Gazes poured down from the heights of Heaven. From above came a tangle of feelings: worry, displeasure, hope, and unease. Every emotion that living minds could carry seemed to move inside those looks.1

All the gods gazed down upon Ketal. The gaze of a single god was enough to crush a mortal outright, yet here, dozens of such gazes converged, their combined weight fixed upon him like a celestial mountain. Even those called Heroes would have buckled under that weight. Ketal’s body trembled, not from fear or pressure, but from something far greater. It was joy that ruled him—raw, overwhelming, and absolute.0

“Ah…,” he breathed.0

The Hall of the Gods was watching him. The beings who oversee the world from above, who protect it, and who love their children, those ones called gods, were looking at him alone. His skull felt hot with gratitude. The world tilted. He set strength into legs that wanted to give.0

“You are pleased,” Kalosia murmured, as if they had expected nothing else.0

Ketal drew a steady breath. The high gods looked down upon him. If that was so, then the first thing...0