With her mining pick, Nori struck into the rock using nothing but her own strength. She refused to use her Aether to help her captors. All around her, goblins of every shape, size, and color worked the same. Some of the newer conscripts worked quickly, thinking they might get out. The older ones moved slower but never stopped.
The quarry was made of an oddly bright yellow rock that made the light from the sky-ocean beat against the prisoners. Even with her improved Vitality, the light burned by the end of the day. The six demons set to guard them each cast their gazes throughout, looking for any flash of red that would tell them they’d found a catalyst… or any lack of motion that showed the foolish goblin who’d dared to stop.
Today was different than the other days since she’d ascended. All of their sentries were of the Adolescent Stage like herself. Their Classers had all been called away to focus on some kind of infestation in the Spiritual Forest.
Which left Nori in a prime position to execute her plan.
As they’d worked, a few of the goblins she’s recruited over the weeks moved closer to each one of their sentries. They outnumbered them, but Nori had assigned only herself to the most important.
The communication demon.
Hand tightening around the pick, she turned and looked at her fellow conspirators and gave each of them a nod. When she’d seen they were all ready, she flung her pick towards the demon wearing a fashionable uniform indicative of her clan’s standing. It had broad shoulders with tasseled accents and a long petticoat.
What it didn’t have was armor.
The pick crashed into the unsuspecting demon and that had been the signal fire for the other goblins, each of them leaping on their own targets. From the corner of her eye, she could see that they were struggling to fight being without any tools which were the mainstay of goblins. The picks were a poor substitute
Nori, herself, was never unarmed. Aether flowed through her body, reinforcing her stats with a shot of energy. With a simple leap she flew across the quarry to where the communication demon struggled to rise. Her glowing fist blasted through their skull spattering blood all over their nice uniform.
In less than a minute, Nori had singlehandedly ended every fight against their captors. Goblins other than her conspirators had also risen up and when she dealt the last blow, they all looked to her.
They looked to her Strength.
****
Fader stepped into the war room of the Thousand Islands Kingdom. A giant chandelier hung from the wall over an equally sized table where a topographical map made of fire danced along its surface. Each of the thousand islands shone in perfect clarity as the Prince leaned over it staring at three highlighted clusters.
Around the table was the Prince’s newly created war counsel.
Eitina represented the church and she’d been much more helpful since the Dungeon run. Fader had asked the Prince about it and the Church had originally planned to deceive them, but their biggest concern was a matter of strength - something that the Prince had proven he had in the Dungeon.
Fader himself had been invited and placed in charge of a regiment. He didn’t have the planning or natural Leadership to be effective, but both the system and the Prince helped with that.
Their general, General Fiori, was a grizzled woman who always wore armor. She’d been a childhood friend of the former King and had led during his own succession. Her knowledge was the key to success; though, the woman was as ornery as a Fighting Drake.
Lastly, Ellen Swamp, the legendary adventurer herself. In stark contrast to her self-given name, the woman dressed impeccably with long flowing blond hair similar to the Prince’s which was rare on the island nations where darker skin and hair was more prevalent. Her robes were similar to what was worn by the Fighting Monks, an odd organization dedicated to both peace and war. They were long and flowing, but split at the bottom to prevent errant tripping. Lastly, delicate gold thread wound its way through the rich brown material that practically glowed with Aether.
Each of them joined the Prince in staring down at the highlighted portions of the fiery map. To break the silence, Fader stated the obvious.
“That’s a larger coalition than expected,” he said. General Fiori grunted which he took to mean she was annoyed or perhaps she was always annoyed, but he continued. He'd found that his best purpose in these meetings was asking the simple questions until they got answered. Smart people tended to talk themselves to death and achieve nothing. “Have we figured out why the Duchess of Gilgim aligned herself with Duke Crenton?”
The Prince shook his head and the General snorted before speaking. “Doesn’t matter. As powerful as they are, their sea faring forces are nothing compared to the Royal Navy. Box them in and they’ll fall in line in time.”
The Prince slammed his fist down onto the table, disrupting the flames there. “That’s the problem. We don’t have enough time. Their scholars have to be seeing the same signs as we are. What are they playing at?”
Eitina spoke up this time and Fader again realized how different the woman was now that she’d gone from antagonistic prick to a willing ally. “Concessions. Many of the great houses would rather risk burning down the country than to give up a chance for more power.”
The Prince glared at her and then back at the map. “Then we’ll have to make bold moves.”
Fader smiled. “The Father says the best path is straight through.”
****
Danna relaxed on a rock in her divine realm considered Heaven by her followers. A waterfall played nearby and the river burbled gently along, never-ending through a field of bright flowers and shaded trees. Along the river, her otters played and swam, enjoying themselves without any obligations or stress until they were reincarnated.
A few of them swam up to her, trying to include her in their games, but Danna simply smiled and shook her head. Their deaths in the Dungeon had been sad, but the fact that they’d come here meant that they weren’t truly dead. Going from a human to a god left her with a lot of disconnected ideas on the meaning of both death and life.
It brought other changes as well.
The light that made up her body practically thrummed with power. She’d always had Divinty, but with only one follower and the boon she’d provided him, she rarely had more than a trickle. A trickle that she’d been forced to use constantly to keep Gi and his friends alive.
Now, though? A whole new clan had been born into the world and each of them worshipped her to various degrees. Her understanding from her talks with her mentor was that each god typically hoarded this power until a grand miracle could be performed. Something that would help their followers but also have a broad impact and increase belief.
Using power to make more power as it were.
With her reincarnated husband set to start a war against the prevailing powers and other gods, was that the best use of her power? She wasn’t sure.
As she watched the playing otters, she just knew that she wanted to protect them. They believed in her in a terrible world of monsters. So she’d believe in them as well.
Her musings were broken by the sudden appearance of her mentor. His humanoid lizard like appearance no longer startled her and she’d grown fond of him and his help, but she still didn’t know much about him. He looked pensively over her newly deceased subjects and if she had to pin it down, she’d say he looked sad as well.
“Do you have some time to speak with me?” Danna looked to her followers and her mentor answered the unspoken concern. “They will be fine without you.”
Danna stood to her feet, unnecessarily patting her dress of light to clean it. “All right. What’s going on?”
Her mentor waved his hand and a portal opened in the air. Its edges made up of scribbles of white light that contained a rippling white sheet. She hesitated, but after he stepped through, Danna followed him.
The two of them arrived in a train station. The main structure was composed of regular clay bricks and concrete as well as black benches on the side of the tracks for waiting. A modern steam engine pulled up just as they arrived with steam billowing out of its top and all of its parts were made of bright shining steel.
“I thought it might be better to talk while we travel.” The doors open and he stepped on, sitting into the closet booth and glancing out the window. Danna still wasn’t sure what was going on, but he’d always helped her so far so she followed.
With the two of them now seated, the train started going and they immediately left the station revealing a picturesque scene of beautiful pastures with mountains in the distance. Her mentor stared out the window as he spoke.
“I hear your followers are setting to start a war against another god’s followers.”
Danna frowned. She wasn’t happy about that though she did understand Gi’s reasoning even if it was flawed. “I suppose. My husband is fulfilling a promise from another monster in the Child Stage to kill this god. Someone called Noctua Dominus. Do you know them?"
Her mentor chuckled. “Of course, I do. He’s me.”
Danna’s head snapped around to stare at her mentor. “What?”
“I thought it would be best to speak to you before the battle between our followers starts.”
“But… you’ve known about this since the start. Since Gi was in the Child Stage. Why now?”
“I am… tired, Danna. I feel like my body is being stretched through the ages and I’ve been smeared thin across time. Eternity is long.”
Danna’s face screwed up. “But… what?”
“I wish for the constant buzzing of my existence to end. I wish to step into the shoes of a mortal and simply cease. Hillin, the golem who requested Gi’s help, was my follower… a bit of a kindred spirit who’d spent centuries in the Child Stage before he found me.”
The scenes outside of the train had changed to a rich volcanic environment not dissimilar to Igna itself with smoke blowing up into the air. Danna tried to break down exactly what she’d just been told. “So… our followers fight and for what? Your own followers extinction?”
Her mentor nodded solemnly. “Unfortunately, it is the only way. Gods only die when their followers stop believing. I’ve been silent for centuries and yet, they still believe. I find no joy in this act, but there is no other way.”
“Couldn’t you just tell them to stop?”
He gave a wry chuckle. “That is like a mortal telling another to stop loving them. The heart wants what it wants regardless of the mind.”
The two of them lapsed into silence as the scenes outside of the train changed again. This time, they soared through the air and a sea dotted with islands below them was blocked intermittently by cloud’s streaming past.
Noctua finally broke the silence. "I'll help you if I can, but my Divinity is not what it once was and there is only so much that a god can do for non-followers."
"Were you the one that put Gi on this path then? Was that why Hillin changed his mind?"
"Yes. Originally, I thought they could work together, but when Hillin saw his way out, he took it. I can't blame him though. I'd have done the same."
Danna stared out at the clouds passing by. She didn't wonder so much about how things would progress with Gi. Nothing much had changed there despite this conversation. What did poke at her mind was... Would she end up like that eventually? Desperate for non-existence?
Both she and Richard had attempted to end their lives as mortals. Would eternity make their problems worse? Or better? How would Danna feel when her only way out was the same as Noctua's?
To her, neither she nor Richard were weak. She would never judge a soccer player by their ability to swim nor a scientist by their ability to carve a sculpture. Some burdens were simply not meant for certain people. The question truly became...
Was this a burden that she could bear?