“I am Sophia, or at least that is what others call me. You must have already realized that I, much like you, come from the same world. Most gods are like us - transported from different realities rather than ascended beings native to this universe.”
The Goddess walked along the massive branch, her bare feet scattering the lone leaves that were stuck to the rough bark.
“I once lived in a place called Constantinople. Have you heard of it? Sadly, I remember little else. While my memory as a deity is flawless - to the point that I could recount every breath I’ve taken since my time here - I have forgotten most of my mortal past. Perhaps that is only natural. I have been living as a goddess for several millennia, after all.”
She smiled then, the beautiful curl of her lips tainted by a shadow of sadness.
“You must have many questions. You might even detest me as the one who dragged you into this world. But know this - I had no choice. I merely accelerated a process that was already in motion. You would have been brought here eventually, regardless of my intervention. Still, I accept the role I played in your fate.”
She extended her hand, and a cyan orb materialized above her palm.
“Having a predecessor like myself comes with certain boons. I have left several gifts for you. You should have inherited my Radiance - or at least a slightly lower version of it. It should make you more powerful than the majority of other deities. Ah, forgive me… I’m rambling. It has been years since I last spoke so openly with anyone. I once had a… friend. But he was forced to forfeit his Authority, and now he remains in a deep slumber.”
She stared into the orb for a long moment, her eyes reflecting the cyan light before the sphere vanished into nothingness.
“You have likely already seen most of the visions I left for you. A few more should still be out there, though I have ensured you only find them once you are powerful enough to endure the path they reveal. I wish I could be clearer… but at the very least, I will tell you of the traitor and why my death is imminent.”
She produced two small spheres. One was familiar: the Soul Core of the elf I had purchased from the God of Merchants.
“Elves are pure divinity. To the gods, they are a source of raw power. Others have attempted to seize them from me many times, and they have failed. No one realizes that my elves do not reproduce. I create them. You might wonder how I possess so much divinity - the answer is simple. I was granted a unique ability. It allows me to harvest divinity from the love I receive. It is a blessing for one who hates conflict, but it is also a curse. Had I more conventional source of power, I might never have created the elves, and this war might never have begun.”
The Goddess’s thoughts seemed scattered.
“I have been in constant wars, but thanks to my Radiance and my allies, I was winning. Things began to change when my enemies stopped targeting me and instead attacked my loyal friend, a Netherworld deity. Now, I am…”
The vision suddenly fractured, the shapes glitched and tore. When the scene restored itself, the Goddess was wearing a radiant silver armor, her white wings spread wide. She stood on the edge of the giant tree, looking down at the army of elves gathered below.
“The vision I created for you was ruined,” she said, her voice no longer soft and warm, but angry. “I must have accidentally revealed a taboo. You will realize what I mean eventually, but I cannot spare the time to explain. Do not trust the gods. In thousands of years, I have met only two who remained loyal. Do not believe a single word uttered by the God of Moons and Night.”
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She turned her gaze back toward the horizon, her expression hardening.
“I have planned a path for you. If everything unfolds as I have envisioned, you may become the deity who finally destroys this cursed order. But that depends entirely on you. I pray you do not become corrupted or cold toward the mortals beneath you. I have left a vessel for you, a husk that will allow you to roam the mortal realm even after your ascension. Please, use it to remind yourself what love and pain are… I have even granted that shell an immunity to divinity, a trait that has not been seen in ages.”
She produced a silver helmet from the air and pulled it over her head, her eyes disappearing behind the visor.
“I will die today. My children will die with me. Only a few will survive, sealed away by my most loyal sword, who will sacrifice her very essence to ensure they remain hidden. We have done all of this to create a crack for you. Do not waste our sacrifices. Do not forget the value of a single life. I realize that I have no right to make such requests, and yet I must… Keep asking questions, my successor. And never stop looking for the answers!”
The vision blurred once again, but this time, it didn’t shift into a new scene. Instead, the colors simply bled away, pulling me back into the silence of my own realm.
This is not what I expected.
I was left with more questions than I had received answers. Worse, some of those answers were outright disturbing - a taboo? A cursed order? I found myself wondering if the Goddess had been referring to the System itself.
I’d noticed that throughout her long, fractured monologue, she hadn't mentioned the System even once. Perhaps she had in the sections that got ruined, perhaps the very act of naming it was what had caused the distortion in the first place. I didn’t know for certain. Not yet, at least. But her silence on the matter left me in a pit of doubt and suspicion.
However, the Goddess had also provided the one thing I needed most: a path to victory.
She had managed to maintain her power through a combination of her Radiance and her allies. My own Radiance was already exceptional, a trait that apparently I had inherited from her, but I lacked the second half of her equation. I was alone.
She had warned me not to trust any god, but I was certain there was one who could be trusted. Or, rather, one who would be motivated to destroy the God of Moons and Night with even more fervor than I was. Lilith.
Now that I knew the truth of how the Night God had usurped the Authority over the Moons, I had a weapon to use to my advantage. The Goddess of Sanguines didn’t strike me as a woman who was forgiving kind; she would be eager to get revenge. And I was the one who could provide the opportunity.
The question, however, was whether she was still around. The goddess had mentioned that her friend had fallen into a deep slumber after losing his Authority. The same thing might have happened to Lilith.
First, I must figure out how to contact her.
There was one deity who would undoubtedly possess that information, but the price… I had no desire to spend a single drop of divinity more than was strictly necessary. I needed to hoard every bit of power for the inevitable conflict. Normally, I would have simply scoured the world for the vampires, or rather, the sanguines, and used them as a bridge to reach their deity.
But two things made me hesitate: the lack of time, and the uncertainty of whether Lilith even remained the Goddess of Sanguines. In the end, I decided to test the God of Merchants. V was supposed to visit me soon, and I would probe him for information. If the cost was too steep, I would hunt for the sanguines myself. If not, I would pay the price and buy the one thing I couldn't afford to waste: time.
But that wasn’t the most pressing dilemma I faced.
Through the fragmented memories the Goddess had left behind, I had finally learned the true identity of my enemy - the Night God, the new God of Elves.
I’d had my suspicions before, but now the reality was undeniable. Even if I managed to de-escalate the current conflict, our paths were destined to collide. As the God of Elves, he would never stop hunting what I had - Karla, and the key to the rest of her kind.
And then, an idea came. It was a thought so simple, so elegant, that it might resolve the entire struggle without me having to lift a single finger.
Should I reveal the identity of the new God of Elves to the rest of the world?