16 A Thoughtful Mind

After the departure of lord Deggorath, Ethera had been sitting alone in her small chamber, contemplating on the words of her second uncle. She was now a named deity of their clan. A named deity! A full deity! She beamed in a wide smile as she glanced at the bronze crest on the upper left side of her Spire-Shield armour robe. The bronze crest was bearing her name which indicated that she was now a named bronze-puritan. Even before becoming a bronze-puritan.

That was something she had never imagined. Think of it, she would now be attending the regular gatherings of their clan's full deities to have discussions on the clan's general welfare and other less important issues. Although as a no-ranking deity, she was exempted from their clan's Shadow Council and First Conclave, the Regular Gathering was more than enough for her as a young deity who just performed her awakening.

She closed her eyes as she gently patted the crest. Yes, it was a great honour and a dream that came true, yet, there were great responsibilities that came with it. Especially, the risks that came with being a named deity of a ruling clan which were guided by a set of ways.

The Damora laws.

According to the binding laws of the underworld regarding the clans, a named deity of any level of the incipient stage could be challenged by another opposing named deity of any level of the incipient stage too. Which meant that she could be challenged by a diamond-puritan deity when she became a bonze-puritan. Despite the goodness of the Damara law protecting the incipient levels deities from being killed, she could still be immortally harmed. Particularly her essence core, which could be shattered.

Well, if her level of advancement remained the way it was now, she would simply surrender when faced with a diamond-puritan or any deity above her level, just like most others. Without advancement, how would she face a silver-puritan talkless of a diamon-puritan. Where as, without the essence crystals, there wouldn't be any advancement.

"Ahhh!"

She let out a quick breath as she agonized about her predicament. Her uncle had done great for her to soothe her agony. She reached into her spatial dimension and removed her four crystals. Three chaos essence crystals and one writ essence crystal. Normally, two chaos essence crystals would be enough to take her to the silver-puritan stage, but her path of Twin-Realms would also require two light energy essence crystals. She would need one more to reach the next stage.

However, if her uncle could find only one writ essence crystal, she knew she wouldn't be able to find any on her own. Anyway, it was better to take her mind off it for now.

As her mind wandered off to her father, Ethera stood up and went looking for her parents. Since it would soon be twilight, she decided to check the cultivation room. As she made her way to the cultivation room, she wondered why any deity would want to challenge her father who wasn't even part of the Conclave Of Deities.

True, her father was a Premier deity which meant he was still a ranking deity and could be challenged, however, he was a dormant premier. Since his core was shattered, he had become a latent deity. There was simply no accredited honour in challenging him. So, why would someone challenged her dormant father? No matter what might come up later, her father must concede and relinquish the challenge. He had the right to do that as a latent deity. She would have to talk to her parent about this.

Nearing the cultivation room, Ethera could sense the presence of her parents inside the chamber. She gently eased the stone door opened and peeked inside. The cultivation room was serene and her parents were sitting down in lotus position with their eyes closed. Meditation. Why were they even meditating? They should be worried about the upcoming situation.

With a slight frown on her face, she walked into the room. Seeing that they didn't acknowledge her presence, she sat down silently and joined them in meditation. After a couple of minutes, she opened her eyes to find that her parents were still deep into meditation. She knew they had already realized her presence through their divine sense before she entered the cultivation room but didn't want to disrupt their meditation.

Well, sooner or later, they would have to open their eyes and she would be the first thing they would see. As she was about closing her eyes, her father's voice sounded in a whisper in her mind which made her snapped her eyes wide open.

"In this chaotic world of deities, the one thing we have is our honour, my child. Honour is the immortality in us as deities. It is the shield of the deity soul. The very first thing to be put on by it and the last to be laid down. Soon, you will understand this, my daughter."

Ethera was staring widely at her father's closed eyes while his words sounded in her mind. What honour was her father talking about? Wasn't there honour in admitting defeat and avoid the unseen dangers of a challenge?

She continued gazing at him as his eyes slowly opened. It was at this time that her mother's eyes suddenly flew open which caught her attention. She turned her head towards the direction of her mother who gave a soft breath before locking eyes with her which threw her off. There was a dim blue-white glow in her mother's eyes that she had never seen before. She quickly realized she truly knew little about her mother.

"We know why you are here, my daughter. You are worried about your father because of the immortal challenge. Aren't you? You don't need to be. This is a clan's challenge, not a clan's war. Honour will be at stake on both end to prevent mortal harm. As a deity of honour, your father has to be there. His hard earned honour is at stake as well as the honour of the clan."

"But mother, father is a member of the ruling clan. The honour is always there. He doesn't need to accept any fight."

"There are better ways to concede defeat in a challenge without tarnishing the honour, Ethera. If your father thinks he can't continue with the challenge, he would concede in a way where he won't loose too much face as a ranking deity. But it will be a great dishonor if he won't appear to duel at all. Dishonour that he may not be able to amend and the consequences could be severe."

With an easy smile on his face, lord Hargoven stretched his and placed it on his daughter's shoulder.

"Rest your mind, Ethera. I have no plan on dying anytime soon. And surely, not in a challenge. Alright?"

After recieving a nod from his daughter, Hargoven's smile became wider s he examined the spire-shield robe armour on Ethera. Today was the third day after her awakening and the day she had to get her soul weapon in the valley of A-Thousand-Death. Going by what he had seen of his daughter, he knew she had prepared so hard for this day.

"Now let's go and get your soul weapon."