Chapter 37: Kingdoms

The oasis was a dangerous place, where death lurked around every corner.

“Its okay, it's okay. We are almost there.” Selene looked at her half dead companion beside her and then to the five other men who had come with her.

Only godless were known to be capable of facing the danger within. They were the elites of the fallen countries or in some cases the elites of countries they did not love.

Selene trudged as she carried Kaya's body towards the new gods land. With every step she took, she knew she was risking her position in her superiors. Splunk, she stomped her feet into the mud looking forward, knowing that she was close. The government officials had grown tired of Selene and her attempts to save Kaya, beginning with the rescue all the way up to this moment. If the Tiefling had lied to her it would be her last opportunity to save Kaya and it would be the end of her reputation.

Selene took one final muddy step, she closed her heart, she rid herself of her hatred of gods. With a gaze that could kill even the mightiest of monsters, she made sure that the others did the same.

The Tiefling had told her that as long as Scitus views them as non-hostile, any unconscious creatures with them would be healed. This was the nature of gods, their subconscious did most of the work.

With a small grunt and flick of her head, the soldiers rolled a translucent matt onto the ground, and then they lay the injured onto it. Selene was the last to do so. Sixty seconds pass when the black aura began to encroach the unconscious and then it began to smother the soldiers.

The first response was terror, but then they felt a warmth to the peculiar darkness. It wasn’t malicious, no it was the opposite it was comforting, a darkness that informed all within it that they would be kept safe in its embrace.

"Benevolent God" Selene whispered under her breath, as she remembered the kind smile of her God. She opened her eyes, remembering her mission, those sweet days were gone and would never return. She gently grabbed hold of Kaya's hand, her warmth was slowly returning, indicating life. Selene smiled for the first time in a long time, her friend was safe.

“I can’t believe it.” One soldier whimpered, as his tears fell onto his dear sister, the fourth infected. With a sturdy arm, he lifted his sister sleeping body and embraced it, as he praised her short breathes.

He traveled alongside Selene not out loyalty but for his sister, it was his only hope, it was his last chance to save his sister and he would dive to hell itself to save the last living person in his family. At first, he felt immense fear as the black aura encompassed him, after all, it was all too reminiscent of Corruption, a most terrifying force capable of making even the weakest of monsters a horrifying threat. The black aura was different, it was warm, this itself immediately calmed him, only benevolent gods give off that warmth and only certain benevolent gods passively heal. A god that passively signifies a god that values health above all.

Kaya looked at her comrades, a soldier walked up to her and held her arm in place, a sign of respect. "Forgive me, Selene, I doubted the any of this woul…” Kaya then interrupted with a voice that demanded attention, the other soldiers immediately listened.

“Apologies are unnecessary, I doubted this myself, it was chance to save someone dear to me and I took it.” She paused, the soldiers quietly waited for their leader to speak again. “The god here is stronger than any of us thought before, a god capable of healing one of the most deadly sicknesses in a matter of seconds through a passive ability, Scitus is too strong, and soon he will bring every single god into this territory."

The soldiers remained silent. It was all to clear now, A great war was coming and their Oasis would be the battleground. Whether the liked it or not, the Godless would all have to choose a side when the day came.

“Let's go men!! We got what we came for.” With a clench of her armored fist and final look Scitus territory, she mumbled the words, “you are too strong.”

…………………………

The Oasis and the areas around the oasis, extending beyond the death forest to a part of the Feras Sea and deep into the great marsh to the floating lake of Emasa. These were all part of the territory known as Feren. This expansion of land is 1of 12 holy territories, each territory contains inside it one piece of the holy land. Within these God societies are at their strongest, each territory has its own set of rules made by the gods of that territory. Their rule extends to their entire continent.

Boarding the Oasis are 5 kingdoms.

To the north is the kingdom of the absolute order, Once Known as the Kingdom of Great Triumph. This kingdom is known for its abundance of laws and iron-fisted ruler, who is known to kill disobedient subjects. He is very different from Scitus who gains subjects though respect and awe, a trait common to most benevolent rulers. Instead, he gains subjects through fear and force, a common trait among malevolent gods. His name Wesil and despite his nature, he still has one or two truly loyal subjects.

To his direct left, is the kingdom of Mern, ruled by non-other than the Malevolent god Mern. He is known for his short temper and sudden outbursts. To the surprise of most, he does not ordinarily take advantage of the people who worship him. Though he has been known to execute civilians who annoy him or for his own entertainment.

He, like wesil, are lesser gods who are subservient to the greater god Sion.

Directly below, and to the west of the oasis, is Ama. She is a benevolent god who follows the greater god Ansil. Ama is known for her hot-head and rash personality. Many of her subjects are too much like her, or at least this is what Ansil has said many times before. They are passionate and prideful and Ama has an air about her that when people see her, they are overcome with an urge to follow her. She is a leader, but a very different one than Scitus. If scitus is Ice, Ama is fire. The two would most certainly clash in the future

Below Ama is Miran, a malevolent god, who’s only unique feature is that he is the only god in the Fernen territory that is subservient to an Emperor. For this he is heavily mocked and disrespected, a God who gives up his pride is never looked on with kind eyes. The god himself doesn’t about the mockery, his fear of the Emperor is too great that to bother him.

Finally, the last god to surround the Oasis is the god known as Gin. He is considered to be the most honorable of all the gods on the territory and follows Miar. He is known for his orderly way of doing things and terrifying efficiency in war. His wish is to give the holy land to Miar so that she may finally be recognized as the Emperor that he sees her as.

On the outer parts of the Oasis are powerful gods that are known as Greater gods, to become a greater god, you need to either have such immense power that you are respected by the other greater gods or you have another god who follows under said god. When a god chooses to follow another god, they are considered subjects and as subjects, the god owns everything the subject does, thus expanding the power of the god. Another reason for the immediate rise in rank is because if the god were to die, they can be brought back to life by the god that follows the greater god.

In the area around the oasis and the 5 lesser gods, are 4 Greater gods all on equal footing. To the direct north of the oasis, past the kingdom of absolute order lays the Onias kingdom. The god is a malevolent god known for his fickle nature and plan of action. There was a time when he had taken a large swash of the Oasis, but in a single year, everything he touched became a desert, when he left the land grew lush and green once more. This is one of the many reasons the Oasis has not been taken away by any of the gods, they don’t know what causes the desertification after conquering it. Not even the greatest of magic can sustain the land for longer than a month. Since his failure at conquering that land Onias has faded to the back of everyone’s minds since he hasn’t moved in over a hundred years.

north-west to the oasis and past the Kingdom of Mern is the Malevolent god Siion. He is a gluttonous god who only barely keeps his population fed. He prefers to laze around and do nothing, the only time he ever moves is when he sees someone as a threat, in such cases he either placates them and tells them he won’t bother them or, if he sees them as weaker then him, he will try to annihilate them

Just below the Ones kingdom, Siions land is the Kingdom of Ansil, who is known as the great Father. He has several small gods below him, most of which own no land and simply live on his. Ama is one of his subjects as well. All the gods who follow him, see him as more of a father than a leader, he has no aspirations for the holy land, he simply wishes to give his subjects the best life he can provide for them and protect them from the other gods.

The last greater god in the Feren territory, south-west of the oasis and past the country of Miran, is Miar. She is known as the Benevolent Tyrant for her brutal methods and mass genocide of creatures she deems evil. She is obsessed with good and wishes to eradicate all evil. Though there are times when she is mistaken on what is evil and in these times, she is quick to admit it and beg for forgiveness. For this reason, she is respected. Her land is unique compared to the other gods. She only owns a single city, only the city is under her control, she believes that no one can control so much land perfectly, so she reduced her self to a single city and a large piece of land around it. But she has many followers. 6 gods and 6 mortals have kingdoms around her that form the rest of her territory, this is all her land but she gave these 12 kings the right to rule as they see fit, though she is permitted to change their laws if she deems it necessary, but she rarely does so,.

Out of all the kingdoms in the Feren territory, hers is the most diverse. Humans, Maenads, elves, beast kin, even Mermen and the race known as mortal demons. These six species are all of the mortal species and therefore considered good in Miars eyes.

Miar absolutely despises Sia, because even though she is a demon, she is a different kind. In the world, there are two types of demons. Mortal demons and Celestial demons. Mortal demons are simply mortals with horns and in some cases pitch black eyes. Celestial demons are powerful monsters with immense power, Miar hates monsters, to her all monsters are evil, therefore, by extension Sia, who is a half-blood, is a monster. Sia, on the other hand, doesn't believe Celestial demons are monsters, or at least not all of them are, they don't fit the traits all monsters share.

Soon, Scitus will have to learn all of this and much more, with the help of Sia and other methods, Sctius will have to learn to adapt to the world around him, or die trying.