Great majority of people would agree that the life of a typical emperor, is an arduous one. From dawn till dusk the duty of most rulers is to watch over their kingdoms or empires and listen to the problems of their subjects. One of the best examples of these obvious truths is a man called Emperor MacAronne Makredy The Swift. He is no exception to the common rule and behavior of the people of his stature. The tall and once handsome MacAronne always was and still is, fully devoted to his role of being an emperor to the vast land of the Holy Empire.

Like every single day for the past thirty odd years, his majesty is being woken up by his maids with the very first rays of the morning sun. He eats his breakfast alone and visits his personal throne room alone too. After his business is done, the emperor moves to, the proper throne room where he listens to his vassals and foreign visitors as well as important messengers. For his midday meal he gathers with his family in a large dining hall. There, he listens to his sons and daughters constant drivel of never ending fight and over exaggerated boasting of their meager accomplishments. Having numerous offspring is good for creating a strong and extended line of succession and his father Aronne also had many children. Just like him, MacAronne fought with his siblings too, in order to be the successor, but listening to his children is always tiring and unfortunately only few of them have qualities needed to take over after him.

His majesty, the emperor was just in middle of his meal when important news were about to be delivered to him. Unbeknownst of future turmoil, with elegant and graceful movements he reached with his fork and slowly submerged it in flavored sauce, piercing chickobos rich flank. It is a rare delicacy, hard to procure and rumored to rise a mans virility, significantly. He moved it to his mouth and closed his eyes in order to gain full pleasure of tasting this delectable meat. His senses also picked up a sound of hurried footsteps outside. Not a moment later the door to the grand hall opened. The royal messenger moved in and swiftly knelled in front of his liege, waiting for permission to speak.

"You may speak."

"I beg your forgiveness your majesty. I bear a message of great importance." It wasn't unheard of, but interrupting emperors meal without a good reason was punishable by death. It had to be something relatively important, like farmers rioting or some adventurer slaying a mighty beast, otherwise he wouldn't be so rudely interrupted.

Still chewing on his chickobos, MacAronne gave a simple nod.

"There was an oracle, your majesty, it spoke about the Holy Empire!"

That was within reason. Oracles weren't that rare, but often more than not, they were just simple musings of a bored god. MacAronne wasn't very surprised.

"From the god of time!"

"Ptff..." Emperor MacAronne the Swift made a very odd choking sound and swiftly spat his still unfinished chickobos high in the air. The tender meat made several magnificent splattering arcs, sending sauce straight for his family members and landing squarely in the ravine of his majesty latest and favorite concubines, ample bossom. It is worth to mention that although she was barely thirteen in age, his majesty was not very interested in courting as he was late in his sixties. The emperor has taken her more as a show of his supposed ability rather than a true form of performance. Suffice to say, most of his younger children, aren't actually his.

"Wh-cough.. What? Are you sure?"

"Yes, I have full length of the oracle."

"Well? Speak up!"

The god of time was a major god whose oracles could be counted on fingers of only one hand. There were only few in history of mankind, but each warned about great threats to the world. Last one was from a thousand years ago and foretold of a great calamity in form of a demon who unearthed a mythical artifact. Thanks to that item he became a powerful demon lord that threatened to conquer the whole world. To defeat him, great costs and sacrifices had to be made. MacAronnes head started to hurt. He was thinking about what could have possibly forced such a big shot to provide an oracle.

"It said 'From beyond the veil of abyss, horrors pry on Aranna as it welcomed a seed of chaos to the bastion of men'."

After messengers words the hall became dead silent. Emperors children and their mothers held their breaths waiting for MacAronne to say something. It was widely known that Holy Empire was referred by most countries on the continent as bastion of humankind due to its politics and human supremacy.

"What? That's it?"

"Yes, Sire. That's all it said."

Emperor put a hand to his chin and pondered on the meaning of this oracle. At first, he thought that this was pure nonsense. It was short and possessed no detailed information. He couldn't figure head or tails out of it. What did it mean by veil and abyss? The only concrete information was that something is going to happen or already happened in his empire.

He pondered and pondered, but couldn't come to any sensible conclusion. After few minutes he gave up and reached for a glass of wine. This crimson liquid was from the great vineyards of Ocelot kingdom far to the east. You could buy a whole town or few good slaves with just one bottle. His majesty closed his eyes and tasted the mellow touch on his tongue. While blissfully submerging in delicate sensation, he heard another set of footsteps speeding towards the dining hall.

MacAronne was not eager to repeat the mistake from mere moments ago, so this time he opt to just keep his mouth shut. He was certain it's the same information or just a repeat from another god that the god of time woke up from centuries of slumber.

Just as before a royal messenger stormed into the dining hall and knelled before his liege. MacAronne waved his hand giving him permission to speak.

"Your Majesty, there was an oracle!"

The emperor already heard about it. It was just as he thought, another oracle about the same thing. The wine in his mouth, as sublime as ever, made his senses dull to his messengers agitated face.

"Twenty seven in total!"

"Pfftt..." Due to complete and utter surprise, his majesty failed to keep the wine that he was currently tasting, in his mouth. In a show of a splendid splutter work, It rushed out with a cough in a yet another beautiful arc. He wasn't eager to hit his family with it for a second time, so he swiftly tried to salvage the situation and turned his head sideways. At least he tried to, he has been given a title of the swift, but that was when he was a young lad. So, of course, he failed and half of the table along with his numerable offspring ended up sprayed with droplets of wine and spit. To his horror however, there was one person he didn't notice earlier and he ended up face to face with him, making his face wet with one of the best wine in the whole world.

"I must say MacAronne, this is gross." The ower of that voice was one of the few individuals, that human beings instinctively know, they should never give offense to. "I was wondering if I should give an oracle, but I decided to come here myself. I never suspected I would be spat with a mouthful of wine." Piercing, blue eyes landed on the poor emperor, who was now hastily trying to wipe the wine of his guests face.

"God of light, Julianos. What are you doing here?"

The whole dining hall became silent again. This on an itself was a rare occurrence. Gods do not normally visit mortals personally, they use oracles or avatars if they wish to pass on some information or if they are in need of something. The exception to this is if they wish to play or are bored to death. In most cases a visit from a god, is not a good thing. Current visitor is a benign one, having the visage and size of a ten year old child, but his appearance in the palace still meant that literal shit hit the fun.

"He came here because Jarvous woke up and screamed about some end times to every possible temple he could."

Yet another voice resounded in the hall. This time it was of a tall man with unnaturally long arms. He had a hunched back and a distinct crooked nose.

"This is getting out of hand, now there are two of them!" One of emperors younger sons couldn't stand the pressure and blabbered his astonishment out loud. Unfortunately for him, his run for the throne ended irrevocably at that moment.

"And they won't be the last. God of light, god of coin, fancy seeing you here."

Third voice belonged to a woman, just like the two before her, she appeared out of thin air. She was wearing hooded, blue robe without sleeves and on her wrists a handful of bracelets jingled ominously.

"Nazar. Who would have thought that even goddess of eyes, a true hermit, would find her way to the Holy Empire. MacAronne, we need to have a little talk. Get your family out and conjure us some new food. I wouldn't normally say this, but I'll pay for it. I have the coin and this is an emergency. Have your chefs bring out the good stuff and tell them to make a lot of it. I am guessing few more of us will join before the day ends." Emperor has never seen two gods at the same time, not to mention three. A whole hall of them was simply unthinkable. Despite his emotional turmoil and internal screaming, Emperor Makredy followed with given orders. As much as he didn't want to, not following them would be tantamount to defying a god. His empire could fight one if it poured enough resources, but fighting a full convention of them would be pure madness.

MacAronne wasn't suicidal, so he hastily clapped and a row of maids and butlers rushed to hear his orders. In presence of three gods in one room it was a feat to stay in sound mind, but palace servants were well trained. Mostly if not, it would cost them their lives. Preparations for grand feast started in full swing.

***

"Seven gods in one room. I would never have thought I would see the day again. I guess we all came here because of the same reason. I'm so happy to see you all, especially my dear Julianos. Your form is as adorable as always."

"It has been a thousand years or so. La'ma, would you please stop with your fetishes and release god of light? We can't start if you strangle him to death with those breasts of yours. His face looks like he is going to pass out any moment now."

"Oh my, oh my, are you jealous Nazar? I would say little Juli here likes it on my thighs."

"Both of you, we have more important things to do than listen to this."

In the dinging hall, in the grand palace in the capital of the Holy Empire, a group of seven gods and one human were sitting around large round table stuffed to the brim with magnificent, pricey food and about to start a debate on their next course of action. Their fellow god that manages time, made a rather disturbing announcement that forced those few to drop what they were doing and for once, take things seriously.

Apart from already exhausted Emperor MacAronne, there were seven beings of extraordinary importance and power, that made their way to the meeting. Within their ranks they differed in strength and role, non the less they were gods, thus far outranking beast kin and humans including the poor Emperor MacAronne himself.

Sitting on the most left chair was the god of forge, Snithim Nam. Although he was wearing a beautiful, sleek black suite, his silhouette betrayed a bulky frame, full of strong, perking muscles. Red eyes and drool running down his red, long beard only matched his burning bright red hair as well as his hunger for all the delicacies lying in front of him. He wasn't as much of a talking type, as much as he was a glutton one. As a true template for a god artisan, every handcraft that were ever made by his fingers were of artifact class. However, it was also known to every person present in the hall, that Nam, didn't produce anything for a few centuries now. He was in a so called, slump.

Next to him was a god of coin. He preferred for his true name to be known only to few so he rarely introduced himself. As his title suggested, he was revered by merchants and wealthy nobles due to his obsession with trade and coins. He was a rather elusive but a blunt man. It was his comment that put a stop to the two goddesses little quarrel.

"Now that I have your attention, lets get to the point. I tried to contact Jarvous, but I had no luck. His little space is tightly shut. I can't warp, project, or even astral to his place. It's like he created a fortress and barricaded all doors within his already ridiculously hard to get into, pocket dimension. He refuses any contact. God of time was already a recluse and a coward, but he was never a paranoid senile old man. Nazar, maybe you know something? You are not a coward like him and I am sure you saw what frightened him so much. Your eyes are practically everywhere so you must know something."

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"This god of war agrees. This one was close by and became curious. He felt something fishy is going on in Holy Empire and came here to check on possible cause."

"Haha, look at Gimbi being all serious. We all came here because we felt something strange is happening in the Holy Empire. You aren't the only one. By the way, how is your wife? Braumhilda? I haven't seen her for some time now. I was always wondering why are you allowing her to wield the sword in your family, while you wait for her at home with a cooking apron."

Gimbis mouth twisted in rage but said nothing. He was a legitimate god of war. However, he had very few believers because of his scrawny look and thin scratchy voice. He wasn't very liked due to his build and the way he aloofly held himself, also he was in a constant feud with goddess of carnage who was a true incarnation of devastation on the battlefield. Gimbi was a sorry excuse of a god in contrast to the fiery burning red hair and bulging muscles of his counterpart. She was perceived as a true goddess of war by many and Gimbi was mostly forgotten. They were never a pair. That comment made by the goddess of earth was meant to be a little harmless harassment, but to Gimbi it was a silent declaration of war.

As to the goddess of earth, she was sitting on the opposite side to now gobbling Nam. Her green eyes were trying to pierce the darkness under her neighbors hood, with their vertical reptilian pupils.

Vos was a woman with her bottom half that of a snake. It was long enough to round the round table at least once and that table was made so that it could guest all of emperors large family members. Suffice to say, it was large. Silk, golden Loincloth covered her more intimate parts, but apart from that piece of clothing on her hips, she was practically naked. Her breasts were under half transparent kind of a sports bra with golden patterns and they were dangerously large. Even La'ma couldn't compete with her on that field, making Vos a target of envy for half of her neighbors, and a target of desire for the other half. Her hair were tightened in a long circular braid that span her head and at the top of it was a little munching creature that looked like a combination between a squirrel and a hamster.

"I was trying to get in tune with Aranna but to my astonishment I was cut off. Aranna has never denied me vision before. I can't see what is happening in the Holy Empire. Me! Goddess of earth!"

Vos thumped her fist against the table making nearby food fly up in the air. She was a hot tempered woman who had the ability to commune with the planet. Her anger and surprise stemmed from the fact that one of her main senses was stripped off, without her even knowing why.

"Speaking of tune, maybe I should play something to commemorate our gathering? How about it, my dear Juli?" La'ma smiled sweetly to Julianos who was still being hugged by her on her lap. The force of her love was so great that it was making his eyes bulge, threatening to drop out of their sockets.

"We all came here for a reason, you know that right? Stop flirting you two and lets hear from the goddess of eyes. Nazar, would you do the honors? I am sure you already know what is going on. If you won't start those lovers there will never stop getting on our nerves." God of coin made a sound argument and gestured to Nazar to start, while at the same time putting a piece of chickabos onto his plate.

"You are just jealous and by the way that meat has some special properties, you know?" God of coin ignored her and started eating with gusto.

Nazar on the other hand, took her hood off, revealing her head. She was a black haired beauty with a distinct bob haircut. She looked like an Egyptian queen. Her ears were pierced with earrings in shape of a tear and below her right violet eye was a doubled tattoo line that went down, reaching her sharp jaw line. She took the sip of the prized Ocelot wine and opened her mouth after a moment of contemplation.

"Indeed, you are correct. I did see something. I don't know why Jarvous made such a desperate outcry and then hid himself but I do have an inkling." She made a quick round with her eyes looking at everyone present and finally resting her piercing gaze on a person who looked like there were nails below his buttocks.

"Emperor MacAronne, would you dare a guess as to the reason of why seven gods would gather here in this hall? The precedent to the event like this, was a situation from a thousand years ago that was documented in your history books. I can tell you that gods gathering only happened few times in the past. We are mostly a solitary beings, you know. Apart from few." Nazar looked at La'ma and Julianos, squinting her eyes. "To all of you that gathered here and especially to you MacAronne, there are currently eleven gods of higher or lesser standing residing or traveling in your land and that is still excluding those sitting here. More are converging from around the world and are on route to the Holy Empire and its capital. Even Braumhilde is running at the top of her speed in this direction and up until now she lazed in Vas'Kel'az. In straight line it is right on the other side of the globe. That should already tell you all, how dire this situation is if her instinct woke up like that." Emperor gulped loudly, his face paled and even took a little shade of green with this revelation.

"That's not all. Out of sixty seven gods still present on this planet more than half started to make some kind of move. It's like someone put a stick in an anthill and we are all running like crazed ants trying to figure out who did it. And I think, no... I am quite sure I already know who did." Nazar, with a very serious expression stood up from her chair and addressed everyone present. "I believe an outer god descended Aranna and I am not certain if just one."

"Are you telling me an outer god made its way here? To my Holy Empire?"

"Yes." After confirming emperors fears, Nazar turned to Vos and sent her a reproachful gaze. She also followed with an irritated voice. "Last night, one of my chosen fought with a strange man in Onaboron. If you happened to forget, it's on your empires southern borders, MacAronne." She sent a quick glance in his direction and returned to glare at Vos. "That girl is my number two. She is so good that she could deal with most humans and beast kin with only just one hand. Typical demons wouldn't be a match for her either. More powerful demigods would at least have some problems with her. I bet she could even go toe to toe with some of the lesser gods. She could even give you, Vos a run for your money. She wouldn't win of course, but she would be able to force all of you to go serious."

Nazar took a long sip from her wine cup and continued her story.

"She lost. My chosen, lost, without inflicting even a single scratch on that man. I found out about all that happened in Onaboron when she called out to me in the middle of her fall. It turned out that my gift that I graciously bestowed upon her was completely useless against him and he sent her flying, alone with half of the city to the sky, high enough for the fall to take several minutes."

At that point of the story, Nazar was so angry that she started to seethe a vicious aura, unconsciously melting the wine cup in her hand and turning her chair into charcoal, all at the same time.

"You know what is the worst thing in all of this? When I tried to look into Onaboron. I couldn't. You know what it feels like to be the goddess of eyes and not being able to see? I've been turned completely blind! My sight do not work on that man, I can neither see nor track him which is absolutely outrageous. It's like having one big blob of uncharted darkness on the map."

Nazar dropped the remains of melted cup on the floor and walked up to Vos hitting her with a pointed finger straight at the center of her chest.

"Vos! Mind telling me what on earth is Aranna doing? What in all blazes is it thinking?"

"What do you want from me? You... you daughter of a skunk. I already said that I can't reach it. My senses are as much cut off as yours!"

"Vos, you think I don't know that you know? Aranna is somehow able to and is constantly bending causality to help that man. Why would it do that? Why would it shield a being that could bring an unimaginable destruction to the people and to the planet itself. Cutting us off like that is like slicing off your own foot! Aranna never helped a calamity before. Commune with it and ask it what is going on!"

"Are you deaf, you old hag. I already said I was cut off. I'll prepare the ritual, but it will take some time. If you want it done faster, then you better help me out with it."

"Fine. As to the rest of you, the only concrete information I have is that he has a human appearance. My chosen said that his eyes glow with black and gold and that he is wearing a blackish green armor with golden embroidery. He has taken over two demigods already. Probably by force or with some form of mind bending control. Maybe he is an owner of charm skill, which will make him a troublesome kind to deal with for women. The more time passes the harder it will be to take him down and the more force he will gather around him."

Nazar took another cup and poured wine into it. Not minding manners she drunk it all in one gulp.

"One of the controlled demigods is the Witch of the Forest. She went missing seventy years ago, but she popped up out of Onaborons prison grounds. Care to explain how that happened MacAronne?"

"I umm... ekhem.. I.. I didn't know."

MacAronne knew, of course. It was a deal his father made with god of lightning in order to conquer the sea of trees and beast kin stronghold. He continued his fathers legacy and hoped for the next emperor to finish the job as it was almost completed.

God of coin deep voice followed with the subject.

"So it's Vorfartoss doing. I could have guessed. He is meddling in human affairs for his own amusement and breaking the covenant again. I have no idea how he is able to deal with the backlash. Normally he would have been stripped of his power a long time ago, but he is getting stronger with each century. His games with lives are truly sickening. So, Nazar, who is the other demigod?"

"That is a good question. To tell you the truth, I don't know. She is some kind of dragonid or dragonoid. If I was certain I would say it is a dragon in humanoid form, but no dragon in their right mind would ever stoop so low as to take a human form. They detest all creatures but themselves and think of them as lower life forms. Dragons are also completely immune to any form of control. So, I have no idea who she is or whose daughter she might be. The only currently awake dragon is Fie The Frozen Terror. But you all know how she is. I already know it's not her since I can see her passing demons territory. She is most likely going to her lair in storm peaks past Gideons realm. Hmm... actually, she is quite close to Onaboron."

That last piece of information must have overloaded one of the participants of this gathering. There was a loud crash and along with dropped cutlery, a tableware rolled on the floor. Having seen that, Julianos wrenched himself out of La'mas lovely grip and walked up to now foaming emperor.

"Makredy, we need you to issue a search for that man." He took the poor emperor by the neck and gave him one solid slap. "Get a grip, have your men search holy empire and find him before he grows too powerful for humanity to stop him. Do not force us to make a direct move."

After that little action, Julianos was summoned again by La'ma by her patting her own thighs. He reluctantly came and sat at them again. His buttocks being brutally lapped and his head being heavenly squeezed, he clapped his hands in loud manner gathering the focus of all present in the hall on himself once more.

"I would like to ask you all to contact your temples and have them search for the man described by Nazar. I hope it's not to late, but it is possible that after thousands of years we would have to call for the great gathering of all the gods before things turn out like last time. We would have to keep our eyes peeled to this matter. If humanity and beast kind fail to subdue the threat, we would be forced to interfere and I am sure non of us wants the repeat of Demon Lord Lamashtu."

Julianos had the form of a young kid, but in truth, that was only because he liked it. He was one of the more powerful gods out there and he could take many other forms if he only wished to.

"I am not afraid of any god making a direct move since we all are obliged by the covenant. But I am not that naive to think that some would not try of have their way. Some will probably bend the rule and find the crack in which they will squeeze in, but that should be a minority and on a small scale. Vorfartoss is surely an example of that." He looked at MacAronne with disgust and carried on.

"Mortal races should be allowed to fight for their status, freedom and their right to live, that is why we do not directly interfere in mortal business and have the covenant for exactly that purpose, but if the threat will reach us, gods, we will have to make a move. Neither sides would want that, I think all of you know why. Nazar, La'ma. Nam. I will create a summoning circle in my temple and call for few outers to help humankind, you will assist me with the summoning since non of us can do that alone. MacAronne, I hope you won't misuse them like your father did in his time and I really do not want to hear outers incited against beast kin. Other gods may tell people how and what to believe in, but I am not that kind of god and just because of that, it doesn't mean you can take advantage of my goodwill. At some point, you'll really make me angry if you keep brainwashing and corrupting my priests. You've been doing that for the past thirty years. Thanks to you and your father, your whole country thinks I crusade against entirety of beast kind. Even I have my limits to tolerance, Emperor."

That said, Julianos made a quiet pop and disappeared along with La'ma. Fallowing the two, Gimbi, Nam and god of coin also vanished one after the other, leaving half dead emperor and two goddesses in now silent dining hall.

"Vos, my second best chosen is a gang-ho battle maniac and she has already lost. My best one is in Varudor. Crossing the sea will take her months. Send one of yours. Since force did no good, its better to send a scout. Make sure it's not a woman in case we really do have to deal with someone possessing charm.

"You can't order me around you skunk, but... you are right. We do need to approach it from a different angle if we want to gather information."

Goddess of earth made a loud click with her tongue and flicked her fingers right after. Little critter from atop of of her head jumped down on the table and prostrated itself in front of the two goddesses. At the same time it made a lightning fast movement and few nuts from a bowl next to it disappeared.

"Listen Nazar, this one is my special. He is cute, adorable and fluffy. He is also very, very strong."

Vos reached out with her hand to the critter, that looked like a cross between a hamster and a squirrel and started petting its head with just one finger, while creepily smiling from ear to ear.

"Oh, I already have my doubts about that."

"Trust me Nazar, he is a man for the job. This, is Sir Quick also called The Brick. Do you understand your mission, Sir Quick?"

"Doesn't he look... kind of meek?"

"Don't misunderstand, he might be small, but by all means he is not weak."

"Alright, then why is he called The Brick?"

"If I told you, your tear glands would leak."

"Squeak!"

"That was so sleek, Sir Quick"

"Vos, my patience is already at its peak."

"Ekhem... Yes, very well. Go, Sir Quick and let me know when you learn something. Remember, your target left Onaboron yesterday night by unknown means. He shouldn't be that far. Do not engage unless provoked. If your life is threatened I am giving you permission to break pursuit and retreat." Sir Quick made a salute with his tiny paws and vanished in the air along with the rest of the nuts from the bowl.

"Vos, tell me something, is that strange chipmunk, your..." Vos awkwardly turned her head sideways. "...oh, you can't be serious! It's a damn squirrel for heavens sake!"

"But it is an adorable squirrel! Don't judge me you hypocrite, or should I bring up what you did trying to win over Krakenoros in Beltons sea a hundred years ago?"

"Oh, now you've done it. You really pissed me off you bitch!"

"It's your own fault you failed slut!"

Emperor MacAronne Makredy the Swift, sluggishly dragged his limp limbs together from atop his chair, watching as the two goddesses started to wrestle and beat each other up with their fists, one even utilizing some astonishing high kicks. They were wrecking his dining hall along with all the food still there and smashing his precious round table, brought by his great grandfather from great conquests from across the sea. He lightly clapped his flabby hands together, calling his servants.

Watching this scene, he came to conclusion, that it was about time to hand over the empire to one of his children. If non of them had the quality needed for the role, then maybe he should make a grant tournament to find one that has it. His retirement instead of closing by, started instead to drift away at a rapid pace. He looked at the two goddesses who quarreled and already demolished half of his dining hall and made a deep sigh resigning himself to many more arduous days waiting ached.