Gray-God Vivek stood on the balcony outside his study, looking markedly less dapper than he’d been a few months ago. His eyes were bloodshot, with dark gray rings gathering beneath them. His godly aura was deflated giving away how exhausted he was. Were he not a god and therefore capable of looking however he so chose, so long as he paid it mind, there might have been some five o’clock shadow and some soil and rumpled clothing present as well.

Instead, he stood looking, cleanly pressed, plainly dressed, and as close to being tired onto death as an immortal being, with near infinite vitality and stamina, could get.

He’d never been able to find what happened to Dougall’s people, none of other gods of knowledge knew. Neither did the gods of secrets. Or the gods who held dominion over rumor.

He’d gone around asking every being that might have seen something or heard something. He’d thought he’d found a trail to follow when he got word that whatever had happened had originated in the mortal heavens.

The scent had been strong enough that he’d even been willing to set himself against the white gods of the clouds and sky. Confronting some. Flattering others. Setting aside his pride as a higher deity to try and place nice with those over glorified weather men of the mortal heavens.

Unfortunately, it was to no avail, despite whatever happened, having happened in their skies, even the sky gods knew nothing.

Eventually time ran out and Dougall would no longer wait. The only way for Vivek to get the dark god off of his back was to bribe the bastard. Paying a costly price to get the man to go away. The price for peace had been one that Vivek still felt now, weighing on him, wearying his ancient bones.

Thanks to whatever and whoever had eliminated the cult of golden-shadows, the gray-god was now diminished having to barter away a portion of his divinity to avoid having yet another godly enmity to worry about. It was a price he’d have to pay to keep a god that was both to tough and too slippery for Vivek to simply eliminate, from becoming a problem while things were so delicate.

The only bright spot was the fact that gray-god was now free to resume his planning. Dougall would no longer hounding him and there would no longer be a chance of the black-blue god spilling whatever he knew of Vivek’s plans to the gray-gods enemies and rivals. A guarantee that Vivek had in the form of Dougall’s godly oath.

Which was slightly less firm a ground than Vivek would like, now that Dougall’s status as a god was much diminished after the loss of his people the chains that came with godhood held him less firmly.

Vivek stood on his balcony looking down at the mortal space that dwelt below Darkgrand’s immortal heavens.

He felt a knocking at the back of his mind, a sign that someone was calling out to him, the familiar knock of an urgent prayer. Vivek knocked back and a tired smile spread across his face. His gray eyes shining in their sockets. Glowing with a light that soon overtook his body.

He recognized the ones who were calling him, and recognized the gods that were behind them. It seemed his friends on Askr had decided they wanted in on his little. It looked like all his flattery and cajoling had paid off. His distant partners seemed to be willing to go all in and invest themselves a little more deeply into his scheme.

“About that damn time…”