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Chapter 854: The Stone Father

As the Goddess of Archery, there wasn’t much that she could do in this fort unless there was an attack, but… attacks were very rare in the present day. After the Rainbow-Eyes were given a steady supply of System Stones, it became rather easy for them to deal with the Ashen Dwarves that came to cause trouble for them. In fact, the only reason that adventurers were being asked to defend the area at all was in case they attacked in too large a force.

Theon thought about his sister’s question for a moment, before shaking his head. “You have plenty of faith from the people that you protect. The two of us aren’t really suited for managing a world, anyways.” He said, shrugging his shoulders. Thessa’s domain made her excellent as a combat deity, but rather poor for leading large groups. Meanwhile, Theon would need to expend a massive amount of divinity in order to properly display his power for an entire civilization. He may be able to recover it eventually, but it was better in his mind to simply gather faith with Thessa, protecting people in Fyor.

“Maybe.” Thessa nodded her head, glancing out into the horizon. Suddenly, her eyes narrowed, and she stood with her bow. Theon raised a brow, but his words were cut off when Thessa spoke again. “They’ve sent another stone giant. This one seems even bigger than before.”

“Really? They’ve been coming more and more often these days, haven’t they?” Theon asked, knowing fully well what Thessa was talking about. For the past few years, there had been several instances in which a giant with pseudo-godlike strength emerged alongside the forces of the Ashen Dwarves. According to the Rainbow-Eyes, the name that the dwarves were calling these giants was ‘Stone Father’, the religious icon of their race.

Yet, even if the Stone Father was destroyed, it would somehow reappear again in a future attack. And as Theon had said, these attacks had become more and more frequent over the years. Thessa gave a small nod, her eyes narrowing to gaze into the distance, vision zooming in to look at the massive figure with blue gems seeming to grow out of its body. “It didn’t come with an army this time. Should we raise the alarm?”

“If it’s just the giant, you can deal with that, right?” Theon asked, clearly not worried.

“I guess so.” Thessa said, drawing back her bow as a golden arrow began to take shape. However, before she could fire the arrow, she stopped, blinking in confusion.

“What’s wrong?” Theon asked, his brow furrowed as he stepped forward.

“I… think it’s surrendering?” In her vision, the giant had abruptly stopped as soon as she locked onto it, raising its arms and waving them, as if begging her not to shoot. Perhaps it had felt the divinity focusing in on it, and knew that its life was in danger, but this was something that had never happened before.

“The Stone Father is surrendering?” Theon asked in surprise. “Okay… now we tell people.”

The Stone Father was playing a very dangerous gamble, holding its arms up the moment that it felt the smallest sense of danger, praying that whoever had noticed it would understand what it wanted. If it failed here, if it was slain like all of the others who had left their mark on the back of the throne before going off to battle…

Soon, it felt as if the danger had passed, but it did not dare to take a single step forward. It stayed in that position for more than twenty minutes before seeing a group walking towards it. Among them were the small, strange humanoids with multicolored eyes, and a pair of beings that caused its mind to shudder to look at, despite their harmless appearances.

It was sure that these two, or beings like them, were the cause for the destruction of all of its previous selves. That’s why it didn’t try to take any overt action until the group was directly before it, their bodies not even reaching the tops of its feet. It was almost comical to see such a mountainous figure so terrified of beings so small, but that was what was playing out.

One of the humanoids with multicolored eyes chanted something, the Stone Father not resisting when it felt a strange magic entering its body. If they wanted to slay it, it would be far too late for the Stone Father to try resisting now. Thankfully, the magic used did not seem to be one of malicious nature, settling within its body peacefully.

“What are you here for?” A voice spoke up from the ground, amplified by magic to reach its head. It was surprised at being able to understand the language of the smaller creatures, but soon responded in as quiet a voice as it could manage to not hurt them.

“Please. Save me.” Its words drew shocked looks from the beings below, who did not understand what it meant by asking for them to save the Stone Father, the leader of their enemies.

“What are we saving you from?” They asked, though the next answer confused them even more.

“Death.” There was a tone of absolute certainty in its words as it said that, though the golem did not have the proper vantage point to examine their faces. At least, not for a moment. Soon, one of the smallest among them, the ones who gave off the most intense sense of danger, stepped forward and waved a hand. Immediately, the Stone Father’s body shrunk to the same size as the small being, causing his crystal eyes to go wide in shock.

“There, that should make it easier to communicate.” The boy, as the Stone Father could now recognize its gender, said and stepped back.

“Thank you, Mister Grid.” One of the others said, before turning back to the Stone Father. “Now, please explain what you meant. You have come here so many times already and attacked us, destroyed our walls, and each time you have fallen. Why are you here asking us to save you from death now?”

“Not me.” The Stone Father said. “Those were… past me. Other me. Other us. It was written on my throne. I must learn and understand their culture, or I will perish and be replaced. I must act as their beliefs say I should act, or I will perish and be replaced. I must guide the Ashen Crag to victory over their enemies, or… I believe you understand by now. The words of so many who came before me were written, a reminder to all who would come after them. I was created three days prior, and read these words. I found a message written by the one before me.”

“‘I have convinced them that if I should fall again, to reinforce my body with the new heart of blue stone that has appeared in our home. It is a tool to strengthen me, sent to this world in order to vanquish our foes. It will increase my power to such a degree that I must battle alone, as my body could destroy itself at any moment, and take with it the armies we send’. That was the message I left for me.”

Immediately, the group before it assumed defensive postures, but it kept its arms raised. “No fear. Stone does not make me explode. It makes me more stable, lets me exist outside of Ashen Crag, without the small ones. Past me’s recognized this, and began studying it, passing along understanding on the back of the throne.”

“Won’t they see the writing, and know that they’ve been betrayed?” The small female asked, to which the Stone Father shook its head.

“Writing is covered by layer of stone. Only notice it after sitting in throne and sensing hollow. Tiny ones do not sit in throne. Future me’s will likely not be trusted as much, because this me did not return. If they see me with you, not fighting, might erase me still. Do not know if blue stone will stop that.”

“..You’re a mana siphon.” The smaller boy said, the others looking at him in confusion. “He said it himself, he’s not the original. With the dwarves living near the pillar of this floor, the mana gathers there on a regular basis. When this mana strikes the thoughts of the dwarves, it gives birth to this.” He gestured towards the Stone Father, who nodded his head in agreement.

“When energy flows in, past me’s have said that they felt stronger.” He confirmed. “The same energy as the blue stone.”

“The Mage Heart.” One of the multicolored eye-people said. “Yes, we heard about this stone from the adventurers… I see. If this is the case, then your story does make some sense. Though, what can we do to save you from this ‘death’?”

“You are masters of the stone’s energy.” The Stone Father said sincerely. “Those who came before said that you would have a way to protect me.”

“A living mana siphon, one with free will and self preservation.” The smaller female said in a tone of wonder. “Who do we report to about this? The researcher? The Citadel itself?”

“I think we should submit reports to both.” The small male said with a nod, looking at the others. “We’ll patch this through to those that can do more about it. Would you mind letting him go deeper into your land in the meantime, so that he can avoid being spotted by his people and potentially erased? My ability to balance his size with my own won’t last after I leave his presence.”

One of the others furrowed their brows and nodded their heads, signaling for the Stone Father to follow, which it did so willingly.

“My Keeper, a… curious report has come in from Fyor.” A silver-haired Tsubaki said as we were reading through the news. It was a surprise to see people so freely challenge Tower like that, but I suppose that he was simply too old of a god for most people to remember.

“What happened?” I asked, looking over from where I was sitting, in between the original Tsubaki and Lifre, with Dana on the other side of Tsubaki.

“Apparently, a ‘Stone Father’ has appeared at the Fort of Black Stone, asking for the Rainbow-Eyes to save it from erasure.” My eyes widened when I heard Tsubaki’s words, before falling into contemplation.

As a mana siphon, would the Stone Father have its own soul? If it was a being born purely of mana, it was hard to say. “Tsubaki, would you and Dana mind dealing with this?” I asked, turning to look at the two in question. “The Stone Father is similar to the Lightborn that work for you in Fyor. If you take Dana along, you should be able to solve any magical problems that might be a part of his existence.”

Dana blinked at that, nodding her head and hopping to her feet. “Sure! If you think I can help with this, I’ll go along. Ah, wait, do we need to pull back our maids or anything?”

“That won’t be necessary, Dana.” Tsubaki informed her gently, rising up off the couch. “Our avatars here will continue their work without us. If we need anything, we can simply inform the Keeper, and have it sent to us through them.”

“Got it!” Dana flashed a thumbs up, showing her understanding. “Then, I guess we’re about to go save a mana siphon!”