by Marcus Sloss
“Back to the five though. When we arrived and conquered peaceful planets and advanced species reliant on electricity we were finally challenged. The god of passion or Sion was sent forward to confront us. Now Sion was no pushover, even if his name was girly. The god could fight, and after we taunted him one vs seven he let his passion for vengeance run rampant. It was a battle for the ages, planets exploded and black holes were formed. A thousand years we raged until he finally realized his allies were never coming to his aid. They would not risk what he was facing. When it eventually sunk in he was going to do die, he accepted his fate. I delivered the killing blow myself. To kill a god is much the same as a demigod. Remove the head and the heart and you win. If not they will come back with time.”
Warg pulled out his axe and spun it with precision. The god put on a show for a while to emphasize his point.
“What about the other four?” I asked.
“We seven had our hands full, seven hells we still do. That term is for us by the way. Love that one. We let the four leave to the outer edges of this universe. I will let you in on a little secret. The portal from our creation universe to this is one… No idea how it was opened. Even Maurta is clueless about its creation. We wanted to keep warring at universe centers instead of reaching out to the depths of expansions. Think about it. One portal to another universe and you instantly have advanced lives to conquer and enslave. Instead we have to search further and further to find the rare exceptional life to battle. You humans were our first challenge in over a thousand of your years and we ran right over you. Sure we made some deals, which… Hello, they all help us. If we erased you, which we can, and have done to other species, it would mean you were a waste. You are one step above a waste… Well, you were until today. Congratulations Gryff of humans, you have elevated your species. This means that AI Mastermind bitch did not realize the dead Gryff on Earth was not the original. You are.”
A contract was sent my way verifying everything he said was the truth. I pulled it apart and sighed. The bastard was indeed being honest or he believed he was. I was summarizing his admissions to clarify where to go next with the conversation. Gods battled on another universe and expanded to support that initial war by conquering other universes. Question.
“What do you send back to your home universe?” I asked.
“Easy answer, slaves! The gods don’t fight much themselves, but instead by proxy. They thrill for the proxy battles on the disputed worlds. This plane of existence is a farm for our main universe. We find creatures and sentients worthy of battle and portal them up to our alliance of gods. For instance, those ice cats on Vin. Just another creation of infinite possibilities. Well… Those cats are great at fighting over ice and also make fantastic mounts. One of the best for both. Sure dragons can freeze them, and yetis can swarm them. Oh, and the nivera poison them with one dart, but they outfight many foes. I think you are missing the age gap thing here the most. We are immortal. Do not let that fly past you again. We get bored. Everything grows stale with enough time. I have had sex with Rina hundreds of millions of times. Nope, not interested anymore. I know you may think she is an old bitty, but if she wakes up she can swap into anybody at a whim, the same as I went large to small. Are you getting it yet?”
“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 spend 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 heart 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.