In a large and exquisite courtroom surrounded by stone bricks in the inside and an overgrown flowery garden on the outside, rays of light shine into the center of the room through circle topped glassless windows. The green carpet leading from the front doors to the throne in the center of the courtroom turns lime colored at the sight of sunlight. Magical dust slowly wisps around inside this space until rising higher and passing outside through the windows.

A man, dressed in a black puffy suit and with a feathery purple hat on his head gently steps on to the green carpet and follows its direct straight through the center of the room. He stops and bows before reaching several high steps where the green carpet ends, and the throne begins. Observers tucked away in the shows peer their eyes all on the man and glance back at the main shadowy starer, Queen Clara of Clan Daleslietka.

Silence continues for a moment. Still in an almost finished bow position, the man glances his eyes up to see the monarch staring back at him. No sunlight reaches her, but the sunlight does reach the eyes of the man. Making it difficult for him to keep eye contact for long before his eyes irritate from the scorching brightness.

“It must be a Lunarian custom for a ruler to speak first?” Quietly spoke Queen Clara. It could not be heard from far, but the man precisely managed to hear the key to break the awkward silence.

A jolly voice eagerly emerges, “My name is Gin Hedge, emissary of Lord Dim, Duke of Sevusber. Yes, it is your grace, Queen Clara, for in the Lunar Empire our rulers are absolute and do not allow subjects to begin a conversation. So, I did not expect your grace to expect myself to speak first.”

“Your rulers were absolute.” The Queen interrupts.

Gleaming down in knowingly endured defeat before raising his head again to meet the intense stare of Clara once again, “As you say, the Lunar Empire has no official Emperor. But worry not, I have not come to gain the audience of the guardian of Orchard Hills for pledge and acknowledgment of Emperorship to my liege.”

“So, what is it you would like?” Upon hearing a direct response, Gin Hedge directly shared the message and intentions of Duke Dim wholeheartedly for the rest of the hour. The characters in the shadows, both on the ground floor and on the second-floor platform viewing down on the interaction continued to peer in and quietly chatter amongst themselves. These were the aristocrats and agents who both ran the rest of the Kingdom from the capital on the Queen’s orders, but also held their own allegiances to their respective aristocratic clans such as Daleslietka.

An hour passed and Clara journeyed to the once secluded corner of her palace, the outdoor courtyard. It was one of the few places where she could relax the strains that constantly bind her mind, and temporarily let her worries drift away into the starry sky. As ancient as the capital and kingdom, the stone seats and tables which make up the environment usually remain empty. Except for tonight. Once again, Queen Clara had to bolster her energy in the wake of the unprecedented attendance of uninvited guests. The Lesser Gods: Kinanawod, Atenri, the unknown observer goddess, and even the draconic bad god Pannan.

Pannan: “Welcome, welcome! Come join us Queen Clara and let us discuss the matter of your latest campaign.”

Queen Clara: “I do not know whether the four of you are beneficial Gods or demons in disguise…for in front of you I cannot keep my professional persona up any longer. I am a ruler of business and intuition, yet despite my mighty intellect I cannot dispose my fear and weak willpower when in front of Lesser Gods.”

Atenri: “Apologies, it must be that we have brought along Pannan. I assume you feel powerless because your enemy’s patron God carelessly is in attendance, even though your armies have decimated the army of his followers.”

Queen Clara: “Indeed it is so. I used to long dream of exploring the lives of everyday folk in my realm as an equal to them for better insight, but I now wish to explore the lives of Gods such as yourselves. Tingling and playing away with us mortals, unable to grasp the context and situations we’re in?”

Kina: “Splendid. You certainly understand so much, Queen Clara. You are correct, oh how I wish I could fill you in on your curiosity.”

Pannan: “But we must not.”

Atenri: “We cannot.”

Queen Clara: “Hmph…oh well, what is it now? You are ghosts who have come to haunt me in my abode every once in a while since the arrival of the Divine Spirits. You must already know it were not simply my armies who managed to plunge in victoriously into Coldpass so easily. The forces of Duke Alan and the mercenaries which the Kingdom hired did…and it so happens that almost all of the freelancers present in the battle were Divine Spirits. I must bestow my gratitude to you Kinanawod Goddess of Warmth and Fury and Atenri God of Free Air Travel for having led and sent Divine Spirits in the aid of the goals of my realm.”

Pannan: “And what about me?”

Queen Clara: “A trickster and bad Lesser God such as yourself should not deserve the gratitude of a Orchard Hill’s monarch, but I may thank you as well for having fled from your people’s fortress.”

Pannan: “And I shall take this gratitude wholeheartedly!”

Kina: “Your grace, if I may, it would be wise for you to learn about the full story about the events transpired.”

Queen Clara: “That means that my sources have either not been honest with my commands, or they failed to properly deliver me this information…so it requires the deities to aid me…sigh…I would happily hear!”

Atenri: “It seems that not only the Ogre Captain, but also the ruler of Coldpass is dead.”

Queen Clara: “That monster has been defeated!?! I do not question your intention Atenri, but I would be a fool to always trust the words of even a God. Is this a jest?”

Kina: “No Clara, it is true. The thorn to your ambitions has been removed from the field.”

Pannana: “Ahakahakakaha! It seems that the heaviest news of the event has been the slowest to reach the ears of Queen Clara! I wonder who will be fired from your espionage cabinet?”

Queen Clara: “Assuming that the Gods are not jesting with me, then I am of course glad that a vile Ogre tyrant has been put down. But it is very true that this information should have reached my ears by now…yet why hasn’t it happened until now?! Are my wizards, messengers, knights, and spymasters too slow?!”

The three Lesser Gods, Kina, Atenri, and Pannan laughed loudly to each other in another dimension as they carefully planned and interacted with a very important Non-Playable Character. This was their job and they enjoyed doing it immensely because they benefited by having world administrative powers as Game Masters. This moment was especially fun for them because almost no Players around the world in any server of Divine Mortality have seen the NPC “Queen Clara”, a complex artificial intelligence character. Yet, Game Masters compared to Player’s lack in experiencing the immersion of Divine Mortality because it is their jobs to administer the servers. It is a downside, not only for their fun but also because a basic level of immersion in the Overworld is beneficial for them to perform their jobs well. Otherwise, the task of managing a whole world with many Players and Non-Player characters for various reasons becomes a grueling and tedious task. However, luckily for the administrators Kina, Atenri, and Pannan…the barrier between reality and the Overworld was now about to be slightly broken for them. A powerful rival appeared. Not another Lesser God and not another mere Game Master. But something like a High God.

Fate-fan: “Queen Clara, the Lesser Gods do indeed tell you the truth, but they are doing it so in an unfair fashion. The Ogre King is certainly dead. It was not by the hands of your Kingdom’s subjects, but by Divine Spirits. Farther away from the battlefield. The message should soon arrive you, but its lateness is not at the fault of your knights or spymasters.”

Queen Clara: “The observer amongst the Lesser Gods, in the shadows like my courtroom’s attendees, finally steps up to tell me her perspective? Carry on.”

Fate-fan: “It is my pleasure to announce that fate has chosen a champion.”

Kina: “Hey! Are you sure you wish to reveal your identity?”

Fate-fan: “I will not hide it, but I will not mention it, I would rather have fate reveal it at any moment.”

Pannan: “A champion who slayed the King of Coldpass? Come to think of it, who actually did it?”

Kina: “I would know if my followers battled the Ogre King…”

Atenri: “And if my disciples, the Nomads of the Griffin did not do it…then I do not know who could have?”

Fate-fan: “A Divine Spirit, who I have chosen to become the guardian of, and his four other companions are the ones who shockingly managed to defeat the Ogre King by themselves!”

Queen Clara: “And who might you be unknown observer, what Lesser God are you? I now must know!”

Fate-fan: “I will simply say that I am not a Lesser God…”

That night Queen Clara reconsidered her approach with the Divine Spirits. As the monarch of Orchard Hills, an ancient Kingdom with a long history of benefit and trouble from its stagnation and longevity, is responsible for continuing the survival of the Kingdom. Learning news of an epic endeavor and its success by a Divine Spirit that is personally protected by a mysterious figure who is in the company of Lesser Gods has now sealed the mind of Queen Clara. From now on, she has decided to put everything in her power to make sure that her Kingdom survives this new age, an age of mass unpredictability with the onset of the descendants of Divine Spirits into the Overworld.

…

…

…

Atenri, Kina, and Pannan: “FATE-FAAAAN!”

Fate-fan: “What what! You don’t have to yell at me!”

Kina: “Sweety…honey dear…listen…”

Atenri: “Since when did you become a “guardian” of a Player?!”

Fate-fan: “Since today”

Pannan: “No way since today, you just showed up to the guy who killed the first raid boss and just started talking to him?”

Kina: “Personally I still can’t believe that some people on this server actually fought a raid boss and beat it”

Fate-fan: “It’s because the Ogre King was weak while performing some ritual, so they basically got lucky!”

Pannan: “Talk about a coincidence…”

Atenri: “So why did you become this Player’s guardian? I know you’ve got more time to have fun but you still shouldn’t break Game Master rules even if you aren’t technically a Game Master”

Fate-fan: “Hehehe…you guys see…talking about lucky…I AM SUPER LUCKY!”

Kina: “Explain girl… explain explain explain!”

Pannan: “Do tell”

Fate-fan: “So, technically I became their guardian today…mhmm… and yeah I did get permission from management to do this, so don’t freak out…especially you Atenri...-“

Kina: “GET TO THE POINT!”

Fate-fan: “I basically befriended a guy named Amulet Pond at the very start of the game when I was acting out like the real Fate before I was properly allowed to do this…”

Atenri: “Maybe I remember you saying something like this before…”

Fate-fan: “Yeah…so anyways he promised me to do something great in this game in exchange for me to basically bless him and become a personal deity for his roleplay or whatever…and a week ago I told him to kill the Ogre Captain...”

Kina: “Wait-did this Amulet accidentally pick a fight with a raid boss and win the first time?!”

Fate-fan: “I KNOW RIGHT! It’s suuuuuper duuuuper…amaaaaazing!”

Pannan: “To be fair, the Ogre King is one of the easiest early raid bosses in the game but that’s still pretty cool”

Atenri: “That’s very cool! What the hell… I wish I could have done that.”

Fate-fan: “What, do you also want me to become your awesome cool sexy super goddess?!!!”

Atenri: “NO! Okay we get it, go already and do your actual job!”

Fate-fan: “Suit yourselves, I’m actually really happy so I’m going to celebrate by eating some cake today!”

Kina: “Cake…! I want some cake too...”