World Keeper

Chapter 30: A Race Across the Plains

For now, I did not want to place the centaurs on a continent inhabited by another sapient race. While they might be able to get along with them eventually, I want to first have them develop in isolation, just like everyone else. To me, this is really more to see how the races develop a culture of their own without outside influence. 

Anyways, I’m just procrastinating this. For their continent, I chose a large one to the south of the halfling’s continent, connected by a thin landmass. If there are any two races that could get along eventually, it’d be the two nomadic ones. Then, I opened up the options menu, and began searching through the settings. 

Terra had told me that it was possible to freeze time for the rest of the world, and only rewind a certain area to have them catch up. But… she never told me where to find that option. As such, it took me a few minutes of searching before I found a reference to ‘time zones’. 

Each time zone would cost me 25 points, and using it would allow me to separate the flow of time within that zone from the rest of the world. The only restriction was that such a thing had to be done in a way that the sapient races of the world did not notice. For instance, I couldn’t just freeze one city, because people could see that. 

That didn’t matter much to me, though. I happily bought the 25 point time zone, and used it to isolate the centaurs’ continent from the rest of the world. Then, I used another option of the time zone to rewind that area by roughly eleven hundred years. Finally, I paid another 25 points to buy the centaur race itself. 

I blinked as the message appeared in front of me, having forgotten that when I first purchased the original races, Terra had to fast forward until there was an average of ten thousand members of each race. This time, I opted to do the same thing, and could see on the map how that one continent continuously brightened and darkened, possessing its own cycle of day and night moving in rapid motion. 

I tried to pay attention, just in case some emergency cropped up that would prevent the centaurs from raising their population. However, a knock on the door to the room distracted me. Turning around, I saw Irena standing in the doorway, watching me. “Is now a bad time?” She asked in a somewhat cold manner that caught me off guard. 

“No, not really… why?” 

Straightening her shirt, she took a few steps forward, tucking her wings in so that they wouldn’t get caught on the door. “I am here to ask for a report on what is going on. I feel the presence of new souls being born, but the world seems to be stopped at the moment.” 

Ahh, I guess it makes sense that she would be able to sense that kind of stuff, being the goddess of the underworld. I nodded my head, and began explaining to her about my plan to introduce the centaur race into the world. When I was done, her brows furrowed and she looked at the screen. 

“Is that an idea you got at the meeting you went to by yourself?” She asked, in that same tone of voice as before. 

“That’s right. Is something the matter?” 

“No, sir, nothing is the matter.” She said abruptly, then turned and left the room, leaving me extremely confused. Even when I design the women myself, I shall never understand them! 

Shaking my head, I turned back to my computer, only to find that the continent had stopped fast forwarding. Looking at the population, I saw that there were exactly ten thousand centaurs. Huh, guess it can be pretty accurate when it wants to be. 

Out of curiosity, I ran a search through the system to look at the population more closely, that way I could see how many of each type of variant there were. Unsurprisingly, there were no qilin centaurs, and only two unicorn centaurs. However, there was not a single pegasus centaur either, which surprised me. 

Don’t tell me… I gave a slight sigh, and navigated the map to find the two unicorn centaurs. To my surprise, they were a pair of young girls, twins from the looks of things. With their long hair covering their foreheads, it was almost impossible to even see the small nub of a horn starting to poke out. 

They either exile or kill the unique ones out of fear? I was hoping that wouldn’t start until much later. I lowered my head in thought, trying to come up with ideas. Unicorn centaurs were already very rare, just one in ten thousand, and these two were born as twins. If my theory about the treatment of the unique centaurs was right, then as soon as their horns were discovered, they could very well be killed. Or at the very least, thrown out to fend for themselves. 

If one of the unicorns had been a male, I could arrange for the two of them to meet, and maybe even start an isolated family. I wasn’t too familiar on how their mating habits worked, but at least they’d have a chance. The main thing was that, if I wanted to resolve this issue of the variants being outcast, I would have to do so right from the start. 

First thing, I needed to create a god for the centaurs. Not a lifeless doll like the current ones, aside from Irena, Aurivy, and Terra. A true, influential god that could help guide the race. Closing my eyes, I paid the full 45 points for a companion with a personality. First, I needed to design his body. 

A large centaur, the normal breed, with pitch black hair. Since the vast majority of the population is the normal breed, it makes sense for the god to be, as well. Also, having him as the normal breed of centaur should help prevent superiority complexes from the variants thinking themselves as the chosen ones. Anyways, pitch black hair covering his muscular horse body. A muscled human torso connecting to it, with a little bit of stubble and a head of short, black hair. 

For his personality, I wanted to make him caring of his people. His goal should be for all centaurs to be treated equally, with neither the variants or the normal breed suppressing each other. A thought ran through me, and I suddenly imagined him hitting on the goddesses in the Admin Room. Nuh uh, no way. I added in a note that he is disinterested in two-legged women, just to prevent any problems. This Earth doesn’t need a new Zeus. 

Finally, I made sure that he was obedient towards me. Not as a relative or anything like with Aurivy, or a love interest like Terra, but more as an employee. The Keeper is the boss in this relationship, and that fact should never be excluded, lest you get rebellious deities. Lastly, I needed a name for him… And since I was making him a god, I needed a domain for him to rule. 

Focusing on the last few details, I submitted the entry to the system. Golden light shone from above, gradually building a body from the ground up. As soon as the body was done, I was expecting to have to give him some kind of job, but I didn’t even have the time to open my mouth before he vanished from the room, the space he was in suddenly empty. 

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was Tryval, God of the Plains… I sighed, moving to look at the screen again when I suddenly heard a sound from outside my room. 

“Huh? Where you going, sis?” The high pitched voice of Aurivy caught my attention, and I couldn’t help but grin slightly when I noticed a slightly disappointed tone to her voice. A moment later, Terra walked into the room, looking around. 

“He already left?” She asked, obviously surprised. Had she wanted to come here and see him, since he was the first male god I had granted a personality to? 

“Yeah. As soon as I finished making him.” I said, shaking my head with a bitter smile. Terra shared the same expression, before closing her eyes. A few moments later, I swear I saw her cheeks redden. 

“Oh… there he is.” She said in a somewhat embarrassed tone, before the screen of my computer shifted. Since it had already been locked onto the twin unicorn centaurs, it did not have to go far, only zooming out a little bit to show a new figure entering the screen. 

“Come on, Thessa. We have to hurry.” A girl could be seen amidst the plains, urging her sister to continue. Both were obviously inhuman, with the lower body of a pure white horse. Even though they had the upper body of a lovely young woman, it was impossible to confuse them with a normal human. Both of them also had silky smooth hair trailing down their backs all the way to the bottom of their human half. 

“I know, Kara, I’m coming.” The second centaur called out, only a short distance behind the first. The two were on the run, having abandoned their families, but this was not a decision made out of spite. Rather, it was one of desperation. They had heard rumors passed through the families of foals born with wings. The stories never ended well, as each one had abandoned their foal as soon as the mother was able to move. Sometimes, the father would actively trample the young body, mercilessly crippling it to ensure that it couldn’t follow. 

These sisters had a miraculous birth, being the only known case of twins among the centaur families they had encountered. However, their mother had paid the price for an extra life by giving her own. They had lived with the rest of their herd, always on the move, and never once thinking they were anything other than beautiful specimens of their own race. 

At least, until recently, that is. Roughly a year ago, they had each noticed a strange growth appearing on their foreheads, a hard white spike. Its appearance was accompanied by a powerful headache that left their entire herd thinking that they had fallen ill. Only the two of them knew the terrifying truth, however. 

With the appearance of their horns, they had started using their hair to cover their face whenever possible, hiding their foreheads from their herd. They had hoped that this new addition would stop growing, or go away entirely, but reality proved differently. Every day, it grew further and further, and now they could no longer fully conceal it. 

Telling their herd that they were going for a drink, the twins finally planned to make their escape. It wasn’t uncommon for herd to split apart, so they hoped that they wouldn’t be followed, that the herd would assume they had perished. So now, the two twins, Thessa and Kara, cantered across the plains, tears in their eyes as they put as much distance between themselves and everything they knew as they possibly could. 

That is, until a golden light shined down from the skies, and a muscular figure appeared some distance away from them. The girls felt their hearts jump as they saw the man, with his hair as black as night. More amazing than his appearance, the moment they saw him, a name echoed through their minds. It was a name that they had never heard before, yet felt like they knew it all their life. 

The sisters slowed to a trot, then stopped entirely before the figure before them. Unable to help themselves, they maintained a distance from this man, their heads lowered in submission. That was, until he called their names. 

“Thessa, Kara.” The man said, his voice strong, yet gentle. The girls couldn’t help their heads jerking up to look at him in shock. They had never seen this man in their lives, and yet he felt so familiar. They had never spoken, yet knew each other’s names. What they saw was a smile on his face, and his eyes which seemed to look straight through them. 

This man… no, Tryval walked up towards them slowly. The twins barely even registered that their hair had been pushed to the side during their canter, and their horns were clearly visible. Yet, Tryval was still smiling at them, as if they were the most beautiful creatures in existence. For the first time since their horns began to grow, they did not feel like freaks. They didn’t feel hopeless. 

If it was with this man, maybe they could be happy.