She stared at me expectantly. For a minute. Then two. Finally she sighed. “I was hoping you might run away screaming. Or attack me. You must have a lot of frustration aimed in my direction? You have a perfect opportunity to cave my skull in. I won’t even resist, you can just take your shot.”

“You’re a god.” I said bluntly. “Attacking you would be the LITERAL definition of hubris. I’m not stupid. You could kill me with a particularly emphatic thought.”

She snickered. “I wouldn’t need much emphasis, truth be told. But fair enough. How about the other way around, you could suck up to me. Tell me how amazing and powerful I am and how you’ve always wanted to meet me. I don’t much care about Alistair’s little game. You could ask me for anything. Power, money, protection.”

“Not to be offensive.” I said in a measured tone. “But I’m not a huge fan of yours. You’ve tried to have me killed several times.”

“Boy, if I wanted you killed you would be dead.” She said with a laugh. “I merely ignored some of my more…ambitious supplicants as they made efforts to end your abominable existence. Imagine, my darling girl SPAWNING with one of Samuel’s little sycophants.” Her cheek twitched, and something changed subtly.

The darkness around us got deeper, more hostile, and something in the air became heavy and cold. Not icy, but more spiritually cold, like the Wendigos.

She closed her eyes when she noticed me shaking slightly, taking a deep breath. “Apologies. I forget how fragile you little things can be. My Celia has shown herself to me again, and begged intercession on your behalf.” She studied me coldly. “You’re not…unsalvageable, I suppose. But I’m not convinced you represent a sound investment.”

“Well, like you said, if you wanted me dead I’d be dead.” I pointed out. “So you’re not here to kill me. Which means you want something. I’m just having trouble getting a handle on what that might be.”

She smiled like I was a cute little dog who had done a funny trick. “Perhaps you CAN be taught. Celia was adamant about your potential. Which is good for you, because if I thought your sycophant grandfather tainted my little girl and produced inferior offspring, I would be compelled to annihilate all trace of such a disgrace. It just so happens, however, that I’ve recently become aware of an…opportunity, you may be of some help with.”

Her casual mention of murdering my S-ranked grandfather and then eradicating the rest of my bloodline was far from comforting, but a task was a good thing. It meant wiggle room. I wasn’t an idiot though, I wasn’t just taking it on faith. “So, you need my help. How do I know grandma isn’t already dead? What if I come back from this mission and everyone I love is dead. Not to mention the reason you need me to begin with. You’re a goddess, you have plenty of your own ‘sycophants’, don’t you?”

Her eyes narrowed and that cold feeling came back. “I’ll ignore the implication that I would harm a hair on my perfect angel’s head. My daughter is a fucking MIRACLE. She was born with a mirror soul body. I may have been angry about her running around with that jumped up little nobody of a disciple, but I would never hurt her.”

“You don’t think killing her family members would hurt her?” I asked incredulously. “Her DAUGHTER? Have you even spoken to my mom?”

She snorted. “Putting down her little abomination would be a favor in the long run. The girl has promise, your sister. I’m on the fence about you. But given the current political climate, I’ve been pushed to find a more…diplomatic, solution. It just so happens that you’re in a position to help me retrieve something important from somewhere no one else can go.”

I thought about it. She didn’t need to lie to me. She could literally snuff me out with a light breath. I’d panicked a bit when she mentioned killing my loved ones, but I was still pretty sure helping her was the best way to get out of this. “What do you need?” I asked slowly. “And keep in mind I want EVERYONE in my family safe from you. Including my wife and her relatives.”

“Of course.” She said cheerfully. “Personally, I like you two together. She seems sweet. As for my job, that’s a bit complex. What do you know about Domain seeds?”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“I know using one basically hard caps you at S-rank. Tops.” I said bluntly. “At least unless you get one from somebody who has pretty much never shared their domain with anyone else and who is very suited to you.” Bethy’s Domain seed was like that, specially prepared for her by Lark not to prevent her from growing.

She nodded. “Usually correct.” She said with a smile. “But not always. Domain seeds from DEAD gods still work fine. Nothing to split the renown. They have to be added later, much like a normal Domain, but if you merge a Domain seed from a deceased deity into your Domain at S-rank you can use them to massively boost your potential. It’s a complicated procedure and it requires a very specially aligned Path, but it’s doable.”

“Ok…” I said slowly. “Interesting bit of info, I appreciate the heads up. What does that have to do with me?”

“Simple.” She said bluntly. “I used a Domain seed. Well, Samuel and I both did.” Based on context she was talking about the Red Revenant, and I was pretty blown away by that little bit of information. It did explain why Black Sorrow and the Revenant had managed to Ascend where so many had failed.

I stared at her. “Why tell me this?” I asked slowly. “That seems like private information.”

“It would be.” She shrugged. “Except I’ve recently been made aware of something interesting. I aligned my Path with a dead god and used a shard of their Domain to establish mine. This means were I to FIND that Domain, or the world that was created from it, I could incorporate that into MY Domain fairly easily. The reason this is so intriguing, is that the daughter of the god whose Domain I captured, Strakkenthar, happens to be a member of the enemy faction of gods. The Lady of Lamentation.”

That actually WAS interesting. Or at least it was until I thought through the rest of what she’d been saying. “So what does that have to do with me?”

“I’m glad you asked!” Chirped the insane death goddess that was my great grandmother. “I need someone to approach the Lady of Lamentation as an outside contractor and get close. It needs to be someone decently powerful, which means five factions, and someone only recently into Mastery, so no one has heard of them, and someone who has an alternative powerset that isn’t immediately recognizable as belonging to someone of means.”

The blood drained from my face. “You want me to…approach one of the vanished gods and try to WORK for her?”

“Exactly! It’s so nice to talk to someone reasonable.” She practically crowed. “There are a limited number of worlds in their possession. Strakkenthar’s world will most likely be practically barren of intelligent life, but not using it is a waste. She’ll most likely farm it for beasts and materials. Resource worlds like that are plentiful, but manual labor is too pathetic for powerful Ascendants. If you approach them and manage to distinguish yourself, becoming an herb picker should be JUST about your limit.”

I considered her proposal. Separating from my friends, approaching the vanished gods, fighting to get their attention. “They’ll notice me.” I said after a minute. “There’s no way they won’t be able to tell what I am.”

“There aren’t as many Perception focused gods as you’d expect.” She said with a sigh. “The god of secrets won’t be anywhere near the Lady of Lamentation. They’re all scattered across the universe right now, trying to influence the battlefield. But to make sure you aren’t noticed, I have a gift for you.”

She held up my mask. My strong, faithful mask that was one of the first things I’d gotten as an ascendant, and sort of…flexed. The world cracked, shifting in her hands, pure elemental darkness warping the space between her palms in a way that made me want to throw up and cry at the same time. Then it stopped, and she tossed it to me.

My hands moved without thinking, snatching the object from the air, and I stared down a twisted mask of gleaming obsidian, a hideous death’s head grin carved into the bottom. “You’ll want to change your outfit.” She said lazily. “But that should keep them from noticing your origins. Use that corrosive attack form combination of yours. The pseudo domain was interesting. They’ll think you’re a defected cultist.”

I just stared at it. My mask. I’d had it for…it had to be years now. It was always with me, my second skin, my identity. And she’d just changed it like it meant nothing. I wanted to yell, and scream, and curse. But I knew it wouldn’t do any good.

She didn’t care about my feelings. Not about this or about her task. She wouldn’t care if I died trying to attempt it, and would only care a bit if she had to kill me herself for refusing. I wasn’t anything to her. Just a tool, a speck of dust. This was how I was to all the gods. Some of them might take a bit more interest, but as long as I was weak, this was how the world would work.

“Fine.” I said after a moment. “I’ll take your job. I’ll need information before we go in but-”

“Oh not we.” She said quickly. “Just you. The new mask and your niche power set might keep you from being discovered, but if you go in with your wife or your friends, someone will put two and two together. They’ve had too many dealings with you. I’ll get you the information, but you won’t be taking anyone with you.”

I blinked at her dumbly. She was sending me into enemy territory ALONE? No friends, no backup, no protection? I’d known I’d lose Zeke’s defense when I reached D-rank, but this was way more than that.

“Give me a week.” I finally said. “To say goodbye to my family. To make sure they’ll be safe.”

She shrugged. “I suppose seven days isn’t too much to ask. I’ll have Celia talk you through the intel. I dislike being in this part of the universe. It’s so…gauche. Unity has no sense of style or aesthetic.” Hopping to her feet, she beamed at me. “Well, kisses great grandson. So nice to see you’re reasonable. Accomplish this task and your family is free of my ire, don’t…well, you’ll probably be too dead to care.”

And then she was gone, vanished in a blink as she turned to shadow and scattered. It took me a second to process. Seconds later, the tent flap burst open and my mother rushed in, eyes blazing and body glowing with a terrifying white light. When she realized I was alone, she scoured the tent, but eventually relaxed, then turned to me in concern.

“Shane? What happened? Are you alright?” She grabbed my shoulders, looking panicked.

Before I could respond, a new voice cut in. “Don’t crowd the boy, Sasha. Give him a moment. My mother isn’t exactly the easiest person to talk to.”

My mom spun, staring at a woman who looked uncannily like the one who had just left, but maybe with a little bit of my mom around the eyes. My mother gaped at the dark haired lady in the formal gown, her eyes wide with shock. “Mother?” She asked incredulously. “What are you doing here?” I sighed. This was going to be an annoying story, I could just feel it.