Dragon Goddess’s chosen

When I finally came to, I quickly noticed that Max was no longer wrapped in the coils of my tail and I wasn't lying on the cloth and leather bedroll anymore, but on silk sheets on a bed. I immediately jolted up to look for my boyfriend, then I felt my stomach drop when I saw that I was back on the bed in Rissaeth's throne room like just after I died. I quickly looked down at myself and was quickly relieved that I was still quarter-dragon but also mortified that I was also still naked. Surprisingly I was also clean despite assumingly falling asleep right on top of where Max fucked me. The noise of the door behind the throne opening made my attention snap to that direction.

“... Max? Kat…?” I called out, despite knowing it would be in vain.

“Your mates don't have access to this place, Alex.” Rissaeth's voice responded as the Goddess stepped into view, she was much larger this time with multicolored scales covering parts of her skin not already covered by her regal white nordic dress and a set of wings and tail trailing behind her. “It was a pleasant surprise to find that you took my request to heart and found a second mate beyond the girl you were searching for.”

“I wasn't intentionally trying to help that goal of yours.” I grumbled and covered myself with my wings. 

“... you appear upset with me… may I ask why?” She asked as she walked over: "If it was the lack of contact, I explained to you before, your body took a great deal of energy to make.”

“I have a couple reasons,” my tail flicked angrily on its own. “First of all, you dragged me here, naked, right after Max and I had our first time together. A warning would have been very nice where I don't have to deal with this while I still feel… it... in me...”

 “I apologize for the timing, I had no choice in contacting you now.”

“Mhmm… and then there's the whole Goddess of Conquest thing you left out!” The goddess stopped in her tracks.

“Careful, hatchling, there's more to this than what you know. Where did you hear that title? That hasn't been my domain for millennia,” her tail flicked and she gave me a stern look.

“From a draugr dreki that nearly killed me! Said it was your champion!”

“... he was supposed to be put to rest… I've been trying to find him for centuries.” She growled and her tail flicked more angrily.  “I warned them against attempting to conquer the Empire. Warned them against necromancy! Where was the crypt? We will inform Theris or Solas during the meeting and they will likely send their paladins to clear it.”

“Too late, I already took care of it with my party.” I paused when I caught onto part of what she said. “Hold on, meeting? 

“That is why you were brought here. All of the gods with chosen have been summoned to discuss an issue that has occurred.”

“Like Drathys taking in your draugr…” I grumbled as I got off the bed, flinching at the soreness in my groin and regretting not trying to get Max to get me more ready.

“Drathys, that scheming wraith! She knows Solas gave the order to eradicate the draugr when they stripped me of that domain!” She started pacing a bit. “She has a chosen now, she should show to this meeting… we will bring it up as well.”

“We? This is your problem, not mine!”

“We are not allowed to be fully present at the location it is being held, we will speak through our chosen.”

“What? Why can't you just speak yourself? You talked to Ivra.”

“Ivra and I are close, we can have friendly discussions. That is not always true between all of us.” 

“Great, the gods have spats with each other,” I groaned and awkwardly shifted my wings a bit. “Can I have some clothes…please?”

“Apologies. Let's get you in a more impressive form first and I will provide some clothing,” she stopped pacing and waved a hand towards me. 

“Hold on, what?” I responded before a popup appeared in front of me.

 

Second Seal of Rissaeth's Charm temporarily suppressed by spellcaster. 

 

As I read it, I quickly became aware of my point of view shooting up to the height of my rage form and I stumbled a bit when my stance switched to digitigrade. I growled a little and glared at the Goddess, irritated about forcing me to change form but knowing better not to push my luck and make her angry. The air then shimmered around me before a dress similar to hers manifested on me.

“Does it have to be a dress?” I grumbled.

“It is formal attire for the majority of my remaining followers in the Northern Archipelago.” She made the dress flick through several colors before settling on a blue. “I would provide shield maiden armor but that would be frowned upon by the others with my current status.”

“Current status? What is that supposed to mean?”

“I have my own wrongs to be righted, hatchling.” The Goddess replied flatly then turned and started walking back toward where she came. “Follow, please. It will not be good for our image to be the last to appear.”

“Fine,” I grumbled and followed along behind her, my claws clicking on the stone floor. “How is this going to work, where are we going?”

“You are going to the Grand Temple in the center of the central continent and I will possess you shortly. I know you are headstrong, so I must ask you to not resist.”

“I have enough voices in my head because of you.” 

“I ask you to tolerate mine in addition to the instincts I gave you. There is no other way.” She opened the door behind the throne when we reached it and chilly outside air rushed into the chamber. On the other side, instead of the cave corridor that was there before, it opened up to the base of the stairs of a massive mountaintop temple, reminding me a lot of what I remembered of Babylonian ziggurats from school just made of what looked like granite instead of sandstone.

“Its not like I could actually resist. You already forced me into a different form without my input,” I replied as I hesitantly stepped through the doors, shivering a bit when I stepped on the cold snow.

“I am pleased to see that you understand.”

“That doesn't mean I'm happy with it!” I growled and turned to face her again but the door was gone and I was looking over the edge of a cliff that dropped off hundreds of feet instead. I quickly retreated back from the edge as a new popup appeared in front of me.

 

Divine Possession detected. Attempt to resist?

 

“It's Rissaeth, right?”

 

Divine entity identity confirmed. Attempt to resist possession?

 

“No, let her in…” I sighed then flinched a little at the feeling of pressure in my head that quickly subsided. I turned away from the cliff and looked up at the temple before reluctantly going up the stairs to the top, since I definitely was not going to climb down a mountain on my own, even if there were stairs.

At the top I found a set of large stone double doors that were surprisingly easy to push open to reveal a large, well-lit entryway. Inside there were about half a dozen people  spread out in a couple groups. One had a pale human man in black robes holding hands with a girl that seemed to either be a dryad or Alraune at first glance: green skin and vines growing on her arms and legs, and they were talking to another human, a guy that looked younger than Max, in nobles’ clothing. The other group was a trio of girls, two elves and a human. The human was in nordic clothing like my own, one elf was in what looked like a jester outfit minus the hat and the other I quickly recognized by her white hair. She was even in formal attire: a gown that reminded me of something Gladriel may have worn in Lord of the Rings.

“Kat?” I immediately called out when I spotted her. She glanced over before smiling and waving me over. I rushed over to her, hating that my claws brought more attention to myself by clicking on the stone floor.

“Hey, cutie, nice dress, ” Kat teased as I approached.

“Shut up. I could say the same to you.” I laughed softly and hugged her. “Wait, if we're both here, what about Max and Eris?”

“They'll be fine, Eris is on watch.” She gave a comforting smile before introducing me to her new acquaintances. “This is Cassandra and Sigrid,” she motioned to the elf and human respectively. Now that I was closer to them, I quickly noticed that Sigrid was really young looking compared to the rest of us in the room, maybe seventeen at the most.

“Nice to meet you, I'm Alex” I greeted then, offering my hand to shake.

“Nice to meet ya too” Sigrid responded and happily took my hand first meanwhile Cassandra gave a polite bow. I couldn't help but notice a long scar that seemed to spiral up the girl's arm as I shook her hand. “Definitely a big one aren't ya?”

“I'm not always like this…”

“She's normally shorter than me,” Kat happily chimed in.

“Oh really?”

“Yeah… um Rissaeth wanted me in a more ‘impressive’ form,” I sighed, my tail flicking in my irritation.

‘A more draconic form is something to be proud of, hatchling, I would allow you to be in your true form if it would not have intimidated the others’ the Goddess's voice echoed in my head.

“So, you two together ~?” Cassandra asked in a bubbly voice.

“Yep~” Kat happily responded and hugged my arm.

“Well this is going to be an interesting meeting then,” the other elf mused with a giggle. “Be ready for Theris to get onto your goddesses for this~ Nyarae will probably help you, like she did for those two,” she motioned to the plant girl and the guy she was holding hands with.

“Those are gods right?” I asked “I'm not caught up on them quite yet… Rissaeth said something about Theris before I got here… but I don't know much about either of them.”

“How long have you been here, lass?” Sigrid laughed with a slight friendly smile. “If we're going to be champions of gods it's good to learn the others quick.”

“A little over a month. Wait, lass? You're like ten years younger than me, why are you calling me that?”

“Ignore her, she was reborn here and still took years to learn the major ones, despite being basically raised in a temple,” Cassandra responded. “Nyarae is the Goddess of love, beauty, and the arts, and she's my Goddess. Theris is the Goddess of Wisdom and Strategy and the boy in the fancy clothes over there, Adrian, is her chosen.”

“She's got a stick up ‘er ass so be ready when she takes over” Sigrid chuckled. 

“...you were reborn here?” I asked, trying not to laugh at the comment.

“Yep, Cass and Adrian too, I just got fucked over by the luck of the draw here.” I was about to ask her about that but the doors I came in from burst open and a guy with angel wings and in an outfit like a greek toga ran in.

“M-monsters! Outside!” He yelled hysterically, bracing against the door and his wings fluttering frantically. I sighed and glanced at the others in the room, noting that no one had weapons or armor other than my claws and scales.

“Alex… I know what you're thinking.” Kat sighed and squeezed my arm before reluctantly letting go. “Don't do anything too stupid.”

“You have so little faith in me,” I laughed softly and playfully prodded her side with my tail before I started walking towards the panicking angel.

“You have a record of hurting yourself while helping people.” 

“I'll be fine!” I called back to her as I kept walking, quickly noticing that the guy that Cassandra called Adrian was also making his way to the door.

“What's your class, kid? Are you able to fight without a weapon?” He asked bluntly as our paths crossed. The kid comment caught me off guard from someone that looked barely of age but I quickly remembered that he was reborn too.

“Bloodrager. I think I'll do fine. I doubt monsters could actually reach here, right?” I answered.

“You'd be surprised.” 

“Hey, you ok? What monsters are you talking about?” I called over to the scared angel and his wings fluttered more.

“O-of course I'm not!” He yelled back then started rambling to himself. “Fuck there had to be something in the brownies… told them I never done anything before…” 

‘Oh he thinks he's tripping…’ “So you said there were monsters?”

“Yes, outside! There's a lady with a snake tail and a robot!”

“... a robot? I have to see this” 

“A-are you crazy?” He turned to look at me and his face paled immediately. I was able to catch sight of an odd scar over his temple like he hit his head on a corner of something before I was blinded by a bright flash. “A-another monster!”

“Hey, hey, calm down, kid” Adrian's voice said calmly as I tried to blink away whatever just hit me.

“Fucking hell,” I growled and braced myself against the door. “Ok haven't got that response yet.”

“That's a surprise. You alright?” 

“Can't see but I'm fine” 

“W-wait you're talking to it?” the angel's voice asked, still full of panic.

“Rude,” I grumbled as I was finally slowly getting my sight back.

“What the fuck is going on…”

“Alex, you ok?!” Kat asked as I heard her run up to me. She grabbed both sides of my face and pulled me down so that I was face to face with her.

“I'm fine, you don't have to worry about me.” I gave a small smile.

“Hey, dragon lady, check the door, your friend and I can try to calm him down,” Adrian ordered. 

“Ok. Have fun, Kat, he thinks he's tripping right now,” I gave her a quick kiss before going to the door and opening it.

“Hey, hey, it's alright, what's the last thing you remember?” I heard my girlfriend say as I let the door close behind me just as a cold gust of mountain wind hit me. I sighed and wrapped my wings around myself like a cloak, half-wishing they were feathered too. I took a quick look around once my eyes adjusted to the moonlight and I quickly spotted the two ‘monsters’ approaching the stairs: one metallic humanoid that reminded me of Dungeons and Dragons Warforged, like a robot but didn't seemed to be powered by electricity and the other was a shivering lamia girl with a long, gold metallic-scaled tail trailing behind her. Upon seeing the lamia, there was an unfounded feeling of contempt that bubbled up inside me with an ever so slight familial bond towards her. That is when I felt control of my body wrestled away from me.

“Rava.” Rissaeth's voice called out as I felt her annoyance with something. The lamia's head snapped up and her eyes gained a golden glow.

‘What are you doing?’ I thought, starting to panic as my body refused to move like I wanted.

‘Settle, hatchling, I will handle the serpent for now.’

“Oh, sister, finally picked one? How is she faring for you? She looks like you did not hold back at all~” The lamia responded, sounding friendly but I heard a slight bit of venom in her words.

“Quite fine. Already progressing well with a personal task I gave her.” My tail whipped behind me as she spoke and the two made their way up the stairs. “I did not take you for one to pick a chosen as well.”

“I knew you would eventually take one, we both know you would be trying to get your seat back on the Inner Circle after all~ the poor girl died of exhaustion at work, I had to give her a second chance anyways”

“Save the bickering.” The Warforged said flatly in a monotone feminine voice, eyes flashing  white and its voice contrasting the masculine build of the rest of it. “We were not called together for you to fight in the bodies of your chosen”

“I was just catching up with my dear sister, Cybel” Rissaeth responded.

“There is an 80% chance neither of you requested control before taking it.”

‘Sounds about right.’  I thought before feeling irritation directed at myself from my body's current occupant.

“She greeted me first, it was only appropriate to respond in kind,” the Lamia responded as she slithered past me.

“Rava.”

“Miyuki understood my need for control.”

“I repeat: we are not called here for this. Azion took it upon himself to start one of his bicentennial parties early to announce his chosen.”

“... that fool,” Rissaeth growled. “What was he thinking? We all agreed to let the chosen announce themselves”

“Correct, the demi-angel that entered the temple is his. He appears to be… distraught. I do not believe he was given appropriate time to acclimate.”

“Some need more time than others.” Rissaeth stated simply and used my hand to open the door for the other two. “After you, Rava, Cybel.”

“Finally learn manners, Rissaeth?” ‘Rava’ laughed as she slithered in.

“Toward you? No, I just do not want to turn my chosen's back to a snake.” 

“Civility is necessary now.” ‘Cybel’ said flatly as she walked past and into the temple as well ahead of us. My Goddess finally dropped her control when she forced me to follow the other two in.

“I thought it was just you two” Adrian greeted as I walked in behind ‘Cybel’ and ‘Rava’ and felt control given back to me as soon as I passed the threshold.

“Greetings, Adrian.” ‘Cybel’ responded, the voice switching to masculine seamlessly, still robotic, though, and almost reminding me of J.A.R.V.I.S. 

“Hey, Leon, it's been awhile”

“Approximately 6 months, sir”

“Cybel is still working on your informal mode I guess.” I heard the noble laugh as I moved past them toward my girlfriend and the now slightly calmer demi-angel. 

“Is everything ok now, Kat?” I asked as I hugged her from behind and rested my head on top of hers. A panicked look crossed the demi-angel's face for a moment and he backed away a couple steps.

“Working on it, he knows it's not a trip at least. Found out his name is Nicolas,” She sighed. “and apparently he just got here. Tonight. And his god decided to bring him to Imperius… right to the castle to start a party.”

“Imperius…?” 

“Alex. The capital of the country we've been living in for a month.” She gave me a concerned look.

“What? I haven't had a need to learn it yet. I was more worried about getting to Rookport.” 

“Y-you're really not afraid of a demon like her?” Nicolas asked, starting to get confused.

“Dragon” I corrected. “Do I really look demonic…?”

“You do have horns and wings,” Kat responded with a shrug. “And no, she's my girlfriend so… not afraid at all. She's just like the rest of us, like I told you, we were all thrown into this world.”

“I-i still don't know how you're ok with that…”

“I died trying to protect her before I could confess my feelings and I got a second chance…” I answered and hugged Kat against me more.

“I died anyways but also this was our second chance to be together so we have to be ok with it” She added

“But I told you, I didn't die! My friends dragged me to a frat party and some time during that I blacked out” 

“...” my girlfriend and I glanced at each other.

“So… did you always have a scar on your head?” Kat pointed out.

“What?”

“Right here?” She tapped her temple right where he had his scar. His confused look apparently gave her enough of an answer to continue speaking. “A piece of metal hit me in the chest and brought me here and now I have a scar right where it hit…”

“I was wondering about that … didn't get a good time to ask yet…” I mumbled then I saw the look of horrified realization cross Nicolas’ face. “Hey it could be worse. You aren't freaking out from your body so you were always a guy right? Your god could have made you a girl instead”

“T-that could have happened?!”

“Don't act like it's a bad thing when you've been enjoying it,” Kat teased softly while giving me a knowing look.

“I'm still getting used to it! I-I'm just bringing it up to cheer him up that he probably has a body he's familiar with.” I responded and glanced at the now-quiet demi-angel, his face still kind of pale. “Sorry, I thought it'd help if you'd known about it possibly being worse.”

“U-um excuse me” a polite girl's voice said behind me and I saw panic cross Nicolas' face for a moment before I turned to see the lamia there. She coiled her body under her and gave a deep bow. “I am so sorry for Rava's rudeness!”

‘Her chosen is respectful but she could have put up to it by Rava’ Rissaeth said flatly.

‘She's a different person, just because you have an issue with your sister, it doesn't mean I have to have a problem with her chosen’ I responded and gave Miyuki a polite smile “It's ok, I think Rissaeth started it there so sorry about that”

“What happened?” Kat asked, looking between the two of us.

“I-it was nothing… we were just pulled into, um, office politics? Of our Goddesses…” Miyuki said quickly.

“Apparently Rissaeth and Rava are sisters and there's some issue between them. Something about a spot on ‘the Inner Circle’ ” I added.

“Fun. More we have to worry about” My girlfriend sighed.

“T-there's gods involved too?” Nicolas asked.

“Azion really told you nothing, did he?” I responded and glanced at the other two with us, concerned for the angel. 

“Was that his name? I thought it was some weird frat guy in a toga… “

“It's what the robot's Goddess said when she was in control of him.” I shrugged “I'm glad I'm still organic, I can't imagine getting sent here and also having to deal with being mechanical too”

“Leon isn't from our world, he was always mechanical.” Miyuki said as she looked back at where Adrian and Leon were still talking.

“What?”

“Leon isn't really his name… we've just been calling him that. It's easier than LE-011” the lamia shrugged slightly. “Adrian told me last time that this one is… the fourth? One that Cybel has made.”

“Is he chosen like us or…?” She shrugged again.

“I'm not sure. He didn't sit with us the last time we had a meeting, another man didn't either…”

“Who else didn't?”

“Drathys’ chosen, he didn't talk to anyone last time.”

‘Likely secretive as his patron,’ Rissaeth mused in my head. ‘We need to retrieve answers from them about my former followers’

‘You can ask them, I don't know how this all is going to work,’ I responded to her before speaking again. “My Goddess has a problem with her too.”

“Aren't you the popular one, Alex?” Kat sighed. 

“Not my fault that she has issues with some of the others!” 

“Sounds like you got stuck with the delinquent Goddess…one that picks fights all the time,” Miyuki said, a slight smile crossing her face.

‘I retract my statement about her being respectful,’ the Goddess's voice growled slightly in my head. I sighed and ignored her as I hugged my girlfriend against me more to try to keep the stress of this all at bay.

“Sounds about right.” I agreed with the lamia, much to the displeasure of my Goddess.

“Alex, we don't have much time left to talk to the others, let's try to figure out where everyone is and see if we can meet with them without gods in us.” Kat said softly, pulling me from the conversation.

“What makes you say that…?” 

“Ivra warned me that the last one of us is coming soon. Might as well get some info from everyone…”

---

 

Kat pulled away from me suddenly when a guy our age with greasy black hair and wearing a regal looking wizard robe entered the room while we were still exchanging information with Miyuki and the other chosen that we had talked with so far, her eyes glowing white when she looked back at me. Unfortunately we couldn't get to the plant girl and her apparent boyfriend before this happened.

“Apologies, Alex, I need to take your mate from here.” A different voice spoke through her, older, almost ethereal. “To think you two would make such a commitment so soon…”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Have Rissaeth or Nyarae explain it to you some other time. All of the participants of this meeting have arrived and we must begin.”

“Orin's and Lilith's chosen have not arrived” Adrian said with a stern woman's voice instead of his own, his eyes glowing red. 

“Both will ignore Solas’ summons, all who acknowledged them are present.”

“Those two try my patience and it appears they have made their choice,” he looked at the rest of us. “I am Theris, and due to the lack of a chosen for our King currently, I will be leading this. Seeing as we have three new faces I will explain how this will work. We will enter the main chamber and your god will take control of your body until we need to speak to you. Those on the Inner circle have their positions on the thrones at the back, the others will take their places at the auditorium seating. Our Pantheon has many gods, you will feel the presence of others even if they do not have a chosen, do not be afraid, allowing us to inhabit your bodies will protect you from such a gathering of divine beings”

“So we'll be puppets for you all for however long this takes,” I sighed to myself, thankfully the goddess controlling Adrian didn't seem to be listening.

“Now, if you all enter the main chamber,” Theris continued. “You may relinquish control now if you wish, it may be easier “

‘You heard the Goddess of Wisdom. May I have control again?’ Rissaeth asked as I watched my girlfriend's body walk toward the set of the double doors at the back of the entrance hall.

‘Fine, take it…’ I relented and felt my body move on its own immediately, following after Kat and quickly catching up to her with my longer stride.

“Letting them bond immediately isn't what we discussed, Ri. The others will think that we're conspiring together,” She said simply.

“Apologies. Alex is impulsive and likely did not know how to restrain herself from acting on her instincts.” Rissaeth responded.

“Very impulsive, fate changes around her frequently.” ‘Kat’ opened the door for us and let us through first. “The world will need this, however, she appears heroic, and I believe we made the correct choice in picking these two together.” She looked back at ‘Adrian’ and Rissaeth did the same with my eyes, letting us see him glaring at us.

“We may have to cut this conversation short, Theris knows that these two are together, it will also be addressed during this meeting.”

“Zytos and Circaea have a couple as well and Nyarae's chosen told us that she will likely aid our defense,” My Goddess waved her off and turned our attention back to the room in front of us. It was a fairly large room, reminding me of a combination of a Greek theater and a courtroom. At the bottom and back of the room, on the ‘stage’ there was a semi circle of eleven thrones each with their own symbol on the back of the chair: A sun, a moon, an anvil, a wave, a tree, a scythe, a spear and shield, a heart and music note, a treasure chest, a book and wand, and a web. 

‘This is the Olympus here, I guess’ I thought as Rissaeth walked us to the bottom of the auditorium bench seating. ‘Kat’ walked past us and up onto the stage, taking a seat at the throne with the web at the edge of the semicircle. The others soon filed in after us, most of them with glowing eyes, except for the demi-angel, who quickly made his way to sit by us.

“Alex…?” He whispered softly. 

“She can hear you if you need to speak to her” Rissaeth responded as I watched the others go to their positions. The other couple went to the scythe and tree thrones next to each other on the other side of Kat, and I was able to catch sight of a thin scar around the guy's neck, a trickle of smoke occasionally leaking from the line, as he walked by to the scythe throne.

“Oh, you too…?” Nicolas groaned.

“What did you need?” I felt a wave of contempt from her as Miyuki slithered by to the treasure chest throne. Sigrid and Cassandra followed soon after to the wave and heart thrones respectively soon after her.

“I was just hoping she was still here so that I wasn't by myself” 

“As I said, she can hear you, I haven't erased her,” she glanced over at the other two, Leon and the Baldur's gate Gortash-looking guy, both of which spread out across the auditorium seating with the robot much closer to the front than the other. “Azion too cowardly to take control right now?”

“I don't even know if he's here! I haven't even heard anything from him!” My eyes quickly went back to him. 

“There are dozens of gods present in the room that you cannot see. If he was not possessing you, you would not be surviving currently”

‘Dozens? Where?’ I tried to look but nothing obeyed me, still just stuck with the dragon goddess in complete control.

‘I am shielding you from witnessing them to protect your mind.’ Rissaeth responded ‘Seeing one of us is safe but much more than three in their true form simultaneously is dangerous for mortals.’ 

“T-that doesn't help my nerves!” Nicolas said, reminding me that she was talking to him.

“You are not babbling incoherently currently, something is protecting you” she ‘reassured’ him as ‘Adrian’ came up to his side.

“Chosen of Azion, come with me,” he said in the same stern voice from before. The demi-angel gave us a worried look. A guilty feeling welled up inside me when I couldn't actually show my concern for him myself as he was brought to in front of the thrones and Adrian went to the one with the spear and shield.

“Calm down, lad,” Sigrid boomed with a boisterous laugh in a man's voice. “Azion is on trial, not you”

“You are probably not helping, Abysious” Cassandra chastised, her voice soft and more charming than before.

“Jus' trying to calm him. Where is our God of Debauchery anyways?” Nicolas's body froze and he stiffened before giving a theatrical bow.

“Wine and festivals, mind you!” He responded jovially. “I was awaiting an appropriate time to make my presence known.”

“The stunt you pulled is serious,” the dryad said flatly.

“Lovely to see you again, Circaea, how have you and Zytos been?”

“We are not here for small talk” the man next to her responded.

“Azion, you appeared before a large group of mortals in Imperius before their emperor, to start one of your bicentennial festivals three decades early,” Theris chastised and Azion shrugged.

“I wasn't sure if I could fit another in before Ivra's supposed apocalypse.” 

“You announced your chosen to them! It was agreed that they would do it in their own time! Even worse, you risked exposing Nyarae's chosen as well!”

“Oh she was there too?”

“She's a court bard, Azion, she has the Emperor's ear if we need it” Nyarae's voice came from Cassandra again.

“We were fortunate enough that Cybel had her chosen ready to extract yours without other mortals noticing.” Theris continued.

“So no harm was done after all?” Azion laughed and Theris stood Adrian's body up then paused and glanced at the sun throne.

“No, the rumor of the festival god having a chosen for no apparent reason will spread across the world.”

“No problem in that, correct?” 

“The poor lad was mortified to be pulled here,” Abysious said. “He would be treated as a celebrity in that city and it is obvious he does not like the attention.”

“Did you explain anything to him? He thought of Cybel's, Rava's, and Rissaeth's chosen as monsters,” Circaea added.

“I was letting him enjoy the party, he just came from another one and did not want to ruin the mood for him.” Azion answered.

“You are irresponsible!” Theris barked “You ignored one of our main rules and you have no reason to have a chosen!”

“My brother will pick one eventually, why shouldn't I? When the time comes, festivals will be helpful to keep morale up for the mortals. And if I heard right, Lilith has one and she didn't respond? Sounds like the demons might be making a move from their continent,” the party god shrugged. 

“Do not try to shift our attention elsewhere. We still need to decide what to do with you and your chosen as he cannot remain in Imperius.” At that moment I felt another pressure invade my mind and Rissaeth seemed to sense it too and she looked around. Our eyes eventually met Kat's and Ivra's.

‘Alex, can you hear me? Hello?’ My girlfriend's voice echoed in my head.

‘Kat? How are you doing this?’ I responded immediately as I vaguely heard the gods continue to deliberate as background noise. 

‘Spell called Message, Ivra let me cast it here.’

‘Wait since when did you have this?’

‘Since two minutes ago, I found it in a spell list I have access to because of you. I only got two, I grabbed Silence earlier, you're welcome by the way, and this one.’

‘Silence…?’ I started to ask but then it hit me exactly what she meant and started feeling myself get flustered. ‘O-oh, thank you… um what did you need…?’

‘We should invite him to our party, get him away from the capital’

‘What?’

‘We need a cleric anyways to keep your dumb ass alive,’ she teased. ‘We can't constantly use potions and he probably won't survive long on his own’

‘He's a cleric?’

‘Ivra says that's what he'll choose. I just wanted to ask your opinion before I just make the suggestion’

‘... fine, but I don't know how we're getting back, so just make sure he's not dropped off in the woods with us…’

‘Ok, thanks for trusting me here.’

“My chosen has a proposal on what to do with Nicolas.” Ivra said suddenly. “Send him to a small town near the city of Rookport, Elmcester perhaps? Katrina and Rissaeth's chosen's party can take him in and keep him safe.”

“And allow you to conspire with another outside the Inner Circle?” Theris accused.

“Conspire?”

“You and Rissaeth chose a couple.”

“They were not together at the time of their deaths.” Ivra responded flatly.

“There is nothing wrong with them being together.” Circaea said, her voice softer now that she wasn't addressing Azion. “You made an exception for Talía and Lucas, allow them as well”

“You and your husband are both on the Inner Circle. Rissaeth is a former member and that brings up other issues.” Theris pointed out.

“If I may,” Rissaeth spoke up, making us stand. Theris sighed and waved us onto the stage part. “She is by far the best potential chosen I have been waiting for, I was looking for one that embodied the domain oh so graciously granted to me by the Inner Circle when I was exiled: protection. Alex sacrificed herself to protect her friend, I did not learn how much she cared for Ivra's choice until after I made a new body for her. I gave her a choice to move on but she did not take it.”

“We do not owe favors towards each other if that is your concern,” Ivra added. “Rissaeth has been punished enough for the mistakes of her previous champion, let her and her chosen prove themselves and ignore this grievance you have.”

“...Nyarae, did you have any knowledge of them bonding like this beforehand?” Theris sighed. “What do you think of this?”

“Love is spontaneous, I don't force or cause all love, you know this. I did not set this one up” the other goddess responded. “These inserted heroes certainly make waves in our domains though… another mortal I was going to help along had his path changed when he met her,” she motioned to me and I internally flinched slightly when I realized she was talking about Max.

“...Fine. Nicolas will be moved to Elmcester to allow for him to join Alex and Katrina's party. As for Azion…”

“As for me? Isn't it handled?” The god interrupted 

‘It would be funny if he's not allowed to drink alcohol for awhile, ’ I thought and Rissaeth's amusement spread to me.

“May I suggest,” My Goddess immediately started “So that he can focus on his domain, he is unable to partake in alcohol?”

“Ri, you-” he started to respond but she quickly turned toward him and I felt my tail whip against the ground with a loud crack of my scales against the stone.

“Only Ivra may shorten my name. God of debauchery.” She gave a short growl.

“Sorry, sorry but surely you are joking, right?” He quickly backpeddled away from us. 

“I was considering your lack of thought when it came to introducing your chosen to our world. A lack of alcohol may have led to a wiser choice of where to put him.” She mused, calming down slightly.

“It is an appropriate punishment, fitting for you” Zytos agreed with a chuckle. “Should we put it to a vote?”

“... Fine” Theris relented “all in favor of preventing Azion from partaking in alcohol or mind altering substances for… 80 years?” Zytos, Circaea, Ivra, and Nyarae raised their chosen's hands. “Motion passed, all mind altering substances will be rendered ineffective when you try to use them, your chosen will be unaffected by this passing and you are not allowed to retaliate and affect how Rissaeth's chosen is affected by them either”

“...” the god was left speechless.

‘Was that your idea?’ Kat's voice returned to my mind.

‘I thought it, I guess she liked the idea’ I responded.

‘Really, the Dionysus treatment, like Percy Jackson?’ She laughed. ‘Good thing she didn't say it was your idea, don't want a god angry at you.’

“Theris, I have a grievance to bring up while I am here." Rissaeth said, bringing my attention back to the gods.

“Our business with Azion is settled, you may speak your mind before we conclude this meeting.” The wisdom goddess responded.

“My chosen encountered my previous champion yesterday. I was under the impression that he was put to rest already as were the rest of the draugr. But now I hear that Drathys offered them asylum. Why were they hidden from me?”

“They became part of Drathys’ domain when they chose to become undead,” Theris said flatly “After the vote to exile you and for your sister take your place. The original vote was to exterminate the draugr or not. Drathys offered to take them in as she found them and give them a place in Necropolys.”

“You what?” My tail whipped against the ground again and she glared toward the man in the auditorium seating. He only gave a smirk back at us and refused to speak.

“It is settled, sister,” Rava said. “You and your chosen are free to put them to rest yourselves but we can no longer interfere.”

“Alex was gravely injured with that encounter when I did not know to warn her about an undead champion,” she growled in response. 

“It has been settled, Rissaeth” Theris snapped with finality in her voice. “She knows to be careful around those tombs now, correct? And she is still alive, that is all we need to be concerned about.”

“...” my tail flicked wildly back and forth in Rissaeth's and my own irritation. ’Alex, if you may, please slay every draugr you find, they deserve the rest.’

‘I'm not about to go looking for their ruins, but if I find more walking around, I'll put them down…’  I responded as we walked back to our original seat. The other gods looked like they did want to say something but nobody else spoke up.

‘Thank you, I fear the Goddess of undeath will go rogue with the gods of war and chaos… if she has my former followers, it will cause issues.’

‘Yeah, some of them were tough,’  I agreed.

“Anything else that needs to be addressed? Aside from Orin and Lilith, I still need to investigate their absence still” Theris said and when no one responded, she continued. “Then this meeting is concluded and you all need to return your chosen to where they were.”

‘Just like that? That's it?’ Kat's voice sighed in my head as all of the gods got up one by one to file out of the room.

‘I guess so,’ I grumbled, still irritated at the lack of action with the draugr. Ivra brought Kat over to where we were sitting and Nicolas also wandered over, the glow in his eyes gone but he seemed wary of me again.

“Thank you for offering to take me in…” he said softly, his voice back to normal.

“Thank Katrina when you meet with her within the next week. Just keep yourself safe and take simple quests while you wait,” the fate Goddess told him. 

“A-any advice you can give me at all?”

“I gave what I can, Katrina herself can attest to what saying too much can do” 

“Ivra, I need to return Alex before her other mate finds that she is gone.”Rissaeth said to the other goddess and a confused look crossed the angel's face.

“Other mate? What are you talking about?”

“They'll tell you when you meet them again.” My body suddenly turned and started walking towards the doors.

‘Speaking of, are you going to talk to me again sometime before we get pulled into something urgent or is this how we will always meet?’ I asked.

‘I… cannot say, if I have something to talk to you about, I should be able to contact you within a month if this does not happen again.’

‘At least I have a timeframe,’ I sighed in my head, watching as we approached the door. She paused with my hand on the handle.

‘I will not abandon you if that is what you fear. I promise’ She said then my eyes shut and I felt her open the door and push me through the threshold.