Touch of Fate 145 A Change of Priorities

"I'm sure you are all aware of the reason for this meeting." Aminatrea, Goddess of the Sun, spoke in a solemn tone, "Our ancient foes are finally stirring, and it won't be long their minions become capable of breaching the boundary into Ea. We have a few years, a decade at most, before the invasion begins."

"So, what's the plan?" Teun, Goddess of the Earth asked.

Aminatrea opened her mouth to reply, but was interrupted by the slender youth to her right.

"Besides running away, you mean?" Mone, one of the twin Gods of the Moon, answered.

"Are you suggesting we abandon our world? Everything we've built?" Aminatrea replied icily.

Lysande, God of the Stars, broke in. "You are both forgetting that we are irretrievably tied to this realm, and the system that governs it. We cannot escape without sacrificing a great deal of our power. Assuming, of course, it is even possible."

"Your fools if you think we can confront their combined might in our weakened state. Even should we succeed in throwing them back once, it will cost us almost everything. It will be a challenge to even survive the struggle. And then who will stop them the next time? No, we need to consider exit strategies, and I, for one, pride myself on always having an escape plan." The Moon God said with a smirk.

Sparing the youth a level gaze, Lysande replied. "You're speaking of the device you've hidden in the depths of your Divine Realm, are you not? Do you really believe it will save you from what is coming?"

Mone's eyes turned pitch black, as his face elongated, forming into a set of snarling jaws. "How do you know about that?!" He growled menacingly.

"Who do you think built it in the first place?" The God of the Stars answered with a dry grin.

With groan of frustration, Mone vanished and was soon replaced by his sister, Mona who took up his seat, before speaking, "We always knew creating the System would limit our options, so it should be a surprise to no one that we must now face the consequences. However, I have a hard time believing that none of you have thought of a solution to this impending crisis."

"We may have spent much of the last ten thousand years marshaling our forces, but even in our prime we were closely matched. Now...." Lysande replied quietly.

"What of our appeal to the Ancient Ones? Have they come to a decision?" Mona asked in regards to their plea for intervention that dated to the time before Ea's creation.

"I sent another message when I detected the quake. However, I have received no reply. It seems we must face this on our own." Aminatrea answered, bitterly, causing the assembled gods to exchange concerned glances.

"This one has a suggestion." Yilon, God of the Void spoke in his monotone, buzzing manner.

Teun grimaced. "So help me, if you suggest we embraced the inevitability of oblivion, I will find a way to hurt you before this is over."

There was a pause before the floating orb of darkness replied. "This one rescinds the suggestion."

"That's what I thought. Does anyone else have any bright ideas?"

Silence descended on the group, all of whom were at a loss. Finally, an unlikely commentator broke in.

"What of the inhabitants of Ea? Can they not assist?" Barth asked from his position in the shadows along the rooms' sides.

The five Creator Gods looked at the speaker incredulously. This was the first time in millennia that the dedicated servant deity had spoken out of turn.

"Are you crazy?" Teun started. "Do you really think a bunch of mortals can stand against their armies?"

"Alone? No. Divided as they are currently? Certainly not. However, should they unify behind the banner of a particularly powerful individual, one who can lead them to victory, then I believe they would be a force to be reckoned with. Isn't that the reason you tried to grant the Heroic Destiny on that mortal child, Lady Aminatrea?"

All eyes swept towards a new target. "As I have said before, I bestowed the destiny so that he might confront the Demon God Anhilus, should its followers succeed in summoning it. However, knowing that our enemies were stirring, I had hoped that the Hero would unite the forces of Ea in the coming conflict."

"Which would make sense, if not for someone stealing the destiny." Teun growled. "So we are back where we started, or actually worse, since we have to contend with the variable of an unknown and potentially hostile Hero. For all we know, he or she could be an agent of the enemy, set to strike us at our most vulnerable."

Barth chuckled in a manner that could be construed as impolite, something that he had not done since taking over the Convergence. "My lady, there are many possibilities concerning the current Hero. One of which is that he or she will stand in the defense of Ea. Rather than mourning the other outcomes, why not work towards ensuring the one most favorable to us? Why not ensure that this Hero will stand with us during the coming conflict?"

This caused some consternation among the assembled gods, as it was an option they had not considered initially. After all, why would they lower themselves to begging for the assistance of a thief who had stolen the Heroic Destiny from its chosen recipient?

"It could work…" Lysande muttered. "The enemy will be forced to break through the barrier to reach Ea, leaving them weakened. If we can direct the fight into the mortal realm, they would also be restrained by the System. With a sufficiently large force, properly prepared and led by an experienced Hero, we might be able to deal them a heavy blow. One that would take them millennia to recover from."

"There is a lot of uncertainty to that plan." Mona commented quietly, before shooting a glance at Aminatrea. "How has your investigation of the Hero gone? Are your followers any closer to determining his or her identity?"

Trying not to let her own misgivings show, the Sun Goddess replied. "My followers have been able to determine two things. First, while his identity is still unclear, it appears that the current Hero is a young human male. Second, he was directly involved in halting a ritual to summon Anhilus in the middle of the city of Wyrport."

"That's a good sign!" Teun broke in.

Lysande nodded thoughtfully. "There is still the possibility that he did so for his own purposes, but I agree that this increases the likelihood of his cooperation. Have you made any progress on making contact with him?"

Aminatrea hesitated briefly, before answering. "I had one of my most loyal angels descend into a mortal form to pursue him. As we speak, she is currently on her way to his last known location."

Her furtiveness was noticed by the wily Moon Goddess, whose face broke into a mischievous grin. "Oh? Pray tell, who is this loyal angel? Surely you must have chosen your most competent follower for such an important mission."

If a goddess was capable of blushing, Aminatrea certainly did so, staring daggers at Mona before clearing her throat to answer. "Yes, well. You all must understand, I was a little short on manpower…"

While massaging her temples in an effort to stave off a coming headache, Teun sighed in exasperation, "Please, please tell me it wasn't that fool Cariel."

Aminatrea fidgeted quietly in her seat, eliciting a round of uproarious laughter from Mone, who had evidently finished sulking.

"Is she at least on track to meet up with him?" The Earth Goddess asked hopefully.

There was another pause, while Aminatrea refused to meet any of their gazes, "Well, it's a little hard to say this, but she may be slightly...kind of…..lost."

Mone's laughter only got louder.

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Arms aching from the effort of baling the seawater out of their lifeboat, Julia took a moment to regard her companion, the angel Cariel, who was lying in the bottom of the tiny vessel in a stupor. For the hundredth time today, she considered dumping the troublesome woman overboard, but once again restrained herself. She was already cursed, the last thing she wanted to do was to bring down some kind of divine judgement by killing an angel.

Looking down, she saw the boat had already started filling up again already. Suppressing the urge to cry, Julia resumed the hopeless effort of moving the seawater with the battered helmet she'd scrounged up.

It had been a difficult couple of weeks for her. Cariel's gold nuggets turned out to be made of Liar's Gold, a worthless mineral that merely resembled the precious metal. As such, the beastman and angel duo had been forced to work odd jobs until they had enough money saved up to buy passage to the capitol on a merchant vessel.

Things went smoothly until the ship hit open water, where they were almost immediately set upon by pirates. Despite the crew's best efforts, they were overtaken and boarded. During the ensuing fight, Cariel, who had been single handedly defeating most of the enemies, was crushed under a particularly obese pirate. The spherical man was launched from a specialized catapult-like device, seemingly built expressly for the purpose of throwing him into battle.

With their strongest defender unconscious, the merchant vessel was quickly overrun and all surviving crew members captured, to be sold into slavery in the nearest pirate port. Julia and the sailors were spared from this fate by one far worse.

Right in the midst of their post-victory monologue, the pirates were interrupted by a violent impact as the merchant ship ran aground on a newly revealed rock formation. While the confused mix of pirates and sailors were in the middle of trying to figure out this strange phenomenon, the lookout sounded a general alarm.

On the horizon, but swiftly approaching, was a wall of water that could only be a tidal wave. Panic ensued, as everyone on board tried to find a way off the stranded vessel, Julia among them. Swimming had never been her strong suit, but she had luckily managed to secure a place on a lifeboat before the wave hit. The merchant vessel and pirate ship were almost immediately capsized by the hundred meter tall wall of water, doomed by the same grappling lines that had been used during the attack. Even Julia's lifeboat had quickly overturned, and only by virtue of her death grip on the planking, was she able to avoid a watery demise

Once the wave had passed, Julia was able to right the boat and take stock of her surroundings. It was almost as if the sea had been wiped clean, as only scattered wreckage remained of the two ships which had been previously occupying this patch of water.

While she was still adjusting to this sudden change in fortune, the lifeboat bashed into something. Terrified of running aground once more, Julia went to investigate, only to find the unconscious form of the angel, who had been floating face-up until the current had pushed her against the small vessel.

Cariel hadn't woken up during Julia's lengthy struggle to pull her into the boat, nor during the beastman's round of cursing once she'd discovered the leak caused by the impact.

Without an oar, the pair had been left to the mercy of the current, Julia fighting a losing battle against the encroaching seawater. It was a truly hopeless situation.

Julia grumbled to herself while working. "Damn angel and her insane mission to follow some damn adventurer to the damn capital. I could have been living the high life by now if it wasn't for that idiot and his damn demon curse." She knew this was probably incorrect, but didn't care at the moment.

With a crack, a section of the boat broke, letting a flood of water in. Julia could only stare for a moment, before throwing her makeshift bucket down in rage. "Argh! It's so unfair!"

A distant male voice sounded from behind her. "I don't mean interrupt, miss, but it seems you are in a bit of a bind. Would you perhaps like some assistance?"

Feeling a sudden surge of hope, Julia spun, nearly falling over in the process. "Yes! Please! We need help…."

She trailed off when she caught sight of the speaker. A weathered old man was standing at the prow of a battered Theldon ship. A handful of ragged men lined the railing, glaring at her in a menacing manner. Even without seeing them in action, Julia knew exactly what kind of people had 'rescued' them.

The old raider from the Barren Isle grinned at her expression. "Ah, that's a common reaction. But fear not, the Kirathi aren't without honor. You're in luck, actually. We've recently changed our ways. Of course we aren't so rich as to offer you passage for free, but I'm sure we can come to an arrangement."

[Kirathi?]

Julia was thinking of a suitably diplomatic response when the deadbeat angel finally saw fit to wake from her stupor.

Cariel sat up and blearily stared at her surroundings. "Eh? What happened? I had a dream about being crushed by a giant pillow." Her gaze fixed on the approaching raiders. "Ah! More pirates! Excellent, I've been meaning to try a new take down maneuver. Come at me, sea varmints!"

Suppressing the urge to cry once more, Julia sat down in the rapidly filling boat, and decided to simply wait for whatever was about to come. Maybe drowning wouldn't hurt too much?

Chapter end