"Just as there is good, there is evil.
Where there are Gods, there is a Devil.
And where there are Heroes, there are the Devil's seeds.
It will show itself in its unnatural strength and inhuman ways, its dark whispers and promises of power full of deceit and deception.
Find it, and slay it, before the evil can grow and take root in this world.
They will come.
The harbinger of chaos.
Destroy them before it's too late.
If not, the greatest evil will find this world."
Daniel woke up, the words still clear in his mind. He was surprised, he hadn't expected to hear Mother Earth's voice in his sleep anytime soon, and it was only the first night since leaving the Dungeon.
During his time in the Dungeon, he had been talking with Mother Earth every now and then, but that had only been possible because it was close to her divine domain. But now that he was back on the world, there should be only one thing warranting her to speak to him directly.
A Prophecy.
And if that didn't sound like one, he didn't know what would. A damn scary one to boot.
The first half seemed to be speaking of some kind of Devil, which he hadn't heard anything about prior to this, and the Devil's seeds. From the sound of it, those seeds must be just like Heroes. But instead of Gods, they get power from that Devil.
The second half of the Prophecy seemed to be the more important one, at least to him personally. If the first half warned him of the seeds in general, the second half should be about a specific seed that should appear somewhere around him in the near future. The one called the 'harbinger of chaos'.
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That harbinger also seems to be an especially dangerous one. The only interpretation Daniel could find was that they would summon the Devil itself into the world.
Actually, the biggest problem was how to identify that harbinger. He immediately imagined them as having horns and wielding dark-magic, but he couldn't be sure it would be so simple.
But now wasn't the time to think about that. Well, seeing how it was a prophecy, it's extremely important, but for now, he had a job to do. Although he would keep his eyes open for anything suspicious.
Thinking of the day to come, he had conflicting feelings. On one hand, there was Vicky who had left back at the gate the day before, on the other hand, there were the defensive efforts he had been involved in.
After leaving Vicky at the gate, he had introduced himself to the cities leadership who immediately roped him into all their plans for the defense of the city until it was night.
Honestly, he wanted to do nothing more than looking for Victoria and making sure she was safe. He couldn't help himself ever since he saw her status. On the other hand, he knew that she would start asking questions, questions he didn't want to answer. Even though he knew that he should.
It was a bit funny how contrary the two of them were with each other. Victoria who was an adult on the outside, with the teen she should be hidden underneath. And him, who had regained his younger body after leaving the pocket dimension, a teen on the outside, with the mind of an adult matured and hardened through years of combat and training.
But in this situation, all it did for him was making him even more scared of talking about this. Scared of how Victoria would react if she found out how much he had truly changed.
He sighed and stood up from his bed, one of the perks of being the hero. He was scared, but the defense of the city was more important now, that was a fact. They could always talk later when the city was safe, that was something he was sure would Victoria tell him as well.
He left his room and, after a short breakfast that had been prepared for him, got to work.
There was a lot to do. Inspecting the walls and buildings of the Fort. Helping to improve them in ways only his abilities as a Hero made possible. Talking to people. Organize stuff. And every now and then show off his powers to reassure those who had come with the Wave, or alternatively intimidate them if they were causing trouble.
When he took a look at the armory, he got the idea to use his mana for the next few days and make powerful weapons for people to use during the wave, but he could instantly feel Mother Earths' disapproval through his Skills. While they couldn't talk, and he couldn't hear any words, he could still feel her will through his connection with her his Skills gave him. She wanted her children to be safe, but she also didn't want to deny them the possibility to grow stronger.
It was like his incarnation talent. If you won a fight through a power that wasn't your own, be it a powerful weapon or strengthening through a god, you would receive significantly less experience.
He couldn't quite agree, and still wanted to make those weapons as a back-up plan in case something went wrong. But as soon as he started to make the first one, he could feel the disapproval increase.
With a heavy sigh, he stopped.
He didn't like it and didn't always agree with his goddess, but as long as he acted as she commanded, Mother Earth would give him more of her power. And if he was stronger, he would be able to protect even more people.
He didn't like it, but it was the only way to attain the strength he needed.