Shattered Moonstone

Jaki’s leg bounced under the table as she sat at the head of a large table used for the meetings in the shared realm, trying desperately to hide her nerves as all the divine in the realm looked to her. 

I never wanted this! she nearly cried under their scrutiny. Jaki never liked being the center of attention, even when she was a mortal she never wanted power or fame, she just wanted the best for the people around her! she never asked them to worship her! 

And now here she is the leader of the shared realm! This is all Soter’s fault, he’s the one who pushed this onto me! She would have glared at the shriveled even man… if he wasn’t so damn scary that was. but really what was he thinking of nominating her of all people to be the leader of the holy court? 

He or Siofra would have been much better choices! Or Veritas, she was an elder god with two domains too, but Jaki? She was just a minor god with a single domain, it wasn’t even a powerful domain at that. 

Jaki of the blue moon, goddess of fertility, not exactly impressive; certainly not fit for leadership even during times of peace more less during an all-out war between the divine of the world. hell’s even Ashmit has proven to be more useful than her in keeping order in the shared realm!

Oh no, they are all looking at me again! Jaki could feel her heart rate spike as she realized everyone at the large table was looking at her… waiting for her! Why is this happening to me!

“Breath.” Vala’s gruff voice was a low whisper as Jaki felt a calming hand on her back. as she felt the calming presence behind her Jaki relaxed a little, taking a deep breath before beginning.

“Th… Thank you all… For coming.” Jaki tried to project her soft voice throughout the large room, though she could do nothing for the slight quake in her voice as she shivered in her seat. Looking down at the table before her, her large ears flopping down in front of her face as she continued, “So… before we begin… has, I mean does anyone have questions? Concerns… for the shared… realm they would like to discuss?” She managed to stammer out.

“Speak up child.” The gravelly voice boomed through the room causing Jaki’s whole body to stiffen as her eyes snapped up to meet Karaths eyes across the table, the dragon Devil’s golden eyes locking her into place as he glared at her. Even in his human form, sitting with his arms crossed, the man exudes an overwhelming aura, “have you called us all here to waste our time again.” He narrowed his eyes.

“You're scaring the poor girl,” Ashmit laughed from beside the other Devils, “come now, friend, let her speak.” The large purple oni placed a hand on the dragon man’s shoulder only to pull back when the dragon turned his piercing gold eyes on him. “Well, someone woke up on the wrong side of the hoard today.” Ashmit chuckled, “just be patient, I am sure our fearless leader has something important to share.” 

Even from across the table Jaki couldn’t help but shudder as Ashmit smiled at her. They are all so powerful, even from here… Why did I have to get tangled up in all this! For a long moment they just sat there, everyone still staring at Jaki and she didn’t know what to do.

Then a sharp cough broke the silence and everyone’s eyes snapped to Soter who was hacking in his seat, the sky above them shimmering as his barrier deflected… Something, while Siofra sat beside him, patting the shriveled form of her brother on the back.

Whispers ran through the room as the impending doom sank in, Soter was losing his battle with the other Divine. Growing weaker by the day and soon… soon nothing would stand between them and the other gods.

Jaki could feel her own pulse quicken again as she looked to the shriveled form of an elder god, a man with not one but two domains that both were far more powerful than her own, and even he couldn’t keep this up. Something had to change… something was changing, that’s why they called this meeting after all.

Jaki cleared her throat, slowly standing up beside her seat as she tried again to project her voice. “Our… situation is dire…” She started out sheepishly, her voice quivering as she attempted to compose herself. “But…” She looked to Siofra whom she normally had taken over talking at this point, but the elven woman was preoccupied with her brother.

Veritas! Jaki looked at the tall bird woman sitting a few seats away from her. 

Veritas nodded, standing from her own seat and Jaki couldn’t help but be relieved, if it weren’t for the three elder gods, and Ashmit she would never be able to do this.

“Siofra, Soter, Jaki, Ashmit, and I have found a way to contact Eryl on the mortal realm. We have called this meeting to discuss our next steps.” Veritas’s calm voice filled the room as the woman stood, her large black wings tucked behind her as she addressed the divine of the shared realm. “We are unsure as to if the Admin will be able to assist us, but we are hopeful that either her, or the Deities will be able to lend us a hand with our current predicament. But we understand that it has been nearly five years since anyone has had contact with Eryl and wished to let everyone know that we have a line of communication open now, though for certain reasons we cannot share it with everyone as we do not wish to bombard her with questions.” Veritas held a hand up to silence the coming questions, “we ask that if you have questions for the Admin please bring them forward and we will relay them to her. But understand our situation and be patient, as our main priority is our safety within the shared realm.”

That declaration was met with… mixed understanding. Most of the gods were upset that they were not willing to share how to contact Eryl with everyone but after yesterday Jaki could understand. Even now she could see the red eyes that bore into her mind, and she had no desire to ever be on the wrong side of that… creature. Hecatolite… I should remember that name, and never cross that thing. Jaki shivered as the other gods argued, though surprisingly the three Devils remained calm, whispering among themselves as the room was thrown into chaos.

Just how can they be so calm? Jaki couldn’t help but wonder as she watched a smiling Ashmit whisper to the other two Devils. Is he going to tell them how to contact Eryl? The thought flashed through Jaki’s mind and was just as quickly dismissed. Ashmit may be a Devil but he has proven to be a rather honorable man, not that she would say she trusted him. Something about the Oni just… bothered her, as if he truly believed he was better than everyone else and he was just playing with the world around him.

“Every… Everyone please,” Jaki’s soft voice was quickly drowned out as the arguing became more heated and she just didn’t know what to do about it. Fighting never helped, they were gods they should be able to talk though this!

As if in answer to her silent prayers the air itself exploded in the middle of the table, an ear splitting thundercrack silencing the room as everyone looked up at the floating red terminal that just sat there motionless.

That… Isn’t a world terminal… Jaki thought as she looked at the red glowing screen. Something about it felt so different than the system terminals she was used to, but what? 

“What is one of Hecatolite’s terminals doing here?” Sofria broke the silence and Jaki’s eyes went wide.

It was… her terminals… meaning not a system terminal but… how?

The terminal slowly turned to face Siofra and Soter who were still seated. “Siofra and Soter.” The voice that came from the terminal was not natural, a low robotic rumble that seemed to echo as it spoke. “Prepare for an influx of Aether.” It said bluntly.

“An… Again!” Siofra sprang from her seat, pulling her brother up who looked just as concerned as she did. “Right now! Here! Wait, we need…” Siofra’s voice trailed off as her entire posture changed, her back straightening as clutched her hands into fist. “oh.” She said in a low, almost husky voice as stood visibly shaking. “This… is a… lot stronger…” she let out a gasp as she leaned forward, placing her hands on the table to steady herself.

Soter however went completely rigid, his shriveled from just collapsing to the ground with a dull thud as the man seemed to pass out. 

“Siofra what is..” Jaki ran to them only to stop once she got close. Looking down at Soter she could see black lines webbing across his exposed skin, his wrinkled face looking as if it had been cracked as he lay motionless on the ground. “what is going on?” she stepped closer and she could feel it radiating off the two, like a pungent smell that filled the air, the aether, the… lust. 

Jaki wrinkled her nose. As a bunny kin, and the goddess of fertility she could tell certain things about people. things like their cycle, and if they were pregnant or not; on top of being a beast kin with heightened senses for things like hormones and the like; it was surprising to smell… this from elves. If she didn’t know better she would say they had both gone into heat, but elves didn’t mate like that… or she didn’t think they did?

Looking up at the terminal she heard Veritas asking it a question though the terminal had gone dormant. Trying to summon her own terminal Jaki was met with a normal blue terminal that… just sat there, glowing in her hands but not displaying anything. not her prayers, or messages, nothing was working… “What the hell is going on?” She asked as she looked up at Siofra who was now breathing heavily.

“Hecatolite… is… mating again.” Siofra ground her teeth. “when she doses, she loses control of her Aether so the system diverts it though her blessed.” She started in a quick breath as if talking was taking a whole lot of her focus. 

“Is that why the system isn’t working?” Someone asked in the still room, Jaki couldn’t be sure who, but Siofra nodded slowly.

“Most likely… The last time the system warned about an “influx of aether” like that, she ripped a hole in the moon.” 

Jaki was sure they continued talking after that, but she couldn’t focus on the conversation as she looked up to see the barrier that protected them shimmering high above them. the normally transparent film like magic now a rainbow of colors as it blocked out the sky. 

“Would you look at that?” Ashmits voice was laced with amusement as he appeared next to her, pointing down as Soter drawing Jaki’s eyes down to the still unconscious man.

She could see it, the black lines pulsing on his skin as they grew ever so slightly. With every pulse it was as if time itself was reverting. The now elderly looking elf slowly… reverting back to a younger form. His nearly white wispy hair straightened as it became a golden blond, the wrinkles on his skin softening before finally vanishing completely leaving him just as handsome as the day he arrived in the divine realms. His soul itself popped and cracked as the hunch in his back snapped into place and his limbs seemed to straighten themselves into the proper place.

“wha…”

“His appearance changed because he was running out of Aether.” Ashmit said with a wide grin, “but now he has an abundance of it, so he is reverting to his godly form. It seems we have at least found a temporary fix to our barrier problem.” He chuckled as he leaned down and grabbed the unconscious man only to drop him on the floor again, his hand snapping back as he hissed. 

For the first time Jaki had seen actual pain on a divine’s face as Ashmit looked at his hand, “Just how powerful is she. It actually burned me.” He said looking down at his purple palm that had a few slightly puffy dark spots on it. 

just touching him burned his soul? Jaki’s eyes were wide as she looked at Ashmits palm. No, that can’t be right, “what did you try to do?” Jaki asked.

“I tried to absorb some of the runoff power, he is very literally leaking aether right now so I figured maybe I could take some, but apparently it didn’t like that.” he hissed, shaking his hand. 

“Hecatolite is very particular about her power.” Siofra laughed through gritted teeth apparently unbothered by Ashmit attempting to steal her brother's aether. “I would advise not doing that, just let it diffuse into the realm.” She said staggering back into her seat. “if you don’t mind… Can you bring me and my brother back to my grove? This… might take a while.” She looked at Jaki, “you should continue the meeting, get everyone on board with our plan. Hell, tell them all this is Hecatolite’s fault and if they want, they are welcome to try and contact her to get to Eryl. Maybe they will be smart enough to understand why that would be a dumb idea.” She gave Jaki a weak smile as Ashmit disappeared with the two.

And just like that Jaki was right back where she started, standing there unsure as to what to do or say as everyone looked to her for an answer! She just wanted to crawl back into bed with Vala and cry. “I never wanted this.” she whimpered as she looked back at the stunned gods.