Immortality.
I stared at the blonde haired, blue eyed, silver-skinned God standing in front of me and tried to comprehend the gravity of the one word that he had spoken.
We were in the highest room of the palace in the city he ruled. Gods walked among the people, watching over them as they went about their lives. Some ventured into one of the Dungeons, while most others ran the businesses in the city. Only those with mantles were able to become Adventurers, because those were the only ones who had levels and stats. A Mundane, someone without a mantle, could survive on the first few floors, but it was nearly impossible to go past the fifth floor boss without a mantle and a well coordinated team.
The God in front of me shared his name with the city that we were in. I was part of the Grenium, Tres’ elite personal guard, and I only had meetings like this when there was an urgent mission.
“Immortality is a myth.” I swallowed as I kept my head bowed. I might be the best of his guards, and probably his favorite, but that didn’t mean that I didn’t still have to show this God respect.
“That’s what we thought.” Tres walked over to the window that was basically the whole wall, so he could look out at his city. “That’s why I want you to look into it.”
“What about the Desolations?” I swallowed. When a God was killed by another God, the explosion that happened was so large that it was referred to as a Desolation. Very little was left behind after a Desolation, in fact, the only things that were part God could survive the city-leveling wave of destruction. “Do you think it can stop a Desolation?”
“That’s what I want you to figure out, Viskor.” Tres turned towards me. “If this is real, then it can change everything, but it’s not something that we can leave in the hands of mortals. Especially not in the hands of outlaws.”
I dared to look up. “What do you want me to do?”
“Track down the bandit Sipher Gar.” Tres nodded towards the east. “The latest information that I have is that he’s been hiding in the Dungeon at the Desolation of Tine. He’s only a Tier Four, so you shouldn’t have a problem joining his team.” Tres turned towards me and I could feel the weight of the gaze his blue eyes were giving me. “Learn what you can about this spell that he’s discovered. Find out if it’s real.”
“How far do you want me to go?” Bandits liked to kill other Adventurers, because they got ten percent of the experience that the Adventurer had accumulated. It was the fastest way to level up, but doing so left a red PK mark on one’s mantle. A mantle’s stats could be accessed by the crystal band, which most people called a CB, that Adventurers wore on their wrists and those had to be scanned at the gates of the walled cities before the guards would let you enter. “If I kill an Adventurer, it will break the seal on my mantle and they’ll know I’m a Grenium if they scan my CB.”
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“Sipher is cautious, but I doubt he’s going to have you kill someone just to make sure that you aren’t a personal guard of one of the Gods.” Tres shook his head. “But if that happens, get out of there as fast as you can and I’ll think of something…” The golden God motioned at the window and a map of the Ward appeared. “I’ll tell Feara about this plan.” He pointed to the MInotaur Goddess’ city that was thirteen hours to the north of the Desolation of Tine. “And I know a bishop in the Sanctum I can talk to.” He pointed at the large Temple-city that was ten hours to the east. “You can run to either of those cities if your cover gets blown, but don’t go south.” He motioned at almost the entire south west corner of the Ward. “You won’t be safe there.”
Raphon, Inaer, and Kire were all south of the Desolation of Tine. I didn’t need the warning, I knew that Kire was a fan of Desolating Gods and Goddesses who hadn’t claimed a city.
Inaer always seemed to show up after another city’s grain fields were destroyed by fire, insects, blight, or almost anything else with an offer to sell her surplus. No one had been able to prove she was involved, but that didn’t stop cities from going on high alert when the Goddess began traveling in their direction.
Raphon was the closest city, only seven hours directly south, but the milky God was always at war with some other city for one reason or another and had a large network of allies that he would call on once the fighting started. The only way for a targeted city to survive once the war God became involved was to surrender or appeal to the Quorum, the court of all the Gods of a Ward.
“I’m going to need new armor.” I looked at the yellow leather with white trim that I was wearing. It was how all of the Grenium were decorated and let people know that our authority was second only to Tres himself while inside the city or one of its three Dungeons,
A trade request pinged on my CB and I opened the menu and accepted the one-sided trade. To most people, being handed a million All, the currency backed by the Temple, would make their eyes bulge. But most people stopped leveling in the early forties, if not the mid thirties. I was level forty-eight and knew that as soon as I reached level fifty a single piece of rare gear would cost three times that. As a Grenium, I didn’t have to worry about my gear, since Tres provided it, but while I was away on missions, I did have to budget.
“Start with that.” Tres turned away to look at the twin lighthouses that were guarding the port to the north.
That was the signal that the meeting was over. I got up and headed for the elevator. It was time to find out if immortality was real.
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Viskor Heema - Level 48
Age: 34, Hair: Blonde, Eye color: Blue
Skin: Silver, Blood: Black, Height: 6’
637,140 Exp
Duelist - Mana 640/640
260 Power 169 Defense 381 Speed
160 Magic 80 Recovery 80 Aura
Skills: Cursed Strike, Shadowstep, Disarm, Nullify Magic
Passives: Parry, Grip, Dodge, Untraceable, Silent Casting, Vampiric Attack