He sat on his divan, beside him squiggly cushions, at his feet several exhausted and sleeping women who still had light sweat shining on their skin.

And the man who ruled over one of the caliphates in Thalia was also sweating - but for a completely different reason. The large gilded double doors had just closed again and the messenger had left as quickly but politely as possible.

*Clang*

it sounded through the living hall and startled the four naked women on the carpets at the feet of the caliph. With eyes widened in horror, they looked around in panic and stared up in fear at the man, who was beside himself with anger, looking at the nearest wall - also with fear in his eyes...! The thoughts of the four ladies raced as they were first startled awake from their exhaustion, only to feel mortal fear, and then to read a similar fear in the eyes of the one man who had just scared them so?

"Damn amateurs! ONE ONLY TASK! And they screw it up!!!" He cursed loudly as glass shards continued to clink on the floor in front of the wall where he had thrown his half-full wine glass in anger and powerlessness.

The four women were about to duck and make themselves as small and inconspicuous as possible when the caliph turned his head in their direction. "And you! Have seen NOTHING - is that clear?!" He stared down at all four of them one after the other, while the four women only nodded their heads obediently in panic, as if they were about to dislocate their necks.

"Then get out! And please wait for me in my dormitory - when I'm done here, I have to let off some steam..." He gave the order, whereby his voice sounded at the end rather threateningly whispering and ominously announcing.

When the four women had fled the room and even one of the guards outside glanced briefly at their caliph from the corridor, only to immediately pretend that they had seen nothing, the man sighed and dropped powerlessly back onto his divan. Both arms stretched out right and left behind him over the backrest and his feet also stretched out in front of him.

"They made it very clear that this experiment was to be carried out at any cost. And without external influences and above all... without anyone else noticing! - Fuck!"

"What now - what the bloody hell am I supposed to do? Run away? HAH. As if there's any place in this fucking world where they won't catch me too. Apologize to me? Like they're just going to forgive me for that mistake!"

"What other choice do I have? Seeking help from the other gods won't do me any good either.... Even that will only bring me to the grave just as quickly - with all that I have already done for you on this puny continent."

In another, much more majestic place, full of white marble, silver inlays in the carvings and sculptures.

Bright yellow particles whirred through the air, a constant companion in this place. If Avan had been there at the time, he would have immediately noticed and associated the atmosphere and the mana so concentrated - for the entire place was full of celestial mana. So thick, as if one would wade as a mortal inhabitant of Aorus through viscous honey.

But something else Avan would have noticed as well - The mana in this place didn't feel whole. For it lacked the midnight-black twinkling little stars that one could see in a starry sky at night, and which Avan could switch back and forth from gold-silver to that midnight-black glow as needed with his celestial mana.

And as so often before, all sorts of shapes loitered and sat around a discussion podium in the center. The whole building was very reminiscent of an ancient Greek discussion podium where scholars gathered to talk about the politics and affairs of the country.

The place, because as a building it was too open so completely without roof and only with columns that surrounded the circular structure, was also just now again filled with different parties discussing with each other. Female and male gods stood everywhere and talked in loud or even in whispering tone with each other, while some of the present, however, did not care at all about what was happening around them.

One of them was a green-haired young man who was lounging on a mountain full of comfortable-looking cushions, drinking and having food brought to him by servants, while a pretty-looking young woman stood behind him, waving a palm leaf in the wind.

Almost exactly opposite this god, who would also have been familiar to Avan in some way, sat a group of inconspicuous deities whispering to each other. Only one of these gods was a higher-ranking god, while the entourage around him consisted of younger gods of both sexes.

And it almost seemed as if the green-haired god, despite his outward appearance of laziness and carelessness, had his gaze fixed precisely on this higher-ranking god.

The other noticed this after a while, and frowned in irritation. Suddenly it shimmered dark and purple through the iris of the god, as fast as a flash of lightning, and was gone again.

"Interesting... So it is you after all..." The green-haired god murmured to himself so quietly that not even the gods in his immediate vicinity could hear it, let alone the servants who served him.

Meanwhile, the counterpart had similar realizations, but of a different kind. "Not even death will save you when we are done with all this..." He whispered, which earned him a confused facial expression from a young goddess at his side.

A brief and almost inconspicuous gesture reassured the woman, and a very last glance at the green-haired man casually strolling away and at his back, and this deity too turned back to his people.