Ouroboros opened his eyes as a swirling vortex opened in front of him. It glowed in an ominous red, the color of blood. Through it stepped a man, his skin had the color of charcoal, eight eyes dominated his face. The white hair on his hair looked stiff, more like bristles than actual hair. He looked tired and while his posture was perfect everybody could see the exhaustion.

  “You did it…you fulfilled your promise Boros but what price will you pay? The heavenly court is ready for you, old friend.” The man stepped to the side and waited. Ouroboros rose from his throne and nodded. “I’m ready…let's see what they demand off me.”

  Both of them stepped through the portal and appeared in a massive chamber. Rows of seats wrapped around the circular room. The serpent god looked up, the rows continued into the sky and had seemingly no end.

  In the middle of the circle stood a massive table, raised a few feet from the ground and behind it sat two people, both looked human except their eyes. On the left, sat a man, his iris and pupil were shaped like an hourglass. On the right, sat a woman, her eyes had no iris or pupil, her entire eyes were filled with stars. Horax and Nebula, brother and sister and the gods of time and space.

  They looked at Ouroboros, the grief clearly visible on their faces. To his right stood three gods, all of them looking rather smug. The rows filled with more people, all of them gods. At first it was just a trickle but only a few minutes later the rows were filled.

  Horax lifted a hand and soon the gods fell silent, nobody was moving in their seats, the whole world seemed to be frozen in time. The god of time stood up and spoke, his voice was deep and full, filled with authority and might. It was the voice of a true primordial god. “The heavenly court is now in sessions. Once again we meet here to discuss the fate of the universes. We, the gods of the multiverse humbly request the system to bear witness to our words.”

  Like a bell ringing the monotone voice of the system filled the heavenly court.

  Acknowledged. The system greets the gods.

  Horax bowed his head and sat down again, his next words made the gods gasp and excited whispers got exchanged. “We’re here today to discuss the challenge that was accepted by Ouroboros, The Eternal Serpent. He acts as custodian for Aeloria's last will. As we know she was, The Goddess of Winter., Mistress of Frost, All-Mother of the Winter Elves and the fourth god of seasons. Is this correct Ouroboros?”

  The God of Time fixed him with his eyes, the Serpent nodded, nothing else was needed.

  Horax nodded back and continued. “On the other side we have the Vulcanis, the God of Fire. Sulfuris, the God of Brimstone and Cineron, the God of Ash. You three are representing a bigger group of gods that want to deny the last will of Aeloria, correct?”

  Vulcanis stepped forward and nodded. “Yes heavenly judge” he bowed and stepped back to his original place.

  Now Nebula took over, her voice was melodic and filled with potential. “Ouroboros” , she said softly. “As the custodian of Aeloria, explain her last will to us.”

  He nodded and stepped into the middle of the circle, one his feet touched the engraved runes his appearance and voice was projected over the entire chamber. “As you wish heavenly judge Nebula.

  Aeloria’s last will states this. When a qualified person would be found during a system integration it would notify me and the system would allow me to establish contact with this person.

  I would test them and find out if the person was worthy to carry her legacy t-”

  “Preposterous! Her legacy was destroyed!” the God of Ash, Cineron called out.

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  “Silence!” Horax's voice cut the air like a sharpened wire and Cineron stopped talking, his lips trembling for a second longer.

  “Worthy to carry her legacy they would get the opportunity to become a winter elf and if they succeed in the tutorial, could conquer the Heart of Winter and bring back the winter elves to the multiverse. This will, this legacy was approved by the system and it would facilitate the opportunities for the prospective successor of Aeloria”

  Ouroboros took a step back and he could see the minds of the gods working. Even the gods couldn’t control themselves fully when hearing such a message. After a while Nebula stared at the three gods.

  “You tried to use heavenly favors to sway the system and failed, what makes you think you can now win in front of this court?”

  “We can’t let this abomination, this so-called goddess return! Winter can not return! It would consume us all! We demand that the will of Aeloria be forgotten and never fulfilled.”

  The cold blood of the serpent started to boil.

  “You two-faced bastard! I dare you to speak those words again!” A shadow in the form of a gigantic snake lifted itself from the ground, it surrounded Ouroboros and flared with power. “You were the ones that attacked her worlds, killed her children, shattered her realm and enslaved her god kings and queens! How dare you insult her!”

  Venom dropped from the shadow, damaging the heavenly court, the strongest building in existence.

  “I should skin you right here and now in front of your allies and descendants, maybe then they remember their place in the multiverse! You killed my wife…and I will ne-”

  Horax didn’t scream, he didn’t move, he just tapped his finger twice on the table and time stopped for everything. He waited for a few moments before turning his finger in a circle, time rewinded and with another tap it just as easily restarted.

  He looked at his sister, the only one not affected by his powers, she nodded and spoke.

  “We have come to a decision…we will allow the will of Aeloria to remain and even be fulfilled.” She looked at the three gods. “You will have a chance to fight for the right to revoke our verdict. There will be two fights happening. First, the heavenly court will prepare a battlefield for the gods. Secondly, with the blessing of the system, we will give the world…Earth? Yes, Earth. One year to prepare before they too need to engage in a battle. I’m sure both sides have already blessed members of the tutorial attendees?” All of them nodded and she continued. “Now, choose your side or leave, the court has decided. Does the system approve of our decision?” The voice returned again a moment later.

  Processing….approved!

  A war of the gods will be fought on a neutral battlefield.

  One year after the tutorial the forces of Winter and the forces of Fire will fight until a winner is found.

  Only when the war on planet Earth is won will the battle end.

  With the decision made the gods picked sides. While the fire gods gathered mostly young, volatile gods around them. There were also some old gods, even the other three gods of seasons.

  On Ouroboros' sides were reptilian gods, snakes and serpents, wyrms, drakes, wyverns and even some true dragons. Surprisingly the arachnid gods followed his call too. Not that surprising, some gods of frost, water, ice and nature came to his side. What even surprised him was Yggdrasil joining him.

  While he would love to plan with them all the time in the heavenly court approached the end. He thanked them for their help and promised to see them on the battlefield again. Then the system teleported him back to his garden.

  “I will avenge you and bring your children back Aeloria, I found a very promising young man to carry your legacy…”