Only God

"My victory, why do you seem troubled?"

Laiendos spoke,

"Such a scene, and yet Laren and Utus are both not present."

Sibos laughed and said,

"Did you forget? They went to find that person, didn't they?"

Laiendos still frowned,

"It's been three days, I'm worried about them..."

Sibos waved his hand, dismissing the possibility.

"What a joke, they are gods after all, and Utus is of the Fifth Rank.

How many Fifth Rank gods are there in the world?

If our King were still here, Utus would be his Subordinate God."

Laiendos shook his head,

"It's not that... I'm worried they might betray us…"

After saying this, Laiendos felt a twinge of guilt, feeling that he shouldn't doubt the two gods without reason.

"My victory, you amuse me; no one is better suited for comedy than you."

The Wine God laughed heartily, ignoring etiquette, and declared confidently,

"That will not happen,

I've never seen gods more steadfast than them!"

Laiendos nodded, affirming the words of the Wine God.

Sibos had a sip of wine and blinked,

"To speak of concerns, I have one as well.

My only worry is that they won't make it back in time for this celebration, to enjoy the beautiful scene of the city ablaze."

Sibos's words eased Laiendos's worries. The God of Victory thought it over and realized he really shouldn't be concerned for the two gods; instead, he should worry for that mortal.

"Enjoy the banquet well, and the victory. Even though you are the God of Victory, you too should celebrate every victory."

Sibos and Laiendos raised their glasses.

"Sibos, every victory is never short of your fine wine."

Laiendos complimented.

Then, the two gods turned their gaze towards the blazing Kaelonde. As the flames soared higher, the celebratory atmosphere at the banquet intensified. Some gods started discussing the details of poetry, debating which words to choose to accurately and vividly describe the scene. They watched the fire from across the shore, reveling in pleasure.

But just then,

what caught all the gods unprepared was…

the fire… began to be extinguished.

............…

............…

Within Kaelonde Royal City, the fire rose fiercely, quickly engulfing large swathes of buildings. When Aler and others who usurped the authority received the news of the fire, they reacted immediately, hurrying to dispatch people to extinguish it.

Dwarves scrambled to fight the fire, frantically dismantling buildings on the perimeter of the fire site, creating one clearing after another, or transporting water from various places to put out the raging flames. These measures achieved success locally, but for the whole city's fire situation, they were only a drop in the bucket.

Even though Aler and others reacted promptly, the fire continued unabated, illuminating everywhere with burning charred wood; clumps of flames and sparks soared towards the sky, turning half of the sky fiery red while the other half dimmed into a greyish-orange hue.

Wherever the flames had passed, large swathes of black ruins remained, within which sporadic flames continued to burn, feeding on the chaos that permeated the city.

Thick smoke drifted skyward in ribbons of sorrowful grey-white, giving rise to rampant looting by robbers, criminals, soldiers, and all manner of people revealing their true natures, seizing the opportunity to plunder, while the despairing cries outnumbered even the fires burning throughout the city.

Inside the Palace, everyone was frazzled, faced with an increasingly terrifying inferno, and no one had any effective solution to offer.

In the streets and alleys, reduced to ruins by the fire, dwarfs of all backgrounds, humble and prominent alike, were praying to Hiris, as the fire brought disaster indiscriminately.

"Oh Hiris! In your father's name, save us!"

"Extinguish these fierce fires, just a blow of your wind can do it."

"Wise Hiris, I won't defy you anymore, I won't question you anymore…"

Crying amid sprints and wailing as they ran, the dwarfs begged Hiris, or sometimes both Hiris and His father, and of course, some pleaded with Winter God Skadi, Water God Angel, Rain God, River God, Wind God… and other divine beings capable of extinguishing fires.

Naturally, some dwarfs interpreted the fire as the fury of the Gods, proclaiming it a sign of the apocalypse.

"This is the blaze from Hiris's furnace! Our disrespect has enraged the Gods!"

"May the Gods be merciful, even Hiris wants to protect us, but how can He alone bear the wrath of the Gods?"

"Think about every sin you've committed in the past, no matter how small, they each contributed to today's flames."

Such voices were incessant, with people alternately saying it was the wrath of the Gods, the retribution of mortals, merely an accident, or the conspiracy of the True Believers, Liar Believers, Death Believers, Prophecy Believers, and so on, and naturally, the Three-eyed Ape People and Golan's humans, among others, were also suspects.

The chaos was evident.

In the fiery skies, several figures appeared; initially, under the blaze soaring to the heavens, no one noticed this change, mistaking them for ash floating up.

However, following a shout that shook the whole city, the flames throughout the city were forcibly drawn together as if caught in a giant vortex.

"My poor people!"

Everyone in the city was stunned by this shout, thousands of eyes turned to the skies as that figure raised some Divine Artifact, and suddenly, a massive suction force emerged in the air, drawing all the burning fires in one direction, turning the whole sky a fiery red.

The crackling of flames, the clashing of the crowd, the chaos of roars… all these sounds halted with this miracle, leaving the city's populace in awe.

Hiris, carrying a furnace on His shoulder bursting with bulging veins, drew the flames enveloping the city into the furnace, one after another. This massive furnace glowed red-hot, and sweat continuously dripped from the muscles of the Mountain and Craftsman God, resembling the Fire God Himself.

As each flame was pulled in, a gust broke across the sky, Utus's divine power at work, stirring the clouds and bringing a heavy rain, covering Kaelonde just as the flames had almost engulfed it, extinguishing the remaining scattered flames and dimming the glowing charred wood.

Seeing both Divines exerting themselves to mend the damages caused by the fire, Laren immediately felt an overwhelming guilt, realizing how foolish He had been earlier, endlessly cursing and smacking His own face, acknowledging that all He could offer in this disaster was to provide the people with comforting dreams of surviveship.

The entire city cheered, singing hymns to praise Hiris, and extended their songs of praise to the Gods of the Celestial Kingdom, applauding Their generosity and virtues.

Those cheering and praising were unaware that in the starry skies above, a group of divine beings watched in utter disbelief.

"Hiris? How come He has appeared; wasn't He persuaded by Utus and Laren?"

"Wait, those standing beside Him are Utus and Laren! What's going on?!"

"Why isn't Utus stopping that craftsman?"

"Not stopping Hiris, Utus made it rain from the sky, He too is helping extinguish the fire!"

"Did they reach some sort of agreement? What on earth is going on?!"

Those divine beings, tantalized in merriment just moments ago, watched in shock and confusion, as the joyous banquet was abruptly interrupted, maids repeatedly hearing the sound of wine glasses shattering to the floor, spilling precious unbeaten wine - a sheer waste.

Sibos watched incredulously, beginning to panic and murmured:

"Utus, Laren… have you gone mad, all of you gone mad? Do you even know what you are doing?"

The God of Victory beside him, pale as a sheet, trembled:

"They have all betrayed us, my premonition was right, my premonition was indeed right!"