女神归来的夏天

Chapter 169: The Ice Giant\'s Mountains I

There probably won\'t be another chance for me to talk to The Secret Keeper of Titans, so I should ask as many questions as I can. "Do you know what happened to my people from earth? I know you know way more about players and our origins than we do. Billions of people died from my earth during whatever transfer happened. Can you tell me anything?" I have more questions after this one. What happened is partly my fault, but others are to blame too. I want to know why it happened. What purpose did it serve? I watch her face remain a stoic calm and continue to sip tea. If she doesn\'t know, that\'s okay too. I don\'t expect her to know everything.

She puts her teacup down and looks at me with slight curiosity. "What did you think would happen by changing so much of the past, Cera. Messing with time has severe consequences, and you can never know what you unleash upon people. As to your question about what happened to your earth... It\'s not gone. Only humanity has left it. Animals rule that world now. They are dead forever, and there is no reason to worry about them anymore. The way they died was painless." It seems certain entities know what truly happened. Fenrir was asleep, so that explains why he didn\'t know. How many deities know the truth? Possibly all of them do...

All of this means that Overworld and Underworld exist outside of time while Gaia is still affected. So any deities that are in Overworld or Underworld knows what I did. It\'s more logical than what I was going on before. "How does my wish affect those that reside outside of time? My actions led to the freedom of the system and the earth\'s occupants to our current position. Why didn\'t any deities stop me from making such a wish if they knew they could have stopped me? Was my finding of the world item predetermined..." Now that I think about it, that makes more sense than finding it the way I did. Running into it through a quest anyone could have gotten is far-fetched.

That only leaves someone planned for me to find it and make the wish. "That isn\'t something I\'m capable of answering, Cera. Time is a sensitive aspect of reality. I can send ripples everywhere. You have made several changes and have made waves. I can\'t speak for the deities and their plans. All I can say is some things are better left unknown, Cera, and digging into such questions will only cause you pain. So forget about what\'s happened and look forward. You have a friend patiently waiting for you outside, and the sun is getting closer and closer to rising." She is right. Some things are better left unknown. I can\'t change what\'s already happened.

I stand up and make my way to the door that exits this place. "Remember that everything possibility is known to happen eventually. Your actions are just an aspect of time and reality being fulfilled. Don\'t be so depressed, and be glad it was you and not someone else. I know I am." I look back at her and nod my head in thanks for all her help. Now it\'s time to get out of this place. I leave the area we are in and climb the stairs to the rope that leads up the bell tower. I get to the rope and quickly scale it and stand in the bell tower, looking at the city. For such a rotten place, it has a lovely view. I carefully slide off the roof and make my way down the building. I make the final jump avoiding the guards.

I reach the ally Sally is hiding in, and she is waiting with her arms crossed and leaning against a wall. "You were gone for a while... I was getting worried you got caught. So does that mean we are finally done in this city?" I can get a hood from that shop that we got Sally\'s at, but I don\'t want to be here that long. I shake my head no. "Alright, let\'s get out of the city and make our way south and slightly east from here. My mana aura is up next." I smile at her excited tone to get out of here and back in the sky. We walk to the city\'s exit and notice the early risers are starting to get up. The sun is close to rising. You can see some tiny bits of sunlight beginning to shine in the sky.

We make it out of the city, and we walk on a path that leads into the close thick forest just like last time. I toggle my wings on and kneel on the ground so sally can get it. She gets on and is secure. I launch off the ground and flap my wings hard to reach max speed. South and slightly east is where we are heading. Sally crawls up my back and brings her head up next to mine so we can talk without yelling. "I don\'t know much about the ice giants mountains. My quest says I have to kill the ice giant chieftain and take his mana aura. I\'m going t need your help if that\'s alright with you." I nod my head yes. She helps me anytime she can, so I should return the favor.

It should be less than 2 hours till the players arrive back on their original continents. Once they get back, I\'m sure that the people who know of my identity will rush to the closest church branch to report my identity for the rewards available. "Once we get you mana aura, we\'ll make our way to Bellvia. I have important quests there, and they will be very difficult to complete. You will be able to actually help me once we have your mana aura. Your health and mana pools will skyrocket to the hundreds of millions probably. You\'ll be able to fulfill your wish for revenge if you want to. Let me know when you have decided that." She still has some things to think about before believing she has the answer she needs.

She nods her head and relaxes in the nock between my head and shoulder. The only time she takes advantage of things like this is when we are flying. I can\'t really complain. Her company is much more welcomed than solitude. "Do you think the elves will send people after you once your identity is revealed..." She brings up a very valid point. Once my identity is revealed, many governments will send out search parties for me. "If they do come for you, I want the pleasure of taking care of them. I\'m not letting them take you away from me..." I find her words both sweet and frightening. The possessive sound of her voice isn\'t something I have ever experienced from someone before. I wonder if I should be worried. As we are flying, a world announcement goes off.

[World-wide Announcement: The monsters are being repelled away in many taken cities from the new alliance! The war is no longer a defensive effort on the side of the humanoids!]

The appearance of The Old Gods is sure to cause a change in plans in the near future. It\'s a smart decision to focus on this task first. "The fight against the monsters is progressing in the right direction, and once new people return, many will be joining the fight against them. So this war is already over in favor of the humanoids. That leaves the next enemy with plenty of time to plot with the current distraction of the war..." The Old Gods are going to use this free time to find out how to take back what was probably taken from them. As all this is happening, I get a notification from the system. I check my inbox and see a message from the system.

[System Message: You\'ll need to find an object of interest that isn\'t related to any of the quests you already have in Bellvia. It\'s called The Dice of Wayland. They are going to be invaluable to the next war coming. If you don\'t have them, there is little chance you\'ll win the war. You\'ll find them in Bellvia\'s treasure room.]

The system\'s special treatment is kicking in. The Dice of Wayland are unfamiliar to me, and I don\'t know the location of the treasure room in Bellvia. That\'s a heist job, and I don\'t have the means to pull something like that off. Once in Bellvia, I\'ll have to find someone who can help me with that. "We have another thing to take care of in Bellvia, and it\'s going to be hard to do." As I say those words, I get a new quest.

[Heist of Bellvia\'s treasure vault]

[Description: Break into Bellvia\'s treasure vaults and retrieve The Dice of Wayland.]

[Objective 1: Once in Bellvia, find a group that can help you pull off the heist.]

[Objective 2: Once you have The Dice of Wayland, keep them until the right time to use them.]

[Difficulty: Legendary]

[Rewards: Anything you can take from the vaults other than The Dice of Wayland.]

Looks like I have another thing to handle in Bellvia. I hope this is doable, it seems almost too good to be true.