The three identical sisters who watched over Fate were in a state of panic.
"Uncle does not know what he has done." Leah said.
"How could he? Even we could not forsee the outcome until he actually did it!" the youngest replied, Reah.
"One of us has to go down there to tell him." Devina said in a panicked tone but as soon as she finished her sentence, she and her sisters stopped panicking and a smile came over their faces.
"""I'll go!"""
They spoke in unison. They all wanted to go. It had been eons since they had seen Valerian. They had more responsibilities than the gods, it was impossible for all three of them to go warn him.
There was a chance for one of them to go and two remain to keep watch over Fate and make sure that the universe continued its growth and not enter a path of complete self-destruction.
"We cannot all go." Devina, who was the oldest stated.
"No, two must stay to watch over the Fate lines." Leah agreed.
"And if uncle saw all of us, he would get mad at us for neglecting our duties." Rhea added.
The other two nodded in agreement and went deeper into thought on how to solve the issue of who would take the enviable journey to the material realm and speak to their uncle while the other two remained to carry out their duties as well as the extra work that will be left for them by their departed sister.
*****
[Arithean Theocracy aka Arithean Empire]
Location: [Cardinals' Sanctum]
In a large chamber with no windows and dim light crystal, one hundred and twenty-seven men and women dressed in hooded red robes were also in a state of panic.
There was arguing, a few fights broke out and some were crouching down in dispair.
"What in the name of the gods is going on?!"
"Her Most Holiness is still locked away in the garden of the Saints trying to commune with the gods but it has been six days! Even the minor gods will not send emissaries to answer her pleas!"
"The gods must be angry!"
"What have we done wrong? What could we have done?!"
"The church of the god Loki has fallen from Grace. The few survivors of the diety have lost their connection to the realm of the divine. They will be damned to the underworld now if not Hell itself!"
"Could the god be dead?"
"Could our gods be dead?"
"No, we can still cast divine spells! This has to be something else!"
"The gods must be appeased!"
"How can we appease them?!"
"A crusade! We must form a crusade!"
"Do not be a fool! Only the Head of the Greater Church can call on us to have a crusade!"
"She refuses to come out of the garden until she receives some divine message that does not seem to be coming!"
"The gods work on their own time. Not ours!"
"Why is she the one communing with them anyway?!"
A dangerous question was asked. Even amdist all the chaos, the individuals gathered heard this and paused. Many were outraged while some were in shock but others, a silent few, had been intrigued.
"You would dare say such a thing about the High Saintess chosen by the gods?! It is no wonder the gods have abondened us with Cardinals like you serving in their name!"
"She was chosen by us. The gods merely did not disagree. We are the ones who have been ignorant to the signs! The gods are enraged because we have failed to show them the proper respect!
"The Head of their churches was supposed to allow the growth and worship of their names, commandments and religions but what have we done instead?
"We began to stagnate. The High Saintess has allowed the sinners to grow in wealth and might. Families like the Von Windsors and the other Great families on the continent have paid so little in tithe in comparison to their vast resources, yet they continue living in sin and commune with devils while the Church does nothing about it! Even a promising bishop was killed and we still did nothing about it!"
"There was nothing that could be done about that! We sent Inquisitors to the area Bishop Ferris was in and we found his body. He was colluding with a man from the Duma Family and the Head of the family formally requested to investigate!"
"Yes, a lowly Count tells our Holy Inquisitors what to do! He did not come to the Theocracy to seek permissions, he sent a letter stating that he would look into it and we not worry ourselves. Where is the piety in that?!"
"He is no lowly Count. He is a hero to many! We cannot fight a hero the public, our flock, worship heroes."
"Then they must die! We worship the gods! Count Duma is no god!"
This voice shook the other Cardinals and the infighting came to a halt. This was a Cardinal of a higher rank. The gold trims on the robe marked him as a Cardinal who served one of the Greater gods.
He removed his hood. A beautiful, blonde, divine figure revealed himself and stood before them. He was Cardinal Lucas Videl Somali Castellon, former sixth prince of the Castellon Empire and the youngest appointed Cardinal to appear in five centuries . He was over seventy years old yet still resembled a boy. The current ruler of the Castellon Empire was his nephew.
If this was not enough to give his bloodline importance, his mother was the Greater elven goddess of Wisdom and Warfare, Minerva.
He too was a half High elf and half human, like the current High Saintess but his elven bloodline was from his mother, making it purer and more divine than the current High Saintess.
"The Duma Family has played with the forces of the demon lords before. Their souls are unclean. Brothers and sisters, this is what we mean! We are the servants of the gods themselves!
"How can we negotiate with mortals who do not serve the gods! It is no surprise that the gods cursed the High Saintess by aging her a full one hundred years. It has been a hundred years since we truly showcased the power and wrath of the gods!"
More and more Cardinals were being swayed to this way of thinking as Lucas spoke. Perhaps this truly was why there was a division between the gods and them. They were supposed to be the servants of the divine but what if they had condoned too much sin?
"Too much is happening right now. There is too much that needs to be done. We cannot be discussing something we have no control over." Another Cardinal spoke but Lucas had taken centre stage for a reason.
"The gods have shown us the way. We must cease control. We must have a holy war! We are not mere priests. We are all Cardinals. We elect the Head of the Theocracy. We can also declare one incompetent."
"It has never been done. That authority is merely in theory!"
"This is not the time to be scholars. It is the time for holy warriors and holy swords to rise. This world has long been dictated by the strong but who is stronger than the gods?"
There was silence. Even the ones who wanted to protest the idea could not bring themselves speak.
In times of peace and prosperity, the loudest voice is seldom the most wise but in times of chaos and uncertainty, it was the loud and the strong who held the ears as well as the hearts of the scared masses. The majority was now in favour of war.
The light crystals in the room began to glow brightly. A wave of energy that all the Cardinals were familiar with rushed into the room. It was divinity. A god's emissary was about to descend!
A beam of light burst into the chamber and temporarily blinded the Cardinals. When the light dimmed a new being dominated the sanctum.
It was a woman, she levitated high above the heads of all that were gathered, in a long purple dress, and wings that were made of light. She held a shield in one hand, and a sword in the other, while her face was hidden inside a silver helm.
[Bow before the divine servant and messanger of the goddess Minerva.] She spoke with authority, her voice demanding submission and respect. All of them bowed, including Lucas.
He was the son of the goddess but an emissary of a god was the physical representation of a god's will.
To object to such an entity was to offend the gods themselves.
[The demigod Lucas has been recognised by the goddess and has been granted her blessing. Do as you must and see the will of the gods fulfiled.]
With that, the angel disappeared and calm returned to the sanctum once more but the calmness in their hearts was shattered. Receiving a god's recognition was a full endorsement to be the next High Saint.
During the coronation of a Saint Candidate, the Cardinals would pray to the gods if they had any objection to the coronation.
If an oracle did not appear then it was safe to crown the Saint Candidate but what had happened to Lucas was more than faith shaking. To have an angel descend and declare a blessing as well as recognisition in a time when the current High Saint could not even move the gods to answer her.
...it was decided. Lucas Videl Somali Castellon had become the highest ranking official in the Theocracy by divine right and literal, divine intervention.
This was to be a coup. It left a sour taste in the mouths of many Cardinals. Crowning a new Most Holiness before the current one passed on. Divine right or not, this was a coup and it was the first to have been unanimously supported by all the Cardinals in the Theocracy.
The first to rise was Lucas. He was in shock. He had not expected his mother's full support and expected her to be indifferent or ignore him as she had always done in the past. For him this was an opportunity, it had all been for a strong and decisive power grab.
He had seen a chance to rise in power and wanted to take it but he had no idea it would go so smoothly. His rise was set in stone now. The Cardinals rose soon after Lucas.
"Cardinal Luc..." one of the Cardinals began to speak but stopped. He swallowed deeply. His knees were trembling as his mind and heart prayed for the future. "High Saint...Your Most Holiness, what is your will?"
The sound of over a hundred heads turning to face Lucas was powerful. He would command and they would follow. He was the mouthpiece of the gods now.
"Arrest the false High Saint. Close the borders of the Theocracy, no one comes in or goes out. Prepare for my acension and then prepare for a holy war. We will attack the Castellon Empire first."
A feeling of dread washed over the Cardinals but they suppressed the bile in their stomachs that was threatening to rise. "By your will." They all replied.