Chapter One

In Which the Lady Convenes the Conclave of Gods... With One Notable Exception

I never meant to ruin the world, yet here we are regardless. I promise, I had the best intentions, or at least, as good as someone as immature as I could have had. As time has passed, I've grown to see the error of my ways, and as such, I have decided it is time to remove myself from the equation.? 1

They stood before me, a collection of my most trusted deities, though what I trusted them with varied. Of course, some I would trust to care for my world as I would, others I would trust to run it into the ground.

I had yet to decide which I actually desired.

When I'd created this world, I'd wanted nothing but to amuse myself. Envious of older gods and goddesses and their individual playgrounds, I willed my own into being.? 2 As children are wont to do, I pleased myself first, creating an entire planet full of beings based on what I thought might be fun.

In hindsight, I wish I'd done things differently. But all I could do was move forward and give the world an opportunity to grow without my machinations.

Which led us to the line of deities in front of me. One of them would be responsible for my planet, and another would be responsible for my exile. It was potentially the single most important event this planet had seen since its creation, and all I could think about was how annoyed I was that one of them couldn't even be bothered to show up.

Mentally, I sorted them into buckets. First, the simpering attachés. If my guess was correct, they would do everything in their power to see the world maintained just as I left it. At least, until they realized that no one was coming to check their work. At that point, each and every one of them was unpredictable, to say the absolute least.

Next were those power-hungry deities who resented that they were modeled after gods on other planets. Always jealous that they were nothing but a facsimile, they were eager for an opportunity to assert themselves. They wouldn't mourn my absence and take any opportunity to grab for power.

Those that were too wrapped up in themselves and their power, for example, those that ruled over the realm of sleep, didn't fit nicely into either category, as they tended to be too distractible to hunger in such ways. It was this lack of drive that made me worry for my plan.

Ideally, I'd have one god to handle all that I needed done, but my options weren't looking promising. The death gods were, ostensibly, those most fit to the task, but though they were varied in their motives and techniques, they were also invariably secretive. I could not count on what I knew of any of them.

Their shapes were multitude, from humanoids, anthropomorphic or chimeras, monsters from planets I'd visited, to formless suggestions hanging in the air. Frowning, I noticed one missing.

Orcus.

Fashioned after a death god from a culture known as Roman, he had been my primary foe these many years, whether he wanted to or not.? 3 I'd created him, my most terrifying foe, to lead the forces of evil against my heroes, the scrappy little humans. He may not have liked the role I'd cast him in, but he'd never complained.

In fact, I shouldn't have been surprised that he hadn't shown. Why would he? Did I not manifest him to be the very bane of my existence? Of course, he hadn't heeded my summons. Still, I wouldn't risk him claiming favoritism, wouldn't allow him to suggest an unfair choosing.

I might have been giving my successor a whole mess of problems, but Orcus was one I'd take care of now if I was able. With a thought, I snapped my fingers and summoned him. I opened a portal facing toward the floor and dropped him through it, smiling to myself as he smacked onto the ground, his signature tattered black cloak fluttering about. I might have been na?ve when I designed my world, but even I had to admit that I had style.

The man who stood up, however, was not what I was expecting. Last I saw him, Orcus had been wearing the form he'd worn for years, since his creation. Instead of a shadowy suggestion of a body, with wicked teeth and glowing gold eyes, something blue and hulking stood. Through the threadbare clothing he wore, I could tell he was built thick with muscle. Two large white tusks jutted up from his bottom lip. He bore the pointed ears of an elf, and the heavyset brow was reminiscent of an ogre, but altogether, this form was entirely unlike any other creature walking the face of Timonde. A thick tail lashed behind him and his body was covered in scales and horns that jutted from every joint. His feet were cloven hooves and great horns curled back from his head, wrapped in black and blue shadows that hovered around him like hair.

"What have you done with Orcus?" I demanded. I didn't know who the hell this was, but I couldn't believe he'd managed to escape my whim and replace himself with whoever this was.

"Princess, I'm affronted. I'm shocked that you don't recognize me. Have I been downgraded from your arch-nemesis?" He looked around, holding his arms wide, as if searching the crowd of assembled entities for whoever usurped his place.

But this couldn't be Orcus; he was at least a head taller than I was. The voice, though, that gravelly bass grated along my nerves as it had so many times before. And no one else had the gall to call me princess.

"Am I to believe that you are Orcus, then?"

"None other, my lady."

I would know that tone anywhere, the way he could make my name, my title, sound like a curse rather than an honorific. It must have been him, though why he looked different was beyond me.

"Don't toy with me, Orcus, you know very well how different you look. What are you playing at?"

He sidled over to me, looming. "I've simply decided that if you're determined to leave us, I'd like your blessing to make some changes first. My people have suffered enough without —"

"Your people will be free of my influence soon enough. You don't need my approval for anything where they are concerned. Isn't what I've done to them enough?" I turned my head in shame because if anyone had a right to hate me for all I'd done, it was Orcus. "I have no right to say anything about what they do or what you do with them."

"Oh, but my lady, that is where you are mistaken. Everyone in this room would agree that you've made mistakes, but thinking you can just wash your hands of them and be done is your biggest. It will take more than removing yourself from the situation to fix it, but I have a few ideas to get you started."

Rearing back, I screwed my face up in anger. The light in the room darkened with my rage. "How dare you! I am trying to make this right!"

"By leaving!" he roared.

The room had gone silent around us, everyone I'd called watching with bated breath as the two most powerful beings on the planet truly squared off for the first time.

"You don't fix things by running away like the spoiled princess you were when you created this world. You fix them by making it right ." The walls of the room flexed around us as he squared his shoulders. He grabbed my wrist, hard enough that I was unable to twist away, and turned his snarling gaze to the room. "Your services will no longer be needed."

With a snap of his fingers, the room faded away, and I was left floating in nothingness.? 4

1 ? As best I can estimate from our records, this takes place roughly 100 years before we began counting our current time. As such the date should I assume, correctly be counted as approximately YPS 1083 rather than YPS 983 as there have, in truth, been 1083 years post slumber. I've lodged an appeal with the Council of the Compact of Nations, as well as the Shades of Sanctuary, but they are, as yet, unanswered.

2 ? There are, of course plenty of alternative creation myths on the beginning of the world. I am unsure, if at the start, anyone knew the actual truth of it. I cannot help but wonder though, about these other worlds, and if we shall ever see them.

3 ? It is unclear if Orcus's looks, personality, or only his name were fashioned after this society, as we have no records of them to speak of.

4 ? It is shocking to me that Orcus had enough to power to do this. I'd have figured that none of the Lady's creations would have been able to affect her personally.