While Aperio raised a brow at the kneeling mortal, her mental award for the most interesting thing in the area went to the Fae that, apparently, thought itself quite hidden behind a nearby tree.
A wave of her hand was all she needed for the small being to appear in front of her, the magic it had used to disguise itself dispelled. The All-Mother regarded it for a moment, squinting when she realised she had seen this Fae before. It had been part of the conglomeration that had approached her when she had come to their realm with the purpose of retrieving the relic her past self had left behind.
"And how did you get here?" she asked the Fae, not actually expecting an answer. "Do I have to return to your realm and tell your little king that he should not have his subjects follow me?"
The small being only offered a shrug before it floated towards the All-Mother and pointed at her shoulder. Aperio raised a brow at the motion before she realised that the Fae likely wanted to take a seat on it, an idea the All-Mother was not a fan of.
"I am not your chair," Aperio said, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "You are perfectly capable of flying there for as long as it takes." She shook her head, and glanced over to her daughter. "Should you not address your follower, Ferio? He seems quite… devout."
"Rise," Ferio said with ill-concealed disgust in her voice. "What is your name?"
"Eriha," the man replied, his voice barely a whisper as he stood up. His eyes still faced downwards, as if he did not consider himself worthy of looking at them. "My Lady."
"Just Eriha?" Caethya asked.
"Our family has not been graced with an Heired name yet," the man replied, folding his hand in front of his chest and somehow looking at the floor even more. "I am but a humble smith, and my wife has not worked her craft for over a year. There are others much more deserving of an Heired name."
Aperio smiled slightly, her wings twitching as a smidge of joy flowed through her. "I am sure that will change soon."
Her smile widened a little as the man's breathing hitched when the power of her voice washed over him. She had not restrained herself all that much and was pleasantly surprised that the mortal had not fallen unconscious immediately. The world her daughter had made produced mortals that were far hardier than those of Earth. Definitely a good start, as far as she was concerned.
"You're gonna make sure of that, aren't you?" Ferio asked with a sigh. At least she had made sure to speak in a language Aperio was quite sure the mortal did not understand. "Do you want things to go badly?"
"Should that not be in your favour?" the All-Mother inquired, tilting her head slightly to the side. "We came here to prove your point, after all. It will likely involve mortals doing stupid things in attempt to win our favour.. Or your favour, really; I feel like they will not recognise me as a Goddess."
Ferio snorted. "Oh, trust me, they will. The 'Star's Mother' is a Goddess onto her own and gets worshipped alongside myself."
"How nice of you to involve me in your church."
"You’re welcome."
Ferio shook her head and directed her gaze back to the mortal, only briefly pausing on the pouting Fae that had taken to flying next to Aperio's shoulder. "Where is the nearest city?"
"That would be Archen's Fall," Eriha replied, seemingly confused why Ferio would even ask. "The nearest village is Eickersville, my home."
"The village is a good a place as any," Ferio said. "Take us there."
"Of course!" the man replied. He glanced for a moment at the bag he had been carrying before he suppressed a sigh and picked it up. "Please, follow me."
Aperio flicked her wrist, the bag flying into her hand. "Where is this supposed to go?" she asked, offering the man a smile as he looked at her.
"Villhiem, a farmer that lives a few hours away from the village," Eriha replied.
"Tall, dark-skinned, missing three fingers on his left hand?" the All-Mother asked, the bag vanishing from her hand once Eriha had confirmed her question with a nod. "He now has his tools, and a small note informing him that you are otherwise occupied."
Aperio smiled at the confused expression and simply started walking in the direction he had indicated, Caethya falling into step beside her with a slight giggle. "Come on, Red Star, we have places to be."
///
Eriha's first step after the enforcer had teleported his bag faltered as she named the Emissary as the Red Star herself. He looked at the red-haired woman, her form still escaping his senses despite the fact that he was looking directly at her.
He was already halfway to the floor again when an invisible hand gripped him and pulled him back to his feet.
"No time for that," the Emissary, or perhaps the Red Star herself, said as she passed him. "You can grovel later."
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Eriha took a deep breath, the scent of burnt candles and ash filling his nose. Life's Fire, he thought to himself as he fell into step behind the woman that might well be his Goddess.
He directed his eyes at the ground, noting that wherever the Red Star tread, the ground singed, leaving her footprint burned into it forevermore. It was in stark contrast to the slight crunch each of the enforcer's steps brought with it, the road cracking beneath her feet only to be magically repaired just a moment later. The Red Star seemingly did not want anyone else's steps to be remembered. As it should be.
The journey back to his village went by remarkably fast. Quick enough, in fact, that Eriha for a moment considered the possibility that the Red Star had used her magic to make the trip more enjoyable for him. He did not feel tired in the least, after all, and neither did the entourage of his Goddess look exhausted. But then, an Enforcer would not tire from a simple walk. She looked like she could fight an army and be just relaxed as she seemed now.
"Looks like they value cleanliness," the broad Elf said, her accent drawing Eriha's attention. "The temple is pristine."
"As it should be," the manifestation of the Red Star replied after she crossed her arms in front of her chest and gave the building a once-over.
The third Elf gave a small giggle at that before she said a few words that Eriha did not understand. The Red Star replied, her voice sounding a little strained; annoyed. A slight rustle of the Enforcer's wings coupled with a cold glare somehow quieted his Goddess and caused Eriha to take a step back.
He should have paid more attention to the little Trickster that floated next to the Enforcer. Perhaps it was messing with the woman enough to startle even the Red Star.
While he didn't know much about the people that devoted themselves to the Star's Mother, he did know that his Goddess still valued the opinion of her progenitor despite the fact that she had quite obviously transcended her.
Said follower of the Star's Mother had seemingly heard his thoughts as she set her gaze on him, her eyes narrowing slightly. Eriha tried to look away, but try as he might he could not stop staring into the cold blue eyes of the Enforcer. Every time he blinked, the silver dots in the endless sea of her eyes changed and he could feel a part of himself drift away; taken to a realm outside of their sanctified world.
As soon as it had begun, it ended, the woman simply focusing her attention back on the Red Star and saying a few words in the language Eriha did not know. It did remind him of the times he had gotten to listen to the Ascendant read the Scripture of Origin, but it sounded off, almost like they were forgoing some parts of their speech for one reason or another.
"Is Gyswail still the priest of this village?" the Red Star asked, the gaze of her gleaming red eyes filling him with a comforting warmth quite unlike that of the enforcer.
"Yes," Eriha replied before he took a deep breath and let out a content sigh. "He should be preparing the midday prayer in his office right now."
///
Ferio suppressed the urge to sigh and pinch her nose and instead simply walked into the temple dedicated to herself. She of course knew where the priest was, she had merely hoped that Eriha would answer with something else and not be the good little follower he seemed to be. After all, she had picked this world because it used to be full of people that could not wait to sell their family to her for the tiniest boon. Usually it was a way to live longer than their frail bodies would normally allow.
It was the most useless request, as far as Ferio was concerned. Her mother had made the System for the single purpose of making mortals stronger so that they might become Gods of their own. They had all the tools they needed at their disposal, and yet they still sought to use their betters to do it for them. That was what she wanted to show her mother. That her little experiment wasn’t working and she would be better off just making proper people to begin with. Not those frail excuses known as mortals…
Her mother valued strength, and so did she. So — not for the first time — Ferio asked herself why Aperio kept them around. She understood the purpose the All-Mother had given them when they were created. Playthings for the divine, essentially. Something to keep them busy and perhaps help them learn one thing or another. But now? Now her mother seemed to hold the pathetic things in higher regard than even her own daughter. And the worst thing of all was the fact that she had taken a fancy to one of them. The only good thing Ferio could say about Caethya was that the woman was not as pathetic as other mortals, something that was only true because Aperio had given a blessing to her very Soul.
It also made her wonder why she allowed the Fae to stay on the planet when it was here without permission and much to the dislike of the All-Mother. The little tricksters did nothing of note most of the time. All they ever seemed to do was annoy mortals, but that was also something she could appreciate about the fickle beings.
Ferio shook off her thoughts as she walked towards the priest. He was easy enough to find, as she had heard countless prayers from him before and, for one reason or another, the man was quite fond of describing his surroundings before he actually got down to saying anything of actual importance.
She simply opened the door to his office. Knocking to announce her presence was inefficient and boring when all she had to do was let more mana flow out from her well and permeate reality. It had the added benefit of preempting any questions as to who she might be, as she had given these people sufficient blessings and miracles for them to recognize the feel of her presence.
It achieved her anticipated result quite nicely, as the priest immediately stopped what he was doing and fell to his knees. His gaze settled onto the small statue of her that hung on the wall, as he — like most who lived on Kulso — did not dare to face her.
Before the priest could speak, Aperio stepped into the room, her aura drowning out everything else for a moment. We get it, you're all powerful, Ferio thought to herself, rolling her eyes.
"Gyswail," Ferio said, suppressing the urge to sigh once more. "I require the flame."
"Of course," the man replied. "Red Star."
Ferio could feel the raised eyebrow of her mother before she had even done it, but she simply ignored it. She was going to show the All-Mother how these mortals had built their world on lies, deceit, and borrowed power. The reach of this corruption wasn't small in scale — the nations that existed now only did so because they had bargained away entire countries simply to gain a smidgen of extra power for themselves.
The flame had been one of those gifts. It was a mote of her power any priest of hers could call upon to exact her will on this world. The mortals mostly used it to kill off anyone they did not like. Ferio was fine with that; mortals would just come back regardless. Her mother's System made sure of that.
A wave of Ferio's hand caused the flickering flame that had appeared over the man's uplifted hands to extinguish. She had taken her gift back. Perhaps she had not done it with the pomp and fanfare required to bring it to the attention of all, and thus incite an immediate worldwide reaction, but it should still be enough nonetheless. All she had to do now was wait. Eventually they would come crawling back to her, offering yet more pathetic mortal trifles in order to entice her to give back their pitiful, beloved flame.
Once they figured out that all their begging would amount to nothing, their insecurity would grow. Grow until they would inevitably turn to her mother and ask her to solve all their insignificant problems.
She wouldn't even have to tell them who Aperio was, as she had already told them about her long, long ago.