Caelum stared down at her arm and the artifact on it.

Its neck twisted once more, and a sickening pop left a new face staring at her. This one's eyes were aglow with magic. "What wonderful veins, little orc. Where do they lead?"

As its hands reached down to grasp at thin air, Trillia felt as if her blood was on fire.

She screamed, and her legs buckled, but the creature's hands held her aloft. Her status window distorted and twisted, refusing to be summoned.

The ground began to tremble.

Caelum paused and looked around, then back at his seemingly empty hands. "Ahh...Alirast has claimed this one." With that, he let her go.

She slumped into the ground and focused her efforts on catching her breath. "Bending the rules to play with a few mortals is one thing. Angering the axle's pet is another."

The creature walked over to her and leaned down so that one of its faces was inches from hers. "It was nice meeting you, little orc. Tell your owners I said hello. I can feel their divinity getting closer."

It grinned wide once more before vanishing. Trillia lay there and stared at the other orcs strung up in front of her. "How are we supposed to fight?"

She whispered the words. She wasn't entirely sure who was being asked or if they would answer. Closing her eyes, she pushed her arm and hand into the ground, shakily trying to stand.

Arlyss arrived the same way she had, only a few minutes later, as she was cutting down the orcs. The deity froze when he entered the clearing. Trillia looked at him and forced a little smile before she continued to cut down the orcs.

Arlyss slowly took steps toward her. "Trillia...is that you?"

That caused her to stare at him dumbfounded. What kind of a question was that? "Of course. You can just scan me. I'm not in the mood for games."

Arlyss stopped moving closer to her, slowly turning his head this way and that. Trillia was beginning to lose her patience. As she took a step forward to snap at him, she also paused. "What do you see, Lord Arlyss?"

The question caused him to look at her oddly. "Nothing. I see nothing. No mana, no souls. It's as if this clearing doesn't exist." He spoke softly as he continued to peer at everything. "What happened? I caught the first few words of your messages to me before...something snapped. As if all of my divinity in this area was cut off."

Trillia made Sliver appear in her right hand again, charging it fully. "Recently, you were asked to oversee a ritual for the orc-ish people. In regards to our Elder Shaman. What was that ritual about?"

Arlyss peered at her for a moment, slowly tilting his head. "Elder Lurog? It was to my understanding that he wished to leave this mortal coil. The orc ways say that he can have one last glorious battle with a dear friend and ally. I made sure that his last fight was a good one."

Trillia seemed to relax at that. Worried that it was a trick. "It's me. Help me get them down, please. I...they deserve better."

Arlyss seemed happy with the test as well. As that wasn't something everyone knew about. Walking over, he began to help her lower the bodies. "The cursed side of my mind has seen this before..."

Trillia closed another set of dead eyes and looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"It was in another realm. The dragon god and my father waged a war there that lasted centuries. One of my father's generals in that world found a colony of half-dragons, wingless ones. This was done to all of them. Warriors, young, old, women, children. It didn't matter. The general was ruthless in his dedication. They were strung up in the sky with a sign under them that they had finally found their wings." His voice was soft as he spoke of the event, remembering it from another perspective.

Slowly he closed another orc's eyes. This time he closed his own eyes and paused as if trying to remember more.

The more Trillia heard of Lord Darktone, the less she liked him. The less she trusted him. "That seems excessive and cruel."

"It was! They deserved better!" Arlyss snapped at her, his eyes open and glowing with divinity remarkably lizard-like. Blinking a few times and the power subsided and left him shaking his head. "Sorry. I.. I'll bring someone else here to help you. This area...these orcs. It all feels..."

"Familiar?" Both of their heads snapped to the source of the voice. Caelum stood there at the entrance, each of its hands wielding a different type of weapon, each of the same crystalline make as Trillia's rapier.

"Hello, little godling. A fresh Darktone should fetch a high price. Do you know how treasured your blood is? Amongst the other deities, I mean?" The things' faces twisted up into wicked grins.

Arlyss had backed away to stand next to Trillia, reaching out and speaking into her mind. "Rules forbid me from realm walking into hostile dungeons. This space isn't neutral and doesn't belong to me. If it comes to a fight, just run and get out. Do not try to stay and help me."

She nodded but gripped her Rapier all the tighter and began charging her crossbow.

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Arlyss looked out at Caelum. "A wayward Celestial? And one who is killing mortals? I'm sure someone as old as you know the rules."

The thing cackled wildly at that, its entire body shaking from the action. "Your father's rules. Not the rules of the universe. It's sickening how much he loves and cares for mortals. It's sickening how often he attacks immortals and our kind to defend them."

Arlyss nodded slightly and wore his own smile. "You forget that he was born a mortal. That's why he cares for them."

"Millions of years ago? Maybe more? He's created a dozen realms and watched countless mortals die with his name on their lips since he was last mortal. That's a long time to be sentimental. Surely you aren't naive enough to believe that?" The creature was slowly stalking closer to them, its voice and tone becoming more and more clear with every passing second.

"Tell me, wayward Celestial. What duty did you fail to do, that you're trapped here between the rules?" That gave the creature pause. It eyed the two of them far more cautiously.

"You aren't some godling born and raised here. Darktones are crafty, but there's more to this." The creature hunkered down, its knees bending oddly and multiple times as it crouched to stare at them. "Are you offering to help?"

Arlyss nodded. "Perhaps...though, you did kill some of my followers. So I'm currently torn between trying to help you or devour your soul. No one would miss one..." As he began this sentence, his power surged up in him. Each word brought him another step closer to Caelum. "little" another step, "soul." As he spoke the last word, he was only a few feet from the immortal. Who was entirely unsure of Arlyss' actual power or scale.

The creature hissed and slammed the ground with all of its weapons. Two dozen shockwaves spread in rapid succession. It was enough to knock Trillia from her feet. Arlyss seemed unperturbed, but his expression grew dark. "I offer to help you. This is how you repay me?" Trillia felt him pulling on her energy and saw him collecting it within his hand. That same hand slowly extended toward Caelum.

The creature threw itself to the ground and away from the hand. "Forgive me! I didn't know. I didn't know ⊬⍜⎍ ⍙⟒⍀⟒ ⏁⊑⟒ ☌⍀⟒⏃⏁ ⎅⍀⏃☌⍜⋏ ⏚⟒⊬⍜⋏⎅. ⌿⌰⟒⏃⌇⟒, ⌿⌰⟒⏃⌇⟒ ⎅⍜⋏'⏁ ☍⟟⌰⌰ ⋔⟒. ⟟ ⏃⋔ ⌇⟟⋔⌿⌰⊬ ⌰⍜⌇⏁."

The thing began babbling in a language her brain couldn't comprehend. She felt immense pressure on her mind even hearing it at such lengths.

Arlyss released the pent-up energy within him and offered a stern nod. "Don't forget your place again, Celestial. I shall ask you once more, what is your duty?"

The creature didn't make a move to attack or even stand. Instead, it spoke softly so as not to anger the deity. "I was tasked with shattering a dungeon core. But this one cannot find it! I have searched and searched. You must believe me ☌⍀⟒⏃⏁ ⍜⋏⟒. My deity refuses to answer my call. I have been searching for years."

Arlyss took on an almost sympathetic look. His voice dripped with pity. "You poor little creature. It is the bastard axle that has caused so many of us to forsake our followers. Even I have had to take on this much weaker form so that I still had contact. Explain the dungeon to me."

The creature nodded but still did its best not to look directly at Arlyss. Trillia was growing more and more worried by the second. The way Arlyss was moving and acting, it was as if he was a completely different person. "It is found in the deepest part of the wounds. It shall call all that wish to serve to it. For it lies in a place that only chained mortals may venture."

Arlyss thought about that for a long while. "Who did you serve?"

The creature blinked and finally looked up to meet Arlyss' gaze. "⏃⏁⊑⟒⋏⏃⟒⎍⌇."

Arlyss nodded. "Deity of forbidden magic and riddles." The creature's eyes lit up, and it bowed deeply. "The ravine that is nearby. There are others like it in this realm. Search them all. Look in places that require a creature to have a massive mana pool to enter or places that require immunity to the mortal disease known as mana sickness."

The creature nodded, its face brushing the dirt as it did. "How can this one ever repay your kindness?"

Arlyss sighed as if getting annoyed. "Stop breaking the rules. Don't kill any more mortals. If the wrong eyes start looking here, it will cause me problems. Am I clear?"

The creature nodded and vanished once more. The air in the clearing freshened instantly, and the sound of birds resumed. Arlyss trembled and fell to his knees, gasping for breath. Trillia ran over to his side. "What's going on?"

Arlyss could barely breathe. Taking deep gasps of air and pulling more energy in around him. Trillia began to use any healing abilities she had on him. She even dumped a half million mana from her pool into allies nearby, hoping that would help.

It took a few minutes for him to catch his breath and regain some composure. "He was acting as a living dungeon core. I've heard of it, but it's not something any sane creature would do. The perspective of dungeon and world cores is so foreign that even Primordial-level deities like my father don't risk it often. He could somehow see my cursed side. So I put up a divine facade to interact with him. It worked, but...it was draining."

Trillia nodded and pulled off her pack, and pushed it under his head. "You rest. I'll finish up here. Is it gone for real this time?"

Arlyss gave a weak nod. "Yes. I can feel its presence descending into the ravine. I don't know how it hid from me in the first place. Immortals are like beacons when on a mortal world."

Trillia nodded and got back to work. Mon'tag was the last body she pulled down. Gently laying him down, she smiled and closed his eyes. Everything in her wanted to bust out into tears and hug the man's corpse. He was kind to everyone and had lived a long life. She was sure that he went down fighting. For now, she had to remain strong. Her traits knew that. Her traits suppressed all of the horrible things she was feeling.

It would be a rough night of it; Once she was safe again. "I don't know how to get their bodies back." She spoke aloud and looked at Arlyss. "Forgive me...I just."

The deity waved his hand. "No. You called me because you needed help. I may need to draw on more of your energy. I'll also ask Ralrouk and Kismet to help."

Trillia stayed kneeling next to Mon'tag. "How did he know who your father was? Why does everyone seem to know your father?"

Arlyss paused his motions to open a rift and stared at her. "He's renowned to all deities. Even the young ones. He's the only deity to ever take the position of axle from another. The details are murky this many years later, but he tricked the old axle into a duel and killed him. Ascending to his position. Since then, he's made a lot of enemies because most of the rules he imposes on his little piece of the universe favor mortals."

Trillia nodded slightly. "So, that immortal knew about that? And wanted to kill you?"

Arlyss shook his head. "That immortal was told about it. My siblings and I will share a lot of similarities in our divine power and abilities. Much like a deity who has seen your parents fight at length, will know who you are because of it. There are certain traces of magic that are passed down from generation to generation. It's the same for deities. I was lucky that the curse worked in my favor this time."

Trillia said nothing more. Arlyss opened a rift, and Ralrouk and Kismet stepped through. Kismet came over and gave her a hug. Ralrouk began to haul bodies through. Trillia spoke softly as he returned Kismet's hug. "We'll never be able to defend ourselves from them. We're just toys." She trembled and did her best to suppress the emotions welling up inside of her.