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 wouldn’t 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 didn’t 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 Patreeck’s 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 didn’t 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.

“Shouldn’t 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 sun’s 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. “Aeon’s 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, there’s the Hawa-controlled worlds. Stella knew they were close to the gods, because of how Hawa’s power permeated through the world of Satrya. That- was also another front for exploration. 

They really didn’t have enough void mages to go around. 

Not just that. They didn’t 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. There’s a lot of construction to do, and I will need the Treeology priests to back me up. I’ll need some time to convince the dwarves to accept our rule.”

Lumoof glanced at Kafa. Kafa nodded. “I’ll handle it, Patriarch.”

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

The lizardperson gave a salute. “I won’t let you down.”

“I know you won’t. But do not fear failure. We will inevitably fail somewhere. Even Aeon fails.” Lumoof smiled and looked back at Sundus. “Lord Sundus, I’ll 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. 

Once a certain scale was achieved, the plan was that I would deploy one of my Node Trees in Sundus’s town. As the situation on Threeworlds and the human kingdoms stabilizes over the next few years, we would then have more resources to redirect to Delvegard, and properly begin our colonization process. 

Of what we know of Delvegard so far, we have two actual goals, and one optional goal

The main one, in my brief assessment of Delvegard, was to properly capture the dwarven academies of Delvegard. These craftsmen and smithing academies train a lot of the crafters that worked on their War Machines, and if we could maneuver our FTC-trained dwarven lords into a position where they controlled these academies, that would be ideal. 

The second one, was to gain access to a stable supply of these Sunsteels and Sunmetals, and conduct experiments on how to better use these new materials for our war against the demons.

The third one was to recruit the dwarves for our war. I would like to channel their thirst for war towards the demons. That should bring about some semblance of peace and unity to the Delvegard Dwarves. If not, we would like to convert the dwarves into our war suppliers, providing assistance to our forces. 

Right now, the Valthorn’s manufacturing processes are strong, but some variety of goods, and an expansion of our total military industrial complex would allow us to mount more attacks and reduce our lag time between attacks. 

We felt this keenly with the demon’s comet, where we had to tap into all our crafters and manufacturers to make sufficient bombs. Even then, it felt insufficient. It took us too long to ramp up our production, and our bombs were still not good enough. 

As an institution, we will learn from our mistakes, and get better in the art of fighting demons. We will roll with the punches, and hit back as hard as we can. 

***

Treehome

Back on Treehome, the situation was calm. 

More fragments emerged from the void, and during this time the heroes got some additional practice with the meteors and their tree-mechs. 

Then we finally had one that carried a part of the demon king Multipus. It was fairly small, and the heroes annihilated the creature easily. 

So far, so good. None of the meteors have gotten past our first layer of defenses. But the bulk of the meteors should only reach us in about three years time. Our space based defenses would be truly tested then. 

***

“Here.” Kei held out the strange seed in her hand. Lausanne trembled slightly as she touched it, and consumed it.

I remember when Jura ate it for the first time, and felt like his soul was on fire. Lausanne immediately went and rested on a bed. “-I feel queasy.”

“I was told it’s a common occurrence.” 

She slept for a day, and when she woke up, her soul weighed more. 

“So how many levels did you gain?” Kei asked as she came to check on her friend. “I was told some folks have overflow levels.”

“Level 98.” Lausanne said, trembling slightly. “I seem to have done a lot since I hit my peak.”

“Darn. 13 levels is pretty good. I hit Level 100 some time ago but it’s getting pretty damn hard to level outside of the dungeons. I’ll take you with me.”

Lausanne paused. “When I was sleeping, I was thinking about this- about what I’m doing.”

“What?” Kei looked back.

“What if- what if one day we have to fight him?”

Kei shook her head. “I’d rather not get to that point. We bend it, we mend it, but I’d rather not end it. That’s an ending we’ll regret.”

Lausanne looked out of her home, and into the streets. She wore Valthorn armor, custom made. Her position in the society meant many gave her special rights and access, even when she didn’t ask for it. 

“It’s been a while since I’ve visited dungeons.”

Kei smirked. “Well, it’ll get easier with time.”

***

Throughout Treehome, with the winds of the vassal wars behind us, trade and mostly normal life resumed. Piracy, a problem we’ve pretty much allowed to occur due to the leveling it generated, came back in full swing, this time putting the pirates against their former clients. 

This time, adventurers participated in the defense of the guilds. Adventurers generally tried to stay out of the war between the guilds and Empires of the other continents, simply because their nature of work wasn’t designed for regular combat, even if their high levels made them valuable irregular units. 

Most empires and guilds dangled huge amounts of money in the past, during the heated years of the vassal wars, and hoped to entice adventurers to support their war. It worked, to some degree, but some adventurers didn’t want to offend either the guilds or the empires and decided to stay out of it. 

“Once more, nothing from you. Why do you endure these pirates?” It’s been two decades since the day Emperor Erranuel ascended to the throne of his Holy Empire, but we still occasionally spoke. With my reach, it was not impossible for me to contact him even in the safety of his palace. The range of my telepathic abilities has increased, a result of the cumulative increase in levels over the years. 

“Why not? It is only the natural course of mortals to attempt to subvert known ways of achieving wealth. Why do you expect me to do something?”

“True. Sometimes, I think nothing is exactly what you want to do.” Erranuel chuckled in his throne room. There was no one present, he had chased them out whenever we spoke. But I know some of the Emperor’s aides are secretly listening, and he knows about it too. 

But a semblance of privacy is better than none. 

By most measures, his Holy Empire prospered since his ascension. His elevated powers brought prosperity, as the average health improved, farming yields improved, and somehow, the earth itself rewarded them with new mineral discoveries.

A King or an Emperor bends the luck and destiny of his nation. Earthly minerals and resources are certainly not finite in the traditional, earthly sense. System shenanigans can trigger the creation of new mineral veins, just as how the flow of magical ley lines changes the mineral structure and qualities of the rocks it passed through. 

To a certain extent, there is a friendly competition between us. Erranuel wants his empire to catch up with the Central Continent, and for most part, I don’t get in the way. With our domain holders, we remain so far ahead that it would be difficult for them to even think of competing. 

I believe it is the open communication between the two of us that allowed this to happen. As the Order expands into a multiplanar institution, our capacity to monitor and to truly control all the minutiae of local policies and politics is limited. 

Already, Stella informed the council of the presence of at least 15 more worlds that could be accessed directly from Treehome, due to the newly unlocked [Void Layers]. 

“Fifteen worlds. Just from us directly through the new void layers.” My council gathered, and I wondered whether we should just send spies to them directly. 

But with domain holders at a shortage, using my level 100s was an elevated risk because they lacked the protections a domainholder had.

In a way, it was ironic that I didn’t 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 don’t expect them in the world of demons, because gods could easily defeat demons on their own homeworlds. 

“I hear from the grapevine that you’re exploring more worlds.” Erranuel said. It wasn’t 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 I’d like to speak to him.” 

Ironically, we were. 

The Holy Emperor Erranuel was blessed, by the combined blessings of Gaya and Hawa’s 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 Hawa’s 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 wasn’t sure. I didn’t know whether Hawa would be friendly, or hostile. 

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

Gaya didn’t even like spirit trees in his temple grounds. I still remember their priests kicking me out of their temple’s garden. 

“What if he doesn’t want to speak to you?” I asked.

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

“You’re the Holy Emperor, surely your faith goes beyond such interaction. Is your faith so weak that it crumbles from being spurned?”  I countered. I didn’t know why I was testing his faith, either, but I suspect I didn’t like how transactional it all sounded. 

There are those that believe all the frills of our society’s 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 can’t see their greatness. If a god doesn’t 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 doesn’t 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 God’s 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 Eminence’s 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.”

“It’s 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. “That’s so stupid. A god’s 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 don’t have a majority.” Edna frowned. “We need Lumoof here to convince that old woman to change her mind.”