Seeing herself in a memory was still weird for the All-Mother; even more so this time because the thoughts of disdain that had been going through Epemirial's head were clear as day. The small prayers that echoed in her mind coming from Caethya as her disciple described what she saw only added to the surreal experience.
Whatever this event had been, it had left the Goddess of Duty and Loss with even more hate for Aperio than she had had before. Just that this memory does not show me what happened.
The All-Mother — and everyone else in the courtroom — could only see that her past self was leaving Epemirial's Dominion. Through a door, of all things. The Goddess of Duty and Loss shuddered slightly as a wave of mana rolled through her Dominion: undoubtedly the sign that Aperio had left.
"What a blind bitch," Epemirial mumbled as she grabbed a small orb from the desk behind her. The office currently in view was not something Aperio had found when she had searched through the Goddess' Dominion on her own, but this memory was likely a millennia old. Before she had been reduced to a mortal slave.
"If she cannot see reason, she has to be removed," a voice called from behind Epemirial.
The Goddess of Duty and Loss turned around to face the bony man that was Lor'Kem. "And how do you plan on doing that? She doesn't play by the same rules. She makes them. Probably already knows you said that."
"If she knew, I would be dead," the God replied with a shrug. "She doesn't know everything and neither is she omnipotent. She is merely the first of our kind."
"If that is true," Epemirial said, taking a seat behind the desk, "we can rid ourselves of her. I highly doubt it, though. There is more that separates us than just strength. Aperio does not need mana to sustain her, for example. It seems to flow out of her instead."
"No," Lor'Kem said. "It's just like we are to mortals. She simply took the next step we have not yet reached. But you know as well as I do that mortals can kill a God."
"You speak of Heresy, Lor'Kem," the Goddess of Duty and Loss hissed, her eyes darting around her Dominion.
Aperio tilted her head slightly as she felt what she could only describe as an inferior version of her aura began to feed Epemirial information about her Dominion. The Goddess' memory was filled with a palpable fear as she looked for any trace of the All-Mother in her realm, the thoughts racing through her head making it quite clear that she had no doubt the Creator would snuff her out then and there if she caught wind of what they were talking about.
"Why does she even care about that scum?" Epemirial asked, taking a parchment from one of the drawers of her desk. "It's not like mortals or Souls are in short supply. And how is it different from her precious System?"
"It's not," the other God replied, leaning himself against the desk. "Aperio talks about opportunity and growth, but she simply doesn't want us to get what she has." Lor'Kem turned himself a little to better face Epemirial. "Have you ever considered that she did not make everything?
"If she made everything," he continued, not letting the other Goddess get a word in, "how did she come to be? Why did she give us free will only to enslave us with that wretched System?"
Lor'Kem pushed himself off of the desk, turning around before he placed a fist-sized crystal on it. "Think about it and let me know when you are ready," he said, giving the crystal a light tap before he disappeared.
The reserved expression that had been on Epemirial's face vanished as soon as the other God had left her Dominion. "Idiot," she mumbled, picking up the crystal he had left behind. "You really think you will be the one to lead us?"
Before more could happen, the view shifted, placing Aperio into a large hall filled with Gods she did not know. The same could not be said about Epemirial, however, as she ticked off every single one on a piece of parchment she held in her hand.
How many deities are there? Aperio wondered as she racked her mind, trying to remember if she had heard of any of these Gods before. The answer was no for nearly all of them, the only ones she knew being part of the silent Pantheon that had been worshipped during her time as a slave.
Aperio paused as Epemirial's eyes landed on a Goddess she did not know but whose presence was distantly familiar. Epemirial seemed to have trouble recalling who that Goddess was as she squinted at the woman and the parchment in her hand before a thought sparked in her mind and she ticked off a name that gave the All-Mother pause.
She could not claim to know the name or the woman it belonged to, but she still knew who that was. A small prayer from Caethya asking why Aperio herself was at this gathering solved the question of who she was looking at.
"So I knew," Aperio mumbled, her voice quiet enough that only Caethya would have heard her.
Her disciple did not immediately react to her words, only moving after Aperio had informed her of the feeling of familiarity she felt from what was apparently a version of herself in a Goddess disguise. How did Caethya know, though?
The answer to that question was a mental shrug, followed by a list of similarities Caethya had noticed and the information that she also just knew. She does look a little like me, but as a Human.
Aperio tilted her head as she tried her best to ignore the thoughts of Epemirial's memory and look at her past self. There was no worry or concern visible, only a Goddess that seemed eager for whatever this meeting was supposed to be. But why?
The answer to that question did not reveal itself immediately as the meeting began with a lengthy introduction of most of the Elder Gods; each stepping up on the stage and telling their story of how they had ascended and what struggles they now faced. They never outright said that Aperio was an evil they needed to remove, but they all heavily hinted at something being in place that prevented progress for them all.
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When it was Epemirial's turn, she placed a thick tome on the podium, next to the parchment with the names of every God that chose to attend. What caught Aperio's eye was not the runes that dimly glowed on the book the Goddess had brought but the name that had been embossed in gold upon it.
Repens Nabu; Nóvaie Lybrí. Aperio did not know what the words meant, but she most definitely knew of the Repens Nabu. She balled her hands into fist as she let out a slow, shaky breath. Whatever they had done at the founding of their organisation could not have been good.
The All-Mother did her best to ignore the nonsense Epemirial began to spout. It was the same rhetoric she had used when Aperio had asked her, and it was just as baseless as when she had first heard it. Works on the people here, though…
During the speech, a few of the deities vanished, seemingly no longer interested in listening to what Epemirial had to say. Among those that disappeared was the Goddess Caethya had suspected to be Aperio. But why did I leave? Did I already know all of this?
"The time has come," Epemirial said, clapping her hands together and taking Aperio from her thoughts, "to take back what is ours." The Goddess of Duty and Loss had seemingly waited for Aperio's presumed old self to leave to make that proclamation, as she waved her hands and the banners that previously adorned the walls were exchanged with ones that mirrored the symbols on Repens Nabu book.
"You have stayed behind because you, too, wish to ascend past the constraints of Godhood," Epemirial said, spreading her arms wide as she took a step back from the podium. "Because you are not content to live under the heel of a liar that feeds off our work like a leech; gives us just enough rope to hang ourselves.
"We will remove her," she continued. "Not through a fight or vote — that would never work — but by taking from her what sustains us all. We will take the belief of the mortals and those who are not part of our cause. If you do not wish to be free, you are nothing more than a pawn in her machine. In her System."
Aperio clenched her teeth as Epemirial's vision swept over the crowd, the gathered deities slowly nodding to one another as the tirade continued. With every word the Goddess of Duty and Loss spoke, Aperio came just a little closer to leaving her seat in the real world and ending the life of the treacherous Goddess.
What kept her seated was the hand of Caethya gently placed on her own and the reminder that acting on her impulse now would stop her from finding out what she truly wanted to know. Her disciple was right, acting on the anger she felt would do her no good now, but Aperio also knew that whatever came next would only make it worse.
She brushed her free hand over the armlet that still adorned her right arm, turning it ever-so-slightly as the mana within caused a small tingle to spread through her fingers. It was only a matter of time before Epemirial's memories would show her working on someone's Souls; before Aperio would not be able to hold her anger back anymore. The almost unnatural calm she had felt over the past while had seemingly run its course, or was unable to survive her anger at the disfigurement — Rape — of the Souls she had witnessed and would witness again and again.
The Goddess of Duty and Loss held a Soul in her hand, the other deities watching as she carved rune after rune into the glowing marble. Just make it stop!
Aperio knew why they had done it; they wanted to ensure that people would follow them and not her. Wanted to remove her name from existence in hopes of eradicating, or at least weakening her. They obviously believed their words, and they did succeed in a fashion, but Aperio knew that her power had nothing to do with what mortals or other deities thought of her. She did not even remember who she was herself and could still end all of existence if she wished to do so. Just make it go away… Please.
What her creation had become during her absence was so far removed from what she wished for it to be that starting over might be the least cruel option. Everyone would be back at square one. No plots, no slavery. No Evil. No Good. Silence… Blessed silence.
Her Void consisted of such a nothing; such nice and calming nothing. Turning everything into that and starting again might truly be the solution she had been looking for. She did not remember her past life; what if reality, too, forgot its past?
A thought tore open the threads of reality, letting her Void flow into the Courtroom. Just as Epemirial's mana seeped into the Soul in the memory, Aperio's Void seeped along the threads she had not broken, bringing a desperately needed calm to the constant thrum of mana that permeated the [Court of Heaven].
"Silence for all ," Aperio said, her voice barely a whisper but yet still loud enough to fill the room and banish the noise from it. There was no more rustling of clothes, no more sound of mortals breathing or the incessant voice of Epemirial's memory detailing how she could twist a Soul in such a way that would remain forever loyal. "Blessed silence."
The almost unheard jingle of Caethya's jewellery caused Aperio to turn her head and look at her disciple. She narrowed her eyes, staring at the small chain made of silver feathers that hung around the Demigoddess' neck.
Her disciple tried to speak but no sound came out. She was only able to mouth what she was trying to say as the colour of Court was slowly growing dimmer, washed away by the black nothing of her Void.
"It's okay," Aperio said, placing her hand on Caethya's cheek. A touch of her mana flowed through her disciple's body, the colour that had been drained away by her Void returning together with the sound of her frantic voice.
"What are you doing?!" Caethya asked, her eyes darting around the court.
"Solving the problem," Aperio replied, tilting her head as the nothing of her Void seeped into the crystals floating above the Accused.
The All-Mother was about to respond when the memory of Epemirial shifted yet again, this time showing what was obviously Aperio lying on her bed in her temple with her arms crossed over her chest.
Aperio knew as well as Epemirial that she was not dead, but the Goddess of Duty and Loss wore a smile on her face nonetheless.
"Who would have thought that you would want to live as a mortal," Epemirial said. "Don't you worry, we will make sure you won't be needed if you return."
The Aperio in Epemirial's memory did not react to the words, simply lying there. It took the All-Mother a moment longer to notice the small dagger that was embedded in her chest. The blade was simple — Featureless — the only ornamentation being a compass rose that she knew all too well that replaced the pommel. In her mind's eye she caught a remembered glimpse of herself in the blade, one that featured mutilated ears. Why is that here?