Nakama was still burping happily when she left the school premises with Gaius. Good food was one of the perks of being enrolled in Kishi, something that Nakama was really happy about.

“Alright, stop burping.” Gaius took out a handkerchief and wiped his sister’s face. “How was school today?”

It was something he asked for fun, given that he’d just spent the past few hours floating around aimlessly outside the classroom Nakama was in, but the little girl talked about her day anyway. Gaius smiled as she went on about the new algebraic functions she’d picked up, and how the teacher taught them.

She was in the middle of talking about a linear function, whatever that was, when the land began to quake. Gaius instinctively looked up, just in time to see two solid masses of light appear to the north and to the west. The colour of the sky writhed and swirled, flickering between brown and light green. Concentric rings of brown and light green flashed outwards from the west and the north respectively, mimicking the colours of their progenitors.

The world groaned as these rings smashed into each other, creating shockwaves that somehow shook the soul. Gaius gritted his teeth as the rings continued to slam into each other and break apart from the impact.

“Nexus!” The boy growled, his voice barely audible over the howling wind. “What is going on here?”

“Two gods have been forced to descend at the same time,” the artificial intelligence replied.

“‘Forced to’? What do —”

The world shuddered again, as the red star that occupied the centre of the Five Lands burned brilliantly, and Gaius turned his head instinctively to regard the solid, blazing mass of red light. As the boy watched, the rings of light emanating from both the brown and light green masses battered at the red star, forcing it away from the Central Continent. Somehow, Gaius could understand that Liamar’s Divine Kingdom was being forced away from its current position.

The moment that thought flashed through his mind, the blazing red star started to shudder. Red light pulsed outwards, each of them individually thicker and brighter than that of the others. The red star stopped moving, but in that instant, a blue star began to shine, emanating its own pulses of light that were slightly inferior to that of Liamar’s.

Gaius, with Nakama in tow, headed towards the nearest building, where a couple of other people were taking shelter in too. There was no mistaking it — four elemental gods were duking it out, and from what the boy could tell, three of them were working together to force the God of Fire out of the Central Continent. Liamar had apparently regained enough power to face off with any of the other three, but against their assembled powers…

Primal roars shook the world, reminding the boy of a starving lion being forced backwards, away from a tasty morsel of meat by zealous zookeepers. As for everyone else in the building, they cowered as the roars swept through the Five Lands. Multi-coloured lights flashed wildly, dyeing the land outside in a myriad of colours. The roaring and shaking continued on for a period of time, one that Gaius couldn’t find it in himself to measure, and as he continued to comfort the scared Nakama, the flashing lights began to slow.

A bell…or something like a bell, anyway, chimed once. The quaking ended, and what seemed to be the leadup to the end of the world passed without incident. Gaius, who was busy wiping the tears of Nakama’s face, raised his head on instinct.

“It’s over.” Nexus’ voice sounded in his mind. “It should be safe to walk out now.”

Gaius took a deep breath and walked out of the building. His heart quivered — the sky had been partitioned into four different colours.

Red, for Liamar, the God of Fire.

Blue, for Conrah, the God of Water.

Brown, for Rahwei, the God of Earth.

Green, for Thasvia, the Goddess of Wind.

Gaius turned to the south, where at its extreme end was now a red star. Liamar’s Divine Kingdom had been forced into a position very much like the others now, and the red star seemed a lot duller than that of its equals. Birds sang, their little voices turning into a symphony that seemed to welcome the gods. The edges that divided the four-coloured sky were blurred, creating countless hues that Gaius himself couldn’t name.

The streets began to fill up as the citizens of Mi-Zu left whatever building they were taking shelter in. Most of them were staring at the four-coloured sky, a myriad of emotions visible in their face. Others were kneeling to the east, where a distinctively larger star was shining brilliantly. Conrah, whose Divine Kingdom was closest to the Eastern Territories, would most likely have undue influence in the East for the years to come.

Gaius shivered lightly. Picking up Nakama, who had followed him out moments after the boy left the building, he headed straight for Sundown Residence. The streets were crowded, and in a rare turn of events, filled with chatter. The boy took in the unprecedented phenomenon in quietly, dodging the crowds that had somehow seen it fit to clog up the place by standing and gossiping on the spot.

It took him a good hour before he returned. Nakama, who was somehow sleeping on his back despite the noisiness of the streets, made little noises as he passed her over to Isabelle.

After taking a moment to drink some water, the boy pulled Nexus out of his clothes and set it down on a table firmly.

“What is going on?” Gaius asked. “Why are these gods forced to descend, like you said?”

“It’s a long story,” said Nexus. “But we should first discuss what state the gods of Orb are in first, before anything else.”

“And you can tell me that now?”

“Correct.”

Gaius exhaled slowly. “Go ahead, then. Tell me what I need to know.”

“First,” said Nexus, “the gods of Orb are generally in one of two stages. The first as manifesting in a physical form, with their Divine Kingdom within their bodies themselves. The second is when the gods are not in Orb, their Divine Kingdom their place of residence. The first stage was seen in the early years of Orb, and the second in the millennia when the gods were forced to discard their physical forms.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” said Gaius. “If they were forced to abandon their physical forms then, why are they descending on Orb now?”

“They’re descending differently now,” replied the artificial intelligence. “Their physical form now cannot hold their Divine Kingdoms. It is unlike the first stage, where they can retreat into their Divine Kingdom anytime, which makes them more vulnerable to pesky things like assassins. Put simply, the tortoise now occupies a giant shell that little insects with stingers can crawl into.”

“So…”

Nexus shrugged. “A bunch of really insecure gods just appeared on Orb. What happens next is anyone’s guess, really.”

Gaius fell silent, and thought through the sculpture’s words. “And as for the cause behind this…incident?”

“You might want to get Isabelle here first, however.” The sculpture sat down. “There’s a few things I want to confirm with her first.”

The boy eyed the artificial intelligence, and then left the room.