Speak, mortal, for what reason have you come?

The question boomed through the divine realm, carrying with it both authority and Vuthe’s distinct displeasure. The day had been quite nice and productive for a change, and her mood had actually improved compared to recent times. That was until she got a petition in the middle of the meeting with the Paranormal Council. A meeting, she would very much like to add, that was incredibly productive up to that point.

It had been the first time she had met the rest of the Paranormal Council, and outside a few personal differences they were actually honestly inclined to help people. An inclination that had, up to this point, been a bit lacklustre in its spread especially in politics.

To her surprise she had also been formally invited to join the Council as leader of a new group of demi-humans. She hadn’t yet accepted, that she had to talk about with the Council first, the Thevladore Council. Maybe we should rename our little group, she thought to herself idly.

What also surprised her was that most of the Council Members, the Paranormal Council this time, all were quite suspicious of the Church. Not specifically in regards to recent events, but in general.

They didn’t like their “Above the Law” attitude that most Church officials had when it came to the magical side of life, and some even questioned the tight ties between the Church and the Government. Which was a development Vuthe was sure Tizanta would note down for the future.

Regardless, they had just started discussing how to deal with the current events when Vuthe had felt a petitioner addressing her. Which was already incredibly annoying.

The divine realm didn’t bother much with normal laws of reality and things like time had no meaning there. It wasn’t that she would miss part of the meaning, but every petition obviously ripped her out of her train of thought.

What made things worse was that this petition was an outlier.

During her long time as a Goddess she had been petitioned by the dead a couple of times, if she hadn’t forgotten any there had been five on her list, plus one spirit but that one didn’t really count towards that statistic.

In neither case were the deceased aware of their situation, thinking themselves still alive, unable to pass onto Altis for reasons that were beyond Vuthe.

This one, however, knew of his state. A single glance at him revealed that much, he had Altis essence all over him like a thick blanket. He had met the God of Death and yet he was still here. And that didn’t bode well at all.

The man, arriving roughly halfway between the entrance and her throne, knelt and kept his eyes low.

“I seek your help, O Goddess, to save the soul who was forced to end my life”, he said calmly. Not that he was calm, but him being halfway in Altis domain her Aura shouldn’t affect him too much.

The petition itself, while unique, wasn’t that strange to Vuthe. She had been asked a lot stranger things in her life. But it did pique her interest. What reason would Altis have to allow this? Sure, as far as she understood he wasn’t actually hoping for people to die, Death came to everyone eventually, so he could wait. Well, to most people, anyways.

Regardless, it seemed strange to allow a dead man to ask for help saving his killer. For the moment Vuthe brushed that thought aside, perhaps Altis simply felt generous today, or maybe he found it ironic enough and had a sense of humour. In the end, it didn’t matter much to her.

What did matter to her was the purpose for the soul’s visit.

That is quite the strange thing to ask. Would you elaborate on your wish?

The man nodded, then looked up at her, a little frightened but with the calm certainty of death he seemed to take her presence much better than most others.

“It was not her will to kill me. I have met Death, they have told me a bit about her circumstance, or well, our circumstance. She is a product of human experiments with magic, I don’t know the specifics, but considering that my field of work was the control of monsters, I would not be surprised if they found some way to control people. By the time I realised that I may have been at least partially responsible… well… I am here now, am I not?”

Vuthe thought about his words. The man seemed to be honest, and it was refreshing for someone to speak so freely in front of her. Additionally, what he said was quite surprising and, in Vuthe’s mind, much more important than any other current events.

You are a scholar then? Where do you fit into this little tale?

She could have simply checked, but she wanted to hear the way he said it.

“I am… uh… was, a researcher, yes. I was working on Thaumaturgic Biology, specifically on mana imbued animals. My task was to find a way to control them, which I wasn’t able to do yet. I had found a way to revert them to normal animals entirely, but that was the point at which they revealed their true colours to me and ordered the Sanguist I worked with to kill me. She… I don’t think she actually wanted to. I am not a good man and I’m ready to face myself, but if at all possible, please save her. I have nothing worth to repay you with left, all I can offer is my gratitude”, he said, bowing his head.

This was a bit different than what she had originally thought and a few alarm bells rang off in her head. Controlling people, hell even controlling monsters is very close to forbidden magic. While monsters might still fall outside of it, people are something else entirely.

It also answered why Altis had allowed this soul to petition her. Forbidden magic was the domain of gods, it was their purpose and their task to punish anyone who broke that sacred rule, but each divine entity did it their own way.

Some went about it personally, much like Vuthe would. Others, most often ones very far removed from any civilisation or the pleas of normal people, preferred to recruit a local god for the task. And she knew from experience Altis fell into this later category.

WIth one mystery answered, another awaited. The question now was who this “they” was.

You spoke of a group. Who are they and what is their goal? Consider this information payment for my intervention. I will save the person, should your assessment of the situation be true, that I promise.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

“Thank you…”, he sent a small prayer to some other divine entity. She could have been offended, to do that in a beings Divine Realm could be conceived of as rude, but she didn’t think that was the case. Earth was quite a lot different compared to Satien, and considering that Gods didn’t seem to be a thing here, the residents couldn’t possibly know the etiquette. It was also quite obvious to her that he was not one of her worshippers, he was here because there was nobody else to turn to. Altis had allowed him this chance, if only for his own goals.

“Truth be told I don’t know much”, the man continued, “I know they are part of the Church, although they work much more hidden. We all… are less… let’s say, most people who work there, myself included, have our own morals to follow. Although there was a recent change, that was quite sudden. If… the rumours were to be believed, which honestly by now, I do, it had some to do with your appearance. It was you, was it not?”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Ah, another piece of the puzzle fell into place. Slowly but surely a picture formed in Vuthe’s head, one of subterfuge and covert actions. Her appearance would have turned the heads of anyone, especially the believers, so to hear that the Church was involved didn’t surprise her too much.

She wouldn’t have given them the credit for something like this, not after meeting the Bishop all those weeks back, but now that she thought about it, it was the perfect cover. Hiding behind pompous, overly loud, incompetent people to do the real work hidden away.

It still left some holes in the picture, however, for example, how were they able to escape Vixus notice? What were they planning?

Indeed, it was me.

“I thought so… regardless, ever since that display I think they are panicking. I was basically told that either I work for them or else by a person that is quite far up the hierarchy but that nobody seems to know, outside of maybe the Head Researcher. When I went off script they simply had me killed. We weren’t allowed outside contact for weeks, haven’t heard anything and weren’t told anything outside of our job. I… thought it was all for God's grand plan, but I start to question if God is even real at this point…”

Waves of sadness and regret seem to flow off of him.

He is not, that much I can tell you, at least not the way you picture him. Belief in itself is not bad and can be quite helpful, but only if it does not cross into the realm of fanaticism.

His shoulders slumped, obviously not happy at the news, but he also didn’t seem too distressed.

Regardless, I will uphold my promise. Should you meet Altis again, send him my regards. It has been quite a few millennia since I last spoke to him.

Once more than man bowed his head, before he got up and left, leaving Vuthe deep in contemplation.

This new development was… troubling. Controlling monsters and people, running a clandestine organisation in the background, working towards an unknown goal. A sudden blackout on important and widespread surveillance networks, rising monster numbers over the past years…

With a mental sigh she left her divine realm, returning to reality. To the others present in the meeting not even a moment had elapsed.

The representative of the beastkin was currently speaking, outlining whatever their people had found during the current events, when Vuthe raised a hand and used a subtle aura flare to garner their attention. She had observed Tika and Geralt to use similar tactics, although their flare was much more aggressive, obviously still missing the fine control that Vuthe had.

“Excuse me, I have just gotten some troubling information. A contact of mine has managed to dredge up some news that may be related to our current situation. I am uncertain of the immediate implications of those, but I must take my leave to deal with those. Tizanta and Calagrophy will continue this meeting in my stead.”

Sending Tizanta a quick information package with her aura in a style similar to what Scythe and her group used, the Thelvadore Council had started using that technique quite often recently, she vanished into the shadows before anyone had any chance to protest.

Despite her mood she forced herself to remain calm. This was orders of magnitude more important than most other things going on, if the deceased man’s words about controlling people were true. The first thing to do was to save his killer, assess the situation, and then see what this subgroup, she was certain it was the same Vixus was so up in arms about, had planned.

It was time for her to play Goddess once more.

Perspective: Lucy

Death was a strange feeling. For her entire life Lucy had wanted to die. She had tried so many times before, yet they hadn’t let her. Day after day had gone by with only a wish in her heart, the wish to die.

Lucy had thought she had accepted her fate. Nothing could phase her, nothing could frighten her. Many nights she had hoped that the looming shadows of her cell would finally pounce, to rip her throat out, to finally end her, yet night after night she had been disappointed.

Many days she had hoped that she would finally starve or get strangled, that a guard would finally kill her, yet day after day she had been disappointed when she once more found herself back in her cell.

Then she felt a glimmer of hope. She realised now that that had been her downfall. From the moment she had opened her heart, if only a little, her fate had been sealed. Of course the feeling of safety in the shadows had been a lie, what else could it have been.

It all started when she was led into that damned room. She could still hear the screams of her fellow labrat as she turned him into an abomination against her will. She was powerless to stop herself, controlled as she was.

She could only watch as his flesh was twisted, his screams turned into gurgled grunts, his body deformed beyond recognition. After she was done nothing was left of the little frail spider boy that he was before.

She had sworn that she would kill them all before finally dying. Yet, her wish didn’t come to pass.

Once more life had thrown a surprise her way, one she had been cautious with. It had come in the form of a researcher she had to work with. She had done this kind of work once before, years back when she had been much younger.

At first she had treated him like everyone else, ignoring him and just doing what she was told, unable to break the ghostly shackles binding her, controlling her.

That had changed after a while. He didn’t seem to have any bad intentions, although she had remained sceptical, reminding herself of the lesson she had just learned just days before.

But eventually she realised that he was different. She still didn’t trust him, but he seemed much more… genuine in the way he acted. He was cold and standoff-ish, but he wasn’t malicious, not like anyone else in the building.

It had given her the small hope that maybe, just maybe, not all people were evil.

When she had been ordered to kill him, she wasn’t surprised. But she also really didn’t want to. Less because she cared about him, and more because he went against the will of the people in charge.

She had tried her best to resist, but as always, it had been beyond her capabilities. The shackles were simply too strong.

The moment he had picked up a knife a part of her was delighted, maybe someone would finally kill her.

That feeling lasted only until the moment she could feel the cold steel pierce her skin. For some reason, that was what broke her.

She could only stare at the man that pushed a knife through her, watching his eyes lose all life. She should be delighted, right? She was finally dying, her wish finally came true, the suffering was about to end.

So why did she only feel the cold fear that gripped her entire being?

Tears started running down her cheeks as she felt the life leaving her. Lucy could control blood, she knew that. She hated that power more than anything else in the world, as it was the source for her fate. And right now this control enabled her to feel her own body slowly dying. She tried to stop it, but she couldn’t.

Why was the world so cruel? Why did she only know pain and suffering? Why couldn’t she have lived differently?

Memories flashed before her eyes, images that she thought she had long since forgotten, pieces of her life that had long since lost all meaning to her. At least that’s what she had thought.

There was a woman. She felt warm with her. But it was all faint and hazy.

She wanted to go back to that woman. She wanted to go back to her mother.

She was alone once more in her final moments.

Alone as she had been her entire life.

Then suddenly something shifted. The darkness surrounding her drew closer, hugging her closely. She wanted to react, but at this point it didn’t matter anyways. She would let it mock her as she died, she would not give them the satisfaction to see her struggle.

“Now, now, no need to be afraid, I’m here now.”, a voice came from next to her. It was soft and calming, soothing even.

Despite her best wishes Lucy couldn’t bring herself to ignore it and she looked over. Next to her knelt a girl, maybe only slightly younger than herself if the other labrats were anything to go by, clad in black clothing, that contrasted nicely with her pale skin. Her hair was jetblack, and together with her glowing purple irises it gave her a regal appearance.

“Here, let’s get you out of this place.”, the girl said with a smile, “It will hurt for a moment, please do not resist, okay?”

Lucy wanted to react, to speak, to tell her to go away, but something about this girl was calming, soothing. She felt safe next to her, protected.

She nearly missed the feeling of the knife leaving her body, and before blood could start pooling out of her darkness surrounded the wound, healing it.

“See, much better. Now, let us leave this place.”

And with that the darkness swallowed them both, yet Lucy no longer minded the dark. It surrounded her like a protective blanket, a gentle and warm hug.

And with that, exhaustion finally took her, before she even realised that she was no longer in that wretched laboratory. And for the first time in a long time she didn’t have any nightmares.