The forests of a certain town on Earth began to fill up with random fortune seekers, but that was not the only place of destiny wherein the fate of two worlds would begin to shift. While a certain dragon and his addled brain continued to try to feed his ever-empty stomach, worlds away a fateful meeting was taking place between junior arbiter Emeritus and a certain grand healer.

Emeritus gazed down at the case file that he had received. He had already read it prior to their meeting, but it was something worthy of a second glance. A truly rare and bizarre event had occurred. Now a young deity was basically left in a vegetative state for an indeterminate and perhaps lengthy period of time.

“You have sworn an oath. Do you now swear upon that sworn oath that this information is correct to the best of your knowledge,” asked Emeritus.

The grand healer, an older deity with salt and pepper colored hair and tired eyes nodded to him. “Yes. I have rarely seen anything even remotely similar to that mess.

The junior arbiter inclined his head slowly then frowned ever so slightly. “Given your report, and the possibility that your suspicion may be warranted… I will have to create an official auditory recording of these events. Do you consent?”

“Yes, of course,” replied the grand healer.

“It has taken three days for this case file to reach my desk. Within it, I have discerned that you believe someone has attempted to kill a citizen of this city without legal authority,” said emeritus. “Please state whether you agree or disagree with that assessment.”

“I agree,” replied the grand healer, a hint of nervousness in his eyes. He may be a deity who had earned the title ‘Grand’ but there was a certain order to things. Arbiters held a specific sort of position in the city and enjoyed access to many system abilities no one else might have. While his raw ability was no doubt beyond this young arbiter, there was no real contest when it came to legitimate usage of that power. In short, he did not wish to offend this arbiter and answered his questions soberly and with great care.

“Tell the court, on the record and in your own words, what it is that you witnessed,” directed Emeritus.

“Yes,” said the doctor. He took a moment to collect his thoughts then continued. “A few days ago I was called upon to attend to a seriously injured youth.”

“The nature of the injuries?” asked Emeritus.

“Partial displacement of the psycho-spiritual matrix, but it turned out to be worse than the original medic had discerned,” replied the grand healer. “The youth had been ripped partially out of existence.”

“The cause?” asked Emeritus.

“Honestly, I have rarely seen anything like it,” replied the doctor. “There was a combination of antimatter particle penetration, abyssal energy toxicity, and strangest of all… actual physical violence.”

“This was strange to you? Did you not say that he appeared to be ripped partially out of existence?” asked Emeritus.

“Yes, but that sort of thing can normally be considered something of an analogy,” said the doctor. He took a breath, then nodded. “The psycho-spiritual matrix is not a physical thing. Yet, it looked remarkably like something had literally grabbed with some terribly sharp implement and physically tore at it.”

“So, in your expert opinion is this likely to be some sort of accident?” asked Emeritus. Though, it was obvious he did not believe that would be the case.

“That was certainly no accident! It was deliberate and intentional,” said the doctor. “Who, or what, did that to that poor boy had every intention of tearing him apart.”

“Do you know of anything that could cause such wounds?” asked Emeritus.

The doctor took a moment to consider his words then nodded. “The abyssal energy was of far too high a frequency. No mortal necromancer or abyssal mage could have done such a thing.”

“Are you certain of that?” Emeritus leaned forward and stared into the doctor’s eyes. “This is important. Do not use poetic license.”

“I assure you; I am not.” The doctor shook his head then raised up his hand a little. “I took a sample. Have you assessed it?”

“Of course,” said Emeritus. “I concur. This is not the abyssal power of a mortal being.”

“Indeed. Most gods would have trouble utilizing the abyssal powers to that degree. Perhaps a few farmers, or the occasional grand arbiter,” agreed the doctor. “Although…”

“You are implying there might be another possibility?” asked Emeritus.

The doctor nodded to him. “I looked into the situation. It seems he was part of a beta test for that world project that was on the news a while back. The one billed as having two members of the Ardent family as administrators.”

“Ah. I see. So, you believe the Ardent family to be behind this?” asked Emeritus in a sage manner. His demeanor became cold and clinical a split-second later. “Choose your next words carefully.”

“Yes…” said the doctor slowly. He closed his eyes and sought the right way to make his statement on the record. As things stood, he was close to making a direct sworn claim that members of the Ardent family, rulers of the Origin Empire and one of the most powerful families in the city, and that would not go well for him without concrete evidence. Even his status as a grand healer would not save him from going before a tribunal.

“I do not mean to blatantly claim that they are responsible. I offer only my expertise and detective work on the matter,” said the doctor.

“Do you normally perform detective work for your patients?” asked Emeritus.

“I only do that sort of thing for serious cases, such as this one,” replied the doctor.

“Very well,” said Emeritus. “Continue.”

His slightly gnarled fingers scratched lightly at his unshaven face while the doctor thought of how to continue. “At any rate, Harei, the boy in question, was once a member of the Corpse Rat guild.”

Emeritus did not speak. This was the doctor’s chance to make a statement of intent. How he worded his statement would mean many things.

“The Ardent family is, as you know, descended from an awakened mortal who ascended. They carry within them the power of mortality… the very essence of death and rebirth,” said the doctor.

Emeritus still said nothing, so the doctor continued. “While most of the children of that family have shown no signs of strong ties to the primordial magics, such as power over the abyss, there are two who have notable strength…”

“You speak of the rarely seen eldest daughter, Theta, and the sole male heir, Silence?” asked Emeritus.

“Yes. I do not mean to directly accuse, especially Theta Ardent who seems to bother no one and spends her days creating new worlds,” said the doctor. “Silence Ardent, however, is a god of death and does have innate connection to the abyss.”

“While I don’t know if it is possible for him to have abyssal power in a frequency range that rivals a grand arbiter, or perhaps even a farmer, he is the descendant of an awakened mortal has a legitimate grievance against members of that guild,” stated the doctor with a bit of nervously.

“Your reasoning is sound,” said Emeritus. “I find no fault with your words and do see cause for concern.”

They discussed the situation further for a time. Harei’s spiritual landscape had been too ravaged to learn much from him, but the doctor did speak of a few things that he had gleaned.

“I see. That is concerning as well,” said Emeritus. “How certain of this are you?”

“It could be nothing, but those few flashes of memory that I was able to suss out showed that some of the beta testers were treating that world like their own private playground, instead of as a the emergency rescue operation that it was supposed to become,” said the doctor.

Emeritus nodded. Perhaps it was time to have an audit on that operation. Given the state of citizen Harei, clearly something was going on in that world.

Unfortunately, that specific project was given a lot of leeway. The ruling that allowed that Earth to become a project world was nonsense, but when a grand arbiter made a judgment it was final. He would need to compile a large amount of concrete evidence if he wanted to directly audit that group prior to their appointed audit time.

There was enough evidence to support a silent inquiry, but an audit would be a public affair. Emeritus finished his meeting with the grand healer and then returned to his office. He sat down into his comfortable leather office chair, propped his elbows up on his desk, and steepled his hands. Eyes bright, he gazed over his fingertips for a moment. Slowly, he inclined his head.

“Daedra! Come,” he intoned.

In the center of his perfectly ordinary looked office appeared a young goddess of incredible beauty. She wore an outfit that one might attribute to the classic appearance of a Valkyrie. Winged helmet. Armor that was basically a heavy metal bikini. High-heeled combat boots. The works.

“Brother dear… You have need of me?” she asked sweetly, her eyes alight with mischief.

“Valkyrie Daedra, you have been called to service. Address me as arbiter.” chided Emeritus.

She stood up straight and saluted smartly, her breasts bouncing merrily in the process. “Yes, your potency! Valkyrie Daedra lives to serve under your every erotic command!”

Emeritus released a long-suffering sigh. This sister of his would make his hair turn grey, if he would allow for such a thing. It was clear that his younger sister was incredibly bored. She only acted this way when she had nothing else to do for a while.