Walking through the empty streets, I dragged the large bag of hearts and other item's I'd gathered over the last few days.

The Blue Nation was still here. But it was fading. Breaking. The picture perfect sky up above was cracking, revealing the real sky beyond it. What had been a bright sun high overhead was now a dim ball, slooping and falling, and all around it were holes and cracks as if in a glass pane. Between those holes and cracks I could see the starry night of the real sky. One with clouds.

I knew soon, maybe in a few days, the sky would completely crumble away. And once it did, most if not all of this nation and its contents would do the same. Some things might linger and remain, like certain buildings, or some of the crops, but most would just… shatter and fade away. Much alike a dirt mirror breaking apart into pieces.

"She had called it a Keep," I whispered.

That had likely been the spell's name. The one that had made this place. A fitting and apt description, to say the least.

If any of this place survived it'd make for a good hideout. It was so far from any other civilization, so hidden in such a deep forest that it was perfect for a place of solitude. Though what I'd use it for was beyond me. It wasn't as if I needed such things anymore.

"Though I suppose I do now have a bunch of hearts…" I mumbled as I glanced behind me at the bag I was dragging. The thing was leaving a trail of wetness behind it. The damned heart that had been spilling out that lifeblood was no longer spewing glowing blue water, but it still kept leaking water all the same. It seemed, and tasted, like plain fresh water at least.

There were twenty seven so far. I knew for sure there were more elsewhere. I had killed the monarchs that had been in the keep, and a good number that had charged in after the deed had been done. They had sensed their god's death, and had acted appropriately as they tried to exact vengeance.

Yet I knew not all had tried to get revenge. I remembered the large bull that I had seen earlier, pulling a wagon. I had yet to encounter that one yet.

My plan was to scour the area for a time, picking off the monarchs that likely tried to hide or flee. With the barrier breaking it was likely they'd be able to escape, given time and effort, but I was sure I'd be able to track them all down easily enough.

Especially with her help.

Looking up at my friend who flew over me on high, I wondered how long she'd been looking for me. I had killed Lapis at least half a day ago, but I figured Miss Beak hadn't entered the barrier until it had started to break down. That had likely not started until a few hours ago, I'd think.

I waved up at her gently as I stopped walking. I was in the middle of a bunch of large shops, but the road was wide enough that she had plenty of room to land comfortably so I decided to wait for her here.

Dropping the bag for a moment, I sighed as I rolled a shoulder and glanced around.

There weren't any bodies around here. None I could outright see, at least.

Likely because I had killed Lapis in the middle of the night. When they had all been at their homes, not at their workplaces.

How many had she said…? Two and a half million…?

I shivered at the number, right as Miss Beak landed a few dozen feet away from me.

"Vim…" Miss Beak's voice sounded tired as she looked around and folded her wings.

"Hey."

The huge monarch towered over the buildings, and I watched as she with a heavy eye studied our surroundings.

I knew she had likely seen all the corpses already. She had undoubtedly flown over not just this capital, but the whole surrounding area while searching for me.

"Are they all dead, Miss Beak?" I asked.

"Yes… Even in the far distant villages, there's not a one alive… what had happened? Had she used some kind of ability to cause this? In an attempt to stop you?" Miss Beak asked.

"Well… No. Or yes, in a way. Her name had been Lapis. She had empowered this nation's water supply with her power. To enrich the crops, or the soil maybe. Well… I had thought it would have meant the people would have suffered famines and chaos, losing their source of support, but obviously she had meant something a tad more serious," I said.

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"Vim…!" Miss Beak said my name, rather loudly. Loud enough to make me flinch.

"Yes…! Yes. I know. I should have realized it. But I mean… gods always say such things as I'm about to kill them!" I said.

"And for once they had been honest…" Miss Beak groaned.

I huffed at her. "Even if I had known it would have ended like this, I'd still have done it," I said.

Miss Beak's feathers ruffled angrily. "By killing her, you killed them. All of them," she said.

I nodded. "All but the monarchs, oddly. I've dealt with all the ones I've seen so far, but I know there are more around here. I'm glad you're here, your wings will make the search a lot easier," I said as I gestured to the bag.

Looking up at my friend, I wondered why she wasn't saying anything. Usually right now she'd complain over how many hearts I was making her eat, or maybe how she wanted to go home already. Instead she was just… staring down at me.

Staring at me in a way that… well…

"What?" I asked.

She still said nothing, opting instead to blink at me. A look of pure pity was plain on her face, and it almost made me snarl at her. Why was she looking at me like that?

"What? What is it? Going to yell at me for ending a god? You know why I do what I do. You know why I have to. Even if it hurts. Even if it… does this," I said with a gesture around me. Was she going to say this was all my fault? That I shouldn't have done it?

"Vim…"

Gosh she was going to, wasn't she! Since when had she been so gentle? How many gods and monarchs has she helped me slay over the years? How many thousands, if not millions, have we displaced and likely gotten killed much the same way as here and now? Servants, slaves, loyal cultists… Nearly every god had such people under them. If not as citizens of their nations, then as believers of their faiths. Or servants of their monarchs! This was just normal!

"Don't get all sentimental on me, Miss Beak… You know what's at stake!" I said.

Miss Beak didn't flinch at my shout. Instead she simply stared down at me, much as she would a child throwing a tantrum.

Even if I was one, that didn't give her the right!

"Vim… look there."

I glared at the huge pink-feathered headache for a moment, and then turned to follow her beak. It took me a moment, but I found where she wanted me to look. One of the shops, across the street, had a pair of bodies right in front of it. Judging by the angle of where they had fallen, and died, they had just been leaving it.

It had been a mother and a daughter, by the looks of it. Ones with little white wings on their backs, ones too small to fly with.

My jaw clenched as I stared at them, and then shook my head and looked away. "Yes, Miss Beak… they're dead. For allowing a god to lure them into reliance. They died for trusting a god," I said up at her.

Miss Beak inhaled deeply, sucking in a lot of the air around us. Then she released it with a deep sigh, one that expunged air so hot it dried the skin. "Vim… I've always supported you. Gods, typically, are cruel. And thus your ire for them is usually justified… but this?"

"Now listen…!"

Miss Beak didn't. "What word describes this, Vim? Other than cruelty? In what way is what you've done any different than what they do that you justify your vengeance with? Cannot others now not do the same for you? Are you now not just another god of cruelty yourself?" she asked.

I opened my mouth to shout at her, to argue, but hesitated.

She shook her mighty beak, rather slowly. "Ponder what you've done, Godslayer. I'll let you be. Hunt the remaining monarchs on your own two feet. Maybe the many miles and years it will take you to accomplish it, all the while traversing through a carcass filled desolated kingdom of your own making, will help you find the wisdom you left behind so long ago."

Then without waiting for my response she unfurled her mighty wings and flapped them a single time. I didn't flinch as I was hit by the huge gust of wind that propelled her upward and into the sky.

Glaring up at her, I watched her fly upward. To the cracked and broken sky high above me.

"Miss Beak!" I shouted at her, finally finding my voice. But it was too late. She wasn't just too far to hear me… she had already long since made her decision.

Being abandoned in this way was a first, and I had no idea how to handle it. Especially since… well…

Something splashed beneath me. I glanced down, and frowned at the water.

I had been standing on one of the thin aqueducts. That had carried the so-called lifeblood water. It of course was no longer glowing. Now it was just normal water. Fresh water, in fact.

The paved ground had crunched a bit from my weight, making my foot sink into the ground and ruin the aqueduct. Beneath me weren't the only holes or signs of destruction either. A nearby building was crumbling, and a distant hill had appeared in the middle of the road. Bricks and dirt were falling all over the place from it. Obviously while Miss Beak and I had our little spat I had lost control over my abilities. Water was pooling in the small hole I'd just made, soaking my boot in the process.

Taking a deep breath… I just stood there. Staring at the normal water pooling at my feet, water that had once been divine.

Two million plus souls.

Happy people, if but simple. Living their lives to their fullest.

People I even knew.

Marie. That happy-go-lucky girl who liked to slack off. Nectar and her family. A woman who had been loyal to me for centuries, as had her father. I had left her body floating in that pool of water and blood.

Other commanders, and who knows who else who had found their way here throughout the years…

Humans and non-humans alike.

Looking up, to the broken sky… I watched Miss Beak fly out of one of the massive cracks. She disappeared into the night sky, leaving me alone under the fake day one.

Leaving me alone in a kingdom of death, where I belonged.

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