Chaos had struck the city of Inexoria. The sky high Tower of Moros, which often appeared to extend all the way up into the lower reaches of space, had collapsed into a pile of rubble. Most of its massive appearance had been illusory, the Tower itself had been somewhere in the depths of space, not on physical worlds such as Grief, thus the rubble that remained of the Tower seemed comically miniscule compared to the landmark that once dominated the sky and which the city of Inexoria had been literally built around.

When the Tower fell four individuals had appeared in the courtyard between the Tower and the path down into Inexoria properly. That path was heavily guarded by the tax-men of Inexoria eager to get a share of loot obtained by adventurers who survived the trials of the Tower of Moros, but none of them were remotely equipped to deal with the party that had appeared. Sure, two of the members of the party were cute little kittens, but one radiated the unmistakable power of a sixth tier Beast Sovereign, a threat capable of leveling cities and terrorizing whole worlds, while the other radiated the power of a fifth tier, and the strongest cultivator in the city of Inexoria was High Climber Torane, himself a fifth tier cultivator.

“State your names, and stand down until the High Climber arrives, please,” the guard tried to project an aura of confidence, but a third tier cultivator making demands of a party of three six tiers and a fifth tier wasn’t likely to be well received.

“Why do you need to know our names if we’re to wait for your precious High Climber?” Kallos Metanoia asked with confusion, not understanding the logic of the guard. Kallos stood taller than the moderately tall guard. Clad in a black armored dress with purple accents, with blonde hair, golden eyes that shone with inner light, a large witches hat, and a cloak made of ominous black and white chains, Kallos probably looked intimidating. She was one hundred and eighty-eight centimeters tall, before you added in the extra two inches of her armored knee high boots. Then there was the tattoos that crawled along her skin wherever it was bared. Spiritual tattoos slithered across her ivory skin as if they were serpents, ready to strike out at the Witch’s slightest whim.

Kallos radiated an imperious aura of mystery, beauty, and untouchable grace. As a Nephilim, she bore a heritage and bloodline that far exceeded that of an ordinary human, or even that of most half-blood humans. She was the Daughter of Belial, after all. She had it all, looks, intelligence, power, empathy for the suffering, and Telos loved Kallos more than anything.

Telos Metanoia, the woman who stood next to Kallos, was the same height, although thanks to being a shapeshifter, Telos could appear as any height, or really as anything or anyone she wanted to. Once she had been a human girl on Earth named Aesca Lampi, who was then resurrected as Aetheria, a name she used until her ascension to the sixth-tier, when she chose a new first name to match who she had become, and the last name to match with her wife, partner, lover, significant other, or whatever else one wanted to label Kallos.

Kallos’ beauty and majesty drew eyes, but Telos drew eyes like a blackhole. She was a tall woman, with a slender willowy build, who wore laced up black combat boots, black cargo pants, a long flowing aqua scarf that danced in a wind that touched no one else, a perfectly tailored black trench coat, and a red tank top that revealed modest glowing cleavage which sent motes of divine light into the air, which was then absorbed by the third eye in the center of her forehead. The Third Eye of Ein Sof had started out as an accessory forged of her own soul, but it had evolved into a true third eye, although it looked like a black hole that devoured the constant light of Ein Sof generated by the conflict of her Ethereal and Void cores warring with each other. Her left eye was aqua-blue, her right eye red. All three emitted an illumination powerful enough to be seen in broad daylight, the color of the eye it reflected from. Uneven asymmetrical bangs hung down to frame her face, while the rest of her mid-back length hair had been tied up in a pony tail. Her hair glowed, much like her eyes, and like her eyes, held three colors: aqua, red, and black. If one stared at Telos long enough, you might even witness the spread of colors changing with her mood and whim.

“Lady Aetheria, Lord Torane will be along presently,” a woman strode past the guards as if they were nothing more than set pieces. She looked mostly human, but had fangs and slightly tipped ears. Telos still thought the woman looked like a vampire, and the black to her outfit and hat certainly did nothing to dismiss the appearance of a vampire.

“I am called Telos Metanoia now,” Telos said gently but firmly. The name tied her and Kallos together, just as the soul bond did, and so she fully embraced it. To do anything else would be a rejection of Kallos and herself.

“Congratulations upon your ascension, Lady Telos,” T’ess bowed elaborately.

“Indeed, it’s rare someone enters a tower and comes out two tiers higher at your level of progression. Rarer still that the Tower itself collapses into rubble behind you. In fact, I’ve never heard of that happening.” Lord Torane held the appearance of an average man in his forties, with dark hair and milky white-gray eyes. As a fifth-tier cultivator, he stood as one of the most influential people in the world of Grief, and being Lord of Inexoria and its taxation on the Tower of Moros had made him rich beyond belief, in addition to the vast fortune he’d earned when he climbed and finished the Tower of Moros.

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“Alas, Moros would not change his mind and insisted on a fight to the death, despite and because he knew he would lose.” Telos looked at the rubble, then frowned at the implications for the city. She lifted a hand, and a single snowflake shot into the air to form a new barrier around Inexoria.

“You have approximately a year with the amount of energy I infused that with—one year to work out new defenses if you do not move to new cities. The ley lines that fed the Tower could provide considerable energy to someone brave enough to tap them.” Telos then gestured, and piles of random treasures she’d found throughout Aetherius’ Tower and a couple of pieces from Moros tumbled into the courtyard.

“I don’t have time to remain, but that should provide some compensation for the inconvenience we have caused to the fine people of Inexoria.”

Torane had a glint in his eye as if greed might threaten to overwhelm him. It was writ plain on his face: if Telos would part with this voluntarily, what might she part with if he pressed more?

A cough from Kallos drew Torane’s eye, and his eyes widened slightly. He seemed shocked he had not noticed the beautiful woman, and then his eyes widened more when he realized she was a sixth-tier.

“If you do not wish your city to become a battleground between us and a greater Archon, you may wish to cease these needless delays.”

“A greater Archon?” Torane sputtered and stepped aside. The former climbers greed faltered in the face of his survival instincts. “By all means, exit our city as swiftly as possible.”

“We will, thanks.” Telos gestured and a silver gateway like those used inside the towers formed. “The heavens are going to get a good shaking, if I were you I would make preparations.” With that ominous warning, the four all stepped through the gateway and into what appeared to be a magictech engine room full of crystals and the sounds of chiming.

“Off by a little bit,” Telos laughed. “Welcome to the Lost City of Atlanta. Ark, let Werylin know we’ve arrived and let him know he’s free to join us.”

Ten minutes later, Kallos, Telos, Bobbi, and Arkaziel all relaxed in comfortable chairs around a coffee table. Werylin Amaryllis, a purple haired swordsman in a beautiful hakama, also sat with them.

“You killed some Archons, Izanagi, Izanami, Moros, Ouranos, Inanna, Ereshkigal, and Quetzalcoatl, and now you’ve got the Overgod involved, and you plan to kill him too, I suppose?” Werylin summarized the discussion so far.

“I mean, if he gets in my way, it won’t be avoidable. He’s not my primary target though, I’ve got a grudge to settle with Oizys, too. I’m not going to just forget about Grief, I made a promise.” Telos shrugged.

“This tea is delicious, Werylin. Could I buy some for our trip?” Bobbi interrupted, after testing the taste of the tea Werylin had set out. Bobbi had once again abandoned the form of a kitten, and took on the form of a dark skinned human woman with cat ears, a tail, reddish black hair, and pink-yellow feline eyes.

“Of course, Lady Slay. I’ll include some other blends as well.” Werylin acquiesced immediately, and more than a little subserviently.

“I agree, its delightful,” Kallos nodded, and Werylin practically squirmed from the praise of the two women.

“Yeah, yeah, it’s great tea, quit making the elf blush,” Arkaziel remained a kitten, who lapped milk-tea from a saucer like a civilized cat.

Telos frowned at the four, who barely reacted to her proclamation about the Overgod and Oizys.

“Really, we’re just going to skim over the whole taking down a goddess and maybe an Overgod? Oh, damn, that is some good tea.” Telos amended after she finally sipped from her cup.

“Darling, we’ve all traveled with you for some length of time. That your journey will take us to slay more gods, maybe an Overgod, is hardly even worth mentioning. What is one more on the list? Oizys isn’t even a particularly powerful goddess, she’s just a cruel and terrible one. As for the Overgod, his Archons will be problematic, but we will prevail. Have you considered calling in the Celestial Wardens? Siegfreid is said to exist solely for the very thing you have already accomplished.” Kallos radiated amusement at how annoyed Telos grew at the perception they were reacting so nonplussed about her agenda.

“You forget I’m a god eater?” Arkaziel grumbled. “I’ve only been with you since the start, almost.” Arkaziel’s voice and large, kitten eyes, radiated the look of a forgotten and hungry kitten so perfectly that Telos had to stop herself from picking him up and cuddling him.

“I might not be as obsessed with eating gods as the twerp, but they make great meals, and the less of them there are, the better. Besides, how am I supposed to surpass this idiot if I don’t eat at least as well as him?” Bobbi’s competitive nature bared its fangs at Arkaziel, almost visibly.

“Where you go, I go,” Kallos said sincerely.

“See what I’m dealing with, Werylin? There’s no voice of sanity to say, no, no, don’t take on gods in their place of power, don’t fight the Overgod, think of the universe! Just two hungry cats and the most beautiful woman in any world willing to follow me into any form of damnation I might chose,” Telos laughed, Kallos reddened slightly, and the StarMane’s seemed uncertain if they were supposed to be offended.

“Yes, it is truly a terrible curse you are burdened with. Since no one disagrees with the whys, why not focus on the how? Will you burn her temples until she sends an avatar? Assault her tower?” Werylin seemed very pro-burning her temples, but they were talking about a Goddess who’d cursed him to exist as an undead for thousands of years, until Telos revived him and reunited him with his clan.

“Well, I have an idea about that, actually.” Telos touched the band on her wrist, which held the Flame of Nyx, the personification of Night itself. “Callie, want to have some input on this conversation?