Hold over Myriad of Worlds

The next day, I traveled to Orario before the sun rose, teleporting into a seemingly innocuous realm from there. When I appeared there, a sudden force tried its best to force me out but being too weak, I ignored it and started to speak.

~"I came here to seek cooperation."

As if responding to my words, the force stopped, but there was no sound that could act as an answer or acknowledgment.

~"I know that you create trials of both gods and mortals so that they can grow and empower you in turn. I will not only give you the power to grow but also assist you in forging new ordeals."

My words again echoed in empty space, but this time, there was a reaction. While no words were spoken, a feeling reached me, indicating interest in my offer.

~"In exchange, you will allow my people to also undertake all the trials and grow in tandem with your children and creations. You will also allow me to form a pantheon by providing five divinities of magic, life, nature, time, and earth."

Again, a feeling appeared, conveying approval but also a yearning.

~"You want me to become guardian? Why, as far as I'm aware, there should be no danger coming your way?"

This time, a visible change occurred due to my question, as the force from before manifested a crystal. The crystal had the same function as the memory stones, so after taking it into my hand, I was shown a series of images depicting two different worlds.

~"You feel threatened by those worlds? Hmm..."~With this additional information, I was able to find those words and perform general Divination on the three words together.~"I see. If any danger from outside your world attempts to harm you, I will step in, but in exchange, you will not appoint me as a guardian but Astraea."

I quickly felt that the agreement with the Will of the World had been completed.

~"Wait with Astraea's appointment until I form the Pantheon."~I quickly added to not create problems for my and Loki's plans.

Moments later, five crystals appeared before me, each being a crystalization of Divinity. But surprisingly, a sixth crystal also started forming before me. Before I could ask, I felt the intent behind the appearance of that crystal.

It was a reward for me, or maybe calling it an incentive would be more appropriate. It was also a divinity, but because my own Path was a higher form of power, I couldn't accept the Divinity as it would be drowned out by my Path. At least, that statement was correct for divinities bound to a singular world, but this crystal existed on an entirely different dimension compared to the previous five.

Divinity hidden in it originated directly from [Myriad of Worlds], not this one, as it represented the Authority of an Outer God. Logically, it shouldn't be possible for this world to own this kind of power, but then, a world with such disparity of power between gods and the rest of beings was already anomalous from the very beginning.

I approached the crystal and felt the power within, identifying its name: the Divinity of Khaos. At first glance, it opposed everything my Path stood for, having Authority over nothingness and formlessness, which conflicted with the Ordination's power to name and distinguish, but Khaos also stood for origin, creation, and eternity, which were much more linked to me.

Interested, I performed Divination to detect the origin of this Divinity, and with the assistance of [Wyrd], I was able to uncover that this was a shard of some ancient being around which this world formed. I also found many other worlds that share a similar Karmatic connection, also being formed around shards of Divinity possessed by that being.

Sadly, I couldn't uncover any secret about that being aside from its existence. Every time I attempted Divination, it would fail and give me slight backlash, though it was negligible compared to my power, so I could ignore it.

By itself, that shard held no power, though its purer origin made its Authority more powerful, so for me, who is already Aeon, it was much more valuable as Authority was the only thing that mattered to me. To understand why, one needs to understand how Divinity works and what Authority is.

Divinity is a power that can be divided into two parts: the Destiny it carries and the Authority it possesses. Destiny is connected to the Soul, and it is the reason why gods in different worlds are similar, if not the same. The biggest part of that Destiny is the name of the Divinity, acting as the mandate of the world to use part of the world's power.

Authority, on the other hand, is the domain in which god can utilize said mandate. Sometimes, it's obvious how Authority works, for example, how gods of fire can manipulate fire directly, but there are also counterintuitive situations. As an example of that, Loki can use her Authority over mischief to lessen the consequences of her actions, making even the most evil act seem like a titular mischief.

Defining the abilities of Authority is impossible even when looked at each one individually, but the general idea is absolute power to exhibit and act within Laws defining your Authority. This also connects to the restrictions of Divinity.

Similar to an Aeon, gods can't go against the Laws of their Authorities. Examples are gods of justice who won't cheat or gods of crafts who will always try to perfect their creations. The distinction here is that those restrictions are not absolute but are part of you. Loki, again, is a good example as her Divinity of trickery makes her likely to lie or trick you, but she can still speak the truth if she wants to. This is also why, despite being a goddess of purity, Artemis could engage in acts that are treated as impure by many. The character of gods will be influenced by their Divinity, making them subconsciously adhere to the Laws of their Authorities.

But that is only when one considers how gods behave. When it comes to the utilization of power, those restrictions are unbendable. The power of life can't bring death, the power of creation can't destroy, the power of justice can't be unjust, etc. Those are reasons why, despite being powerful, gods can and often fall. Their power is one of the most rigid in existence.

To finish the explanation, I should also add that by owning Divination, one becomes a god, which means being elevated into a higher life form. This happens because the world grants part of its power to a person, strengthening itself by forming protectors bound to it in exchange. That portion of the power can be utilized fully only in the world of its origin, but even outside parts of it could still be used.

As the usage of Authority requires great power, gods are restricted outside their worlds, the amount of power they have left limiting the degree of Authority they can utilize. But that was something that I didn't need to worry about, so Khaos Divinity, being unbound to any world, was not bad for me as not receiving any power aside from Authority but also not being bound to any world was a plus for me.

Returning my attention back to reality, I took the six crystals and left this space.

While my avatar was acting according to Loki's plans in Orario, in Hold, I sat in my office looking at the Khaos Divinity before me. I was wondering what I should do with it, as simply absorbing it was a little tasteless due to my other powers being a better fit for me. After some consideration, I decided to keep it at hand for now and try to research it and the [Laws] behind it. After putting a cautionary seal on it, I teleported to Moon Palace, where the Dragon Aspects waited for me.

-"Yue, did everything go well?"-Alexstrasza asked.

~"All done, without any troubles. Here."~I gave them corresponding crystalized Divinities.~"While you absorb them, remember to take as little power as you can. Take only pure Divinity. As you don't lack power, it's better to limit the bond you'll have to that world."

-"We will do so."-Nozdormu nodded after listening to my words.

The rest also nodded before starting the absorption.

As they started to radiate the Divinity, I mobilized my powers to send part of my own power to them, replacing the world they were bound to, but this ended in partial failure, only managing to make them bound to both worlds at the same time.

I continued monitoring the state of five of them, but this process was as safe as it could get, so not even minutes later, five Dragon Aspects smoothly became gods. After a moment to get the new powers under control, we moved to the second part of our plan, forming the Pantheon.

Pantheons are not physical objects and only exist as Destiny, binding groups of gods together. Because of that, normally, to find one, creating a mythology around the gods is necessary to form that joint Destiny. Luckily, manipulating Destiny is kind of my experience, so I could skip those tedious steps.

By using our joint past in Azeroth, I created a creation myth that later connected to myths about all of us, slowly retelling how the Spirit Empire was founded. Due to those myths, Elune, Winter, and I were designated as primordial deities of the Spirit Empire, with Dragon Aspects being high gods. The Wild Gods, Wild Hunt leaders, Dracthyr's Scalecommanders, and all Elves leaders were nominally lower gods, though as they lacked Divinity, those were empty positions waiting for the future.

In the process, Dragon Aspects noticed the changes happening, allowing them to influence them. Slowly, the Pantheon took shape, and in around two hours, it would be finished, but in the meantime, the events in Orario took the front burner.

I followed Loki's plans to a T, so after a boring divine meeting in Orario, I was taken by Loki and Athena to another room where five gods awaited me. Despite this being our first meeting, I was aware of their identities.

~"It's a pleasure to meet you, leaders of Oracle."

-"The pleasure is ours."-The soft-spoken goddess Gaia smiled at me.

-"The introductions are unneeded, so we can move directly to the main point."-The noble-looking goddess Nyx spoke without wasting any more time.

~"I'm all for it, but I still don't understand why your organization, especially as it's headed by three Fates, pays Hold so much attention."

-"It's exactly because we are the Fates that we pay attention to you."-The youngest of sisters, Clotho, gave me a side-eye.

I turned my head to the three Fates and observed them as their Divinities were close to my Path. Clotho looked like a young girl, being Loki's height, but tried to behave like an adult, making it hard to treat her seriously and as a child at the same time.

The second sister, Lachesis, was clothed in a white dress, which made her appear very youthful and innocent. Almost all of her appearance matched that, as she looked like a teenage girl blossoming into a beautiful woman. The only element that was out of place was her deep green eyes, which seemed exhausted and overly serious as those of elders who lived long and hard lives.

The eldest of sisters, Atropos, looked like a woman in her twenties, but her smile and aura made her cheerful and sunny. She wore a beautiful evening dress, making her beauty stand out even more.

-"It would seem that Sir Yue was also interested in us."-Atropos covered her mouth as she giggled softly.

~"I admit that. After all, Fate is part of my Path."

-"Then be sure to get to know us later."-She winked.-"Don't leave any regrets when your thread runs out."

-"Let's focus."-Nyx reminded us.

~"Well, there isn't much to talk about. Loki had already discussed everything with you."

-"You seem unsatisfied."-Nyx looked at me.

~"I indeed am. Ragnarök aside, even if you treat me as an outsider, that should be limited, if not outright sealed, to keep your 'order'. I don't require you to like me, but an alliance akin to ours requires trust and attitude, which you lack."

-"Yue..."-Loki cast a gaze on me, questioning what I was doing.

-"Then what do you expect."-Nyx continued with her attitude.

~"You want me to be a boogyman that will keep Ragnarök in check. Sure, I'll do this, but keep Hold out of it. Loki might play your game, but I'm getting tired, so this is my ultimatum."

-"You alone? Even if you are powerful, you are nothing in front of the Pantheon of gods."

~"And yet, I alone defeated Buddhists in the Far East."

-"Heh. While they gather many Buddhas, they are weak. Lacking primordial gods, not to mention you only met a small group of their Pantheon."

~"And yet you dare to claim my weakness despite not knowing much about me."

-"Stop it, you two."-Gaia tried to ease the atmosphere.-Sir Yue, what can we do to reach a consensus?"

~"Amend the plan. First, don't make Hold into an outside force. Astraea is a goddess, after all. Second, no war."

-"Impossible. While the first point might be achievable, war is imminent."-Nyx denayed my demand.

-"Ragnarök will start a war. There is no way to avoid it."-Atropos confirmed Nyx's words.

~"I can prevent it."

-"And what, create a massacre?"-Nyx still held to her conviction.

~"No, I won't spill a drop of divine blood, as I promised Astraea, though the balance of the world will change after I'm done."

-"How sure are you?"-Loki looked at me with her eyes open.

~"I don't play with possibility on such important subjects."

-"What will you do."

~"Have you read what happened to Elemental Lords on Azeroth?"

-"Yes... Don't tell me..."

~"I will forcefully separate the Pantheons from each other while strengthening the mortal world so that gods can't act as they please here."

-"This will only make them more aggressive while turning you into the enemy of all gods."

~"That would be true if they were repressed by an outsider."

-"What do you mean?"-Nyx asked me as she didn't understand what I meant.

~"From now on, Hold will act as a guardian of this world."

-"And who gave you that title?"

~"The world."~I smiled under my veil as the Khaos Divinity appeared in my hand.

After understanding what was in my hand, all goddesses of Oracle looked shocked but quickly recovered to ask more questions.

-"Will you be the guardian?"

~"No, Astraea will. After all, she is not an 'outsider'."

-"Good."-Nyx sighed in relief.-"This indeed changes things, but it's not enough to prevent war."

~"It's only to prevent Ragnarök from having any new ideas. I won't have Astraea act now, as this will only harm her name as a new guardian. For this, I made another preparation. It should be about done."~As I finished speaking, the avatar in Hold completed forming the Pantheon, which resulted in changes occurring all around me.