Mel shut her eyes, opening them once the transition was over. She knew, logically, that she was still in the ritual chamber. The stones were firm under her boots.

However, her eyes and every other sense told her that she was in the middle of space. A sea of stars greeted her. Mel knew instinctively that they were all Worldshards.

More than the Magi ever charted.

A faint silvery light traced between them like spider silk. From time to time, Mel could see shapes in the strands of silver light.

They are Anchor Runes.

Mel flinched. The words came from everywhere and nowhere at once. They sounded too loud for any voice, and yet quiet as a whisper at the same time.

Mel looked around but could see nothing but the stars in all directions. “Askara, I presume?”

Present.

“...is that a joke?”

I have very few opportunities for such levity.

“Why am I here?”

Why do you think you’re here?

“Sounds like dodging the question to me,” Mel said with a grin. “Yeah, yeah, before you tell me otherwise and break my ear drums or something, let me think.”

Silence greeted her.

“Huh, really figured you’d get a kick out of not giving me a moment to myself.”

I have all the time in the world, little Miyan. You, on the other hand…

Mel frowned. “That’s not my name.”

Allow me this one indulgence.

“If you tell me what it means.”

In the language of my mortal days, a dialect and a people now forgotten and turned to dust, it means many things, Lost One. One Without Place. The Displaced One. Language is funny, is it not?

She folded her arms and grumped. “Still prefer Mel.”

The term made Mel feel like she was waking up in that coffin all over again. Confused and alone, with no idea how she got there.

She still didn’t know.

We all crave the ignorance of youth. But you know as well as I, that you do not belong.

“And you’re going to tell me how to fix whatever is wrong so I can get back to Aldim?”

Would you like me to?

Mel grumbled. She talks like a therapist, but she has a point. What do I want?

Unable to come up with an answer, Mel simply shrugged. “Would you if I said yes?”

No.

“Figured. You know, for a goddess, you’re kind of a downer.”

I get that a lot.

Mel paced back and forth around the starry night sky that stretched infinitely in all directions, looking for Askara’s design.

You need but take a step back, Miyan.

Mel did as Askara said. The whole of the starscape stretched away from her as if she just leapt a thousand light years away. It was only when the darkness of nothingness surrounded her and she could see the distant core of reality that she finally saw the triple-ringed design.

It’s everywhere. Mel stared in disbelief. The triple-ringed design encompassed all other Anchor Runes that lit up the stars. “How?” she couldn’t help but ask.

By standing fast when all others faltered.

I forgot how odd gods speak sometimes, Mel thought to herself. She stared at the symbol of Askara woven into reality. Can you hear my thoughts?

Either she was polite or she couldn’t, because there was no response. “I’m here because I was able to get to part of a temple that hasn’t seen the light of day for thousands of years. I’m different from anybody else who might have reached this place, because I’m…displaced somehow. I don’t belong. And yet I’m here. That about right?”

You are doing well so far, Miyan.

“That explains the how, but not the why.”

Polite silence greeted her.

“You’re like my third grade English teacher,” Mel complained. “Making me sound out hard words until I screw them up so completely that I somehow manage to say them the right way.”

More polite silence.

Then the truth hit her like a comet. “There is no reason.”

Very good.

“So then I’m…not here for any reason? Displaced as I am?”

You are in charge of your own story, Miyan. The meaning you ascribe to your actions is enough. Bad things happen every second of every day. What you choose to do about them is what matters. Choices matter, Miyan.

“Then why are you talking to me if I’m not here for any reason?” Mel countered. “If this is just one big cosmic happenstance, why bother to give any of your godly time to me?”

There was silence for a long time. Long enough that Mel nearly said something to break the quiet that settled all around her like falling snow.

Because you found me.

“I’m not buying that shit,” Mel snapped. “I ring your doorbell and you answer? You could just act like you weren’t there. I wouldn’t know the difference. Couldn’t even perceive it. Tell me the truth. Please.”

You…interest me. Would you rather the stars be cold and dark? Your gods deaf and silent?

“When things are horrible and I’m crying myself asleep after losing another friend? Yeah, sometimes I wish they were cold and silent. The gods have never answered my prayers. Why should they start now?”

Because you found me, she reiterated. When that should have been impossible. intermeshed in this grand game as you are.

“So I’m special just because I happened to wash up on your doorstep,” Mel said bitterly. “Makes about as much sense as anything else.”

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Mel took a steadying breath. “If I end up on another god’s doorstep, will I be granted an audience with them as well?”

You would not wish that.

“Why not?”

Because they have already decided how you will lose, Miyan.

Mel felt a cold hand grip her heart. “What do you mean?”

Do you think the Convocation some minor challenge? A game? All of reality is vying for the crown, Miyan. Gods topple other gods as easily as a child kicks down a castle of sand. Reality itself quakes at their meddling.

Mel shook her head as if she could deny the words. “No, I mean, why would they harm me ?”

You already know why, Mel’s thoughts raced. She’s already told you. You don’t belong. If you’re not supposed to be here, and this is the one chance for the gods to grow in strength, your presence is disastrous. You’re a wild card they can’t control. Which means…

“The Magi were pawns,” Mel said slowly, wishing it wasn’t true.

Not all. But enough.

“It wasn’t an accident that Earth and Lormar were uplifted.”

No.

“Who did it?” Mel snarled.

I do not know.

“You’re a friggin’ god!”

I am aware.

“Then you can tell me who it is and I can murder the shit out of their face!”

More polite silence greeted her. It felt a bit like Maggie Smith watching her with love and patience while she waited for her temper tantrum to be over.

Mel sighed, letting the anger go. “Yeah, okay. Not really their fault if they were manipulated. Even if you did know–which you don’t because you are not a totally rad omniscient god–you wouldn’t tell me anyway.”

Does that method of baiting often work for you?

Mel chuckled. “More than you would believe.” She looked at the great triple-ringed rune. “It won’t here, will it?”

No.

“If I don’t belong, can’t you send me back home? If I wanted you to?”

There was a long pause, followed by a pensive, Yes. Would you like that?

Several times over the last weeks, she would have jumped at the chance to be done with all this bullshit and go back to Aldim or even Brookmoors.

Somehow, knowing that she wasn’t supposed to be here made her want to stay even more. It was more than being a simple contrarian. If the gods themselves were plotting against her, if they already knew how she would lose, then Mel’s every fiber would be bent toward proving them wrong.

Mel searched inside herself for an answer. Did she truly want to leave this new life of hunting and competing behind? Give up on her quest to save her friends, and say goodbye to all the Magi? She had only met two so far, but Hal and Sylvie were here.

And then there was that necromancer surfer girl. There were countless interesting people here, and she had met practically none of them.

Do I really want to lose all that? If this goddess doesn’t know how I got here, then I have to find out myself. I’ll never find out if I’m snug in my dorm at Brookmoors.

“Hold up,” Mel said. “I thought you said you couldn’t send me back to Aldim.”

I can send you back. However, what is broken here cannot be undone. There is nothing to fix. You can only leave or stay.

Mel thought back to exactly what had been said. “All right. Sure. So if I can’t fix the problem, then why do the gods conspire against me? I haven’t done shit to them.” Mel felt compelled to add, “Yet.”

You are a fly in the ointment, Miyan. The ripples of your actions are too many to count. You have already killed many champions that the gods would have lifted to dizzying heights. Should you leave, your friends will be safe from retribution. The gods’ plans have already been damaged, forcing certain alterations out of necessity.

“But not destroyed.”

No.

“Then I’m staying,” Mel said resolutely. She tilted her chin up. “Can you speak to the gods?”

Yes.

“Will you give them a message from me?”

If you like.

“If you come for me, you better not fucking miss.”

They will not like that.

“Good.”

Our time together draws to a close. This temple will not be aligned for many thousands of years.

“I’ll find another if I need to pester you,” Mel said confidently.

Askara paused before saying, I believe you. Her voice was rife with amusement.

“I know you probably don’t get a lot of worship or whatever,” Mel said awkwardly, looking around at all the Shardrunes glittering like polished silver on a velvet black cloth. “But, y’know, all things considered? You’re doing a good job.”

That means a lot, coming from you. For what it is worth, so are you, Miyan.

Surprisingly, that felt pretty good. Not that she was going to say that. “Don’t let it get to your head.”

I will strive to prevent such an ignoble fate from befalling me.

Mel spread her arms wide. “Well, might as well send me back to the temple. Apparently I’ve got gods to screw over.”

You will not ask me for a boon? Mel swore she could almost hear the goddess laugh.

“Can you see in your temple?

Easily.

“Then I ask that you save my friends. Particularly, Gwen. She was poisoned.”

They are both mortally poisoned. The Sun hides his affliction while the Moon shows hers. An interesting pair.

“Their names are Thomas and Gwen.”

Yes. One of many names. They always manage to find one another, even when worlds apart. The gods fear them, almost as much as they fear you. I will rid the poison from their bodies and free them.

“All right,” Mel said. “That’s all I ask for. I’m not going to be indebted to a god. Not again. That sucked.”

You do have a storied history with the gods of various Worldshards.

“That’s putting it lightly.”

Unfortunately, I cannot let you go just yet.

Mel summoned her twinblade. “Yeah, figured you were going to pull something. Gods always do. Let’s get this over with.” She spun her twinblade in her hand. “If you know my past, you know I’ve killed gods before.”

Askara laughed. The stars pulsed and flared with vitality and life. It was such a rich, lovely sound that Mel found herself dismissing her weapon before she knew what she was doing.

Thank you for that.

Mel, however, wasn’t about to be manipulated. She summoned her weapon again and readied it, looking all around herself.

As my champion–a choice, I am overjoyed to state, that requires no input from you–I am allowed to offer you two gifts. I refuse to stand idly by as the balance I have worked so long to maintain is skewed by meddling children.

“And if I deny your gifts?” Mel asked petulantly.

The gods plot against you, little Miyan. Take what you can get. There will be few safe ports in the storm coming your way.

Mel wanted to deny her, just out of spite, but she couldn’t deny the truth. Her sordid history with gods made one thing abundantly clear: they never lied.

Which meant that the gods themselves were plotting her death. The selfish pricks already thought they knew how she’d fail.

We’ll see about that.

You must have felt alone all your life, Little Miyan. To be separated from your heartbound by time and death is not a burden many can bear. by being displaced, that has changed. Fare you well, little Miyan.

The starry night vanished between one eyeblink and the next. Back in the temple room, Mel was startled by the sound of splashing water as two items fell into the basin.