POV: Statera Luotian

"What's this?" Ze asked, reaching out to touch the Sword That Does Not Cut. In response the divine blade hummed, flying out of her grasp and landing in my hand. I looked down at the sword with a soft expression, putting one hand on the blade and feeling it vibrate softly. Two hundred thousand years ago it underwent a fundamental change and gained a form of sentience. It wasn't qualified to have an 'ego' or 'treasure spirit' as the mortals call such an idea yet, but it was quickly advancing on that path.

"This, my dear, is a sword I forged many, many years ago. I poured all of my insights in the workings of fate and destiny into this blade, and it has only continued to grow since then." I told her, swinging the sword experimentally. The silver blade hummed with delight at my action, and Ze's eyes followed the blade with interest.

"It's a very fine blade. Does it have a name?" She inquired.

"Not officially." I said after a moment's hesitation. "It is normally called the Sword That Does Not Cut." Ze's eyebrows rose at that, although it was Steward who ended up asking the question.

"Why is it called that?" He asked, overcoming his fear of me in order to sate his curiosity. Considering this blade played a key role in bringing down Morgan, it makes sense that he would be interested in it. He is most likely sensing that fact on a fundamental level, considering the similarities between him and Morgan. "What does the blade do if it does not cut?"

"It severs fate." I replied quietly, garnering Shin's attention from where he was idly browsing through a few of my designs for divine creatures. As we were currently in my workshop, basically everyone had found something interesting to look at and analyze. Yueya and Reilly were interested in the reincarnation cycle, and were pouring over a few of my old designs in the form of jade slips that contained inordinate amounts of information. They wouldn't get anything really juicy from said designs, seeing as they are relatively dated, but I'm sure it will help them somehow. Their universes' reincarnation cycles are a little...lacking, after all.

"Fate?" Shin inquired, moving over to me to look at the sword. I nodded and pointed at the blade.

"The blade itself is what cuts the 'threads' of fate," I explained, "while the shield that covers the hilt grabs the severed thread and prevents it from reforming. Then the brush, here, rewrites the fate into something different, or destroys it entirely." I said proudly, stepping back and swinging the blade a bit more. Shin watched me for a bit before shaking his head.

"A sword doesn't suit you. I hope you didn't make that your divine treasure." The skeleton said dryly.

"Divine treasure? No, it's not my divine treasure...do you know what that is? My knowledge is limited." I asked. Shin paused and considered that question.

"...yes and no. I know that it is an optional goal, and is one that involves making a treasure that is bonded to your Origin Domain and sub-domains, but not much else. It's supposed to grow alongside you and bolster your power, but it also makes you a bit dependent on your treasure, because although it does increase the amount of power you can wield, you can't really wield your maximum power without it...in a way. It's like...well, fighting at one hundred percent without your treasure, but with your treasure you can fight at one hundred and fifty percent. Hence why it's optional." Shin explained slowly. I make an interested grunt and set the Sword That Does Not Cut off to the side, watching as it floated up and hung itself on the wall.

"That's...interesting. I'll have to consider that...in the meantime, do you see anything that interests you?" I inquired. Shin nodded.

"I'm actually interested in the idea of a workshop itself. It makes sense to have an area like this to store new ideas and old ones, until it becomes relevant to use them, either in combining them or you come up with new ideas and designs that supersede the old ones...we may be origin deities, but even our memories have limits." Shin reasoned, nodding to himself. I scratched the back of my neck and grinned, looking towards Yueya, who seemed to be having a bit of an epiphany as she looked over the way the River first interacted with the Karmic Valley. "She and Reilly are benefitting most from this. Where is Sehuyun, by the way? I know you sent her off somewhere." Shin asked politely.

Shin hadn't expanded his divine sense in any direction since setting foot in my Realms, which was an unnecessary courtesy, but something which he felt he needed to do. Not that I blamed him, but I'd be blowing his mind with Morgan in a few years anyway, which would make said action pointless. He'd gain all the enlightenment he was currently missing and then some at that point.

"She's off sparring with Tian. Inesa chewed him out for getting in a fight, so I figured I'd have the two make nice-nice. Their idea of nice-nice is destroying a few uninhabited planets in their 'spars.'" I said dryly, feeling a bit exasperated by Tian's actions. I knew that he'd been feeling stifled with a lack of beings on his level of power to fight against, but this was a bit ridiculous. Tian was in the middle in terms of power - he was stronger than any mortal, both immortal and not, but weaker than most deities...and angels refuse to fight him in the Martial Way. It's not in their nature. Sehuyun falls under the "high deity" category in terms of power, but is, more importantly, willing to fight Tian in a way that expands upon his Martial Way Dao.

"I appreciate you being so lenient with Sehuyun. She's awful reckless and often picks fights where there are none, but she's really a nice soul." Yueya spoke up as she continued to examine my old blueprints.

"She's just lonely," I said carefully, snagging a floating ball of light that held a fragment of memories from the time of the War of the Sun. "I'm sure she'd appreciate some beings on her level of power as well...beings that she can talk to. It's lonely at the top, y'know? Especially with Sehuyun's personality." Yueya nodded in agreement, putting away the blueprint and looking out the large glass doors that led to the veranda.

"Yeah...but I've been having trouble raising beings up to that level of power." She said softly.

"Too much energy put into growing the size of your world, instead of raising up those beings." Reilly said gruffly. "It's the same problem that Statera has, only in reverse. Statera's Realms are too small to hold the number of higher beings it currently has, and your world is too big for the number of higher beings you have to manage." I nodded in agreement, this being a problem that I had figured out a long time ago.

At least it was slowly getting better. "Well, I do have a way to fix that now, though." I said in defense of myself.

"Do tell." Reilly said, appearing genuinely interested. I paused and hummed.

"Well...I figured I'd just grow more Trees, build more Mountains, carve more Valleys, and redirect parts of the River." I explained simply.

"Simple...but effective. That might actually work." Shin reasoned.

"Might? That will work. Take it from the one with the largest World." Yueya scoffed. "Though it most certainly isn't an immediate solution. It'll take time for those to grow into their proper sizes, so you'll need to come up with a few different measures in the meantime. Not to mention that it'll probably deplete some of your Primordial Chaos." I hummed and rubbed my chin thoughtfully.

"We'll talk about this on the way, I suppose. It's high time I gave you a proper tour of the Four Realms, and give live examples to the systems I've set up. I know all the stuff here is interesting, but we are on a schedule. Randus!" I barked, said deity materializing behind me and startling all the other origin deities. "This is Randus, my self-proclaimed butler and the Deity of Dreams. He is by far the most...elusive of all the deities, having been born of my own dreams."

"It is an honor to make your acquaintance." Randus said, bowing deeply.

"Randus, be a dear and bring around the carriage. I think we'll take that during our journeys." I said to him. He nodded and bowed once more, vanishing from sight as I walked towards the veranda, pushing open the doors and stepping outside. A jewel-encrusted, gilded carriage rounded the corner of my palace, Randus at the helm and drawn by two golden serpents. "Randus, is it just me or did the carriage get bigger? And more...ostentatious?" I asked with a defeated sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose.

"It's very ostentatious." Reilly agreed with a small grin.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Randus said deadpan, an unmistakable twinkle in his eyes that betrayed his mischievousness. I knew it, he did change the carriage. I swear, it gets bigger and bigger every time I see the stupid thing. Which is, admittedly, not often. The side door to the carriage popped open, revealing a plush interior large enough to fit everyone with room to spare.

Reilly hopped in first, followed quickly by everyone else. "To the Holy Mountain, Randus." I said, rubbing my temples. I'll give them a general tour first, meeting with the biggest beings and visiting the most prominent places and whatnot, before starting to delve deeper. It'll help them understand more...I think.

POV CHANGE: Reika (Deity of Life)

"Watch closely, this is an important step in cultivating this type of tree..." I instructed, tending to a Snowflower Tree, a tree notorious amongst mortals and cultivators alike for being difficult to grow, requiring very specific conditions to properly grow and bloom with the gorgeous white flowers its famous for. Behind me stood the youngest deity to date - merely a year old - whom I had taken a shining to. He was a young deity of the Wilderness, spawned from the great forests that surround the Life-Giving Tree, and I took it upon myself to show him the ropes.

I quickly found out that the precious dear was simply adorable. "Oh!" He cried with glee, watching as the small flowerbuds on the grey-barked tree began to bloom, looking like petals of pure, white snow. The way the flower petals shimmered in the light of the Realm Sun and Lunar Star made it look like a miniature snowstorm was swirling around the trunk, setting the young deity's forest green eyes to sparkling. He didn't even have a name yet, having not decided what he wanted it to be. "It's so pretty!"

"That it is." A very familiar voice said behind me, causing a joyful smile to spread across my face. I whirled and in one leap covered the distance between myself and Mother, practically tackling Her in a hug. She let out a surprised 'oof' and chuckled a bit, wrapping Her arms around me and squeezing tightly. "Miss me much?" She asked teasingly.

"Yes." I answered honestly, not caring that my actions had drawn chuckles of amusement from the beings that were foreign, yet at the same time guests of Mother.

"I was only gone for thirty years, you know." Mother said, fondness seeping into Her voice as She pressed a kiss to the top of my head. I felt myself relax a bit, not realizing just how calming Mother's aura was until She came back.

"I know. How was your trip?" I asked, pulling away from Mother and looking at Her expectantly. An anticipatory expression crept onto Mother's face.

"It was good. I learned quite a bit...there's much to do. I have so many plans now." She said, rubbing Her hands together in glee.

"How many times have you said that?" One of Mother's guests, a beautiful elf, asked rhetorically. "Just get on with it already. You can start now, it'll take some time for it to grow properly anyways." Mother blinked and thought about it for a bit before shrugging and looking at the Tree, sinking Her divine sense into it in search of...something. I ignored Her for the moment in favor of greeting Her guests.

"It is nice to meet you. My name is Reika, Guardian of the Mortal Realm and Deity of Life." I said with a slight incline of my head. The others returned my greeting, introducing themselves. The skeleton, Shin, was very...interesting. I could sense an aura of life emanating off of it, but it was predominately covered by an aura of death. The way they mixed together was very interesting, almost sending me into a state of enlightenment as I watched it shift and change.

"You're thinking too hard on it." Shin said, moving over to stand directly in front of me, holding both hands out, skeletal palms facing upwards.

"Huh?" I asked dumbly.

"You're searching for a way to combine the domains of Life and Death in order to create a Life and Death domain, no? I'm telling you that you're thinking too hard on it - in fact, it's a folly in and of itself to think of them as separate things." Shin said, two balls of energy floating above his palms. One was a complete aura of death, while the other was a complete aura of life. Slowly he pushed his hands together, beginning to merge the two. "In fact, they are one in the same; because there is life, there is death. And because there is death, there is life. Finding the perfect balance between the two gives you...immortality, not unlike that of a deity's." The two balls completely merged, shining with a golden light that was clearly divine in nature.

I blinked, and heard thunder crashing in my head. In an instant my domain shifted, not a big shift like I had been expecting when I completed my Life and Death domain, but just a tiny shift that made things seem more...complete. Was it...was it really that simple?

"Thank you." I said, bowing deeply this time to show my gratitude, power flooding my being as my true domain was finally realized. Shin just chuckled and moved back to stand next to the beggar Reilly and Ze, who was looking at me with a carefully blank expression.

"There is no need to thank me. Statera has already helped me and mine more than he knows, so it is only right that I would do the same to him and his." The skeleton told me.

"Just wait, Shin. You ain't seen nothin' yet." Mother said with a grin that promised someone being force-fed enlightenment. In this case that someone would undoubtedly be Shin. "Now - hey, don't be like that, Mr. Tree. It's a seed, it's meant to be tossed out into the world." Mother chided as something flew from the center of the Life-Giving Tree to Her hand. The great Tree shuddered a bit, its branches groaning in protest at Mother's actions as She continued to scold it like a child. "Just watch, you." She chided, holding what She identified as a seed in Her hands.

There were four seeds, actually, each emanating boundless forces of Life and Death, exactly like that of my new domain. (Each time I realized how simple that shift was, I could only wilt a little. How could I have been so blind? I feel so stupid sometimes...) Mother stretched both of Her hands outwards, leaving the four seeds to float in front of Her, as streams of energy coalesced around Her palms. Two streams, one of White and one of Black, centered around Her hands, slowly forming into two halves of a whole- a shell, if you will. One was the inner shell, carved into the fabric of the universe with the aura of the Karmic Realm, the other was the outer shell, built from the might of the Holy Mountain.

"I finally figured it out." Shin said suddenly, snapping his fingers as he watched Mother slowly build up energy, taking "seeds" from the Holy Mountain and Karmic Valley before merging them with the seeds of the Life-Giving Tree.

"Don't be so cryptic, Shin. Share." Reilly, the deity of luck, deadpanned. Shin made a snort of disapproval at Reilly's statement, but ended up continuing nonetheless after receiving a glare from both Yueya, the beautiful elf, and Ze, Shin's companion.

"Fine. I figured out what makes the people of the Four Realms so different from our own." Shin started, only to be cut off by Yueya.

"Oh, I know what you mean!" She said with a brilliant smile. Mother paid no heed, as wrapped up in Her work as She was. "My World and Reilly's universe are very similar like that! We both built kingdoms - that's how the hierarchy works all the way up to the very top, where we stand. Well, where I stand. Reilly pawned it off the Pyrah, right?" Reilly nodded, glancing at Shin and smirking at the skeleton for some reason. I could only assume that it was because Shin was shocked at having been beaten to the punch by Yueya, but I couldn't really tell because the skeleton had no facial expressions.

Quite literally, Shin had no face-ial expressions. Ha. I'm punny.

Thankfully no one noticed me snickering at my own joke, and Yueya continued. "Shin, your Wheel Realm is built like an organization, right? You're the boss, and everyone else is sort of like an employee or something. Which makes Ze your secretary. Or the figurehead CEO. Or something. Anyways! Even that's sort of like a kingdom! Whereas Statera's is built more like a clan, or family. Statera treats all beings as his children, they in turn treat him as their ultimate parent, the First Ancestor if you will, creating a dynamic like that of a giant family." Yueya explained. Ignoring the Wheel Realm comment and all relevant information, which I simply tucked away for further analysis at a later time (when I can afford to go into shock), I pondered Yueya's analysis.

Thinking of things that way I believe I understand a bit more of Mother's intentions now...understand Her a bit more. I smiled as I watched Her reach out and snag small streams from the River of Souls, using them to bond the other three seeds together before tossing them out into the Primordial Chaos, in four different directions.

The Four Realms is one big family...I think I like the sound of that.