World Keeper

Chapter 464: Dangers Above and Below

“Requesting immediate backup.” Sarah’s voice spoke into the radio, having contacted Deckan as per the captain’s orders. “Repeat, a threat has been encountered, and we need immediate reinforcements as soon as the habitat portal is online.”

“What is the origin of your threat, Eingard?” The voice that spoke back was fairly calm, but she didn’t hold that against them. It was easy to be detached when watching events unfold from behind a screen.

“Scale of threat is planetary. Nature is an elemental swarm. Captain Thames has invoked the pact to hold off the threat until habitat completion, but we will need reinforcements as soon as it is complete.”

“Standby.” The voice seemed to take the request far more seriously when he heard the details of the threat. It took a few minutes for the person’s voice to speak up over the radio again, and during that time strands of clouds could be seen moving closer to the center of the storm. “An emergency dispatch has been made for elementalists and druids, as well as specialized shields.”

Sarah breathed out a sigh of relief when she heard that, nodding her head. “Confirmed, thank you.” She replied, before switching the radio channel to contact the ground team. “Captain, reinforcements are being gathered, and should be ready to rendezvous as soon as the portal is established.”

Down on the surface, Ester nodded her head, relieved that they did not have to abandon the mission after coming all this way. She watched as the world spirit casually ascended into the sky, and could already see a few clouds making their way back into the area. Most likely, those were the fourth tier elementals…

“Apologies, but I will have to ask you to halt your advance for the moment.” The world spirit’s voice echoed through the air, followed by a surge of green light around her. Hundreds of smaller spirits appeared and began circling around her body.

With a wave of her hand, she sent the smaller world spirits into the sky, using them to amplify her own power. The chaotic wind became steady, her hair ceasing to blow around her head. “I see, quite interesting.” She muttered to herself, nodding. Another world spirit appeared before her, and then immediately vanished.

“So, do you think I’ll be able to ascend like you?” Dana asked, sweeping the floors with one of Tsubaki’s avatars within the Sky Citadel. Her main body was elsewhere, focusing on training Fafnir, but she still performed her normal chores at the same time.

“What brought this on?” The kitsune asked in surprise, looking towards Dana.

“Hmm?” Dana looked towards Tsubaki, and smiled brightly. “I just think it’d be nice. I mean, I’m your familiar, right? It wouldn’t make sense for the familiar of a goddess to be ordinary.”

Tsubaki’s gaze turned more gentle at that. “You’re so many things, Dana. Ordinary is not on the list. If you really want to, I should be able to help you ascend without too much trouble. Only… I don’t think you’ll be able to stay my familiar.”

“Why not?” She asked in an almost sad tone.

“It’s the unique energy structure of your body that turned you into an unbound familiar in the first place. An aeon with a fully intelligent and complete soul. Adding in ki was likely a contributing factor as well, as normal aeons do not possess that type of energy. But, if we change the makeup of your body to turn you into a goddess, you probably won’t be able to qualify as a familiar.”

“Oh…” Dana nodded, before shaking her head, her smile once again returning. “Then I’ll just stay how I am.” To Dana, the link between her and Tsubaki was more important than anything like becoming a deity. It was tangible proof that she wasn’t alone, that she had a new ‘family’. Even if becoming a goddess would put her on the same level as Tsubaki, she did not want that if it meant sacrificing that bond.

Tsubaki hesitated, before a small smile floated its way onto her face, her heart warming. She had lived with Dana long enough by now to understand the girl’s thoughts, and knew why she had made that decision.

Just as she was about to say something, Tsubaki’s face changed. A flash of light escaped her body, flying out towards the courtyard before manifesting as another avatar. Sitting over the edge of the citadel’s grounds, Tsubaki could see a familiar figure with long green hair.

“Did something happen?” She asked, easily able to recognize the world spirit of Earth. The spirit never visited unless there was something truly concerning going on, so Tsubaki was naturally worried. Enough so that she temporarily paused Fafnir’s training to focus entirely on the conversation at hand.

“I’m sure you are aware of Deckan’s purpose on their new world? Their mission to expand beyond their own land?” The spirit spoke up in a soft tone, earning a nod from Tsubaki.

“I am. Did something happen that requires our attention?”

Surprisingly, the spirit shook her head. “Your attention, maybe. But not your intervention. The land of ice on which they landed holds more life than they expected. Monsters born of nature roam above and below, enshrouding the planet in constant dangers.”

“They know of the dangers above, and called my sister to aid them. However, what lurks below is a mystery to them, as my sister did not see fit to explain. She quite enjoys watching her people overcome their challenges through their own struggles. Thankfully, she knew that it may become an issue in the future, and so she sent a child to inform me, that I may share this knowledge with you.”

Tsubaki gave a brief nod of understanding. However, before she could speak, the spirit continued. “She also discovered the origin of these creatures, sensing another strain of them elsewhere in her realm.”

“The monsters did not originate from the planet?” Tsubaki asked in a brief moment of confusion.

The spirit gave a nod, raising one of her hands. A rock appeared, hovering over her palm, before being covered in a faint layer of ice. “Within my sister’s realm, there are a series of comets. These remnants of a fallen world became trapped within the gravity of a star, circling for many, many years.”

“Some of them have crashed within the asteroid belt, others being burnt away when pulled too close to the sun. One of these comets long ago crashed into a world teeming with life. As the ice fell through the sky, it quickly evaporated, turning into a cloud of steam. Not a soul within the world took note of this event, as there were only beasts alive at the time.”

“Yet, when the ice melted, the souls trapped within were freed. The ice is alive, and had merely been dormant. Once awakened, it began to spread. Feeding on the water and ice of the world, it created more of its spawn, its eggs carrying an unnatural chill that froze the world.”

Tsubaki thought about that, and a question entered her mind. “You said that there was danger beneath the surface. From the sounds of things, these creatures you described only exist above.”

The spirit turned her head, smiling towards Tsubaki. “Right you are. However… for everything in this world, there is a predator. Something that followed them through the sea of stars, chasing them to their new home.”

Five hours after summoning the world spirit, and the habitat was nearly complete. The outer shell had already been assembled, and now the interior systems were being installed. Unfortunately, the portal connecting to Deckan would be the last of these systems, as it was too much of a drain on mana to be installed early.

The world spirit had established a barrier around the area, preventing the storm from coming within a thousand kilometers of the site. All of the strongest elementals within the storm had gathered to try and fight back against this barrier.

On the surface, Ester and her crew could just barely see the clouds towering along the horizon in every direction. They knew that the moment the habitat was complete, the moment the world spirit lifted its protection, those clouds would surge towards them. If the reinforcements couldn’t come through the gate in time, the habitat would be overrun.

Suddenly, they felt a faint ripple along the ground, the ice shifting almost as if it were water. To the west, a great shadow rose up from the ground. A massive… fish rose high into the air, great jaws stretching wide to swallow a piece of the cloud before falling back to the ground. There was no crash, just another gentle ripple as the fish sank back into the ice.

Ester stared to the west, her eyes wide as she witnessed the spectacle. Almost as soon as the ‘fish’ appeared, the clouds in that direction began to disperse, as if they were afraid. “I… I think we need to make a few more preparations.”

The monster which could swallow clouds, easily visible from over a thousand kilometers away… if it happened to appear beneath the habitat, then it would swallow every structure whole.

“I see…” Tsubaki nodded after the world spirit finished explaining the terrors of the predator. “You were right to bring this to me. The elementals may be one thing, but a safe colonization can’t take place with a predator of that size lurking underground.”

“Chase away the prey, and the predator will follow.” The world spirit said simply, looking back over the edge and down at the waters below the citadel. “Tracing back their origins, both only left their original home when it was destroyed in a collision with another planet. Obviously, such a thing isn’t an option here.”

Tsubaki gave another nod, giving it some thought. “If it becomes too much of a problem, we can abandon Eingard. That world is not valuable enough to warrant a direct intervention of the gods, and there are too few people there. Since we know that the habitation process works, we can just wait until the interstellar drives are finished and colonize other worlds.”

“Still, this information is valuable. If the monsters do leave Eingard for some reason, we need to be prepared. While we can sacrifice that world, Deckan is not so easily discarded. I’ll start work on some countermeasures that we can implement to ensure that it doesn’t become an issue.”

The world spirit smiled, slowly standing up. “As you wish. I shall pass your verdict to my sister.” With that, her body began to disperse into motes of green light. “Newly crowned mother of light, I offer you my congratulations for your ascension. May you shine eternal.”

Once the spirit vanished, so too did Tsubaki, returning her avatar to the body inside of the citadel. Naturally, Dana noticed the flash of light, as well as the kitsune’s expression becoming more focused. “Welcome back, Tsuba. Did everything go well outside?”

Tsubaki shook her head, her smile once again returning now that she was back with Dana. “It’s fine. Just some problems with Eingard’s colonization. Nothing we need to directly concern ourselves with for now.”

“Ahh, that’s fine.” Dana nodded her head quickly, returning to her chores. “I think I’ve made some progress on the warp core, by the way. The drive in Vision Expanse is really helpful to study, but… the magic structure is just too different. I’ve been getting Crystal to help me study it, so we can break it down, but there’s just one piece we’re missing.”

“You’ll get it eventually.” Tsubaki smiled towards Dana, knowing that her familiar’s thirst for learning had only grown stronger after starting that game. She may not share all of her findings with the scientific communities, but she would always share them with those closest to her, whether they were Tsubaki or her friends within the game.

“Yeah, yeah.” Dana rolled her eyes playfully, sticking her tongue out towards Tsubaki.