336. Shrouded |
336
Year 310 (Continued)
Gaya Outer Middle World I
A golden portal, and they were sent to the edges of Gaya’s territory once more.
“Think this thing is a trap?” Lumoof asked as he held up the giant ticket. It didn’t feel all that strong.
Not like Hawa’s bomb. It felt flimsy, its presence easily overwhelmed by Lumoof’s spiritual domain. Hawa’s bomb felt like a solid rock that pulsed with power, while this ticket felt like a wet rag along a flowing river. It didn’t hold up very well.
[Gayan Summoning Ticket. An object with sufficient divine energy to call upon Gaya itself to descend momentarily and deliver divine fury.]
“It could be. The best way we can deal with this issue is to obtain similar items from other gods, and use them to check on each other.” Stella said. “As far as we can tell, other gods can restrict the action of a god.”
Lumoof flipped the thing around and decided that it was better for it to be stored somewhere else. So, just like Hawa’s bomb, we teleported it all the way to Cometworld, where it was kept far away from anything and everything.
“Yeah. But first, let’s kill some demons.” Edna smiled, as her eyes gazed at the void path through the stars. The middle worlds still faced demons, just with surprising rarity. “Let’s deal with this and get some steam off. I’ve been itching for a fight.”
And the domain holders fought a demon king.
We killed it. The three were too much for regular demon kings, and the demon king felt weak. Edna alone could hold it down, and once the effects of Gayan divine law over their world were added to the mix, the demon kings were challenging, but ultimately a manageable threat.
***
Gaya Middle World II
The domain holders destroyed a demon king within days of their arrival. Lumoof didn’t gain a level. Edna didn’t either.
Stella did. “Level 199.” Stella said. We were immensely close to the edge, and I wondered what sort of abilities Stella would gain at Level 200. “I can’t actually believe I am so close.”
“Well, then let’s get going. You need to start doing more against the demon kings.” Edna countered.
But it was strange. A few more battles later didn’t move the needle. We defeated three more demon kings on three more middle and peripheral worlds over the course of three to four months.
Then we were back in the Sun-Rings.
***
“I actually think that the level 200 needs something else. A kind of epiphany or some kind of profound realization.” Stella countered. “Let’s go visit the other gods.”
“Really? Did we have that?” Edna and Lumoof asked simultaneously. The two looked at each other temporarily to rest. The Sun-Rings were each linked to each other and we could move between them with the Erasian Gates. However, because they were powered by void mana, heroes could not use them.
“You two are almost combat-focused domain holders! The rules that apply to you don’t apply to mages. We’ve known since the very start that mages have their own set of rules and conditions that make it difficult for the rest of us.” Stella vented. She wasn’t mad, just annoyed at how the system made it difficult for magic users, and a challenge we faced even till today.
“Well, I suppose we can go look for these epiphanies, and these encounters with gods are more likely to generate the necessary epiphanies.” Lumoof declared. “After all, you just leveled after meeting Gaya. Maybe you’ll gain more if we meet Neira or Aiva.”
Stella pondered the idea and realized it made sense. But the three were a little tired, and so once they were back in the Sun-Rings, it was much easier to hop back home.
“I hope we meet Aiva first. At least I wouldn’t be so stressed out about it.”
“What if Aiva wants his territory back?”
“Well, then so be it.” I answered.
***
Year 311
First, Lumoof made a trip to Satrya and called on Hawa. It was strangely appropriate for a priest to play the role of diplomatic messenger between the gods. Maybe, in an ancient time when the gods were close and pseudo-pantheons existed, the priests were messengers between bickering gods.
“We met Gaya.” Lumoof said to Hawa, who seemed thoroughly amused. “He sends his regards.”
“I imagine it as unpleasant.” Hawa responded. “The old one was in a male form, or a female form?”
“Female.”
“Ah. Then you’ve met the nicer one. Gaya, the old one, exists in three forms. At least, ten thousand years ago when we were also close enough to somewhat interact. The combined form was the most unpleasant of the three, but the most powerful.”
“That should’ve been something you said.”
“Our divine memory operates like a patch of things scattered all over the place. I do not remember what I do not remember.”
“But more importantly, Gaya offered us a ticket to fight against the demons. I ask that you do the same, as a commitment to our venture into the demonlands.”
“He did? He did.” Hawa asked but then answered the question himself. Maybe, he just asked the system and the system responded. “Interesting way of going about things. This is new to me as well, but I can do so too. Very well. Here.”
A similar golden ticket appeared in Hawa’s hand, and Lumoof received it. We realized that the gods had a way of replicating what each other did. “What does this actually do?”
“This is a condensed spiritual faith. The prayers of our faithful, captured and bottled. Raw faith, before the system converts them into faith points. If released, for a brief moment, we can temporarily reveal ourselves in that location. Think of miracles, bigger but transient.”
“I see. You can see through it, can’t you?”
“A little. We can always see things through our faith. If it feels like we are spying on you, then you may want to keep it somewhere far away. Like you did with my bomb.”
“You can tell.” We were letting them spy on us. But now that we knew, at least it would be intentional.
“It is a feature of the faith system. We know where our faith is. But as I said, what we see is fairly limited. The strength of faith is what determines visibility.”
Not altogether dissimilar to how I could see and sense those with [Aeonic] Classes, but they’d taken it to a galactic level. “I’ll be headed to search for Aiva and Neira. Or any of the other gods”
“Aiva is the monk, the esoteric, though I dare say Aiva is also the most diversified of us gods. Aiva in the old times was more of a secluded artist. The Aivan faith was generally more popular amongst the flying folk. The avian Garudas, the harpies, and the winged angels. Aivan priests were always a little more insular, and they generally preferred high, secluded places where they could be close to the world. You can say they are perhaps the most aligned to someone like yourself.”
“Wait.” Lumoof stopped, as we realized we could better understand the angels. We’ve generally ignored the angels after our past interactions.. “I met the angels. What are they?”
“Before the gods settled on using heroes as a way of dealing with demons, some of them experimented on an elite army. Aivan, Neira, and a few other Gods created many different types. The angels, the winged dragonlings, and a few other types of elite warriors, all without the natural inhibitions of the spirit that allowed them to reach into the great heights. These were the first ‘pre-heroic’ armies, a modification of the powerful armies we always had on our core worlds.”
We waited for Hawa to continue.
“Alas. The cost of these armies were too heavy to maintain in faraway worlds, especially with our limited influence. It also consumes faith for us to create warriors without the natural level limits. It is not much individually, but for it to be a powerful army, it is quite an expense, especially when spread throughout hundreds of worlds. They also greatly disrupted the natural power balance of these worlds. Even moving armies of that size from world to world was a significant faith expense. In the end, a short term, expendable army of exceptionally powerful heroes, who were designed to wither after victory, was far more effective, while we reserved these elite armies for our Core Worlds.”
That was the closest we got to a confession from Hawa on the nature of heroes. It was not a pleasant message to deliver to the heroes.
Ken was right.
“What of Neira?”
“Neira is one of the three gods of the elves, and Neira goes by many, many names. Well, I suppose we all have many names, and in some worlds I have multiple names as well. They call it aspects.”
“How does the system know who is praying to who?” Lumoof asked. “I mean, if you go by many names, how does the faith reach you?”
“Ah. Easy. In each world we mark and reserve certain names. So, prayers on these worlds to those certain names are directed to us. Names have tremendous power, and the core defines the meaning of names.”
“Wait. Doesn’t that mean that the demons can overwrite the meaning of names when they control the core?”
“They could. But only for that world. So far from what I have seen, they appear to approach it like feral beasts, consuming everything.”
I now understood why I could ‘harvest’ the heroes’ spirit and heroic fragments, only after I placed my core or my node down in a location. I was not a ‘named’ entity in that world’s library of names. Without being named, the world didn’t know I had priority to the hero’s spirit.
In the end, I prodded Hawa for more details on the other gods.
***
“It’s disturbing how the [system] really works like a system.” Stella said . “As we peel back the layers of the system, I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s really some magical supercomputer at the heart of it all, assigning names and rules. Maybe it’s just a massive Patreeck.”
The core was the heart of every world. It was how the world’s law is stored and how its specific rules are interpreted.
Our domains made us into some kind of exception. An alien.
“But you know, could you weaponize this? Surely, if each rule is controlled by the core, we can use this as a weapon, twist the rules to our advantage. Like the black sun. What if the black sun has a planet nearby with a core that actually controls the rules of that realm. Like the Sun-Rings, each of the Sun-Rings exist with a planet nearby. The planet may be uninhabited or controlled by the demons, but I am quite sure that the planet’s core actually has authority over the natural laws that apply over the entire realm, including the Sun-Rings.”
Stella might be right.
If the Black Sun was incredibly powerful, attacking it would be foolish.
But destroying the entity that controlled the planet’s core and using that core’s will of the world to undo or change that realm’s laws could allow us an entry point into the Black Sun.
“You might be onto something.”
“I know. But let’s go get my Level 200 first”
***
Sun-Rings III Peripheral World I, One jump away from Sun-Rings III
Edna asked as we arrived. “So, feel anything?”
“I think so.” Lumoof said. “I sorta feel something. Like a vague gut feeling. Just go with it. I think we’re far away.”
“It’s most likely far away. Such a powerful structure can only exist without other god’s meddling. More appropriately, if the Sun-Rings were near to any other god, that god would have the necessary power to easily destroy it.” Stella said. “So, by that logic-”
“That logic implies that this area used to be in a vacuum, and that the gods do not overlap. So, if a space was most likely occupied by Eras in the past, no one made a fuss when it switched allegiances and became part of the demon’s territory.”
“It’s too far and too costly for them to make a fuss. Even if they wanted to, the expense was likely something too high, especially to destroy something like the Sun-Rings.” Stella clarified. “But let’s go. I think we need at least five hops before we find something.”
There was nothing that needed to be said about demons. They were an existence to be annihilated, and so we did.
Stella, Edna, and Lumoof, thus went on a demon king-hunting spree. It took us a century and then some since my reemerged from the Rottedlands, but it was amusing that my three domain holders were at the level that hunting demon kings was entirely possible.
Four more demon kings died over a period of two months as the three demigods reached further and deeper into the lands. We were likely to be approaching Aivan territory, because when we reached the fifth world we encountered Aivan temples.
Stella’s Level 200 remained elusive, but we were already close. We were not going to stop now.
***
The sixth world we arrived at was something of a wonder.
A world with three suns, surrounding a single planet. A world where three suns and three moons, actually orbited a single supermassive planet.
The main supermassive planet was filled with all kinds of humans, elves, dwarves, and many more unusual races. People with animal heads, like tiger heads, which referred to themselves as Tigerans. There were mermaids on their seas.
The moons, though, were actual regular sized planets, and they too had their own people on it. Each of the three moon-worlds had their own races. One with an insectoid folk, while another moon was a total water world filled with mermaids and mermen and fish. The third one was filled with some kind of rock-crab-golem humanoid.
The reason that we were drawn to this world was the same as many others.
Divinity.
The supermassive world was named Dytan, and the surface of the supermassive world revealed an interesting subterranean layer with just as massive tunnels and caves. Caves that were so large that they may as well have been entire countries.
But for us, the three demigods only had to follow the familiar scent of divinity, and soon we found ourselves diving deeper underground where we encountered a giant worm god that was still in the process of devouring a demon king.
Truly, there were predators for even the most apex of predators, and this gigantic worm was clearly a domainholder of some kind.
Yet it did not speak.
It radiated a powerful aura that made us feel as if we were staring at something similar to us in strength.
It was at least level 200, but not enough to be Level 250.
We could feel its aura against ours.
It didn’t respond.
“Well, I think we should leave.” Stella suggested in the end. “As long as it eats demons, I guess we can let it be.”
The locals referred to the worm god as the Demon Eater, and it appeared to be a creature that somehow thrived on consuming demons. It still boggleds my mind how something like that could reach that level of power. Perhaps it had somehow consumed a weakened demon king?
***
We were about to move to the next world, when we received an urgent call for help from our own people on the Sun-Rings.
“Someone was using the Erasian Gates, and it was not one of us.”
The three domain holders had to quickly jump back and confront whatever it was.
Back on Sun-Rings III, the Erasian Gates whirled to life, and then, a titan stepped through it.
A giant man covered in a full body suit of steel and helmet was just as surprised to see us.
The man’s steel fist glowed with power and slammed into Edna’s shield. “Welcome. Who might you be?” Edna asked.
The man stared at Edna, then at Stella. When his eyes looked at Stella, he looked horrified and tapped on something. The man was about to magically warp away, but Lumoof’s roots wrapped around him and the magic vanished. “I think we can talk here.”
The man gulped and a second fist smashed into Edna’s shield again. But the steel man looked at Lumoof and Edna, and sighed. “Who- who are you? Are you a member of the void cult?”
“Void cult?” Lumoof said, the roots continued to hold onto the man’s body.
“Why do you have someone with void energies with you!” He pointed. “One of the demons!”
“She’s a master of void magic, but she isn’t a demon.” Lumoof intervened. “Now, who are you?”
The man was clearly at least a domain holder, but he was likely just barely a domain holder, someone in the level 150s. “Just kill me if that is what you want. I won’t speak to someone of the void cult, and I won’t spill my secrets.”
“I don’t intend to.” Lumoof said, as our vines wrapped around the man. “We are not from the void cult. What do we have to say to prove otherwise?”
The steel helmet stared at Stella, and then started to say something in an alien language that sounded like a combination of barks and screams.
Stella just stared at the man like an alien. “What in the world is that?”
The man stopped. “You- you didn’t react to that?”
“What was that supposed to be?” Stella clarified. “I’m human, and I learned void magic from the Zaratans, and I’ve been using it to open pathways through the void sea.”
“Zaratans? Oh. Those Zaratans! You learned void magic from the void swimmers.” The steel man looked immediately relieved. “You can let go, I promise I won’t run away.”
Lumoof glanced at Edna, and Edna nodded. “Very well. So, who are you, and why-”
“I am Arthem, but you can call me anything you want, and I guess you can call me a worldhopper. I hop between worlds using this. It goes by many names, but you can call it the Ancient Worldkey.” The steel man displayed a small object filled with divine mana. “It opens a small portal between worlds, big enough for me to hop. I use these ancient gates to save my Worldkey’s remaining use charges. They charge extremely slowly, only one charge every 50 years.”
“Well, where are you headed?” Lumoof asked.
“One of the other safe worlds. Far from the demons and the petty gods. I have to move around because demons and heroes and all that.”
“So you just ran away?” Edna immediately looked at the man. She clearly was feeling a little judgement, but tried her best not to show it.
“Yes. And no shame in that. I may be high level and already took the first steps into the divine, but I know my strength. I can’t match the demon kings!”
“And you did nothing to help?”
“Says who!” The man looked indignant. “The world needs heroes, I tried that hero stuff thousands of years ago and all I got were scars. Hell, I even had a beautiful body once, and now I cover myself up in this armor just to keep my body from burning up.”
Lumoof and Edna looked at each other. “There are gods and others who can help. Why didn’t you approach them?”
“Others? You trust the gods too easily! A weak demigod like me would be turned into food and an enemy to be slain for experience and levels! I fought with Gaya’s hero once, and in the end, I got doused in a heavy demonic fire that I cannot extinguish, only suppress. Gaya’s so-called priests refused to help, and their god wanted my service for any assistance!”
“You’re immortal, are you not?” Edna asked.
The steel man Arthem’s glowing eyes blinked. “What exactly do you mean?”
“I mean, you don’t age. Thus, the years are just time you have. Unlimited time. Some periods of service don't sound too unreasonable.”
“Ah. But I refuse to bend the knee to an insane god like Gaya! Or any of these other crazy folk. All of these faith gods are insane. You’ve just not seen the crazy stuff.”
Stella cut in, frustrated. She clearly didn’t think the person was sane. “Alright, you clearly are afraid of the void cult. Who are they?”
“Why should I tell you?” The man said defiantly, and then Lumoof’s roots began to curl around his armor a little tighter.
He quickly changed his mind.
“Shapeshifters! They use void magic to infiltrate worlds and corrupt them. They turn the faithful against each other and create chaos. Once the world is sufficiently weakened, they plant the demon crystals to lure the demons to those worlds!”
The three were silent. We waited for him to continue.
The steel man paused and stared at the three, taking turns to stop briefly at each one. “Wait. You’ve not seen them?”
“I can’t say we did. When’s the last time you saw one yourself?” Lumoof asked.
“Uh...”
“Is it like a few thousand years ago?”
“Around that, I can’t quite recall. I enter periods of hibernation to deal with my health issues.”
“So you’re dealing with heavily outdated information. This cult may be long gone and that’s why we don’t know about it.” Lumoof theorized. But a few thousand years was also a relatively short time to the gods, so it is possible that we really didn’t encounter them just yet.
“Just because you don’t see them doesn’t mean they don’t exist!”
Lumoof shrugged. “Well, that is so. If we ever encounter these things.”
“It’s been many years, didn’t you gain enough levels to overcome whatever curse you are dealing with?” Edna asked, also curious. Based on how our own domain holders grew over time, it really was a matter of time until they gained the strength and experience needed to become stronger, and thus reverse or mitigate the effects of any curse. “I had the impression curses don’t stick on domainholders all that well.”
Arthem couldn’t believe what he heard. “You are sort of right and sort of wrong. Also, do you think levels grow on trees, and I can just somehow outgrow my curses?”
The three of them looked at each other. Lumoof almost wanted to correct him, but then realized it was pointless, and so decided to talk about something else. “Anyway, Arthem. Where is this safe world of yours?”
“And why would I disclose such an important thing? And I won’t tell you even if you threaten me!”
Lumoof decided to change direction, and so loosened his hold over the armored man. “Alright, I won’t insist. But the fact that you’ve used the Erasian Gates at this time is some luck. Do you want to travel somewhere with us, where we can help you? I think we can help you with the curse, at least.”
Arthem looked at Lumoof like he was mad. “You want me to go with you somewhere?”
“Yes. Meet Aeon, and if we happen to like each other, we can help you with your curse.”
“No. I will not do so. Instead, I will be on my way.”
“Final question before I let you go.” Lumoof asked. “What’s your [domain]?”
The man paused, and then sighed. “I see no reason to disclose. Goodbye!”
The man tapped his artifact again, and we watched him vanish through the object’s divine ability. At that moment, we took a feel of the object’s divine aura and realized it was not one of the divine auras we felt before.
“Do you think he’s good?” Lumoof looked around. “He feels like a coward.”
“At least, I feel he’s likely harmless.” Edna said. “His punches didn’t hurt that much. A strange person to be a domain holder. We’ve met many domain holders, and yet I feel like he’s probably a researcher, a mage or some sort.”
Stella was too busy studying the vanished domain holder. The divine energies vanished in a direction different from us. “His divine key uses a different sort of map, almost as if he is traveling in a different void layer, and so, his world is likely not nearby in our map.”
“Huh. We should get one of those.”
“Maybe Aiva has one. Let’s go back and meet Aiva.”
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