A youthful man kissed by the sun and his lame-legged brother watched as their most recent interest went through the magical equivalent of a computer crash.

  "Is this boy truly our hope? With how limited the parasite is making him, it'll be a wonder if he'll notice our aid."

  "You know as well as I, brother, that we don't have much choice, so yes, he is our best bet, unless you've found another of ours in a similar situation."

  The man limped around, grumbling.

  "Bah, we need to get the parasite's attention away from him; the suppression on his mind is keeping him from the truth, or at least the beginning of it. Why not have [Blood-Soaked Avenger] make a scene? He'd enjoy the rematch."

  The youthful man laughed, knowing their brother would enjoy such a thing, but both knew it might hurt them more than help their hope. It had been eons since they lost, and centuries since their worship dried up, tricked by the false promises of a [Shapeless thing that looked like logic]. The sun-kissed prince considered his brother's words and found merit. If they could pull its attention away from their child, maybe even uproot it from him, they could more directly communicate with him and start repairing the damage to Earth.

  "Our brother may be a poor choice... but what of our cousin [Born of Ghosts Queen]? Our uncle and his subjects have always had an easier time reaching other worlds."

  "Hmm, it's not a bad idea, but our cousin and uncle are far too busy despite the lack of aether, would they even hear us out?"

  "Let's see."

  The young man pulled out a black bone and created a [fire that creates], burning the bone in the flames to call forth their cousin. What came forth was, on one side, a beauty without comparison to both the mortal and immortal, while the other was a nightmare given face.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  "Cousins, I suppose this is a special occasion if you're burning the bones of my last follower. May I ask how you got it?"

  She spoke in two voices, from the beauty, a rasping, dark voice that could, and has, killed, from the shadow half, a singsong melody that could put old regrets to ease, a counter to the other side. As for the bones, the three knew where he had gotten it, but as per tradition, it was rude to admit it.

  "I'm afraid that is not as important as what we must discuss. If you would?"

  He motioned for her to look into the void, seeing the string of fate that still connected to their wayward child in another world. The [Ghost Queen] was never one to express her surprise, so after a moment to get over her shock, she turned to her hot-headed cousins, anger visible on her face.

  "I... certainly see the issue, how did one of ours get so far? Never mind, do any of the others know of him?"

  "Several, but by blood only we and the [Northern Pantheon] have any right to interfere, including [Moon-scented Bird] for some reason."

  "Have you made any attempts at communication, anything?"

  "We have, we even tried making a deal with him, but he declined. Personally, I think he's a bit indecisive."

  "Hmm, I'll need to take this to my father, does yours know?"

  "He will, once we have something that won't get us killed."

  "I-I'm not sure that's a good idea, but it would be on your heads, not mine. I'll take this up with my family on what to do, I doubt they'll send me, but my brother or the lieutenant might be a better fit, the death of that word feels strange."

  "We wait on you then."

  The dark goddess said nothing as she returned to her deathly domain, leaving the two men alone.

  "Was that a good choice on our part?"

  The youthful sun shrugged.

  "Probably not, but at this point, we're beyond lying to our family."

  "Indeed."

  It was only at this point that you noticed it. For all the lame man's bulk, there were parts of him that looked more like cold stone, warped metal, or rotted leather. The sun-kissed man was not spared the ravages of time and decay either, such as his sunny, bright hair thinning out and dimming every so often. A better look at them showed what remained when time and the special kind of death that comes with dismissal take hold. But as you looked at them, they too looked back, and as the sun reached out with a blinding hand, a sterile blue wall blocked your view, and you knew nothing.