Celeste looked at the wall of prompts that greeted her when she entered the game.

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  Sanctify Shrine

  Effect: Gained at third level, your worshipers can now sanctify temples and shrines to their deity. When properly consecrated, you can choose to perceive anything going on within your precincts, though you must intentionally choose to watch. You can target a gift or miracle at any person within the sacred grounds at the usual costs in Energy. Such a marvel is free the first time you so acts in a day, but each successive wonder requires you to Commit Energy for the day. Properly sanctifying a shrine requires rites and components costing Wealth equal to your level, with increases in your level requiring additional expenditures. If the shrine is desecrated, it must be reconsecrated at the full cost.

  Celeste closed the pop-up, the ability was neat, but honestly, it was something she had assumed that she could always do.

  As she closed the first pop-up, the next one appeared.

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  Smite the Apostate

  Effect: Also at third level, the you can instantly kill an offending worshiper or afflict them with some debilitating suffering appropriate to your Domains. This torment lasts as long as you desires. If another god accepts the worshiper, however, the curse is lifted.

  That was neat, but as Celeste closed the pop-up, she couldn't help but quickly look at her own level, which was at seven. How many things had Jasper and Martin made? How much of this junk was actually needed?

  Another pop-up blocked her vision.

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  Hear Prayer

  Effect: At fourth level, you are capable of hearing the prayers of your faithful. These usually are a subconscious sussurus of petitions, but you can specifically “listen” for particular topics or people if you wish, becoming alerted when those topics arise or those people address you. You can communicate with your faithful during their prayers, though this inward voice is subtle and does not compel obedience.

  Again, a neat ability, something that could definitely help her, if she had any followers, but not only was the dogma for the entire drow society to erase Armandos from history, it also appeared that their priests only got divine powers while they were in the world, meaning that in a world where priests of real, actual, gods got to cast magic on a regular basis, the test to see if a god was real was essentially to cast spells in the gods name, and if it failed, the god wasn't real.

  So nobody really worshipped Armandos as a true god, but rather as part of the extensive lore that the world had.

  Celeste thought for a second that the pop-ups might have stopped, but she was slightly disappointed when another one appeared.

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  Perceive the Petitioner

  Effect: At fifth level, you can see a particular worshiper and their surroundings with an action's focus, knowing everything about their immediate situation that the worshiper knows. This doesn’t grant deep or subtle knowledge of the situation, but it’s enough to make their current circumstances clear.

  Okay, this was for the fifth level. That probably meant there were two more pop-ups. That being said, Celeste could definitely see the benefit of this. She held back the remaining pop-ups for just a second, focusing on The Scribe.

  Instantly, Celeste's vision narrowed, and she was able to see, in perfect clarity, the figure of Jasmine. The extradentary silhouette was leaning over some nobleman. Her hand was hammering into the poor guy's face over and over. Each punch underlines another word in that weird accent.

  "STOP! SUMMAHNENG! DEMAHNS! YOU! TWAT!" The voice was bellowing with anger and fury.

  Instantly, Celeste knew that Jasmine had tracked some demon-worshipping cult down, which had led her to Southland, where it turned out to be one of the noble merchants who was part of the TradingCompany, who had summoned a couple of demons as part of dinner plans.

  Jasmine had tried to negotiate with the man, following the eticette of the time, but when the man had tried to blackmail her and use his influence to make the immortal's life difficult, Jasmine had abadonned all pretence of being nice and amicable, and had instead walked into the man's office, kicking down the door, and started to beat up the demon worshipper.

  Celeste pulled back, knowing that anyone who tried to mess with the boundaries of the world was in for the same intense awakening. As she retracted her mind, she was met with another pop-up.

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  Mark of the Prophet

  Effect: At sixth level, you can consecrate specific worshipers as favored disciples or high priests. One disciple may be chosen for each level you have, but only one high pontiff can be chosen. The disciples instantly become heroic mortals of a level equal to half their patron's level, rounded up and the high priest becomes a heroic mortal of your level. Both usually take talents reflective of their patron's portfolio, including a Domain or two. This consecrating process takes only a moment, but the consecration cannot be taken from the acolyte until they are dead, even if they later leave your service.

  That was another one of those powers that were essentially just kind of neat to have. It seemed like Jasper had drawn influence from what he had done to Jasmine, essentially elevating her to a god in her own right, without the power to make as amazing miracles.

  It would be good to actually have a framework for that, though she couldn't help but wonder how that would interact with the four of them. After all, they were supposedly the same god, so did that mean that they could only have one high priest, and was that Jasmine?

  It sounded like something that would be prone to bugs and something they would have to test.

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  Attend the Faithful

  Effect: At seventh level, you can manifest before a praying worshiper, instantly appearing before them no matter how far away you may be, even from a distant Sphere. This manifestation lasts until the next loading screen, however, before you returns to your original location and cannot use this gift again for a day.

  And with that final pop-up, Celeste could focus again. That final power was honestly kind of amazing and was probably at least one way to circumvent the Teleport problem.

  That being said, Celeste looked over at her co-god.

  Riez was hovering slightly off the ground, holding some important-looking stone above her head and giggling like a teenager who had just gotten a key to the liquor cabinet.

  Celeste rubbed the bridge of her nose a little. When they had discussed splitting up again, Celeste had suggested going with Riez, something that Martin had been more than happy about. Apparently, he was convinced that Jasper always wrecked something when he was in the game, and he was determined to end that streak.

  Jasmine had wanted to take a look at one of the human lands. It was a war-torn area known as Permersland. The area was located between Southland and Northland, though more as a corner between the two areas. Honestly, Celeste was still convinced that all of these area names were bugs, but Jasper had assured her that wasn't the case.

  Celeste looked over at Riez. "Soooo, I think the plan is to actually try and figure out why there is war in this area. Not to stop it or anything, but we need to know if it is due to some bug."

  Riez nodded, clearly more interested in playing with her new stone. "Yeah, yeah... can I bring my crew?" She asked with a wide grin.

  Celeste considered it for a second and decided that it was probably fine, though she would want Jasmine here as well. Luckily, Jasmine wasn't that far away, and with these new powers, Celeste could actually just go to the woman.

  "Sure, you grab your people, and I will grab mine." She stated in a bright tone, before activating Attend the Faithful.

  At first, Celeste's power seemed to fail. When she tried it again, and it failed again, she made a bug report on it. She kept spamming it until she felt the world pull her between the spheres and dumped her in the office of the noble merchant. She caught the last sentence said before she arrived, giving her some slight context.

  "I pray to de gods dat you have learned yoehr lessahn, because if not I will be back fahr yous, and you will know a whole new meaneng av pain." Jasmine's voice bellowed. Celeste slapped her forehead. Of course, she had failed using that power. Her target needed to be praying. Though it seemed like the definition of praying was a lot more flexible than she had first expected.

  Celeste's entrance was a lot more intense than she had expected. Instead of simply appearing next to Jasmine, the goddess saw how the world around her burst into an ordered chaos of interlocking gears. A figure that seemed to be the Grim Reaper and an opposing figure clad in all white seemed to reach in between the gear, pulling them back as if they were nothing more than a curtain, and revealing Celeste herself.

  The figures on either side of her crumbled to dust as she slowly floated into the room of the nobleman. All around her, pieces of the office seemed to be tearing apart as if they were nothing but dust in the presence of The Architect of Reality.

  Celeste spoke, her voice booming with a power that seemed to stem from the deepest pits of the world. "You prayed to me!"

  Her voice rang through the building, making the foundation of the structure shake with her innate power.

  Even Jasmine seemed taken aback by Celeste's appearance, preparing some kind of magic to hold back whatever monster had been unleashed from the void.

  However, the pillowing cape of tools was a dead giveaway, and the magic from Jasmine's hands soon faded. "Excuse me?" was the only thing that left Jasmine's lips.

  Celeste cleared her throat. She suppressed the booming voice and looked a little flustered as she looked over at Jasmine. "Uhm, sorry. First time using this power. I did not know it was so... flashy. However! We are back! And I could really use a hand to keep Riez in line... You met Riez, right?" Celeste asked, not paying much attention to the whimpering merchant.

  Jasmine nodded slowly. Celeste smiled. "Great! We are in Permersland, we are trying to stop the war that is raging there... or at least figure out why it is raging so hard."

  The merchant seemed to pipe up at the mention of the war. "Nobody can stop the war. It is divinely ordained that entire place is cursed. Too many people have stakes in the war continuing, so even if your divine intervention can lift the curse, the mortals will never stop fighting." His voice was nasal and filled with phlegm. Though that might just be due to the repeated punches to the face that he had taken from Jasmine.

  Celeste looked down at him. "First of all, kind of rude to listen in on someone's conversation-"

  The noble merchant gasped. "YOU ARE IN MY OFFICE! I AM THE PROVISIONAL ASSISTANT OF INTERREGIONAL MERCANTILE ROUTE OPTIMIZATION! YOU WILL SHOW ME THE RESPECT I DESERVE!" The bloody man practically screamed. Flecks of blood showered from his lips.

  Jasmine looked at Celeste. "Look, I would love to 'elp, but this cult has been really testeng my patience lately. I need to uproot dem befhre dey become a problem."

  Celeste sighed. "Fine, I can take care of that first."

  "DO NOT IGNORE ME! I WILL RUIN YOUR LIVES!" The merchant screamed as he didn't seem to be the centre of the conversation any more.

  Celeste rolled her shoulders and looked at the man. She saw the connections that were tearing at him, how he had been tethered to the whirlpool of souls, using death as a sacrifice to pull another spirit from the whirlpool's depth. He had messed with her creation and was incredibly rude. There was no argument about his crimes. Celeste smirked at Jasmine.

  "Wanna see something cool?"

  "Ay!"

  With plenty of Energy, Celeste accessed her Time Domain. Holding onto Jasmine's shoulder, both the goddess and The Scribe got to experience the events of the past. Celeste had to pay a little extra to activate the power 'Echoes of the Past', but she was more than happy to do so.

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  Echoes of the Past

  Type: Activated Ability

  Energy usage: Until next loading screen.

  Full effect: Choose a particular time or known event in the past that occurred at this location and witness it as if you were present.

  Jasmine gave a gasp as their surroundings seemed to dim. The once bright sun shining through the window was replaced with the light of the moon. A wall that had been in place opposite the windows was now revealed to be a hidden door. Chanting could be heard from this hidden chamber, and Jasmine gave Celeste a look.

  "Is this how you see de whorld? A mix av past, future and presence?" she asked in awe.

  Celeste shook her head. "Gods no. I used a power that allowed me to relive events in the past. Fate is definitely a thing, but the future is not as set in stone as you would like. Even I can't actually change things here. I can see what happened."

  She led Jasmine into the circular room where thirteen people in crimson robes were chanting next to an altar. The corpse of a child was on the altar, clearly drained of blood, while the cult was chanting.

  Everyone one of them seemed to be important, or at least believed themselves to be important. That was solely based on the level of personal grooming they had achieved.

  Leading the procession was the merchant noble Celeste had seen battered just moments ago.

  It didn't take long before Celeste realised that they were chanting some warped version of Raffael Moordet's dogma, calling upon the lord of demons to help them, and to bind a demon to them.

  "So what do ya intend to do?" Jasmine asked, and Celeste took a deep breath.

  "I intend to remove the knife from the wound and let it heal naturally. However, things here are rotten, and the rot must be cut out. Originally, I intended to simply figure out who I should target with my Death Domain... but now... Their minds have been poisoned by the promises of a god bent on warping the world. I need to cut off the branch. I need to not make the same mistakes that I have before, I need to sever the line."

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  Sever the Life

  Commit Energy until the next loading screen, and target a visible lesser foe. The target becomes sick with a disease of divine making and will perish within a week. Only a divine power can undo it. All their children immediately suffer 5d20 damage, grandchildren suffer 4d20 damage, great-grandchildren suffer 3d20 damage, and so forth down to the fifth generation, which suffers 1d20 damage. Repeat this effect for the target's parents, grandparents, all the way to the fifth generation. This curse only works once on any given target, and particular descendants may be spared by the god.

  Celeste couldn't target all of the nobles. With thirteen of them and only 5 Energy, she would need to choose wisely. At least, that was what she assumed, until Jasmine placed a hand on her back, and Celeste felt her husband's Divine Energy flow into her core. She knew it was Jasper's Energy. She could recognise it as easily as she could recognise his dorky laughter.

  She didn't know how much she could take, but she managed to target every one of them, though none of them seemed to be impacted.

  The sound of Jasmine collapsing behind her made Celeste look around, and she cursed herself for using so much Divine Energy at once, even if it was just until the next loading screen.

  Stepping out of the events in the past, she saw that Jasmine was still unconscious, but the wealthy merchant was covered in boils, and large parts of his body had grown black and withered. Celeste didn't give him a second look, instead marking Jasmine's location, and she stepped back through the portal from which she had appeared, returning to Permersland.