My mother was...intimidating. I recognized her. Barely. Not just from my memories but somewhat from my own features, and especially from Chelsea's. Still, the soft smile I remembered as a kid in that one blurry image was nowhere to be found. The woman towering over me as I lay bloody on the ground looked like a warrior. An amazon or something. Tall, blonde, with stern yet kind features. She looked like a saint.

"You're lucky I erected a barrier around us already." She said tiredly. "Someone might have heard you."

I glared up at her, sitting up as Jessie finished filling my body to capacity. I still had healing to do but she'd topped me up and now I just had to wait. Callie helped me stand, and once I was vertical I stood a few inches taller than my mom, not that she seemed to notice. "That's it? No 'thank the gods you're ok'? No 'I'm sorry"? All I get is 'watch your mouth Shane someone might figure out we're related? And I thought dad was the shitty parent."

She flinched like I'd hit her, and I immediately felt bad. Then I got pissed at myself for feeling bad because fuck her, this was her fault. But...she was still my mom, and seeing her like that, looking like she was afraid I was going to attack her or something, made me feel like a scumbag. She swallowed hard. "I...I won't ask you to forgive me. I don't deserve it. I did something unspeakably cruel to you, and there's no way that an apology would fix that."

"Is that what you think an apology is?" I demanded. "Some band-aid you slap on a problem to make it go away? You shouldn't apologize because you deserve it. You should apologize because I do." The fact that she wasn't even trying to defend herself made me even more pissed off.

"That's enough." Said Chelsea as she stepped in between us. "Shane...you're right. Mom screwed you. It was awful. But it's not her fault. It's mine. I-"

My mom held up a hand. "No. Not here. He deserves an explanation, but this isn't the time or place. As much as I wish it was. I'm not sure what's happened, but SOMETHING did, and we need to discuss it. The others are in a frenzy. Ezekial is holding them off for now, but even his insolence can only stall someone for so long."

I snorted at that. "No one calls Zeke that. Do you say it to his face? I bet he hates it."

Her grin in that moment reminded me a lot of mine. "Why do you think I do it? He's insufferable, and very few things bother him. Using his full name is one of the few ways I have to really irk him. He's like the annoying kid brother I never had and usually don't really want."

It was hard to be upset at her when she was acting like a gleeful big sister, especially given I had so few ways to rankle my uncle myself. Still, she was right. This wasn't the time for this discussion. We had bigger fish to fry. "We need to talk to everyone, but probably Zeke first. Some stuff went down where we ended up. I'm glad we're back but we need to get the word out to every faction what's coming."

She looked like she wanted to question me herself, before realizing that I was WCP and possibly Unity, but not with the Church and hence not part of her chain of command. "I'll get him." She said softly. "After things have calmed down...maybe we can talk. You and Chelsea and I. It won't fix things I know, but you're right. You deserve to know, and you deserve an apology even if you don't accept it. Because I AM sorry Shane. So very, very sorry."

The sincerity in her voice, the pleading in her eyes, it almost broke my heart, but I firmed my expression, gesturing for her to go.

Chelsea was watching me nervously as our mom left. "I know I'm the last person who should be saying it, but she feels terrible. Once you know why...well, like she said I doubt it'll magically fix everything, but at the very least I don't think it'll hurt as much."

"You're right." I said sharply. "You ARE the last person I want to hear that from." She flinched just like mom had, and I quailed internally. I might be willing to lash out at my absentee parent, but my twin sister, regardless of whatever nonsense she'd convinced herself of, had been a child when we were separated. She wasn't the problem here. "I'll hear her out." I said more gently. "I promise."

Mom came back with Zeke a minute later, and my uncle smiled and waved casually. "Oh, hey kid. You're not dead. Cool, that would have been a bitch to deal with."

My mom smacked him upside the back of his head. "What he MEANS." She snapped. "Is that he's glad you're alright, because he cares about you, and because if he'd let my son get killed I'd have cut out his tongue and nailed it to his forehead." That was...weird. Not the graphic threat, I was used to those. The feeling of my absentee mom telling off my guardian who was always there for not caring enough. It must have shown on my face that I didn't like it, because she blanched. "I mean..." Her shoulders slumped. "I'm sorry."

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

"Be easy kid." Said my uncle firmly. "Sasha might not have been around much but she..." He hissed, the symbol on his forehead glowing. His eyes snapped up to the empty dark sky around us. "Are you fucking KIDDING ME?" He yelled in outrage. "She's right HERE Eli! When does this fucking thing BREAK?"

My mother sighed sadly. "He's gotten more restricive about his geasa. Ever since he made the shift to devil to break through to A-rank...I can't believe he's changed so much."

"We ALL change Sasha." Said my uncle bitterly. "None of us are the kids we used to be." He looked at me. "Not even the kids we used to be. It's the price we pay for what we are. It's easy to forget that when you live in the Red Revenant's special holier than thou clubhouse I guess. Now, since apparently your bastard father is STILL shutting me up, kid, hows about you do the talking?"

I nodded slowly. "Ok, well the first thing is that this whole mess was apparently caused by the Blood Murder Palace."

"What?" My mom said in alarm. "How? Hatescream is dead. My father was there when it happened. He killed about six S rankers when as he died. He ALMOST killed Black Sorrow and our Lord, and would have if the Wishmaster hadn't stepped in."

"Both of them?" I said, appalled at the sheer power that must have shown. "I heard they worked together for that fight, apparently that's rare?"

"Very." Said my mother firmly. "They hate each other with a passion. God executions are probably the only time I've heard of them putting aside their differences. Lots of bad blood between the churches, it goes back millennia obviously. It proves how seriously they took Hatescream."

Callie, who had been standing protectively beside me, holding my hand, finally spoke up. "I've been wondering about that for a long time. Why? Why do the Red Revenant and Black Sorrow hate each other so much? More than the other gods I mean. It can't just be a worshipper thing or they'd have it out for everyone, but it seems so focused, the grudge between the two of them."

"They were married." Said my mother with a wince. "Before their Ascension. Still are I suppose. Regardless, they have many grudges between them. But we're getting off track. Your story?"

I started. She was right, crazy faction history was interesting enough to distract me, but I needed to get this out. "Well apparently this place was connected to an Academy from some old empire that's been extinct for tens of thousands of years or something. They used the trial as a cover to break in to steal some kind of spiritually reactive biomatter that'll let them sort of clone god flesh."

Then I laid it out for them, told them all the story as I'd heard it. About Hatescream and his plan, about the guy who bought the mountain, about how all of this had been a leadup for a coup, a way to distract the factions and let Hatescream work in the dark to resurrect his people.

By the time I was finished, their faces were both grim. "That's...bad." My mom said, her tone implying a truly monumental understatement. "If that's true then this is going to be war. Not a crusade or an extermination, but exactly what the factions have been trying to prevent for all these millennia. A War of the Gods." I could literally HEAR the capital letters in her voice as she said it.

"I'm sorry." I said through gritted teeth. "It was my fault. I was a moron. I thought that since all those cloaked figures showed up we didn't have to worry about traitors anymore. I HAD that damned cup, and I basically hand delivered it to the BMP like a fucking idiot."

"Hey." Snapped Callie. "That's bullshit. You got us home, which was borderline impossible to start. It wasn't your job to prevent some ancient dark murder sect from accomplishing their grand scheme. You were responsible for us, and you got us out of there. Or...almost all of us." She glanced at Nat, who had left the bubble of isolation when we arrived and was sitting by herself nearby, with Valk hovering a ways away watching her.

My mother nodded. "She's right. They've been planning this for longer than any of us have been alive. If it hadn't been this way, they would have found another. This opportunity only recently presented itself, so there's no way they didn't have a backup plan. Speaking of..." She glanced down at our joined hands. Holding one of her own out to Callie. "I'm Sasha Anders."

My girlfriend blinked, wide eyed, at my A-rank mother, then swallowed hard and, letting go of my hand took hers and shook it. I was secretly grateful to my mom. She'd noticed Callie's sorrow and tried to defuse it by making this an awkward meet the parents thing. It had worked. "I'm Callie, Calliope, that is, Reynolds, miss. Ma'am, madam?" She looked like she was getting more and more flustered.

Laughing, my mom released her hand. "I like you, but let's stick with Sasha, shall we? The rest of those make me feel old, and if you SAY a word Ezekial, your next mask is going to be your own ass." She held up a finger threateningly without looking, and I saw Zeke slump sulkily, muttering about harpies in a voice that was hidden from no one in this bubble."

"Now." She said as her smile slipped. "We need to go talk to the others, tell them what's happened, and try to get some sort of conclave on the books. I'm guessing it'll be a year out at best."

I blinked. "What? It's a potential GOD WAR." I sputtered. "How can they possibly justify that? They should be meeting TOMORROW."

She shrugged. "Might be faster given the severity, but you need to remember how big each faction is. Freeing up big actors like the gods and their subordinates takes a LOT of micromanaging. My father is one of the busiest people I've ever met. Though it's not all downside. Given your involvement I wouldn't be surprised if the Wishmaster brings Malachai for this, so you might be able to meet both your grandfathers."

With that, she said her goodbyes, kissed Chelsea on the forehead, looking uncertainly at me for a moment, and then left. Zeke sighed as he watched her go. He looked like he wanted to speak, but couldn't muster the words, then he too just turned and left. I wasn't sure about the whole mess with my family or what the truth was, but I knew one thing. I needed to find out. That conversation couldn't come soon enough.