This short excursion takes place some years after the conclusion of Nice Save.
Ekwi, Jyan, Ri Jogatu, and the Amtsvane and Duduk species belong to  teedash.



The god-emperor of Neo-Kosor gave a start in His throne. Thrown out of His thoughtful ponderings, His face settled into an expression of grave concern.

“Is something the matter, Your grandeur?” It was his High Priest, Va-Ekwinalmes, looking up in confusion. His head only reached a little above his god's knees, but since the great Ekwi Irrepaumal stood over 99 meters tall, the title of “High Priest” held no hint of irony.

“Indeed, something is definitely the matter.” The deity's impossibly low voice rang out. It was a voice that was felt moreso than heard, but through the power of the gods, it was impossible to misunderstand. “We cannot yet be certain of the situation, but We know that it warrants Our concern. You will initiate plan 327.”

“Yes, great treasure of our world!” Va-Ekwinalmes, who appeared to be the same species and colour as his god, bowed.

“We shall now take Our leave.” With a deep “SHOOM” sound, Ekwi vanished in a burst of golden light and shimmering particles.

Who should He contact? The narrative deities? No... They did not want to be bothered, and they could unwrite even someone as great as Him! They had been much more than good to Him thus far. For someone from His old world to have come here – that had been what he sensed, moments ago... It must have been because they allowed it. This new presence on the divine plane was not one that should have been remotely strong enough to oppose them...

Formidable Yektir? No; though It had shown itself able to access His original planet, It had not been the one to bring Him here. Most likely, whatever bizarre confluence had led to Him being here, or something like it, was to blame for the newfound presence of one of his old foes. Yektir was an ally, but… He was not prepared to owe It any favours.

Primeval Jyan? She was a shaper of worlds and life, though He believed that She had been retired for centuries, if not millenia, before ever coming here. She was no less powerful now than She was in those days, but it would be difficult to stir Her to action. Still, they were on good terms... it was a possibility, at least, that She might help.

These were all big guns, obviously. Far above His own weight class. The presence of Ri Jogatu on the divine plane might not have warranted such an extreme response.

Jogatu, as He had understood things on His original world, was not a deity whose followers numbered anywhere close to His own, but Their intellect and wiles could, given the right circumstances, provide an advantage that mere brute force may not overcome. He had had little more than skirmishes with Them, and though They were no stranger to battle, They seemed to try to avoid conflict unless it was advantageous. It was said that They could peer into the future, although at the time, Ekwi was not sure He believed such a thing could be done.

There was no way that Ri Jogatu had arrived here unprepared. They must have had a plan. Ekwi had learned that cooperation between deities was possible here, even prosperous, and He suspected that it would have been the same on His old world, if someone could manage to convince the others to try. He was not optimistic that this had happened in His absence. Still, had Jogatu achieved it...? Perhaps, had They wiped out the rest of the world and come here looking to finish the job, instead?! It had always felt like the natural way of things for the pantheon to be at war, until only one was left...
Ekwi sighed miserably at the thought of His poor planet, the one that had given Him life, doomed to such a sad fate. Even if He had been the final victor, standing on the corpses of all the other deities... Weren't they all just trying to survive, ultimately? If there was a fair chance that they could all be stronger together - maybe not in the sense of having more divine power, but something like the simple, comforting stability that deities had on this world, which he had come to find surprisingly satisfying, and the enjoyment he found in the company of many of them - then the thought of ensuring that the other deities of his old world all died, so that He could have become the supreme ruler, filled Ekwi's mouth with a bad taste. And yet, there was a time when he would have considered it the utmost triumph.

They were making no move, as far as this god-emperor could tell. But then, something was clouding His sense of Them. Perhaps if He got closer, he would have a better idea, but even after centuries of peace and prosperity, He had not forgotten his old ways. The paranoia that plagued all but the more incompetent deities of his world. The plan, then, dictated who to contact.

“Lust, your desirousness.” He called to a deity with fur as white as snow, with whom all deities of this world were familiar. The strange arrival of his rival had only taken place seconds ago, but she was a facet of a larger entity, which took the form of a family called “The Divine Duduk Business,” and if any of them had received intelligence from their wide network of spies, informants, priests, and so forth, then she would know. Between divinities, much could transpire in the blink of a mortal's eye.

“Ekwi, Your utter dominance~ Is this about the new arrival?” True, He could have called out to any of the other members, but He found He liked her personality best, and they had become very close, in ways beyond the manner one might expect.

The two quickly compared notes, and it seemed they were seeing the same entity: a towering creature with fur from which no light reflected, resembling an anthropomorphic wolf with four ears. They had eyes, pawpads, teeth, claws, and assorted other features of pure glowing white. “Indeed. We know this deity, or knew Them, from Our old world.”

“Oh, wow! That's definitely unusual. Right. What can You tell us?” Ekwi shared what He knew about this other divine ruler, but cautioned that things could have changed in His absence, and that His information was incomplete, mostly gained from pilfered artifacts and the rare less-forceful exchanges that were done between divine nations. “I see. We'll stick to the protocol, taking what You've said into account. I take it You've put things in motion for Your part?”

“That is correct.”

“Great. Thank You for the intel, golden one. We'll let You know if we need You to send an avatar, after we've established Their intentions.”

“Of course, You are most welcome. Now. What can You tell Us?”

“What we're seeing isn't quite how it usually happens. It seems like They're half here, half not here. We believe it's something like astral projection. It also looks like They've begun gathering information with some kind of mass scrying technique. Sarfis is going to try to make contact, unless You can think of someone better.”
“The Imp multitudes...? We suppose they do have a sort of charisma. Yes, they should be suitable, if Our understanding of Ri Jogatu is accurate. We must wonder, however, why they are involving themselves in our affairs.”

“They just find this situation exciting!”

“...Is that an acceptable reason?”

“They are qualified for it, Your grace. They may not be locally-based, but they have enough dealings here to know what's up. Plus, better to send someone who's gung-ho than someone who'd rather not get involved, we think.”

“We can see the value in this. Very well. We will await your word, bringer of delights.”

“I'll keep you appraised, and I look forward to our next meeting, bringer of floods.”

Now He could only wait, and supervise that things in his domain were in motion as they should have been...

…

“Hey, god-emperor Ekwi of Neo-Kosor.” A scratchy voice not nearly as deep as Ekwi's sounded in his mind. “This Ri Jogatu guy, you okay to talk to him? He says he comes in peace.” He didn't appreciate the lack of reverence, but it was a far cry from the hostility He had been familiar with centuries ago. From a deity whose influence spanned many worlds, He could accept such treatment, even if it bothered Him. His tail flicked, an action that could fell a mortal-size building had he been careless. There were no buildings here within his war room, of course.

“We are prepared. Where shall we send Our avatar?” He looked down at the table, which showed a map with a hologram of Jogatu's astral projection hovering at the center. They were sitting in a position of meditation, surrounded in a halo of white light.

“Send it right over here, if you would.” Ekwi mentally received the coordinates from the Imps.

“Lust, if you would, please confirm for Us the location where We are to send Our avatar. For Our own reassurance.”

“Of course, powerful one. I understand.” She gave Him the same location. He touched the spot on the map, generating a little hologram of himself there. His generals, who had little to do most of the time, nodded.

“You have Our appreciation.” Then, to Sarfis, “It shall be done.” With a small effort, He created a duplicate of Himself. This one lived and breathed, ultimately mortal, though it carried a fraction of His divinity and was of equal size. This avatar warped to the designated spot, and was soon joined by His former competitor.

The place resembled a grassy public park, with a concrete path leading to a round seating area in the area the two deities were sent to, but it was macro-scaled. Even the trees were like super-sized versions of more ordinary ones. The deities sized each other up, metaphorically speaking.
Ekwi broke the silence. “Wise Ri Jogatu. Before we begin, We do not wish to hear what has become of the world in Our absence. We shall not respond kindly should You violate this simple request. Now. What do You wish to say?”

“It is pleasing to see You well, fierce Ekwi Irrepaumal, and to see what has become of You in this strange environment. Before Your disappearance, I had always hoped that, some day, there could be peace among our pantheon... Though I could see no paths in which that end was certain.” Their voice was like a wind through trees had learned to growl.

Ekwi had never seen Them up close. His eyes, bearing powers of enhanced vision, could make out details that light did not carry. It was said that the deity whose image swam before him could switch sexes at will. For the present, it was evident to Ekwi that They were male. The primary features that gave it away on His own form were hidden, but to His enhanced vision, Theirs were quite prominent.

“This insight pleases Us. But how could You possibly have come here, and for what purpose?”

Jogatu bit Their lip. “To give You the full answer, I would need to tell You some things regarding the time after Your disappearance. Technically, I would need to reveal a little to give You any meaningful answer.”

Ekwi nodded thoughtfully. “Then tell Us only what must be told to answer Our inquiry. If it requires You to tell Us of the fate of any individuals or powers... then We must rescind that inquiry for now.”

“I understand. The short version... I suspected Your disappearance was not Your destruction. I searched for a way to find out what happened to You, and My search brought me to this place,.. to somewhere beyond My reckonings!” They laughed quietly, with a soft smile. “It has not been easy.”

“You discovered a way to breach the very walls of our reality with Your consciousness, and reach into this one... Yet We have not even ascertained how We ended up here instead of where We should have,” He said with an air of frustration and respect.

“My powers allow Me to shift My perception to nearby realities, in the right circumstances. It took time, but I finally found the trail You left when Your Translation went awry. I don't know what caused it yet, but I'd like nothing more than to join You here.” They sounded sorrowful, and earnest. Ekwi was unsure why the former, but hearing it did not give Him ease.

“You've located Us, then, and We are most impressed.” The standing serpentine god loomed over the 15ish-meter floating canine one. “But what of Your followers? We had no intention of abandoning... Ours.” As He spoke, he walked around Jogatu, taking in Their form, though he paused when unpleasant memories came up. “Further, We are certain that You remember the state of divine relations when We made our Translation. Even if You say You have peaceful intentions... How can We trust Your word?”

Jogatu's fluffy tail swayed tranquilly. “I believe I can keep the connection up and multilocate, but I would need a body here to Translate into. I can provide plans, and You could oversee its construction, along with anyone else You trust to ensure that I haven't slipped in anything inappropriate. After that... you must have some way of working these things out. I've seen the assortment of deities here, or at least enough of it to come to that conclusion.”

“We would like to welcome You... yet, We cannot rid Ourself of suspicions so readily. In any case, it is not Our decision alone to make. The council will decide Your fate.“

“I believe I can maintain this for as long as it takes. There should be no issues on My end.”

“Impressive... Is there anything else You would like to say?”

Jogatu nodded. “There are many things I'd like to know about You. I'd like to tell You I always found You attractive.” Ekwi nodded approvingly. “Why don't we share things about ourselves for a while?”

“You are pleasant to gaze upon as well.” Jogatu's ears perked slightly. “We admit to some curiosity about You, in turn. Consider Yourself fortunate this day, as We never grow tired of speaking about Ourself...”