It was roiling elemental chaos, a complete mishmash of levels of matter and energy. It churned and writhed, forming dreams and nightmares, rising and falling, madness and serenity juxtaposing and overwriting one another.
It was coming and thirsting for some new power and Mana to add to itself.
I Harmonized a choir of Greater Realm-Shards and sent them roiling through the place.
The holes of perfect balance and resonance they made in the worldscape were awful, all the wild motion purged away, all the Elements realigned to a higher cause. They reverberated and echoed and vibrated and carried through the entire place with awful, piercing music that could not be denied.
Then I hauled all those affected Elements out of there.
That was my warning, as I tore out the best and brightest Elements from their realm in the moment of sublime perfection, and let those that remained struggle as the rest tore into one another without the ameliorating effect of balance.
There were whirlwinds and storms of motion at my assault, barreling over to face me for what I’d done... and just as rapidly giving pause as I raised my fist again. Silver, Gold, and Rainbows swirled over the Shards condensing there as the power and essence I’d ripped from these idiots was sent away.
“You’ve served me lunch. Are you sticking around to serve me dinner, now?” I asked them without any sympathy.
They looked at the magic waiting for them, they looked at me, and they and their whole Realm beat a hasty retreat in a new direction.
I watched them go, wondering if I should have just destroyed them, pretty sure that if the roles were reversed they would have heartlessly done the same, then grabbed Earth as a new source of Mana and matter for themselves.
Probably should have. But the gaping wound was warning enough, and the Realm Lords knew they didn’t have a chance against me as they were.
Maybe if dozens of them banded together, they could take me down. I didn’t see that happening easily, but in time, I did not doubt it would.
Would there be other allies I could find in the interim, make something bigger and better out of this dog-eat-dog Aetheric Reality I was still in?
I didn’t know. Our Aetheric space had been threatened by five other sets of Realm Lords since the gods came in, and none of them had been anything but covetous of us and our potential.
Only one desperate ancient Dragon had been greedy enough to press the point, and I’d had to destroy his Realm and pitch him screaming into the Aether, wounded and going mad, and likely not going to have a good time there without his spiritual anchor in existence anymore.
None of them had felt much like talking, so I could only deduce that the destruction and removal of the Netherlords and the Lords of Light had sent out some quasi-temporal pulses to the inhabitants of the Aether, and they’d come trundling over to take a look, exploit any weaknesses, and take whatever they could.
I could see why Aru had elevated me to where I was now. A High Realm Sage would have had a MUCH harder time against these intruders.
A Divine Sage? Not so much.
It made for a lonely life out on the boundaries of the Aetheric territory of Earth, The Beast Realm, and the Broom Closet. It was a good thing I could use Divine Timelessness to not be bored out of my mind, and there was always temporal viewing to do on what was coming and to prepare for it, and... I could make an Avatar now.
An Avatar was a good thing.
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I had a husband because I wanted a family. There was no way that a Divine Sage was going to be able to have a family under normal circumstances, but that was what Avatars were for. Slivers of yourself sent out on a normal mission.
Dirk Charles had gained his power for all the right reasons. He wanted to protect his family, his friends, his homeland, and his world. He liked making things, helping build a better world, and was one of Briggs’ most trusted and capable magitech engineers. He was popular among the crew he headed up, a hard worker, and he was deliriously happy to marry an attractive Typeless wizardess who wanted a family.
Some long-distance Sending confirmed my own situation that Aelryinth’s Clones, Duplicates, and other doubles were all female, which basically settled that little bit of Sylune’s having fun with us. Also, most of us were dark-skinned with white hair or fair-skinned with very black hair, which was what my Avatar Erin Silver was.
Sama introduced her as someone who’d done a bunch of anti-Synod work around the world, which I totally had, and otherwise had a backstory with family she didn’t talk about. It was quietly assumed she came from a noble family with ties to the Synod that was destroyed when the Beasts swept through Europe searching for those Faithful to the Light.
Erin lived in the Broom Closet’s city of Northgate, where many of the original Coralost people had settled in, contributing her spell power to the organization in whatever way was required, but keeping her primary focus on raising her children and supporting all those fighting in the Waning Week with Healing magic as needed.
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She was active in the community, but never sought out the positions of power, as I had the biggest position of power there was, what more did I need? Anything that needed to be done could be floated past Sama and Briggs, who could filter it and do what needed to be accomplished discreetly through their own means and methods.
After all, I didn’t control either of them. If I had good advice, they could take it or not, and what god could complain about Forsaken being in charge and doing what they wanted?
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All three Dragon High Emperors had elected to leave Earth for higher Realms, as had over half the Dragon Emperors on the planet, including Old Mountain and Heavenly Fire.
Old Mountain’s hoard was being slowly Burned away to make magic items. Grand Mountain Auroch True Emperor, one of the great trampling terrors of the Towers of the Teeth, took over Europe after his departure, and even the surly Titans there didn’t protest the choice.
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A Diamond Star Fire Titan had come from the Beast Realm to replace Heavenly Fire, stopping any infighting from starting between Dragons or Emperors vying for territory and the position, and incidentally starting the process of healing some of the rifts between the Titans and humanity.
His name was Grand Elder John, and he acknowledged Fire Phoenix High Emperor as his Lord. Lord Quake and Big John were soon widely known as His two preferred agents. Soon enough, Fire Titans and Winter Wolves were serving side by side at the Siberian Death Zone.
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The Ice Emperor leaving the Antarctic might have set off a struggle between his subordinates, but the newly-promoted High Emperors Ice Phoenix and Fire Phoenix announced they would be moving their joint lands to there, and Endless Fire and Eternal Ice Luan True Emperors would be taking over their lands in North America with their own promotions.
Soon enough, a Fireland was born at the height of the world at the South Pole, surrounded by miles of merciless ice. In no time at all, the Mana there was even greater than it had been when overseen by Ice Emperor. It was a paradise renowned the world over by Man and Beast, and one of the greatest sources of the Blessing and Healing Elements in the world.
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Leviathan had promoted to High Emperor, but he did not move his Demesne from under the North Pole, nor did High Emperor White Death Wolf move his from the great Spindle Pyramid there. The Sea Dragons were allowed to retain the Court of the Sea Emperor, but their importance fell exactly as quickly as their work ethic, so many quickly took up or continued their vigilant positions at the Pyramids or the Dark Abyss with the other Emperors, doing their duty to contain the Evil that was always spreading into the world.
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Infinite Sands had also departed the world, and now his rendering of the great desert was being slowly and steadily reversed under the authority of High Emperor Auric Tyrant, who had finally taken that last step after uncounted millions of years, a step driven by his rampaging performance at the Towers of the Teeth, his ancient hide now crisscrossed with miles of silvered scars.
Powerful Human mages were given the opportunity to enter Deepest, Darkest Africa and meet the ancient Beasts there, for there was a Death Zone there that had to be fought. African Summoners, long considered the grandest of their magi, did not take long to be considered the most powerful Tradition of their Element in the world.
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Grandfather Tree and half the Parliament of Trees had left the world, but those that remained behind were forced to change their attitude. One of the Death Zones was just outside the jungle proper, and Plants were not the best defenders against such corruption. The isolation of the Amazon was not allowed to continue in the face of the need for such defenses.
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The Great Steward of Thunder, Thunderbird High Emperor, was soon known for having great Shrines to Aru, Sylune, Mithar, and Valus about the slopes of His mountain. His Thunder Mages were seen in battle theaters all over the world, renowned as the most valiant defenders and battle mages of the planet.
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There was a legendary lake at the edge of the Amazon, only whispered among those strong in Light, Water, and Healing magic, said to be guarded by a half-Emperor Seven Element Monkey Sage and all the Monkey Tribes of the area. The greatest Healers in the world went there for Seeds that could be found nowhere else, and brought them to the Death Zones to rain blessed death down upon the horrors that came out of there, and Healing salvation down upon those fighting them.
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Coralost was officially recognized as a nation under the Divine Sage in its own right, along with every Community Sworn to it, all of them tied to the Broom Closet whose paradisaical reputation was soon legend throughout the world.
It had long been proven that absolute power corrupted absolutely in the world of Men, but there were many Beasts, prominently led by a certain Golden Celestial Winged Fox, who were there to watch over things and look over the inhabitants for signs of arrogance, decadence, indolence, and corruption. The Humans there were held to the standards of the Great Beasts, and if they were to dwell in a paradise, they had to work for it, as did all those Communities who wanted to be affiliated with Coralost, and often as not simply could not rise to the moral levels necessary to come under their wing.
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The beliefs, mores, traditions, and backgrounds of all the active gods of the Aruan Pantheons were available for those who wanted to learn more of them. After all, the Heavenly gods simply weren’t for everyone, and there were indeed many gods outside them who appealed to many people.
While the people of the world had long seen beings considered to be gods, and their own Sages were often named such, the whole world had seen Aru, Skulos, Hurn, and Kronos dispose of the Lords of Darkness and Light, and knew that what they had once called gods had been very shallow, indeed.
If Uruth’s haughty and somewhat mercenary approach to magic was soon drawing a lot of ambitious mages to His fold, at least He did not discriminate against Bloodlines in the slightest. His Church was so emphatic in developing many, many ardent worshippers on this world so filled with magic-wielders that He was a driving force to bring magic to everyone equally.
Here and there the first temples to specific gods were going up, wonders of architecture and magic to glorify and remind the people that the gods were present, were real, and were there to defend them against what they could not fight themselves.
The Churches of Heaven were still the most numerous of those devoted to the Gods of Good, and even to the Pantheon as a whole. But soon enough, there was a Shrine in each and every such Church, for this world had its own Goddess watching over them, and no other. This was Her Realm, and they were Her people.
And for all that she was called Healer Fae, when the skies quaked and the Manafield sang and quivered, the stars danced and space itself cracked, they knew she was out there fighting, and not healing. They and their Faith supported that fight.