The Greatest Sin

As beings of will, we are bound by the ideas of mortals. I am most aware of this myself: I am strict, disciplined, unflinching, unbending. Even though the word is cursed, I am proud too. The issue of the White Pantheon is that we are inherently contradictory. The conception of Elassa was brought about not from mages but from the millions of mundane folk’s stereotypes about them. Mages are inherently lonely, closed off, stubborn, pretentious, know-it-all’s. Thus, Elassa embodies those traits to the utter extreme. Likewise, mages sustain themselves through magic rather than food, so why would the Goddess of Food & Bounty ever get along with the Goddess of those who don’t need to eat?

As much as it pains everyone to accept it, this ruling has no exceptions. Why do Of Love and Of Food & Bounty get along flawlessly? Well what better way to a person’s heart than through a meal? Why did Allasaria pursue Irinika for a century even after the rest of the Pantheon had closed her case? Because Light and Darkness are inherently connected with each other.

I am honest to the extreme. Even when dealing with Arascus, I will praise him where he deserves praise. His pride fundamentally is a contradiction. It was through that contradictory Pride that he died laughing at us, feeling superior even as we locked him away. It is through that contradictory Pride that somehow the Goddess of Order ended up alongside the Goddess of Luck.

- Excerpt from the secrets texts in the White Pantheon’s closed library. Written by Goddess Maisara, Of Order: ‘The Rules Binding Us’.

Zerus sat in his throne. He utterly, absolutely, eternally hated everyone in the White Pantheon. He liked them all individually, but then when they had to come together, he wanted to call down a lightning strike onto Olympiada and eradicate the whole mountain.

“Are you getting nostalgic Zerus? You’re calling us for what?” Iniri, of Food & Bounty, asked as she strolled into the ancient sanctum of the White Pantheon. Her hair was brown like ground, her eyes green like leaves and her dress was flowing with the bright colours of spring: all yellows and whites and pinks and oranges. At seven foot, she was taller than every human but when amongst the Gods, she was caught a good foot lacking.

“You’re late.” Zerus’ voice rumbled through the room. The magical lamps floating in the air quivered. He sat in the middle of the half-circle of grand marble thrones. Iniri merely shrugged and chuckled as she leisurely took her spot at the end. She was always like that, Zerus didn’t exactly know why the woman didn’t get along with him.

“Since Sceo isn’t here, I’m suspecting this isn’t an assembly to celebrate another attempt at a child.” Iniri smirked. “And Leo isn’t here anyway so I guess that makes me lucky.” Kavaa, of Health, and beautiful Helenna, of Love, didn’t bother to hide their smiles. They had about as much adoration for Zerus as Iniri had, which was none. That only annoyed him more, as he didn’t understand why exactly.

“If I knew you were coming, I’d have called a milkmaid Iniri.” Elassa, of Magic, spoke up. A wispy woman, wrapped in a light blue shawl with white hair and blue eyes. She was beautiful, exotic and terrifying. Her eyes were sharp and her features were all angular. Her hair would move by itself every now and then as if a wind came upon it. Unfortunately for Elassa, Iniri was just as childish as her.

Zerus sat back in his seat and let out a soundless sigh as he saw Iniri smirk and her mouth begin to move. There was no point getting involved with these children. He was the eldest among them, he should be respectable.

“I see the witch is still as good as ever.” Iniri made her green eyes large as she leaned forwards and used her arms to squeeze her impressive chest, the complete opposite of Elassa’s. She even made her voice sound innocent. “I actually have some wine you can have. It’s a good substitute for a partner you know.” Elassa barked back instantly.

“It’s not hard to find love when you’ll even suckle with cows. But I’ll be sure to visit when I want to finally give up on all my dignity and roll around in the mud.” There were few Gods who would dare to talk about love with Helenna, every God was jealous of their own domain, but Helenna was most jealous of them all. The Goddess of Love’s red eyes grew dark, her hair went from a pale gold to a righteous red and she let out a sigh that would make any man’s heart melt before she spoke.

“Don’t be petty sweet Elassa. I’m still working on the fact everyone who loves you is a bit…” She lifted a delicate finger to the side of her head and spun it around. “You know, coo-coo.” Iniri let out a chuckle. Elassa replied just as quickly to Helenna as she did to Iniri.

“I appreciate the gesture sweet Helenna, but I really don’t need to rely on others to make me a meal when I can do it myself.” Zerus thought about stopping this. This was how the scenario always went, some quip from one of the smaller members, someone would accidently set off Helenna, and then Helenna would set off everyone else.

“SILENCE!” Maisara, of Order, shouted as she stood up from her throne. Her voice didn’t have any anger in it, it was simply a pure command, but her grey eyes carried a terrible judgement in them. “ALL OF YOU! You are better than this. Wait patiently for once in your miserable lives!” Unlike most of the other divines, she wore no shawl or dress, instead she had come in her silver armour: A solid, unadorned breastplate, a battle skirt and boots that reached covered her calves. Her long hair of a dull silver colour stayed still as her executioner’s axe materialized before her. It stood perfectly straight, her hands clasped over the end.

“I concur with Maisara.” Fortia, of Peace, added when Maisara had finished. Her words were smooth, not a command but a suggestion. She was much like the former Goddess but whereas one was silver, the other was gold. Her hair brilliantly blinding, her armour with tassels of red cloth with decoration. Where one stood behind an axe taller than two men, the other clasped a spear by her side.

Elassa and Iniri both shut up, giving dirty looks to each other but not continuing the petty squabble. Not Helenna though. Never Helenna, Goddess of Love. Maisara and Fortia both stared daggers at Helenna as the woman graciously stood up. Her hair becoming a gold more vivid than Fortia’s. She ran her hands along her the side of her dress, making sure to wordlessly tell both of the cold statues on the other side of the room that even together, they could never compare to her womanhood. “My my my.” Helenna’s voice was a cat’s purr, all smug and condescending. “Looks like you two have some passion in you after all.”

What was love without war? What was love without chaos? It was only natural that the Goddess of Love would never get along those of Peace and Order. Zerus let out a sigh. This time they could hear him. No one took any notice of course. It was always like this. He closed his eyes and counted the clouds in his head, Sceo had taught him this, to think of her and count clouds in his head when he wanted to calm down. One… Two… Three…

“Don’t…” Fortia’s whisper reached only Zerus and Maisara. Of course, the proud Goddess of Order ignored that whisper.

Six… Seven…

“I have nothing against you sister.” Maisara’s voice boomed through the sanctum. “But act a like a damn Divine and don’t humiliate all of us with this pointless bickering.”

Eleven… Twelve…

“I’m honoured you call me sister. I didn’t think a heart like yours was capable of knowing what family means.”

“Mai, she’s only teasing you because you give her a reaction.” Zerus blessed Fortia, bless that little heart of hers for thinking she can calm these two down. Maisara, predictably, ignored Fortia’s wise words.

“Helenna, you’re not worth my time.”

Seventeen… Eighteen….

“Is that why you’re still standing before me?” Zerus didn’t need to open his eyes to know exactly what sort of smug expression Helenna was making. He could tell from the voice, he had it be directed at him a thousand times before.

Twenty-One…

“You’re a Goddess, you should behave like one.”

“Since you know the rules so well, shouldn’t you show me how they’re done?”

“I’m not going to back away from you Helenna.”

Twenty-Six…

“Back away? You only have to kneel before me and I’ll be happy.”

“That’s going too far Helenna!” Fortia shouted out.

“Oh what a surprise! Peace and Order once again! My favourite pairing!” Helenna spoke as she chuckled. Zerus forced his eyes shut with all of his might and tightened his fists.

“Don’t speak out of turn.” Fortia’s voice was boiling in a cool anger.

“Are you trying to scare me junior?” And there it was. The Gods didn’t have many taboos, certainly less than the mortals, but one of the few things that was to never be called out was who appeared before who.

Twenty-Nine…

“The only reason an old hag like you can talk is because we came about to make sure you didn’t cause extinction!” Maisara shouted across the room. The only response was Helenna’s clapping. How did that woman even make her claps seem smug?

“Oh I know I know, you two are our great saviours who work together to protect everyone from the rest of us. I, Helenna, merely the measly Goddess of such a ridiculous concept as Love, thank gracious Maisara and even-more-gracious Fortia and wish the two of you a long and fruitful relationship. I hope one day the bed you share won’t be as dry as the Sassara.”

Thirty… Zerus opened his eyes, they were now shining a blinding white. For an instant, he saw a scowling Maisara, her axe had buried itself into the marble floor. He saw Fortia, her beautiful face had twisted in rage, her spear was aimed at Helenna and he saw Helenna. She simply stood there, hands on her hips, she was bent slightly forwards as if she was a lecturing teacher and she had a smile so annoying he could never dream to replicate even a fraction of it.

In the next instant, lightning struck the three of them.

“STOP! YOU ARE UNDER ARREST!” Baku Nada turned to face the police officers. They sent out a good response. Three cars, eight troopers. He moved his shoulders, cracked his neck and felt Anarchia’s blessed strength travel through his body. He spoke calmly, there wasn’t any reason to cause harm needlessly.

“Put down your clubs.” He wasn’t a man of violence. It was simply that violence tended to come to him. The officers surrounded him. Their batons crackled with stunning electricity.

Unfortunately for them, they didn’t put down their clubs.

Allasaria walked into the White Pantheon’s inner sanctum. She sighed immediately. Children, the lot of them. Kavaa, of Health, was kneeling over Helenna, of Love, who was pushing herself up from the floor. On the other side of the room, Maisara was kneeling in her silver armour. Her hair was messed with loose strands pointed in odd directions. Her hands were gripping her oversized axe as they quivered. Fortia was on her back, taking heavy breathes as smoke rose from her body. She was gripping her spear and muttering something too quiet for anyone to hear.

The atmosphere in the room instantly changed. These Gods were either Abstracts, like Maisara being of Order or Fortia of Peace, or they were Forces, like Zerus of Lightning or Elassa of Magic, but no one compared to Allasaria, of Light. Light was an omnipresent force, there wasn’t a God who could compare to the power Allasaria held.

Allasaria clicked her tongue to let Helenna know she was there. Maisara and Fortia flicked their gaze to her but made no movement of acknowledgement as they returned to their marble thrones, they were always like that: Abstracts struck in the past. Helenna though… Allasaria knew Helenna had heard her, how could she not? But she didn’t care. “Oh Zerus, I see why Sceo has fallen for you if you can pull off tricks like this.” Zerus merely met Helenna’s gaze, he was too old to be caught quibbling with a girl like this. Or maybe it was just because Allasaria had appeared.

Allasaria merely waved her hand. Light shot from one of the walls and blasted into Helenna. It wasn’t enough to hurt her in any major way, but it still launched her off her feet and threw her like a doll into her own throne. The woman’s dressed was charred black and her cheeks were flushed red with anger. Her hands shot to her stomach as she tried to pretend it didn’t hurt. “Sit Kavaa.” Allasaria said as she walked to her own throne, between Fortia’s and Zerus’. She met Helenna’s gaze for a moment as the woman readjusted her dress.

“You make my heart melt with a greeting like that.” Helenna said. Allasaria merely replied with a raised eyebrow, taunting the woman to say more. She did not. Silence fell over the sanctum as the Gods and Goddesses all looked at each other. They must have finally realised the situation was serious if Allasaria herself had come. Thirteen of the fourteen thrones were taken, only the one between Zerus and Allasaria was left open: Leona’s throne.

“So everyone is here.” It was tradition for Zerus to always start the conversation. He was the oldest of them, so he should begin. His voice boomed across the sanctum like thunder and the magical lamps swayed in the air but the moment he said that, every gaze turned to the empty throne to his right. “As you know already, a full assembly is only called when we face utmost crisis.” He took a sigh, as if unwilling to say the words himself. “Leona has collapsed.”

Allasaria scanned the reactions of everyone in the Pantheon, she trusted all of them, but certainty was the highest form of trust and certainty was something she could only achieve through investigation. No one would be stupid enough to harm Leona but… It was that tiny but in her head that wanted to call this meeting.

There were a few divines out there who knew how to lie, Arascus had been a master of deceit but the members of the White Pantheon? Her eyes shifted to Zerus and Helenna. They were the only ones who could pull it off. Zerus, even though his title was God-King, had little interest in petty politics like this. He also fawned over Leona, lightning had long been considered a source of good luck. Helenna? Helenna was purposefully annoying and argumentative, but she loved Leona the most of them all. How could she not? Luck to love was like sparks to flames. The rest were much the same, only Maisara and Fortia had little love for Leona, but the world would end before of Order broke a rule and of Peace harmed a member of the White Pantheon.

No one gave any suspicious reaction. Allasaria clicked her tongue again.

She would have preferred a reaction. That meant the issue could have been solved today. “Excuse me?” Helenna broke the silence, her voice was hollow as if was unable to comprehend the words she just heard. “Leona has collapsed?”

“She has.” Zerus answered.

The White Pantheon sat in silence for a minute. Two. Five. Ten. Finally Maisara took a deep breath, brushed off some dust from her skirt and spoke up in that strong tone she always had. “We know that Leona feels pain when something terrible is apart about to strike.” She took a deep breath. “But on this level…” When even cold Maisara had trouble talking, it was bad. Allasaria spoke up.

“Before the Godkiller incident, she had a month long migraine. The last time she collapsed…” Allasaria felt her voice go weak. She couldn’t say another word. Maisara gave her a dirty look, stood up and finished for her. Everyone here had been there before, everyone knew what happened last time Leona collapsed, but the words simply had to be said.

“I thank mighty Allasaria for the interruption so let me finish, but there is only one time that Leona has collapsed previously. It was the day before Arascus, God of Pride, declared war on the known world.”