The avatar entered the room slowly as was its nature. She knew it was not surprised by her presence inside its sanctum. This was the area of the great tree used to entertain important guests. Normally it would have brought his new human friend here to have important conversations. Since she was occupying the room, it never brought him here. It was such a shame on so many levels. As a deity of this world, there were certain rules that we were required to follow. She along with all of the others had, of course, found loopholes, and ways around the rules. The golden guardian tree was one of those. As one of the very few true beings of this world, it had an aura that could hide her own when she took specific measures. Even with that she was limited and couldn't directly act against it or it could expel her, and she would have no recourse. So, for now, it was in her best interest to abide by the tree and the avatar's wishes.

“Nytia so what does the Goddess of Beasts wish from me now,” the avatar asked as it entered the room. The level of restrained hostility was floating just under its words.

“Oh, avatar do not be like that,” Nytia said in response her ears and tail twitching. If someone from outside would have seen her they would have assumed her to be a normal demiosan female. This was one of the precautions that she had to take when treading the surface of the planet. Her true body was so massive it would take up half of the forest. In her true form, she would be able to use this tree as a toothpick. But right now, she was in her avatar form.

“I came because I thought you would like to watch your friend. But if you do not care to, I can be off” Nytia said languidly.

Of course, that was not the only reason. Nytia did want to watch him, but if she watched him from her realm any of the others might notice her attention. It took effort to watch the mortal realm it was not odd for her or any of the others to watch portions of the realm at any given time. This changed though when there was a focus. When any of them focused on any specific individual that was easy to notice. If she had done this the others might have noticed her prize and either try to rest him from her or sabotage him. She was not so much worried about one of the others taking him, she was more worried about them trying to sabotage her out of spite. That was why she was taking measures. The first was the care that she was taking in interacting with him in any way. The second was making sure that he became invested in this world.

She had only discovered his presence by accident. She had been in the forest in a different form when she had felt the disruption of his arrival. At first, she had believed it to be just like any other portal. She had gotten used to the portals and to be honest, enjoyed them. More than that the portals had been the reason she had gone from an afterthought to one of the more powerful goddesses in the pantheon. Every time a portal opened was a chance for more beasts to come to the world. For her, more beasts meant more followers. She unlike the others was not required for her followers to pray to her for her to receive power. Like her sister Kona the Goddess Monsters, it only was required for the beasts to exist and grow. She had seen exponential growth with the arrival of the portals, as had her sister. She had been lucky that the portals had been skewed in her favor. So had the rest of the world as the portals with monsters were more dangerous than the ones with beasts on average.

The fact was that of all the others her sister worried her the most. All of the others had begun to take precautions for the great evil they all felt on the horizon. Her sister had been apathetic, this had worried her more than anything else.

She had been in the forest looking to raise a champion of her own. One of the portals had released a named beast. This was a rare occurrence she had taken to watching it in hopes of making it her champion. She had watched the beast for many days. The beast had been intelligent and powerful. She had believed it to be as good a candidate to be her champion. She had then watched as the beast had become fixated on a hunt. It was tracking something. She noticed what it was tracking as well. She had recognized its signature from the portal she had sensed before. She had watched as her candidate started to track it. She had also realized early on that the target had recognized that it was being tracked.

There had been a point when the target had led the beast into an area. She had recognized immediately that it was trying to see what was tracking it. That was the first time she had seen him. She had recognized him for what he was immediately. A traveler a human from a different world he had the signature of the portal all over him. He was also something else, untainted. He did not bear the taint of this world's curse!

She had resolved to watch this interaction. Whoever came out of it would become her choice. It was an easy decision even though the beast would likely win. She had watched as the human had laid a clever trap using his magic. She still believed that the beast would win. She did not believe that the human even with his magic could do enough damage to kill it before it could break free.

She had believed he would lose up until he drew his sword. The presence of that weapon had done it for her. She had never seen a thing filled with such hate and malevolence. His blade had a raw hunger and destructive potential that she had wanted to kill him, to keep it from getting out. It had taken all she had to restrain herself, killing him herself would have been against the rules. It would have resulted in her immediate destruction. Even with that being the case she had been willing to risk it. She looked at the blade again which was hard as the magic spectrum of that blade was sharp enough to cut her even at this distance. She looked at the weave of magic around the blade and was glad she had not acted impulsively. She realized that all of the weapon’s malice and destructive capability were bound by the human’s soul. She did not know what would have happened if she had killed him.

She had seen the beast recognize the weapon. She had watched preparing to take the beast's soul when the beast had done something surprising. It had recognized how badly it had been outclassed and had surrendered. That had been an outcome she had not anticipated. It was a massive win, this meant that she could have both.

She had watched them after that watching him win time after time. He should not have succeeded he should have been dead multiple times. But he seemed to keep getting lucky and things kept going his way. She had watched and waited for her chance. She knew it would come, and then he had racked up a considerable amount of favor with The Golden Guardian tree. She had known just how much the tree revered the scales of debt. She knew as he had that the human was a traveler and those tallies would be kept. She had also known that it would not have the capital to repay the sum total of the debt. She had seen her in and decided to take it.

She had appeared to the tree before he had arrived. Entering the glade on friendly terms meant that she would have to abide by the rules it had set. The first thing it told her was that she was to have no contact with the human. It had immediately put her in the sanctum and told her not to leave. She had been present when the tree had ascended and had immediately felt the additional debt added when it had. Once that happened, she knew she had it. The tree would have to let her help if it wanted to balance the scales.

She had watched from her place in the sanctum as he interacted with the tree. He had treated the tree like a true friend and an individual. The human, Van had been gracious and friendly he seemed happy just to have someone to talk to. His behavior had been enough to lessen the scales, but luckily for her, it had not been enough that the tree still needed her help.

When the time came, she had added a drop of her power to the orb that the tree had created. Normally this would have been a violation but in this case, it was another loophole she had found. Her power had been wrapped in another’s. Even this was a risk though. Her power could harm him if he was not able to handle it.

Then the time came for him to ingest the power. Maybe she should have expected this but he had recognized her power. He had grabbed onto it and pulled. He had wrested much more power from her than intended. The way he had grabbed onto her power had left her afraid that he would have drained her completely. In the end, he had only taken slightly more power than what she had given. He had circulated his power through his system. And in the end, she benefited more than she had thought.

At first, she had been weakened by the interaction. She was forced to retreat to her domain. While there she began to notice it. She had thought her domain free of the corruption that was plaguing the others. As she had recovered in her domain, she noticed that the corruption had been subtly encroaching upon her domain. Then she noticed the corruption reach out to her and be not just rebuffed it had been eradicated. It was at this point that she felt the scales start to tip. The human had helped her. In her deviousness to tie the human to her, she had been assisted by the human with an issue she had not known she had. She now had the blade hanging over her head. She now had to truly help the human not just further her own goals.

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Lucky for her she knew what the other didn’t. She knew that the two things did not have to be mutually exclusive. She also knew something else. The human craved more companionship he liked having the tree to talk to but he wanted more. He wanted to be needed he craved it, even if he did not recognize it himself. She would give him that and more. She just needed a few things to go her way. She told the tree that he should send the human along. She had known about the teleportation pools for a long time. She told the tree to tell him about them.

She had then gone out and riled up a few beasts knowing that it would cause problems like a stone rolling downhill. She knew there was a small village of cursed ones that lived just inside the border of the forest. The tree did not concern itself with denizens of the forest unless they are causing problems. She on the other hand knew about more of the denizens since they were beasts.

Of all the intelligent species she was closest to the demios. It was because of their bestial nature. There were a few temples dedicated to her and more than a few altars. But she was not part of the demios pantheon so her representation was small. The cursed ones we a small subgroup of demios. They were normally hunted and killed by all. She was sure he would not do that. From her interaction with him, she had glimpses of his memories. She knew he would find them interesting, and she knew once they got over their fears would do anything he wanted.

“You know I would like to look in on him. I hope his travels are going well I don’t even know which portal he took” it said ruefully. It eyed her suspiciously it knew she was up to something as she did not need to be here to watch.

“I knew you would. He picked the portal heading to the demiosan lands. If you think about it, it was the only choice. He had no information on the relations between humans and the alvairans. I he went to visit the demios even if they became hostile, he would be less likely to have issues escaping if necessary. But I arranged for a gift for him” she said affectionately.

For there they had watched as he had saved the group of women. She had not planned for this she had assumed that the women would stay inside their village. In safety, until he could come and rescue them. She had not anticipated this turn of events. He had done well to calm their fears. Later that night they had begun a game that had centered around him. She was surprised as he had acted nonchalantly during the game. He was oblivious to the fact that the game had been meant to annoy him. To try to get him to show his true colors. Then there was the point where someone who was not in on the game had been placed squarely in the center of it unaware.

He had just laughed they knew he had noticed, so they had upped the terms. He had just played along until one of them had fallen across his lap. He had smacked her bare ass. This had a different effect than intended. They knew that he was not faking, they could smell it. They could also smell his arousal. That had been different for them, they had decided to stop at that point. As they knew he was truly different.

They watched him work through the night and hand out his hard work in the morning. They had even watched as he pulled out the chest piece he made and handed it to one of the women. Nytia was shocked again that this human kept pulling powerful items out of his storage. The piece of armor he pulled out of his storage would have garnered a ransom from monarchs and empresses. The fact that he could take it back at any time was surprising. Then there were the spears they were nothing to him but a massive upgrade to those who had never been given anything.

The avatar had been beaming at the generosity of its friend. Nytia had smiled offhandedly seeing her plan taking root. He had done more than she had expected. The human had shown these destitute women more kindness and care than most of them had seen in their lives. She could feel it in the way they subtly looked at him out of the corners of their eyes. Nytia knew that they saw an opportunity here they recognized him as a protector. Nytia had worried that they would miss the signs, these women had been beaten down by life. She was worried that they might have been too hardened to recognize the gift they had been granted. The human Van had been more than she had expected. He had recognized their fear and worked to overcome it just as had any obstacle that he had met before. In doing so he had garnered more loyalty from them in less than a day than she had believed possible. There was also his power, that had been undeniable. They had a genetic predisposition to recognize power as well. That affected them as well though that had been more subtle.

They continued to watch as they made their way to the village. This was when she started to recognize that something was off. The golden tree felt it as well, there was the subtle hand of something else intervening in their affairs. The group was being attacked more regularly than they should in that section of the forest. Not only that, the groups kept increasing in size. On the edge of the forest, it should have been the opposite.

Then it happened the human left the group. She had been worried that he was abandoning them! But then she saw where he went, he had run toward the approaching danger resolved to meet it head-on. Nytia grinned ferally, if he survived this, she was right he was absolutely what this world needed. Then Nytia saw the approaching horde. Her grin fell from her face this was insanity. She had not set this up, she could feel the avatar glaring at her.

The avatar had closed his eyes he had a solum look on his face “Do as you must my friend the forest will be fine.”

The avatar opened his eyes and continued to glare at her. She knew he had not been talking to her somehow the human had reached out to him for his blessing and he had given it.

“This was not my doing. There was only supposed to be one beast for him to face, a lone urgix. While urgix’s are dangerous they are stupid and brutish he should have been able to defeat it easily. I would never send a horde against a lone fighter” Nytia said her tone somber. “I fear that my plans have been noticed by other players. Even with all the precautions I have taken. I feel the subtle hand of another in this situation.”

The avatar closed his eyes his ability to sense influences and patterns much greater than hers in his domain. She could feel his tendrils reaching out and latching onto the subtle power influencing the current events. When he had isolated the power, they both opened their eyes in shock.

“The overseer,” the avatar said reverently its voice slightly above a whisper. He had stopped glaring at her his only concern was for his friend. She was concerned now as well. She was forced to think back on all of her actions. Nytia was sure after reviewing everything that at most she had bent the rules slightly. She believed there was only one other possibility. The human Van had caught the overseer's notice on his own. Nytia knew if that was the case it was good that she had not done more.

Nytia and the avatar watched as the human-made his decision. She would not have faulted him if he had run and left the village to die. That was not the decision he made. She felt the strident power of his magic as he cast multiple spells in the span of seconds a feat no caster on this world was capable of. Nytia was then amazed at the speed at which he moved. Lesser eyes would have lost track of him as he burst into combat, followed by the multiple explosions of his spells. She also saw the massive wall of his spell blinding the horde. Nytia knew immediately what he was doing he knew that he would not be able to stop the horde completely. So, he was trying to injure and maim those who escaped enough that they would not overrun the village.

Nytia changed her focus slightly. As a goddess, she was capable of watching more than one thing. While her main focus was on the human, she shifted a smaller focus onto the village. She could see that his plan was working. The beasts that made it through the forest we severely injured or blinded. They were also only getting through in smaller numbers. They were met by the hunters and his familiar. They were dispatched with little issue, for the most part. A few of the larger more dangerous beasts made it through but were dispatched as well. The town's defenders were doing what was needed.

Nytia back to her main focus watched as the human stood like a stone in a tidal pool. The wave broke upon him and receded and he was still standing. They watched together as he crushed the horde like so many insects underfoot. Nytia could feel his anger boiling over as he slayed beast after beast. She also felt his elation as he leveled and became stronger with each death feeding his aura. Nytia and the avatar watched as the urgix arrived jumping through the flames he had used to trap the horde. She could feel the rage of the urgix in seeing the horde it had driven in front of itself being broken.

The human had done something strange at this point, as he put away his weapons. He moved to engage the urgix in close combat. Very few creatures would have done such a thing. Urgix skin was very tough since urgix’s were earth-aligned creatures. This one had gone even further since it had developed a skill that allowed it to cover itself in stone. The human van was incredibly fast and inconceivably strong at this point. They watched as the human did what non but the strongest beast or monsters could do. The human pummeled the urgix into submission. By the time the human has finished the stone covering the urgix was gone. The urgix was spinning in pain and fear.

Nytia held her breath as he brought out his dread blade. His face was still as he waited. When the urgix stopped he tapped the top of its head with the blade and a hole appeared through the beast’s skull. Nytia was afraid for one of the few times in her life, as she looked upon the dread blade. If the human was an uncontrollable fire in the forest that blade was a blazing star in the night sky. Nytia knew without a doubt that when she was wrestling with the human over her power, he had used the blade as an anchor. She knew now that the blade hungered for her power maybe even her soul. Nytia knew that she could not act against the human because that blade could slay her. If it held that power against her it would be the same with the others. Nytia knew she must go and think about the current revelations.

Nytia disappeared leaving the avatar alone to watch the finishing of the battle. She was oblivious to the small surge of power that disappeared when she did. The avatar though noticed that someone else had been watching them. Hopefully, that attention was on them not on who they had been observing.