The Divine Realm

This was not the way I had expected the day to go. But I guess it’s just my luck. Soon as I finish acting as a mediator for Gyro and Cal over what domain math belongs to. I’ve been summoned to attend a meeting with Faun Sway, Anolis, and Feltza. All because some mortal decided to swear their pledge in my name.

“Why me? Why did that human swear his oath in my name? He could have called on any of the others. I already have enough to deal with since I’m one of the primary gods of the inquisition. I don’t want to get involved with the guild too. Maybe I can turn this around.” Langton moaned.

It took another 10 minutes, but I did it. I have finally arrived at the Forest of Twilight, Faun Sway’s realm, now to get this meeting over with and get back to business. Even if I do not want to be here, I must admit the Forest of Twilight is beautiful. As I got closer to the center of the forest the scenery changed rapidly, going through the four seasons in order from spring to winter. It is almost serene enough to let your guard down. But this is Faun’s realm, so it is fucked up in some way.

I hate myself sometimes. As soon as I thought that this realm was fucked up, the heavy scent of iron and shit assaulted my nose. Here we go. Now all this place needs is some eerie singing to bring this all together.

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“I was fucking joking about the singing Faun Sway,” I screamed into the woods.

I know she is just having them mess with me but, reading my mind and doing what I am thinking is a step too far. So where are the annoying little bastards? It took me a few seconds to pinpoint the location of the singing, and well I may be a god but there are some things that cannot be unseen.

High up in the trees hanging by the torn ligaments in its legs was a nymph. The once beautiful features that are common of their race were gone. Her eyes had been torn from the sockets, the abdomen ripped open, and the breasts shredded to the point the ribs were showing. Worse the poor nymph was still alive and weakly moaning, begging for death to claim her. This scene played out multiple times in other trees, the only difference being the race that was strung up. They all had one thing in common though they were all considered good or light fae creatures.

Ah, and there are the little horrors responsible for this. Flying around clawing flesh and biting the exposed bones of their victims, dens prædictas, or tooth fairies as they are commonly known to most mortal races. These small grey-skinned faes may be no more than 15 cm but they make up for their size by living in swarms that number in the thousands. Each of their four spindly limbs ends in three razor-sharp talons, two bright pink eyes to see out of no noses, and large lipless mouths filled with crushing serrated teeth.

“Is this Faun Sway’s twisted idea of a welcome?” I asked the little retches up in the treetops.

All at once they stopped and looked down at me before they spoke in a distorted monotone. “Langston mad makes the Queen glad.”

“I don’t have time for this foolishness I’m running late for a meeting with your mistress. Did she send you to guide me to the meeting location or are you just here to annoy me?” I demanded.

The vile little horrors either ignored my question or were far too dumb to understand. The way my day has been going probably both. Their laughter rang out in the forest. This place was ever so slowly grating on my nerves between the laughter and stench of blood and shit it was starting to drive me over the edge.

*Thump, Thump, Thump* That stomping instantly silenced the laughter of the tooth fairies. Not only that, but they also dispersed and quickly hid in the trees, even their victims went quiet. It was like the forest itself feared what made that sound. *Thump, Thump, Thump* There it goes again I could see the trees sway and creak as they were pushed aside.

Simply great, what is it this time? Is everything in this damned forest conspiring to keep me from this meeting?

“No, not conspiring against you Lord Langston it’s just that the little dears love a captive audience even if the audience in question is one of the world’s gods. My Queen Faun Sway sends her deepest apologies and has instructed me to see you to the meeting point.” The soothing voice of an old woman said from the forest around me.

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“Very well I understand. Show yourself and lead on.” I replied.

One day I will learn not to ask others to show themselves when all I can hear is their voice. Because what stepped out of the trees was a hulking giant of a woman. She looked to be about 3.4 m tall and seemed to be all coiled muscle. A weeping pustule of gangrenous flesh expanded and contracted on her back with every breath she took. Broken rotting bone jutted from her form at random intervals. Her oily grey hair sparsely covered her head, which looked like it had been beaten with a hammer at some point. Her left eye was a dull yellow and the right had been burst open and now leaked pus down that side of her face. The pair of sagging pock-marked tits on her chest were loosely bound with a dirty withered green corset connected to the remains of a blood-stained yellow dress that went down to just below her knees. Her arms were covered in weeping sores and poorly held together with stitches and dinner plate-sized with hands tipped with 20.32 cm steel nails, this massive body of hers is supported by two powerful built legs. Several bleak and dirty flasks hung from multiple places on her body and a large intimidating cleaver sat strapped to her waist. To pull this whole look together she had several live centipedes crawling through the various open sores on her body and a large scarlet red one wrapped around her head tasting the pus as it dripped from her eye. I’m looking at an annis right now.

She bowed low before me and smiled with a mouth full of blackened steel teeth before she spoke again. “Langston the Arbiter on behalf of my mistress Faun Sway I, Matron Helena Scourge, welcome you to the Forest of Twighlight,” Helena said.

It may just be me but that sweet-sounding voice coming from the cracked bleeding lips of the massive hag standing in front of me did little to put me at ease. The saying is true if someone surprises you quick enough you forget all the ways you can defend yourself or forget just how powerful you really are.

“Lead on Matron. I long to get this meeting over with and return to my own realm.” I told the hag.

She nodded her understanding and led me through the forest to an open field devoid of any growth except for the dead hollowed-out remains of several large trees. As I cast my gaze over the trees, I noticed that there were enough trees to match the exact number of gods in our pantheon. Not only that but the trees were fashioned to resemble thrones. On top of three of these tree thrones sat the gods I came here to meet with. The first I saw was Anolis, he was in his true form right now not the fake he used to communicate with his followers. A mass of venomous snakes and small lizards coiled and squirming around the skeleton of a t-rex, a neon-green tortoise in the center of them all. His faithful gold dragon lay at the foot of his throne.

In the next throne, Feltza sat in all her expensive glory. Her pale white skin was complemented by the flowing purple dress she wore, which expertly showed off her large breasts. An assortment of gems, rings, crowns, and rare flowers was intermixed with her hair and her slender fingers had gold wire delicately wrapped around them. Her sapphire eyes shone brightly, and a faint red blush colored her cheeks. It only took a second to see why she was blushing between her legs kneeled a man or maybe a woman I couldn’t tell, but by the slurping sound coming from her throne this servant of hers was performing their duties with gusto. How she can be so vulgar in front of others astounds me.

Lats and certainly not least, the host of this meeting and the master of this realm, Faun Sway sat. By all accounts she looked like your average 15-year-old, with tan skin, freckles going across her nose, long white hair draping down her back, a kind smile. She wore a simple outfit consisting of a yellow T-shirt and a pair of blue jeans, with no shoes. The only things that stood out and said this is no normal teenager were her large multi-colored butterfly wing coming from her back and her eyes were two empty black pits with tiny pinpricks of sickly green light in the centers.

I looked around till I spotted the throne meant for myself and went and sat on it. When I was sitting comfortably Faun Sway spoke up.

“Thank you for coming all this way, Langston. Helena, you may leave us now.” Faun Sway said in her singsong voice.

As she said that the massive hag bowed and faded back into the forest. After that, my eyes fell back on Faun who continued speaking.

“I know you’re terribly busy sitting in judgment over all the valid and petty disagreements going on in the world. So, I won’t hold you long. We will explain the basic rules for interacting with the guild and the dungeons that they use. First, you must provide a quest or goal for your followers while in dungeons. These can range from killing a certain amount of dungeon creatures to collecting a type of item. Second, you may claim a single dungeon as a sacred trial sight. These are needed to see if a worshiper is worthy of obtaining a Legendary Class from you and finally Third, you may never, ever under any circumstance destroy a dungeon core. You can put it to sleep or request its transfer off-planet, but you can’t destroy it no matter what it does or what it unleashes.” Faun Sway finished her speech, but her voice carried a darker tone for that final rule.

This bears more thought than I originally believed. To think that so many things have to be done and taken care of. With the inquisition, all we do is watch for heretical movements and have our agents keep the various kings and queens of the world in check. I need more information.

“Faun Sway, Anolis, Feltza can we go into more detail on what is needed. I feel you only scratched the surface of what I need to know.” I answered.

“Very well Langston, we can go into detail, and you can hear from each of us. Just know in four months’ time you need to be ready.” Faun Sway replied.

“What happens in four months?” I asked.

Faun Sway’s face seemed to split her smile was so big. “You will have to wait and see Langston you will have to wait and see.”