I sat, staring along the path between two camps into the depths of the forest.

Where are you, Eliandra?

My worry was so great I had asked the Preyatar followers what they knew. All that got me was some mock laughter and another regaling of how they sacked Dursic and chased off the Flowheart Prime that was there.

I wanted to go and search for her. If only I didn't have to find the seeds of the body making tree for the rest of humanity… Her not being here meant nothing good. I knew her. She would have jumped at the bit to join any quest to save people. It was what she did.

Thudding footsteps came from behind, and a massive fist gripped my shoulder as Bastian's voice rang out.

"They aren't coming, my friend and the gate will open soon. As the second to arrive, you need to decide who shall enter last."

I nodded, taking a deep breath.

"Don't worry! The Stone followers will stay here and wait for the Flowheart followers. The gate will remain open for a while, and if they arrive late, they will speak to Eliandra of you."

Bastian spoke as if he was making an oath, his words laden with a meaning I didn't understand.

Knowing I had more to worry about than just Eliandra's safety, no matter how important that was to me, I rose and grabbed my ax. The unfamiliar weight of two crossed leather belts with throwing axes across my hips distracted me for a moment.

"You are right, and you have my thanks Bastian," I said, following him to the massive hollow tree in the center of the camps.

Hundreds of people, divided into eight groups, stood gathered there. Spread out in front of the tree in what seemed a set order, the group of Cinderage followers stood at the front. There was a free area beside them, and with a sinking feeling, I moved towards it. Bastian stopped as we passed the Stonites, and alone I moved beside the group of a few dozen fire-haired warriors. Most were staring at me, sneers and ridicule on their faces.

Bastian raised his voice when I arrived at my spot, the soft smoothness changing into a thundering storm of words.

"We shall now honor the ancient law of precedence. As is shown above, the followers of Cinderage have laid claim to the first choice and will now decide who shall enter this unknown realm first. The follower of Rathica has laid claim to the second choice and will decide who shall enter the realm last. May they choose wisely!"

I grimaced at the shouting and cheering from the Cinderage followers. Bastian had told me that it was the first time in years that it wasn't the followers of Preyatar that claimed this honor.

A beautiful woman with long, tightly bound red hair that seemed almost aflame stepped forward. She was the most powerful of Cinderage's Primes present, and according to Valaria, she was as dangerous as she was pretty.

"Such an honor, yes, to finally show that not just the Preya's can be first!" the woman said, her voice smokey and loud. She turned to me, a glitter in her burning red eyes and a mock smile on her lips.

"Amongst us is a new Prime, follower to a new Deity. After long consideration, we decided it would be fitting to give him the right of first entry!" As she spoke, she seemed barely able to contain her laughter.

Hooting and laughter came from all around, loudest from the Cinderage and Lischen followers, but even the Preyatar seemed to find it funny. Only the Stones and Percussion groups stood quiet, and Valaria looked at me with sad eyes. I hadn't expected to be first and had expected the Cinderage followers to take the honor. Bastian had said that the first to enter would be those to slay any guardians and gain the rewards. Usually, this honor went to the Preyatar followers, and giving it away was almost unheard of. But I was alone, and it seemed the Cinderage followers had decided to try and eliminate me again.

My mouth turned dry, and I looked at Bastian, wondering if I could somehow decline the offer. The massive Stonite looked worried, and he turned to Ellis.

"Ellis, you would send him to his doom?" Bastian shouted, his voice even louder than during his proclamation.

"Quiet, Stonite! You have no right to speak! Besides, if he survives, he will get the biggest reward!"

Bastian was about to shout again when Valaria nudged him and pointed at the angry stares from the other camps. Bastian fell silent and gave me a helpless look.

Great, I thought, feeling the rising anxiety. The gloating and angry looks showed there wouldn't be another option than to enter.

I turned to Ellis and forced a mock smile. "Thank you for this honor. I am sure Rathica will be pleased after I slay the guardians of this ancient realm! To repay you, I will grant you the last entry…that way you won't have to fear losing any more Primes."

A momentary silence came from the crowd of Primes as they let my words sink in, and then a burst of loud mocking laughter came from the Preyas. They began saluting me, although I could see the hidden mockery in it. The primes from the Cinderage camp glared at me, and I wasn't sure if it was because of the prod about the Prime I killed in the library or due to being last.

"Perhaps if you manage to survive, I will find the proper time to thank you for this honor…" Ellis said with a dangerous gleam in her eyes.

I looked at her in disbelief. She sent me in first, alone and potentially to my death but got angry by being the last? Returning the glare, I tried to put as much anger and vengeance in it as I could. For a moment, she just looked back with a sneer, then a ping came from my status, and I felt something burn behind my eyes. Ellis's eyes widened as she froze and stared into mine. She swallowed, took a deep breath, and sniffed.

"Stop wasting our time with petty tricks and get ready. The gate will open any moment now!"

Unsure what had happened, and feeling the hundreds of eyes on me, I managed to refrain from rubbing my still burning eyes. I took a quick, futile look into the forest to see if Flowheart’s group was coming, but the distant woods were still empty. I sighed, nodded at Bastian and his daughter, and turned to the gate with a heavy feeling. My fingers tightened around my ax as I walked towards the hollow tree. Edged into the insides of the tree was a wood-carved gate, covered by a shimmering barrier. Examining it warily, I wondered when it would open when a shiver ran through the wood. With a slight pop, the barrier winked out of existence.

"Get in! Time's a-wasting!" came a shout from behind, quickly followed by more demands of me to get in already.

It bloody just opened! I thought, taking a deep breath and stepping inside.

Stepping through the gate felt similar to stepping through the door into the library. First, I was in a tree. A second later, I stood in a dark patch of forest surrounded by crumbling wooden ruins.

A cold wind howled through the forest, changing directions every second. Leafless branches whipped about, their snapping adding to the deafening roar. When the wind changed from left to right, there was a momentarily dizzying pause, and I thought I heard someone shout my name. Then the roaring resumed, and I was being pushed around by the wind.

I lowered my stance, trying to keep my balance. Green and gold leaves the size of books swirled around while sand pelted my face. Shielding my eyes with a free hand, I looked around.

Seeing the sprawling ruins but no sign of the guardian, I sighed in relief. Perhaps the guardian is inside, I thought as I examined the many crumbling buildings. Even then, being out in the open like this was probably less safe than inside and out of this storm. Scanning the partially rotting, partially intact buildings for a place to hide, I noticed long brown roots that extended from a toppled-over building. A few still dug into the earth, while the rest bucked in the wind.

They aren't buildings but some form of vegetation! Curious, I continued searching for a place to hide. Most of the buildings were missing sections of walls, and I started worrying I had to hide behind a partial wall when I spotted something. Wedged between a massive, fallen tree and a much larger ruin stood a smaller building. Although the tree crushed the top part, its lower floor seemed reasonably unscathed, protected from the winds by the bulk of the tree.

Pushing myself through the wind, I moved across the dark brown, moss-covered ground until I reached the building. As soon as I stepped through the large oval opening, seemingly made for larger beings, the raging wind stopped tugging me and the deafening howl dulled to a soft moan. The difference was so sudden that I almost stumbled in the direction I had been pushing against the wind. Regaining my balance, I quickly took in my surroundings.

I was inside a small oval room with a staircase to the left that wound along the walls and up to what had probably been a second story. Cluttered wooden debris blocked the entrance now, but that was fine by me. It also blocked out the howling and the wind. A round table stood in the middle of the room, with simple stools surrounding it. An empty bowl and some plates stood there, with chop-sticks across them. I blinked.

Almost like a restaurant table.

Built-in closets, cupboards, a simple chest, and a massive chair covered in golden leaves completed the room's interior.

"Est!"

I swirled around, trying to locate the soft, muted voice. There wasn't anything besides the door opening, and I felt my heart race as my grip on the ax handle tightened.

"Est! Here!"

Again, the sound came from behind me, and I almost had a heart attack. I spun around with my ax raised and stared into the empty room.

"In the bag!"

Blinking, I slowly took my bag from my shoulder and held it up.

"Get me out of here. It's stuffy!"

I finally recognized the soft voice that came from inside my bag.

"Rathica?" I muttered, slowly opening the bag and peering inside.

Between the mess of leather straps, pieces of wood, remaining rations, and an un-finished ax were the wooden statues I had carved in the library. The one I made of Rathica was lodged between the wooden ax and the leather, struggling to get free.

"Stop gaping at me, and get me out of here!" Rathica snapped, and I quickly put the bag on the table and removed the small, struggling statuette. Putting her on the table, I stepped back. Rathica straightened and patted some nonexistant dust from her wooden legs.

"Rathica?"

The small wooden statue looked at me and frowned. "I am not Rathica...well, not exactly. Deities aren't allowed inside other deities' realms, remember?"

Her voice sounded slightly more juvenile than I remembered, and I blinked, shaking my head.

"You don't remember?" she hissed in annoyance.

"What? No! I remember! What are you doing in my bag, Not-Exactly-Rathica?" I asked.

My patience, already stretched thin from being alone inside a realm with some mysteriously dangerous guardian, was fraying at the edges.

The wooden statue laughed, and this time I recognized Rathica's laugh. My annoyance lessened immediately, and my barely restrained fear evaporated, to be replaced by a feeling of safety.

"Sorry, Est. This must be somewhat confusing for you. I hope it helps if I tell you it isn't any easier for me!"

Taking a deep breath, I looked at the open door, wondering how long the others would wait before entering.

"Why are you here, and what are you?"

"I'm the tiniest bit of Rathica, put into a mortal shell with only a very select set of her memories and no powers," the small statue replied. "Because I needed a personality, Rathica created one based partially on herself."

"Cool, but why?" I retorted, glancing at the door again.

"Stop looking at that door as if a monster is going to enter any second!" Tiny-Rathica snapped.

"The guardian won't arrive yet. Besides that, you have enough time because nobody else can enter until either you're dead or the guardian is."

I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself before realizing something. "You can still read my mind?" I asked startled. She had just said she had no powers, hadn't she?

"No. But it was written all over your face," Tiny-Rathica said smugly.

"Ok, so why are you here? To help?"

The wooden statue shook her head, and I could see from the exquisite detail on her face that she was worried. I'm sure it wasn't that well made when I finished it, I thought, waiting for her to collect her words.

"I am here because this is the only way for me to talk to you freely," she said, getting my full attention. What did she mean, freely? She was a Deity. She could talk about anything she wanted, couldn't she?

"I don't have enough time to tell you the whole story, so I'll tell you what I can. Try to keep up?" she said, sitting down on the edge of one of the plates.

"My first incarnation was locked away before the Deities claimed full victory over the Guidar, so after you shaped me, I had to learn the details from the other Deities. But…" Rathica hesitated for a moment before continuing in a rush.

"All of the good Deities from my era were gone! From my prison, I had seen new ones form. Like Flowheart, I roughly knew what they did and wanted, but I had expected the others to be there still, if not in this world, then in others. But they were gone, all of them! Only the wretched, power-hungry, and vile Lischen, Preyatar, and Cinderage were still around. It was the first proof something was wrong, and my immediate thought was that the others had all been killed in the war. But if that was true, who had ended the Guidar?"

As Tiny-Rathica fell silent for a moment, I let her words sink in. I was getting a very bad feeling about what she said but decided to hold back my opinion until I heard the whole story.

"Est…I couldn't find out," Rathica's words seemed to shock her as much as me, and she stared at me, the confusion apparent on her face.

"I searched everywhere, but there weren't even any records left of the other Deities or their names. This would imply they are forgotten like I was, but it's not just that. Their realms are gone as if wiped away by the Primordial Chaos. Even my realm has some remnants remaining, not enough to enter, but enough to know it was there. When I asked Preyatar, he just laughed and warned me - no threatened me! - not to speak of them again."

I felt myself grow slightly cold from her words. I had thought the only thing I had to worry about was to get through this realm and get all of humanity new bodies… no biggy, right? Instead, now I had to figure out some Deity level mystery?

"So, the evil Deities killed the good ones and conquered the world?" I asked.

"Unlikely, there aren't enough destroyed planets. Also, they would have needed help. There used to be dozens of groups of Deities just in this region of the universe alone, all with their own agendas. Right now, there are only a handful, and none work together. They are constantly squabbling like, like…like mortals!"

Tiny-Rathica shook her head vehemently, her little face scrunched up in disbelief.

"So, now what?" I asked, hoping she at least had a plan.

"You need to search through Augria's realm and find if she or her Primes left any clues to what happened. Hers is the only realm I managed to find, and it is on the brink of destruction."

I put my arms on the table and leaned my head on them, trying to resist the temptation to start moaning.

"Are those seeds of life even here?" I asked after a while.

"Of course! I didn't lie to you! Besides, my realm is completed enough so that it can house millions of souls while they wait for new bodies."

I lay on the table for a long time, trying to get a grip, and when I finally did, Rathica was still looking at me. I smiled at her and pushed myself up from the table. Looking around, I tried to forget about a possible war amongst the Deities, focusing on the task at hand.

"So, kill the guardian, find the seeds, and locate clues to what happened to the other Deities. Anything else?" I asked, with a mock grin on my face.

"No, that should be enough for now," Rathica said, mirroring my grin and getting up from the plate.

"So, are you coming with me to help?"

"I want to, but I can't. None of the other Deities can find out that I spoke with you, so all proof needs to disappear - I need to disappear. Besides, this wood holds a power you might need later on."

The prospect of being alone here bothered me more than I liked, but I just nodded. "So, what now?"

"I will disappear in a moment, and then you need to take the statue and carve a small pendant from the head. Wear it around your neck, below your armor."

That's not disturbing at all, I thought. "What will it do?"

"You will find out when it is time," Rathica said with a grin.

"No. Tell me now. I've had enough of all these surprises," I snapped, barely containing a wave of sudden, rising anger. Deep down, I knew it wasn't fair to Rathica, but I was starting to feel more than a little pushed around by everything that was going on, and she was here.

The statue was quiet for a while, then Rathica sighed. "I can't. If you fail, and one of the others gets their hands on you before I can interfere, they would find out, and it will cause the extinction of all of your people."

I didn't reply, staring out of the entrance at the ruins outside. It took awhile for me to regain control of myself, and then I nodded. "Sorry. It's just getting a bit much."

Rathica smiled and put her small hand atop one of my massive arms. I felt a trickle of warmth flow into me, and then she fell over, unmoving.