//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: Pathfinder: The Lich of the 5th Crusade // by TenebrisScholar //------------------------------// The welcome party lasted a little less than two hours before all the guests started to filter out. At some point Ember had come back. Apparently Rarity had simply taken some measurements that day and it would take a couple weeks before Ember’s new dress was ready. When most of the guests were gone and the party started to wind to a close, Mors' group gathered together again and were approached by Celestia. “Well that was quite fun. However, I’m afraid I must be returning to Canterlot and I suppose we will be heading back together. Are you all ready?” Celestia asked. “Indeed we are.” Mors said. Celestia nodded and a golden aura enveloped her horn. Suddenly there was a flash of golden light and their surroundings changed. They were now standing in the middle of a throne room. And they all sensed the presence of another demigod. Looking they all saw a dark blue pony with a black crown and jewelry, with a mark with a crescent moon against a black background on her flanks. Her mane and tail were much like Celestia’s but resembled a starry night sky. This demigod yawned. “Sister, you hath returned… Perchance, might these be the creatures thine student warned thee of?” “Thank you for being patient Luna despite having been woken up so early, and I’m sorry it took so long. To answer your question, yes. These are the creatures Twilight told me about.” Celestia said before introducing them to her. “Greetings, Princess Luna… Shall we get straight to business? I have surmised that Miss Sparkle already told you what I am. So there's no point in trying to hide it from you. There are no other eyes here beyond you two, correct?” Mors asked. “There’s nopony else here besides us.” Celestia stated. “Good.” Mors said before dispelling the illusion that made him look alive, revealing his skeletal form in all its glory. Neither of the princesses seemed surprised, but neither of them seemed to like what they now found standing before them either. “So tis true then. Thou art truly a necromancer as Twilight hath stated in her letter.” “Yes. I am. Miss Sparkle and her friends have already informed me of the stigma surrounding necromancy as here in this world it is viewed as fictitious and is used in horror stories. I can certainly see why. Perhaps better than anyone in this world. However, I only sought out this magic due to a horrific inter planar war my kingdom was embroiled in between the mortal realm and the demons of the Abyss, which I’m sure she also informed you of. I can not understate the threat the demons posed to not just Mendev, but all of Golarian. The world we are from. They were a threat to all mortal life.” “But you said Mendev had been fighting these demons for almost a hundred years, correct? Forgive me, but with that in mind the demons do not seem to have been as large of a threat as you’re implying.” Celestia stated. “Mendev only managed to hold off the demons as long as they did because of the Wardstones, powerful artifacts created by Heaven that stopped the Worldwound from spreading and thus stopped the Abyss from consuming all of Golarian. Heaven is one of the three ‘good’ realms where benevolent souls are sent by Pharasma, the Goddess of Death, after they receive their final judgment in her boneyard. And the armies of the Abyss were only led by two Demon Lords. Demons who had gathered enough power in the Abyss to achieve partial divinity, becoming demigods. In this case Deskari and Baphomet. I need you to understand the gravity of that fact.” Mors shook his head and raised a hand, showing all five of his skeletal fingers. “Five crusades. It took five crusades led by Queen Galfrey, artifacts granted to mortal kind by the gods themselves to stop the spread of the Abyss, and the power I gained from becoming a lich to defeat just those two demon lords and their servants. There are dozens more demon lords just like them in the Abyss, some even more powerful than them, and they each have an uncountable number of demons under their command. In fact, you two should know exactly how powerful Deskari and Baphomet were, considering you’re both demigods yourselves.” This caught both Luna and Celestia off guard. “Hold on a moment, you think the two of us are demigods?” “Let’s not play this game, your highnesses. My companions and I have stood before both Gods and Demon Lords. We all know when we are in the presence of divinity. Surely, you can sense it as well. Gods and Demigods have a unique unmistakable presence that very clearly distinguishes them from mere mortals. Neither of you have the presence of true gods, yet you are very obviously partially divine. You wield cosmic power on a scale mortals can only dream of. And if mortals prayed to you, you would be capable of granting them holy powers that are not of the same nature as arcane magic. So call yourselves whatever you wish, the truth remains.” “I’m afraid we have no idea what you’re talking about. We’ve never granted any sort of powers to anypony.” Celestia stated. “Really? How fascinating! This absolutely needs to be studied in further detail! I am already forming so many different hypotheses on the nature of divinity in this new world! Your highnesses, would you be willing to help me advance science in studying the differences in the nature of divinity between our worlds?” Nenio asked “Do not bother. I doubt there’s any difference. I’m quite certain they simply lack worshipers.” Areelu stated. Nenio nodded, “That was indeed one of the many possible conclusions I came to as well.” “Quite… Tell me, are you two aware of the existence of any other gods or demigods in this world?” Areelu asked, looking at the princesses. “Well… There was Discord, the spirit of chaos. But he’s long since been defeated and sealed away. And he never granted anypony any sort of powers either, as far as we are aware. Otherwise, no.” Celestia said. “And when you ascended from your mortality, however you did it, were any religions formed worshiping you?” “Indeed. For a time. However we swiftly quashed such foalish notions.” Luna stated. “Then there you have it.” Areelu said, rolling her eyes. “That’s still quite fascinating! It raises so many questions! Why are there so few gods and demigods here when there were so many back in Golarian? Why did this ‘Discord’ never have cults dedicated to him? This is exciting! I have so much new material to research!” Nenio said happily.” “Ehem… This is all… I really have no better way of putting this… It’s all highly disturbing, quite frankly… I have a question. You keep talking about gods and demigods. Do you consider yourselves demigods? Can you grant power to ponies who worship you like you insist we should be able to?” Celestia asked. “The commander can! There were a bunch of clerics that worshiped him near the end of the crusades! Most were undead but still. I’m not sure if the rest of us can, though… Miss Areelu, do you know if we can do that?” Ember asked. Areelu sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. “Presumably, yes. Though doing so would require amassing religious followers.” “Regardless, I was attempting to make a point.” Mors interjected. He was very faintly annoyed by how much his companions were giving away. When the Princesses said they had never granted divine powers to anyone, he had planned to play it off to keep them ignorant. But the others had to go and open their mouths… At least Areelu seemed similarly annoyed by this. Oh well, there were only two of them apparently so the situation was not unsalvageable.  “As I was saying, Deskari and Baphomet were similar in power to you two. There were dozens more like them, and being even stronger, within the Abyss. And it took everything I already listed and the emergence of multiple slowly developing demigods, just them. So believe me when I say, had more of them taken an interest in conquering Golarian and had actually taken the war seriously, then we would not have stood a chance. Even the emergence of one more Demon Lord would have been enough to radically alter the face of the war and shift the balance of power. And, unpredictable as chaotic and unpredictable as demons tend to be, this could have happened at any time. So yes, they were very much as large of a threat as I am implying. Forgive my impudence, your highnesses, but you are very clearly ignorant of the reality of what we had to face. So you should not be so quick to jump to conclusions about the severity of the threat we faced just because of the timeframe.” “I see. I apologize. I didn’t intend to diminish the scale of your accomplishment. I hope I didn’t offend you.” Celestia apologized. “Ignorance is not offensive, it is merely a lack of information. Something that can be easily rectified. So, no I am not offended.” Mors stated. “Pardon me, however I hath a query. Doth thou and thine friends intend to establish thine own religions here within Equestria?” Princess Luna asked. “I can not speak for the others. With the crusades over, their goals and ambitions are their own. So the answer might vary from individual to individual. Personally, if I sought such a thing, it would be amongst lost souls who have not passed into whatever afterlife they belong. I’ve seen quite a few floating around, in that forest, in Ponyville, and even here in this very castle. There are several surrounding you two now, begging for you to help them or finding comfort being in the presence of divinity as a sort of stand-in for the afterlife they were denied. Far too weak to physically manifest on their own. I can help them manifest so you might be able to see and hear them. Would you like to?” Mors offered. Both of the Princesses looked highly disturbed by this. “Y-you’re telling us, we’re surrounded by ghosts? How… How long? How long have they been there?” Celestia asked, looking around at the empty air around her. “Who knows? How long have you two been demigods?” Mors asked, glancing at the ghosts in the throne room. There really weren’t that many. However there were still a few. Some had drifted over to him and were begging him for help or were begging to let them talk to the princesses. He ignored them. “Manifesting them all might be a bit inconvenient for you as they might talk over each other. So I’ll give you a choice. Would you like to see all of them, just one or two, or would you prefer not to see them at all? I won’t manifest them should you be unwilling to see it.” Celestia and Luna whispered to each other for a moment before looking back at him. “We… We think it might be best if we could see them. All of them. Maybe… Maybe we might be able to find some way to help them?” “As you wish.” Mors stated before raising a hand and casting a spell. Suddenly the entire throne room was filled with an eerie green glow. Suddenly a dozen or so ghosts of various kinds of ponies manifested in the throne room. This time Mors allowed all of them to maintain their freewill entirely. He was trying to give off the illusion of benevolence or at the very least neutrality after all. Several of the ghosts crowded around the princesses talking and shouting over each other. Some stood or floated off to the sides. Some crowded Mors instead. “I’ll never get used to that…” Woljif muttered. “Er… No offense, chief.” Lann sighed. “Gotta disagree with you, Woljif. After living in Drezen after… you know what… I’m already way too used to this sort of thing. I’m kinda surprised you aren’t, honestly.” “Well, yeah but come on! You gotta admit it always sends chills down your spine.” Woljif countered. “All these poor lost souls… I hope the princesses really can help them.” Ember said, looking around at all the ghosts. “I hope so too…” Arueshalae agreed. “Interesting. There are more than I expected. Boy, how many such lost souls have you seen until now? Has it been more or less than the number you saw in Golarion?” Nenio asked. “We can discuss this later, Nenio. Now is not the best time.” Mors responded. Meanwhile the princesses pressed themselves a bit further back in their thrones and were trying to address the ghosts. “Please! E-everypony! One at a time! We… We can’t understand you if you all talk over each other like this!” “I… Celestia… There are ponies here I recognize from before my banishment…” Luna said, sounding both terrified and heartbroken. “All of you be silent. The Princesses will address each of you in turn.” Mors ordered, his dead emotionless voice reverberating through the throne room. All of the ghosts quickly fell silent. The princesses hesitated for a moment before Celestia cleared her throat and shakily requested, “E-everypony please. Luna and I want nothing more than to assist you however we can. Please form a line and we will address each of you in turn.” “Uh, should we go, or…?” Woljif asked. “No… I’m sorry but would you all mind waiting for a bit while we address these lost souls? And Commander Mors, would you mind coming here. We may require your expertise for this…” Celestia requested. “Just wait here and talk amongst yourselves. Sit if you must. This shouldn’t take long.” Mors stated before walking over to the thrones and standing between the princesses. His companions moved off to the side of the room to wait. “So… Mors… Why are they all here? Why haven’t they passed on?” Celestia asked. “In my experience, unless ghosts are forced to remain by malevolent forces, they typically remain because something prevents them from moving on to receive their judgment in Pharasma’s court. Though sometimes they simply get lost or are merely trapped for whatever reason. And… Well…  That’s purely speculation on my part and you may not like it so perhaps I should remain silent.” Mors stated. “No, please tell us. Even if it’s bad, we need to know what’s going on if we are to help them.” Celestia requested. “Very well. Once detached from their mortal vessels, souls pass through the Ethereal Plane, joining each other on their way to the Elemental Planes, then out of the Inner Sphere and into the Astral Plane. Souls then form the River of Souls, where they are watched over by countless representatives from the Outer Sphere, such as angels, devils, and demons. These forces attempt to protect the souls in transit from malicious forces, as most souls are destined to become petitioners who join and empower these guardians' home planes. The various afterlifes. The river ends in the Boneyard, where Pharasma judges the souls and dispatches them to a compatible Outer Plane that matches the alignment of their souls or shuttles them on toward some other fate. However, that is only the case in the reality we are from. Pharasma’s reach does not extend here and the planes where we are from are not here.” “What art thou attempting to say?” Luna asked. “What I’m saying is, either there is a completely different god of death that manages souls and other realms they go to for their ultimate reward or punishment than the ones I am familiar with. Or there is not and everyone who has ever died in this reality gets trapped within some transitive realm. However, as I said, it is merely speculation. The knowledge I have is from my own reality and as such things could be completely different here. So my knowledge of what happens to souls after death could be entirely wrong.” He paused for a moment then looked out at the line of ghosts. “That said, you did mention one god you knew of. ‘Discord’. A ‘spirit’ of chaos, you said. Chaos is one of the spiritual alignments I am familiar with. So, perhaps all souls go to this entity’s realm after their deaths if he’s the only god here to collect them. However, you also said he was defeated so I assume he’s either dead or somehow sealed away. In which case, he’s likely ceased to exist or is otherwise unable to collect souls, thus leading to the same issue I’ve already pointed out. And if they aren’t interacting with the world in any way shape or form, I’m inclined to believe that indeed there are no other gods. Only you two, mere demigods who were, until today, apparently unaware of what you truly are. Likely with no planes of your own, as of yet. So, unless there are other gods or demigods you haven’t mentioned, I’m not inclined to view the fate of the dead optimistically.” Both of the princesses were silent for a moment and the souls lined up in front of the thrones, especially the ones close enough to hear their conversation, started to grow restless. Finally Princess Celestia said, “That paints a very grim picture, Mors…” “Indeed.” He nodded. “Still, we have to stay optimistic and try to help them. You keep calling us demigods and you just said we don’t have our own realms. Does that mean we could somehow create our own realms to send souls to?” Celestia asked. “Every god has their own realm or can create one. Though these realms typically reside in planes that already exist. For example, Erastil and Iomadae have their own separate realms within Heaven. Desna and Cayden Cailean have their own separate realms within Elysium. Lamashtu and the other Demon Lords have their own separate realms within the Abyss. And so it goes with the rest of them. My companions and I do not as we were sent here right as we were ascending. So creating an entirely new plane from nothing rather than a sub-realm of an existing plane? I am unsure if it’s possible or not. That said, if you simply want to send them on their way and pray there is an already existing god of death to manage them, that can be arranged quite easily. Would you like to try?” “Sister, I believe we ought to help them. The options presented are terrifyingly scarce indeed. We must trust their souls shall be sent to whence they belong.” Luna stated. Celestia sighed. “I’m almost tempted to hold off until we can figure out where they’ll end up. But I think you’re right, Luna. It’s the best we can do for them right now. Mors, how do we help them move on?” “You, at the front of the line. Approach.” Mors ordered.  The ghost at the front of the line hovered closer, timidly. “Princesses… I… I won’t be lost, will I? I don’t want to be stuck like he was saying…” Celestia gave the dead pony a pained look. “I recognize you… You’re Somber Stars, right? You used to be a maid here in the castle until you died… That was twenty years ago…” “Y-yes… That’s me… I’m so glad you remember me, Princess… but… please… I’m so scared…” The ghost whimpered. “It’s going to be alright. I promise. Don’t let what Mors said scare you. I’m sure something has to be managing the souls of the dead already. And we’ll be investigating all of this. So even if his rather pessimistic assessment of the situation turns out to be true, I promise we will find a way to make a new afterlife and help every trapped soul find their way to it. So I promise you, you’re going to be alright.” Celestia said in a warm sympathetic tone. “Th… Thank you, Princess… Thank you so much…” “Of course… Now, I need to know you’re really you and not just an illusion made by Mors. So can you tell me something only you would know?” Celestia asked. “I had three foals… Three beautiful foals… “ She then said each of their names. Celestia nodded. “Yes, I remember. You brought them to the castle once. Your youngest accidentally broke a vase. I remember you were so worried that either you or him would get in trouble. Do you remember what happened after that?” The ghost nodded. “Y-yes… You heard the noise and came to investigate. I was scolding him while trying to pick up all the pieces. When I turned and saw you standing there I nearly had a heart attack. I bowed and started apologizing, and offered to pay for a new one. You just smiled at me and asked me to introduce you to my foals. So I did. Then… You just explained to them why what he did was wrong and told them to be more careful. You picked up all the pieces with your magic, fixed the vase, and told me it was okay. That nopony was in trouble. I remember being stunned by how kind and forgiving you were. I’d worked for other nobles before being accepted as a maid here in the castle. They were all so rude and mean. Before that, I thought you’d be the same. So when you weren’t, I was so shocked and relieved.” Celestia nodded. “Yes… It really is you then… I’m so sorry this happened to you. If I’d known you were still here after what happened, I would have tried to help you and everypony else here a lot sooner. Mors, what do we do? How do we help her move on?” “Tell me, are you lost or trapped, or do you simply have unfinished business?” Mors asked. “The day I died, I had a big argument with my daughter… It was over something that seems so trivial now… I just stormed out and came to work. I felt so bad about it later… I never had a chance to apologize, to say goodbye, or tell her how much I love her… When I was dying, it was the only thing I could think about. It’s still the only thing I can think about.” “I see. Then would you be satisfied if we passed the message on to her, or do you need to tell her in person?” Mors asked. “I… I don’t know if I want her to see me like this but… I don’t think I can rest if I don’t tell her myself.” “Princesses, can you arrange a meeting?” Mors asked. Celestia nodded. “A few years after you died, she followed in your hoofsteps and became a maid here in the castle. If you can wait until we can finish addressing everyone, I can have one of the guards outside go and call her in to come speak with you right away. Is that alright?” “Yes… I’ve waited twenty years to apologize… I can wait a bit longer.” Celestia nodded. Then her horn was enveloped in a golden aura and in a flash a paper, quill, and inkwell appeared floating next to her. She began writing something down on the paper. Mors glanced over and saw it was simply notes. She was starting a list on what she needed to do to help the ghosts. Dealing with the rest of the ghosts passed by quickly. Most simply had unfinished business or regrets that were keeping them here. A few of these issues were able to be resolved immediately by the princesses themselves and thus their souls departed almost immediately. Others, like the maid, had to wait a bit longer. Only a handful of the ghosts had no business and were simply stuck. For those ones, Mors had to send them off himself. A complete waste of valuable resources in the form of souls, but he did it regardless to maintain appearances. Helping souls instead of enslaving them would improve the princesses opinion of him and his necromancy, considering they had no basis for the truth. Thus making his future operations far easier. It took about a few hours to help all of the souls that could be helped that day. The rest had to wait a bit longer for reasons that varied from ghost to ghost. For those, Mors un-manifested them, reverting them back to the state they had been in before he came along so they wouldn’t scare the castle staff. He would likely be called back to remanifest them later so the princesses could talk to them and prove their business had been concluded. When it was over, Mors stepped down and walked a ways away from the throne before turning to face the Princesses again. His companions stood up and walked back over to join them. “With that out of the way, shall we pick up where we left off? You were asking if we planned to start our own religions. As I said, if I were to do so it would be amongst lost souls like the ones we just helped. Specifically, ones who might be too afraid of the possibility of there being no afterlife and would prefer to stay in the world of the living rather than taking the risk of being stuck in a transitive plane. Perhaps amongst any apprentices I might teach my craft as well. However, whether the others will pursue such a thing is entirely up to them. So, do any of you have any interest in starting your own religions?” “Honestly? My entire plan was just to die in the war fighting demons. Even if that hadn’t worked out, I thought I’d die soon anyway since my kind don’t live long. Never thought I’d become immortal, let alone a demigod. Then I thought we’d all die when we were sent beyond the maelstrom. So… I really don’t know what to do with myself now. Starting a religion?” Lan shook his head. “No. That doesn’t really feel right to me.”  “I don’t want anything silly like religion. I just want to use my new tricks to help people however I can! They don’t need to worship me for me to help them.” Ember stated. Arueshalae looked down at the ground. “I’m not sure… I don’t think I’m worthy of it…“ “Heck yeah, I wanna start my own religion! That’s just way too good of an opportunity to pass up! Plus I really am a demigod now and if Areelu’s right I really can actually give them divine powers! So it’s not like I’d be lying to ‘em. So what’s the harm in it? Besides, in my opinion, all of us deserve it after everything we’ve been through. Hey, Arueshalae, you already redeemed yourself right? You don’t feel those urges anymore and you can even dream now, right? As far as I’m concerned that means you aren’t a demon anymore. Can’t be. So what’s the problem? You aint got nothing to prove to anyone anymore. If anyone’s ‘worthy’ of it, it's you and me. And the Chief, of course.” Woljif said with a big smile. “Well… Maybe, but… I’m still not sure…” Arueshalae said. “Religion? I’m more interested in pursuing further experiments that were previously impossible for me with my newfound abilities. Though being known as a goddess or demi-goddess of science with devoted followers could open very interesting avenues of experimentation into the nature of faith and religious orders as well… Hm…” Nenio said, clearly considering it. “After some time, perhaps. For now, I have different concerns.” Areelu stated. The Princesses looked at each other for a moment before looking back at the group. “Well, in Equestria everypony does have basic rights to freedom of religion. Just so long as any religions you decide to create don’t violate our laws, I suppose it should be fine… But in your case, Mors, defiling the dead is considered a crime in Equestria. I’m sure many will try to argue that your necromancy is exactly that.” “Of course they would. Necromancers faced similar issues on Golarian. However, if souls willingly decide to stay in the material plane for fear of what may come next, should my hypothesis be proven correct, who are they to judge? I needn’t necessarily dig up graves and raise corpses, though perhaps having bodies again would be of some comfort to the dead. But, I suppose a more delicate hand may be necessary to ease this world into my practices. So I will hold off, and will continue projecting the illusion I am alive for now. However, I do hope you will not forbid me from taking apprentices. After all, look at the good we’ve done just today. I may be a demigod now, but even Pharasma, a true goddess, was not infallible. Souls still had regrets that kept them in the mortal plane or simply became trapped or lost in our world. I am not so arrogant as to believe myself superior to Pharasma. So I can not help every lost soul on my own.” Mors said, trying to play this diplomatically. He didn’t want a war with the princesses just yet. Such a thing would be highly inconvenient. He would wait. He would wait until after he, Areelu, and whichever of his companions proved to be the most loyal achieved true divinity. And he took the role of this realm’s God of Death. At which point he’d be nigh unstoppable. Especially if there truly were no other gods to resist him. “I believe this matter requires further discussion. The topic of using magic to influence souls and the dead is, obviously, not going to be a simple matter that can be decided right away. We need to know significantly more about it and especially the possible dangers before we can possibly make any sort of informed decision. So, I’m sorry, Commander Mors, but I’m afraid we have no choice but to forbid you from accepting apprentices. Just for the moment. At least until we can establish proper laws, rules, and regulations for it. After all, while helping lost souls move on is a noble and good use for it that nopony would be opposed to, seeing what we have so far I’m certain there must be truly horrific ways in which it can be abused. After that, however, who knows? Perhaps we can assist you in establishing a properly managed academy or college.” Celestia told him. Mors bowed his head in mock respect. “Fair arguments. You are quite wise, your highnesses. Very well. I shall abide by your decision.” It was mildly annoying but it would be politically disadvantageous to disobey them for the moment. At least so blatantly. He would bide his time. “That said, I and perhaps Nenio and my mother, should they be interested in assisting me, will be looking into the nature of death in this reality and shall investigate to find out if there is a god or gods managing it and any planes souls may or may not be being sorted into. I will get back to you with our findings as soon as we’ve found any relevant information. That said, let us finish this meeting discussing money, shall we? As I said earlier, I have a significant amount of Mendevian currency I would like to exchange for currency from this country.” Celestia smiled, “Ah, yes. I nearly forgot about that. Certainly, we can get that sorted out. Though depending on how much you have, it may have to wait until tomorrow. It’s getting late. So it’s almost time for me to lower the sun and for Luna to raise the moon.” “You two control the sun and moon?” Nenio asked eagerly. “Er… Yes… Would you like to watch?” Celestia offered. “Yes! Absolutely! I need to take notes! Two demigods controlling the day night cycle! The implications for the differences in cosmological processes between here and Golarian are immense!” Nenio said, reaching into her bag of holding and taking out a fresh notebook and her favorite silverpoint pencil. “Right… Before that, you’re welcome to stay in the castle until we can find you proper accommodations. So let me show you to the guest rooms.” Celestia said, standing up from her throne. Mors cast an illusion to make himself look alive and the group followed Celestia out of the throne room and to the guest rooms. Nenio then followed her to a balcony to observe and take notes as she lowered the sun and Luna raised the moon. As the Princesses and his companions were busy, Mors went to the room Areelu was staying in. After ordering any ghosts in the area away, he knocked at the door. “Enter.” She called. He pushed open the door and walked inside. “We have matters to discuss.” He stated. Areelu, who was sitting on a chair next to a desk at the side of the room, with the chair rotated to face him, nodded in agreement. “That we do. Particularly our two hosts and the hypothetical lack of gods in this world.” “How likely do you believe it is that they're lying and this is some sort of elaborate trap?” Mors asked. Areelu raised a hand to her chin in thought. “Hm… Quite unlikely, but I won’t deny the possibility is there. The complete absence of gods, save one who is supposedly dead or sealed away somehow, is quite suspicious.”  “Do you believe it’s safe to explore the planes to investigate?” “Safe? Absolutely not. Could we survive such an expedition? Quite possibly with the power we’ve acquired, but it entirely depends on what we might encounter, how powerful they are, and how many of us go. I would be far more comfortable with such an expedition if we had been able to complete the process of ascension before our banishment. Still, should more of your companions than just the fox be willing to accompany us, we should be able to temporarily fight back against a single god or god-like entity and escape back to the mortal plane. If they haven’t revealed themselves until now it stands to reason they have reason to want to remain unknown and likely would not pursue us back and risk revealing their existence to the mortals.” Mors considered this for a moment. “Would that not depend entirely on how likely they believed it is that we would reveal their existence if we were allowed to escape?” Areelu nodded. “Perhaps. But our relations with the Princesses are decent at the moment. So should that come to pass, there are two fully fledged demigoddesses here that may be willing to help us drive off this god, assuming they aren’t deceiving us. Six near demigods and two actual demigods should, in theory, be more than enough to drive back a single god. That, however, would require us to put a significant amount of trust in the princesses. Something I’m uncertain is a wise decision at the moment. We need to learn far more about them before we can risk such a thing.” “Agreed. I will ask the ghosts around the castle about them and learn as much as I can. Then later, after the princesses are satisfied I’ve helped them send off all the lost souls within these walls, I will set more from outside the castle to spy on them for me. Information is our most valuable resource at the moment and I will see to it we acquire as much as possible by any means necessary. Now, I have another question. The midnight bolts and the crystals. If you could craft more midnight bolts, could we use them to acquire more crystals?” Mors inquired, being intentionally vague just in case the rooms had some unknown magic that allowed the princesses to eavesdrop on their conversation. “I can already imagine what you have in mind. Sadly the bolts were designed for a very specific and specialized use. How do I put this…? They… were tuned for a very specific alignment and essence. It would require a significant amount of research to modify them for your purposes. Research we can’t easily conduct without willing participants or a starting point to base my research on. Back in our reality I had the crystals formed in the Midnight Isles to research. Here we have no such thing. Besides, using the bolts would be a political disaster which may not be the best option in our current circumstances. So, no. We will have to find another means of completing our ascension. It will be difficult but it should not be impossible. Especially considering we are already partially ascended.” Areelu explained. Mors flexed his wings and nodded. “I’ve heard demons and daemons can gather power in other ways involving souls. Something I specialize in quite heavily. Would that work for us?” Devouring souls. That was something he could do quite easily. And he certainly had no qualms against it. “Perhaps, but even with your abilities it would take centuries if not millennia. Unless you completely usurped the flow of souls entirely. Having the entirety of this reality’s equivalent to the river of souls flowing into our gullets. Then we would achieve divinity quite quickly indeed. However, that is hardly a practical solution, and I’m quite sure some of your companions and the princesses would kill us for such a thing. We wouldn’t be able to hide it and while it would be quick, that’s only speaking relatively to centuries or millennia. It would still take time to achieve full divinity that way. A year to a decade or two, as a very rough estimate. In that time we would both be hunted down and destroyed or sealed away much like this ‘Discord’ the princesses mentioned. That’s completely disregarding the possibility of there being a hidden god that would take notice and intervene. So it’s not feasible.” “Drinking the river of souls itself would be quite the extreme measure anyway. Not something I would turn to as a first resort.” At least not without a significant amount of preparation and insurance to ensure nothing could stop him. It was actually quite an intriguing prospect otherwise. “Regardless I suppose finding a way to complete our ascension will require further consideration and less obtuse means… Speaking of the river of souls, assuming there are no gods and there are no afterlifes, do you know if it would be possible for each of us to create our own planes? Our own equivalents of the Abyss, Hell, Heaven, and so on to form a proper afterlife. Or would that require pre-existing planes?” Mors asked. “If there truly are no other planes, it may be possible for us to create our own in the void left where they should exist. Failing that we may be able to find ways to pull planes from the maelstrom and convert them for our purposes. Either way, acquiring realms of our own should, in theory, be possible.” Mors nodded, thinking to himself, considering how to use this information to his advantage. “I will think on this… Enjoy the rest of your night.” He said before turning to leave. Areelu said nothing, letting him walk out without another word. Mors spent the rest of the night calling ghosts to himself, interrogating them about the princesses, and developing plans for the future.