You have been summoned by the Divine Court.

Attendance is mandatory unless you wish to void your claim.

Accept? Y/N

Look alive, Clammy! Time to take back what is yours!

-Cral, God of War

Clammy breathed out long and slow, “It’s time.” She said.

Bishop nodded once, stood, placed a leathery hand across her shoulder, and said, “Good luck. Remember, listen and think before you speak.”

Vel was next, she simply said, “Gods are fickle and cheats. Don’t let them twist your words.”

Reep as last, “You better win, I want to see this spell.”

Clammy only responded to her teammate, “You will.”

Then she selected Y on her notification. A moment later she was traveling along a white void tunnel with sporadic streaks of color. The travel time to the Divine Court took several long minutes. During this time, the ex-princess calmed and centered herself. Being in a rushed or agitated state of mind was something she was taught never to do when negotiating. While court wasn’t exactly negotiating, she felt the same sentiment.

Another thing she learned during princess studies was the correct clothing for the correct clientele. While this was meant to apply to different aspect of different types of royal dresses, Clammy took the lesson to heart. There was no way she was showing up to a Court of the Divine wearing stained or ripped trousers.

Instead she wore Lesterwood’s best. [Tailors] had been commissioned under the guise that Clammy would be meeting a high-ranking member of the Church of Ofes. While this set her clothing’s color scheme to primarily whites and golds, this worked out since they were neutral colors to the Divine.

If she wore Deep green, purple, and black, she might have been seen as holding favor with a vile God. Similarly blues or reds may align her with the Deities of flame or air. While those were not bad, per say, they just didn’t shine the neutrality Clammy wanted.

In the end, Clammy wore a silky dress of white with golden trim. It had long sleeves that ended with a draped flume. The dress’s hems ended with the same cadence which created an avalanche of ruffles as she walked as well as a tripping hazard.

The white tunnel ended in a shock of blue sky. Fluffy clouds moved at high speeds overhead as a howl of wind never allowed a quiet thought. Snow mixed with naked rock created a footpath along a mountainous trail. Either side of Clammy quickly dropped off in a sheer cliff to an icy death.

She had magic that could easily allow her to drift safely to the ground, but the sudden height she found herself at made her stomach churn.

Clammy carefully made her way through the snow and rock, across the path, and up to the mountain’s highest peak. The surrounding land cascaded down until the land rose back up into a ring of sharp peaks. The cage of mountains reminded her just where she was – in the presence of the Divine.

She passed through a ring of mana and all of a sudden the rushing wind died, or rather muted. Clammy did a double take as a short gale of snow seemingly created a man. He stood tall and with confidence, even though his torn and stained attire left little room for dignity.

“Clammy! Good to see you again.” Cral, God of War said. A slight buzz sounded with his words, like far off cheers of a thousand soldiers, “Are you ready?”

Clammy briefly peered past her Divine sponsor at a small wooden podium on a slightly raised stone platform. Again her stomach churned.

“I am.” She finally said.

“Good. Confidence is key here. You have no enemies… except maybe Cazdis. You did kill one of her children, after all. But! There are safeguards for your safety. Do not worry, she cannot simply kill you.”

Clammy meekly nodded. Although she and the others back in Lesterwood couldn’t find out much about the Divine Court, that didn’t mean they didn’t research Godly affairs in relation to mortals in occurrence to the System. The summery was that every God, no matter their alignment, had strict rules they could act under. Killing a particular mortal was simply not allowed… unless very specific criteria had been met.

None of which Clammy had met.

“What do I do?” She asked.

“It is very simple.” Cral replied, “You stand over there on that podium and answer the questions honestly. Multiple of them can hear lies, so don’t do that.”

“Who is they?”

“Well,” The God of War pointed at a far off mountain peak, “That peak houses Hxut. The next one holds Tasitus, then Cazdis, then Gaxitia, Sahhgen, and finally Peneil.” When the man finished speaking he had pointed at each far peak.

Clammy recognized all of the Gods and Goddesses names. She could recite their full titles from memory if she really wanted to. In fact, her and the other Lesterwoodians had researched each of those particular Gods rather well. They were, after all, the Deities that flagged her spell. Of course there were others, but they chose to remain hidden and watch the trial instead.

Hopefully, they wouldn’t get a say in the final outcome.

“Who am I trying to win over?” Clammy asked.

“Well… everyone here, but mainly those on the peaks. The others have mostly voided their claim over your spell. Final decision is granted to the System, however. But there has never been a Court that ended outside of the Divine’s majority.”

“So I can already assume Cazdis is going to vote against me no matter what I say, so focus on the others?”

Cral nodded, “In the event of a tie, the System decides. If it comes down to that, my presence here will make a difference. How much of a difference? I am unsure, but a difference it will make.”

Clammy curtsied, “Thank you, God Cral. I do not deserve your kindness.”

“No, no, no. None of that. We shared wine, remember?”

“You offered some, but I refused.”

Cral laughed, “That’s right. Use that attitude, within reason, when spoken to. You are your own you, don’t let our status change you. Trust me, Gods are much more lax than one would think.”

Clammy smiled besides the situation, “Thank you. Are we ready to start?”

“Indeed. Just a warning, the podium is enchanted. The effects are a bit jarring at first. Take all of the time you need to adjust. One gentleman took years once… Don’t take years , that was a bit excessive.”

The ex-princess nodded, breathed out, then in, and finally stepped past Cral. She turned around to glance at her Defender, but he was long gone. The stone path to the podium was devoid of snow and rather warm, but the chilling feeling of being stared at by beings of great power made Clammy’s spine shiver more than the cold ever could.

As she stepped on the stone stage, the mountain top disappeared. The sudden shift in location made the young woman yelp in surprise. She backstepped and the mountain top returned. Embarrassment washed over her causing her to redden, she quickly stepped on the stage and to the podium.

The world below her feet was missing. There was no snow, no mountain, no air. Instead, she was on a bed of total darkness. White geometric lines echoed across the bare artificial landscape, mimicking Max’s Pocket World floor. While his looped over itself in a puzzle of gravity, the Court’s was simply flat as far as the eye could see.

Six thrones erected without warning out of the ground nearby Clammy. Each seat was as unique as the being that sat within.

The first, God of Dirt and Stone, Hxut sat in a waterfall of mud and shale. The throne moved like flowing lava with melting obsidian, slow and with painful grit. Hxut himself was a being of clay, a humanoid man of giant proportions. He seemed to lounge as shards of shale scratched into his back, he even went so far as to shift into the sharp stone.

The Judge of Order was next. Tasitus sat on a throne of visual convictions. Words, thoughts, and feelings glimmered in holy light as the feathers of the righteous fluttered around. Yellow sight that pierced through all radiated from the God’s eyes. He was always watching, always judging.

Cazdis wore a veil of a thousand screams. Blood dripped from her shrouded face like tears of the recently deceased. The tears fell to her throne of bones where they would boom with power and the cries of newborn Eldritch. Hatred took form in a single breath, all of which were directed at Clammy.

Gaxitia the All-Seeing Presence sat on a throne of memories. Only Diviners would recognized the throne for what it was: everything, past, present, and future. The Goddess herself was an amalgamation of blind eyes. Grey eyes connected to thick veins that pulsed with mana, each drifting or spinning.

A single non-blind eye swiveled to look at Clammy when she looked at the Goddess. A moment later Gaxitia morphed into a woman with hundreds of eyes littered across her body. All at once the eyes winked at the ex-princess.

Sahhgen sat on the only throne that Clammy couldn’t consider a throne. The Goddess of Space and the Infinite Pod housed herself within a mound of dirt. Only part of her massive snail body was visible, the rest tucked away within the mound.

Sahhgen was the only God not actively watching Clammy. All of the others, even Hxut who was still enjoying a massage of stones, watched the defendant with careful consideration. Sahhgen, instead, was looking at herself through a moving set of linked portals. It seemed the Goddess’s hat was much more interesting than the subject at hand.

Lastly was the God of Death, Peneil. He sat on a throne of ash and shadows. The man took humanoid form as a shade of twisting darkness. Every now and then he would flicker and spaz, like a cramping muscle. The effect even drew the eyes of a few of his brothers and sisters.

Max and described the God of Death after his encounter in the God’s Domain. The way Max made it sound was that Peneil was sick or was disturbed. Clammy didn’t get that feeling from simply looking at the God in question, instead she felt Peneil was not really there.

Peneil watched on with distant hollow eyes. There was nothing of substance, just empty dead eyes.

“Hello.” Clammy said with a bow after drawing confidence.

For a brief moment, the darkness of the flat world flickered. Dozens of eyes of various colors and shapes were briefly seen before fading back into the nothingness. The others not wishing to be named had just showed their presence.

Tasitus cleared his throat then held up a hand, “All in favor of me being the leader for the fifty-five thousand one-hundred and eighteenth Divine System Court?” He spoke with a powerful chip, like a stockbroker that just made the sale of a life time.

A collective groan sounded from all of the other Gods except for Peneil. Even Sahhgen stopped grooming her hat for a moment to roll her snail-eyes.

“Trying to maintain your one-hundred percent leadership streak? How many have you been the leader for?” Gaxitia’s eyes shifted as she spoke and blinked to punctuate her sentences. Her voice was elegant however, contrary to her appearance.

“All of them.”

“Oh that’s right. I foresaw Ssawp being the leader once, but you bribed the rest of the Court. Shameful for the God of Order to bribe, is it not?”

Tasitus ignored his Divine sister, “… All in favor of my lead?”

Three hands rose, Hxut, Sahhgen, and the vocal Gaxitia. Two remained lower, Cazdis and Peneil. Cazdis obviously would prefer herself to be the leader, but she had already been out voted. Peneil didn’t even try to vote, he simply stared ahead.

Tasitus clapped once and looked to Clammy, “I, Tasitus, will be the leader of this court. The Divine here today have flagged the System spell ‘Dark Hole’ under the Godly Intervention Acord of the Era of Magic. The creator of such magic, Bella Salae, has been issued-“

The ex-princess interrupted, “Uh, excuse me. Sorry, my name is Clammy Salae… Well that’s not true either. Just Clammy, please.”

A silence stretched from the sudden disruption. Five of the Gods blinked at the mortal’s words like hearing the mumbles of a drunken fool. Peneil continued to stare blankly.

Tasitus cleared his throat, “The Creator of such magic, Clammy, has been issued before the Divine Court who flagged her spell-craft. Under the Godly Intervention Acord of the Era of Magic, the Divine members of the Court who flagged the spell have given their reasoning at the time of the flagging. Furthermore, God Cral has stated his opposition to the flagging under the Godly Intervention Acord of the Era-“

“Please, Judge.” Gaxitia said with a huff, “I’ve seen how long this intro goes on for, and it is not pleasant to anyone except yourself. May we continue without the long explanation formalities.”

“Seconded.” Sahhgen added.

“Agreed.” Hxut said.

Cazdis spoke through her veil, a voice like a cloud in a joyous sky, “Sorry Brother Tasitus, but Sister Gaxitia is correct with her assessment. We wish to end this quickly.”

“Fine.” The God of Order looked to Clammy, “Each God will explain their reasoning for flagging your spell. You will retort with a counter argument. If you fail to respond within three years, your counter argument is nullified for the corresponding God. After each of us have explained our reasoning, and you have countered to the best of your ability, we will vote on if or if not you keep the spell ‘Dark Hole’. Any questions?”

Clammy shook her head after thinking for a moment about her options. Three years to answer scared her, but then she remembered she was in the presence of Gods and that time probably moved differently.

“Good. Hxut will begin and I will end. You may start God of Stone and Dirt.”

Hxut, the man of clay, stood from his throne. He stepped onto the dark floor of white geometric lines, each foot step bringing along miniature quagmires of soft land. The God stepped before the other thrones and Clammy’s platform, he eyed everyone before speaking in a rough and dry voice.

“Is it true you are teammates with Lost Lord Max Fowler and fought with him in the defense of Esmel?”

Clammy did her best to hide her confusion, “Yes.”

“Did you know of the Lost Lord’s aim to return my Spade to the rightful Dwarven people?”

Again Clammy kept a mask of calmness, “Yes. It was a unanimous group decision.”

“And you had a vote in this decision?”

“Yes.”

Hxut’s clay body seemed to perk up, hardening to mimic his booming voice, “Good. I rescind my flagging of Clammy’s spell. Under the Godly Intervention Acord of the Era of Magic, I shall hold my position to vote.” The God turned to his Divine siblings, with what could only be considered a smirk, he spoke, “The defendant’s counter was simply too persuasive.

Whispers sounded above as dozens of the powerful murmured about the obvious favoritism. It was not the first time a member of a Divine Court purposely flagged a spell to vote for the spell to be returned. It was looked down upon, but there were few that could truly look down on a God.

With an annoyed sigh, Tasitus signaled for Cazdis to take front and center.

She stood from her throne and hovered down before the others. As she silently floated, blood rained in sullen dribble, each drop seemingly creating endless pain and suffering. Muted screams echoed across the black void, increasing with every passing second until the Queen of the Eldritch spoke.

“I have flagged the spell ‘Dark Hole’ because of the consequences it has created.” Tears began to flood her cheeks, “Without its intervention, my child may still walk this planet.”

When the Goddess didn’t continue, Clammy spoke up, “I was only doing what I knew to be right. Killing Eldritch gives extra experience, which implies the System considered them a taint.”

While she didn’t show it, Clammy’s heart pounded faster than ever before. Cazdis was one of the truly vile Goddesses and speaking directly to her was case enough for anxiety. But, Clammy felt her answer to be both satisfactory and correct… but in the end, it wasn’t up to her.

It was up to those before her.

“Insolent fool!” Cazdis lost her calming atmosphere, “How dare you not show remorse for what you did!? You killed a child, a newborn! You should be killed where you stand! A monster that kills children has no place on Nava!”

The Eldritch Goddess tried to continue, but a golden string of words wrapped around her head and mouth. For a moment the Goddess’s veil lifted, revealing a beautiful woman crying in immense sadness. She tried to fight the sudden Divine spell, but eventually conceded the floor and returned to her throne.

Tasitus cleared his throat, “A reminder. As leader I have discretion to intervene where I see fit. Cazdis will hold a penalty of one-hundred days of silence for her actions. Let us Divine not fall into the petty traps of immature name calling.” The God of Order made sure Cazdis nodded before finishing with, “Peneil, you are next.”

Peneil didn’t answer. He didn’t move. He didn’t acknowledge. He simply sat there, staring ahead. Whispers sounded from overhead, gossip and rumors already spreading.

Clammy didn’t know how long she stood there, but after what felt like an eternity, her legs finally gave out. She fell to the stone floor beside her podium and continued to wait. At some point her eyes met Gaxitia’s. The Goddess’s eyes blinked in rhythmic patterns, each casting their own spell independently from the others.

For some reason Clammy found interest in this. The Goddess of Divination was an elusive but well-known Goddess. She, like a few others, didn’t have an active floor within most major Churches. She had a simple shrine in a joint room with the others who wished to be congregationless, mainly because she didn’t need an extravagant legacy.

Gaxitia knew of the past, present, and future. She likely already knew the outcome of this Court, which meant knowing who was looking for Divine inspiration or guidance was well within her ability. She didn’t need a floor because she would only interact with those she found worthy. She knew all potential offerings, all present emotions, and all future actions someone would display in her name.

Only the ones she deemed worthy would be in her graces.

Tasitus eventually spoke, “God of Death, Peneil, has nullified his flag of the spell ‘Dark Hole’ by failing to speak his reasoning within three years. Gaxitia, you have the floor.”

“Wait.” Clammy blurted, “Three years has already passed? Wha-“

“Calm yoursssself, child of Navvva.” Sahhgen the Goddess of Space spoke, “Time movessss differennntly within a creation ssssuch as thissss. You will return within reassssonable time to your time.”

“Oh… That is good. Sorry for the interruption.”

Tasitus nodded and motioned for the All-Seer to stand. And she did, with the grace and poise of a newborn giraffe. The Goddess’s legs wobbled and stiffened at off intervals as she walked, nearly failing under the strain of a nearly normal body.

“I have flagged the spell because I was unsure of its origins.” Gaxitia explained, her eyes continuously blinking, “When dealing with other Diviners, our magic doesn’t always produce satisfactory results. I would ask for Clammy’s permission to look through her past. I will retain my magic to only the day ‘Dark Hole’ was created.”

Clammy nodded slowly, something not quite making sense to her. Back when she visited the Prophet of the Mountain, he had spoken about seeing her future plain as day. Now a Goddess is saying visions of Diviners can be foggy?

“Can you explain what you mean about dealing with other Diviners before I agree?” Clammy asked.

The Goddess nodded, “When a Diviner wants to protect certain… memories, they can protect them from the future. Thus, blinding other Diviners from seeing events. A future version of yourself has blocked others from looking back on the moment ‘Dark Hole’ was created.”

Clammy stammered, “Is that a bad thing?”

She wanted to ask how powerful one had to be to remove a Goddess’s view of certain events, but she thought it would be a rude question. That didn’t mean her mind didn’t explode with theories and ideas.

“It would be weird if you, as a powerful Diviner, didn’t block certain events.”

“I… see…” Clammy said thinking about why her future self would block such an event. Does she allow the Goddess to see her memories? Or was her future self-trying to stop this exact event?

“What will you be looking for within my memories?” The young woman finally asked.

Gaxitia hummed, “If the spell was truly yours – rather, current you, yours. In other words, I will be checking if a future version of yourself sent the spell to you.”

This seemed… reasonable to Clammy. She knew, seemingly better than anyone, that she had created Dark Hole by herself without Divination magic. Meaning future Clammy most likely had a different reason for hiding the spell.

“In that case, I agree to your request.”

Gaxitia smiled and held out a weak arm. Clammy matched the gesture and for only a heartbeat the two touched. Memories flooded Clammy’s mind’s eye. She relived the entire Goblin raid from the moment she woke up to the moment she passed out exhausted after a multiple hour long vision.

The Goddess saw this as well and understood. She pulled her hand back, cautiously returned to her chair, and sat down. With a sigh of relief, she said, “The spell was created by the correct Clammy, I rescind my flag.”

Tasitus looked to the snail Goddess. Sahhgen didn’t move from her mound like the others did their throne, but instead slithered and elongated her body until she was in the center of the black void. She quickly swapped to an Icey blue wizard hat before speaking.

“I have flagged the sssspell because of your relatiiiion to Lost Lord Max Fowwwwler. While I do not think it wassss maliccccious, I expect the Lost Lord’ssss knowledge from hissss home planet aided in your sssspell’s creation. While normally this is perfectly acceeeeptable, there are ceeertain clauses within the Ssssystem document, Lost Lord Ruling of Demep, that limit the sssstrength Lost Lord effect spells can have.”

“I’m not sure I understand.” Clammy said.

Tasitus cleared his throat, “Max Fowler has great knowledge. Things the people of Nava would never be able to grasp within their lifetimes. While we, and the System, allow some of this knowledge to grow and bloom into true power, some has to be held back. Goddess Sahhgen is the prevailing expert of the Lost Lord’s spatial magic; she wants to know if his knowledge effected your spell.”

“Correct” The snail continued, “’Dark Hole’ bounded againsssst what is posssssible through the use of ssssimple gravity magic. While rare and excccciting, ssssometimes the line between the two are closssser than they ssseem. Was the ssspell you casted gravity magic, not sssspatial magic?”

Clammy took a moment but said, “I created the spell using gravity magic. There was no space magic involved. I do not have the capacity to manipulate space.”

“But you have the knowleeeedge to create a sssspell that bends ssspace with gravity.” Ethereal hands quickly threw away the frozen hat and replaced it with a pure white one, “Can you prove that you would have naturally come to the ssssame sssspell without the Lost Lord’ssss interveeention?”

This question caused a ripple of whispers. In the end, like Cral had said, the System was the deciding vote of if Clammy would keep or lose her spell. Would the other Gods recent votes matter if Sahhgen’s question went unanswered? Would the System listen to the vote of Gods that purposefully ignored previous Court decisions? Would the Gods even vote for her in this case?

“I…” Clammy began, “I would have come up with the spell without prior knowledge of Black Holes, yes.”

“Explain.” Tasitus said.

“Max helped me learn the basics of gravity before my first visit to the Class Stones, that much is true. But I never learned the difficult aspects of Max’s knowledge. Hells, I doubt Max even understood what he was trying to teach me. He kept saying “I think” and “If I remember correctly” back then. He did give me the inspiration for Dark Hole, but I would have created the spell eventually because I saw a similar spell earlier that same day.”

“What spell?”

“The Guild Master of the Mage Guild of Lesterwood, Domic, has a spell where he essentially creates a miniature sun. As he compressed his flames into the ball, gravity shifted. It was slight, but enough for me to notice. The miniature sun had a gravitational pull, the very same effect I created with Dark Hole although on a much smaller scale.”

Silence reigned supreme as the Gods and the others thought through her response. Sahhgen slithered her massive body back into her mound and swapped her hat again.

Tasitus looked to Gaxitia, who nodded. The All-Seeing Goddess had just seen the entire day through Clammy’s perspective. The Goddess was only confirming that she saw the vary effect the miniature sun had.

“Alright.” Tasitus said after clearing his throat. He stood and calmly walked to the center of the void room, “My turn.”

The God of Rules and Order locked eyes with Clammy before expelling a mass of magical pressure. One-hundred anvils laid against Clammy’s shoulders, and she felt as if someone was striking her in the chest with a hammer.

“I always flag a spell if it is going to Court. I always ask the same question. Did you lie at all during this Court?”

“No-“ Clammy meeked under the pressure of a God’s focus.

Instantly the pressure rescinded, and the feeling of a perfect massage brimmed the ex-princess’s trudging muscles. The God simply smiled and nodded to the others before returning to his seat.

“With that, it is time for the vote. All against Clammy?”

Cazdis raised a dainty hand, her veil flowering with hatred.

“All for?”

Hxut, Gaxitia, Sahhgen, and Tasitus all raised their hands. Peniel did neither, instead simply staring ahead.

“Final vote four-to-one. The Divine Court finds you to be able to keep your spell, ‘Dark Hole’. But ultimately the System is the one true vote. This sometimes takes a moment.”

The six Gods and single mortal stared at each other for what felt like an eternity. This was, by far, the most awkward situation Clammy had ever been in. The moment ended with a shiny blue notification box.

The Highest Court of Nava has found the gravity spell ‘Dark Hole’ approved.

The Divine Court of Nava has found the gravity spell ‘Dark Hole’ approved.

Congratulations, the spell Dark Hole has been unlocked.

Note: Changes have been made by the System from the original iteration.

Dark Hole (Unique):

Category: Gravity Magic

Subcategory: Density Magic.

Pull the material world into a density unmated by most forces until it breaks a hole in space.

Density determined by mana used.

Pull determined by mana used.

Damage calculated based on affected mass.

Minimum mana cost: 275

Maximum mana cost (System Limited): 6,325

Clammy silently whistled at the mana cost for her newest spell. The base cost alone was nearly her entire pool, let alone the maximum. If she wanted to cast Dark Hole once, she would have to be prepared for mana headaches and chills. But such was the way of a [Gravity Mage], high mana costs for powerful attacks.

“It seems the spell was released. That adjourns the fifty-five thousand one-hundred and eighteenth Divine System Court.” Tasitus turned to Clammy, “On behalf of all of the Heavens, good luck young mortal.”

Clammy felt a cool hand pull her shoulder backwards off the stone stage, away from the wooden podium, and free from the Divine Court. Each God had a simple smile, except for Peneil and Cazdis, both of whom were already gone. The icy mountains briefly appeared before Cral, the God of War filled her vision.

“Congratulations,” He said with a wink, “Remember to train hard!”

Clammy didn’t get a chance to respond before she was thrown into a white void heading back to Lesterwood.