Gloominess +4: The Cradle of Gods. A LitRPG series: Book 4

by Elian Tars

  “I see we’ve got a mouse here. Vermin should be exterminated.”

  Time froze for me for a moment, and four things happened at once: Aerida took out her bow, moved to the left, and released an energy arrow at me, making me activate the Amulet on instinct.

  “How?” she blurted out in surprise while I was activating the Small Avatar. She figured that my patron was saving his strength for the fight with Rheingeit and had thus ordered me to represent him in this divine squabble.

  Aerida pulled the bowstring again but didn’t shoot — the cannonade of deafening explosions sounded in the distance.

  “It’s... in Beldera...” the Bat wheezed. It had landed back onto my shoulder once I had left the Twilight. Kane must’ve wanted to bear witness to the divine battle as well.

  “We have to help them!” The Old Man appeared above my head unexpectedly. “My Wizard and Noriduel will deal with things here!”

  It’s nice to be called “Wizard” in front of other Gods... Tho he still calls me “boy” when we’re alone...

  Not wishing to argue with him, Mavia and Rugus disappeared. The Old Man followed.

  “Oh! Two versus two then?” Noriduel chuckled. “I like that.”

  Noriduel dashed forward, leaving a small crater after him. The blade of his glaive became covered in an orange haze and he attacked Bers with a mighty strike from above. Glowing red, Bers blocked the strike with his guandao. Their clash sent a wave of energy in all directions, uprooting the grass within a fifteen-foot radius from them.

  I didn’t get a chance to calmly watch the fight. With my trishula at the ready, I was running at Aerida, ignoring her arrows that whizzed past me.

  “What the hell?!” She was furious. “Have you found the artifact?! Why don’t you answer?! I’m right, aren’t I? You won’t stay under their protection for long! You should’ve run when you had the chance!”

  By the time I had caught up to her, my eyes were almost completely filled with black smoke that disappeared a moment later.

  Oh, the pleasant feeling of power! I love being in this state!

  “What the...?” she began but stopped mid-sentence, being forced to dodge my trishula. “Not bad!” Aerida bared her teeth. Leaping backward, she put some distance between us and began firing her arrows.

  I ran at her again, realizing that I was no match for her in speed. I was pretty fast thanks to the upgraded Agility and Acrobatics (I would’ve put Usain Bolt to shame in the Small Avatar state) but I was still no match for Aerida and her leaps.

  Each time I’d catch up to her, she’d leap or fly away, often leaving a crater behind wherever she’d take off.

  Because they used energy in a rather different way, I knew that I’d never be able to defeat the Gods on my own. They increased their speed with it and boosted their attacks with it as well. Though, the Small Avatar turned even the most common attacks into elemental ones, so I had that going on for me.

  And still, I was still much weaker than the Gods. They had the upper hand be because I relied on borrowed strength and learned skills. However, yesterday, during the fight with the Serpent, I managed to perform a simple energy attack and cause quite the damage to the reptilian.

  I felt the effect of the Amulet fade away. Aerida released a new arrow. Not having time to dodge, I decided to block.

  But I failed.

  I groaned, clutching at my collarbone. I had managed to graze the arrow with the trishula, but failed to deflect it. All I did was change its trajectory a bit.

  “That’s it? Your defense is gone? Ha-ha! Finally, we can play!” she chuckled. In a flash, she created another arrow, pulled the bowstring, and released it at once.

  “Aaaa!!!” I shouted. My left foot had been pierced through. “AAAA! You bitch!!!” The right one wasn’t speared either.

  “How dare you be rude to a Goddess, you worm?” She chuckled, pulling the bowstring deliberately slowly. “Where else to shoot? Leg... Maybe between the legs?”

  I tried to get a grip of myself, which was extremely hard because of the pain. Small Avatar would end soon and she’d have the upper hand.

  I thought how the fight with Biergein had been much easier. Not only did he spend most of his energy on hallucinations before the fight, but I was fighting side-by-side with the Old Man as well. Besides, Biergein was a close-combat fighter...

  Get a grip of yourself! Get those thoughts out of your head!

  One step stood between me and strength, and it felt like the Old Man was pushing me toward it. I had no other explanation as to why the Small Avatar had healed the terrible wound in my side yesterday, but was in no hurry to heal the arrow wounds today.

  Feel the energy... Feel the energy... Everything around me is made of energy... I have to join it... Become one with it...

  “Well? Are you giving up already? Heh... A Wizard...” She snorted mockingly. “Do you know anything about them at all?”

  “I do,” I managed to say, trying to buy myself some time, which was an odd decision considering that the Small Avatar had a time limit.

  “Those who were called Wizards in the past would’ve split their sides open with laughter looking at you!” she continued mocking. “Take this!”

  “Bi-i-i-tch!!!” I roared falling on all fours. Another arrow pierced my stomach and, just like its companions, disappeared into the air.

  “I’m surprised that the Ancients managed to use our techniques and get themselves a Gleam,” she went on talking, pulling the bowstring again. “I’m even more surprised that they endowed you with such a powerful skill. Especially after spending more than a thousand years in oblivion! And now they’ve managed to adapt and defied us... But what can one Gleam do against a whole pantheon? Ha-ha! Have another!”

  I had no strength to scream. Aerida’s arrow hit my back and I fell onto my stomach. My body went numb... The pain was slowly fading away...

  “The Wizards of the past could control the energy of the world.” Aerida came closer and put her foot on my back. “Compared to them, you’re a poor copy. You’ll never be able to reach the heights that they’ve reached. I think it’s time to finish you off. Do you know that I can obliterate your soul if I focus hard enough? I’ll deprive it of its individuality and turn it into Zurtane’s energy!”

  Elusive Darkness.

  “Nice try, worm!” Aerida chuckled. “But you can’t run away. You’re like a sieve now. Every wound in you is soaked with my energy, because it was made with my arrows, tethering you to this world.”

  I have no intention of dying here... The backup plan has failed, so it’s time to switch to the main one... I’ll affect her energy with mine... We’ll see if I’m a Wizard or not...

  I felt the world around me. It was kind. Supportive. And very much alive. I didn’t want it to be consumed by Decay. It didn’t want that either. Unable to cope with it on its own, it extended its hand to me...

  “What the...?!” Aerida exclaimed, jumping back instinctively.

  Despite not being of this world, I had become a part of it. We were connected by billions of invisible strings. And if I pulled those strings, Zurtane would come into me. It would become me. And I would become it.

  Somewhere in the corner of my mind, a thin voice mocked such pompous thoughts despite them being true. To myself, and maybe to others, I looked like a blob of Darkness, which sucked into itself the energy of the world around it via thin threads. But what impeded my progress was a powerful ball of jade energy, also bound by threads, but not to the world around it, but to something else. Aerida’s energy was scattered in all directions, connecting her to her Followers.

  I, too, was indirectly connected with them.

  “Wow...” Aerida breathed out, looking apprehensively in my direction. “So you’ve done it? I’m impressed. I really am, boy. Such power... I haven’t felt such power in a human for more than a thousand years... So you’ve already revealed your Wizard powers and you used this fight to develop them further... But will you be able to use the
m in your mortal body? The power that your beloved patron has bestowed upon you won’t last forever...”

  I was only half-listening to her, trying to understand what was going on with me. I felt exhausted. A part of my mind had already turned off, and my brain seemed to be working very slowly. I had difficulty thinking.

  Black smoke was billowing out of the wounds that I had managed to heal with the energy. I felt that I was being filled with power; the grass around me had withered, and the ground dried out.

  I was certain that more than ten seconds had passed since I had activated the Small Avatar. But I was still in this state. I wondered how long it would last. I didn’t know.

  Do you? I asked the Old Man, but didn’t wait for the answer. I had to take into account the fact that I could lose my strength at any moment, turn back into my human form and fall to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Would the Old Man be able to save me from Aerida’s finisher then?

  Remembering how the Gods increased their speed, I tried to send energy into my feet and pushed off. The result wasn’t exactly what I had expected, however. My speed did increase, but I left no crater upon “takeoff.” What I did have, however, was black smoke that propelled me upward like a jetpack.

  I had no idea how to fight Aerida, but I knew that blindly wielding the trishula wouldn’t help me. I didn’t know what I was capable of in this state or how long I would last. All I knew was that I needed a really powerful attack. An attack that wasn’t Old Man’s, but my own.

  But had no idea what that attack should be.

  What can I do with this energy? Toss it in her direction? I doubt that attacking her directly will do me any good...

  I had to be more subtle.

  But how? Hmm... What do I know about energy? It’s everywhere... It’s a part of the world... By consuming it, I became a part of the world... I became the world itself.

  It was hit or miss.

  I dodged several of Aerida’s arrows and finally got in front of her. I spread my arms aside and...

  ...managed to release the accumulated energy that I had transformed beforehand, making it my own.

  The space around the Goddess was filled with viscous, impenetrable Darkness...

  Chapter 28

  Longera Draws Near

  “What the...? Where am I?” Aerida muttered in surprise, turning her head from side to side. “I can’t see a thing!” She tried to rush forward, but stumbled after one step. Realizing what was going on, her face distorted with rage. “Have you filled everything around me with your energy?! Are you blocking mine?! Well, well...” Rage changed to delight. “What a twist... Listen... How about you ditch him? The Ancient One? Join us. I’ll talk to Rheingeit. He’ll gladly accept you. And with time, you’ll become a real God. You’ll get your own power, one that won’t depend on the Ancients!”

  “But it’ll depend on people,” I said calmly, voice resounding throughout the Darkness. I didn’t simply surround her with it. I became the Darkness itself.

  “For now,” she breathed out, cautiously walking forward, blind as a bat. I wasn’t sure if she could feel her own weight or the ground under her feet.

  “What do you mean?” I asked, pretending that I didn’t know why the Gods needed the Decay.

  “Join us and you’ll understand everything.” She smiled slyly, pushing on.

  An amusing conversation and an interesting offer... I’d like to talk longer, but... I have more important things to do.

  “I fear that I’ll have to refuse.”

  Within the Darkness were zones that were filled with more energy than the others were. I concentrated such zones around her and attacked.

  “BAS-S-S-TARD!!!” she hissed in agony as her body began to absorb the Darkness. The close and constant contact with my element made her skin melt. Darkness filled her eyes, nostrils, ears, mouth...

  ...and then it was suddenly gone. Returning to my human, form, I fell exhausted on the grass. I lifted my head with difficulty and saw the wounded Aerida lying several feet away from me. She was breathing heavily. Scarlet stained the ground under her.

  I felt pain and extreme exhaustion. I was barely staying conscious. As if the strain of the battle wasn’t enough, Aerida’s Aura continued plucking on my worn-out body like a vulture.

  “That was... powerful...” she wheezed, slowly standing up. Her wounds healed, she smiled tiredly and fixed her gaze on me. “But you’ve lost. You shouldn’t have defied a Goddess! The Ancient shouldn’t have sent you into this fight.”

  A bow appeared in her hands. She created an energy arrow and slowly pulled the bowstring...

  Damn it, I can’t do anything about it in this state. Wait... The “Altar!” She’s pretty worn out herself... I just might be able to finish her...

  “Enough,” someone said and then Rugus appeared between us.

  I groaned. The presence of two Gods was killing me. But, luckily for me...

  Twilight Wanderer.

  I felt much better, though the pain was still there.

  “What? You’re already here?” Aerida chuckled, looking at Rugus.

  “Bers, Aerida, let’s leave,” said a vaguely familiar voice. I rolled to the side. Behind Aerida stood a man with blonde, shoulder-length hair, and clad in pristine armor.

  “Oho, do my eyes deceive me? Is that Mister Rheingeit himself?” Rugus asked, feigning surprise.

  The God of All Kings looked at him grimly, but didn’t say anything. Instead, he gripped Aerida’s shoulder with his tenacious fingers and disappeared from my view somewhere to the right.

  “Look at that, he came to pick them up,” Noriduel’s voice sounded from that direction. “How cute.”

  “He needs them. Wasting such a valuable resource would be most unwise.”

  “It’s cynical. But maybe that’s how Rheingeit thinks.”

  “Rest assured that he does.”

  The words started to blur into one, and I was no longer able to follow the thread of their conversation. My fight was over. I could finally relax. Finally...

  My conscience melted away like an ice-cube in a bowl of hot water.

  ***

  Nobody disturbed my sleep. Though, who knows, maybe they tried to, but failed. I was floating in a sea of nothingness...

  Suddenly, I opened my eyes and saw a high domed ceiling made of... pressed dirt?

  “Where am I?” I uttered in a hoarse voice, trying to get up. Only then did I notice that I wasn’t lying on a bed or on the ground. I was leaned against something slanted and warm. I moved my hand... Feathers?

  “FINALLY, YOU’VE COME AROUND, WIZARD!!!” someone roared.

  My brain was slowly starting to work. I realized that I was in a cave and that I was lying on the carcass of a giant Feathord.

  “Greetings, Breathing with the World.” I nodded to the Shaman and carefully got down on the stone floor. My weakened body didn’t listen to me well, so the old Ogroid helped me by taking me by the elbow.

  “TAKE A SIT, WIZARD. DON’T STRAIN YOURSELF!” he ordered, helping me to sit down on a stone and propping me against the source. I looked around. Except us, there were three more Guardians in the underground hall.

  “Where are the rest of the Guardians?” I asked, trying to piece everything together.

  “THEY’RE SLEEPING. IT’S NIGHT.”

  “Have I been here for several hours?” I was surprised. “The Ancient One brought me here, didn’t he?”

  “YES.” The Shaman nodded. “THREE DAYS AGO.”

  “Three days?!” I blurted out in astonishment. “They’ll get to Longera soon! I have to go...”

  “WAIT, WIZARD!” The Shaman put his hand in front of him, stopping my attempts to get up. “DRINK.” He unfastened the wineskin from his belt and held it out to me. “DRINK. IT’LL HELP YOU.”

  Zurtane didn’t identify the container, so I hesitated. In the end, I caved in and drank. The liquid had a pleasant taste, reminiscent of sweet lemon tea.

  I immediately felt bett
er. Pain and weariness were fading away, and my head cleared up.

  “Thank you.” I nodded. “What is it?”

  “OGROID’S INFUSION. HERB DRINK MIXED WITH THE ENERGY FROM THE SOURCE,” he said, pointing at the dead Feathord. He then looked over his shoulder and shouted to one of the other Ogroids: “VROH! BRING MORE!” Taking the new wineskin, he held it out to me. “TAKE IT. BUT GO EASY ON IT. IT’S HARMFUL.”

  “Thank you.” I nodded again and put the wineskin into my inventory. I began to stand up again. This time, nobody tried to stop me. “I don’t have the time to say hi to everyone. I hope that’s all right?” I smiled.

  “YES. EVERYBODY UNDERSTANDS THAT YOU HAVE NO TIME, WIZARD.”

  “Good.” I stretched out my hand to him and nodded to the Guardians.

  Having said goodbye to everyone, I activated Elusive Darkness.

  “Greetings, Wizard,” was the first thing that I heard when I appeared in the Darkness.

  “Wizard?” I chuckled softly. “Am I no longer your little boy?”

  “That’s right,” the Old Man answered calmly. “Your fight with Aerida impressed me. I’m proud of you. And I’m glad that I’ve chosen you.”

  “That’s nice to hear,” I confessed. “I have a lot of questions...”

  “I understand, Wizard. Let’s start with the Small Avatar. Do you want to know why it lasted more than ten seconds? I’ll tell you — because of your strength. You were united with Zurtane’s energy. Using it, you strengthened the skill. I could’ve stopped you as you were using my powers at the same time, but I decided not to.”

  “It stopped on its own?”

  “When you reached the limit.”

  “I see...” Had I had a head, I would’ve nodded thoughtfully. “Do you know that Aerida offered me to join them?”

  “I do. Just like I know that you’d never do it. You like Zurtane and you want to save it, not destroy it.”

  “She said that I’d be able to become a God... Can a mortal truly achieve that?”

  It took the Old Man a couple of moments to answer.

  “You’re not an ordinary mortal, Wizard.”