Chapter 2: Celestial Freedom

Sator's head snapped up suspiciously, as he felt the sudden but subtle change in the atmosphere. He was lazily seated on his black throne idly rotating a sphere of corruption around his right thumb, as if by doing so, time could speed by him into an eon at best. Sator had ruled over Morbia for thousands of millennia, and watching over the dead spawning in the corrupted Saphir river every day for that long had made him into a grumpy and angry character. The supreme god Orpheus was omnipresent, meaning he was consciously everywhere and aware of everything that transpired in all of the 5 domains and beyond them. Every high deity was aware of the quiet energy that accompanied the supreme's presence, moment by moment. The subtle change that Sator felt was the omnipresent energy disappearing entirely, for some reason, no-longer in the atmosphere.

"Zarnaroth!", he shouted, "bring your useless embodiment of despicable flesh over here!". From outside of the gray throne room, there was a scampering sound as Zarnaroth, the high legion demon of Sator, scrambled to bring himself before him. Sator's foul temper was the reason why he was usually alone in his throne room, as his punishment was as swift as his anger. The throne doors opened theatrically as Zarnaroth's muscular bulk squeezed through. Sator looked at him appraisingly as he approached, trying to appear as humble as possible. The speed with which he reached the foot of the throne was remarkable given his size. His features were those of a Minotaur, but one who stood on 2 hoofed hind legs, with thick sinewed thighs that connected to a massive muscle-clad torso, thick hairy hands bulging with veins. All this was completed with the head of a bull, bat-like wings giving a very terrifying picture of corruption at work.

"You have summoned me, my lord", said the demon, bowing fully before Sator.

"Indeed, I summoned you, Zarnaroth. Go and summon the high deity Bale for me. Let him know the urgency of this forthwith."

"As you wish, my lord", he answered. The space behind him shimmered and a black-hued portal appeared and he promptly stepped through it and disappeared.

Almost immediately, the high deity's incoming arrival was announced by the powerful aura that filled the entire throne room, before a black portal opened at the foot of Sator's throne. Sator smirked at that and stood up from his seat.

"High deity Bale," he said," thank you for heeding my call so quickly-"

"I felt it too, Sator", Bale interrupted him impatiently, "The gazing mana of Orpheus disappearing. Does this mean what i think it does?".

"Yes, brother", said Sator, uncharacterically ignoring such an interruption."The supreme god has withdrawn his gaze from creation. The reasons for this are speculative at this juncture. We must have an audience with Orpheus, he will most likely be out with the reason the moment we are in his presence", he said.

"Of course, him knowing everything and all", added Bale, almost sacarstically. Sator stood quickly at Bales' side and said "So.....shall we?", opening a portal, " After you, beast tamer!", he snickered.

With that, they stepped into the portal and the dark throne room remained a quiet spectator of 2 heavy auras in one place.

*****

Orpheus' place of abode was a huge castle floating in the Nagus reality, a separate pocket of existence only the gods could access. The castle itself was as extravagant as it was huge, its size being only bested by its grandeur. The pulsating energy of the supreme kept it afloat, with swirling clouds covering it. The inhabitants of this marvelous abode were Orpheus and his steward only, Sergei.

Sergei has always been with the supreme god, even before the high deities came into being. As such, his power was unknown to the high gods, which especially irritated Sator, since he considered himself the second most powerful being in all creating, second only to the Supreme god himself. Arriving in the hallway, they were greeted by Sergei himself.

"Orpheus is expecting you," he said without preamble, and turned on his heel, already leading the way to the throne room.

"What?!", Bale blanched. "Why are you surprised that the supreme god was aware of you coming here before you came,high deity Bale? After so many eons in existence, you should know that he is aware of everything surely", said Sergei with a mused expression on his face, glancing briefly as he opened the golden double doors of the throne room.

Bale was offended, and was about to reply scathingly to the steward, but Sator laid a hand on his shoulder,

" Let it go, Brother. Rather let's hear from our lord the matter here."

Bale huffed and swallowed the bitterness and composed himself and proceeded into the throne room.

The throne room was decorated with pure gold and diamonds everywhere. Even the carpet leading to the majestic throne itself was made of an intricate fabric that only existed in Nagus reality. The throne itself was made of a mineral no one really knew what it was and seated comfortably on it was Orpheus himself. Sator mused in his mind that in all the eons of his existence, he had never seen the supreme god standing up. As they approached the foot of the throne,they inclined their heads down,not only out of reverence, but the mana emanating was too much to glare directly at Orpheus. Sator was convinced that even at this level, the supreme god was actually holding out on his mana output for their sakes. This spoke volumes of the brute energy that housed the supreme being.

As they bowed down in abeyance, a white hand clad in a gray robe rose fluidly from his lap," Ah, Sator and Bale, you can rise and stand. Surely there is no need for these frivolities, my sons. I expected you two minutes earlier than you did, but that is besides the point. Deanna, Stefan and Yuke should be joining us shortly," Orpheus boomed at the high deities,turning to his steward,"speaking of which, they are now arriving in the hallway. Go and usher them here. I grow tired of waiting".

Sergei curtsied and left without a word. Moments later, he returned with the three great gods.

Deanna was the epitome of weighty beauty. She had gray flowing hair that reached her legs. Dressed in a plain glittering black dress, she elegantly graced the throne. Stefani's handsome features were twisted in a faint frown after meeting Sator's eyes. The two had an uneasy relationship, to say the least. Yuke, as if he himself was a dwarf, stood a foot shorter than the rest and lately, he had grown a bushy beard to punctuate the image. He grinned at Bale before shifting his attention to Orpheus, who nodded his head, acknowledging the deities.

"Now that you are all here, I can address you all at once. No doubt, you hastened to my palace because you felt my gazing energy disappear from your senses." said Orpheus.

"Needless to say, you are wondering about the reason for this, which I will grace you with shortly after I tell you something,". The gods shifted expectantly as no one responded to this.

"I have been treating you and all of creation like children,keeping close attention to your every act all the time, which,as I discovered, has stunted any growth in all of you. Naturally, because you fear my judgment, you have kept your heart's desires to yourselves, slowly brewing in any unresolved feelings you may harbor against me. Too weak to do anything about it or question it.", he chuckled softly,shifting his gaze across the now nervous high deities.

"Supreme god, I bear no resentment-for your all-knowing and all-seeing presence-",

"Spare yourself Deanna, I know your love for me is as pure as my power. I could say the same for everyone else, but then who truly knows the things in the heart?", Orpheus cut in. Deanna cast her gaze down, abashed.

"I have removed my gazing will so you can live freely. Govern the worlds I gave to you as you see fit. For I perceive that if my creation is to grow by leaps and bounds, they at least mustn't be inhibited by a dotting creator. I have kept myself out of the affairs of creation since you handled that yourselves. However, I have also removed myself from your affairs as well as the gods. One day I may no longer be present to hold your hands and insure your wisdom. You must proceed and learn to become supreme gods yourselves."

The looks of the high deities varied from astonishment to downright anger.

Stefani was the first to speak,"Father, I do not understand. Are you going on a vacation or something?Does a supreme being take a leave of absence even??".

Orpheus shifted slightly in his seat and gazed at the Elf god,"Impossible,even though that would have been a nice reprieve. No....I will be here, as always."

"My lord, when you say we can do as we see fit, do you mean that in the total sense that this statement entails?", asked Yuke.

"Precisely!"

"Before any of my siblings carry on with unnecessary questions,we are grateful for this. No doubt this is what you saw as best and we do not question your judgment, supreme god." said Sator,bowing briefly.

At that, no one said anything in response. They surreptitiously bowed down and excused themselves , each of them stepping into their respective portals and disappearing therein.

Sergei turned to face Orpheus," My lord, this game will be an entertaining one, I'm certain",

Orpheus laughed lightly," Yes,but there will be chaos as well. But from every tragedy you can be assured of finding gold in the ashes. Lets see what creation will do..."

"I don't feel your gazing mana as well. Have you really withdrawn it?"

"Of course not!My mana is beyond their comprehension and even you, my trusted steward. I have merely increased it beyond their level of perception. Only one as powerful as I am can feel it."

Sergei grew quiet as he began to understand the meaning of absolute power, which is the supreme god Orpheus..