And Last, But Furthest From The Least

/Marytha POV/

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The judgment, it did not come to pass. What had occurred for it to not work? Little did I know what was going on, I suppose. I am named Marytha, Goddess of Justice, Judgement and Truth. My birth was simple, as many of my kin have found to be. Before we were not, and now we were.

But all this explanation means nothing right now. A being had just created something. Something that was wrong. I could almost feel it. My siblings and contemporaries were not pleased with the feeling of this, abomination, going around in the world.

A world that we were charged with maintaining, handling, preserving. I was the first to take charge of handling this monstrosity.

"Hear, oh siblings of mine. I call forth a judgement for this being who has decided to go against the natural order."

One of my other siblings manifested themselves, wrought in flowers and smelled of nature. My brother, Terrian, God of Beauty, Fertility, Nature and Balance.

"My sister."

His words flowed like a peacefully babbling brook with the chirps and rustles that entail to the land itself.

"Your thoughts, oh brother of mine?"

"I must confess, this being, I have been watching them. They, have something, or more specifically, someone that I wish to remove from them."

"Removal? Another being that had decided to align themselves with the defiler? Brother, I must confess of my failure. I fail to see why you consider any beings related to this, this, demon, yes, a fine word to describe them, why would you consider this demon's companion to be of import to you?"

"The child he brings along with him to his battles, she is innocent, capable of going against his taint, but I fear that the nature of this being would corrupt the child beyond recognition.

My blessings fall upon her and her kind, wherever they may be now. It would prove to be cold if I did not do my best to preserve her from the judgement you intend to bring upon the defiler you seek to strike down."

Another of our kin manifested amongst us, with darkness billowing off of his robes, as a cool breeze seemed to follow him everywhere he went.

"My siblings. My mistress, she yearns for this one."

The dry, raspy voice that came from our kin made a shiver go down my spine. Ah yes, I am made aware of our new sibling's name.

"Worry yourself not, oh brother of mine. Your mistress shall be more than capable of grasping this, being, once the punishment has finally been brought upon him.

That, and I hope that the day we must go as well, you shall ferry us with care to the Beyond, Daronis, God of Slumber, Cold, and Death."

He nodded to me as his face was made known to the rest of us. Gaunt, but still as defined the rest, with no eyes within the sockets of his face. In his hands, a candle holder with a wick daring to drop hot wax upon the space we had inhabited, and yet never truly falling.

"I am still as confused brother, why art thou the God of Cold, when thou holds a candle in hand, with liquid wax daring to drop and burn thyself? Would it not make more sense for you to be a God of Warmth, or perhaps even the Flame itself?"

We stared at another one of our kin, who made themselves known. A more, hmm, what did the mortals consider this? Ah yes, along the lines of myself as well, a female form manifested itself, with parchment and dark liquid within a container.

Her eyes bereft with beauty as her very voice was akin to a melody for the ages. In her hands, a golden feather with a point that held the liquid to allow her to continue to write, of things that have yet to occur.

"You need not worry yourself of the divinities that I have been bestowed, oh kin. What I fear is how many you have, and shall, be given."

Daronis addressed our new sibling who manifested themselves.

"Oh phooey, and here I thought I could actually get a rise out of you! Oh it's been quite the while, my dear brothers and sisters? I almost forgot that we were supposed to be born today!"

Terrian interrupted her as he pointed out something about her words.

"Sister, we did not inherently know that we were to exist, for how we were to know of our existence even before we exist?"

She simply smiled at our brother and repeatedly tapped what was akin to his head.

"Oh don't worry yourself about the fine print my dear brother. That's my job! Good day to you all, my lovely siblings, for it is I! The Goddess of Fate, Voice, Literature, and Fire, the one, the only! Articalrian!"

"She is odd, siblings."

"I must respectfully agree with our brother, You are odd, Goddess of Fate."

She decided to take a more mortal form to express herself.

"Oh, how mean of you all! I'm simply trying to lighten the mood. It's not wrong to try and brighten things up a tad!"

She didn't stop talking after that.

"But I must advise all of thee, the fate of this being you seek to persecute, tis not one that you should try to alter or control. This mortal, may not even stay mortal anymore."

Her words resonated within the space as we felt our divinities nearly trying to burst out, to go against the words of our sibling that had told us that we were wrong.

And that the being that we were up against was one that was more than capable of going against us as well. I felt, INCENSED.

"Sister, measure thine words carefully. A being that goes against the natural order of the world we preserve is not a being that would try to preserve it as well. These are mortals, they must given instructions."

"And that is where the problems begin, my dear brother Terrian, controlling a being that cannot even be controlled by Fate, not even nudged lightly, is a task that will prove to be of significant difficulty."

We took a moment to digest what our sibling had placed upon our platters. A being that could go against very nature of what we were standing for, that is not a being that should be taken lightly.

"But, I would have to say this. You have all the right to prosecute this being, indeed. Just make sure that it's as fair as any other that you would give to anyone who goes against the laws that you yourself have been made to take."

These words that come from my sister, they are not without reason, and I myself must uphold the very meaning of what I bring forth into the world.

"Your words are sound sister of mine. But an appropriate punishment proves itself to be a difficult one to catch for this creature. Might I be so bold to ask for your ideas, for a storyteller knows how to weave a world as easy as a spider may weave forth a web, let alone the Goddess responsible for the arts to exist in the first place."

She simply chuckled at my request as I could not help but feel a little confused at why she found my words humourous.

"Oh my dear sister, flattery is difficult to come out of you, and I see why now. Very well, I'll try to create an appropriate punishment for this being. But take care not to oversee the process to an extreme degree.

The being is almost able to sense the very essence of our existence when as draw too near to him"

"Oh, a male that tries to go against the order of the world? I'll make sure to note that down for our mistress. She would be pleased to know that she shall claim what is rightfully hers."

When our siblings finally left the space, I was almost about to leave as well, when I watched what the being was doing.

He was, talking, conversing, and nodding with the punishment that was sent before him. Now that I look at him, the feel of wrongness, the aura, which is by far a better description for the feeling, was barely wafting around him, until I saw something else that was there within the lands that he was inhabiting.

The blessing of my brother, it seemed to try and escape from the very earth itself, but it quivers whenever this man walked past them.

I was wrong, this being, no, this abomination, was more than simply something that was trying to go against the very natural order of this world of ours, this being was controlling it, scaring it into submission, in fear of suppression from the aura that he had wreathed himself in.

And then, he went to the same hold that he made as his shelter, and readied to fight the punishment before him. When I took a good look at the punishment, I was almost shocked. It looked like him, but with slight differing features.

What was Articalrian thinking? She brought forth a being that was capable of befriending a beast that was more than capable of subjugating a shard of the will of nature.

No wonder why Terrian was seemingly placing urgency upon the destruction of this being, it was nonsensical, and it was forcing the very same rules and postulates upon it's surroundings.

It walked over to the punishment, which had removed all of the implements that it had been conjured alongside with and laid it's head on the remains of a tree, where it allowed itself to be slain with ease by the one it was meant to be a challenge.

This, this cannot pass! I do not allow any of this to occur. I tried my best to manifest myself in the world, thinking that I would to do the deed myself, and yet I found myself inept within that point. I was incapable of forming myself upon the very realm we were charged to take care of.

It was at this moment, that I saw what the creature was doing. It's eyes were wide open, as it stared right at me, before it steeled it's grip and took upon a stance. I didn't initially understand what it was doing, until it made itself obvious. It was readying itself to skirmish with me.

I would have laughed at the defensiveness of any other being, should they have done this. But this creature? This being that dared to change the very laws that have been placed upon these lands?

A thousand deaths would never suffice for what they have done. I took my sight away from what the beast had done. It knew that I was watching it. It knew that I was a threat. This, complicates things to a further degree.

Articalrian made a mistake, I made a mistake. I shouldn't have asked her to create the punishment. It was more than wise enough to trick it into allowing itself to be subjugated.

I needed to ensure something. Something that would have allowed me to beat this creature.

I needed beings that could be able to go against this beast. This, demon. Yes, this demon must be destroyed. For the good of this world, the good of the others that inhabit it. And for this, I needed to ask for the help of Terrian.

The beings that he had nurtured within those forests, they are strong, indeed. But united? Nay, they simply seek to live for another day, and that was their initial purpose.

But I need to change something, with his permission. We need beings who would be just as capable of battling this creature in their own territory.

Perhaps something that looked to be the same as it, to trick it into thinking it was being given a chance to continue it's kind? Yes, that might indeed work. Words and plans must be exchanged immediately with Terrian.

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/MC POV/

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I felt the blood on axe slowly dripping itself onto my hand as I looked at what had just made itself known. It felt heavy to try and move, but I could still move the same, albeit with slightly more effort upon my end to allow myself to be able to get into a good enough position to fight in.

A god had just shown itself right before me, and it was one that looked to just be utterly flabbergasted. This, this wasn't exactly something that I considered to be good. The gods have found me, and from what I could tell, they were taking a more active role.

Fuck, I don't know of the contract stated anything along the lines of allowing me to survive or even fight against these cunts themselves. I don't even think I can square up right now with any of them.

This, has deeply impacted the situation in a way that I would much rather have just stayed quiet. But fuck, when you create artifacts whenever you have an aneurysm, I suppose there ain't a whole lot to try and say to go against things.

In any scenario, I need to get work onto a lot of things, first off, finding a suitable area to place this diamond in. Right now it's stable just being in my grasp, but having the gods stare down at you isn't going to be all that easy to pull off.

Well, it could be a whole lot worse. I could have to actually fight the god that came down from heaven high. We can't sustain ourselves here for much longer, without finding a good enough method to keep all of the gods out.

I'm here assuming that there are multiple gods, and yet I was only made witness to a single one of them. That's just me being paranoid at that point, but I won't deny that at all.

The dungeon, was something that I was concerned for. This thing was the very reason that we were getting into the spotlight of the gods in first place. And me getting rid of that "trial" version of me was only getting more of their attention on all of us here.

This wasn't good, not good at all.

I noticed that time seemed to be working the same now and the little one soon awoke, seeing me with my axe in hand with wide eyes.

"Problem old man?"

"Yes, big problem. Big enough for us to have to begin leaving."

"I liked this place, you aren't even done building it."

"I know lass, I know. But we're getting the attention of beings that we shouldn't be getting the attention of in the first place."

"Okay. Do we bring Mr. Deer and Little Hedgehog?"

"I didn't notice that you named them, but yes. Bring the two along. We'll have to prepare for a very very long trip, but it'll be worth it. We'll have to prepare for a day. This cottage will rot far longer than what you'd anticipate."

She just nodded to me as she quickly went to tell the animals of the plan to leave. As for me, I just went and sighed. This is fine, this effort wasn't terrible. Gave me some extra experience when it comes to building things.

I looked up at the sky again, with a snarl almost coming onto my face.

'Let the games begin, eh?'