Children of a Lesser God

Chapter 233: Warnings

Laz was... at a loss for words.

He stared blankly at the figure inside the coffin and yet he saw no movement. He looked back over at Freya, only to see her eyeing the coffin lovingly.

Laz couldn't help but feel creeped out and slightly itchy at the sight of this. He could only be thankful that it looked like the corpse inside was fresh, almost like it had just fallen asleep.

The girl inside looked young, maybe ten at most. Her face was a pale shade of white while her hair was the pure color of darkness. She was dressed in a black, gothic style dress that allowed one to see that she had almost no curves to her body whatsoever. While Freya was short, she had capital that would be unmatched by many while this girl just simply looked like a girl. The real point of interest was that her face was flawless. Had this girl grown up, she would be an unmatched beauty.

Seeing her in the coffin, Laz couldn't help but sigh at her plight, thinking that she was already dead.

:Why are you so convinced by what your eyes see?:

"AAAAAHHHHHHHH," Laz screamed out in a voice that was much higher than expected and jumped back, almost knocking into the four Ivy's that stood behind him. At some point, they had all taken a knee and looked to be praying towards the casket.

None of them seemed alarmed at Laz's reaction while Freya simply looked over with a slight smile. It seemed she had expected this although Laz's scream was a bit out of nowhere.

:Am I really that scary?:

Laz hadn't tried talking to anyone using his spiritual sense in a while. There were two reasons for that. One, he had started looking down on it slightly since he found out that big owl spirit could actually hear him when he was talking with Tyr. Due to that and not knowing if he could control it better, Laz felt that it wasn't a safe way to communicate since anyone could listen in.

The other reason he had stopped was because he noticed that with the growth of his spiritual strength, he could, to some extent, hear people's inner voice and feel their emotions. He hadn't really tried with another infected like himself, but when he used his sense to inspect regular humans, he would actually get a glimpse of their thoughts. Maybe that sounded cool and indeed, it was amusing at first. But listening to people's inner monologues and thoughts was also rather taxing on the brain. It was hard to separate your thoughts from theirs. This was also a cause of concern for Laz since he didn't want people to be able to hear his inner thoughts either.

For both of these reasons, Laz had been neglecting this one talent of his.

Now though, he had no choice. The voice he heard in his head sounded young and sweet, pure and innocent. But it contained a strong will to it as well, making it seem like Laz's head was shaking every time he heard it.

The sound had an effect like that of a bird's gentle chirp somehow causing a mountain to shake.

Fortunately, Laz's mental strength could be considered as one of the best, although he didn't really know why.

Laz took the precaution of circulating his energy using his infinity method. As the energy poured into his body, he noticed that it contained an almost extreme chill to it. On the plus side, it caused his spiritual strength to stabilize as well.

:MMM. I knew you would be able to handle it.:

"Handle what?" Laz asked out loud, still trying to avoid talking to the sleeping form.

:I can't hear you that way. Come now. I promise I won't bite,: the voice said, somehow sensing that Laz had spoke.

At this point, Laz noticed that the girl had never moved, nor was she even breathing. Although the coffin itself blocked off his senses, he could still use his eyes. As such, he still detected no signs of life from her, despite the fact that she was talking to him.

:Handle what?" Laz took the chance..

:Communicating with me.:

:Haven't you communicated with these servants of yours?:

:A word here or there. More than that at any one time would make their heads explode. Perhaps that is the reason they fear and love me so much?:

:Uh...?:

:It was a joke. I can show them things and transmit feelings to them. I use that to communicate with them normally.:

:Ok?:

:You are wondering why I would want to see you, yes?:

Laz had gotten the feeling that he was brought in here due to the girl in the casket. After all, if she had not wanted to meet him, Freya would never have been allowed to bring him in here.

:Yes.:

:Because, you are interesting.:

:Me? I'm just like the others.:

:No. You're not. Not even close.:

:I'm not?:

:Sigh. You humans have lost so much of the old knowledge. It's a wonder that your race even survived. You fight amongst yourselves for stupid reasons, not even knowing that in the course of the universe, all of you are exactly the same to outsiders.:

:I... uh...: Laz was getting confused. That didn't sound like it was directed at him while also being directed at him.

:Tell me, who marked you?:

:Marked me?:

:On your chest. There is the symbol of the Lauma's World Tree. And yet, the blood moon behind it is far scarier.:

Laz looked down at his chest, at the point where the strange tattoo would be. He had gotten it after meeting with A'ruya and always assumed that the moon and the tree had something to do with her. He never knew the moon part of it was different.

:How so?:

:It doesn't belong to this world. You really don't know, do you?:

:No... I've only had contact with a...Lauma?:

:She's taken advantage of you then. Or maybe it was something she had to do. They should have been long gone from this planet for hundreds of thousands of years and yet now, they are back. Interesting. Maybe this is why I have awakened...:

:I'm totally lost here...:

:There are things you should know and things you don't need to know. Actually, I really shouldn't tell you anything since it accomplishes so little. But, allow me to give you a warning. That tree spirit that you met, the daughter of Lauma, the dryad? Be wary of her. She wants something from you but I am sure she is afraid of you as well. You have the ability to grow much stronger than her, you just need time. So there will come a point when she is forced to choose whether you are worth more dead or alive, depending on your growth and your connection to her. When that time comes, her entire race will attempt to eliminate you. There can only be one king on the mountain and right now, they are it.:

Laz had always felt that A'ruya was messing with him, but it seemed like she needed him for something. The fact that the casket goth was saying the same thing just confirmed his fears. Of course, how she knew that was not something he could fathom. But still, it just meant he had to be wary of the dryad in the future.

:Can you remove her mark?:

:Me? Right now? No. As soon as I touch it, it will alert her and she will be here in moments. You are her important chess piece and she can't let anything happen to you, at least not yet. For the moment, I'm sure your her king and therefore, the most important piece in her eyes. But even then, you are nothing more than a piece. Until you are strong enough to remove yourself from the game board and become a player, you can only be toyed with.:

:So she is stronger than you?:

:Stronger? No. Her, alone, is far weaker than I was at my prime. But as you can see, I am no longer at my prime.:

:So then... why are you here? What happened? And what are you?:

:So many questions child. At least your people haven't lost their sense of curiosity. Still, all I can say is that I am here because I choose to rest here and as for what I am? I am a god, silly. Didn't my silly child tell you that?:

:A god? You're a god?:

:What? Did you expect something not human?:

:Well...: To be honest, Laz had never believed in gods. People's ideas about them made it seem like it was some benevolent deity that reigned from above and guided the world. They would give the god credit for all the good things and blame people for all the bad that they caused. It truly seemed like scam where someone who did nothing gets all the credit while those who make mistakes are considered evil and should ask for forgiveness for their own choices. Perhaps it was how he was raised, but Laz couldn't believe that someone else was controlling his destiny and that of everyone around him.

But now, staring at this perfect yet cold, dead face, Laz had apparently met a god. And it seemed... human.

:God is nothing more than a title given to a powerful being. There have been many 'gods' in this world. Some are abstract and are more of a concept while others are flesh and blood, humans and creatures. Have you ever wondered why there are so many stories and myths about gods within your history?:

:I just assumed that it was a label people put on things they didn't understand.:

:And that is so right and yet so wrong as well. People aren't stupid, although they can be easily fooled. But even that can only last for so long. The reason is because those stories are true, they are just much, much older than you can imagine. We... gods... have a tendency to be somewhat... prideful. I can only guess that when we have encounter your people throughout time, some of the less noble ones would start to rant about their glory days. Because, I have had my young one here look into these things and I can't help but be astounded as to how accurate they are, almost like they were there. The gods battling the titans, the gods fighting the ice giants. The playful monkey god who annoys the hell out of everyone around him but is truly an unmatched fighter. Those arrogant as hell immortal like gods who just enjoy sitting around all day, drinking and listening to music. The more I hear about the stories, the more I can't help but think of times long past.:

:Gods... are real?:

:Boy.... Try to keep up. The reason I am telling you this is because there are two important things you need to understand. In fact, you need to act with the thought in your head that these two things are the most important things to remember from here on out.:

:Ok.:

:Alright. Number one, your bloodline is not from this planet. I don't know where it's from, but I do remember that in the past, there has only been one time a black flame has appeared at any time. If any of the other gods of this world see that flame, they will hunt you to the end of existence to possess you and it.:

Laz heard the urgency in her voice, so he didn't question it. But it seemed kind of crazy, right?

Besides, this 'god' was laying in front of him right now and she couldn't even move. Laz asked himself, what were the chances that he would just stumble on to one somewhere on this planet.

:The other thing you need to know is that with the return of the world tree, the energy levels on this planet will go back up to where they were a long time ago. This planet and plane will again connect with the parallel realms and the overall size of the world you know will explode, reaching heights you can't imagine. Due to this, all of us, every god like me who is still alive but sleeping... we will start to wake up.:

'Oh. Well... fuck me...'