{HIGH PRIESTESS UNDINE’S POV}
Undine was furious.
After all the problems he had caused, the constant inopportune comments, and the general deplorable conduct, that shit-stain of a [Earth Nymph] was getting released from his imprisonment scot-free.
And the only reason someone like him could have avoided retribution for his actions is connections. She knew this would happen, but she didn’t believe his family could be this quick about it.
Maybe she ought to check upon which [Priest] resulted corrupted this time around, in order to avoid this type of thing repeating itself.
But, before having time to act on her impulse, she was approached by a squad of three [Cleaners].
“[High Priestess], we have unfortunate news to report”, said the one in the middle of the group.
“This day seems to be just getting better and better. What do you have for me?”
“There are rumors circulating that would make it appear as if it were you that instigated Jeoff junior into attacking the [Human], only so that you could punish him for it afterward”, replied the same one.
“That is ridiculous, it’s not a type of magic in which I dabble, and plenty of [Priests] and [Humans] saw what happened. That accusation has no validity, nor any proofs to base it up on”, she declared, further irked by this revelation.
“We know that”, the [Cleaner] on the left said, ”but public opinion will be harder to convince when the only testimony we can provide is from people that work ‘under’ you, or others that didn’t even have a [Level] at the time”.
That got her thinking, and she got to a worrying conclusion: Jeoff’s family, the Jeofferneys, were trying to undermine her, and taint her reputation. It wasn’t clear yet what their ultimate goal was, if it either was about having the authority of the [Demi-Goddess Undine] put under scrutiny, to have her kicked out of the [Temple], or to simply remind her that they could affect her, but she would find out.
“Do we know who started the rumor, and are we already working on containing it, or even denouncing its credibility?” Undine asked, trying to see if there was a way to easily solve the situation.
“Containing it is a lost cause, since it has already reached the ear of the common man, who indubitably will give more weight to the words of a [Noble] family, instead than to one of the many [Temples] in the territory. As per dispelling these doubts outright, it seems like the problem is deeper than we thought”, responded the [Cleaner] on the right.
“And what do you mean by that?” She was getting tired of the way [Cleaners] seemed to give a lot of information when talking, yet avoiding those that they knew someone wanted.
“There are talks about [Excommunicating] the [Demi-Goddess of Water]”, responded the central one.
‘[Excommunicating]!?’, she thought, ‘but that would be the same as killing her!’
“We cannot permit that: my mother has been a [Demi-Goddess] for centuries now, depriving her of her [Divine Affinity] would render her little more than an empty husk of who she once was!”
“We know, and that’s why we have come to you with a plan already”, said the central one, again.
“I may be a [High Priestess], but my patience isn’t infinite: Speak already!” She almost screamed the words, but choked back her anger.
“We could arrange for you to take the fall”, all three of them spoke in unison.
“… so, we let that ignoble family win? Unacceptable”, and she really wanted to believe that, but if it was the only way to save her mother…
“No, not like that at least. We will make it an event in which you will come clean about what happened, and abdicate your position, while publically announcing the faults of the Jeofferneys, technically bringing them down with you”, explained the [Cleaner] on the right.
“Which will require that you escape the city afterward though, since they will inevitably give chase and claim you as retribution for the insult”, continued the [Cleaner] on the left.
“And while it wouldn’t be legal, it hasn’t stopped them before, and it definitely won’t now”, concluded the central [Cleaner].
Undine thought the plan over, and then thought on it some more, before finally giving a slow nod with her head.
“That could work, and while losing my [Job] and position isn’t preferable, it isn’t anything that I’m attached to, and could easily reclaim them in a decade or two, once this mess blows over; but we must do something to also protect Darwin from them, since they will be definitely looking for him too.”
“The [Anomalous Human]? We actually lost track of him around a week after he got to the [Central Guild] of this island, so we wouldn’t know how to reach him for now”, interjected the central one.
“How could that be possible!? We have dozen of experts in [Scrying], and none of them could find him!?” Undine was once more getting angrier.
“That’s exactly the case”, said someone behind her, who she recognized as Bart the [Nekromancer], without even turning around.
“Even you Bart?” She desperately asked the only person that had been in the [Temple] longer than her.
“He probably developed some method of protecting himself from [Scrying], or maybe he became strong enough so that it would also affect our efforts, it’s difficult to say, but you could use it as an excuse to motivate the trip you’ll have to take after abdicating”, continued the jolly [Priest].
“You mean that I could go and look for him myself?” After a simple nod from the old Nymph, she continued, “I guess I could do that, and given his personality, he could definitely use some familiar company”.
“That’s the spirit! Now go and report all of our findings to our [Demi-Goddess]”, Bart said.
“Of course! And if no one has anything else to add, I will go and do just that right now”, without actually waiting for an answer, Undine went deeper into the [Temple].
The [Cleaners], feeling dismissed, faded into the background, while Bart simply smiled at Undine’s back, hiding his worries about what seemed to be waiting for her in the future.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
* * *
{SHEENO’S POV}
Sheeno Fyratta, ex-[Princess] of the [Heliokans], the ‘fire giants’, was riding on a hover-craft associated with her clan, in the company of an interesting specimen. Not that she paid much attention to the guy, no matter how interesting he may be, nor how infatuated he seemed to be with her; she had more important things to worry about.
Her decision to form a [Party] with him was mostly selfish: If people saw her traveling with someone more eye-catching than her, she would attract less of that attention, while dumping most of it on the poor sod.
And it wasn’t like she didn’t care about what he would end up going through, it was just she has been going through it for much longer, so he could withstand the attention in her place for a while. Hopefully, without suffering too much from the prejudice those like them usually encountered with the ‘common folk’.
…Maybe she did care about the cute guy they had dropped in her lap more than she’d like to admit, but, like she already said, she had bigger fishes to fry: Namely her brother.
The little shit always had it out for her, even joining the [Temple] of the [Demi-God of Purity] just to have a legitimate reason to persecute someone like her, someone [Anomalous].
And when their father, the [King], passed away, her brother practically strong-harmed the court into electing him his successor, ignoring their mother’s authority and pleas, while announcing immediately that he would be gunning for ’cleansing’ their people: Namely eliminating her.
One thing was not getting along with a sibling, and she would have understood that, she didn’t like him either, but practically condemning her to death? She had to admit that her brother might be a psychopath.
Going back to how she got on that ship, her mother, the late [Queen], was able to make a motion pass, where it said that people who would have been put to death could decide to be [Banished] instead, to the unanimity of the court, and the great displeasure of their future [King].
And that’s how she got to this point, a homeless wanderer, kicked out of her land and pushed away by her people. But the worst wasn’t over: the [Temple of Purity] wasn’t the only one that saw people like her as a blemish upon the [Nexus], and now she would have no one to back her if she were to meet any of them.
Except for maybe her impromptu companion.
No matter how air-headed he seemed, constantly getting lost in thought and the like, her contact in the [Guild] had assured her that he was exceptionally competent in multiple roles, and she had even confirmed herself that he was a [True Adventurer].
A [True Adventurer]! Those were the people that become either [Legends] or high-ranking officials within the [Adventurer Guild], and she had the pleasure to travel with one during the infancy of his story!
Sheeno stopped that line of thought, chastising herself for the distraction, and idolatrizing the guy with her, dismissing the problems he would face in the future as an individual.
“Is something on your mind?” the cute fellow asked her, saving her from unneeded minutes of self-reprimand.
“Yes actually.” She said, after a moment of consideration, “since we’re going to be working together I’d like to know about your combat style, meaning what I’m expected to see when you fight, your strengths and weaknesses, and after I will have done the same we’d best works on tactics for our [Party]”.
His aloof self disappeared, and he regarded her with a much more serious look than she thought possible from him.
“I’m… not sure. My [Class] has been a mystery to everyone that I’ve met, but I can tell you that a [Theomancer] seems to be focused on [Summoning], both [familiars] and [constructs], [Enchanting], and a bit of [Healing]…”
He had started talking but seemed to have difficulties going further
“What’s the matter?” She had to ask, after seeing him having trouble continuing.
“How much can I trust that you won’t divulge what I’m going to tell you, nor that you’re going to use it against me?” He finally asked, if a bit bluntly.
“That’s a bit harsh, but fair”, she responded, and then pulled a small white pointed tube out of her pocket, and put it standing on the table between them.
“What’s that?”
“A [Spyre of Truth], it basically a fancy lie detector. Watch: My name is Bob.”
The [Spyre] jerked in place, and turned black for a moment, before going back to being white.
“Now you try”, she asked.
“The sun is blue”, He immediately said, and the [Sypre] didn’t jerk, but still changed colors, this time turning grey.
“Interesting, it still detects half-Truths, then what about ‘[Gods] aren’t real’, he said immediately after seeing the result from before, and this time the [Spyre] assumed a striped coloration, alternating white, grey, and black.
“And it also understands when you aren’t sure about what you’re saying. Neat.”
How one couldn’t know that the [Gods] were real was beyond her, but maybe that was something that was born from him being [Transferred], forced to adapt to this world, different from his own.
Since he finally seemed to have been convinced that she harbored no ill will, and that there would be no lies between them, she moved on.
“With the necessary precautions in place, why don’t we start by talking about me?” She asked.
“Showing your goodwill by going first? Sure, ladies first”, was his reply.
“Call me ‘lady’ one more time and I’ll cave your face in”, she immediately rebuked.
“O-okay, sheesh!” He flinched back.
With the mood soured, they started talking about their roles anyway.
* * *
{UNKNOWN’S POV}
A man, now no more than a skeleton made of glass and diamonds, jolted into consciousness, and he was assaulted by a deluge of [Information].
A small piece of Earth had been added to the [Nexus], or at least it was what this foreign [System] was telling him, and that’s where he now resided.
He got up from the ground where he lay, and observed his body in full: Outside of being made of see-through materials, there were plenty of [Energies] swirling within him, all in darker shades than he would have liked.
But what he liked didn’t matter anymore. He wasn’t sure about what he was before, but now he was a [Demon].
Or, more precisely, a [Demon Lord], an [Evolved] version of the previous creature that had been flooded with [Aether].
Choose your identity
The creature analyzed the screen in front of him: Why did he know what it was?
It seemed that it was a notion from his past life, and like the rest of them, among which was his past name, it was too fleeting to catch.
“Licht… [Lich King] will do”, a surprisingly deep and rich voice escaped the skeleton’s teeth.
The [Demon Lord: Lich King] has been born.
May mortals tremble in fear in your presence
The [Lich King] felt like it was still missing something, and after a brief twitch of his bony hand, a small crown made of molten sapphires appeared on his head, while a throne made of obsidian, encrusted in emeralds, emerged from the ground, where it promptly sat.
“Intruders will come soon,” it said, bringing a hand to its jaw, stroking it, “then I must hurry in building, and recruiting, capable minions”.
The [Demon Lord] brought its gaze upon its land, where the surrounding [Monsters] were already waiting for their orders.
“Man, this is going to be fun!” A dark chuckle escaped its skull.
* * *
{BUDDY’S POVS}
THE [ABYSS] STIRS
That notification seemed to haunt this inner world, and [Buddy] could do nothing about it.
[Kenny] had fully healed, and when it did it immediately resumed in its quest to illuminate this place to the best of its abilities, under the constant watch of the black sun.
And yet, in this place, where everything seemed to repeat the same pattern, something had changed. Something, that no one could have predicted.
SUITABLE TRANSIT DETECTED
PREPARING ENVOY
If [Buddy] had a body, it would be sweating right now.
But all it could do now was to finally reveal the presence