Aelia was rather pleased, all things considered.

Nearly all her founders had reached their seventh ascension in the blink of an eye -at least relative to low-tier humans or monsters.

Well, almost all of them.

There had been one that had taken his sweet damn time.

But I can't really get mad now, can I?

She was, of course, referring to the Architect. The others had gotten bored of playing the responsible adults early on, staying around only long enough to ensure that those they'd been tasked with looking over were settled before promptly leaving for greener pastures.

The plus side was that they were ascending faster than the Architect was.

The downside was, for her at least, that the birth of civilization was a tremendous boon to her. Every time his little city did something of any significance, she was rewarded with her own influx of energy.

As for the Architect himself, he'd been hidden from her view for several weeks. The Banes had the annoying ability to block her view wherever they were for a rather extensive range. But, if things were going well, then it was around time for-

Oh, there they are.

She'd focused a fragment of her attention on the entrance to the Maw, the local Delve near Ehkorrus. It had been specifically so she'd know when the hunting party returned.

As if waiting for the visible confirmation, she suddenly felt her 'sight' of a portion of the third floor of the Maw return; the influence of the Bane cleared with the Architect's return to the surface.

Going to have to track down wherever it went next, but I'll investigate that later.

While she couldn't actually track the movements of the Banes, she could, at the very least, track the areas that she'd lost sense of, like how a human's hand would suddenly go numb if the blood flow were reduced.

Putting that to the side, she focused on the trio. Instantly, she could tell they'd prevailed, their general demeanor all she needed to guess as much. All three were in surprisingly good shape, and while that wasn't shocking for the Architect's younger apprentice, who could nullify physical damage, the fact that neither the Architect nor his partner beast-

Well, less of a partner and more of a parental relationship, even if the Architect himself does not understand the thoughts of the Auroral Serpent.

-were seriously hurt, suggested they'd had a rather clever plan ready.

This wasn't all that surprising. While the Architect was perhaps the least domineering of her founders from a combat prowess standpoint, he was arguably the most creative and inventive.

Of the seven others, the Primordial Rouge wasn't far behind in that sense, preferring a more guileful approach to a direct conflict. Unlike the Architect, the Primordial Rouge was far more cowardly, willing to abandon something the moment the odds were stacked against him. She wasn't upset with such a cautious mentality; there had been a phrase from the Architect's old universe about caution being the better part of valor, after all. Regardless of her personal feelings on the Rouge's nature, it didn't change that when the going got tough, the Primordial Rouge got going, typically in the opposite direction of wherever the toughness was.

Which is neither here nor there for the moment.

The Architect was examining a black diamond, muttering under his breath as he tossed it from hand to hand. Meanwhile, his younger apprentice rolled his eyes at his 'master.' At the same time, the serpent also attempted to roll her eyes, a rather odd-looking expression based on Aelia's understanding of human expression.

Now, given that she was the world spirit of this planet, she had more direct insight into the inner emotions of the serpent. Thus, it always amused her how the serpent seemed to conflate reverence with minor impertinence due to emulating the actions and attitudes of the Architect's cheeky apprentice. It was an entertaining dichotomy, but also something of minor importance for the moment.

Focusing on the diamond the Architect was tossing about so casually, Aelia metaphorically narrowed her eyes.

Metaphorically, given that she wasn't currently manifesting in a physical avatar, she instead existed as a consciousness of the entirety of the planet.

Void.

Oh, she was quite familiar with the feeling of the void, not because of the Architect Bane, who barely dabbled in the stuff, but because she could feel the void all around her at all times. It was a sort of film, a block, that she was slowly stripping away as her senses grew stronger alongside her ascension progress.

E.O.N is meddeling some more.

Her feelings on the existence, entity -however one would describe the thing known as E.O.N- were still rather complicated. She had existed long before E.O.N., and the universe had been much simpler before it manifested into existence. All there was to know was Ascensions and, with ascension, the ability to claim laws over dominion, to shape reality as one thought fitting.

Then, it was created, and everything became much more complicated between levels and skills, interfaces and events, etc.

And yet, she didn't hate E.O.N. Sure, as a world spirit, it chaffed her to no longer be at the top of the baseline universal hierarchy, but E.O.N. also provided many benefits.

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Such as the black diamond that the Architect was now-

Is he truly juggling a priceless Master-grade item as if it were a common toy?

Ignoring the Architect's purposeful attempts at annoying his apprentice, she resumed her thoughts on the diamond itself.

It was apparent that E.O.N. was seeding the means to accelerate the timeline for the founders to travel outward and potentially come into conflict. The Architect had received an item attuned to the void, allowing spatial travel. The Vanguard of the New Era had received a Horizon Mirror to reflect her across vast distances each morning, the Woodsman had received an Ocean's Nascent Current to zip through the seas rapidly, and so on. It was only a matter of time until they were eventually brought into conflict.

She wasn't against the thought. Conflict would breed growth.

Speaking of which.

With a sigh that didn't truly exist, her conscious mind slipped… elsewhere, a space between spaces, a tethered connection she'd only discovered the last year. Following it, she found herself floating above a large star, the star that dominated their solar system.

"So, the elder sister appears." A voice spoke as Aelia folded her arms, appearing in one of her chosen anthropomorphic forms.

"Younger brother," Aelia nodded curtly to the voice standing across from the formed circle she'd appeared as a part of.

"You're late, elder sister." Another voice said.

"As the eldest, I believe I deserve deference," Aelia said haughtily.

The other seven looked at her with expressions of varying degrees of annoyance. They hadn't gotten the hang of emulating emotions without founders of their own to draw inspiration from. Even so, they had quickly progressed thanks to their connection to her.

Freeloaders.

As for who the seven were, they were, of course, the seven other planets of their solar system, young world spirits. Ordinarily, they shouldn't have been so far along without the same level of advanced life that she had. Still, E.O.N. always loved conflict, competition, and pushing growth, allowing them to grow faster than usual. Typically, such conflict was aimed at things like her founders or monsters, but even world spirits weren't excluded.

"Did you drag me here to brag about how you formed your first bunny? Rather quaint." Aelia taunted. She didn't like them, and they didn't like her, but unlike those who were forced to acknowledge her superiority, she was held to no such standard and could speak down to them if she pleased.

"No," One of the seven announced, a smugness to their voice that annoyed Aelia.

"So what then?" Aelia questioned.

"We wished to meet because of this," another of the seven said before sending her something.

An interface appeared, which Aelia quickly skimmed.

Solar Event: Spirit's Dominion

Description:

Circumstances have allowed one amongst eight to excel beyond the reach of their peers, dominion all but guaranteed. The scales of chance deem such events unfavorable to the fairness of strife.

Details:

Before total Spirit Dominion may be claimed over the solar system, the founders of World Spirit Aelia will be tasked with overcoming the trials of the seven independent world spirits of the solar system ____. Should one or more founders successfully overcome the trials of the seven worlds, the World Spirit Aelia shall be granted dominion over the current solar system. In the event no founder prevails, the Ascension foundation, essence, and ego of World Spirit Aelia shall be rendered into seven shares and split based on the participation success of each world spirit.

ETA:

Ninety-nine years, eight months, fifteen days, two hours, forty-five seconds.

If Aelia was truly flesh and blood, she knew her blood would be boiling as she looked at the event.

"You petitioned E.O.N., didn't you?"

The look of smugness gave her all the answers she needed.

Parasites.

This event… it was a death sentence if she lost, somewhat literally. Everything she had earned would be torn apart, split between the vultures that were her brethren.

All because they'd been so incompetent as to fail to see what she had seen. She had been the one to notice life seeded within the primordial energy of creation. She had been the one to take the risk.

And she could lose it all, just like that.

"Fine then," Aelia answered cooly, dismissing the interface, a notice of an impending execution. "But you all understand what happens when you lose. There will be no second chances."

The smugness of her brethren cooled as a kernel of hesitation, an instinctual fear of a looming predator, formed in its place.

And she was the predator looming over them.

"When I win, I shall devour you all," Aelia said matter-of-factly, not bothering to sugarcoat her words. "I shall chew on the bones of your mantle until I deign to rerelease you, reformed in my image."

She wasn't being cruel for the sake of cruelty, either. Well, maybe there was some maliciousness in her words, but the intent was otherwise natural.

World Spirits were, after all, cannibals.

Ascend, grow, and push your consciousness further and further. Empty satellites could be claimed freely to expand. Still, when a World Spirit inhabited a celestial object, the stronger would consume the weaker, assimilating them into their being. Once fully 'digested,' the weaker world spirit would become little more than a Planetary Attendant. This existence was bound to the greater world spirit like a drone to its queen bee, an eternal attendant and servant.

That was the nature of what it meant to be a World Spirit. First, a single planet, then a solar system, then a system cluster, and onwards and beyond until the ultimate goal was achieved.

A Universal Spirit, a spirit that had become one with the entirety of the universe itself.

Could there be harmony between World Spirits? Aelia understood that, logically, yes, it was possible.

But she didn't want harmony. She wanted absolute dominion. A competitive, aspiring nature, she would not temper her ambitions like one would bank a fire.

"If we are done here," Aelia announced, glaring at each of her 'siblings,' forcing their gazes until they looked away.

Tsk. Not even a name for themselves, and they think of themselves as ready to nip and tear at my heels.

Releasing her hold on the thread connecting her to the seven other world spirits, she appeared within a physical avatar, seated within a small room inside the core of her 'true' body, the planet itself.

Standing up, she paced back and forth. It was a habit she had picked up from the Architect, a way to vent feelings of frustration or to guide her thoughts. It was rather human of her, but she couldn't be blamed, considering how tightly she had tied herself to the life now flourishing on her surface.

"They need to be ready," She finally growled.

She'd been taking it easy on them, admittedly. She had left the founders to find challenges themselves. Still, with only a hundred years on the timeline, before the solar event began, she needed them to have reached tier eight by then.

And not just them. Perhaps she could push the others to grow as well. The largest concentration of non-monster life belonged to the Architect's Ehkorrus city, but that didn't mean that the other founders hadn't at least sprung up small 'villages' of their own.

"Conflict breeds growth," Aelia said to herself with a nod.

Yes. That will do.

She planned to reach equilibrium and continue at a steady rate, but things had changed. She could consolidate her gains after she had finished consuming her local brethren. Until then, she would have to keep pushing things faster.

"Prepare yourselves," She said to herself, knowing full well that none of her founders could hear her words from the planet's center. "It's time to turn the temperature up."

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