The Brute laid dead against the edge of the crater. Elaria watched as his soul detached and floated away, now unburdened with life. The surviving gods watched on in some mix of awe and fright. The avatar looked on thoughtfully. Amelia flew down and landed beside Elaria, tracking the soul with her own eyes, then frowned as you glanced back at the Brute’s corpse.
Elaria noticed. “What?”
“The System enchantment is hooked into him.”
“What? I thought it didn’t hook into gods? And besides, he’s dead.”
“Right,” she said as she wandered over and started poking at it both literally and magically. “Oh?” she softly exclaimed, then dug into the torse and pulled out a brilliant sapphire cabochon the size of her fist, a quick bit of magic cleaning it off.
The avatar stiffened at seeing the object, but Adonite just hopped over the crater edge and approached them. When she got closer, she said, “It’s an experience well.”
“What?” asked Elaria.
“Because we’re not hooked into the System, the expereince can’t be provided directly to us. Systia had enchanted a bunch of gemstones to allow us an access point to the System’s experience pool.” Adonite shrugged, “most of us keep it somewhere safe, but even I’m surprised that he was paranoid enough to implant it inside himself.”
Amelia shook her head. “I’d need to see another one to confirm, and while this one could allow access to the expereince pool, this gemstone in particular appears is root level access to the System,” Amelia waved her hand and an illusion snapped into place, a golden glow and gentle background hum illuminating the flow of the System enchantment. A river flowed into one pole of the gem and out the other, both flows reaching up towards Ager, diffusing and spreading as it sought to encompass the whole world. “The entire System enchantment is tied to this. This is the source.”
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The avatar rematerialized next to them in a panic. “Machidiel, Gur’godor,” he said bowing. “Congratulations on defeating the Brute and bringing this Third War to the end. By right of conquest, you have become the Head of the Pantheon, including the right to the largest share of the System’s experience.”
“You know what this is?” Amelia asked.
The avatar paused for a moment, before continuing. “It was Systia’s experience well and control key to the System. At the end of the Second War, when the Brute became the Head, he already had this in his possession, though he later hid it away.”
“So what,” Elaria asked. “Power? And we can now make any change to the System we want?”
The avatar frowned, then nodded, as Amelia absently spun it in her hands as she looked at the enchantment. Elaria placed a hand on Amelia’s shoulder, who glanced at her. Elaria nodded knowingly, and Amelia handed the gem over. Elaria took it into her hand, and crushed it, a dozen chunks falling as she did so.
The illusory hum ceased as everyone present froze in shock. The golden flow was cut into two, a billion golden threads beginning to float away, slowly and then accelerating as they pulled back towards Ager.
The avatar made an unintelligble noise, of surprise or pain, it wasn’t clear, until it too unraveled. A soul rose out of the shattered gemstone and drifted away.
They stood there for a while, watching as the golden illusion of the System’s enchantment showed it unraveling.
“I can’t believe you destroyed it,” Adonite spoke at last.
“We did,” Amelia said. “Whatever its motivations, whatever its plans, we couldn’t trust the System anymore. That avatar… It was alive you know?” she said, and Adonite looked back in shock. “I suppose you couldn’t have noticed the soul. I’m not sure how, but I suppose if a soul can bring life to a bunch of complex chemcials, it could bring life to a bunch of complex enchantments.”
“I suppose we’ve lived long enough. I’m… I’m so tired of this. I’ll talk to the others for you, if you’d like, but I think some of them would agree with me. Some of us, the gods I mean, we thrived on gaining power, becoming gods, living forever. And some of us just ended up here as we sought something else. Perhaps its time we let go.” She exhaled, then let loose her Kitsune shape into her native form. “What will you do now?”
Amelia and Elaria blinked at that, then looked at each other, and then Adonite again. “What do you mean?”
“Well, System or not, you’re the Head of the Pantheon. Or Heads, I suppose. And a dying pantheon, albeit. But you? You can do whatever you like. You’ve got a long life ahead of you.”
“Oh, hmm…” Amelia muttered.
“I kind of just like going on adventures,” her opposite said.