{JEOFFERNEYS’ POV}
Jeoff Jr had not been reinstated as a [Priest], which meant he was [Job]-less but that was beside the point, because nothing could stop him from going inside the [Temple of Water], it was a public place of prayer after all.
The fact that official [Priests] sent him nothing more than a cursory glance was even more telling of where their allegiance was, and how this debacle would eventually end.
With the Jeofferneys at the top, with both political and spiritual power, and with the restricted [Gods] only able to watch on as they did what their future [Patrons] probably had always wanted to do: Bring the masses under a unified Empire.
This move of theirs was only a small step in a bigger plan, because after the [Temple of Water] became another [Temple of Earth], the [Earth Throne] would be next, then the [Elemental Kingdom], and it would only end once the entire [Nexus] would bow to their authority.
Their aspiration was nothing novel, and there had been similar attempts in the past by lesser factions, but this time they had something that would further aid this particular plan of theirs: Their readings into the [Human Isle] told them that there already was a fully cemented [Demon Lord] at the center, commanding a veritable army of [Monsters] and lesser [Demons].
Jeoff had no doubts that others were able to learn as much, especially the [Army] whilst so close to their target, but he was certain that his faction was the only one in the position to use such a distracting catastrophe to their advantage.
Their plans were all made out to work exactly at this moment, where the other [Isles] would send aid to the [Humans] to help them with the new threat, leaving them free to slowly gain control internally. An eras-spanning plan made and perfected by their predecessor, who had been alive during their integration into the [Nexus], and knew how chaotic things could turn when the [Army] scampered to gain a new piece of land.
Yes, their plan was good and methodical, with little chance to fail hard enough to hurt their position. But there was this little tiny thorn in his side that Junior couldn’t just ignore.
The [Demon] with the bewitching eyes, and that bitch of an [High-Priestess].
And it was the latter that he had come to find.
“And where, exactly, do you intend on going?” An aged voice asked from right behind him, making him jump.
“Old man!” Jeoff exclaimed once he turned around.
He refrained to refer to the man as anything else because the stink of [Death] on him was terrifying, and also because nobody ever seemed to remember the actual name of the enigmatic geezer.
He recalled him introducing himself as ‘Herny’ to someone, but couldn’t be sure, nor could he remember anybody using that name outside of the older Nymph himself in that single, half-remembered, instance.
“Maybe my voice was enfeebled by my old age, because it seems as if the young master didn’t hear my question”, the ancient [Priest] continued.
“Quit it, old man, I hear you loud and clear, but your question simply didn’t deserve an answer. This is a [Temple] akin to any other, no? So it’s nobody’s business where I go to publically offer my prayers to the [Gods]!” Junior replied with a scoff.
“You say that your intent is one thing, while we both know that the truth is another”, the aged [Necromancer] replied, starting to lose the amiability in his voice.
“And that would be, you old geezer?” Jeoff sneered at the, in his opinion, presumptuous Nymph.
“She is not here”, He simply said.
“…what?” The heir was left to blink stupidly at the unexpected
“The [High-Priestess] likes to believe herself as apolitical, so she’s currently away until this inane bickering blows over. The one you are looking for is gone, now do with that information what you will”, the [Priest], who could be named Herny or not, replied.
After which, without waiting for a response, the old Nymph turned away and walked around a corner.
“Hey, wait! I’m not yet done with… you”, Jeoff had made to catch up to the [Necromancer] once he had finally digested the news, which only took a few scant seconds, but even though he made to follow rather tempestively, around the corner only an empty corridor awaited him.
Jeoff Jr soon remembered that he had bigger things to worry about than the mysteriously vanishing older [Priest]: The [High-Priestess] had fled much sooner than any of his father’s predictions said, and he had made a lot of predictions, which must mean that they had missed something so substantially big that the [Temple of Water] had to renounce to one of their most valuable assets.
He was not buying into the ‘apolitical’ crap, the homonymous daughter of the [Demi-Goddess Undine] was the biggest piece of propaganda they had, with her well-known personality as the older sister of everyone, and her alluring figure combined.
The worried [Noble] turned right around and marched directly back home.
His father needed to hear about this at the soonest.
And he had a [High-Priestess] to track.
* * *
{UNDINE’S POV}
Bothersome.
This entire situation did not evolve the way she wanted it. She had at first convinced her mother to let her help around for another few weeks, but then she was made to leave only a few days after that decision for reasons that she didn’t have in her to argue against.
Not that she could blame anyone for the sudden change of plans: Nobody expected a newly integrated [Isle] to already be home to a [Demon Lord].
Still, she couldn’t help but find the entire situation bothersome.
As a show of solidarity, every [Temple] was required to make a unified show of force and send a select few competent people to aid either the [Army] itself or the [Adventuring Teams] that would end up helping them, both directly or indirectly, into securing the [Isle] for the [Humans].
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
And since her mother had it on good authority that Darwin would soon join the effort coming from the [Wild Guild], she was made to depart early, so she could join his [Team] as naturally as possible, without attracting too much attention.
At least not from those that weren’t already paying more than close attention to either of their parties.
So here she was, traveling in an airship towards the rumored [Fulcrum], who she could only think of as a man that needed more help than normal.
The last time she saw Darwin he wasn’t doing too well, and while she is sure that during this entire time, he must have improved, hearing how his training at the [Adventuring Guild] ended left a bitter taste in her mouth, which would not go away until she had personally made sure that he was hanging on alright.
“Do we have an estimated time of arrival?” Undine asked the ship’s [Captain].
“Not surre, lassie: Those [Obfuscation Enchantments] requirre us to not go too fast to properrly worrk, so even if we pushed it thrrough the night we might be looking at two days of trravel, at the least”, the man replied, while scratching his shaggy beard.
“I am aware of that, I was just making sure that everything was going as planned, because I’m working with a strict timetable here, and I can’t afford even more delays”, the [High-Priestess] confessed, giving the [Captain] a worried smile.
“Don’t we all? Don’t worrry, my brrother passed thrrough herre rrecently and advised me on what to look out forr”, the bearded Nymph amiably assured the worried lady, before excusing himself and returning to his work.
Alone in the private room again Undine exhaled deeply, huffing at the current events; mostly at the fact that how things evolved had proven her mother right, something that she would no doubt rub in her face, and the doubt in her mind at if Darwin’s [Team] member would accept her.
After all, if rumors were to be believed, he had ended up forming a [Team] with the [Banished Princess] of the [Heliokans] as soon as he had reached the [Wilds], and was heard and seen having a heated discussion with her, before they abruptly decided to continue it in private.
Undine believed herself a good judge of character, and she knew Darwin was a good person deep inside, if a difficult one to work with, so the fact that he blew up so publically made her slightly afraid that someone as strong-headed as a [Princess] wasn’t meshing well with him, bringing out the worst qualities that he had built up to protect himself.
Undine nodded to herself, starting to devise a plan to make the two of them into fast friends, as she and Darwin had ended up being.
* * *
{MERGA’S POV}
Merga was checking her nail after having just verified that the newly born [Dungeon] had finally started growing naturally on its own, allowing her to dismiss the more delicate part of the array that used her [Abyss Affinity].
At least she was doing so, relaxing after another day of boring and mundane work, until she felt a small ripple in reality, reverberating through the dimensional mantle that protected the [Nexus] from outside forces.
Merga stopped on the spot and immediately started analyzing what she had just felt: It felt familiar, yet unknown, and the more she thought about it the more the sensation lingered.
Standing up from the lawn chair she had plopped right next to the [Dungeon]’s entrance, she expanded the reach of her senses to localized the source of such a change.
What she found shocked her, but also explained why it had felt familiar: She wasn’t [Clairvoyant], so she couldn’t be 100% sure from such a distance, but it seemed like Darwin had somehow created yet again another [familiar] with a budding soul inside of it.
She smirked for a moment, thinking at how the amusing [Human] must still believe that he could hide anything from the foremost expert on [familiar] in this pocket reality, whilst instead, she had known [Kenny]’s bizarre origins since the first time her sense had enveloped the lantern.
There was little that could be hidden from her, and the fact that a [familiar] was artificial in nature was definitely not among those few.
Merga left herself get distracted by the notion that Darwin had gotten over his hang-up on [familiars], and finally decided to make a new one. She could only shake her head at how accepting of the fact she had become.
“What has you smiling so felicitously?” The lovable Orc asked once he got within reach to have a conversation.
“Grog, dear, are you telling me you didn’t feel that?” Merga asked back in a challenging tone.
“Of course, I did. I was asking why you would look so satisfied about it”, the master spear-man explained, unbothered by the Witch’s tone.
“Am I not allowed to relish the fact that I was able to influence a [Fulcrum] into using his potential to its fullest?” Merga asked back once more.
It was then that Grog’s blocky face was briefly crossed by a look of utter surprise, “are you telling me that was from little Darwin!?”
“Yes. Yes, it was. And I suggest that you stop referring to him as ‘little’ even in private.”
Grog was not one to talk so much normally, so it was easy for her to determine that he was far more shocked by this turn of events than his inexpressive exterior seemed to suggest.
Grog grunted in agreement, but was already lost in his own head thinking about what he had just learned.
Darwin was a [fulcrum], a being that has the fate of the world naturally revolving around them as long as they don’t actively fight it. He had been taught by their [Team], that once upon a time was regaled as the strongest around, and they were now being called back to fight alongside the [Humans] in the [Army], because a particularly competent [Demon Lord] was already wreaking havoc among the trainees; even Abaan was going to join them by being replaced as the [Guild Master] by a temporary replacement. And none of them believed that Darwin could ignore such a significant obstacle for his people and not do anything about it.
“The winds of change are blowing fiercely”, Grog concluded after a short while.
“Indeed they are”, Merga simply replied, taking a small sip from the wine glass she had just summoned through a black vortex.
* * *
{LICHT KING’S POV}
“Continue lulling them into a false sense of security by sending the weakest [Monsters] directly at them, while fortifying the tactical locations we determined at the edge of the [Isle] with the strongest amongst my troops”, the crystal skeleton ordered in his gravely voice.
“Yes, master”, a massive spider with venom-dripping fangs, and a wailing skull as its torso, replied subserviently before going forth to carry its command.
The [Lich King] couldn’t remember when it had ever been so busy, but given the fact that it couldn’t remember much of the ‘before’, that didn’t really mean much.
Adopting the persona of [King], while being a [Demon Lord], apparently instilled an inborn need to kneel into the other creatures of [Destruction], mainly [Demons] and [Monsters].
“Go to the bastion oriented towards the [Wild Area] and have them pump in more [Aether]: Now that the sapient [Races] have discerned my existence we need to move forwards with our plans”, the [Lich King] ordered another of its minions.
“My king”, the centaur nodded, a deceptively hard thing for it since it didn’t have a head, but that didn’t stop it from rushing in the correct direction, not even bothered by the wisps of green fire flowing out of the nicks and cuts all over its body, nor the green and blue bonfire that exited its neck.
They were a jumbled mess of uniqueness, these [Demons], but their power, and the respect that such power brought in turn, was clear for all to see. First of all from the [King] itself.
But it wasn’t one to boast, nor was it that interested in leading, but there was no doubt in its mind that all these minions carrying out its order were definitely helping with progressing its project much faster than it would have done on its own.
The [Demon Lord] stood up from its green and black throne, righted its blue and black crown, and went to check on the private part of its project in the back of its obsidian fortress.
Just behind its throne, a lone door stood, and on the other side of it a massive, completely see-through tube, made out of what seemed like diamonds, was immediately visible, said tube then seemed to have been bet into a circular shape, with a purple wisp currently traveling through its length in a circular pattern, at impressive speeds.
“Soon… once we reach the [Wild Area], my [Magnus Opus] will finally be complete”, the [Lich King] whispered in reverence, stroking the device with one of its bony hands.
Its thoughts then turned to the anchors where it had sent the [Dullahan Centaur] to tell those responsible for them to further empower their [Arrays], so that they would quicken the approach to the [Aetheric] disturbance that all of them could feel coming from that place.
And if their actions spawned a plethora of new [Dungeons] in the process, what was the problem? It only meant that there were more opportunities for more minions to come over to this side.