by Marcus Sloss
“Wargnextravexor, the god of war, gave me a truth contract stating Sion was dead.” I replied and Gravin nodded at this.
“Indeed it may be the case. It falls under the umbrella of the uncertain classification. I can send you the same statement of truth. Sion the god of Passion is imprisoned in a planet's core. Sion the god of Passion is dead inside a planet's core. See?” Gravin sent me a truth contract and sure enough, both lines were validated as correct. Neither was wrong because the truth was simply not known. “Let me continue with my story.”
The god of plants and animals sipped his wine. Gravin looked content as he drank more of his nectar of the gods and continued. “We wanted to help Sion in his fight, we truly did. He asked us to wait until we noticed how the fight was going, to decide to join or flee. Wargnextravexor is a monster in combat. The god is efficient, brutal, and calculating. At first, we thought Sion might have a chance, no, he was being toyed with. So we stayed on the edges and observed. It was not a battle for the ages as he brags about to Glowvia. It was a thumping that we cringed at. Eventually, he decapitated Sion and removed his heart. Some of us believe there was some heart left and he did not fully remove it all. After he did this and the body did not disintegrate, he hurled it angrily at a planet. He used such force that the remains of Sion buried itself into the planetary core. Warg brooded over his victory for a few thousand years watching for Sion to rise again. When he never did he eventually gave up and vanished.”
“We remaining four were in denial. Our friend's defeat was a lot for us to handle. It meant we were not going to return to living in our universe as builders with guiding inputs. Instead, we were going to have to fight a running battle to try to stem the loss of planets. At some point, we wanted to hopefully defeat our foe. We planned to dig deep into the planets core when enough time passed to retrieve Sion’s body. The problem was when we came back a million years later the planet was gone. Its path etched across the stars toward the outer galaxies. It would be a billion years before it hit enough rocks and found a stable enough orbit that we could locate it again.”
“What were we to do next? We debated and rationalized we needed to pour our help into the elvath. And at the same time, we tried to open doors with the less aggressive invading seven. Maybe a few of them could be worked with. It is important to note that our demigods all turn out different from who their parents are to some extent. General Alexor was the champion of Glowvia. Does that name register to you?”
I nodded at this. Then I pointed to Virtue who was sipping water listening intently. “Virtue indicated that General Alexor was the awardee of this planet. That he claimed the most slaves he could and then eventually faced a demise during a parley.” I said and let my words hang.
“Close enough, not bad for something retold from so long ago. There is more to it though. In the background, I had meetings with the only god who would meet me. Glowvia loved the elvath. To her, they were a specimen of perfection. Seven hells, even the upper gods in the warring universe loved the elvath. I know because we still get messages from Glowvia’s parents. They ask for more elvath, every, single, time. Back to the history lesson though. Alexor was linked to Glowvia who was indirectly linked to me. We created a plan to save as many elvath as we could by devoting a slave planet for them. This action was fought by the other advancing gods until the warring universe justified the idea. Then Entria was born. I had done what I never fathomed was possible. As our first defending race was defeated and near extinction, I managed to save the elvath, with help of course.
“When Alexor died Glowvia was lost in grief, just as she will be for a while now. It was demanded by Warg she create a new champion. Alexor was the best demigod the seven had ever birthed. It was rationalized she would have another master strategist.” Gravin said as he sipped on more wine. “It was during her conception meeting that she distanced herself from the other advancing gods. They forced her to mate and she refused to. See, we had begun a relationship, the two of us were in lustful love. As you can imagine the three males, Marku, Maurta, and Warg, were furious. They raped her for a full year in an attempt to get her to conceive a child. If you think that is barbaric, it is nothing. Fed up with being forced to sex those she had no feelings with, she revealed she was pregnant. Which was verified and considered a miracle of the highest order. Do you know what all gods’ highest achievement is?”
“It is to produce a new god through celestial creation…” I said hesitantly.
“Correct and we did. A child of two gods is carried for billions of years. We know it is mine because she conceived before the fated meeting. A female god has two uteruses, during her raping she was with child demigod for the second half. The best generals took turns at the males' requests. Seeing a bleak picture of Glowvia wanted to betray her fellow gods from the warring universe. Which is now going to bring attention since Frundzy is dead. You revealed me, causing his mother to have to kill him. For two billion plus years I was merely her bed warmer. Since Glowvia became pregnant none of the three advancing males visit her. They don’t care if she is here alone and isolated. Once a millennium she has enough stored aura to align a new planet from an outer orbit to an ideal orbit. Outside of those few days of completing that task she sits here hidden. Unforina visits here once every ten million years or so and checks on the baby's progress. All the males think they are the dad. Which leads the other females to receive countless attention from them trying to make a second baby. I guess what I am getting at is Glowvia and I have lived a very isolated and quiet life. Now you ruined that by revealing who I was to her champion. While Frundzy and I were never close this will be a big blow to her. It will also bring the others here… Especially Warg, who will find out eventually. They will demand she conceive again for a new champion, dual pregnancies are hard on our female gods. She will birth another champion though, it is the best way to keep the peace. Hopefully, they are not a problem child. Frundzy was dumb and spoiled. He was also easy to maintain and useless to the advancing gods.”
Gravin didn’t continue as something caught his attention. He shot out of the chair as he morphed into a falcon. When he was gone a silence settled.
Nate finished his plate and leaned back in his chair. “Who would have thought? This is what? Two of the seven demigods dead because of you. You are…”
I waved him off from finishing that line of thought into verbal form. Obviously, gods could hear extremely well. There was little for me to do at this point but to listen to what they had to say. I was still owed five thousand elvath and I wanted to go to the slave markets later. I wish I had a watch to see how much time we had left on Kikra. Then it dawned on me Virtue may know.
“Virtue, all this traveling between planets throws my time off. I want to get to a slave market after this. Is there always one with open bids going or… Well, what do you recommend?” I asked as I looked down at the elvath living peacefully. They had it great on Entria. The city went as far as the eye could see stuffed with buildings and farms. The only open spaces were parks and playgrounds. This planet did not seem that large based on the horizon.
“Yes, Gryff. Kikra has many markets on the planet. They mostly rotate bids over the next twelve hours. Roz was smart to take you there for goblins and elvath. If dvaren are your goal, then Parxa is your better slave world. They are renowned for their wide variety of nonstandard Horde species. Kikra is primary for shamans, ogres, orcs, and goblins. It is the primary hub for all planetary leaders to buy armies to gain funds through conquest. Kikra is where you go for unique species if you are a breeder hobbyist or if you want to put down a rebellion. You were there correct? What did you see more of? Tall pens of Horde or elegant displays of dvaren?”
I thought about this. There were probably millions of those tall wooden pens that were a nightmare to see past. “Okay, I want dvaren and a whole lot of them. I want to hold battle lines with them. I am talking millions of soldiers and tens of millions of breeders. If…” I was interrupted when Gravin flew
down with Glowvia. She had dried her eyes and was presentable as they landed. Gravin went to the large chair at the foot of the table while Glowvia sat in the head chair. I rose to pull her seat back. “I sincerely apologize for your loss. I never intended for things to work out this way. I thank you for preserving my mother's children so eloquently here on Entria.”
“It is not your fault. We knew he would learn we were lovers of opposing factions eventually. I am astounded it took this long to be honest. Gravie is always so careful to hide when other gods arrive.” Glowvia said while Gravin smirked at his lover's nickname. Glowvia was stern now with her elbows on the glass table and her fingers interlocked under her chin. She glared at me with a look of focused determination. “You were right to signal him out as a threat. If I had added him to our party my son may have noticed. We have a few things to discuss before we conclude our transaction. I will try to be brief as I heard you are on a mission for dvaren. Why is that?”
“I come from Vin,” I said this and turned to Gravin with a questioning look.
“I hid nothing from her, we contract everything secretive in a silence spell of no disclosure. We avoid those pesky ones that disintegrate. Let me send you one as a template. They make it so you cannot speak, write, or suggest in any way what the secret is. Someone will realize you are being bound by a contract, still makes it impossible to figure it out though. We found disintegration too strict in case of a slip up,” Gravin said, alleviating a concern of mine. He sent over a new form of yellow magic. I studied it with ease and locked its process into my core of magic.
“In that case Lady Glowvia, I need to close the master portal to Vin. I plan on teleporting troops and griffins to the master portal. I will then break the portal either through magical unlinking or physical removal.” I said to Glowvia.
“Your griffins cannot portal, the look on your face says this is news to you. You will find out soon enough. See my husband is even nodding.
“Normally I try to avoid ever letting a single elvath leave this planet. I hold onto them like they are even my own offspring. In a way they are. Your contract helped me. That rude male I purchased from you is going to fill my quota to the upper universe. Thank the heavens too, he is a handful. I have a few cities below us that are overcrowded. Which leads to my next question. How in the five heavens did you get fourteen elvath pregnant out of cycle? I am a master at getting it down to nine hundred thousand years. This one right here, Liranda, yes I remember you, my child, you left from here in trade for another male. Your last child who is very happy is still here from not even forty thousand years ago. Actually, Gravie fly her to her daughter while we talk business, please dear.”
Gravin nodded at this dismissal. Liranda stood and waited as Gravin morphed into a giant eagle and picked her up to take her to her daughter. When they were gone I noticed Glowvia waiting for me to answer.
“Vin… It is magical or humans and elvath have always been compatible. Either because Sion is in the core of the planet or the four heavens blessed the world. I don’t know exactly everything. I find while you gods try to disclose enough, I am left questioning things. Like Sion for example…” I said a tad frustrated.
“They most certainly are not compatible. I have humans down on Entria. Have for a while, they have not been able to crossbreed. It is that project planet then. What will you do when the six learn you closed the door to your world?”
“Fight them. I am going to guess that the elvath and the dvaren were the two strongest opponents that the six and at one point seven faced?” I asked and she nodded to confirm my theory. “Did they exploit the Horde markets or utilize portals?”
“They did not. They were not willing… That is what Lily wants? Not in a trillion years… You will spare me if you are successful?”
“You are one of the retreating gods as far as I am concerned. You are married to Gravin and are saving what you can. Even this much, must be a challenge to maintain.” I said while extending an alliance contract. The contract did very little besides affirming our desire to help each other. It was instantly accepted. “Excellent, the more allies we have the better. I came here wanting to trick you. To try to deceive you to free more elvath of this wretched place. Instead, I find healthy elvath without collars roaming peacefully and happily going about their lives. Mine will face war. The females will see combat.”
“I need to send the five thousand merely because I am overcrowded here. I will ask for volunteers. Do you have healers there? Gravie said you did, but I have yet to purchase a captured one on the slave markets.”
“Yes we have healers, if you have injured I can send some this way to heal the broken,” I replied.
“Here is what I propose. You may not like this first part. I need a mortal seed for my new champion. I am also devoted to Gravie. I will have the last elvath queen herself collect from you though.” Glowvia said as she tapped her chin. This played into exactly what Lily said. Work within the Horde’s systems. I was feeling she knew this meeting was inevitable. “Yes, it is time. She was a gifted general. She will go with your five thousand today. As will another three thousand of her chosen warriors. This will free up space for the next generation incoming. So I am offering three thousand extra elvath for fathering my champion. I also will give you a marker for Parxa. I am owed a lot of souls there. It will get you your required one million dvaren. Save your stones for buying every elvath you can on every other world. The ones in Parxa are my criminals. Do not free them. They are for sale over there for a reason. Elsewhere try to buy as fast as you can. There should only be a hundred and fifty thousand or so for sale across the trading slave hubs. The rest will need to be freed from breeding camps across the universe. Those numbers in the tens of millions at most. Trillions of elvath reduced to tens of millions, even after billions of years of careful breeding. If you are successful at smashing some of those breeding cities and are able to free elvath who are actual slaves, then we can support you with more warriors and funds. Consider this a test of your skills and might.”
“Let me speak with the queen first and then come to a decision. Tentative yes for now. I assume my party will be well attended while I am away?” I asked while looking over the pregnant elvath with bored monox.
“Most certainly, I will land us in this park and take them on a tour. An extremely rare treat for the shaman and human. Everyone else always asks to visit below, you skipped that when you fought my husband below and destroyed part of my city, you brute.” Glowvia said and the floating palace gradually descended towards an open fielded park. I heard Nate muttering something into his wine. This caused Glowvia to chuckle.
I wanted to see the palace settle on the ground. I never got to see it land though. Gravin came to me and scooped me up. He never said a word as we soared for ten minutes to a large granite estate nestled in between marbled homes. It had a central high point that went fifty feet into the air. It had a blocky design with small numerous balconies. There were well maintained bushes and dancing fountains that spoke of meticulous care. We landed and Gravin shifted back into his male elvath from.
A white haired stunning elvath exited the front of the estate at our arrival. She wore a sparkling dress that had cut outs in the exact right places. Her figure was curved to fit exactly how it should. A firm perky bust was complimented by round hips and a sexy thigh gap. She sauntered our way and each move left me holding my breath. Her eyes were pink and her lips were lush. Long ears snuck from behind her long hair to reveal their tipped points.
“Elv Gravin how kind of you to join me. It has been a long time since you visited. I thought I heard you fighting earlier, is everything okay?” The queen asked. This is the first I had heard a male elvath shortened to elv.
“Queen Yvette! It is good to see you. Yes, indeed this young human here landed some blows powerful enough to have my power reduced. Nothing a few millennia can’t recover. I fear for his enemies for certain.” Gravin said while rubbing his jaw. Yvette was nodded at me from Gravin.
“Oh, got lost in thought. Let me introduce you to Gryff….”
This had an effect I was not expecting. The gorgeous queen leaped into my arms and kissed me deeply. Then I felt it. The tingle of magic entwining with my soul in an attempt to subvert me. I stepped back and broke the kiss. It was off putting. Not that the kiss was bad, merely unexpected. Second, there was pink magic tying us together. I had never seen pink magic nor did I especially like it wrapping my core. I studied it, it studied me. Interesting. I collapsed and smacked my head hard.
∞∞∞
Lily was there when I came about. I realized I was not on Entria. I was on a plane created for gods to meet others without having to move bodies. It reminded me that Derfran said a god could only be in one place at one time. This must be a workaround of actually moving bodies. She was watching me and when I waved her eyes lit up.
“Hello, son. I see pink in your core. You have found your destiny then. Yvette was my prodigy. My hardest work with the elvath. After a billion years of them remaining with colorless aura, I finally achieved a new discovery. Alas, my findings came too little too late as the Horde rampaged across elvath space. Pink magic is an enchantment magic that little is known about, even by me. It has its own catalysts and base spells that need to be discovered.
“Yvette has struggled to unlock her spells and requirements over the years of practice. Her limiting factor has been her imprisonment on Entria. She struggled to ever bear a child. Last I checked she had not been fortunate enough to see if her pink can be passed down. I think my gift may be a curse that you may change. I am hoping you do. She will be vital in your endeavors to conquer the seven and close the portal to Vin and then to our universe. I need you to add her to your harem and take her with you when she is not with child. I want her to try to master how to boost your troops through your purple aura. She will learn the requirements to cast your strength, dexterity, and speed buffs to your troops as they wage war. Before the griffins and Vin, she was my greatest achievement. I still cherish her. She is not dainty or frail though. She is a warrior queen. I forced her to surrender to the Horde for this very day. I knew she would be protected on Entria where she could survive. You rejected her pink. You need to welcome it when you wake up. I keep an open ear and my reports are saying Vin may soon be free. I have faith in you son. Free your world. Grow your armies. Free more slaves. Halt the Horde by destroying their infrastructure. Then try to close that portal to our universe. It will not be easy. It never is easy. Your tasks are laid out in front of you. I am surprised you found Yvette so soon, but you seem to always achieve more than I could hope or dream of.”
