World Keeper

Chapter 779: First Contact

With the assistance of the Sky Citadel, it became an easy matter to complete the recruitment of the deities the guild leader wanted to hire. Thessa, for her part, did not even ask for any payment. She said that she would be happy to assist, and encouraged her brother to do the same.

Like this, it only took a mere three days for everyone to be gathered on the twenty-seventh floor of Fyor, convening at Gate’s Rest. Although this floor’s Gate’s Rise was still under construction, it was far too soon to use it as a proper meeting point.

Looking around at the group, the guild leader felt a faint chill running down his back. There were three representatives present from foreign nations, namely Gandor, Kione, and Deckan. However, the representative from Deckan was none other than Udona herself, the God-Queen offering a small nod towards the guild leader’s gaze.

From Kion, there was a lycan male with a rather lithe build, a thick tome hovering at his side. No doubt that was his familiar. And from Gandor, an elven youth, his silver hair combed neatly back and amber eyes all but shining at the chance to meet these new races.

Despite the presence of Udona, all parties had agreed that Fyor was ultimately in charge of this diplomatic meeting. This was something that Udona herself insisted upon when the guild leader tried to defer to her authority.

With a faint sigh, the guild leader scanned the faces of the escort group. Each emissary had come alone, as the respective countries had been informed that the escorts consisted of three gods and the demigoddess daughter of one of the Greater Pantheon. Anyone that they could send would either have surpassed the level restriction of Fyor, or would likely have difficulty fighting higher level opponents in such an unfavorable terrain.

Well, it was three gods at the time of planning. Now that both Udona and Lifre were present, that number had increased to five. However, nobody raised a complaint about this. If anything, having the Goddess of Life present would only further ensure their safety.

“Alright, everyone. You all should have read through the document I sent describing the people we are going to meet. At present, only Miss Carna here has directly seen these two races.” The dovah said, gesturing towards Petra with one of his furred claws. “At the time of her visit, that is three days ago, the two races were locked in a heated conflict.”

“Currently, we are unsure if the conflict has been resolved, or if it is still ongoing. If it has been resolved, we do not know which force is currently occupying the fortress where the gate is located. Therefore, we must be prepared for either of these three scenarios. First, the fight is ongoing, and we will need to protect ourselves from becoming swept up in the conflict.”

“Second, the fight is over, and the magic-wielding humans are the ones that still possess the gate. This, in my mind, is the most likely of the three scenarios, and will allow the smoothest transition into diplomatic talks.” He said with a faint nod, glancing towards Alex Lobaine when he said that.

“Finally, in the event that it is the ashen-skinned dwarves who emerged victorious, we will need to be more careful. As they had only recently captured the fortress, they would likely be vigilant against sudden appearances like ours. If this is the case, we will need to protect ourselves well while trying to de-escalate the situation.”

“No matter which of the three scenarios we encounter, it is imperative that we do not draw first blood. Avoid any lethal attacks if at all possible. I have chosen all of you not only because of your combat prowess, but also because you have all proven that you can fight without killing. Is this understood?” His eyes scanned over the escort group, who all nodded their heads solemnly.

“In that case… I believe that Lady Lifre of the Sky Citadel wishes to share a blessing with all of us, or such was her intent previously.” He said, gesturing towards Lifre. It had… truly been an easy matter to find her, just as she had implied previously. However, Lifre wasn’t out slaughtering monsters or setting the forest ablaze

Rather, when he found her, she was in a drunken party at one of the taverns in the city. Apparently, she had bought drinks for everyone, and led them all into a song and dance number. He… wasn’t really sure how to take that. She did indeed say that she was going to have fun, but that wasn’t quite what he had in mind.

“Huh? Oh, right!” Lifre jumped forward quickly once she remembered her previous statement. As a slime, she was fortunate enough to be immune to the intoxication effects of alcohol. Even more so due to her divine properties.

Lifre cleared her throat, clapping her hands together. “By my declaration, let the adventure begin. May your wisdom be sharper than any blade. May your tongue be gilded, and your passions pure. As the one guiding this adventure, these are the rules that I have established.”

As Lifre finished her speech, a burst of golden radiance shot out from her body to wrap around each person present. The guild leader was pleasantly surprised to find his weary thoughts clearing, able to focus more clearly on the task at hand. Although he would not be attending this mission himself, it was gladdening to feel the effects of the blessing with one’s own body.

“Cynthia, you have full authority to command for this mission. As such… I wish you all the best of luck.” He said, addressing his secretary offering a firm nod.

“Of course, sir.” She stood, bowing towards him. “If all preparations are in order, let us set off.”

“Oh, it’s time.” Aurivy said as she swiped the remote, suddenly changing the channel.

“Hey, it was just getting to the good part.” I complained, looking over at the halfling goddess. For her part, she simply stuck out her tongue.

“You wanted to know when Elisae was ascending, right? She’s just getting things set up to do so now.” I was somewhat torn when I heard Aurivy’s cheeky response. Elisae’s ascension was something that I was interested in, mostly because I wanted to see how she would act as a deity. However, at the same time, this was the first meeting between numerous civilizations.

Furrowing my brow, I gave a shake of my head. “I’ll watch Elisae later. The ascension itself won’t likely be any different than others we’ve seen. I’m more interested in how she’ll act once she’s woken up, anyway.” Following someone’s ascension was a period of forced slumber, where the body essentially shut down in order to enact the changes that were happening to their body on the most basic level. This forced slumber could range anywhere from hours to days, so I wasn’t particularly worried that I would miss much.

Aurivy chuckled, passing the remote back to me so that I could tune it back to the diplomatic meeting.

The golden portal snapped shut behind the party of nine, who now found themselves standing before the large black gate. Such a structure was incredibly familiar to anyone that spent any degree of time in Fyor, so it was easy for them to prepare themselves for what came next. The forest around them still showed the charred aftermath from Petra’s ‘pest control’, but there were several buildings being rapidly constructed within the clearing.

With a deep breath, Cynthia nodded towards Petra, gesturing for her to lead the way. Smiling, Petra was happy to comply. The little demoness stepped up to and passed through the gate, which seemed to part around her body. Only once she had entered did the others move, ready for whatever awaited them.

On the other side of the gate, it was much like the guild leader had expected. The signs of conflict had already passed, the magic-wielding humanoid race having pushed the ashen dwarves out of the fortress. That said, the scene was far from peaceful.

Petra stood before the gate with her arms raised, a calm smile on her face as three rainbow-eyed humans pointed their swords at her. More than a dozen robed figures hovered in the air behind these three soldiers, spitting out words in an unfamiliar tongue. Given that Petra couldn’t understand a single word that they were saying, she opted to maintain her silence.

Seeing eight more figures appear behind Petra, simply walking through the immovable gate, the swords being held began to shake nervously. Especially when they saw that nearly all of those present were from distinctly different races. Even the robed figures gave pause, their harsh words halting for a moment.

The first to act was none other than the God of Papers, who conjured a piece of golden paper in his hand. “Whosoever speaks while holding this page will have their words transcribed for all to read. Whosoever holds this page will be able to read anything written upon its surface.”

As he spoke, the two sentences etched themselves in black lines along the paper. Afterwards, he stepped forward, past Petra to present the paper. Nervously, one of the knights took the page, shouting in shock when he realized that he could read what was written on it.

Perhaps curious, one of the robed figures glided forwards, taking the page and looking it over. With a small nod, he seemed to understand what was happening. He spoke in a quiet tone, watching as his words were transcribed, before flicking his wrist. The page seemed to hover through the air, landing in Alex’s grasp.

“He wants to know how we passed through the Wall of Black Stone, and what our purpose here is.” Alex said, wiping his hands over the words to erase what was previously written there. There was only so much room on the paper, after all, and it would not do to have it filled with their recounting of what the other party had said. “We come seeking peace. The wall you speak of is a gate to our people. Those chosen by the Keeper possess the power to traverse it freely. When we found your people, we wished to meet you on good terms.”

Once the page had finished its job of transcribing his words, he handed it back to the knight before him, who similarly handed it to the robed figure. The robed humanoid rubbed his chin in thought as he read through the page, before calling out a command. One of the three knights looked at him incredulously, before beginning to walk forward.

The knight passed by the group, placing his hand against the smooth black wall. However, he found himself unable to pass through. Udona, realizing what they meant to do, smiled and walked over. She pressed her own palm against the black surface, and the knight was surprised when he saw it opening before her hand. In his shock, he reached over to try and insert his hand in the gap, only to find that it would not pass through.

The robed figure spoke again upon seeing this scene, before causing the letter to float once more to Alex. “He wants to know who the Keeper is, as they have never heard of one with that title.” After saying this, he turned to look at both Udona and Cynthia, though Udona simply gestured towards the halfling secretary.

“…Give me the paper.” Cynthia said, Alex wiping it clean before handing it over. She took a deep breath, before beginning to explain. “The Keeper is the source of all worlds, the original creator. I apologize if this goes against any of your religious beliefs, but this is an indisputable fact of our life. Some of us here have even met the Keeper personally and seen his power. Of those gathered here presently, more than half are gods in their own right.”

“I do not know if your civilization has understood the process of ascension yet, I merely wish to convey our circumstances. If you have any questions, I would be happy to discuss with you, as I assure you that all we want is a peaceful contact.”

With that said, she handed the paper back to the knight, who once again passed it to the robed figure. His eyebrow arched as he read over what Cynthia had said, looking towards the gathered group. His voice seemed to carry an arcane echo as he spoke again, this time appearing to use the language of runes.

When he finished his chant, six lights arose from the group. The strongest shone from Udona’s body like a brilliant beacon. After her was Lifre, and then Thessa, Grid, and Alex. Finally, Petra’s body also gave off a faint radiance, though it was nowhere near the light given off by a full deity.

As they saw this, the rainbow-like eyes of the humanoids went wide. Clearly, this was a spell to detect gods, though that made Cynthia wonder if they had already cultivated gods of their own, or if they had simply mastered the runic language to such a degree.