Part 3
Drota looked around the shabby Inn she found herself in. It intrigued her to be sure, that the more powerful Gods held meetings, but what Vordea told her is what got her to agree to come in the first place. The ability to claim complete dominion over almost all of magic. But first, the woman in the blood-soaked Priest robes got her attention.
"You. You give off an aura of a school of magic, but I don't know it." Drota said to Neptis, stepping down off the table.
"Blood magic." Neptis replied, smiling and revealing her bloody teeth. "This school of magic is mine and mine alone, Drota."
"Neptis, stop antagonizing the visitor." Eigengrau said, slapping the back of Neptis's head.
"Isn't Drota a bit too... refined for us?" Zalas asked, feet up on the table.
"Are you calling us slobs?" Sargon asked, eyeing Zalas.
"Yes."
"I want to disagree, but..."
"I've seen worse today." Drota said, smiling.
"Who will measure her worth?" Neptis asked idly. "Punching wizards isn't my thing."
"But punching me was?" Thalassius asked with a raised eyebrow.
Vordea smirked, and shook her head. She pointed at Eigengrau, who nodded, and a layered casting circle appeared at Eigengrau's feet. Eigengrau's body shimmered as she mantled the God of Time, and became Sirene.
"The God of Time will measure her worth." Eigengrau said, flashing a quick grin.
"What-" Drota began, but Eigengrau was already upon her, grinning like a lunatic. She reflexively displaced herself across the room, only for Eigengrau to already be there.
"Too slow." Eigengrau whispered in her ear, slamming her into a nearby table.
Drota leapt up, her mind racing. How was Eigengrau moving so fast? Before she could dwell on that, she felt Eigengrau's cold hand on her neck, and was tossed to the floor again.
"Don't think, just act!" Eigengrau shouted.
Drota got up again, and closed her eyes. She couldn't rely on sight with this opponent, nor sound. She felt a chill to her right, and responded with a gout of flame to her left. Choosing to keep her eyes closed, she felt the malevolent force dancing around her, and she tracked it.
Neptis quietly watched Eigengrau tease Drota, and smiled. She was testing her ability to act on pure instinct, against a foe who controlled the flow of time. It was completely unfair, of course, but Drota wasn't meant to win.
Sargon took note of how Drota reacted, watching how she restrained herself even against a Primal God. He was pleased another God with such a sense of justice existed, and nodded.
"She passes." Sargon proclaimed, causing Eigengrau to suddenly stop and look over in surprise.
"She does?"
"A sense of justice I haven't seen in many kalpas. Not since Einsam. She passes." Sargon said, slowly walking over to Drota.
"So be it." Vordea said, waving dismissively. "Drota, the human Goddess of Sorcery, you are now so much more. Agbus, she's all yours."
Agbus nodded, and approached Drota. He seemed to tower over her, both physically and otherwise, and Drota suddenly felt very small next to the Primal God of Order.
"Drota, as the Lord of Stability, as the supreme God of Order, I name you the Magic God. Your dominion over the schools of magic is absolute, and none may challenge it. We have become four and seven, the tower is now the wheel." Agbus proclaimed, his height seeming to grow even more as he did so. "Do not mistake dominion for mastery, continue to hone your skills, lest you be consumed by your own powers."
"The hands of time have halted for you, Drota. You're an Inner God, your life extends to the end of time." Eigengrau said, also approaching Drota. "The millennia will pass like seconds on a clock, you're an abyss of time. Welcome to eternity, Godling."
The Raven King cawed loudly at the proclamation, and flapped his wings.
"I... thank you." Drota said, unsure of what to say. She felt like her power had grown in these few moments.