Power Overwhelming

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”Fuck off.” The beastwoman in front of Narmada stated bluntly. It was almost refreshing. No one spoke to gods like that, and this was the second time someone rebuffed her rather bluntly just today. The other one, a witch of some sort clad in heavy illusions, had been a little less crude about it, but the message had been essentially the same.

It was rather gratifying to know Princess Ynnead was able to elicit such loyalty from others, even though this person was supposedly a rival of the princess. Or it could be just because she was belligerent and anti-authority by nature. The latter type usually didn’t take their obsession quite so far though, as pissing off a god usually trumped such petty short-term gratification. Usually. She hadn’t really expected much anyway, so she wasn’t really angry. The same could not be said of her bodyguard.

“Blasphemy!” The one with her stepped forward, and Narmada toyed with the idea of allowing the Gold Immortal to enact some repercussions on the woman for her impudence even if it was refreshing. She decided against it though and stopped the immortal with a small gesture.

“You don’t seem all too worried about picking a fight with two beings vastly more powerful than you.” She noted.

“You’re right. I’m not.” Envy replied confidently. Her ability was perfect for a situation like this. A victory might have been a bit too much to ask, but if the goddess thought victory would be easy, then she’d be sorely mistaken.

“Interesting. What has Princess Ynnead done to earn such conviction?” She asked curiously.

“Princess? Should’ve known she was born a royal. She always gets the lucky draw.” Envy muttered just loud enough to be heard. “I don’t know anything about a princess, but this person you’re looking for and I have history. History that carries more weight than the whims of some minor god. Now either let your guard pick a fight or find someone else to annoy. I’m running out of patience.”

“Very well. I got the answer I was looking for anyway.” In order to get the last jab in, and to not let the mortal’s provocation go completely unchallenged, Narmada waved her away like dismissing a servant.

Uncharacteristically, Envy decided to eat the small loss and just walked away. “What now?” The immortal with Narmada asked. They’d located all three of the targets she had detected with her spell.

“Now we wait. Either our true target can truly hide herself, or she’s not on this world currently. With what we’ve found out, she’s likely to return. Or come out of hiding eventually. Or one of the people we talked to will crack and try to approach our target in her hiding place. Any of these work for us.” She’d placed divine tracking spells on all three she’d approached earlier. The spells would also intercept any magical communications in case they tried to warn the princess.

“And in the meantime?” The immortal continued to press. They couldn’t stay in the Higher Planes forever.

“In the meantime, we’ll keep an eye on her associates. Even if these three are smart enough to avoid contact, not everyone will be. Or we’ll find another thread to pull on. While we don’t have endless time, we’re not in a rush either. As long as Tethrine is here, we have a good reason for staying as well. And if he leaves, we can always go to plan C. We can also work on plan B while we wait.” She hadn’t arrived on the Higher Planes without contingency plans.

The two were about to return back to where Prince Tethrine was, but Narmada suddenly stopped. “Huh. Didn’t expect to catch a lead this fast. The one we just talked to tried to send a message to warn our quarry. She was skilled enough to mask where her message was sent to, but not the contents. Apparently, Princess Ynnead is on this world after all." She waited for a moment in case there was a reply. "It seems the princess isn't stupid enough to respond or managed to mask her response. Still, it seems the two really have a friendly rivalry of sorts judging by the first message.

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“You little minx! You didn’t tell me you were a princess! A divine one at that! Why do you always catch the lucky things? Oh, and there’s a goddess and a pair of goldies here looking for you. Apparently, they searched for divine bloodlines or something, and I have a little bit of something-something in my veins as well.” Karna wasn’t sure how to react to Envy’s message.

There was a reason her current vessel was a princess, and that reason was because only a vessel like that could sustain her soul. Her current body was more powerful than that of one of the great dragons, though the power wasn’t quite as obvious yet. Random people wouldn’t be able to have a child like that. To say she wasn’t surprised at being royalty was putting it mildly. It was almost a guarantee. That was also why her previous lives had put her in similar positions. That and her excessive Karma.

That Envy was, well envious about it sort of came with the territory. The fellow sin wasn’t as bad as she used to be, but that didn’t mean her basic nature had changed. People that lived as long as the reincarnators did could change their basic nature, but the trait that birthed the Name in the first place would always be there. It might be suppressed, like her wrath, but that didn’t mean it was gone. Karna had changed more than almost anyone, and she still knew that her own wrath was there, hiding under the surface and waiting for a chance to be let loose. The same applied to Envy, only more so. She would forever be prone to looking at others and thinking that she deserved more. Especially so if she had been dealt a bad hand in this life.

Karna had done some looking into things, and it seemed Envy's tribe of beastmen had had a rough time. Things had changed for the better around the time Envy came around, but that meant that Envy had at the very least felt the echoes of the old bad treatment, and at worst was the reason that treatment had changed. Either way, her childhood couldn't have been simple. Reincarnators often got to experience shitty childhoods, and they grew to quickly overcome such odds. There was no way to avoid being born as a slave or something equally bad at least a few times, and you were either broken by the experience, or you learned from it. Or both. The two were not mutually exclusive. Still, that sort of beginnings was rather conducive to feeling envious about others who had been dealt a better hand in life. Especially as someone like Envy would be prone to only seeing the positive things about someone else's position. That's why she'd become so envious in the first place.

As for the goddess, it was nice to have a confirmation even if she’d already known about them. It was also nice to get a confirmation that they were here for her, and that they were openly looking. She could stay hidden for a fair bit of time. The wards and formations around the island would be enough to keep her hidden for years, which she could spend cultivating. Assuming no one made a mistake that revealed her location. Someone always did. And she had promised to work on the gateway, which would obviously not work.

Besides, she was sick and tired of hiding. She was patient, but while she could act carefully and with meticulous planning, that wasn’t her true nature. She was used to just acting and then dealing with any issues that crept up with either her power or skills. If she couldn’t overpower or out-skill her opposition, then she would be able to make a trade. She always had something to offer. She usually had a bag of tricks she could play, and that wasn’t incorrect this time either, but her tricks didn’t seem to be enough to deal with the shit she was mixed up with. Her birth had really made things complicated. Maybe it was time to just deal with that problem?

Maybe she should just face this goddess and see what she had to say? She could spend the rest of her life hiding away, or she could face the issue head-on. The current situation was about as good as it could be in case she was forced to go to the Divine Planes, and she now had enough power that she couldn’t just be ignored. She was a potential asset. “Zuellni. Send a message to Tsumi. Have her bring the Goddess here. Just the Goddess and not the other immortals. That’s my condition. If she can’t deal with it, then have Tsumi tell her that we can spend the next twenty years playing hide and seek. The gateway isn’t enough to keep me here, and I’m pretty sure I could convince our little Cobra Dragon friend to give me shelter, even if she’ll have a price.”

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Narmada had not expected her target to reach out to her, but she was positively surprised. It saved both of them a lot of trouble and showed a certain kind of judgement and confidence. Whether that confidence was earned and if that judgement was correct was still open, but it was a potentially positive sign. It was better if the princess could take decisive action like this. The condition to leave her bodyguards behind was somewhat expected, and something she could deal with. Narmada had brought the two along in case she ran into the Scourges or one of her rivals, and wouldn't need them during the meeting. They'd be close enough to react if something truly threatening showed up.

The woman who had introduced herself as the previous master of the princess, or Karna as Ynnead was known in these parts, brought her to an island off the coast of one of the still largely empty continents. She had to admit that it would’ve been a pain to try and look for the place without being led here, especially due to how new the world was. No one would notice an island that went missing, and the heavy formations around the island made sure this place would not be found by accident.

The island itself was relatively sizeable, though also relatively unremarkable in all but one regard. Power was thick here. The island was clearly located at the nexus of several ley lines, and the formations around the island, still unfinished as they were, refined all that power to something much purer. The air on the island almost felt like the poorest areas of the Divine Planes, though not quite. It was the most comfortable Narmada had felt since coming to the Higher Planes. There were several reasons why the Divines disliked spending a lot of time on the other planes, and why they had to rotate the Emissaries every few decades, but one of the biggest was just the discomfort that the lack of pure enough power caused them. Gods were even worse, though could make things easier with their own divine power.

Notably, a large pyramid-shaped structure floated above the island. She'd read reports of the 'tower' this 'Karna' had constructed, and it did not surprise to see the structure functioning as the core of the formations. The structure itself was a marvel of magical engineering and something she'd love to study for longer, but the presence of the tower signified a few things. It signified that the 'Karna' from the Magocracy and Princess Ynnead were the same person. It seemed unlikely that there would be two people with the same name and the same kind of tower on the Higher Planes. Which meant that either the princess had successfully lied to several higher-ranking people, or more than one person had filed a false report. Since Marius was their agent, it was doubtful he’d misinform their House, even if he didn’t reveal everything in his official report.

The bigger problem was the prince. While she had no problem believing the Prince would at least twist the truth, the Emissary had supposedly met with this 'Karna' personally. And he hadn't recognized another member of the royal family? That sounded implausible, to say the least. Narmada had read the report, and nothing in it implied this 'Karna' was the same person as Princess Ynnead. In fact, the report had quite clearly stated that while the two were similar, they were most definitely not related. Yet, according to her information, the prince had been quite convinced that he’d met the right person. That implied that the princess was capable of lying to those much stronger than her. Not only would that be a useful skill, but it also had further implications. Marius had reported that the girl had no connection with the Lady of Mercy, something the princess had denied outright, but if she could lie…

Narmada was led to a small gazebo right below the tower floating above. The Gazebo had a great view over the island while remaining largely hidden by the neighboring trees and vegetation. As soon as she saw the young woman sitting inside the gazebo, Narmada knew she’d found the right person. The likeness the young woman had to the princess’ mother was blatantly obvious, and on a closer look was like a younger copy of the Goddess of War and Beauty. A younger, and maybe even slightly improved copy, if that was possible.

Narmada also immediately noticed something that most others would’ve missed. As a Titan herself, she could sense the slightly metallic quality of the young woman’s skin, hinting at her Titan heritage. And was that Celestium she was sensing? There were exactly two Titans in House Titannica that could lay a claim to having a bloodline powerful enough to have their skin turn into the heavenly metal, and this half-blood girl had the same quality, even if it was immature?

“Princess Ynnead.” Narmada greeted with a small smile on her face as soon as the person who had led her here pulled out of earshot. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you in person.” The young woman was also most definitely a Godling, and a direct descendant of two gods at that. That much was obvious from her presence.

“I’m afraid you have me at a disadvantage. I can sense I’m in the presence of a goddess, and a hint of…fresh water?” The princess nodded in greeting of her own, though she declined to get up from her seated position, showing that she was not going to be deferential during this meeting. She had spine. Good.

“Sharp senses. I am Narmada, the Goddess of Rivers.” Her position wasn’t quite as prestigious as the God of Oceans, but she wasn’t a minor goddess either. “I am also associated with House Titannica, in case that means anything to you.”

"It does. I would expect that the House of my biological father isn't here to kill me at least." The young woman spoke lightly as if not really worried either way.

“That is a fair assessment, though I suspect most don’t even know your father is from our House. Even I do not know his identity.” Narmada was being truthful with her words. There were only a few options once you knew the father was a Titan, something she’d just confirmed, but there was still more than one possibility. They had known she would be one of them, as the father had revealed as much to the Head of the House, but it was nice to get a confirmation anyway.

“Yes, well, it’s not hard to figure out from my bloodlines. No doubt you already have noticed as much. I assume that was one of the reasons you came here?” The girl lifted one of her perfect eyebrows in question. She wasn’t stupid, that’s for sure.

Narmada easily sidestepped the question as it didn’t need to be answered. “Should I call you Princess Ynnead? Or do you prefer the name given to you on the Higher Planes? Or do you have a Name you’d rather be addressed by?” Just because Narmada herself wasn’t a reincarnator or even aware of them aside from what she knew of Blessed Children, that didn’t mean she didn’t know about True Names.

“Karna will do for now. Why are you here? Aside from making sure of my parentage that is.” The metallic feel from the young woman’s skin seemed to dissipate, showing that she had been broadcasting it on purpose.

Narmada chose her words carefully. “There are several ways this meeting can go depending on what you decide. If I got to have my way exactly as I want, this discussion would end with you agreeing to come with me to the Divine Planes.”

“And yet, that’s not the only option?” Karna asked with a bit of surprise in her voice.

“Not necessarily. Or at least not necessarily right now. Let me make my case first and we can discuss the finer details after. The recent expansion and trouble with the Outsiders and Scourges have distracted everyone, but the fact is that the Heavenly Emperor has ruled for so long, that it’s closing in on the time where he’ll have to name his successor. We’re not entirely sure when exactly it has to happen, as such rules are kept a bit vague for reasons we’re not fully aware of. However, we know it would have to happen in the next few hundred years at the latest, and will likely happen earlier. A blink of an eye in the life of immortals. The jockeying for position started thousands of years ago, but things will intensify in the next decades slowly but surely. That’s where your presence becomes important.”

“I’m a potential ticket for the throne. I assume whoever wants me is planning on challenging the previous emperor, but a succession complicates things.” Karna knew more of the succession than the goddess in front of her. It was something mandated by the royal guard, the most powerful force in the entire Divine Planes, and the purpose was to prevent stagnation and the excessive consolidation of power. At least that was what she’d been able to figure out in her previous lives. She’d never been the emperor, or even aspired to become one.

“In a way both hold true. Those that only want your children are aiming for challenging a new and inexperienced emperor, while for the House Titannica you personally could be elevated, bringing us into the position of Royal House as you're part Titan. For House Asuryan, you're one more potential contender for the position, but they don't really consider you a real threat. You're actually a potential asset in the future, but your blood also carries a risk if the other Houses get their hands on it. For some members of the current Royal House, you're also a potential weapon to be used against your mother. She's not actively vying for the position, and her imprisonment effectively prevents her from acting, but she's still a serious contender even as things are. And getting their hands on you could help in making sure she stays out of the running." Narmada was laying the cards down on the table in an attempt to test the princess. So far the young woman was not disappointing.

"I see. So you want me to join you because I could be the banner House Titannica could fly to regain their position as the Royal House. Or perhaps to help secure the cooperation of my mother? She seemed willing enough to deal with your House considering I’m here. I’m still too weak to make a run for the position myself after all.” The princess smirked a bit. So, she’d noticed that. Good.

"Quite true. We would prefer you on the throne as you're part Titan, but as you said, you're currently too weak. That's partially why we'd prefer you return immediately, so you'd have a better chance of reaching the level of power required in the Divine Planes. But we'd quite happily settle for your mother if that can't be arranged. There's also little point in trying to force you or extort your mother. We want your willing cooperation and a genuine alliance after all. Trying to force someone would only work until the moment you'd become the emperor, after which you could just order us all killed. It's questionable if such an order would be followed, but we'd rather not risk it. Besides, you're still one of us. You might not have spent any time with us, but you will once you come to the Divine Planes. You'll learn we're one of the most honorable Houses around." Narmada was quite pleased with the young woman's wit.

“I’m still not seeing a very good pitch for me to go with you yet.” Karna pointed out.

"As to that, I'll begin with two things. The first one is that the danger to you will keep increasing as time passes. I can help protect you for a short while, but not for long. Secondly, and more importantly, your mother can't leave her imprisonment until you return. She herself has implied that she will defy the order confining her once she knows you're safe, and not a moment sooner. And the longer you stay, the longer she will stay imprisoned."