“You mean to tell me...Hevize….The god of Fire...Has taken my position?”

I was sitting on a shabby bed inside a hut with my fist shaking in anger. Neityr was standing in front of me with an elderly elf. They both looked nervous.

It was the elderly elven man who answered my question.

“Y-yes...Hevize is now referred to as the god of Fire and Skies...He is also now able to use god Awana’s power to control the weather...which has been….”

The elderly elf cast his head down with deep sadness.

Neityr continued.

“Our White Leaf tribe was not just a simple village tribe when you ruled the skies above. We were more akin to a big city if we compare it to human kingdoms. After he replaced your holiness...he tried to get us to worship him instead. And some of us did. More than half of our population defected. The rest of us who were still loyal to your holiness was cast away from our ancestral grounds into this very faraway land.”

The elderly elf also chimed in with a pained face.

“Hevize was now able to control the weather. In this new land, he did not grant us basic necessities like rainfall, causing an extreme lack of plants and animals for us to consume. Over the next century, he has tried multiple times to drive us to extinction from causing an endless rainfall that flooded our village to sending his fire golems to attack us. After millenniums...while he has probably forgotten about us and does not attack us anymore, an extreme majority of our population has decreased. We are only around five hundred strong currently.”

After hearing their story, a furious rage overcame my insides. Hevize...he has always envied my power and status. I was revered. He was powerful but only the demons worship him—they were only minorities at the time.

“And you also mean to tell me he did not act alone? Other gods also conspired to strip away other gods’ powers?”

There was a reason why I kept asking these questions. I could not remember anything. My last memory was when I was still ruling the skies. It was as if someone manually deleted the parts of my memories pertaining to the purge of the gods.

It was Neityr who answered.

“Yes. gods like Lein, Yavue, Brauk, and Hevize conspired to seal away or even kill other gods. In total, there are currently only ten gods ruling this planet.”

Preposterous. Ten? There was a reason why there was so many of us. Many things in the world required many gods to rule over them efficiently. Even then, we also assign Demigods to help us rule different regions. Some gods even marry one another and have their children be their god underlings. Wait. Demigods? What about mine?

“What about my subordinates, the Demigods...do you know where they are?”

The elderly elven man frowned.

“I am extremely sorry to say this, god Awana, but the purge of the gods did not spare the Demigods...they killed all of them. Only the gods were spared and sealed away like you.”

This new information caused me even more rage than before. The Demigods I worked so hard to nurture...all gone because of them.

“And no other gods like me has awoken yet...HOW exactly did you manage to set me free?” I asked them again.

Both of them smiled. Neityr was the one who answered.

“It was your sword, god Awana.”

“My sword?” I was now extremely confused.

“Yes. When your holiness’ knew Hevize and other gods were about to attack your holiness, your holiness left us one of your holiness’ swords, the Icarus.”

She took the sword from the scabbard and presented it to me. I took the sword from her hand slowly and examined it. Indeed it was one of mine. The sword’s grip was white and the guard was made of beautiful white feathers.

“When the sword left a god’s hand, it turns mortal. Your holiness told us to channel mana into it until it glows gold before it is able to revive you. However...you also warned us that after the sword is activated, we only have a couple of hours before it is reduced into its original state. It took us 5.500 years to finally have enough mana in the sword to activate it. When activated, the sword is capable of both opening your holiness’ tomb and break away the chains.” Neityr explained.

“A couple of hours? Was the place they sealed me away in that close from here?”

“Indeed, your holiness. It was very fortunate of us but Hevize decided to seal you near our new land here. He said it was both an act of mercy and also as a reminder to never go against him. In retrospect, his arrogance was the reason we are able to release your holiness.”

I chuckled as a response. Hevize was an arrogant god who likes to do things like that. His stupidity has finally caught up to him this time.

“I see. I thank both of you for enlightening me up to the current situation. I will ask more questions later but first, I would like to see what your settlement looks like. I also want to personally thank all of your citizens.”

Neityr and the elderly elf’s face lit up in great happiness. They motioned me to follow them and we all left the hut.