Empire of Souls 172 Shadowy affairs 2

A frozen land, somewhere among the Heavenly Planes. It is a harsh domain where only warriors gather in mighty halls and regale each other with their tales of valor. Here, they fight endlessly and drown themselves in ale, and carnal pleasures. This is the domain of Woden, a High god and the sovereign god of one of the Northern Church's pantheons.

"Moksha, why have you come?"

Woden's voice boomed across a mighty hall which was the size of an entire mortal city. This was one hall among many in his domain, and he would often travel among these halls to revel with the souls of mighty warriors who have died in his service and have been rewarded with eternal life.

Who knew how many thousands or tens of thousands of warriors were present in this hall, and with Woden's booming voice, the hall had grown completely silent. The sound had been as raucous as an entire city of rowdy citizens, but now was so silent that you could hear the drop of a pin. 

Woden, who sat at one end of the hall on a grand and rustic throne, gulped down the liquid in his chalice before slamming it against a magnificent and intricately detailed wooden table. It was clearly not made of any normal wood, but from a divine tree. Distance was not important in this place, it didn't matter how far away Woden was or how large of a building they were in. If Woden wished all to hear his voice in his domain, then all would hear his voice. He could appear anywhere he wished in his domain and all would see him no matter where he stood if he so wished. He was the Law in this place.

At the entrance of the hall, Moksha had stepped in quietly and closed the door behind him. The sound was nothing compared to the raucous noise that had previously been deafening. None of the heroic warriors had even noticed him there, before Woden had called out. Of course, Woden had already known of his arrival and had given him permission to enter his domain. He had nothing to fear in this place and Moksha was a god like him. A certain amount of respect was due and they were not enemies. Not to mention Woden was quite curious why Moksha would pay him a visit. They had never had any real dealings before. Moksha was also something of a recluse, so for him to come here to meet with Woden was not a small matter.

"Please, no need to halt your revelry. I only wish to share a few words with you, brother Woden."

Moksha smiled gently and his words were calm and unhurried. His posture was humble and polite, no one would suspect him of any deviance just by judging his expression and aura alone. He appeared as he always did, with very little clothing and most of his body bear for all to see. Gods weren't affected by such things like cold or heat, so it didn't matter how he was dressed. He always dressed simply and had very little worldly attachments. When he walked, the faint image of illusory arms would shift and fade repeatedly. He appeared to have only two arms, but at other times six, and his presence was both wordly and ethereal.

"You all may continue with the feast! I will speak with you Moksha, but do not waste my time."

Moksha nodded and laughed, heading over to where Woden sat. His steps carried him quickly across the hall, each step made it seem as if he were teleporting a vast distance. Woden didn't stand, nor did he motion for Moksha to sit. He was mostly dismissive of him, as if whatever he had to say was of little importance to him. This wasn't how he truly felt though, just the facade he wished Moksha to see. He continued to drink and laugh with the heroic warriors around him. His long blonde braided beard was stained with drink and food, but he didn't seem to mind. His one and only visible eye was flitting back and forth in merriment.

Moksha didn't mind and sat down next to Woden from a seat he pulled out of the air. It materialized from nothing and was seemingly crude in appearance compared to the rest. He then proceeded to move his lips although no sound came out that any could hear. It appeared as if he were speaking to himself. Woden did not halt his revelry and if anyone saw, they would think he was completely disregarding Moksha. However, he was in fact very intently listening to Moksha's words. Only he could hear them and when Moksha finished moving his lips, Woden stood up in anger and slammed his fist on the table. The entire table which stretched the entirety of the hall collapsed, sending all in the hall into a somber silence once more.

"They must think that we of the Northern Pantheon are fools!? Fine, if this is the game they wish to play, then so be it!"

Moksha stood once more, his chair crumbling into nothingness, "You must act quickly."

Woden turned to look at Moksha with his one good eye in a serious manner, "Do not think that I will just trust your words."

Moksha shrugged, "It is up to you."

Woden scoffed and lifted the patch of his other eye, there was a dark hole where his eye should be. It swirled and seemed to hold infinite mysteries. With his eye, Woden could see many things hidden in fate, destiny, and even time. Of course, it was limited in many ways, but useful nonetheless.

"If what you say is true, then you have surely aided me. But… I wonder Moksha, what is your goal? I will not be a pawn on someone else's board."

"Does it matter? Either way, you can't ignore my words. What I want is not important."

Woden covered his eye once more and stared at Moksha for several moments before grunting and turning away from him. There were too many secrets hidden in his words and Woden was incapable of seeing through all of it. He could see some bits and pieces, but nothing deeper. It might as well have been as if he saw nothing.

"I won't see you out."

Moksha smiled gently once more and left without speaking another word. His reason for coming here had been accomplished and he knew Woden could not help but take the bait whether he wanted to or not. Woden watched him leave, no longer interested in the revelry. There was much on his mind and he could no longer engage in the revelry.

"Should I allocate a saint there? There are only so many saints that can be created. I was leaving one position in reserve, seems I might need to make use of it on the new continent. Only on the new continent is there room for growth and if our Northern church doesn't take this chance, we may be left behind. Only one of the worlds within the God Nexus are under our Norther Church's control. We can't afford to lose another world, otherwise we will lose influence on the council."

This was a difficult decision. A High god like Woden could only create three saints. Only a High god could create three or four. So the fact that Tihr had created a saintess on the new continent had initially been a surprise to the other gods, but ultimately it was his decision. Woden's saints were already positioned in important places where his attention was required. He didn't think that it would be necessary to send one to the new world since there were already many hands in the pot that was this new world. It wouldn't be easy for any one pantheon to control the situation, but things were spiraling out of control.

There was much planning involved in the endeavor and they had worked hard to gain a foothold and opportunities in the new world. Woden's ambitions there had almost come crashing down with the failed expedition, but he was putting in much effort to try to make up for the losses. He was able to gain some benefits and negotiations were continuing on the issue. It was without a doubt, a strange circumstance for Tihr and his saintess to become involved in the events that took place. Whether they wished to gloss over this detail or not, gods were not fools. The circumstances and new revelations revealed that there was more to this than many might have originally thought and Woden and his allies had used this to negotiate some terms.

But, it wasn't enough and Woden was not satisfied with the status quo.

"What are you plotting Tihr? Thanks to Moksha, I now know that you specifically created that saintess for the sole purpose of killing that demigod that ruined our plans. I can use this information to attack them in the council and hopefully get even more benefits. I will need to look into this further. It's not enough just for us to negotiate another expedition, but if I can find out what Tihr was truly after it might be worth it."

Woden's eye glowed as he calculated and divined some of the mysteries behind this incident. Unfortunately, much was shrouded behind a strange veil that could even deter the sight of his eye. It was clear that there were forces at work trying to keep anyone from learning the truth.

"I may need to speak with Yggdrasil." Woden finally said firmly. He could no longer look at this as a minor incident. It may very well be something which affected those elusive Elder god's who rarely ever made themselves known. Only they had the power to cloud his sight as his eye was unique and could discern many mysteries.

Chapter end