A Salamander, but Mighty

AUTHOR'S NOTE: The physical descriptions and body language of the deities were not written for a stylistic choice.

POV: Gornowayl

To the mortals, the Divine Court appeared as a series of large and splendid rooms decorated with precious materials, statues and mosaic windows; the reality however was that the Divine Court was a dark, black void, a fold in time and space where creatures with virtually unlimited powers gathered and manifested the fullness of their minds. Gornowayl had called all his peers for a meeting.

It didn't take long for his peers to arrive: soon a multitude of shapes appeared before his eyes, among these, that of Teityr was also present, the one who everyone had chosen as the speaker since his dominion was over Law and Justice, and was therefore considered a totally neutral being.

“What is the purpose of this meeting, Gornowayl?” Lyndvrath asked, looking annoyed in the eyes of the God of Heroes, “I have other stuff to tend at the moment."

“I guess you're still not over the fool you made with your clumsy attempt to choose a Champion behind the Court's back!” Another of the entities said, sneering.

Of all of the greater beings, Slaarvin was certainly the most diminutive, but also the most slimy and dangerous: if there was a way to circumvent the law of the Divine Court and pursue his shady plots of chaos and ruin, he would have found it. Of all the higher entities, he was the one who posed the most threat, his only desire was to make everything collapse into disorder, disgusted by any appearance of stability.

If he continued to pursue the path of annihilation, sooner or later they would have to vote together to confine him in the Grey Zone, just to prevent his nefarious actions from awakening the System. No one – probably excluding Slaarvin – wanted that, as the last time it happened, even many of the greater entities died or were greatly weakened by what they collectively referred to as the Transition to the New Meta.

And Gornowayl had the distinct impression that it was he who was stirring up the spirits of the people in the Kingdom of Heliolite in some way, he just didn't know how he did it, or when or where...

“Everything I was doing was regular! You are the ones who took her away from me unjustly!” Lyndvrath thundered, unleashing all the power of her consciousness on the other entities; the lesser beings began to screech in pain and writhe like masses, retreating from Lyndvrath as if their very existence might be torn to shreds by her might.

“Obviously, obviously, that was just a bureaucratic error, forms filled out with some errors…” Slaarvin became smaller and lowered his voice, not so much because he was feeling the power of his peer but rather because he found more joy in making people believe to the next person to be in control until he stabbed in the back. Gornowayl felt a pang of disgust at that thought… where was the fun in hitting someone when their guard was down and they couldn't react? Unacceptable!

“You were trying to make fun of us,” Groffward interjected, “you're lucky we decided not to proceed further with your violations.”

“Our noble lady has done nothing wrong!” One of the lesser entities exclaimed; the lesser entities were aligned with at least one of the major ones, and Lyndvrath had several of them, “she was planning to make the world a better place thanks to her Champion!”

Those who supported Groffward exploded almost all at once, their superhuman consciousnesses moving to defend their superior as if he really needed it, their high otherworldly voices mixing with those of Lyndvrath's defenders in a sound that almost seemed like a devastating earthquake.

The situation was getting out of hand, and Slaarvin was enjoying every second of it.

“ORDER!” Teityr thundered, vibrating his voice with such power that it reverberated within the spirit of all the entities present, “we shall have order!”

All entities fell silent.

“Proceed with why you requested this meeting, Gornowayl,” Teityr said in a calmer tone.

“There are events happening in the Heliolite Kingdom that have caught my attention and should catch yours as well. The last time we came close to a Transition was when the Heliolite Empire was at the height of its military campaigns and had come to threaten the realms of the Northern Continent.”

“And what would your concern be, Gornowayl?” Slaarvin asked, his voice was low but there was something defiant about it, “even if it were, what do you think we should do? Personal intervention in the affairs of mortals is against the law.”

“I know well, Slaarvin,” Gornowayl said, after all, I'm already doing what I need while I'm keeping you distracted, he thought smugly, “however, I want to point out to our peers that a Transition to the New Meta is not to our benefit, and we should think carefully about whether to temporarily abrogate parts of our agreements to prevent such an event from even having the slightest chance of occurring."

“See? If you had let me choose my Champion as intended, we wouldn't have to think about this issue now,” Lyndvrath grumbled, “I could have simply ordered her to settle the matter, as I planned to have her reincarnated into the high nobility in the Eastern Continent."

“If you had reincarnated her as a human she wouldn't even be a year old now, what on earth could she have done to resolve this situation?” Groffward asked, “and I agree with Gornowayl: if the Kingdom of Heliolite were to fall back into his imperialist ambitions, it may be a situation that requires our direct action.”

Slaarvin looked indignant. “In this way we risk mortals thinking that their gods will always intervene to solve their difficulties. It would be like establishing a benevolent tyranny.”

Silence among those present.

“It wouldn't be as interesting as seeing what they do without more explicit direction from us.”

The entities nodded to each other in agreement, Gornowayl himself found himself nodding.

"So? What would the options be?” Asked Zelrotha, the entity most revered by wizards, “it is yet to be understood what exactly killed Prince Wilfrod of Heliolite.”

“Beyond the fact that he was incredibly talented and was building his class very carefully, Wilfrod was anything but invincible,” Groffward commented with veiled displeasure, “he was such a promising fighter. What a waste."

“Of course, but to kill him in one blow and without a trace, his opponent would have to be an incredibly powerful monster, if not an ascended monster,” Gornowayl replied, “Something… or someone, intervened to put the much more sinister Dyenna on her path to the throne.”

“What are you trying to say?” Teityr asked, “that any of us are involved?” His tone became menacing, deep, a warning of what would be the fate of the entity that was breaking the law… and also that of those who were baselessly claiming that some of them were breaking it.

“I'm just saying that after the fact we couldn't find any monster nearby that had enough power to kill that mortal,” Gornowayl murmured in a lower voice, awed.

“Perhaps it is an extremely elusive monster,” Slaarvin offered, the power of his mind becoming a little smaller, “some ascended monsters have reached a level where they appear almost like divine beings.”

“But those ascended monsters are loners and don't care much about major events on the continent,” Zelrotha objected. “I propose to assign a guardian spirit to meet and speak with Dyenna, let's try to contain the problem without interfering too much.”

“If I may,” Slaarvin began to say, “I would propose that Vallagrad speak to the princess. His domain is the high defensive walls of Khalrinda, so he may meet the mortal directly in her family's home.”

“Mh… yes, yes,” Teityr's consciousness nodded a few times, “very good. For the moment we will simply observe without intervening directly, Vallagrad will be tasked with assisting the mortal to ensure that her actions do not cause chaos and devastation as the First Heliolite Empire did in the past."

Velen in the meantime had finished speaking with Luchael and therefore Gornowayl no longer needed to keep the other entities' attention on him, his mission was accomplished.

The one referred to as the God of Heroes looked in Slaarvin's direction: his mind was enjoying the discord that was taking place both in the mortal world and in the higher planes.

I can't wait to see your conscience get dragged into the Gray Zone, you little snake, he thought as the other returned his attention by bowing his conscience with the same poise and seriousness of a court jester.