“I can feel your powers,” I admitted. “It’s like a small current that runs between us. I can only feel that with the Original Gods, Abil’s sons, and Cyrus. I can’t sense it from the gods who have ascended to Topia.”
The woman on the far left smiled, and my eyes were drawn to focus on her. She had her hands folded behind her back, and the silver of her robes clashed strikingly with her dark features and the ebony tone of her skin.
“That is because those who ascend are not as close to Topia as we are,” she told me, her smile still in place. “I am Ciune, Goddess of Wisdom. This is Lorda,” she motioned to the woman beside her, “the Goddess of Obsession, and Gable.” She nodded to the man on her right. “God of Vice.”
“And I am Haven,” the man in the cream robes added. “God of Nature. We gathered here to discuss you, Willa Knight … and now here you are. Which is just as well, as there’s something we must return to you.”
I waited, passing my attention between them. Almost unconsciously, I took a step backwards, closer to Jakan. His hand landed on my shoulder, a reassuring weight. It suddenly didn’t seem to matter anymore that I was in an enclosed space with five extremely powerful and ancient beings, because I hadhimthere. I had felt the power of Creation, and I knew its strength. He was a good person to have watching my back.
“What is it?” I prompted them after a moment.
Gable moved to the back of the room, and I took the chance to examine him. His colour was olive—a deep, dark green. His eyes were also green, and his hair was pure blond, the strands straight and pulled back from his face. He was handsome, but there was a darkness in his eyes that seemed restless. It didn’t exactly make me uncomfortable, but it was enough that I wanted to be on guard around him. He opened a door to another room and muttered something to a person on the other side, stepping back to allow them entry. I blinked at the familiar face of the server from the garden—though he was almost unrecognisable now. His complexion had lost the waxy pallor and a short, dark fuzz of hair now covered his scalp. He was also dressed in robes of bright, happy yellow.
“Why thank you,” he exclaimed to Gable, stepping past him. “What a polite way to open a door. What wonderful manners you have. You should be so proud of yourself.”
He glanced around at the others, beaming at each of them, but his smile faltered when he saw me. For a moment, I thought he would cry, and then he was rushing at me.
“My Creator!” he exclaimed, throwing his arms out.
He had moved too fast for me to properly react, but Jakan pulled me back, stepping swiftly in front of me. He held a hand out, and the new god stopped dead in his tracks, swallowing at whatever expression was on Jakan’s face.
“Wow,” he muttered. “That was impressive. You jumped in front of her so fast. I wish I could jump that fast. And you’re so fierce. You could model for a statue. So many people would want you modelled in their entryways. I’m so impressed. You’re so impressive.”
“You created a God of Flattery,” Jakan noted, his voice laced in amusement as his broad shoulders relaxed, and he stepped to the side again.
“Brianna?” I asked, taking a hesitant step forward.
“I am Brian now,” he replied, beaming happily. “You did such an amazing job turning me into a god. You really areverypowerful, my Creator.”
“You can stop calling me that,” I muttered, growing uncomfortable. “Are you feeling okay? I mean … have there been any … side effects?”
“Other than his obsessive complimenting?” Lorda replied for him with a roll of her eyes. “No. Although he hasn’t reallystoppedcomplimenting. I’m used to this sort of behaviour, it is my specialty, I guess you could say. This little godling isobsessedwith his new power. I don’t think he can do anything else.”
“Wow,” Brian exclaimed, turning around and staring at Lorda in wonder. “You are so good at summarising.”
“Yeah, little guy. I’m great.” She folded her arms and gave me anI told you solook. “I’m afraid that turning a brainwashed server into a god doesn’t really remove the brainwashing. Now he’s just brainwashed in a different way. He still can’t think for himself. Luckily, you didn’t give him a dangerous gift.”
“You would have given me a great one, though,” Brian assured me, turning around again.
“Thanks,” I sighed. Maybe it was time for me to stop creating gods without thinking the process through a little more clearly.
Lorda was right: whatever damage Staviti had done to the souls, the way he removed their free will upon death in order to turn them into servers, wasn’t easily reversible. I hadn’t magically given Brian’s previous consciousness back to him. I had only given him eternal life and better clothing.
“So, now that you know why we are here …” Terrance said, claiming a seat and waving for the others to all resume their seats around the room. “Why have you come here, Willa? What can we do to help?”
“You want to help?” I asked immediately, taken aback. I wasn’t sure why I was surprised, especially since I had come to him for help in the first place. I supposed I had been expecting a fight to convince him.
“We are with you,” he said, his dark brown eyes drilling into me. “It is time for Staviti’s control of this world to end. The Neutral has unmasked many of Staviti’s lies, and the rest of us are not happy. He might be our creator, but we do not belong to him. We belong to this land—whose magic runs through us as surely as it runs through him. We have served him for many centuries, faithfully, and without question. We have sacrificed our children and our love for others so that he might feel secure in his lack of both. But no more. Our debt has been paid.”
“I’m glad,” I told him, my words ringing with genuine gratitude. “Because I know what I need to do to break Staviti’s control over Topia and Minatsol, but it requires me to be in several locations at once. If I hit each location in turn, Staviti will feel the shift in power and he’ll know what I’m doing—his strike back will be brutal. He’ll do everything he can to stop me, so …weneed to hit every location at the same time.”
“We’ll do what needs to be done,” Haven promised.
“We will,” Ciune agreed, as the other two nodded.
“Thank you. There’s just one more thing,” I admitted, looking back to Terrance. “You said your birds whispered to you?”
“They said that you were the storm.” His eyes flicked to the window, and I swore I even heard a bird singing in response to the searching look on his face. “Come to wash through this land.”
