The first thing I notice is that we're in the middle of a plaza in Kairaki, which seems to be on fire. When I look around, I find that people are running in the streets, and Asoko is nowhere to be seen. At least the girls are all with me, standing around Flann in the center while getting ready for battle.
"I can't deal with this right now..." I roll my eyes and turn to the blonde girl. "Where's Asoko?"
"I could not bring you directly to her because of this." Flann raises her hands to gesture at the chaos around us. Smoke and embers are rising to the darkened sky even though Armeria should be on the light side of the planet right now.
"We don't have time for this." I grind my teeth and look around. That's when I spot a soldier directing the flow of people and extend a tentacle toward him. The man screams in terror when he's grabbed and pulled toward me, swinging his curved sword to try and cut my tentacle. "[Hey, have you forgotten your saviors?]"
My shout in his language causes him to pause in surprise before he frantically looks across the girls behind me. Tokomaha should have left a pretty strong impression on the people of Kairaki, most of all on the soldiers who defended the city back then. It hasn't even been a year since the war, and this man appears to be in his thirties, so he must have been there at the time.
"[Aren't you the God of Growth? And you are the God of Nature. Why are you here?]" He refers to the little goddess and then asks me in confusion. Now that he has calmed down, I gently place him on his feet.
"[That's not important right now. Tell me what's happening.]" In a friendlier tone from the one I used before, I ask the soldier. He stares at me for a moment but then gestures into the smoke-covered air. That's when I finally realize that the darkened sky isn't only due to the smoke, but also because a massive black upside-down city is floating above Kairaki.
"[That thing appeared out of nowhere and rained fire on the city!]" The soldier explains with a haunted look. "[Strange new gods - no, monsters... they came down from it, and our gods are fighting them.]"
"[Where is Kouratua?]" Aurelia steps forward from behind Hestia's wings and asks. The man's eyes widen when he sees her golden form.
"[The God of Gold is defending the castle.]" He points at the pyramid, his expression showing that he doesn't bear much hope regarding the God of Gold's success. There's smoke billowing out of several of its windows, meaning that the battle inside is already in full swing.
"That's where we're going then." I turn to my companions, who nod in grim understanding. Then I address the soldier again while pointing at the nearest city wall. "[There's nothing you humans can do. Help the civilians evacuate the city.]"
"[That's what we're doing. We can't fight these monsters.]" Shaking his head, the man motions to leave but looks at us one more time. "[Be careful. Some of them shoot exploding arrows without wielding bows. Others throw fire that melts even steel.]"
"Alverost." I mutter as the soldier returns to his job of directing the civilians away from the fighting. This feels like a repetition of the sneak attack on my mother. But unlike that time, he's using futuristic weapons and a giant floating city to wage open warfare with no regard for the world learning the truth about the Old Humans.
Now that Zenlith has been captured, and Zylos and Serent are dead, he must have grown desperate. Maybe he understands that he has lost all chances of retaking Enorath and wants to make himself a new home in Armeria. Even though possibly thousands of gods - humans with strong personal fantasies - live here, it's still the better option than fighting against me. After all, I'm the person who could best several Old Humans with my fantasy.
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He just didn't know that I have a connection to this place as well.
"Grab on." I gesture at Kamii and Tokomaha, who can't fly on their own. Hestia and Aurelia understand and take off into the air before I follow them. Looking across the burning city, I find beings that resemble biblical demons fighting the minor gods of Adanak.
Those must be Alverost's new creations rather than demons from the Dominion. There's little variation between the individuals, but many wield futuristic guns, including grenade launchers and laser rifles. They don't seem to possess any intelligence, as they run through the streets or climb the buildings without any coordination. Some don't even use their ranged weapons and chase after civilians as wild animals would.
I won't have to feel any remorse in killing these creatures. Not like I would feel much more if they were humans; enemies are enemies no matter what race they are.
Unlike with Arkaim, I don't feel any connection with the people of Kairaki. The only ones important to me are the comrades I fought with back then. And of those, Mereana is the only person who's still in this city. I didn't stay long enough to know who succeeded the throne after the fall of the God King, but Mereana is most likely in the palace. Thus, I have no desire to save the fleeing civilians running from the devils - as I'll call this new wave of Alverost's creations.
"Top floor. We're moving down from there." I fly ahead of Hestia and Aurelia, who nod in understanding and follow me. Last time, I didn't move around much inside the pyramid and traveled outside instead. Tokomaha will be able to navigate the place better because she used her clones to overrun it back then.
Keeping my eyes peeled for attacks from below, I land on the top terrace of the pyramid. The doors leading into the monarch's chambers are closed but not locked. Pushing them open, I find that it has been redecorated since the God King last lived here. It's far less lavish, and all the excessive gold decorations are gone.
Maybe Mereana became the new queen? She's a pretty frugal person, which would explain the change in the furnishing. But the room is empty, so I immediately move toward the door. That's when Flann suddenly appears right before me out of a vortex in space. I nearly run into her but can sidestep in time.
"Can't you fly normally?" I ask with a frown. Then I shake my head when I remember that we have a time limit. The moon isn't visible in the sky from this side of the globe, so I'll have to rely on my unreliable sense of time.
"I cannot." Flann replies earnestly. I somehow already suspected that, although it's strange for her not to know how to fly when her father can.
"Can you tell me Asoko's exact position? We can't waste time searching." I change the topic while glancing at Aurelia. She understands my hint and turns to Tokomaha.
"Split up and search for Kouratua." The golden girl speaks in a commanding tone, not at all sounding like a person asking for a favor. But the little goddess knows not to argue under the current circumstances. She puts a hand on the floor, and among swirling dust, perfect clones of her rise to their feet. They leave behind a small indentation on the rocks; it seems that's what they were created with.
Without a word, they run toward the door without getting into each other's ways and spill out into the corridor. Meanwhile, Tokomaha creates a second batch, and then a third. With this, over fifty of her clones begin to search the pyramid for the God of Gold, with more on their way.
"She is inside this pyramid." Opening her eyes after searching for a moment, Flann answers my earlier question. I suspected as much.
"I can search for her too." Tokomaha remarks casually while creating her fifth batch. Before I can answer, she raises her hand to create the sixth, when she stops short of touching the ground. Her expression suggests that something happened to her clones, with which she's mentally connected. "There's a new threat."
"What is it?" I ask while mentally preparing myself. Surely, there are all kinds of devils, so some may be stronger than the little goddess. I'm not especially concerned since Aurelia and I can deal with those instead.
"The big man from Zohigal." But Tokomaha's answer has me stunned. It's Oinos, the Walker of the Wild, who stands at the apex of Alverost's creations. I was able to draw a trickle of blood from him by using all of my mass to create an organic pile bunker. He didn't fight me seriously back then and played with me, so I can't even fathom his true power.