Vayra returned to the main deck when the footsteps stopped pounding and the whistles stopped blasting. Feeling refreshed (she had eaten and drank and just stopped moving for a little while), she ran to the ship’s forecastle to practice a little. She wasn’t ready for sleep yet.

The stars whirled by, and the Stream sprayed up around all sides of the ship, creating a cocoon of water. They had been sailing between planets for a few hours, and everything was stable. Only a third of the crew had duties now, and the rest were either sleeping or working small jobs around the ship. The gossamyr sails ruffled and the hull creaked, and the rushing water nearly overpowered it all.

But that meant she was on her way to an entirely new planet.

She ran to the front railing and pressed her hands down on it. Specks of Stream Water fell on her hands, and more mana rushed into her body.

“So, Phasoné, have you ever been to Harvest Sanctuary?” Vayra asked softly. She knew the Goddess was there, listening, even if she had been a little quiet.

‘I have been there many times,’ Phasoné said, her voice softer than usual. ‘It used to be very peaceful. Talock terraformed most of it himself over a few centuries, turning it from a ball of useless, sulfuric stone to a sprawling network of farms and rivers and forests. He grew all sorts of mystical ingredients, and he was quite the alchemist when it came to crafting elixirs.’

“For centuries?” Vayra asked. “I didn’t think the Gods had invaded up ‘til…eighty years ago? And even then, Talock was trapped for that time…”

‘Correct,’ Phasoné said. ‘The Gods didn’t truly invade up until eighty years ago, and Talock was never a part of that. But before then, it was a little more complicated.’ She trailed off wistfully.

Vayra raised her eyebrows, then looked up. It’d still be weeks until they arrived at Harvest Sanctuary, but she was still hoping to see some sights along the way. Any moment, they would be passing by the enormous Starcradle Nebula. Alrighty, a cloud of violet-tinged dust was blooming in the distant void. Right now, it was only the size of a small coin on the Stream’s horizon, but it would be getting bigger.

Vayra ran from the front railing to the side of the forecastle. A net of rigging ran up to the tip of the foremast. She hopped up onto the side railing and clung to the ropes. Every second, the dust cloud grew larger. Waves of brown dust swirled into pink and violet. At every crest, the dust bent over into the shape of a horse’s head.

‘You’d think you had never seen a nebula before…’ Phasoné said.

“Never this close!” Vayra leaned out to the side as far as she could, until the droplets of water splashing up from the Stream pelted her hard enough to leave little welts on her arms. She held her hand out to the nebula. Packets of stars were scattered all across the enormous formation of dust. Through the curtain of Stream water, they twinkled like a lantern in the rain.

When Vayra cycled Arcara out to her hand, starlight wanted to enter, and it took effort to stop it. Her element was powerful here.

‘More powerful than you’ve ever felt it. I once spent three years harvesting mana and concentrating my starlight authority in the Column of Spring Nebula. In the end, I ended up reforging my body. One of the many times.’

“So…” Vayra rubbed the back of her head. “How did you become a Goddess of something new, if you didn’t inherit it? You are the direct daughter of a different Goddess? The wind lady, right?”

‘God-heirs are not set on their Paths, if they choose not to be,’ Phasoné said. ‘My mother created the Path of the Scouring Wind, and most of her heirs followed it. She had favourites picked out to succeed her, and I wasn’t one of them. I chose to follow a Void Path when I was establishing my foundation—wind and air are already favourable to emptiness.’

“But how did you become the Goddess of Starlight?”

‘The Stream has a certain authority to it,’ Phasoné said. ‘Intelligence, maybe. It’s what we call the Streamfather. If we become such a symbol of something, an icon, a…legend, it is possible for a new Godhood to be created. Voids and stars go hand in hand, and I often lingered around stars more than in the empty void. My Path bent, and I created the Path of Corestar. I ascended… around a century ago. The same thing happened to Talock, only centuries sooner.’

“You’re the youngest of the Pantheon, right?”

‘Indeed. If it wasn’t for me, the duties of the Mediator would have passed to someone else in the Pantheon after Talock—likely someone who had already taken on the duties once or twice before.’

Vayra nodded. She kept staring out at the nebula. It blurred around them as they passed through its center, travelling lightyears in the span of mere minutes. She craned her neck up, trying to glimpse the arms of the nebula that reached overtop the Stream.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Phas…” Vayra whispered. “Are you gonna be alright? Going to your brother’s home and all that? I don’t imagine the other God-heirs will be kind to it…”

‘You don’t have to remind me what they’re doing to that poor planet,’ the Goddess replied. ‘I’ll be fine. Just focus on yourself; you are much more important than my…hesitations. This is necessary.’

If Vayra could, she would have given the Goddess a hug. But she wasn’t inside the white void yet. Instead, she climbed higher up the rigging, trying to get a better view. After only a few more seconds, they had passed through the nebula, and Vayra had to turn around to watch it recede into the void.

“So…Phas, if you need anything, or need me to do anything for you while we’re here…”

‘Vayra, you have bigger things to worry about. I can pay my respects later. These resources have been accumulating for lifetimes, and for you to waste any second would be an incredible waste. Not to mention a betrayal of your duty.’

“You never did tell me why this planet exists in the first place.”

‘The Gods weren’t supposed to come down to the mortal realm often, and their heirs were supposed to keep out of mortal business, but the barriers between the realms are weak. In fact, you yourself are technically one of the “barriers” between realms.’

“Not a very good barrier if I’m only useful after half my life…”

‘But as you advance, you will live much, much longer than a regular human. Or…half-phoenix. In fact, some have ended up getting so powerful that they ascended and split from their godly companion. But no one knows what happens to them. They just get replaced.’

By now, the nebula had passed out of sight. Vayra swung down the rigging and landed in the center of the forecastle. “Talock and his Mediator didn’t live very long…” Vayra winced when she realized how that sounded. “I’m sorry, I—”

‘Talock’s Mediator probably never advanced past Mate. If his life was extended, it wasn’t by much.’

Vayra made a fist, then opened her palm. She could practice while talking with Phasoné. She had accumulated a lot of Arcara lately, and she wanted to see how her Starlight Palm would be now. She targeted a stack of barrels halfway across the deck, then unleashed a blast of starlight across the deck.

The starlight only blasted out in a dome-shape three feet in front of her, but it flashed out so fast and hard that a wave of force blasted away from it. There were sparks and white speckles mixed in, which swirled forwards like leaves in the wind. It struck the stack of barrels and toppled it.

‘Very good!’ Phasoné exclaimed.

“Really?”

‘I remember…maybe five, six months ago when you could only strike with such force an inch away from your hand.’

“Now…I kinda derailed everything, didn’t I?”

‘Just a little,’ said Phasoné. The Goddess let out a soft chuckle inside Vayra’s head. ‘Where was I?’

“Talock’s planet?”

‘Yes, that. Before Karmion’s invasion, some of the Gods had experiments. With permission from the Mediator, they often took over uninhabited or severely damaged worlds and used them to experiment and test, and even to create weapons. Talock used his for farming and alchemy.’

“What kind of elixirs do you think we’ll find?” Vayra let off another Starlight Palm, knocking over the rest of the barrels.

Phasoné was quiet for a few seconds. ‘Probably a bit of everything. He liked to experiment. He made me an elixir that helped me get over a blockage. Took me right from Master’s Mate to Lieutenant.’

“What will we need to look for, then?” Vayra asked. She pulled in starlight from all around, then put it into one last strike that blasted all of the barrels off the forecastle. They began to roll around on the main deck, and soon enough, they’d get in someone’s way. Wincing, she ran down and picked them up.

As she grabbed the barrels and carried them back to the forecastle, Phasoné said, ‘You’ll want elixirs to help with your spirit—either for the strength of your channels, or for pure, almost-purified Arcara. Maybe search for something to help improve your soul’s strength as well. Beyond helping your mental and cognitive ability, it’ll keep you awake and let you work for longer.’

Just when Vayra put the last barrel back where she found it, footsteps sounded behind her. “Vayra,” came Captain Pels’s voice. “We could use some assistance with the maps. From Phasoné, mainly, but you’re a package deal.”

“Coming,” Vayra said. Then, just for Phasoné, she whispered, “We’ll be back. A little more training before we sleep, just like I promised.”

Then, she ran after Pels across the Harmony’s deck main deck. When they reached the stern, he pushed open the door beneath the stern quarterdeck. He marched down a short hallway. On one side were the officers’ quarters, and on the other side was the navigators’ cabin.

Pels stepped into the navigators’ cabin, but Vayra lingered in the hallway just a little while longer. She peered into the officers’ quarters, where Glade stood, facing the other Order of Balance Adepts. They were all softly congratulating him and asking questions, and he raised his hands, as if trying to back out.

“To reach the stage you have for one so young is an incredible achievement,” one of the Adepts told him. “I’m sure when you return to Thronehome, they’ll make you an Adept too. Say, how’d you do it? What did you do?”

“I—I just had an Admiral teaching me,” Glade said, backing away. His collar bulged when he swallowed, and he rubbed the back of his neck. “He had an impressive catalog of elixirs, and he provided me with a pill to help me ‘catch up’.”

Vayra ducked into the room for a second and tapped him on the shoulder. “Pels wants you, too.” If she could rescue him from an awkward conversation, she figured she would. Stream knew, he didn’t need any help being awkward.

Then, she pulled him across the hallway and into the navigators’ cabin, where all the ships’ maps were stored. All four walls were lined with shelves, and almost all of the slots were occupied by a scroll of parchment.

Pels spread a map out on the table, and a pair of navigators were pinning it down.

“Alrighty, Mediator,” Pels said. “Let’s figure out where we’re heading.”