I walked into my tent and threw my axe into the corner with a frustrated growl. My vengeance was denied, and at the verge of taking it at that. It was, frustrating. Not to mention, what was that conversation about? As soon as Lady Labyrinthia finished speaking, she, the two masterminds behind this mess, her entire army, and the elves just vanished.

The tent opened and Tarsja entered. I shot her an angry glare. “What is it?” I downed the cup of wine on my table, before I threw it across the tent with an angry grunt. Tarsja put a hand on my shoulder. “I understand you’re frustrated, Chief, but you need to calm down. Your current behavior is unbecoming of the Moonclaw’s Chief.” She was right, of course. The Moonclaw’s chief shouldn’t be sulking over something the gods decided. It was pointless to argue with them, and not something someone in my position should do.

I took a deep breath. “You’re right, Tarsja, thanks.” She gave me a weak smile. “Anytime, Chief. That aside, mind talking to your oath-sister, she’s in an even worse mood than you, and I think she’s about to snap.” Not surprising. “I’ll attempt to calm her. However, I can’t promise it’ll end well.” That was a major understatement, since Narja’s temper was well known, and her losing her chance at revenge… Well, let’s see if I could keep her from doing something she’d regret later.

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“Ye look familiar ta me, fer some reason, we met before? Who are ya, anyhow?” We were in Moor’s cabin. I convinced him to let me borrow it for this conversation. “My name is Erika. As for your previous question, yes and no, it’s a bit… convoluted.” I looked over at Keari and Amber. The four of us were the only ones present. “I don’t really know where to begin if I’m being honest. There is… a lot to unpack. Hmm, let’s start with this.” I focused, and my sight perspective jumped to that of Keari, and judging from her reaction, her perspective just jumped to me. “You’re the one causing this?” She seemed wary of me now.

I shook my head and took a sip from the mug of water in front of me. “Neither of us is the direct cause. It’s because of a skill, one you should have too. I am still working out the exact effects, but one of them is that if you focus too hard on me, or I focus too hard on you, our senses flip to that of each other’s perspective, you see hear and feel what I am doing, and the other way around. I would tell you more, but the entire thing is garbled up on my end, so I don’t have a clue what it does exactly, and it’s been more trial and error on my end. Essentially, I wanted to apologize for any inconvenience I’ve caused from my experimentation. Lady Inlas asked Lord Rubolg about it, but things became busy after that, and we never received a reply. Just, don’t be surprised if the skill disappears or clears up over the next few days.”

I could see Keari relax a bit, though there was a hint of anxiousness emanating from her still. “As for your first question, Granite. To cut right to the chase, I am the remnant dream leftovers from Keari, becoming a real entity, rather than a semi-real construct of dreams. I guess you could say that I am Keari and Keari is me, but we are different people.” The room went deathly quiet for a while. “Yer right, that is convoluted, a real mess that I’m having issues wrapping me head around, if I’m honest.”

Amber looked up at from where she was sitting. “You know, now that I am actually looking for it, you strike the same standing poses as Ashes always do. In fact, if it wasn’t for the visual difference, I’d swear you two were siblings if not the same person.” I cracked a smile at that. “ Well, I’ll take that as a compliment, Amber.” I walked over to the nearby window and looked outside. The evening sun was setting on the horizon. I heard movement behind me and looked over my shoulder to see the taller frame of Keari standing behind me. “So since we were… one, as you say, does that mean you…”

I gave her shoulder a friendly pat. “Have all your memories? Yes. Though they are hazy here and there, a side effect of my removal, no doubt. And any memories you made after our separation are yours and yours alone, since I am no longer a part of you.”

Keari seemed uncomfortable, and I could take a guess why. “If you’re worried that I’m holding a grudge or anything, don’t be. If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t even exist right now, so I’m grateful, more than anything. I didn’t call you here to settle a grudge. I called you here to explain the sudden swaps in perspective you were having, and to assure you that you weren’t going mad. If anything, view me as your estranged twin, or something, one that was raised elsewhere, or something.” With that, I left without another word, leaving the three dumbfounded.

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As she left, I didn’t know what to think. It explained some things, at least partially. I didn’t feel any dishonesty from her, but it felt like she wasn’t telling me everything. Well, it wasn’t like I could force her to talk. She was an Avatar, and if the two of us were one, she knew my fighting style inside out. The chance of winning against her would be slim, if I even stood a chance at all.

Well, it didn’t matter, really. With some luck, the skill would sort itself out in a while, and it wouldn’t cause any more issues. As we left the cabin, we heard yelling. Ursus was trying to calm down Narja, which was screaming at him at the top of her lungs. Before I could ask what was going on, Ursus pulled her into a bear hug. She tried to force her way out of his grip, but as time wore on, she seemed to calm down. What was that all about?

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“HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND, GIRL?” I arched an eyebrow at Medino’s outburst. “While I can understand you’re upset, may I remind you we are holding a tribunal discuss all this in a calm and civilized manner, not scream like bickering children?” I looked over everyone in attendance, which was most of the pantheon. Everyone who wasn’t doing something critical was attending the tribunal.

The overall mood was teetering on a knife’s edge. Unless I calmed things down, everything could fall apart in an instant. Aunt Inlas gazed at my two guests with the same expression as one would give a venomous viper. “And what guarantee do you have that your guests won’t try something?” Her voice was tense, but she was giving it her all to remain calm, which was admirable, given her history with Balance’s antics.

“What could she possibly do at this point? The Void is no more. The last vestiges of it have been consumed by my realm, and thus Void Magic has gone with it.” This was the third time I emphasized that point, but either it went over their head, or they didn’t believe me.

“In that case, why not just destroy her?” I turned towards the source of the question, Grandfather Rubolg. “You already tried that, and it didn’t work. I might be a deity now, Grandfather, but my power pales compared to your own. If you failed to destroy her, what chance would I have. Besides, destroying Balance, when she is that entrenched into a soul, would cause irreparable damage to the soul she’s inhabiting, a soul that did not know what she agreed to, I might add. Would you truly have me sentence a mortal soul to oblivion just in case I could do something you could not?”

I could see the mood shift a bit, tempers calming when I pointed out the futility of such a thing, not to mention the cost. “Besides, what I am recommending is a far better solution overall.” Medino’s leafy head began bristling as his anger flared up again. The tidal Twins further up the table also showed their anger. “How is forgiving everything that… that THING did and making it mortal an acceptable punishment?” The twins were asking, their hair made of sea foam and brine whipping wildly like a storm, showing their bad mood.

I looked around the hall, then calmly delivered the revelation I got when I viewed Cassandra’s memories. “Punishment? Tell me, Asaila and Doromi, do you punish your tides when they sweep a mortal to their watery doom?” The question seemed to take them aback. “Why would we do that? The tide just does what it’s supposed to.”

I looked directly at the two of them with a triumphant smile. “Exactly. And everything that Balance has been doing was precisely what Balance was made to do. How do you balance nature, and how do you balance life? The answer is, you can’t. Life is a chaotic, ever-changing mess of randomness with few, if any set points of stability. Attempting to bring balance to such a thing was an impossible task. So, Balance, as per the creed of its creation, did the only thing it could to bring balance to the chaotic mess that is life.”

The hall was silent as I let my revelation sink in. “Do you see now? Even in its current state, Balance, reduced to a soul parasite, is still acting on that, be it subconsciously or not. And seeing as we can’t destroy it, the only way to stop this from happening would be to change Balance into something else, something that doesn’t need to end all life. Balance is a Destroyer, an end bringer meant to cleanse all life. It’s acting upon what its creator demanded, so the fault is ours, if anyone is to blame, for letting things get so out of hand to begin with.”

By now, the hostile atmosphere in the room was shifting towards embarrassed silence. “While I can accept what you say as being true, daughter mine, there is one thing I wonder about.” I turned my attention to where Mother was sitting. Her voice was calmer than the other speakers so far. “And that would be?” She turned her gaze towards Cassandra and Balance. “How did the Balance portfolio survive an attempted destruction by an over-deity. It shouldn’t be possible, and yet it clearly did. Besides, judging from your behavior, I have a sneaking suspicion you know why.”

Everyone’s eyes turned towards me once more. “I won’t claim to know for certain, but I have a theory. It was me taking on the Balance portfolio that did it. As much as I have integrated into living in this world, even joining the pantheon, I am still an outsider. I am not bound by all the laws of this reality, even now. This was diminished with my ascension, and I figured that this was because I became more integrated into this reality. However, what if there was another reason. The same reason Balance sought another otherworlder after surviving.”

Grandfather stood and walked over to my seat, where he looked down at Cassandra and Yrsha. In his true form, he towered over the two mortals. “So you’re saying the reason I couldn’t destroy Balance was because it gained some of your otherworldly properties by being linked to you. Hmm, it’s as good a theory as any, and it certainly would explain why. Fine then, everyone in favor of turning Balance into a mortal, rise your hands, paws or similar extremities.” Grandfather and I looked across the hall as the vote was cast. This entire thing with the Void would end today. One way, or another.