294 The Enemy of All Gods
Exile leaned back in his chair with a sigh as he glanced at the pile of open books on his table. Skovi had just updated him about the battle under the mountain, and before that, Ania contacted him to complain about Allyce. He frowned as he chased away the urge to descend and help with Bargrux’s war.
‘I have to trust others to handle these messes, or I’ll never get anything done. Clay and Midas should be able to deal with it, but I’ll have Mikari dispatch a few others.’ His mind turned to the report Allyce had given him before joining up with Ania’s group.
‘The elves are on the move too. I think it’s safe to assume both of these events are connected somehow.’ Allyce had seen elven troops moving through the wilds as her group flew to Ania’s location. ‘By the sounds of it, they’ll reach Ania before nightfall.’
‘But with Allyce’s intel, they can retreat to better terrain and await reinforcements.’ Exile groaned as he furiously rubbed his face to combat his exhaustion. He leaned forward to study the notes he had taken from the books about anything that stood out to him.
However, his wallet bled when he considered the price the Pantheon had paid for the location of a First Flame Fragment. ‘Allyce could’ve mentioned this sooner. It would’ve saved us a fortune.’ Exile groaned as he recalled a passage from one of the books.
‘So, Queen Ciena and her children are guardians of the elements. Why did the old gods trust them to guard a fragment of each element?’ It was grating to know the eagles held six different fragments. However, they wouldn’t be convinced to give them up easily. The nests had to choose a suitable god to undergo the Trial of Feathers for each element.
Luckily, he had cleared the first hurdle without trying to. If another nest doesn’t agree with someone’s choice, they can put forth a god they’re unbound to as a challenger against a chosen one.
‘Which means one of Allyce’s sisters might pick someone to challenge me if they have a fire element.’ Exile frowned as he considered the social structure of the Eagle tribe. They were a matriarchal society that seemed set up to prevent the First Elements from being completed by someone the Queen didn’t approve of.
Exile’s eyes narrowed as he wondered if they’d ever give up the fragment of the darkness element. With the Queen’s personality, he couldn’t see one of her daughters choosing to become an oracle of a dark element god. Of course, Allyce would fall into that category if he continued down his current path. That wasn’t a bad thing in itself. He just had to make sure Ciena knew he only had good intentions for the element.
‘Wouldn’t it be as much of a disaster if someone with evil intentions gained the light fragments?’ A crease appeared on his forehead as he considered that. ‘Well, I’m sure Arthur is probably already trying to track them down. Paul was right. I can totally see Arthur pursuing that power.’
‘I wonder if anyone else has found a first flame fragment? I’ve been lucky in finding two of them in Skardia. With Ciena’s people guarding another, that makes three fragments accounted for. But there are still two more out there.’
He found himself wondering what would happen if there was someone else with one. How would he even go around trying to take it from them? Would it drop if he killed the player until they were banished from the game? Or was there another method he could take advantage of?
Exile was inclined to believe there was another method. Somehow the first flame had been split by Allevia and distributed to different locations. There was still a lot he had to understand if he wanted to guess how that was achieved. It could’ve happened after she died, or she did it before. However, he couldn’t see a reason for Allevia to willingly lower her power during the War of the Fallen to create her inheritances.
‘Unless she was afraid of another god stealing them from her.’ Exile mused as he considered the overall situation. ‘There are probably hundreds of inheritances out there. Most of them will likely have useful items instead of first element fragments.’
That was something he would have to look into. It could solve Ragnarok’s issue of divine artefacts until they raised crafters of their own. Exile knew Beans was overseeing the selection of candidates for crafting positions inside the Pantheon.
She had taken a real liking to divine cooking. The unusual flavours and ingredients got her really excited. Exile chuckled as he remembered the stew she had made him try earlier. It provided a recovery effect for HP and DP. Which was handy for the weaker players who weren’t getting all that many prayers yet.
He considered himself fortunate to not have experienced the same issues they were facing. His name and religion had spread across Skardia too fast for it to be an issue. There were always plenty of prayers for him to draw on to recover. But more recently, players were beginning to discover their prayers drying up.
Exile felt there was a link between their neglect of the mortal realms to deal with Nar’Kozz, the more popular players among the Skardians, and the current dilemma of the less known and newer players. However, he couldn’t think of a good solution to the problem. If the players couldn’t recover, they’d eventually die out fighting mobs. Exile clicked his tongue at the viciousness of the developers. ‘The new players need to develop solid roots among the NPCs if they want to survive. But that’s hard since those of us who came first are already established and snapping up useful authorities.’
Exile wondered if there was even a point worrying about it. ‘The world will get more chaotic, and higher-tier players will die out during extended wars. That’ll open the path for those struggling right now. They just need to persevere until they get the opportunity to advance.’
He picked up the quill on the desk and noted down to set up a service for Pantheon members that would provide support in developing a system for those struggling now to sustain themselves for the future. Exile sighed as he leaned back in his chair again. ‘Now it’s a question of which of these leads to pursue.’ He had found references to potential inheritances that may include personal Tier 2 and 3 spells of old gods. They would go a long way to increasing his understanding of higher-tier spells and may pave the way to creating better versions of his own personal spells. However, there were plenty of myths and folklore among the things he had purchased. Although they held no promise of rewards, some of them could become issues in the future if left alone.
But that was only if they were true. Exile was sure a number of them would be wild goose chases and pose no real threat. He was reluctant to waste his time on them unless they had been checked out before and confirmed.
Exile chuckled to himself as he moved those books into the growing pile of things for his brother to attend to. ‘I have to admit it’s nice having such a capable brother.’ Exile grinned, safe in the knowledge of the fit Mikari would throw when the pile was dumped on him.
‘I’ll need to assign someone to be his assistant.’ Exile rolled his eyes as he thought about that. ‘In reality, they’ll be a caretaker to make sure he doesn’t overwork himself. I can’t have him taking time off ill or having a breakdown. Not before he digs himself out of the grave of work I’ve dug for him.’
He nodded his head, happy with his plans for the immediate future. ‘Ok, so what inheritance do I go after?’ He picked up the list he had made and scanned its contents. ‘It should be something that likely has something linked to the fire or darkness elements.’ Exile had to admit that the information Jarxos sold in his divine store was top-notch. Not only did he get potential locations, but information on what the gods’ elements were. His eyes scanned the list until they paused at one.
‘South of Valheim, on the far bank of Ieres River.’ Exile frowned as he read the next part. ‘Dark and Earth elements confirmed. Multilayer Inheritance.’
Exile clicked his tongue. ‘I need to improve my understanding of the darkness element more than fire right now. It’s a shame there’s not one on here that has both.’
‘This one is the closest that has the darkness element confirmed. I guess I can check it out and see if it’s something I can deal with at my level.’ He placed the list back on his desk as he stood up. With his mind made up, he exited his room into the longhouse’s main hall.
A small team of players were furiously scribbling notes on parchment as they passed them along. These were the temporary members of the administrative staff Mikari had assembled from the current members. They helped with everything from the Pantheon’s expenditure to information gathering.
Exile chuckled to himself as he watched them sweat under the mountains of work he had dumped on them. He had nearly emptied Ragnarok’s coffers at Jarxos’ store, and there was too much information to sift through himself.
The large pile of books in his rooms were the ones this group had decided held promise. Exile nodded as he watched his busy little bees go about their work.
“I’m headed out.” Exile declared to the room at large. “Don’t work yourselves to death now.”
Get ready, buckle up, and enjoy the ride as I put the pedal to the floor and ramp up chapter production! Be sure to check back regularly as I’ll be posting chapters as soon as they’re ready for the foreseeable future. If there’s a big gap, I’ve fell asleep.
Antihero
Creator’s Thought