A council had gathered on that day. In a room of gold, surrounding a round table. A council consisting only of immortal beings. Or at least. That is what they called themselves. The meeting had already neared its end. All that was left was review what they had learned through each other and decide on a countermeasure just like they had done when Kenos had emerged out of nowhere.

“So let’s go over everything again. You’ve all felt the weird thing in the mortal world and we all agree that it’s probably an enemy who is hiding from our senses correct?” (Zahrah)

Almost everyone nodded. One did not but the goddess of freedom and chaos simply ignored her and continued talking.

“Very well. Then in that case we will initiate a search immediately. As for what we’ll do when we find it-“ (Zahrah)

Not able to finish her sentence most of the gods instantly stood up some slamming the golden table in the middle of the room with various faces. There was confusion, anger and disbelief. None of them could believe what was happening.

“What the hell? I can’t feel anything on the mortal realm. Not even the darkness!” (God of Darkness, Zephiron)

“DAMNIT! I CAN’T FEEL SHIT EITHER!” (God of Wrath, Regnos)

They had all been robbed of their senses. Robbed of their power over the world.

“How could this have-?” (Zahrah)

Zahrah realized that it must be connected to the anomaly they had all faced and straightened up, leaving the room in a hurry. While running through the golden decorated hallways she could not shake the feeling that she had messed up though she could not tell where it was that she did. Stopping after a short run she stood in front of an arch. The gate to the mortal world. It was in fact not impossible for gods to go to the mortal world but there were laws which prevented them from doing so other than in dire circumstances. The current gods though did not care about any such laws. To them this was a dire circumstance already.

Zahrah touched the arch and poured her mana inside of it while the engravings covering it lit up the gate, no longer empty, started filling itself with a weird blue energy. Only a few seconds and under the arch was full of a weird blue energy which formed a gateway.

By this point the other gods had caught up, seemingly understanding Zahrah’s idea. None of them were very glad about being left pretty much blinded but their hopes of getting to the mortal world and straightening out this issue themselves were quickly crushed by what happened next.

Seeing that the portal had opened Zahrah stretched her hand and tried to put it through but as she touched it she felt an indescribable pain. Pain like she had never felt before. As a goddess her power was not small. She was one of the strongest beings in the world and was also quite fond of letting other people do the dirty work while she deceived them and watched from above. Thus she had never been injured before.

“ARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!” (Zahrah)

“Zahrah!” (Eirene)

Eirene seeing her “friend” rolling on the ground in pain instantly rushed over trying to help and cast some magic hoping to heal her friend. The other gods, all astounded at what had occurred, were all doing what they did best. Some were thinking about what to do next while others were…

“Move it!” (God of Wrath, Regnos)

The god of wrath true to his namesake was incredibly angry. He walked past the goddess of peace and goddess of chaos and stuck his arm through the portal only to end up on the floor screaming just like Zahrah had.

On that day the domain of gods. Became their prison.

*END*

“Heh.”

“Something good happen End? You seem to be in a pleasant mood.” (Lily)

We were having breakfast in the inn. I had just cast the interference spell which would cause the gods to become effectively blind a few minutes ago before coming down to eat with the two. As such I couldn’t hold back a smirk and a slight laughter as I watched a large idiot in the domain- No, excuse me. Prison of the gods stupidly repeat the mistake Zahrah had made and tried to come through the portal. Yesterday I had thought of separating their connections to their chosen but I had realized there were two problems with that. One is that they could just make another chosen afterwards. Another was that both the god and the chosen one had a chance to receive heavy damage upon the forceful disruption of the connection, to the chosen that would be fatal. Though that wasn’t even possible to accomplish by any other god so they probably had thought it to be fine.

I myself don’t care what happens to most gods and even less about their champions. What I cared about was only one pair. The goddess Eirene and her champion who I suspect is my sister. The evidence all pointed to it. It was her who shouted the commands to activate the trap Kenos had fallen into and Eirene had mentioned that like me, her chosen had also been from a world with no magic. I doubted she knew about her being my sister though. If she had she would have told me. I held no doubts about that. She was one of the only people in this world which I could truly trust no matter what even if my interaction with her was small.

I also anticipated that the gods might have actually had a way to enter this world which seemed to be correct so I completely severed their world from any other and put a barrier around it which they would not be able to break due to its sheer size and strength. A very different type of barrier to the one we found in the Evermist which had based its strength on its complexity. They still kept their bonds to their chosen and they could still communicate with them… but that was it. They could no longer do anything else.

Cel nodded, agreeing with Lily that something good must have happened to me.

“No, it’s nothing. I was just watching two clowns get hurt in a comedic fashion.”

“Clowns?” (Lily)

Oh right the concept for them was probably lacking in this world as of yet.

“Something like a jester.”

“I… see.” (Lily)

She looked quite puzzled as to why I would be laughing at something like that. She knew I wasn’t the kind of person to laugh at somebody else’s misfortune. She had forgotten I laughed at it quite often as long as that somebody else was my enemy.

“I had thought you were just excited for your date with Cel tomorrow.” (Lily)

She smirked at me knowingly. *Sigh* Why do you have to be this childish about it? You were the one who wanted me to do it in the first place… well not like I didn’t. Cel had momentarily stopped eating and was looking at the ground with a red face. From what I can guess Lily probably found out about our arrangement, most likely from Cel directly and then explained that it would be no simple walk.

“Well I am looking forward to that. But first I’ll have to go impress the royal family today.”

“Oh come on. It’s you. They’ll probably take you instantly.” (Lily)

“*Nod* There’s no way they would take any other mage even if you only display your magical prowess without any of the knowledge or other skills.” (Cel)

“I’m glad you’re so confident in me but don’t get your hopes up too high. The one choosing will be a child after all.”

I said that but they seemed to not care in the least. Either confident that I would make it or that even if I don’t I would do something even better. Well… they weren’t wrong about the second one. But I still wanted to get close to the royal family. It would be easier to get to the country like that if the need were to ever arise.

“Well. I’ll be going then.”

Seeing as we had finished eating I decided to head off. I honestly did not know of the time we needed to gather. Either they had forgotten to inform me or we would be gathering at no specific time whatsoever. In either case I decided that going now, in the morning would me most suitable. Cel and Lily both nodded and waved me off as I left the inn.

I walked through the crowded streets of the bright city until I reached the outer palace gates. The palace itself had a huge garden surrounded by the outer fence and then in the middle of the garden sat the actual palace.

“Halt! No one is allowed in the palace without proper authorization!” (Guard)

Hmm… But I didn’t really receive a pass or anything.

“I’m here because I was chosen for the tutor competition though…”

“Nobody gets in without a document allowing entry.” (Guard)

Just as I was thinking of walking away and then sneaking in from a different location the gate opened as a large man wearing heavy armor and a greatsword on his back passed through.

“Oh. Hello there. It is nice to see you again.”

For a second Aren was surprised seeing as I was wearing a blindfold but still recognized him but he seems to have already figured I have a way of seeing or at least sensing other people during the battle so he recovered quickly.

“Heh. Nice to see ya too buddy. We’re gonna have to have a rematch after last time. But first how about you get in?” (Aren)

The man was the one who I fought in the examination. The large man called Aren. The guards looked at me surprised for a second but then regained their dignity and let me pass through with Aren. We walked through the garden to the front gates of the palace and went inside unhindered thanks to the large man’s presence. As we walked through the hallway I initiated a conversation. I had a feeling I would like the man.

“Sorry about the sword by the way. I guess I showed off a bit too much.”

“Don’t worry about it. That was only a replacement I used for the examination. I didn’t wanna use my actual sword after all.” (Aren)

Well now it made sense why I could cleave it in half so effortlessly or why it wasn’t even enchanted. Unlike his current sword.

“Sorry about that at the gates by the way. The truth is we had to give you a permit when you passed the examination but not only were you the only one who passed but we were also pretty blown away by your performance. So we kinda forgot.”

I chuckled a bit. I should keep the showing off to a minimum from now on. Though I will keep my pride. Unfortunately for the king I am not going to just kneel in front of him and beg him to accept me. That is the one thing I would not do. I still had pride. As a being surpassing the gods. As a magician and swordsman. And as a former ruler and conqueror of an entire planet. Judging from the populace and their loyalty to the royal family the king was by no means a bad man. But even so the one thing he will need to understand before he accepts me is that I will serve no one.

As we arrived in front of another huge double door the knight, or at least I am assuming he is one, stopped.

“Well. Good luck. Not that you’ll need it.” (Aren)

He said with a smirk. Seems like he also thought I would make it. *Sigh* It seems I have that sort of effect on people. The guards on both sides of the door pushed it open and I walked inside, leaving Aren behind.

The inside was a long hallway with a red carpet in the middle. It was painted yellow and looked almost like gold. In the very back of the room sat two thrones, elevated with stairs, on which were sitting who I assumed to be for obvious reasons the king and the queen. I walked while observing the rest of the people in the room.

There were six people at the bottom of the stairs who were all kneeling in front of the king. Half looked like mages while the others had swords hanging from their waists. They were probably the rest of the participants. Huh. I guess I’m the last one? The men did not look like adventurers or anything like that. They were all obviously nobles. So they probably got through with connections. Heh. Aren did say I was the only one to pass the actual examination.

Behind and to the kings left stood a tall young-looking man who was obviously a member of the royal family. Probably the first or second prince. Next to him stood the old man who had been at my examination. To the direct right of the king stood a young boy who was obviously the third prince we were supposed to be teaching. And to the direct left of the queen stood a girl who looked like she was in her teens. Maybe the princess? I don’t really know the full extent of the royal family. I don’t even know if they have daughters or how many. On the other hand. It is quite curious how many children the king and queen have seeing as elves are supposed to have a low birth rate. There were also a lot of guards in the room both lining the way to the front and a few around the royal family.

Aren walked in from another entrance behind the royal family just as I reached the rest of the participants and smirked at me before walking over and standing next to the old mage. I smirked back before standing in the line of participants. The rest were still bowing but I did not. The attention of the room had already gathered on me as I walked forward but now I could feel annoyance in some of their looks.

“What are you waiting for? You are in front of the king. Bow!” (Older Prince)

So it did come to this. Of course it did. You can’t meet royalty without them asking to bow in front of you. Or so I thought but the king put his hand in front of his son as if asking him to stop and stood up from his throne.

“Rise.” (King)

As he said so the other six rose from their position. They looked really annoyed as well. This is going better than expected. I just came here but I’m already annoying the living daylights out of the nobles and royalty. Just as planned. Not. But still it was interesting so I did not really try to stop it. I wasn’t going to bow down. I wasn’t going to disrespect them either. It was simply that these people took everything other than complete obedience as disrespect.

“AS you know you have gathered here today to teach my youngest son all that you know in the ways of magic and the sword. But. Before you can do that we must decide who is most worthy of doing so. As such you will be escorted to another location where you will be allowed to show your skills. As you know the one who will decide his teacher is my son. Aren, please escort them to the inner courtyard.” (King)

Aren made a slight bow before coming down the stairs and walking past us while being followed by the third prince and his older brother. Everyone including myself turned to follow them but the king had one last thing to say.

"The blindfolded man. Remain here!” (King)

He said while pointing at me. The other participants were smirking at me as if saying “Serves you right” which I found hilarious. I didn't like being ordered around but I stopped turning towards Aren and faced the thrones once more. Now then I wonder what the good king would want from me.

-----------------------------------------

The cliffs are real.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOWysv2YKC0