Olga Godzuik.
***
They’d been talking and eating, for over an hour. Here, in this alabaster courtyard floating between dissimilar forests. I’d been eating too. Though there had been few words to fall from my lips other than incredulous comments aimed at no one other than myself. For good reasons, though.
First, we weren’t the only creatures here. Massive orcas and dolphins with skin as rich as silver and eyes as deep as onyx swam peacefully throughout the space around us. Uncaring of how close their calves came to the colossal squids, octopuses, cuttlefish, or the tentacled shells drifting among them. Or even the wolves pouncing from platform to platform to playfully nip at their fins. Second, there was a lot Amun was asking of them, his Captains of the Legio Noctis.
They were already tasked with devoting the next year to power-leveling their classes. And next year, they’d go abroad to learn the inner workings of the guild they’ve already created. On top of that, Amun wanted them to form not just parties, but companies numbering in the hundreds. He wanted them to create retirement and vacation worlds here, inside his realm, for them and their subordinates and citizens to dwell safely in. And more, he wanted them to raise guild towers that would float above the surface. The Woven Worlds of the Empire, he called them. All of that, Amun wanted them to do. And Mani knew what else.
Still, though, they loved every bit of it. They looked forward to it with the zeal seen in all young adventures and then some. They listened intently to his words and openly made plans to bring them to fruition once they’d been spoken. Then quickly shut their mouths to listen to the next set of orders intently. It was as admirable as it was terrifying, seeing the devotion Amun was able to instill in them in such a short time. Not just by appealing to their material wants and needs, though that had been done in excess, I could see it was much more than anything words could make sense of that drove these people into following him. And I could see that same devotion burning in Doyle’s eyes.
Not a hard feat, though, considering I sat right beside him. But even if I were sitting across the table or, dare I say, across the space, I would have noticed the steaming plate sitting before him, still filled to the brim with food.
“As promised.” Amun then said, pulling my eyes to him just as he released a school of wise rock pebbles to befall us, even Doyle and I. “These are for the worlds you will weave above the Mortal Plane. Like Mani, they will be hollow and thus serve as the entrance to your divine world while your civilians dwell on the surface.And.” He waved again, releasing another school of darker, yet more radiant pebbles. “These are for your headquarters.
“And that, finally, is the last of our business.” He sighed deflatedly in his seat. “You are hereby free to stay in the realm for one month. However, only one week would have passed outside by then. After that, it’s down to the surface with few, if any, trips back until next year. Eotrom will be for vacation only. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us.”
“A month!?” Elsgril spat with a thrust of his hand up the vertical bridge. “How’m I ‘posed to scour the world out there for a fine orc chef ‘n just a month?”
“You’ll find a way.” Amun smiled.
“By praying,” Zakira added.
“Bah!” Elsgril thrust his arms upwards and returned to his mug, grumbling something or other under his breath.
Finding my opportunity, I then leaned over the table and stared right into Amun’s eerily dark eyes. “And what of us?” I asked, gesturing to me and Doyle.
“Whatever you please.” He both shrugged and motioned at my hand with an ivory pipe he promptly began stuffing with burnbud. “You, Olga, can take that pebble and create a world for yourself, or raise a tower on the fourth level. Though, it may be lonely in there for a while.”
Looking around, I couldn’t exactly see myself living inside the world, divine and grandiose though it was. So, with respect, I bowed in my seat. “I- I think I’ll create a... world. Thanks.”
“And thank you for all that you’ve done.”
“You don’t have to thank me for doing my job.” I playfully scoffed. And he only smirked wide.
“Likewise. Regardless!” he then stood from the table, pulling everyone’s eyes from my embarrassment. “I have a Menagerie to speak to and several undead to promote, so I’ll see you on the sixth level. After that, Ed and I have several hundred thousand potions to brew. So… see-”
“WAIT!”
At once, everyone turned to face Ritrix, standing tall atop the table with an accusatory finger pointed at Amun. “That can’t be it!”
“I mean… it kinda is.” Amun shrugged. “We’re going to celebrate soon.”
“But, shouldn’t the people be here? Shouldn’t there be like… a dance or something?” She thrashed her arms about in frustration.
“Well, I wanted to give everyone time to get settled in. But I get your point. So…” he turned his gaze up to tap at his chin for a few seconds before lowering his eyes to her once more with a wide smile. “How about this? I’ve seen mentions of Sinestro’s Quartet hosting a concert at the end of the month, at a famous tavern in Nevstan.”
“The Purple Leopard?” Doyle and I simultaneously guessed.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Ritrix spun on her heels to face us immediately. “You’ve been?”
“It’s a bit of a right of passage for second-years. Leaving the Southern Peninsula without trying their roasted leopard and hot rum is a crime.” Doyle chuckled in nostalgia.
“And the dried snake served at the Purple Wyrm too!” I added.
“True.” Doyle nodded. “But the nights in Rhar are pale in comparison to the Leopard. Or Nevstan as a whole.”
“And there you go.” Amun clapped. “We’ll meet in the city of Chor, Kurnak province of the Nevstan Principality for the concert. And after, we’ll have a dance of our own. Here, with all the citizens. Agreed?”
“Works for me.” Ritrix plopped into her seat with a wide smile. But Amun was gone before she even turned.
“Well.” Toril rose from his seat with a long sigh. “I’m going to explore.”
“Me too.” Lucia stood a second after Toril took the form of a lightning bolt and streaked away, leaving clapping thunder and a woman encased in bronze wings following in his wake. Naturally, the others followed either in groups or as individuals; flying, falling, or riding in variations of the divine chariots we arrived in, leaving Doyle and I as the last ones standing in Amun’s private realm.
“It’s out into space to weave our worlds, I guess.” I finally rose from my seat with a dreary sigh. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen my tower.”
“Me too.” Doyle chortled softly. Then seemed to hold in the same words I was thinking.
I wish Zeff were here.
***
Amun.
***
“I do not own you, I’m aware. I consider myself a friend to you all and nothing more, even if I haven’t treated you as such. You’ve helped me considerably over the years, if even by your company alone. Yet, I’ve kept you all cooped up within my shadow. And now, you’ve remained in this realm without me for decades. For that.” I humbly bowed. “I apologize.”
“Why?” Kit bobbed up and down from his perch atop my shoulder. “The darkness was our home. Now, you have given us a new one. We are grateful.”
“The fox'ss wordss hold true.” Jake hissed. “You made uss sspecial. Our young iss sspecial. Asss is their young. They grow ssstrong in this placce, thankss to you.”
“Some more special than others.” Chako, the Silverstream Orca matriarch, giggled as the younger calves in her clan swam daringly closer to the floating platform on which the dusk or lunar or, in one case, seasonal animals were gathered around me.
The truth of her words was more inaccurate than she believed them to be, however, for all of the Menagerie were as special as her immense clan.
And more.
They were with me when I evolved. Moreover, they and every other creature within the realm spent upwards of six decades inside the moon before our entry. Building habitats, hunting, foraging, reproducing, and drinking the potent divinity around them, and thus many of them- my favorite creatures and the Menagerie- had mutated to reflect the divine energies of the realm and become immortalized in my Pantheon.
Divine Trees notwithstanding, The only specific creatures in the Natural section of my profile were still Elven Devils, Shadow Dragons, and Devils- though my relationship with the latter was said to be tenuous. That essentially translated to them being exalted in the eyes of my pantheon and me being exalted in their eyes. But they did not become the ridiculously powered creatures the others did. Such as the Cervidae Family Tree. On the contrary, those things affected materials. Faerie Flax, water, or in many cases, Wise Rocks.
The presence of one bladehorn stag in the Menagerie made true deer- elk, deer, moose, reindeer, and other similar creatures, part of the World Weavers domain. Since coming here, they’d been roaming through the Silverstream Forest among the others, absorbing divine mana. Like the elks that carried us here, that influx of energy granted them powers that set them above the other creatures roaming the world. They could walk through the air as if it were solid ground, cast illusions, affect water and stone with their magic, cast illusions, and more.
So too was the case with the Menagerie after bonding with either moonlight or twilight. More than their immortalization in my pantheons, however, the most intriguing reward of those creatures- and nature itself- being a part of my profile was that I could converse with animals without the use of Corvus' ring. And, so long as I was either within my realm or speaking to one of the creatures in my profile, I could do so without divine mana.
As great as their situation was, however, I didn’t want to leave them trapped here any longer. For that reason, I gave them wise rock pebbles too. One to form worlds for themselves in the space outside and another to create a lair in the peninsula far below. A forward base for them to explore and grow as I intended to.
“I do not own you," I repeated. "I never have. Thus you are free to roam the worlds in this realm or explore the surface below. If you don’t have to means to return here on your own.” I paused to scratch the two, not-quite-divine horse-sized wolves curled up beneath me, “I will give you the means to do so in due time.”
“No need.” Skoll and Hati both growled. “We are old. The whelps lead packs of their own now,” the former said, followed by the latter barking. “They have changed. This is their home.”
“Ours is here, with you, where we will remain until we die.” Skoll proudly huffed.
“And in death, we will begin anew,” Hati concluded with a gentle nuzzle before Pora Bora fluttered down to a perch on my knee.
“I will remain with the other, darker, you,” she screeched. “My child and her mate will accompany you.”
“I will go with whom I chose to fight beside.” Tao leaped off the edge after a solemn look back. Then one by one, the troops left to lead their lives as they saw fit. Thus ending the legacy of the Tenebrous Menagerie and marking the start of something new.
“And that leaves you a lot.” I turned just as Lana, Zaraxus, and their respective squads stepped from the shadows of a nearby platform, a tiny dais in comparison to the fields of undead standing tall at their backs.
“That wasn’t weird at all.” Lana unceremoniously snorted.
“You’ve never talked to animals?” I snickered. Then full-on laughed at her sheepish reaction to the question. “Anyway, it’s time to reorganize you all.”
“Simion and Carbury will remain here, where they will take up new roles. The shadows partnering with the Captains will remain as they are. As will the 20 skeleton labor captains remain in my underworld to teach the new generations of undead. Their former assistants and the small gray dwarven companies beneath them will be distributed to the Legions as their foremen and labor force. That leaves roughly sixteen skeletons, forty zombies, fifteen hundred gray dwarves, and all the other types to spread across forty-six people.
“Lana, Zaraxus. You, your squads, and Rocky will remain with me as always. And I’ll take thirty dwarves as my labor force.” I paused as Lana organized the troops on an inverted platform held in place above her and the Death Jarl, then paused again to chortle at the undead stone giant lumbering above them all.
“Thirty more will go to each of the Noctis Captains.” I continued. “As well as at least one Derru, Durzgon, and Orig each. The remaining skeletons and zombies are to prioritize joining those in combative roles and divide yourselves evenly upon dismissal.”
“Here.” I threw Lana and Zaraxus pebbles as well. “Lana, you hold on to that. Zaraxus, go down to the location I've marked to make your lair and await my summons. Make sure you make it as inviting as possible. We'll be needing more troops. As for the rest of you.” I turned to the remaining members of Zaraxus’ squad and the other, lesser undead. “It’s time for your promotions.”