Chris walked through the dungeon under the mansion, banging on doors and tossing cards through the slots in them to the slaves inside before moving on. The slaves’ read the cards with various degrees of skepticism, disbelief, and a desperate hope, until one finally decided to rip the card and a portal appeared in front of her. “It- it's real!” She exclaimed, before rushing through. As others heard her exclamation, they ripped their own cards and let out exclamations of their own, the dungeon quickly beginning to empty. Chris didn't even need to bang on the last few doors, the women already there waiting for him, reaching through the slots desperately for cards of their own, as if they were terrified he might miss them.
Once he was done with the dungeon, he moved on to a slightly nicer section of the mansion where the next group of slaves were kept, the ones who had earned some level of privilege in whatever system Yoseph used. Their doors didn't have any slots, so Chris had to use a portal to toss the cards inside. These women were a bit more hesitant to accept the offer on the card. They'd all worked hard to climb to a point where their lives could be considered at least decent, and they didn't know whether this Eternal Sect would be better or worse. If the card was telling the truth, there were certainly benefits to joining the sect, but they knew better than anyone that benefits often came with a cost. A few women tore the card and left, but the rest hesitated, at least until the second card stating that Yoseph was gone and never coming back appeared, which gave most of them suitable motivation to try their luck with the Eternals. A few still remained behind, but they carefully hid their cards, just in case.
Finally Chris moved to the last section of the mansion, where Yoseph's favorite slaves were kept in lavish suites. The other two sections had guards stationed at the entrance to keep the slaves from escaping, but this section had servants stationed there instead, ready to attend to the women's every need. Each room had a string attached to a bell, and the moment it rang a servant would come running. The doors weren't even locked, so Chris just walked into the first room. “Did you need something, Master?” A woman purred as she slinked out of the bedroom while slipping out of her robe, before letting out a yelp and covering herself as she saw Chris. “Who are you?!? You can't be here!?!” She hissed, looking around nervously. Only she and Yoseph were allowed to enter her chambers. Even the servants had to wait at the door, except for an hour in the morning when they would clean her room while she attended to her hygiene in the baths with the other women. If Yoseph caught her alone in here with another man, it would be both their heads!
“Yoseph's gone.” Chris announced, handing her a card as she froze, eyes widening in shock. “If you want to be free, tear that card.”
“What- what do you mean Yoseph is gone?!? What happened!?!” The woman asked in a desperate tone, ignoring the card.
“I dropped him into my world and left him burning on the surface of a star.” Chris replied simply, turning to leave for the next room. Whether she tore the card or not was up to her.
“You- wait!” The woman called after him, Chris pausing and glancing back at her. “What does this mean for me?!?”
Chris shrugged. “That's up to you. You can tear the card and join the Eternal Sect, or you can wait here and see what whoever inherits all this wants to do with you.”
The woman hesitated as Chris left, biting her lip, before quickly moving to gather her things and finally tearing the card. She eyed the portal that opened nervously for a moment, before taking a deep breath and stepping through. She knew there was no way she could remain in her position with Yoseph gone. All her value was tied to being Yoseph's woman, and whoever inherited would want women of their own. At best she would be kept as a pleasure slave for guests, but the odds were she'd be sent to work in one of the whore houses to serve whoever took a fancy to her. She'd rather take her chances with the Eternal Sect. Her thoughts echoed the opinions of most of the other women. Without Yoseph, their value as slaves was minimal, so most of them decided to take a chance with the Eternal Sect. The few exceptions were women who honestly seemed to love Yoseph, becoming completely inconsolable or even furious when Chris told them he was gone and where he was. He had to restrain them while he finished dealing with the rest.
After he finished, Chris appeared on the roof of the mansion where Greg, Andrew, and Victoria were waiting. “All done?” Greg asked as he arrived.
Chris nodded. “For the most part. They all have cards, but not all of them have torn it.”
Andrew sighed. “They have the option. That's all that matters.”
Victoria grunted. “I don't understand how anyone could want to be a slave. I mean, I do, but it just- ugh, the whole thing just bothers me.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Greg waved dismissively. “Shall I begin?” The other's nodded and Greg grinned, smoke billowing as gigantic screens and speakers appeared all around Callowa. “Attention people of Callowa, the various sects, and all the visitors from around Emarta!” He paused for a moment as people began rushing outside, waiting for a good crowd to gather before continuing. “We are the Eternals of the Eternal Sect, and we are here to announce that we are accepting anyone who wishes to join into our glorious organization! We don't care if you're old, young, male, female, slave, free, rich, poor, tri-core, dual-core, mono-core, unAwakened, human, Rune Beast, or anything else you may be! We take anyone and everyone!”
Chris stepped forward as portals opened in the sky and cards began to rain down on the street. “Anyone who wishes to join simply has to rip one of these cards and walk through the portal. The advantages of doing so are written right on the card, and you're free to use the card to visit and ask questions before you make your final decision.”
Victoria stepped forward next. “These cards are being distributed thoroughly, so anyone who may find themselves in a… disadvantaged position will still have the opportunity to join.”
“As to our second announcement, some of you may recognize the building we're standing on.” Greg began as the view pulled back,revealing a full view of the mansion. “It may be of some concern to certain parties that the owner of this lovely home is no longer available to do business. You see, we found him to be positively vile, so my friend here decided he needed to spend some time burning on the surface of a star. If you happen to be someone who does similarly vile things, maybe consider cutting that out, before we decide you need to spend some time burning on the surface of a star. And if you think we're joking…” The view on the screen switched to show Yoseph screaming in agony as his body burned and reformed in a torturous cycle. Greg chuckled as the view shifted back. “Until next time, folks!” He bowed as Chris opened a portal and the four of them left, the screens and speakers dissolving into smoke as the portal closed.
*
Back at the Hidden Blades, Daphne dragged Greg into their room, turning and glaring at him as he coughed awkwardly. “So… you probably put a few things together… didn't really think of that.”
“You- what- what is this?!?” Daphne growled, holding up one of the Eternal Sect cards.
“An invitation to join the Eternal Sect, but I'm guessing that isn't the part you're confused about.” Greg sighed. “Where do you want me to start?”
“How about you start with who the hell you are!?!” Daphne snapped.
“I'm Gregory Ulysses Halver, the Body Eternal of the Eternal Sect, a Multiversal entity which could essentially be considered a demonic god.” Greg answered. “Though not demonic in the sense that I'm evil, but in the sense that I'm a little chaotic and prone to causing… upheaval.”
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Daphne blinked. “You- what?”
Greg cocked his head. “Maybe it'd be best to think of me as the god of matter? That's at least close to right.”
“You're a god.” Daphne muttered numbly. “Really?”
“Essentially.” Greg shrugged. “I literally can't die because my existence is tied to my smoke which can dissolve and take the form of anything physical, while being indestructible itself. Since I am the smoke, anything the smoke forms is me, so I can have multiple bodies, allowing me to exist in multiple places at once. So I'm immortal, I can make pretty much anything I want, and I exist in multiplicity. If that isn't a god, what is? I mean, unless your bar is set at omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. Which, you know, would be fair.” Greg paused, before snapping his fingers. “I'm a resistible god.”
Daphne rubbed her temple. “Why are you even here?!?”
“Well, despite being basically gods, we still need resources, and since all the sects around here basically suck ass, we decided to infiltrate them and steal their Secret Realms.” Greg explained.
Daphne frowned. “Then why do this?” She waved the card at him. “Wouldn't it be better to wait until you have their Secret Realms?”
“Yeah, but… well, you see, there's- there was- you saw the announcement, right? That dude fucking sucked, and it kinda forced our hand.” Greg sighed. “If it's a choice between leaving innocent women to suffer and risking our infiltration being discovered, we kinda have to choose to save the women.”
Daphne just stared at him for a moment. “You- chose to risk a personal setback to save- did you know these women?”
Greg raised an eyebrow at her. “No? I mean, Victoria tried to buy one of them today, cause she saw the dude drooling over her and wanted to save her, but that's the first we had contact with any of them.”
“So they're complete strangers you saved for no reason other than you could?” Daphne asked.
“Yup.” Greg nodded.
“And that's- normal in the Eternal Sect?” Daphne frowned.
“Well, it's normal for the Eternals.” Greg shrugged. “The sect itself only has three principles, the ones on the card. Accept the consequences of your actions, think before you act, and if you see a problem, do what you can to fix that problem.”
Daphne raised an eyebrow. “That sounds like anyone from the Eternal Sect would have helped those women, if they were abiding by those principles.”
“Not if they don't see any issues with a man abusing slaves.” Greg retorted. “Everyone has a different view of how the world should work. For example, some people would think that if a woman was enslaved and abused by a man like that, it would be their responsibility to remove her by any means necessary, even if she didn't want to leave, because obviously the situation is horrible. However, we didn't force the women to leave, we just made sure they had the option, because ultimately how they live their lives is up to them, and if they want to live as slaves, that's their choice.”
Daphne frowned slightly, staring at the card in her hand. “And all I have to do to join is tear this card?”
“Well, there are some additional requirements.” Greg coughed. “Tearing the card gets you into Chris's world, but if you want to join the sect you need to be connected to Chris's world, which lets him pull you in and out of it at will, and he can do pretty much whatever he wants in his world. If it weren't for the fact that Chris is essentially a robot, it'd be a horrible position to be in, but honestly, you probably won't even notice.”
“What's a robot?” Daphne asked hesitantly.
Greg blinked. “I'm not sure you have the foundation necessary to comprehend it, and I definitely don't have the skills to explain it. Basically he's as close to emotionless as a person can get, and I'm not sure he's capable of even being interested in abusing someone, let alone mustering up the motivation to actually do it.”
“And in order to join the Eternal Sect, I have to be connected to this person?” Daphne asked skeptically. “Why?”
“Because Victoria gives you access to the system, which allows you to do things like get three second tier Runes in about two months.” Greg chuckled. “If we go around giving people that kind of power, we have the responsibility to make sure they don't abuse it. Plus, being able to pull people back into Chris's world at any moment is pretty convenient. Oh! It also makes you immortal. Forgot to mention that part.”
Daphne's eyes widened. “It makes you what?!?”
“Immortal. Unkillable, unaging, the whole deal.” Greg grinned.
Daphne's mouth opened and closed wordlessly for a moment, before gulping nervously. “That- that is… everyone in the Eternal Sect is immortal?”
“Yup.” Greg nodded. “That's what makes it eternal, you know?”
Daphne slumped onto her bed, clutching her head. “How have you not already taken over the world?”
“Well, we've only been here for like two months.” Greg shrugged. “Less, I think… Time is hard to keep track of when you have multiple bodies.”
Daphne groaned. “This- I- I need time to- to process all this.” She'd known Greg had secrets, but she thought it was to the level of hiding some capabilities and maybe avoiding the attention of another sect like her. She'd never thought he was hiding the fact that he was a freaking god!
“Yeah, that tends to be the case.” Greg sighed. “Take all the time you need. Oh, and feel free to tell the Hidden Blades if you feel like you should. We aren't going to stop you or take revenge or anything, so you don't need to be scared. Though… you should probably be aware that the Hidden Blades are attempting to become an Empire using Tamara. Just, you know, so you have all the information.”
Daphne's head snapped up to stare at him. “They're what!?!” She jumped to her feet. “We have to tell someone! Warn-”
“Hey, hey, calm down!” Greg moved to block her from leaving. “The moment you tell the other sects, it's war. The entire region is going to go to shit as the sects fight each other and tear everything apart. However, if you give us time, we have a chance to put a stop to all of this before it ever gets to that point. So, you know, don't do anything rash, okay?”
Daphne grimaced. “But if the Hidden Blades have enough time to develop, the other sects might lose their chance to stop them!”
“Sure, but honestly, the Hidden Blades having an easy victory is preferable to a messy war.” Greg shrugged. “It'll suck for the other sects, but for the average person, it doesn't really matter who's in charge. Plus we can always let the other sects hide in Chris's world, so even they don't have to suffer.”
Daphne groaned. “Please, please, tell me those are all your secrets. I don't think I can take anymore.”
“Well… those are all the ones that are immediately relevant.” Greg coughed, earning himself a glare from Daphne. “What? I'm a god! Secrets kinda come with the territory.”
Daphne sighed. “Why did you even start telling me any of this in the first place? You met me yesterday!”
Greg paused. “Honestly? Because even if you tell everyone, it isn't that big a deal, because at most I just leave the Hidden Blades, no harm, no foul. Well, except for the whole empire thing. That one getting out could be a problem… but other than that, I told you because I like you, and building relationships on lies is a recipe for disaster.”
Daphne froze. “You- like me?”
“Yeah?” Greg gave her a weird look. “I mean, obviously, right?” His eyes suddenly widened. “Wait, hold on, I mean I like you, not- like as a friend! Not that I would be against pursuing something romantic, but I'm not for it either, you know? Cause we did like just meet yesterday. I just think you're a neat person who I enjoy talking to. No more, no less.”
Daphne flushed. “Oh…” She hesitated for a moment. “You're- pretty neat yourself. Even if you do have too many secrets.” She finished in a grumble.