RE: Deity - The Breath of Creation

4:25 You Are Dangerous

The Celestial Empress sat atop her gilded throne and gazed out over her lands. Even from where she sat, she could feel almost everything happening in her empire…to a degree. Reconstruction was going well. More surprisingly, the number of births and rebirths was absolutely skyrocketing. She'd somewhat expected it, as there was always an explosion of babies after soldiers returned from war, but never before had it been seen on such a scale.Fitting, in her opinion, considering the scale of the conflict, but surprising all the same.

What surprised her the most, however, was her power. People worshipped her. Her entire nation worshipped her. But, more importantly, her power grew the more her Empire was strengthened, the more people believed specifically in her and what she was doing. There were nuances to this, of course. She wouldn't lose all her power if her empire fell, but it was a noticeable, constant boost to her strength; moreso than even conscious cultivation.

Unlike other gods, her power growth was tied far closer to people worshipping her, and the strength of her empire. It was worrying. It was also completely in line with her personal Dao and the way she approached cultivation; which was to say, she rarely cultivated, and instead focused on governing.

She blinked, then, realizing suddenly that she had been holding court for nearly seven days straight and had hardly said a word, all while watching her empire. Below her, on the throne room floor, a series of men were arrayed. Most were petitioners, requesting resources of some kind. Some were military officers, or public servants, with updates on the current state of affairs. Who was rising, who was causing problems, and who was doing good, that sort of thing. Some were even priests, talking about portioning off another plot of land for a bigger, more comprehensive temple dedicated to the many gods of the Four Realms, Statera Luotian chief among them, rather than the scattered temples there were now.

Alanna inclined her head ever so slightly to those requests that required her assent, and waved her hand to those that could be delegated. She didn't need to speak. As a god, her will was made manifest.

However, today, as she looked out over her court and continued to plan her ascension into the Heaven Realm, she came to a realization.

She didn't trust anyone to run her empire. No, she didn’t trust any

Her eyes narrowed and she shifted on her throne, leaning forward as her thoughts crystallized, the guards that lined the inner throne room shifting in their armor. That realization did not come lightly. It wasn't that there were no good people to replace her - there were plenty of politicians and statesmen who would do a good job. It was what came after that worried her.

Power, by itself, was not corruptive. But it did have a tendency to strip away the outer layers of a person's personality, and reveal what was within them. A good man would be capable of great things, or do nothing as they feared what they could do. A bad man would give an outlet to their evil nature - and an egotistical man may become the best ruler the world had ever seen, as their ego demands they do not fail.

She was a combination of the ego, and the good woman. She could not guarantee the next "emperor" would be the same, or remain that way. Worse, she could not guarantee the emperor after that, or after that, would be and do what she did.

She'd seen it a million times before, on a smaller scale. The moment the great personality that built the empire vanished, it would fracture. Maybe in a generation or two, which, for immortals, was quite a long time, but still. It would still fracture. And as much as she liked to credit Dei with building the foundation of the Celestial Empire, she was under no illusion that it was she who built it to what it was today. Had conquered the entire known Physical Realm - arguably.

The outer regions, with their own Trees and Mountains and Valleys and Rivers, were more like vassal states than actual parts of the Empire.

Which led her to a solution. It was not a perfect solution, but it was the best to ensure the prosperity of her people, even after she ascended to the Heaven Realm in an official capacity. But it would greatly help when she took many of her people up to the heavens with her - or, perhaps not many, but quite a few all the same.

She couldn't go up there and start expanding her empire into the Heaven Realm if she didn't have her retinue with her. Did that also mean she had to go down to the Karmic Realm? It would be best to send a delegation down there, either way. Matters of karma and reincarnation were best left to those who know what they're doing, and she had no desire to try and fix what she knows is best left alone.

She shifted again, fixating her full attention on those before her, her divine power filling the throne room as her presence focused itself here.

And she spoke.

And her people listened.

"We will be changing the governing structure," she announced, her words washing over all present in an unrelenting wave. Those before her stumbled, taking steps back and falling to their knees - all but the most powerful or most strong willed; a few immortals, and the few Dao Progenitors who still hung around the palace from time to time.

Right. That was why she limited her speaking now.

"What do you mean?" a young man asked, trembling as he rested on his knees. He was a strong man. A Fae, with dark black hair and eyes the color of lightning. His qi crackled with that same energy, and she recognized him as a young Captain who had distinguished himself in war. Not yet immortal, which only made her smile widen. Ah, the joys of youth. He could withstand her presence simply because he still had that fire in his soul - or, in this case, the storm.

"I will need to change the way the Celestial Empire is governed when I ascend. The Physical Realm will no longer be my permanent home, and as such, successors must be found." She began.

"If you would just find a husband, and have an heir," one of her closest friends, a spymaster illusionist named Bob, muttered. She let the comment slide.

"Even if I were to produce an heir, or choose a successor, I cannot guarantee they will be as I am. In fact, I guarantee they will not be. And, in the ways of Statera Luotain themselves, you all must be free to choose for yourselves." She continued. "As such, the next Emperor will be elected by the Council of Immortals – Electors, who themselves will be chosen for their position. Whether the ruling term is for eternity, life, or a set number of years is yet to be determined; but know that this is my wish. You all, who have faithfully served me, who have helped grow this empire into what it is today, deserve the chance to choose who next leads you."

Silence reigned for just a few moments, and Alanna could already see it. The chaos that this would create for a time. The mad dashes for power as those who were too greedy rushed to rise up through the ranks. Yet it would settle into something...decent. There was no taking away power from those who had become Immortal, not in qi and cultivation, and not politically. And the Physical Realm had always been a little chaotic.

This, at least, tuned into the perfect imperfections of mortals. Accounted for it, in a way that made it possible for the imperfections to be corrected; via another election. She would need to draft a governmental structure for everyone, during this shift. Balances and such, just like she had with her own council and the advice they gave so no despots could take the throne for long. And she would, of course, be paying close attention while it got settled.

In the end, however, she had faith that this was the way forward. It was not her right to choose - it may be her duty to give advice, and it may be her ability to choose the best candidate, but it was not her right. Not anymore.

She smiled to herself as she sat back on her throne, the room erupting into some chaos as they chattered and asked questions, free of her voice as they were now. Besides, just because she was letting them hold elections, didn't mean her words would be moot. She would still be Empress, even if at a distance.

How did the mortals put it? This was not the divine right to rule, where one was placed upon the throne because heaven chose them and they were the gods' specialest person. She would not choose them like that. No, this was the Mandate of Heaven, where the one on the throne had better act in the best interest of the people. She did have some personal stakes involved after all.

This story has been stolen from NovelFire. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

***

"I see the [System] is coming along nicely," I commented idly, playing with Kei as I was. Curie did not so much as glance at me as I tickled my granddaughter, the nine-tailed fox girl breathless and red-faced form laughing as I attacked her sides mercilessly, her hands pushing against me fruitlessly.

She had made the mistake of trying to dye my hair pink while I was seemingly distracted by healing Yueya. This was my revenge.

"S-stop!" she begged, squirming, tears flowing down her cheeks as she flailed. Finally deciding to have mercy I let her up, and she immediately launched herself to the other side of the room, tails flaring and ears twitching as she tried her hardest to get her breathing under control.

"It is coming along. I have come up with a solution for [skills], [Skills], and the methods for which I have designed levelling. [Title Skills]. Rewards for getting a group of skills or a singular skill to a certain level - they combine into a [Title Skill] like [Swordsman] or [Survivalist]. At which point, they, at a certain level, receive a little boost to talent in that area, and may even gain the ability to use a [Skill] tied to said [Title Skill]." Curie explained, monotone voice cracking a little with excitement. "Not to be confused with [Titles], however, which are a combination of [Achievements] and [Title Skills], and largely decorative in nature."

"I see," I said, digesting that.

"What would my title be?" Kei chimed in, tails flicking and eyes focused entirely on me. I wiggled my eyebrows at her and she giggled, the child in her as carefree and front-and-center as ever. "Unrivaled Under the Heavens! The Most Beautiful, Most Gorgeous, Most Fantastically Amazing Person Ever!"

"Goofball." I deadpanned. "That would be your title. Kei, the Goofball." She giggled again, skipping over to Curie and peering at the woman as if deciding whether or not she was entertaining.

"Your [Title] would be unique, and decided by the [System.] Statera's could be [Parent of the Four Realms] as much as [The Heavens]." She explained.

"Why even have a system, though? Seems silly." Kei complained, sitting on air like it was a shelf and kicking her feet idly.

"It's simple," Curie started. "The One World needs a better system to raise people up. Your world has Cultivation. The One World was stagnating because we had no method of raising people to godhood and divinity, or adjacent areas, with ease. Combined with our size, and it spelled disaster and understaffed areas. The [System] would be our cultivation. 'Experience' is essentially qi; as a soul grows and experiences things, it absorbs energy and creates more through the emotion of existing. Unlike the souls of the Four Realms, the souls of the One World create energy through action. Emotions, creation, all that. So the [System] is just a way for them to evolve, and offer a guide. Think of it as...the Heavenly Dao, but with a different expression. A reference to be discarded or followed at your leisure." Curie explained.

I cocked my head to the side. Huh. That was actually a fairly good interpretation. I hadn’t thought of it that way yet, instead thinking of a [System] as a limiting factor, but if she created it with that intention I could actually see the benefits.

"What did you decide on for the stats?" I asked, genuinely interested. I had some input on the design, so was curious as to what she had come up with.

"A balanced creation. Three main stat groups, each breaking down into three sub-groups, that can be broken down even further if wished. Body, Heart, and Mind. Body's constituents are Power, Health, and Coordination. Soul - sorry, Soul, not Heart - is Presence, Spirit, and Attunement. Mind is Intelligence, Wisdom, and Focus." She paused here, collecting her thoughts, and sliding one of her magic screens over to me so I could view the [System] design without peering over her shoulder. "Your comments about balancing were greatly helpful. The three stats correspond to different magical abilities. Body would respond to aura or life energy best, soul traditional magic, and mind psychic abilities. Those are nascent in the One World, but present. Each of the three sub-stats would relate in different ways to those. I also considered adding a fourth group of hidden stats, such as talent and fate and luck, but am still considering."

"Huh. So, if I'm reading into it right, the three sub-stats would also relate to those energies in way like raw power, control, and depth of one's energy. Basically quality, control, and quantity." I muttered, rubbing my chin in thought, then swiping away the screen. That was actually...well that was aright, because it was already something everyone had. Now it just showed in terms of numbers.

"Yes. My thought was that each of my selves would create a race according to their corresponding stat groupings, but..." Curie paused there, eyeing her other selves. I waited, knowing generally where her mind was going, but not the specifics. Hopefully she would tell me what Yueya had tried to talk to her about after I left, and I wouldn't have to pry it out of her. I believe I had earned some honesty from them.

"Gramps, if you're going all video-gamey with it," Kei began, and I narrowed my eyes at her because how did she know about video games - oh, right. There was a planet that had created a cultivation, qi-based power source that could power things like computers and video games. Frankly, computers were useless when Immortals were far more powerful and intelligent than even a supercomputer - hell, even just ascending a cultivation stage or two made computers basically pointless. "But you and Curie don’t like the idea of levelling anything but skills, why not give Stat bonuses through achievements?" she asked, cocking her head to the side.

I considered it, and Curie snapped her gaze to my grandchild.

"Indeed. That is an idea. As I said, actions create energy from souls - if achievements are powerful enough, they should give a set amount of energy that could then be applied to the soul." Curie said slowly.

"If you're going to give them stat points that way, rather than just through training them, make it so they can choose where the stats go." I pointed out. Curie nodded, eyes flicking back and forth as she added the idea to her design notes.

"I will consider it. However, first, Statera, I have something to run by you." She said, turning to face me fully. "Yueya woke up for about half a second after you left." she said, searching my face for any reaction. I showed none, waiting patiently for her to continue. "I suspect she was waiting for you to leave. However, the idea she proposed does have...merit."

"What idea?" I asked, clasping my hands together. Kei's attention snapped between her and me, head swiveling and eyes wide like she was watching some juicy drama. Which, I supposed, she very well might be.

Because on principle alone, I was very likely to just straight shut down any of Yueya’s ideas.

"The Oshun should become one again," she said bluntly, and my eyes narrowed.

"Explain."

"Right now we are, in your own words, incredibly unbalanced. It is only your presence and domain that are keeping us together, as we each represent individual parts of the original Oshun. Just like the stats in the [System]. We are the same person, and that was not a problem until the Rot came along and messed it all up." She took a deep breath here, a distinctly living reaction that broke the dry, robotic monotone. "The Rot is decay and obsession. Itis a shadow born of the split between us - the one percent of ourselves that wasn't able to be fully separated, and was born of the giant corpse your children fought."

I bit my bottom lip, considering this information and now knowing generally where this was going. Shadows were always a part of the universe. They always came back because they had been, at one point, part of the Origin Deity. That was why I hadn't been able to remove Morgan after the Sun War. Morgan, at least, tried to act in what it saw as my best interest, and could be somewhat reasoned with. If I killed Morgan, it would be replaced by another Shadow, one that was maybe not so easy to work with.

That was also why I was struggling with the Rot so much. It would never go away. I could spend eternity obsessively hunting every spore, and it would always return somehow. My gaze flicked back up to Curie, narrowing as I saw through her, and peered into Yueya's dormant soul.

She was talking about joining with her Shadow. She was going to do the Dragon method of eliminating the Shadow, accepting it, and consuming it instead of the other way around.

I splayed my hands, running through calculations, peering through fate and time to pluck at strings. There was no good option here. None. And it would take time to pacify the Rot, and make sure it could be safely consumed by the Oshun Trio. But...

It would be good for them. For her. She was fracturing alongside her world. My healing was fixing them, but it was a slow, painful process, and some days they lost more than they gained because the Rot had changed something in them. Destroyed the equilibrium that made the three bodies possible. The damage was literally forcing them to this conclusion.

And the Rot may disappear forever, too. In fact, I was almost completely certain it would.

"What does that mean?" I asked, finally. "Why did you split in the first place?"

"When we first awoke in the Void to create our Universe, I wanted expert advice, and I was the only one who could give it. We are and were alone, Statera, and instead of creating children, we created other versions of ourself. Split ourselves so we could act and think and work together as a single entity with three different motivations. It may sound like an echo chamber, but it wasn't. It was the opposite. The heart tempered the mind, the mind tempered the body, and the body tempered the heart." Curie explained. "But that time is over. I cannot say exactly what will happen if we all recombine. Our personalities will merge. So will our power."

"You will be more powerful than I," I accused, sitting back. Individually, they were all more powerful than me in their specific areas. I had noticed this before, many times. Bringing them together would be…

"Yes. But understand this, Statera. Of all the Origin Deities we have met, you are the one I wish to fight the least. Power means nothing, if you are more dangerous." Curie said bluntly, honestly. I could see through her completely, the Beauty that had blinded me so dulled to a distant thrum. "You truly do not understand how terrifying you are. That is why Sehuyun has focused on you, more than any other. It is why Yueya did, as well. I am telling you this because you need to know, and because I am asking permission. And because I need someone else to see the equation, and tell me if there is a different solution, or an angle I am not seeing." She explained.

I was silent for a long, long moment.

"Give me some time. I will investigate. Then we can discuss it." I told her, standing. Kei made a little noise of interest, her tails flicking once, then vanishing in a teleport. Curie inclined her head as this incarnation began its healing work once again.

But the main body had heard, and was already looking into matters.