***The World***

***Seria***

“They are overdoing it...” Nazareth comments dejectedly as we watch one of the Empire's flying fortresses pound away at the shields of an Alliance border station, a vastly overpowered defensive installation. In return, the Alliance forces answer with spells of a wide variety. Their spell projectors light up the night, painting the scene with a deadly spectacle of flaring energies as they dance across the fortress’ shields.

I huff, knowing very well that the whole exchange is futile. Their defences are just too formidable, making it almost impossible for either side to break through the shielding of the other. For the most part, the Empire is just testing out the Alliance's border security.

“It's like a ritual to them,” I analyse. “They know well enough that the Empire will retreat as soon as their shields are in danger of failing.” Shaking my head, I turn away from the scene. “Their fight stopped being a war long ago. By now it’s all they know with their hatred so deeply ingrained into their souls that they wouldn’t stop if their gods ordered them to.” Not that that would ever happen.

Marigold shrugs. “The more they are involved with each other, the fewer people are praying to me, so I guess that it’s a good thing?”

His brother snorts. “Like always, you care only about your own hide.”

I ignore their bickering, for the time being, studying the battle beneath us. Despite the power which is brought to bear, it’s by no means some attempt at a decisive battle, but more like a border skirmish. An attempt to test out the opponents' strength and if he would reveal any weaknesses.

Nazareth and Marigold invited me to watch for some reason or the other, but up until now, they kept their lips shut about the reason. Instead, we were just observing the proceedings in this godforsaken borderland between the Empire and the Alliance. Over the millennia magical and scientific weaponry took their toll on the land. The ongoing raging war widened the former dead zone in the centre of the continent. What was previously just called ‘The Blight’ is now just ‘The Border’, a piece of wasteland which clearly separates the two forces and their ideologies. Sadly enough, it’s profound enough to be visible from space, cutting a jagged line of brown over the otherwise green main-continent of the world.

Turning back to the two deities, I ask briskly, “So, why did you want me to observe this?”

“We want you to stop it!” Nazareth replies. “We think that this has gone on for long enough.”

I sigh, feeling like I already had this conversation far too often. “And what makes you think that I can do anything to stop it?”

“You have influence on the two people who are responsible for this,” he explains, waving a hand down at the battlefield above which we are hovering.

Keeping my voice under control, I to explain it in as simple terms as possible. “It’s true that I have some influence on Myrm and on Ascathon, but both of them are too strong in character to simply listen to me if I told them to stop. Why don’t you go to Myrm and tell her that she should stop?”

“Because she doesn’t listen.” Nazareth shakes a little fist impotently at the world.

“It’s no different for me.” I gesture down at the battlefield. “Besides, I think this has gone far beyond the point at which Ascathon and Myrm could step in and just tell their followers to stop. Fighting the other side is ingrained in their blood by now. It’s nice that you want to stop it, but I think it’s wishful thinking.”

Marigold clears his throat. “Excuse me, Seria, but it’s a little more than that. Did you have contact with Myrm’s faction recently?”

I pause, trying to understand his meaning. “Of course. All the time.”

He shakes his head, looking downcast. “I don’t mean Myrm herself, but her followers.”

Furrowing my forehead, I grow suspicious. Did I miss something major going on? It’s highly unlikely since I am very confident in my spy-network. “No? Is there something wrong with them? They are all idiots as far as I am concerned.”

“They are up to something, I tell you!” Nazareth informs me, holding up a warning finger.

I just roll my eyes at that brilliant observation. “They are always up to something. That’s nothing new. Ever since Ascathon lost two of his demi-gods and two of Myrm’s followers disappeared, both sides are watching each other like hawks.” It’s honestly surprising how they managed to keep the status quo all this time, but Ascathon’s retribution made Myrm a little more cautious of him than I hoped for. So, ever since the disappearance of two of her followers she has been building up her power.

Annoyingly enough, the keg is always right at the point before it boils over, but not quite. I am ready to step in should it happen. Of course, I could interfere, but just by doing so the first time I already leaned a little farther out of the window than I wanted to.

No. If my age taught me anything, then it’s patience. I just need the patience to wait and things will happen on their own. Having made sure that everything is in place is more than enough.

“Normally, I would agree with you, Seria.” Marigold floats a little closer, his voice taking on a conspiratorial tone. “But this is something different. Over the last month, Nazareth and I have been mingling with Myrm’s crowd, and they are up to something. We have nothing definitive to go by, but there was talk that the insanity would soon end. I think that they intend to attack Ascathon’s base of operations.”

I narrow my eyes and look down at the battlefield below us where the fortress decided to retreat out of range of the enemy’s weapons, just as I predicted. “How would they even know how to get there?” Aren’t I the only one who even knows that he has a secure base?

Marigold shakes his head. “Seria, you are powerful. Even worse, you are smart and patient, but sometimes you are as dense as a brick. You shouldn’t underestimate the weaker deities, just because they can’t wield your level of power. They are still smart enough to figure things out after a few millennia of being involved with this world. I doubt that there is any deity who doesn’t have at least a solid guess at what’s going on.”

Nazarath nods quickly. “And if I am correct, then Myrm doesn't realize or care that those shitheads intend to break the status quo. Myrm is calculating enough to know that a direct attack on Ascathon would end with no victors, but her crowd isn’t that smart. Even if they ultimately fail at whatever they are planning, their idiocy will force Myrm to take action.”

I cover my mouth with a hand and run it down to my chin, considering this new information. “Was I really too blind to see that?”

Of course, I was. I made the mistake of thinking of Myrm’s supporters as a group of dogged little helpers who would just follow her orders without having thoughts of their own. But they are gods. People who manage to ascend have always strong and wilful characters. Keeping such people in check indefinitely is only possible if their leader has an impressive amount of strength and ability in leadership. Otherwise, they would sooner or later question whether their leader would truly have the wisdom and power – and therefore the right – to lead them.

Myrm has both of those qualities, but what nobody knows is that she is seriously hampered by the world enchantment and therefore by her inability to slam a fist onto the table to bring her followers to reason. It doesn’t help that the Council hasn’t shown much interest in us over the recent years.

“Are you sure? Will they act soon?”

“I have absolutely no clue,” Marigold admits. “The only thing we are certain of is that they are about to do something stupid. I think that all of us know what will happen if Ascathon is pushed into a corner. And we shouldn’t forget Tjenemit. Recently, he hasn’t shown much interest in his little project and allowed things to flow freely. That’s why those idiots think that they can get away with their little plan. A few centuries of inattention and they already think that they can go back to doing as they please.”

Nazareth nods. “Those braindead maggots think that they can take the Mad One, but if I am any judge of character, then I would say that Ascathon would sooner wipe this world clean of life than to do nothing. As of now, there are some things that are holding him back. Whether that’s the few people he cares about, or the fact that he doesn’t want to rebuild his base, doesn’t matter. If they provoke him and something happens to the reason for him holding back, the gloves will come off faster than they might think!”

It's no good if this new development would take me by surprise. I had enough time to make contingency plans, and the contingency plans of the contingency plans, but implementing those would take time and I am forced to work with limited womanpower – myself. I must admit that Myrm's followers acting on their own accord would have taken me by surprise. Operating under the assumption that nurturing a close connection to Myrm would be enough was a mistake. “Would you be willing to keep an eye on them? It's really important for me to know when they are about to strike.”

“Nonono.” Nazareth waves his hands as if trying to stop me. “You misunderstood! We want your help to stop them before everything gets out of control!”

Damn! How can I get their help without telling them too much? I assume it would be bad to tell them that I actually want everything to go down the sewer.

“Listen, I have a plan, but I don't think that you will like it,” I offer tentatively.

Marigold raises an inquisitive eyebrow. “What's this plan of yours?”

Wetting my lips, I gather my thoughts to present this proposition in the most benign light. “Listen, you two, I really don't think that we can stop what's going to happen. Even if we succeed, it will only adjourn the hour zero.” I pause, giving them time to come to terms with the thought. “It might be better to see to it that the damage is limited.”

“You are kidding, right?” Nazareth throws his hands up. “There will be no saving the world when Ascathon and Myrm butt heads. I've seen Myrm fighting, and I've heard rumours about Ascathon battling that Dragon Patriarch who thought it would be a good idea to oppose the Council.”

“I am not talking about the world.” Now it's time to hammer down the hard truth. “I was talking about everyone who doesn't want to take part in Ascathon's and Myrm's fight. And maybe we can pick up the pieces of what's left when everything is over and done.”

Marigold furrows his forehead and looks down at his feet. “But the Council-”

“Will be dealt with by me,” I interrupt, hoping that I sound confident. “I know, it sucks, but sometimes you only have bad options to choose from.”

“If you want to involve the Council, then why don't we go and warn Tjenemit right now?” Nazareth suggests. “Before-”

“No!” I call out with a firm voice, deciding that now is the time to persuade the two and to pull them onto my side. “Right now is the worst possible moment to go to Tjenemit. All you can do at this point is to point fingers and make accusations. In the best case he will decide to do nothing, in the worst case he will deal out punishment in an attempt to cow us into submission. And most likely it will hit the innocent as well as the guilty. He has shown a lot of leniency, but only because the cases were a little blurry and there was no clear information. If you tell him that a group from his little pantheon is planning a premeditated attack, the gloves will come off.”

“So you suggest for us to wait until everything is over, then call in the Council once everyone has clearly associated himself with one side or the other. Let the truly guilty be punished, rather than to take the risk of putting ourselves on the line,” Marigold summarizes.

I nod. “I haven't become this old because I tend to fight battles I can't win.” Making eye-contact first with Marigold, and then with Nazareth, I hope to convince them. “This is clearly a case in which it's better just to cut our losses and to move on. We can’t change what’s bound to happen. The only thing we can do is to save those who want no part in the fighting.”

Nazareth shakes his head, making it clear that he doesn’t buy the load of bullshit which I just tried to sell to the brothers. His expression says it all, namely that he thinks that I could stop the war if I just stood up and gave a demonstration of my power, cowing those idiots who allowed themselves to be pulled into this maelstrom of war and hatred.

I wouldn’t be able to say if he is right or not. Maybe I could take control over this pantheon and put everyone to heel, make them lick my shoes in terror. Over the aeons, I amassed more than enough power to rival the Council.

However, that’s not my nature, nor my wish.

I am a God of Life and Death and something tells me that this world has reached the end of its lifespan. In addition, my goals reach far beyond this puny world which is currently nothing but an obstruction to my plans. Ultimately, not even the Council matters, but what comes after. If I were to set my plans in motion I wouldn’t repeat the mistakes of the past.

Thankfully, Marigold seems to be of a different opinion than his optimistic brother. The big half-orc lets out a long sigh and looks down at his better half. “Brother, I hate to say this, but she may be right.”

Nazareth gasps and turns to face his brother, looking like Marigold just delivered the ultimate offense. “How can you say this! I asked you to come so that you could help me persuade her, not stab me in the back.”

“She is right, though. We can’t go to the Council and stopping those maniacs will be nothing more than a little reprieve. Sooner or later they will find a reason to jump each other like manic beasts. And it’s not even their fault. Under normal circumstances, we may have been able to distract them enough from each other’s machinations so that the ultimate conflict could be avoided. But this cursed World Enchantment is pitting us against each other again and again. Some people just can’t deal with that kind of provocation forever.”

He turns to face me. “I can’t say that I am happy about your suggestion, but I will try my best to be of assistance when things blow up. Though I have no clue how to go about this. Our faction, the neutral one, may be bigger than Ascathon’s or Myrm’s, but that doesn’t mean that the battle-lines will be clear. People have gotten to know each other across the factions and I am sure that there are quite a few who count themselves as neutral, but would be drawn into the fighting one way or another, and if it was just in order to help a friend.”

I nod, affirming what I assumed to happen right from the start. “This won’t be a clean and easy battle as the light-aligned deities may think. This will be a war of the gods and there won’t be much left afterwards. I suggest you stretch out your feelers and try to discern who is worth helping and who is better off being left to his or her fate.”

“I have another proposition,” Nazareth intercedes. “What if we join them?”

Looking down at him, I feel a sense of dismay at his refusal to see the world as I want him to.

“Seria, I don’t know what you see in Ascathon, but I know that even if you meet with his friends regularly, you are no friend of his. What if we solve this issue by convincing everyone that he has to be taken down? The whole pantheon can take him down. We would have to deal with Tjenemit, but we could argue that it had to be done to prevent worse. Everyone knows his reputation. The Council will believe us if we cook up a convincing story.” He nods to himself. “We don’t even have to touch his followers. I am sure that if we get everyone to work together, with Myrm and her people on our side, we could keep the damage to a minimum. And then we start cleaning up this mess.”

A wry smile steals itself onto my face, but I banish it quickly as old memories of a long-forgotten time drift to the surface of my consciousness. Memories of another war of the gods, and how the true creators of the Crystal City fell. It was so long ago that even the memories seem like a blurry dream, but I somehow – forcefully – kept them in the back of my mind. If not to give me something to strive for, then not to forget the important lesson I learned that day.

“No.” I return my attention to the presence. “Sure, if you take everyone in our pantheon and pit them against Ascathon, you will take him down.”

Nazareth’s left eye twitches in annoyance. “What’s your deal? You say no, but then you imply that we can take him.”

I nod. “You will take him, but when you are done, you most certainly won’t like the price you had to pay,” I explain calmly, then return my attention to Marigold. “We do what I suggested.”

Thankfully, the half-orc nods.