I woke to the sound of Ramona calling me from the direction of the great tree. Her voice had that urgency, but also that softness I'd grown used to. Stretching my wings, I shot forward and landed beneath the tree we had claimed as our "quiet spot."
The tree had changed so much since the first time we found it, now it was titanic, its bark like hammered steel. Around it, the forest shimmered with our divine essence. Some trees were harder than stone, others hummed with tiny sparks of lightning. This was what our presence had done to the land.
Ramona was sitting at the roots, cradling something in her lap. A little deer. I recognized it instantly, the same one we'd rescued months ago, after finding it curled up beside its dead mother.
But this time, it was bleeding.
I walked closer and crouched down, brushing my hand against its head. "What happened now?"
"Dog," Ramona muttered, her brows drawn in a frown.
"A wolf?"
"No," she sighed, shaking her head. "A literal big dog. Where it came from, I don't know."
I huffed a quiet laugh, though my heart wasn't in it. "Figures."
The wound wasn't bad, but it was enough to cripple the little thing if untreated. I pressed two fingers lightly to its fur and let a thread of divine essence seep out. Healing wasn't simple anymore, not since my authority shifted fully into protection. I couldn't just flood wounds with essence and watch them vanish. Now it was more… stitching flesh together manually, thread by golden thread. Resourceful, sure. But tedious as hell.
Still, the deer shuddered and then stood, trembling but alive.
Ramona smiled when it straightened its legs. She set it gently down, and the little thing tottered forward, circling the roots like it had just been given new life.
"Thank you again, Adam," she said softly, her violet eyes lifting to mine.
I gave her the faintest smile. "No problem."
That scene, her with an animal in her hands, me patching it up, had become a strange sort of ritual. Every week, she found something. Every week, I fixed it.
It was funny, though. Ramona, the so-called goddess of storms and destruction, fussing over every small life like a mortal woman with a house full of stray cats.
"Are you going to keep worrying about him forever?" I asked as the deer darted between us.
She shot me a look. "Maybe I will. Someone has to."
I chuckled, but as I reached down to pat the deer's head, an idea came to me. The little guy was always in trouble, dogs, falls, sickness, you name it. Maybe it wasn't enough just to patch him up anymore.
So I did what any self-respecting god with too much time would do. I gave him a system.
Not a half-baked blessing, but an actual system. I'd been experimenting these past months in the bead of creation I carried within me. My little lab. At first, I'd built simple things, a floating screen, a library of memories I could organize like books. That had worked surprisingly well, even outside the bead. A system that could manifest into reality.
The deer blinked as the system settled into its mind. Its eyes sharpened, ears flicking as if suddenly aware of more than it should be. It looked at me, then Ramona, then back at me again, like it was memorizing our faces. Then, without hesitation, it bounded into the deeper forest.
Ramona straightened, her frown deepening. "What did you do to him?"
I smiled faintly. "I gave him a gift."
She didn't reply. Just stared into the woods a little longer, her arms folded tight. I stepped closer and laid a hand on her shoulder.
"He'll be fine," I said softly. "This time, I made sure of it."
Her shoulders eased just slightly, and she nodded. Together, we walked back toward the settlement, passing through the storm-cloud barrier she'd raised around our forest refuge.
Life here had grown… strangely peaceful. Ramona and I had even taken on the disguise of a married couple, "Mr. and Mrs. Smith." At first, it had been a convenient excuse for why we were always together. But somewhere along the way, it stopped feeling like a disguise.
"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Smith!" two children shouted as they barreled out of an alley.
"Don't run so fast, you'll hurt yourselves!" Ramona called after them, breaking into a jog.
I couldn't help but laugh, watching her disappear after them. Who would've thought? The tempest goddess, chasing kids around like a neighborhood aunt.
I strolled further down the street and tipped my head to a familiar face. "Good day, Mr. Lincoln. Fine weather we're having."
"Ha! Indeed, Mr. Smith," he said warmly. "Are you heading to the palace for the council meeting?"
"Yes. The Diarchs called us together."
His smile faltered. "It's the envoy from Aldun. They want us to surrender."
I snorted. "Funny. Weren't they the ones who reduced this place to rubble in the first place? And now they come waving papers and more threats?"
"Exactly so," he said grimly.
"Troubling times ahead," I murmured.
We walked together up toward the palace. It wasn't a small manor hall anymore, it was a castle. Stone and cement walls. Three towers looming over the settlement. Guards clad in leather and steel lined the ramparts, bows in hand. A real army, where once there had been nothing but ash.
A soldier lowered his spear as we approached. "Halt, in the name of the Diarchs!"
"We are here in response to the summons," Lincoln said smoothly.
"Names?"
"Abraham Lincoln."
"Adam Smith," I added.
We raised our council-sealed rings, and the guards exchanged a look before shouting, "Open the gates!"
The great wooden doors creaked open, and we stepped through into the courtyard.
Inside, the palace was even grander, its throne room doors towering four meters high, guarded by armored sentinels.
"Count Lincoln of House Lincoln!" a herald shouted.
"Count Smith of House Smith!" another followed.
I offered a polite nod as the doors swung open and stepped inside with all the grace I could muster.