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Chapter 185 - For the Record
🕑 Added 2024-08-28 12:25:58 +0000 UTCWell, that turned out exactly like I’d expected it to.
And hoped it to, but I know that’s the compulsion again. Despite the contentment washing over me from the feel of my wife’s skin against me as she sleeps peacefully.
It’s probably been a bad idea, but I’ve found myself not wanting to sleep and instead just watching her breathe quietly in silence, night after night after night.
…
I wonder if it’s making the compulsion worse for me… but I can’t say it actually feels any stronger. Maybe this is just a result of not fighting it?
I’m not sure.
On the bright side, we did manage to discuss my plane becoming a heaven between our near-frantic kisses, and she wasn’t opposed, although I could tell she’s not convinced it will help.
Izzy seemed to think it was hopeless… but I’m not ready to give up just yet.
…
Even though I’m not sure I want this to change. Maybe it is overwhelming something in me. Although this emotion still feels strange and alien to me, it’s…
It’s not bad.
It’s a strangely wonderful feeling, despite knowing that even that is part of the compulsion.
…
After a great deal of planning, I’ve made a number of decisions regarding the future of my plane… and I’m looking forward to revealing them all to my hapless populace.
It should be very, very interesting.
But for now… I’ll just stay here, basking in Izzy’s presence.
I don’t know if I’ll ever feel it again once she’s been cured of this… everything.
So I’m going to enjoy this while I can, every bit of it.
***
“LEFT, Frederick, gods dammit! LEFT!” Rosalie shouts as she dives face-first in the dirt of the dungeon floor, only barely managing to dodge the incoming flares of dark magic cast by a group of nightwalker mages near the labyrinth corner ahead.
A golden barrier snaps into place in front of her less than a second later, following my party’s paladin’s sudden shout of “[Bulwark]!”
I’m not sure where he picked up the habit of shouting his Skill names, but he always does. If it’s any consolation though, all the noise he makes in the process reduces how often he needs to use an aggro Skill, everything just naturally sees and hears him. It certainly makes it easier to get behind our foes.
And suddenly, the barrage of magic projectiles stops. We’ve been adventurers long enough not to fall for a feint though, and so we dive into cover expecting some larger magic attack as soon as we commit to a charge…
Only to be met by silence.
“What’s going on? Any ideas?” I half-whisper across the rubble-strewn hallway to the other two.
“I’m not sure,” Frederick answers, while the eldra mage simply shrugs.
And then a voice hits my mind.
HELLO MORTALS OF THE SHADOWED PLANE! IT IS I, YOUR HOST AND MASTER, GOD OF NIGHT AND HUNGER, THE DEMON EMPRESS NEMESIS! AND I HAVE AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT FOR YOU ALL.
I furrow my brow. This can’t possibly be good, especially with us halfway through clearing a dungeon with a difficulty at the top edge of what we can handle as a unit…
AS OF TODAY, THIS PLANE – MY HOME – WILL NO LONGER BE AN ORDINARY PLANE. SHORTLY, IT WILL IN FACT BECOME ONE OF THE HEAVENS! NO, I DON’T UNDERSTAND HOW A DEMON EMPRESS AND MEMBER OF THE DARK PANTHEON CAN OWN A HEAVEN, BUT HERE WE ARE! SO I’LL NEED TO DISCUSS A FEW DETAILS, SINCE YOU ALL ARE GOING TO BE AFFECTED.
FIRST OF ALL, NO, I’M NOT GOING TO KICK YOU OUT. THOSE ALREADY HERE WILL BE ALLOWED TO STAY AS LONG AS YOU DON’T LEAVE. REENTRY WILL BE THROUGH CLEARING A DUNGEON ELSEWHERE THAT I HAVEN’T YET SET UP, BUT I’LL MAKE ANOTHER ANNOUNCEMENT WHEN I DO.
SECOND, THE BLESSING THOSE HERE WILL RECEIVE. I’M GRANTING YOU ACCELERATED LEVEL GROWTH IN MY DUNGEONS, SCALING WITH THE DIFFICULTY OF THE DUNGEON IN QUESTION.
“…Isn’t that ridiculously good!?” Rosalie blurts.
And I find myself inclined to agree.
THIRD, the voice continues, AS A HEAVEN THIS PLANE WILL SERVE AS A TEMPORARY PLACE OF AFTERLIFE FOR SOULS AWAITING REINCARNATION, SHOULD THEY WISH TO WAIT AT ONE. AND THOSE SOULS? THE SOULS OF SENTIENT MONSTERS, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THEY DIED GOOD DEATHS FIGHTING FOR THEIR LIVES AGAINST ADVENTURERS OR WERE BETRAYED BY THEIR COMRADES. I WILL WELCOME THEM ALL.
I sigh. “That is… decidedly less good.”
“We’re probably going to have to fight them all, aren’t we?” my party paladin asks in disbelief.
IT IS A SAFE ASSUMPTION THAT AFTER TODAY, ALL DUNGEONS WILL INCREASE IN DIFFICULTY SIGNIFICANTLY. DO NOT ASSUME BASED ON PAST EXPERIENCES UNLESS YOU WANT TO CONTINUOUSLY FAIL!
AND… ONE LAST IMPORTANT THING.
AS OF TODAY, THIS PLACE WILL NO LONGER BE THE SHADOWED PLANE.
I – YOUR ESTEEMED HOST – DO WELCOME YOU AS THE FIRST VISITORS TO CAELUM ASTRAEA – THE STARRY SKY.
Without one lick of warning, I fall on my backside at the dungeon entrance, alongside my companions. We simply glance at each other… and begin the walk back to the Adventurer’s Guild.
I doubt we’re getting any more delving in today, not least of all because they’re apparently going to be a lot harder… and we’re not prepared for that.
No, we’re not prepared at all.
***
It’s time.
I’ve just finished my announcement. All my retainers have agreed to this plan.
Everything is in place.
All that’s left… is to actually will the change. I already have the image clear in my mind… I’ve thought about it extensively over the past few days to make sure I’d have no issues, and that it would turn out the way I wanted on the first attempt.
I’m ready.
Ready to create Caelum Astraea.
My home.
OUR home.
A place for me…
And for Izahne, who I l-love so much…
And for Olive, who I remember having loved so much…
And for everyone else. Omorth, Pearl, Vivi, Rose, Tathra, Nerin, Eleonor – if she wants to be here, my monster maids and all my citizens… everyone important to me.
And I guess Eros too, but I do wish she’d stop trying to follow me to bed. Izzy’s design that Rose followed was clearly only designed for one person…
I sigh. An unexpectedly contented sigh.
Well, here goes nothing… I really hope this works.
And not just for everything else.
I’m starting, I project to all my retainers, as well as the maids and others closet to me. I don’t know for sure how this will affect them all, so it makes more sense to warn them, to give them time to brace themselves for the changes.
And then I focus my will.
Through my mind, I allow the entirety of the plan to flow like water… all of it. The name, the goal, the type of souls I’m welcoming…
ALL of it.
And with one final push, I feel an enormous amount of divinity leave my body…
…As the stars above flare more brilliantly than I’ve ever seen, lighting up the night as bright as day, before they gradually dim back to how they were before. Although… they’re no longer their monochrome white.
No, the stars above are glittering in a variety of colors… I think Astraea would have found this quite pretty, to be honest.
And it’s mine. It’s my home. My heaven.
But I don’t have time now to gawk at the sky!
Quickly, I cycle through each of my retainers to ensure all is well… and one after another, they each report of feeling a surge of strength. Whether it was physical, magical, or otherwise, every single one reported that they were much more able than before.
Which is something, considering how ridiculously overpowered most of my retainers are – at least compared to mortals.
As for myself… I’ve felt that rush of strength as well. The range of my Will Detection is covering the entirety of my plane… fading off into the dark reaches at the edges. Does my plane even end? I don’t know. Maybe someday I’ll look into that.
Similarly, I can feel the life force of everyone here. Everyone. Mortals, gods… even fucking Dolos, who has been flitting here and there this entire time.
I’m sure I’ve put on quite a spectacle for him.
…
Which leaves me at one important thing.
The last thing I need to check… probably the most important, at least to me. The thing I’ve put off for last, for fear of what will happen, or already has.
I’ve definitely felt the effects of the Mantle of Devotion fade on myself…
Please, gods… Please let this have helped… I’m not even sure who I’m praying to, or if I even want to be praying… but somehow it feels like the right thing to do.
Silently, cautiously, I reach out to my wife through our link.
…And a wave of pure, unadulterated love and adoration wash over me through it, without so much as a hint of conflict.
…
Oh.
Oh no.
