Chapter twenty four:
Hera was the first to feel the power, the warmth, the radiance of her father's presence in the void and called out to her. There were several things that were on her father's mind only that her father could address. As she waited for his arrival, the deity wearing a gold embroidered toga looked out at her domain, only recently finished to a point where she felt she didn't need to anymore. A modest, in her mind, Greek palace stood with creeping vines crawling up the side's of columns, growing out of golden clouds. The columns themselves were polished marble, the floor was obsidian, and the ceiling of her main chamber had a mosaic relief of her father surrounded by the six Primordials, her elder brothers and sisters, each surrounded by representations of their purpose and power.
Xuanwu was above surrounded by ocean waves made of nebulous clouds, galaxies, forming within them, Nuwa had a person, a human, in her hand and as the mosaic shifted one could see the person being empowered by her presence. An ever expanding universe was present behind her. Continuing clockwise around the portrayal of her father was Qinglong, an ornate scale and perfectly symmetrical shape's, buildings, and monuments in his claws. Majestic trees enveloped his coiled form. Bailhu was opposite to him, where a nine would be on a clock. Her ferocious black and white striped form showed a manic expression, grinning with madness swirling ever present in her eyes. Surrounding her was an assortment of random colors made to shape into explosions of chaos. Her claw's were slightly animated looking as if it was destroying a building while her face radiated the glee she felt at the act.
Between Bailhu and Xuanwu and Siwang. A shroud of black so dark that light seemed to get sucked into the nothingness of her garb. The only visible colors were the white skull at the head of the cloak and the burning sapphire orbs in the sockets of the eyes. Behind her was an oversized scythe and a kusarigama, a chain with a weight on one end and a hand scythe on the other. At her feet were hundreds of skulls of various beings and behind her, juxtaposed with the weapons was a harrowing gnarled dead tree.
Below Qinglong, was Zhuque, wreathed in majestic scarlet and golden fire. In the center where she seemed to be breathing was a golden orb. But if you looked closely you could see that orb splitting over and over until it formed a fetus, then a newborn, growing older before the cycle repeated.
In the center of it all was her depiction of her father, Corvus Rigel. His name echoed throughout creation when Unova gave it to him, Hera and the six were very much aware of who their father was. The centerpiece radiated gold and multicolored lightning. In his right hand were seven miniatures of himself and the Primordials. In his left was a still forming universe being created out of a black and white mist, the chaos of creation. His body was encircled by the gold and the lightning.
Hera frowned at this mural and her eyes passed the lower left side, her hand stroked her brown ponytail while mulling over her frustrations. As it stood, there were two spaces blank to the left of Zhuque and below Bailhu. Four Primordials opposed the nature's of each other. Xuanwu and Nuwa, however, had nothing to keep balance opposite them. And it was precisely this that she needed to speak with her father about.
Looking out of her place she could see an amphitheater with a silver judges bench, a bronze prosecution and defendant's stand, a gold jury box, and raised levels of marble seating surrounding that for an audience. Hera wondered how long it would be before arbitration would be required of her. She didn't doubt that it happen. She just wondered about the when of it. Thinking about the long eons ahead of her, she sighed to herself.
"If you sigh too much, don't be surprised if you gain a few wrinkles, Hera." A voice called out from behind her. The voice thrummed with power, making the listener feel small and insignificant, as if his word's could shape reality and birth miracles. And since she herself along with her siblings were shaped from the intention behind those words, that was quite literally the truth of the matter. With a smile on her usually stoic face, Hera turned and bowed to her father, Ruler, and Creator. She raised herself back to an upright position seeing her father motion her to do so.
"Father, there is something important we must discuss." Hera stated, her voice a tempered even tone with only slight variance. Just enough to not sound too monotone but not enough to be considered overly expressive. However, even with her demeanor, it was difficult for Corvus to completely take her seriously as the light played off her brown ponytail and her golden leaved circlet. Holding in his chuckle. He spoke.
"Yes, there is. However, I would like to hear your concern first. Who knows, maybe the thing I want to talk is similar to your troubles? Mine has to do with adding another destructive and probably evil god aside from just Siwang and Bailhu." Said Corvus. His eyes flashing with an excited fervor at the prospect.
"Amazing. Thought Hera. "It seems as if father is already aware of my concerns. As expected of him.
"Indeed, father. It seems we are of the same mind. We require two more Primordial gods, or, barring that, just two entities that would be able to counteract the forces of Eternity and Infinity. All four of the others oppose one another, except for Nuwa and Xuanwu. I would be irresponsible and undeserving of my purpose if I was not upset at this gross imbalance between existence and nonexistence, good and evil. Replied Hera.
Corvus eye brows raised in modest surprised. He placed a hand on his chin as he started thinking. "I hadn't thought of that. That said, Oblivion would be a good opposite to Eternity, but what about Infinity... He turned to his daughter." What conceptual power's would you suggest?"
"Father, I would suggest Entropy versus Infinity, and Transience versus Eternity. To start, as a universe expands beyond it's natural limit, all matter within would be thrown into chaos and disorder, or a state of entropy, eventually returning to the chaos of creation at it's base state, only for the cycle to begin once again. As for Transience, one can say that nothing is eternal, not even time. In the grand scheme of existence, there most come a point of non existence, of oblivion. Without non existence, there would not be a concept of existence, just as if someone was always happy, he wouldn't know the meaning of sad, and at the same time, happiness would have no value and thus cease to exist as an emotion. Of course, telling this to father has no meaning, you must already be aware." Replied Hera.
Impressed, Corvus nodded his head, following along Hera's thought process. "Looks like I can except a lot from Hera as time goes by. She'll likely be able to me advice on a lot. Still, Transience, huh? I suppose that makes sense. One minute is a moment gone forever after it ends. It's transient. Eternity is forever, so it's only opposite would be something fleeting. How would that come about as a god though... Well, I guess I'll just have to do it and find out. I can always return them both to nothingness if I don't get it right. Plus, there's nothing saying that I have to do this now. There's still so much for them to do before the next two become necessary. Corvus thought of the vast chaos inside of him and the very limited bits of creation here and there in the form of the Primordials domains. Clearing his throat, and remembering Unova's advice about putting up appearances. Corvus looked to Hera with a look of pride on his face.
"Well done. That is exactly how I will go about it. However, something you need to keep in mind, is that right now, there isn't a balance between existence and nonexistence. Look around us, past your domain... Right now, there is so little of creation, and so much stray energy and matter. Almost overwhelming creation. Don't you think it would be a good idea to hold off until it just before it becomes necessary?" Said Corvus Rigel.