Arthur remained in a defensive posture on the grass as his eyes darted around frantically, searching for the mysterious stranger.

"Young master, are you okay?" Foster asked as he carefully approached.

"I'm... fine." Arthur replied after calming himself. "It's getting late. We should return to camp."

Arthur was still curious about Elrinth Forest, yet his instincts told him that the stranger was a dark omen. While he wasn't necessarily superstitious, he didn't argue with his instincts when dealing with such unknowable matters. Instead, he took one last glance around the area before returning to Aithon and climbing atop his back.

The first time he saw the stranger in Munn, it was hard to deny that he had really met a god. Arthur tried, but try as he might, he was only left with two logical conclusions. Either he was losing his mind, or he had truly met a god.

However, this encounter felt far different. There weren't any magical theatrics like fiddling with time or exuding aether in such a way that made Arthur feel like he was drowning. He only saw the hem of the stranger's robe in the periphery of his vision, yet it vanished like an illusion when he tried to focus on it.

The more he thought about it, the more uncertain he became about whether he even saw that much. That thought made him feel even more nervous. Unsurprisingly, the field of psychology was all but ignored on Nithe, so if schizophrenia ran in his family, he'd be on his own with managing it.

After returning to the main camp, Arthur entered his bedroom with Kyren and Rennar before speaking. "I might've encountered that god again."

Kyren's eyes perked up. "Really? Did he say anything else?"

"A god?" Rennar asked disbelievingly. "What are you talking about? When?"

"Ah, I haven't told you about that. I met a strange individual in Munn..." Arthur replied, briefly summarizing his first encounter with the mysterious stranger. "This time, I'm less certain. I'm unsure if I saw him again or if I'm losing my mind. He was there one moment and gone the next but didn't say or do anything."

"What did he look like?" Rennar asked enthusiastically. "Did he have long ears?"

Arthur shot a puzzled look toward him. "Long ears? Like an elf?"

There wasn't a word for elves in Nithian as the staple fantasy race appeared to have never existed on the planet, so Arthur used the English word despite Rennar's inability to understand it.

"Yes." Rennar ignored the foreign word and squished the top of his ears with his fingers. "Were his ears long and pointy like this?"

"I don't think so?" Arthur replied, trying to recall the stranger's facial features but finding himself unable to do so. It was as if trying to recall a stranger's face from a dream. One moment, the face appeared familiar, like an old friend, but the more he focused on it, the more he became certain it was wrong.

Rennar shook his head and appeared disappointed with his answer. "Then you didn't meet a god."

"What does that mean?" Arthur asked. "I may not know much about the Elrinth gods, but I'm pretty sure none have long, pointy ears."

"That's because they're pretenders." Rennar scoffed. "Your father has done a disservice to you by allowing a descendant of Aellyr to believe the Theocracy's ignorant lies."

"Wait..." Arthur was stunned. "Are you saying the true gods of Elrinth Forest were elves?"

"You keep using that word; I don't know what it means." Rennar replied, looking annoyed.

"I don't know the word for them in Nithian, so I'm using a word from my first life." Arthur hurriedly explained. "It's the word for a race of people with long, pointy ears. They are usually described as beautiful and immortal, or at least benefit from some form of quasi-immortality."

Rennar raised his eyebrow. "But you already know the word for them? They're gods."

"So the word for elves is the same as gods? Then what do you call Minaan?" Arthur asked, feeling somewhat ridiculous.

"The word has changed meaning over time. What was once the term solely dedicated to the 'elves' as you call them, now is used to describe any being with foresight and incomprehensible power. Only the Aellyrians remember the true meaning of the word." Rennar explained.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Arthur sat on his bed and readied himself for a history lesson. "What exactly is Aellyr, and why is all of this some big secret?"

"It was as that guard, and I told you. After the mortal races fled Elrinth Forest, the skaen pursued them until few remained. Once the mortal races neared extinction, the skaen eventually disappeared.

"The surviving mortal races slowly returned to Elrinth Forest and realized that they could only enter it but not return. Eventually, they built a kingdom where the Federation of Mutumn now exists and called it Aellyr, after the title the gods gave to those most faithful.

"Although it was called a kingdom, Aellyr was closer to a republic, with each race choosing a representative to sit on a council that governed the kingdom. It remained peaceful for a time as the mortal races recovered and grew prosperous, but it didn't last.

"Those descended from ancestors who had once served the gods directly separated themselves from those without. They created noble houses and grew more powerful and influential as each generation passed. That created strife, which led to a civil war.

"After the war ended, Aellyr was fractured, and many mortal races chose to leave and found their own nations. Eventually, only humans remained, but ironically, the final blow that caused the kingdom's downfall was the return of the gods." Rennar paused his explanation and asked Arthur a question. "Did you know that dragons aren't native to Nithe?"

"Huh?" Arthur was digesting the overload of information and was caught off guard by the seemingly random question. "Then where did they come from?"

Rennar shrugged. "I imagine the same place as the pretender gods. According to the Aellyrian stories passed down, mana beasts and dragons only began appearing nearly two millennia ago. Before then, the mortal races were unhindered by the creatures of the land.

"It was around that time the gods returned and made themselves known to the people inhabiting the peninsula where the Theocracy now sits. Word spread quickly and reached the noble houses, who took the rumors seriously. They traveled to those lands and sought to find the gods their ancestors once served, but they would return distraught and fearful.

"For most people living on Nithe at that time, the gods were something of the past. More than a millennium had passed since their ancestors fled Elrinth Forest, and most either didn't remember the gods at all or had forgotten their appearances over time. So when powerful beings appeared claiming to be the gods their ancestors once worshipped, most accepted it as fact after a display of power.

"However, the noble houses passed down stories of the gods as a time-honored tradition. Their heritage and dedication to the gods gave them their right to rule—It's what gave them their power. So when they met with the gods and saw that they appeared human, they knew those gods were imposters.

"Unfortunately, despite being imposters, their power was genuine, and word of their return had already been spread to Aellyr's citizens. The kingdom was still recovering from the exodus of the mortal races, and had the noble houses openly denounced them as false gods, they likely would've been destroyed.

"Over the following years, they attempted to discretely persuade the people that the new gods were fake but had little success. They had built their kingdom upon the fact that they remained faithful to the gods, yet it was that very reason that they couldn't openly denounce the imposters.

"If they did, they'd lose everything they had built either to a civil war that would follow or through divine intervention for angering the imposter gods. So, with limited choices, they capitulated and remained quiet, passing down the truth to their descendants and allowing the people of Aellyr to be deceived.

"It's the great shame of Aellyr, but we know the truth today thanks to our ancestor's caution. I don't fault them for it, nor should you."

Arthur thought to himself for a moment before asking another question. "I thought the land our Ollerinian ancestors fled from was a part of the Cellan Theocracy? How did Aellyrians wind up within a nation ruled by the gods they call imposters?"

"As news of the imposter gods spread throughout Nithe, many people flocked to the land they appeared in, and eventually, they needed to form a government. If the Aellyrian noble houses didn't participate in the process, how would it look to their devout subjects?

"When the Cellan Theocracy was formed, Aellyr was willingly dissolved and swallowed up by the Theocracy. Their only other choice was certain doom, but they kept their lands and power by becoming founding members of the Cellan Theocracy.

"It remained peaceful for centuries until the Federation began raiding Aellyrian lands. The following centuries saw Aellyr become the bulwark between the Federation of Mutumn and the Cellan Theocracy until, finally, the bulwark broke.

"When Mutumn occupied Aellyr, our ancestors decided they had given enough blood in the name of false gods and fled to found Ollerin. However, few Aellyrian noble houses were able to escape the bloodshed. As far as I know, only six noble houses made the journey with Bellan Ollerin, seven if you include the imperial family."

"Then why do we still pretend to worship the false gods?" Arthur asked. "The Theocracy is on the other side of the world. Surely Bellan Ollerin could've made the state religion anything he wanted at that point?"

"Because it's all we can do to survive until the true gods return." Rennar sighed. "The false gods aren't as active as they once were, but we wouldn't be spared if we denied them. Even the Theocracy's enemies don't deny them as false gods but merely choose not to worship them."

Arthur went quiet as he contemplated the dangerous information he had been given. His identity appeared even more precarious as he was now an inheritor of Aellyr, which added gods to his ever-growing list of enemies.

He didn't care about elven gods, false gods, or whatever the hell Minaan and the stranger were. Arthur didn't have any skin in that game, nor did he want to play if he could help it. The sooner he could reach Helagaust, the better off he would be.