Shots fired down on the young man from robed figures as he dashed from cover to cover in the awakening volcano.
After a bit a voice yelled out “If you don’t get him in 5 minutes, retreat to the ritual chamber! The stars won’t wait!”
There was renewed gunfire as some other figures tried to flank the young man, only to find his jacket that he had left as a decoy.
Suddenly everything froze. No, not that people stopped moving out of surprise or anything like that. Everything froze! Debris stopped falling, bullets from covering fire stayed where they were. Muscles wouldn’t move. With the lack of motion, silence also fell due to no active soundwaves. It was as if time decided to take a break.
An amused voice carried through out the chamber “Well, this is interesting.”
Everyone was turned to face the one piece of wall and a guy wearing a tropical holiday top, shorts and sandals walked out from it.
Facing them he smiled “I got to say, I like the set up. Shows an understanding of ley lines, ritual, celestial alignments and other things. Well done.” Facing the leader of the cultists he mimed tipping a hat.
Facing the lad he said “I like your style. You rescued the other prisoners, sabotaged what you could, tried to ruin the ritual and take them out. Yes, you did kill a few. What was your endgame?”
Suddenly the lad could speak. “Stop them completing the ritual and making their leader a God while saving as many innocent people as possible. Even if I got off the island, the eruption they planned to make would have destroyed any boats or ships leaving. Also, their leader, as a God, no matter how minor, would be too dangerous.”
The newcomer nodded. “And your own life?” “If I failed, I would die anyway.”
“I see.” Facing the cult leader again, “What was your plan for after you got godhood?”
The cultist seemed confused, but answered “I would be a God! What else is there to that?”
The newcomer sighed “As a self Ascended Deity myself, I can tell you that is not all there is to that. How did you plan to fuel your existence? Get and keep followers? Deal with other Gods who don’t want a newcomer causing them problems?”
The leader’s face showed clear signs of confusion for most, but he knew how to grasp for answers. “I planned to draw power from the ley lines, to help fuel me. People would come here and give tribute for protection. I’m out of the way here, so I shouldn’t have problems with others.”
The stranger paused. “Actually, that might have worked. By recruiting people like yourself here, you could have become their patron God, and spread your following further afield, gained more Domains and powers and made an impact. You even made sure no-one in the group you tricked to come here as sacrifices followed any religion in order to avoid problems there. Almost a pity it won’t work.”
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Everyone was surprised at this, although only the lad was shocked at the compliments.
“Why not?”
“Well, you planned to draw from the ley lines via a magma chamber in them, right? The explosions were set and timed for the max effect. Problem was this lad here wrecked the timer and the blasts are instead going to make it open a new vent, and not through this volcano. Thus cutting you off from the ley lines. However, you do have enough juice to make you a volcano spirit with much lesser powers than you were trying for.” Shrugging he added “Of course, you would still have to have your guys here die during the ritual like you planned, but it would be needed now, and not just a nice safety measure like you had planned.”
The other cultists were shocked and started yelling.
The newcomer looked at them and shook his head “Come on! What did you expect to happen to you? He was going on about sacrifices and how he would become a God. Don’t you know that willing sacrifices provide more power and are safer to use than those who resist it?”
After a minute he told them all “Listen, I’m here on business. I work for someone who is making a multiverse under her control. Two things we are doing at the start are recruiting those who don’t follower other Powers to populate a holding world until proper ones can be made for them to go to. The other is making a school for those who want to be Gods, Demon Lords, Arch Faye, Titans, Primordials, Eldritch beings and more.”
He addressed them all, “I am forbidden to take sides, officially. Anyone can try for the school, if they don’t follow another Power, and if you don’t want the school, you can all go to the world. This world will record that you all died in the eruption, but there you can live.”
One of the minions asked “Anyone?”
“Sure. You are even allowed to kill fellow students after a week for them to settle in.”
The lad frowned “That’s messed up."
“Hey, we want to teach you to be ready for the real world, and out there killing happens a lot, just like here.”
Every native of that world looked at each other in surprise.
The lad frowned “What’s the catch?”
The stranger smiled “We figure it’s safer for people to try godhood at the school than cause massive problems like here.”
Getting serious he added “You have no idea what could have gone wrong when you messed with the ritual. Messing with ley lines could have caused the power to fuel an explosion that would have made the prepared explosion seem minor. Not just a physical explosion, but magical as well, and destroyed the souls of everyone caught in it. It could have even affected other ley lines and caused more problems.”
The lad was horrified, but the cult leader smiled at that.
The stranger spun to him and told him “And you could have caused it yourself if you haven’t prepped things properly. All it would take is a single minor variable you have no way to know about to mess things up.”
After a moment, he asked “So, what’s the answer? Stay, world or school?”
The minions all took the world, but the leader smiled “I’ll take the school.”
The lad was serious “And I’ll take the school just to stop him!”
The stranger sent the minions across and shook his head “They have no idea what they are in for. Neither do you two. By the way, what are your names, or at least the names you use? I’m called Gallen.”
The lad told him “I am called Garion. That’s my nickname. Even I know that names can hold power.”
The villain said “I am called The Geomancer.”
Gallen nodded, “Impressive. Having a specific Domain to focus on is a boost. Used properly it can be a very powerful field, but also in normally slow. Your setup here tells me that won’t be so much of a problem for you. Only issue is using a title for a name could cause problems with others claiming Magic and Earth Domains.”
Garion frowned “What are Domains?”
“Areas people have influence over kid. You’ll learn all this and more. However, right now it is time to go.”
Another portal of shimmering darkness opened, and Gallen led them through.