As the ceremonial black and gold cloth descended to cover the last of the dead council members, Neria couldn't help but shake her head at the actions of her mother. This rite of the [Ancestral Guard] was used to honor those who had died and gone to join Chellien in the afterlife — a useless act, as she now knew — and the idea that her mother still stuck to it for people who had tried to break the core tenants of the very organization they had been part of made no sense to her.

"Why?" she asked, taking a step closer. "It doesn't do anything for them — you are living proof of that — and even if it did they would not deserve it."

"Perhaps not," Moria agreed, "but uprooting everything the guard was built on does not seem like a good idea. Especially not now."

Neria flattened her ears against her head. Her mother was right — Probably — but she still felt like it was wrong to honour in any way the people that had tried to destroy the guard. Doubly so because there apparently was not even an afterlife, only endless reincarnation. A cycle she has been through countless times by now…

"She still did not force me to accept the title," Moria said, as if she could read Neria's mind. "I considered her a friend of sorts back then. Now… now, I have to get to know her again, but she is already a better person than before."

"Is she even a person?"

Moria stopped in her tracks at the words and turned around. She stood up, somehow towering over her daughter despite being slightly shorter. "Neria Filia Kellborn, I will not hear you talk about a friend of our family like this again. Aperio is as much a person as anyone else you meet. The fact that she is the architect of our existence does not change that fact."

Neria nodded weakly in reply. Even the slightest hint of her mother's anger had always intimidated her, and when she had surpassed Moria in terms of levels that intimidation had remained solidly in place. Not that that means much. Classes might be a thing now, but levels still did not truly represent someone's power. That's probably the next thing Aperio will fix…

Just thinking about the All-Mother caused a mix of anger and fear to rise up in Neria. Despite her mother's continued reassurance, she blamed Aperio for what had happened, for the hardships Moria had had to go through. That she was now pushing her mother to become a bona fide Goddess did not win her many points. How could she expect anyone to bear the burden of being a deity? Especially after she had just deposed hundreds of them.

A moment of silence passed, during which Moria produced a number of small pouches that she laid on every single deceased member of the council. "Do you think I should try and ascend?" her mother said at last. "Aperio is right in saying that guidance is needed, I just don't know if I can offer what our kind needs."

"I don't know," Neria replied. "How could I? I cannot even really grasp what you would be like as a Goddess. What you could do." She sighed. "I have seen what Aperio could do during my initiation. She just ripped the Soul out of a God and turned it into… whatever the orb was. Would you be able to do that?"

"No," Moria replied with a shake of her head. "Messing with Souls is what got the other deities killed. Like Aperio has said many times by now, that is one of the few rules she imposes on her creation. Breaking it will not end well for anyone.

"My role as a Goddess for the Beastkin," Moria continued, "would probably be something along the lines of a mediator. I have no idea what my Domains would be or how you would even go about picking them, but that is the only thing I could see as being useful for our people."

"Goddess of Mediation," Neria huffed. "How is that supposed to help us? Most of our people are aimless after their Gods disappeared, and now the last constant of the [Ancestral Guard] has gone poof. And, and the All-Mother took the source of our power."

"That is why she wants me to be a Goddess, so I can be our source of power."

The mere idea of her mother becoming a Goddess and leading not only the [Ancestral Guard] but all the Beastkin tribes sent Neria’s mind into a tumble. Despite her best efforts — despite knowing how many lives her mother had lived — she could not wrap her head around the concept. That Moria kept adjusting the covers and small pouches as she put forward more and more hypotheticals did not help her whatsoever.

///

Aperio chose to walk this time. She did not want to draw Adam’s and Natio’s attention right away and also hoped that stretching her legs a bit might help her clear her mind. Before she left the room they had appeared in, the All-Mother turned around and offered a small wave while letting a bit of her mana flow around her love in the closest approximation of a hug she could manage with magic. Caethya gave her a smile and a small wave in return, setting her attention on Brenia once the All-Mother had stepped outside the room.

She ducked through the door, closing it with a small motion of her wing as she glided over the hardwood floor of the House of Healing. The wood needed a bit of convincing through her magic to not make a sound, but by now she had gotten used to the fact that she was too heavy for most anything that mortals made.

The few mortals she encountered on her way through the building did not pay her much mind, only a few of them pausing to turn around after she had passed them. Aperio did not pay them much mind in return, trying to ignore the whispers that they mumbled to themselves as best she could. Not hearing them was not an option, but she would do her best to act like a simple visitor, even when they recognised her as the All-Mother.

It did not take her long to reach the door that led into the courtyard Natio and Adam had taken over for training purposes. What she sensed through her aura was not necessarily something she would describe as 'training' but if it helped Adam to get better at magic, it was probably the best thing to do. But then, maybe this is how all mages train? She had expected it to involve more reading of books and less repeated throwing of spells at a target.

With a small shake of her head, Aperio opened the door and ducked through, making a mental note to find a way to mandate higher doors for all of Verenier. Adam did not seem to notice her, too concentrated on the spells he was casting, while Natio visibly froze for a moment before he tried to regain a semblance of calm. His attempt would likely fool most people, but Aperio could hear the rapid beat of his heart, could sense how his muscles tensed whenever she made even the smallest of movements.

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Telling him that she had not come to punish him would likely not do much, so Aperio did not. Instead, she leaned herself against the wall next to the door. At least, she tried to. The feeling of her wings pressing into the stone as though it were wet dirt, crumbling under the touch of her feathers, caused her to change her mind and simply stand where she was. With a sigh, she extended her feathered limbs for a moment, giving them a quick beat to set the feathers straight before a small flex of her mental muscles returned the stone to its previous state. Need to figure out how my throne does this… phasing stuff.

"What do we owe this visit to?" Natio asked once Adam lowered his hands and the magic he had conjured had faded. "Nothing bad, I hope."

"No," Aperio replied, her shoulders falling ever-so-slightly as both Adam and Natio visibly winced. "I have come to talk to Adam about his home."

"My home?" Adam asked as he turned around. "Do you mean…?"

He let the words hang in the air, but it was clear enough what he had meant. "Yes, Earth," she replied with a nod. "I wish to see it."

The Human remained quiet for a moment as he simply looked at Aperio with his mouth open. After a moment, he shook his head. "Why do you need me for that?"

Aperio narrowed her eyes at the question and tilted her head slightly to the side. "Because I do not know anything about your world and wish to learn before I go." And I want to figure out why you understand me just fine when you came from a different planet.

The last part was something she did not really need his help for, just his consent to look at his status for a moment. For everything else, however, she needed Adam. Going to Earth — after she figured out where that was — without knowing anything about it was a bad idea. "For example, I do not even know if your world has Elves." She shrugged. "If it does not, I would stand out more than I already do."

Adam regarded her for a moment before he looked at Natio. For a moment Aperio thought that Natio might not have known that Adam was from another world, but his lacking reaction told her that he already knew. The [Veil Walker] on the other hand was seemingly unsure if his teacher knew. After another moment of hesitation, he shook his head and took a step towards Aperio. "Could we talk about this somewhere a little more… private?"

"This place can be as private as we need," she replied as a touch of her magic flowed around the courtyard to ensure that no word they spoke would leave. "But why do you wish this to be kept private?"

The answer to that was probably obvious, but Aperio liked to be certain.

"Because not everyone needs to know where I come from," Adam replied, eyeing Natio. "And apparently, Natio wants to keep his name a secret. Don't know why, though."

"Does he?" Aperio looked at the Fallen God and raised a brow. "Perhaps he fears the retribution of those he wronged." She set her gaze back on the [Veil Walker]. "Do you wish to know what he has done?"

"No," Adam replied with a shake of his head. "If he wants me to know, he will tell me. As for your questions," he added, "there are no Elves where I come from, and no magic either, for that matter. There's only Humans, and what we invented." He cleared his throat. "But why do you want to go there anyway? It's… not a great place."

The All-Mother offered a shrug, her wings moving with the motion. "I wish to know how a world without the influence of the divine fared. So far I have not been… impressed with the mortals I have seen that held any sort of power."

///

"That won't change on Earth," Adam said, his voice barely a whisper. For a moment, he considered telling Aperio about the saying that did not want to leave his mind. Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. He shook his head. Telling that to a being that was the embodiment of absolute power was probably a bad idea. Thinking that might already be bad.

He looked at the All-Mother and held his breath, unsure if she would smite him down because she could actually read his mind. Aperio simply looked at him, tilting her head after a moment as he remained quiet.

"Did you wish to say something more?" she finally asked as she shifted her weight from one leg to another.

Adam swallowed and took a step backwards, his eyes scanning over the All-Mother's arms and legs in an attempt to spot any sign that she might make a move.

The winged Goddess let out a long sigh and shook her head. "I am not here to punish you or your teacher. I just want information, and maybe a guide when I leave for Earth." She lifted her arm and waved it around a little which caused a view wisps of mana to float from her skin. A moment later, she balled her hand into a fist and Adam could have sworn that reality itself had broken a little inside it. "Just because I look like I can throw you into the sun does not mean I will. If I was angry at you, you would know."

Adam did not move, only offering weak nod as Natio gave one as well. He took a deep breath and cleared his throat in an effort to regain a semblance of confidence. "I don't know if I'm ready to go back to Earth. My family has likely already reported me missing, and telling them I got transported to another world and then came back with the literal Creator of everything there is would see me admitted to a mental ward."

"If you do not wish to accompany us, that is fine," the All-Mother replied as she opened her hand again, letting a few more wisps of mana float into the air. "But I would still like to ask a few questions about Earth."

"Can you even go to Earth without breaking it?"

Aperio tilted her head, her hair flowing over her ears and shoulders, leaving yet more wisps in the air. "Why should I not? It is a world like any other, the only difference is that the System is not active on it and that no divine has laid their hand on it."

"Well," Adam began, rubbing the base of his neck as his eyes moved from the All-Mother's wings, to the wisps of mana, and finally her ever-shifting eyes. "You are like a fountain of mana. Wouldn't it be bad for a planet that had none to suddenly have too much?"

"My mana is the fabric upon which everything is drawn." She poked one of the wisps with her finger, causing it to melt into her skin. "What you see here are merely as of yet unused shreds of the mana I use to maintain this body." As if to make her point, all the wisps disappeared, a subtle glow emanating from beneath her skin instead. "Do not worry, I will know if my presence will have an adverse effect on your home or not when the time comes."

"If you say so," he replied, regretting his rather casual reply immediately as the All-Mother narrowed her eyes ever-so-slightly. "What do you want to know?"