Chương 25: Divine messenger in the faithless city

City Lord Xullias remained in the throne room long after the first orders had been given. Around him, the Future Makers moved between tables covered in maps, magical instruments, and glowing orbs, while guards hurried through the adjoining halls with messages for the soldiers stationed around the city. He kept his hands clasped behind his back as he stared through the enormous windows. Beyond the palace, Maurapia was still in chaos. The city itself had not changed.

Its towers, streets, workshops, and countless homes remained exactly where they had always been. Yet beyond the walls, the world had become something completely unfamiliar. The Oroitan Desert was simply gone. In its place stretched an enormous grassland, green and wet beneath a sky that looked almost insultingly peaceful.

"Agiro, report." he said without turning. The Future Maker turned from one of the floating orbs. He was a thin male Servoma with several enchanted lenses hanging around his neck, each one designed for a different form of magical observation.

"Farsight has finished its first sweep, my lord." he didn't even bother picking up his notes as there was literally nothing out there "No cities within range. No roads, towers, fortifications, or signs of civilization." Xullias frowned."Not even monsters?"

"None detected." Agiro shook his head, his docked tail barely moving.

"None that our instruments can detect, at least. We have extended the magical range several times. There are small creatures throughout the grasslands and forested areas, but nothing resembling a monster of any type." Xullias slowly relaxed a bit. This was already less worrysome then first expected.

"What about the wildlife?"

"Abundant. Herd animals, birds, smaller predators, insects. There is enough game nearby to sustain the city if necessary, although I would not recommend sending hunters out until we know what is safe to eat." Pushma, Agiro's college answered. His old and long grey fur almost reaching the floor.

"Fresh water is plentiful. The river passing through Maurapia comes from the north like back where we come from and continues south, eventually reaching a large body of water to the west. A salty sea." That was unexpected, but sea meant more chances at resources. Xullias walked toward the nearest magical orb and placed a hand against its surface. Images shimmered across it, showing distant grasslands, hills, forests, and finally an immense blue expanse stretching toward the horizon.

"A sea," he murmured with a hint of a smirk… a small amount of genuine optimism entered his thoughts. Food, water, open land and even a sea? It could have been far worse.

"Yerit," he called. A Baukk woman standing over another cluster of magical instruments looked up, her tail curled around her waist elegantly.

"You were searching for divine essence."

"Yes, my lord." She bowed deep.

"We found a strong divine source inside the city." His expression hardened as his mind went to a dark place again.

"Explain."

"Our instruments detected a concentrated trace of divine essence moving through the southern district. It was weak enough that we initially assumed it was residual energy from whatever transported us here..." she stopped only for the city lord to motion for her to continue "Well, my men followed the trail and found a Baukk. Female. Young but shockingly bulky and rich brown… She was unconscious and smelled strongly of kasheen." Xullias stared at her with a raise eyebrow.

"Drunk?"

"Extremely. She was unconscious when we found her and her boss told us that she drank a full flask of it in one go." The city lord could understand being drunk when stuff like this happened. Actually, he felt that he could use a cup of red right about now.

"Put her in the guest wing… tied her up but not in an undignified way." Several Future Makers looked toward him.

"If she truly carries divine essence, I don't want her waking up frightened, surrounded by guards, and assuming she has been imprisoned. Give her a comfortable room and have two guards stationed outside." He hesitated but for a moment.

"I will talk to her when she wakes. Prepare some medicine for her hungover." Yerit bowed and left to carry out the order. Xullias returned his attention to the magical map, but his mind had already moved far beyond it. The faceless god was the real problem. He had felt the divine presence when the hand descended from the sky. Every magical instinct he possessed had screamed at him to run, yet there had been nowhere to run. Maurapia had survived, but where was the faceless god…

if he wanted to punish this city they would all be dust in the wind. If the faceless god had truly been responsible for their displacement, what did that mean? Xullias hated not knowing the situation. He looked around the chamber at his Future Makers. These people were the greatest collection of magical minds in the world. Together, they had built Maurapia into the greatest city of knowledge ever known. Their combined abilities could accomplish things that entire kingdoms considered impossible.

And yet against a true god… they were nothing. - - - - - - - - - - - - Euripa entered the throne room and was instantly stunned. The place looked nothing like the throne rooms from the stories she had read. This one was small, barely bigger than a normal house. It had open arches instead of windows, with a terrace on each side. There was no long red carpet with guards standing along the walls, but several tables covered with magical instruments.

All seven Future Makers were either working with glowing orbs or looking up from their notes. The whole place looked more like a workplace than a throne room. The throne itself had been carved from what Euripa could only guess was the front of an old ship, its wood looking slightly weathered despite the care clearly given to it.

She had heard that the first City Lord, the father of Lord Xullias, had used the only remaining piece of his ship to establish this city, but for that precious piece to have become the throne… It made her wonder what kind of story was behind it. Xullias was a slightly dark-skinned man with short, naturally curly hair. He wore no crown, but his clothes clearly showed his status. A deep orange suit covered his body, with the regalia of the city displayed over his heart.

His deep, tired brown eyes and neatly trimmed, elegant halo of a mustache revealed his age. He smirked when he saw the confusion in the woman's eyes while also had to admit that he had never seen a Baukk with this coloration before. Or this size, for that matter. The woman barely fit into her neatly tailored clothes. Her vest seemed to be holding on for dear life, doing everything it could to keep her considerable bust from ripping the garment apart.

For a brief moment, Xullias entertained the thought of what a lucky… and unlucky, man her future mate might be.

"So, I take it you like the seat of power?" he asked as he stood and casually walked toward one of the tables.

"This is the City of Knowledge for a reason. I am just as much a Future Maker as all seven of mine." He nodded toward Euripa as he picked up a stack of reed paper.

"Miss Euripa. Born in the fall twenty-four years ago in the highlands of Dvanaker. Taken in by a noteworthy seeker of knowledge who was burned for sacrilege. Escaped the continent only four years ago and currently works as a sweeper in a public library on Fourth Street and as a hauler at Green Goods." He slowly folded the paper.

"No family to speak of. No friends anyone can account for. Quiet, reserved, and hard-working." Xullias placed the paper back on the table.

"How do you know all this?" Euripa asked, staring at him in stunned disbelief.

"I make sure every citizen here is well researched." The city lord gently ran one finger across the table as he spoke.

"As you can guess, I do not like surprises. Surprises have a tendency to cause... unforeseen issues." He stopped and turned toward her.

"Tell me. Why do you have a shocking amount of divine essence? Essence that we could easily detect before, but which only appeared after the hand of god incident?" His eyes were like blades, cutting through the air while his words remained calm and measured. - - - - - - - - - - - The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Euripa felt her heart begin to beat rapidly again, panic surging through her chest, but this time she forced it down.

She could not afford to lose herself in front of the city lord.

"Lord Xullias," she began, kneeling on one knee.

"I know this will sound crazy, and even I can barely understand what happened, but if you allow me... I would like to start from the beginning."

"Go on," the city lord said with a nod.

"No one will stop you."

"When the hand came and we were cast aside... I somehow felt time still moving. I mean, we were stopped in time, but somehow, because of my special aura, I could sense it passing." She shook her head, struggling to put the sensation into words.

"I know this sounds weird, but I think hundreds, if not thousands, of years passed between the hand appearing and us arriving here."

"That is absurd!" Agiro blurted out, only to immediately close his mouth and bow when Xullias glared at him.

"Continue," the lord said calmly.

"When we came back and... well, came to be, rather, I rushed down to the city border and felt a divine aura. I could not see the god at first, but he showed himself to me. It was not the faceless god from the central continent." She shook her head.

"He is called Joshua Steel. A metallic dragon god..." She paused to swallow before continuing.

"He also told me this world was his creation and that he needed a Celestial Messenger, which he turned me into. And, well... he passed out." The room became so quiet that the distant call of a bird and the soft sound of wind were the only things anyone could hear. Unlike the guards, who were absolutely stunned by the revelation, the seven Future Makers and the city lord were already deep in thought. There was no panic or shouting.

Instead, they rushed toward their magical instruments, checking and rechecking their readings.

"It actually makes sense, my lord." Old Pushma placed several readings written on reed paper in front of the others.

"The air, the mana density, and even the sun are different. I am certain that once night comes, we will see entirely new constellations."

"Let's assume this is true. Then what?" Agiro asked.

"Are we the only city in this entire world? Are there others like us? Maybe we can ask the god…" He stopped himself, thinking.

"Yes. I think we are dealing with an entirely new set of rules." Xullias tapped one finger against the report in front of him.

"I am ashamed to propose this, but maybe... just maybe, we should consider talking to this god and hearing out his wishes."

"But my lord! This city was built on separation from the divine." Yerit took a step back.

"It is the founding principle of Maurapia."

"Yes, and it was made in the world of the faceless human god," Xullias replied, his tone becoming more serious.

"We are dealing with an entirely new entity. Perhaps he can be reasoned with."

"That is insanity. No one reasons with a god." Japonte, the pale human Future Maker, shook his head.

"Excuse me." Euripa's meek voice made everyone turn toward her.

"I think he is nice. He spoke gently and even asked me to speak to him casually." The room fell quiet once again, though this time, the silence was not nearly as tense as before. - - - - - - - - - - - Joshua woke with something absurdly similar to a headache, only this one was divine in origin. His neck was awkwardly twisted, and his horns were poking into his left forearm.

"Why in the world did that knock me out?" He quickly checked his current patron points and found that he had thirty-seven, accumulated from the slow trickle of faith coming from the world of his warlocks. After checking how long he had been unconscious, he realized that barely half a day had passed inside his realm. Thanks to the accelerated flow of time he had established before passing out, only a minute had passed on Earth.

"Let's see where this Euripa is." He reached through his connection to his prophet and immediately found himself looking into a room full of people engaged in an argument. It was not a shouting match, but the intellectual sort, with people calmly presenting theories, offering reasons, and speaking clearly as they tried to make sense of their situation.

"I better speak through her." Joshua shook the last remnants of dizziness from his head before turning invisible again and slowly floating toward the city. He put on his most serious expression and spoke directly into Euripa's mind.

"Hear my voice, my chosen. You may tell them that you can act as a link between us. Let them ask their questions, and I shall answer through you." Joshua frowned as soon as the words left his mind. He really needed to work on his choice of words. He was still not used to speaking like a god. - - - - - - - - - - - Xullias was just about to begin making a list when a glow suddenly surrounded Euripa. The light around her sharpened, becoming almost tangible.

A set of ethereal wings appeared behind her, while a series of spikes and the aura of a long, sharp dragon's tail flared to life around her own. On her head, the light condensed into a pair of horns, one side jagged and wild, the other elegant and curved.

"I did not do this!" Euripa raised her hands, her eyes going wide. Then she slowly nodded as realization dawned on her.

"Joshua Steel can hear you through me. He said you can ask your questions."

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" Japonte sighed, taking a measured step backward. Xullias, on the other hand, simply nodded and took a step forward.

"I am Lord Xullias Leutas, second lord of Maurapia, the City of Knowledge. I can see that... we happened to be brought here for a reason. Could you tell us how this happened?" he asked, his tone regal but without pride. From Euripa's mouth came a deep and resonant voice, the smooth baritone of a man.

"I am Joshua Steel, a newborn god who has just made his world. As for how you came to be here... I can only guess that your original god decided you were no longer of use and wagered your souls in a bet against my survival. As you may have already guessed... I won. As such, I decided to free your souls and your city from its suspended prison and place you within my world." Xullias and the others exchanged glances before the city lord asked his second question.

"What do you plan to do with us, then?"

"Plan? Nothing," came the calm answer.

"I did not free you from your prison just to put you through hell again. In fact, I never even asked for the souls of others. All I wanted was to right a wrong. As for what you do with your new home is up to you."

"Just like that?" Xullias asked.

"What about worship? Isn't that what all gods want?"

"I do not require it, nor do I demand it. I simply accept it from those willing."

"Are there other people in this world? Monsters, perhaps, that we should be worried about?" asked the elderly canine Future-Maker, gripping his cane.

"Not yet. There are a lot more souls waiting to be freed though. I will also create dungeons all over the world so the wild mana has somewhere to go, but for now, the world is as safe as it could be. Do not get too accustomed to that, however. Changes may come, but they will not come unannounced."

"Then I think you have answered all the most important questions, Lord Steel," Xullias said with a respectful bow. Just like that, the glow around Euripa vanished. The ethereal wings, horns, and dragon-like aura disappeared as though they had never existed. Euripa shook her head violently, blinking several times as she tried to clear her thoughts.

"That is not a good feeling," she muttered, shuddering. - - - - - - - - - - - - With the current situation more or less handled, Joshua sent one last message to Euripa, telling her that he would be leaving them alone for a while so they could get used to their new home. He then left the realm and, before doing anything else, matched its flow of time to that of Earth. There was no reason to create another headache for himself by having random time differences between the two worlds.

The offerings coming from Gaix were more than enough time fuckery when he did them from the dungeon. Speaking of Gaix, the young man had changed considerably. He had put on some muscle and acquired decent equipment, among other things, and looked nothing like the rugged young man in his twenties whom Joshua had first met. Gaix had grown into a proper young man, carrying himself with considerably more confidence than before.

Wren, meanwhile, had earned a promotion that took him to the capital, where he had quickly become enamored with the royal library. Apparently, the young warlock had decided that he wanted to become some sort of magister, although Joshua suspected that access to an enormous collection of books had played a significant part in that decision. Piur and his followers were having a somewhat different experience. The kobold prophet and his massive camp were beginning to grow antsy at the lack of divine messages.

Joshua eventually took pity on them and sent Piur a small mental command, telling him to gather everything together the following day, as they would soon receive land in a new world of their own. The response was immediate. The entire camp erupted into a drinking frenzy. Joshua could only shake his head when he sensed the celebration spreading through the kobolds.

"I just want to have a pizza now..." he groaned as he passed the main hall. Getting used to the massive castle was proving almost as awkward as getting used to being a god had been, but he could not deny that Princess absolutely loved the place. The old dog had already claimed several favorite sleeping spots, apparently deciding that the castle belonged to her as much as anyone else.

"We will get a pizza ready!" Joshua looked up as his third cat maid, a Siamese named Lilly, bowed from the staircase. She immediately rushed toward the kitchen before he could even answer. Josh smirked. He really did love the maids. All of them were lovely, and somehow each had developed their own little personalities despite being created only recently. As he passed two living armors, Uno and Dos, he gave them an approving nod.

"Looking sharp." His divine senses immediately picked up the tiny surge of happiness that followed. Those two small words apparently meant the world to them.

"Dad?" Joshua looked up as he entered the dining hall. Luna was already sitting at the table, watching him with concern.

"You don't look so good."

"Just had a long few months," Joshua sighed.

"Months?" Kate asked, stopping halfway through pouring tea.

"Yeah..." Joshua rubbed his face.

"Kind of worked on my own little world and... time got out of hand. Pour me one as well. I could kill for a cup of Yorkshire." He slumped into the main chair with a tired groan, looking less like an all-powerful god and more like a father who desperately needed a cup of tea and a quiet evening.

"Why don't you take a bit of time off?" Luna asked.

"I really want to have all the souls given to me properly situated, but sure, let's have a free day." Joshua nodded.

"Want to go to the theme park?"

"I am not that young." Luna shook her head.

"It would be rather boring."

"You are barely a year old, my dear." Josh chuckled and gratefully accepted the teacup Kate offered him.

"Why not show me your world?" she asked with a smile.

"It is rather simple still. Nothing that fancy. I mean, there are a few neatly made areas I designed to look like zones from a video game, but..."

"Oh, yeah! Let's fly all over the place!" Luna's eyes lit up.

"How could I say no when you are this cute?" Joshua shook his head, unable to hide his smile. That night, Luna came and curled up beside Josh in his bed, resting her head against his chest. For a while, Joshua simply lay there, enjoying the quiet warmth of the moment. He really wanted things to stay like this. A peaceful life, his daughter beside him, his friends nearby, and no more absurd trials or divine nonsense. Unfortunately, he already knew that with friends like those two, trouble was probably inevitable.

Eventually, his thoughts wandered to Gu Zhao. He could feel the soul shard of the cultivator resting within his divine soul, a tiny reminder of the strange friendship they had forged across worlds. Joshua reached toward it and sent the man a simple mental greeting. It was not a word or a sentence, but a feeling that carried a simple message. - I hope you are doing well. - With that, Joshua allowed his mind to finally quiet down and slipped into sleep.