Morugarius sat waiting as the Forum's doors remained closed, her parents getting ready for the special occasion, to her side was her wife and dearest of all companions Uumaries, she slept on her shoulder, her fair locks casting a wonderful view in such a dreary day.
She felt the divine power within her writhe as a high-priority message came from her underlings in the...Father's balls from the Interdimensional Protection squad.
"Speak" Morugarius whispered to not wake her beloved, Gods knew she had gone through a rough patch as of late.
"Terminus level entities detected, not breached but allowed access to your domain in the mortal coil, unknown security keys and codes used, every facility is in lockdown and high alert as cleaner squads are being deployed, System-Wide Threats Ma'am" the voice was cold and to the point.
"We have no authorization for Terminus level files, I hope your Father proves to be forthcoming with the information" he continued with a small coof "Unknown host, haven't been able to pinpoint even where they landed just that something pinged alarms my team didn't know were there in the first place"
The voice went quiet, waiting for an explanation from Morugarius.
"I had those placed after the conquest of Ivy'Thrum, we were dealing with star harvesters," Morugarius said with a sigh.
Star Harvesters was the nickname for any civilization without Divine or Outer Divine aid that managed to achieve interstellar and interdimensional travel, usually by harvesting stars for energy. Still, there were many exclusions to the rule. Her brother had fought one that could somehow tap into the coldness of space for power, another who would use unsanctioned time travel to essentially hop between planes.
All brought to heel by the might of Absolute Order, until he went rogue.
Thinking about her older brother was a sure-fire way to go down that depressive old road again, she missed him Father knew she did, but she made her choice to stand with her family on that fated day, and the look of betrayal in his eyes was something she would never forget, nor forgive herself.
Uumaries was already up when Morugarius came to her senses, her hair casting a golden light across their little corner "So, what's the news that got you spooked?"
"Someone let those entities in, someone that could forge all the necessary items at that" she confided to her beloved "There are very few that can do that, and two of them are in that room right now"
Their chat was cut short when the door opened, Morugarius and Uumaries walked together inside as the faces greeted them, at the head of the table were her father and mother, looking nonplussed.
To the left sat several familiar faces, and one she wasn't expecting to be here at all.
"Friede" Morugarius sighed, one of her best soldiers, absolute chaos on the battlefield now turned into a mad dog, all because of a few select bad choices she and her wife took...
There was barely held together wrath in those pale grey eyes of her, Morugarius didn't fail to notice Velka's hand moving to hold her companion, Friede calmed down a little after the gesture, but just a little.
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"Imperium dogs" Uumaries spoke with contempt and Morugarius shook her head, her better half knew she also came from the Imperium! but she couldn't help it, as the Goddess was on the frontlines in every strike the Imperium had thrown at Vermilion in the past.
"Settle down" All-Father Faal spoke with an easygoing tone "Daughter of mine thank you for taking the time to come to this war council" she sucked in air when those words escaped his lips.
Damn it all!
"Not much we could do dear, the woman did sack the son of that mad queen, after all, she would've wanted blood one way or another" All-Mother spoke "Thankfully we have been made aware Malphas can be reasoned with" she cast a glance towards Uumaries "Lady Uumaries, your activities will be discussed later, now we deal with the Lucrezia issue" Uumaries nodded her face betraying no emotion.
Morugarius told her, told her those blasted pillars of her were bad, that the mortals would use them for nefarious means, and lo and behold they did, they had a big fight about it and Morugarius ended up living in the eastern part of the house alone for weeks.
Another sight that took her off guard was Ra'Tyrius in full war gear, that nasty Magi-Tech of his that kept expanding Morugarius Sphere of Power every single day, her cousin stared her down, myriad emotions on his face.
And so, every single divine that had blessed Lucrezia stood and bowed to the All-Father, only Friede remained seat, as did All-Mother.
"Well then, the situation in Vermilion has escalated to the point of no return, Daughter of mine, I was made aware that my current blessed has been speaking with you, asking for Malphas to spare those who joined Lucrezia from her wrath?"
"Yes Father, I have personally spoken with Malphas, as our covenant demands it, she has agreed together with her husband and only Lucrezia..." Morugarius stopped and the room grew deathly quiet.
"She aims to kill her son and Hope? Madness..." Saal'Xhir said reading Morugarius like an open book, another fighter whose loss was felt in the great war to expand the domain of the All-Father, and one who to this day still harbored feelings for her older brother.
"Her son Arthur and Hope will not be spared, she views their friendship with Lucrezia as unforgivable"
All-Father Faal smiled a wicked grin "Ah I was right in the blessing that young lass, 3 tainted by the Rage in its strongest form? Dear wife, can you imagine the fight?"
"You lose sight of the bigger picture husband of mine, it is not just them, Lucrezia has amassed in months what would take kings and emperors decades, Including Gwenarius who we both know will be personally invested in the fight"
Morugarius sighed again, The Goddess of Time had lost her lover to the entity that would become the Rage-That-Dwells, and she was known for hunting down those tainted by it whenever she saw fit.
Faal turned to the Silent Soldier "Old friend, I am glad you made time for us, tell me, will your children join in this great kerfuffle? seeing that you saw Lucrezia worth of a blessing"
One of the oldest Gods of War, a personal friend of Faal who rarely spoke even together among his divine brethren, the ancient divine nodded respectfully and spoke, his voice was raspy and one could feel the age behind it.
"Aye, too long they have been pestering me for bloodshed against our commander's children, that we can do this in neutral grounds with minimal loss of life is nothing short of bonus to them, and so will my fellow from the north"
The Raider God Nodded, a wolfish grin on his lips.
"Daughter?" Faal asked.
"Father, Lucrezia has expanded the Sphere of Warfare at a pace that no single mortal has ever done, Ra'Tyrius has also risen through the ranks of power at a similar speed, what I am saying here is that there is something off with the woman" Morugarius waited for the rebuke as her mother rose "Something up? you dare question my sense when I blessed the mortal? quite the pair of stones you got today daughter" All-Mother sat down.
Ra'Tyrius raised his hand to speak "Grandfather, Grandmother, I have worked with Lucrezia for nearly a year now, all the designs and machines we came up with were from her mind alone, the newer ones only popping up once my Sphere of Power expanded, I can assure you together with the other gods here that she is clean" He sat down.
Faal looked up and said "Well everyone, I'd say it's time for the first break in this little reunion we are having eh? I am sure we all got errands to run and mortals to attend, we will resume the session in 40 minutes"
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