New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

The pillar of light was visible from far away, kingdoms on the eastern coast all clearly seeing it, and even the central lands could glimpse at it from hundreds of miles away.

Inside seven massive trees, of which were part Bastion City's palace and the new fortress in the Ash Elf kingdom, all seven progenitors of magic felt an enormous ripple in the world's ley lines.

"A god on the mortal plane? When was the last time they graced the land with their presence? And a powerful one, at that. Most likely upper pantheon," Aravelle mumbled, as he was closest to the landing location and could feel the essence better than the others.

"But what is he doing here? They didn't even lift a finger when the demon lord appeared a millennium ago…"

The other progenitors were having similar questions. Even if they couldn't tell what kind of god it was, they still felt the divinity leaking into the world's ley lines.

A few of them even felt tempted to teleport there and confront the deity. The sheer affront of them showing up in the mortal plane, risking to break the fragile balance of the plane, irked them.

But they held back.

Even if they were the closest thing a mortal being could ever get to a god, they still wouldn't be a match.

***

At the edge of Elven Forest, Astaroth was still face first in the dirt; the surrounding trees ripped out of the ground and strewn further; Luna bent next to him to protect him.

Now that the pillar of light was gone, his eyes still had trouble returning to normal, the flash having almost blinded him. But he could still see a blindingly bright humanoid figure.

'Who the hell is that? And how is his presence so overbearing?' he wondered, having trouble seeing the figure correctly. Novel Fire - novelfire.net

"PSYYYYCHEEEEEE!!!!!!!!" the figure roared.

The land shook with the sound vibration and the rage in the scream.

Astaroth's heart skipped a beat at the word.

'Fuck…' he cursed mentally, realizing what was happening.

The being teleported directly in front of Astaroth, and in the same second, the latter was straightened back up, floating above the ground, his breath suddenly short. It was like an invisible hand was clamped on his throat and kept him from breathing.

Luna wanted to jump on the being, but with a single glance, her form shattered, and she returned to Astaroth's soul space to recover.

"Where is Psyche, Earth maggot!" Gaius asked Astaroth, his words causing damage to Astaroth as the rage infused them with Aether.

Blood started leaking from his lips as he tried responding.

"Can't... Breathe…"

Gaius clicked his tongue in annoyance, releasing his telekinesis from the mortal.

"Speak! I felt her! Where is she?!" Gaius immediately asked as Astaroth crashed to the ground, hacking and coughing, trying to catch his breath.

"I don't know who you are talking about *Cough cough*" Astaroth lied.

"Don't lie to me, maggot! I can still smell her essence lingering in the air!" Gaius spat.

'He felt my mana from another plane? Who the hell is this guy?' Astaroth wondered, clutching his painful throat.

"What do you mean, your mana?! I felt the aura of a goddess! How could a mortal ever have that kind of essence? Stop lying to me, maggot! I am a god and know when I'm being lied to!" Gaius snapped, having heard Astaroth's thoughts.

"I swear I don't know anyone by that name. At least not personally. I've only ever heard legends of the goddess Psyche," Astaroth replied, trying to bend the truth as much as he could.

Gaius' eyes narrowed to slits as he sent a powerful pulse of Aether through Astaroth, scanning him thoroughly.

Astaroth felt like he was laid bare for a second before the Aether retracted from his body.

The overbearing pressure suddenly lessened as the crackling energy around the god tapered out.

"Hmm. Your essence is similar to hers. Too similar…" he said, squinting his eyes a bit more.

Astaroth wondered how the god was talking, as he failed to see a mouth on his face. But he had used magic to project his voice before, so he wasn't too surprised.

Gaius crouched next to Astaroth, locking his black eyes into Astaroth's.

"Tell me how you got this form, mortal. And if you lie, I'll erase you from existence, and not only on this side of the veil. I don't need a rebelling lab rat."

Astaroth's mouth suddenly went dry.

'He's serious…' he thought.

"Deadly serious. Now, speak!" Gaius said, reading his thoughts again.

"I… I chanced upon it when I witnessed two mythical beings kill each other. Their souls intermingled, and I tried taking it for myself since I'm a Soulmancer. But it changed again once inside me and formed the little girl you destroyed, and this form…" he said.

Which wasn't a lie, by all accounts, but was a gross misdirection. He had omitted so many things from this truth that if it wasn't still a fragment of the truth; he felt as if he would have just vanished on the spot.

Gaius stared at him for what seemed like forever, his eyes dissecting every word that had come out of the mortal's mouth and reading surface thoughts and memories to detect a lie. But he felt no lie in his words.

"Tch! And here I thought I had finally caught her," Gaius cursed as he stood back up.

Astaroth still couldn't go higher than on his knees and hands, the pressure on him still pushing him down, and he barely noticed when someone else crashed into the ground a few meters away from them.

Gaius glanced at the intruder, seeing it was a human woman, and immediately ignored her presence.

"If you ever catch wind of a goddess named Psyche, pray to me, mortal, and I will reward you handsomely," Gaius said, stepping away slowly.

"How will I know who to pray to?!" Astaroth asked, trying to lift his head.

"Pray to Gaius, the supreme god. I will answer."

He said those words and disappeared in a flash of purple Aether; the pressure disappearing with him.

Astaroth crumpled to the ground, feeling like he'd just run a marathon. He was exhausted from only being in this god's presence.

"Astaroth…" a tired voice echoed not far from him.

That's when he realized he wasn't alone.

Phoenix was on the ground not far from him, her complexion pale as a ghost.

"Phoenix!"

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