World Keeper

Chapter 861: Securing The Future

It wasn’t long after I returned that Tsubaki came back, delivering the news that she had gotten from Chel. Admittedly, it was a relief that they had everything that they needed on hand, so we only needed to worry about the construction time. Furthermore, asking only for a week for each world would be pushing them to their limits.

If there was one thing to be happy about, it was that the absence of the gods that had gone off to find their own worlds had gradually started to shift the economy back to where we wanted it to be. At least, it had for the moment. I was sure that the demand for energy would skyrocket again whenever a god found a proper world to rule over. After all, if they wanted to give those people System Stones, they would need to supply that energy to the Metong.

“Please tell me that there is nothing else that we need to urgently worry about.” I muttered, Tsubaki looking at me for a long moment before speaking up.

“I do not believe that there are any more troubles that warrant your attention, my Keeper. Does that mean that you intend to return to your abode and accelerate the world again?” She asked, causing me to look at her and blink in confusion.

“What? No, nothing like that. I just don’t want to have the world crumbling to dust around me. Though, that said, we do need to figure out some better steps to take if we’re going to be actively fighting the void from now on.” It wasn’t that I didn’t trust James and his group to establish proper defenses. However, I knew better than most that there was no such thing as a perfect shield.

Tsubaki nodded her head in agreement. “Were I compatible with the void, I would stand vigil myself. However… I do not believe that would be very helpful as I am.”

I gave a small chuckle at that, reaching over to pat her shoulder. “I know you would, Tsubaki. I wouldn’t trust anyone to play the role of guardian more than you, if such were an option. As things are, we need to find an alternative that works for us.”

“Why not Dana?” Lifre suddenly spoke up, causing me to glance over. Lifre was standing in the doorway, carrying a stack of books under one arm. “What? The rest of us are already gods, so we can’t exactly go the whole Fallen God route, but Dana’s just… well, Dana, right? She’s that saint body or whatever you called it, but she hasn’t stepped on the path of divinity or anything.”

“You’re… not wrong, but I don’t know if it’s possible for her to accept the power of a Fallen God any more than it would be for her to pursue divinity.”

“Why not just ask Chel about it?” Lifre asked with a shrug of her shoulders. “She’s the one we go to whenever we have questions about the void anyways, so if anyone would know about whether it’s possible, it would be her.”

I hesitated for a moment at that, thinking inwardly. Honestly, I’d rather go to Terra about it, but Dana’s the first of her kind, so…

Yeah. Terra’s voice spoke into my mind to answer me. Sadly, I can’t give any details until there is a bit more precedent. Hmm… once my incarnations wake up, you could ask them to do a prediction for you. Their ability to read fate should let them know the outcome of an experiment like that.

True, I just don’t know how long it will take to wake them up. It felt like I was relying on Chel lately more than my own System Companion. True, Terra may not mind because it meant that I wasn’t always pushing the limits of what information she could give me, but it felt almost like she was starting to get lonely with how I went to Chel instead of her for the higher-end information.

Judging by their rate of recovery, about six hours. Though really, you’ll probably want Chel with you when you have them do the prediction. She’ll probably know methods of becoming a Fallen God that I can’t say. If the base method won’t work for Dana, you’ll need to take alternate paths.

I gave a small smile at that, nodding my head. Thanks, Terra. As always, you are the best.

Damn straight I am. She said, and I could just imagine her tilting her head back smugly. Honestly, the thought of Dana as a Fallen God has some scary implications. Her mind is almost perfectly suited for handling void energy, and she can come up with complex programs using only her mind.

I wasn’t personally familiar enough with the workings of the void to know how suitable Dana was, but given Terra’s praises, it seemed like Dana would become a new powerhouse of the Citadel. Depending on how well she performed, she may even reach the same level of combat power as Tsubaki.

“Ugh… what hit us?” The golden-haired Terra asked as she slowly sat up in her bed, her twin rising at the same time. Both of them clutched their heads, as if recovering from a bad hangover.

“I think we did.” The other one answered. “Though, given how awesome we were? Totally worth it.”

“I know, right?” The divine twin giggled. “I don’t even think the big girl upstairs could do what we did that easily. We completely cut off a creature’s fate. If that’s not badass, I don’t know what is. Next time we try something like this, let me use my Inspiration power first. Maybe I can come up with a better way to use our power.”

“As long as I get to record everything, fine.” Her fallen counterpart grinned, before her eyes flashed black for a moment. “Speaking of, there are people on their way. Four of them, and one… ah! The Keeper’s coming?”

“You… ah, it’s that reference lookup, right?” The divine twin nodded her head. “Okay, well, let’s make sure we’re presentable. Did the reference tell you what they’re coming for?”

The other Terra nodded, both standing up and utilizing their energy to fix and clean their appearances. “They were thinking about asking us questions for a prediction. I guess that explains why the big girl sent us a lot of her power as we were waking up.”

The divine Terra clicked her tongue. “Not coming to congratulate us on our epic kill? Well, I guess we can help them out. How long until they get here?”

“They just opened a gate outside.” The fallen said with a grin. “They must have gotten our address from someone at the top.”

“Shoot, thought we had more time. Well, remember your lines. We get this right, and you can be Terra for a week.”

“But I am Terra.” The fallen said when she heard her sister’s statement, though there was a small grin on her face.

“See, that’s the spirit.” The divine twin said with a wink. With the two now being divided as Goddess and Fallen Goddess, it was easy for them to differentiate each other. The age-old argument of ‘who is Terra?’ was finally settled… by saying that they both were, depending on their mood. They kept playing up their earlier joke because they found it amusing to watch people’s reactions, but they themselves always knew which one was Terra and which was Firma at any given moment.

The two cleared their throats, before moving in perfect harmony out the door and down the hall. Just as they were getting to the living room, there was a knock on the door. “Come in.” They said together, secretly smiling at one another before the door opened.

“Sorry if we’re bothering you girls.” The Keeper said with a smile, accompanied by Tsubaki, Chel, and Dana. “Terra said that it wouldn’t be a problem for us to come and ask for a prediction once you woke up. Since this is all pretty important aftermath from what happened earlier, we decided that there wasn’t any time to waste.”

“No problem!” The two said in unison, arms crossed behind their backs. “What would you like to know?”

The Keeper blinked at the perfectly synchronized talking, before shaking his head. “This is probably going to be a multiple-part prediction, so I’m going to let Chelsea handle it.” As he said that, he stepped aside to let Chel step up, her eyes scanning over the twins.

“So, how do we do this? I’ve got some things to go over once we get started.” She said, the two turning to smile at each other.

“Well, I guess that there’s not time to waste, right Firma?” The divine twin asked, causing her sister to pout.

“I’m Terra, you’re Firma. When are you going to get this right?” She shook her head, both of them summoning their books at the same time and standing back to back. “I am the story that has come to pass.”

The other twin quickly recited her own verse, both books glowing and melding together. “I am the inspiration that is to come.”

Just like before, they merged into one, forming a singular Terra with a single book floating before her. “I am the fate of the world. What is it that you wish of me?” She asked, though she appeared to be less energetic than her previous appearance.

“Just a few questions!” Chel answered happily, pulling out a notebook. “Our friend there, Dana, is a saint body that has mastered the World Shadow energy. What would happen if she used the three steps of void ascension to become a Fallen God?”

The Origin of Fate arched a brow, before closing her eyes. “Should she take the path you speak of, her body will be scattered to the wind, taking with it all in her wake.”

“Okay… that path is out. What about refining a tertiary world and using its energy to fuel a void evolution?” Chel asked, crossing out the first entry to her list.

“The world consumed would be lost, and darkness would return to darkness.” The Origin’s voice seemed to almost echo as she said that, though the meaning was clear.

“Okay, can’t use that method, either… what about an Ascendancy Scripture? That’s a void script where you write a detailed meme to give yourself power over a certain domain, effectively… it’s like the void version of forging your divinity. Let’s just leave it at that.”

The Origin opened her eyes for a moment to look at Chel, who had just crossed off the second line in her notebook. “Darkness begets darkness, a shadow falling over the void. The Tyrant Queen of Shadows shall assume the throne of chaos.”

“So the Ascendancy Scripture works?” Chel asked with a grin, circling the third option. “That’s great. We don’t have to go into refining living void beasts, inverting the chaos principle, or find the end of creation.” As she said that, she crossed off the last three lines from her list.

“…I do not say this lightly. You scare me.” The Origin of Fate said as she stared at Chel. “Your path is as chaos itself. Every word you speak is tainted with the void. For a God, you are more at one with the void than even most Fallen.”

Chel blinked up at Terra, tilting her head. “Was that another prediction? I’ll need to write that down to reference it later. Anyways, thanks for the information! Anything else you need taken care of while we’re here, Keeper?”

The Keeper shook his head at that, looking at the other two. “Hey, I’m just here for the girls to have a target for their prediction.” Dana said with a chuckle, Tsubaki shaking her head as well.

“We’ll leave you to your rest, then.” The Keeper spoke towards the Origin of Fate, who nodded her head solemnly. Without further ado, the Keeper tore open a rift in the air, allowing the four visitors to leave.

Once they were gone, the Origin’s body grew blurry, and she separated into the two figures of the twins. “Okay, what is she?!” The fallen twin asked, her eyes wide as she looked at her sister.

“I don’t know. Have you ever seen anything like that? I felt like we might get undone just looking at her too long. How can one person have such a chaotic fate?” The divine twin answered, shaking slightly.

“I don’t know, it’s like she had contingencies set up for everything, even us. How do you set up contingencies for us!? We’re fate! I counted at least fifty void scripts she’s used on herself just to defend against our kind of powers.”

The divine twin nodded her head at that. “And the Goddess of Security on top of that?! We can read the Keeper better than we can read her. Speaking of, should we have told him that there’s a void beast on the Citadel?”

“Right, I had nearly forgotten about that.” The fallen shuddered, shaking her head. “Give us a moment to calm down, and we’ll relay the message. It was twisting paths, right? It shouldn’t be hard for them to kill something like that in the void, since it’s harmless enough.”

“Yeah, but it’s sucking information off of the Keeper, so we’d better hurry…” The divine sister sighed. “Let me relay it to Leowynn. She should be able to get rid of it before it starts acting up.”