Young Writers Society

For eons, the gods have lived in harmony with humanity and each other. The occasional rivalry was quickly put to rest by the royal court; the dead were taken care of by the Sisters of Death. All is well in Theopius Latium, home of the gods, and that wellness spreads to the Earth below.

But three gods have recently decided that's not enough for them anymore. For unknown reasons, Prince Cos, god of order, Forseti, god of law and justice, and Nidahas, goddess of freedom, have declared war on the kingdom and have withdrawn to the human world for the first time in five hundred years.

In a panic, the God Kings Aeolus and Eldoris have formed a team of the world's greatest Celestial Servants, and you have been chosen. You will travel the world with your fellow mortal employees to find the treacherous gods and bring them to justice. So get in, get out, and whatever you do, don't die. The fate of both realms depends on it.

It didn't take being the deity of secrets for Raz to feel the thrum of anxiety in the air. The news had spread so quickly through the castle it was like mortal cannon fire, and all Raz could smell was the smoke.

As they walked down the palace hallway, their duster flowing behind them, they could make out the snippets of mortal thought.

But I just saw him this morning-

Isn't this against everything she stands for?

This can't be happening. This can't be happening. This can't be happening.

Raz sighed, trying to stay inside the bubble of themself deep in their chest. The feelings of everyone crashed against it, like an angry sea against the sand. But Raz needed a clear head. They needed to stay connected.

When three deities decided to abandon their kingdom, leaving behind their duties to their people, it was more important than ever that the Grand Council had Raz, not the fragmented deity of billions of people's souls all blended into an incoherent strum of thoughts.

Speaking of the Grand Council, Raz finally made it to the meeting chambers. They opened the door, closing it behind them with a dull thud. The rest of the Grand Council was already sitting, all in various states of their own despair.

Queen Alexiona sat on the farthest end of the table, her stern face unmoving except for the occasional twitch of her eyebrow. Her head was filled with ideas of torture. It was easy to forget that the goddess of eternal reward and only see her as the goddess of fury, the Sister of Death that would make sure everyone less than good would regret the very formation of their souls. Whether her sisters liked it or not.

Her twin, Queen Adalet, sat beside her. She was utterly neutral, her hands folded on the table's surface. Her head was not filled with images of her domain of fire and brimstone but rather a hunger for an explanation. Raz almost felt guilty that they couldn't give her one.

At the far right was the eldest Sister of Death, and Death herself, really, Queen Anath. Now she was the perfect picture of anxiety, chewing on her already broken nails when she thought no one was looking.

Raz sighed. "It's just as bad as it seems, I'm afraid."

Six pairs of eyes turned to Raz, each holding their own stories of panic, anger, betrayal, and hurt. So, so much hurt.

Raz approached the table and pulled out their own chair, right next to Athaligh, goddess of time. She seemed barely present, like she was a few seconds from floating away, never to be seen again. Her eyes were a little too wide, her fingers just hovering above the table. World-ending disasters swirled in her mind as she mentally reviewed apocalypse after apocalypse, trying to find the most likely end.

She didn't know, so Raz didn't know either.

Raz finally turned their attention to the head of the table. The God Kings sat side-by-side, hands intertwined under the table. King Aeolus, god of the sky, and King Eldoris, god of the earth.

Both of them were a complete and utter mess.

King Aeolus's hair seemed to float around his face, drifting listlessly like dying tree branches. King Eldoris trembled like a fault quaking. The betrayal had hurt so many people and would hurt so many more.

Forseti, god of law and justice, the face of every courtroom and prison on the Mortal Earth below, the sword of the rules here in Theopius Latium. What was a world where the emodiment of the law decided that he was above it?

Nidahas, goddess of freedom, the one launched the chain reaction that introducded humantiy to their own form of government: the consitutional republic. Would every human right be tainted by her betrayal? Would those wanting to seize endless control leap out of the shadows to fill the power vacuum caused by her absence?

And, Cos, Prince Cos, god of order, the clerk that could silence unruly meetings with little more than a sharp glare and a push of his glasses. The only god who could claim to have grown up alongside humanity. King Aeolus and Eldoris' son.

Raz's brother.

King Eldoris just sighed, as if one single sound could capture the anguish of his child leaving in such a manner. Most would believe him, but Raz could feel the swirl of grief deep within him, like the constant shift of tetonic plates unnotiecable to those who stand on their surfaces. "How bad, exactly?"

Raz closed their eyes, trying to sort the constant stream of information in their head. Who exactly knew what, what secrets were born every second. One would think finding three gods would be simple, but the three gods were a minority, and their secret was kept by three people, making it hum just beneath the sea of secrets mortals swore they would take straight to Queen Anath.

They opened their eyes again. "Bad."

King Eldoris just gave them a blank look. While Raz considered Cos a brother, they never thought of the kings as fathers, and the kings never thought of them as a child. They had never been a child, just like all of the original gods. They had simply popped into existence one day because King Eldoris and Aeolus created something new and someone needed to rule over it, keep it sacred and safe.

King Eldoris' gaze held no softness. Raz met it head-on, not wavering in the slightest.

King Aeolus gently grasped his husband's shoulder. His feelings were all in his eyes, just like the passings of the sky. His cataracts were a darker grey than usual, swirling dangerously like stormclouds giving way to a tornado. Each twitch of his eyebrow was a strike of lightning, his sharp frown a boom of thunder. "Darling, you know they can't say."

King Eldoris stared at him for a moment, but King Aeolus didn't falter. The two men were complete opposites. The unshifting, rugged Earth and the turbulent, never-constant sky. But somehow, they always met in the middle, forming their own horizon line out of love and patience. King Eldoris eventually took a deep breath, his Earth bumping against the sky as he turned back to Raz.

"What can you tell us?"

Raz folded their hands. "Nidahas, Forseti, and Prince Cos have all withdrawn to Earth and declared war on the grand council and all of its celestial and mortal supporters. They have drafted no terms for peace or surrender." They sighed. "War is coming."

Queen Anath made a small noise of panic. "Truly?"

Raz nodded. "Unfortunately."

The two kings looked at each other, clutching their hands even tighter under the table. King Eldoris looked back first. "Then war they shall have. We'll gather a team of Celestial Servants. These traitors want us to come to Earth, knowing that so many deities would put stress on the planet like nothing else."

King Aeolus nodded. "Athaligh, what team serves the best chance of success?"

Athaligh flinched like she hadn't expected to ever come up in conversation. "The best chance?" She paused, running trial after trial in her head, her eyes going back to that dull blankness.

Raz tried to keep up. Both Athaligh and them would find out would find the wrong answers first. They needed to dismiss those ideas as quickly as possible.

Athaligh hummed. "I'm seeing one team. Six people."

The entire group leaned in to listen, except Raz. Raz focused on Athaligh's thoughts, learning from her knowledge rather than her words.

"From the sisters of death: a Reaper, a Divine Light, and a Divine Dark."

Each sister immediately went to sorting their candidates. Raz could already guess their final results. They knew who would be the best, even if they didn't know it themselves.

Athaligh's mind shifted. "From the god kings: a Soul-Taker and a Messenger."

Raz was equal parts elated and hurt with the candidates for those categories. One of them was a close friend of theirs, and the other...

Well, they were someone Cos was rather fond of.

Athaligh held up a finger. "And from the celestials, a Lichospien." Her eyes refocused and her mind came back to the present.

King Eldoris sighed again. "Well, that gives us our tasks. Everyone return with your Celestial Servants by evening tomorrow."

"If you can." King Aeolus tried to smile.

Raz stood up. "I look forward to you finding out who you'll pick." They gave a short curtsy with an imaginary skirt and left the room, going back to the battlefield of thoughts that was the main hall.

The gods have to do something!

Are we all going to die?

Is this the end?

Raz let their mind fall silent, floating on their back on a raging sea of fears. Raz would focus on what they knew.

And they knew that the Grand Council wouldn't stop fighting until the Earth and Theopius Latium crumbled.

Katherine Hardy studied the man in front of her carefully. He looked, to put it quite simply, like death. It was the fashionable option, especially for this section of the land of the dead, but this one looked particularly bad, which is what had caught Kate's attention in the first place.

The man looked different from everyone in this place. When it came to the damned, especially in the realm of endless punishment, everyone seemed to wear a look of utter defeat and regret, except Kate could quite clearly make out the hatred they all held deep within their sunken eyes. Each and every single one of them only regretted being caught, not their actions.

Except it wasn't really everyone. One out of every thousand that passed trough this wasteland filled with hatred and greed and every other horrible emotion to exist possessed something different. Acceptance. Someone who felt they truly deserved their punishment, those who genuinely regretted what they'd done and wished with every tortured breath they took to be able to repent.

Spotting this look was a difficult task. It was almost indistinguishable sometimes from those who simply tried to look that way. After all it wasn't exactly the world's best kept secret that there was a chance of repenting and being allowed to do better. The world's worst were often the best at pretending they had genuine regret. It could fool many, but not Kate.

Kate new the look of true regret well. A little too well. After all, the only reason she was quite so intimately familiar with that look was the fact that she'd seen it in the mirror, every single morning for quite a while now. Well since the day she'd been able to afford a mirror, which now that she thought about it had been a while ago. She'd been at this job for longer than she thought.

Kate sighed. She passed through the gate to his current punishment, the reader letting her through with a beep that Kate still maintained was a little too pleasant and demeaning to be used in a position like that. Without a word she gestured for the man to stop doing what he was doing and come over.

The way the man approached Kate confirmed everything else she ever needed to see. Even the most skilled at pretending to be remorseful couldn't hide their glee, not from Kate. The smug satisfaction each of those morons had was as easy to see as neon green socks.

This man, like the few that truly did deserve another chance walked with an entirely different air. They only did as Kate asked because they felt they had no choice, because they were ready for Kate, the big bad Divine Dark to dish out an extra punishment to them that they always felt was just around the corner. Kate gestured for the man to walk ahead of her, gesturing in the direction of the courthouse to indicate they were headed there.

Thankfully, the man seemed to understand it all without any fuss and they were soon on their way. Kate didn't bother putting the man in any additional shackles on top of the standard ones. Sure they weren't as secure, but Kate really wasn't worried about a jump attack from this one. She trusted her judgement.

The two of them made their way to the one landmark that really stood out in this desolate landscape. It was also just there, visible from every point around simple from how massive it was, reminding every being of what had put them there and putting hope in the hearts of those who sought to deceive.

They were almost at their destination when they were interrupted. A younger Divine Dark, Kelly Kate recognized from being there at the welcome party the other day had opened one of the cages presumably to check for something on the damned soul but it looked like he had managed to overpower her and was in the process of running out of the gate.

Kate sighed. Will they never learn? She gestured for her current subject to stop. The past few minutes had very much confirmed he was not going to be a runner so Kate trusted him for these few moments as she stepped through the cage.

Her voice came out tired and a little gravelly from lack of use.

"Please return to your station or I will have to use excessive force." Her voice was soft, barely louder than a whisper, but the man stopped his half attack on Kelly and attempt to escape to look at her. Kelly slipped away at the chance and ducked behind Kate as the damned seemed to weigh his options.

With a loud battle cry her charged for Kate. Kate didn't even bother to sigh at the obvious attack, swinging her fist already to meet his jaw. Her fist made contact with a solid crack and the damned fell flat on his back.

She turned to Kelly and offered her a hand. The girl took it with a brilliant smile as she pulled herself to her feet. Kate allowed her lips to soften so her face wasn't quite so pronounced of a frown.

"Thank you Miss Kate, I'm so sorry. I just..."

Kate cut her off with a wave of her hand. "Don't be sorry. You're new."

Kelly nodded. "Yes, Miss Kate. Thank you again. I owe you one."

Kate shook her head again. "Don't owe me one, Kelly. Do me a favor. Don't stop smiling."

She turned away after that, returning to the man still waiting patiently. Well if Kate ever needed any more proof this man deserved a rehearing that was about it. The rest of their journey to the courtroom proved to be uneventful. The rest of it all passed like clockwork. Of course every single time this happened, it went ever so slightly differently but it was very familiar now to Kate. The time went flying by and soon Kate was leaving.

She retreated to the little alcove she'd found in her first week here. It was quiet, calming and not too unpleasant to spend a couple of hours. By the standards of this place, it was practically paradise and gave Kate a private moment to think. She sat down in her usual spot.

Kate let out a small sigh. Another day's work done. She allowed herself a tiny smile for the moment. She had managed to help someone today. It was always a good feeling. The only time it felt justified for her to feel ever so slightly happy about herself. It was good to be able to feel that, if only for a fleeting moment, to feel that just maybe it was good that she was able to live like this now. It made her feel like less of an imposter when everyone thought she was doing good.

Kate was jostled from her thoughts by an all too familiar breeze. There was no wind, of course, just the sound of it. Kate stood up from pure instinct, bowing her head automatically.

"At ease."

It was Queen Adalet, her voice as soft as parchment paper.

Kate lifted her head, waiting for the Queen to speak.

"Have rumors of the war reached the dead, yet?"

"I don't believe I've heard tell of a new war, milady."

Queen Adalet hummed. "I suppose there's some solace in that." She stared out over her realm for a moment before turning back to Kate. "The deities Nidahas, Forseti, and... Prince Cos have withdrawn to the mortal realm and declared war on Theopius Latium."

Kate did her best to stifle that gasp that produced. "It appears you've had a taxing morning milady."

"My morning is the last thing on my mind." She laced her fingers together. "The God Council had an emergency meeting today and Athaligh left me with some instructions."

Kate bowed. "I believe I can safely assume your presence here means I'm going to be required for some of those instructions."

Queen Adalet nodded. "Come with me, child."

Kate bowed. "Of course, milady."

She gestured Kate to follow her as she began to walk towards the ever-looming courthouse on the edge of the horizon. Kate walked with her, staying a step behind so that she wasn't beside her Queen. "Athaligh told the council to devise a team of six to aid in the war effort."

"That would be quite the team."

"I'm giving you the task of joining it."

Kate tried not to gasp again. She failed this time. "I...I... I would be incredibly honored milady. But. Would there not be many others far more qualified?"

"No." Queen Adalet turned her head to lock at Kate, her silver hair catching the artificial light of Hell like fresh dimes. "If I believed there to be someone better, I would not be speaking to you."

Kate bowed again. "I thank you for this honor then milady. I will do my very best to honor the trust you have in me."

Queen Adalet's eyes seemed to sparkle at that. "I know."

Kate managed to bow lower. She shouldn't be allowed to feel so proud at such a declaration. She hardly deserved it but she couldn't help it. Being chosen by someone Kate looked up to so much just left her with no choice but to feel a little pride.

"At ease. I'm sure your Soul-Taker is waiting."

Kate straightened again. "I expect nothing less."

Queen Adalet nodded and continued walking, leading Kate to the courthouse. Kate followed along waiting to see what else the Queen would have to say.

"Do you have any idea what your job might be?"

"If I would be so bold as to assume I might say it has to do with distinguishing between the souls that truly repent and the ones who would lie. It is the only skill I can imagine me having an edge over anyone else."

"It is my assumption that you are correct." Queen Adalet sighed. "My soul tells me that you will meet someone who has simply been misguided. It is your job to ensure they are not judged the same as those who led them astray."

"I will remember that milady."

"Thank you. I know you will make it so."

"Thank you for your faith in me milady."

Queen Adalet didn't say anything else until the pair arrived at the courthouse. "There you go. Your Soul-Taker is in the lobby."

Kate bowed. "Will I be seeing you again before I get sent off milady?"

"It's doubtful."

"In that case, I wish you good health in these times of war milady."

"The realm of death is always booming during war." With that, Queen Adalet snapped her fingers and simply evaporated, leaving Kate all alone.

Kate let out a soft sigh. A war. Gods against gods. That could only ever end in quite a large boom during war. That was the one thing that had always bugged Kate about this job. It was good to be able to help those who were wronged and misguided to find a better life but it was almost sickening that the more things Kate had to, the more it meant unfortunate souls had to die young living a horrible life because they'd been born without the option to do otherwise. It was a sad reality.

In a way made sense. Kate would only ever be able to thrive in a job like that. Of course she could only provide good in a land where her very job being successful cursed it more anyway. Because anything else and Kate would certainly be doing the cursing by her putting her hands on it.

Kate glanced at the Soul Taker waiting for her. She shouldn't keep them waiting. They certainly would have many more important things to do, especially with a war looming on the horizon but she couldn't help but pause to consider what was about to take place. She'd been sure when she'd told Queen Adalet that she had been chosen for her one skill, but she couldn't help but think her presences could only really bring ruin to a team. Especially one this important. Still, she would never say no to her Queen. She couldn't just throw faith of that magnitude in the Queen's face.

Taking a deep breath, Kate finally walked over the Soul Taker, giving them a simple stiff nod and closing her eyes. The Soul Taker got to work.