A/N: Okay, so... My plans for faster updating haven't really worked out quite as well as I had hoped, but I do think I'm doing a little better than I was.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Well, Sliske thought, I've really done it this time.

His gaze moved vaguely across the shadowy landscape around him as he walked, thoroughly unsure of where he was going. He couldn't go back to Gielinor, that much he knew. After what he had just done, it would be best to stay out of sight for a while.

He couldn't have asked for a more perfect place to hide. It was shocking, really, that after all these years that he had possessed this power over the other Mahjarrat none of them had taken the time to learn the same skills. Sometimes Sliske felt as though he was the only intelligent being in the Universe.

But he wasn't going to complain. No one could follow him here.

Just as he thought that, he felt a light flicker on in his subconscious. As horrible as it had been in past times to feel some of those lights go out, the idea of one blazing up now sent a jolt of panic through him.

Who in the hell had managed that?

With a small amount of closer inspection, he quickly discovered who it was. Relief and surprise warred for dominance — it wasn't anyone who actually posed a threat to him, but the fact that they had managed to get there at all was a shock.

It would seem that he had quite underestimated his dithering progeny.

Considering the lack of numerous life forms populating the Shadow Realm, it was a simple task for Sliske to locate the newcomer. He approached him cautiously, but with a façade of irreverent detachment firmly in place to mask such weakness.

"Khazard," he said blandly. "I can't say that I expected to see you here."

The Mahjarrat in question had been walking in the opposite direction, and actually jumped slightly before turning to face Sliske. Visibly trying to cover up his startled reaction, he shrugged.

"I hadn't expected to be here," he replied.

Sliske took a few steps closer, his head tilting to the side as he watched Khazard appraisingly. "So you can manipulate the Shadow Realm." His lips twisted into a smirk. "Perhaps it's genetic."

"That's what Zemouregal said," Khazard muttered, clearly annoyed. "Does it not occur to anyone that I might actually have a talent for something?"

"I very much doubt that such a thought would cross anyone's mind," Sliske said. He ignored the pique that rose in Khazard's eyes. "Tell me, what are you doing here? Have you come to join me in my self-imposed exile? Are you hoping for some familial bonding? I should warn you, I don't do camping."

Khazard scowled. "My reasons for being here have nothing to do with that. If it was my own choice, I wouldn't be here at all."

That was the second time that he had implied that he might be fulfilling someone else's mission, and Sliske was beginning to worry that Khazard's uncertain loyalties were going to backfire as strongly on him as they had the Zamorakians.

"Let me guess," he said, "you're here to drag me back to Gielinor so that I might face judgement for my crimes?"

"Judgement, death…" Khazard trailed off, looking slightly unsettled. "It isn't my call. Zaros made my own plans impossible."

Sliske raised a brow. "In what way?"

"I don't know, exactly." Khazard's hand rose to touch his chest. "Some kind of spell. He told me I had two hours."

"That sounds rather like a bluff to me."

"I'm not willing to take that chance."

"No?" Sliske watched him with some interest. "Perhaps that's finally something we have in common. I rarely risk my own skin if I can help it."

"Then you'll come with me?" Khazard asked, his expression verging into relief.

Sliske's laugh was short and unamused. "That is hardly the sentiment you should have taken from that statement."

Before Khazard could do so much as raise a hand, Sliske had whirled the Staff of Armadyl through the air between them and knocked the other Mahjarrat out cold.

Kharshai, Zamorak was only mildly surprised to see. The god that followed him calmly into the alley and stood with his hands clasped behind his back and tiny sparks of anger in his eyes… That was the real shock.

"Aren't you supposed to be asleep?" Zamorak asked.

Guthix's lips turned up in some semblance of a smile. "I would hardly say that I am supposed to be anything, Zamorak. It is true that until just recently I was slumbering deeply, dreaming of a peaceful world and the innovation of humankind. It would seem that my trust was misplaced. I have far overslept."

"What are you all doing?" Kharshai asked, his gaze sweeping the alley and the ruined city around it. "This is not a battleground! People live here!"

Zemouregal shrugged. "People lived here. I'm thinking they're going to want to move now."

"Trust me," Zaros said, "this was not meant to happen. Had I known what was going to occur, I would have been much more specific in my commands."

"You keep saying that," Zamorak said, heat rising into his tone, "but if you had really wanted to prevent something like this then you wouldn't have tossed out your orders and disappeared. Being a leader means being there every goddamned second, and you've never understood that."

Azzanadra glared at him. "Your idea of leadership is ridiculous. How are your subordinates ever going to respect you if they know you on a personal level?"

"Now is hardly the time for this debate!" Kharshai snapped.

Guthix held up one hand, and everyone looked at him. Something about the eldest god commanded attention, despite his unthreatening demeanor.

"I do not care how this came to be," he said flatly, "nor do I care what your intentions might have been. You have most grievously flouted my Edicts, and destruction has followed. Once again, you have all proven that Gielinor is far safer without you here."

Zamorak snorted. "Who wants safe? Safe is boring, safe doesn't go anywhere. If you're so obsessed with your precious humans being safe, then maybe you should just put them in a pretty little bubble and let them live out their lives in solitude and stagnation."

"I am more inclined to do that than to let you continue to wreak havoc on peaceful civilizations," Guthix replied. "These people have done nothing to deserve such chaos."

How did no one else understand that coddling the humans sapped them of all potential? Zamorak had seen some positively magnificent individuals rise from the ashes of their peaceful world, and he had never known one of them to regret taking the opportunity they had been granted, however much they might miss what they had lost.

"Are you just going to stand there and talk at us?" Zemouregal asked. "I'm pretty sure we all have better things we could be doing."

"Anything else that you might be doing is of lower priority," said Guthix. "I have had quite enough of your meddling, and I believe that it is time I did something to solve it."

Zaros bristled. "You call it meddling? The humans need guidance and structure."

"What the humans need," Kharshai said, "is freedom from being used as pawns in this never-ending battle."

Guthix nodded once, sharply. "I agree. That is why I must now correct the mistake that I made at the end of the Third Age."

Zamorak frowned. At the end of the Third Age, Guthix had banished the gods from Gielinor. From what he was saying now, he didn't think that was a mistake, so what was he talking about?

With a small head tilt to acknowledge the confusion his words had caused, Guthix continued, "I have always believed that having gods around does the humans little good, but now it would seem that gods are not entirely the problem. Beings of great power who wish for nothing more than to have the gods returned do just as much damage."

Both Azzanadra and Zemouregal stepped forward, ready to argue whatever Guthix was about to say.

Even Zaros seemed put out. "You cannot mean—"

"I do," Guthix said, not letting the other god finish his sentence. "The Mahjarrat are no better. You do not belong here. I believe it is time that you went back to Freneskae."

ALERT: This is the point, right here, where this story will now properly diverge from the world of canon. I mean, it hasn't actually been canon since ROTM, but I've been trying to at least take into consideration any new worldbuilding or backstory that's been released along the way. However, I planned out the end of this story before Fate of the Gods was released, and I'm not changing it now. Sorry if that offends anyone, just thought I should warn you.