RE: Deity - The Breath of Creation

4:17 The Machine

There was only so much I could do when I arrived. The city - or what it had once been, now just a pile of rubble from where the giant had sat up - was a smoking heap of pain and death. Souls swirled about where the Capital of Art had once been, the dead denizens of the One World displaced and unable to find their afterlife. Alexander had already collected most of the souls of those of the Four Realms who had died. Of the forces who had left the Four Realms, only about fifty percent would return alive. Many more would be crippled or injured for a long, long time, if not the rest of their lives.I would take care of the fallen personally. They had sacrificed their lives for the sake of the Realms. That would not be forgotten.

Keilan had bound Yueya well. His strings, not just karma, but every form of connection possible, kept her body from moving, eyes closed, breathing even, even inside the trapped jar. I could feel the rot within her moving, raging, searching for some way out of the cage it had been trapped in - but there was no way out. The Divine Rot, the core of its being that gave the rest such power, was now in a cage I had designed. When I appeared over the devastation and carnage, I was left standing over a war that was already over.

The Oshun's true body lay inert, a husk with nothing but decay within it, a pile of rubble that would form a new mountain range. Xing Wu stood atop the crown of its head defiantly, as if daring it to move. Kei poked his face playfully, desperate to bring some levity to the somber mood. Solana perched above them all, surveying the damage.

I moved about through everyone. A ghost. A shadow. Everything was moving without me, but I made my presence known all the same. Healing those who needed healing. Crushing rot spores in the bodies of those infected. Whispering words of comfort to the fallen.

My domain screamed at me. This war had thrown everything out of balance. Gods were slain. Vesuvius, the god of fire, had lost an arm in the battle at one point, likely when some of the One World’s gods had detonated part of their divinity. He sat beside his wife, the Goddess of Water Inana, who fussed over him despite missing an ear in that same explosion.

I'd figured out why the enemy gods had done that, too. It had been what had given the body of the Oshun the jolt needed to wake up. Otherwise it would have been impossible - it still was impossible. That had been a final gambit, and now that the panic was over I could see it would have crumbled beneath its own weight sooner than later. But not before dealing far more damage than I would have been comfortable with. I actually shuddered to imagine what damage could have been done if the rot had succeeded in uniting all three pieces of the Oshun Trio into one whole.

Had it happened before the collision itself, we would have been in trouble.

Separated, the Oshun Trio were dangerous. Curie was smarter than me. Alala, physically stronger. Yueya, more cunning and personable. Compared to them, I was more well rounded than any two of them. Together? Combined? They would have been a force to be reckoned with. I did not see how the Four Realms as a universe could have survived it, even if I could have protected their souls. It did leave me wondering, though. Why had they separated in the first place? It was a question I would have to pose to them.

"Father," Keilan said, appearing at my side. Blood still dripped from the wound on his forehead, and he wiped it away with a black handkerchief. I reached up and touched the little gash, already healing, funneling some of my taxed divine power into his wound.

All this, and I was still feeling stretched thin. Pulled in too many directions. I was still adapting to the Authority of Curie, still recovering from the injury. It really hadn't been any time at all since the collision, and all this had already happened...barely any time to recover. Yet there was no rest for the wicked, and I already loathed that my children had to pick up such burdens.

"You did well," I said, though it didn't sound like praise.

"I did what was needed," he replied. "We all did."

"You all did," I agreed, pressing my hand to his chest and searching his aura for any deviations. The cultivators had already begun to call this new variant of the rot a "heart demon," something that destabilized and wound tight their cultivation. Predictably, Keilan had none. He was as steady as ever.

If we kept the One World beneath our yoke, under occupation, essentially, the Rot would forever be an issue. 'It already will be,' my mind supplied. The Rot had already been introduced to the Four Realms.

I didn't know if it was possible to completely free ourselves from the One World.

I turned my gaze to the world itself.

"What should we do with he prisoners, and our allies?" Keilan asked, though he already knew the answer.

"We bring Yueya and the worst of the infected back to the Four Realms. Elvira and I will remove the rot from them, and Yueya and Alala will be reunited. We will see if they can recover enough to be tried," I said. There was no two ways about it. Out of their minds or not, they had started this war. We would have to figure out what to do with them. It was, unfortunately, Yueya who worried me the most. Alala had been cooperative, when I'd helped free her mind of the Rot.

I couldn't just trust them either, though. The deception had run deep before this. I needed to see how deep.

Curie, on the other hand, was another matter entirely. I wasn't quite certain I was ready to open that bag of worms, but since when had life ever waited for when you were ready?

"The One World is fracturing." I informed him. "It will likely implode int he next twenty million years, give or take, unless we sink significant time and resources into its growth. Time and resources that could be used in growing our own selves, and fixing our own cracks."

"This is a problem for the future. We do need to focus on the now." Keilan advised. I smiled at him, knowing that to be the truth and patting him on the shoulder.

"I have found all the bodies. All the souls of the deceased that Alexander missed. They are stored in a pearl in your chambers on Alanna's ship. Make sure to come up with something for the veterans. Awards. Metals. Elvira already has some plans, but you are the God of Connections. This is not a connection that will fade soon - these are battle-bonded souls now. The scars of this war will carry on for a long time." I told him.

"I will," Keilan said. I could see in him the realization that I was right. He hadn't thought about making an award or medal or some sort of soul-mark that spoke of these fallen and still-living warriors' deeds, not because it hadn't crossed his mind, but because he knew Elvira and Alanna both were already planning something like that.

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But Heaven’s award, and a commendation from your God Empress was one thing. A mark from the god of Karma was entirely another.

"What will you do now?" Keilan asked, sensing my shifting eyes and attention. I cast a glance at him, then looked back at the One World.

"We have Yueya and Alala in custody. There remains only one left."

"Curie,"

"Curie. The awakening of the main body, I fear, did some damage to her. Atreum, as well, is still on the loose." I met Keilan's eyes. "Amari Ren is helping me, ironically. The little one recognizes me as Parent, and now two thirds of the One World's Authority responds to me. I will collect them both and bring them back to the Four Realms." He nodded to me, already descending back to the ground, to help with the others.

Given time, my children would have been able to find and capture Atreum. I had no doubt about that - throughout this war, they had proven themselves. But unlike the mortals, what await us at the end of this was hard decisions and more work, rather than the blessings of gods.

Speaking of...

I turned my attention to those below. The army that had assembled under the banner of the Heavens, both from the Four Realms, and the few allies we had found within the One World. Curie's SystemGuardians stood inert beside them all, only the few that carried shards of Curie's divinity moving at all.

"Go, and return in Glory," I whispered, spreading my hands wide, divine light radiating from me, motes of gold drifting down to the churned land below, where the people of the Four Realms were tending to their wounded, and the few remaining living people of the Capital of Art The One World gods were tending to them as well, but they were...well.

I could only see them as despondent. They were trying hard, but this was a people who had just been utterly destroyed. Seen their leaders turn to monsters and destroy the jewel of their world. Lost everything, and were now faced with the daunting task of rebuilding, all while knowing that the victors, us, were unknown to them. Our intentions. Our everything. I could not begrudge them a little melancholy and depression.

The motes of light descended, unseen by most. I was the heavens, and these people were no longer our enemies. They sunk into all souls, blessing them with a safe journey, and good fortune that would last only so long. That was all I could spare at the moment.

Alexander, brave, loyal Alexander, turned his face skyward and smiled, his injuries already healing. The great dragon had suffered two direct hits from the giant and was resting upon one of the ships, having already spoken to me directly. He basked in my blessing, soaking in the love I radiated from my heart like a snake soaking up the sun. No other words were said. None needed to be said. That action alone, told them more than words I had already said a million times over.

I turned my gaze North, and followed the messages blinking at me from the nascent System. It was finally time for some one-on-one time with Curie.

***

I was accompanied by an incarnation of Astraea. The star goddess had caught me just before I had started running off, and one look at her pleading face had me wrapping her up in my power and taking her with me. She, more accurately than the intermittent messages and the glitching SystemGuardians, guided me to Curie's hidden spot.

I had to hand it to her. The fortress was hidden so well it took me two scans of the area to discover it. It's brilliance, however, was that it was hidden in plain sight.

It was a statue of Yueya, an entire city growing around it. People moved about unaware of the danger their universe was in, unaware of the rot that infected part of the populace, unaware of the Capital of Art's fall. Blissfully hidden away. It was a nice enough place, but not too noteworthy. The kind of town one could pass over easily because it was near enough to be convenient, but not noteworthy enough to think about.

Brilliant. To hide from something as obsessive as the Rot, it was the perfect hiding place.

I stepped forward, and the ward around the statue deactivated, the folded space within that made the inside larger than the outside opening only briefly to let me into the laboratory.

It was, in many ways, exactly as I had expected. White, sterile walls, see-through glass with automated servants building new SystemGuardians, and a glass tube that shot down into the earth to deliver said SystemGuardians to other areas, where they would be deployed. Dozens of screens lined the walls, showing all the myriad places across the One World. May showed live footage of the SystemGuardians and loyalists doing battle with the Rot's waning forces, a giant 3d globe showing red dots where the Rots forces seemed to be concentrated.

And in the center of it all...

Astraea covered her mouth, tears budding in the corners of her eyes, a soft gasp escaping her. I shook my head sadly, too emotionally drained to be properly horrified.

"Oh, Curie. What have you done?"

The woman was hooked up to machines. Hundreds of them. Electrical tubes were jammed into the back of her head, an electronic visor over eyes that no longer saw. One arm was mechanical, the fingers splitting open to drop cords that ran to the screens, where they could tap into the system itself. Her heart beat in her chest, but even it was aided by machinery, a little device that kept her divine blood flowing while her body struggled to stay alive.

This was a woman who had sacrificed everything on a hope and a prayer, and her decision had saved the Four Realms by preventing the Rot from fully awakening the Oshun's true body.

"GREETINGS." Curie said, voice coming out of speakers rather than her body. She raised one arm, the divinity that made up her self fracturing with the simple movement. She'd been peeling pieces of herself off to give the SystemGuardian divine authority, different from Authority, and it was only the machines she was hooked up to that kept her alive.

Peeling out the Authority had left a gaping hole in her chest. Whereas I felt too full, she was empty. Devoid of a piece that made her, herself.

"Curie,” I started.

"VICTORY IS GUARANTEED. THE ROT HAS REDUCED AFFECTIVENESS IN 45 AREAS OF ATTACK. CALCULATING...ESTIMATED TOTAL REDUCTION: 85%. SUGGESTED COURSE OF ACTION: CREATION OF MORE SYSTEMGUARDIANS, DEVELOPMENT OF SYSTEM ALPHA BUILD. CURRENT GOAL: REMAIN HIDDEN. STABILIZE THE ONE WORLD. AID THE FOUR REALMS."

My breath caught in my throat. This foolish woman.

"You have done enough, Curie. Rest now." I told her.

"IMPOSSIBLE. I -"

"That was not a request." Curie's voice died at the deadness of my tone. "Pack it all up. Report to the Four Realms for further assignment." I told her, giving her a simple directive and command like I would a machine. She was silent for a long, heartbreaking second. Green lights flashed, then turned red.

"COMMAND ACCEPTED. OVERRIDE AUTHORITY CONFIRMED. DETATCHING FORTRESS, MOVING TO THE FOUR REALMS." The entire thing shifted in place, the machinery stuttering for a moment as it all started to move. Astraea coked on a sob.

"Go with her," I told her gently. "Make sure she gets there safely. Astraea." The star goddess looked up at me with tear-filled eyes, and I wrapped her in a hug, my heart going out to her. She collapsed into my chest, sobbing, tears streaming down her face as I rocked back and forth, in time with the shaking of Curie's lab as it prepared itself to move. "It will be ok." And that was not a lie.

She had done more than enough. I would ensure her future.

***

I found Atreum hiding in a cave. He, alongside nearly three dozen other gods and nigh on a hundred thousand troops, had hidden away in a cave on the surface of the One World. He was the Rot's last big player. The last chess piece.

And I had had enough. This game was over, and I was going to shatter the board.

The thin film of rot that attempted to hide them from my sight was obliterated with the wave of my hand. As one they all rose, but a firm glare fixed them all in place, the Will of the One World pressing down upon them, sure, but more importantly, my raw fury. In the face of me, there was nothing they could do.

"Don't get up." I said coldly, appearing in the center of all of them. The Rot writhed beneath my feet, at once trying to flee and reach up to infect me. I let it touch me. Let it try. My Balance held, and the rot was sent screaming.

Atreum tried to rise. I could see the thought in his head from where he sat. The nerve endings in his legs fired, his divine power fluctuating, but nothing worked .He remained impotent and useless.

"Surrender." I told them bluntly. "Or face annihilation. I am the Heavens. Your gods gave me their Authority of their own free will. I am Father to your Heir. There are no other options here. I will cleanse you of the Rot. Restore your minds. Then you will face a trial my children will hold. And a punishment I will oversee." For a breath, no one moved. That was all the permission I needed. With a wave of my hand all of them were suppressed, a great Taiji symbol swirling beneath my feet as the great teleportation technique was activated.

They were captured. Rendered inert. Now it was time to head home, and deal with the aftermath.