Transcendence?

by Andur

  “I will excuse myself for now. There is still some work waiting for me in my laboratory. I want it done before Kane and his girlfriend arrive.” I smile at everyone.

  “Kane and Tanith are coming!? I haven't heard anything!” Celestial sits straighter and looks at me.

  “Ah, I forgot to tell you. There was so much going on. And Kane had much to do himself. The chaos all around the world is a nightmare for his family's trading empire. But he will most likely invite us to his marriage with Tanith. Their kid is almost one year old already. It's a boy.” I smirk at Sera, who stiffens suddenly.

  Yeah... that's right! You didn't forget it. Let's see if the boy looks promising.

  I turn, leaving the others behind and head directly towards my lab. At my destination, I enter the workshop for my big projects. In the middle of the room is my new armour. I lose no time and start working on the magical circuitry which is embedded between the metal plates.

  The armour looks like a strange mixture of a modern day fighting suit and a medieval full body armour. The face-mask has four blue glowing crystals instead of eyes. It looks dangerous and inhuman, but that's intended. I want my enemies to fear me.

  In the centre of the chest piece is the blue glowing mana crystal, which was created through an accident. I put all my efforts into researching the circumstances of its creation. By now I am quite sure that I can create new mana crystals, but I am not ready yet.

  The magical power to create just one small mana crystal is enormous. I would have to fry another big mana core like the ones in my flying ships. The chance of a failure has stopped me from trying to do so. Maybe if I had a huge fleet of ships.

  But right now with enemies all around us, I don't want to give up on a single ship. There is the problem with getting a firm hold of Norfolk too. The nobles might hold still for the moment, but there is no way to tell if I am not facing a civil war.

  The need to beat them them into submission may still arise.

  I continue to work on my suit until someone taps my shoulder and I look up. “Celestial. I didn't hear you enter?” I look back to the entrance.

  “You are too absorbed into your work. Kane and Tanith are here. Uwah! This thing looks really nasty! Do you want to become some sort of action hero?”

  I look at the suit. “No way! It just happens to look that way. Everything is pure functionality!” Well, except for the eyes. I made them look evil on purpose. “Do you want one too?” I grin at her. “Maybe with spikes and big knuckles to crush your enemies? I wouldn't need to pay attention to its weight at all! You could carry armour with ten times the size of this one!”

  Celestial crushes my dreams by shaking her head. “I want to be able to move! And my battle aura is more than enough protection.”

  “Then weapons? Or do you always intend to crush our enemies with big and heavy objects?” I refer to my brother and the disobedient king.

  “Crushing them with something heavy proved effective so far. And if you want to invest time in something for me, I would prefer two big daggers or short swords.” She grabs my hand and turns to leave while pulling me with her.

  “Is something wrong?” I smile at her while following.

  “Sera told me that you are intending to marry her off to the son of Kane?” She continues to walk and I finally understand where the wind is blowing from.

  “And you don't like the idea of an arranged marriage?” I conclude.

  “No. Not for Sera. She did very much for us. It would be bad manners if we forced something onto her which she doesn't like.” Celestial leaves the lab with me.

  “I never said that I would force her into anything. She is an immortal like us and can make her own decisions. I was just teasing her. And if she has someone else to play with, her attention might deviate from us.” I try to defend my reasoning.

  “You mean she would become less troublesome?” Celestial stops for a moment while thinking. Then she starts to walk again. “You may have a point.”

  We enter the living room where I find Kane, Tanith and Sera. Tanith is on the couch with a one year old baby on her lap while Sera is beside her, looking at the baby with dubious eyes.

  Kane turns towards us and spreads his arms when he sees me. We hug each other.

  “Long time no see. Can't you finally change your headquarters to Sarn?” I smile at him after ending the greeting.

  “That's troublesome, my family always tried to have as many independent offices as possible. Maybe I will do it in the future. Norfolk seems to be the last peaceful place which is available to me. And I even know the rulers of the damn country now. Hahaha...” He laughs heartily.

  “So you have heard?” Celestial folds her hands and smiles.

  “Yeah. He told me everything. Actually he was quite happy about the outcome.” Kane nods and Celestial's expression drops which causes him to change the topic.

  “Actually, I am here to invite you two to my marriage with Tanith. I hope you still have the time for an event like that?”

  “Of course.” Celestial smiles at Tanith who waves at us.

  “And there is one other matter in which we want your advice. It's quite serious for us.” He turns and looks back at Sera and the baby.

  Don't tell me that he has qualms about our little agreement? I understand that Sera is something like a princess now. But still.

  Sera looks towards us. “I changed my mind. He is cute and after thinking over it for some time, I came to the conclusion that it's better to start training them young. Changing their behaviour to your preferences early should be easier than to wait until they are adults.”

  Everyone looks at Sera who just spouted an incredible line.

  The baby looks at Sera from Tanith's lap.

  “I am not some kind of pet!”

  The room becomes silent after the baby talked and it's the first time I see Sera with a shocked expression.

  Kane turns back to me. “That's the matter I need your advice with.”

  62 - My turn.

  Floating somewhere above the Sea of God

  Lidith

  “Then it's my turn?” I take the dice from the game board and look at the game pieces on the table. The board is an exact copy of the real world under our feet. Several figures are representing my chosen ones, while others represent the champions of my opponents.

  “Looks like that's the case.” Aneth lolls bored in his chair, while looking at a set of cards in his hand. He is holding six cards at the moment.

  Wynne and Charon are also studying their hands. Wynne has seven cards at her disposal, while Charon holds four.

  I draw another card from my deck and check the five cards in my hand. I could influence a peasant, which isn't very effective. Sometimes it's very useful to take control of an unimportant person in the right moment. But I see no opportunity for doing so right now.

  Then I could grant my divine protection to someone. That's actually pretty powerful, but I don't want to waste the card on something unnecessary.

  My third card would allow me to talk to someone in person. Quite useful. Especially if you are forced to save an important person.

  There is one assassination attempt left. I am not a fan of using those, so they keep piling up in my hand until I find an especially despicable target.

  The fifth card allows me to permanently spy on a certain target. Quite useful, it's necessary to put that card on all important persons. The fact that our little game has a mind of its own makes this card super valuable.

  The newly drawn sixth card turns out to be an enchantment. It allows me to grant my divine power to an item and thus creating an artefact. Aw... whom should I give it?

  I wish I would get another summoning card. Having more minions is always beneficial. I take another look at the game board, where the enchanted figures are slowly moving around, showing the locations of the persons they represent.

  “Why does it feel like all of you are ganging up on ~meee~.” Even if they are denying it, I am s
ure of it! The recent attack by Aneth was proof enough!

  “Look who finally realized what's going on.” Charon shakes his head and knocks onto the table with his knuckles.

  “Eh? You don't deny it?” I look up flabbergasted and everyone is looking at me.

  “You stole my champion! I put so much effort into his miserable youth! I wanted him to abhor this world enough to destroy it! I was so close to kicking him over the edge when you created the opportunity for him to escape my influence!” Charon shakes his fist at me.

  “Well, sorry for being smart for once. You don't always have to use your influence cards for your own champions. If you can turn someone around, then it's legit!” I try to defend myself.

  “You stole my champion too! And you already had a very strong one to being with!” Wynne puffs her cheeks and points at the white figure, which represents the Immortal Empress.

  “Haaah? If I remember correctly, your champion was almost taken out by Aneth's sneak attack! You abandoned her, saying that she was too weak and that you would summon a new one! I just influenced Kane to lead Ascathon to the slave market in order to pick her up! I collected something that was given up!” Yes! That's right. She has no justification to be mad about it! And I thought that we were allied! How can someone like her assist Aneth and Charon?

  “Then Ascathon got laid and you ended up with yet another immortal!” Charon says this like it's my fault.

  “Well, sorry. You all saw the circumstances. Maybe you shouldn't have summoned a soul magician, Charon! It's not my fault that you lost control of your own summoning.” I puff my cheeks.

  “He wasn't that strong at the beginning! I never thought that he would accidentally catch the soul of another immortal!” Charon grumbles and looks down at the board.

  “From my perspective it looks more like you don't have any control over him!” Aneth points an accusing finger at me.

  “It's perfectly fine! I even managed to steal two champions from you. It's not justified to accuse me of having no control!” I fold my hands and look at the board.

  “And now another one from that Kane and Tanith! That means that you have five immortals under your jurisdiction!” Wynne spews another accusation at me.

  “That was legit too! I drew that summoning card! It was perfectly fine! And I deserved it! You guys took four of my worshippers out of the game!” Yes that's right.

  Wynne almost killed Fingulf with her assassination attempt. Right now she has the most control over the Nation of Mist.

  Charon tried to kill Ascathon by manipulating the mana core of his flying ship. I had to use a precious protection card to save him from being killed in that crash.

  And Aneth killed the Jarl and two of his wives by using his hero. It turned out to be to my benefit in the end, but that's just the nature of our game. You can't control every aspect of the world.

  “I still don't believe that it's justified to gang up on me.” I mumble.

  “It's perfectly justified!” All of my opponents snap back in unison.

  “You control the whole continent of Phenex! Just because you got that overpowered Jazira!” Aneth stabs his finger at my white figure. “And you are currently taking control of Norfolk too!”

  “It was very awkward that this Ascathon managed to trick me. Maybe we should abandon the game and deal with him. I don't want someone on this world who is even more powerful than the Immortal Empress.” He looks at the other two.

  “You can't do that! That would be a violation of the rules! The rules are untouchable! You know what would happen otherwise!” I gasp. Charon is a maniac. He has been trying to destroy the world ever since we started playing a few thousand years ago.

  To my relief Aneth and Wynne nod in unison, thus denying Charon's suggestion.

  Everything started when the four of us came into conflict with each other. One world isn't big enough for four gods. At first we tried to enforce our will with brute force. But that turned out to be a very bad idea.

  When two divine beings fight with each other, there tends to be a lot of collateral damage. Aneth and Wynne ravaged a continent when they clashed with each other a few thousand years ago. I was barely able to stop them before they destroyed the world.

  Charon became troublesome at the same time. He started to spend his time killing people and causing destruction. I guess every god needs a hobby. Eternity is simply too long otherwise.

  Aneth finds joy in causing wars and conflict, so he stepped on Wynne's feet while doing so.

  Wynne is something akin to a gardener. She is always trying to build something up and to cultivate nature.

  As for me, I had enough trouble with trying to protect the innocent mortals from them. That's why I was really happy over her suggestion to play a game over the fate of the world.

  Somehow everybody agreed. Charon only did so under duress. The notion of having three gods gang up on him wasn't his idea of fun. But I still wish that he would simply take a pathway to another world to cause trouble there. Then it wouldn't be my business.

  Unfortunately all of us seem to regard this world as our home and while Charon is a maniac, his destructive urges are suppressed by us. Neither Aneth, nor Wynne nor I desire the destruction of the world. Though I think that Aneth and Wynne just see the world as their playground.

  So when we decided on playing a game, the next question was on which game we should play. After a long debate, which took almost a year, we decided on inventing a new game.

  Therefore we spent another twenty years on writing a rule book and collecting ideas from various other worlds. The outcome was a troublesome mixture of chess, various card games and table top games. Combined with using the real world as a playing field.

  And right now we are still playing the game. Nobody thought about implementing a time limit. It's better than destroying the world in any case.

  Though right now I have a big problem. I thought that I was on the best path to finally winning once and for all. But if all three of them start to turn against me at the same time, I could lose everything I gained very fast.

  “Hmmm...” Should I bestow my divine protection on Fingulf to have him take over the Nation of Mist? But right now he is relatively safe from attacks. The others ignore him, since he is bound to his bed and can't influence the elders.

  Wynne surely pulled a bad trick on me with that backstabbing attack.

  Aneth still has the Kingdom of Mislow tight in his grasp. I don't have much influence there.

  And Charon has a horde of minions, assassins and other followers all over the board. He lost three of his pieces when he tried to kill Ascathon though. I had to send Celestial to the rescue by influencing Sera. Luckily she doesn't count as an influential figure yet, so I could instil fear of losing her father into her.

  She acted as expected and persuaded her mother to search for him.

  I have to be careful of every step. The worst outcome would be if they managed it to play the Immortal Empress and Ascathon against each other. That's something Charon would do for sure if he gets the chance.

  First I will determine what I am able to do, so I throw the dice with thirty sides.

  “Damn!” It's just a twelve! So I have twelve casting points for this turn. That's not very much. Most cards cost fifteen or more. There is just the spying card which costs ten and the talking card which costs five.

  I bite into my lip and finally decide to place the spying card on Sera. It's a little early to put her under permanent surveillance, but I hope that it won't be wasted in the future. Investing too much into a summoning while it's still weak could come back and bite you in the end.

  The card turns into light and envelops the figure which represents Sera. I look towards Wynne.

  “It's your turn backstabber!”

  63 - First meeting.

  Norfolk, Sarn-Valley

  Arran

  Mother Tanith hugs me tight while I sit on her lap. This whole situation wouldn't have happened if I had kept my m
outh shut and pretended to be a normal baby. But mom caught me while I was reading one of her books. There would be no problem if I didn't have the bad habit of reading aloud.

  So I exposed myself to my mother, who in turn spilled the soup to my father, who brought us here. Up until today I thought that dad and mom were normal merchants. But that's obviously not the case.

  Apparently they can come and visit the rulers of Norfolk like good old friends. Today they dropped one bombshell after the other on me. We entered this mansion and got greeted by a hot beauty and her daughter, who turned out to be my fiancee! The mother was introduced as Celestial Asceron, the Jarl of Norfolk.

  Normally I hate worlds with prearranged marriages, but when I took a look at the hot device which was the mother of my fiancee, I thanked the gods for being lucky for once. Though I hoped that the princess in question wasn't too spoiled.

  My hopes were crushed when Celestial returned with her husband Ascathon. The cute little girl opened her mouth for the first time after studying me with a calculating glare for quite some time.

  “I changed my mind. He is cute and after thinking over it for some time, I came to the conclusion that it's better to start training them young. Changing their behaviour to your preferences early should be easier than to wait until they are adults.”

  “I am not some kind of pet!” I immediately snap back before realizing that the girl in front of me can't be much older than me. That was an extremely calculating sentence for a little child.

  “That's my son, Arran. I wanted your advice on how to deal with this, as you are obviously in a similar situation.” My father Kane points at me with a forced smile.

  Sera is still looking at me with a shocked expression. But then she closes her mouth and starts to giggle. “I see. I guess not everything can be as easy as I believe. Looks like I will have to invest a little more effort into you.”

  Gods. I think I found a really troublesome and manipulative woman. “Are you a reincarnated person like me!?”