Chapter 452: Who is Ziraili?

'I am not fighting just to protect her, even thinking so is egotistical. I am fighting to help all the natives, to save as many lives as possible. I am fighting because I cannot stand the thought of the servers being shut down!' 

'I do not think of myself as a hero, but I can't just sit out of a war... I guess this is a key difference between me and Erik.'

Eldrian didn't dislike Erik for his wish though. It was normal to not want to be part of a war. Eldrian realized that he was strange in wanting to fight.

In willingly endangering himself to help as many as he could. It wasn't something everyone was willing or even capable of doing. This was made even less normal with those he was endangering himself for being 'fake'.

Be that as it may, he wasn't going to try and change himself nor his friend. 

He had long since accepted that not all things were rational and logical. Some things just couldn't be explained. 

"Are you going to go today?" Erik asked after a moment of silence passed. 

"No, I logged in too late. We will go tomorrow, if Ceph is ready." Eldrian knew that Cephaphyr must be working through a heap of things after their bonding. 

For now, Eldrian had simply given him space. To allow the little alicorn to work through it on his own and be with his parents. Eldrian also wasn't going to ask him to keep it from his parents. 

Not having any other heavy topics he wanted to talk about, Eldrian asked Erik what he was doing. 

"Ah, Zamia told me that it might help me gain better control if I try to move the plants instead of just have them form something. So I have been training with grass. It is the easiest to move, and once I get the hang of it, I just add another blade to increase the difficulty."

"I see," Eldrian smiled and asked Erik a bit about how this worked. Finding that it was similar to how he first used mana. 

Erik wasn't really controlling the plants, rather he was sending his mana to it with some of his will. Similar to how Eldrian would keep control of his spells, only, the plants had a will of their own. 

Calling it a will might be a bit much. But they did have a way of living and growing. They had life, which might be a better description. 

Erik could try, if he wanted, to extinguish this flicker of life in the plants. However, doing so wasn't easy and Erik didn't feel confident he would be able.

What doing so would allow though, was for him to push the plants past their normal limits. According to Zamia, they would then wilt and die soon after. Thus, she only recommended doing so in a pinch. 

"I see you finally came," Agamemas said, smiling at the two who were busy discussing magic. 

"Ah, yes. Sorry, I lost track of time." Eldrian replied, quickly turning to the alicorn in elven form. 

"It is quite alright. I appreciate you giving us more time to stay as a family."

"Of course."

A moment of silence elapsed, after which Agamemas asked with all seriousness, "What happened when-?"

"In all honesty... I do not quite understand it myself. We had our memories overlap for a moment, but only for a moment." Eldrian replied, this was the biggest thing to him. 

"Ceph told me you met one of the gods..."

"Ah yes, Ziraili." Eldrian wanted to say he had met her a few times, but he didn't want Miracle to know about that. Even just confirming this was going to have some massive backlash if the one monitoring him picks up on it.

Luckily, nothing serious had happened for the past two months where he had just been training. Hence, Eldrian doubted the monitoring was still as strict. 

"Actually, can we talk telepathically? It will be far faster to catch you up."

Agamemas nodded, not sure why. He suspected that Eldrian feared it might actually be overheard. 

Eldrian naturally hoped that Miracle had missed his addition of meeting a god, and one whose name they didn't even know. 

'Do you still remember how to communicate?'

'Of course,' Eldrian replied almost instantly, 'Can I ask that you first share what Cephaphyr shared with you?'

'Why?' Agamemas asked. 

'Because, I want to know what he kept to himself. If he decided to do so, then I do not want to go over his head.'

Agamemas pondered on this for a moment, 'Alright, I did feel that he was keeping some things from us. But that is his decision and we won't force him... Nor would I force you.'

'Thank you.' Eldrian bowed a little in gratitude, after which he quickly tried to sort through what Agamemas shared with him. 

'I see, yes. We did meet a god, her name is Ziraili and she is the true god behind our Chosen's abilities and being here. However, because she has no followers on Gaia, the gods decided to hide her existence from everyone.'

'Why would they do that?' Agamemas asked, shocked that Eldrian seemed to know this god so well.

Even the most faithful believers would never consider themselves acquaintances of a god. Eldrian's relaxed mental state when talking about this god made it clear he did not consider her a higher being. Something that even he, one of the strongest on the planet, was incapable of doing. 

Agamemas only knew of a select few who could think like that, and most of them were in the dragon council. 

'Each god has an area of faith and godhood. Or at least that is how I have come to understand it.' Eldrian stated, questioningly.

He didn't know much about the gods themselves, he knew more about them as AI.

'Yes, it is normally one over branching godhood with many smaller areas of influence.' Agamemas added. 

'Ziraili isn't like that. Her godhood is literally ensuring our safety in this world. What else she is capable of, I believe even the other gods are unaware. Thus, in short, our ability to resurrect is thanks to her.'

'Is this why she appeared before you two?'

'Partly, yes. However, as I mentioned before, we have met before. She has helped me when I did some really dangerous things regarding my soul, and I was actually the one to give her her name.'

This, beyond anything Agamemas had come to learn of the elf, left him stunned. It shocked him to his core and even shook the foundations from which he viewed the world.

From what he knew, all other gods had sent an oracle declaring themselves to their followers. Never had he heard of someone naming a god. 

He did not doubt Eldrian's words though. He could clearly feel that Eldrian was telling the truth, which made him understand that this might also be why Eldrian asked to talk through telepathy. 

'She came because both I and Cephaphyr seem to have... We are fated to live a life of struggle, I think.'

'What do you mean? Are you talking about the prophecy? We already know that it was true, but not as we believed.'

'I don't know the prophecy. But I do know that Cephaphyr is unique even among you alicorns. And I, I am a candidate.'

{AN: A big thanks to everyone who continues to support this novel on WN.}