Chapter 274: Gods Above as Mortals Below

Well, this turned into a massive how-to-do. Yeah, I let some stuff slip, and yeah, I probably shouldn't have, but I need Ann to trust me, and that all starts with honesty. So now I get to plead my case to every single God, Goddess, and Deity that'll answer a meeting call. Wish me luck, because it's not a unified room.

Orenous

As she departed the mortal realm, Orenous felt her essence pull her in another direction. A wedding was happening on the other side of the planet. The ruler of an island nation and his bride joining in a union that’d have massive consequences for the region, for good or ill. Then there were the trillions of other, smaller relationships, first crushes, heartbreaks, and desires not just from this planet, but from every other one she’d been to. Some that she hadn’t.

Being immortal meant she’d had infinite time to learn where her attention was needed most, and all of those could be pushed to the back burner for now. This meeting would take place in seconds for the mortals if it ran long. Missing the opening of what was a very long ceremony was not something she cared about. The little alien kids who’d eventually become rulers of their world, holding hands for the first brief time, was something she hated missing, though.

Orenous grumbled to herself as she materialised in her usual form when the Gods met like this. It wasn’t often. Hells, it’d been nearly a hundred years since the last one regarding Tilsken’s population issues. Bryltia loved that place. The forests and beasts were like nowhere else, but they were hunting themselves to extinction. Even she got that this was a problem.

Her seat was on the lower levels of the arena. The place had practically infinite rows for every God and Goddess that existed. Massive black stone seats were reserved around the arena for the Universals, but their presence was unheard of. Everything else was tiered marble. Gods didn’t need paper or writing, so it was just benches regardless of who you were. The closer you were to the bottom centre ring and the speaking podium that rested directly in the middle of it all, the more powerful you were. The centre was a circle of grass, and the podium a simple wooden thing. It could be taken by anyone who wanted to, and they would have the right to voice their current agenda to whoever was there. The Earth people called this a Forum, based on their Greek ancestors, but they’d long since forgotten their roots. Illdall was happy that this method of government had translated into the mortal realms. Protection was his thing, after all, and this protected the one speaking from being silenced.

As she sat there, she saw the black smoke of Nylir coalesce across the way. She was on the ground floor, just like Orenous. Her sister. Her other half. Their relationship was what people would call a love-hate affair. Orenous loved, and Nylir hated. Whenever they were in a single place together, chaos was guaranteed. Oil and water. Fire and ice. Cix and Traal.

“Greetings, sister,” Nylir’s cold voice pierced her ears. “Back from galavanting in the flower fields? Deciding to do some real work today?”

“Hah, your work wouldn’t exist if no one fell in love.”

“War and hate can be born of things other than love,” Nylir spat back. Her face was pale and ghastly, skin stretched taut over her bones. Cold black eyes saw everything through their negative filter. Her sister sighed as her rail-thin frame finally came into being. “It is good to see you again, sister. It has been too long.”

“Ah go fuck yourself,” Orenous laughed. It was their ritual. They hated, they loved, it all went back and forth in an endless cycle. “I’ll help. Today, though, is a day for some important work. Can’t have a dozen orgies without meetings to set schedules.” Orenous’s form today was that of a sexy teacher she’d plucked out of Ann’s pornographic memories. Pencil skirt, white button-down shirt with her cleavage and bra nearly falling out of it, and a pair of sexy glasses perched on her nose. It was a delicious look, and she absolutely wanted to show it off for Ann and Rosalyn. Kat might get a kick out of it, but she had a feeling the woman would have been more into her Grrn form from the other day.

Before they could banter more, the rest of the stands filled. Minor Gods and Goddesses poofed into their seats, looking around to see why they’d all been summoned. A few more seconds, and nearly everyone was present. They’d have to handle absentee ballots for those who weren’t there, which would delay things. Delays delays delays. Orenous supposed Annita had a right to be frustrated with how inconsistent they all were. Especially when something this important might take a bit longer than “right now”. Qu’Sella would track the wayward ones down, though.

“Greetings,” Illdall addressed the pantheon. “I am here to bring a matter that concerns all of us to vote. I am not, however, the one who suggested this vote. Orenous has asked that we all join here to discuss The Compact.”

Murmurs rippled up into the infinite space. A mortal understanding of physics would think this would eventually be deafening, but it really wasn’t. Gods didn’t like their ears being blown out as much as the average human did.

Orenous was also keenly aware that this wasn’t going to work. She was pretty sure Ann knew it wouldn’t either, but it was a token effort to get this talked about. Nylir alone would shoot this down. Getting a near-unanimous — the real percentage was 90 — with this many Gods was almost impossible. That was part of why this agreement was so monumental in the first place. Every single God had agreed to it. Well, all of the ones that they’d been aware of at the time. Warped Goddess aside.

Her perspective shifted as she manifested next to Illdall. The old man poofed out and popped into his ground-floor seat next to Nylir.

This wasn’t the first time she’d addressed the Pantheon, nor would it be the last. That whole thing with consent was a mess and had been something she’d had to fight over for thousands of years. When you’re dealing with gods, morality gets messy depending on who worshipped them.

“So, most of you are aware of Earth. I won’t go into the details again. You all know that the Warped have been an ongoing issue there. Mutations, corruption, and a presence that can obscure even our vision of the mortal plane. My chosen champion on the planet has been doing good work investigating why this is happening and has given a few of us clues about who may be doing it. You’ll get the message shortly, but Qu’Sella has already asked all of the questions. Now, the reason why I’ve called this forum. My chosen has decided that the secrecy we are holding over The Eternity Treaty. No, she hasn’t been told even the name of the deal; I’m not that much of a ditz.”

Nylir snrked while other Gods outright laughed. She glared at all of them at once. Even those behind her. Eventually, the noise quieted.

“So, I’m here today to propose we let her in on the whole secret.”

That earned her an explosion that really hurt her ears. Everyone except the four others who’d been in the room with her was shouting all of their ridiculous opinions at her. Ann could be trusted. The girl had been working so fucking hard, risking her life constantly for their problem. She felt her blood boil as she heard someone call Ann her pet.

“ENOUGH!”

The stands fell silent, though Nylir and Bryltia were still whispering. Bryltia was further up in the stands, but things like physical space didn’t matter to them.

“You, Olo’uata! I heard that fucking comment. I can take a lot of shit, but I will NOT have Annita’s work and sacrifices made light of! You get a mortal to commit her life to your briny backside after they were in a coma for longer than they can remember, then talk to me about attachment. Now, let’s fucking talk about why I’m asking this, alright? You all are pieces of shit. I’m a piece of shit. There aren’t enough grains of sand to count how many times I’ve fought every single one of you. The Eternity Treaty was born from one of these awful things we’ve got to do for this universe to keep existing. I’m not going to drag up that trauma for all of you right now. What I do want to do is let my mortal champion in on the secret so she doesn’t tell me to kick rocks and possibly doom us all.”

More active conversation was sparked between levels. Orenous spoke over it. “Yeah, you heard that right. We don’t know what’s causing this, but if it’s something that can fuck with our sight and influence in consecrated places, then how long does this thing stay on Earth? How long until it hops over to Tau? The next star cluster? How long until this spreads to every corner of the universe until we’re left with literally nothing?” Orenous paused, letting that sink in. “Big picture.”

“What makes you think it will?” A God she faintly remembered as a fishing god from the Tau system. “We all know you prefer Earth, but it’s only happened there, yah? How would it even leave?”

“I don’t know…” Orenous said through grit teeth. “That’s the problem, isn’t it? We don’t know anything about this thing, but it knows us. It knows, and it hates us. You think something like that’ll be happy if it just consumes Earth? Would you?” Orenous directed the question at Nylir, already knowing her sister’s answer.

“No,” the pale woman hissed. “I’d fester until I could lay every one of you at my feet.”

“Right!” Orenous clapped, cutting off more discussion from the gallery. “So that’s all that I’m asking. Under oath that prevents them from ever speaking about this Treaty, we reveal what happened and why this Treaty exists. Why we pulled away from our duties to the mortals for a time. That’s it.”

“No!” Nylir shouted. “I hate you, sister, but with that hate comes respect. You are stomping on that respect. A mortal telling you what to do? Who’s the pet, Orenous? It’s sounding like you’re the one on a leash.”

A million voices started arguing back and forth. Orenous just stood there, keeping her face as neutral as she could. She listened to every single argument in the room at the same time. Only about half were on her side. Most of the war Gods or those who dealt with conflict sided with Nylir. That was expected. Normal. The war Gods who taught avoidance of their domain sided with her.

There were, of course, neutral opinions. Ones that didn’t know whether they could agree to something this drastic without further proof that the danger would affect them all. Orenous was most frustrated by them. They lacked the passion to know when a decision needed to be made in the moment. Even Qu’Sella had more fire in their twin heart. It’d take someone like Illdall to make them move.

She knew she had Illdall, Bryltia, Qu’Sella, and Eas on her side. Eas would be convincing Was, Noh, and Sho to join them. The Four Winds generally agreed on most things besides where to blow. Qu’Sella would be leading the magic and knowledge-based Gods, though their camp was probably the most fractured. Scholars, all of them. Bryltia wasn’t beholden to anyone in particular and didn’t have many friends, so her support was singular.

Illdall would be the most influential voice here. The old man had been and still was one of the most powerful Gods in the universe. Protection of the weak was a concept that spanned cultures, worlds, and galaxies. Bryltia’s might-makes-right philosophy had a place only when things were stable enough to support it. Illdall’s work was that stability. Without the weak being able to grow, they would never become strong. So the strong protected the weak, and Illdall became one of the mightiest.

The old man reappeared next to Orenous amid the thundering of voices. “Well, your words always do spark passion in those who hear them.”

“So do my sister’s. Let’s hope we come out with a majority here,” Orenous whispered back so that only he could hear. Raising her voice, she addressed Nylir. “Alright, cunt. You want to get into that shit; let’s talk about what you were doing back in Sevelal. What was his title? Nylifren? Mightiest of all the clans? Don’t think I didn’t notice that shit.”

“Hah, he was mine, though! Not someone who made ultimatums of me!”

“No? I seem to remember some simpering idiot who fell in love with another clan’s chief. ‘Boo hoo, Nylir, do I really have to kill him? Why would you make me do that? I’ll forsake you for this!’ Funny thing how that clan fell apart, leaving him exiled for… some reason? No, you don’t love your bloody coups.”

This was expected of her. She bickered endlessly with Nylir, and not rising to such a bald-faced insult would have been unusual. So she did as was expected, and threw insults at her sister, calling her all sorts of names as the woman hurled them right back.

Eventually, Illdall stopped the fight with a clack of his cane. “Discourse has ended!” The old man’s voice boomed with incredible power. “Cast your votes on this motion.”

Orenous rolled her eyes as Nylir sulked back into her seat. Bitch.

A large scroll filled columns with names. She didn’t bother looking at it. She didn’t need to. The decision was no decision. Still, it had gotten them to pay attention. It would put Illdall at an impasse with Bren, and her with Ann, but Ann would get it. She’d already sworn her oath. Nothing would be taking that one back.

She’d tried and shown her commitment to the group of mortals without any shadow of a doubt. That was her goal here.

Once the vote was in, something that took a fraction of a second, she glanced at the scroll. To her surprise, the votes in favour of letting Ann and crew in on the secret were winning by a significant margin. Not even close to enough for the motion to pass, but it was significant.

Illdall cast his ancient eyes upon her, then the stands. “The vote has been tallied. Orenous, your motion is denied. This meeting is adjourned.” She caught the faintest wink as they all vanished.

Ann was annoyingly not desperately fucking her stupidly hot girlfriends when she returned. They were still sitting there, waiting. They’d been gone for seconds! Plenty of time to get busy! The way the girl’s ears and tail perked up when she saw her was adorable, though.

“So, bad news: I didn’t get the vote.” Orenous shrugged. “Sorry, lovelies. I tried. Quite a bit more people voted for the idea than I thought, though.”

“It surprised me, as well,” Sella said, taking his seat again. “Seems your conjecture about this Warped deity jumping across worlds scared a lot of them. It was well played.”

Bryltia glared at her, but Orenous ignored the surly woman.

“So, we are at an impasse?” Bren asked.

“For you mortals, yes,” Illdall said. “We have no such reservations for the spirits inhabiting your souls. Save for Waheela, they have all proven to be either manipulative or outright malicious. We will extract an oath of secrecy from each of them. I will handle Dearc, and the others their respective spirits. Even you, Bryltia.”

Bryltia grumbled, but didn’t object.

Ann’s eyes met Orenous’s. The charming little chat window popped up.

[Chosen Annita]: That bad?

[Orenous]: Girl, that went way better than I thought it would. This lets you all know about this Pact, while you don’t have to swear anything. I tried my damnedest to get it on the up and up, but that failed exactly as I- and I’m guessing you- expected.

[Chosen Annita]: Yeah. Illdall seems neutral, but Bryltia’s frustrated. Tells me everything I need to know. Thanks for trying. Sorry I had to test you like this.

[Bestest Goddess]: Right? It’s supposed to be the Gods testing you guys, not the other way around! Don’t make a habit of this, puppy! Joking aside, I get it.

[Chosen Annita]: Haha, so funny. Waheela says you’re an annoying chihuahua. Alright, back to everyone else.

Everyone else was shuffling as the Gods went in to extract the oaths from their inner tormentors. It didn’t look painful, just irritating. Like they couldn’t sit still while it was going on. Funny that Ann always just conked out when she popped into that wintery soul.

Once it was done, Orenous felt the room’s mood relax significantly. Illdall tapped on his cane, Qu was drawing arcane symbols in the air, and Eas was flitting around the room, rustling papers. The only one not relaxed was Bryltia, but she never relaxed.

“So, uh, can I still like, be a flirty, maybe a bit nosy patron?” Orenous asked, giving Ann her most dazzling smile.

The woman blinked. Damn, she had put it on strong. The wide smile that flashed those sharp teeth did wonders for her heart, though. Ann’s tail was wagging. “I mean, you still need to blow off steam with us, right?”

The endless gnaw of her sexual side bit at Orenous’s mind. She really did need to show these mortals some fun for what they’d done for her. Regrettably, she had a wedding to get to. “That’s right. Rosalyn? Katlyn? Wouldn’t think of doing it all without you two. What do you say?”

Bryltia stood. “I’m out.” She was gone as soon as those words left her lips.

Kat rolled her eye and crossed her arms. Those scales glittering in the morning light really did suit her. Horns would be fun to give Ann better leverage while taking her. So many ideas. “Aye. I’m fine wit’ it. Now that we know ye’ll be poppin’ in like tha’. Ye hurt Ann in any way, make ‘er distrust ye like this again, deal’s off.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Orenous said, crossing her heart. Well, Kat wouldn’t get it, but Ann could explain that to her.

“U-um, sure? You were kinda really soft and smell really nice. I like that. Just be nice to us. Talk more. Silence makes people feel lonely, even when they don’t think they are.” Rosalyn was doing that adorable fidget with her hands, and not looking up with those cute new eyes.

Orenous crouched down and tipped her head up with a finger. “Promise.” She sealed the deal with a kiss. It was soft, gentle, and quick. Kat flinched, but far less than she’d expected. The princess was coming around to the idea of other women having fun with them. She wouldn’t leave her disappointed, either, and she took the princess by surprise with a kiss of her own.

“Alright. I gotta go. We’ll bang, ok?”

As she faded out, she could hear Ann’s frustrated complaint that she hadn’t gotten a kiss.