The full weight of Miah's presence slammed into the little clearing and leveled most of the trees.

  "You do not belong, Immortal."

  "Neither does she, little godling." Caelum seemed entirely unperturbed. Slowly, he crawled down the side of the barrier closest to Alliyah, tapping on the edge of it with a sinister smile.

  "It's ok...come with me, little human. My master is on her way. I finally found her after all these years...she is finally coming to take me home. The girl in red is quite angry with you. I am sure if you come with me, that anger will be washed away."

  The Eldritch. Realization slammed into Trillia and tore her out of her own terror. "Your patron. The one who abandoned you is the eldritch. You're the cause of what is coming to attack us?" The little avatar recoiled at her own words in surprise. Nothing had stopped her from speaking about the Eldritch this time.

  "Eldritch....nightmares....terrors. What horrid and undeserved names for the glory of my mistress. She is not one of those mindless beasts. She cannot be. You will see her glory and beauty so-" Recognition flashed in his eyes, then anger.

  "The pretty little orc who serves the trickster...I remember you. Oooh, yes, I remember you well."

  Miah moved to stand between the crazed immortal and the rest of the group. "I won't repeat myself. You need to leave."

  Instinct born of training once more ran through Trillia. She shunted her mind into the Aether at the same time that the Queen did. The two of them, along with Miah, reached out and grabbed onto a clawed hand that had been outstretched towards Miah.

  Trillia looked at Caelum in the Aether and was filled with a new kind of dread.

  A thousand strands of gold filtered from him to the many mortals that were pact-bound to him on Alirast. That was not the source of the dread.

  No, the source of the dread was the single strand of dull gold coming from his back. Tiny cracks that had filled in with a sinister black ooze pulsed wildly. As Trillia followed the thread she saw the Eldritch that was coming for them. Far in the distance, farther than she should have been able to see. But it was there, it's many eyes staring intently at it's loyal soldier.

  Miah and Alliyah were handling the fear better than Trillia was. Miah reached out a hand and pulsed her own divine mana, Caelum recoiled in pain and floated slowly away. "She will feast on your soul, little godling. The Queen is not of this world anymore. I can do whatever I wish to her without breaking any rules. She has broken the treaty and attacked mortals. She tried to obliterate them."

  Its mouth opened wide, and it snapped dangerously close to them. Trillia was only just noticing that Caelum looked identical in the Aether as he did in the physical world. "Let mE taKE heR!" Caelum screeched, his claws once more finding purchase in the barrier that was now erected in the physical world as well as the Aether. "I cAn maKe her BeauTIFul!"

  Trillia remembered the Professor.

  She remembered Titan and Tempest.

  She remembered Blossom.

  She felt the cool metal of Leaf in her hand. The same spark of energy that she had mustered against the Professor in their bout sprang into her soul, and she poured everything she could into her swing and aimed it at Caelum's head. "[Banish]!" Her physical and Aetherial forms cried out in unison. A small pulse of mana erupted from her.

  Caelum, in his arrogance, didn't bother to dodge the attack from the weak little orc. Leaf struck true, cleaving into the skull of the immortal creature. Trillia felt her own soul fraying at the surge of power.

  Leaf didn't stop at the top of the skull, no. The empowered blade carved straight through one of the faces and bit deeply into one of the creature's arms.

  Caelum's screams ruptured her eardrums and forcefully threw her out of the Aether. She landed heavily in the real world, Leaf still held firmly in her hand.

  Silver ichor flowed freely from the carved off face and deep wound, the creature recoiled slightly from the barrier. An explosion of mana rocked the little clearing as Stas began firing off his own magic. Caelum glared at them with his three remaining faces. "I will devour each and every one of you. I will seek out your eternal refuge with my Mistress and we will have our blood."

  As the creature tried to use magic to vanish, another blade found its way into an eye socket.

  Trillia followed the blade of the spear down to it's source and saw Alliyah holding the crystalline looking weapon. The same light that had formed in Trillia briefly was basking the area in divine power.

  Alliyah looked to Miah. "If I kill him, I will be taken. You have to do this."

  Miah grabbed the spear from her mother and stepped out of the safety of the barrier. Caelum lashed out with a dozen talons, tearing into the Goddess' physical and Aetherial forms. The Goddess of Mercy grunted and drove the spear further into the creature. Trillia felt even more power flow into the area and watched as Caelum's form slowly started to burn at the edges.

  "No! I will not bE deFeaTED!" Trillia heard panic in the immortal's voice. It tried to retreat again and put distance between the angry Goddess and itself. Only to find a falchion lodged deep in its back. An axe dripping with crimson-red mana cleaved off one of its arms.

  Brutus and Amara stood on either side of it, causing it to flinch back. Back into another stab from the empowered spear being wielded by Miah.

  Trillia felt a burst of energy slam into her chest, and her vision went black.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  -=====-

  Damnit!

  Damnit!

  "You really don't want me to do something?! Aren't we supposed to follow the damn rules?!"

  Dawn stared angrily at the old human next to her.

  "Last I checked, the rules only apply to the creatures in this universe."

  Dawn raised a finger to protest but stopped. "Really? Clever wording? That's what you are going with?"

  The old man gently patted her shoulder. "Which would you rather? We overlook a few...small incidents like this, or little Kain loses his wife and potentially more. What do you think does more damage?"

  "He cannot be left unchecked. It is dangerous, All-Father."

  "I can assure you, Lady Dawn. I am not unchecked. You and the All-Father have seen to my punishment for the past decade, have you not? After all, who sent Caelum to Alirast? Who is nudging that bloated cursed eldritch towards Alirast? Who has demanded that no one interfere with that Eldritch?"

  Dawn shot the axle a dirty look. "Fine. Have it your way, both of you. I have been trying to get her out of there safely...what happens if she loses to the Eldritch? Hmmm?"

  Kain laughed and looked down at his daughter, who was overflowing with energy, having just killed an immortal.

  "Then I will mourn her death and promise not to take my sorrow out on anyone else. The difference, Dawn. Is that you were created as the Universe core, I was a mortal. I am used to the ideal of faith, and my faith in Alliyah and the others is unmatched."

  Dawn gave the old human an exasperated look, but the All-Father only offered her a smile in return. "You're demented. What sort of husband sends a fucking eldritch after his own family?"

  "The type of husband who has absolute faith that they will all rise to the challenge. Now, level the playing field just a little...let my people know that they will ascend in fifty years, regardless of anything else. They have half a century to get their affairs in order. Let them fight for their homelands."

  The representation of the universe itself stared at the 2nd Axle. She often found herself wondering just what the unhinged mortal-turned-deity was playing at. "Fine. I will let them know they can fight. But if the eldritch gets them, if it obliterates them. You will not interfere with Alirast for the next three thousand years of local time in that realm. I want your word."

  She pushed a geas through the system to pop up in front of the axle's face, it was accepted instantly.

  -=====-

  Trillia woke up and found herself lying on a bedroll. Her peers were all lined up at her sides. The Generals were in a heated discussion not far from them. There was an uneasy feeling in Trillia's gut.

  "She's awake." Trillia knew her Mother's voice well.

  "Told you she'd wake up. Why do I have more faith in your daughter than you do?" Alliyah retorted and poked the Infernal Orc in the shoulder.

  "Because you're the only creature I've ever encountered who has the same fucking death wish she does!" A loud slap echoed in the clearing, leaving the Queen offering hurt eyes and dramatically rubbing her hand.

  "Is everyone ok?" Trillia managed to get the words out. It hurt to speak.

  As she tried to sit up, she found that hurt just as bad. "Yes...everyone is ok. Careful, Trillia. You shouldn't be moving right now, that wasn't an easy fight. It wasn't even a fight you should have been capable of joining."

  Amara had put a hand on Trillia's back to help her stabilize, Trillia's eyes looked around to see most of the clearing that they had been camping in was leveled. As her eyes traced the land, she saw Uncle Stas hunched over a mound of torn and shredded white flesh. Her eyes went wide.

  "He's dead?" Trillia couldn't believe the words she was saying. Had they avenged Mon'Tag and the others?

  "He is." Miah's voice brought her a certain level of comfort that only a deity could. "You should lay back down and go through your notifications."

  Trillia blinked but turned her attention inward to her status.

  Racial Evolution Path available!

  Primordial Infernal

  Would you like to put all current and future Species and Class experience towards this evolution?

  The little orc froze and read the notification a dozen times. Slowly, she turned to her Mother and read the notification out loud.

  "What does this mean?"

  Amara smiled and sat next to Trillia, wrapping the little orc in her arms. "It's what happens when you take part in killing a creature that is native to the bands of Celestia. My guess is that whatever else has happened to you has taken you further from being an orc and closer to being something else."

  She wouldn't be an orc? Trillia found herself grabbing onto her mother's arms and finding comfort in them. Did she want that? Did she want to not be an orc anymore?

  "I don't know what to do. There are no other notifications. Will I still be me?" Trillia couldn't keep the fear out of her voice.

  "You'll always be you, little one. Your father and I will always love and cherish you, and I think I can easily speak for your friends and say that they will always love and cherish you. If it's the only notification you're getting, there is a good reason for it."

  Trillia closed her eyes and prayed to Dawn. Asking the universe for help.

  For once...Dawn was silent.

  "I say you do it."

  Trillia opened her eyes and turned them to her Uncle Stas.

  "Fuck I mean, I'm not a goblin anymore. I'm listed as an abomination. Most people still tolerate me. Well, as much as they did when I was a goblin, at least. At the end of the day...it's just a word on our status page. I'm still a goblin in everything else I do, ok. An odd goblin, but a goblin all the same."

  "I...I want to talk to Lord Arlyss. I know we are here for-" The Queen raised a hand to stop her.

  "The Beast Scar can come later...after this most recent development, I think it best if we postpone. Your friends survived, but...they were not spared from the battle. They will need a few months to recover. Their souls did not go unharmed."

  Trillia twisted in her mother's arms to look at her friends who were all still laying in bedrolls. Once more the gnawing feeling in her gut that she was putting them in danger started to take hold. She wanted someone to help her make the decision. Someone to help her make things right.

  Amara gently knocked on her head with a knuckle.

  "Nope! I know that look. This one is entirely the fault of us old-timers. You and your friends did well to survive...sometimes that's all you can do. But you went and did some serious damage to an immortal creature, Trillia. That's no small feat. You helped to kill someone who was tormenting us. You avenged Mon'Tag and his scouts." Amara took her chin and firmly turned Trillia to face her. "You did that. With your own power and your own abilities."

  Trillia felt the panic start to ease. Leaf gently pushed on her soul and she gratefully opened the mental connection. "Are you ok?! Are Ialu and Dire ok?"

  The blade sent calming waves at her. "They are resting...you shielded all of us from the worst of the backlash."

  Trillia calmed down even more.

  "Mistress....thank you. It felt good to bite into someone connected to the Eldritch. I know they aren't the same ones that took Mistress Meridia from me...but still."

  Trillia blinked away the last of her panic, gently pulling away from her mother and grabbing Leaf. "Remember the taste. It won't be the last." The part of her that wanted to crawl into the advice of Arlyss or of Dawn slowly dwindled. The Generals gave her some space, seeing the turmoil on her face. As she gripped Leaf tightly, she looked at her friends, then at Ialu and Dire. "What do you think I should do, Leaf? I don't want to lose who I am...but I can tell that if I take this path, I will grow much stronger."

  "You are my Master, not the other way around. But in my opinion, knowing the type of woman that you currently are and the one you hope to grow into? You don't seem the type to throw away the power to help your friends for a word on your status page. It is as Lord Stas said. Orc is just a word, Trillia. If you turn into whatever this evolution is, you will still be you. You can still hold to all orc traditions."

  Trillia smiled and thanked the blade, setting it back down. She opened the notification and said yes to losing experience until she gained her evolution.