Tread Lightly

Space warps and rips open before me as I spot the eye of a dragon on the other side of the Crossroads. Leviathan's scaly claw bears a shifting jewel of some kind, inlaid into a pocketwatch the size of a person's torso.

How odd. I wonder who made that? It must have been one of the demon's Craftsman. I know she's got plenty, even if none can compare to Earl. Hah! I bet she even had to help! Not my Earl, though! He can do this kind of shit all on his own. Well, minus the sealing part. But I figure he'll get that down too, eventually.

Tomas nods before motioning me to follow him. The scarred soldier steps into the rift at the top of the clock tower within Nevermore. Elizabeth grins happily before pulling Lily through, the little girl excited to see Aniwye again.

As for me... I take a moment to stare at the shifting Ether and fractured reality. A long time ago, this felt like a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon that no soul could control. Now...

Leviathan holds the keys to such incredible power.

Shaking my head, I stride through the portal and stand before the dragon herself, born as a demon. She turns her head downward to face me, already welcoming the others.

"Hello, my fellow Godling."

I breathe in the surroundings before I answer her, amazed by the home of a being who has lived for over a thousand years. I stand just a few feet from open air, a coast below with a treacherous expanse of blackened rocks burnt by the volcano that rumbles beneath the tower with exposed lava flowing into the waves.

The air is thick with the smell of sulfur and ash, even as I turn to address Leviathan, the God of Minds, fully. I don't think that is her actual Concept or proper name, but that is what she wishes to be called. As such... I won't deny her the luxury as it costs me nothing.

The room I'm in is massive, its ceilings soaring at least a hundred feet high above even the dragon's extreme size. It expands over a thousand feet in every direction, filled with an eerie, ominous beauty. Spikes jut out from the walls and ceiling, and chandeliers hang precariously, their metalwork twisted and dark. The architecture here is convoluted and foreboding, something that would never exist in the hands of humanity.

It has no purpose other than to be viewed, something that none but the Estates could enjoy. But they have never built anything quite like this.

Stepping forward to Leviathan, I discover that each cardinal direction has a hallway that stretches out and ends abruptly, open to the sky like the one I stand in. The wind whistles through these openings, carrying with it the scent of the sea and the distant roars of the volcano. I realize that one could effortlessly jump from these hallways, plummeting to the jagged rocks below. Or perhaps they serve another purpose.

"Hello, Leviathan. How has taking back your lands been?"

I smile up at the dragon's exposed teeth. Leviathan has wholly left her demonic heritage, adapting to this new form utterly. Although... I believe her home always had these protrusions as she could fly before gaining her wings. Now, it is merely convenient for her.

Elizabeth, Lily, and Tomas have already strut right past her, heading down a set of stairs to a lower level. Those three have likely already been here in my slumbering absence.

But Leviathan doesn't go with them immediately. Instead, she lowers her massive form to match mine. Then, I watch as her body shifts and molds all the way until she reaches a small enough size to walk through a human's door.

Adjust.

Of course. Ma taught her it.

"It has been simple. Kaisen did little damage to my home, though he did destroy poor Behe's. I'll... fix it up for him. Watch over it for him. He doesn't have any family, though. It's the least I can do for my rival of a millennium. We had our differences, but... I liked him. Those such as us have few companions. Very few."

I nod, knowing what she must mean. The people with great power always seem to be... so lonely. Louis. Vincent. Isaac. Ytern. Tonuyn, to a lesser extent, due to his family. But just about all of them... they were utterly alone in their minds and hearts.

"Why? Why are we destined to be lonely?"

The God of Minds shuffles her four clawed legs past me, her wings fluttering lightly with her movement. Then, she raises one of those nails to point out into the ocean.

"That's because we see it all. They only see a little. Our horizons are so vastly above what they can imagine. They... are like children attempting to understand an adult's motives. But it's more than just the power difference. For us... it'll be an age one. Only at our levels do lifespans shift to be counted in centuries, not decades."

I raise an eyebrow as Leviathan faces me once more. I actually... witness a wetness in her eyes as the once-demon cries, the droplets dripping onto the floor with a splash. It... hurts to see. I never thought that I'd stand before such a thing.

"You will live a long life, Wyatt Graves. Longer than any other human ever has. All those you know and will ever know will grow old and die before you. I've witnessed... countless members of my family pass before I've even aged a little. And those are demons, with lifespans thrice that at a minimum of your people. I have lived long, thanks to my Ether allowing me to jump bodies. While Behe was simply that durable, now you will be too. That is your destiny. The only way out is to kill yourself or allow Lennon or myself to do the honor. Nothing else in known existence can kill you. Maybe enough of those bombs could... but you'd never go for such destruction."

My heart sinks as the God refuses to stop talking. I thought... being a God would be great with near zero downsides, but this...

"Your Concept will lengthen your life beyond any desire you could have. You will hold the hands of your children as they breathe their wrinkly last. Then, you will watch their children pass. Then, the next. And the next. Eventually... you'll be desensitized, unwilling to get close to any of them. I... stopped by my grandchildren. I couldn't go any further. And I was only a Demigod. I had considered stopping the body jumps. But... I was a coward."

Finally, she falls quiet. I have only one question to ask her as I feel a lump in my throat. Blodwyn tries to console me, but it does little to help. He and I are together forever, but... we still will have family die before us.

"How long do you think you'll live?"

Leviathan shrugs with her multiple shoulders simultaneously. The motion is bizarre on a dragon shrunken down, such as her, but I understand the sentiment.

"Who knows? Behe and I believed he would live a few hundred more years without any of your human's risky life-extension methods, the kind Vincent abused heavily. With a Concept in my veins... at least ten more millennia without body-hopping. Maybe more. As for you and your three... you might just be functionally immortal. A million may pass before your hair turns gray."

I can't help but look down.

A long life is good and all, but what is the point if you cannot share it with the ones you care about? Bonfire will likely live an incredibly long life as well, Virgil, too, but everyone else...

They will grow wrinkles. They will gray. And they will pass. It is depressing to think about and imagine.

"Then what is there to do? Suffer?"

Leviathan's eyes flicker back and forth as she sighs, the most dangerous creature in all the realms flittering her tail back and forth as she heads back to the staircase the other three went down moments ago.

"We make another afterlife. So... we can see those who pass us by. Even if only for a little longer. Beyond that... I would not judge you if you ended it all. With my new strength, I have accomplished just about all I have ever wanted. I am now lost, aimless. My core family is long gone. I could make more, but... I do not believe I can withstand the pain again. As such, that mission shall be left to you."

I call after her, not letting her leave our conversation with that depressive statement. This is a God!? How could she be aimless? Without purpose!? This is Leviathan! The great of all demons! The one who changed her whole being! A life that possesses two Sirza!

"You're just gonna give up? Like that? After all you've been through? After Behemoth's death? What are you gonna do? Roll over and die? Be a real God. Don't be like the ones we despised."

My words actually halt Leviathan's claws in the air above the first black marble step. The draconic head turns to face me.

"Be a God? What do you mean?"

Bits of me writhe with disgust, but I know it is the best way forward for her. And... maybe even for me. With all this power... I can't just waste it. I will have to do something with it.

"Be a God. Answer prayers. Serve the people. If you cannot have a family to love you, let those countless souls love you for the good you can do. You've been... a terror for most of your life. I know you do not care for forgiveness, but this could be a new leaf. You could be honored across the realms. The God of Minds. Leviathan, the Dragon Of Empathy."

A long, serpent-like tongue glides over Leviathan's pointed teeth as she seems to smile profoundly. Her head bobs up and down as if she is discovering a thousand different possibilities. I don't know if I am too worried or excited for her, but her words point me to the latter.

"I like the idea of that. I like it a lot. Louis had his own religion, small, albeit. Surely... I could have my own? That could be... interesting. Thank you for this. I will remember it. Your mother is in the first level's kitchen. You do not need to come to this meeting if you wish to spend time with my pupil. I give you my word that I will treat those two as I would you."

At least that's one concern settled. And another. I was slightly concerned about the relationship between Ma and her. It seems they had already shoveled it away. Leviathan will not be a threat. She's really the only one in all the world I thought could be a trouble. After the Goddess descends the stairs, Blodwyn pipes up in my head, his own enthusiasm rearing into a storm.

"Could I have a religion, too? It sounds like fun. Helping people. How does that work anyway? Do they just talk into the empty air? I've never heard any words before."

I smile, laughing as I head toward the stairs myself. Right. He wasn't there in full spirit when we fought that one worshipper of the Devil. Raymond was his name, right? One of the few Angelic humans who was not a Pillar.

How I wish he hadn't been converted by the Mother Below when we found him. If only we were a bit faster... just a bit.

"It's nothing like that. A person has to do something related to our Concept in a kind of ritual. I think they have to do it with Ether, too, for it to reach us. Like with Louis, Abraham had a bunch of lit candles, a balanced bowl, and a whole bunch of blood. It represented chaos, balance, and humanity."

Blodwyn nods in thought in my head. I continue down the broad steps, beyond the grand meeting room where Lily, Elizabeth, Tomas, and Leviathan are. They wave at me, and I return it.

"Right! That makes sense. And I guess our Concept would just make the connection to their Ether, then. But aren't we limited in what we can do? Or is it just practice? Oh, and what will ours be?"

I shrug, unsure of anything he is asking about.

"Dunno. Louis seemed limited in what he could do, but that is also the nature of his Concept. It was a give-and-take situation. It was absurdly powerful and versatile, but it had to meet certain conditions. Honestly, mine could just work with someone deep in meditation, convening with their own soul as long as they can infuse themselves with Ether. As for you... no idea. Adaptation is a little more difficult to surmise. Maybe the act of training alone could be enough."

Our conversation continues as we traverse down the steps. There must be dozens of levels to this expansive tower as I pass by room after room after room. There are demons in many of them, either doing work or lounging. The ones that are relaxed seem to resemble Leviathan before her ascension, with the bluish tint to their flesh.

Those must be her descendants. I grow poignant as I think about what she said, but just as I start to spiral, I find myself in an open antechamber. On the far end is a grand set of double doors over a hundred feet tall, but I can hear something to my right behind another large pair of doors.

It sounds...

It smells...

Like Ma's cooking.

I rush like I've never moved before in my whole life. I've run swiftly for my life, in a life or death scenario, where to be an inch slow means my death. But I've never sprinted like this for a joyous reason.

Bursting through the door, placing cracks into the sturdy material, I find a one-eyed woman with a pan in one hand and a roaring flame under it. Her other hand cracks open a stark blue egg that spills into the pan. Immediately, a whiff of something delicious fills my nose.

Ma turns around to face me, a broad grin on her face. She looks... so happy right now. I don't... think I've ever seen her like this before, not even when she reunited with Killian. I think... she's accepted his death and moved on, maybe. But me? I'm still grappling with it. Ma, though...

The way she stands there... She is...

"Come here, little one. Meet Marigold. I know you've seen her, but you haven't had the chance to meet her properly. I'll let you feed her some Bluefelt eggs. I grew up on these things, scavenging for the bird's nests all over these isles."

That's Ma. After all this time... She's... she's right there. She looks a little different, but... from the apron to the smile.

It's all her.

The tears in my eyes almost shroud my joy, but I step forward before I can no longer see. I wrap my arms around her and can't help but cry some more.

"I'm so happy you're here."

Aniwye laughs, a great bellow that shakes the egg on the pan as she places it on the counter and faces me. Still taller than the God before her, my mother places a hand on the top of my head.

"Of course I am. You came after me, no? I was just waiting for you to wake up, little one. Here. I already had an egg made. Give it to Littler."

Her nickname for Marigold, the petite baby placed into a seat at a long and intricate table, sparks a bark of laughter from me this time. It's almost comical how smoothly it came from her lips.

"Littler?"

Aniwye nods, forcing the plate into my hands. Then, she shoos me away to feed my sister.

"Yes. She's smaller than you are. It works. Little and Littler. Now feed her. She's hungry, even if she's quiet. Marigold's too sweet to cry like you."

A wry smile remains on my face as I pull out a chair next to Marigold's ornate chair explicitly built for her. It is constructed out of Ma's Ether, meaning the baby can now withstand some of it being near her.

That's good. It's really good. I can't wait to see how she grows up! She'll be so strong.

But for now...

"Open wide, Marigold!"

The soft and near-liquid egg rests in the spoon in my hand as the child turns to face me. She stares at the object before her curiously, eyes filled with wonder. Then she opens wide, just as I had asked a moment prior.

Carefully, I give her the food, but before I can pull back the spoon, her jaw shuts, and flames leak out of her teeth. With awe, I gape at the silver utensil as it melts in my palm.

Giggles come from the little girl while the demon bounces up and down at the oven with her own chuckles.

"She's not a normal child, Wyatt. She's a Graves. Gotta treat 'em a little differently. This one emits a deathly fire with veins of ice."

Smiling, I wipe the melted silver onto a handkerchief nearby that withstands the heat. Then, I scoop up some of the eggs in my own hand. I guess she's right.

We're all a little unique in our own ways.

I'm fearless, with a soul that cannot be tracked or bowed under any means.

My father is painless, able to do the things that others would die simply thinking about.

My grandmother couldn't feel loss and could stride past any unfortunate incident with an ironclad will.

And Marigold... well, we'll just have to find out all her quirks.