Zilliad hoped that Atma was going to crush everything, herself included. How could she go on without her uncle, Isaa, who had looked out for her since birth? Zilliad imagined that after this terrible war she would be able to build a relationship with Haboo, her father. But just as soon as she met the deity of the wind, Haboo was erased from Garsuna. Zilliad begged that the catastrophic impact caused by the pressure of miles of air being compressed onto a single point would pulverize her body, taking her to the realm of Kigulbisis to be with her kin. But it didn’t. In fact, the winds never reached the surface.

While Zilliad was pleading for death, she began to feel her senses reconnect with her mind. Zilliad felt the full strength of Cajo’s shadows and Mahon’s vines as they forced her body into the dirt. The screaming of the air reduced to a whisper as Zilliad halted the descending wind.

Zilliad was able to turn her head just enough to see that Sego had successfully confined Atma within a space-time seal, crafted from the material of a black hole. Zilliad felt the vines that held her to the ground recede and the shadows dissipate into the night as Cajo and Mahon also realized Sego’s success.

Sego clutched a clear sphere that appeared to be composed of glass. Around the sphere was a pitch-black band that was so dark, it seemed to pull all of the crackling, white lightning contained within the sphere, into itself.

Sego and Zilliad quickly flew to Cajo and Mahon’s side to stand between the Maker's balrog legion and the mine shaft that concealed the humans. The three deities brandished their tools towards the massive balrogs while Zilliad started to collect electricity from the surrounding air.

“Now that Atma is gone, we will make quick work of this legion,” Cajo stated before enveloping herself in the shadows.

Zilliad’s death wish turned into unbridled rage, and she ignited herself by sending a bolt of lightning to strike the ground beneath her feet. Zilliad began zapping between the balrogs, delivering fatally charged punches to their chests. With each punch, she released a pulse of static that disrupted the beasts' heartbeat.

Sego dove into the mineshaft and returned with the humans. They erupted from the vertical cave like lava spewing from a volcano. The humans' hollering dampened the clamoring of their armor as they advanced onto the balrogs with their weapons readied. Zilliad carried herself along the static currents of the wind, Cajo darted between the shadows, Mahon rooted the balrogs with her vines, and Sego commanded the humans to follow the least fatal path foreseen by his hourglass. By the time each balrog had been slain, the second sun was beginning to rise.

Zilliad released the lightning from her body and the euphoric feeling of having her body connected with the winds at a cellular level evaporated, replaced by total exhaustion. Zilliad sat on one of the balrog’s corpses as she wiped the beasts’ blood from her fists. The daughter of Haboo began to sob.

“I will truly never understand why humans cry,” Sego commented as he approached. “When we created the humans, we weren’t able to give them a formal directive like Tanpk, Maker of Control, can. We deities were tasked to find an alternative. Instead of a directive, we gave humans the ability to be aware of their own mortality, and then increased their emotional capacities to withstand the desire to better Garsuna for their predecessors. It is this core concept that drives human behavior, so why is it that they cry?”

“I do not know,” Zilliad said dully. “I cry because it hurts.”

“Hurts? You have not been stabbed; you have not been bludgeoned. What hurts exactly?”

“It hurts because I know that one of my own has found their end,” Zilliad averted her gaze from Sego as tears began to stream down her face.

“You mean your father, Haboo?”

“Not just Haboo, but Isaa, Sab, and Foal too. And all of the humans who have lost their lives fighting for the deities.”

“The deities are not gone, child. As for the humans, they do deserve your pity. The humans are forced to know only war and loss…”

Zilliad jumped to her feet, her exhaustion replaced with curiosity.

“What do you mean the deities aren’t gone?!”

“When the Makers created us, they were looking to replace themselves. The Makers couldn’t make a life that doesn’t extinguish for all of life comes from the burning of the two suns. But they were able to create a formidable spirit…”

“Just get on with it!” Zilliad shouted, stepping closer to Sego.

“If a deities’ soul is returned to Garsuna from Kigulbisis, they will be born anew!” Sego exclaimed, startled by Zilliad’s urgency.

Of what little Zilliad did know of Garsuna, she knew that Kigulbisis is the realm of the afterlife, created to keep the overflow of spirits out of Garsuna.

“How do we get into Kigulbisis?”

“There is only one way in and one way out, at the base of Mount Caxpa, created long ago by the Ruonians of old. A sealed door exists that connects the realm of the living with the realm of the dead. Though, I fear getting there may put the rest of us into Kigulbisis with the others,” Sego contemplated as he stroked the ball of plasma that was Atma. "Mount Caxpa will be well guarded by the Makers, having learned of our intentions of finishing off Garsuna, Maker of the World."

“What are we waiting for, we must retrieve them!”

Sego began to shake his head, “no, no, the futures that take us there only lead to our end. The hourglass shows me we cannot make it into Kigulbisis without the help of the rest of the deities.”

“Where are the other seven deities?” Zilliad eagerness to get started was practically visible.

“In the southern continent of Lamia, cultivating a larger force of humans,” as Sego answered, Cajo and Mahon neared the pair’s location.

“All of the balrogs have been vanquished,” Cajo announced proudly, “with only a handful of human lives' lost.”

“This is the first victory for the deities since the decimation of Natala,” Mahon said with a smile. “Finally, we have pacified another Maker. They will be slow to recover without Atma!”

Mahon considers this a victory? Zilliad thought to herself. They lost three deities and half their human forces just to capture one Maker.

Sego stared at Zilliad for a long time before announcing to the others, “Zilliad and I make for Lamia. Noies would have had plenty of time to amass a human army worthy of conquering Mount Caxpa. Then we will retrieve our beloved Isaa, Haboo, Sab, and Foal from Kigulbisis. Cajo and Mahon, you two stay here and hold Vatiguth until our return.”

“Right,” Cajo, deity of shadows, and Mahon, deity of plants, said in unison.

Sego held his stare on Zilliad, “with your winds to aid us, we could make it to Lamia by the day's end. We leave shortly, but first, allow me to place Atma somewhere safe.”

Sego vanished in front of Zilliad’s eyes, and she had to blink several times to make sure that it wasn’t some sort of trick. In the meantime, Cajo and Mahon disappeared down the mine shaft, towards the human army. Zilliad was left alone in the destroyed city of Vatiguth. The only thing that remained standing was the Harbor Office and the two ships that were far enough away from Vatiguth to have avoided any damage. Several minutes passed until the deity of time reappeared in the same spot he once was.

“Ready?”

Zilliad only nodded her head. Still weaponless and without armor, Zilliad thrust Sego and herself into the sky. Both the deity of time and the daughter of Haboo extended their wings as Zilliad formed an air stream that would carry them south over the Enratic Sea. Sego began to speak while Zilliad maintained all of her focus on the wind.

“The hourglass tells me Apena will stay in Mount Caxpa. Before you came to us, Zilliad, we had just reclaimed footing on the continent of Glotpon. We began this war with the intention of using Glotpon's central location to carry our forces across Garsuna. But the Makers forced us out quickly and pushed us south to Lamia. For over a year we have been fighting just to get back on Glotpon. When we finally did, Garsuna, Maker of the World, was gravely injured and fled to its home under Mount Caxpa, taking Ninecht, Maker of Health, with it to recover. You were born as we were pursuing the injured Garsuna.”

It wasn’t until Sego and Zilliad were halfway to Lamia that Sego finished. By this time, Zilliad’s body was so tired that it no longer felt like it was moving through air. Instead, it felt like Zilliad's body was moving through water.

“The hourglass shows me that Garsuna has healed by now. It also shows me that Tanpk will go to Mount Caxpa when it realizes Atma has been captured. The only way we restore Isaa, Haboo, Sab, and Foal is if we distract some of the Makers away from Mount Caxpa. I have searched enough futures to know that our best strategy is to divide our forces. One team will pull Apena and Ninecht away while the others meet Garsuna and Tanpk…”

“Have we not learned that splitting our forces only makes us weaker?” Zilliad snapped. “Is there a way where we can remain as one unit?”

“Isaa has influenced you to distrust me I see… No matter, there is a way. It will require a great deal of courage and no small amount of cunning,” Sego retorted. “We will discuss it more when we meet with the others."

Zilliad and Sego touched down on the shores of Lamia right as the first sun met the horizon. A family of kabudra cautiously watched the pair from the shallow waters of the Enratic Sea. The kabudra pointed their blue, horn shaped noses at the pair as the amphibians produced their light honks. The mixture of the kabudra’s honks, the chirps of the blaegaul, an avian creature that lives by the seas, and the lapping of the waves created a soft melody that began to lull Zilliad to sleep.

“There it is,” Sego said, pointing to the east, “Lamia’s port city of Kahetic, where we will find Joeb, Guth, and Tete.”

“And the others?” Zilliad pivoted in the direction of Sego's gesture.

“They are further from the oceans, protected by Lamia’s harsh mountains. They like to work under the cover of protection,” Sego's lips curled into a grin.

Zilliad and Sego walked on the beaches of the Enratic Sea, too tired to fly, until they reached Kahetic. Kahetic was splendid compared to Vatiguth. Instead of wooden sheds there were tall, stone buildings. There were even humans, clad in cotton clothing, walking along the cobbled streets whereas Vatiguth contained lifeless, dirt roads. The only luxury Vatiguth had Kahetic didn't was its harbor, and several ships were anchored off the shores to the north.

Sego led Zilliad around Kahetic, not bothering to go into the brightly lit section of stone buildings and avoiding the human traffic. Instead, the deity of time walked to the south, away from the beaches and towards a tall castle that overlooked Kahetic. Like Vatiguth, the deities of Kahetic lived slightly removed from their human companions within better accommodations. The castle in Kahetic was very similar to the one in Vatiguth, instead this castle had banners that hung from its pillars. The red banners, embroidered with gold, displayed a symbol that depicted a gray chisel crossing over a gray hammer like two swords.

“We are about to enter the home of Joeb, deity of craftsmanship and technology. Joeb has made many contributions to the War of the Makers. He crafted the first armor and weapons that the humans now use, he drafted the first human shelters, and he worked with Isaa to build the ships that transport the humans across the continents,” Sego explained as they neared the castle.

Sego approached the double, stone doors that acted as the entrance. As the deity of time opened the door, pitch black smoke began to flow out and completely enveloped the duo. Zilliad became disorientated as she began to feel a haziness in her web of wind and a depletion of oxygen. They both took several steps back to be clear of the putrid air. Two consecutive detonations rattled Joeb's castle and produced a shockwave that pushed more smoke out of the entrance.

A deity ran out of the black cloud that crowded the entrance of Joeb's castle. The deity wore a pair of tight goggles wrapped around his face, blackened by ash. The deity covered his face with one of his wings, trying to protect his respiratory system. When the deity withdrew his wing, he began violently expelling more black smoke from his lungs. The deity removed his goggles and started cleaning the soot from their lenses.

“I sure am lucky that you two opened the doors just now. I couldn’t see a damned thing!” The deity exclaimed with a laugh, “Tete must be close by.”