Gigantadragon

Gigantadragon was freed from it’s demon king, and it was the beginning of our ‘occupation’ of the peripheral worlds. We would need to hold off the demon kings until Hawa could fulfill his end of the bargain, and so Lumoof wanted to take our battle to the demon kings. We would now plan to remove the rest of the demon kings, and gain levels in the process.

From this battle, Lumoof and Edna gained one or two levels too. Their experience gain was slow, and at this point, they needed the hero fragments. The subject of hero fragments did feel a little sensitive. I didn’t want the heroes to die, they were a force I could deploy quite easily with Lumoof functioning as a mobile warp gate.

“Y’know, I never quite realized how overpowered you two are.” Roon said. His contribution in the final battle against the demon king was decent, but largely, the battle was fought by myself, Lumoof, and Edna.

Lumoof laughed. “It was the right set of enemies. Aeon did the bulk of the work.”

“I genuinely thought the demon king looked quite pitiful, when it struggled against Aeon’s big ass roots. It felt like the demon king was a whale struggling against a gigantic kraken.” Stella quipped, easily amused. “But boys, let’s clean this up, and we have more to do.”

With the demon king out of the way, the domain holders and heroes quickly swept through the rest of Gigantadragon and eliminated all the remnant demons. There were still demonic spires all over the place and this process took them about six weeks.

But, the demons were gone, and we saw the pathway through the void sea linked to a demon world crumble. These days, with Stella’s upgraded abilities, she could get a ‘code’ on the demon’s rift, so we could still locate these worlds.

“How many more levels before you get your level 200 ability?” Lumoof looked at Stella.

“A lot more. I’m about to hit level 180. Hopefully I will get a decently strong [domain ability] then.” The void mage continued. I knew we needed her at level 200. Given how strong Level 200 abilities are, it’s likely some of the drawbacks of the void mage classes could be mitigated with her higher levels.

Gigantadragon was beautiful. Without the demon’s presence, the natural weather of the tail-half of the planetary dragon returned. The demonic spires no longer drained away the magical ley lines, and instead, those ley lines returned to their natural state, and transformed into gigantic magical sculptures. The ground beneath them transformed just as quickly, as the space around the ley lines were warped into doorways that led into dungeons.

The tail half was the ‘frontier’ for the dragonlings of Gigantadragon, at least, before the demons conquered it. Now, there were a few ancient cities buried under the demonic sludge from a time long before the demons.

The domainholders had to keep moving. There were three more worlds to go.

***

A switch flipped in the minds of both Wira and Rajah when the demon king died, and suddenly, they seemed normal. What was an almost crazy obsession with the demons vanished, and instead, both of them looked thoroughly exhausted. As if their minds were forced to maintain a high level of performance for too long that now, the sudden emptiness just made them unsure what to do. In a way, we contributed to that. We defeated the demon king, not the heroes, and so, they lacked the sense of achievement.

They were now willing to travel with us back to Treehome, to visit the old hero journals, and for once, have a normal life.

They actually seemed keen.

So, now that Lumoof could function as a mobile teleportation pad, all he needed to do was touch them, and I could send them to Treehome.

***

Their visit went pretty much as expected. The heroes experienced a little culture shock to see Treehome now resembling a solarpunk version of their human cities. It made me feel happy to see how excited the existing heroes were, to introduce the two newcomers to Freshka.

Freshka was pretty much the most advanced city we know of, with many magical equivalents of facilities known to man.

Freshka is the central node for transport between the worlds, and also the political headquarters of everything related to the Valtrian Order. Naturally, this meant a need for embassies, and various support staff associated with such diplomatic events.

The confluence of diplomacy, and the high amounts of youths receiving education in the multiple colleges throughout the greater Freshka region led to the rise in entertainment and consumer options similar to the heroes’ own homeworlds, and a vice network that we controlled.

It was a guided development, primarily driven by our intelligence department. Such entertainment and vices meant these officials and embassies were lulled into a sense of familiarity and comfort. It loosened up their guards. It was easier to obtain a favorable agreement when it was whispered to their ears by a charming companion. Theaters, plays, concerts, bars and clubs, forums. Nobles everywhere were mortal after all, and we used both carrot and stick to get what we wanted.

The heroes were wined-and-dined, and treated to entertainment options that reminded them of home.

The change happened so slowly over the years that the existing heroes didn’t notice how they were now sucked into the entertainment culture and lifestyle.

Even Kei didn’t notice, until Rajah and Wira both looked at her and asked. “Is this- is this all really okay? It’s fine for us to get free entry and reserved seats at these entertainment areas?”

Since most of the entertainment options in Freshka were indirectly controlled by the Valtrian Order, we set up special rooms meant for ‘unique situations’. This meant private viewing balconies, special guestrooms and all that sort of thing, for my domain holders and also for the heroes.

Kei paused, and that was when it hit her that we were now doing what the churches did to her peer, Alvin. She gulped. “Yes. It is.”

***

Thirteenth - Khubor

The World where the Dead Do Not Move On

Roon, Johann and Ezar frowned when the portal placed them right in the center of a mountain of bones.

“Man.”

There were bones everywhere, and they watched as the magical gray clouds rained bones of different shapes and sizes around them.

Roon stared at Johann, and Johann stared at Ezar. “Who was it that said worlds can’t get any weirder after Lumoof’s giant dragon? Here, exhibit one. A world that rained bones.”

“Where do they come from?” Ezar looked at the rain of bones smashed into his magical artifact. The bones were surprisingly hard and smashed into the ground. The ground itself was covered in bones.

“Magic, I bet. Or some Core shenanigans.” Roon said.

The ranger picked up some of the bones that rained, and noticed they weren’t actually animal bones. They were just shaped like bones, and made of the same stuff. There was a kind of magical cloud above them that produced these ‘bones’.

“It is probably more appropriate to call them bone-stones, than actual bones, since they are just bone-like, but not actually the bones of an animal or monster.” Roon said, as he examined them in greater detail.

“Fair, fair. That’s probably a better way to wrap our heads around it.” His fellow domain holder said, as they kept exploring. The clouds of the world were a storm of magic, they could feel the intense magics coming from their bonestone-creating-clouds. “Well, think we have living beings to see-”

That was when a spirit, a wight, appeared before our very eyes.

“You three are far from the lands of the living. Return to the lands of the living, the deathlands are not for you.” The spirit’s voice was like the whisper of the wind.

Roon looked at the wight. There were a million things he wanted to ask, but decided not to. “Could you point us the way?”

The spirit pointed. “That way, if you walk at the normal living pace, you will reach the Kingdom of Murklands in six days.”

“Very well. What lies in the deathlands?” Roon continued with his question.

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“The nations of the departed spirits. It is the land where creatures like me form our nation.”

“Heck.” Roon said, a little surprised. “Well, I suppose we should go that way, though, I think this world would probably interest Lumoof.”

***

Roon, Johann and Ezar eventually did encounter the Kingdom of Murklands, which was not a special kingdom. It was only one of many humanoid kingdoms, and throughout the area, all the ‘living’ kingdoms came to be known as the Kingdoms of the Living. The land of the living were kingdoms of faith, where the priests of Hawa and Gaya roamed.

When the folks of the living lands die, they ship their corpses over to the deathlands. This was organized by a group that existed with the support of the Hawa and Gaya temples, the Deathmen. The Deathmen would ship the corpses to the Deathlands, and the Deathlands would pay for their services in goods from the Deathlands.

“They trade with the dead.” Roon explained over our communication network.

“I’m headed there now.” We both had a million and one questions, and so, my avatar quickly headed over.

The Living kingdoms were fairly normal, they were mainly humans, but there were some slightly longer lived dwarves and halflings, organized around kings and supported by priesthoods.

But as Lumoof arrived, he could see something different about this world. It was something only obvious to Lumoof, and yet, he wondered whether the local priests knew.

“Not all souls escape this world. Instead, for the corpses that were shipped to the Deathlands, their souls, still partly bound to their flesh, are turned into these spirits.” Lumoof theorized. Their corpses are linked to their souls. Though the soul may have ‘separated’, if someone meddles, it is possible to pull the soul back into the corpse.

It’s a feature that worked both ways, just like how we were able to restore souls from old personal items of a person, because there were fragments of that person’s soul in them.

“I believe there is a domain-level individual deep in the Deathlands.” Lumoof said, and so, for once, our suspicions were true. Once we paid attention, we could sense it, the small ripples of space of a domain holder. Deep in the Deathlands, there’s clearly something, or someone, that could tamper with souls to create these wights and deathlings.

“Could it be friendly?” Roon said.

“I don’t know.” Lumoof said. “The only way to know is to go and see it. And I’ll only do so when I am at full strength. Just in case.”

Fighting another domain holder is an iffy thing, and we are not exactly sure what kind of powers this other domain holder had.

Domain holders, at least those we’ve met, were all slightly eccentric existences that didn’t like to be surprised. So, we knew from experience that I couldn’t just barge into the depth of the Deathlands and be well received. So, we needed to figure out a way to send a message, one that would be favorably received by the other side, and we could then meet to truly understand them.

“Okay, I’ll come back in a while.” Lumoof said. “I’ve got other places to go, but for now, the three of you, maybe help to figure out what’s up with the heroes, and do research on past alliances, discussions and communications with the Kingdoms of the Dead. The goal is to establish communication. Peacefully. Without scaring them.”

“Got it, boss.” Roon said.

My avatar rolled his eyes, but we knew it was in jest.

The kingdom of the living occupied two thirds of this world, while the remaining third, was the kingdoms of the dead. The demon king, occasionally, would spawn in the deathlands, and those in the Deathlands would band together to destroy it.

When this happened, it was called the ‘Week of the Waking Nightmares’. For a week, people all over the world would have nightmares, and it almost seemed as if spirits appeared all over the world.

This was a fact that worried me, because it suggested that the Deathlands had a weapon powerful enough to destroy demon kings, though, from what we’ve seen so far, the Deathlands stuck to itself. If it could take on demon kings, then it could definitely take on domain holders.

Maybe it was something like the blood sacrifices and the hex bombs of the blood mages, because whatever was in the Deathlands clearly knew how to manipulate souls and turn them into wandering spirits that couldn’t move on in their cycle of reincarnation.

It was possible this domain holder got further along the path of weaponizing the incredible powers of the soul. If so, maybe the power of the soul is what we need to destroy the demon sun.

Anyway, information from the living nations was scarce. They didn’t have insights into the nature of the deathlands, and all their interactions with the Dead Spirits were for trade and commerce. The Dead Spirits didn’t reveal about the intricacies and inner workings of the Deathlands, though communication was clearly possible with these Dead Spirits.

The heroes, if summoned, would arrive at the kingdoms of the Living, and the Dead Spirits are usually not hostile. Their first instinct is to chase the living out of the deadlands, and only raise their weapons if such actions were repeated and their attempts to remove the living were stopped.

There was, to our surprise, still one hero surviving and living in this world. He defeated the last demon king that arrived about twenty years ago with the aid of the Deathlands, and since then retired to the countryside.

A man who clearly wanted to live and have a family.

***

Roon, Johann and Ezar discovered the hero living in a quiet, picture-perfect valley surrounded by a farm. There were cows, chickens, fields of vegetables and wheat. There were three beautiful children running about. The oldest one looked like he was in his teens.

When they knocked on the door, a tall, well built man greeted them. He was dressed like a farmer.

“Greetings. You are the hero, Gideon?”

“I’m Gideon, yes.” The hero and the three exchanged looks, and the hero eventually added. “but no, I’m no longer an active hero.”

“No longer?”

“Well, no.”

Roon looked around. “Can we come in and talk? We don’t mean your family any harm.”

Gideon looked around, and back at them, and shrugged. “Well. No weapons, but sure. Come on in.”

***

The home was fairly simple as hero-homes went. It didn’t have the common features of hero homes seen elsewhere. It was something Roon immediately noticed, at least compared to the homes of Colette and Prabu, or Khefri or Adrian.

Instead, it was clearly designed to resemble a picturesque farmhouse. It had large glass windows that allowed plenty of sunlight in, and a view of the valleys. It was functional, and almost entirely made of wood.

“A beautiful place.” Roon said. “Certainly unlike the homes of the other heroes.”

“Thank you. Come, there isn’t much, but you can sit.” Gideon’s kids noticed, and looked worried. They came over, but the hero patted their head. “Go to your rooms, kids. Daddy gotta talk to some visitors.”

The three nodded, and Gideon’s wife, a beautiful mature lady with golden blonde hair, followed their kids into their room.

“You’re not from here, are you?” Gideon said frankly.

“Yes.” Roon sat and nodded. “There’s sort of two reasons why we came, so we’ll get right down to it.”

Gideon sipped his mug of water. “Well, sure.”

“One, we’re recruiting heroes. We’ve formed a coalition of heroes to fight the demon kings across worlds, and we’d like you to join us.”

Gideon stared at Roon, and sipped his mug again. “So there are worlds other than this one that also have demon kings?”

“Yes.”

“How many have you recruited?”

“Seven. Well, five, but two’s new and maybe they’ll join us.”

“That’s a lot of power in one team.” Gideon said.

“True. But there are even more worlds.” Roon said.

Gideon paused, and then sighed. “Honestly, you came a little bit too late. I’ll tell you why, but what’s the other one?”

“You’ve been to the deathlands?”

The hero stared at Roon, this time seriously. As if judging him. “What is it?”

“What’s in the deathlands?”

Gideon paused and shook his head. “Why?”

“We sense something unusual in the deathlands. It is as if souls were captured and unable to move on. There’s a strange emptiness in their lands.”

“I see you already have an inkling. What is in there, is an undead demigod. The Osroids.”

Roon leaned forward. Both Johann and Ezar looked around, as if anticipating a sudden strike. “What else do you know about them? We hear some really fascinating tales about the deathlands, and we want to know what we are dealing with, and whether it is friendly.”

Gideon frowned. “Friendly? It’s an undead god that turns corpses into spirits, vampires and zombies.”

“And yet it’s undead seems well behaved.” Roon asked, a little puzzled.

“The dead need the living to replenish its souls and spirits. This is the balance of the world. If they didn’t need the living they would have invaded us and killed us all. This peace exists entirely due to the ancient agreement by the church and the deathlands to sell corpses to the deathlands.” The hero said with a sigh.

“What about the demons?”

“Just an enemy of my enemy.”

Roon, Ezar and Johann glanced at each other. “Well, I suppose only Lumoof can handle such a thing.” Roon then turned back to face the hero. “Well, last question, why won’t you join us?”

“Simple. The Osroids gave a simple way to destroy the demon king. It ripped a portion of the [hero] class out of my spirit, and used it to make a bomb.”

All three domainholders were stunned. It took a good thirty seconds before Roon’s shocked face turned into a smirk. “Oh boy, Lumoof’s gonna have a field day with this one.”

“Why?”

“I think our patreon god probably has a lot of similarities to these Osroids. And so- you have an incomplete [hero] class?’

“Yes.”

***

The three met outside.

“What the fuck’s going on here?” Ezar cursed. “That dude’s a half-hero or some shit?”

Roon nodded. “Not what I expected, but I suppose so.”

Johann looked around. “I think, what’s really important to know, is whether the Osroids are some kind of threat to us.”

Ezar looked a bit bewildered. “I am guessing it’ll be yes. It’s some death-manipulating domainholder with some soul-type shenanigans.”

“Let’s- let’s not pass judgement so quickly. Just because it’s using death power doesn’t make it bad. What it’s doing now seems fairly proper. It trades for corpses, uses souls from corpses to create it’s people, and used the hero’s class somehow as a weapon.” Roon countered. “I- I think we should let Aeon decide on this.”

“I don’t get it. Hawa clearly considers this world to be a peripheral world, and it ‘loses’ faith points sustaining this world. Yet it clearly doesn’t seem like it needs help, if this Osroid can use the hero class to destroy demons.”

“It still needs the hero class to make the weapon, and that costs faith points. I reckon the act of summoning is what drains most of the faith points.” Roon countered.

“So, the way to ‘save’ Hawa’s faith points is to blow up demon kings before new heroes are summoned.”

“Yea. Pretty much.”

“Then we’ll need to make an agreement with this death-god in the deathlands.”