Chapter 11

“I will come with you.” Peace said, chewing her lip in a decidedly ungodlike manner. I must check on Dawnsinger and Inez at the very least and as my people have settled in well here, they can help the newcomers you brought in. The quarters are all incredibly comfortable and the food receptacles are nothing short of astonishing.”

“The receptacles create food?” I gasped, clutching my heart. “Don’t tell anyone or I’ll lose my place as God of the Feast, as Puss called me.”

“Puss? I do not know anyone by the name of Puss.” Grigor said with a frown.

“Oh, that’d be my Paladin Hobgoblin on Talitus. He’s a special little guy.”

“On balance    From all you’ve done outside of creating food, I really can’t see that name catching on,” Destruction said with a wry smirk.

“Why not. I quite like it and if I had it my way I would never have created anything but food here!” I glared at her, folding my arms in mock offense.

“Should we go then?” Peace asked, clearly unamused by the show.

Eager as anyone to get back, I clapped my hands together. “We definitely should! See how the others are progressing.”

“Once we’re in Far Reach, remember to set an anchor point for your totems,” Destruction, added.  “Much better than Clive’s Void Storage. It’s starting to smell in there.”

“Real funny, Destruction. Now have you both got your Sphere managers and whoever else you want to bring back to Far Reach with us?”

“I have, Destruction replied, casting a glance over at Peace.”

“My temple staff are aware I might need them to travel. Give me one moment.”

“I need to sort out the Ethereal Stages too. Remove the Follower Aspect so our budding A-Team can progress more quickly toward a Divine Core.”

“I’m not sure that’s something that should be rushed,” Peace said, looking from me to Destruction.

“I think you’re forgetting our situation,” Destruction replied swiftly.

Her face fell and she flew off rather than answer. Watching her go I shook my head and moved to the nearest admin interface.  “Rushed! I can’t read her sometimes,” I muttered.

“Give her time. She’s just coping. I hope,” Destruction said wandering over to watch what I was doing.

I brought up the Administrator search function and spoke aloud. “Give me whatever programme runs the Ethereal Stage Progression.

There is no programme that runs Ethereal Stages.

They are a natural process in the Life Cycle of an Alo-im.

I felt Destruction giving me a look which was as puzzled as my own whirring thoughts.

“What makes the non-Alo-im races have to go through more Ethereal Stages then? As to my knowledge, five Ethereal Stages were added to the Evolution path?”

The path of evolution is one of unmarked Natural progression.

As a Mortal Core reaches the midway point of its Evolution, a secondary Ethereal Core is created.

Once a Core is Created, both an Immortal Shell and a Sphere of Influence can be created to protect the Core.

Once a Sphere of Influence can be created, part of the soul can be transferred to an Avatar.

The completion of these steps are necessary for full Core Fusion when your Mortal Core Reaches full Maturity.

“So why is it not the same for the other races? Why do they get a full breakdown including the need for followers which is driven by the Administration Headquarters, and why do they need to reach a quota of Followers to reach full maturity as you put it?”

They do not.

The Lesser Race, Interactive Levelling and Restriction Package was put together to offer a guide and series of incentives for those less fortunate.

“Hoho! So we don’t actually need to remove anything? The Package doesn’t do anything?”

When the Package was active, it suppressed certain functions abilities so they could be later offered as incentives in a tiered Evolution System.

It was accessible only for those within the Primary and Secondary Planes unless a bond to the Tertiary Plane was instigated.

“Hakan, you crafty motherfucker. Hang on though. You said when the package was active? Is it not active now?”

That is correct.

The Lesser Race, Interactive Levelling and Restriction Package was disabled automatically when the alterations to the Nexus Defense Barrier created by the Criminal Hakanilaris were deactivated

“Well that’s awesome news. Can you remind me the things people have to do to create a Sphere?”

Of Course Administrator.

The standard natural progression without the Leveling Package is as follows:

Process enough Neuma to achieve a Mortal Core strong enough to produce an Ethereal Core.

This usually happens at a certain natural evolution which is different for every race.

Secondly, the mortal body must be infused with the power from this new core in stages, strengthening and rebuilding a body capable of holding a full Divine Core. Otherwise known as an Immortal Shell

Once this process has begun, an Ethereal home can be made that is worthy of the individual and their burgeoning power.

Finally an Ethereal being must come to understand that their body, mortal or otherwise is merely a means to interact with the physical world and that they are now so much more.

Ethereal projection with the transference of conscience to another vessel is the gold standard in achieving this goal in understanding.

Once all of these other steps have been reach, the final step is processing   enough Neuma to achieve a Divine Core and truly take your place as a Guardian of Destiny

“That’s good to know. So I’m a Guardian of Destiny now? What exactly does that mean?”

It means you are responsible for upholding the Alo-im way of life and furthering their ambitions through the universe.

“Hold the fucking phone,” I said holding up my palm to the speaking interface. “That’s not right. The Universe doesn’t give out this kind of power to further the fucking ambitions of the Alo-im. Let me guess. An Alo-im wrote that shit, because the Universe definitely didn’t.”

All information within the Administration Systems is compiled by Alo-im Administrators.

“I quite like Guardian of Destiny,” Destruction said, then snickered. “God for short!”

I slapped my forehead with a wry smile of my own. “You’re bloody right. Can’t believe I didn’t see it straight away.”

“Well, the less said about that the better.”

“I still call bullshit. But it doesn’t surprise me. Seems the bastards spent more time furthering their own needs than looking after the universe and I reckon that’s what the power should be used for.”

“Oh I don’t know. I quite like the idea of furthering my own needs.”

“Yea well, that kind of thinking is why we are where we are now. Interface, Can you change that last description for me?”

Please state or enter what you wish the description to say?

“Change Guardian of Destiny to just Guardian. That’ll do.”

“Very droll,” Destruction added as Peace flew back into the building.

“What is Droll?” she asked, her eyes dropping to the interface I was working on.

“Clive has just officially downgraded us from Gods to Guardians.”

I grumbled at Destruction before speaking with Peace. “We also found out the Alo-im considered themselves very important. So much so, that their own destiny was had a higher value to them than the universe that created them. That’s why I changed the name. As far as I’m concerned, anyone who grows powerful enough to have a Divine Core has a duty to protect the universe. Right now, that’s us three.”

Peace nodded slowly. “Under normal circumstances I might welcome the change. Against Hakan, I do not. There is something about him that makes feel… lesser.”

I laughed though it held little humor. “That’s just parents for you, Peace. Now come on. Let’s get back to Falritas. Ancient Alo-im psychos wait for no one.”