“I wanted you to learn not to make the same mistakes I did.” Allevia sighed. “Bonds are important. If I had gotten to Lythara sooner, I’m sure she wouldn’t have turned out this way.”
“That’s it?” Exile asked with an incredulous expression. “You expect me to believe all of this was just for that?”
“No,” Allevia chuckled. “There were many things you could learn from this. Of course, I’ll tell you them all since you asked the right question. But in my mind, bonds are the most important one.”
“Without bonds of friendship, you’ll be unable to overcome many challenges that lay ahead of you. If you mistreat one of them, you could end up creating your worst enemy.” Allevia continued with a faraway expression. “Lythara and I were close. Even when we were apart we travelled on much of the same path. Until she let her emotions overcome her and she lost herself to the darkness.”
“Are you saying Lythara and yourself have the same elements except she uses darkness, and you use light?” Exile asked after he took a moment to think about her words.
“That’s right. This leads me to another subject I wanted my heir to notice. Light and Dark are two sides of the same coin. Where Light grants healing and beneficial effects to its spells and other elements, Darkness enhances the destructive capabilities and weakens your enemies.”
‘I see,’ Exile thought as he stroked his beard. ‘It makes sense, but that doesn’t necessarily make someone evil for using darkness.’ Exile’s frown deepened as Allevia started to speak again.
“Once you reach a certain point in your journey, your potential choices for Authority will change to reflect the nature of your Divine Element. Your Divine Element will play a big role in whatever your law turns out to be.” Allevia sipped some more sap as a pensive expression appeared on her face. “Of course, there are other factors. I can vaguely guess what led to my law, but even if two people act the same way and make the same choices, they can end up at different endings.”
“Are all users of the Darkness element evil gods then?” Exile asked as he studied her expression.
“No,” Allevia replied while shaking her head. “There are some necessary evils. So there are paths that won’t lead to the corruption of your followers if they stick with you. However, they are few and far between. It’s almost impossible to predict how to find your way to them.”
“Though,” Allevia continued as she looked up from her drink. “All but one path of Light is guaranteed to make you a good god.”
“All but one?” Exile asked as he cocked an eyebrow.
“Hm,” Allevia nodded her head. “There was one god who could wield both Light and Dark. They could’ve used their power for either side. But they chose to throw themself in with the Dark Gods, eventually becoming the leader of the Fallen.”
Exile could tell from Allevia’s expression that the god she was referring to had caused a lot of damage. ‘It seems dangerous to let anyone who can wield both at the higher tiers to live. I’ll have to keep an eye out for even the slightest of rumours. It’ll be hard to judge at this stage since everything points to being able to use both until you’re too far gone on one side.’
“Another thing I wanted you to learn was the shape your power should take at the highest point of your power. Our Titans are the only way to express all of the elements under our control in one spell.” Allevia smiled before she continued. “You’ve seen a battle at my level now. You should use that to determine what kind of spells you need to start working on now.”
Exile nodded as he remembered the fight. ‘I feel like I didn’t get to see what those Titans were really capable of.’ He sighed as he took a sip from his own mug. ‘But, I guess Allevia doesn’t want to hand everything to me on a silver platter.’
“The final thing you had to learn, was that you can’t win a war alone.” Allevia eventually said when she saw Exile’s interest dwindling. “It’s not quite the same as the importance of bonds. But it’s important all the same. If you try to do too much during a war yourself, those around you will become lazy. They will expect you to take care of the difficult parts. That’ll make it easy for your enemies to lure you into traps.”
“Did that ever happen to you?” Exile asked as his curiosity piqued.
“Yes,” Allevia let out a long sigh as she stared at the ceiling. “As my power grew, I took it upon myself to take part in every battle. To use my methods to heal as many people as I could. However, a time came when I was unable to make it to the battlefield. My people had developed a reckless fighting style as they expected to be healed. It caused my Pantheon to be wiped out several times before they finally adjusted.”
‘The same could be said for me then.’ Exile sighed. ‘The Skardian players are relying on me to fight Nar’Kozz and save them from the horde. Maybe that’s part of the reason we were wiped out in the forest. We were too confident, but that came from their faith in me.’ Exile closed his eyes as he wondered what adjustments they could make going forward.
“Do you want one last piece of advice?” Allevia suddenly asked, breaking Exile’s concentration.
“Please, if you think it will help.” Exile bowed his head to show his appreciation.
“Don’t get too caught up in the matters of either realm. If your eyes are always on the mortals, you’ll miss the threats in the heavens. If you’re watching over your kingdom here instead, you risk neglecting the mortals that give you power.” Allevia said slowly. “The greatest challenge about being a god is how to balance these two aspects. It doesn’t take much to lose yourself in either one. Your Pantheon will only stand the test of time if all of you can master this.”
“Thank you, I’ll do my best. However, it always seems like there’s a major event in one or the other that claims my entire attention.” Exile said with a groan.
“One doesn’t stop because you’re focused on the other,” Allevia replied with a soft smile. “Delegate the different responsibilities and give yourself time to deal with both. Even in the middle of a war here in the divine realm, you should miss some battles and spend time among the mortals. They’re quick to forget about a god that doesn’t appear often.”
Exile frowned as he found those words difficult to swallow. He could not imagine abandoning a battle with Nar’Kozz’s horde to go galavanting and granting miracles. ‘I’m sure she’s right. After all, she’s probably speaking from experience. I can’t just ignore her advice.’
“Thank you for your advice. I’ve learnt a lot from our talk, I just wish I could ask you about other things.” Exile replied after several moments with a grateful expression.
“I’m glad I could help. I suppose you’re eager to receive your reward now.” Allevia chuckled as she closed her eyes.
A fiery ethereal orb exited Allevia’s chest and floated toward Exile. It paused in the air in front of him momentarily before disappearing inside his own chest. Exile smiled happily as he felt the warmth spreading throughout his body from the flame. He studied the game log and confirmed the changes the second fragment gave him.
‘The cost of fire-based spells has gone down again. I just need one more to trigger the next evolution up from Lightning.’ He nodded to himself as he glanced up to find Allevia still watching him.
“Is there something else?” Exile asked with a broad smile as an expectant look appeared in his eyes.
“I was studying your existence just now when I noticed you haven’t made any changes to your Avatar spell,” Allevia said in a surprised voice. “Most gods do that as soon as they can. How do you even move about the Mortal Realm without being harassed by your followers?”
“How do I do that?” Exile asked as looked at her with shock. ‘That would be a lot better. I wouldn’t have to deal with crowds, and bowing and so on!’
“When you create a new spell, just add the Avatar spell by thinking about it. Then add the meanings for Disguise and Mortal. Then whatever race you want to appear as. Mind you, it only works if that race worships you since the meaning behind it is already within your existence.” Allevia replied while shrugging her shoulders. “But it seems like there’s another important thing that you’ve missed. You have a Divine Beast and a hero, correct?”
“Yes,” Exile replied with a frown as he thought about Skovi and Bjorn.
“Well, don’t forget to Bless them with your new power. Well, your Divine Beast anyway. You can have your hero slay another monster you create to increase their power.” Allevia said as she shook her head. “I don’t know if you’re just growing too fast, or ignoring your foundation. Either way, you need to slow down. Otherwise, your power will be easy to break by people on a lower tier eventually.”
‘I’m growing too fast? Since when has that ever been a problem? When you grow, you gain more power. Is she really saying there are mechanics I need to deal with gradually before going up the Tiers?’ Exile hated the sound of that, but he would not ignore the advice of a once tier 6 goddess.
“Now, our time is up. I wish you all the best and I look forward to our next meeting.” Allevia said with a smile as her will vanished and the throne’s with it.
Exile yelped as his ass hit the rough ground, and he was left alone in that now silent structure. ‘Now that I know what happened here, I feel like I’m sitting in an empty graveyard.’ He groaned as he stood up to look around one more time.
‘I feel like with every step forward I take, I always end up with an enormous list of things to do.’ Exile sighed as he went over everything Allevia had said in his mind. ‘How are we even meant to reach Tier 6 with everything the game keeps throwing at us?’
‘Allevia basically hinted I’ll never make it to that Tier by rushing, but there’s also a limited number of Authorities at that level. If I’m too slow I could end up stuck at Tier 5 or something lower.’ Exile groaned as he tried to make sense of which approach would be better. ‘Slow and steady gains over a fragile power it is then.’