Lucas was uncertain why he was invited to the meeting.

Something about the will of the gods, something about shared responsibility and valuable input from followers of other pantheons. Unfortunately, none of that helped him understand what the other three were talking about.

Even his shaky knowledge of magical theory and leylines aside, sometimes they switched to different languages, apparently finding it easier to express certain concepts in a way that made sure Lucas couldn’t follow it at all.

He sat there rather miserably for what felt like hours, answering their questions from time to time to the best of his ability, until Kalidasa threw a strange look at him and announced a break.

Qiao Xiu patted Lucas on the shoulder and left the room, apparently to get them refreshments and more parchment, and Remi leaned down to him to whisper, “You okay?”

Lucas hadn’t been okay ever since he realized that his god had died and the power in his holy symbol was fading with each passing day.

“I’m fine,” he smiled, reassuringly, fully knowing there was no fooling her but not wanting to worry her nonetheless. “But I really don’t think I can contribute anything.”

Remi opened her mouth to answer, but suddenly there was a dark wrinkly hand on Lucas’s arm. “You’re contributing plenty, young paladin,” Kalidasa smiled. Lucas jerked, having not heard him approach, and almost headbutted the older man in the chin. Kalidasa stepped away gracefully, nimble despite his age, and continued.

“We do not know much about the dying magic yet. But you know – you lived it. It is a perspective we would be amiss to overlook.”

Lucas looked down. He had plenty of reminders of his growing uselessness, but Kalidasa’s words still stung – clinical, cruel in their compassion.

“Chin up, young paladin,” Kalidasa sighed as he stepped back to his seat. “It is not your god’s power that makes you a righteous warrior. It is your faith and conviction, it is your skill and bravery. Does the Sun Angel dying mean you will betray her ideals?”

Lucas shook his head. Kalidasa put his chin on his hands and finished, “Then her strength will live on for as long as you are alive, magic or no magic.”

Kalidasa’s words couldn’t dispel Lucas’s grief, but there was something comforting about them. He didn’t know much of the intricacies of religion, but he knew that while his church valued self-sacrifice above all else, it also frowned upon sacrifice that was meaningless. Mourning the past was pointless if it was jeopardizing the future.

“Thank you,” Lucas offered, and Kalidasa just shook his head. He looked just as tired as Lucas felt, and Lucas wondered if it was the long nights spent doing research, or maybe all the teleporting they had to do to communicate with each other, or the stress of risking to lose all their power at any moment if more gods died.

It was probably all of it.

Qiao Xiu returned with a tray and a stack of parchment. The silver ornament in his hair cast speckles of light on the table, reflecting the sun outside and instantly brightening the room, and he poured a small cup to set in front of Lucas, the steam rising from it in peculiar shapes.

Lucas distantly noted that it was some herbal mix and not the usual one Qiao Xiu used to gift to Remi, the scent soothing rather than stimulating.

Maybe, thought Lucas, that was why he was invited. Not for their benefit, but for his.

Perhaps their company shouldn’t have been so comforting. Lucas had his suspicions about Kalidasa, the man’s skill set all too fitting for the Aspect that assassins worshiped, and Qiao Xiu never stayed in the same place and mood long enough for Lucas to get a solid read on him, but Remi was his dear friend and so he trusted her judgment without reservation.

“Shall we continue?” Kalidasa asked, and everyone took their places at the round table once more. Remi winked at Lucas before straightening up, and his heart bloomed with affection.

Maybe they’d pull through, after all.

Qiao Xiu spoke first this time, “We should probably decide on the course of action today. The details can be settled later, and locally, but I believe we can all agree – and the Council does too, as I just received word – that it cannot be solved without pooling all of our sources together, and there is little time left to do that.”

Remi nodded, “As much as I hate to say it, blocking the leylines and sealing off the remaining gods in the space between the planes sounds like our best bet. I would appreciate it if you both could verify my friend’s calculations, but I trust his meticulousness.”

Kalidasa pursed his lips. “I know we have discussed it at length, but it is too drastic a measure,” he noted, obviously displeased.

“What are our options?” Qiao Xiu waved his hand at the large map on the wall. “I have seen to dozens of leylines, large and small, in the last weeks. It’s not even that they are dying,” he turned to Lucas and paused, thinking, “they are fracturing the fabric of the world. Keeping them relatively stable is something that we cannot do, and even gods are struggling with.”

“If we do that, we will all follow the young paladin’s fate,” Kalidasa frowned. “No gods, no magic. The world will… change.”

“Change is better than dying,” Remi butted in. “I don’t like it any more than you do, but… we have no time for a gentle solution.”

Kalidasa leaned back in his chair, thoughtful. “Perhaps. But what you are offering is also in the realm of impossible.”

“I’m sure if we all took fragments of the gods’ power, sealing off the leylines would be… how do you put it? Piece of cake,” Qiao Xiu said.

“That’s… cold,” Remi looked down, but Qiao Xiu just shrugged.

“If it was a choice I had to make, I would rather give up my powers and die as a mortal than be forever trapped in nothingness.”

“So would I,” Lucas suddenly spoke up. Everyone turned to him. “It’s… not up to us, obviously. But… you know, you should ask, while you still can. It was their offer to be sealed in-between the realms. Surely, if nothing else, they deserve to go out on their own terms.”

“If we do that,” Remi said slowly, “we will lose the only allies we have among the gods before we have a chance to place the seal. Can you imagine the kind of danger we will be in?”

Lucas couldn’t. He was no stranger to divine intervention, but that was on a whole new level.

Qiao Xiu rubbed his forehead, hiding his face behind one wide sleeve for a moment. When he reemerged, there was no sign of doubt on his face. “So we take precautions. Even gods are not all-powerful, and with the world changing and magic destabilizing, what they can do will be further limited.”

Kalidasa was silent for a few moments. He looked over the others, resigned, “If we fail – if even one of us fails – we will leave our cities or even the whole world shattered beyond repair. Is that something you are willing to take upon your souls?”

There was no doubt in Lucas’s mind. In the end, sacrifice was rarely fully selfless. It was a choice taken away from someone else, it was a grieving loved one left alone, it was leaving the burdens of one’s ideals behind for others to deal with. It was a sin as much as a virtue.

Lucas had never feared sin.

“I will do it,” he said firmly. “Just tell me how.”

—-

This is barely on topic. I should also at least reread it, but I’m so freaking tired, I can barely make sense out of sentences. Still, I love these characters (lawful good Lucas! Kalidasa and Qiao Xiu that had barely appeared in-game but hinted at a world that used to be much smaller! God of death clerics assembly!)