Cassy had her arms firmly crossed while she listened to her parents talk to Gaia. She had arrived inside the tower with them just a few moments before and was trying to wrap her head around their conversation.

“That’s exactly what we’re telling you! You infernal world spirit. You need someone who can help you! Your creator has been gone for long enough that you are allowed to pick a replacement.”

Gaia was standing next to James in one of her many adult forms. This one had raven dark hair and was wearing a kimono with a long colorful sash around the middle. Her arms were folded defensively in front of her chest and a severe scowl marred her otherwise pretty face.

“Um, what are we talking about here?” Cassy asked after another moment. “A replacement for what now?”

Everyone paused to look at her, the conversation grinding to a sudden halt.

“The system went down completely this morning out there. Dantanian has begun making his moves, so we decided the safest place for me would be here with Gaia.” She quickly explained. “I’ve been here for a few hours now listening to you all discuss and argue about one topic after another.”

“Well, I suppose that makes sense.” Her father agreed, motioning for her to come closer. “We were actually talking about the system going down and what caused its lengthy interruption when you interrupted.”

“Really?” She asked doubtfully. “It didn’t sound like it.”

Gaia glared at Cassy’s parents for a moment before sighing. “No, he’s right… after a fashion. The problem is some of the changes they got me to make require a bit more power than they were letting on. Even in my current state I don’t have nearly enough power to finish it. I can’t bring it back online just yet, and there are a few more changes that need to be made.”

Cassy groaned and rubbed at her eyes. “Really? Come on mom, dad? You know we don’t have time for you to be playing these kinds of games right now! Dantanian is out there causing all sorts of havoc with his own plan in mind, and you had you go and do something like this?”

“We did it for you, honey, and your kids.” Her mother gently explained.

“How?” She demanded in exasperation.

“Who is the only one who can display more than an infinitesimally small amount of their divine power here?” Her father, Conor, asked.

“Uh,” She shook her head in confusion. “The creators of this solar system and world. They are the only ones who can display their might without being kicked out of this portion of the dimension.”

“Correct, mostly. However, the original creator isn’t here, to provide the needed power to Gaia. Luckily, there is a backup system in place for when the creator has gone missing that allows a sufficiently advanced spirit to choose another administrative God to replace the original.”

“So, what, you want me to become the new God of Earth?”

Clara, Cassy’s mother nodded. “That was the general idea, yes. With your power and help, Gaia would be able to finish rebuilding the system shortly. Not to mention that you would have access to the power needed to stay safe from Dantanian. While you were here, at least.”

It was hard to argue with that. They were just trying to keep her safe in their own way.

“Well, as long as you weren’t angling for the positions yourself,” Gaia muttered, rubbing her arms.

James was ignoring their conversation in favor of studying the largest three-dimensional map of the world they had ever seen. There was so much going on at many of the towns that was worrying.

“What is he trying to do?” The necromancer muttered quietly to himself. “How does doing all of this get him closer to Cassy?”

He looked up and away from the giant map, a sudden thought occurring to him. “What’s the process like for becoming the new Godly admin, person, thing? Is it something that Gaia alone can do, or can it be forced? Is there maybe a back-way of going about it? Perhaps some sort of hidden third option he might know about?”

The four stopped to stare at him, paling as they realized what he was suggesting.

“You think Dantanian is trying to do something similar and take over the position?” Cassy asked with a haunted look.

“I don’t know,” He replied with a shrug. “I have no idea what’s possible. You were talking about it, and I was curious if it was possible, is all.”

“Mom, dad, Gaia, could he be right? Could there be a third option for something like this?”

The three shared a look and hesitantly nodded.

“Gaia would know for certain if there is a way for him to get around the restrictions,” Clara announced with downcast eyes. “But... I believe it is a distinct possibility.”

Cassy groaned. “Great, he’s going to either trap me here or use my family as hostages. This is just-“

Gaia tuned her out as she studied the map of the world. “There is a chance, not a large one, mind you, but a chance that what he is doing won’t succeed.” She pointed out the locations where marks had been burned into the surface of the world. “See these? They are supposed to line up, but they don’t, not exactly. He doesn’t know that I’ve been growing the Earth.”

“So, it won’t work then, right?” Conor clarified.

“I’m not sure,” The Grand World Spirit wailed, suddenly losing her composure. “I don’t even know how he knew about this method! This is something that no one should have known about.”

“We’ve all been around for a while, Gaia. There’s no telling where he could have come across the information,” Conor told her while studying the map. “Now, are you going to do something or just roll over and let him take control?”

Gaia sniffled once and stamped her foot with a sigh. “I would have preferred getting to know Cassy first, but at least she lived here for a while.”

Cassy shrugged. “I would have preferred to just keep living as a normal person myself. If you want to blame someone, then blame Dantanian. He’s the one who started all of this.”

Gaia glared at her. “You think I don’t know that? It doesn’t mean I can’t be unhappy with what I’m being forced to do.”

“Do you want me to go around and destroy a few of these marks?” James offered, seeing her hesitate.

“Yes, just do it carefully. Don’t let him see you.” Gaia watched him leave. “Come, let’s start the ceremony. It won’t fully stop him, but it will keep him from taking the top position, at least.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, he’s already started his own ceremony. It’s too late to stop him unless we managed to destroy the markers. All we can do is make sure Cassy comes out on top. Dantanian will be relegated to a mere managerial position with a small portion of the power she will possess. It’s not the way any of this was meant to work or operate, however, it’s the only hope we have now.”

“What does your version of the ceremony involve?” Clara asked. “We know there is a ceremony, but that is all. The world spirits are responsible for handling it, so we never needed to know what it entailed.”

“That is for Cassy and me to know,” Gaia replied tiredly. “Come, there is little sense in putting this off any longer.”

A hole opened up beneath the two of them and sent them hurtling down to the depths of the planet.

“It won’t be all bad, you know,” Cassy said as they entered the molten core and kept going. “I have several elemental attributes I can share with you that I’m sure you’ll find useful.”

Gaia slowed their descent. “You’d do that?”

The Goddess nodded. “It’s not something I’ll be able to share permanently, mind you. However, since I don’t currently have any other planets or world spirits under my stewardship, it isn’t a problem. Until that changes, I don’t mind sharing them with you. I would suggest doing what you can to either learn them on your own or adopt other methods of using them for once they are gone though.”

The Grand World Spirit brought them to a stop in the middle of the planet’s core. In the center was a small plain room covered in the runic language of the High Gods.

“I would like that. There are several things I would like to create, but currently can’t. There are even parts of the system I haven’t dared to touch because of that. I haven’t touched the inventory system at all for that exact reason.”

“So, you need spatial magic, then?”

“That is the one that intrigues me the most at the moment, yes. There are a few others that would prove useful for other projects.”

“Then that is the element we’ll start with,” Cassy told her with a smile. “Then we’ll go on from there when you are ready or have a need for a different one.”

“As simple as that?”

“I don’t see why not. If it creates a problem for either of us, then we can talk about things then. Until such a time, I’m fine with doing it in this manner.”

“You are making it incredibly hard to not want to work with you.” Gaia spun away and leaned against the closest wall. Her finger traced the nearby runes. “It’s hard doing this, you know. I know my creators have probably abandoned me, but that doesn’t make it any easier to reconcile with what we are about to do. It feels as though I’ll be giving up the last connection to them if we go through with this.”