The next day

Norah stood in front of a large mirror wearing a long sleek dress that was iridescent like the reflection of a bubble that had golden accents at the bottom of the dress. She ruffled her wings in an attempt to ease her nerves when that failed she twirled her wavy styled silver hair, but nothing seemed to put her at ease. She eventually stopped when a fairy fluttered by to fix up her dress then to re-fix her hair. When the fairy left once more Norah just stood there staring at herself in the large gold rimmed mirror.

She kept staring, seeing every detail of herself. From her luxurious silky silver hair to the beautiful iridescent colored fabric that dressed her. As she became lost in her own reflection she could see her reflection turn into herself when she was thirteen years old. But the reflection was of herself when she was covered in the golden blood of the gods. There was that sickening grin of pleasure on her face and her reflection’s eyes were filled to the brim with madness.

“ Remembering the good ol days, lass?” Said the familiar voice from behind. She turned to see it was the nightmare lord, Allen himself. He was dressed in a gray sleeveless top of some sort of orange colored pattern with sleek black pants and gorgeous black boots. On his right shoulder lay an elegant black cloak that flowed with him as he walked toward Norah. She was stunned to see on his exposed arm there were scars rooted in his skin that seemed to branch endlessly. When he waved his right arm to talk there were similar scars as well. So he’s not completely invincible after all. I mean I knew sapphires hurt the dream world, but those scars are something else. What could’ve caused such horrible damage…? Norah thought.

“ No I uh just spaced out,” Norah replied looking back at her reflection seeing only herself and Allen.

“ Ye look decent today lass.”

“ Thanks. Um what does lass even mean? What is your accent?”

“ Lass is just Scottish slang for girls and my accent is Scottish.”

“ What's a Scottish?”

“ Oh dearie, that ain’t something I feel like explainin’ at the moment. Because it’s time.”

Norah nodded slowly and after taking in a deep breath she and Allen walked down the labyrinth halls in the palace. Allen then entered a large room where rows of High gods, gods, and other divine beings of all sorts. All were dressed in elegant and royal outfits that only added to the aura of intimidation to the room.

At the end of the lavishly decorated room was Astro standing there with the staff that held Vita’s power. On the right side of Astro stood Crow that was dressed in regal scholar clothes that was navy blue and a light gray in color with white accents.

Crow was also holding a shallow bowl that had some sort of golden liquid. On the left side of Astro stood Allen with a cunning glint in his one good eye. Norah found herself frozen at the end of the hall across from Astro, Allen, and Crow. She summoned courage from deep within her and the courage melted her frozen nerves.

She finally began walking down the large aisle that divided the grand room to two sides. Norah’s eyes darted around the room noticing that all of the gods and Deities and Spirits of all sorts were divided between what seemed like the good side and the bad side. I suppose that’s one thing I’ll have to fix. Norah thought to herself as she walked down the aisle.

When she finally made it to the end of the aisle to where the High god, the knowledge god, and the Black Beast stood. She bowed before them.

“ North the phoenix who is the Deity of impossibility, the north and who is the Northern Lights that…grace the skies at night. Fly out of your chosen for your task is done,” Astro commanded with a voice that thundered throughout the room.

The familiar turquoise flames engulfed Norah as the flames distanced themselves from her; the flames danced into the solid feathered shape of a phoenix. This phoenix didn’t bear the brilliant cherry and amber colored flames. Instead North’s feathers were a rich turquoise-green tipped with violet, the oddly colorful feathers swirled in a mesmerizing dance.

Norah stared in awe at the phoenix, but deep inside her she felt a sense of emptiness that numbed everything from her emotions to the previous nervous beating of her heart. North then bowed his head in respect to the High god and he flew to the upper level of the room leaving behind a trail of small embers as he flew. Norah snapped out of the trance when Astro began to speak again.

“ Norah Bowman Van Daling. Will you provide the world with life, and protection, and remove yourself of all mortal connections to become the new High goddess of Life, and Protection?”

“ I do swear to fulfill my oath as a High goddess and to cut all ties that tethered me to the mortal realm,” Norah responded.

“ Crow the god of Knowledge and the Keeper of the Lost and the Black Beast the lord of Nightmares and the god of Punishment. Do you both swear to aid Norah in her growth as a goddess?”

“ We do,” Allen and Crow responded in unison.

“ Then Norah, who shall take on the title of Novita, you may drink the golden blood of the gods. So that our divine blood will cleanse you of all mortal blood,” Astro said. Norah then felt all of the color drain from her skin.

“ Uh Allen. Do I seriously have to drink blood…? Also isn’t Vita also the goddess of lies?” She whispered to Allen.

“ Yes you do. That’s what’ll make you immortal, plus you can do more advanced spells, along with giving you your ability and it’ll allow you to transport yourself to the Divine Realm. Relax lass it doesn’t taste all that bad. And a lot of gods and goddesses have unofficial titles,” Allen replied calmly.

Norah swallowed her fears and held the bowl that Crow handed to her. She tipped the bowl so she sipped the bowl as if it were soup. The golden blood tasted exactly as she thought it would, like any other person’s red mortal blood. Hot, thick, and metallic. But it was worth drinking it since it seemed to fill the emptiness that dug deep into Norah’s soul. Crow took the empty bowl away from Norah.

“ We welcome you, Norah, to the High gods,” Astro said, then signaled Norah to get on her knees. Once Norah was on her knees, with Crow’s help, Astro used the staff that was made from Vita’s powers and touched her shoulders with the bottom end of the staff. The staff disappeared in a puff of white magic that settled into Norah.

The High god presented Norah with a tray of various animal products of sorts. There was a pair of deer antlers, a necklace feather pendant that had the colors of spring sprouting from the bottom half of it, a large lion-like skull, and a folded up fur cape of some sort of animal.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

She took the feathered pedant and put it on around her neck. A colorful magic swirled around her causing her to shift into a large eagle creature with four glorious wings that dazzled with the pastel colors of spring. She opened her beak and wings then released a mighty roar that rumbled every atom in the room. Some of the divine beings were compelled to bow before her, but others stood their ground. They all cheered her name and clapped their hands that deafened everything. Norah gazed around at all of the divine beings as pride ignited in her heart. Let a new era begin.

Once the coronation was over they all began dancing to the beat of the elegant woodwind instruments that played on their own except for a trumpet with a strange silver plug in the bell. It was played by a person wearing a colorful princely royal outfit that had a long flowy jacket with heels. The trumpet player had ruffled short black hair with lavender tips.

The music they played was interesting. It was much different from the celestial harmonies, this music had a sort of swing to its silky rhythm. Which made the atmosphere of the party more upbeat, yet slightly melancholy at the same time. The music made every color come to life.

Norah was standing to the side of the dance floor watching everyone dance together. Crow stood beside her.

“ You like Melos’s music?” Crow offered Norah a glass of water.

“ Yeah, they’re really good,” Norah took the glass of water from him.

“ Are you ready to be a goddess?”

“ I don’t really have a choice at this point… hey Crow why is everyone separated between the good side and the bad side?”

“ The war between my father and Vita forced everyone to pick a side. Of course there have been some skirmishes between opposing forces like my brother and Queis in the past. But the war just made everything worse. But not everyone took sides. I personally stayed in the middle, Reamer did as well, and of course Melos.”

“ Wait, who's your brother?” A part of Norah yelled at her for asking questions, but Crow didn’t seem to mind the question.

“ My oldest brother is Bellum the god of war and victory, and then Melos the god of music and theatre is the second oldest out of the three of us.”

“ I have another question,” she took a sip of her water before she continued.

“ What happened to Ferro’s ability per say? He died but there’s still art and such.”

“ Well there’s a particle called Essence. We don’t know much about it except almost every living thing has it. Even us gods and when my dad died and his Essence scattered to the wind I watched mortals closely. I learned that everything he represented stayed but his Essence traveled from specific mortal to mortal to continue to invent and craft in his stead. That’s all I know..most of these statements are just theories though. Essence is a very complicated thing. Reamer and Allen know more than I do and they refuse to share,” Crow replied.

The music then swelled into a different, more slow and calming tune, and all of the dancers seemed to move away from the dance floor.

Norah and Crow stared out at the dance floor seeing that Allen and Azrail were dancing together in the center of the dance floor. Everyone else muttered insults or spread rumors about the pair. But they waltzed on without a care in the world.

A little boy with white blotches splattered all over his light brown skin with a stuffed manta ray in his arms, interrupted the pair. After a few whispers, Allen and the little boy went outside of the ballroom.

A little voice in the back of Norah’s head that nagged at her to follow them. She took a breath of courage and headed in the direction that Allen and the little boy went in. The two were talking in a small private lounge room that was near the entrance to the building.

Norah leaned against the wall next to the slightly ajar door. She peered through the crack in the door seeing that Allen was sitting on the coffee table in front of the couch the little boy was sitting on.

“ This better be important, kid,” Allen said.

“ I had a vision… he’s...he’s...he’s coming back, and he’ll be….he’ll be stronger,” the little boy’s voice was trembling and he looked like he was trying to process whatever he saw.

“ Take a breath, Reamer. The pain’ll go away. Take your time and explain it to me,” He handed the child a glass of some sort of drink that was in the room. The kid drank from the glass, calming down.

“ He is back, Allen, He’s going to come back soon. Someone will wake him up..all I saw was a woman who is crazier than the Voodoo Sage and one of our old Walkers.”

“ That’s impossible. He’s imprisoned and only one of those scientists still lives and I’ve ensured that he never ever speaks of it,” Allen growled.

“ I’m never wrong, Allen.”

“ I know Reamer but there’s a first time for everything.”

“ I’m not happy about this either, but if Kanars is returning then we have to prepare.”

“ So we have to skip five days of partying to plan for something that might or might not happen all because ye had a vision about the biggest pain in the ass,” Allen growled in frustration.

“ Who is Kanars?” Norah whispered, thinking aloud. She covered her mouth when she realized she said that aloud and pulled away from the door.

The door swung open when Allen shoved it open. Norah stared up at him as her body quivered seeing the furious stoic expression on his face.

“ Get. In.”

Norah gulped and went into the lounge room then sat on one of the chairs. Reamer stared at Norah while Allen closed and locked the door. She couldn’t stop the panicked feeling spreading throughout her body that begged her to run as Allen loomed over her with a scowl.

“ Not even a day in and you’re already poking your feathers where they don’t belong.”

“ I-I did… I-I didn’t… I didn’t… mean-mean to o-well I mean I..I mean I did since I followed you..but I swear..I swear I meant-” Norah couldn’t stop stuttering until Allen cut her off.

“ Here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to leave and pretend not to even see this little meeting.”

“ N-n-no! If this thing is as scary as you say he is then I have to get involved!” Norah steeled herself to stop her stuttering.

“ Why?” Reamer asked as he continued to stare at Norah like an owl. But his mouth didn’t move when he spoke.

“ Because you said that this Kanars is a threat to the-”

“ He is a threat to the Dream Realm and is only a minor threat to your creations. And as I recall you aren’t a Dream Lord. So this isn’t your problem. So move along. Plus you’re just learning to be a High god you need to focus on that.”

“ But I-”

“ Norah. We understand that you’ve got a hero complex the size of the universe going on but remember this was supposed to be a private meeting. You weren’t even supposed to know about this little meeting. You only know because you were rude,” Reamer chimed in.

“ You’re right… I’ll leave,” Norah stood up and she unlocked the door then left.

“ Huh I thought she’d keep on askin’ us to be in on the plan until we said yes,” Allen stated with a shrug.

“ Do you think Gabriella is the one who will release him?”

“ Tch. I hate to admit it but it’s possible. What she lacks in fighting she makes up for in some sort of intelligence.”

“ We need to find that scientist.”

“ Can’t. I’m sworn by a deal to make no effort in finding him. If I break a deal then it’s going to hurt more than sapphires.”

“ Then I can-no wait you said no Dream being. I suppose there’s nothing we can do.”

“ For now we’ll finish off this party visit. After that we’ll prepare for everything possible. If anyone asks, just explain it briefly. This is our problem.”

“ Agreed.”