Chapter 12

The moment we appeared in Far Reach I called for Joel, then I sent Grigor off to find Sania and Wind to train, while Peace and Destruction brought out their people.

When Joel’s portal sprung open in front of us, he stepped through  he rubbing his hands together with eagerness,  before realizing what he was doing and bowing to Peace. “It’s an honor to have you here, Goddess.”

She glowered at him though I could tell it was from stress rather than displeasure at him. “I have come to add my Sphere to Clive’s. I am told it will not weaken the overall strength with Destruction’s?”

“That’s what we’re hoping. We just need Clive to supply a little void and we’re good to go. Not a moment too soon, either. We're getting damn cramped in here with the refugees from Malatia.

“Did you speak to Ekstrom and Grimstrom?”

“Yep. I went down personally to speak to them. I told them what had happened and that you were running around trying to save people.

“They're more than happy to be within our protection, though they did ask if they could still expand. They can expand their towns and villages on the surface as much as they want, providing they don't cause trouble with our people. As for the rest of the Nideland, no. Not at the minute. Not until we get a handle on things.”

“Pretty much what I told them. Now, did you guys bring your Sphere Managers?” he asked Destruction and Peace. “The more houses we can get up in the areas we encompass, the better for everyone.”

“We have,” Destruction said, gesturing to a reduced sized Demon Lord:

Eeyuk: Level 204

Goddess of Peace’s Sphere of Influence Overseer

Demon Lord (Demon VI)

Peace nodded and pointed to the fair-haired Alfar next to her:

Salo Immel: Level 183

Goddess of Peace’s Sphere of Influence Overseer

Losala (Losalfar III).

“Well it’s a pleasure to meet you both,” he said with another bow. “Lady Salo, Goddess, I’ve chosen a prime location for you to build your main temple! I hope you’ll like it."

Peace’s sour expression didn’t change. Salo nodded curtly, her golden blond hair unmoving, so slight was the gesture, and I let out an irritated huff. Not particularly impressed with how both Peace and now Salo were interacting with Joel.

“Seems like they don’t care where you put them, mate. We’ll keep that prime location for someone else who’ll appreciate all the effort and hard work you're putting in to make this work. Put Peace’s temple up in the Forsaken Lands.”

As Salo gasped and Peace spun on me, hands on hips, I smiled at them both. “Lucky for you there’s actually some life coming back to the area. At least with the parts our Sphere occupies, anyway.”

“What are you playing at Clive,” Peace snapped, growing a few feet in her outrage. “We have just lost our home and you wish to insult us?”

“I wish I didn’t have to tell you to treat Joel with the respect he fucking deserves,” I snapped back, growing to match her new height and meet her eye.

“He’s not your lackey or mine. He’s an important and vital part of everything we do here. When he speaks to any of you, you reply with, yes, Lord Joel. Thank you, Lord Joel. No scowls and fucking silent nods. You, are, NOT doing us a favor here.”

Peace took a step back and when Destruction snickered, she spun on her and cast a withering look at the demonic goddess. That just made Destruction laugh even more. “Did you forget you were still dealing with Clive for a moment there Peace?”

Her expression finally softened as she looked back at me. “It seems I did. And as usual, you are right, Clive. I am just very…”

“Devastated? Heartbroken? Terrified? Lashing out?” I suggested.

“Indeed. And none of those are Lord Joel’s fault.”

This time she gave a deep bow to Joel and Salo followed suit quickly after. “I apologize for our disrespect, Lord Joel. I would dearly love to see the land you have picked out for us. I am sure it will be perfect.”

Joel smiled and bowed in return. “It was my pleasure, and it will be an honor to have you staying with us until all this blows over.”

Then across our bond he snapped. “You didn’t have to do that Clive. I feel like a right bloody pillock now.”

“I did have to do it. Sorry you feel embarrassed by it, but Soul Mate or not, She’s not coming to my home and treating my best mate like a piece of shit. It’s an insult to us all, and I’m just making sure I nip it in the bud now before it becomes a thing.”

“Fair enough. I think they’re waiting for us to go.”

“Then let’s go dude!”

Joel and I led them all across Far Reach to the other side of the valley a few miles South of where Destruction's temple sat overlooking the town.

We landed on a small plateaux halfway up the mountain where he spread his arms wide, gesturing to space and looking pleased with himself. “How does this look for you? It creates a triangle of the three temples around the town and I think it will look pretty cool when it’s built.”

“It’s an excellent location, Lord Joel. I will feel more secure knowing I have my temple and main altar back in place, along with the Ethereal Neuma and points I have stored in there.”

“Perfect. We'll get your temple set up first and then we'll get to work on the expansion. Most of the land around here is already controlled by us.” He looked at Salo. “As long as you set the expansion to accept Neutral people we should be okay. If any troublemakers get caught up in the growth, then we can weed them out quickly enough."

“We can,” I agreed. “Now, while you build the temple, I’m going to try and create a Void Battery.

“You not want to wait until I can help?”

“Nah mate. I’ve got this.”

He didn’t look convinced as I teleported away, but I was. I focused on the Sphere Menu and narrowed my search down until I reached the After Altar.

Before selecting it, I pushed the thought of exactly what I wanted. The thought seemed to be slowly accepted and then a Notification and a secondary option popped up.

<Congratulations>

You have created a Unique Artifact.

Bonus XP 100,000

You have Leveled to 1002

20 XP to available to Allocate.

Create Void Neuma Storage.

Y/N

I was happy with the development and another two levels which I hadn’t been expecting. But the artifact wasn’t quite right just yet. I focused on it again forcing the idea a connection to the Altar where the Sphere was fed from. I needed it to be have an adjustable flow to provide what I needed. I received a notification that disliked my plan.

Non-Viable Artifact.
Void Neuma for Void Storage Artifact is taken directly from main Alter. Creating a link back would produce a loop that would achieve nothing.

“But it wouldn’t. Would it?” I snapped at the Notification. “It would act more like a reservoir. The Void Neuma would fill back up in the altar and my battery would ad the extra needed for the shield.”

Unsurprisingly, the Sphere menu didn’t respond, and I grew pissed. After trying half a dozen different variations, I gave up in frustration and just took the Void Neuma Storage to see if there was anything I could do Manually.

When I brought my mind back to focus, Joel and Eeyuk were standing next to me.

“I sensed you were having some troubles, mate?” Joel asked, eyeing the box on the altar. It was entirely black and seemed to suck in the light around it, creating a hazy Mirage. “Is that it?”

“No. That’s a Void Neuma receptacle. It has the Neuma we need inside, I just need to work out how to add it to the Sphere. The Sphere Menu wouldn’t let me loop it in as it’s essentially just an extension of my altar. I tried everything and it just won’t fucking work. We might not be able to do it after all.”

“Shit.” Joel hissed, still staring at the box. “Can you not just weave it into the Sphere yourself rather than the altar?”

“That’s my next port of call. I’m not hopeful, though. This Sphere’s gonna be huge and the last thing I need is my power being directly drained for it. But you make other shields that don’t need you actively supplying them.”

“Yep, but I tap them into either the ambient Neuma around them, or they’re configured to steal the Neuma fired at them. The original artifact draws in and provides most of the power.”

Joel rubbed his chin as he thought over the problem. Eeyuk who’d been silent until now offered his own suggestion.

“So you bolster the strength of other cities shields with your powers?”

“That’s right,” I replied absently.

“Then why would you try to bolster your own here? Your Sphere is not the one with the deficit. It is both Peace and my Lady, Destruction’s altars and Spheres that must be bolstered. Or at least one of them.”

I felt a fool. “It sounds so simple when you spell it out like that.”

Judging by Joel’s grin he agreed. “Well it’s pretty simple. I’m sure you would have gotten there in the end.”

Eeyuk merely nodded.

I clapped them both on the backs. Well, with friends like you I didn’t need to get there myself did I? I’ll make another one and then we can take them back. How’s Peace’s temple look?”

“They’re still discussing the design. When I sensed you were stressed, we came to find you. Destruction went back to her temple to prepare.”

“Let’s go deliver her Void Storage first, then.”

I created a second Void Storage and felt dangerously low on that Neuma myself as it was the hardest to replenish on a planet. Then Joel opened a portal to Destruction’s Altar.

The Lady herself was there, lounging in her chair tossing multicolored balls of powers between her hands. She sat up when we appeared. “Are we ready?”

“Close. I just need to link this to your altar so your contribution to the Sphere has  Void attached. I’m not sure how often It’ll need replacing, but here’s hoping it’ll last awhile.”

“I’m honored to be the one to receive the additional Void power,” she said with an easy smile. “I think Void suits me better than Peace.”

“Well, you still can’t use it personally and Peace is getting one too, but… actually. Does Peace even need one of these? They’re only providing one of each of the Neuma’s for the most part.”

“It’s a fair point,” Joel murmured. “We should try it with just one in place first, and the second one if needs be.”

“Agreed! Let’s get to work. Joel, you go set Peace and Salo off with their Sphere and keep an eye on it. Let me know when you're ready to go, and when if you’re having any problems. I’ll link this store and let you know.”

“Sure thing boss,” he said, portaling to Peace’s Altar hall. “Actually Joel, Scratch that. Just leave the portal open. He turned back and gave me a thumbs up. I would have returned the gesture, but I was already widening and strengthening his portal, so it was almost like we were in the same room. Peace did not look amused, but through the bond I only sensed strain from the upheaval. It would be a bit much to expect her to be singing and doing a fucking happy dance.  I waved through and told her the plan I’d just laid out to Joel.

“We are ready when you are, Clive. Just say the word and let’s get this process underway.”

“Uno momento,” I shouted back, then set to work linking the Void Battery to Destruction’s altar.

It was surprisingly painless to link, though no Void Neuma entered the altar as it had no capacity to accept it. I hoped that could be changed once the new Sphere took effect.

“Okay! Let it rip!” I yelled back over my shoulder.

For a long few minutes, nothing happened. And then, a slight tremor in the ground.

I opened another portal to outside of the temple, where I could see a coalescing of power from we three gods. I saw the Ambient Earth Neuma from inside the Sphere make up the shortfall there, and now it was my turn to make sure the Void came to the party. Looking back to the altar, and focusing on only the bond of Neuma that fed the Sphere, I took the void from the Storage box and for want of a better word I rammed it into the mix.

At first it didn’t want to be there, but I wasn’t defeated so easily, and held it in place, despite the real pain I found myself in.

Seconds turned into minutes, and I was losing faith that this was the way to achieve what I wanted. I tried to weave it in with the others, I tried to increase the flow. I tried to tie it in place, and nothing changed. Only when I’d all but given up and began reducing the flow to the column of power did the Void Neuma finally clicked into place. The energy from the Void battery was gently swept up into our expanding Sphere. I stepped back feeling like I’d just been kicked by a bull, yet still had the wherewithal to look through the portal to the outside.

What I saw brought a smile to my face. The Sphere structure hadn’t changed at all, but I could feel it had grown and so much more than I’d expected.