Trillia kept to herself for the rest of the day.

Eventually, they got together with the original beast generals and sat at a large table in D'Jamu. It was Trillia's first time meeting Brutus. The only person absent, except the deity himself, of course, was Queen Alliyah. They were currently waiting on Stas to arrive.

Arlyss and his brother, Riten, sat on opposite ends. A map was sprawled out showing what Trillia presumed was the location of the [Primordials]. It was a bit difficult to tell since there was a bunch of writing all over the map and no real detail. Just vague outlines of where most of the landmasses were.

Kismet, Maldoun, Ralrouk, Tormash, Ba'Shoon, and Amelia were also in attendance. The last of that list was there to learn from her father. Trillia was happy to see her friend. The two of them rarely got to spend time together anymore. Amelia was also nearing adulthood. She stood nearly twice Trillia's height, and that would probably only get worse in the coming few years.

Brutus was not what she was expecting. Not only was he a human, but he seemed...so normal? With the exception of the quality of his clothes, he could have been walking around in D'Jamu, and Trillia would have never guessed him to be one of the beast generals. He wasn't even six feet tall!

His head and face were completely shaven. He had a strong jawline and rich brown eyes. He wore a silky red shirt and black leather pants.

He had no apparent weapons or belongings save for a collection of rings on either hand. Trillia had tried to scan him but found that everything was obfuscated. Traits, mana type, even his species! That hadn't happened except when she was a child or when she tried to scan the deities.

Trillia sat and waited. No one spoke or made plans. No one wanted to repeat any information. Trillia could feel the tension in the air. Despite Riten and Arlyss being deities, the beast generals were probably capable of fighting them toe-to-toe. Not that they could be killed that way.

Stas finally walked into the room, a very annoyed look on his face. "Why is my time being wasted on this meeting?"

The abomination spoke as soon as he neared the table. Hovering slightly above eye level to Trillia. The other beast generals exchanged glances but nodded toward the two young deities.

"We just want to discuss a plan going forward. None of you are pact-bound to us. So we're trying to figure out how to seal the [Primordials] or get our sister to ascend. We are looking to the four of you since all of you have the most experience with this sort of thing." Arlyss spoke calmly as he looked over at the goblin.

Cordaos was the one to shake his head. "Not even close. We aren't even in the top ten. Your mother isn't even in the top ten." Everyone except the generals looked at him oddly. Cordaos sighed, groaned, then rubbed his eyes. "There are dragons that are literally thousands of years old. There are other mortal creatures that are older than everyone at this table. There are also other deities that still reside on the mortal planes. They cannot interact fully with mortals. But the two of you could visit them and they wouldn't be limited by such rules."

Brutus chuckled and scratched his chin. A second or two in, he realized he had nothing to scratch and placed his hands back on the table. "What my friend is trying to say. Is we mortals are instruments for your divine direction. We aren't who you should be going to for direction. Both of you are deities. Both of you are capable of realm walking. You could both pop out of Alirast and go visit dear old Dad and ask him for advice. You know, the guy who made Alirast and the [Primordials] in the first place?"

Arlyss seemed dumbstruck at that. Riten shook his head. "Almost, but not quite. There are some....unique rules concerning our father and us. It's the reason he's not already here to help, and we haven't gone to him. We can sort of communicate with him. But even the other deities here on Alirast snub their proverbial noses at us for some reason."

That brought silence to the table. Amara looked at Trillia and smiled. "I think you're all misunderstanding. I know, young Arlyss, that you are cursed with knowledge. How much of the great beast war are you familiar with?"

Arlyss shook his head immediately. "Assume none. It's all mortal accounting of the situation. The dragon deity that cursed my siblings and I knew a great deal about my father and a lot about being a deity. But virtually nothing of the mortal realms. Even those under his direct control. Or such knowledge is lost to me. Even that which I can recall comes in fragments and gibberish. My knowledge is not without limit. Forgive me."

Amara kept her smile. "There is nothing to forgive. You're young and already a deity. I think something that needs to be said. Is that the [Primordials] aren't going to be sealed anytime soon. They weren't called the great beast wars because the [Primordials] are great beasts. They were called that because beasts overran the land. Because it was waged over generations."

Trillia couldn't pull her eyes off of her mother. "What do you mean? Generations?"

Amara nodded. "None of us were worth the sludge that Lord Darktone pulled us out of. I think Brutus or Cord were the highest level amongst us at the start?" She looked at the two for confirmation to find both of them shaking their heads. She corrected herself. "Not counting the Queen." Both of them nodded. "Cord was in the low two hundreds, Brutus was in the high one hundreds."

Amara stood and grabbed a few wooden figurines from the side of the table, plopping them down on the map. "Centrallis is awake. It means we have a year or two before it decides to wake up another. When we fought them, we had to seal five [Primordials], counting Centrallis."

Riten spoke up as she paused. "The notification said seven locks? Are there, not seven [Primordials]?"

Amara shook her head and grabbed two more figurines. Placing each of them in the central continent almost directly next to Centrallis. "One is slaying Queen Alliyah. The other is shattering a core of some kind under Kadessa itself. Queen Alliyah is above level two thousand. The only creatures that pose a threat to her are leviathans, primordials, and some really old dragons. She has some ability that lets her actually attack and harm immortals and deities."

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Everyone, except for the other generals, were hanging on Amara's every word. "Evidently, that is how she and Lord Darktone met. He often likes to walk amongst the mortals of his realms to get to know them and see life from their point of view. Personally, I think it's because he misses being a mortal sometimes. In any case, Queen Alliyah tried to rob him. One thing led to another, and he found that she could actually make him bleed." She shrugged and let it rest at that as if the rest of that story didn't matter.

"The point I'm trying to make is you're all panicking because Centrallis is awake. It just means the fighting starts for real now. Exploring the wilderness will be borderline suicide unless you're in a large group or high level. The skies will often rain blood as flying spawn run into dragons. The seas become untamed once more as the Leviathans stop handling the currents and weather and begin defending themselves. Most dungeon cores will quadruple the number of enemies they create to avoid being overrun by spawn. In turn, this means most dungeons will become extremely difficult and more rewarding."

She paused and looked at the others. "Hundreds of thousands will die long before we can even get close enough to see a [Primordial], let alone seal it. These things aren't some megapede you can just stab to death. They are the size of islands or larger. With every step, they shed thousands of enemies. The reason Stas is so annoyed is that it's still early. There is no reason to panic. It is normally every thousand or so years that the [Primordials] stir to life. The result is that about half of mortal life is wiped out."

The cold tone in her voice when she said that line gave everyone pause. Trillia spoke softly. "Shouldn't we try to stop that? I thought you were all going to sacrifice yourselves..."

Stas put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "That was the original plan. Honestly? It still is the plan."

"Stas! We talked about this!" Amara snapped at him. The mortals at the table jerked at the venom in her voice. Stas seemed unbothered and continued.

"To put it bluntly. We don't have faith that Riten, Arlyss, or their sister Mariah will be strong enough to supply the amount of divinity needed to seal them. If we get the chance to see one of the great beasts, we have to seal it immediately. They swim thousands of miles below the surface. They surface once every few decades. Most of their spawn come from rifts, ravines, caverns, and that sort of thing." Stas looked at the two young deities, who seemed a bit crestfallen.

"It's not that either of you are doing poorly. There's a lot to Alirast that we aren't allowed to talk about. It was part of our pact with your father. We will do everything we can to ensure that the [Primordials] are sealed when possible. If the two of you are there and none of us have to die, excellent. But if either of you aren't up to the task?" He shrugged.

Cordaos could see everyone's mood slipping and falling further into despair. "I know we've spoken of this to some of you before. But all five of the great beast generals were slaves. Lord Darktone doesn't offer pacts to creatures who are free. He offers pacts to those who are trapped and on the verge of death. He offered all of us a second chance at life. All of us have had children and loved ones. We've gotten to see our children grow and thrive. The deal was very straightforward."

As Cordaos began to speak, all the generals spoke in eerie unison. "Die for me. Die for Alirast. Die for the duty to which you are bound. Do these things, and you shall have glory eternal. Do these things, and I shall welcome you freely into the great halls of the hereafter. Where you can wait for your descendants and watch over your world for all eternity."

A chill ran down Trillia's spine. She glanced at Arlyss and was suddenly very grateful that her deity still had some mortal feelings.

Riten spoke softly. "So that's all it is? You're all just willing to march off and die without asking why?"

Stas threw his head back and cackled. The many legs on his back wavered and skittered him closer to the young deity. "The why is because we were told. That's enough for us. Don't worry. We won't fail." Stas lifted himself up and over Riten and headed towards the door he used to enter. "If any of you need me, you know how to reach out. I'll be off and getting stronger and searching for new toys."

The other generals gave him a nod, and he left. Arlyss seemed confused, mostly. "So... should we stick to the original plan of trapping the Sage? We don't need an all-hands-on-deck plan?"

Cordaos stood as well. "Just prepare for war. Prepare for a war that will last until the last human in your city has died of old age, and their grandchildren are your new worshippers. Prepare them for hardship and torment. Ready your city guard for a swarm of enemies. Because unless the two of you can swim into the core of Alirast and yank the [Primordials] to the surface. We can only react." With that, he looked down at Amelia. "Why not take some time. You and Trillia should take a few days to process all of this and catch up."

Amelia smiled up at him and nodded. "Thank you, Father. I'd like that very much."

With that, everyone filtered out slowly until it was just Amara, Amelia, the two deities, and Trillia left at the table. Arlyss rubbed his eyes. "I feel like I'm lost."

Amara moved over and patted him on the back. "Your father used to sit at the bar with that exact expression on his face. The weight of the realm crushing his shoulders. It is a heavy burden to be a leader. You have good people around you, young Arlyss. Accept that eternity is a long-time and plan accordingly. Neither of you needs to try and save every mortal on Alirast. Just save the ones you can and put one foot in front of the other."

"For eternity." Riten said a little too bitterly.

Amara smiled and nodded. "For all eternity. That is what is asked of all deities. That is what is asked of all pact-bound creatures." Amara turned to look Trillia in the eyes as she said it. "I need to go and say my goodbyes to my tribe now. The generals will start the hunt soon."

Arlyss stood and grabbed her arm. Much to Trillia's surprise, his grip was enough to stop the orc warrior in her tracks. "Don't wander too far. In the next couple of days, I will create artifacts that will allow you and the other generals to call on my brother and I. My father may ask you to die in his name and in the name of Alirast. We are not our father."

Amara looked at his hand for a moment before her smile returned. "Give the artifacts to my daughter, she can find me, and I will distribute them to the others." He nodded and let her go. She took a step forward and paused. "You should be so lucky. To live long enough to become your father. On that day, I hope that you will visit me. Wherever I find my rest. So that you can look back on this moment with the perspective of eternity."

She gave Trillia and Amelia a little wave before she left the room as well. Trillia knew that there was a portal that had been carved in the town square. She powered it up with hundreds of thousands of mana a day. The sister of it was set up next to the mana rift. Every hour the explosion from the rift itself fully powered the other side.

Trillia stood and motioned to Amelia to follow. As she walked past Arlyss, she grabbed his arm and gave it a little squeeze. "If you need us, we'll be in the kitchen. Don't stress so much. You're both doing your best."

Arlyss offered her a warm smile. Both brothers sat there staring at the map, rethinking what they thought they knew.

Once they were outside of that room, Trillia gave Amelia a big hug. "You're getting entirely too tall. I feel like a child next to you."

Amelia returned the hug with a big smile. "My favorite little orc in all of Alirast. So, you've been going on about how good the food is here. Is there a tavern where we can get some food and play some music?"

Trillia grinned at that. "That sounds like fun! Let's invite Kismet and Maldoun. I think they could use the distraction. If you're ok with that."

Amelia nodded as they descended more stairs. "The more, the merrier! You should invite Lady Rakana and her husband as well!"

Trillia nodded. They had a lot of stops to make. There was really never a bad time for a meal and a get-together as far as she was concerned.