Tch. Noe leaned back in her chair, having just terminated the group chat with Silvie and co. She closed her eyes and clenched her fists, before abruptly standing up, the void melting around her as she appeared before Velda.

"Noe!" Velda startled a little, looking up from the stacks of documents she had been sorting through. "What are you doing up so early? I thought you'd be down there for a while."

"I'm angry, I need to destroy something." Magical power radiated off her in waves, and Velda had to quickly raise a ward around her to keep her sister destroying the office.

"Uh, ok? Humans? Gods? We could find a party or a wayward ship…"

"Ceren." Noe cut her off. "Things are moving forwards anyways, it's time for us to wake up and remind the world of our strength."

Velda's expression suddenly turned serious. "Are you sure that's wise? Endra's plans are staked on rising during the upcoming civil war. If we act now, we could spook our quarry or worse, rally them against us. And besides, why are you coming to me with this? If we talked with Endra…"

"Velda…let this old lady be willful for once. I've stepped back all these years to give you all a semblance of freedom, but really haven't I just been burdening you with responsibilities that ought to be mine? Have we been hiding from the other gods because we're weaker than they are or because I just couldn't be bothered to mess with their affairs?"

"Noe…" Velda's expression was complicated. She wanted to express how loyal she was to her friend, how she served out of the depth of her love for this sister-mother-god who she had looked after and conversely been looked after by since the day of her birth, but she couldn't find the words.

"We're not weaker than them," Noe's voice softened as she answered her own question. "Why did Rivi fail and her kingdom on the Continent of the Gods fall? Is it not because when she needed us, we refused to back her up?" Noe shook her head. "It's time I did something for my people. We've let this tumour mar our continent for too long."

"But…" Velda wanted to protest. It really was too hasty, and when had they ever put small gains over the larger strategic picture, even when their own people's wellbeing was at stake? How long had they been plotting against the other gods? And with their golden opportunity around the corner Noe wanted to risk it all for…what? For getting rid of a demigod-led city a little earlier?

If Endra was the one here, she'd be breaking down the Lady's foolish actions step by step and coldly chastising her for being too weak and forgetting what the real world was like, and yet, she wasn't Endra, and her Lady had come to her…

Indeed Endra might preach the long-term picture, but what were they doing it for? Wasn't it all for Noe?

"Alright." She sighed at last, after staring at Noe's resolute face for nearly a minute as she thought it all over. "We'll do things your way, though heavens know how much trouble we're going to be in for it later."

Noe grinned. "Thanks Velda." She wrapped her sister in a hug. "I knew I could count on you."

Velda felt heat building in her ears and turned away. "Th-thanks. Anyways. Should we gather forces? Or just warp directly there? I don't know about all his incarnations, but one version of Ceren should at least be there. And our reports haven't indicated any other divine presences in the city, though I can double-check."

"No need," Noe waved her hand. "I really just came to let you know. All you have to do is sit back and enjoy the show." Noe's smile turned cold and a fire danced in her eyes as the aura around her that had been settling down, started to crackle with heat. "Those dogs aren't worth the dirt under my shoes."

And with that she vanished.

***

Ceren stood at the window of his throne room looking out over his city. The Fortress City of Ceren had been his pet project these past few centuries.

As a demigod he loathed the time he had to spend with those self-worshipping gods and goddesses that didn't seem to have a care in the world beyond their own petty entertainment. Everything he had he had fought and scraped for over millenia.

Boundaries was not an easy domain to cultivate, it overlapped with too many other realms, and even now he only held a fraction of it. The true domain that he strove for was the domain of Law, one of the premier domains that without a doubt would put him near the pinnacle of the pantheon if he managed to complete it.

But his domain had long since been divided among many hands. The last god to have a claim at the title had fallen millions of years ago, even before the cataclysmic Fall of the Gods that had reshaped so many domains and turned over so many divine thrones. But even that legendary god of the past never held the complete authority of his domain, eventually being felled by the very gods he had hunted—the ancient god of demons, the god of death, and the goddess of light.

Before he had become a god, Ceren had been a loyal retainer of the goddess of light, Serinali. He had risen to prominence as a powerful mortal mage during the Fall of the Gods, and for his service Serinali had granted him the fragments of the Law domain left behind by the past god of death when they had been felled during the conflict.

But the goddess had kept her share of the domain for herself, leaving Ceren an eternal demigod, unable to break free from the last constraints of the mortal realm, even after gathering every other fragment of the domain under the heavens. At first he had had nothing but gratitude towards this goddess who had lifted him up from the dregs of humanity, but years of being the lowest rung on the ladder of the gods without any recourse had left a lingering resentment on his heart, and Serinali, having withdrawn from the affairs of the pantheon, had done nothing to soothe his growing restlessness.

But she was an untouchable ancient goddess, and Ceren was a mere demigod, lucky to even have a place in the divine paradise without being sold for scraps by his power-hungry compatriots. Hence why he had come to the desolate terrain of the Lost Continent, eager to carve out something for himself rather than serving hand and foot at the tables of the other gods.

Only…He looked out past the glowing golden barrier that surrounded the city. Why do I feel like something's approaching?

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