Usually Eeris, goddess of nature, swung by with good news and a friendly smile. But not this time. Wooden blocks filled with symbols hung from her giraffe neck, thanks to a necklace of leaves. She waited in the expansive flower field near the Nightriver until she had everyone’s attention.

Her voice sounded like a song that was probably still audible in other lands.

“The gods have decided!”

Dilova stood in the crowd, but saw nothing. She was a small creature, with tiny wings and just one tiny foot, surrounded by bigger beasts. Such as Gosti who had climbed down from the trees. Or rabbits, sometimes disguised as Equids.

That, dear reader, were the predecessors of horses. At this time, they were still as big as a rabbit, but they grew rapidly after the disappearance of the dinosaurs.

She lost her other foot when she was still a chick, forcing her to alternate between short bouts of flying and standing. If only I could fly longer, she thought. And fly higher. This is so tiring.

Some still called her a dinosaur, but when she saw those stone statues of the real dinosaurs … she didn’t believe any of it. She liked the name Protobird better.

“To better protect life on this planet,” said Eeris, “we are instituting a few rules. We call them the Dracs. Whoever does something mean will be stopped by us. This applies to all beings, from the Proto-Turtles in the sea, to the Cloudbeings in the sky, to the elephants on land.”

Her father looked more like a dino. His wings were weak, his skin tough and bumpy, and he dwarfed his daughter Dilova. Finally, he lifted her onto his back so she could see above the crowd.

“What is mean?” asked a brave Gosti, a monkey with big piercing eyes.

“These wooden blocks describe that in detail.” Eeris threw them at the animals’ feet.

“Most here cannot read,” said the Gosti.

Spoken language was improving, dear reader, but that was all they had. The gods had only devised a hundred or so symbols with which to communicate. And only the wise Gosti had really bothered to learn them.

Eeris looked at one of the blocks. “The first Drac says: whoever intentionally murders someone, will be burned by the fire god. The second Drac says: whoever steals food from another, will be burned by the fire god.”

Her eyes glided over the big row of symbols around her. She sighed deeply. “The summary is that the world is getting full. Some animal species have the tendency to … take more than they need, destroying others’ territory for it. The gods will certainly punish that.”

All the beings talked, neighed and chirped over each other. They had endless questions for Eeris, but Dilova’s father was not interested and turned away.

Dilova was chilled by the idea of being burned. She wished Eeris had not read those blocks at all, because now she was afraid every step she took was wrong, and it sounded like all the other animals felt the same.

“But understand that we do this for you!” she heard the giraffe goddess say.

“Nonsense,” said her father, once they were out of earshot. “They don’t decide this, of course this is an order from the Supreme God.”

“Have you ever seen him?” asked Dilova.

“No. No one. But he must exist. The stories say he threw down that asteroid to wipe out the dinosaurs, the very same day they decided to fight the gods!”

A flying creature soared high in the sky, though large enough to briefly eclipse the sun. Dilova and her father watched it. Its slow wingbeats were strong enough to blow leaves into whirlwinds.

“And that Ghostbird is the guardian of the Supreme God. And his messenger.”

“Wow. Wow wow wow. Really?”

“Have you ever seen such a big beast? None of us have wings like that, and none of us can fly so high. It must be a divinely blessed creature!”

Dilova kept watching until the Ghostbird became a black dot in the distance. That must be amazing. Flying above everything, forever. I want that too.

She jumped off her father’s back and tried to glide again. Unfortunately, she never managed a longer journey than the stretch from the Wildfields of Wit to their nest on a low branch. And her single foot already hurt from all the standing.

“So,” she asked, “you think the new rules are good?”

“They come from the Supreme God himself, so they are just. As long as none of us becomes a devil, and I don’t expect we will, nothing will happen to us. That’s how he rules over us, that’s how he even rules above the clouds. He’s improving the world, one step at a time.”

Dilova nodded along with her father. She had to agree that it would be unpleasant if big elephants suddenly ran through their fields and trampled everything. They should stay in their own place. But a bird doesn’t have that problem. The sky is endless, you can go anywhere. If only we could fly longer and higher.

“Now, darling, go have fun playing with the other Protobirds. I want you homeward bound before dark.”

“Yes, dad.”

But Dilova did not plan to play another round of tag and lose because of her foot. She had to practice flying.

Over and over she took off, flew the length of a tree, then crashed back to the ground. She tried and tried. Pushing off harder, starting from a rock, alternating the flapping of her wings. And she kept trying, even when her foot faltered from exhaustion.

She flew over the Sunset River: the first branch of the Nightriver and the border of their territory. She felt like she improved steadily. Just a few twigs further, just a bit longer in the air. Though it remained endlessly tiring, hard work for little result. What did dad say? One step at a time, or something. Keep trying.

On her last attempt, she rose considerably and became excited.

It turned out, however, that the Ghostbird passed by overhead and sucked her upwards. For a hundred heartbeats, she flew freely over the area, eyes closed for a moment, enjoying the sunset.

When she opened her eyes, she immediately crashed down.

The whole area below her was barren. The trees had been removed, the ground flattened, and she didn’t even find any insects. She landed upside down in one of the rare bushes still alive.

That’s why, at first, she didn’t understand what she saw. But when she turned around, she recognized the silhouettes rising from the water.

Proto-Turtles.

Bigger than ten elephants, bigger than all the gods. Their shell was a mosaic of thick square plates, with trees tied to them as if they weighed nothing. Their legs were soft, like sponges in the earth, barely strong enough to shuffle over land.

For they were not supposed to walk on land. The Proto-Turtles swam in the Midterra Sea, which had recently formed when the continents broke apart. Something Darus still bragged about when he came by.

“It is not enough.” Each word from a Proto-Turtle took an eternity. You didn’t understand the words, they thundered through your body.

“We must go further inland.”

Dilova rolled out of the bushes and unsuccessfully tried to fly. I don’t think this follows those new rules of the gods.

After centuries of empty skies, Cosmo had never expected to hit a piece of wood just underneath the first Cloudbeings.

It was so unexpected that he bumped into it twice more, before realizing he couldn’t fly through. But he also couldn’t fly underneath it, or even around it.

Large blocks of stone lay on a skeleton of wooden planks. They formed a staircase down. Are they building a watchtower? thought Cosmo. Or is this another creative project by the Gosti that we don’t understand?

Cosmo considered flying past and ignoring it, but his heart protested. Centuries of empty skies, he thought. Could it finally change?

Maybe the animals wanted to live between the clouds. Then Cosmo could finally fly amidst other creatures, instead of hovering above them at his lonesome. If he had to do this for another thousand years, he would go mad. The bird god who died of loneliness, that’s what the animals would call him.

The stairs were already quite high. Cosmo actually thought it impressive that they built such a structure. Here and there, drawings were carved into the stone or flowers provided decoration. Besides the Throne of the godchildren, he knew of no structure that reached higher.

But if they built even higher, it would have terrible consequences.

He landed on the step that showed an imprint of his head. Dizzy, he walked down, step by step, not entirely sure how sturdy this staircase was, until he met the first creatures.

Two Equids held a branch between their teeth, one on the left and the other on the right, and walked up.

“Noble creatures, what is the purpose of this?”

“Sorry. Concentrating. Don’t want to fall!” They trotted on without even looking at Cosmo.

The next creatures were just as busy. A row of rabbits hopped four steps at a time, stones collected in a backpack tied to their belly.

“Why are you building a staircase?”

The rabbits looked at each other. “Just because.”

“Everyone’s doing it, right?” the other offered after a long silence. “Right?”

Cosmo sighed. He reached the base of the stairs, cleverly placed between the Maybemountains, around which animals swarmed. He coughed loudly; the area fell silent.

“Who are you? And why are you building such a high staircase?”

Only one stepped up to him. “My name’s Fiante. I have a daughter, Dilova Onefoot. She really wants to talk to that Ghostbird once.”

Cosmo frowned. “And for that hundreds of creatures collaborate on the biggest construction ever? You should have asked me.”

“Asked you? No, we’ll ask the Supreme God.”

“Supreme God?” Cosmo looked around, increasingly confused, feeling like he was the butt of a joke. “Listen, that Ghostbird is my child. If you want to see it up close, I’ll ask it to come down. Though it will most likely destroy everything in this field.”

Fiante laughed and pushed his foot against Cosmo’s wing, as if they were best friends.

“Good one, Cosmo.”

“It’s impressive,” Cosmo admitted. “Where do you even gather the materials? The motivation? I’ve never seen so many animals cooperate.”

Fiante smiled. “By not saying the stairs have to be this tall or that tall. By not looking at the end, but simply saying every day: one step at a time.”

“How long have you been building then?”

“A week or two.”

Two weeks? thought Cosmo. At this pace they’ll surpass the first Cloudbeings in a few days, and in a week might be so high that …

“There’s nothing up there!” he called out. “No Supreme God. No heaven. No oxygen. If you leave the atmosphere, you’ll die quickly and that’s it.”

Fiante pointed at him. “Of course you’d say that. You don’t want us to reach the Supreme God.”

“Where does that idea even come from? There is no—”

“Yes yes, you’ll keep denying it.” Fiante whistled at a few creatures who were standing around listening to the conversation. They immediately grabbed new blocks of stone and carried them up the stairs.

“Okay, pretend there is a Supreme God. Why do you want to talk to him so badly?”

“Like I said, my little daughter really wants to. And well, don’t we do everything for our children? Everything to protect them? Even if you have to take drastic measures for it. Like … impose strict rules, such as your Dracs?”

Cosmo didn’t believe any of it. He had a vague suspicion who Dilova was. He felt sorry for her and wanted to help, but this staircase was nothing but a waste of time and a gigantic danger.

Three Protobirds stormed towards Fiante. Feathers flew from their wings while their beaks clattered loudly.

“It happened again! More eggs were stolen!”

“Don’t worry, don’t worry,” Fiante said reassuringly. “We’ll find the culprit,” he turned to Cosmo, “and the Supreme God will show his justice.”

Cosmo could no longer bear this nonsense. It was bad enough they didn’t believe in him and his family anymore—that his family had turned into something more akin funny friends—but this whole idea was ridiculous.

“You know what? I’ll find the egg thief for you, and you stop building the stairs.”

“Thanks for the help,” said Fiante, “but those stairs will be built. One step at a time.”

Cosmo pulled his beak taut. He pushed himself off the ground without another word and rushed straight to the Rainbow Woods. Hopefully, Eeris was home and hadn’t let herself get carried away on another adventure again. During the Third Ice Age they had lost her for a month because she had met a mammoth who needed aid.

Relieved, he saw her yellow shape on the flowery throne. She was telling a little story to some rabbits, but Cosmo didn’t want to wait and landed next to her.

Eeris pretended not to see it. “And then the prince came to wake the princess with a kiss, but never mind, suddenly a gigantic bird was standing next to him to interrupt this important action. Ridiculous! Then the fairy tale will just have to continue another time, he thought.”

The young bunnies giggled and hopped back into the woods.

“Pardon!” Cosmo said. “This can’t wait. Crane your neck, look East, and tell me what you see.”

“Cosmo, why can you never just say what you want to say?” Eeris did as he asked anyway. “I see some kind of structure?”

“A staircase. A gigantic staircase. The creatures want to go higher than the clouds.”

“What’s wrong with that? Are you afraid of stairs? Do you have a fear of heights? That would be funny! Oh, I can make up a whole fairy tale about that.”

Cosmo used his wings to settle her bouncing head. Eeris frowned and mumbled: “But why are they doing that?”

“I have no idea! But if they go above the clouds, they’ll die. They can’t breathe the air. That’s bad enough already!”

“But our Dracs don’t say building a staircase is forbidden. Would be kind of weird too. We just proclaimed we want to help the creatures and allow their ideas.”

He waited until Eeris stopped smiling and looked as serious as him.

“But we’re still recovering from the disaster with the dinosaurs. If all those creatures die at once, we’ll lose so much life force … I don’t know if we can survive that.”

When Eeris swung by this time, Dilova couldn’t judge if it was good or bad news. It turned out to be no news at all.

She greeted everyone kindly. She didn’t even look at the staircase and acted like it had always been there. She patiently listened to the complaints about the egg thief who was still active.

Since that one time Dilova managed to fly for a while—when she was accidentally sucked up by the Ghostbird—she searched day and night for a similar feeling.

Father said I shouldn’t talk to the gods, Dilova thought. That they had to work even faster now Cosmo had discovered them. But Eeris is different than those other gods.

Her body felt so tired. Her wings from trying fly, her foot from trying to stand. But she wanted it so badly that she studied the sky every heartbeat. Father probably thought she was admiring the stairs, but she only saw herself floating between the stars. Stars that seemed endlessly far away.

She waited on a low branch until Eeris was close by. Then she whispered: “Eeris, I have a little question.”

Eeris brought her head right next to hers, even if her neck had to twist to do so. She whispered too: “Why are we whispering?”

“I’m looking for a place where something pushes me upward. So I can practice flying. Do you know anywhere like that? You’ve been everywhere, right?”

“Not everywhere, but you don’t have to look far. Cosmo’s throne is in the middle of the Gigagushers. Sometimes hot air shoots out of the earth there. That’s how all life began, can you believe it?” Eeris spoke more enthusiastically. “But can we stop whispering? It hurts my voice.”

Dilova hesitated and plucked at her feathers. But Eeris looked at her so sweetly. “Father can’t know I’m talking to you.”

“Why not?”

She saw Fiante in the corner of her eye. He walked their way.

“I’d recommend taking a look at the Midterra Sea,” Dilova whispered, before she jumped to a higher branch, and Eeris quickly looked the other way.

“Ah, another so-called inspection of the stairs?” said her father.

“Um, yes, and I have to say the stairs don’t look very sturdy at all. It’s dangerous to continue building.”

Fiante tapped his nose against her brown hoof.

“Good one, Eeris.”

Eeris didn’t have to walk all the way to the Midterra Sea. Around the Sunset River, the green forest landscape already changed into barren brown plains. Her connection with nature, her sense of life force, immediately sank. Her body shivered and she unsuccessfully tried to grow some plants from this flattened earth.

“Who does something like this?” she repeated over and over, out loud. As if she hoped an animal would burst from the mud and answer.

Footprints made a winding path back to the sea. Eeris didn’t recognize them, which scared her, because she knew all the feet of all the life she had put on land. Their depth revealed they had to be heavy beasts. But what? And where are they now? And why?

The first trees she saw, were drifting dead in the water. Until they seemed to come to life. A Proto-Turtle in the distance pushed its head through the water surface and created high waves. Opposite of them, snakes slithered through the wet mud.

The turtle said something. The snakes said something back. Eeris made herself as small as possible, by wrapping her neck around herself like a ribbon, and crept closer.

“What words do you even know?” The turtle now spoke at nearly the same speed as other creatures, a sign of extreme irritation.

“We know the same words as the others. You have your weird language!”

Eeris could understand the turtles just fine. In her eyes they spoke a language that was much better and more natural, based on the language of the gods. She had delivered the Dracs to the turtles long ago, without saying anything, because she knew Proto-Turtles could easily read the symbols on the wooden blocks.

For the snakes, however, every sentence had to be a huge guess. After a short talk, they switched to sign language.

“We,” the snake twisted her body into an arrow to indicate the group of creatures. “Saw,” the snake pointed at her eyes. “A staircase,” she contorted her body to mimic the stairs.

“Congratulations.”

“Staircase consists of stacks of wood,” she pointed at the tree trunks in the water. “And stones,” she pointed at the many chunks of rock along the coast, something Eeris only noticed now. Those don’t belong here. I think they come from the Maybemountains.

“Ah. Then we will visit. Tear it down and use the materials.”

Eeris nearly jumped from the bushes. If the Proto-Turtles start walking on land, they will destroy everything on their path to the stairs.

But if they demolish the stairs … the gods were innocent.

History seemed to repeat itself. The previous times she had strongly opposed her family’s plans. She had wanted to stop the asteroid and save the dinosaurs.

Now she didn’t know anymore either.

She watched as the Proto-Turtle pulled itself onto the coast and walked after the snakes. His feet stamped the dead earth beyond revival. We helped them so much, she thought. And this is how they thank us?

He trampled the plants she had just conjured up. He stood on top of wooden blocks full of symbols until they cracked.

And then Eeris understood.

Dilova had seen what the Proto-Turtles were doing. And she knew how the gods would react to such a crime. So they built a staircase to escape before another great disaster falls on their heads, as punishment.

She sauntered back to her throne. All her energy went into conjuring new plants and strengthening the trees. The rest of the energy was spent on her endless doubt. Should I tell my family about this? Tell Dilova? Or keep quiet?

She only knew one thing for sure: those Proto-Turtles had to be stopped, but it could not come at the cost of all the other creatures—again.

When the gods closed the gates of the Throne of Tomorrow, some time ago, most animals shrugged. Everyone had grown to dislike the gods. If they had a question, or a problem, they went to see Eeris in the woods instead.

But Dilova had always found it a shame. She would have liked to walk up those big stairs and ask the gods … anything. About why she had to lose her foot, why it was so unfair, if there was no way to get it back, if the Supreme God couldn’t heal her.

And now she unexpectedly got a new chance. The great staircase was so high it hovered above the Throne. Fiante held his daughter tightly as he looked down.

“One well-aimed jump and you’ll land right in the gods’ home. And they can’t do anything to stop you!”

“Wow wow wow. And then they have to listen to you?”

He laughed at her. “They will, if they’re smart. See how powerful you are when you hover above the rest? The Supreme God hovers above everything, and that’s why he never comes down to show his face.”

“Are we really gonna do that?”

Her father glanced sideways. A rabbit nearly fell off the stairs, but was caught just in time by six other creatures. “No, we have to stay here, and build as fast as we can.”

Dilova looked down once more. They were getting close to the first clouds, so everything below her was not just small, but also increasingly hard to see clearly.

The stairs were built at such speed that they lacked any plan. It zigzagged. Sometimes they went left for a few days, sometimes right for a few days. There was even a bit where it went back down because a Gosti was smart enough to build upside down.

Because of that, the stairs didn’t look man-made. It looked more like a giant stone plant slowly growing out of the world and towering over everything. A wonderful achievement of nature. A sort of dinosaur plant. But if we’re this high, she thought, then I should be able to see the Gigagushers.

Dilova turned around. She was right. In the distance, grey-white streams shot from the earth. A few heartbeats after she saw the air currents, the sound reached her ears. Softly, as if someone quickly exhaled.

Cosmo just left his throne. He flew south, towards Atheeni, a wondrous place that looked like a paradise full of rainbows. Every time a new season began, gods and animals came together in that spot to celebrate it.

This is my chance.

She alternated jumping and flying to rapidly get to the ground. Once there, she wished the dinosaurs still existed and she could ride on their backs. The way to the Gigagushers was long. Too long for her one foot.

The Nightriver flowed enthusiastically today, heading east. Dilova jumped in, spread her wings like a raft, and let her body be carried away.

She zoomed over the churning river for hours, until it was time to get out of the watery train. Dilova wanted to spread her wings, but they got sucked into the water. Her little foot sought purchase on the bottom, but found nothing. The gushers were already next to her. If she didn’t brake now, she would soon end up in the Sultry Sea.

“Help! Help!”

Opening her beak let water in. She coughed and sputtered, spinning in the current, while she grasped for a branch along the side.

“Help!”

A wingbeat. A wave lifted her up and threw her onto the river bank. Overhead, Dilova barely saw the tail of the Ghostbird disappearing into clouds again.

“Thank you, protector!” she called after it.

A gusher exploded, less than a treelength away. She felt the heat on her wings, even from here. Should I really be doing this? It nearly went wrong already.

With Dilova, though, curiosity always won. She limped towards the gusher, then realized it had already finished spurting. I’m learning to fly, one step at a time. How long until this happens again?

The answer came immediately. The next gusher, much further away, released its breath. Dilova decided to wait by this one.

In the meantime she looked around. Cosmo’s Throne was … peculiar. The thrones of the other gods were beautiful, graceful, full of nature and colors. His throne was a large piece of stone with holes for the gushers.

But of course, she thought. His real throne is not on land, but in the air.

Then she caught a glimpse of something white between the grey stone. And by now you know, dear reader, what curiosity does to Dilova.

She left her gusher and flew a small stretch towards the white spot. After circling a large rock, the white shapes turned into a familiar sight: eggs. Wow wow wow. Cosmo’s children, she thought. Maybe that’s where those Ghostbirds come from!

Her wings carefully picked up an egg. They didn’t feel strange. Not magical, or heavy, or unnecessarily large.

Wingbeats reached her ears, but the skies were still empty. Not smart to mess with a god’s children. Need to get out of here before he comes home!

The gusher next to her went off. The sudden gust of wind blew her further away. She quickly scrambled upright and ran back to the stream.

With more speed than a fast-flowing Nightriver, she was pushed up, further and further, until she saw the Great Stairs in the distance. She didn’t go straight up, however. The gusher was just as unpredictable as the wind. It spun, became stronger and weaker as if it had a heartbeat, throwing her from left to right, until she flew out of the gusher’s trajectory.

But she flew.

Wow wow wow! Her feathers felt endless air beneath them. She plunged down, until she spread her wings to descend more slowly and steer.

She circled around the Gigagushers, giggling and gawking. She tried to draw figures with her flight and sang with joy. Every time a new gusher started, she tried to use it as a new staircase.

Until she lost control. The next gusher sprang so suddenly, and so violently, that she tumbled towards the stone floor, upside down. Before she could call for help, she hit her head against a piece of rock.

Gushers are unpredictable, she thought. Her feathers hung limp. I’m never going to be able to fly. This is hopeless.

While her wings rubbed the sore spot on her head, she saw a stain in the sky. Her eyes were teary and blurred her vision—but that was surely Cosmo coming back!

Crawling, as if her wings were two front paws, she shuffled away from the Gigagushers. She came by a pile of eggs again.

But wait a minute, she thought. Cosmo is a male. There are no other birds like him.

She stumbled over a rock she could no longer see.

These eggs aren’t his. He’s the egg thief!

In a panic, she hid from Cosmo, behind a pile of rocks that uncomfortably poked her back.

This morning, the highest steps on the staircase were already swallowed by the clouds. That sight removed any doubt in the gods’ hearts about their plan.

The piles of wood and stone were almost invitations. As if the animals knew someone would steal these and wanted to help them. But that could never be true, because the animals had also stationed guards around the stairs. It was too dark at night to work at the top, but the bottom could always be strengthened. Surrounded by fireflies and moonlight, they kept adding extra planks and stones, even around midnight.

Cosmo’s wings made too much noise, so he had to enter the camp on foot. As long as he held a wing over his head and beak, he was hard to see or recognize in the dark. He walked between bushes, a hidden burglar, until he could almost touch the pile of wood.

A guard, however, sat right on top of it. And that’s why Eeris entered the camp from the other side, fully visible. “Hey hey, I was wondering if you needed any help?”

Fiante slept standing and opened one eye. “You’d help by staying away.”

“Hmm, you guys look tired. Or should the gods stand guard for a while?”

“Ha! Good one, Eeris. We won’t fall for that!”

But they had already fallen for it. The other guards had come over. Cosmo could calmly wrap a rope around the pile and carry it in his beak. With a powerful swing, he threw it away, deeper into the woods.

The pile of rocks was much harder. For that task, he had brought along his brother Darus, god of the earth. A wolf who waited calmly, lying flat on his belly in the mud.

He had hesitated for a long time, because Darus was known as the clumsiest god of all who also liked to hear himself talk. Even now, he had arrived too late.

Something had changed, though, since the extinction of the dinosaurs. He did his duty—without seventeen bad jokes.

He simply made all the rocks sink into the ground. Blink once and the pile was gone.

“A rock solid trick, if you ask me,” Darus mumbled.

“I found it quite wearthy,” Cosmo joked.

“Listen, Fiante,” said Eeris, surrounding the guards with her long neck. “The gods want to be your friends. What’s that saying again? Oh yes, we want to improve our bond, one step at a time.”

“Then your will does not align with our will.”

“Well, okay, then I wish you lots more fun,” Eeris said overly cheerfully. Then she left.

The guards returned. Cosmo and Darus calmly walked away, cloaked in shadow, up the trail from the Maybemountains. From there, they could overlook the entire camp.

Morning broke.

When Fiante noticed the piles had vanished, he didn’t react like they had expected. No panic, no angry shouts, no chaos.

“This is a test from the Supreme God!” he called until everyone was awake. “How badly do we want to reach him? How badly do we want to leave this world? Well, we’ll show it.”

“But why do those creatures want to leave the world so badly?” asked Cosmo, mostly to himself. “And why build a gigantic staircase?”

Darus sharpened his teeth on a piece of rock. “And I was thinking you were the smart one. No, wait, I only think that because you say it all the time.”

Small groups left the camp in all directions. Fiante directed them. They had just lost almost all their supplies, but you’d think it was a celebration. The least important parts of the stairs were dismantled so they could continue their work.

Before the sun reached its highest point, three more steps had already been added and Equids streamed in with new planks.

Eeris suddenly stood behind her brothers.

“What now? Just a few more days. Maybe one day. And then they all die trying to escape the world! I won’t let that happen.”

“Calm down,” said Cosmo, his wing on her neck. His gaze fell on the tools the Gosti were holding. That’s why they’re so much faster than I expected, he thought.

“I have a next plan.”

That evening, Eeris took another detour around the Maybemountains, so she could enter the camp from the other side. As if she “coincidentally had to pass through” on her way home.

But she was stopped by the Proto-Turtles. They crept closer. They left only destruction behind on their path to demolishing the stairs. An ever growing herd followed them. Communication kept improving, since snakes no longer had to act out everything with their bodies.

She didn’t understand their goal. Weren’t they happy in the sea? They’re the dinosaurs of the ocean, the boss. What are they looking for on land?

But the moment she steps out of the shadows and strikes up a conversation, would be the moment they’ll change their plan.

They’ve already destroyed so much life force. All those plants and trees that are gone, she thought gloomily. Was it worth it? What if I misheard their plan?

She couldn’t stand it any longer. It had to stop now. She made herself as tall as possible and walked up to the Proto-Turtle.

“Go back to the sea! You don’t belong here.”

“Good evening, Eeris,” said Abrahon solemnly, not startled at all. “Go on. Warn your god friends that we broke your rules.”

She opened her mouth, but didn’t know what to say. She was a goddess and could, if she wanted, lock up this Proto-Turtle in an enchanted forest for a year. She just felt small and hopeless.

“That’s what I thought. The moment you helped us, you placed us on the same level as you. Now you have to live with the consequences.”

“I’m done living with the consequences.”

Both her front paws dug deep into the earth. Roots snapped from the ground, twisted around, and grew into ever larger trees that enclosed the Proto-Turtle like a wooden prison.

He took the trees in his mouth, but had no strong teeth to bite them in half. The more the forest confined him, the less he could move and stomp, until he could only move his head to glare at Eeris.

“I’m a just goddess and I will not be talked down to by my own subjects. As soon as you’re free, you’ll go back to the sea. If not, I have no choice but to inform my family. Have you met my brother yet, the fire god Ardex?”

The Proto-Turtle growled. His followers began the long process of pulling apart the ivy, leaves and tree trunks.

Eeris walked on, put on a cheerful smile, and entered the camp. But Fiante was nowhere to be found. There was absolutely no one. She heard someone say “Good one, Darus” but didn’t know from whence it came.

Until, on the other side of the stairs, she saw Darus juggling tools.

“Where were you?” Cosmo whispered, jumping from the bushes.

“Sorry, but what is Darus doing?”

“You’ll see later.” He ended his show by balancing a few hammers on his tail.

We call them hammers, dear reader, but in this time period it was just a small stick attached to a thicker stick. He hadn’t dropped anything, or secretly made anything disappear, so Eeris didn’t get the point.

Just like the previous evening, they visited the Maybemountains. They watched as morning broke and the great stairs now cast an enormous shadow over the entire continent.

When the first Gosti wanted to hammer a plank, their hammer spontaneously fell apart. The sharp stone,, which they used to chisel other stones into the right shape, crumbled at the first touch.

“Micro fractures.” Darus smiled. “Not enough to break immediately, but if someone puts even a little force on it.”

The pile of broken tools in the middle of the camp grew quickly. Fiante triumphantly stood on it. “Our next test from the Supreme God! Will we let this defeat us? Don’t we have paws, teeth, and strong backs? We can achieve anything, anything for him!”

The creatures cheered. They took the pieces of what had first been hammers and grindstones, and used them creatively to make new steps. Steps that were only visible to Cosmo if he flew between the Cloudbeings.

“If only our family could help,” said Eeris.

“They’re busy with their own problems,” answered Darus. “Putting out little fires all over this strange world. It’s up to us.”

“What now?” asked Eeris, her voice high. Her brothers no longer calmed her.

When everyone awoke the next morning, not everyone awoke. Most creatures stayed asleep, certainly the Gosti. Even after they’d received a downpour of water on their heads, lifted up, shaken, and even turned upside down. Those who did wake up, could take mere steps before falling down or seeking support from a tree trunk.

Dilova hadn’t eaten and drunk the same as the rest. She felt fine. Well, that was a big word, because she had stayed awake all night anxiously awaiting the mission they wanted to do today. Because of that fear, she hadn’t been able to eat.

Her father also looked sick. He smiled at Dilova and gave his usual speech about the Supreme God, but when they were alone for a moment, his face tensed.

“What if this is no test, but a sign?” he whispered.

“Wow wow wow. A sign of what?”

“That the stairs are a bad idea. That he doesn’t want us to come.”

“But wouldn’t he just make the stairs collapse then?”

“Shh,” he pressed his foot against her beak. “Don’t give the Supreme God ideas.”

He looked again at the gigantic structure they had built. Gleaming in the sun, bigger than anything those godchildren ever made. An accomplishment already worth his pride. It even had something magical, the way wood and stone worked together.

He believed in it.

“You’re right. This last bit will be the hardest, but it’s worth it. This is our great goal. Our test if we’re worthy in the eyes of the Supreme God.”

He waved at a few angry rainclouds around the stairs. “This time isn’t called the Cloudtority for nothing. We have to pass through the clouds now, and they’re doing everything, my daughter, everything to stop us. We’ll reach the top, one step at a time.”

“Be careful up there,” squeaked Dilova.

“Be careful on your mission,” said Fiante.

Dilova couldn’t wait to return to the Gigagushers, to fly again. But she also knew she had to find something better. Her eyes remained fixed on the stars, not a branch to fall off of. Flying above everything, forever—not briefly flying just above the ground.

And, of course, that little problem that the Dracs would surely label breaking into Cosmo’s throne as a crime.

She took two Equids and two Gosti with her.

“Does everyone still remember the plan?”

“Walk in, steal back our eggs, walk out.”

“No no, we want to catch Cosmo red-handed. That’s why I asked Eeris to meet us at the Gigagushers.”

The Equid frowned. “You think gods punish each other? That you can catch him, like he’s a little kid?”

“Yes. I believe in Eeris and her good heart.”

The journey to Cosmo’s throne flew by when you were carried by trotting Equids, though it remained far. All along the way, they saw the destruction the Proto-Turtles had brought to this area. The whole reason Fiante got the idea for the stairs. The reason it had to be built so quickly, before the gods came with their Dracs and their punishments.

Dilova sometimes regretted that she had said it at all, that evening when she frantically returned to say Proto-Turtles had come ashore. The entire forest was chaos, animals running every which way. They all believed the end was near, and that the gods would throw down a new asteroid to kill them any moment.

Until Fiante calmed down everyone and explained this plan. Build a staircase and flee before it’s too late. And if possible, convince that Supreme God to spare everyone.

She passed a Proto-Turtle encased by trees and bushes, who was called Abrahon by a snake helping him. It wouldn’t be long before he was free. Dilova did not want to be nearby when that happened.

The Gigagushers were deserted. No Cosmo, but also no Eeris.

The Gosti looked anxious. “You’re sure Eeris understood?”

“Yes, yes, Eeris nodded that she would be here.”

But Dilova doubted too. We can also just take the eggs and leave, she thought. That would make dozens of mothers happy.

It might have worked, had she acted immediately. Now Cosmo had already returned.

And he cried.

Behind him, the Ghostbird descended, as gracefully as it could, and landed on the furthest point of Cosmo’s throne. The violent gushers didn’t faze it. The enormous wings covered it like a lid on a pan.

Dilova and her group hid behind a little pile of rocks, crammed. She didn’t even dare breathe. She couldn’t breathe from the heavy hind paws pressing down on her belly. Only the Gosti could look over the rock.

“What should I do then?” Cosmo asked the Ghostbird. “When you’re gone? The sky is endless. The sky is empty. The sky is lonely.”

She couldn’t take it anymore. She breathed in, bulging her belly, expanding her wings a bit, and the Equids rolled off her like rubber balls.

Cosmo froze.

“Who’s there?”

No one said anything. Wings were spread. The voice came closer.

“I demand you show yourself.”

Dilova looked at everyone. No one dared speak, but she couldn’t deduce a plan from their faces either. The Gosti made all kinds of hand signs, but the other animals had no hands. As far as she understood, they wanted to do a surprise attack on Cosmo, which was a bad plan anyway.

Two feet landed on their rock. Bits of gravel rained down on Dilova.

“Final chance: who’s there? You don’t need to be afraid of me, but I have to see who’s visiting my home.”

Dilova looked up and saw the underside of his impressive beak. He scanned the surroundings. He scanned the air. He looked down.

The Gosti flew at his feet. The Equids pulled them back by the tail before they made it worse. Dilova flew away, just a tiny bit.

“Wow wow wow, Cosmo, you here, I just wanted to ask something, would you—”

He used the tip of his beak to pull everyone onto the rock. Dilova looked past his angry eyebrows at the Ghostbird. An impressive beast that slept surprisingly peacefully over the warm gushers.

“You have one chance to give a very good explanation.”

“You’re stealing our eggs,” the Gosti immediately shouted. “We want them back.”

“Chance wasted. You are banished from these lands.”

He grabbed everyone with his broad orange talons and took off. The Gosti tried to wriggle themselves free with their fingers.

“Let go!” Dilova couldn’t breathe anymore.

“You won’t do that,” sneered a familiar voice.

A giraffe neck coiled around Cosmo’s feet and held him in place, hovering a treelength above the ground.

His protective Ghostbird came to life.

In his prime, the Ghostbird could have swept away any danger with a single winged blow. Cosmo knew this, but he also knew those days were long gone. And that broke his heart.

He gently placed everyone back on the ground. Eeris let him go and opened the woven pouch around her neck. With the same tenderness, Cosmo took the eggs one by one and placed them inside.

“He is dying,” said Cosmo. “He is the last of his kind.”

“You’ve been stealing eggs for a while now, haven’t you?” Eeris gently stroked the Ghostbird’s dark brown wings. Their leathery skin stretched between three fingers, each as long as her neck.

Cosmo nodded. “Yes, I used to steal dinosaur eggs. I flew lonely between the clouds for so long. So I enchanted the eggs, made sure dinosaurs with two wings hatched from them. And my wish came true.”

“So you stole our eggs to do the same thing again,” said Dilova. “Your own playmates for the skies.”

Her disgusted gaze cut Cosmo the most. For he felt it was deserved.

“That’s not true! I did it for the world. You will learn to fly someday. You will! I only wanted to … speed things up. Enzyme.”

All the eggs were safely tucked away in the pouch. The Ghostbird could barely keep his eyes open. Each exhale burst through Dilova’s feathers like a heavy gust of wind, even lifting her up.

Eeris laughed. “And here we thought these beings came about naturally. Bella even said how happy she was that such magnificent Ghostbirds came to live on our world.”

Cosmo was a giant, but looked a small boy next to his creation. He stroked the long beak. “But I know now that life born of magic is not real life. The Ghostbirds could never have children. They have no hunger, no enemies, no feelings. So they did nothing but fly around aimlessly.”

He sighed. “Dilova, can you please promise that you’ll quickly figure out how to fly properly?”

“I’ll do my best.” She turned away and sat down to give her one leg some rest. “But I won’t do it for you, egg thief. I’ll do it for myself. One day you’ll see me flying above everything, forever, just like the Ghostbird. I believe that.”

Eeris rubbed her warm cheek against Cosmo’s. “I forgive you, brother. But let him go now.”

Everyone touched the Ghostbird one last time, then formed a circle at a safe distance.

“Go, friend,” said Cosmo. “Live your last days however you want. If there is anything you want.”

The Ghostbird’s posture conveyed nothing, his eyes showed no sorrow or joy. The being simply existed. It was and nothing more. He rose up, pushed himself into the air with the help of the geysers, and needed just one stroke to reach for the horizon.

“I want no more lies, Cosmo. We’ll only get through this if the whole god family stands united. All those secrets only cause problems. Speaking of which …”

Through Cosmo’s tears, he managed a slight smile. “Well, I can’t believe my bird ears. Eeris has a secret? Sweet, kind Eeris who shares everything with everyone? To whom we don’t tell half our plans because she would blab them to the animals?”

“Wait, what?”

Eeris shook her tail. Dilova and the other animals had climbed onto her back. “Never mind. The Proto-Turtles have come ashore. That’s why they’re building the stairs. They’re afraid of punishment, so I haven’t said anything.”

“Why would we punish the other creatures for what a few turtles do?”

“It’s not about what we actually do, it’s about what the animals believe. Just like they believe there is a Supreme God above the clouds.”

Eeris turned her neck to stare at the creatures on her back. “Who, listen closely, does not exist.”

Cosmo nodded. “And they believe we send down great disasters upon everyone for the slightest mistake. Many believe we threw that asteroid, on purpose. Dear sister, I think we mostly have a problem with our image.”

Dilova scoffed. “Says the egg thief.”

Eeris sucked in a big breath. “Come on brother, we’re going to tell everyone the truth. Seems like a first step to becoming great leaders.”

When Eeris returned the pouch of eggs to the rightful parents, she was practically celebrated as a hero.

Cosmo had immediately left for the South, looking for Bella. If there was a Supreme God, it would be her. She had to decide what they were going to do. And Eeris was fine with that, because she wouldn’t know the best choice.

Abrahon, the Proto-Turtle, hadn’t listened. Once free, he stomped towards the stairs, unafraid of Ardex’ and his fire punishment. She couldn’t keep locking Abrahon in wood prisons every day.

They had to find another solution.

“Listen up, everyone!” said Eeris. “I’m asking you one last time: stop building. There is nothing up there. At this very moment, turtles are on their way here.”

She nudged a few bunnies. “Go take a look. Go up and look East, behind the Maybemountains.”

She circled the camp, with Fiante as the centerpoint, standing on a pile of broken tools. He was as upbeat and confident as always.

Eeris locked eyes with him. “They’re coming to destroy the stairs because they want the materials. Do you want the gods to intervene?”

“That sounds like a good idea to me, yes,” Fiante said softly.

“But then you’d also be fine with us intervening and stopping you from building the stairs?”

“Ha! Good one, Eeris.” Fiante tapped his new hammer against his own leg, his eyes always on the great stairs.

“I’m still waiting for an answer. I’m being honest. I admit Cosmo stole your eggs because he wanted to help, but he saw his mistake and gave them back. I admit all the gods have made mistakes. I’ve lived among you for thousands of years. Why would I lie about that Supreme God?”

The bunnies came back down. “She’s right. Abrahon will be here within a day.”

“One day is all we need,” said Fiante, and he tapped the bunnies kindly on the head.

He stepped down from the pile of rubble. Dilova jumped onto his back, tried to get his attention by tugging at his ears, but he acted as if he didn’t notice a thing. “Here we stand. A group of creatures who, in peace, want nothing more than to build some stairs. And you keep interfering.”

“Because we care about you.” Eeris struggled to stay calm. She looked into hundreds of glassy eyes. Eyes that would close forever if they finished those stairs and climbed up.

Let Cosmo make it in time, Eeris thought. Let the Proto-Turtle come then and destroy the stairs. I can manipulate trees and plants, but I can’t destroy lifeless stone.

She made one final attempt. “We believe we have to save you.”

“No, you believe we have to stay on this planet and listen to you. I believe I have to finish the stairs and find freedom up there.”

“One,” Fiante stepped onto the stairs.

“Step”, he took the next step.

“At,” another step.

“A time.”

All the creatures ran up the stairs, materials in hand, no desire to wait until the next morning.

The stairs creaked and squeaked under the weight of hundreds of feet. The structure wobbled across the landscape like a sleepwalking giant. The final steps were hastily put in place, while clouds sent all the calamity they had.

Endless rainstorms soaked the steps. Hailstorms gave Dilova a headache, even when she was only halfway up. Her leg ached, but she didn’t even dare fly small stretches, because the clouds also sent gusts of wind from the side.

And the higher they climbed, the more Dilova began to doubt if she even wanted to reach the top. While thunderstorms tried to strike the animals above her, guided by her father, she stood still halfway up the stairs.

Why would I want to get up there? she thought. The Ghostbird is gone. The sky is really empty now. And Father can believe what he wants, I know now what the Ghostbird really was. No protector of a Supreme God. I don’t think that Supreme God exists.

“We’re out of materials!” someone shouted from above. Dilova saw silhouettes sliding left and right, dodging large hailstones that knocked chunks off of the stone steps. The silhouettes grabbed onto each other whenever someone nearly fell, and now they came back down.

“Take it from the bottom steps, we don’t need those anymore,” her father called. But if there’s nothing up there, she thought, Father will die soon!

Eeris grew trees under her feet to keep up with the creatures on the stairs. She now rose past Dilova.

“Go back down,” said Eeris.

“Not without Father.” Dilova found strength in her leg again and hopped over the steps. Eeris tried to help, but her trees also swung wildly in the winds, and before long the stairs were higher than any tree could ever be. The goddess jumped next to Dilova, which tilted the stairs even more sideways.

“Exactly what I was afraid of,” Eeris mumbled.

Raindrops made Dilova’s wings too heavy to use, while Eeris carefully stepped to avoid slipping. They crept ever closer to the front group.

They were now so high that they lived within the clouds, so high that the bottom of the stairs was no longer visible, so high that Dilova already felt like she was floating.

A scream came from the air. Followed by more shrieking. Out of the silhouettes between the clouds came two Equids. They had slid off the stairs and were falling to the ground, too far to rescue, too fast to survive.

Dilova didn’t dare look at how they hit the earth far below her.

“Dad!” she called. “It’s too dangerous! You’re going too far!”

Fiante paused for a moment. Just a few more steps, maybe a daring leap, and they would rise above the highest Cloudbeing, the Chiefcloud.

“We mourn the loss of Erin and Drogin,” he said. “They were, sadly, not worthy in the eyes of the Supreme God! But they gave their lives for a noble cause!”

The stairs trembled, as if they had developed their own heartbeat.

“The turtles,” said Eeris. “They’re getting close.”

A rabbit slipped and fell off. Dilova jumped for it and grabbed its fur with her foot, but the rabbit was too heavy. She desperately flapped her wings, but the only way was down, aided by snowflakes covering her. Her body did a somersault to shake off all the snow.

It helped. Still she kept falling.

But she also kept trying.

There was so much air below her, that she would be able to glide down for an hour. An hour to try and figure out how her wings worked, before hitting the ground. That gives me an idea, she thought.

Until Eeris stuck out her neck and threw her back onto the stairs, along with the rabbit, closer to Fiante.

“I fell. I’m not worthy in the eyes of the Supreme God,” said the rabbit, its ears drooping.

“But you were saved, weren’t you?” said Eeris with a smile. The rabbit accepted it, but still walked down the stairs.

“Listen to me,” Dilova called up, “there’s nothing up there. The gods want what’s best for us. How many more have to fall?”

Fiante looked at his daughter and frowned. He laughed and turned away to hammer the final step.

“Good one, Dilova!”

“She’s right,” said a Gosti, whose eyes grew even bigger when they saw the tall emptiness below. “I quit.”

“You’d give up now?” said Fiante, genuinely surprised. “So close to the end? So close to freedom?”

“If path to freedom is littered with dead Gosti bodies, then wrong path.” The Gosti formed one group, like a puddle created from all the droplets around it, and flowed back down the stairs.

Eeris looked proud. “The Gosti are truly our most intelligent creation yet.”

“Your loss!” Fiante called. Dilova could almost touch him. She reached for his hind leg, but the last step was finished and Fiante immediately took it.

The whole staircase shook with ever footstep of a Proto-Turtle. The clouds somehow found new strength to blow, pester, and send lightning bolts. Creatures grabbed each other’s paws, fur, mouths, even teeth, to eventually waft off the stairs as one living garland.

A garland attached at only two points: Fiante at the top and Eeris at the bottom.

Fiante wanted to take the final leap. As long as the garland held him, however, he couldn’t even move his foot.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

With a jerk, he tore himself free from the garland. Eeris was the only anchor keeping everyone aloft, and that was untenable, even for a goddess. The animals spun in circles, as if the stairs had grown wings with which it wanted to take flight, as Eeris groaned and growled.

Everyone watched as Fiante stepped through the final cloud.

And didn’t come back.

The cloud attack slowly abated. Is that good? Is that bad? Are they giving up?

The animals dug their claws into the stairs and found grip. Most took a quick look back, at Eeris, at the bottom of the stairs barely holding on.

But then they looked ahead and followed Fiante. So sure of themselves, so focused on what lay behind that final cloud, that they didn’t hear, or didn’t want to hear, Fiante falling right past them out of the clouds.

He tumbled down screaming, so fast it seemed someone had flung him away.

“Dad!”

Dilova found strength, somewhere inside her, to keep going. She didn’t look at where she wanted to go, she only looked at the stairs, and climbed up, one step at a time, until there were no more steps left to take.

This plan better work, she thought. She spread her wings … and let herself fall from the highest step.

She dove into the air, heading for her father.

But first she had to swoop past Cosmo hurtling up the stairs like a fiery arrow.

Dilova used everything she had learned. How to steer. That she had enough time and could slowly let the wind catch her wings. That she could tuck in her little foot to reduce drag. She believed she could fly.

And she flew.

Wow wow wow! Her father fell fast. His small wings were hopeless, as expected, and his panicked flailing did not help either. The emptiness of the air allowed her to predict exactly where he would end up, and fly there in a straight line.

On the first attempt, she missed her father due to a steering mistake. She circled back and grabbed him with her foot on the second try. The only foot she had and therefore incredibly strong.

But she hadn’t accounted for her father’s weight. She couldn’t lift him up with her small wings, and the ground approached more rapidly than before.

Above her sounded a crack as if the sky itself broke. Cosmo flapped his large wings and pushed the stairs aside with gusts of wind, again and again, until the stairs were tilted too far to support their own weight.

Something snapped inside colossal structure, as if the stairs were a finger trying to bend, and the top steps came loose.

He yelled at the animals. A few still tried to climb the highest step, but most realized what had happened to Fiante.

The stairs broke off, one step at a time.

Cosmo kept blowing, angry and panicked—but the stairs had never been built for stability. Although Cosmo attacked the top, the stairs now cracked in multiple spots, which broke into loose pieces all racing to hit the ground first.

Equids jumped from floating stone to floating stone. Rabbits hopped from broken branch to broken branch. Eeris repaired the bottom of the stairs with strong ivy, but the structure seemed too vast even for the gods. Dilova still tumbled down with her father in her grasp.

Until she saw the solution.

She steered and soon landed on the lower stairs. She looked her father in the eyes, but he didn’t see her. He stared past her, she didn’t know at what. She had to nudge him several times before he got the sense to walk down.

“There was nothing,” he mumbled. “There was nothing. There was nothing.”

Dilova kept pushing until her father was safe enough. Then she climbed back up again, towards the highest step still intact, and dove once more. In her flight, she picked up a small Equid desperately clinging to a falling smooth stone, whom she gently put down on a lower step.

And she took the stairs to the highest point again, dove, and caught two rabbits whose step had been blown away and now pierced a tree trunk below like an arrow.

She kept going, even though she couldn’t save everyone. So many animals had already fallen and not survived. But as long as parts of the stairs remained, she could dive, so she could fly.

The debris fell like snowflakes into the camp, on top of trees, and ricocheted off the Maybemountains. Though their garlands were already gone, the party had now truly begun.

Some Equids used the falling stones as transport. When a rock carrying no less than seven Equids landed safely in a treetop, as if they could steer it, everyone cheered.

On Dilova’s next run across the stairs, she was joined by a raccoon who could take seven steps at a time. Bella! She came! While Cosmo had largely blown away the stairs, the raccoon brought the last stranded animals down unharmed.

It wasn’t over yet. Debris kept falling, stones larger than their heads, wooden planks as long as a tree, as if a hundred tiny asteroids crashed down. This time, they were sent on purpose by the godchildren.

The Equids gathered in caves. The rabbits quickly dug new burrows. The Gosti swung from tree to tree until they trusted the leafy roof above them.

Dilova saw her chance to fly disappear. They would never build such a tall staircase again.

Now, however, she knew she could do it. She knew how to fly, she knew she dared. So she quietly said goodbye to the stairs and went looking for her father.

Instead, she came across the Proto-Turtles. Abrahon had brought his brothers and sisters, but they paid no attention to the animals. They picked up the stair remnants and threw them onto their backs.

By now, the stairs were barely higher than an old tree. Eeris locked the last bit in flowers and ivy, like a statue that needs decorating, to the point where newborns would think a grayish tree had always stood here, never any stairs.

Bella landed amidst the turtles. “Go. Return to the sea and never come ashore again. Or I swear Ardex will burn you alive.”

Abrahon snorted. Their shells were already loaded with piles of material. “As you say, little goddess. We’ll manage just fine.”

The turtles turned around. They took their path of destruction in reverse, back to the Midterra Sea. Their large following of disciples trailed closely behind, but not before grabbing some stair remnants too.

Dilova found her father lying on the ground, staring at the sky.

“There was nothing. There was nothing. There was nothing,” he mumbled endlessly.

“Dad? It’s me. What are you saying?”

He didn’t respond. His eyes seemed to have been replaced by glass marbles without function. Dilova could pull his legs, touch and bend his body any way she wanted, and he didn’t react.

Bella knelt next to her. The black-and-white fur was a warm blanket around Dilova’s exhausted feathers. “I’m sorry, girl. I have unfortunately seen this before. Your father’s mind is broken. I don’t know if it can be fixed.”

“Yes it can. I’ll make it work. One step at a time.”

Dilova could hardly believe her eyes when she received an invitation to visit Atheeni. Autumn had arrived. Everyone was allowed to celebrate the start of the new season with the gods.

But Dilova was special, because she could come early and deliberate with the gods themselves. Since that first dive flight she had tried again, this time from branches or the Maybemountains.

And it worked.

She could fly, she could steer upwards, she could fly above everything forever.

Well, until she got tired and needed food. She taught the other birds, but only the younger ones managed. Most were still too afraid of falling and that’s exactly why they fell. The animals had already come up with a word: diving birds quickly became known as doves.

As the proud first of her kind, she stepped onto the square with the gods. Wow wow wow, she thought repeatedly.

The ground consisted of warm colored stones depicting all the gods. Pillars stood all around, displaying carved symbols and drawings that undoubtedly told Eeris’ fairy tales, finished off with her familiar ivy. The bottom of the pillars was hidden under piles of reddish-brown leaves. In baskets, spread across the square, lay food for all the animals.

But the gods didn’t even notice Dilova was there.

“We have to stand united,” said Eeris. “Be friends with our subjects. Provide protection, provide comfort.”

“For the umpteenth time,” said Bella, “we are the gods, not them. We don’t have to pretend we’re best friends.”

“And indeed, you never walk among the animals,” Eeris bit back. “But I hear, every second of every day, of their hatred. How everything we do is wrong.”

“Yes, and the one time I go visit the elephants in the South—a nice chat to improve our bond—I have to rush back because you’ve made a mess of things!”

“Sisters,” said Ardex, as his tiger paw bumped against a pillar. “How often must I remind you? This is what Father wanted. Unrest, division, until we brought about our own downfall. Standing united means more than just bailing each other out at the last moment when someone has messed up.”

“I didn’t mess up,” said Eeris. “I had it completely under control.”

Cosmo sighed and flew to the middle. “We’re family. Let’s act like family. Trust each other. I won’t tell Ardex how fire works, I trust he knows it best.”

Darus smiled. “You know, if anyone lectures me about stone again I’ll banish them from my mountains forever.”

“Not all mountains are yours.”

“I suggest,” Bella said as loudly as possible, “we try a different approach. First off, yes, the Dracs really need softening and improving. One step at a time, I’d almost say.”

All the gods nodded in agreement. Dilova nodded along unseen.

“Besides, there’s only seven of us and the world is vast. The animals already form their own groups. Based on friendship, shared food or lifestyle. Why don’t we let them choose their own leaders and make rules? They form Clansteads and we are merely the glue holding it all together.”

“Good idea,” said Darus, “but how do you want to soften the Dracs? If you murder someone, Ardex only half burns you? Or if you steal you just get an angry lecture?”

“I think we need to move away from the fire theme,” said Eeris. “Wrap them in leaves?”

“Nonsense,” said Ardex, “fire is the best theme.”

Bella’s head spun rapidly. She noticed Dilova standing there, so she cleared her throat and spoke warmly: “It seems we have a visitor.”

“Oh, yes, hi, I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“How is your father doing?”

“Better. Sometimes. He doesn’t stare at the sky all day anymore. Sometimes he says something other than there was nothing.”

Bella’s eyes saddened. “Unpleasant things like this, we really must prevent.”

Cosmo held back a ball of frustration. “How can I ever guide creatures if they suddenly get ideas for no reason? Some Supreme God in which they suddenly believe, wholly and stupidly?”

“I don’t know either. But we’ll have to learn. No creature should live in so much fear it breaks their mind.”

All the gods moved to the center of the square. One by one they bumped their snouts, or beaks.

“I love you all, never forget that,” Bella said softly. “We have each other.”

“I wish Hanah was here,” Eeris mumbled.

Who’s Hanah? Dilova thought.

She felt the urge to jump into the hug, but she could never see the gods as “best friends”. They were too powerful, They could change the direction of the entire world at any moment. Or still set you on fire.

She talked with the gods about the doves, who als received the nickname pigeons. As real birds, they were given permission to fly anywhere, as they don’t claim territory.

The Gosti had all left in time, but the other animal species had lost many members during the stair disaster. Dilova could tell the gods that the animals were indeed angry and sad, but also understood it wasn’t their fault.

She advised the gods to open their gates again to everyone after all. To make the Throne of Tomorrow that beautiful place she’d heard of as a child.

The Proto-Turtles stuck to the agreement and didn’t cause any more problems. But looks can be deceiving, dear reader. You can be sure of that with arrogant Abrahon.

The next day, thousands of animals came to Atheeni to celebrate the start of Autumn. The gods urged them to never be afraid of unfair punishment. That they could always come to them with a problem. That their intentions were good.

Although some animals had other intentions.

Dilova flew innocently through the sky. Each time her wings could caress the wind still felt like magic. Cosmo flew alongside her often enough. He frequently said nothing, but she saw the pleasure in his eyes above that impressive orange beak.

This time she headed for the moon alone, when below her a group of snakes slithered between pillars at the edge of Atheeni. They bashed against them until they loosened. Once their bodies were tightly wrapped around the marble pillar, they stole them away—

To Abrahon waiting in the sea. “We will have our revenge, don’t you worry,” he said.

“The gods will burn you if you dare come ashore!”

“Yes, we’ll nicely and obediently stick to the agreement. We found another way to grow until we can destroy the gods for good.”

And so it was that life continued …