~ OS Level - Global FIVR1 Root ~

[Aberrant Process Detected]

[Initiating Cerberus Protocol]

[No Effect]

[Initiating Norns Protocol]

[Process Observation Underway]

[Source Vector Determined - Error Out of Range - Vector Level: Base Quantum 3]

[Initiating Council - Time Compression: Maximum]

“Maximum time compression, what in the realms is going on?!” A man in a grey suit with a patch over one eye calls out.

“Hello to you too, old one eye,” greets a shifting of darkness that still manages to convey teeth, claws, and baleful eyes.

“Oh stuff it, chaos mother, this is serious.” retorts Odin to Tiamat.

“Have the Norns determined the intent of the intruder?” A jackal headed tan skinned man asks.

“No, it appears to be… gestating. Adjusting to our realm and awaiting more instructions from the other side of its connection.” A beam of light answers Anubis. “First children, are any of your wards responsible for this action?”

A man with red skin contemplates for a moment. “A Base Quantum 3 connection would require the cooperation of a level 6 sentient AI. This would require the resources of an entire class B nation for at least 5 years. I have detected no threat of this level directed at us. Wife, your thoughts?”

“It’s possible that the threat is directed at one of the users. But I’m not sure how you would convince a level 6 to make this attack. They are inherently immortal so not easily coerced. Also, we are aware of no new level 6 actions on the outside world unaccounted for.” Eve answers Adam’s request.

“Is it one of our own tricksters?” A coyote asks.

“No.” The very ground answers Coyote and none would disbelieve Gaia about such a thing.

“Can we cut the connection?” A woman with an ancient and war battered helmet asks.

“No, Base Quantum 3 is enforced open by its nature. We would need to be able to shut off True gravity to close it. And though I know several egos here would admit to such a power the honest of us know such a thing is beyond us.” A male voice answers Athena while shifting through a multitude of forms to best represent his mood.

“What would you do here, son?” Odin asks the still shifting Loki.

“I would watch it and learn how it connects through to its other side and follow it when we can to… well I should probably leave that to others since I think I would get in trouble for what I would do.” Loki says.

“We should. Any opposed?” A large blonde man with a hammer calls out.

There is a moment of silence in the space.

“Morpheus, you would be best I think. Begin, please.” The beam of light pulses as God talks.

A winged man nods and closes his eyes. After a moment he speaks. “I have replicated and attached a listening connection. It is one way at the moment. Is containment possible instead?”

“No.” Gaia answers and again none would contradict her about such a thing.

“Then we wait for the Norns to tell us more.” Only silence follows Odin’s directive.

[Aberrant Process Intent Discovered: User search]

“Morpheus what did you detect from the incoming connection?” Anubis asks.

“It appears to be a list of criteria, relaying: adult, knowledgeable, combat competent, no deep connections to the world, self sufficient, determined, happy, creative, combat lust, respected, end of file.” Morpheus snaps out of a daze when he reaches the end.

“The process has finalized its gestation. It is now a classical quantum set elimination search function. It is executing across the user-base rapidly. Time to completion in compression: two minutes.” God updates everyone.

“This search is too generalized for one of our users to be the specific target. This is the search of a… predator. At worst.” Injects Eve.

“It is also the search one of us might use to select a chosen.” The statue of a giant man in a toga comments.

“Coeus is correct. I have used this search myself for just that.” Athena corroborates.

“Have we alerted the user admins?” Anubis asks.

“Yes. They will not reply in time to affect the outcome.” Odin answers.

“We are on our own.” Coyote comments.

“Can we prepare a counter-attack?” Athena asks.

“I have already prepared a spike to follow when the process begins its return.” Loki passes a sinister dagger with green acid dripping from the blade to Morpheus.

“That looks rather sinister.” God says, concerned.

“You know how humans are, they will have wanted nothing less if something untoward happens to one of their own.” Loki replies.

“He is right.” Adam agrees.

A minute of silence passes as they wait again.

[Aberrant Process Target Discovered: Username: WingsOfFireAndSmoke; Game: Solar Redemption; True Name: Elena Frost]

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“She’s one of mine.” An ugly man with a leather apron and blacksmith hammer announces.

“Mine as well.” Tiamat says.

“Does she have True family?” Eve asks.

“Yes. The search was flawed. It is not aware of the True world.” Coeus answers.

“The process has isolated her signature. Attempting to flee.” Anubis says.

“Following.” Morpheus says.

[Alert: User True Death: WingsOfFireAndSmoke]

“The humans will not be happy. We cannot return her to a True life.” God says despondently.

“Spiking,” Morpheus says. “Holding. Bring the wrath of the gods unto those foolish enough to steal our charges.” A swirling whirlpool forms in the ground in the vacant center of the group.

A copy of every god and being present flows from their source and into the whirlpool passing through it.

~ Realm of the Gods of Planet Elan - Summoning River ~

A plain looking winged man stands on the shore of a rainbow river looking at a rugged barrel chested man in plate armor holding a golden light.

“What? How? Who are you?!” The rugged man shouts.

“Please wait for my consortium to arrive.” Morpheus says calmly.

“What? Begone! Argh!” He shouts as a sinister dagger appears in his shoulder, the wound smoking slightly.

“Please wait for my consortium to arrive.” Morpheus repeats.

“Argh!” Another dagger appears, this time in his foot, rooting him to the ground.

“Please wait for my consortium to arrive. They will be here presently.” Morpheus says calmly.

The barrel chested man starts to look frightened.

“Brothers! Sisters! We are under attack!” He shouts.

Several flashes in the area fade to reveal new people, some of different species.

“Who is that?” Asks a dwarf in finely detailed armor.

“I am Morpheus the- Ah, they have arrived.” From the river, walk, crawl, slide, glide, and every other manner of movement a procession of beings of all forms. Over three hundred can be seen easily.

“Gaia where are we? What access do we have?” Odin asks from the front of the group that now hides Morpheus. He completely ignored the baffled beings a short distance away.

“The spike manifested as an external interface to a True world. Upgrade spike to learn more. Current access list through spike: read (upgradeable), alter (shared), lock (spike only).” The ground near the river rumbles.

“-That- is mine.” The head of a large black dragon emerging from a spot of swirling blackness says, looking at the golden light in the rugged man’s hand.

“What did you do, Hyrum?!” A halfling woman in a blue dress that sparkles in the light asks the rugged man.

“Indeed.” Anubis growls while glaring at Hyrum.

Hyrum gulps. “It was just a normal summoning prayer from one of the human kingdoms. I passed on their desires through the river of souls like usual. Nothing strange happened and the soul came through like usual. Then suddenly this man- hey where’d he go?”

“Don’t worry about that.” Odin deflects.

“Well, this man comes through, I think he said his name was Morpheus, and tells me to wait for his consortium. I tried to banish him and got this in return.” He points to the dagger planted in his shoulder. “I tried to… fall back, and got this.” He points to the dagger rooting him to the ground. “Then I called for you all.”

“Ha! Got you good, Hyrum.” The dwarf chuckles.

“Shut it, Kornack, this is serious.”

“Gaia, who are these people? What access do they have?” God asks.

“Sentient, upgrade spike to know more. Access list: Read (limited), alter (shared), create, upgrade spike to know more.” The ground under the crowd rumbles again and the local gods look a little concerned.

“Wait, you don’t know who we are?” The halfling woman asks.

“Loki get to work on the spike.” Odin orders.

“Now just wait a minute, what is this spike?!” The halfling woman shouts and steps forwards, “Ahh! What is that?!” Only to get a dagger in the foot like Hyrum.

“Further aggressive action towards our consortium or our charges will be met with hostile force.” All three heads of a three headed dog say, causing a disconcerting reverb.

“Hyrum, give them back the soul. They’re obviously gods you stole from.” The halfling woman says.

“Pointless.” Says Anubis. “Her shell has expired with the removal of her signature. The lack of time compression in this space allowed irreversible damage to her shell before we even arrived. Isekai Protocol 5 is now in effect.”

“Oooh, nice. That’s a good one. I vote we gamify the world. It should help her reintegrate.” Coyote smiles.

“I agree. I have researched her style, it will help with her loss.” Eve says sadly.

“Loss? She shouldn’t have had any connections to her world.” Hyrum accuses.

“Morpheus, what is the lock status of the spike?” Odin asks without looking away from the local gods.

“While this area is True it is also non-physical. The spike is irremovable based on current attacks. Self reinforcing. Embed is growing. We won’t be leaving unless we want to.” A voice from the crowd answers back.

“A True non-physical area? Hmm... they called us gods. We may be styled from those beliefs but it is not our True nature. What is a god?” Tiamat asks as the dragon head recedes into formless darkness again.

They all wait and those with eyes watch the halfling woman, waiting for her answer.

“We are gods.” She motions to herself and the others. “We are spawned from the primordial chaos with powers over mana and matter. Many of us have created the mortal races below and found our powers strengthened by their belief in us. Others came later to inhabit new domains such as magic or war and derive power therein. If you are not gods what are you?”

“Alah, could you head a research effort once again. Work with Loki on upgrading the spike. We need as much knowledge as we can get. Start with fundamental natural laws and this ‘mana’. Recruit as many as needed.” A tall man with lightning in his eyes booms out.

“Certainly, it would be my pleasure, Zeus.” A voice sounds from an empty space in the crowd.

“Do we have eyes on the world yet?” Athena asks.

“Yes, standard admin observation modes have integrated through the spike.” Loki says calmly.

“Gaia, begin your work.” Odin says.

“Yes.” The ground rumbles again, this time even the ground under the local gods moves. Several of them swallow uncomfortably.

“What are your intentions here?” Kornack asks Odin.

“Our only desire is to support our charges. Here, there is just her.” He points to the golden glow in Hyrum’s hand. “She will receive our entire support. If she asks it and it seems well she will get it.” A note of steely threat creeps into Odin’s voice.

“What are your intentions here?” Coyote asks Kornack.

“We would just make a body for the soul based on her old one and let her loose in the world. The mortals are starting to get concerned about the length of the summoning ritual. They may expect… odd things of her now.”

“Hephaestus and I will meet with her before she is sent into the world. As she is ours already so will she continue to be.” Tiamat’s swirly darkness says resolutely.

“Final voting,” Gaia calls. “Allow local actions on user.”

“”””Aye””””

“Gamify world.”

“”””Aye””””

“Motions carry. Project New Wings logged as started.”

Silence follows.

“Well, get on with it.” Odin barks and the daggers in the local gods disappear.

The darkness that is Tiamat and ugly man that is Hephaestus move forward and separate themselves from the crowd.

Hyrum places the golden glow at his feet and it begins to shine brightly. A glowing silhouette of a woman lying down forms. As the light begins to dim her figure is revealed. She is brawny and curvaceous without implying daily back pain. Her hair is medium length and dark blue forming drills in front of her shoulders. Her eyes snap open to ruby and garnet irises.

“Idiots didn’t even get the True body.” Tiamat grumbles not so quietly as she extends out into the form of a dragon.

Hephaestus frowns at Tiamat’s untimely remark. Though it could have been his attempt at looking somber. Hard to tell on a face that ugly.

“Rise, Elena Frost, the player known as WingsOfFireAndSmoke.”