Part 4

Neptis found herself in a featureless white expanse. It was odd, the last thing she could remember was Vordea taking out her displeasure on her. Had it been too much? Had she died? As if that maniac would ever permit her to die, she thought derisively. Since she had nothing but time, it seems, she began to walk, but it was hard to tell if she was actually moving. Realizing how disorienting that was, she decided to sit down on the ground, if you could call it that. She thought back on how it came to this. She remembered how proud she had felt, when the Taciturn Goddess of Change had chosen her to be her Avatar, her hand upon the world. If only she had known how cruel Vordea was then, she thought, shaking her head. But in a way, Vordea was right in her cruelty. She had broken sacred oaths she had vowed to uphold. Vordea had always warned her the price for breaking them would be high, if she did.

“Is this my punishment? To wander a void?” Neptis thought out loud. “Well, maybe I can do something with this.” Neptis clapped her hands and to her surprise her casting circles appeared around her feet. “Maybe I’m not as dead as I thought?”

Concentrating, and pulling images from some of her oldest memories, she recreated her father’s farm from her youth in a patch of the white void. It wasn’t perfect, but it was an anchor point in this white void. However, she had quite the surprise when she opened the door of the farmhouse.

“Hello Neptis.” A woman at the table she almost recognized but not quite said to her. “I see you’ve been busy. A place from your memories, a good start.”

“Who are you? I recognize you, but not quite.” Neptis asked, standing in the doorway.

“Let’s start with a name.” The man at the table responded. Were they always a man? Neptis could swear it was a woman just a moment ago. “I am what little remains of The Raven King. I don’t have much time, as she’s coming, but something is going to happen.”

“Something? That’s a little vague, isn’t it?” Neptis said, crossing her arms.

“She has re-created the dawn. The very first one. Bear that in mind.” The man said, as he faded away.

“Re-created the dawn?” Neptis asked to an empty room. “What is that even supposed to mean?”

“It’s an apology, Neptis.” A familiar voice from outside said. Neptis turned around and saw her father.

“Dad?” Neptis asked.

“Yes and no.” He replied with a smile. “Things are about to get strange around here, Keep yourself anchored on the thought of home.”

“Strange?” Neptis asked, but he just shook his head and faded away as well.

“Context is important for what you’re going to witness.” said another voice to her right. She turned and it was Headmaster Demeter. “Observe.” He pointed at the white void, and it began to take on colours and swirl. Soon it was a veritable maelstrom beyond the boundaries of what Neptis had created, before it began to coalesce into mirrors, and then windows, with movement outside each one.

“What’s happening?” Neptis asked out loud. The voice who responded surprised her again.

“I’m sorry, Neptis.” Vordea said, kneeling at Neptis’s feet. “This is part of the healing process. I’m going to show you my memories.”

“Are you another illusion?” Neptis asked dubiously.

“I assure you that I am truly here.” Vordea answered, still kneeling.

“Why should I trust you, after what you’ve done to me?” Neptis angrily asked. “How do I know this isn’t another trick, an excuse to torture me more?”

“You’re right, you have no reason to trust me at all.” Vordea said, still kneeling. “That is why I’m going to show you an old memory, my oldest memory. From the first dawn. From before this kalpa, millions of years ago.”

The windows swirling around the farm shifted and began to coalesce into a coherent memory. Neptis stood and watched, as the ancient scene played itself out, and then when the memory finished, she looked down at Vordea.

“It was no duel.” Neptis whispered.

“For millions of years I’ve told myself it was.” Vordea said quietly. “How else could I justify doing that to my love? How could anyone?”

Neptis sat down at Vordea’s side on the porch of the farmhouse. “I think I understand now. The source of your anger. The reason for your shackles. Actually, where are your shackles? I don’t recall seeing any when you appeared at The University, come to think of it.”

Vordea sat down next to Neptis on the porch. “I’ve been unshackled, for the first time in millions of years. I had to kill Shadry. Agbus of all people forced my hand.” Vordea said, shaking her head. “I went up there for a fight and Shadry gave me an execution.”

“You’re still unshackled?”

“It’s how I’m able to do this for you, you know. I’ve pulled part of the mortal plane into the multidimensional space where I reside.”

“So now what?”

“You can do whatever you wish. I’ve severed our pact, your duty is fulfilled. Don’t ask to be a God, by the way. You’re not ready.”

“What do you mean, I’m not ready?” Neptis asked. She was curious now. Why did Vordea even bring it up?

Vordea smirked. “There’s a seed in your soul. You, like Sirene Ignitis does, have the potential to achieve apotheosis. It needs to sprout though.”

“How do I do that?”

Vordea shook her head. “That would be cheating. I really think we should get going though, your colleagues are worried.”

“How long has it been?” Neptis asked, standing back up.

“About a month. Taenya has worried herself sick over your health. You have good friends at The University, Neptis.”

“I really do. So, how do we leave?”

“Like this.”

Vordea clapped her hands together and the white void dissolved as a massive casting circle appeared around her feet, it was easily hundreds of metres wide. A wall of light began to race towards them, and then it dissolved, revealing the bedroom Neptis had been laying in.

“Neptis!” Taenya shouted, running up to her and giving her a big hug. “You’re okay!”

“What was that?” Demeter asked Vordea. “What did you do?”

"Let’s just say... I re-created the dawn. The very first one." Vordea said with a smile. “Neptis’s duty is fulfilled, she is no longer my Avatar or my High Priest. Agbus, I think we need to properly reintroduce ourselves.”

“Properly?” Demeter and Taenya asked.

“Neptis, could you do the honours?” Vordea asked.

“Certainly.” Neptis replied. Gesturing at Vordea and bowing, Neptis began her announcement. “Demeter, Taenya, may I present to you Lady Vordea, the Primordial God of Creation. The Lady of Chaos and Change. The Broken Mirror.” Vordea bowed deeply, and Neptis continued, gesturing at Agbus. “May I also present to you Lord Agbus, the Primordial God of Order. The Lord of Stability and Certainty. The Bones of the World.”

“Vordea, what were you up to in there?” Agbus asked with a raised eyebrow. Vordea merely raised both of her eyebrows and smiled in response. “Why did I expect an answer?”

“Why have I never heard of these titles before?” Demeter mused. “Neptis, where did you learn them?”

“I witnessed a memory. Vordea showed me her earliest memory.” Neptis said, looking over at Vordea. “One that shows the pain this world was built on. What three powerful beings did when faced with a calamity. The price of love.”

"I see." Agbus said, placing a hand on Vordea’s shoulder. "You showed her the first dawn."

“It was what she deserved.” Vordea said quietly. “She deserved to know why I lashed out at her so hard. It was all I could do to make it up to her.”

The conversation continued for some time, until Vordea declared she was ready to leave. She told Neptis there would be no new high priest, something that surprised Neptis until she was told the reason. Vordea planned to remain unshackled and stay in the mortal plane on a permanent basis, or at least until she found the next worthy high priest. As they were saying their goodbyes, Demeter noticed Agbus had already left, but could not remember when it happened. Vordea told him that if he thinks about it he’ll just get a headache and to drop it. Vordea eventually cracked reality and left in a surge of power, leaving Demeter, Taenya, and Neptis alone in the bedroom.

“Neptis, what happened inside that wall of light with Vordea?” Demeter asked after a long silence.

“I’m not sure myself, Demeter. You know, I’m half-expecting Lady Eigengrau to show up now and give us some cryptic advice.” Neptis said, chuckling slightly.

 “"We might be the first people to speak with Agbus in centuries,Agbus, you know.” Taenya said, rifling through a book from a bookshelf. “Sightings of him are exceptionally rare, and conversations evenare morequite so.literally unheard of.”

“Well, it’s good to be back. Who’s up for some lunch?” Neptis said, beginning to walk out the door.

Taenya and Demeter nodded and followed after her, closing the door to the bedroom. As they walked down the steps to the kitchens, a small laugh could be heard from the shadows of the now empty bedroom, before a breeze blew open the curtains and cast light upon the entire room, revealing nothing was there at all.