“The gods war because the gods bore?” I asked.
“Seven hells Gryff! I am reusing that one. Spot on. So with that in mind, you will understand why we conquer and expand. The Horde is one of our tools. I ask you to see past them as that tool and view the cause and effect. The cause of the invasion seven is the war in our universe. The effect is trillion sentients die so our parents have new toys to use in their useless fight. Is it fair, nope? Can we be stopped? Doubtful. You would have to kill us seven, then portal to our universe. Once there you would have to kill nearly ten thousand battle hardened full gods. Never would happen, and let me give you another tip. Nevers do happen, but rarely. At one point thirty billion of your years ago, the gods battled and the winners conquered. They eradicated their foes and sentenced all those captured to death. It was less than a hundred thousand years into the peace that two new factions grew and the war started again. There is an endless cycle that no demigod or even a god like me, can end. I think the creator wanted it this way. The most logical decision we could determine is this is how it is supposed to be.”
Well damn… I was going to have to do some soul searching after this. I wished King Aves or Lord Nova was here. I had never felt so insignificant. I was truly proud of all the achievements I had made on Vin. With this information, it was the tiniest drop in the smallest of buckets. It was nothing. Our lives were nothing to these gods. Wait…
“So the four retreating gods that still live, what happened?”
“They hid and fled. After Sion died, we saw very little of them. Us seven assumed they found a way to leave this universe. You have proven that not to be true. It is clear they are inferior and not meant to war, or at the very least are pacifists. Apparently, one fathered a demigod. Which, is smart. There are rules to demigods. The ultimate creator in his wisdom put them into place. I can have one champion. My champion can only be created by birthing a mortal with a god. This rule does resonate with us as a worthy one. If I could touch a mighty warrior and make him a half god or full god the universe would quickly spiral out of control. We instead have to risk that our child will be useless or maybe great. Natural evolution will dictate the results. Then there is the one champion per god rule. If your father were to impregnate another woman, you would die before that new champion is born. It is random and terrifying for the demigod. I remember when I had a weak son who wanted to be more diplomatic than brutal. I told him I was having another baby. He locked himself away for months trying to avoid his demise. A few days before that baby was born an asteroid hit a moon, it deflected at a perfect angle, and boom. My son was removed to make room for the next. I rarely exude my seed into mortals though.
“Our kind tend to save our seed for our attempting to conceive a full god. It is a one in a trillion chance to get a female goddess pregnant and us three males cycle our four females endlessly. That is our crowning achievement. Sure we can conquer some dvaren or elvath and easily best you humans. We can then regiment breeding on isolated controlled planets and send divisions to our upper universe to battle. There are many thanks given and accolades received. Minor, it is all minor. Except to create an offspring. I do envy you humans for that. The only species I feel bad for are the elvath. Those females take a millennia to conceive. Almost as bad as our one every ten billion on average for a goddess. Oh… she is waking. Here accept my contract of peace talks so she can’t go ballistic, and this way you do not kill her. I really do need her alive. Ah… don’t think about it Gryff. You may be a powerful demigod but I do not barter. You gained more knowledge than any physical item I could have gifted. Your contract with me will hide you from the seven and let you grow in peace until you are ready. I look forward to battling you later.”
Rina stirred under my hand and yellow contract magic flowed from Warg to me. It was essentially what he said. I could not be touched by one of the seven advancing gods and in return, I could not touch them. In exchange, I could never know where they were and they could never scry my location. That was how it roughly translated. This ensured I was not hunted and would have time to grow and plan. It was indeed a mighty gift for sparing Rina’s life. I did debate ending her right now. I was not certain I could escape alive though. Actually, I had no idea how to leave this plane of existence. I was in essence trapped behind enemy lines. I accepted the peace deal to fight another day.
I hesitantly released my hold on Rina’s neck and the moment she could talk she seethed in rage. I was expecting her to attack me, but she did not. I knew I was wearing white loose clothing after accepting Wargs contract. She launched at Warg.
“We have been hunting her for billions of years and you let her champion have a peace agreement. You are insane Warg. If the other five don’t kill you for this mistake, then I will. This is the closest we have ever come to her.”
I raised my hand. “Warg gave me a truth contract. The god Preception is my father, I verified it by testing the yellow magic.”
This caused Rina to calm and Warg to become infuriated. The god of war grew until he was back to his massive form and he screamed with incoherent rage.
“No!!!” Warg yelled with his head tilted back. I was insanely confused. Rina now gazed upon her fellow god with less anger, but the scorn was still there. That was immediately deflected onto me as she shifted to look down on me. The old bitty had swapped to a gorgeous elf in a yellow hip hugging dress. She snapped her fingers as I watched her morph. A pulling sensation yanked me from this plane of existence and then there was darkness.
CHAPTER 13
“And so it was with great sadness the two lovers parted for different paths. His was a journey of adventure, while hers was a destined detainment. The end.” Velia said.
I listened to her reading to me as I drifted back into my body. I shifted in the sheets desperate to awake fully. My mind synced with my soul and I opened my eyes. Velia stared down at me sweetly with her brown eyes inches from mine, my movements attracting her attention.
“HE IS AWAKE!!!” Velia belted out with such a force I winced at the sudden noise. She hopped onto the bed and laid on top of me. I was being smothered in kisses.
I noticed a lot of things were odd about my current situation. I was not in a thick jungle on an island. I was in a bed on the top floor of the Tipsy. Many questions immediately ran through my mind. How did I get here? How long was I talking with the gods? Was my contract with Rakmar still valid? The last one I checked. I had less than three weeks to turn in my copied bibles. Oh wow. Not good.
Velia covered me in so many kisses I had to stop her. “I love you Velia, kisses later. My magic is telling me I missed more than a month of time. What happened?”
“I knew you would come back to us!” Velia exclaimed as she raced to a dresser and grabbed a set of clothes. “Yes, lots of changes. Why don’t we get you dressed first okay?”
When I stripped the covers off I notice my body had withered. Atrophy wrecked my toned muscles into a wobbly mess. My bones ached from constant bed rest and I was instantly tired from my minor movements. Could this not have been healed? Then I realized, no it could not. It was not an injury, only deterioration. This was going to take weeks to recover from.
Velia reached me and helped belt on my pants. I had to use the bed to balance myself. While I was thin and lacking muscles I was getting used to the change fairly quickly. By the time I had the tunic on I was walking on my own, merely slowly. My to do list grew into a mountain of epic proportions. What had angered the two gods so savagely at the end? Did this mean my mother was the fourth retreating god Warg never disclosed? That was what I concluded. I was a demigod and Perception was not my father. I would try to barter with Sara the AI to try to find some answers. Realistically though, none of that mattered. I had to conclude my deal with Rakmar and then fix Vin. I had bought myself time with those who hunted me.
“Thanks for helping me get dressed Velia. I fear I will be in meetings all day. I want to walk the Dais track while I talk. I need to spe
nd today slowly awakening my muscles. Go find our wives please, I can make it out of the Tipsy by myself.” I said and saw her crying. I rolled my eyes but did not scold her. I was fine. I would probably always be fine. A snake could not keep me down, regardless of the lethality of its poison. “Okay, you can stay. The first person we can boss around, we get them to get our family together. Then Nate on standby.”
She nodded and snuggled into me. I saw Jak tending the bar on the first floor. A man I rarely saw, even before I was out for a month. I called him over and sent him to find my wives. As we walked to exit the Tipsy there were resounding thuds outside the front door. The griffins had heard me. Velia opened the door as I walked out slowly.
King Aves, Lord Nova, and a new two toned red and green feathered griffin waited for me. We exchanged minor bows at each other before King Aves talked.
“Human Emperor Gryff, I present Lord Wodra. He is the griffin I placed in charge of King Omarr’s region. There is much to catch you up on, but for now, we will bide our time. Your wives are running this way right now. I am glad you are back among the walking. It seems you are a hard human to kill. Until later Gryff.” King Aves said and they departed.
As I watched them fly to Zenith I noticed my wives racing for me. Pipi, Amber, Addilyn, and the slowest was Bella. They were glorious to watch bound my way. Poor Pipi and Amber had their large bust fighting their restraints. I wished they were topless, what a glorious sight it would have been. I braced myself for a tackle when they neared. Velia said I was fragile and they immediately shifted to soft kisses with hugs. I let them dote on me until Bella arrived in a huff. She pinched my ass, bent me down, and planted a long kiss on my lips.
When our kiss broke Addilyn ran her hand over where the snake had sunk its fangs into my face. They were all crying and it was building up from each other crying.
“Enough!” I said not wanting pity. “We need to walk and talk. I also need a bubble around us. Addilyn you’re a great runner go get Tammy. The rest of you, we are going for the track. I have private stuff we need to discuss. While we wait for protection fill me in on what I missed.”
Amber nodded and the girls looked to her to go first. “You died Gryff. Sort of. Addilyn swears your heart stopped and your breathing ceased. They went to bury you when Lord Nova scooped you up. He drew you with a smiling face in the sand and then raced you here. You started breathing again a week later, and when we placed our ears to your heart we could hear it beat. It was after that, we said other leaders could visit you and see you were alive. Most thought we were covering your death for that first week. Honestly, we were. As time passed your muscle faded but your breathing grew better as did you pulse. We were hoping you would wake a week ago when the healers declared you fine. There were no more traces of poison in your blood. We found out you were bitten by a jungle limper. It is called the limper because it bites, you go limp and die. No one has ever survived a bit and it got you twice. Donnie checked on you every morning before training until they deployed. A lot has changed and a lot has stayed the same since you have been out.
“South of Havenu the griffins have established a home they control. A team of fishermen have been hired and they fed the catch directly there with no export. Uhara is a mess. I am sure Master Mage Lamont will give you a detailed brief but they own the city and fish are coming in. Hundreds of goblin hearts were recovered inside and outside Uhara. The mess is the city. The previous inhabitants destroyed it. Then you fought over it, and it is a ruin compared to Livina. Livina is fantastic. I can not stress how happy it is to have a retreat of refinement. I admit I grew up spoiled and have become humble in my life after my imprisonment. I still really love our waterfront estate. It is the best. I only went for a few days because we needed to deliver our end of the bargain to the Mer. Who by the way excel at catching fish with javelins. Not just fish but clams, shells, and pearls. They love the rats… The Monox Isle, yes so renamed after the nine sandworms were eradicated. Well, the island is great. The griffins can hear a snake's heartbeat. So they hunted them for weeks to find every last one. The griffins draw a snake and an x indicating the isle is cleared of the vipers. The island has a small hut with a griffin overhang. We procured enough tree worm blood to be able to sell enough Empire wide.
“Before I get into finances let me cover home. Fernlan is fantastic. We spent a lot of money and have drastically increased our livestock. The new expansion to the barrier size of Fernlan allowed us to fully utilize the ground under the northern fields. Shallow caverns now exist for all for the animals to be housed underground. The above ground is growing rye. Which is taking off exceptionally well in all three locations. Everywhere we can, we are growing mushrooms. The concept is not new, but as humanity digs from lack of space, it is becoming very common. Even your rat farming is picking up as we are trading rats for fish now. I was able to meet Count Conway, who has had nice things to say about you. Now that the Empire has more fish than ever before, the need to slaughter livestock has been greatly reduced. It is also not only fish, but the new seafood is really helping with diversity. Of course, as more fish are shipped whole due to mage freezing, that means more can be processed. To cities that means more guts, skin, and leftovers for other critters as well as fields. Streb is doing well with the yakins, and we think a few are pregnant. The young bison inserted with them are ignored and I am happy to say there was more than enough feed. We were able to sell a lot of it. Some we sold at discount to those trying to keep alive vital warhorse stock. Hmm… What else… Xiq has been a prime example of the utilization of space. Every king has visited it and some have new inputs that were added to the to try list.
“Next is the political spectrum of the Empire. King Aves did a number on Deltan. Well more like the palace and anyone who interrupted their work. Emperor Salvoni and his son King Devon have been removed. Trade once again flows into the capital that has no palace anymore. It is now the Empire’s official trade hub. There has been no announcement on the new capital but many are calling Fernlan it until you announce where you want to reign from. Not to be biased but the castle never started here and I love Livina.”
This got eye rolls from all the girls. It was a lot to take in. I was happy with the changes. It was as if I had married smart, professional, independent women. The big tits and great sex were the bonus. All the other girls wanted to talk but Amber hushed them down. The pause was only momentary. We were on the running track now and my legs were loving the burn. When they tired, I poured tiny amounts of aura into them. I let my wives out of my arms to swing my limbs around me as we progressed forward.
“Covered our holdings… Oh, finances. So we burned a lot of coin expanding and have been trying to trading more and more. The Knights of Fernlan are on a mission they left six days ago to the north. To some old battlefield to collect metal. I wish they were here to fill you in on all their updates but alas you will have to wait. I am sure the griffins will have information on their progress. We are moving a lot of hearts right now. Between the ones from Bavie, and the battle of Uhara we are saturating the market a bit. We did hold some back though. Sales of lava stones and balls are increasing with no drop in demand. The weather is telling the Empire to brace for cold. Baron Strin sent word that you need to kill some more golems if you want production to continue all winter. There are teams doing traps every day, but they are selling the shells to us.” Amber said and withdrew a sheet from her bust. “Caravans are moving again. They are hiring griffin and mercenary escorts. Word has spread we are cleansing the routes between cities. Even though we have been spending, we are still sitting on over fifteen thousand gold. Mainly from Addilyn. The levy tax for the griffins is being paid by all four kingdoms now, but it is in fish. We agreed to it… for now anyway. We are about to have too much fish. Luckily we are the leading runtlet farmer which is in high demand with so much fish easily available. I had more, but here comes Addilyn with Tammy and Derfran.”
Woah, Derfran had lost weight. I remember
seeing him in Lakeland last and he was huge. Probably shed ten plus pounds. I wondered why he was here, then remembered I asked for him to come. The runes on the pikes. They were a mystery I wanted to solve, well me and Dennis.
“It is great to see you up and walking Emperor Gryff, erecting a silence shield now. You will need to stand still though or else I might break it when we cross items.” Tammy said and white magic enveloped us.
“Emperor Gryff there is so much to tell you. It is so amazing. Your wives have kept me at bay but this cannot wait. You must know now.” Derfran said after he caught his breath with his hands on his knees. “Please hear me out.”
“Go ahead,” I said.
“The dwarves, well it translated into a different version of the word. We have stories here of their kind, have you ever heard of them?” Derfran asked.
“Short, stout, and ornery. They are master crafters who live in the mountains. Longbeards and ale drinkers. At least that was the stereotypical generalization applied to them.”
Derfran lit up when I said this is with pure excitement. “Exactly! We are not alone. There are other species out there conquered by the Horde. This confirms my major hypothesis. It places the pieces together for the true purpose of the Horde. To conquer and assimilate. For what or why, I do not know, but in the runes, they leave hints. Here let me…” Derfran said as he pulled out a sheet of paper with the runes organized on it. “They write top to bottom, easy enough to fix. The words were fairly simple to decipher. At the start of every spear is an alphabet. Easy enough to find if you look for it. Each spear had a central message then a unique one. The central message was this. “We the dvaren are a defeated species reduced to slavery for the Horde and their gods. We toil in meek survival. Our warriors are bred away from our crafters. Our quotas are brutal and relentless every season. Our world sends ten thousand warriors every year. Only a few have ever returned. Those who do, say they fight rebellious Horde worlds. They are promised a breeding life without toil if they survive. There is not much choice available to us. We write this in hopes one day someone on our side finds this message. They then will know us dvaren stand ready, we will work to stay alive for the vengeance we may gain one day.”
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