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”As much as I’d like to give you time to ruminate, we need to leave soon.” Envy looked up as she heard Karna speak. She’d found a nice shady spot to put her thoughts in order. She had even taken off her shoes to let her feet soak in the nice warm water of a pond. It was hard to stay cranky in this place, as the aura was so calming.
Karna sat down next to her, though refrained from getting her feet wet. The two of them sat there quietly for several minutes, just enjoying the ambiance of the divine realm. Envy took a long look at her oldest frenemy and tried to imagine life without her. She'd had several lives where Wrath was nowhere to be found, so it wasn't that difficult, but even in those lives, she would always imagine what she'd do when they met the next time. It was always something to look forward to, even if they ended up on opposing sides. It was hard to imagine what it would be like without that constant motivator.
Realizing that Karna was not going to be the first one to speak, she decided to take the dragon by the horns. “How long have you known?”
Karna considered the question for a moment before answering, knowing there was more to it than the obvious. “I’ve known only since just before this life began and the Head Judge informed me. I’ve suspected something like this might be happening longer. The vessels I’ve had have felt…insufficient. It has also been almost impossible to live those mortal lives I value so much. Hard to be a mortal when the only vessel capable of holding your soul is a dragon that’s practically immortal just by its very nature. What you’re really asking though is, did I have a suspicion the last time we met? The answer is no. Not really. There were signs perhaps, but not to the point where I could have put the pieces together.”
Envy released a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. “At least there’s that. And no, I’m not going to ask again why you didn’t tell me earlier in this life. I get it. It’s not something you just drop in a conversation. Especially when you didn’t know for sure what I would do in response. I still wish you had told me earlier. Would’ve been a shame if I had succeeded in killing you during the tournament. I seriously considered it during the finals.”
"That was part of what convinced me that we could be allies in this life," Karna admitted. "You know better than anyone that you aren't exactly the most consistent person ever."
“I like to think it spices things up. Similar to how you spice things up by staying a mortal. Or Tremere with his horrible accent and acting.” Envy smiled a bit, fondly thinking about some of her past exploits during one of the more unpredictable lives.
“Fair enough. I’m not the most consistent person either. Comes with the slow erosion of mental faculties I suppose. Though I’d say I’ve become more consistent over time.” Karna postulated. “Unlike most reincarnators, I started off crazy and mellowed over time.”
“Eeeh. You’re one of the saner reincarnators around, I’ll admit. At least nowadays you are. Those mortal lives have done good things for you. I’d never do it myself, but I can see it works for you.” Envy went quiet again after that. The mood in this place was truly pleasant.
"You know, I wouldn't mind just spending a small eternity here. Just the two of us. Maybe Hope as well. We could just relax and let the eons wash over us as we grew old and fat." Envy suggested, only half-joking.
Karna let herself fall back to lie on the ground. “Except, it would require me to take up the godhood, and that would automatically tie me into the divine politics. It’s not a bad thought though. Of all places to do it, this would be at the top of my list. Would get a bit boring after a century or a dozen though.” She opined while staring at the sky.
“Oh, I’m sure we could find something to occupy our time.” Envy grinned. “I could make you the greatest pillow hoard that ever existed. You know, we’ve been many things from enemies to even sisters, but we’ve given the lovers thing a shot only once and that didn’t last long thanks to Lust interfering. Might be interesting to give it another go.” She leaned back on the grass as well, her feet still in the water.
“You’re right. That doesn’t sound too bad. Almost tempting. Were it anything but my last life, I might take you up on it. There’s a rather obvious problem though. The same problem that prevents us from not taking part in this silly nonsense set in motion by the decree. If someone we’ve angered in the past took the position of ruling over everything, we’d be fucked. And not in the fun way.” Karna shook her head slowly.
“That does give us an alternative though. We could put Valor or maybe even Hope on that throne and just retire here afterwards.” Envy suggested.
"That's not too shabby of a thought," Karna admitted. "We might invite a few other people on occasion. Just to keep things fresh."
Envy suddenly sat up as an idea occurred to her. "Wait. If they get to modify everything and set all the rules, couldn't they then help you with this problem?"
“Theoretically. It would involve them tampering with my soul but…” Karna had originally considered taking the role herself, but this might be even better.
“A small price to pay for the potential payout!” Envy was getting excited at the idea. She hadn’t been really all that motivated before now, as her victory only prevented anyone they hated from winning, but now she had a proper reason to get serious. Heck, she’d rather take the job herself if that’s what it took to keep Wrath around, though she’d rather delegate it to someone else. Even if it would be interesting to get one up on her rival for once. “Yeah, this sounds like a plan! Either an extension via a bit of soul tampering, or a cushy eternal retirement if it’s something that can’t be stopped!”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
“The beginnings of a plan at least.” Karna frowned a bit at the sense she was getting from the realm around them. “It seems our time here is coming to an end. We’re close to overstaying our welcome.”
“Right. We will talk about this again, however. Do we have a concrete idea about what to do once we leave?” Envy questioned, now excited to move on.
“That’s something we were supposed to discuss before leaving, though now we’re in a bit of a rush. There are two obvious options. Three if you count trying to lay low. Which, let’s face it, isn’t our strong suit. We could go for the house of titans. Or we could go for Mount Celestis. The angels already approached me, trying to recruit any talented future immortals. They have certain plans towards the current messed-up situation in the Divine Planes, and that was before the decree. I’m rather sure they’d love to take in the four of us. Would give us the chance to stay away from the immortal politics for a while.” Karna listed off.
Envy couldn’t help the grimace at the thought of allying with angels. “You know as well as I do that angels aren’t exactly fond of anyone associated with the cardinal sins. And you can’t get much more associated with them than us. Not to mention the fact that I kind of dislike the sanctimonious assholes.”
"Your dislike for them is well documented and widely known." Karna smiled a little. Envy somehow always managed to antagonize any angels she met, no matter which universe they were in. "That said, it wouldn't do to leave them out of consideration completely, and staying out of politics would also come with the downside that we can't play politics to our advantage either. The angels are a major power, and they actively disdain divine politics, but they have very few allies they can rely on as a consequence. We would benefit from their protection, however.”
“On the other hand, the titans would definitely welcome us and be more palatable for me, but they’d have certain expectations for you.” Envy pursed her lips in displeasure, now especially displeased at the idea of someone forcing Wrath into a political marriage or something along those lines, even if that wasn’t a very likely scenario. She was hardly a jealous type, as that was a bit of an impossibility with reincarnators. Neither option was optimal, but sometimes you had to make compromises. “My vote is with the titans, though not just because of my dislike for the pigeons. They’d likely be willing to offer more support for us, assuming that we’d go along with their plans. And I could pass myself as one thanks to the bloodline power I copied from you.”
“That’s not a bad idea, and I’m not entirely averse to it either. We have some other options as well, as there are plenty of forces that would be happy to recruit us, though the problem is that they want me for other reasons, mainly for my bloodline. We do need some support though. As much as we can punch above our weight, we can’t stand against entire houses just with the four of us. Not until we get stronger. And unlike in the Higher Planes, hiding is much more difficult. Before now, it was a game of gaining power and staying hidden. Now it’s a game of politics and forging alliances. And we have some catching up to do in comparison to other reincarnators that have been here for centuries or even longer.” Karna was very powerful for a fresh immortal, easily matching rank eleven and perhaps even rank twelve beings, but she was realistic about their chances without allies.
“What did the other two doofuses say?” Envy asked.
"They left the decision for us," Karna said without elaborating. "And I'm leaving it to you, mostly."
"Let's go for the titans then. Unless…" A thought occurred to Envy. "We don't necessarily all need to go in the same direction."
Karna shook her head in reply. “Usually I wouldn’t oppose a little divide and conquer, but with the decree in place, nowhere is safe. Besides, we have gotten closer, but we aren’t exactly the most unified of allies just yet. We have a reason to stick together, and we’re stronger that way, but if we split up, we could be picked off easily. So, titans it is then. Let’s go.”
All four of them gathered into the tower, which reminded Karna that she would need to do some upgrades now that they were in the Divine Planes, and headed for the border of the realm they were in. As she had at least some control over the realm, they quickly reached the exit, as the border was just suddenly there without any warning. As they pushed their way through the nebulous border, they found themselves on a shining golden bridge that seemed to extend forever. Hazy and indistinct shapes of the other realms of the gods extended everywhere around them. It was like they were standing on the sideways trunk of a tree, while pathways stretched like branches everywhere around them, and the separate realms of the gods were the leaves of the tree.
They were also not alone. Karna knew from experience that one could wander this path for ages without running into anyone else due to how distances worked on the bridge, but now there was a crowd. An arguing crowd by the looks of it. They were all located just outside the realm they had exited, so it stood to reason that the separate groups in the crowd had been waiting for them. And the separation in the groups was rather clear, as they not only stood apart in their attire, but in their appearance as well.
The first group was made up of members of the Host. A dozen silver-armored immortals were accompanying a pair in golden armor, and this group was embroiled in an argument with two other groups. One of the others was made up of individuals that could only be titans judging by their size and the house sigil of thunderbolts grasped in a metallic fist. The third arguing group bore the house colors of the ruling house, the phoenix insignia on their clothing and armor clear. There was also a fourth group made up of a gathering of various parties that exhibited totally different identifiers and despite their appearance were from a variety of races. This group only had seven individuals, which made it the smallest, and they had likely banded together mostly just to have some strength in numbers in the face of the three arguing groups. They were also the ones staying out of the tussle.
“Well, there goes the plan to lay low.” Valor joked, which caught the others by surprise. Humor was not what they had expected from him in this situation.
“I don’t care what house the newcomers might or might not be part of!” One of the golden-armored members of the Host was shouting, clearly agitated by the two other groups. “All of the new immortals are to be drafted into the Host to fight the Scourges!”
“You’re talking about an imperial princess. A princess that has been lost to us for decades. Even if she were to become part of the Host at some point, surely she deserves to meet her family first.” The leader of the group from House Asuryan argued with a reasonable tone of voice, before turning to the titans. “I’m not sure what the interest of House Titannica is in all this though.” Now her voice had become almost sickly sweet.
“Don’t bother.” The titan stated with clear disdain. “We all know that if the princess were to be brought to your house, she’d be dead by the morning. You already imprisoned her mother, and you’ve sent assassins after her in the Higher Planes. We all read the report that the girl has the blood of titans. We’ll always protect our own.”
“Such slander!” The phoenix, as Karna could sense the woman carried the bloodline of a lesser phoenix, shouted in faux outrage. “You call our attempts to find the lost princess assassins? Surely if we wanted her dead, she’d already be dead. We also protect our own, no matter what you might think.”
“The order was drafted by the Grand Marshall and ratified by the full Assembly. Whatever your opinions on the matter, they are irrelevant. If you want to meet with her, you can request a meeting through the Host. I’m sure one will be provided to you.” The soldier’s voice was dripping with such heavy sarcasm at the last words that it was impossible to miss.
“You were right. They want to draft us.” Envy pointed out as the three groups continued to argue as if the tower wasn’t there. The fourth group paid attention though, and the naked greed in their eyes was obvious.
All four groups were suddenly thrown away by a wave of force as a single goddess strode down the bridge from the direction of the imperial palace. None of the four in the tower would’ve recognized the armored figure if it hadn’t been for one glaringly obvious fact. The woman looked just like Karna, except more mature. Or to put it another way, Karna looked like a more refined and younger version of the woman. The woman’s status as a Goddess also was rather obvious by the thick amount of golden divine power surging around her.
“None of you will be touching my daughter!” The woman claimed before pillars of golden light descended from the sky and a dozen other gods surrounded the area, and not all of them seemed to be on friendly terms.
“You’re popular as usual.” Envy snarked, looking at the sudden standoff.