Divine Beast Ascension

“What do you think? Wouldn’t they make a great couple?” Zelsh chuckled.

“They only know each other from sparring. They’ve never actually spent time together,” argued the other king.

Shaking his head, Zelsh insisted, “Jeerda. My son and your daughter have met plenty of times. And they’ve always had a favorable relationship. Why not eg them forward and see what happens? What’s so wrong with that? We’re both wyrms!”

“Be that as it may, I have no interest in such matters before the Mortal Championship,” replied Jeerda.

“Ahh... Fine. Then we’ll pick this up later.”

Knock, knock... The hall door opened up for everyone to see.

.....

“It took you long enough!” laughed Zelsh.

But Treeda shook her head and disagreed, “What do you mean?! Don’t you realize how far they traveled, and they still made it bake before midnight?!”

Chuckling amongst themselves, Bradok and Warak walked in.

Zelsh squinted. “Hey, what’s up with you? I thought you’d be coming back shouting and boasting about your new cultivation, or how you one-upped a god.”

Shrugging, Bradok replied, “Why? I’ve already proved that to him, so why keep acting like that? I’ve still got one last thing to show Warak and Treeda. So you’ll have to excuse us for a few minutes.”

Before anyone could object, Treeda rushed out of her chair and appeared next to the new arrivals. “Come. We’ll use my room.”

As the three walked away, the room returned to how it was moments ago. They could only wait until everyone was gathered to truly drink the night away.

The three of them were silent as they walked up the stairs until they reached the second to last floor. There, Treeda opened the door and activated a silent formation immediately. “Alright! What happened?!”

“A few things...” A fourth person appeared in the room, startling Treeda but not the others. “Relax. Warak already knows and has also agreed to join. However, his situation is much more difficult than yours given his status as an elite prefecture lord and as a supposed friend of Kartzal. Even with that, he’s agreed to my terms and is now a part of our plans, in his own way.”

“This- But that’s...” Treeda sighed, trying to take it all in while keeping her mind on track. “Then, tell me. What happened at the totem?”

Eeole nodded. “To put it simply, we all got to see and experience the memories of Warak’s ancestor. Particularly, we witnessed the memory of a certain day, the day Kartzal organized an ambush on the man you call the Demon Ape.”

Treeda blinked... she stared... Treeda was taken aback by such an unexpected answer.

“I won’t relay everything that happened, but there are some key points that you’d like to know,” explained Eeole. “First. Treeda, your strongest ancestor was a mid-god, but he died in that same battle, barely saving his daughter in the process, the early-god that your clan honors so greatly.”

“I-I have a mid-god ancestor?!”

“Yes. Now, for the second point to remember.” Eeole continued, “Kartzal was the definite leader and organizer of that ambush. Though I didn’t take part in the events of that day, I remember when it happened and how the world changed. It was soon after the Demon Ape’s disappearance that Kartzal met with most of the remaining gods in the world. Together, they formed the quadrants and took control of everything, including the world’s historical records.

“That’s how the apes were demonized and pushed down the social hierarchy, until the quadrants managed to convince the common people of the time that genocide was the best solution,” explained Eeole, getting different reactions from each person.

Looking to Bradok, Eeole stated, “There was only a single ape clan with gods, the clan of the Demon Ape. However, there were many ape clans with kings and divine bloodlines. Kartzal and the quadrant gods managed to slaughter the divine clans, along with all the elder clans. They forced apes to regress into novice and adept clans. Doing that, they were sure that apes would never come back to power and were even threatened with extinction due to their weakness. But, as you all can see today, apes are still around and growing as we speak. It only took them fifty thousand years to become some of the most dominant beasts among mortal clans, with divine experts emerging yet again.”

“Who are all the quadrant gods?”

Treeda and Warak both looked at Bradok. They could see and feel the palpable rage in Bradok’s leering eyes.

Eeole answered with a sarcastic smile. “You already know about Kartzal. After the eradication of the Demon Ape, there were hardly any peak-gods left in the world. Being one of them, Kartzal took control of the largest quadrant, West Quadrant. Then, a Divine-red Dragon took control of North Quadrant, the same mid-god dragon that survived that day’s attack.”

Crackle, crackle. Bradok’s fist clenched tighter and tighter.

“East Quadrant was taken by a high-god that didn’t participate in the ambush,” added Eeole, catching the others off guard. “However, that high-god is a long-time friend and subordinate of Kartzal, someone he strategically kept from joining that day’s ambush. In a way, Kartzal either gained control or influence over three-quarters of the known world, all because they had managed to kill the Demon Ape.”

“So... It’s Kartzal, Coward of the West, who bares the most blame?” Bradok nodded slowly and menacingly. “I’ll remember that... We all will.”

Squinting in thought, a question came into both Treeda’s and Warak’s minds. They blinked and hesitated to ask but Eeole snickered, “Go ahead. Ask away.”

“... You said he met with most gods. Which gods didn’t participate in that decision?” Warak questioned, piquing Bradok’s interest again.