The Council situation

High above Endora’s skies, Worm was waiting in the air with its body surrounded by spatial distortions. A new portal opened next to him, and Seth, accompanied by Maya and Hollie, walked out.

The spatial distortions around Worm stopped with Seth’s arrival, and his relieved voice resounded into everyone’s ears.

“I’ve come to ask for your assistance, Emperor Seth.”

“Assistance? What happened?” asked Seth, looking strangely at Worm.

“The horrors of the world have been moving against us for the last few days. A full-on assault is heading toward our island, and the seals are all under attack. I’m afraid that even if we succeed in defending ourselves, the seal protectors will be too weak to keep the horrors contained.”

Hollie and Maya shared a look behind Seth, and Maya asked: “But there is no news of any attack leaving the enemy territory. Their armies are still watching their southern borders.”

“I wouldn’t be here if that was the case, Empress. I know we had our share of conflicts in the past, but please assist the Council. If not, we’ll be forced to relinquish our seals so we can protect ourselves.”

Maya was about to speak when Seth lifted a hand to stop her. Looking at Worm, Seth asked: “Did Augur send you here?”

“Augur has fallen unconscious due to the time alterations, and we don’t know when he’ll wake. A vote between its members now makes the decisions in the Council.”

Seth thought for a moment before turning towards Maya. “Can you please mobilize all the sixth and fifth shell ascended and have them ready for combat while I check this out?”

Maya nodded and turned into a mass of water, returning towards the Capital. With Maya leaving, Seth grabbed Hollie’s hand and said to Worm: “Take us to your island.”

Worm hesitated and said: “I will, but it would be better for you to be careful. The Council is not as peaceful as you might remember.”

“That’s fine. I’m counting on you to get me out if things get heated. I assume no one can stop you from going wherever you want and taking us with you.”

Worm nodded, and space wrapped around everyone, with Seth and Hollie finding themselves before the same large table Seth had already sat at during his last visit.

A heavy atmosphere encompassed the demigods seated there as they stared at a water mirror at the center of the table.

A few dozen ships were shown inside the water mirror, heading for the island where the Council resided.

The image was unclear, and the people aboard the ships could not be seen clearly, but the sheer number of vessels meant at least a few thousand people.

They barely got there when Hollie tugged on Seth’s shirt, her voice drifting into his ear. “Strange.”

Seth ignored her comment and looked at the other demigods around the table. “Alright. Tell me what you know.”

Some people there met Seth’s words with obvious displeasure, but Raven quickly replied before others could.

“Noth has been pushing against his cell a few days back in quite a reckless manner. The seal had injured him, but he also expanded some links outside the seal. Even now, he’s still struggling against my core.” said Raven with a sigh.

“After I reported this happening, the others reported similar circumstances. The Pain, Curse, Loss, and Sorrow seals are also under attack, but more importantly, it appears Death had also started pushing against his bindings.”

“The sudden assault forced us to focus even more of our people on strengthening the seals, which stabilized the situation for now, but just as we got to relax, we discovered the large army of ships heading for us from Death Kingdom.”

Seth looked around the room before turning back on Raven and saying: “I understand. Where’s Panther?”

“Her seal houses multiple horrors, and she was forced to return to her core to keep them under control. Her physical manifestation is unconscious in her room underground.”

“I want to see her.” said Seth, but before Raven could answer, another demigod stood up from his seat: “What right do you have to come here and make demands like you own the place? I told you, the humans had already betrayed us once and will do it again. We can’t trust them.”

Raven frowned, but Seth observed that many of the demigods seemed to have the same opinion, nodding softly in agreement. The other ones also chose to remain silent and wait.

“I don’t remember anyone speaking to you. Sit down and shut up.” Said Seth with an indifferent look before turning to Raven. “Take me to her. I also want to see Augur.”

Raven’s expression turned hesitant, and the demigod from earlier said in rage: “Remember your place, human. You don’t - “

“I said shut up.” Ordered Seth, turning his cold eyes on the demihuman. “Don’t forget to whom you’re speaking, Snake. I’ve killed gods before, so even if I don’t have my former strength, taking care of someone like you won’t be that hard.”

“Raven, if I have to repeat myself, you can kiss our support goodbye. Don’t forget you’re coming to beg me for help and not the other way around.”

“That’s enough.” Said the demihuman, his body extending like it was made of rubber and heading straight for Seth’s neck.

Hollie immediately gathered her energy, ready to attack. Still, Seth raised a hand to stop her as eerie light green energy left Seth’s chest, covering the hand heading for his neck, decaying it at a rate visible to the naked eye.

Other demigods started getting up one by one, all sorts of energy circulating them, ready to attack Seth simultaneously. Seeing that, Seth smiled coldly and grimly said, “Try me.”

Before the others could attack, space broke around Seth and Hollie, and they disappeared from the place they were standing, appearing a few feet behind Worm.

“What do you think you’re doing, Worm?” asked the demihuman who had just attacked Seth, having returned to his natural form to protect himself from the damage he had incurred.

“I don’t answer to you, Snake. The Empire of Endora is our ally.” replied Worm flatly, breaking space again around himself and Seth, appearing in a small room built underground.

Seth heaved a sigh and looked at the sleeping cat before him. Worm returned to his human form and said: “Please forgive them. They are all scared and have acted recklessly.”

“Spare me that bullshit.” said Seth, sitting on the bed and placing a hand on the cat’s body.

‘Caitlin, can you feel anything wrong?’

‘Hmm… this body seems strange, so I can’t tell much, but its life energy is still abundant.’

Seth nodded silently and looked at Worm. “Tell me the date Augur fell unconscious.”

“It should be 701, mid-summer.”

Seth turned to Hollie and asked: “When did Elise and Henrietta recover their memories?”

Hollie’s face turned white as she nodded: “Same year. You don’t think?….”

Seth nodded and grabbed the tiny cat, sitting up from the bed. “Worm, send us back to Endora. Tell the others that we’ll send ascended to help you repel the armies attacking you, but Panther is staying with us. Take it as a guarantee you won’t turn against us.”

Worm frowned for a moment but bowed respectfully in the end and opened a portal: “Please take care of her. Thank you for not taking their actions to heart.”

Seth nodded and walked with Hollie and the small cat into the portal disappearing from beneath the Council’s island.

Seth and Hollie were hovering outside Endora’s capital when they left the portal. Hollie looked at Seth and opened her mouth to speak, but Seth shook his head and teleported them inside the imperial palace.

“Call Maya, Henri, and Elise here. We need to see how we will deal with this problem.” Said Seth immediately, creating a small bed and placing Panther’s body down."

Hollie whispered a few things into the air before saying: “You think the horrors had managed to infiltrate the Council?”

“That’s the most likely explanation. The Council was always volatile, but Augur kept it united with his strength and wisdom. Unfortunately, with time, some of their members forgot the suffering the horrors brought on the world.”

“Once Augur fell unconscious, those voices grew louder, and you saw the result. The ones like Panther, Worm, and Raven, who are still dedicated to keeping the horrors contained, only grew weaker with time, and their voices no longer carried the same weight they did in the past.”

“Luckily, the ones wishing for change still won’t dare break all ties with the Council, but we can assume the Council will slowly crumble from the inside. Also, that Snake demigod must have made a deal with either Death or Noth and is one of the ones stirring the flames….”

While the two were speaking, Maya, Henrietta, and Elise also arrived in the small room, each bearing severe looks on their faces.

“I’ve already relayed our conversation to them.” Said Hollie as soon as they appeared.

“Good. We need to figure out what to do about this.”

“Well, first of all, there’s no way we’re sending our troops to protect them.” said Elise, everyone agreeing instantly to her words.

“There might not even be a need to. The whole attack is as suspicious as it gets.” said Hollie. “I guess that the Council is not their only target.”

“Are you saying they want us to move and help them?” asked Maya.

“Since the enemy ascended are still mobilized close to their southern borders, according to our latest reports, they might want to make us move our forces to support the Council while they attack us from the North.” replied Hollie.

“Even so, we can’t afford to call them on their bluff.” said Henrietta. “If there are ascended heading for the Council, and we don’t help, not even mentioning what might happen with the seals if they lose, even if they win, we might end up with a new enemy.”

Finding themselves at an impasse, the girls turned toward Seth, who was silently smiling at them.

“Do you already have a plan?” asked Maya.

“A few.” said Seth with a chuckle. “Didn’t you notice anything strange at the meeting, Hollie?”

Hollie tilted her head and thought back toward the meeting before eventually frowning and asking: “The water mirror?”

“Indeed. That should belong to Agni, a water demigoddess absent from the meeting. I don’t think she would ever betray the Council, so I presume she’s one of the ones who helped reinforce the seals. She must be weak and had only created that mirror to warn the others, unable to provide more help.”

“Snake also seemed to be quite determined to stop us from intervening, which might mean that Agni’s warning must have messed up their plans somehow.”

“There’s much we don’t know, but Henrietta is right. We need to stop those ships while at the same time not leaving ourselves open.”

Having reached there, Seth looked at Maya and smiled: “Luckily, we have our own water demigoddess. We’ll have Henri teleport you close to the ships, where you’ll use the sea to attack those ships.”

“I also want you two to be careful and retreat as soon as they show any signs of retaliating.”

“What about our ascended?” asked Maya after a quick nod.

“We’ll have them on standby, ready to move and support the borders if Thanatos decides to attack, but I doubt he will do that anyway.”

“Alright. When do we attack?” asked Maya.

“Not yet.” said Seth, looking at the sleeping cat nearby.

“I need to make sure I’m not missing anything, and for that, I need to enter Panther’s seal and speak to her. You must be ready to intercept those ships before they reach the island.”