As the portal closed behind me, I could not help but let out a sigh. That had been unexpected. Pearl should have suggested that I add some more Essence orbs to the payment, not an alliance. Likewise, I had foreseen that she should tell me her name, but it should have been longer than Pearl. Never had someone defied my precognition. So, what made her so different? I shook my head. There was no point in trying to solve an unsolvable mystery. That raised the question of that other vision. No, better not think of that right now. I shook myself out of my reverie and walked across the well tended grassy lawn towards the shrine on top of the small hill.

The cherry trees around the place waving in the breeze. Xi was eagerly awaiting my arrival for our game. I wish I had Xi’s unbridled optimism, 14329 losses and 0 wins, and Xi still challenged me to a game daily. The little spirit was improving a lot from when these daily challenges began. But Xi was far too eager to go on the offense, and thus more than willing to fall for simple ruses.

As the game stretched on and my Castle took out his Gryphon and threatened his Assassin, I kept mulling things over. Just how did that Sphinx defy the visions? It should not be possible. Xi eagerly destroyed my Castle with his Dragon. Poor Xi, you fell right into my trap. I moved my Knight into position and the game was over as I trapped his Core. “Core Capture Xi, better luck next time.” Xi looked at the board. The tails that had been eagerly wagging until now slowed down. They stopped completely as Xi realized I had taken the Core 1 move faster than the Chimera could take my Guildmaster.

The eager little spirit looked at the board, deep in thought. “Thank you for the game, Mistress, I will learn from it, so I might challenge you again tomorrow.” Xi looked as eager and determined as ever. I nodded in response and gave the spirit a loving pat on the head before I took a deep breath. “Xi, tell Ayame that I cannot have tea at the usual time. I need to meditate on several matters too important to postpone, even for tea.” Xi looked up at me with a puzzled expression, but nodded. I gave a polite nod, then left for the meditation chamber. The visions I had before building the portal replaying in my mind and the reality of it all comparing to the first one. Part of me was hoping the other vision would also turn out to not be true, but there was only one way to find out. No, I needed to clear my head and approach the entire matter without emotion. I entered the meditation chamber and sealed the door behind me, giving me the privacy I needed to think.

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The Hall was as I remembered it to be, as the sunlight cast beautiful rays of light across the marble quartz pillars and marble floor. Paladins, Judges and other arbiters of law that worshiped my sister flitted about the place. They spent their afterlife working as my sister’s aides in her bid for justice across this world. A noble pursuit, but an unending one. I walked up to the front desk. The old man sitting there glanced up at me, before nodding. “Lady Justina is waiting for you, Lady Penumbra, go right in.” I gave him a silent nod and walked past. Justina’s inner chamber was spartan, it had a simple desk and a few chairs, Justina never saw the reason for unnecessary adornment. Justina looked at me as I entered, the light of communion shining in her blue eyes. I waited patiently for her to finish.

Once the light ended Justina rose and looked at me. “I know why you are here my dear sister, and I agree. Inlas has gone too far this time, it’s time we get some answers out of her.” No surprise there. Give Justina proof of an injustice, and she would go to any length to rectify it, and the two deities’ assault on a dungeon was not exactly… subtle. And while my Avatar had driven the intruders away, this was far beyond reason to just secure an Avatar. There were easier ways to go about obtaining one. There had to be.

Justina rose, her shining armor and shield glinting in the ever-present sunlight. We made quite the pair as we exited Justina’s Hall. She shone like the sun itself, while I was a spot of near impenetrable darkness in comparison. We arrived in Inlas’ Garden quickly enough. Travel in the Godly Realms was more an exercise of will than traveling a distance. As we arrived, we could hear two voices speaking, Inlas and Selba.

As we got closer, we could hear them debating what to do now. They sounded, frustrated. “Inlas I am telling you, we can’t keep this up, we should just come clean and tell them.” Selba’s frustration made her voice crack. That only happened when she was at her wits’ end. “You know just as I do that they won’t believe me, I have seen it.” Inlas responded, she sounded tired more than anything. It was at this moment that Justina announced our presence. “Tell us what exactly, what in the blazes you two have been up to these past millennia?”

Inlas looked at the two of us with a shocked expression, so she had not noticed our entrance into her domain. I guess whatever they were discussing had been too distracting for her. Selba looked at us with a pleading expression. “Sisters, please help me talk some sense into Inlas. This has gone on long enough, and you deserve to know.” Inlas shook her head, looking almost panicked as she did.

“Inlas, you have wounded me greatly, for nearly fifteen millennia you sapped my strength starving me of power. You nearly killed me, I let it slide then, I even let it slide when proof surfaced that you were manipulating my dungeons. But this has gone too far. Two literal gods assaulting a dungeon are far beyond what is reasonable, even Selba can see that. Now tell us what is going on.” Inlas looked at us with a pained expression as she shook her head. “You won’t believe me, y-you won’t believe me.” she was terrified.

Justina walked up to her and moved to grab her shoulders, but Inlas flinched back out of reach. Justina paused and looked at our sister with a curious expression. “Inlas, I am the goddess of truth and justice, you cannot lie to me, so why would I believe you were deceiving me?” She finally asked. Her expression a mix of worried and unreadable. Inlas paused, her expression one of confusion, then shock. “I… No, I…” Suddenly Inlas grabbed her head and screamed, as grayish wisps of energy emerged from her.

“VOID ENERGY, SELBA!” I called out immediately. I recognized it from the Old War, though neither Justina nor Selba were old enough they had heard the tales. Selba, being the Goddess of Corruption, was one of the few gods that could safely touch such energies and dissipate them. She rushed towards Inlas. Even as the amount of Void energy increased, she went to work on the rampant energy, corrupting it into nothingness. There was a sudden flash of light and Inlas fell limply to the ground, like a puppet with its strings cut.

Selba looked down at Inlas with a horrified expression. “Void energy, why would she have Void energy inside her?” I shook my head in response. “The answer to that can wait, for now, we need to get her to Medino, who knows what the Void can have done to her mind.” Selba immediately hoisted Inlas over her shoulders. “I will explain everything once we have taken care of her.” She said as we moved to Medino’s grove. We arrived in the grove with a single step. It was a quiet place, a place for rest and recovery.

Medino looked up at us, though the smile he wore faltered when he saw Inlas. “What happened?” He asked, as his leafy head turned from green to brown with worry. He stretched out a hand covered in bark and hovered it over Inlas for a moment. “Such deep-rooted corruption, how long has she been carrying this within her?” We shook our heads. While Justina helped to lower Inlas into a healing pool. “It might have been festering there since the war. Inlas is not the sort that would willingly consort with the Void, and we have seen no such entities since.” she said in response. It would explain why Inlas was behaving so erratically, that was for sure.

Medino lowered his head. The flowers that grew among the leaves of his hair slowly wilted. “I will do what I can for her. However, there is no telling if she will ever wake up, or what state her mind will be in if she does.” I looked over at my stricken sister. What madness had the Void made her do? Well, there was one person with the answers. I looked over at Selba. “Tell us everything.” Selba looked at me and Justina, then nodded as she sat down on the grass and began explaining.

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Void energy, I was the Goddess of Corruption and I had failed to notice my sister being infected by Void energy. That was my fault, I should have known. I should have sensed it, dammit, so why didn’t I? The answer was simple, I hadn’t looked; I hadn’t questioned why my dear sister behaved like she did because I found her behavior entertaining. This mess was as much my fault as Inlas’ and I now owed it to my sisters to give them the answers they wanted. I took a deep breath before I began the explanation.

“I got involved in all of this at an early stage, so I am partially at fault for all of this. I should have sensed that something was wrong with Inlas, but I didn’t, be it willfully or otherwise. Anyway, this all began some fifteen thousand years ago now. I was visiting Inlas to get her suggestion about something, a small scheme of mine I wanted her input on. When I arrived, however, Inlas was a mess. She was crying, and her garden was wilting because of her overwhelming grief and frustration.” I paused briefly to compose myself as the memories resurfaced in my mind.

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I entered Inlas’ garden; I had a scheme to corrupt a noble over in Faldarin that I wanted her input on. Much to my surprise, however, I found Inlas sitting in her gazebo, crying. That was unlike her. She was always the Stoic type. Curious, I walked over to her “Hey sis, are you ok?” In response, she tossed her arms around me and gave me a crushing hug. “Whoa, woah, woah, Inlas what’s wrong?” I looked at my older sibling with a concerned expression. This was unlike her on so many levels. Inlas took a deep breath.“I… I’m fine, just, just give me a moment.” Another few deep breaths and she seemed calmer.

I sat down next to her. “So what was all that about?” I asked her to be polite, I could have used my Portfolio of Secrets to find out, but that would be rude. She looked at me with a frustrated expression. “You won’t believe me” she answered in response, I just sighed in frustration. “Sister, I am the goddess of secrets, I will find out regardless of what you do, don’t make me be mean about it.” Inlas looked at me for a while, mulling over my logic before she sighed. “I have seen the return of the Void. They will return stronger than ever and will win this time, unless I risk Penumbra’s life and make her hate me.”

That sounded… unlikely, but then Inlas’ visions had always been true so far. “Ok, so why do you need to bring Penumbra to the brink of death to save the world? That doesn’t seem like something that would lead to a productive way of saving it.” I answered finally, as that was a lot to swallow all at once. Inlas looked out over the garden, a forlorn expression on her face. “My actions will break the balance between the two of us. Father will then give my sister permission to break a taboo to restore it. This Taboo will be the summoning of a monster from another world, a monster with a human soul. By taking this monster as my Avatar, I can use her otherworldly power to drive the void back and banish it once more.” As she spoke I was silently using my Portfolio to confirm what she was saying. It was rude, yes, but this was a serious claim she was making. Much to my horror, she was telling the truth.

Oh, Father, why did you burden Inlas with these visions? No, there was no point in questioning Father’s wisdom. He did what he had to do, as his own Portfolio of Balance bid him. Well, if this was the future that was awaiting my sister, the least I could do was to support her. I would ease her burden and share the blame.

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As Selba finished her explanation Penumbra was livid, I can’t say I blame her. They were twins, two sides of the same coin, night and day, light and dark, human and monster. That Inlas thought it was possible for Penumbra to hate her spoke volumes to how deeply the Void was affecting her even back then. Angry with her, sure, frustrated, undoubtedly, but hate? I don’t think Penumbra could hate Inlas even if she stabbed Penumbra in the back. Penumbra paced back and forth before she abruptly stopped. “First things first, if my daughter truly are so important in all this, I need to warn her. The Void undoubtedly knows she is the key to stopping its return. So if that vision is the truth, she needs to know.” Penumbra vanished for a few moments, then returned once more.

Her expression was grim, and I could sense the frustration from her. “What is father thinking?” That got some curious glances from me and Selba. Selba spoke up, voicing our shared curiosity. “Something wrong?” she asked. Penumbra looked at her with an angered expression. “Father said I could send one of my stronger children to protect her core pillar and influence her to summon it. But that I could not tell her anything as she had to aid us willingly and out of her own volition when the time comes.”

I was at a loss for words. “Father said that?” I couldn’t bring my voice much higher than a whisper. What was Father thinking? He was risking everything. No, he was not, I realized to my horror. He was the god of Balance, he did as his Portfolio demanded to achieve a balance in all things. If that meant the Void would render this world to madness and chaos then he would allow that to happen. So, our only hope now rested on the human-turned-monster that Penumbra had reincarnated aided us in defeating a foe even we gods could not destroy. How that would even work, I could not fathom. Then again, apparently she had some otherworldly abilities and gifts since she was not from our world. That might be what saved us.

Selba, however, looked even more grim than Penumbra. “There is another problem.” she said at length. Both me and Penumbra now looked at her before Penumbra asked what we both dreaded. “What problem, exactly?” Selba looked on both of us. “The Core has defied Inlas’ premonitions several times. There is no telling whether the premonition that she will save us are accurate. For all we know, she could be our doom.” The silence hung more oppressive than before over the healing grove at the announcement of those words.

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Toiling, working, writing, gathering. All had to be perfection, perfection for Its arrival. The butterflies demanded perfection; I had to be perfection; I had to be perfectly MAD! I couldn’t help but laugh, even as the surrounding words seared my psyche and bled through reality. The glyphs were ripping the veil between that which was real and the cold dark void asunder, slowly but surely. Things were coming along now, soon all would pay, the world would be MADNESS AND CHAOS ALL WOULD BOW BEFORE ITS GLORY! Soon, I would be the first to embrace the chaos. I would be the first to give in to the touch of the void, to shed my mortal guise and become another harbinger of chaos and madness. The thought was hilarious to me. I, one of the most fanatical followers of Inlas, would be the one to rule over that hag when the Void claimed her. The Butterflies and It had promised me that Inlas would be mine, MINE, MINE, ALONE. SHE WOULD ACCEPT MY DEVOTION TO HER AND SEE ONLY ME FROM NOW ON!

In a surge of wrath, I grabbed the Tome I had stolen and threw it against the wall with all my might. The impact cracked its spine and sent parchment flying everywhere. It felt good to destroy it. The butterflies fixed it and I resumed my work. It would not be long now. A few days at most and I would unleash It on this world along with the lesser Void Spawn that had invaded before, long ago. Revenge would be mine, this world would be mine, INLAS WOULD BE MINE, SHE BELONGED TO ME AND ME ALONE. NO ONE ELSE COULD HAVE HER NO ONE ELSE WERE WORTHY TO LOVE HER! One butterfly landed on my head and I felt my mind grow dim and focused, I had to finish my toil. Toiling, working, writing, gathering. All had to be perfection, perfection for Its arrival…