It was a weird moment, I had to admit. On the physical side of things, I was doing the most intimate dance with Seldanna, our bodies sweaty as they slapped against each other, while, on the magical side of things, I was protecting her from the death throes of a slumbering nature god…
While trying to make her a full-fledged god.
A very simple task, right…
“What is my life,” I murmured, pausing for a moment to consider the situation. It was a pity that Seldanna didn’t have the full picture to answer that … or was aware enough to actually hear in the first place. She was in a dream trance as she merged with the Divine Spark that was escaping from her Divine Sea.
At this point, it was inevitable. There was a limit to my purification and containment efforts. Especially as the connection continued to send more and more.
{+4000 Nature Spark, Elven Priestess}
A very useful reward, and I reached to take more of it. It was useful to purify her Divine Spark … it was useful to help Seldanna, and the more spark I had, the better.
{-300 Nature Spark, Elven Priestess}
{+300 Purified Divine Spark}
I was planning to take much more, but as I started to take it, I felt a dangerous shift.
I wouldn’t have cared if the shift came from the soul of the god. He was about to be killed in any case.
I would have been more careful if the shift came from Seldanna, but ultimately, I would have continued and used my extensive healing abilities to stabilize her. That might cost her the nebulous opportunity to become a true goddess, but I was sure that she wouldn’t complain too much if she became an extremely strong demigod instead, and in time, I was confident I could come up with a way to elevate her…
If the source was the Tree of Life, it would have been a more difficult question. After all, it wasn’t just cultural importance that helped elves … many of them actually lived on top of it. Massacring thousands was not something I wanted to do, even for power.
Still, I could try to find a workaround if that had been the case as I assumed for a moment…
Yet, the problem was none of them. It was the plane itself that trembled, not only the rotating planar border, but the very ground … giving me the feeling that the Divine Spark of the slumbering god intersected with the existence of the plane in a deeper way than I had expected.
Stealing more spark was not a good idea … not if I wanted to keep the plane in one piece.
Pity, as the additional Divine Spark would have been useful … and, if what I suspected about the impact of our little situation was even halfway accurate, it would be immediately useful.
I was tempted to convert my Spark into Stats … but a little examination showed that was not possible. Not unless I was willing to sacrifice Seldanna. Most of my available spark was occupied with cleansing the memories of the slumbering god.
I just needed to maintain my touch to help Seldanna, so I pulled out, using magic to dress us both. As much as I wanted to keep her naked for my enjoyment, I chose otherwise.
As Seldanna slowly absorbed the Divine Spark from the Tree, its ability to block my senses had weakened significantly, and I could already hear the signs of growing chaos outside. I could sense not only flares of nature mana, but also necrotic mana, clashing against each other … with an intensity that surprised me.
I used a detection ward outside, to check how much time passed. “Wow, it’s already night,” I said, loudly despite knowing there would be no answer from Seldanna. The passage of time surprised me. The mental battle with the slumbering god must have taken much more than I initially assumed.
I decided to take two actions. First, to deal with the tree. As Seldanna continued to absorb the Divine Spark, the mana production of the Tree of Life was dropping. It was yet to reach a dangerous point, still supplying both the planar border and the elven capital with their mana needs, but it would eventually happen unless I intervened.
A problem to deal with, but not immediately. I had a more urgent one. As Seldanna pulled the Divine Spark of the Tree, the chaos that tortured the tree for a long time was quelling. Technically, it was good news, as it meant the tree was suddenly free of one disease that had been torturing it for centuries, freeing a lot of mana it had been using to prevent its death free, boosting the combat capabilities of the elves. Unfortunately, it wasn’t good news for me, as it made it much likelier for the outside forces to realize what was going on. I needed to solve that immediately.
I started creating a ward, one that would fake the mana cyclone right under the bark to block any detection. Hopefully, with the battle going on, no one would pay attention to the tree.
As I built the ward, I started to pay attention to the progress of the battle, to understand when the elves would be victorious. They had to, considering the most recent mana boost they had received. Still, building the cyclone ward required some time, giving me a chance to observe the battle.
Only to realize elves were losing … badly.
That surprised me at first, especially since I could feel the elven presence was stronger than the necrotic mana I could feel immediately around the capital. Due to the sudden nature of the battle, the undead had been lacking the most effective part of their arsenal. Their hordes and hordes of zombies and skeletons, create the necessary curtain for their dangerous members to handle the work — while also absorbing hostile mana and corrupting the environment as a welcome benefit.
Even without that advantage, the undead was steadily gaining ground … which was surprising.
Then, I realized the problem, which was twofold. First, the capital, at least most of it, had been already evacuated rather than joining the battle, which was a big loss considering a majority possessed Divine Spark they could use to defend the capital. It was a waste, but not a decisive one, as the capital still had a significant army.
There, I noticed the second problem. Most of the army had been fighting against each other, leaving only a portion to defend against the undead.
A vicious civil war.
“Damn it, they are even more useless than I expected,” I murmured even as I examined the layout of the two armies, their armor distinguishing them. The first group was wearing predominantly robes, and defending the tree, while the ones that were attacking them were leaving heavier on the armor.
Also, the armored ones were the ones that were busy evacuating the city … through a stable gate, one that cut through Aether. Teleportation on that scale was not important, but very, very difficult; especially if they had been maintaining it for as long as I suspected. It relied on some kind of artifact.
A lot of things to respond to… and I needed to decide what to do first … before that, I needed to make sure Seldanna could stay safe.
Since the elves managed to defend for that long, a few minutes were acceptable. I pulled my own Divine Spark, and used that to establish a more stable ward around Seldanna’s Divine Sea, to make sure to handle the conversion, and with a persistent connection I maintained to alert me to any irregularities.
{-2000 Purified Divine Spark}
Luckily, the Tree of Life no longer interfered with my detection.
As I put the finishing touches on the ward, I could still feel the death throes of the god, but at this point, they were more of an echo. Whatever that was driving his awareness, it was finally gone. It was time to take action.
I could have dashed out immediately, but before that, I wanted to pull one last trick. What should I disguise myself as? And, while I could disguise myself as anything, it worked the best when a disguise both fit my immediate requirements, and was served in a way the audience found believable.
Quickly, I made a list of requirements. I needed to look in a way that kept my real identity and my core secrets hidden. That was nonnegotiable, especially with the Eternal presence I managed to detect.
Second, I needed a disguise that gave me an excuse to throw around as much power as I could handle; which was not a lot right now after I had drained my God Forest to save Seldanna. But, there was a civil war going on, and I could gather a lot of Nature Spark to replenish that.
Third, if possible, I needed a disguise that prevented the elves from attacking me desperately — though, when a pinch, a portion would do, considering they were in a civil war.
A smirk appeared on my face as I went through them again, a flash of inspiration giving me a very appropriate disguise.
{Strength: 16 Charisma: 22
Precision: 16 Perception: 16
Agility: 16 Manipulation: 22
Speed: 16 Intelligence: 16
Endurance: 16 Wisdom: 16}
{Purified Divine Spark: 842}
{Pseudo-HP: 8000 Mana: 15000}
{ADDITIONAL SPARKS
Light - Chosen 7.4
Nature - Chosen 10}
{MINIONS
Guardian God Forest - 152}
Elven Priestess - 12804}
[Level: 36 Experience: 631374 / 666000]