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A new chapter is complete, and another step is moved. Killer and his family get a surprise and have their efforts rewarded with knowledge. As always, i hope you'll enjoy the ride. Comments are always welcome.

Long lost; thought dead. Loved, hated, missed by some, forgotten by others. Misunderstood. Lord God is all those things and more. He has been gone and silent for so long that many no longer believe he ever existed. And yet...

Chapter 83 - God returns

Killer's eyes opened with reluctance, and he grunted in displeasure at the reddish light coming in from the huge windows looking out over the balcony. He shut them tightly again and stretched, lightly kicking Vesta's leg in doing so, but the goddess only muttered a curse and turned on the other side, clutching the blanket she was practically cocooned into. He snorted-laughed at the sight of her, and she opened one eye to exhaustedly glare at him, muttering: "Fuck... my everything..."

An empty whisky bottle rolled on the floor, but Alexis easily moved past it, not needing to look to know exactly where it was, where it was going and how to avoid it. Her ability to see into the near future meant that she literally was immune to that sort of minor dangers. Naked and spectacular, the queen stood up from the bed, her hair messed up but nonetheless looking beautiful, and she strolled towards the massive double doors of the private room, walking around the table still covered in empty plates and bottles and half-full glasses. Killer looked at her powerful back, at her swaying hips, at her long and muscular legs, even at the disorderly morning head, with bangs of golden hair going everywhere, and he was reminded once more of just how much he adored her. She was truly divine, her beauty and strength and confidence combining to form the quintessential goddess.

Mriya caught him staring and curled up closer to his side, hugging his arm and moving in such a way that his fingers suddenly touched her soft folds, sensitive and sore and stretched out after yet another wild night. Her eyes glowed as she gazed at him with love, and he smiled back at her, delighted by how much she resembled her mother: the same matchless grace, the same beauty without paragon... But Elaine, probably literally reading into his mind, propped herself up on an elbow and winked, teasingly tracing a finger down her side, underlining the plentiful perfection of her body. You are splendid too, Ely. You all are... even Vesta there, even while she's trashed like that.

Fuck you. Vesta grouchily replied directly into his mind, and he laughed a bit before cracking his neck. Ira was sitting up nearby, her emerald eyes alert, and finally Killer understood what had awakened him: someone was knocking at the door, in a hurry and with obvious urgency. He sat up rapidly at that, even though his body protested and asked for more sleep after over a week of endless, ferocious excess. The movie night had been the beginning, and it had gone on and on well beyond dawn. Ira, Kimera and Boadicea had left to chair a new day of Hell's government, but they had joined again the following evening, ravenous and needy. Diana had left to continue rebuilding a network of healers across the Underworld; Katy came and went to stay close to her mother; Sekhmeth also left several times but always returned for more... So Killer was kept busy by his Praetorians, by Alexis, by Sekhmeth... it never ended. They had not planned any celebration of their victory in Hell, but in the end they just couldn't stop indulging. They had fucked, cuddled, drank unhealthy amounts of alcohol, played, fucked, made love, fucked again. The den was a mess, and their private quarters were in no better state: Killer had visited them all in their rooms and eventually had invited the girls into his and Alexis's quarters. And there, on the gigantic, luxurious canopy bed with columns of marble and gold, the orgy had become even wilder.

With Satan out of the game and Typhon apparently unwilling to make a move, they had thought they could finally enjoy their time, but now Killer grunted and looked at the huge doors with concern, wondering what the matter was. He could not sense any weird energy spike or hostile presence in the air, and that was reassuring, but Nikita was hammering on the door hard enough he thought she might punch right through it at any moment. "Killer, Alexis! Everyone! Please, get up! God is back! God returned!"

"What?" Killer exclaimed, spluttering as he nearly choked, and even Vesta visibly tensed and then pushed up on all fours, flexing her muscles to tear right through the blanket when she found that she had rolled herself up in it too many times to just slip out of it.

"Fuck, I'm too drunk for this." Vesta muttered, sitting up and shrugging off the shreds of cloth while looking at Killer for comfort. "Surely I haven't heard right...?"

"I heard the same." Killer quietly replied before moving over to the edge of the bed, which was easier said than done considering how immense it was. Mriya and Elaine pulled up to let him pass, but he had to move beyond Gaia next, and Boadicea, and others.

Alexis meanwhile had reached the doors, a kimono of solidified darkness edged in golden light appearing over her body, hugging her spectacular curves before she threw the doors open and enquired: "God is alive...? Elelyon returned?"

"He is here!" Nikita confirmed, the mare clad in her armor of Praetorian and looking incredulous at the thought of having met the One, the creator that billions of mortals worshipped, in a form or another, according to this or that "sacred book", some far less legitimate than others but generally all shaped more by the opportunism of mortal priests than by actual divine teachings.

Nikita had been mortal until recently and had never met God before: when she had ended up in Hell, Elelyon had been missing for thousands of years already, presumed dead by most, if not by everyone, so she had seen, at most, a couple of statues of him. Yet, her emotion was real and Alexis was in no doubt that she was speaking the truth, incredible as that was.

Killer strolled across the room and reached the door in a state of confusion. In the beginning of his time in Heaven he had hoped to meet God one day. He had hoped that Elelyon would return and offer explanations and a solution to all problems, to all deaths, to all the devastation that had almost turned the planet and the worlds of the Afterlife into barren wastelands of death and ruin. Over time, however, he had lost faith and had assumed, with no pleasure at all, that Elelyon had died somewhere in space, fighting back hostile alien gods who knew where. The thought had saddened him, but admittedly it had also liberated him from a number of fears and worries and restraints: thinking God gone had made it easier to take decisions about the fate of Heaven and Hell. Now, with Elelyon's return, all his worries returned all at once: what did God think of his handling of the war? What would he say about the battle at the Wall? How would he judge his handling of the Seraphims? What would he say of his conquest of Hell; of Eaglenest turned into a Sanctuary; of Vesta wearing his collar... and more importantly still, what did Vesta think about her collar now that God had returned? What about Gaia, Adrasthea, even Sekhmeth...? He did not want to lose them, and he did not want them to hate themselves for choosing him. It was their reaction, really, that worried him the most. Was God's return going to change everything, and make of him a usurper...? Would Elelyon want everything back? And if he did, how should he react...? The questions just kept coming, piling up in his mind with every step he moved, making him anxious and drowning out the excitement at the idea of meeting the creator, the god he had always heard about... and never believed in, until he had been catapulted into a war of angel and demons, forced to see just how vast reality truly was, stretching well beyond the perception of mortals. Now that he was a god himself and that he had punched dozens of other divinities into pulp he no longer felt any kind of true reverence at the idea of meeting Elelyon. He was curious, he was worried, he was anxious... but he was not awed. What will Vesta think...?

"I'll tell you what I think." Vesta exclaimed, reading his mind and catching him by the hand, restraining him. He slowly turned around, and she smiled and seized his cheeks in her hands, leaning forwards to kiss him, while Ira, Adrasthea, Alcana and Gaia all walked up to him and hugged him. "I'll tell you what we all think, you big dummy, because I know your mind is probably already crammed full of worries and idiocies. Before they start leaking out of your ears, listen up: I'm glad to hear Lord God is alive, but this doesn't change shit, you hear me?" She looked firmly into his eyes and reached up to touch her collar, lovingly petting the lion head on the front. "This collar right here is the best thing I did in my life. Since you closed it around my neck I've been happy like never before in my life. Despite the war, despite being called a traitor by so many, despite having to see Gabriel die to stick to a promise that tied us all to an idiotic monster. You gave me freedom, happiness, love, comfort, a family... everything I could ever desire."

"Nothing is going to change, Killer." Gaia confirmed, leaning forwards to kiss his lips, before pulling back and standing tall, proud and secure of herself, even naked as she was, her old shyness put aside, her new confidence shining. "My collar stays. My love for you is unchanged. You made me whole, remember...? I was broken. Shy, unhappy, incomplete, a prisoner of my own self. You changed that all. And you have changed Heaven and Hell, and led us all this far. There is no going back."

"Hell is yours. You have conquered it. You've put an end to the Great Rebellion that God merely managed to put on pause. Hell stays yours. Heaven soon will be." Gaia affirmed, and she hugged him tightly, kissing his broad chest before looking up into his eyes. "We owe much to Elelyon, and we all loved him dearly... but at most he can be our parent. You are our lover, and the Father we have chosen. He can accept it and bless us, or fume about it and watch from a distance. These daughters have made their choice."

"We are with you to the end." Adrasthea assured, her eyes glowing with energy and with invincible will as she took her turn hugging him, kissing first one cheek, then the other. "You are our Master and this is now your world. And this will not change."

"Stop worrying, okay...?" Alcana softly said, guiding his hand onto her swollen belly, where yet another daughter was growing. She kissed him with affection and then smiled, adding: "Remember how much I worked to get you to notice me? I would do it all over again today, tomorrow and every day of eternity. I love you; you are the father of my children. You've realized my dreams, and given me a family... a true one, a happy one. You are the only god that truly matters."

Mriya and Elaine hugged him and then made their thoughts clear with trenchant firmness: "Lord God or not, he will have to accept that things have changed, and that this is your home and your kingdom now. We will ensure he stays honest."

Killer smiled at them, deeply touched, and he squeezed all of them in a hug, wrapping his arms around them as best he could, trying to find the words, but in the end he only managed to whisper: "Thank you... thank you so much. I love you all."

He slowly and reluctantly let go, trading smiles with them, before squeezing his daughters to his chest, tightly, smiling widely as he whispered: "I know I can always trust on you to defend me, but... Elelyon is not a bad guy, for all we know. And he created our world, Hell and Heaven. He has every right to return in the world he created... so, don't be hostile just yet. He is an ally, for all we know."

"He better not try to oppose you." Mriya replied, and Killer was at once delighted and terrified by their dedication and by the steely determination in her voice. He gave them a loving squeeze, then walked up to the door, taking a deep breath as he strolled into the den, grimacing at the devastation in the room, with cum and juices splattered everywhere and tables covered in empty plates and bottles and other leftovers they hadn't yet bothered to dissolve. Alexis absently flicked one wrist and it was enough to bring order back in the vast room, and Killer was twice as thankful because the vanishing of a whole lot of bottles and plates allowed him to spot his black jeans, abandoned on one armchair near the fireplace.

Nikita opened her mouth to say something when she saw him walking quickly in that direction, but Killer only muttered something about having to meet God and not even knowing where his boxers and pants were. "Where is Lord God? Is he coming down to Hell...?" Killer curiously asked while picking up his clothes, and right in that moment he heard the doors of the den opening and a voice he did not recognize spoke with quiet amusement: "I'm already here, Lord Killer. I apologize for the intrusion, but... this was the only place for me to be, at this point. And I beg you, just call me Elelyon."

Killer winced and turned around with a grimace of shock, his enormous flaccid cock slapping majestically into his thigh just as he found himself facing Lord God, the creator, the maker of Heaven and Hell, the master of life, the guardian of evolution.

"Holy me, Lord Killer...! I... had heard the stories, of course, but... But holy. That is... truly impressive, to say the very least." Elelyon quietly commented, speaking with incredible, seraphic tranquility, not offended, surprised or grossed out in the slightest. If anything, his voice betrayed a hint of something like academic interest, almost like he was wondering how anyone could possibly carry around that much meat.

Killer just stood there for a moment, frozen stiff by embarrassment, but then he forced himself to say thank you while he hurriedly stepped into his boxers and donned up his pants as quickly as his prodigious package allowed. "I'm... I'm sorry our first meeting had to happen this way. I have a well deserved fame as exhibitionist, but I can assure you that this was not planned nor wanted." Killer finally said, while Nikita awkwardly rubbed her hands together and gave him a cartoonish, apologetic grin, her eyes begging for pardon.

"Never mind, Lord Killer. I... let's just say that... it is one of the universe's wonders. Has to be seen if one is to believe to it." Elelyon playfully commented, waving a hand dismissively and giving a reassuring smile, which however trembled visibly as he walked slowly inside the room, leaning onto Pamela's shoulder as the captain of the Paladins half-carried him. His chest was entirely covered by bandages, most of them old and dirty, red with his blood. Other badly-healed wounds covered his arms and legs and even his face was covered in gashes, bruises and dried blood. His regeneration was evidently not working properly anymore and the medications that a Healer, or maybe he himself had put in place badly needed to be refreshed. Elelyon had been away fighting back the hordes of angry gods looking for the Anchors hidden all across the universes, and it showed: he looked completely worn out by the countless battles. The truth was, however, that Elelyon would not have been particularly impressive even if in full health and clad into battle armor: like the few statues remaining showed and just like Sekhmeth had observed, Lord God was not physically imposing. The girth of Killer's muscular thigh rivaled with Elelyon's waist, making the comparison between them incredibly one-sided.

Yet, there was no doubting Elelyon's strength, even in his currently miserly state. Somehow, he radiated no aura at all, and try as he might Killer could not pick up his presence even though only a few dozen meters of great hall separated them. But even the lack of energy crackling or overheating the air around him only conveyed strength: Elelyon was in complete control of all his energies and all his abilities. He wasted no iota of his power and could make himself invisible even to Alexis's incredibly sharp sixth sense, and that was an incredible feat in itself. It was impossible to guess just how powerful he was, because he so easily and so effectively kept his potential hidden, but Killer couldn't help but admire him. That calm composure and that complete self-control told him that Elelyon could be the most dangerous of foes. He was ancient and had clearly mastered all of his godly abilities, something that Killer and Alexis could not claim. They were like brash teenagers in front of a master warrior in his full maturity; their brutal power could well be much greater but they had a far narrower understanding of it and of how best to employ it.

Even much smaller and badly wounded as he was, Elelyon was an impressive presence and he put Killer in awe. The huge male hurriedly donned his belt and gazed towards Alexis, spotting the same kind of feelings even in her eyes while she walked up to the suffering god.

Elelyon saw her coming and bowed respectfully, before winching at the pain that punished him. "I apologize, Lady Alexis. I'd bow deeper before your beauty and strength, but... I'm afraid I cannot, right at this moment."

"It is not necessary. We welcome you among us, Lord God." The femme fatale gently said, and she smiled at him warmly, offering her arm for support. He gazed at it for a moment, and his eyes betrayed for a fleeing instant all his awe in front of her huge bicep, but then he smiled and commented: "Normally I should be the one offering my arm to a lady, but... Although I realize, with your physique, even if I wasn't wounded, I'd look a bit ridiculous offering support to you."

"No need for formality anyway." Alexis reassured, and the creator accepted her help, letting her lead him towards the huge couch, where he sat down with evident relief, unable to entirely contain a wince of pain as his spine audibly creaked. Killer stood in front of him, unsure about what to do and what to say, feeling in awe in front of that ancient master of worlds like he hadn't felt in a long time. He had only ever looked at someone else with so much respect and admiration when he was still a little boy. His father the king and his mentor William, hero of so many wars and living legend within the army, had been the only ones able to capture his imagination in such complete fashion. Killer exploited a moment in which Elelyon was looking away to wish for a black shirt, which promptly took shape over his broad chest, tightly wrapping over his musculature, and then he studied the god from head to toe. It was impossible to defy which species Elelyon belonged to: his look was unique and otherworldly. Perhaps he could be described as reptilian, but it was just a guess on Killer's part. Elelyon's body was covered by a smooth hide of thousands of tiny scales that overlapped so perfectly to form almost a skin, tough and durable yet soft-looking. His body was slender and athletic, with well defined abs and a masculine, strong chest but with little bulk. His arms were strong and his biceps fairly sized, but all of his musculature was well compressed: he looked like a swimmer, not like a brawler. He had no tail and he had a digitigrade stance, all his weight well supported by feet which ended in three solid toes with small talons. His scales were mostly azure, turning almost white on the chest, abdomen and inner thighs. Elelyon was remarkably handsome, with a short and graceful muzzle, with a graceful mouth filled by sharp but small and regular teeth, not fangs.

Most memorable were his large, soulful eyes, always glinting with a mix of inner serenity and extreme curiosity for everything that surrounded him. A single gaze of his was able to tell an entire story and it was especially able to convey his never ending desire to discover, learn, experiment and most of all listen to others. His eyes were golden, and that one detail kept Killer staring for a few long moments because they reminded him of Anubis's own. They were filled with the same kind of inner peace and natural goodness, and Killer wondered if it could be a tract connected to one of the different ways godhood had to manifest itself. Was that serenity the distinctive attribute of a creator god...?

Elelyon had no real eyebrows to speak of, but a couple of curved white stripes in his scales acted much like them. They were incredibly expressive, in fact, moving with every contraction of his facial muscles. He had two more white stripes cutting down over his cheeks and a large drop-shaped spot was in the center of his forehead, flanked by two smaller ones. His skull was topped by four semi-flexible "horns" that curved backwards forming a sort of crown. All of the horns were covered in the same tiny azure scales as the rest of his face, with rings of white scales appearing at regular intervals. The tip of each "horn" was white scaled, and silvery white was also the long hair falling down the back of the neck and the sides of the neck, down to touch the strong shoulders.

"If you don't want formalities, then please call me Elelyon. Too many have forgotten my name, turning me into a faceless "God"... hearing my name will be a treat, after being alone for so long." The male said, slowly lying down on the huge couch, resting one hand over his devastated, bandaged abdomen.

"It's fine for me, Elelyon. Call me Alexis." The goddess easily replied, offering her hand to him and squeezing gently when he took it. He winced at her strength, making a little bit of a grimace and commenting: "Alexis, your strength puts many, many gods I've met to utter shame."

"Thanks. But watch out, because his is greater." She amusedly replied, squeezing Killer's shoulder when the huge male stepped forth to introduce himself.

"Diana will be here in a moment." Pamela announced, and Killer gave a little nod of acceptance while the goddess looked down at Elelyon and added: "She is the... our best healer." Her cheeks flushed a bit as she swallowed the words she had been about to say, "goddess of healing", but Mriya and Elaine gave two little snorts of disapproval at that coyness, and Killer looked to the sides to see both young females clad in their Praetorian armor and looking grim, standing on either side of him. They were determined to defend their father's supremacy in every way and had little sympathy for diplomacy in that moment. In their eyes, Elelyon was the usurper, the one who came to steal away some of their father's glory. Killer gently gripped into their arms, however, and a little squeeze was enough to get them to relax.

"She is the goddess of healing, Pamela... and she is exceptionally gifted. We should all recognize Diana's achievements. This entire world owes her much." Elelyon quietly said, smiling warmly up at the Praetorian, who bowed her head with a blush before nodding in agreement. His words also reassured Mriya and Elaine, who began to gaze at him with a bit more warmth.

"I am not here to cause trouble for your father." Elelyon softly assured gazing up at them with a smile and using his arms to prop himself up a bit, just so he could bow slightly. "I have no intention to judge your actions... and it would be very unwise of me to try and reclaim a throne for myself, especially in these conditions. Your father would snap me like a twig."

Killer coughed a bit, fully aware that it would not have actually been that simple to take on Elelyon, but some of his own worries melted away, and his daughters finally welcomed Elelyon, even if a bit reluctantly still. Then it was Vesta's turn to walk forwards, dressed in her Seraphim armor and with her cheeks slightly flushed, looking unsure of what to do, but Killer smiled at her and tilted his head to urge her on, watching as she moved up to the couch. "Elelyon... welcome back. We had started to really fear we'd never see you again." The queen of Seraphims said, bowing her head... but not kneeling. Elelyon did not show any surprise or displeasure at her lack of submission, and instead he reached out to take her hand in his own, squeezing it gently and bringing it up to his lips for a tiny kiss.

"Vesta... my faithful, loyal guardian. If only had I listened to common sense and designated you as Ruling Princess of Heaven..." Elelyon quietly said, and tears threatened to spill from his eyes as he added: "I'm so sorry for everything that's happened. For Gabriel, for all the Arkangels, for everyone... and for you, who tried to keep the pieces together. I wish I had made your job easier. It's all my fault."

Vesta looked down at her god in silence, unable to find the words for a reply, while tears surged up to her own eyes as a tempest of emotions threatened to drown her. Rage, because yes, it was his fault... pity for God, who she had never seen in such miserable state... happiness for his return... hope for the future... and fear for what Elelyon still had to say.

"I... I had to break my promise. I just had. Gabriel did not, but... I couldn't possibly side with Typhon!" Vesta began, and Elelyon nodded silently, closing his eyes and allowing two tears to streak down his cheeks before gently shushing her. "You did the right thing, Vesta. Typhon did things that more than justified your decision. Gabriel... well, he did not do the wrong thing. He was loyal to the very end. The blame is all on me... I should never, never have allowed Typhon on the throne."

Vesta sniffed, then shook her head with a cry of frustration, pain and rage. She barely resisted the temptation of reminding him of all the warnings she had given him... but it was clear that Elelyon needed no such reminder, and she just squeezed his hand into hers instead, breathing: "It's good to have you back. We haven't lost you, at least."

"Thanks, Vesta... you have been fantastic. You did all I expected of you, and far more. I never thought things would go so badly, so quickly. If there is still a Heaven to talk about, it is because of you." God said, smiling at her with affection and then gazing over her collar, taking in all of the details. "But I'm glad to see you have found happiness."

"That I have." Vesta replied without hesitation, smiling softly and caressing her collar. "Even in the middle of the chaos, Killer was able to rescue me."

Elelyon nodded in acceptance at that, and turned his head towards Killer, smiling warmly at him. "Thank you, Killer. What you did for Vesta is what I could never do, in a far longer time. I forced her to shoulder my burden... you, instead, took it away and carried it on your broad shoulders."

"I'm sure you did your best, Elelyon." Killer replied, still with some awkwardness, unsure how to act in front of Elelyon and unable to decide which of his many, many questions should be the first to be asked. He was saved from making a decision by the arrival of Diana, who rushed into the den and ran over to the couch, looking at the wounded god with a mix of curiosity and concern in equal measure.

"Lord God... I wish our first meeting could happen in happier circumstances." She started, before lightly touching the bloodied bandages wrapped around his abdomen, clicking her lips in disapproval. "These need to be changed right now. Should have been changed many days ago..." She commented, rapidly beginning to cut the bandage and peel it away, revealing the ugly, deep wound which had an unhealthy, terrible greenish color where the flesh was literally rotting away instead of regenerating. "I'm very glad to meet you, Diana... and I'm sorry to admit that, from my point of view, this is actually the best possible moment for meeting you."

The tigress smiled in entertainment at that, shaking her head slightly even as she carefully pushed one finger into one of the deep, terrible gashes, wincing as an ugly black substance attempted to burn her flesh away. "Poison... but I've never seen this particular substance. Seems to directly attack the DNA, though..."

"Kind of like the stuff they used against me...?" Mriya asked, and a distinct note of rage vibrated in her voice at the thought of the cowardly, traitorous attack that had almost ended her life.

"Conceptually similar, but completely different substance and partially different effects." Diana replied, continuing to work to remove the bandages, soaked in blood and poison. Gaia came up at her side and helpfully incinerated the dangerous cloth in her hands, at the same time smiling warmly at Elelyon. "Welcome back, by the way. It is great to have you back with us."

"It is so beautiful to see you all again. I feared I'd never have this chance." The god softly replied, before closing his eyes with a sigh of intense relief as Diana began to pump her soothing, healing energies into the wounds on his abdomen, while Gaia helped in ensuring that none of the thick poison escaped destruction. His body trembled visibly, but he swallowed down the cries of pain that attempted to leave his throat and only gazed at the goddess of Nature instead, a soft smile spreading over his features. "You have found your way too, Gaia... I'm so happy to see it. Do you finally feel... whole?"

"I'm at ease with myself. Aware of who I am, and happy of where I am. For the first time in literally forever." Gaia confirmed, turning to the side to gaze at Killer with affection, caressing her collar at the same time. "Killer was able to show me the way. He spared no effort, he accepted all risks, and tamed my vicious side while giving confidence to that part of me that was always afraid. I owe him everything, because he is the one that made me whole." She paused, looking down in shame as her cheeks burned crimson, and then she bitterly added: "I have a debt with everyone, in fact... because I led Killer into darkness, and made him commit a terrible crime. I... it is my fault. It is because of me that the Holy Tree was destroyed. I'm to blame for the Cataclysm. I'm responsible for Heaven's current shape, and for all the deaths it caused. And if Killer hadn't been able to... to close the black hole, and keep Reality in one piece... we would have all been destroyed, every last one of us."

"Don't be cruel to yourself, Gaia..." Elelyon quietly said, before closing his eyes with a grimace. "I am at fault for not telling you why the Tree was sacred, and why you could not touch it. I've always known how much it gnarled at both your heart and your mind, and yet I pushed back, again and again. You have always been loyal to me... and still I did not trust you enough to share my secret with you."

"I hated that tree." Gaia bitterly admitted, hugging herself in shame as she made a grimace and added: "I know it is petty and cruel of me to obsess about the one tree that never was mine, that never "talked" to me, that never responded to my energies... but I could not help myself. I wanted to make it mine... or see it gone."

Elelyon silently nodded, accepting her words with sad serenity, saying quietly: "I was aware of how difficult it was for you to stick to your promise of never touching the Divine Tree... I should have... done things in a different way. As you now know, I was trying to protect the greatest of secrets in the universe... but I did it in the wrong way. You deserved to know."

"We asked you so many times..." Vesta grumbled, and her gaze became colder as she looked down at Elelyon with barely contained frustration. "How many times did I ask you about the fabric of the universe, about what prevents the destruction of our worlds because of the ripples of energy still traveling through space. All my studies and my researches, all frustrated by your polite but inexorable no. But I was right all along, wasn't I...? The universe is kept together by Anchors, and the obelisk inside the Holy Tree was one."

Elelyon sighed, tiredly closing his eyes, and then he slowly nodded. "You have always been smart, Vesta... and yes, your theory is broadly accurate. You are wrong on a few details and on some of the calculations, but right on the general concept. To my great fear and horror, your studies of the universe and of the flows of energy in it were enough to lay bare the secret that I, together with many other gods, desperately tried to protect."

Vesta shifted uncomfortably at that, blushing and rubbing a hand awkwardly over her powerful arm, mumbling: "Come on, now... you... you make it sound like a horrible thing."

"That's because I'm afraid it is." Elelyon quietly replied, before reaching for her hand, squeezing it with affection. "It is not your fault, I don't think, but... it is exactly because this secret was revealed that we are in the middle of this disaster. Gaia, Vesta... if only I could convey how much I would have loved to share all my secrets with you!" He threw his head back with an expression of regret and frustration, before shaking it slowly as he explained: "But I couldn't. I had promised to protect the secret, at all costs. And long before you started working on your theory, I caught hints and rumors about other people, across the vast universe, wondering about the same things. I was terrified when you exposed your theory to me the first time: your studies had brought you right to the answer, and that sent chills down my spine. I could probably trust you not to abuse of your discovery, but what would others do with such knowledge...?"

"Exactly what they are doing right now." Alexis muttered, and they all thought of the horde of gods rampaging through the universe and tearing planets apart to map the position of all Anchors. Elelyon gave a sad nod of confirmation, and Vesta cursed under her breath.

"Who set this disaster in motion, then...?" Killer asked, before hugging Vesta to his chest as the goddess's eyes went wide with horror, her hands trembling as she realized the consequences that her studies might have had.

"Not you, Vesta." Elelyon urgently assured, squeezing her hand until her eyes met his. "Not you. As I said, the first reports reached me well before you started fleshing out your theory."

The goddess welcomed the news with a grimace, but Killer felt some of her tension melting away, her body relaxing a bit in his gentle grip but trembling while she attempted to use humor to fight back the fear and horror that had suddenly gripped her: "And you call that good news! It means there's someone smarter than me out there..."

"Lord Skyfall?" Alexis proposed, and Elelyon turned her gaze towards her, tilting his head to signal his admiration for her quick thinking, before replying: "Maybe. Probably. Certainly someone who Lord Skyfall was in contact with."

"We know the square root of nothing about Lord Skyfall. We only heard of him through the words of other gods who came here following his advice or his order." Adrasthea remarked, moving forwards to take one of Elelyon's hands in hers, smiling at him with affection. "Welcome back. Our hope was almost dead."

"I'm sorry I didn't communicate with any of you for all this time, but any attempt to contact you, telepathically or otherwise, meant guiding a horde of hostile gods right to your positions." Elelyon quietly replied, leaning up to wrap one arm around the goddess's shoulders, touching her cheeks ever so slightly with his lips. Alcana was the next to welcome him, and then Ira, who had not been a goddess when he had left and who he had only met once, for a very brief moment. Still, he remembered everything about her and that first meeting, and he congratulated her warmly for all she had achieved.

Killer and Alexis proposed to retire for a while, leaving him more time to catch up with everyone, but Elelyon kindly rejected the offer. "I thank you, but I can wait a little longer for that pleasure. There are urgent matters we should discuss right now." Elelyon said, before going back to Adrasthea's observation. "Lord Skyfall. Unfortunately, I have no idea who or what he is. But I can say for sure that he is hiding somewhere in our solar system. Actually, somewhere really close to earth."

"But not on the planet...?" Vesta curiously asked, and when he nodded she tentatively said: "A space station of some kind?"

Elelyon shrugged, making a grimace of sadness and frustration. "I don't know. I've been able, with great difficulty, to track the source of his messages back to this solar system, following the echo right to a point close to the planet... but there was nothing there. No satellite, no floating device, and definitely no space station or spaceship in flight."

"There cannot be." Alexis confirmed, shaking her head. "I would have sensed it long ago. Hell, everyone on earth would know: it would be probably visible in the sky, night and day, and certainly would have been picked up on the radars."

"We have a few enormous radars in Kesteven, pointed at the sky. They are used to gain early warning of a missile launch and initiate our counterattack and the launch of defensive interceptors. They are powerful enough to see anything taking off from any of the kingdoms of the North; or from Ire; from Lunis or any other major southerly nation. They could never build a space station or launch a spaceship without us knowing that something was in motion." Killer added, and Elelyon nodded in agreement but cautioned: "That is all true, but still... the fact I could not locate anything in that area of space does not mean it is actually empty. You know all too well by now that there are many ways to hide from radars, from telescopes... and even from your powers, Alexis."

"That is true... I failed to sense your arrival, after all. Indeed, all of the Spire's defences failed to keep you out." Alexis observed, and there was a hint of amazement mixed with annoyance in her voice.

"Your defences are formidable, but... I've spent millennia trying to devise flawless protection systems for the Anchors; and more recently I've spent millennia infiltrating the sanctuaries of hostile gods. I've built up quite some experience, some of it exceptionally painful to gain. The scars help me remember each and every trick I had to learn. I would have waited at the gates, but... it was really urgent." Elelyon calmly explained, looking down at his wounds and smiling gratefully to Diana as the healer goddess continued to work on the terrible gashes, her hands glowing with her warm, soothing energies and his flesh finally beginning to regenerate. Pamela and Nikita confirmed that there had been no alarm at all. "He appeared out of thin air right next to us down in the hall. No one had picked up any sign of his presence."

"I'll have to ask your help for improving our defences, then. We can't allow anyone else to exploit loopholes." Killer quietly observed, and the god nodded in silent agreement.

"Lord Sky-fucker could be hiding in some kind of pocket dimension, or in some other kind of fold in the fabric of reality. I know something about how to move unseen..." Boadicea suggested, and Killer bit his lower lip at that, cursing silently. It could be exceptionally complex to defend against inter-dimensional movement, and it was even more complicated to sense and reveal such a fold in reality without having a clue about its inner workings.

"What about the signal you followed? Perhaps we can squeeze better coordinates out of it." Vesta asked, back to her professional and highly competent self, but Elelyon gave them little hopes: "It is very complex. Basically, it seems to be a telepathic link kind of like the one between the minds of all you Seraphims. That makes it a very direct and very narrow-beam signal, extremely hard to detect. I had to listen to it through the head of another god after defeating him, and even then it proved extremely difficult to follow, because it is combined with an advanced digital cryptology system and seems to be transmitted through some kind of network of relay devices. Some of them are found literally within the skulls of enslaved-gods, while others are tiny satellites that seem to have been thrown into every dark corner of the universe. The signal goes from one node to another following an unpredictable pattern... and actively avoids you as soon as it senses your attempt to listen."

"Fucking hell." Vesta muttered, before crashing into the couch and producing a block notes and a pen with an idle flick of her wrist, immediately beginning to sketch a diagram of the communication system as described. "It will be a complex game, but I will see if there's anything I can do to crack the system."

"What is Lord Skyfall up to, by the way...? We've had a week of complete peace, with no alien god trying its luck against us. That's a new thing: we had daily attacks for a while." Killer said, taking a couple of armchairs and bringing them up next to the couch, sitting down in it while Alexis took the other, so they could be close to God as he rested.

"By now every god of the universe know where you two are. Lord Skyfall, Satan, Typhon... they all broadcasted messages in space to call in invaders in the hope that they would defeat you two. Satan no longer does, of course. Typhon continues to send out his calls, but nobody is listening to him at this point. While Lord Skyfall is telling everyone to organize, mass up, join forces, and come in one single, massive group." Elelyon explained, turning his head slightly to the side and seeking first Killer's then Alexis's eyes. "He has been broadcasting the same message for a long while, actually... at first, the other gods did not listen. Many, being closer to our solar system, rushed here thinking that they could take your secret away. All of them are now dead: Satan absorbed many of them, and ultimately fed them to you. Typhon has been able to capture another sizeable group; and you killed the rest. The stupid and the brash ones are now out of the picture: their time is over. The ones that remain are smarter, and are all converging together in a single point of the universe to form a single, invincible armada. Soon, they'll resume their travel and they'll reach our system in the near future."

"How many?" Alexis asked, betraying no emotion even as she digested that monstrous information.

"Too many. More than I can count, considering that they all come with their army of disciples and fleets of star battleships. They are the Swarm. They are like locusts that settle upon worlds and devour them until the Anchors are laid bare and left defenceless, ready for the imminent harvest." Elelyon said, before closing his eyes with a sigh of exhaustion and pain at the memories that crowded his mind. "The resistance is shattered. We did everything we could to gain time for you to train and get ready... but we have reached the limit. The few of us who still live have retreated to their home planets and now all we can do is wait for the Swarm to reach us. One by one we will fall... our only hope is that the time we gave you will prove to be enough."

"When you left you gave us no indication of where you were headed; of what you would be facing; of what you had to do. We could have helped you, if you had given us the chance to do so!" Adrasthea remarked, sitting down on the floor and leaning onto the couch with one arm, looking at him with frustration. "Why all the mystery?"

"You told us that you were leaving to protect us all. That there was a battle you had to fight to keep us safe... but you refused our help. You ignored our questions." Alcana sadly added, looking at him in confusion. There was no hate in their eyes, but all of the goddesses had been scarred by Elelyon's silences and by his last few orders, which had empowered Typhon and thus written the opening page of the war, setting everything into motion.

"You've all helped me more than I can begin to explain." Elelyon gently countered, shaking his head slowly. "I needed you all right here, busy training and teaching and preparing the Amon Ra, the savior. I needed you to defend him until he was ready, because I was certain that our enemies would hound him down without mercy. And this, at least, I did tell you." He paused, suffocating a groan of pain as Diana uncovered another one of his horrible wounds, carefully peeling away the bandages which at that point were nothing but health hazards, completely soaked in poison and corrupted blood. "There were things I just couldn't share with anyone. The secret of the Anchors was already partially compromised and I did not want to help our enemies in any way. I was aware that someone in the Council of the 7 Gods had betrayed me, but I did not know who. In those conditions, every bit of information I shared could prove to be fatal to us all."

"But wasn't it bloody obvious that Taranis and Thanathos were the untrustworthy ones?" Vesta barked, unable to restrain her rage and frustration, tears rolling down her cheeks as she bit her lower lip and then slammed a punch in the backrest of the couch, just above Elelyon. The God, however, did not react in any way, not even flinching, only looking sadly down at his devastated body.

"Hindsight is a wonderful thing, Vesta... thinking back to those days now I can easily read the signs. Back then, I sincerely could not. Taranis and Thanathos always were grudging creatures, we all know that... Taranis, prideful to the point of being bombastic about everything he said, planned or did. Thanathos, silent and implacable like death. They were troublesome children... but I considered them my children nonetheless, and I could not accuse them of anything without having a reason."

"Thanathos is a murderer. A disloyal monster who stabbed Azura in the back to take her place. That should have been reason enough not to trust him." Ira bitterly spat, making a grimace at the thought of how the dark god had ascended to his seat within the Council of the Seven. Azura, "merciful death" and prophetess without equals, had been Ira's adoptive mother for a short but wonderful period that the cobra still cherished. Thanathos, king of the Reapers, had put an end to that period of happiness when he had murdered the goddess he was meant to serve. He had hit her in the back with her own Requiem Aeternam, the great scythe that could cut through every life, and he had taken her place.

Ira had never been able to understand, and less than ever pardon, Elelyon's decision to let Thanathos carry Requiem Aeternam and take Azura's seat in the Council of the Seven gods. He had been punished for the murder, turned into a shapeless being forever clad into an ugly, terrible cloak of darkness, but that was nowhere near enough in Ira's eyes.

Elelyon hesitated in front of the cobra's words, his eyes betraying the painful process that was going on in his mind as he tried to find a valid counter, but he just sighed dejectedly and closed his eyes, nodding a little. "One of my many mistakes, Ira. I cannot apologize enough for all the times I've been wrong, but... my law has always been one of second chances, exactly because soon or later we all make mistakes. I've always wanted to keep hope alive for everyone, no matter how big the mistake. And Thanathos seemed to have learnt his lesson.

"Like Typhon, huh...?" Vesta bitterly spat, unable to restrain herself. "I still, to this day, can't believe you selected him to serve as Ruling Prince of Heaven in your absence. Wasn't Gabriel faithful enough? He died for the word he gave you! Hadn't I proven my loyalty to you? Why Typhon, of all people!"

"Typhon is a powerful and ancient god. I never allowed him to sit in the Council of the Seven, but I could not deny him a position of responsibility forever." Elelyon sadly explained, thinking back to those fateful days in which he had taken the terrible decision of leaving to fight a war that, he already knew, was going to determine the fate of the whole universe. "I hoped that putting him in my seat while I was gone would satiate him. I hoped that Michael, my faithful servant and hero of the Great Rebellion would be able to keep him in check."

"You have endless talents and you are endlessly kind, Elelyon, but choosing who to trust has never been one of those." Vesta sadly murmured, bowing her head in shame at the idea of talking in that way to her Lord God but feeling that it had to be said once and for all.

"You are, unfortunately, right." Elelyon admitted, closing his eyes and rubbing at his face slowly with both hands, his body trembling visibly and his bloodied, ruined abdomen quaking as the huge wounds filled with blood and poison pushing out of his body with every movement. "The betrayal of Typhon, I can accept it, in a way... I should have seen it coming. But being betrayed by Michael... that has devastated me."

Vesta closed her eyes and quietly backed off, not wishing to add anything more to his misery. It filled her with pain to see him in that state, and even though she was filled with rage and frustration she was also still full of affection for that god who used to bless them all with his smile and his generosity. He truly had always striven to give a chance of redemption to everyone, and that was at once his greatest merit and his worst failure.

"In my attempt to treat everyone with equality, justice and generosity, I now realize that I committed so many mistakes..." Elelyon finally breathed, turning his eyes back towards Killer's face, giving him a small, tired smile before adding: "It was foolish of me. It is impossible, and highly inadvisable to boot, to treat everyone in the exactly the same way. Now I see how unjust that approach actually is! In treating my enemies at their second chances like I treated those that always were my loyal friends, I did a terrible wrong to the latter. This is part of what sets us apart, Killer... this is a mistake you've never made."

"I'm not sure I can say that." Killer honestly replied, but Vesta squeezed his shoulder with affection and remarked: "I think you can, instead. You have given Lucifer his second chance, for example, but you'd never put him ahead of us if you needed to put someone in a position of power."

"I did, instead." Elelyon dejectedly murmured, before reaching over to lightly touch Killer's knee, and the liger almost gaped at the soothing flow of energy that immediately began to travel through his system from that simple contact. "Being generous to an enemy that surrenders and commits to changing his ways is a noble thing, Amon Ra... but doing what I did is stupid." He paused, then a little smile spread on his lips as he thought of the distant past, of the days before the Great Rebellion. There were no words which could describe just how much he wished for a way to return to those long gone days. "Lucifer... he was a good friend. He was loyal to me. Ambitious and prideful as he might be, he always spoke in my best interest back then. Had I listened, things would have been entirely different. Do you... do you think he will accept to meet me? I'd like to apologize, and to just... see him again. I've lost so many good friends... recovering one would fill my heart with joy."

"He will grumble about it a bit, perhaps, but I'm sure he'll be happy to visit you." Alcana quietly assured, touching one of Elelyon's feet with affection and deep respect. The god smiled warmly at that, and whispered a sincere thank you.

"There are many that will want to see you. This world has suffered a lot in your absence, and we have all prayed for your return." Adrasthea added, but Elelyon shook his head slightly, smiling in quiet amusement as he replied: "I'm not sure. I heard your prayers, but I couldn't answer. I heard your calls, but I couldn't come. My people suffered because of my absence... and even more so because of the Ruling Prince I myself foolishly imposed on you all. An unforgivable failure, I'm afraid..." Elelyon shifted a bit in the couch and dropped his head backwards to stare at the ceiling, without really seeing it. Tears rolled down his cheeks, and Killer shivered in horror at the sight, deeply touched by the calm, composed suffering of God as he came to terms with all he had lost and with all he had gotten wrong. "The voices filled my head for uncountable years, but over time their number dramatically decreased. In recent times, I've mostly heard silence, but for some kind words coming from you and few others. You few, who had words of affection and well wishes for me right to this day, are the best friends I could wish for. But even you have long ceased asking my help."

Vesta, Gaia, Alcana and Adrasthea traded silent, sad gazes at that, looking down at the floor in a mix of shame, relief and sheer pain. They had wished him good luck, every day... but even them had stopped hoping that God's return would put things right and end the war.

"You don't have to be ashamed, my children... I was gone for so long. You needed me, but I wasn't there. How could I ever blame you for losing your heart? Thankfully, Killer was here. The world has found a defender in you; someone who spares no effort in order to do what is right. I'm glad that my people were able to pray for your help... and I'm thankful to you because you listened and delivered."

"Not as much as I wanted. Not as much as was necessary." Killer quietly countered, before thinking of the many angels and benevolents that still rejected his help and considered him a monster, an usurper, a demonic presence that should never be allowed into Heaven again. "And not everyone trusts me, Elelyon. I am not you, and I'm not right for Heaven. Hell has been much easier to convince. Here they like me, they see me as one of them... but many in Heaven still hate my guts. Now, though, you can talk to them, and bring them back to reason."

"Oh, my dear Killer, my dear... a warrior, a noble soul and a god of formidable power... but there is still much you haven't experienced!" Elelyon exclaimed, looking at him with affectionate amusement. "There is one important question you haven't asked me yet: why did I seek refuge in Hell rather than in Heaven...?"

Killer blinked in surprise at that, thinking about it for a moment and nearly answering that the war in Hell was over; and it was in Hell that he could find all of them... but immediately he realized that there was more to be said about that choice, so he only waited for Elelyon's words.

"The Righteous have been part of the world for... as long as I can remember. And they will always exist. No, Killer, they won't listen to me. They no longer care about me, even assuming they ever did. The Righteous are extremists, who cannot accept grey areas. They talk about the "will of God", but they have second-guessed that will from the very beginning. They have written "holy books"; they laid down the "holy law"; they created dogmas. They obsess about a concept of purity and righteousness which is so absurdly strict that I cannot aspire to fit. At this point, to their eyes I'm not any better than you." The divinity snorted in bitter amusement and shifted a bit, trying to sit up a little, and Vesta pushed a cushion under his shoulders, smiling softly when he looked up with gratitude. "Typhon fed their already endless ego and turned many of their dogmas into law, just to make them happy and to impersonate their ideal of leader. I never told anyone that I'm infallible, Killer! Never! I am not and I could never be! Nobody is safe from mistakes. But the Righteous cannot accept this truth. For them, God is either flawless, or is not god. I never told anyone not to have sex! Sex is what makes life go on, for Heaven's sake! Sex has nothing to do with purity of the soul..."

"Unless you push it to the extreme consequences, like I've done so often." Killer corrected, and Elelyon awkwardly hesitated for a moment before finally nodding in confirmation. "Yes, well... of course..." The slender male mumbled, looking embarrassed, unsure of what he should be saying to the liger, who made a grimace at the thought of his own failings.

"We both made our mistakes, Killer. Even with all your excesses, you aren't evil. You are not a monster. You have changed yourself, and there is no greater feat a man can accomplish. You are working hard to protect us all and do what's right... and they should be grateful for it." Elelyon finally said, lightly squeezing on the liger's knee and giving him a friendly smile. "Don't lose your sleep over the past. It is the present that matters, and we need you sharp and reactive and absolutely focused. Otherwise, when the Swarm arrives, everything will end."

"I intend to pay for my sins, once this war is over." Killer promised, more to himself than to Elelyon, and the reptilian god blinked in surprise and rested back in the cushion, gritting his teeth for a moment while Diana murmured an apology and worked to close up one large wound. When he managed to relax his body which had tensed up instinctively, he thanked Diana and then turned back towards the liger. "That is... very, very noble, Killer. That you have reached such a decision freely, when nobody could force you to undergo any sort of punishment is truly remarkable. It shows how much you are committed to changing."

"Thanks, Elelyon. It is not an easy choice, and... it scares me. I have to remember myself that I deserve all of the torture they'll put me through. I have to remember myself of how lucky I am. Life gave me much, and for too long I've used my good luck in the worst of ways." Killer paused, then sighed and rubbed at his eyes tiredly, wincing inwardly at the thought of how he had spent the last week. Was Elelyon aware of all the orgies, the alcohol, the excesses...? Almost certainly he was; he seemed to be very well aware of the state of everything around him. It was more than a little embarrassing to think about, but he forced himself to move on. "So, you are telling me that there is no way to get the Righteous to reason."

"I'm sorry, but that's the truth. As god, you will learn that there will always be a lot of people who will not only claim to speak on your behalf, but will put into your mouth a lot of things you never uttered. Priests can be either very good or very bad persons, Killer... many of those who spoke in my name over the millennia have been horrible." Elelyon quietly explained, before nodding in agreement with Vesta as she added: "And the last few millennia have been Typhon's reign, and he did all he could to encourage an absolutist derive. After all, by telling everyone that God is infallible and wants complete, unflinching obedience, he only made his own interests."

"Bunch of idiots." Alexis muttered, and Killer grunted in agreement. "This proves that much of what I always thought about religions is true. They are all crap and lies for the most part." Killer grumbled, and Elelyon snorted in amusement at that, suffocating the laughter that attempted to come up to his lips. "It is indeed so, Killer. Religions do not really come from the gods, but from the worshippers. And in particular from some of them, who become priests and shape the "holy law" to ensure they can live comfortably out of it."

"You never thought about punishing some of those...?" Killer asked, arching an eyebrow with genuine curiosity, and the god sighed and nodded, rubbing a hand tiredly over his eyes.

"Many times. But I have one guiding principle I always stick to: I want people to think with their own minds and take their own decisions. I always hope that people will see light and stop following the ones that just happen to shriek the loudest." Elelyon answered, and Killer thought about it for a moment before nodding in agreement. He shared that principle, although he was profoundly pessimist about people and had little hope of ever seeing the day in which they would all wake up.

"The sad truth of the matter is that there is nothing in Heaven for me. It is no longer my home, and I'm no longer welcome. The Righteous are desperately needy people that need to believe their god is always right, always perfect, always flawless, and that he will ultimately give them rewards beyond every imagination if they just stick by his word without questions. I do not fit that description, and I cannot possibly play along with such nonsense... Typhon, instead, is supremely at ease in claiming to be perfection incarnate." Elelyon bitterly explained, making a grimace at the thought of what he had seen and what he knew he'd face in Caernarvon, the capital of Heaven, the place that had once been his beloved home, his most cherished creation, the paradise he had assembled to share with his sons and daughters. "My dream is shattered, and now I'm awake and struggling with a reality that is hostile... in no small part as a result of my own mistakes." Elelyon paused again, his body visibly tensing and trembling for a moment as he swallowed thickly and fought back tears of despair, frustration, rage and hate for himself. Vesta and the others looked at him with concern, but no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't find words that would ease that pain. They were torn by their own pains: they had lived through those mistakes; they had tried to prevent them; then they had tried to survive them and to put things back in place. Much as they loved him, they couldn't help but taste a lot of bitter anger in their mouths.

"I'm sorry, Killer, I really am. I'm sorry; Vesta, Alcana, Adrasthea, Gaia... I apologize to you all, even though I know it is way too late for it to mean anything. My mistakes have made this war far bloodier and far more complicated than it should have been... That we have a Typhon problem to solve is purely my fault." Elelyon said after a moment of silence, while carefully poking at the ugly, pulsing scar that crossed his lower abdomen from side to side. It looked horrible and still hurt him like hell, yet it was ten times better than earlier, when it had been a terrifying poisoned gash which exposed his bones while they were slowly but inexorably burned and melted away by the toxic, DNA-destroying agent. "Before departing for foreign galaxies I had tried to prepare the ground for your arrival. I had convinced Typhon and Satan to collaborate... the plan was that you would receive half of your training in Heaven, then the rest in Hell. Some of the demon lords were bound to move war against Heaven, we knew that, but Satan promised he was opposing their plans and would stop them. Typhon, of course, promised that he would keep Heaven safe and in good order... Overall, I thought you'd have all the time to train more or less in peace. Nothing worked like I had hoped: things escalated out of control... and for that, I can only say that I'm sorry."

Killer and Alexis traded a gaze, and Vesta sighed and crossed her arms as she rested back into an armchair, closing her eyes for a few long moments as the memories of the recent past filled their minds with images, screams, horrors, death and destruction.

"It is what it is, Elelyon... we have to go on." Killer calmly said, before leaning forwards, resting his arms on his knees and trying to put order in his mind, to choose the first question to put forward. "There are so many things I'd like to ask, Elelyon... I can't even decide what to ask first. But I think I need to know more about the resistance you mentioned. Please, tell me what happened after you left."

Elelyon smiled a bit, giving a little nod to signal that he understood the curiosity, the confusion and all the other feelings that his sudden return no doubt had caused, and then he quietly began his story. "I'm afraid I'll need to begin from the very start of the story, to truly explain what has been going on. Please, be patient: I'll try not to get too boring.

Eons ago, I came to life in the emptiness of space, without a family to speak off. My eyes opened on a careless, cold infinity that was at once filled with blinding light and buried in the darkest shadow. I turned around just in time to see the end of the blast that served as the origin of all things: an incredible distance away from where I stood, and yet it was a sight so majestic and luminous and livid that I remember it all. The two great Absolutes, Light and Darkness, were crumbling after striking each other to death. Pieces of their immense bodies flew through space like flaming meteors, some glowing with blinding light, others darker than the empty space around us.

And I realized that I was one of those meteors myself... a sliver, a crumble, a miserly fragment of something incomparably greater, which just moments before had been whole and powerful beyond description."

"I bet you were a comet of light." Vesta interrupted with a warm smile, and Elelyon hesitated, looking at her with something like concern edged in his features, until he let out a little sound of embarrassed, partial denial. "It was... mostly light, but not without darkness." He finally said, and he closed his eyes for a moment, his face contorted by some kind of immense regret. Vesta recoiled a bit, regretting her words and whispering an apology to him... but Killer and Alexis traded a gaze, suspecting that there was something that Elelyon was not revealing. His despair did not come from being a creature of both light and darkness, but from something else. What did you do, Elelyon...? I know that look, because it has been on my face many times. What is the sin that torments you?

"It's okay, Elelyon. None of us here is without darkness... you are the purest among us all, I think, if it can make you feel better. And I'll also add that darkness does come in handy in its own way. Control is the ever important part." Alexis kindly offered, but neither Killer nor Elelyon missed the glint in her eyes that signaled that she wanted a better explanation from the god.

"Thanks, Alexis..." Elelyon softly replied, and in the little nod he gave her there was a hidden promise to reveal more at a later moment. Evidently, for whatever reason, he did not want the others to hear, and that only made Killer even more curious. He was tempted to tell him that he had no secrets for his Disciples and that they would learn his secret anyway, but he restrained himself: it would have been exceptionally rude, and Elelyon, for all he knew, did not deserve hostility. All of his mistakes were born out of the best of intentions. But it is true, isn't it...? Best intentions pave the way to Hell.

"It was a rather dramatic start to my life. For a long while I could do nothing other than stare as the shockwave of the explosion traveled through space, reaching farther and farther away, rattling the fabric of reality and dragging comets across the Emptiness, scattering other creatures like me in all directions. I watched on in awe and in confusion, just trying to understand. I had no father or mother to ask questions to. Curiosity was my greatest driver from the very beginning."

"You saw the birth of the very first stars and planets..." Vesta wonderingly said, and there was an intense desire in her voice, tinged with envy for his unique experiences. She craved knowledge and loved learning and she clearly dreamed to have a similar chance.

"I did, as you know well. The first stars were born out of fragments of Light that, instead of becoming organic beings like me, became the sources of life for new worlds. The planets themselves are aggregates of fragments of Light and Darkness... their shape and conditions depend on the exact mix of elements at their core. Where darkness is prevalent, life is either rare or completely inexistent."

"So... you didn't create the planets yourself..." Killer observed, and Elelyon patiently tilted his head to the side, making a face that signaled that the story was a bit more complex than that. "I have created a few, later in my life. Other creatures like me have formed more; some have created fewer. Most of the universe took shape around us, however, without us needing to do anything. The force of that last clash between Light and Darkness was such that we only had to watch, in silence."

"Indeed, the force was such that the universe began to collapse on itself almost as soon as it took shape." Vesta observed, tapping her pen onto the notebook, and Killer looked down at it with a gape of shock as he saw she had already covered several pages in equations so vast and complex that he couldn't even begin to decipher.

"That's correct... although you might be surprised how many years it took us to notice. The concept of "soon", or even "immediately" becomes... a bit different, when applied to something as vast as the universe. I spent the first part of my life trying to follow the life-creating shockwave, checking on the stars and planets it left behind, to study them and learn all I could. I will not lie, what drove me most was the hope of finding someone else like me..."

"Understandable, I think." Gaia gently commented, and Killer nodded in agreement, together with many others.

"I discovered life in a few cases, born spontaneously upon this planet or that, but it was all non-intelligent life. Bacteria in most cases, while in some others it stretched up towards plants and then some bugs. Nothing I could speak to; nothing that could truly answer my questions. For uncountable years I traveled alone, and it was such a long time that I began to lose heart and to consider... ending my hopeless struggle. But then, finally, I managed to catch up with a meteor of light, and saw it turning into a creature similar to me. He was much younger than me, and so I was the one who answered questions... but it was an immense relief nonetheless. I had a friend, I was no longer alone. Together we traveled further away from the center of the explosion, while the front of the shockwave vanished uncountable light-years ahead of us, out of our reach. Over time, we met a few other creatures like ourselves. We called ourselves Creators when we began to create planets and attempted to, if not create life, then nudge it forwards on the evolutionary path where we detected it. Until then, we would have been better described as Wanderers."

"But you never found anyone with answers to your questions, did you...?" Killer quietly asked, and Elelyon sighed before slowly shaking his head.

"No one knew much more than I did. Together, though, we worked hard to learn. Together we experimented with our powers and discovered what we could and could not do. We saw life flourish and evolve on several planets and witnessed its extinction on many others. But then we witnessed the ripples. The first one, an after-shock riding behind the original shockwave, smashed into us with enough violence to break our group apart and scatter us again across the galaxies, while countless stars were snuffed out of existence and more planets than we could count were completely annihilated, with many more turned once more into deadly balls of magma and toxic smokes. Life was almost completely erased from the universe, and the process had to begin almost from zero once again."

Vesta nodded at that, taking a note and tapping the pen loudly on the paper, because that confirmed that she had been right all along. She did not smile, however, because hearing it told from Elelyon's mouth gave her a whole new awareness of her discovery. The early efforts of the Creators had been nullified in one instant and countless life forms and entire solar systems had been disintegrated by just that one ripple. It was a fearsome thought, one that they struggled to try and visualize in their minds. Killer felt a cold shiver run down his spine.

"We were able to regroup a lot quicker, but we were scared and horrified. We realized that more ripples would follow, and that life was condemned to never realize its potential. We were destined to a terrible life of eternal failure. That awareness was what drove us into putting our powers together in the desperate attempt of "smoothing out" the fabric of reality and prevent the succession of ripples from erasing us all from existence."

"You succeeded. You created the Anchors." Vesta observed, clearly impatient to hear more, and Elelyon nodded quietly, looking down at his scarred abdomen as Diana continued to tirelessly work to heal his worst wounds. "Yes, in the end we succeeded... but not all of us survived long enough to see the first obelisk completed. Several of us died in the ripples we had to weather... other Creators found us over time and joined forces with us, thankfully. I lost many friends in those dark Eons... but I also gained many others." Elelyon paused, looking up at the ceiling but quite clearly seeing beyond it, lost in memories good and bad. "We also had our first contacts with Destroyers, creatures... well, gods, I suppose, as that's what we all ended up being called, in which darkness was prevalent. They wandered the universe glorifying the ripples and bringing havoc on the developing worlds. They reaped the worlds that survived the ripples... and some of them attempted to have our obelisk destroyed as soon as they realized what we were trying to do."

Killer listened with attention, shifting in the seat a bit and leaning forwards further, struggling to tear his attention away from Elelyon even for the short moment it took him to gaze sideways at Alexis to see her just as concentrated. The silence in the room was incredible, and very uncommon: the den was normally quite a vociferous area of the Spire.

"The first Stabilizer, or Anchor; as I think Vesta's name has a better vibe to it; was put to the test when yet another ripple tore through the universe. It worked well, although in a much smaller area than we had hoped it would. That first obelisk was gigantic, and placed in the middle of a galaxy, but was insufficient to save the whole system, making it clear that we were going to form distributed networks of Anchors. It pained us to no end to start once more from a virtual zero point, but we were confident we had found the answer and worked with enthusiasm in the following millennia, building Anchors in every corner of the universe. A benefit of the network is that it is inherently more survivable. Losing a few nodes doesn't doom the universe, especially since we added extra safety layers over time, building fall-back obelisks. We also made sure to build far smaller Anchors and to hide them with great care, so that Destroyers would not find them."

"Could Destroyers take any advantage from the destruction of the Anchors...?" Adrasthea curiously asked, and Elelyon shook his head firmly, making a bit of a grimace.

"The Destroyers I'm talking about are nothing like Sekhmeth. Sekhmeth is tame and reasonable compared to them. No, the Destroyers have no real plan. They don't plan on conquest; they don't want to show off. They literally just like to watch the universe burn and fall apart. They are strong enough to survive the Ripples and they hate the fact that they no longer see them setting the clock of evolution all the way backwards."

"Then the Swarm of today is not led by Destroyers, then. They definitely want more than senseless destruction." Ira commented, and the injured god confirmed: "The Destroyers were terribly strong, much stronger than any Creator, but we fought them back as a group, and managed to kill most of them. They culled their own number even further by tearing each other apart: when they happen to meet, they inexorably jump at each other's throat. There are a few left in the universe, and they no doubt are part of the Swarm, but they are not in the lead and time has made them a tiny little bit wiser and more sophisticated. They will gorge on the destruction that this ultimate war will cause."

"We won't allow it." Killer calmly replied, and Elelyon smiled quietly but said nothing, taking a moment instead to rest and normalize his breath. Vesta offered him a glass of whisky, but he gently turned the offer down and sipped from a cup of clear water that Gaia brought to his lips instead.

"Water corrodes the fuckin' stone and turns iron into rust, you know..." Vesta grumbled, before emptying the glass herself. Elelyon snickered in amusement at that, gently touching Killer's knee and leaning towards him conspiratorially to playfully ask: "You sure you truly want to have her around all the time...? She is a handful."

"I'm two fucking handfuls and then some." Vesta immediately corrected, flicking her wrist so that a pair of small glasses appeared in her hand, just in time to be put on top of her muzzle as she winked teasingly at Killer. "That's what makes me awesome."

"I very much love to have her around... even though I wish she had an off button, at times." Killer amusedly replied, and Elelyon nodded in agreement, laughing a bit.

"With the network completed, the ripples ceased. We needed instruments to measure the passing of the following one, and although the obelisks became incandescent, there was no other nasty effect to speak off. All planets and all life forms survived."

"The beginning of our age..." Gaia commented, and the awe in her voice told Killer that even she did not know the whole story.

"Our group began to break up. With our main mission complete, one by one we decided to leave and visit solar system after solar system, to study and protect life and its evolutionary process. We remained friends and we did what we could to communicate whenever possible, but all went our own separate ways, searching for a place to call home. I had visited this world many millennia before, to install an anchor on its surface, and the memory of its green lands never abandoned me. There was a special force about earth. Life filled the world with an energy I hadn't found anywhere else... and so, once alone, I returned to this solar system. I found that life had already progressed immensely. There already were forests and animals, and I saw promising signs that made me think that civilizations would soon rise through evolution of the species. It was a fascinating world full of promises, unlike any other planet I'd visited before... especially because new divinities had been born and grown within the solar system."

"That's when we first met." Gaia helpfully offered, smiling softly, and Elelyon nodded, his face beaming at the memory, before he turned towards Killer and Alexis and explained: "Nowhere else had I found signs of a... second generation of gods. But here I found Gaia, a young goddess that was born from the planet, maybe together with it, and that nurtured it for all her life, like it was her garden. Not only that, other extraordinary beings had somehow concentrated in this remote corner of the universe: Azura, Lemuel, Ares, Adrasthea, Alcana and Sekhmeth. This was clearly a very special place, and I fell in love with it as soon as I entered it the first time."

"We welcomed Elelyon with open arms. Talking with him for a little while was enough to understand that he could teach us an infinite amount of things, and that he had the powers we needed to nudge the evolution of earth's species into full motion. Ares grumbled about it, of course, but even he was happy to recognize Elelyon as our leader. We became his advisors and friends and councilors... that's how the Council of the Seven Gods was born." Gaia quietly recalled, while the other goddesses who had lived those historical moments nodded, lost in the memories of those days, now so distant.

"Admittedly, we badly needed Elelyon's strength. Shi was rampant on earth and there seemed to be no way to defeat and restrain him. He kept invading the bodies of the most promising life forms that appeared on the planet, using and abusing them until they fell apart, and all the while attempting to get to our own bodies." Adrasthea explained, and Killer nodded, remembering all too well how dangerous Shi was. The parasitic being was essentially unkillable, and in order to put an end to its existence he had had to absorb him within his body after damaging him enough. Back in those early days of the world, Killer remembered, Gaia and Elelyon had worked together to seal Shi into a crystal-filled pit into the then literally newborn Hell.

"Hell was initially created as a prison destined to contain Shi and a few other terrifying monstrosities, like Fenrir, a life form which had gotten completely out of control and threatened to devour even us alive." Elelyon added, and Killer and Alexis traded a smirk at the memory of how they had ripped Fenrir apart in a savage battle in the Mortal Plane, in what felt almost like another life entirely. A lot of time had passed, and a lot of things had happened since then. Their strength had grown so much that now they could have just put Fenrir on a leash and turned him into a tiny pet. In Elelyon's favor, though, they had to admit that they hadn't met Fenrir at his best, but had only met the beast weakened by an eternity in Hell and further reduced by the fact that not all of its energy could travel through the portal from Hell to the Mortal Plane at once. Fenrir had been a whole different beast back in Elelyon's days.

"I know you destroyed both Fenrir and Shi. Endlessly impressive feats, Killer, especially the latter. It proves that you truly are the Amon Ra, because no one else could have ever dreamt about absorbing Shi." Elelyon said, and Killer bowed his head a bit, pleased and honored by the tone of sincere praise and amazement in the god's voice.

"The worst threat we had to deal with in those days was Typhon, however. He was... well, he is, in fact... a Destroyer. One of those few that got smarter... in his case, we can definitely say he became way too cunning." Alcana bitterly observed, and Elelyon nodded in agreement, looking saddened at the thought of his immense mistake in believing that the Destroyer could truly change.

"Typhon was a real problem. We had beaten him back many times with our combined efforts, but without Elelyon's help that war would have never ended. Typhon was much stronger than any of us, and sooner or later he would have succeeded in taking us down." Gaia confirmed, nodding slightly, and Killer shifted in his seat a little, taking note of every detail, amazed at the picture that was taking shape before him. Now he knew how the universe had come into being... and even though he wasn't a particularly philosophic person, of course he had looked up at the sky many times wondering how it all had started.

"Even with my help, it wasn't easy." Elelyon recalled, shaking his head slowly. "But I had some power and abilities I could share with my advisors, and that made us all stronger. Eventually, Typhon's hundredth attempt to interrupt the creation of Heaven ended in his defeat. We could have killed him then... but I hesitated. I... was curious, as always... Typhon is a Destroyer unlike any other one I ever met. He is smart, he is a strategist, he is patient when the circumstances call for it, and these are all things that the other Destroyers can't claim. I... talked to him. And Typhon, despite the initial hostility, answered. He had come to life much like me, but he had sought to destroy life, unlike me. He... understood me, in a way. He had traveled the universe as widely as I had, and maybe even more. He... was closer to me than even you, Gaia, and you, Adrasthea, and Alcana, Lemuel, Ares... all of you." Elelyon gazed at them with affection and with a desperate apology on his face, and the goddesses hesitated for a brief moment but then gave him sad, little smiles full of comprehension. "We were much younger than you two, and we had not ventured outside of the galaxy were our lives began. I was born together with earth, more or less, so I was... always very much connected to it. I never ventured too far away, and in any case I had little success elsewhere: most planets in the galaxy failed to support life in any meaningful way." Gaia gently offered, and Alcana nodded in agreement, quietly adding: "We did not have much to give you, I fear."

"No, don't say that... that is not fair. You had plenty to give, and I should have contented myself with that. But I craved more, and Typhon... he was able to convince me that we were brothers of sorts. At the opposite ends of the spectrum, but brothers; "sons" of the same great fathers. And I came to accept that image. I think it was what I wanted, all along. I wanted to believe; I wanted to share my travel with someone else."

Killer made a bit of a face at that, but in truth he felt that Elelyon could not be faulted for seeking relief from his solitude and from his confusion. To a point, Elelyon and Typhon truly were brothers, and he tried to put himself in God's difficult position. What would he have felt? What would he have decided? The Typhon that Killer had known was an irritating, arrogant and awful tyrant, but he was not devoid of talents and knowledge. It wasn't difficult to imagine Typhon putting up a very convincing façade of regret, of genuine sorrow, while using his talents to prove helpful. Over time, Typhon had been able to fool not only Elelyon, but most of the Heavenly Council and even the movement of the Righteous, that saw in his inflexible law of God's superiority a path for an orderly and "holy" world. Being convincing, clearly, was one of Typhon's talents.

"Ares was furious, I remember..." Elelyon commented, and Gaia playfully reminded: "But Ares always was."

"Indeed... but all of you tried to dissuade me. Azura warned me that the future would bring great pain and immense challenges if I allowed Typhon to stay with us. I always thought her prophecy of that day was about the Great Rebellion, but now I believe that she saw images of today's struggle as well."

"Prophecies, sadly, tend to become fully understandable only after things happen." Killer commented, trying to ease Elelyon's pain, but Lord God only made a bit of a grimace, shaking his head slightly.

"That is true, but Azura's prophetic ability was exceptional, unlike anything else I've seen in my life. I knew that when her eyes opened upon the future she was never wrong, and yet I didn't listen. Her visions have always been surprisingly clear, and yet I did not want to see. I arrogantly thought that I could change the future enough to prevent the war she saw swarming on the horizon." He paused, then sighed dejectedly and closed his eyes. "One of my worst defects has always been my excessively high opinion of myself and of my wisdom. I was convinced that I would be able to keep the peace and change Typhon for the better."

"For a while, I think we all came to believed you had worked a miracle." Gaia gently said, squeezing lightly into his shoulder. "Typhon tricked us all. He behaved so patiently, so generously, so responsibly... he went through his punishment in Hell without ever complaining. He seemed as serene and as peaceful as you."

"His asshattery began to show again pretty soon, though." Vesta grumbled, still too angry to let go of the past. "I'm younger than you, Gaia, and I saw only the end of his period of "rehabilitation", but what I saw never convinced me. He always got on my nerves, hard."

"I should have listened to you, Vesta." Elelyon admitted, before making a grimace. "And to Gabriel. And to Lucifer. Over time, as Typhon got more and more involved in the running of Heaven, gaining power inside the Council, his ambition resurfaced more and more evidently and he entered in conflict with a lot of people. I defended him way too often, and downplayed the signs. I told myself that it was politics, it was a matter of conflicting visions and clashing ambitions, nothing more. But I wasn't being honest to myself."

Killer nodded in silence, thinking back to what he had studied. Hell and Heaven at first had been one single Dimension, wrapped around the mortal world, but over time, as both expanded and developed, the separation had become more and more visible. Eventually, Heaven split off, and Elelyon, Gaia and Lemuel forged it into the perfect home for divinities, angels and worthy souls coming from the mortal plane.

Vesta and Gabriel and the other main Arkangels and Seraphims, including Metatron, Raphael, Zachariel, Samael, Satan, Lilith and Lucifer and others had been created, not born. They were not technically sons and daughters of Elelyon, but new life forms that he created. Elelyon, as Sekhmeth frequently remembered with contempt, had never really been interested in sex and had never generated children with anyone.

The "Originals" like Vesta had no parents and had no mortal connections. Vesta was created in Heaven out of god's energies and thoughts. That was why she used to be a demi-goddess, more than an "actual" Seraphim. She was one of the so called "trueborns". The Seraphims, Arkangels and Angels that followed, in fact, had either once been mortals; or had been born in Heaven through the union of couples of angels, or benevolents. A couple of benevolents could give birth to an angel, although it was a rare occurrence. Sylvia was a benevolent: a soul worthy of Heaven but not quite pure enough to be an angel. Katy was an angel despite being the child of rape of a benevolent, and that made of her a very, very special case... but of course, I'm not a simple mortal, and that must have played a part. Of course, even though Elelyon had created them without ever sharing his bed with a woman, he still had always loved them and considered them as his sons and daughters.

There had been other changes during the long reign of Elelyon... Azura, the original goddess of death, had been murdered by Thanathos, a younger god, another creature of divine power born in that corner of universe so blessed, or perhaps so cursed, by abnormal concentrations of energy. Ares, the first god of war, had also not lasted: his position was bitterly contested and in the end, as Killer knew all too well, Taranis had triumphed.

"As you know, Lord Killer, my blindness and deafness to the growing discord within Heaven led to the Great Rebellion. I disappointed and frustrated my sons and daughters to the point that some of them ended up wanting me dead... by not stifling Typhon's ambitions even when they turned malignant, I encouraged the growth of similar cravings in the hearts of Satan and Lilith... and there can be no greater failure in life. I failed my sons and my daughters, Killer, and I can only hope that you will never have to experience the pain that comes from it." Elelyon sadly explained, while tears streaked down his cheeks and his voice threatened to crumble.

Killer bowed his head in silence and squeezed Elelyon's hand, trying to comfort him through contact because he truly could not find the words to try and explain what he felt. The Great Rebellion had left the world broken in two halves, with Hell becoming its own separate Dimension, protected by the Styx, by the walls, by the Black Gate. Satan, who had been one of the brightest "sons" of Elelyon, turned into his nemesis. Lucifer, Lilith and the others turned their backs on their father, and the disaster was never fixed. Darkness and ambition had corrupted the fallen angels, and the sorrow had made Elelyon apathetic and depressed, in turn making it even easier for Typhon to consolidate his power and prepare to exploit the first chance that fate would give him.

"I saw the roots that cover Hell, and what they protect... I suppose they are the roots of the Holy Tree...?" Killer asked after a few long moments of silence, and Elelyon smiled a bit and nodded.

"I used the Holy Tree to keep the three dimensions of our world connected. I feared that Satan, after sealing off Hell and turning it into a whole new dimension, would attempt to move it away, turning it into a separate planet, or an "ark" of sorts that would allow him to wage war against Heaven in new and terrible ways, or perhaps allow him to bring his rage to bear elsewhere across the universe. So I used the Tree to take solid hold of Hell, keeping the three Planes of Existence together."

"An ark...? You mean that Satan was... trying to turn Hell into a spaceship?" Alexis asked, incredulous, before frowning as she realized: "Or maybe... he wanted to turn the whole of Hell into a wearable sanctuary. Is that it? I bet Satan was working on such a project... and Anubis somehow found his notes. He can't have achieved such a feat by himself!"

"Do not undervalue Anubis, Alexis... He used to be a very intelligent, very capable Judge of souls, with great talents. He lost himself along the way, and his ambition nearly drove him insane, also because Sobek regularly messed with his brain to keep him under his control." Elelyon softly said, before smiling slightly at her as he admitted: "But Satan did work on such a project, and Anubis managed to devise a working method after finding the files that the High King had more or less abandoned in favor of... other means to gain power."

"That explains a lot of things." Vesta noted, and Alexis could only agree. Exceptional as Anubis might have been, he had never struck her as being the brightest. Sobek had left him badly brain-damaged, and she had always found it absurd that the jackal could have accomplished, all on his own, a feat thought impossible by gods far greater than him.

"You said you connected all three planes of existence, though... so I have to assume there is an Anchor in the mortal world as well." Killer wondered after a moment, looking curiously down at the god, and Elelyon confirmed his guess.

"The Holy Tree stretched across all three dimensions, keeping them all connected. For the longest time, after all, I've dared hoping that one day Satan and I would have been able to leave the past behind and... reconnect and rebuild." His voice nearly broke at that, and Killer suddenly felt bad about what he had done to the High King of Hell and to Lilith. He tried to tell himself that they were at least both still alive, so it wasn't so bad... but he couldn't honestly pretend that a "father" could ever possibly take much pleasure from finding his daughter reduced to a Thrall completely covered in slutty marks of slavery and submission. Alexis gazed at him in a way that thought him she was thinking much the same... yet, they had no intention to let the two break out of their punishment, even assuming it was possible at all. The damage was most likely impossible to reverse.

"I don't blame you for what you did to Satan and Lilith... sure, I would have... acted differently. But they were your enemies, and this is your war, not mine. Plus they... they went far beyond the limits of what is acceptable. Creating lives with the sole purpose of soldiering in their war of conquest; sealing children into pits of corruption... I never thought them capable of such monstrosities." Elelyon murmured, guessing what had made the two ligers uneasy, and Killer bowed his head in respect and gratitude, shifting awkwardly in his seat for a moment before hesitatingly offering: "You can... still meet them, Elelyon. Talk to them, whenever you wish."

"Thanks... Later, though. Later I will ask you the great favor of allowing me to talk to all of you... one to one." Elelyon quietly said, and Killer nodded, suppressing his curiosity about that request, as least for the moment.

"So, we have another Anchor to defend. Is the RA's campaign of conquest targeted at finding it, then? Were they looking for the Anchor all along?" Alexis enquired, and Killer straightened in his chair, impatiently waiting for the answer.

"Yes, I think. I'm pretty sure that the RA wants to find and secure the Anchor. That seems to be their primary objective. The conquest of the world is just the way they chose to conduct their quest. Indeed, I'm convinced that they actually know where the Anchor is... and their offensives elsewhere are just plain diversions, to lure troops away from their real objective." Elelyon calmly answered, leaving Killer grimacing in horror at the thought of a world-shattering war being just a diversion. A complete, cruel and shameless waste of lives. "Then, where is their target...? We need to know it, to deny it to them."

Elelyon looked surprised at his question, blinking and tilting his head to the side in confusion... before smiling in mild amusement as he observed: "Oh, Killer. You've been away from home for too long, I fear. You should know where the Anchor is. Your family has guarded it for centuries."

"What...?" Killer asked, recoiling in surprise and confusion... before his eyes widened as he remembered the secret that the Royal Family of Kesteven had passed down from father to son for countless generations. His father had shared that secret with him when he was still a kid, and he had sworn to defend it for all his life, and then entrust the task to his sons. "The Ice Eden...?"

"That's how you call it? Nice, I like it." Elelyon amusedly commented. Killer had vague memories of his first and only visit inside the secret temple, not far from the North Pole, hidden deep into the perennial ice, many hundreds of feet beneath the surface. A vast, beautiful temple had been carved in the ice over the years, creating a vast holy space around an incredible underground forest full of flowers, green plants, enormous and luscious leaves, vines and shrubbery. It was an incredibly beautiful and mystic place, and back then Killer had spent weeks thinking about those vines stretching for hundreds of feet up from the floor of the great temple towards its dome roof, so far above. But he was young, and his mind had soon been filled by other and more pressing thoughts: it was soon after learning of the temple that Killer had sex for the first time, impregnating the two strapping servants that had always oiled and massaged his powerful body at the end of each day. After that first adventure, Killer's interest had firmly shifted to another kind of flower and the temple had never before gotten his attention.

Kesteven was very devoted to the Ice Eden even though few knew where the temple was and even fewer had the courage and physical strength to travel across the arctic to visit it. What mattered to everyone was knowing that there was life there, in the white, cold wasteland. Even under all that ice, where nothing should have been able to survive, nature thrived and colorful flowers blossomed all year round. It was considered a sign of the gods' predilection for the Northlands, and for Kesteven in particular. The royal family of Kesteven was tasked with ensuring the safety and the flourishing of the forest in the arctic: if the flowers failed to grow big and beautiful, it was a sign that the king was losing the gods' favors. For countless centuries the heroism, the strength and the virility of Kesteven's kings had been valued in conjunction with the splendor of the Ice Eden, and each king had expanded the temple by adding a new floor, ever larger and ever more glorious and elaborate that the ones that had been chiseled before. The result was a conical tower that grew larger and more beautiful the deeper one ventured. In more recent times religion had lost much of its traction and the interest in the temple and in its forest had largely waned, yet Killer knew that his father had long been presiding over the work of a team of artists that was adding a new floor, his floor, to the great structure.

"I take it that you don't remember much from your visit, Killer, but the forest that your people has always loved and protected grows on and around the trunk of the Holy Tree. The flowers and vines cover its bark, and spread around it in the large cave-like floors that your grandfathers and ancestors have added over time. All of them praying that, as they dug deeper into the ice, they would still find green and luscious life. It would have been ominous to reach a sterile area... but thankfully, that is impossible. You can dig for many more millennia before finding the fracture in Reality that the tree grows through." Elelyon quietly added, looking amused as he pulled up his hand and conjured a small sphere of energy above his palm, before the shape of a tree cut through it. "The Holy Tree you destroyed in Heaven was merely the top of the very same immense life form. Its trunk is the spine of the Mortal Plane and its roots are Hell's roof. And even with its crown destroyed, the Holy Tree lives and keeps this corner of the universe stable."

"This explains the RA's offensive northwards. Its attempt to capture Kesteven and Glacial and its expeditions in the arctic ice... all they ever wanted was that temple." Alexis calmly said, and Killer made a grimace before admitting: "I never cared much about the RA's troops moving towards the North Pole. Apart from the uranium mines of Syrtis, I thought, there is nothing up there, let them waste their troops... What a fool. I almost forgot my promise."

"Your father hasn't forgotten his own, and he is keeping his guard high." Elelyon comforted, before closing his hand, causing the image he had created to vanish away in motes of energy that quickly dissolved. "He directed an attack on Syrtis and kicked them out of the uranium mines, which doesn't hurt. And he has elements of his guard patrolling the ices of the Arctic. With your empire in the way, the RA can't get to the north pole without your forces stepping in the way..."

"But they could come from the east, over the ocean." Adrasthea completed, her sharp mind quickly connecting the dots and revealing the drawing. "That's why they built the Judge and that immense fleet of warships. All other approach routes are sealed... but the Judge's fleet can blast any mortal fleet, fortress or army into bits and land troops directly on the arctic pack."

"Lunis is not the target, but just a nuisance on their path." Killer said, as the situation became clear in his mind. "They want to bombard Lunis into submission and sail right past, moving north along the eastern coast of Ire and then past the Seahall peninsula, right into the Arctic sea. They will force the channel of Syrane and land their troops not on Kesteven's shore, but directly on the ice."

"That's what they plan, at least. We will sink their entire fleet before they can even touch Lunis." Mriya growled, and Elaine nodded in agreement, crossing her powerful arms on her chest, her massive musculature flexing spectacularly.

"I have no doubt that you can deal with their entire fleet, no matter how much work and resources they poured into it. No matter how immense the Judge is, I know you can sink it without effort, Mriya." Elelyon kindly offered, but then he returned his gaze to Killer's eyes as he added: "But there are worse threats out there than just the RA's fleet. You can bet that Sikanjal is preparing to lead the assault... probably she's having Satan's tail welded to her own body to increase her powers tenfold. As soon as she's ready, she'll strike."

"And we don't know what Thanathos is planning, either." Vesta cautiously reminded, and Adrasthea made a grimace as she added: "If we are right, and we almost certainly are, and he actually fully controls the Reapers unlike what he has claimed for centuries, he is going to prove a real pain in the ass."

Elelyon looked mildly entertained at that, snorting quietly as he gazed at the goddess and commented: "In the old days, I would have never heard such words coming from your mouth."

"I'm a bad influence." Vesta and Killer said, almost in unison, before looking at each other in confusion that immediately turned into laughter, while Adrasthea blushed slightly. Elelyon, however, waved his hand dismissively and reassured: "I'm not here to judge. It is no crime, and... really, I'm just happy. I'm happy to see that all of you have found your paths and your happiness."

"Going back to the serious things, the thought of facing the Reapers on the battlefield truly is a scary one. If they swarmed us, it would be a real problem. They can't just reap our life away like they can with mortals or with low-tier supernaturals, but they will drain even us down to husks if enough of them lodge their scythes into us." Vesta finally said, bringing them all back on point.

"They will try, for sure... but when, how and why is unclear. Do you think Sikanjal and Thanathos are working together? Are they taking orders from Lord Skyfall? Will they come out of hiding to stab us in the back when the Swarm arrives...?" Alexis asked, slamming her fist into her palm in frustration, again and again, glaring down at the floor without seeing it. "I don't understand what we are fighting against. Are they one and the same, or is it truly a death match in which everyone is playing for its own interests, while Skyfall looks on from the dark corner and laughs at us all?"

"I do not have an answer to that question, I'm afraid." Elelyon quietly replied, before closing his eyes to lean back into the cushion as best he could, suppressing the shivers that had begun to rattle him as Diana worked to clean another of his wounds. "But I can give you my opinion: Thanathos and Sikanjal aren't working together. Or better, they weren't until recently, at least. Think back to when Sikanjal used Shi to set Gaia loose against the Divine Tree: that, I will let you know, is the only Anchor to have been destroyed so far. But it was no incident: I believe its destruction was meant to be a double test, probably devised by Lord Skyfall. By destroying the Anchor he was able to confirm that each obelisk contains an immense amount of energy, and that their destruction implies catastrophic consequences. By ensuring that you were right there..." Elelyon said, turning back towards Killer and lightly touching his knee. "... he also gained the proof that you can truly absorb that terrifying energy inside you. He proved, in a way, that you are the Amon Ra of the prophecy."

"He wanted me to become stronger...?" Killer incredulously asked, but even before Elelyon replied he began to see what the god meant.

"That is just a side-effect from his point of view, and one that he clearly thinks he can work around. Lord Skyfall wanted to make sure that you hold the answer he needs. Had the test ended in failure, he would have still gained your death from it. The loss of Heaven, Hell and earth did not concern him in the slightest. His plan implies apocalypse, in any case, so it's not like the world would survive as it is."

Killer made a grimace of disgust at that, while Alexis only nodded, cold and focused, before saying: "Thanathos almost screwed the test up, though. He hadn't been told what would happen... that's what you are saying."

"Yes. When Thanathos attacked Killer, Lord Skyfall probably had a stroke. You were absorbing the energy from the broken Anchor, proving that it can be done and that the ability to do so is within you... and Thanathos almost destroyed you, right in that moment." Elelyon confirmed, smiling at the empress with appreciation before going back to Killer. "Thanathos had no clue what was happening, and risked destroying the Answer forever. That is one of the nasty counter indications of working through others, without trusting them and without sharing your plan with them."

"A very dangerous game." Alexis muttered, leaning forwards with a frustrated sigh, elbows resting on her knees, her muscles flexing so beautifully with every little movement that Killer found himself staring at her even in that special circumstance... and even Elelyon frequently gazed up at her, his eyes betraying amazement at her beauty and power, his expression betraying even a hint of reverence whenever her huge biceps bulged. "Lord Skyfall is the mind behind all this mess... he's never had the guts to come out and fight in first person, but nobody can doubt his cunning. He was able to manipulate everyone into this perverse game... and still we can't spot all of the strings he pulled and continues to pull."

"For a son will rise against his father, nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; earthquakes will shatter the earth and demons will march through the cracks. God will be gone, and Hell will devour Heaven." Elelyon quietly chanted, and when Killer frowned at him he offered a tiny smile and explained: "A passage of Azura's prophecy about the Endwar, the war to end all wars."

"If the son is Riaku, she had seen the future with great accuracy." Killer murmured, and god gave a little nod. "As I said, Azura's clairvoyance was unmatched, unlike anything else I've ever witnessed. She also said: And so shall waters turn to blood like that of the dead, and every living thing in the depths shall die. And so shall a red sun rise, and it has power to scorch the people with fire. And so shall the earth turn black and barren, and all upon it shall die."

"This is the part we have to cancel. It must not happen." Killer firmly said, and Alexis and the other goddesses nodded with equal determination. "Soon I will make my move against Typhon. And the Righteous, if they refuse to stop their nonsensical bitching and drop their weapons. They can hate me if they want... but in silence, and while behaving. Do you think that Juggernaut will listen to you? If he stood aside everything would be easier."

"Juggernaut is not evil, but... he is tied to unyielding laws that are part of the magic that keeps him alive. He will rise to protect Heaven, and Heaven right now means Typhon. He has the throne. He has the keys. Juggernaut won't like it, but he won't have a choice. And there is no way to change his essence now... had it been possible, I would have freed him from his torment many millennia ago." Elelyon murmured, his eyes filling with tears as he stared at the ceiling, thinking of that colossal being, created to put an end to the Great Rebellion but condemned to a sad fate, a slave to his own uncontrollable power, forced to hide underground and be forever drained of some of his energies to be able to sleep. Gaia dropped her head forwards and looked at her hands as they tormented one of the leather straps of her corset, and Killer saw her shoulders rattled by a silent sob. She had helped create Juggernaut, and now she knew that the unlucky "child" was going to die... or kill them, without being able to control his actions and make a free and conscious choice.

"Don't be too hard on yourselves, you two... you did the best you could. I was there, and we were out of choices." Vesta gently said, looking at the two divinities and offering both a reassuring smile, before hesitatingly adding: "And be prepared for the worst, because... we have to be realistic. Typhon will have spent all this time trying to turn Juggernaut into his super-weapon. He... probably won't be the same Juggernaut you remember."

"I'm afraid you are right." Gaia sadly concurred, before looking towards Killer with an apology in her eyes. "It is terrible to think that this fight has to happen and will happen... but we have to win. I want you to stand, safe and victorious, at the end of the day ahead of us."

"I'm sorry, again, for all of this... Sorry that my creature is going to fight against you. Sorry that my creature has to die. Sorry that my creature won't have the chance to shape his future. But painful as it is, it is a necessary step. This war is putting everyone to the test... and failure is not an option." Elelyon whispered, heart-broken yet determined, his cheeks streaked by tears but his eyes looking into Killer's with firm determination. And then, god shifted uneasily in the couch and sat up a bit higher against the cushions, spreading his legs when Diana softly asked him to do so, allowing her to continue working on a wound that tore down near the groin and, Killer noticed with horror, went down along the inner thigh and reached past the knee. "My shape is miserly, I know..." Elelyon said, but he did his best to sound playful and serene about it. "This is my part in this war, Killer. Gaining time for you to prepare for the final clash. I've carried it out as best I could. I assure you that no effort has been spared. As you undoubtedly already understood, I've told you my story from the beginning because I want you to know that I did not fight alone. There have been others... there are others... friends that you will never know, and that I will never meet again... Creators that have rallied together to resist and fight back the Swarm as it formed, as it grew, and most recently as it joined up in one single, immense formation."

"None of us will ever forget yours and their efforts. This I can promise." Killer replied, taking god's hand in his much larger ones and squeezing it with affection and gratitude.

"My old friends... they were the ones who saw the storm forming at the horizon. They warned me about the first signals broadcasted in space by "Lord Skyfall". They kept me informed as the first few gods began to listen to those messages, which talked of hidden obelisks containing immense power. I immediately started to track the signal, in the hope of localizing whoever was basically appealing to the darkest and wildest ambitions of every god in the universe..."

"And that's why you so often were missing from the war councils when the lords of Hell began to attack us..." Vesta quietly realized, looking at him with softness as she realized that he had had good reasons for his distraction and frequent absences. "I wish you had... just told me."

"I should have told you, Vesta... but as I said, someone in our world had already betrayed us all, and I... decided that I could trust no one. Not even you. Not on such a deadly matter." Elelyon replied, and the sadness on his face was eloquent. Killer felt a profound sympathy for god, because he had suffered immensely in his life, and had spent the last few millennia carrying an enormous weight on his shoulders, all alone. Yes, part of it was due to his mistakes... but who was Killer to condemn such mistakes? He had made his own, and some of them were simply horrendous.

"I failed to localize the signal's origin. It took me a long time scouting in space just to track down satellites and repeating nodes, which only ever led me to other satellites. Time ran out on me: several gods in various corners of the universe had decided to that Lord Skyfall's story was interesting enough to warrant experiments, and the aggressions began. Planet after planet was assaulted, plundered and then shattered, broken piece by piece until the first few obelisks came to light. My friends called me into battle to help defend the endangered worlds, and the research of the signal had to take a back seat."

"I can imagine that things have just started going downhill really fast once the obelisks have been found, proving the rumors right..." Alexis guessed, and god nodded in bitter, sad confirmation.

"More and more gods began to assault nearby worlds to reveal the Obelisks. Some of them tried to break the Anchors and extract power from them, but all they obtained was a very painful death... but that only proved how great the power inside the obelisks was, and that in turn set even more gods into motion. Resisting became more and more complex with each year that passed... Our group started thinning out. I've seen my friends fall, one by one. Lately, with the enemy gods beginning to move in enormous fleets, our chances of achieving anything meaningful have been zeroed. The few of us that remained were wrecked, covered in wounds and exhausted after centuries of fighting... So we broke up. My last few friends insisted to go back to their home worlds and make their last stands there. I could ask no more from them... and... and... they have every right to... see their homes one... one last time."

Elelyon clenched his hands into fists and turned his face away, burying it into the backrest of the couch for a few long moments, desperately trying to silence his sobs, that Killer could guess from how his back flexed and shuddered. They all traded a silent look, full of sadness, and did their best to show their respect and support. There were no words to be said, and few actions to be done. Killer, Alexis and the others gently gripped into Elelyon's shoulder and arm and side and leg, letting their energies do the talking as they tried to soothe his agony. The contact, they hoped, would convey their support more than anything they could ever say. "I... craved to return home myself, of course..." God finally said, his voice trembling a bit still as he slowly rolled over to face them, with a desperate apology in his eyes. "But I decided I had to find Lord Skyfall once and for all, so I resumed tracking his signals... and they ended up bringing me back home themselves, as I said before. It was a discovery that filled me with despair and bitterness. It made me feel like every sacrifice we made was... a waste. He is here, somewhere... he probably always was here, all along, but his communication system made it impossible to catch the narrowband source signal. And still, I cannot find him. I cannot tell who he is. I've failed... I've failed again and again, and the weight of my failure falls upon the shoulders of everyone."

"Your successes have pushed us all upwards through the evolutionary process, however. Your kindness has given us Heaven; your good heart has given everyone a chance of redemption. We have accepted your many gifts with glee... and now we won't leave you alone. We will take that burden and help you carry it." Vesta reassuringly said, gripping his shoulder and squeezing gently on it, smiling warmly as she leaned forwards and kissed his forehead, leaving him gaping lightly, surprised and confused, but also filled with soothing, welcome warmth that he had forgotten too many years before. "Welcome back, Elelyon. And thanks for all you did. You are not alone; always keep that in mind from now on."

"Thanks, Vesta..." Elelyon murmured, looking amazed by her tact and softness, and when the goddess caught Gaia and Ira also looking at her in shock, she grumbled and crossed her arms on her chest, glaring at them. "Shut those damn mouths! What are you gawking at...?"

"Your... well. Your words. They were beautiful." Ira answered, and Gaia blushed softly, looking down at her lap with an amused little smile, admitting: "Living in close contact with your loud self makes us forget that you are also a poet and a writer and everything."

"One of us sluts here has actual talent." Vesta stated, pretending to be angry, but a moment later she wrapped her arms around the shoulders of both goddesses and playfully tackled them down into the couch. It gave Elelyon a wide and sincere smile, and Killer found himself smirking as well, looking at the females around him with adoration and with true gratitude for their company. He could not imagine his life without them.

"My Seal has yet to be broken, I see." Elelyon said after a moment, returning his attention to Killer, and the liger looked away guiltily, nervously rubbing a hand down the side of his strong neck. Elelyon had sacrificed so much to gain precious time for him to train and overcome the Seals and his own limits, and he hadn't been able to properly exploit the chance.

"I'm working on it. Sekhmeth is helping me grow stronger and more capable." Killer said, and the reptilian god nodded silently, pondering on the fact for a few moments before gazing sideways at him.

"Yeah, I'm sure that Sekhmeth is enthralled by you... you are her ideal god, that's for sure. She never had a high opinion of me, at least on the physical side, and I cannot blame her. After seeing you, I have no trouble admitting that I don't look the part. But I must warn you, Killer: be careful around her. Her adoration for you is without a doubt sincere... yet that doesn't necessarily imply that her aims overlap yours. She doesn't dream only of power and strength, but of their merciless, selfish application over the world. She likes you large and in charge... but her idea of "in charge" might prove to be excessive; not compatible with the path you have chosen to follow." Elelyon cautioned, before pulling up both hands almost in apology. "Believe me, I don't want to downplay Sekhmeth, put her in a bad light for the sake of it or ruin the relationship between you two in any way. I can assure you that I'm not speaking out of jealousy or envy... just experience. She could still end up biting your hand, even while you are feeding her hungers and needs. She is wonderful in many ways... and terrible in others."

"Killer keeps me in line... he will keep Sekhmeth in line as well." Alexis confidently said, and Killer smiled at her with love and gratitude, while Elelyon snickered a little and nodded, taking another long look at her.

"I'm sure that you keep him hard at work, and if you ensure he is well tested, I can only believe to it. Still, Sekhmeth is a beautiful but dangerous creature, so I can only recommend caution."

Killer accepted the suggestion, easily able to see that there was more than a little truth in it, but he assured: "I'll keep it in mind, Elelyon, but we have been careful around her, honestly. I've never really spent time alone with her. Someone else has always stood guard nearby."

"Ira's suggestion, I bet." Elelyon observed, smiling at the cobra and bowing his head slightly. "You've always been smart and wise. You impressed me when we met... I knew you'd be able to realize your dreams. And now here you are, Seraphim, Goddess, Demoness, High Queen of Hell. All of that, and more."

"Sincerely, being the High Queen of Hell was never part of my dreams... but thanks, Elelyon. I'm happy now, and the past is well behind me." The cobra easily replied, and the god smiled at her with sincere happiness. He had met her soon after her arrival in Heaven and her sad story had left a profound impression in him, as had the awareness that enormous difficulties and great hostility laid ahead of her as she worked to become not just an angel, but a Seraphim. Ira had faced terrifying levels of abuse and hostility from angels and benevolents alike; she had dealt with smear campaigns pushed by the Righteous and had always been subjected to the most intense and merciless of scrutinizes. The fact that she had gotten through all that with a flawless operational record and countless demonstrations of excellence was amazing. She was proud of it, and she had every reason to be. Now both Heaven and Hell, by love or by force, recognized her incredible abilities and her matchless determination.

"Can I ask you one thing, Elelyon...?" Killer finally said, with some hesitation and with a barely restrained need for answers. The reptilian god nodded, and the liger couldn't help but blurt out: "Why me?"

"That is a very common question, Killer... and one that is normally incredibly difficult to answer to. Everyone, sooner or later, looks up at the sky and wonders why the tests keep coming, and why they have to be so complex. Countless times I've looked back at the explosion that generated me and the universe, asking why... but I've never found my answer." Elelyon gently breathed, before looking at Killer almost with fatherly affection, lightly patting his muscular leg. "You can get at least part of your answer... the other part, you might never get. Most of us never get it. I wish you good luck, and I hope life will satisfy your curiosity one day. But here is what I can tell you: you are the Amon Ra because you are the apex of evolution."

Killer blinked at that, unsure of whether he was being serious or not and unsure even about whether he should take it as a compliment or not, but Elelyon only smirked in entertainment and then explained: "Your family is not normal, Killer, and I trust that you have known it for all your life. You belong to a race of predators, which from the very beginning of Times has lorded upon the land. A very successful race, that evolved rapidly and impressively, staying ahead of its competitors and bringing many of its rivals to extinction. Tigers grew to be the most powerful dry land predators of earth while the great reptiles withered and died. Your race was for the longest time in competition with dragons, but dragons have not withstood the test of time and evolution. Their numbers dwindled and their evolution stalled. Their descendants, the Drakkai, are a successful race, known for strength and durability, yet tigers are arguably the true winners of the evolutionary race. The Northlands have prospered and dominated most of the world for countless centuries, and the prey species contained you only thanks to a constant technological race. Your breed has the size, the strength, the durability, the speed, the virility to overmatch any other race... but exactly because of that, for the longest time you didn't want to mix with gun powder, rifles, tanks, and everything that followed."

Killer listened with attention, but he struggled not to show his growing impatience. He already knew the history of his race, and he knew that it wasn't the answer. But just when he was about to tell Elelyon to get to the point, Lord God finally said: "Your family always was exceptional even among your people. Your clan rules over Kesteven by an eternity: generation after generation of kings that have always towered over their compatriots, gifted with incredible strength and with unmatched virility. With every new generation, your clan has expanded its margin of superiority... and your open mind has helped make your bloodline stronger yet. While other clans insisted on keeping their blood pure, your ancestors loved lionesses and then even the last dragoness..." Elelyon recalled, tracing a finger down the bone spikes jutting out of Killer's knees, which were perhaps the most visible, but in no way the most important, sign of the dragon blood running in the family. "You've always been gods walking the land of mortals... and that goes for your family too, Alexis. The two most powerful and most ancient clans in the Northlands. Your own people see you as gods, which make you something beyond godlike to the other inhabitants of the world."

"That might be, but clearly there is more than that at play." Alexis countered, and although her voice was kind, Killer didn't miss the tone of impatience and intense curiosity in it. It was the same mix of feelings that burned within his own chest.

"There is... I apologize for taking the long path, but it is important. It is not just me loving the sound of my voice." Elelyon easily replied, mildly entertained by their impatience. "Light and Darkness have died and fallen apart Eons ago. Their mutual destruction gave birth to the universe... yet, they have never gone away: their energies still linger among us. Their war continues even now as Creators and Destroyers fight for radically different objectives: the evolution of life through peace; and the evolution of life through an endless succession of destruction and fresh starts. Their spirits choose "champions" to inhabit and empower, forcing us all to stand in two different armies locked in an endless war."

"So..." Killer hesitatingly started, making an idle gesture with his hand as he mused: "So you are telling me that Light and Darkness have... chosen us?"

"Yes. And they have done so in a way that is unprecedented. Do you remember what the prophecy about you says?"

Killer hesitated, struggling to recall the exact words, but as always Alexis was there to fix the problem: "His power is such, he does not fear the Gods. Separated in Light and Darkness, reunited in one body. The world will end and thanks to him start anew in one day."

"Exactly. Light and Darkness have chosen you. Both of them have. Their energies sought the best possible champion and bounded with him. With you. In amounts never seen before." Elelyon confirmed, and Killer and Alexis traded a quiet look, unsure of how they felt about that. The two ancestral gods, the alpha and the omega, had poured their force into them... and they couldn't help but wonder about the price of that blessing.

"Do you believe that Light and Darkness might be... attempting to return to life?" Ira asked, looking straight into Killer's eyes while waiting for the answer, and Elelyon confirmed her suspect.

"Killer and Alexis are unrivalled when it comes to strength and durability. Your bodies are powerful beyond description and can regenerate quickly and absorb energy and organic matter from the world around you, allowing you to rapidly shake off even the worst kind of damage. You are, as I said, evolution: gods far greater than the ones who came before. You are the indestructible vessels that Light and Darkness need in order to re-absorb all their power, all their remains, all what they lost in the Night of Times. Any other body would fall apart in the process, but yours would only grow greater and stronger."

"That means that Lord Skyfall might... he might actually be just a puppet himself. A puppet whose strings are pulled directly by Light and Darkness, who are using him to set apocalypse in motion, so that all energy is released and in easy reach." Alexis said, dropping back into her armchair with a grimace of shock at the immensity of what they were facing. Killer swallowed thickly, feeling all eyes pointed on him, the gazes of his loved ones so intense that he could almost feel them on his skin, but for the moment he only looked down at his own hands, not feeling ready for meeting them.

"That is a fascinating hypothesis, Alexis... Of course, Light and Darkness would not need a Lord Skyfall if they could just convince you to act on your own. But you are determined to defend the world, rather than destroy it... so they need a different plan." Elelyon mused, looking thoughtful and running his fingers down the sides of his chin.

"So our hunger for power, so intense and merciless, has a new explanation." Killer hesitatingly added, looking at the palms of his hands and wondering where his personality ended and where Light and Darkness began. Could Black Killer be...? He looked up and sought Elelyon's eyes, and a thousand words passed between them without the need to speak a single one.

"I know what you are about to ask, Killer, but there is no easy answer." The reptile murmured, looking back with sadness. "I wish I could clear your doubts, but you are the only one who can find the answer. For sure, what you call "Black Killer" is a mixture of your own hungers and those of Darkness. Whether he is a separate entity living within you, or simply one side of your own being, I do not know."

"There is not a "Light" that I can pinpoint... and that worries me, in some way." Killer added, and Elelyon looked at him with sympathy, before offering: "That might simply mean that you've better assimilated Light's essence into what you recognize as yourself. You're trying hard to resist to your own darkness, and that implies shutting out the ancestral one as well."

"So, basically, losing control doesn't just mean we go on a mindless killing spree... it means, potentially, that two long lost gods take away our bodies for good." Alexis bitterly grumbled, and her eyes narrowed as she coldly added: "I would have liked to know this a little earlier."

"I apologize, but I did not know you two back then. I feared that, given this kind of information, you would have hesitated in undergoing the training programme prepared for you." Elelyon quietly replied, gazing at her with an apology in his eyes. "I also didn't expect you'd have to fight so many and so dangerous enemies so early. I wasn't expecting the war to get out of control... I had hoped you'd have all the time to prepare in a safe way."

Alexis made a grimace at that, evidently tempted to snap angrily at the wounded god, but she managed to swallow down her rage and only rested back in her seat with a sigh. Killer silenced his own anger, and it wasn't difficult: he felt so much pity for Elelyon, who had made many mistakes, true, but not for lack of trying or good will. He waited for a few moments, trying to put order in his thoughts, and then he asked: "So, that is why you had us Sealed at birth?"

Elelyon nodded, and his face betrayed relief at the calm tone in the liger's voice, his eyes still searching Alexis with a mix of apology and fear. "When you were born, your phenomenal strength was immediately evident. It was clear to everyone that you were destined to great things... and soon I felt Light and Darkness's essences binding to you, increasing that potential even further. As children, you were not going to be able to control the influence of the ancestral gods, so I thought it necessary to act with great urgency."

"I remember both occasions well." Gaia murmured. "I remember wondering about your call, Elelyon. It felt so wrong and ridiculous to want to put seals on a newborn. I admit, for a brief moment I thought that you were jealous. But then I remember being awed by the immense force I could perceive within the children. Newborns with power to make gods jealous and scared. Too much power... it was way too dangerous, and I was glad to help." Adrasthea and Alcana nodded as well, and the look on their faces told Killer that their reaction back then had closely matched that of the goddess of Nature.

"We must thank you for that decision, then." Killer quietly said, smiling a bit down at the reptile. "Even without two ancestral divinities hidden within my body, I lacked the maturity necessary to control such enormous power... What I did with my strength, even Sealed, demonstrates it." Killer made a grimace, thinking of all the senseless destruction he had caused and shivering when he tried to imagine what he could have done had he possessed his full, divine might back in the days of his arrogant, selfish fury. Alexis nodded in agreement: she had told Killer about her past in the privacy of their bedroom, and there was much that she regretted. "I'm glad we've had a chance to get to this point gradually, even though it wasn't a smooth ride." Alexis confirmed, and Elelyon smiled, looking relieved, before Killer poked his own chest, causing his last Seal to flicker into view, looking like a badly worn out chain, with several of its links very close to snapping apart. He looked down at it, wondering at how something could be so stubbornly resistant while looking so hopelessly frail, and he calmly observed: "But now it is time to shake the last restraints off... when the Swarm arrives, we are going to need every ounce of our strength."

Elelyon nodded in agreement, then hissed as Diana began to wrap his wounds in clean bandages blessed with soothing energies. The goddess smiled at him in apology, but made it clear that it was necessary to ensure a proper regeneration of his flesh within the wounds she had just purified and treated. "Elelyon absolutely needs to rest, now." Diana announced in a tone that left no room for any counter. "You need some sleep, now, or you might never recover from this ordeal. Your energy levels are terribly low, and the poison is so powerful that these wounds will soon open up again. We'll have to go through this process several times if that deadly sludge is to be fully eradicated." She added, looking directly down into the eyes of the reptilian god, who smiled serenely and nodded before gently brushing her bloodied hand. He easily dissolved the blood, the residues of poison and of healing balsams, then squeezed her hand gently between his own. "Thanks, Diana... I'm in debt with you, and I won't forget it." She blushed a bit at that, and told him not to worry about it, while Killer and the others stood up to leave the room, but Elelyon added: "Please, don't go away. I'm afraid I'll have to go against the advice of my healer, and for this I apologize, but...I've been alone for too long. I've been away for way too long. I'd love to speak to all of you, one by one, in private... and I can't wait any longer. I beg you to grant me this blessing... and Killer, Alexis... please, I want to talk to you two first of all."

Killer and Alexis, who had stood up to leave, looked surprised, but nodded and sat down again. Diana looked worried, but when Elelyon gazed at her with a prayer in his bright, pale blue eyes, she sighed and nodded, authorizing that violation but cautioning: "Try not to move too much, and... try to avoid excess stress. You really, really need rest."

"I'll keep it in mind. Thank you, Diana." Elelyon assured, and he watched as the healer joined the other goddesses on the way to the massive double doors of the hall. They all moved out into the corridor, then silently pulled the door closed, and Elelyon took a deep breath, carefully putting his hands upon his devastated abdomen, slowly touching over the profile of his abs, his fingers delicately moving over the bulging, ugly scars, so prominent even through the bandages. "Diana truly is extraordinary... I didn't think anyone would be able to deal with these wounds. All my healing spells failed to achieve anything other than mild and temporary relief." He paused, closing his eyes for a long moment, and Killer and Alexis waited patiently, allowing him to take the time he needed. It took a moment, but soon his tense, exhausted muscles visibly relaxed and the rhythm of his breath normalized, even though his hands still trembled quite evidently. He did his best to hide his agony, but it was clear that the pain was terrible and immensely exhausting. "Diana is wonderful, a real angel. And you, Alexis... you are simply stunning, under every point of view. And your daughters... they adore you. Oh, Killer... I hope you realize how lucky you are. There is no treasure in the universe that is as valuable as that light in their eyes when they talk of you. Vesta, Gaia... they all love you without reserves. And truly, for this I do envy you."

"Thanks. I am immensely thankful for them and for their affection. They are what keeps me going." Killer softly replied, but when Elelyon only smiled and hesitated, clearly looking pained for reasons other than his wounds, he added: "But there clearly is something heavy that you want to get off your chest. We are here, Elelyon, and we will help you as best we can, if you give us the chance."

"I know, but... it is not easy to confess my greatest sin. You see... your success reminds me of my failures. The blessing of daughters and sons that love you and support you... is something I can only dream of. I've lost the right to aspire to that, long ago."

"If you lost that right, Elelyon, then surely I have no rights at all left, with everything I've done...? You are known for your kindness and your willingness to forgive. Everyone knows that you are a good and kind soul." Killer gently replied, offering him a comforting smile, but Elelyon gazed back with an expression of bitter amusement before replying: "You know that there is a secret behind who I am... I saw the realization in your eyes before, when you correctly read the pain on my face. But thank you for your kindness... it touches me that, despite all the things I got wrong, you still have such a good opinion of me." The reptilian god nodded quietly, then closed his eyes and did his best to sit up a bit higher, propping himself against the backrest. Killer leaned forwards and carefully gripped into his shoulder - one of very few areas of his body relatively unscathed - and helped him reach an acceptable position, and Elelyon whispered words of gratitude. Then, finally, he sighed and began to explain: "There is a reason why I always look so peaceful and serene. A reason why my mind is clear and at peace. A reason why my judgment is not clouded by desire and envy... a reason even for my lack of libido, I'm afraid, which I know has generated so much stories over the millennia, and ultimately led some "righteous" to claim that sex is a sin, frowned upon by... well, me. It is my secret, and my crime. A burden that I've carried in guilty silence for all this time."

"You gave your darkness away, didn't you...?" Alexis calmly but severely asked, and Killer frowned in confusion and disbelief while Elelyon, instead, gazed at her for a long moment before bowing his head in shame. "For the longest time, I was terrified by my power because I was aware of the darkness that lived in me. I knew I was nowhere near as pure as I was to be known later. I was often impulsive, instead, and all too often experienced raging emotions and cravings I was unable to fight back. That was part of why I sought the company of other Creators: unlike all other creatures in the universe, they had the strength to stop me if I ever showed the signs of being about to do something stupid. I lived with some Creators who were pure, made only out of Light... those were the true gods! The true holy spirits we imagine in our prayers. They were my mentors and I had no greater wish than becoming just like them; loving fathers who guarded over their worlds with fairness and justice, granting freedom of choice and only nudging, hinting at the right ways to follow, so that life had the chance to develop and evolve without being excessively bent out of shape."

Killer began to guess where they were headed, and for the first time since Elelyon had arrived he felt something like rage swelling within him. He tried not to show it, however, and only calmly observed: "But then, your group split and you were alone again."

"Exactly. I was alone, and despite my best efforts, I couldn't rid myself of the many selfish desires that constantly assailed me. I tampered with developing life way too much; I used young worlds for my experiments, for my quest for knowledge and when rage struck me, most often because of my own failures, I tormented helpless worlds to find relief. When I arrived here, I knew I had to change, once and for all. I had to mature and become what my mentors had taught me. But I did not have the patience to take the long road, and when I met Gaia and the others I... I ended up convincing myself that I could share my burden with them. A little bit of my darkness into each of them... what could possibly go wrong, I told myself. They are seven, and I'm just one. They won't even notice..."

He fell silent for a brief moment and grimaced, horrified by his own cynicism. "I was lying to myself, and I knew it, yet the idea grew more and more alluring every time I thought about it. And in the end, I... I did it. When the seven gods promised to serve and assist me, and I bound them to myself, I passed on my darkness, my lusts, and my doubts. I cleared my mind, at the cost of clouding theirs. And when I realized how dangerous and unfair it was, instead of putting an end to it I decided to... diminish the doses, putting some of my defects and torments into others. Such as Vesta... on her I discharged my lust, since she already was a party girl at heart. I cynically told myself that she could deal with even greater hungers on my behalf..."

Killer gritted his fangs at that, struggling to keep his face composed and stony, and Alexis, right at his side, visibly struggled to contain her own rage. They both felt pity for the Creator and for his long and complex life, for all his suffering, for all what he lost and were thankful to him for all the good he had done, and it couldn't be denied that it was a lot... but that story was truly horrendous, and only the sincere despair and sorrow in Elelyon's teary eyes and in his trembling voice kept them from lashing out at him.

"I'm the most sanctimonious bastard ever to exist..." Elelyon finally muttered, closing his eyes with a cry of disgust at his own actions. "I've spent my life trying to tell everyone how they should live their lives, and I made it seem so easy, so straightforward... I set up that beautiful system of punishment and teaching, so that even the most tainted souls had a chance of redeeming themselves... but all my purity, all my sanctity, all my apparent lack of urges and cravings of any kind were all due to a monstrous sin. An abuse of power. I made it easy for myself, and harder for those around me."

Killer nodded, coldly but without barking out his rage, and Elelyon for a moment betrayed surprise at that composure: he had probably been expecting to be punched in the face at the very least. Part of him even seemed disappointed by the lack of punishment, and that deposed in his favor... and the other part realized that Killer had every intention to see him punished for his crime, but in another and fairer way.

"Why do you tell me this story, Elelyon...? It is not up to me to forgive you for this particular sin. You have to tell Vesta, Gaia and the others. It is up to them." Killer calmly said, and Alexis nodded in agreement, looking down at the god with coldness.

"I don't think such an action can ever be forgiven anyway, but you are right, and I have every intention to talk to all of them. But I had to tell you, as well... it was time for my secret to be revealed. Plus, you are God now, and this is your reign... and above all, you needed to know because you took their burden away when you made them your Disciples. You took the weight off their hearts and shouldered it, so that now you are carrying my own darkness as well as yours and theirs." Elelyon quietly replied, looking at the huge male with sincere admiration and gratitude. "You have behaved like a real God. I failed my test, but you passed yours: you gave freedom to your disciples, instead of taking the easy road. And for that I can only praise you."

Killer sighed at that, resting back in his chair and closing his eyes for a long moment. The words of Elelyon comforted him and made him feel better about himself. He had been full of doubts about the whole idea of taking disciples for himself, but now, finally, he began to truly believe it had been the right thing to do. Not only that, he had done it in the right way, too. He loved his girls, and he wanted to make things better, safer, easier for them. He had only ever wanted to give them safety and strength, to ensure that the world could never make them cry. The burden they carried in his name, they carried out of a true, free choice, and he was always going to be there with and for them, always. He sighed again, and his lips crested in a little smile as Elelyon added: "Thank you, Killer. You've fixed my mistakes. You've shown me that you will lead the world far better than I did, even while your darkness lives in you, because you have enough will to take the difficult road and make hard choices."

"I've not fixed it for everyone, though. Sekhmeth, Lemuel... hell, even Thanathos himself, and Taranis before him... they all carry, or carried, some of your own darkness. I don't think Taranis wouldn't have been an asshole without it, but still... it is so unfair. So disloyal." Killer muttered, and Elelyon bowed his head in shame, nodding in agreement with his words, before murmuring an apology. There wasn't anything else that he could offer: the process could not be reversed at that point. Lemuel had learned to silence his and Elelyon's darkness within him; Sekhmeth probably no, but she liked being exactly who she was. At least she had not faced the same kind of inner struggle as the one that had tormented Gaia for so many centuries.

Silence stretched on for a long time, and it was Killer who broke it, speaking calmly: "I had meant to offer an apology for making Vesta and the others my Disciples but... I hope you understand that I no longer feel like I did a wrong thing. At least, not a wrong to you."

"You did nothing but good, Killer. I had never seen them so happy and so at ease with themselves. You must be proud of what you did. And I know that all of them made their own free choice. In no way could I ever protest about what you did." Elelyon quietly replied, offering a little smile, before blinking in surprise as Killer continued: "I do still want to apologize for... for how I changed the world. For how I made it mine. For the Divine Tree, for Eaglenest, for the conquest of the Mortal Plane and of Hell. For all the ruins and changes you now have to discover."

"You did your best, Killer, facing events that nobody had expected and threats far worse than I had hoped. You had to fight every step of the long walk to here, and break the Seals in a hurry, on the battlefield, in order to survive. It is not what I had planned, and I am the only one who must apologize." The Creator replied, shaking his head slowly and looking at him with admiration. "There can be no doubt at all about you being the Amon Ra, with everything you have accomplished. Your last Seal somehow still resists, yet you are even stronger than I thought you'd be. You've grown and developed in ways that take my breath away. I look at you, and I believe that we can win. That we can endure, and then rebuild."

"I'm sincere when I say that I didn't plan on taking Disciples; I didn't plan to conquer Hell; I never expected to turn Eaglenest into my sanctuary. I didn't want to take your world away... I didn't want to become God." Killer emphatically added, leaning forwards and shaking his head slowly, before his eyes narrowed as he leaned his chin over his fist. For the first time since they had met, Killer truly looked down at Elelyon, and the reptile felt the full weight of his presence, his gaze, his dominance as the liger stated: "But I don't regret doing it, because it kept my loved ones safe. I would do it all again if I had to... and with equal sincerity I must warn you that, now that I've gotten this far, I'm not going to leave. I'm sorry, I really am... but now this is my world. Mine in war, and mine in peace, when I'll finally be able to put an end to this Endwar, as you call it."

Elelyon couldn't help but shiver a little, for the very first time feeling dwarfed and cornered, but he relaxed immediately, smiling sincerely and leaning one hand over the liger's knee. "As I already said, you are God now. I have no intention at all to question your authority. You have not just conquered, but deserved this throne though your actions." He paused, then looked down at himself and almost snickered, shaking his head slowly before adding cheerfully: "And even if I wanted to take it back, I couldn't. Sure, I could still teach you a thing or two, but in terms of raw strength, there is no contest. And even if I wasn't wounded, that would not be any different. I don't know why my Seal hasn't shattered yet... you are far stronger than I ever imagined you'd get. All the unplanned battles, and the destruction of Heaven's Anchor, and all the strength that comes from your disciples have piled up within you... it is extraordinary."

Killer had to give Elelyon one thing: he was exceptionally humble. It was very clear that he could have taught him far more than "a thing or two", and the fact that he had somehow entered the Spire avoiding all defences was testament to that. He couldn't help but smile at him: for all his mistakes, Elelyon truly was a creature of kindness and curiosity, not attached to power itself but rather to the knowledge and wonderment it could bring. "I suspect, Killer, that the Seal would have snapped long ago had it depended solely on the force I infused it with..." Elelyon added, reaching forwards slowly, almost reverently, brushing one of the ethereal, glowing chain links with two long fingers... and he winched as he was immediately zapped by a violent crackle of pure energy. "Yep, these definitely are not my energies anymore." The god exclaimed, shaking his hand with a little grimace of pain that immediately turned into a wide, amused smile. "This is surprising... and yet, it is not. I think the truth is that I've listened to Typhon way too much. I must admit that part of me believed his stories and warnings about the Amon Ra being a power hungry brute. I owe you another apology, for you clearly are nothing of the sort."

"Power hungry I certainly am." Killer easily replied, but Elelyon smiled softly and held up a finger, which was smoldering and evidently burned from the brief contact with the Seal, even though the god cheerfully ignored that detail. "That might be, Killer, but your mind is strong and your determination unwavering. The Seal isn't snapping because your own energies are keeping it whole. You are deliberately restraining yourself and putting limits to your growth because you are aware you are not quite ready. Yes, you crave power... but not at all costs. And that makes all the difference."

Killer slumped a bit in the chair, reaching up to idly stroke over the ethereal chain, and it didn't hurt him in any way. It was incandescent, but it felt merely warm against his palm. He told himself he was surprised by Elelyon's words, but the truth was that they were not particularly disconcerting. If he was honest with himself, he had to admit he had always suspected it. Every day his power only grew greater now, and then more he learned to control, the more it grew. The original Seal had shattered a long time before. Now it was all up to him, and to no one else.

"The Swarm is immense, Killer, but your strength is unrivalled. That there is a Swarm at all; that all those gods with conflicting objectives have formed an uneasy alliance to face you en masse is a sign of how much they fear you. It is the measure of your strength... So, please, exploit every last day, minute and second we have left. Grow your power even further, and when the Swarm comes, flex your right and scatter them through space." Elelyon urged, looking at him with a prayer in his eyes. "I've lost so much because of them... so many friends. Don't let them come for this world. Don't let them win."

"I will do everything it takes to crush them." Killer promised, and Elelyon smiled in relief, and then turned around a bit to lay on his back, looking up at the ceiling as he softly said: "I will help you in any way I can, but in combat I'm not going to be worth much at this point. Diana did a splendid job on my wounds, healing damage that I thought irreversible, but I don't think she's told me everything... I know I won't survive. She has given me some more time, and for that I'm grateful, but I don't think I will ever recover. At some point... I'll move on."

"My daughter went through the same kind of hell, but she made it through. Now she is stronger and more beautiful than ever." Killer urgently said, trying to comfort and reassure the reptilian god, but Elelyon, truth be told, seemed completely serene about his conditions and his fate. He accepted it all. He welcomed it all, almost. Elelyon nodded quietly and smiled, musing: "Mriya, yes... she is truly a dream. Spectacular and beyond description, in so many ways. But her healing required her to become your Disciple... and I don't think that I should take that path." The god smiled sadly, and then turned to gaze up into the liger's eyes with sincerity, urgently clarifying: "Not because it wouldn't honor me, or because I consider it degrading or anything, Killer, I'm not suggesting that and never would! But... I don't think I deserve it; nor do I think I can be the Disciple you need and want. When my time comes, I will accept it serenely, and I will discover what comes next."

Killer sighed a bit at that, looking down at him with concern, but he sincerely didn't know what to say. How to comfort him...? How to... talk about it? Elelyon didn't even look like he needed comfort at all. And so the liger just traded a look with Alexis, before they both stood up from the armchairs and the huge male simply exhorted: "Do not write yourself off just yet, Elelyon. We need your assistance... and Diana will surprise you again, you'll see."

"I don't doubt about the latter point. Her ability is amazing, and I plan on talking to her about it. There is so much in her art, in her knowledge, in her energies that is... unprecedented." Elelyon cheerfully replied, beaming at the idea of discovering and learning, before his expression hardened somewhat, filled with resolve as he added: "And do not doubt, I will pay my debts. I will assist you in every way I can. Before I go, I will do all I can to pay back my debt to all the others, as well."

"Thanks, Elelyon..." Killer quietly replied, and he shifted a bit on the spot, looking down at the much smaller male with concern, unsure about whether he should leave or not. The reptilian divinity came to his help though, smiling warmly and reassuring: "If they decide to beat me, I'll take it. It's not like I don't deserve it... I'm just a bit worried because they. Huh. Are a lot more muscular than I remembered." Killer smirked at that, snickering, and Elelyon waved a hand lightly and reassured: "I'll be fine. Please, leave me... and tell Gaia to come inside. I think that, for many good reasons, she should be the first. Even though I suspect Vesta won't treat me kindly for it."

Killer and Alexis saluted him, and even the empress treated him with kindness, if not even with a bit of affection, despite the rage that had swelled into her because of his confession. It was just very hard to dislike the Creator. Even his flaws made him likeable... indeed, Killer reasoned, they were the main reason why he both pitied and admired the ancient god. The two lovers walked up to the door, and there they stopped for a moment as Elelyon called.

"I'm sure you already figured it out by yourselves... but it is probably better not to advertise my return. This is no longer my world. Few will care about me at this point... and I don't want some of those few ending up adding to the many problems we already face. That's why I came directly here, and tried to be seen by fewer persons as possible."

"Yes, I guess it is the wise thing to do. Especially while you are still weak and exhausted." Alexis agreed, nodding to him reassuringly. They had no intention of letting too many people know.

"Shouldn't we tell the Seraphims, at least...? They are still loyal to you, and will rejoice for your return." Killer asked, but he immediately regretted it, closing his eyes and grunting before muttering: "Of course. Don't say it. Vesta, the mental link, the shared knowledge. They already know. Let's pretend I never asked."

Elelyon smiled amusedly at that and nodded, but Alexis flatly asked: "You know that the secret is soon going to be leaked, right...? Too many know about it, already."

"It is to be expected. But every moment of peace preserved is precious." Elelyon easily replied, and they could only agree with the sentiment. They stepped out of the massive double doors and allowed them to silently slide closed while they took a look at the corridor filled with people. Vesta and Gaia were the first of the queue, the queen of Seraphims leaning back against the column right by the door and the goddess of Nature standing in front of her. They had clearly been talking of the old times, of the good and of the bad days, but now they looked up to Killer with love, their eyes reaffirming their promise to him and assuring him that, whatever Elelyon had to say, their choice was made. Their collars glowed with their energies and with the intensity of their dedication, and he could only smile back at them with adoration and gratitude.

"Gaia, he wants to talk to you first." Killer announced, and Vesta, unsurprisingly, grumbled a bit under her breath, crossing her powerful arms on her chest. The snow leopardess smiled in amusement at that, and supportively squeezed Vesta's wrist before going in.

"What does he have to say, after such a long and complete silence...?" Vesta asked, and although there was anger in her voice, the dominant sentiment was a mix of concern and curiosity. Killer considered his options, not without pain, and then simply hugged her and replied, in as neutral a voice as he could produce: "You'll hear it soon. There are reasons why he wants to see you all, one by one."

"Uhm." Vesta only replied, and he took it as a clear sign that she had guessed that something unpleasant was incoming. Thankfully, she also realized that he was trying to protect her and only squeezed him harder, without asking anything else. Before letting him go she kissed his cheek and firmly said: "I love you, and only you. I care for Elelyon, but you are the only one that truly matters. And this is your world, and whoever tries to mess with you is my enemy."

Killer kissed her forehead and smiled warmly at her as she finally let him go, and he moved slowly down the line, stopping to hug Alcana and rub a hand over her pregnant, swollen belly; and then Adrasthea, and then the others. He stopped to trade a few words with Diana, who was hugging herself moodily, leaning with her back against the wall, lost in her thoughts. She beamed immediately when he approached, however, and buried her face in his chest when he hugged her, whispering words of gratitude for her intervention. He hesitated for a moment, then closed his eyes with a sigh and just went ahead: "Elelyon says his wounds and poisoning are not going to go away. Is it true...?"

"So he knows...?" Diana asked, alarmed, before looking down with a saddened look. "I hoped to keep the gravity of his conditions a secret, but... I guess I should have known he would have seen it all clearly. Yes, Killer, his conditions are critical. I will do everything I can to save him, but dozens of different gods have hit him with uncountable spells and poisons and weapons. Believe me, all the scars and wounds we saw are nothing compared to the ones he forced closed himself, over and over again. When he says that he has been fighting for all this time he does not lie. His body is badly damaged and his regenerative abilities are worn out and compromised. I can help him... but I really don't know if I can help him enough, with how many different poisons and malignant, negative energies have been pumped into him. There is stuff in there that I cannot eradicate."

"I will help you as well, Diana... you'll see, we'll get him back on his feet." Killer reassured, but the concern in her eyes worried him a great deal, because she was the authority when it came to health and healing. He could supply her with energy; he could also absorb some or all of those devastating forces at work within Elelyon's body and they would only make him stronger... but the real magic was nonetheless in her hands and in her knowledge. It wasn't going to be any good if he devoured the poisons but damaged Elelyon's body irreversibly in the process.

Diana nonetheless looked relieved and smiled warmly before kissing his lips, taking his cheeks in her hand as she whispered: "With you at my side, nothing is impossible. I will put together a plan."

He left her a moment later, and he couldn't help but be thankful for the silence beyond the double doors: Gaia was a peaceful and loving creature most of the time, but since her two "halves" had merged and she had become his Disciple she had gotten much more passionate and much more willing to express her feelings, also through her terrifying strength. The silence, hopefully, meant that her kindness was letting her deal with Elelyon's confession in a serene way.

Killer and Alexis stopped when they met Lemuel, who nervously shifted his weight from foot to foot, impatient to meet his friend and his god after a long and painful separation. The blacksmith god, the bringer of light, the most incorruptible of all divinities, looked as anxious as a student waiting to enter the professor's office for an important and much dreaded exam. His sincere, kind amber eyes kept going to the huge door, impatient to see it opening, and Killer couldn't help but smile a little as he saw that the golden breastplate and the white leather kilt and boots of the lion were simply scintillating: it was another sign of how much the god of Light cared about that unexpected but welcome return, since normally the lion would always have some coal dust visible on his garments, on his bare abs and on his powerful, huge arms. There was not the usual scent of coal smoke either, and the mighty golden hammer hang from the god's large belt, cleaned and polished with equal attention. Lemuel had, more than anyone else, been always convinced that Elelyon would return and now, finally, the day had arrived. Killer treasured the privilege of calling the lion his friend, because Lemuel truly was a creature of loyalty and goodness: always kind and helpful to everyone; always ready to help, no matter how humble the task; always willing to listen and give second chances. The only time when their friendship had almost fallen apart was when Killer and Gaia destroyed the Holy Tree... but that was objectively an immense and terrifying sin they had committed. Lemuel had still granted them his pardon after realizing that the alternative was seeing Gaia, and perhaps many others, dead, however, and then he had helped Killer re-forge Wyvern into her current shape. He was an invaluable ally, a literally tireless worker and an artisan of unrivalled skill and abilities, and for all that Killer admired and respected him. He had often been sidelined and overruled as a component of the Council of the Seven Gods, and his natural kindness had too often been mistaken as weakness, but Killer had rapidly learned that he was actually very wise and that his advice was often invaluable when difficult decisions, especially those with deep moral implications, needed to be taken.

Lemuel was Killer's ideal of goodness and fairness... yet, even inside him lurked a core of darkness, one that Elelyon had forced inside him without asking any permission. That only amazed Killer even more, though, because even with that darkness inside him, Lemuel had always kept true to his principles.

"Hey." Killer quietly said, taking the lion's wrist in his hand and squeezing lightly, and the blacksmith turned to the side with a bit of a jump caused by being taken out of his anxious tranche. "Lord Killer! How is he...? I heard he is very seriously injured." Lemuel urgently asked, even as he offered his right arm to the liger, who gladly took it, their hands squeezing each other's huge bicep. That was an ancient alternative to the more common shaking of hands, and Lemuel liked to use it, while for Killer it was part of life-long customs as it had never fallen out of fashion as salute between warriors in the Northlands.

"Diana treated his wounds and bandaged him up. He's in rough shape, but... you know her. If it can be healed, she knows how to heal it. He is alive and aware and everything, and full of spirit." Killer answered, trying to sound confident. He didn't want to worry Lemuel if he could avoid it. It was up to Elelyon to tell his friend about his conditions... even though, undoubtedly, Lemuel was going to try and squeeze information out of Diana herself. Kindly, but inexorably.

"I'm glad to hear it!" The lion exclaimed, and there could be no doubt about the sincerity of his relief. "I look forwards to hearing what he wants to tell me... when they told me he had returned, I couldn't believe it! After all this time...!" He paused, shaking his head in amazement... and then he smiled widely and snapped his fingers, remembering something else. "Hey, speaking of good news... I was in the stables before this started. I've found a few fire-mares and managed to capture them!"

"Seriously? It is awesome!" Killer exclaimed, genuinely incredulous. They had talked months before about whether it would ever be possible to find mates for Ruin and Wrath, so to generate some foals of fire-horse. The massive, supernatural steeds were the only creatures, together with dragons, that Killer could ride due to his own imposing sizes, and given the impact that Ruin had in battle when launched in a charge it would have been formidable to gift mounts of similar power to Vesta and the others. Killer hadn't even been sure if anything like Ruin and Wrath existed anywhere in the universe, but Lemuel had told him that they came from a very special supernatural breed found on one of Taranis's conquered planets. And now, it seemed, the lion had managed to bring home a few more.

"I've put them in the stables together with Ruin. If he is half as good as you at being a stud, all mares will be full by tomorrow morning." Lemuel cheerfully exclaimed, and Killer smiled widely, delighted by the news. Alexis congratulated the blacksmith, and they spent the next fifteen minutes hearing the story of how Lemuel had tamed the wild horses. Fire-horses couldn't really be captured in another way, after all... you had to establish dominance and gain their trust. Both things were necessary because "putting them in stables" couldn't really hold them in one place at all: the fire-horses could teleport and travel through the folds of reality, literally moving through walls and riding deep underground if they wanted, so they could come and go as they liked. If they didn't trust their rider, they simply ran away from him and never returned. They were incredibly powerful beasts and that made them very demanding: their rider had to be worthy of their strength and of their loyalty.

When they finally parted, Gaia had walked out of her meeting with Elelyon, and Killer had sought her eyes with concern... but she had smiled at him. There was some sadness in her expression, and some rage, but she seemed to have pardoned Elelyon. And with her smile she had thanked Killer with a whole new understanding of everything he had done for her. The gratitude and affection in her gaze were so evident that they made him blush.

He watched as Vesta walked into the hall, making a bit of a grimace and hoping that she would be as understanding as Nature had been... and then he welcomed Lucifer, who stood near the end of the queue, looking half-delighted and half-terrified at the thought of meeting god. "Just don't tell him "I told you so" every few words he speaks, okay...?" Killer playfully recommended, knowing the prideful nature of the ex-Prince of Hell, and Lucifer hurriedly nodded, but did so very seriously and eagerly promising to do as he commanded. By now every word that came from Killer's lips was an order for the fallen-angel, who had completely fallen into flat-out adoration of the huge liger and of his muscular, powerful body.

And then, last in line, was Lilith, on all fours and with her long, heavy chain leash dragging on the marble floor. She immediately scrambled forwards to kiss Killer's boots, singing his praise, and Killer looked down at her with the beginning of a form of affection. He couldn't forget who she had been and what she had done, but now that she was his obedient pet he realized that he was beginning to care for her. He bent forwards and took her gently by the shoulder, helping her on her feet, and she looked up into his eyes in fearful awe and confusion... before she moaned in pure bliss as he softly said: "Stand up, Lily. You don't have to be on all fours... all the time."

It was a very meager concession, yet it meant the world for the slave-goddess, who caressed his massive, masculine chest and leaned forwards to kiss it, his shoulders and his biceps, thanking him again and again between a kiss and another.

"Your Father has returned, Lily. I want you to listen to what he has to say... I want you to behave around him, okay? Not as a pet. Be yourself." Killer softly commanded, and the slave looked at him in surprise and confusion at first... then in gratitude, as some of her intelligence returned to her beautiful eyes. Tears began to swell in them; tears of joy as she hugged him tightly and cried: "Thank you, my Master."

And right in that moment, Sekhmeth reached the top of the stairs and looked at the scene with a grin, licking her lips and agreeing: "Let us all thank our Master, indeed! Because now we can see just how much greater he is than our previous... god."

"Don't be cruel, Sekhmeth." Killer reprimanded, even though it was a gentle comment. "He did lots for us all, and he has been fighting all this time, with immense courage."

"Yeah, yeah..." The lioness countered, shrugging a bit as she walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "But you already know it, stud..." Sekhmeth assured, grinning widely before kissing him. "Elelyon is a good guy, but... my ideal of God is you, not him. Boys get boring when they are too good. You send the shivers down my spine... Ele, the sky bless him, never gave me any."

Killer couldn't help but grin slightly, feeling a wave of heat traveling up his own spine as she ground her spectacular body against him, her powerful quad pushing deliberately against the huge bulge in his pants... but then their hug broke, and he urged: "Be good with him, Sekhmeth."

"I'll try." The lioness playfully replied, before gripping into his enormous bicep, squeezing appreciatively into the hard muscle and restraining him before he could walk past. She gazed sideways at him and warned: "No more delays to your training, though, handsome. When we are done here, we are off to the arena. So get ready... I picked up a few interesting ones. They might even prove to be a challenge."

He nodded, and even though he tried to hide it, his massive musculature flexed and bulged with power and hunger and eagerness. He had had the sex. Now he craved the violence... and the power that the arena allowed him to reap and add to his own.

He was not done growing stronger... and the look that Sekhmeth gave him only added to his hunger, and promised him power, and delight, and triumph.