Chapter 59: Chapter 58: Star celebration

Lillim announced that everyone may begin the feast in the most awkward, afterthought fashion she could, then left everyone in confused uncertainty as she relegated them to background characters and turned her back to them all.

“Please enjoy everyone! Lillim isn’t very good at this sort of thing, she just got carried away with the abrupt celebration.” Kyubi announce with a polite bow.

“Lillim, maybe we should take them to explain, how this will work, remember it takes a while for enlightenment to start working for creatures that start with none.”

“Actually I forgot, my daughters don’t usually tell me until it has.” Lillim made a gesture then Alysse collected the projection chairs and replaced it with a long table. “Right, let us sit and talk then.

Lillim went on to describe the gradual sense of understanding of the basic laws of creation that comes with the first star. “Everyone is different, my daughters tend to understand death and eternity with greater depth. Some lean towards desire and life and it was from such a daughter the succubi was born.”

“My banshees have a strong inclination to death from day one and at one star they usually gain an understanding in soul, eternity or the void.”

“Whereas my kind shows an affinity to all of those, but also chaos and mind. We are rare however and all rounders like us tend to have a much slower growth rate.”

“What about hybrids?” Klaire asked, assuming that it must be different for them.

“Good question, my daughters are technically hybrids, but they are dominated by my own genealogy. Leanna gained an understanding in order and chaos, that’s when she became a neat-freak with a soft spot for children who leave crumbs everywhere and slime monsters that turn to puddles on the floor.”

Leanna grumbled before speaking. “You told me stars didn’t mean anything, that they simply brought an increase in stats and a “mediocre” way to use them more efficiently.”

“Yes, but you also left my realms saying “I don’t need anything from you.” When I told you you inevitably would, you went on to say “Well then you’re more than welcome to lie to me about it, I’ll figure it out on my own.” Then of course the humans have no idea what stars actually mean since the variants don’t share their knowledge.”

“So is there any way to know what our understanding will be?” Carl asked, intrigued by what laws he might be leaning towards.

“If I had to guess, Life and mind. Though there really is no way to know in advance, a personality test can provide a vague expectation.” Kyubi explained.

Everyone took turns asking questions, though most led back to having to wait and see, all except Gillian’s.

“So this “no limits” stuff… Does that mean he can just keep getting more and more stars?”

“I forgot, you weren’t there. No, it doesn’t, what it means is that Carl can become the undisputed ruler of humanity. The variants who lead the committee, they are all of immortal and divine rank, which is between five and nine.”

“Well… Glad I’m a hybrid, worshipping you would be annoying as hell.”

“More importantly, when do we learn to make our own realms? Like you and the others did.” Klaire’s unusual enthusiasm was largely misunderstood, the only ones that did understand, were those present in the misty village.

“That my dear, is something only ten stars can do. Nergal, Samael, God, Gaia, Dracula, Mobius and a few others. Every realm in creation, was made by one of them. Tiamat and Bahamut are what we call variants and do not have the full ten star abilities to create realms, though they are the first ten star variants, so they might catch up eventually.” Faylorna said, just loud enough for them to hear.

“What about Margo and Ishtar? Carl said, making the two with freshly pricked ears shiver and glare, filling Lillim with enough delight she chose to make them squirm.

“Margo, was a ten star aspect. Ishtar… Well she was a Creator, few are as old as her ilk, but most of their family died.”

Carl’s face went ashen, he wanted it to be because he cared, but the truth was just that he hoped there was no family curse he might need to worry about. Lillim noticed his disquiet and assured him it was mainly in fighting.

“How can beings like that kill each other?” Alysse asked, annoyed and confused by the notion.

“Simple, they got bored. They existed when not much else did, all there was to do was try and determine a hierarchy. Primordial chaos created the universe, Gaia created the worlds and by the end of the blood shed only Ishtar and Nergal were left standing. You see those elder gods were the children of those laws we come to understand with stars.”

“Nope, I don’t see, guess I need to hurry up and get my own stars. I’ll figure it out from there.” Alysse shrugged.

“Delightful Alysse, I look forward to what you get when the time comes.”

Suddenly Tiamat and Bahamut stormed over and demanded an explanation and Lillim took great pride in announcing that Carl had taken Margo’s ability to see them and his ability to hear his own name.

Tiamat seemed to be glad that she had signed an alliance with him when she did, whereas Bahamut was looking at him like a game that was on sale when he didn’t have the funds and was off sale now that he did.

“Calm yourself Bahamut, if I know my grandson, he will gladly consider an alliance still… Unfortunately however, that little wyvern of yours killed my grandson and I am not quite so forgiving. Obviously, I am not the leader of this faction and cannot break the tentative agreements you made, but if you think you will be getting as good a deal as the lizard who nearly got him killed with her aura shenanigans, you are mistaken.”

“What will it cost?” The question was blunt, taking them by surprise.

“First you have to swear on everything you hold dear that you will not let this next piece of information change your mind.” Her words finally made him hesitate.

After considerable consideration, Bahamut finally relented. “Fine, I swear.” The words were growled rather than spoken and left him feeling like he’d made a deal with the devil.

“Good! Now, there is a chance that Carl here is the son of Ishtar, but he might just be a creation of hers. She did leave a message in his system calling him her masterpiece, but that hardly cleared it up. Oh, Carl, it is worth mentioning that these two were some of her work as well.”

“If that is true what did Nergal have to say, aside from giving away the sleeves he used to cover those pestilent arms of his.”

“Nothing much, as you know they weren’t on the best of terms. He didn’t know for certain one way or another, but he had suspected she left something behind and when Carl became known, he was very interested.”

“If what you say is true, then that explains how he ha-”

“Careful, we know we can speak his name, but others might not be so lucky. Test it in your own worlds please. Anyway, the price of your joining is assistance with a certain variant that isn’t overly threatened by us.”

“Which variant would that be?” Bahamut’s words belied his readiness to accept, something Lillim was not distracted enough to let go unnoticed.

“Dracula, there is a chance our new addition may have been a catalyst of sorts.”

Sophie suddenly went rigid, though Carl and the others didn’t notice.

[ MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM SOPHIE: CARL, IS MY JOINING A PROBLEM? I WON’T HOLD IT AGAINST YOU IF IT IS, HONESTLY I’D RATHER LEAVE THAN MAKE MY FAMILY CORRECT. ]

“Sophie! Come here please.” Carl’s summons was met with robotic obedience. “Please calm down, yes there maybe some issues, but it’s not your fault and you aren’t going anywhere. We’ll figure it out, if Bahamut refuses I’ll make a a few chimera designed to oppose him.”

“Don’t be so hasty Carl, I’ll do it, I will agree to the terms.” Bahamut replied frantically, misunderstanding Carl’s words as he stood surrounded by his immortal allies.

Carl was about to clarify, but he received another message, this time from Lillim.

[ MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM LILLIM: DON’T CORRECT HIM DEAR IT’S RARE TO SEE HIM SQUIRM, LET HIM WIND HIMSELF UP A BIT PLEASE. ]

“Also, if you could grant our Equinox the “human form” skill, it would be most appreciated.” Carl caught them by surprise a bit, but they were all aware he had sacrificed his right to fair settlement for Klaire, to stop further conflict on Faylorna’s behalf.

“Of course, it is a trifling thing for me…” He paused momentarily whilst he weighed up the calmness that followed the supposed threat. “… Anything else?”

“Nope, the same terms as Tiamat, specific stipulation to help with Dracula and the skill, that’s all.” Carl smiled but Bahamut couldn’t help but think he was missing some trick.

“We have much to discuss, so if you could please remember mortals don’t have forever and either agree or decline, that would be appreciated.”

“Fine! I’ll sign, I trust the boy not to take everything at least…”

“On that subject Grandma, I have to take right of every favour Tiamat owes you.” Lillim’s frown suddenly grew, which made Tiamat most nervous.

“Of course dear, I was planning to sign them over. Prepare yourself Tia, he is much needier than I…” Lillim grinned with mundane delight, knowing she could encourage Carl to cash in said favours to have her dredge for mediocre tasks.

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