With the God’s champions in place and the pawns now scattered about the battlefield, a new dynamic was created. The second War of the Gods was not a free for all between all of the Gods, but instead, a more focused conflict between alliances.

Saeria and Neralil still hated one another and Derrien knew this. Given his history with the two of them, he and Maloris conjured up a plan that would send all of Dun-I into conflict. Both of them created alliances with the other Gods, stoking the fires of rebellion and sedition. Derrien alligned himself with Zailyne, Talges, and Saeria while Maloris aligned himself with Valcus, Dahar, Falorous, and Neralil. The idea of creating the alliances was to promote defending themselves, but in reality, it was only creating differences.

I don’t recall it started the conflicts, but once they began, it was quite harsh. Talges attacked Falorous and Neralil attacked Saeria, though I don’t recall who started it. All I can tell you is that all 9 of the Gods were doing battle with one another with only Vesya and myself standing back and watching. Derrien and Maloris had a plan. They wanted to consolidate power for themselves and in order to do that, they needed two things to happen. The first, they needed Vesya to turn a blind eye. If she was overwhelmed adjudicating souls, she couldn’t intervene to stop the conflict and restore the rule of law. The second thing they needed was the other Gods to eliminate each other. To do this, they required something that only one of them had.

To facilitate the first part of the plan. Zailyne, the God of the Tides, devised a strategy that would grab the attention of Vesya and lock her eyes on a singular event. With the assistance of his allies Talges, Derrien, and Saeria, Zailyne attacked the capital city of Maloris, Brile, and broke it off the continent of Oorinay. He descended it into the depths of the ocean, though the souls never managed to make it to the Halls of Vesya for judgment. Ebolis, Vesya’s champion was battling another God-Touched follower of Talges, keeping him away from the conflict. Saeria and Derrien’s followers constructed a massive citadel to house the souls of those who fell, all while under the eyes of Vesya. However, before she could find where the souls went, the second part of the plan came to fruition.

Valcus still possessed the Godkiller, the famed dagger he created to murder the king of Tangresia. Somehow, Derrien got his hands on that dagger. During all of the fighting, Derrien dispatched the Seraphim, his followers, into the palace of Neralil where Zilara, one of Derrien’s elite soldiers, drove the dagger into the back of the Goddess. Her essence faded and Neralil, Goddess of Illumination, was killed.

Vesya was overwhelmed and the death of Neralil immediately grabbed her eye. She lost track of where the souls were being taken to, meaning they never made their way to her halls for judgment. In her fury, Vesya called a pause and summoned all of the Gods to Dun-I. She refused to let Dun-I fall into chaos due to the ambitions of my brothers and their allies. Saeria was grieving her sister, fuming at how Derrien had her killed without her knowledge. Valcus was perplexed at how his weapon was used. Vesya’s anger at Zailyne was on full display. She decreed that he would be denied ample sustenance until one day, he would fade away.

At Eden that day, Vesya made her ultimate move. No God would be allowed to set foot on Dun-I ever again, less their essence would shift and they would become mortal. Unless they were summoned to Eden, the sanctuary on Eden for the Gods, they were not allowed to come and go as they pleased. Their High Priests could still move back and forth, but the Gods were now locked in their realms.

Once the Gods were banished back to their realms, Dun-I shifted and became a much different place. The influence of the Gods waned and the dawn of man’s rule was upon the world. Power centered on three locations, with Shorrek and Teardret, both on the continent of Cuor, and Merdool in Oorinay becoming the seats of power.

Dun-I was always a powder keg, but with man now at the helm and the God’s grasp on the realm fading away, it was only a matter of time before the Gods tried again to retake their influence.

Read on in Chapter 6: The Removal of Knowledge