Exile felt disorientated as he suddenly found himself exiting the gateway back into the mortal realms. Immediately he heard Ania screaming as she was surrounded by three warriors trying their best to help her.
“Master!” Skovi said as he nuzzled against Exile’s leg with a whimper.
“Where were you?”Exile asked as he glanced at the wolf as he walked toward Ania’s writhing figure.
“I was right here,” Skovi said with confusion in his eyes. “I walked through the gate and came out the other side. You reappeared about a minute later. Did it fail?”
Exile glanced at the great wolf with a frown. ‘I’ve only been gone for a minute?’ His mind reeled in shock at that news. It felt like it had taken him months just to traverse the void on the other side of the gate. He became excited at the thought of what could become possible at the higher tiers.
After all, Amari was just a will. A shadow of his former power. Yet he had full control over a separate world in the void where even the law of time bent to his power. By the time Exile reached Ania’s side, he saw the black lines on her skin fading as her fits lessened.
‘Amari wasn’t lying then.’ Exile thought as he ordered the warriors to place her on Skovi’s back. ‘I wish I could stay with her, but Amari said the event would end. Which means the event store will open soon.’ Exile sighed as he carefully brushed a strand of Ania’s hair from her face.
“Take her back to Eraldsfen, and give any of those silver coins to me at my altar,” Exile commanded as he glanced at the remaining warriors. “Skovi, I’ll return to the heavens now. Watch over Ania until she recovers.”
Skovi bowed his head as Exile deactivated his avatar spell. Upon awakening in his room in the longhouse, Exile heard screaming from the main area. ‘What the heck is going on?’ A frown appeared on his face as he listened in on what was being said. ‘Damn!’ Exile cursed as he calmly got off the bed and walked into the main hall.
Exile scanned the room before anyone noticed him. Ragnarok’s officers were trying to calm everyone down. ‘It seems like the whole Pantheon is here.’ Exile grumbled before his eyes narrowed. ‘Wait… Where’s Desa? Exile looked around the room again and noticed that not everyone was there.’
The hall suddenly grew quiet as the players began to notice Exile’s presence. They gazed at him as if expecting some kind of speech. Or, at the very least, for him to ease their worries.
“Can I see the officers in my room?” Exile said as he glanced toward Clay.
Exile disappeared into the back of the longhouse again as the officers quietly asked everyone to wait until they spoke with Exile. They then gathered together and joined him in his private room where he stood by the window.
“What’s happening?” Exile asked when they closed the door behind them.
“Desa and several other players have disappeared from the Pantheon register,” Mikari said as he shook his head. “I assume their Oracles were killed during the event.”
“It’s not only that,” Winter said in a grim tone as she fiddled with her hair. “I had to evacuate the town where my Oracle lived. We fled towards the nearest village, but all the people living there were dead.”
“The other members are nervous. This event caught us by surprise. They want to know why we didn’t know about it and what actions we’ll take to prevent these kinds of losses in future events.” Midas chimed in as he stared at Exile’s back.
“We didn’t know, because we didn’t know.” Exile sighed. “How were we supposed to know something like that would happen?”
“Exile, it’s not that simple.” Old Un said as he leaned against the wall. “Some of the players are saying their followers knew of the event from their histories. They’re blaming us for poor leadership and mismanagement.”
“To put it simply,” Mikari began as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. “It could have been prevented if we researched the history, myths and legends of the Skardians. We could have had a warning about what to expect. We have to pay more attention to the mortal realms and the lore of the game. We can’t afford another mistake like this.”
Exile groaned as he rubbed his temples. ‘Ania recognised the undead as draugar. So maybe they’re right. We need to pay more attention. This isn’t like a normal game. We’ve got to suspect that anything in their tales could be true and prepare for the worst.’
“Mikari, I’ll leave it to you to come up with an administration system. Find out who among our players enjoy digging into the lore of games and set them to task searching for anything that could be a clue to future events.” Exile said as he turned to face Clay. “Clay, you and the other officers make arrangements to have each player send a single Oracle to Eraldsfen. This is just a temporary fix since in the future we could all gather there to ensure the survival of the Oracles.”
“What do we do about Desa?” Clay asked with a solemn expression. “He’s an old friend of mine, and our group has stuck by you since we met. He just gave up his job to join us at the complex in real life.”
“Desa,” Exile said as he paused for a moment. “I’ll handle Desa. I’ll look into whether there’s a good position and salary we can offer him within the team complex. I’m not going to toss him aside because he can’t help us in the game anymore.”
Clay, Leggy, Burri, and Old Un nodded at his words and expressed their appreciation. Exile could tell they were concerned about what would happen to their fallen comrade.
“Let’s put these things in motion now. Don’t forget to collect any tokens offered to you. We have to be ready to make some decisions about what to buy from the event store.” Exile gave a half-hearted smile. “Ideally we need to pick items that can benefit the Pantheon as a whole.”
“Do you know where the store will be?” Midas asked with a curious expression plastered on his face.
“I suspect it will be in Valheim. You should send some players to search for rumours as to its location. It’d be a shame if we went through all this and missed the rewards.” Exile replied as he shrugged his shoulders. “Once we’re done with this, I’ll talk with King Bargrux about letting his dwarves worship other players in our Pantheon that want the benefits of that race. We can’t be negligent anymore, and each of you should find ways to increase your power in the mortal realms.”
“About that,” Beans said as she glared at Leggy while jabbing her thumb in his direction. “He’s already got three NPCs pregnant!”
Exile could hear the scorn in her voice as everyone glanced at Leggy with shocked expressions! Exile had no idea what to say. ‘Do I congratulate him on becoming a father? Or pretend it doesn’t matter since this is a game?’
“You promised you wouldn’t tell anyone!” Leggy hissed as he felt everyones’ gaze landing on him.
“Yeah, right.” Beans scoffed as she fixed him with a cold glare. “There’ll be three demigods born to this Pantheon within a month of each other! Did you stop to consider the consequences at all?”
“What bloody consequences!” Leggy shouted as his face turned red.
“Haven’t any of you been paying attention to that player who knocked up an NPC first? There have been assassination attempts on the mother, and it led to husbands claiming their wives have been unfaithful. They’ve thrown them out of their homes and left them to starve and die in the cold! The players of that Pantheon have been struggling with becoming scapegoats for men who don’t want to admit to being the ones who got the women pregnant!”
‘Damn! It seems there are a lot of issues surrounding demigods. It’s a good thing Beans told us about this.’ Exile thought as Leggy stared at the floor with a beet-red face.
“We can discuss the matter of demigods later. Let’s deal with one problem at a time, yeah?” Exile said as he gestured for Beans to calm down. “If it comes to it, we’ll talk about guidelines and rules for our players regarding this subject. We can’t let it be abused.”
Beans shot another scathing glare at Leggy before shaking her head. “We need to do it soon. At the very least, Leggy will have to announce he’s the father of those children so the women don’t get shunned. I think he needs to set an example that our Pantheon will always admit to their children. This way we can protect the innocent women who are being slandered and losing everything they have!”
Exile glanced at everyone else before letting out a long sigh. “Done. We’ll go with Beans’ suggestion until we come up with something more permanent. You can all leave. Except you, Mikari. I need you to do something for me.”
Mikari silently waited until the others left the room and he heard their footsteps fading into the distance. “What’s up? It has to be important for you to ask me to stay behind.”
Exile nodded slowly as he arranged the thoughts in his head. “When you have players look into the myths and legends. Have them discretely look for any information on diseases and curses as well. Specifically The Frozen Womb Curse and if it has a cure.”