The next time I felt [Unchained Ancestors] to be ready again, we had long returned to the Wreckage and I was eating cooked fish up in the Raven‘s Nest. Grim had left me at the pier, to find his [Hunters] and talk about the new land we had discovered and steps to take to tame the wilderness.

The reason [Unchained Ancestors] had been cut short and was not so readily available again was simple. It cost a lot of Mana, and Mana took an hour for just one point to recharge. It was my most expensive Skill with the cost of 25 Mana, and it had not been the only time I had spent Mana that day. The constant ticking away through the passive use of [Walk the Night Unseen] had taken the rest.

Well, I sat on a literal treasure trove of Shards worth 5000 Essence. The only reason I had not spent it yet was that Lily had not yet returned from the grave of the wisps, the Afterlight, and I hoped she would return with knowledge on how to spend the Essence to help the settlement and not just me.

But with beasts like the Roc, which Grim had later identified, in the air and two more hiding around Ravenport, I needed to find a careful balance, because someone had to confront those beasts. And that someone was me.

I entered my Demesne as a little notification informed me of the timely return of my very merry wisp. I greeted her under the Wind-Oak Tree and listened smiling, and genuinely happy for her happiness, over her excited recalling of the wisps she had met and the wonders she had seen.

Which I could not begin to understand. She had experienced wonderful resonances and waves. Humming and glowing. And she was very excited about that. To each their own.

“But I met resistance, whenever I tried to pry secrets from the wisps.“ She sighed. “It is like...a lot of them have been in the game of gods for a very long time, and taken on the mannerisms of the being they served. So, to gain real knowledge I need a soul to barter with.“

She flitted around the trunk of the tree. “But I was able to read between the lines. An analogy would be: You know what Skills are and you know they can be manipulated, changed, and even created. But you don't know how. Those wisps had served mighty beings, for them to be significant enough to form a personality outlasting the death of their masters. So I could glimpse a little wisdom on how gods do their work, even if they did not give me specific knowledge.“

“Like what?“

“You know that Twice-Born is the first step, right? Followed by Demi-God, Lesser God, God, and finally Greater God. Wisps grow alongside their godlings and beings. For the first two steps, it is highly unusual to be prayed to, because what would you be able to do? But, and here is the interesting part, it is not really unusual for Twice-Born and Demi-Gods to have claimed a...space. A settlement, a kingdom, or in the case of your friend: A ship. There are Godkings out there, heroes of a certain city-state, beings claiming stretches of the wilderness, like the Mad King you met.“

“So they did not tell you in detail what they were doing with their domains, but that they were influencing them?“

Lily bobbed in the air in affirmation. “Godlings are godlings because they can manipulate Essence, and with it the System, to their own desire. But, if you do not have the knowledge on how to do that, you can trust the system to step in.“

“What do you mean?“

“If you had a temple or a shrine, and a follower would swear his life to you, you could reward him with a Skill for example, or a blessing. Now, you don‘t know how to create such a blessing. But you could reward him still, pay the cost and the system would do the rest. It would be generic, of course, but it would be something. That is one thing the gods do: Reward and strengthen their followers. Another thing to consider is blessing the space itself. You have one of those, [Blessed Cycle of Seasons]. You can use it as a Skill, but you also can anchor it to a place of power, like a temple, and create a longer-lasting effect. Even semi-permanent, with considerable cost and the caveat that if your place of power gets destroyed, the blessings end.“

“Both options are not what would immediately help Ravenport, though. There is one young man that prayed to me, and it is unlikely that there would be another, I fear.“

“Well yes. I see that. Twice-Born are not meant to be prayed to, there is too much of a mortal still in them. But you could build a place of power and you could spend Essence on more blessings, again generic, system-generated ones.“

I nodded. That might help, even if the thought of a shrine or temple to my name was a strange one.

“One more thing gods do: Religion. And everything that comes with it. Service, rites, prayer, priests and clergy, holy or unholy orders...“

I perked up. “Orders? I know about those. That could be an idea, could it not? I could sponsor orders with my Essence, strengthing groups of people without having them pray to me. I could hide my involvement somewhat.“

“And why would you want that? Hiding, that is.“

“I have thought about that a lot. For one, it is awkward and wrong. Feels wrong. But I have a reason as well, beyond my personal feelings. The most important resource of every kingdom is its people. And people grow through adversity and struggle more than anything. If they knew a literal godling was leading them, they would grow complacent. They should not have the feeling that I would somehow eradicate every and all problems and dangers for them. Not more than they already do. I could not hold up to their trust in me. I need them to be independent and strong.“

“You would need a place of power nonetheless, to fully use the blessings to our advantage. How would you hide something like that?“

“Well, the people of Ravenport already call this place Raven‘s Nest. Let us build a shrine to the Wanderer up here, as I have promised. The rest of the ship can be blessed and decorated by me. A few symbols here and there, an altar...we hide it as the fancy of a nobleman, trying to get back some of his decorum he lost in the war.“

“That could work. But I find the situation....curious, to say the least.“

“Lily, I know. But I will not become one of those Godkings you spoke about. I feel the need to roam the lands with every fiber in my body. I need to find another way. Another way to help Ravenport grow and prosper without me being stuck here. If they know me to be a godling, they would not understand me leaving them.“

“I am with you, Raven. I just want you to be sure of what you are doing.“

“Thank you, Lily. Let us think about those orders. I know it also was a very kingly thing to do, sponsoring such orders, that is. But I would have to ask a king on how that works.“

“Do you? Or maybe a Margrave?“

“What do you think?“

“There will be an ancestor of yours who has known how to raise an order properly so that the system accepts it. The last one you spoke to was the Lord Commander of such an order, was he not? The Ravenguard?“

“That was not a religious order, but a knightly order sworn to protect the king and castle.“

“Even better. If the order is not religious in nature, but...invoked by a Lord Protector, for example...“

“...it would be even easier to hide my divine involvement!“ I finished her sentence grinning. “If it were so easy, everyone would do that all the time. I have to find out how to do it properly.“

“Winter is at our doorsteps. You have nothing but time. One of your ancestors knows how to do it, you just have to find him.“

Finally, I went down to the prison of the Betrayer and his angry souls accompanying him.

“I came to end your suffering.“ I called out, as I landed in front of it.

“Then you came for the last piece of the puzzle?“ The Betrayer answered, soberly, and quietly.

“Tell it or show it to me, but tell it true, whatever you decide to do.“

He shook his head. “There are words that could never pass my lips. Use your Skill, Ravenspawn. So I can relive my personal hell one more time.“

“I do not mean to torture you.“ I said.

“If it is the torture of guilt that I must endure to find a place for those loyal to me, I will accept it a thousand times over. Use your Skill, and end it. It has gone on for far too long.“

I bowed my head and used [Unchained Ancestors], giving him the opening he needed to share his memory with me.

I stood in front of a small weasel of a man, in the later years of his life, the sheer terror on his face enough to tell me that he had not experienced a second of danger in his pathetic life. The tutor of the princely brat, the new one, driven to the wall of his chamber by the tip of Whisper, drawing blood at his breast.

“What are you doing?“ He screamed, trying to scamper away from the blade, holding his nightgown with both hands.

“That is not the question here, is it?“ I mused, delighted by his fear. “Far more interesting is the question of what you are doing here.“

“I...I don‘t understand. I am the tutor of the prince.“

“And yet you were not needed three months ago as I rode out to face the Wyld.“

“I...the King did no longer wanted the chaplain around the boy.“

I leaned forward, fixating his teary, old eyes with mine.

“And why would that be, pray tell.“

“Will you let me go if I speak the truth?“

“We will see. I will not let you go if you don‘t say anything, though.“

He swallowed hard and began to talk. There were whispers in the castle, rumors hiding in the kitchens and stables of the common men and women. The king, they whispered, was deaf to the pleas of the divine. The king stayed up late, and slept all morning, he was ill-tempered and locked himself away in the tower connecting to his chambers. He had imprisoned the chaplain for treason and the people feared the reason, for they too loved the old man of the gods and missed his guidance. Instead, there was poison in their ears. Strange men coming and going, telling stories of a force below, soothing darkness instead of the light burning the wrong believers in eternal agony.

The King had lost his faith.

The King, his very existence proof of the glory and might of the gods, his divine right to rule directly derived from the gods...had forsaken them. Taken what he could and cast them away.

And he had opened the door to the whispers of a force of darkness, seeping into the minds and the Kingdom with honeyed words and promises.

It was all I needed. I rode out to the barracks of the Ravenguard and the night burned bright with our torches.

One last image fluttered through our shared minds. The king, mirror-image of the Regicide himself staring up in his richly decorated nightgown at his murderer, his brother, and the blade on his neck. Even now, even in the seconds before his death, there was nothing but hatred and sneering contempt in his eyes for his younger, his lesser brother.

“What a jest of fate, to be taken by the blade I gave you.“ He snarled.

“You have not bestowed the blade onto me, dear older brother. I earned it. You did not make me win the tournament of the Emperor. You just handed the blade over, like the servant of the Emperor you are.“

The king fell silent, but the anger never left his eyes.

“And yes,“ the Regicide continued, “what a fitting blade to end your reign. The trophy of my triumph in the blooded sands and the monument of the failure you have become.“

The King laughed hoarsely. “Failure? You have no idea. I have tried to barter with a force too strong for the Empire to hold. You killing me will doom them all. This is not about you or me.“

“Brother, more than anything I hate about you, I hate that you don‘t know when to shut your mouth. It always only has been about you and me. Always. And now it will only be about me. Farewell.“

Whisper, Kingsbane, flitted silently through the air and a head rolled under the bed.

The memory ended.

The Regicide, the gaunt and ghostly image of a man in my Demesne, sat before me, his head buried in his hands, even the souls around him silent.

“I did...“ his voice broke and he looked up at me, cold flames dancing in his eye sockets again. “I did not kill him because it was the right thing to do. It was just the last straw. I hated him with all my heart. I am guilty of regicide, I killed a king and the world saw it. But I murdered my brother first and foremost and not a king. I could not have cared less about his title.“

“What happened after that?“

“In my arrogance, I had seen me take the throne as a regent for the boy, hailed as a hero of the gods in all of the lands. Imagine my shock when I received my just punishment instead.“ He grinned a mirthless grin. “The details are not important and a lot more complicated. But the deed was done and my fate was sealed.“

“I...thank you. For sharing your story.“ I said, not quite knowing what to think.

“We had struck a bargain. I would see it fulfilled.“

I nodded and erased the prison from my Demesne. I spoke a few words but honestly could not remember what left my mouth. But the souls rose from the fog of the prison and the branches of the glowing Wind-Oak tree, dancing lights mingling in the cool night sky. I stood at the ground with the Betrayer, watching the souls, divided by law and guilt once, but one folk in truth, dancing in the air. Cool blue lights of the Ravenguard remnants danced with the warm, yellow lights of the Last Flight of The Raven, becoming one flock of two colors.

Settling on the branches of the tree, blue and yellow lights, resting. Peace.

I was the only one left to forgive. And I forgave them their crimes, for I knew it was not their guilt to carry anymore. It had not been their fault. They had just been brave, loyal to their Lord Commander over a king they did not trust.

“I forgive you.“ I whispered to them as they danced and settled. “Be free in death, where life has failed you. Know peace.“

And the Betrayer sat back down, burying his head again. He alone was not free. But the prison was of his own makings, not mine.