When Tyche saw the God of Suffering again, the Calamity of the Saints was nearing its end.
"Your Grace Ilmater, are you saying that a group of adventurers has retrieved the lost Tablets of Fate?"
Ilmater's face lit up with joy, "Indeed, the God of Guardians has permitted all saints to return to their divine realms. Bane must have received Erevan's command."
"The Three Deaths who stole the Tablets of Fate also perished in this mishap. Bane, the God of Tyranny, and Bhaal, the God of Murder, were dragged into the Astral Plane. The forces of the evil alignment have been greatly diminished!"
The God of Suffering had as many enemies as he did allies, but his primary foes were not these deities of great power; rather, they were those who spread destruction and brought pain and suffering. Especially the Goddess of Torture, Loviatar, and the Goddess of Poison and Disease, Talona, both lesser deities serving under Bhaal. Now deprived of Bhaal's protection, these two goddesses, whose doctrines were the antithesis of Ilmater's, were in grave danger.
Since forming an alliance with the God of Suffering, Tyche had been harassed by the churches of these two goddesses. During the Calamity of the Saints, their high-profile actions were only possible due to Bhaal's protection; now it was time for retribution.
Although he had reservations about Tyche's cooperation with thieves and assassins, Ilmater earnestly helped her plan the deification ceremony.
After seeing off the kind-hearted God of Suffering, Tyche dismissed the priests and consulted the Weave to check on the recovery of the Goddess of Magic.
The Goddess of Magic, now known as Mystra, had not been idle; she had secretly contacted her allies and sub-deities, preparing for her return.
"It seems you have fully recovered."
Tyche smiled as she saw the goddess in the black dress appear before her.
"Our agreement has been fulfilled; it is time to return what is rightfully yours."
Taking the ruby necklace from Tyche, Mystra's face, obscured by a black veil, showed an indiscernible expression.
"In a sense, you have created me, so I do not wish for us to become enemies."
Caressing the intact Weave, Mystra smiled just like Tyche.
"Of course, we will not be enemies. On the contrary, I am willing to share the divine mantle of magic with you."
Tyche was initially taken aback but then shook her head and laughed, "This is the very foundation of your existence; I would not touch it. You need not test me; to still hold sovereignty over the Weave amidst the covetousness of gods and even Erevan speaks volumes. The authority of magic has always been solely yours, unshaken by anyone."
"To be honest, I do not wish to join your pantheon and become a mere lackey. I will not pursue what you have done."
Hearing this, the smile on Mystra's face immediately faded.
Mystra had initially planned a different endpoint for Tyche, but Gaia's intervention disrupted her plans. The moment Tyche became a deity, she understood Mystra's intentions! She wanted to induce Tyche to become the new Goddess of Magic and then usurp her position! This was why Tyche had always treated the Weave as a tool.
After weighing her options, Mystra abandoned the idea of waging war against Tyche, "In that case, I am willing to support the growth of your church and form an alliance with you as compensation for your generosity."
Mystra referred to the world where the Witch-Hunters resided; the female wizards had accepted a new magical system, which benefited the Goddess of Magic greatly.
With the last strand of causality binding her to the divine fire severed, Tyche felt an unparalleled sense of relief, an unprecedented transcendence washing over her.
Resisting the temptation to take the final step, Tyche knew her accumulation was still far from that of Chaos God Khaos and Iluvatar of the Middle World, not to mention the inscrutable stance of the Overgod Erevan.
As one of the oldest deities, Mystra seemed to distrust this King of Gods; the fragmented consciousness of the laws alone was enough to make Tyche act cautiously. As a goddess with a creation myth, both the Night Goddess Shar and the Moon Goddess Selune were only powerful deities at their peak! This world had no primordial gods at all! This was too strange; Tyche couldn't help but suspect there were deeper reasons behind it.
Both goddesses, seemingly enemies yet friends, no longer disguised themselves, and Tyche was content to play the fool, knowing that everything she wanted to know could only be answered by Mystra.
The resurrected Goddess of Magic was no fool; being able to return to Faerûn on her own terms, Tyche's success warranted equal treatment.
The relationship between Tyche and Mystra was like plastic flowers—beautiful but false. Tyche needed this alliance to seize the opportunity to become a creator goddess and was happy to play the role of close sisters with Mystra.
After leaving an invitation to the Gate of the Moon, Mystra quietly departed.
Things were getting more interesting. During their brief meeting, Mystra hinted at recruiting Tyche, which piqued her interest, and she readily agreed.
With Mystra's aid, Tyche's faith quickly transcended the limits of Waterdeep, taking root in various human nations.
The following period was calm; the demise of the Three Deaths sent shockwaves through the evil alignment gods, but it also sparked covetousness for their divine mantles.
The news of the Tablets of Fate being retrieved spread alongside the emergence of the new Goddess of Magic, Mystra. During the Goddess of Magic's absence, there were gods interested in the mantle of magic, but the most likely candidate was the Elven High God Corellon Larethian!
Unlike the loose Pantheon of Humanity, the Elven Pantheon was truly united. The elves were once the dominant race on the Material Plane, and how could the human gods stand by and watch the Elven High God become the new God of Magic! There were hardly any gods in the human pantheon who could compete with Corellon in the realm of magic, and amidst the power struggles, the divine mantle of magic remained vacant.
However, a more significant piece of news overshadowed the rebirth of the Goddess of Magic; the thief Cyric, who had retrieved the Tablets of Fate alongside the Goddess of Magic's vessel—human female wizard Midnight—was granted all the divine mantles of the Three Deaths by the Overgod Erevan!
Cyric, a mortal who had become a powerful deity, was momentarily in the spotlight, with the mighty divine mantles of Tyranny, Murder, and Death, all prospects of great power. Coupled with Cyric taking over the churches originally belonging to the Three Deaths, even the old and powerful evil goddess Shar was eclipsed by his radiance.
Compared to these heavyweight news, the birth of a new lesser deity was insignificant. Apart from the God of Suffering Ilmater publicly expressing support, drawing some attention from the good deities, the Goddess of Protection for Women and Children did not cause much of a stir.
Returning to the Gate of the Moon, this flowing sea of light was as spectacular as Tyche remembered.
The divine realms of the gods of magic were located on this plane. Tyche cupped her hands around the blue-glowing seawater, quietly watching the mist-like radiance slip through her fingers.
"Welcome to the Gate of the Moon."
Mystra's figure appeared in the blue-white starlight, accompanied by two familiar deities.
"Lady Selune. Lord Selûne."
Tyche turned to look at the two ancient deities, her tone calm, as if she had anticipated this all along.
The first Death God, Kelemvor, had relinquished most of his divine mantles, retaining only a weak deity status. However, among the three ancient deities, Tyche valued this semi-retired Kelemvor the most.
The primordial force of death favored this recorder of deaths! Tyche would bet that whether it was the previous Three Deaths or the new Dark Sun Cyric, they would be easily controlled by this old-timer.
The other primordial ancient goddess, Selûne, was actually the weakest among the three. Tyche could faintly sense the essence of this moon goddess's radiance, but the radiant primordial force was more inclined towards the newborn Lord of the Dawn, Lathander.
However, all three deities had the right to converse on equal terms with Tyche, a primordial deity. Just the fact that these three ancient deities had transcended the constraints of their alignments spoke volumes about their extraordinary backgrounds.
Kelemvor of the Evil-Aligned Death Recorder, Selûne of the Chaotic-Good Moon Goddess, and Mystra of the Neutral-Good Goddess of Magic, all from different alignments, had formed such a close alliance, which piqued Tyche's curiosity even more.
After mutual salutations among the four deities, Tyche turned her gaze towards the darkness in the void, where the cold and void-like aura was impossible to ignore.
"Lady Shar, please show yourself."
From the darkness, a deity in a black feather mask silently appeared.
This powerful deity of the Neutral-Evil alignment was quite unexpected to Tyche. Whether it was Selûne or Kelemvor, even including Mystra, the bonds of faith were still significant. But the Night Goddess was different; Tyche could see no strands of causality on her, and this evil-aligned goddess exuded a pure tranquility that belonged neither to evil nor good, undoubtedly ahead of the other three deities on the path of primordial gods.
Turning to Mystra, Tyche asked with a smile, "Any other guests?"
Tyche's original body, far at the edge of the world, opened its eyes, and the faint primordial divine might made the four deities startled.
"The Lady of Fortune, Tyche, doesn't know when she will return. All members of this secret alliance are here."
Mystra and her three companions seemed to have communicated something, and their attitude towards Tyche became much more serious.
The Night Goddess Shar, who possessed the divine mantles of illusion, lies, and unrevealed secrets, added an extra layer of protection to Mystra's divine realm, and the powerful Tyche was undoubtedly accepted by this group.
"Lady Tyche, we sincerely invite you to join our alliance."
As the host, Mystra stood up to preside over the meeting, "Our purpose in uniting is solely for self-preservation and to reclaim what is rightfully ours!"
The secrets known by these local deities were exactly what Tyche wanted, and she did not decline, smoothly joining this alliance.
Shar and Selûne were not truly enemies; Tyche could deduce from the clues. The Storm God Talos once coveted the greatly weakened Selûne, desiring to obtain the essence of this goddess; after all, Selûne had once become a lesser deity in the struggle against the evil gods, even having to seek refuge under the Love Goddess Sune, becoming a subordinate deity of this junior.
However, in the prolonged war with Shar, Selûne had escaped her awkward situation and returned to the status of a moderate deity. If there was nothing fishy about this, Tyche would not believe it.
But the Moon Goddess Selûne did not seek the help of the Goddess of Magic, who was close to her, and instead relied on her sister to escape danger; this alliance did not seem as harmonious and united as it appeared.
As for the Lady of Fortune Tyche, whose return was unknown, her fall seemed to be related to Erevan. The God of Decay Moander poisoned Tyche's essence, turning this ancient goddess into a monster, and Selûne split the monster Tyche into two halves with one strike, giving birth to the Goddess of Luck Tymora and the Goddess of Misfortune Beshaba.
Tyche guessed that Selûne's actions were actually to save Tyche. The originally lesser deity of fortune, after death, gave birth to two moderate deities, undoubtedly indicating that Tyche was playing possum! And where Moander obtained the poison to kill Tyche was worth considering; for a fate-domain goddess to be ensnared, the weak deity Moander could never have done it!
Subsequently, the ancient gods all suffered varying degrees of loss; the ancient Sun God Amaunator was completely destroyed, this powerful deity who controlled law, order, and the sun was an ally of Kelemvor, who had not yet abandoned his divine mantle.
Amaunator's power was divided by Erevan, giving rise to two new powerful deities, the Lord of the Dawn Lathander and the God of Justice Tyr; and the Goddess of Magic was not spared, after reincarnation, the time divine mantle she once controlled was completely lost, and the Weave that once covered the entire Material Plane also had large areas of dead magic zones.
Even the most powerful Night Goddess Shar was not spared; she was once deeply distorted by indescribable evil and endless trivial hatred and suspicion, and it was Selûne who saved her at all costs. Although Shar retained the status of a powerful deity, the God of Thieves Mask, with his shadow divine mantle, divided Shar's power; this weak deity dared to offend Shar's dignity, and it was hard to say that there was no shadow of Erevan behind it.
The power of the ancient gods was divided, giving rise to many new deities; in this process, all powerful deities who could threaten Erevan's position were suppressed. Lucky ones like Kelemvor, who gave up most of his divine mantles to become a non-threatening weak deity; unfortunate ones like Amaunator, whose divine mantles were divided and dragged into the Astral Plane, making it difficult to return.
And the demand of this alliance was simple, to oppose Erevan!
"Erevan is not a native deity of this world! This Overgod usurped the authority of the laws, blocking our further possibilities! We will never compromise with him!"
The meeting ended with Mystra's resolute declaration, and Tyche was invigorated, sincerely joining their troublemaking enterprise, her blood boiling with the Goddess of Magic's passionate call.
All the deities present had already begun to transcend the constraints of faith; they sold information about their respective alignments for mutual benefit; in casual conversation, Tyche reached several deals with her new friends.
After the God of Murder's demise, his two sub-deities, the Goddess of Torture Loviatar and the Goddess of Poison and Disease Talona, began to approach the Night Goddess Shar, who was also eagerly trying to seduce the two goddesses to become her sub-deities.
After promising to help Shar deal with her nemesis, the God of Thieves Mask, the Night Goddess had no burden in abandoning Loviatar and Talona, even generously offering the Underdark divine mantle as a bonus in this transaction.
The Underdark divine mantle originally belonged to Ebram, who also controlled the cave and dungeon divine mantles; taking advantage of the opportunity of the Calamity of the Saints, Shar killed Ebram at the perfect moment, and even now, she used Ebram's image to grant priests divine spells, stealing the faith that belonged to Ebram.