CATs and Mouses

28th of Trescia.

***

It was not all good, being a God. I was not one to ignore things. Thus I could not ignore the mess I made of the Bodhi Peninsula. My evolution saw Everything change. North and South. Indirectly and directly, I caused death and destruction on a scale never before seen. Or, I would have, were it not for my Legions.

Therein brought another pain; another worry. My Legions were not my janitors. My beloved Legionaries were my vicarious explorers. Yet it was they who cleaned up my mess.

It was the 1st Legion who kept the evolved creatures occupied with battle. It was the 2nd who prevented the new gold rush from wiping out the evolved life. It was the 3rd who taught half of the peninsula the dangers of the materials and machines that now existed in abundance before my ascension even began.

It was the 4th that contained the volcanic eruptions. It was the 5th who healed those who could be held and brought a merciful end to those who could not. It was the 7th who ensured everyone got a piece of the pie. It was the 8th who ruined pie for those who hoarded. It was the 9th who staved off the invasion from the World Sea. It was the 10th who updated the cartographic records for everyone in the lands below, giving them a clear idea of the realm in which they now lived. It was the 11th that prepared everyone for the coming wave of death and destruction.

None worked as hard in this regard as the Keepers, however. They did not wait to handle the extreme and catastrophic pockets of energy that had spread across the realms. Thus I watched my subordinates in order to learn and ensure such a thing would never happen again.

They did not wait. Yet it still took time. Days of endless working. Not to grow more attuned to their heightened manipulation abilities. Not for the worlds above to finish their dance above the skies and distance at distances appropriate for a binary system. Not even for the day to end.

The moment the beam ejected to Maru, the 6th Legion split their forces and sought to do as Peter had done with them. And more.

To those zones of extreme mana went their corps officers, seeking to tame them.

The closest of them was a zone of fire mana in the heart of the Kasian Mountains, taken by Artemio and his subordinates. They planned to temper the violent conflagration and consolidate it into a single, omni-colored eternal flame. Likewise, Grimaldo went as far as the southern coast of Kasia to attempt the same with a zone of earth mana that had taken a liking to minerals.

Close behind them followed Luke and Vincenc, but only for a time. The latter diverged to retrace their steps, entering the great ravine that split Redagh from the rest of the mountain range.

The former, attuned the most to metal, went not to tame the extreme metal mana zone, he sought to blend with it, and in turn use it to protect the druids above, just as Vincenc intended to meld with the extrema air mana in skies above to protect the travelers below.

The rest of them went in the opposite direction. Due north. Past the extreme mana zone of earth I visited days before my evolution. The first to diverge was Gray and Glas, who descended on the sole mountain range in the Vrurian Empire, just east of the waterfall Hogaz awoke in.

At the summit of its southern mountain, near a volcano of epic proportions, sat an extreme mana zone attributed to steam. Yeti. Sapient Frost Hounds. Paragon bears, lynxes, and other creatures. Elementals. The zone evolved all those things and more to thrive in the steam. Gray was the sole exception. At least until he became a greater force of nature than the zone itself.

On the other side of the summit, Glas tended to their mirror, battling the evolved creatures of mist for dominance of the exotic land. If only to keep them from the hands of poachers, overzealous industrialists, and the civilizations nearby.

Arthurson and Balfour continued until the borders of Nevstan, where one took to the skies to grow at home in the aberrant Plasma zone and study it and the creatures it bore. The other descended to the encroaching wave of dust, seeking not to tame or disperse it but to teach those in its path to grow at home within it, building structures that grew and changed shape in the ever-present storms.

The rest of them continued over Nevstan, admiring the work of the 3rd Legion and looking through the Net to the Catastrophic Arcane Territories further south. Tamed by Roheisa's 4th Legion alongside the one in Vruria, Mount Hertham erupted its contents into the Steel Cairn that was now making its way toward Mazi, creating a crawling 300-meter mound shaped like a beast.

Similarly, the Catastrophic Arcane Territory of lightning within the Wethion Mountains of Central Ligin was first danced in by the 10th Legion before the heart of the 1st Legion claimed it as their training grounds, formed higher in the sky than any cloud could exist. And so, while their Imperator was finishing his monastic training in Nydorden Halls, the Keepers were to do the same in the largest Catastrophic Arcane Territory in the Peninsula.

"So this is a CAT." The Keepers' Technical Archmage whistled low. Rightly so. Even while experiencing it vicariously through Bowen, Peter's Executor, I nearly froze in awe once the wave of pure power swept over him. Being half-elf like me, it must have shaken Brigida to her core.

Or perhaps not.

"It checks out." She laughed, seemingly to herself. "Cats are unruly, unpredictable creatures. One moment, they want to cuddle, the next, you're bleeding."

"The Grand Master does have a curious sense of humor." Master Civil Chief Faroald shook his head in laughter. Yet remained focused on a data slate, no doubt surveying the lands for both prospective subordinates and opinions on the changes brought to Crater Lake.

I could only snort as their raucous laughter overshadowed the colossal whirlpool they were spreading themselves around, for it did not cease, even when they let their combined power flow in a mesmerizing dance to the song of energy around them.

They took hold of the water-attuned arcana with ease, calming it in the places it was most unruly and riling up the places where the energy stood still until everything within their established domain was in harmonious balance. Then they descended, clearing the haze on my mental map and simultaneously filling it with the plethora of magical creatures dwelling within the deep chasm.

Fish the size of cars and sharks the size of battleships swam amidst jellyfish the size of small islands, and the creatures of the ocean deep were all the more weird. There were crabs made of hot ice VII, octopuses and squids made of darkness, and anglers with light magic in their lures. However, even those were tame when compared to the scale and power of the creature resting at Crater Lake's basin. The Zeta-Class Undying Machine Animal. Unceremoniously named the Soft Shell Oasis.

While I was interested in seeing all the Umas Ed made, I was exceptionally interested in the Keeper's new home. It was a colossal sky turtle that had its shell broken by some predator in Eotrom. Since then, the shell had been domed over in glass after being hollowed out and filled with flora, creating the perfect environment for Peter's deeply rooted wise rock.

Like the temples they created thus far, they entered via an airlock within the spire of the ceiling. After flushing the water, the floor gave out and everyone found themselves in deja vu, re-experiencing their first time plummeting through the skies. Only this time, there were no white plains spread beneath them, but a vast expanse of blue and green contained within a Catastrophic Arcane Territory. And yet, it had more.

Ki. An abundance of Peter's Omni-Elemental Ki poured through the turtle's shell in ways that touched everything. Including my Metaphysical Form.

In this instance, it manifested in two ways. On one hand, the influx of my divine mana latched on to the arcane tempest and the pools of ki, amalgamating them into hardly perceivable globule I intended to take with me. On the other hand, the presence of my divine mana flowed into each sworn-in Keeper and melded into their watches to turn the information cascading through the net into understanding.

Understanding of their elemental technology and the creatures that would teach them new forms and tactics. Understanding of biological mutations, cybernetic implants, and genetic augmentations. Understanding of the elemental-based crops, trees, pets, livestock, and war beasts created by Reina. Understanding of their home. Theirs and others.

While Peter's Monks would remain in the shell, the main force- the Imperial Corps would dwell in the skin where they could gaze upon the realms through the thousands of portholes and windows fashioned into the scales. Those others would dwell in dissimilar domains contained in the fins.

The front left fin held the Bombyx Corps' Grove of silk-lined mulberry trees. It forever glowed in the richness born from Mary's fin to the rear, wherein her Druidic World Sphere radiated an essence that befitted all life. On the other side, the Warden Corps of Toni Forester had a sprawling jungle that was so dense and overbearing that they seemed haunted. And then there was Rommy Peak and his Dungeon Crawler Corps in their frozen fin of snow and permafrost.

So it was, the Keepers would remain in their Oasis while they awaited the return of their subordinates; for their subordinates would not be arriving for quite some time. Like their master, they would continue dedicating themselves to the Omni-Elemental Way.

Unlike their master, they would merge those skills with the riding wheels, gliding poles, and swimming fans created by their Chief Engineer, Kunala.

Unlike the Keepers, their master would merge his skills with the essence of my most controversial abilities, for that was what his path dictated to me, the God of Nature to whom he was most attuned. So it was, I took that globule granted to me by my control over the metaphysical world and shifted my attention over to Nydorden Halls, wherein I met my window to Zimysta Falls.

***

Aldo Za'Darmondiel.

***

I had a theory. One that surmounted the obsessions of every drow in this region of the Darkworld. This man. This human monk would obtain the powers we coveted and feared.

Of course, it made no logical sense. No matter how they were fused, none of the elements could spawn those powers. But if everything I learned about these humans and their organization was to be believed, the chances of him obtaining those things were demonstrably high.

That was the only reason I remained in Nydorden Halls after he entered his focus chamber. Under normal circumstances, I would have returned to Zimysta Falls with the others as we had done so every year before. But this year, everything was different.

Most of us stayed to make note of the many changes that had been brought to the surface since the death of the human king and queen. I remained to witness this human blaze through the Lower Halls of Nydorden.

Now, days later, I could feel the waves of energy rippling from his focus chamber. Thus I knew he was nearing the end of his path. And so, I poured my ki into my true self and stepped out of my body to merge with the Halls of Zimysta and gaze upon that which others could not. I did so in the nick of time.

Like before I saw the totems of fire, earth, air, and water arranged around him in a square. Beyond them were the shrines of dust, lava, and mud as well as the ponds of steam, mist, and plasma; all arranged in a hexagonal sigil that bled their energies into the chamber around him.

Unlike before, it was the fire and water totems that split apart and merged with themselves to form a blinding conflagration and a viscous globule, floating on either side of a… figure.

It was a figure both familiar and not. A figure with an elven visage, dark skin, and a crown of energy so pure it blinded me from everything except those observations and his reaching hands.

With one hand, that divine figure pointed down, infecting the blinding conflagration with the essence of pure light. Light, overshadowed by the hand reaching above to inject an inky darkness into the viscous globule. When he withdrew, it came with a wave of light and radiative heat that was powerful enough to force my true self out of the chamber. But not before I felt the shivering wall of cold darkness following in the wake of that baleful light.

Stupefied by what I just saw and ecstatic to find my theory was correct, I remained outside of Peter's focus chamber long enough to see him emerge; wherein he shocked me to my core.

No longer was his mana well tiny and weak. It was only tiny, and filled with arcana. To add to that, divine mana flowed from him in ways similar to a champion, though I could not exactly feel it as one does mana. It was more like a… suggestion. A feeling.

A familiar one.