Nothing had changed in the domains of white and black, beyond the veil if transcendence, since their creation.
That is until the sole heir of The Black departed. In his stead he left the only three deva he had created.
The identical triplets, each carved from the black itself, wept. In truth he was more than their creator, he was a father to them. Unlike the multitude of Deva made by the gods of white to be warriors used to settle their debates. He had made them in the form of children, given the ability to grow and the freedom to live.
They once asked before he left to fight the white. "Lord, why did you make us? The deva of the white were made to fight, but you always fight the battles yourself."
He didn't answer for a while, he couldn't through the laughter that shook very domain. "My dear girls... I am strong enough to fight battles myself, I don't need more power to fight... I need reasons to." He finally said, pulley the sombre girls into an embrace so warm it defied the void they resided in. "What better reason is there than knowing I'll see my girls when I get back." He kissed each on the forehead in turn, then left with meteoric speed.
One girl didn't move with the other two. "Astrael, dad will be back soon. Let's make sure everyone is happy in the meantime." One of the two who had tried to return home said. Though identical in appearance, this girl stood the tallest she also grew her true black hair and let it flow freely to her thigh.
"It's Lord, Celesael. Our creator deserves respect... Anyway, it's malting season." Astrael declared matter-of-factly.
"Sister, you know it makes him happy when we call him dad... Do you really intend to go? Dad's fighting the white right now, you know how the blowhards get whilst he's embarrassing them." Replied the other, and shortest if the sisters, she again gre her hair but kept it in a peculiar style that her creator showed her one day, a style she began to play with as she often did when nervous.
Astrael knew her sister's tell well, when she was worried about their creator, she would play with her greatest reminder of him and as an especially timid girl, she played with them often.
"Cosmael, why are you worried? The white has never even come close to beating him, they only made their deva so they didn't have to lose to him personally." Astrael offered in a consoling tone.
"I'm more worried about Quetzalcoatl, going with dad is one thing, but he's a lecherous snake." Cosmael muttered, whilst making the face of someone completely disgusted.
Her two sisters laughed before Astrael replied. "The "lecherous snake" As you call him, knows well what our Lord would do to anyone who touched us. Even the creators of the white avert their eyes from us, or did you think that was solely because of their disdain... I heard him once you know, the oldest of the white, he told our Lord if he truly wanted peace then why not give him one of his "Wasted toys". I then watched fath- our Lord reduce him to a candlelight, of course father then escorted him home, making a point of telling everyone how fragile he was." Astrael laughed at the memory.
"See even you called him "father" in the end."
"Nearly..."
"No, you saved it at first, then said "then father escorted him home", so you did."
The sisters argued for a bit until they lost patience and went their separate ways, at which point Astrael did as she intended and went to help the feathered serpents with their mating.
They weren't very talkative that day, they seemed distracted by something beyond sight, the longer the silence endured the more worry crept up in her heart. Her sister wasn't wrong Quetzalcoatl was a lech and she often had to threaten to tell her Lord to silence him.
"Is everything ok, Quetz?" She finally asked as the fear became to abundant to ignore.
"What? Ah, sorry child, I think it's best you leave for now. Your Lo-" As quickly as he had left, her creator appeared before her.
"Sorry old friend, we're leaving. If you want to come to a domain not run by a treacherous, arrogant, candlelight excuse for a creator, my offer is always open for you and your sister to convert to the black." Astrael had seen her Lord's mood dark as the black that spawned him before, but something in his words and his handling of her worried her.
His mood was just as dark as the Black, she could feel it threatening to eclipse it. "My Lord, what happened? I can feel your anger, it's... frightening me." She whimpered, her voice lacking the usual confidence that seemed innate.
"They did it, they made that damn place they have been fighting me on."
"Did they really beat you?" Quetzalcoatl asked, truly surprised by what he had considered an impossible outcome, but that only made his friend even angrier.
"No! Those Origin-Forsaken bastards couldn't touch me in their dreams! Do you think to mock me, as they have with this treachery?" Astrael was astounded, left utterly absent of mind, her Lord losing his temper with such a dear friend over something as silly as words was unthinkable.
"My friend, I meant no such thing. If what you say is true, and I don't doubt your words, you need someone you can trust in the white. Now more than ever." She watched her lord look to the flawless white above and exhale, calming his anger until she fainted.
The darkness was strange and until recently, absolute. Now she knew there was something even darker though, the wrath of a creator after being stabbed in the back. Her eyes began to flicker open and she could feel the motion of being carried and she could feel her Lord carrying her as he did when she was a baby.
Then the motion stopped and she felt him kneel down. "...Real?... Astrael, ahh theres my girl, seems you awakened as an empath, good for you. You always were a kind-hearted one."
"Daddy?"She asked, still not fully conscious. Then she had the grogginess shaken away as she was jerked into a firm embrace.
"Been far too long since you called me that sweet daughter. Please, don't scare me like that again, or make me so long to hear you call me dad. I was starting to think you just respected me as a creator." The words made her cry, not the small sob of bidding goodbye, but tears of emotions long repressed.
"Daddy, I'm sorry... I love you dad..." That's when she saw her father cry for the first time. "Why were you so angry dad?"
"I'm sorry I scared you little Astrael, the white has done something unforgivable, more specifically that self-righteous eldest son. While I and the rest were going through the usual motions, he went and made that damn "Mortal Realm" they seemed so hell bent on. They treat creatures in this realm like toys, I can only imagine how they'll treat "Lesser Creatures" as he already calls them."
Being called little, even by her beloved Father, annoyed her and she stood up in a huff as he apologised. "So, will you be fighting more often or less?" Astrael asked after getting her fill of her creator's begging.
"Neither, the creators of white can't be trusted, I see that now. I'll focus on raising my daughters, enjoying existence as much as I can. If they start mistreating them though, I may go down there myself for a bit and protect them."
Astrael was so proud of her creator, her Lord, her Daddy, as embarrassed as she was she had called him that. He was her inspiration, her example, her hero. If he went down there and protected them, it wouldn't last long at all.
Then things went from bad to worse. Quetz was tricked by one the creators of the white into doing something atrocious, though her father wouldn't tell her what exactly.
Then she saw for herself how bad the mortals were treated and that was when her father left, defeated and desperate in a way only she knew because of her empathic ability, yet still, he kept his smile til he fell to the realm below.