When Derzina awoke, she was still in the underground wing of Inea’s palace, but most of the ceiling was missing. Where there had once been tons of stone overhead, now there was only the night sky high above. Derzina realised, with a sense of growing awe, that it was not only the ceiling that had vanished; almost the entirety of the palace had gone with it.

With no one else in sight, Derzina addressed the goddess within her. “What happened?”

She looked over the debris of the battle that had taken place here while she waited for a reply. But none came, nor could she sense Atasimon’s presence. With no idea what to do next, Derzina sat down and thought. Something had happened with the Heart of Imistala, that much was clear. Had it somehow consumed Meztraxia, the gods and Araveena? It seemed the most logical explanation. Even the Paladins who’d accompanied here were gone, yet she alone had been spared? Why?

Finding precious few answers and entirely too many questions in her own thoughts, Derzina left the room. There had to be something or someone out there who could explain what had happened. She made her way back to the city proper at a slow pace as her limbs felt unusually heavy and searched the place where the palace had once stood.

There wasn’t a soul to be found, human or demon. She couldn’t see anyone and there wasn’t a sound to be heard in the city around her. Yet she found herself unable to accept that it could be deserted; no matter how apparent it became that there was no one here, she kept expecting to run into someone at any moment. Never in her life had she felt so directionless, this eclipsed even the loss of Ortesia. At least then she’d had some idea of what to do.

She searched and searched, until she came to a breach in the outer wall. All that remained of the great battle that had been fought here were bloodstains, broken or abandoned armaments and debris from the wall. Many had fallen here judging by all that they’d left behind, yet not a single body remained.

The reality of the vanished population slowly sunk in and she considered leaving the city. But to go where? She had nothing else left in the world. Were there even still people out there? Whatever event had stolen away the humans and demons here might extend to the entire world.

Much as it horrified her, she couldn’t deny the possibility. That thought, the idea that she might have had a hand in wiping all life from the world, was what finally broke her. She simply sat down in the rubble and stopped.

The resolve that had sustained her all this time was gone, now she couldn’t even muster enough willpower to keep moving. Her mind showed her the horrors that the fall of her city had brought, both real and imagined, but she didn’t feel the slightest hint of sorrow. Such things were beyond her right now.

She didn’t know how long she sat there, doing nothing and thinking of nothing; being nothing. At some point she heard a voice upon the wind, a wordless murmur. Thinking it some trick of her mind, she remained as she was. She was done with giving credence to illusions, especially those born of her own wishes. That the voice may be real never entered her mind, she had too little hope to even entertain such a possibility. Yet when it next came, the sound was distinct and undeniable.

“Why are you here?” the voice asked, its pitch that of a child.

Which was precisely what Derzina saw when she turned around. A little girl, her every feature formed of iridescent light, stood before Derzina.

“Why am I here?” Derzina asked, repeating the question after the few moments it took her to find her voice. It took her longer still to formulate an answer, though the girl seemed content to wait. “I came to Brtet to kill Meztraxia, after he destroyed my home.”

The little girl shook her head, disagreeing with Derzina’s assertion. “Why are you out here instead of within me like the others?’ There was no hint of reproach in her tone, only curiosity.

Within her? Had she absorbed every other person within the city? “I don’t know. Why are they inside you? What did you do?”

“I don’t know. When I woke, this is how things were.”

“Are you Imistala?” Derzina asked. The person the heart had been named for seemed as likely as anyone.

“I might be. Who is Imistala?”

“I think she was a wizard who died a long time ago and the person who made the heart that must have created you named it after her.”

“I don’t think I’m dead. Am I a wizard?”

“Probably not. If I had to guess, I would say you were a god.”

“A god… What’s that? And why would you think I am one?”

“Gods are beings born from the world itself, just as you appear to have been. Though you would be the first since the merging more than a century ago.”

“Are you a god?” the girl asked.

“No, I’m only a mortal. Nothing more than a normal human being.”

“Oh. Do you like gods?” the new god asked, her voice bright with hope.

“I did, once. Many of them are the allies of humanity, the sole reason why we were able to survive in the new world. I used to think they were so much better than us, but, other than their divine power, they seem no greater than mortals.”

“Then we’re equals?”

Derzina shrugged. “As much as we can be when you could destroy me at a whim.” Beginning to wake from her stupor, Derzina grew tired of the child’s questions and moved on to the pressing matter at hand. “You said the people of this city were inside you now? Can you bring them back?”

“It’s possible, I can’t really say if I can or cannot without trying. But why should I bring them back?”

“This is their home, the humans and gods at least; it’s where they belong.”

“Where do I belong? Is this also my home?”

“If you wish it to be. It appears you were born here, so it would make sense. Though if you wish to live here, then that’s all the more reason to release the people of Brtet. Otherwise you’ll be living here alone.” Derzina had no idea if that was something the new god would care about, but it seemed worth a try.

“What about the others?” the little girl asked. “The ones who aren’t humans or gods?”

“The demons can stay where they are,” Derzina said, with steel in her voice, “the world is better off without them.”

“Don’t they also have homes?” For the first time, the god spoke with a fraction of judgement intermingled with her curiosity.

“I’m sure they do, but they tried to destroy Brtet and they already destroyed my home. They have no right to them anymore.”

“Why did they do that?”

Derzina’s honesty compelled her to tell the new god about the wizards’ attempt at destroying the demons’ world, but that would only complicate things and do nothing to improve her position. Yet, how else was she supposed to answer? Spinning a lie from whole cloth seemed a step too far unless she had no other option, so she settled for a partial truth.

“They hate that we’re able to live freely in our cities, protected from the harmful effects of this tainted world, and seek to destroy us out of jealousy.”

“Could you not simply share your cities then?”

Raising her voice, Derzina replied without thinking. “We built these cities with our own hands and it is our gods that defend them, why should we share them with our enemies?”

Once she was done speaking, she immediately regretted what she’d said and expected the goddess to question everything anew.

“Then it can only be one or the other? The humans or the demons?”

“That’s right, there’s no way for us to coexist.”

“Then I should destroy them, even though they’ve done me no harm?”

Much as she wanted to answer yes, Derzina could not rationalise it as anything resembling the right choice. Twisting the impressionable god, so recently born into this world, to her own ends was something she could not stomach.

“I suppose not. This is no fight of yours.”

“No? Then what is? Who am I to fight?”

“That’s up to you to decide, I don’t think anyone can decide it for you. What do you want from life?”

“For now,” the girl said, “all I wish for is knowledge. Knowledge of myself and the world around me. Can you provide me that?”

“I can’t say I’m especially knowledgeable but I will answer any of your questions that I can on one condition; you will release the humans and the gods contained within you.”

“Agreed, then let us start from the beginning.” The little goddess launched into a long series of questions, starting with many of the more mundane aspects of the world. Thusly Derzina passed several hours, answering all that she could until her head ached and felt as if it were stuffed with cloth. Only then did she pause.

“Do you understand?” she asked.

“No,” the goddess said, “but I’m beginning to.”

“Good, I’m glad to be of service. Will you release them now? I swear I will continue to help you where I can, I simply wish for them to return home as soon as possible.”

“Very well,” the goddess said, speaking with far more confidence than she did when they first met, “though before I do, I have two more questions for you. Who am I? And who are you? There will be many people here soon, many names, and I wish to know ours.”

“I am Derzina Omun,” Derzina said, bowing her head in greeting. “I don’t know your name. I rather doubt you have one.”

“Then how do I get one?”

“Normally your parents would name you. In your case that doesn’t seem to apply. I was involved in your creation, so I suppose that makes me the closest thing you have to a parent in this world.”

“Then you’ll give me a name?” the little goddess asked eagerly.

“I will. Though you must give me a few moments to think.” Naming a god was, of course, quite outside anything she’d ever done before. She came up with a few choices, but none of them sounded right to her, nor did it seem fair to arbitrarily assign a name to god who was quite capable of making their own decisions. “I don’t suppose you have any idea of what sort of name you’d like?”

“No. What sort of name is one supposed to have? What is the choice of a name based on?”

“Well, my name in part reflects where I came from. My second name, Omun, was one borne by all of my immediate family.”

“Your family? Does that mean your parents?”

“That’s right.” That had been one of the many things she’d explained in part to the little girl.

“I don’t have a family,” the goddess stated, without feeling.

“I know,” Derzina said, an idea forming, “but you were born here in the city of Brtet. Though it’s rather crude, what do you think of the name Brtetsia?”

“That will let people know where I came from?”

“More or less. Do you like it?”

“Well enough.”

“Then so be it, from this day forward you shall be known as Brtetsia.” When the newly named goddess frowned, Derzina immediately worried she’d done something to upset her. “What’s wrong? I thought you liked it.”

“I do. It’s just that if you’re my parent, or something to close to that, shouldn’t I bear your name as well?”

“I suppose you’re right.” It didn’t seem like it could do any harm to give the goddess a second name, it’s not like she had any family left to complain about it. “Then I name you Brtetsia Omun.”

“Brtetsia Omun,” the goddess echoed, speaking slowly as if savouring every syllable of her new name. “Good, I have a name. Now I shall fulfil my part of our agreement.”

“Wait,” Derzina said, raising her hand, “before you do, let’s put you somewhere out of the way for the moment. Things will be simpler if they don’t see you until they’re ready.”

“As you wish.”

Brtetsia allowed herself to be led away and Derzina took her to an intact out of the way little building that didn’t look to be in use. After making sure she’d be okay to wait in there, Derzina closed the door and told her to release the humans.