In the Celestial Canopy.
Wenzel, the Goddess of Birth, was riding a green wind through her domain. She was linked to Gyze through Eleonore, allowing me to see through her Divine Eyes. I used Leaks to report to her.
“The God of Demise has been subdued. You just need to keep an eye out for the God of Culling now.”
Anahem was the most likely god behind the God of Culling. If this were the case, Rauzel was guaranteed to be safe.
“Thank you very much. That aside, I can’t believe you disabled Anahem in his own domain. You never cease to surprise me, Demon King Anos.”
Far off from Wenzel’s vision was a large bird nest—the God of Bloom’s divine domain. At a glance, the flowers were still blooming. Wenzel sighed in relief.
Just then, her field of view tipped upside down. The firedew wind had suddenly been disturbed. The green air current dispersed, and Wenzel’s body was released in midair, her body at once upside down and falling through the sky.
“What...?”
With a grim expression, Wenzel grabbed a corner of the fabric she was wearing and unraveled it. She swung her arm to fully extend the divine cloth, wrapping it around a nearby branch. The Goddess of Birth swung through the sky like a pendulum, landing on another branch.
“Hey there, it’s been a while. Like two or three thousand years, maybe? Wenzel.”
Green wind blew through the sky of the Celestial Canopy. Riding on the breeze to appear before Wenzel was a man dressed like a bard, wearing a feathered cap and a long flute held in his hand. His expression and demeanor were lighthearted, yet aloof.
“Where are you hurrying to?” he asked.
In contrast to him, Wenzel’s voice was tranquil.
“To Rauzel, the God of Bloom. As the ruler of the Celestial Canopy, you must be aware of the situation already, Gaetenaros. A god that claims to be Romuen, the God of Culling, has been going on a killing spree. Rauzel was one of his targets.”
He nodded lightheartedly. “Oh, that?”
So this man was the God of Change, Gaetenaros. He had none of the calm dignity the other gods had. Even his words sounded light, like they could be blown away by the wind at any moment.
“Do you know something?”
“Oh, I know a lot, Wenzel.”
The God of Change waved his flute casually. A green wind blew, and he began to play an idyllic tune.
“Because the God of Culling is me.”
Wenzel’s face fell in shock.
“Just kidding!” Gaetenaros said. “You don’t have to look so shell-shocked!”
“I don’t have the time to play your games, Gaetenaros.”
“I know, I know.”
The song Gaetenaros was playing suddenly took a harsh change in melody.
“After all, the God of Culling is one of your children,” he added.
Wenzel’s eyes widened once again. But she immediately shook her head.
“What are you saying? I haven’t been in Da Qu Kadarte for two thousand years. I was in the void of the Firmament, in Forslonarleaf. You know this yourself.”
“Yup, I know! But the whole thing is kind of strange.”
Gaetenaros crouched, sitting on the green air current as if it were a chair. He twirled a gust of wind around his fingers and resumed playing his idyllic song.
“After the Goddess of Birth left, the God of Culling began to kill gods. There’s only one god who can hide from my wind in the Celestial Canopy and do that, you know?”
For someone making an accusation, his tone was awfully bright. There was almost no emotion in his flippant tone as he spoke.
“That big-headed Dilfred said it himself—birth exceeds change. In other words, the only god that can cause trouble here is you, Wenzel.”
“But I—”
“You only just returned, right? Indeed, you haven’t been in Da Qu Kadarte for quite a while.”
Gaetenaros grinned, yet his eyes reflected none of the joy. “What a convenient alibi for yourself, right?”
“You suspect me?”
“I do! You’re a friend of that eccentric Goddess of Creation, aren’t you? You back the mortals, and you don’t respect order. And on the topic of Militia—she spent millions of years worrying over the world. If she hated it so much, she should have created it better to begin with.”
Gaetenaros chuckled without any ill will.
“Well, that doesn’t matter now. The problem is how the God of Culling could only be born through the order of birth that you govern.”
“You’ve got it wrong, Gaetenaros. I would never do such a—”
“Who knows that for sure? Even in your absence, I cannot see into the abyss of the Mother Sea. It’d be impossible for me to find any concrete evidence. All I can tell is that the winds have been weird lately.”
“What do you mean by weird?”
“Dunno! My guess is that something’s happening in your Mother Sea. Is there firedew that hasn’t been turned to water? You know the flow of firedew is decreasing, right?”
Wenzel nodded.
“My theory is that you’ve been stealing it. Little by little, you took firedew from its cycle and used it to give birth to Romuen. But eventually, enough went missing for the rest of us to notice.”
The God of Change played his flute. “What are you trying to give birth to next, Wenzel?”
“So you think I’m the one who attacked Rauzel and the others. But for what purpose?”
“How would I know?” Gaetenaros said.
Wenzel swallowed her breath.
“There’s no way for me to know that. Just think about it. You could be acting on behalf of the mortals, or you could have another reason entirely. Any respectable god wouldn’t be able to comprehend the behavior of a god that eschews order in the first place. And you’ve gone strange. Just like the Goddess of Creation.”
“Gaining a heart of my own isn’t the same as going strange. You will understand this, too, one day—”
“I was waiting,” Gaetenaros said, interrupting Wenzel, suddenly standing up on the firedew wind. “You made a beeline for Rauzel immediately after arriving in the Celestial Canopy. Were you that eager to see if they were eliminated properly?”
He chuckled. “I mean the evidence linking you to the God of Culling, to be clear.”
“Gaetenaros, your accusations are groundless. If I had wanted to kill Rauzel, I wouldn’t have brought Ennessone with me. His life was only saved thanks to her.”
“That’s true! Good point. Which is why I waited again. You fled into the Mother Sea to escape Anahem’s mischief. I wanted to know what you would do after repelling him.”
Gaetenaros brandished his flute about lightly as he played notes of his song in between speaking.
“If you returned with the Demon King’s subordinates, I would believe you meant no harm to Rauzel. Because they’d definitely get in your way. However, if you came here alone, then your motive would be to erase evidence. In other words, to silence him.”
The flute suddenly fell silent as Gaetenaros pointed at the Goddess of Birth.
“Too bad! You came alone!”
Green wind blew. The air was sucked into the flute, and a large sound played throughout the Celestial Canopy.
“If you’re going to lie, you have to make it convincing, Wenzel. Just look at me!”
“You’re wrong, Gaetenaros.”
“What are you plotting?” he said, ignoring her words. “Did you take the misfit’s side and bring Ennessone here so we’d blame them instead of you? So you’ve been using the misfit all along!”
The gentle melody changed into another harsh tune. Now a wartune rousing the spirits resounded throughout the Celestial Canopy. Thunder roared, and the wind became charged with green lightning.
“Wait, Gaetenaros. Listen to what I have to say,” Wenzel protested.
“I don’t like tedious conversations. Let’s sing instead.”
The God of Change chuckled, and the wind blew even more fiercely. A magic-laced wind started to flow from his body.
“Let’s sing. Let’s chant. Yes, let us recite! Like the wind, like the thunderclaps of the blue sky. Flute of Change, Idydroend.”
Lightning covered the entire celestial globe. There was nowhere for Wenzel to run in any direction.
“Sky as fickle as the heart.”
The God of Change sang, and as he did, countless bolts of green lightning attacked Wenzel from every direction. Unable to fly, she had no means of evading the strikes from where she stood on the tree branch. However—
“The first drop makes the pond. The pond becomes the Mother Sea. Rise, my kind children—Life Birthing Shield, Avrohelian.”
The navy blue shield glowed, and the lightning bolts transformed into butterflies on impact with the shield. Birth overcame change. The Goddess of Birth had created life from Gaetenaros’s order of change.
“You cannot win against me,” Wenzel declared.
“I know. But this is the Celestial Canopy, my divine domain.”
Gaetenaros brought Idydroend to his mouth and blew into it once more. The melody coming from the Flute of Change modulated again, and the sky changed.
Night fell upon the Celestial Canopy, dark enough to hide everything.