273. Watching Plants Grow

273. Watching Plants Grow

Void layers.

Stella felt it immediately, as Aeon said he would select the Dark Void. The world twisted and distorted ever so slightly, as if the entire world was an old cathode ray tube television that just experienced an interruption to its signal.

The world was the same but different. There were now layers to things.

Aeon immediately mentioned the term filters, as if everything was photography filters. That was an acceptable way of looking at things- but Stella wondered whether it was more appropriate to see things at different levels of magnification and zoom. That this was the world at different levels of zoom and magnify.

Even Treehome looked different once Stella applied the void layers.

It was just plain nothingness in some, and some others- something else.

Stella wondered whether this was some kind of magical version of seeing quantum entanglement. That objects here are tied to some other objects far away, and the void layers merely rearrange the world in accordance with how things are entangled together.

The void layers shifted things about.

Each layer moved the position of the different worlds in wildly different positions, and incredibly, they are all true at the same time.

If teleportation was possible, in short, an ability to cross vast distances through linking two locations together, why wouldnt it be possible to have naturally occurring variants? This was the worlds and realms cut up and pasted again in different places.

A puzzle with multiple possible answers.

Each world is a puzzle piece, and each layer a different acceptable variation of how the puzzle was solved. Depending on which layer, a world could be infinitely far away, or just next door.

Stella stared as her mind flipped through the different layers, and watched she could only process about 15, no, about 20 layers. She may have access to them, but her mind could not process those that were still too different. It hurt just trying to look at them, and she didnt even know why.

Your nose is bleeding, Lady Stella. One of the void archmages, Veter, commented. Veter too, had gained access to the void layers, and he only managed to see six of the layers before his mind began to feel the strain.

I need Patreecks help. Stella commanded, as she walked into the special brain augmentation tree designed to expand her mental processing capacity.

The minds linked with hers, as she attempted to push the edges of the [Void Layers]. Incredibly, the moment she could see it, it didnt take her more mental energy to see it again. Once she got it, she got it.

23 layers.

Darn it. Stella emerged exhausted, and sipped on a fruit punch filled with nutrients prepared right outside. The archmage, Veter, nodded.

Shouldnt push it too hard, Lady Stella. A few of the lesser void mages had bad nosebleeds and had to be under [healer]s watch.

Stella shrugged. The [Void] worlds. Do you see it?

One of them. Veter nodded. The order had about seven void archmages now, though none of them close enough to get to the domains, yet. They would have to participate in combat- perhaps intentionally triggering demonic mothers and use their void energies on the black suns shards.

I can see two different layers with them- Stella frowned.

In some versions of the void layers, the world was entirely of a different color. As if these were special worlds, and they contained worlds entirely unseen on any other layers. These were hidden in the gaps of the void sea.

The equivalent of folders and files that were hidden from view through some administrative rights, and no matter how the files get shuffled around, these hidden files remain hidden.

Veter nodded. Preparations to visit is underway- though our collective view is that we should get over the meteor remnants-

Stella understood. I agree. Tempting as it may be, it is not the right time to jump to these void worlds now.

Veter breathed a sigh of relief. Aeons node seeds. They could be sent to these void worlds.

The void domain holder paused. It was true. But right now, they were spoilt for choice. With the expanded starmap provided by the rescued Zaratan, they could see even more worlds that were linked to Delvegard.

Then, on the other side of Satrya, theres the Hawa-controlled worlds. Stella knew they were close to the gods, because of how Hawas power permeated through the world of Satrya. That- was also another front for exploration.

They really didnt have enough void mages to go around.

Not just that. They didnt have enough domain holders to explore the worlds safely.

***

Year 267

Delvegard.

What do you think? Lumoof asked as he guided the dwarven lord Sundus through the small town. It was a relatively run down, undeveloped place, but the local dwarves still built a small town here. Here, in this small dwarven town of Odeos, with no resources of worth, they were not worth the attention of the nearby dwarven nations.

Sundus, a relatively young dwarven lord from the Freshlands Treetiary College, nodded. Can be done. But I will require assistance. Theres a lot of construction to do, and I will need the Treeology priests to back me up. Ill need some time to convince the dwarves to accept our rule.

Lumoof glanced at Kafa. Kafa nodded. Ill handle it, Patriarch.

My avatar nodded. Ill leave the responsibilities for this world to you, Kafa. It appears I am needed elsewhere.

The lizardperson gave a salute. I wont let you down.

I know you wont. But do not fear failure. We will inevitably fail somewhere. Even Aeon fails. Lumoof smiled and looked back at Sundus. Lord Sundus, Ill return to Treehome and arrange the resources.

The Delvegard force was not a full invasion army, unlike Threeworlds. We deployed almost thirty thousand Valthorns and Valtrian Order operatives throughout the human kingdoms, in order to manage the transition period and enforce our rule.

At about one hundred people, it was pretty much a small, but elite reconnaissance force. But with Kafa around, the likelihood of threats that could threaten them was fairly miniscule.

Sundus was one of five dwarven lords recruited from Treehome for the task, each of them will be assisted by about twenty others elites, as bodyguards, spies, and also to act on their instructions.

They would each claim one of these smaller dwarven towns, as these towns do not have a high ranked [lord] leading them. The five would then form a shadow alliance, acting in concert with the rest of the Valthorns.

In a way, it was ironic that I didnt hesitate a full army to demonworlds, but I hesitated with these alien worlds. This was partly because demonworlds, for most part, felt like a known quantity. We were expecting demons, not other domain holders or gods. The range of possible enemies were somewhat predictable.

If there was a domain holder hiding in the world of demons, they would be hiding really well. Gods, well, we dont expect them in the world of demons, because gods could easily defeat demons on their own homeworlds.

I hear from the grapevine that youre exploring more worlds. Erranuel said. It wasnt that much of a secret. We explored worlds, and we publicly announced that we want to explore more worlds.

It was a recruitment pitch, really. People who have that exploratory streak would join us. The curiosity and desire to learn was a valuable quality to have.

What I am truly afraid of, with all these new worlds, is the discovery of a potentially hostile civilization with the ability to travel through the multiverse. If they possessed mind reading abilities, that meant only my [domain holders] were the only ones that could interact with them with high certainty that their minds are not compromised.

I am always exploring. There are many worlds out there, and we hope to find allies among them.

If you find our god, let him know Id like to speak to him.

Ironically, we were.

The Holy Emperor Erranuel was blessed, by the combined blessings of Gaya and Hawas archpriests, to create a King above Kings.

We are close to one of them. When we do speak to him-

I want to be there. Erranuel said. I am a Holy Emperor of an Empire, created in Gaya and Hawas name. But in the end, I want to know whether they care. Whether there is purpose in this foolish conflict that we inherited from the earlier set of Divine Communions. Whether we can end this long standing conflict, and work together.

I wasnt sure. I didnt know whether Hawa would be friendly, or hostile.

Of all the four major gods of Treehome, personally, I think its most likely that Gaya was hostile.

Gaya didnt even like spirit trees in his temple grounds. I still remember their priests kicking me out of their temples garden.

What if he doesnt want to speak to you? I asked.

Then there is no point for this faithful one to be faithful, is it?

Youre the Holy Emperor, surely your faith goes beyond such interaction. Is your faith so weak that it crumbles from being spurned? I countered. I didnt know why I was testing his faith, either, but I suspect I didnt like how transactional it all sounded.

There are those that believe all the frills of our societys interactions are stripped out, it comes down to our expectations. Each transaction leads to current or future benefit, or fear of retaliation.

Many people behave well, because they know being nice has future payback. If there were no future consequences, only a select few will be nice just to be nice.

Emperor Erranuel chuckled. Praise Hawa and Gaya, for I am a fool that cant see their greatness. If a god doesnt speak to me, even as a Holy Emperor, what more do I expect of my subjects? What more do I expect of the men who I send to their deaths in his name? I continue to believe in him, for their ways are as mystical as the darkness of the skies above, but a Holy Emperor is Holy only because he is the conduit. He is the link between the Heavens and the Earth. If he doesnt speak to me, then I must abdicate my throne and choose someone who will be granted an audience with our god.

Ah. That was a sensible angle. He is a Holy Emperor, because he must speak for his god. Without the ability to speak to his god, he is nothing but a normal Emperor. It is a fairly common expectation in medieval societies that the Emperor is the gods incarnate.

What is Gods Hand, if the hand cannot see God? I see your avatar, the Patriarch and the Voice of Aeon, and wonder where I stand.

I suppose even Emperors experience impostor syndrome.

***

Satrya, The Home of the Seven Hawa Relics

I doubt Hawa would actually refuse to see you. The High Priest said. It was the sixth High Priest they met so far, and of the ones they met, two had refused to entertain them. The High Priest of Museo was willing to speak for them, as was the High Priestess of Olpash.

Two in favor, three against.

This High priest shook his head. I will not oppose it. But I will not support you. It is His Eminences choice.

We merely request for the delivery of the message to Hawa.

The sixth one abstained. He frowned. Sorry. This is as much as I am willing to do. It is the matters of our God, and a mere mortal as myself would not step in.

It is a common stance. Those that opposed generally had the same stance, that with the matter of God, Edna would be the one to seek out an audience herself. The priests have no say, and should not be seen as working for another god. Even if it was just the act of delivering a message, all matters around their God was dealt with velvet gloves, and they would not dare to even consider modifying old customs and processes.

Faith. It did so much good to their world. It gave them protection and gave them structure. But there are times Edna hated dealing with them.

Can you imagine our own priests turning out this way? Ezar said with a scowl.

They could. Edna responded earnestly. We better remind the patriarchs and matriarchs not to be such stubborn fools.

Its a balance between accessibility and mysticism. Roon said with a sigh. The ranger-archer was surprisingly knowledgeable. With more access, god loses mysticism.

Edna frowned. Thats so stupid. A gods presence is self-evident. Anyone standing in front of Aeon knows that.

Edna remembered the day when Aiva descended for an audience, and she remembered how it felt. It was truly an unmistakable experience. Those who were there know who they saw, and no words can explain it.

A god is a god, and there was no need for all this pomp and process. Before divinity, there really was nothing else to compare to.

But Aeon is not in front of everyone. Roon countered. Think of it this way, if Hawa is so freely accessible, then it so happens that one can no longer speak to Hawa, will Hawa suffer from a loss of faith? Therefore, the base assumption for a faith is that speaking to a god is only in very, very special situations.

Edna realized Roon had a point. If the god was always seen as there, then suddenly disappearing would be bad for them. But if he is always unseen, then whether he is or not, is of no consequence to the faith.

But we are asking for an audience-

And I bet kings and emperors have asked for an audience too. That two of six are willing to speak for us is actually pretty good.

The Council of Hawa High Priests numbered Seven in all. Seven Relics, and Seven High Priests.

But this means we dont have a majority. Edna frowned. We need Lumoof here to convince that old woman to change her mind.