Muirenmaith walked down the empty corridors of the Luachra Temple.

As the Queen of Arhontissa, she had been busy with the political matters raised after Dianthus’ disappearance, which didn’t imply searching for him as much as it implied dealing with the ‘concerns’ raised by Arhontissian’s nobles about the relationships with the Mergifari.

Some of them believed that being the Mergifari’s biggest sponsor meant that they were free to rally the pocket dimensions of any mage suspected of being the kidnapper.

It wasn’t that they couldn’t do so, actually. If they were absolutely certain of the pocket dimension belonging to the kidnapper, that is, which most of the accusations being thrown around weren’t. They were simply mages with unfinished business or grudges against someone else, where a single ‘Are you absolutely sure that they are the responsible?’ had the accusers falling silent.

“Maybe they are, they have the means and reasons…”

“Perhaps, it would make sense that they…”

“It's possible, I won’t put it past them…”

She didn’t need a maybe, but alas, a Queen should listen to her people, even if it was just to deliver the illusion of closeness, even when, right now, the Chosen One’s disappearance had been pushed to the second place of immediate problems.

The first one being the reason behind her current presence in the Luachra Temple, also known as Arhontissa’s Chamber, the place where the deity giving name to her continent resided.

For some unknown reason, Arhontissa had left her temple for several minutes, which… wasn’t a big deal on its own, since not even she, the Queen, could tell the deity what to do and where to go at any moment, not even as a suggestion. The problem laid on the motives behind what she did once outside, which was the same as all the other living gods.

Because it wasn’t only Arhontissa that abandoned her temple, but Mirel, Idir and Paraiso did so too. For three whole minutes, and, at the same time, all living gods had gone on the defensive.

Casting a shield that, like Paraiso’s own walls of light, covered the whole continent they ruled, cutting its connection with the outside completely and sealing off all the living beings inside, leaving no entry and no exit.

A behavior one would expect to be shown during war, not peace, and one that only lasted minutes, disappearing quickly and without issue.

And not only that, since the barrier casted by the gods during that time wasn’t an average one, like Paraiso’s was, no. To any untrained and young mages, the shields looked similar to his, while being nothing of the sort.

Not like any of those mages could’ve seen Paraiso’s second barrier at that moment, since they were hiding behind Arhontissia’s one.

But, for Muirenmaith, who had lived to see the end of a Machia, and the fall of a god, the defenses raised carried a different feel.

They were the kind casted by a deity ready to die, a last stand type of spell to protect as many believers as possible. They were the kind that remained after the god's death.

She remembered Dodon’s, Charlampia’s god, a barrier which Arhontissa sank next to his corpse after his death.

Now it rested on the deepest point of the ocean, next to all the Arhontissians ships that were unable to escape the deity’s fall.

A deity’s barrier didn’t harm the god’s own believers, but it destroyed anything else. That’s why they used it while fighting another god, and no other time.

With that explained, the reason behind the Queen’s urgent visit to Arhontissa was obvious. For three minutes, all four gods had been ready to fight something to the death.

Something no human, beast or living being saw or felt, a list that perhaps included the Mergifari’s Director, since no sort of defenses had been raised on the island.

That came as a relief for the factions who were under living gods, since the Mergifari’s High Command liked to compare the Director’s power to the gods. And not without reason, since the Mergifari still didn’t belong to any of them, and not because they hadn’t tried to change that.

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And yet, the Director is a human, and all humans have a time limit. The Queen thought, arriving at the door marking the entry to Arhontissa’s Chambers.

Made of intertwined wood, same as the corridors, and situated on top of the Luachra, the giant tree that oversaw the whole continent, whose branches held the sky.

That last part was a myth, since the sky held on perfectly on its own, but, with the tree being blue, and having the size to cover a country with its trunk, it was no wonder that anyone seeing it from below reached the conclusion that the Luachra and the sky were connected.

But that was the opinion from the people below. Muirenmaith, the Queen, had been at the top, and could guarantee the disconnection.

Arhontissa also was close to the top, at the zone where the trunk started to divide itself into different branches, going even further and beyond.

Like the tree, the god’s size was immense, enough to match the ends of the Luachra’s trunk, making the wooden chamber feel more like a throne, and less like if a bug was crawling over some tree, just like the Queen felt being there.

Reaching the deity was quite the walk, so Muirenmaith only visited on important occasions, even when she, as the Queen, represented Arhontissa’s will, voice and authority.

But she was busy, and it was A. Very. Long. Walk.

And yes, it was taking magic into account. The Luachra wasn’t called the Sky Holding Tree for nothing. If the living gods' reactions hadn’t been so… drastic, she would’ve just waited for Arhontissa to send her a vision, which she hadn’t done.

And she could, visions being something easy to do for gods.

Arhontissa’s skin was pale green, almost white and translucent, ending in blue at the fingers, with dots resembling freckles across her body. A dress made of interwoven vines, leaves and roots, from where several flowers dangled.

Her hair was long and dark green, falling loose around the tree.

When the deity saw her, the Queen’s appearance having been fixed just before entering, she sighed. “Oh, you shouldn’t have bothered coming here.”

Well she did. “And I wanted to wait for your notices, but all the noble families asked for some answer.”

“You’re the Queen. No amount of nobles’ resolve should tumble yours.”

“Indeed, but-”

“If a heap of dukes and barons can topple a Queen, it means that a heap of queens can topple a god.”

“That would be ridicul-”

“Yet here you are.”

“Four gods arised and shut off their reigns, anyone would be ask-”

“Anyone?”

“Me. I am asking why.”

This time, Arhontissa didn’t interrupt her, and yet, the deity grinned. “Humans really are like flowers, hiding their true motives behind walls made of petals.”

“And you like peeling flowers very much.”

“And I like peeling flowers very much.” Arhontissa repeated, laying back against the branches and playing with her hair, partially covering the sun rays that managed to pass through the branches, darkening the chamber. “One of Them broke reality and slipped in, but retreated fairly quickly. As I said, nothing barons, dukes and queens need to worry about.”

“Do we know why They entered?”

“Do we know why They do anything? Pure whimsy. Boredom. A dare between Them. As long as the road is entertaining, the consequences are an afterthought.” Arhontissa said, clearly pissed at the Deriliam’s short appearance.

Muirenmaith didn’t answer or add anything. The enmity behind gods and Deriliams was old, older than her, and even older than Arhontissa. It was almost a natural type of hate, the kind that came with being.

It wasn’t a matter of good and evil, of right and wrong, and that’s why she remained silent. Plenty of mages called upon the Deriliams' gazes for assistance with magic, but They never showed up in the flesh.

Unless it was Lothrigern, but He was also the only Deriliam capable of entering and exiting Reality and any realm without making so much as a ripple, unlike His fellow Deriliams, which, as just happened, would crack it, sending all the gods into jeopardy.

In short, the conflict between gods and Deriliams wasn't for humans to comment on, or, at least, for Muirenmaith to do so, instead choosing to change the conversation, now that she had the answer for which she came in the first place. “We also found a statue of a god in Permafrost in perfect state.”

“So?” Her wrath left behind, Arhontissa looked at the strand of hair she was playing with abandon.

“The possible existence of a seventh god.”

“A god with zero believers is no concern for a true one. The kid was made to handle it.” By kid, she meant Dianthus, who they had lost.

“We- I will find him.”

“Don’t waste your time, he will come back on his own.” When Muirenmaith looked at her with some unvoiced doubt, she added. “He has legs.”