Aria picked through her books for a good one, but her mood stood in the way of any enjoyment. It was criminal. She had a beautiful - if lonely - palace, a lovely gazebo to read in, a new ally, and access to more information on gods than she could understand. But all she could think of was Achi and Alogun.
The plan is to get informed, she scolded herself. No more good-sounding plans that end in death and torture. You can hate them later when you know enough to craft an effective plan.
She didn’t know how long that would take, but she had a safe place, thanks to Achi.
Carefully, she put aside History of the First Gods; it was boring and too obsessed with their numerous battles. Then she picked up the next book, Classifying Gods. Wind whipped at her hair, carressing her face and, bringing the smell of the river.
Classifying Yourself was one of the smaller books. The attendant who had provided it had promised that it would help her understand herself. She wasn’t a god, though, so it would be more useful in understanding others.
She turned to the first occupied page. Instead of text, however, it had a question.
Your power source.
Do your powers come from something internal to you? For instance, it could a motivating desire to be the greatest singer, fueling you with an ability to eschew sleep for practice and lungs capable of holding breath for hours. If so, you are an Internally-Powered Deity. Turn to page 14.
Does your power come from something external to you? Perhaps you gain strength when mortals give you gifts or when spending time in nature. If so, you are an Externally-Powered Deity. Turn to page 29.
Aria recalled Achi’s explanation that she could not be a deity because she did not have power of her own. Some sadness tugged at her. She indulged for a moment and let it go. She needed to learn more about those scoundrels, not mope. She would find a way to revive Achi without being killed by Tivelo. Then, she wouldn’t be rescuing Alogun from Tivelo’s rage.
She recalled the sight of Alogun running in terror around his home and smiled.
That was just a taste, you sick brute.
Guessing that both Garo and Alogun were internally powered, she turned to page 14. It held more directions.
Is your motivation for something you wish to gain? Do you want to rich, powerful, or beautiful? If your driving goal is something ahead of you, you are a Longing-Bound Deity. Turn to page 103.
Is your motivation for something you wish to avoid? Do you want to keep from being insulted, used, or dominated? If your driving goal is to prevent an occurrence, you are a Fear-Bound Deity. Turn to page 190.
If both of these are true, turn to page 241.
Aria considered the deities she knew, but could not confidently determine their classification, so she chose the hybrid option and turned to page 241. That page, finally, was filled with more than questions.
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You are a Hybrid-Longing Deity. Formed when a mortal soul refuses the call of the afterlife due to both an unfulfilled wish and a strongly-held grievance. You have the strengths of both Fear-Bound deities and Longing-Bound deities, and the weaknesses of both. As Longing-Bound deity, you must strive to fulfill your longing. Having all paths to it blocked away will affect your strength, though it will not kill you.
As a Fear-Bound deity, You must avoid the thing you fear. Its actualization will kill just like it will Non-Hybrid Fear-Bound deities.
The book went into some more detail about different classifications of those deities, The material was dense, but Aria felt that she gleaned a substantial amount. It redirected her to a section examining and classifying the abilities of different deities, but she decided to take a break. There was another task to complete.
Aria had grown adept at determining the range at which other deities could not sense her. It varied with the deity but not one of them had displayed a range above five miles. Her range, on the other hand was twice that.
She climbed a tree, positioning herself so that she was as hidden from normal sight as she could be. Next, she confirmed that there were no other deities within her range. Finally, she focused on the object she had come to inspect.
TIvelo’s prison was a perfectly spherical glass room with only the top half of the sphere about the ground. The rest of it, buried as it was, was only discernable to her magical sight. She avoided prodding the prison, in case the other deities could sense it somehow. Inside the prison, Tivelo lay on the ground, eyes open but staring at nothing.
What I wouldn’t give for some telepathy.
The outside of he prison was crowded with guards. Garo, Alogun, and Chalik had all contributed an equal amount of the protective force. The guards formed successive rings around the prison each looking both alert and nervous.
Aria scoffed in amusement. A well-placed explosive or two would render the entire company useless. Likely they were placed there for peace of mind rather than actual protection. Even if their armor possessed magical protection she could not sense, mortal guards were still no match for determined deities.
Still, she made note of the number of guards, took drawings of their armor, and noted down the closest geographical features. There were few to speak of, since the entire area was a rocky desert with only a few large trees, but several large rocks held potential as hiding sights. Finally, when she had nothing more to take note of, she put her writing materials back in her pocket.
She wasn’t hungry, but a craving for food was growing. For a brief moment, she considered buying a meal, but the less often she was seen outside the safety of her new realm, the longer she would live.
She was climbing down the tree when a deafening crack suddenly rang out. She watched in horror as the ground below her split apart. The tree she was in sank into the yawning darkness in a blur of dirt and leaves.
Her wits returned to her in seconds. She teleported to the first place she could think of - Achi’s beach house and stood in the sand for several seconds, catching her breath and stilling her house.
What was that?
Her panic soon receded. She considered teleporting back to her previous position, but she did not know how much of it had survived. After several moments of thought, she decided on a smarter solution. She teleported to Alogun’s home, making sure to keep out of range of his senses, and found a hiding place.
She had only been there for minutes when the carriage came speeding by and practically crashed in front of the building. An attendant spilled out of the carriage, dusted himself off, and then ran in to find Alogun. He bowed perfunctorily before allowing bursting with the words he had been holding back.
“Your Eminence! The ground! It broke!”
Alogun looked confused and alarmed. “Is the prison intact?”
The man nodded vigorously. “Yes, yes. The prison is fine. The crack runs alongside it, but it is undamaged.
Alogun rose from his table and motioned for the guard to lead the way. The two climbed into the carriage, the guard sitting ahead while Alogun took the larger seat in the back, and traveled back to Tivelo’s prison.
Aria followed them, teleporting short distances at a time and taking care to stay out of range. She was primarily drawing power from one of Achi’s rings now, and it was not yet low enough to spark caution in her.
They found the site as the man had described. A crack in the earth, about twenty feet wide, ran alongside Tivelo’s prison. It was terrifying seeing a chasm wide enough to swallow a house where minutes before, there had been earth and trees. The prison, however, was undamaged and Tivelo’s state had not changed.