The apartment was quiet around me. Milo had gone to the Bureau's archive section, determined to find any remaining texts about the Threshold Realm. Zane and Fenric were meeting with the handful of Bureau agents they trusted, assembling what Fenric had termed "minimal but essential backup." Rook wasoutside in the hallway, giving me space while still close enough to protect me from any threats.
I appreciated the solitude, even as part of me craved their presence. These past weeks of learning to share myself, to be part of something larger than my own fears and insecurities, had changed me in ways beyond the obvious magical ones.
But tonight, I needed to be alone with my thoughts. To face what was coming without the comfort of their certainty bolstering mine.
The Oracle's power hummed beneath my skin, no longer foreign but not quite familiar either. It responded to my emotions, brightening when I felt determined, dimming when doubt crept in. Right now, it pulsed with steady, measured light. I was ready. Scared, yes, but ready.
"The thing is," I continued my one-sided conversation with Frank, "I know what choice I have to make. The Oracle showed me everything. The Harbingers have been leeching power from the actual gods for millennia, using prophecy as a weapon to control worlds. They've built this entire system on stolen divinity."
I touched the mark on my forehead, feeling its warmth. "If we succeed, if we actually manage to destroy their anchor point and dismantle their stolen power, I'll have a choice. Take their place, become the new architect of fate, or release all that power back to where it belongs and let the universe figure itself out."
Frank paused in his swimming, floating motionless for a moment before resuming his lazy circuit. I chose to interpret this as deep contemplation rather than fish-level attention span.
"I'm obviously going to release that power back to the universe, right?" I looked at Frank again, searching his tiny black eyes for wisdom he definitely didn't possess. "Let it go back to the gods where it belongs. That's the only way any future we might have together makes sense."
I shifted, adjusting Frank's bowl as my knee started to ache from sitting on the hard floor. Through our bond, I felt Horrace stir from where he was napping on the couch. His tentacles twitched, sensing my emotional state even in sleep.
"But how?" The question that had been plaguing me for hours finally escaped. "How do I release power like that? The Oracle made it sound simple, but they're cosmic forces we're talking about. Divine energy stolen over millennia. How does someone like me just... let it go?" I snickered slightly.
The knock at the door made me jump, nearly dropping Frank's bowl in the process. I clutched it protectively to my chest as my heart hammered. Rook was right outside. Why would anyone be knocking?
The knock came again, followed by a muffled voice that was familiar but also not quite right.
Horrace trilled in alarm, his colors shifting to worried oranges and reds as he unfurled from the couch. Together, we approached the door cautiously.
I peered through the peephole and gasped. Standing in the hallway, looking exactly as he had the day we'd first met him at Sunset Meadows, was Wadsworth. The ancient chaos entity in goose form, somehow having navigated Bureau security to reach our apartment.
Across the hall, Rook stood frozen mid-pace, his arms crossed and his expression locked in a rictus of surprise. He wasn't moving at all, like someone had hit a pause button.
I opened the door, still clutching Frank's bowl. "Wadsworth? What are you doing here?"
The goose waddled past me into the apartment, one wing raised in a casual wave. "He's fine," Wadsworth's cosmic voice echoed in my mind as he gestured toward Rook's frozen form. "Just a small time freeze. Seemed easier than explanations."
He hopped onto the couch with surprising grace for a waterfowl, settling his white feathers with dignity. "We need to talk."
I closed the door and moved to sit in the chair across from him, Frank's bowl still in my lap. Horrace positioned himself on the arm of my chair, his tentacles ready to grab me if a quick escape became necessary.
"About what?" Though I suspected I already knew.
"You know why." Wadsworth's black eyes held depths that made my vision swim slightly. Even in goose form, his power was immense, barely contained by his chosen shape. "Tomorrow you face beings who destroyed my kind. Who reduced gods to footnotes and stole our birthright to play puppet masters with reality."
The casual way he said it made my blood run cold. "Your kind? You're..." Not a chaos entity. A god.
"A god, yes. Or was, depending on how you define divinity these days." Wadsworth preened one wing absently. "Chaos incarnate, primordial force of change and possibility, all that nonsense. The Harbingers couldn't steal my power directly, it's too wild, too unpredictable for their structured system. So they settled for containment instead."
I stared at him, pieces clicking into place. "The retirement home. That's not just where you live, it's where they keep you."
"Among others, yes. Sunset Meadows is quite the collection. Aged gods, forgotten deities, primordial forces who've outlived their welcome in the new order." His cosmic gaze fixed on me with laser intensity. "We're the ones they couldn't kill or completely drain, so they made us comfortable. Gave us a nice place to fade away quietly while they reshaped the universe according to their vision."
The implications hit me like a physical blow. "There are others like you? Gods they've imprisoned?"
"Dozens. Maybe hundreds by now. Some have been there so long they've forgotten what they were before. Others, like myself, maintain awareness but lack the power to break free." Wadsworth's feathers ruffled with barely contained anger. "The Harbingers were very thorough."
I hugged Frank's bowl closer, needing the comfort of his familiar presence. "Why are you telling me this?"
"Because tomorrow you'll succeed. You'll destroy their anchor point and break the system they've built. Their stolen power will be released, looking for somewhere to go." Wadsworth's black eyes seemed to hold swirling galaxies. "The question is: what happens to that power?"
The weight of his stare made me shift uncomfortably. "I give it back. Release it to the gods where it belongs."
