After reading the message, Star's expression shifted in an instant—from happy to worried.
The message read:
"A problematic issue has occurred, for which a Roundtable Gathering is being held. As the strongest of the Six Original Gods, your and Abyss's presence is must required. All the high-ranking gods, including the other Original Six, will be there. This gathering is of utmost importance, because if this issue is left unchecked, it could become a great threat to all of the gods. The Roundtable Gathering will be held in two weeks—your time. And please bring Abyss with you.– Signed, Chronos, God of Time."
The moment he finished reading, his mind was flooded with questions.What is this issue? A threat to all gods? Why a Roundtable Gathering?
The last question troubled him the most. As Roundtable Gathering was no ordinary event—in fact, since the creation of the three worlds, only two had ever been held. Both times, the matters discussed were dangerous enough to threaten everything the gods had created. That was why the very mention of it weighed so heavily on him.
Seeing Star's worried state, Roseasked,"What happened? What was in that message that made you so worried?"
Star looked toward her, smiled faintly, then lied."It's nothing. You don't need to worry about anything."
Without another word, he started walking toward the town where he and Abyss had been heading. Rose, confused, simply watched him leave, her own thoughts swirling.What was in that message that worried him so much? And why did he lie to me when it was obvious the message contained something serious?
As Star walked, his mind returned to the problem at hand—not just the gathering, but another concern: who would look after the world while they were gone?
Time worked differently between this world and the Divine Realm. One hour there was equal to over a hundred years here. If he and Abyss left, there would be no one to oversee the world for centuries. Leaving it unsupervised for that long was dangerous. The world still harbored terrible things like; slavery, gambling, child trafficking, killing, abuse and many more. Truth be told if evil is left unchecked, even small pockets of such evil would grow until they destroyed the world's peace completely.
The thought was reinforced by a story Star had once heard. Another god had been forced to leave his world unattended for over a thousand years due to an emergency. When he returned, chaos had consumed it—a massive war had broken out, wiping out more than half the population. Thousands of innocent lives were lost.
The very idea of something like that happening here chilled him.
Still, a possible solution came to mind—one he and Abyssshould have considered long ago: creating new gods. The other Original Gods often created or chose new gods to watch over their worlds. This practice began when the once three worlds had expanded into an entire universe with thousands of worlds—too many for the Six to oversee alone. Now not only the Original gods create new gods but is also used by other powerful gods who are forever loyal to the Original gods.
There were three ranks of gods:
The Original Six — the creators of all gods.
Created Gods — formed from the power of an Original God, bound in loyalty to their creator.
The Chosen Ones — mortals elevated to godhood by an Original God to protect their world.
Despite the benefits, Starand Abysshad never created or chosen any gods. There were many reasons, the most important being that they had never made new worlds. Unlike the others, they cared only for the single world given to them by the Creator. They wanted to live in it as ordinary people, despite being gods. While other Original gods thought their way of life strange, they still respected their choice.
They had enjoyed every day here, helping those in need and punishing those who disrupted the natural order. Abyss especially loved this world—so much that he had never left it, not even once. He had not attended a single gathering, Roundtable or a normal gathering, since arriving. Every time an invitation came to him, he would hand it to Star, saying,"I'm not going anyway, so you can have it,"and go about his day not even once he even considered reading it. Eventually, the other gods stopped sending him invitations altogether because they knew that he is not going to read them anyway so it was a waste of time and energy.
Abyss loved adventuring, he would adventure all around the world with Star helping people in need and punishing criminals. They even had stopped using their godly powers mostly. They lived a normal life or at least tried to. Although a life like theirs could hardly be called normal.
The reason they had come to Aerindale was to investigate a report of missing children being held captive there. The information came from an angel—one of the winged beings loyal to Star.Angels could not lie nor they could disobey Star, so the report was certain.
Still lost in thought, Star eventually reached the town where he and Abyss were heading to. It was called " The Town of Fallen Leaves ". It was a small town nestled in the forest, home mostly to elves, with a few dwarves and very few humans . It was a peaceful town, with only occasional disturbances.
As soon as Starentered the town, he saw many townsfolk chatting happily and children playing together. The sight eased his heart—but also deepened his worries. He said to him self " All these smiles depend on us. We have to do whatever it takes to keep them".
He spotted Abyss at a distance, who noticed him at the same time. When they met, Abyssgreeted him with a smug grin.
"Hey, how was your time with her, lover boy?"
"Shut up," Star replied irritably. "Don't you have anything better to do than tease me?"
"It's just too much fun," Abyss said with a grin. "And unlike you, who was off flirting with his crush, I was gathering information about the missing children. So your the one who hasn't done anything "
Star took a deep breath and said seriously, "I have something important to tell you."
" Is it about the missing children?" Abyssasked.
"No, it's something else," Star replied. Spotting a tavern nearby, he added, "Let's go there and talk."
Abyss said " if your saying it with that expression then it must be something important, so let's go "
and together they headed toward the tavern.