Part 2 of the first side story. Hope you enjoy!
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Yatir stood up and let his heroic voice resound throughout the entire grand hall. "New gods, RISE! Quickly state us your name and domain! We start from my left, closest god to me begins, then the next closest and so forth!"
Nearly two thousand gods stood up simultaneously. Most domains had few new gods, except for the technology domain where 1500 new ones having attained godhood in the last thousand years. Even among the major gods one of the gods had stood up, causing many of the gods to start mumbling to one another.
One by one the gods spoke up.
"Uri, goddess of order!"
"Alwar, god of law!"
"Aranda, goddess of comfort!"
The other gods committed the names to memory, but didn't pay too much attention to these new gods. Some of them would undoubtedly fall in the next hundred years or so, so their names didn't mean all too much yet. There was one god everyone was paying a lot of attention too however... the major god that stood up. A major god that suddenly appeared out of nothingness? This meant that a whole new domain had been uncovered by someone! The gods continued to speak up one by one until it was time for the last god to state his name and domain... Coincidentally it was the major god that had stood up!
His serene voice boomed through the grand hall. "Riveto, major God of virtual reality!"
Yatir smile and calmly spoke. "Riveto, I am certain I speak for all gods if I say I am rather curious as to what your domain pertains. If you would be so kind to enlighten us."
"Very well. While it is all an extremely complicated matter, I shall keep my explanation as simple as possible. My domain could be summed up as gaining insights into how to create your own plane of existence with its own set of rules." said, his serene voice entrancing everyone present. "It's one of the things the humans of the planet called Terra or Earth are dabbling around with, with great success. They use these things called 'pods' to connect to a thing called a 'server' which contains the virtual reality. Once connected their consciousness is transported to this virtual realm where they can live a life with a completely different set of rules as their current world has. That's as simple as it gets. I could be more elaborate but if I wish to explain every aspect in debt we are here for the next few days."
During Riveto's explanation excited whispering could be heard throughout the grand hall. No wonder a new major God had come into existence! Exactly how many aspects did one need insight into to create their own plane? The gods present did not dare guess!
Yatir nodded and his heroic voice resounded throughout the grand hall again. "Let's get to the matter at hand. We need to decide on a plane for the Battlefield of the Gods! Have any of you a good plane in mind?"
Various gods started to speak up one by one talking about planes they know that could be used for the Battlefield of the Gods. Throughout the commotion Isis had stood up and had walked over towards Riveto without anyone really paying attention to it. Which god could be bothered to check upon what other gods were doing during the debate for the Battlefield of the Gods? They had to quickly come up with both a plane that was suitable and that would somewhat be able to withstand the devastation that would take place thereupon. The stronger the plane the better as it would cost the gods the least amount of power to repair it.
Isis sat down next to Riveto and said in an enchanting tone. "Riveto, I have a few questions regarding this virtual reality domain of yours. Would you care to enlighten me further?"
"Not at all, what would you like to know?" Riveto said with a pleased smile plastered on his face. To personally be sought out by the goddess of life was something that rarely happened. If she wished to see you she would send one of her minor gods to fetch them. Unless she was really interested in someone or something she rarely left her marble room.
"I would like to know to what extent you can make up rules. Could you make a world that contains every kind of energy we are aware of?" Isis asked with an inquisitive tone.
"One could as long as one has some understanding towards the different energies." Riveto said politely.
"And if I remember correctly, Earth is a planet that is no longer capable of producing experts?"
Riveto swiftly responded. "It is exactly as you say."
Isis smiled and spoke with her most entrancing tone. "Hmm... Now if I told you I think that such a virtual realm would be absolutely perfect for a Battlefield of the Gods, how would you see it all play out?"
Riveto smiled as he finally understood why Isis had sought him out. He started explaining all the inner workings and the fine details to Isis, who attentively listened and carefully registered everything Riveto said. Whenever she did not understand something well enough she would say so and Riveto would further explain until she understood. After a full day Isis thought she had a clear understanding and thanked Riveto for his explanations. She walked back to her seat and gestured Yatir that she had something to say.
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Yatir nodded and condensed a wooden hammer out of thin air. BOOM BOOM BOOM! He slammed it down onto the table with all his strength and bellowed "ORDER! Isis has something she wishes to share!"
Most of the grand hall instantly quieted down, besides a few gods who kept on whispering to one another.
Isis spoke up and her entrancing voice filled the entirety of the grand hall, instantly drawing every god and goddess's attention towards her, even those who had initially chosen to ignore Yatir. "Fellow Gods and Goddesses. As usual the debate becomes heated once we have to discuss which plane to use during the Battlefield of the Gods as it takes a large amount of all our powers to repair it when it ends. What if I tell you that... we have an other alternative? What if we had the certainty that even if the plane was destroyed it would cost us no power as we didn't even need to repair it afterwards?"
Many gods frowned upon hearing this. What was Isis getting at? Could it be that they wouldn't have to repair a plane this time around? That would save an enormous amount of power from all the different gods and goddesses. If Isis did not have the attention of every god prior to this she surely had it now!
"How could that ever be possible! Don't try to delude us there is NO such way! If there was wouldn't we have used it in the past Battlefields of the Gods" Akhuath bellowed, anger lingering through his voice. He and Isis had one of the worst relationships among all the gods present and Akhuath was always trying to find ways to make Isis lose followers and, as a result, strength. With Isis starting her speech like that she surely had a way to make true what she had just said. Akhuath cursed in his mind. If she could pull this off, even Yatir and Evona would owe Isis a favour! He could absolutely not let that happen.
Isis chuckled and let her entrancing voice wander through the room. "Ah! But that is exactly what I was getting at Akhuath! There was no such way in the past Battlefields of the Gods, but... there is a certain major god that has risen to prominence in the past thousand years who has the capability to deliver what we asked... if all us major gods pitch in. And all he requires from us is time and knowledge."
The various gods and goddesses all knew who Isis was talking about and all of them glanced towards Riveto.
Riveto gently addressed the grand hall. "It is indeed possible to do such a thing. If we want to do it this way we would need about ten years to set it all up. I have already explained Isis in full detail to the requirements."
Yatir nodded and said. "Please explain the details to us as well. You must understand that we cannot decided on something important as this by just trusting the words of the two of you."
Riveto started explaining and the more time passed the more the enthusiasm of the gods soared. His domain was absolutely perfect for the Battlefield of the Gods!
Akhuath muttered curses under his breath that could not be heard by anyone else. His only hope was that the ancient did not take to the idea and that he would force the gods to decide on a plane regardless.
The remainder of the week quickly passed while Riveto fully explained everything as in depth as possible. The second the week passed the croaking ancient voice boomed throughout the halls. "Have you decided on a plane?"
Yatir quickly responded and explained their plan.
The Ancient one listened intently and when Yatir finished, complete silence followed. A beam of light fell on Riveto and he instantly grabbed his head and cried out in pain. The Ancient one was forcefully searching through his memories! Moments later the Ancient one finished and the beam of light disappeared as swiftly as it had appeared. Riveto's legs gave in and he dropped to the ground. The major god nearest to him waves his sleeve and a greyish wave of power flew out and landed on his body.
The Ancient one's croaking voice boomed through the hall again. "I shall allow it. As for all the rules concerning the Battlefield of the Gods, I have left a sliver of my consciousness in Riveto's mind and he will be filled in on all the rules. All the major gods will be required to move to earth and help Riveto set it all up. Your scions shall all reincarnate into suitable bodies in the next few years. The deadline for the start of the game is in 23 years. You are dismissed!"
The gods were all teleported out of the castle and transported back to the rooms they had teleported from a week prior. The major gods dismissed the minor gods and then all made their way to earth and took over the bodies of a suitable host. The gods of greed, food, life and technology started doing work and made sure the general well being of the population went up and the average wealth of all people went up, so they would be able to secure a very large player base. The god of technology and greed also worked together to create a gaming company that in a mere ten years became the driving force of the gaming world at which point they started developing Myth Online, a name which all major gods had decided upon as the Battlefield of the Gods really was something of a myth among all the planes of existence. The other major gods had long since started sharing their knowledge with the most esteemed human experts in their respective fields and forced them to aid in the development of Myth Online.
The development of Myth Online by the gaming company the god of greed and god of technology, Gods of Gaming. It wasn't a very inventive name, but it worked regardless. Ten years passed in the blink of an eye and the servers of Myth Online opened. The minor gods made their way to earth and took over suitable hosts that were not planning on playing the game. For the next 3 years the gods would intently watch the events in the game unfold...