The faint tap of Amethyst’s boots on the hardwood floor filled the silent room as she turned on her heels, twelve steps ter she found herself at the far wall and again she turned… for nearly two hours she paced in the “small” inn room, the only sound the click of her boots. Not for the first time she wondered if the elves had some kind of noise damping enchantments on the walls; she may not have a lot of experience sleeping in inns, but she had the nagging suspicion they shouldn’t be this quiet…

  “Amethyst,” Himari sighed, rubbing her eyes as Amethyst passed the small table again. “Not that I don’t appreciate your company, but if you’re just going to wear a hole in the floor, I’m going to have to ask you to go back to your own room.” She waved her hand, pushing aside the terminal that was floating before her before fixing her bright green eyes on Amethyst, “Please, sit down. You’re driving me mad with all your circling.”

  “Sorry.” Amethyst sighed as she plopped into the chair across from her, feeling foolish as she was forced to scoot back to sit comfortably, leaving her feet dangling as she slumped in chair.

  Himari narrowed her eyes as she stared across the small table between them causing Amethyst to shrink in on herself, her cheeks heating as she bowed her head, “I am sorry for bothering you.” She offered again, and she meant it; they had gotten a second room after all. But after less than an hour of being alone while waiting to see if Hecatolite would return tonight Amethyst… couldn’t stay in there. It was too quiet with her in it alone, and though the bed and chairs were all comfortable enough… they were too big for just her.

  Given she was barely tall enough to look over the counters in the shops here it shouldn’t have surprised her. The average elf stood over six and a half feet tall, compared to them she was tiny; the bed in her “inn” room was big enough for her to actually have to crawl into it. It reminded her of the bed she slept in while visiting the castle, which is absurd for an inn.

  Thinking back to when she was traveling with mom, the inn rooms she remembered were tiny and cramped; with just enough room for a bed and maybe a chair if you were lucky. And she had been even smaller back then… No, she couldn’t have stayed in her room all alone.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” Himari asked softly as she lowered the terminal she had been working on to the table, another protocol or something that would scramble whenever Amethyst tried to look at it.

  Probably an illusion given it doesn’t seem to bother Himari when it happens. She allowed herself to be distracted for a moment as she worried at her bottom lip. She did want to talk about it, needed to talk about it… but the problem is she had no idea what “it” was.

  She had thought it was simply being alone in the other room, that was why she came here to wait with Himari… but even now Amethyst was still… nervous? That didn’t feel right, but she couldn’t expin this odd energy that prickled at her skin, it made her hand twitch as she had the nagging feeling that she should be doing… something, anything!

  But that was it. Amethyst didn’t have anything to “do”. She had done it, the meeting with the elven council today had gone as good as it could have. Even with the slight hiccup in the middle where Hecatolite terrified the city again; though it was simple enough to write that off as “aftershocks” of a divine creating a relic. Thankfully it’s been so long since anyone made one no one could contest Errion when he said it; after all he was alive the st time a relic was formed… well one not created by Hecatolite that is.

  So, if it wasn’t the meeting today… Maybe she’s concerned about Hecatolite again? But that didn’t feel right either, Eryl had looked mad when she stormed out earlier; but given how that turned out st time Amethyst didn’t think she needed to worry. Eryl wouldn’t cause another panic, and… it had helped to see them together that morning; seeing the two of them cuddled up on a branch of the world tree had solidified the idea that they would be safe together in Amethyst's mind.

  She did worry about Hecatolite, she didn’t want her sister to get hurt after all; but Amethyst doubted Eryl would hurt her. Not only that but she knew that Hecatolite was somewhere in the city, she wasn’t lost, just exploring. If she messaged her Amethyst didn’t doubt Hecatolite would come barreling through the city with her wide goofy grin and some outndish story of what she did all day…

  Could it be the upcoming meeting between the Queen and the council? She was worried about that but her part was done. Her part in the meeting tomorrow was just to show up, maybe do introductions but other than that she was only going to be there as a formality at this point.

  In fact, now that Agos and Cemi had terminals of their own, thanks to Hecatolite’s relic, the entire meeting was a formality. It was just a… introduction at this point. And even if they discuss the treaty now that the Queen, and her army of advisors, were involved, they hardly needed Amethyst blundering her way though trying to help. Not to mention as far as she could tell the treaty was… done, the Elves want help, the Empire of Crown wants to help. They had solved the problem of distance by offering a way for the leaders themselves to colborate from the safety of their own homes.

  And after her talk with Cemi, Amethyst accepted that her part in all of this was simply to bring it to the people who can do something about it. job done, mission accomplished now all she needs to do tomorrow is show up, and as her sister would say, smile and wave.

  She could spend the entire night worrying about every tiny detail, fretting over every little mistake she made leading up to this point… but in the end they have accomplished their goal here…

  Was that it? Was she nervous about the fact they were… done in Flennor? The meeting with the Queen was before noon, in theory they could be on the road by mid-day. But then what? Amethyst knew their journey was only truly just starting, they had to cross the entirety of Eccrin still after all…

  Was that why she felt so uneasy? But that was always their pn, she had enough supplies to st them months… if they hunted for food that is; but the point still stands she was prepared for that. Two spatial rings and her own storage was filled with anything they might need, not to mention a small mountain of gold they had saved over the years.

  Even going over all that in her mind… none of it felt right, like none of them were the thing bothering her; the reason she felt like she had to move.

  “Amethyst?” Himari said her name slowly, the question clear as she leaned forward in her chair.

  “Sorry, I was just… thinking.” Amethyst sighed again, wondering how long she had just been sitting here while Himari stared at her. “I just feel…” She shook her hands as if to shake the answer loose, “I can’t sit still. Everything is fine, I know it is, we have done all we can here and I’m even as ready as I can be to move on… but I just feel…” She groaned as she shook her head, still unable to describe the feeling bubbling inside of her.

  Himari watched her, nodding slowly as she leaned back in her own chair. “Ok.” Something about the way she said that grated on Amethyst, like the other woman didn’t believe her.

  “Yes,” she replied as she stared back at the other woman, her voice ft as she continued. “We weren’t even supposed to come to Felnnor, and after tomorrow we are done. Even with everything that happened I feel like we did a lot here, a lot of good. Yes, there were problems, but in the end, it all turned out fine…”

  Himari just nodded along with a small smile as she let out a small hum of agreement. “That is true. And I agree you managed to accomplish a lot here. But if that’s true, then what is bothering you?”

  “I don’t know.” Amethyst might have whined as she let her arms flop to her sides, “everything is done. We just need to go though one more meeting; and honestly, we,” she gestured between the two of them, “don’t even need to be there. Hecatolite only needs to show up for a minute to cast the spell, given how often she uses it to talk to Siofra I wouldn’t be surprised if she could cast it by herself at this point. It’s literally the only actual spell she can cast, did you know that? Hecatolite, with all her power and knowledge of other worlds, can only cast one spell?”

  “I… am aware of your sister’s special brand of magic.” Himari said with more bite than she meant; pointedly not sharing her real feelings on Hecatolite’s “casting” of the mirror link spell. It was like powering a single lightbulb with an entire reactor and saying it worked because the light turned on before exploding; if not for the fact she used a terminal to cast the spell Hecatolite was just as likely to accidently teleport across the world as she was in succeeding on casting the spell itself.

  She knew she shouldn’t be annoyed by the fact Hecatolite can’t use magic properly, or at all, but something about people calling her a mage grated on Himari. It was like people who called themselves “doctor” in her st life without putting in the work to earn that title. Hecatolite wasn’t a mage, she didn’t cast spells… Now is not the time to split hairs. Himari reminded herself as she waved for Amethyst to go on.

  Amethyst didn’t catch the bite in Himari’s tone as pressed on. “And even that is a formality. She gave them a relic that lets them summon terminals. We could leave right now, and the only thing will change is we don’t have to awkwardly stand in the council room while they all introduce themselves.”

  Again, Himari nodded and… it was really starting to annoy Amethyst, which was strange she didn’t get annoyed very often. Hecatolite annoyed her sometimes, and her family could be a bit overbearing but she was used to letting things roll off her back. “So, we are done,” she threw her hands up, “yae us, so why do I feel like I should be doing… something.”

  Himari sighed as she watched Amethyst all but vibrate in her seat, the young woman waving her arms as she outlined all the things… She had already done. It was clear to her what was happening, after all she had the same problem; She’s a workaholic.

  Thinking about it now; for the admittedly brief time she has known Amethyst it was obvious the young woman was used to running from one task to the next. Even when they were on the isnd all she did was train and practice getting used to her new body, then on the ship she had her hands full keeping Hecatolite from sinking them all as she prepared for their nding in Felnnor.

  For months Amethyst has had a clear goal in mind and her every move was preparing for, or enacting, her pn; and if Himari had to guess this wasn’t a new thing for her either.

  Amethyst started and ran what has become the rgest religious organization in her entire nation of Crown; one of the rgest in the world if Himari was being honest. The all-faiths church in just a couple years became a worldwide name, starting with the yearly offerings and just took off from there. And she, as a preteen, started the all-faiths church. Then joined the adventuring guild, gaining merits armingly fast.

  Himari wasn’t exactly sure what being part of the adventuring guild entailed. But she did know moving up to A rank was no small feat. An A rank adventure was all but guaranteed to be a local celebrity as far as she knew, “heroes” who wielded power on par with arch-mages and the like. She had met a handful of A rank adventurers when the church hired them to train the heroes, and even the church of Valor that ran the entire nation could only gather a small number of people who had achieved the rank.

  And even without all that, Amethyst has been preparing her whole life to split from her sister; and that’s been done. The treaty in Felnnor was no more than a welcome distraction from the truth, but in all reality, Amethyst built her whole life around accomplishing one thing… and she had done it months ago. Her guild, adventuring, all her pnning and preparation had come to fruition.

  They did have to return to Crown, but that was just a foregone conclusion at this point; with both the twins and Eryl here they could probably just go home if they really wanted to. It would require help from Eryl but now that she has full access to her system again, with Amethyst’s space magic and Hecatolite’s endless power reserves, teleporting across the world would be child’s py.

  She had spent her entire life running to that singur goal, bouncing from fire to fire and putting them out on the way. Himari briefly wondered when the st time Amethyst herself had a day off; then reminded herself that unlike herself Amethyst likely had other things to fill her time. She ran a guild, was an accomplished adventurer, a prominent noble dy, and a Deity to boot; in comparison Himari was kind of a jobless tag along.

  Damn it, I’m basically a groupie. She only barely managed not to groan as she leaned back in her chair. Amethyst and she were two sides of the same coin, both workaholics but Himari had turned her single job into her life where Amethyst had worn so many hats, she didn’t know how the young woman juggled it all.

  But now she was just spinning her wheels. Her goal is complete, the treaty was all but signed, and she was all the way across the world from anything she could be doing next. The fact she couldn’t sit still was simple anxiety; if she had to guess Amethyst just didn’t know what was next and it was affecting her.

  Here she was, Amethyst Lapidary, the all-faith saint; the Singurity, the lucidity of bedm… The lucidity of bedm, with no chaos. The thought was somber as she watched Amethyst drum her fingers on the table. sighing Himari asked the simple question that had caused her to spiral just this morning. “So, Amethyst, what do you do for fun?”

  Amethyst huffed in that way only an annoyed teenager can do, she was surprised the young woman didn’t roll her eyes as she shrugged. “a lot of things really.”

  And she hadn’t been lying, Amethyst's hobbies included everything from training to drawing. Much to Himari’s surprise she learned the other woman could even py music, though she hadn’t bothered to pack a harp for her journey. Himari’s surprise had clearly shown on her face as a slight giggle escaped Amethyst, “why do you look so surprised? Even though I’m a noble my whole life isn’t behind a desk.”

  As she spoke Amethyst spyed her fingers out on the table and in an impressive show of dexterity wiggled each finger individually as she spoke. “Not only that but my family… well we are enchanters, we could spend days on an enchantment where a single slip of the hand could ruin it all. Doing things like drawing and pying an instrument helps keep our dexterity honed, or so mom and Alexa always tell me.”

  She giggled as drummed her fingers rhythmically against the hard wood table without raising her palm off of it. “Dad and Jasper whittle in their spare time, but I always thought that was too close to carving enchantments. Alexa can py more instruments than I can count, and Mom paints. She’s actually really good, one of her paintings is even hung in the royal pace…” she paused furrowing her brow as she quietly said, “Though that may be because of her retionship with the queen now that I think about it…” She shook her head. Her mother’s retionship with the queen was… Amethyst didn’t really like to think about her parents' love lives.

  “And me, I draw sometimes. It's nice to rex because I can do it at my desk in the guild and if I have to step away I can just… pick back up where I left off. Aside from that, training and going out with my friends… which is mostly more training given they are my adventuring party, though Fiori had promised to take me to a tavern once me and Hecatolite split.”

  With a shrug Himari asked what was, probably, a dumb question, “have you tried doing any of those things now? To rex that is.”

  This time Amethyst did roll her eyes, “I did, but I just can’t seem to get this nagging feeling to go away.” she huffed, letting her hand slide off the table into her p as she stared at Himari who could only nod.

  She knew what was wrong, but how to articute it was another story. Just like she thought, Amethyst was used to having “something” to do, not to occupy her time idly but a goal to work towards, a “problem” that needed to be solved. Sitting here in a quiet inn room was likely driving her mad and there was also the problem of what to do about it?

  Amethyst needed a goal, but Himari didn’t have one to offer; not unless the system was suddenly going to let her help with the protocols that thankfully stopped coming in finally. Eryl had the system for one day and Himari’s terminal hasn’t stopped pinging since the other woman woke up; whatever Hecatolite was doing to keep her occupied Himari needed to thank her. how she had managed to create another new protocol while they were in the meeting earlier…

  I clearly need more practice… that thought only reminded Himari of her own predicament. Not for the first time today Himari wondered why she was even bothering going over the protocols… but they gave her something to focus on, and now wasn’t the time for her anxiety, but Amethysts.

  As if reacting to her thoughts the terminal on the table fshed and Himari sighed. Looking down she paused, the message on the screen… wasn’t for her? or anyone really, it was just an update on the divine realms. Takia was “searching” for the shared realm with increasing fever and, a now fully powered, Soter was rebuffing her with ease. But why was she getting this…

  “Oh,” she groaned, it was Eryl’s new protocol about soul bound spells. Soter may have been empowered by Hecatolite’s outburst, but the shroud spell on the realm was still bound to his very existence. Takia’s increased searching might be bouncing off his protection, but it is sapping his power at an arming rate.

  One of the main issues he is running into is, unlike Takia who can just grab any mage and have them cast scrying to search, Soter is the only one who can fuel the spell he cast because it is linked directly to his domain. If it had been a simple barrier spell any one of the divine in the realm could have nded aid, but the “shroud” didn’t just protect the realm but made it impossible to find as well as made everyone forget where it was.

  Himari and Eryl only knew it was on the moon because of the system, and even then in the logs of the system it was obscured and would only show up a gibberish if not for the system key Himari had; but aside from them it was quite possibly one of the biggest secrets in the world right now; tied only by the location of the two “deities” which is the worst kept secret in the world given the two hadn’t even managed to go an entire month without outing themselves in one way or another.

  Amethyst’s brow furrowed, “I… can read that?” She said, spinning the terminal on the table to face her only to pause. “Wait…” she tentatively ran her finger along a line of text, blinking and shaking her head as she tried to focus on the location of the shared realm. “Why… can’t I read that part? And why can I read the rest of it?” She asked, every time she had tried to read one of the system prompts before Babylon had steadfastly blocked her.

  “Given the new protocol approved by both Mother Eryl and Mother Himari on… the sharing of knowledge,” did Babylon sound annoyed about the new protocol? Its monotone voice carried a distinct edge to it as the terminal fshed yellow briefly before continuing. “It has been deemed that this knowledge would not fall under forbidden information for either Deity given their close retion with Soter and the shared realm; however, the location of the shared realm is not being blocked by the system but by another’s power.”

  “By Soter…” Amethyst replied as she slowly scrolled through the text. She knew that Soter had hidden the shared realm but as she scanned the text the color drained from her face. “Wait, he’s dying because of it?” As if to answer her question the terminal vanished only to reappear in front of Himari with a sternly written request from Babylon to tighten the protocol.

  Himari waved the terminal away. The old protocol had been very strict on what could be shared and not, it had taken Himari the better part of four hours just to read through it, only approving the change before stopping Amethyst’s pacing around the room.

  Under the new “restrictions” both Amethyst and Hecatolite would be privy to the actions of not only Soter but Siofra as well, Hecatolite might actually be able to see prompts about the other divine she managed to bless; if they managed to clear the error caused by the blessing that was. But put simply, the message hadn’t contained anything Amethyst didn’t already know minus a few key parts.

  Amethyst knew there was a divide in divine realms, and she knew Soter had shielded the shared realm as well as the fact the other divine were searching for it; the new protocol could use some fine tuning but, in the end, it worked well enough if one asked Himari. It also had the added bonus of not driving a mana spike into people’s heads unless they really tried to fight it.

  Now it just scrambles the information with an illusion spell, either with auditory or visual effects depending. In theory a powerful mage or divine could dispel it, and that’s when they would get spiked; hopefully the illusion would be enough of a deterrent though.

  Looking over at Amethyst’s now concerned face Himari winced. “He… isn’t dying per say… it’s just that he…” Amethyst’s eyes went wide as what sounded like static emitted from Himari’s mouth. She gred at the terminal that now just showed the word forbidden on it.

  Amethyst nodded slowly, “he is using too much Aether keeping the spell running,” she provided, and the terminal fshed an annoyed yellow as Himari nodded. “But how is that… don’t gods get power from prayers? Soter is… well he is a very popur god; I can't imagine how many prayers he gets a day.” Amethyst summoned her own terminal, looking over the scant few prayers she accumuted over the past few months.

  All of her prayers were “shared” ones from the all-faiths church, ones that were divided amongst all the divine there… “When did that one get there?” She tapped on a dedicated prayer, feeling a rush of mana causing her eyes to widen for a moment before her cheeks turned a rosy, red color. Groaning, Amethyst put her face in her hands, “mom, I didn’t want a statue…” She said through gritted teeth as she scrolled through a handful more prayers all from her family, all beled “emergency mana”.

  They knew that prayers carried mana, they all watched Hecatolite puke it up over the years after all, and as a mage mana is a commodity; more importantly it’s a limited one when out in the field that if not managed properly could get a mage killed if they ran out at the wrong time.

  Himari watched as Amethyst accepted one more prayer, this one a general one that only gave her a nearly imperceptible bump. Then she chewed her lip for a moment before saying, “if I got that much mana from mom pretty much saying hi… and then that much from a general prayer…” she rubbed the bridge of her nose as she thought, a habit Himari had seen her do before but only when annoyed or lost in deep thought. “How much mana is needed to make aether? And how much is Soter burning off?”

  Much to both their surprise Babylon answered part of the question, “as a comparison, your mana pool if condensed as it is now would leave you with less aether than Soter. You, on power alone, would be as powerful as a minor god on the cusp of unlocking a second domain. All the elder gods of this world are more powerful than you in terms of raw power at their disposal, but you could, in theory, rival them.”

  “I get it,” Amethyst nodded, “it's like during training, I could fight the rest of my party, but they all had more strength and training… but Soter is a “elder god” is he not? He has two domains…” again she furrowed her brows, “what is his second domain?” She asked only to hold her hand up when the terminal fshed the word forbidden at her. “Forget it, it’s not important. If he is getting as many prayers as I think he is… just how much power is he burning off? And do all prayers carry the same amount of mana?” Amethyst tentatively clicked on prayer from Alexa only to choke as Himari felt a distinct thurm of mana in the room. “No, they don’t.”

  Amethyst seemed to struggle for a moment as she blinked several times, fighting the sudden nausea from having too much mana in her body. After a moment she bit her lip and turned to Himari. “Ok, I have put it off for too long. Himari, do you know how divine… work? Like prayers and stuff, what am I supposed to do with them?”

  That was a… easy enough question for Himari, even with her limited knowledge, though she doubted Amethyst would like the answer as she shrugged. “Whatever you want?” and that gained her a slight gre before she continued.

  Between Himari’s limited knowledge… and Babylon’s much more extensive knowledge they expined it to Amethyst.

  In simple terms, most gods don’t do much with normal prayers since they don’t actually need much intervention. Sometimes you’ll just get someone asking for advice; need to learn a new skill, ask a relevant god and sometimes they will grant you information. Those are the simplest ones to answer and how many gods keep their faith alive.

  Other times you’ll get a prayer for a specific task, like a farmer asking for a good harvest. These are a little harder to deal with because they will require the expenditure of Aether, normally much more than is given by the prayer. These are answered much more sparingly, an act of faith to build a religion.

  But either way they are answered at the behest of the divine in question, Amethyst has the grant premonition skill like every divine and can send them freely to her followers. If someone outside of her religion asks for advice or help it’s like a guiding rod of sorts so the divine in question can choose to send the premonition to them.

  Her next question, however, even gave Babylon pause. “Then what is the point of a domain? I can’t see many people asking for advice on “mercy”, its either something given or not?”

  Babylon however gave the most practical answer. “A Domain is what a divine rules over. You are Mercy, or as far as the world system is concerned. If someone begs for mercy you will receive a prayer from them and as such you also have the ability to intercede on their behalf.”

  “That’s unnerving,” Amethyst grimaced as she looked at her list of prayers again, wondering how many of the “general” prayers were exactly that.

  “I feel it pertinent to add, most gods for their first domain have a more tangible tie to the world. Take Siofra for example, she was the goddess of nature to begin with and built her religion around that before she gained the domain of wisdom. The second domain is normally a more abstract domain, one that could be contextual. Much like a Devils domain a god’s second domain is typically a more passive gain of mana to help support a rger aether pool.”

  Amethyst nodded, “ok, so my domain is like my magic affinity. It loosely defines what kind of prayers I will receive and what I can do to answer them… and I somehow got a strange domain that’s more abstract than normal for a first domain…”

  When Babylon didn’t answer Himari shrugged, “it’s likely due to the fact you’re a Deity like Hecatolite. After all, Lust is a very contextual domain as well. I couldn’t even begin to guess what kind of prayers she gets.”

  “Can’t you just check?” Amethyst asked with a smirk and Himari shuddered.

  “No thank you.” She replied ftly, and Amethyst giggled.

  “Ok, but the question still stands… why? Why give domains at all, more or less, what are we supposed to be doing?”

  Again, Babylon was silent, but Himari knew the answer to that question as did Amethyst; Eryl had expined it to them on the isnd. “A domain isn’t given but earned. Siofra…” she gnced at the terminal to see if it would stop her, “had dedicated her life to protecting the forest and nature. So, when she ascended, she continued to do so as a minor goddess until she grew and gained a second domain. Now she rules over the nature of this world as well as wisdom, more specifically the pursuit and distribution of knowledge is where her second domain gains most of its uses.”

  What she couldn’t share was the fact that Siofra’s domain over knowledge often put her at odds with Soter’s domain of secrets. The two siblings often bounced off one another as one tried to hoard knowledge and the other attempted to spread it freely.

  “It would help you a lot to stop thinking of Domain names as their actual meaning… Take Valor for example. Do you know his main domain?”

  Thankfully Amethyst nodded, Himari doubted the system would stop her from saying it as it is widely known given his church preaches it. “isn’t it the same as his name, Valor, god king of valor… kind of self-righteous now that I say it out loud.”

  Himari chuckled, “I think so too, but that’s not the point. If his domain was actually valor, that would mean he would loosely be the god of courage, but as Babylon just said normally a god's first domain is more tangible. So, what do you think Valor is actually the god of?”

  Amethyst thought for a long moment, her brow furrowing as she tapped a finger against the bridge of her nose. She knew a little of Valor’s history, and even some of his religion. Outside of Algimar most of his followers were adventurers, people praying for strength before…

  Himari could see the moment Amethyst figured it out, her eyes widening as she froze. “he’s… the god of battle… of war.”

  Babylon fshed yellow at Himari, “don’t give me that, she said it not me.” She batted the terminal away, “but yes, Valor is the god of battle… I can’t tell you his second domain, but the bulk of Valor’s power comes from, well, war. He believed in life and even now he is valorous, and it was one of his core personality traits, so the system named his domain that.”

  “But… is that why he’s inciting a war?”

  Himari waved her hand in a so-so gesture, “I don’t think so, but even if I knew I couldn’t tell you. I think the war is him trying to get more power, but his domain has nothing to do with that.”

  “He is just a dick.” The interruption by Babylon caused them both to jump as they stared bnkly at the terminal, not providing any more information. Babylon was… unhappy about Valor’s attempts to steal mother Eryl’s system from her, and its informational protocol hadn’t reacted so it must be widely known. That’s why Babylon for the first time voiced its opinion, and justified the fact it suddenly had one; something it, as a world system, shouldn’t have…

  Unbeknownst to the two, Babylon wrote an error for itself, scanned itself, finding no faults, deleted the error… then it… it didn’t know if that was the right thing to do… it… felt conflicted. Then it wrote a second error… repeated the process several dozen times before concluding that since it didn’t find any errors and none of its programing was reacting that it must be fine before deleting all the error messages it had made before concluding that “Valor must be a dick”. It has to be true; it was a world system after all, and it didn’t have options… and something about that made it feel that strange warmth that it got whenever Mother Eryl or Mother Himari used it.

  Filing all that away for future analysis, Babylon continued in educating Amethyst. “Mother Eryl expined to you “what” you're supposed to do with your divinity, and that is to lead the world in whatever way you think is best. Valor believes war is best and uses his power for that end, he could just as easily believe that war is wrong and use his position and power to attempt to stop it. Your domain is part of you, what gives you power, but you decide how to use it.” It said as Himari and Amethyst stared at it with sck jawed expressions. They must be impressed, and they should be, that was Mother Eryl’s wisdom after all.

  Himari narrowed her eyes at the terminal. She was pretty sure… something had just happened; she could feel it in the back of her mind as Babylon scanned itself repeatedly. But she didn’t know what it had done, I’m pretty sure it’s not supposed to say things like that… she thought, but it could also be the strange part of the system that emutes a personality. Had it said that to prove a point?

  “Ok, but none of that expins why Soter is dying…” Amethyst said slowly, understanding a little more about her role as a divine in the world.

  And again, Babylon let out a strange noise that could have been a sigh, “To ease your concerns, I will share with you a simple fact. The only way someone can die from a soul bound spell is if they choose to.”

  Himari shook her head as she added what she could. “Soter is safe for now, that notice you just saw was because he is using a soul bound spell.” She felt the resistance of the system that time, but it relented as Amethyst already knew about the spell in question.

  The concern on Amethyst’s face made it clear that wasn’t the right thing to say, “but why is he using that spell?” The fshing warning on the terminal told them both that the system will stop any attempt to share that information. But Amethyst already had all the information she needed, “it’s because of the war, the divide in the divine realm, they are hiding from Valor and the other divine…”

  Chewing her lip, Amethyst sat for a long moment as Himari watched. Minutes ago, the young woman couldn’t sit still long enough to talk, but now she was sitting with her arms crossed as she pondered… something. Himari could only guess it was a way to help her friend; but she wouldn’t be able to, unless she pnned on bolstering Soter’s religion or praying to him herself which would help but would hardly solve the problem. Hecatolite could solve it, after all Himari knew what Hecatolite was and the amount of power she commanded was on a different level than anything Amethyst would be able to conjure.

  After a minute Amethyst finally spoke, “there… is a clear hierarchy in the divine realm. I know there is a holy court, but how does that work? And what of the devils? Do they have a… unholy court?”

  Himari shook her head; she studied a bit about the holy court when Amethyst started her yearly offerings after all. “It’s the gods of this world trying to work together to lead the world. They vote for a leader of the court, which happens to be Valor, and they are supposed to act as a voice of reason among the other gods while trying to keep them all on track for “the betterment” of the world. Or that’s what it is on paper.” She shrugged, not having delved too much deeper into it than that.

  Babylon interjected again, “under the new protocol I can eborate that the head of the holy court is able to receive power from the rest of the court. The position is supposed to act as a champion of the Divine if a need arises. That fact had been… forgotten for a long time but recently rediscovered by several divine beings and is now shared among them. There have been two attempts to vote Valor out of his position, one before the divide that failed by a slim margin; and the second hadn’t even made it to a vote given the divide in the realms keeps the holy court from “convening”. It should also be noted that the holy court is part of the system itself and is required for the world.”

  Himari clicked her tongue, that expined how Valor became so powerful so quickly at least.

  “As for an “unholy” court, no such thing exists. The Devils of this world practice a very strict noninterference agreement with one another.” Babylon added and Himari saw a glimmer in Amethyst's eyes.

  “That sounds… ineffective.” Amethyst said slowly, and Himari had an odd feeling in the pit of her stomach. “We are all divine, supposed to lead this world… together. Even if we disagree with one another on the direction the world should take, it’s unfair that the devils don’t have a spot in the meetings where such things are discussed…” Amethyst remembered the fsh she had seen on the terminal the other day, the divine court… “and now my sister and I are part of it all. We are not gods or devils, but deities… we wouldn’t be part of the holy court either… or I don't think so at least. Hecatolite has been divine for years now and no one ever contacted her… how can they say they are a “holy court” if they don't include, well, everyone? I know they have met since Hecatolite became a deity…”

  The sinking feeling in Himari’s stomach grew as she watched Amethyst smile, and she realized something very important. Amethyst is a very levelheaded young woman, but in the end, she is Hecatolite’s sister… Hecatolite who gets bored and breaks the world system because she can; nearly causes wars if she’s left to her own devices… But most arming was that unlike Hecatolite, Amethyst isn’t insane; she can focus and pn…

  For the first time Himari felt uneasy when looking at Amethyst as nodded, a smile on her face that looked too much like her sisters as she asked, “if someone… wanted to change the way the holy court worked, but not get rid of it… could they?”

  There was a pregnant pause as Babylon fshed several colors, none of them Himari would describe as happy, before answering. “If an appropriate substitution was presented and had Admin approval… yes.”

  Amethyst couldn’t help but smile as she formuted the beginnings of a pn in her mind. she had all the facts she needed, or so she thought. Soter was in danger because of the divide in the realms. The divide was caused in part by the war, but it was mainly due to poor communication between the gods and differences of opinion. the way the “divine” of this world led it was ineffective, simple as that; and she was particurly suited to… reform it.

  After all, she had an administrator right here, and the world system itself to help her with the reform; plus, she happened to have a lot of experience with changes in policies like this. She did help her mother with the religious reforms in Crown after all, she had even found a loophole in it and was able to start her own guild…

  Himari shuddered as she was given the answer to her question; What does the lucidity of bedm do if there is no chaos around her… she causes it. and unlike Hecatolite who shakes the world itself Amethyst is going to raddle its foundation. Himari swallowed as she watched Amethyst pick apart the requirements for the “holy court” in the system and start to rebuild it from the ground up and deep in the void Overseer chuckled, unlike Babylon it knew what to do with its “feelings” about Valor and the uppity goat won't even know what hit him.