised.

"Really, the extent of your research into the Void is impressive. There are a few misgivings you have, but that is mainly due to the small amount of Void you had to study. Once you get powerful enough to truly enter the Void and see it from there, then I expect your research to improve by leaps and bounds." Father had praised him. "Truly, you are the foremost expert on the Void besides myself, but that's for various reasons, as I'm sure you understand."

"Thank you." Gilles said, and though his expression remained neutral, he was obviously thrilled by the praise. He was a Keeper of Secrets, so being called that was both thrilling and vexing, I'm sure. Heh. I understand him better than he thinks I do. He's really so simple to figure out, despite all of his posturing. "But, tell me, is that what is hiding the Enemy? The Void?" Which is why I was not surprised by that question. Gilles doubts most everything until he himself proves it. Father blinked and stared at him for a second before shaking His head.

"No, it is not unfortunately. Your explanations are what further solidified this idea, but I don't think the Void is what is hiding the dark angels." Father said, not correcting Gilles about the 'Enemy,' as He had attempted to do many times before. This did not escape Gilles' notice, and he was about to say something about it before Sol interrupted him with an abrupt question.

"Not the Void? What could be hiding them, then?" He asked with a very small amount of interest, from what I could tell.

"I don't know." Father said, shaking His head. "But it is an inevitability that I will figure it out." He assured, smiling at Sol. I was perhaps the only one who caught the sadness in His smile as He gazed at the sun deity. I frowned at that, turning to stare at Sol and trying to figure out what it is He was frowning at. I am fully aware of the fact that Father didn't tell us everything about what was going to happen, because He does not know the full truth either, but this was new. What was it that Father knew that I did not, and what caused that smile? Thinking about such a question I leaned back in my chair. The one thing that the dark angels had over us was information. Undoubtedly they had kept close tabs on the various forces of the Four Realms, while we did not know anything about them other than they have at least twenty dark angels -enough to warrant some of the lesser deities making a move if push came to shove. We really needed more angels, because the current five aren't quite enough. We're getting close those...and with Father now awake, the process is once again advancing at a swift rate. I let out a sigh and shook my head, turning to look outside of my Palace, towards where I knew Father's palace resided. Nine thousand years...would be a long time to wait for this to finally resolve itself. Hopefully we could figure everything out beforehand.

POV CHANGE: Celene

I calmly strode through the streets, power coursing through me as a smile crossed my lips. I had just survived my Immortal Tribulation, and finally was able to relish in the feeling of power that Dei had once tried to describe to me. It was...exhilarating, as if I could feel so much more of the world than before. Dei himself was far above me in terms of cultivation, having skyrocketed as soon as he transcended into the realm of Immortality with his elemental cultivation as well a century and a half ago. He was even in a realm above immortality, one which had yet to be named. As for Leo? He was far behind me, but would undoubtedly overcome his tribulation with the aid of both myself and Dei.

"Don't fall too far behind." I said in a soft voice, turning towards my child, who quietly plodded along behind me. The child was not but eight years old, Leo and I having discovered, to our dismay, that cultivators could not get pregnant nearly as easily as mortals. It was most likely the way the gods kept us from breeding like rabbits, and filling the world with not but immortals.

"Yes, mother." The young boy said, jogging a little bit so he could catch up and grabbing my hand. I hummed and ruffled his hair, continuing about my walk through the city, basking in the presence of my people and my child. The city of cultivators was relatively quiet, as many of the people were cultivating in peace or meditating to gain enlightenment, though I knew that just belied the hustle and bustle of the actual city. Many cultivators took up hobbies, as cultivating the traditional way (through extensive meditation or something similar, rather than the way I was forced to originally cultivate, being constantly on the run) was extremely boring and took a long, long time. These hobbies included formations, blacksmithing, various art forms, creating magic treasures, or simply experimenting with how the world naturally worked, as it had been proven with our floating city that better understanding the world through sciences, both physical and spiritual, could help with creating new magics and techniques. Thus, the hustle and bustle, often times cultivators were rushing to different shops in need of supplies, or running out to gather their own, or experimenting in their homes. In fact, I just passed an alchemy shop a while ago. The concept of alchemy was still in its fledgling stages, but I was interested to see where it would develop to.

That, and alchemists produced absolutely fabulous alcohol. (That movement was unsurprisingly spearheaded by Dei. Not that I was complaining.)

My child and I continued to walk, peacefully enjoying the atmosphere (though he was getting antsy, I could tell), that was broken only by the sound of music. I paused and listened intently, feeling everything slip away to the sound of the music, the entire world not moving to its beat, but the beat blending in so seamlessly with the world that they became one in the same. I let out a small breath, recognizing this feeling and understanding that even as an Immortal, this person was much more powerful than I. Scooping my child up into my arms I rushed forwards, flashing through the streets and arriving in the clearing from which the music emanated. My child giggled at the action, thinking it was just so much fun to move at such speeds, which he could only survive because I protected him with my magic.

In the middle of a grove of trees strategically placed in a park-like area of the city sat a woman, strumming on a six-stringed instrument made of wood, a lute, and singing gently. The words flowed over me like a gentle waves, and ever so slowly the woman turned to look at me, her green eyes gleaming. I sucked in a breath, finally understanding what Dei told me about the man I had met over a thousand years ago, the one who had eyes exactly like hers; he had met the man as a woman first, meaning that the man could change genders at will. I had doubted him before, but no, looking into those exact same green eyes, the ones that Dei had been trying ever so hard to replicate, feeling as if they could see past my very soul, I understood that what he had said was true. She just smiled at me and nodded her head, turning away and continuing to sing, watching the trees as birds began to flit in an out of the branches, beautifully colored birds that I had only ever seen at the base of the Life-Giving Tree. For a long while I stood there and listened, keeping a part of my attention on my child as he played with a rabbit that had, some way or another, managed to get up onto our floating island, before I just smiled and turned away. The song she was singing...well, it was a very powerful song. One that touched the soul, in the way music was wont to do, and injected something light and warm into it. I wasn't even sure what it was, but I could tell that, once I required it, I would find enlightenment from it.

With a small chuckle I grabbed the hand of my child, told him to say goodbye to the bunny, and gently led him back towards our home. Being the lovely child that he is, he didn't put up too much of a fuss. Though that could've been because of my promise to run really fast. When I teleported home Leo stopped tending to his alchemic plants and turned to greet me.

"Enjoy your walk?" He asked. I nodded and just smiled, kissing him lightly on the lips and just looking at our small, cozy home on the edge of the floating island, the one-story cottage hidden by a grove of fruit trees.

"I did." I told him with a light laugh. Even from here, it felt as if I could hear her music, making me feel as if all was right with the world...and for now, for me, it was. I had my soulmate, my adorable husband, I had my child, and I lived a peaceful life. What more could I ever need? Though, as I looked at my child, I couldn't help but feel my stomach twist a bit as I thought of the dark angels that had kept appearing over the years. This peace...I would protect it for as long as it could possibly last. And then I banished such thoughts, because they were unbecoming and I simply wished to enjoy the day. "I'll make dinner tonight." I said with a smile, turning and entering the house, leaving Leo and my child outside to play. Just before starting dinner (as a cultivator I didn't technically need to eat, but my child did, and what was wrong with enjoying the bounty of nature?) I paused to say a quick prayer to the Divine Soul. I thanked It for my husband and child, and for the life It had given me, and I prayed for the current peace to last for just a little bit longer. Then I began to cook.