Eternium ~ 35~!~!~!

<Well, that was all exciting and fun.> As much as I really wanted to make light of the situation, I was truly shaken and out of sorts.  There had been a huge number of creatures in the area, and I was hesitant to be the one to inform Dale that it was only thanks to the really powerful people that we were still flying in one piece.

“Can we not do that again?” Dani shuddered and flew over to the Silverwood tree to her usual perch. “I don’t understand why you are always thrust into deadly situations so suddenly.”

<Hey now, to be fair, we are only here because you forced our hand. For the first time, I can really say that us being out and about in a dangerous area is your fault! Ha!> I crowed my laughter to the sky, though only a few people could actually hear it.

“Yes, well, if we are being actually fair,” Dani snapped back wryly, “then we would look at those creatures and see that they are only out and about because you displaced them.”

<I think we shouldn’t point fingers here,> I quickly backtracked my statements. <let’s just focus on what we are needing to do next.>

“Neither of us have fingers.” Dani chuckled at my expense.

<As I was saying,> I pushed forward, knowing that Dani had me on this one, <the ambient Essence in the air is getting stronger and stronger. We must be getting close to whatever it is that is releasing all of this power. What do you want to do here? We have already seen that there is a huge amount of monsters in the area, and I doubt they’ll get weaker as we get closer to whatever this place is. Forward… or run for it?>

“I need to go forward, Cal.” Dani shook her head sadly as I remained silent. “I… if I need to go alone, I understand. This is risking a lot, and I can just-”

<You obviously know that I’d never go for that, right?> I responded drolly. <Dani, for now until forever, wherever you are is where I want to be. If that means we charge forward into the unknown and fail, then by the abyss we will be doing it together! Forward it is.>

A few minutes passed in silence as we continued, each of us silent for our own reasons. Bob coughed uncomfortably from one of the screens to the navigation room that I kept up at all times now, and started speaking. “Uhh. I really hope that I’m not interrupting too terribly, but I really need to let you know that we have spotted a landmass on the horizon, and if we continue this pace we should arrive within an hour.”

I jumped at the chance to kickstart the conversation again, and sent feelings of joy and pleasure to Bob. He relaxed and continued working as I thanked him. <Alright, here is the plan, everyone! Charge forward and hoe for the best, and I'll be ready to escape at any moment and restart elsewhere!>

Possibly not my most inspiring speech ever, but that was fine by me. Everyone here knew that their job was a permanent one - one way or another. So long as I lived, they would as well. The landmass in the distance was getting more clear with each passing second, though there was an oddity that took me too long - in my opinion - to notice. <Is the sun not shining on that? No, it has to be, right? You all couldn’t see it otherwise?>

“I think that whatever sunlight is landing there, is just kinda stopping?” Dani hypothesised leerily. “You’re right though, there has to be some light on it!”

<We have an hour to guess, I suppose. It’s way too far to know for sure, since I obviously can’t reach out and test it directly. Yet.> I sent a command to the Bobs. <alrighty. People! Give me your best guesses, think about it for a little while while we fly. I’m going to take the next little bit to look around and see the changes that occured in the aftermath of the fight here. Ready? Go!>

I followed a well-worn path up to where The Master was working on the super-intricate portal. Odin was standing near him, listening to the reasoning behind their plan, the merits and detriments, and he didn't seem all that impressed. The thundering voice of his shattered the calm of the room, causing multiple technicians to flinch away. “You are asking me to abandon my oath? You dare?”

“Your oath to whom, Odin?” The Master’s voice was calm, but his words cracked like a whip. “A dead people? A city that no longer exists? Do you think I haven’t visited your people in the past? Are your traditions dead as well, or do they carry on through you? What was the final will of your people? Death and forgetfulness of everything they held dear, or was it seeking the restoration of your society? You are the only one who can accomplish that feat, are you not?”

“I am also the only one who can say exactly what my traditions are now, Dark One!” Odin stepped forward and a static build-up discharged into the air, causing a small peal of thunder to cause the room’s occupants to glance over again. “If I say my intentions are vengeance, then that is my people’s intentions!”

“What of the transformation I see two of your people have somehow been put through?” The Master continued without a single change to his demeanor, “I feel that they should have some say as well. Do they wish you to go on an unrepentant murder spree? Will killing people weaker than you be helpful? Are they pleased with your actions?”

“They will follow what I say.” For the first time, Odin glanced away. I was watching this with great delight, what fascinating things sentients would do to convince others! I needed to try this out. Appealing to morality, and not even of the person in question, but a larger group that might condem their actions? It made sense, everyone seemed to want to have the respect of others. I just wanted to eat them and get more powerful, but maybe I was just more honest with myself than most people were.

“What a great life you have chosen for them, then. To die, so that you can satisfy misguided wrath.” The Master shook his head. “Walk among the people here then, and tell me that all of them need to suffer the same fate as your people because you are sulking. I warn you, slaying an innocent will be the last action you are allowed to take. This place is under my protection.”

Aww. What a big ‘ol softie. How did he ever get such a terrible reputation? Oh right, the giant bone-clad demons. Beyond that though? Well, the murders. Alright, yeah, I keep forgetting about those pesky laws that people bind themselves with. This conversation seemed to be at an end, but before I left I took a look at the portal and fixed a few small imperfections in the power flow. It wouldn’t make sense to have this thing explode and undo all the work that we were doing trying to save the world.

Let’s see… what else was there to do? Dale seemed to be fine, good for him… oh, there was that one little project I had going with the Northman that had been murdering people. I looked in at him and watched for a minute as he fought against the Inscribed bars that were holding him in place. Good, the flesh grafts were taking hold. I had been worried when the blood I had been creating in his veins started to clot all over the place, but with some modifications to his liver and kidneys, the clots had soon stopped appearing. 

I felt a little bad about all the pain he was experiencing, but wasn’t too worried. If his mind broke, I had a backup copy that I could put in place. I needed to see the limits of what I could do to a living person, and I needed him to be alive and aware as the process continued, so that he could let me know in real time where things were going wrong. Case in point… 

“Ohh… my jaw…” the words were slurred and barely recognizable, but that was an easy fix! The bone broke in a few places and lengthened, then I generated new mandible tissue to fix everything up. Good, good. Everything was going correctly. The design for living flesh modification had been one of the many things I had been traded by the infernal dungeon. This was also the method the Northmen had been using to have Runes put into their flesh. They were not tattoos as I had originally thought, they were actually growths inside of them! It was utterly fascinating to me. Normally I had to do this all directly, and now there was a method for automating it! Pure excitement, but obviously this wasn’t something I was going to be able to test on someone I liked.

“Great Spirit, we are only a few minutes out from the landmass!” Bob interrupted my thinking, but I liked that he only did it for important events.

<Sounds great, Bob, let me->

A section of my influence was destroyed instantly and easily, collapsing inward and blowing a few tons of stone off the side of my mountain. I never knew that I could feel nauseous before, but, yu~u~p! I felt really bad suddenly, because I knew what this was. I had even done this a few times before, and I could tell that this wasn’t an attack.

There was a dungeon out there, knocking on my influence to get my attention.