Chapter 19 - Young God
He shook his head slightly, "Without the poison to lower its defenses, we don't really stand a chance. The appropriate people have been informed and they're remaking it. For now, we just have priestesses from the various temples reinforcing the city defenses in case it decides to rampage this way."
She started walking towards the temple once more only for Yarrow to gently touch her elbow and shake his head slightly, "The craftsman I know, while definitely related to the temple, is not located within it."
Ash nodded slightly and followed him instead, weaving through the neat city streets. There were throngs of people, generally wearing normal clothing and occasionally wearing armor as they headed towards various tasks. She could pick out the Godsborn within Redwood Stars as easily as if they were painted in neon colors. They wore far more typical fantasy stuff, ridiculous armor and garments that served no purpose and often would actively endanger the wearer if not for copious enchantments.
As if he'd noticed her gaze, likely because he had, Yarrow grumbled, "They have no self preservation."
She was inclined to agree, particularly since a number of them were actively discussing a recent defeat, as they phrased what had to have been a gruesome death, within a nearby dungeon. The idea of monsters and dungeons was strange to her, they weren't present in copious amounts back home though they weren't exactly exceptionally rare either. Her cleansing magic tended to stop too many dungeons from forming, considering those were almost always made of emotionally charged magic.
She glanced towards Yarrow and asked about it, unsurprised when he got a bit of a frustrated look about him, "We were not always plagued with these problems but another god joined the others, those that some of your Godsborn also know and worship, within the last century. He is a dark thing, something that seems only to exist to entertain the Godsborn and to use our world as a stage to do so. I cannot exactly complain about him, though," Yarrow hesitated, as if he didn't want to attribute anything good to the god he spoke of, "The monsters and the dungeons all bring in a tremendous amount of goods. Some of the dungeons have all but served to replenish stores of metals that were thought to be exhausted. Few Earthborn die, as well, considering we fight cautiously and do not allow large threats to continue existing near our homes. I like to think of the things left behind by that god as compensation for the presence of the Godsborn here."
Ash didn't argue that idea, though she did bristle at the idea of a new god among the ones that she already knew. A god that allowed or even encouraged the formation of dungeons and monsters did not feel like a good thing to her, particularly not if it actually was for the entertainment of the Godsborn.
Her mind wandered once more to questions of the reality of Fantastoria. It felt real. Her magic felt real within it. Lord Sidus had most definitely been very present and real to her senses but she was also sleeping and he sometimes felt just as real and present in the few pleasant dreams she had. He also hadn't called it a game, but a false world. Her only question was whether it truly was a false world or whether there was some other reason for him to refer to it in such a way.
It would not be beyond the gods to create another world they could govern over, assuming this world was a new one and not one they had always held dominion over. Sidus' regret over the Starborn as living beings taking on the role that they did was also not a new thing that had come with their near-extinction either, having begun almost as soon as the first of her kind had taken their own first steps. She'd never had the occasion to meet that elder despite the longevity of their kind lending itself to eternal life, but had heard that their crown looked much as Sidus' own with the weight of having been the first.
It also hadn't escaped her notice that she'd had more horns than before and that it was highly unlikely that Sidus had created them himself. He would have preferred her horns be whole, giving her only three to deal with, and as close to untainted by cleansed magic as possible. She had no doubt already been in the process of growing a 'third' set of new horns that had actually managed to morph themselves into six new horns instead.
Their silent march had taken them to a small shop that promised jewelry and other goods within. Several Godsborn lingered within, debating over the merit of this ring or that while looking at small tiles that displayed whatever enchantments or other effects were placed on them. Her thoughts already on her horns, she found herself somewhat grateful for their strange growth. They would be far easier to cut and likely require fewer tools than the main central horn that channeled the majority of her magic use.
A set of golden eyes slid to them, belonging to a man behind the counter. Seeing Yarrow immediately brightened everything about his demeanor and he hopped down from the chair he'd been seated on to shoo the other customers out.
"If ya'd read the sign, ya'd already know I'm s'posed to be closed for lunch right now," the dwarf grumbled as he motioned them out, "Come back later, when I don't have guests over lookin' to dine with me."
Only once the door was firmly closed did he turn towards Yarrow, "Didn't think ya the type to hang out with Godsborn, Ro," he grumbled as he glowered slightly in Ash's direction, "Though she smells a bit strange, even for one of 'em."