Chapter 48 Time Waits for No Alo-im

So you have a full run into the end of Book Five, I'm posting the last eight chapters today in a mega dump!
I really hope you enjoy it, and not hate me utterly by the end of it.
I also want to let you know, that while this book comes to an end, I will be posting Chapters of Book 6 from the 27th for Elman tiers and above, and the 3rd of January for Human Tiers.
SO if you did want to keep reading after what I've done... then you wont have long to wait this time.

... 

During the feast, I sat on a raised table at the back of a Galessian banqueting hall. It was a unique experience, as servers, mainly Gallrach and Eakalfar servers, whizzed around with large trays of covered food, serving the countless tables.

I was feeling incredibly self-conscious as I sat between Life and the queen in the center of the table where I really felt one of them should be sitting.

The feeling got worse as the queen stood to deliver a heartfelt thanks to me for saving Alezar. Despite my squirming, I settled down as the food came. I steeled myself to try a number of different foods and found that with a mouth full of seawater and the tastebuds of an Eakalfar, I didn’t immediately want to vomit almost a quarter of the food back out.

All told, it was an experience I would never forget, and those points of EN I felt guilty about using for the honey roast hams had been repaid tenfold.

Once the feast came to a close, and we said our goodbyes, the queen bowed.

I chuckled at her. “Don’t be daft,” I said, shaking my head at the gesture. “On Earth, friends shake hands, high five or hug.”

“What are they?”

I stuck my hand out and explained. A moment later, we managed a very odd, web-handed handshake. I thought that would be it, but the queen wasn’t finished.

“And a high five?”

“Just one will do, but for a high five, you hold your hand up like this.” I demonstrated.

She copied the gesture and I high fived it. She grinned, and for a moment, I thought I’d gotten away with my faux pas. I hadn’t.

“And a hug?”

“That’s a bit more personal, and I’ll end up with your guards' spears stuck in me.”

“You’ll be fine,” Life promised.

I glared at her, then put my arms out wide. The queen copied and I only bloody hugged the queen of the sea elves.

“Oh,” she said uncertainly, then smiled. “I think I liked the last one the best.”

Life surprised us both by hugging the queen too. “I think I will make an effort to be more involved in the future. The next avatar I make to come here will also be Eakalfar.”

We said our goodbyes and then Life’s avatar and I swam out of Alezar. Once we were clear of the city, I opened a portal to the mountain range, and we flew through. I morphed back into my Clive form the moment we were out of the water and Life looked genuinely shocked.

“It’s hard to believe how powerful you have become.”

“And the Alo-im were just born like this. I had to get kicked to shit all around Falritas before I got the basic skills. Now, you want to know how I get out of here?”

“I am assuming it’s something to do with this mountain range, or what is inside?”

“You assume right. But to get inside, you’re going to have to travel in my void storage.”

“Well, at least I know you’re not lying to me,” she replied with a grim expression.

“Nope. You’ll be perfectly safe, and once I’m inside, I’ll get you out so that you can have a look.”

“Very well.”

On that note, I did actually lie, and I only got her out once I’d transported her to Toukal in Falritas. I explained as much when I opened up and let her out.

She looked around the room in confusion. “This looks more like Talitus, but both more and less at the same time.”

“There’s one of these cities on each planet,” I said, leading her over to the balcony to look out over the alien landscape. “And there’s an Administration Headquarters near the Nexus.”

“Seeing this, combined with what you’ve told me about the followers and the control… deep down, it all makes sense. I always knew I was no god and that the whole scenario was rigged to prevent anyone from gaining the kind of power we enjoy. Growing up on Falritas, I can actually remember the arrival of Light and Darkness as gods. Before that, there was only the Creator.”

She trailed off, seeming lost in thought. I left her to it until she finally spoke again.

“When Death and I were brought into the fold, I knew something was wrong, but it was such an amazing opportunity that I took it. Light… she was lovely back then. She welcomed me with open arms, and taught me so much about our new roles. She loved Hakan, though, and he treated her like a favored child, even as the others were brought in. He was always distant with Darkness and Death. Fair, but distant.”

“What about Destruction?”

She frowned. “Why would that matter?”

“Just wondering if it was a soft spot for women or a preference for the Light Pantheon.”

“He… now that I think about it, I think it may be the former, as he was good to Destruction. Though, Peace is an outlier. He didn’t get on with her as well.”

“Figures. She’s…”

“Rigid? Stern? Cold?”

“She was,” I agreed. “But she’s awesome.”

“I’m glad you think so.”

I thought there’d be more to the statement, but no more words came. Instead, it was Aly, who spoke next.

Clive, I have an anomaly you may wish to be made aware of.

“Yeah? What is it?” I asked, worry hitting instantly.

As you know, I have been tracking Hakan’s rate of speed since he entered the universe proper.

“Please tell me you’ve got me a timescale?” I asked desperately. I hated not knowing.

He was steadily slowing down for the first five days since entering my scanner range. Until he found a regular speed that I could not calculate.

When he did settle at a speed, it was only for a few hours before it slowly, infinitesimally began to speed up again.

I was close to working out an estimate for you based upon the new rhythm.
But now he has stopped.

“Fucking stopped? Where’s he stopped like?”

Nowhere important. There are no habitable planets anywhere near his current location.

“That’s weird. Keep an eye on it for me, Aly, let me know when he starts moving again.”

The very moment.

I groaned, then apologized to Life who was looking at me with something close to amazement.

“No need to be sorry. This is all fascinating. Aly sounds very helpful.”

“She is. She’s brilliant, mostly.” I rubbed at my face processing what Aly had told me, then decided fretting over it wasn’t going to get me anywhere. I turned back to Life. “I need to zip to my temple first, and then I can portal you to Cethain. The big question is, do you want to do the Pantheon meeting when we get back to my temple?”

She looked troubled by the offer, and I thought she would say no from her expression. But she finally nodded. “Best to get it out of the way. It’s only Destruction who I fear will be difficult. The others are more understanding. Perhaps Peace,” she added with a nervous smile.

I left Life out of the Pantheon meeting to start with as I explained myself to the other members.

Sania appeared first, coming to stand next to me. “Is everything okay?”

“So far, yeah,” I replied, trying to keep a neutral expression, but I just couldn’t keep the smile off my face.

“You look pleased with yourself,” Destruction said the moment she saw my grin.

Death nodded. “You’ve leveled quite a bit too. Are you looking for the EN already?”

“There’s more to it than that,” Devotion jumped in, unusually forthright for her. “There’s something different about your core. It’s… I’m not entirely sure.”

“It’s another Soul-Mate bond and another Pantheon member. Can we have a big hello for Life!”

Life appeared in the Pantheon meeting space a moment later, looking as though she was trying and failing at being confident.

Devotion covered the floor space to her in a second and took her hands in her own. “You’re joining us! I’m so glad to hear that.”

“It’s the right decision,” Destruction said. “We are safer and stronger.”

“So, is everyone comfortable with this?” I asked, looking around. “This is, after all, a joint decision, but if you say no, I won’t be happy,” I said with a smile to show I wasn’t serious, even though I was, and everyone knew it.

Thankfully, everyone was happy with the development. So I clapped my hands together in satisfaction and spoke again, “I didn’t expect any of you to say no, so I’ve already brought Life up to speed on my way back from Galess so that we can move on. Has Darkness been in touch with any of you over my offer to go to one of the Admin Hubs?”

Each of them offered a negative response, which had me baffled.

“I’ve tried contacting Darkness over a minor border dispute in Talitus, as well,” Death offered. “No response, though h3is people are active, so I assume he is up to something.”

“That’s pretty weird. He was very eager to come and check the place out. Has anyone heard anything from War?”

“I did try War as well,” Death said, “after I tried repeatedly for Darkness. He answered.”

“He did? What did he have to say?”

“Nothing positive or helpful. He merely told me to look after our own business and stop pestering him and Darkness.”

“Well fuck it. There’s not much we can do about them. I suppose we just wait and see what they’ve got in store for us next.”

“And with those advancements in levels plus what we are stockpiling for you,” Death said. “I think that your Divine Core is looking sooner rather than later. I’m currently at 60,000 available, and while I had hoped to reach 100,000EN to give you, that number is arbitrary, and it’s far better for you to have it in levels than for me to have it in storage. I will send a Box of Death to you once we are finished.”

“I can do 50,000,” Destruction offered, and I could tell from her irritation across the bond that she was annoyed Death had more to give than her.

“30,000 from me,” Devotion said with a bright smile. She was just happy she had something to offer, and I was glad of it.

“8,000,” Peace said glumly. “But you’re unlikely to level from what you get today, and I guarantee I will have a far greater amount in a few days.”

“Don’t be sad about that, Peace. We’re all doing our best, and you saved one of our best fighters. We would all have saved our Chosen in that situation.”

Destruction muttered something, but in unspoken agreement, we all chose to ignore her.

“What exactly are we talking about?” Life asked.

Death was straight in, like he was on a hair trigger to answer this particular question. “Clive can convert Ethereal Neuma into Mortal Neuma in the Administration Hubs. Each thousand points of Mortal Neuma translates as one whole level. It’s quite miraculous really.”

“It’s expensive, though,” I added quickly. “Because I only get one Mortal Neuma per two Ethereal Neuma. It’s a terrible deal under any other circumstances.”

“But if we don’t get Clive at least to Divine Core level, then…” Destruction let the comment hang.

I finished it. “The fucker’s gonna steamroll me.”

“I see,” Life said, taking the other gods in curiously. “I am surprised to find this kind of transfer taking place, but I’m happy to see it taking place for the greater good, and for that reason, I’d be happy to donate to the cause too. I must confess at feeling a little embarrassed by my lack of knowledge as I have no idea how to gift Ethereal Neuma in such a way.”

“What a dolt,” Destruction said with a sharp toothed grin.

“None of us knew either,” Devotion added quickly, before shaking her head good-naturedly at Destruction. “Death taught us all.”

“Another reason to be among you,” Life replied. “An honest and open pooling of knowledge and resources could be fantastic. I think I could get used to this and I will happily offer what I can of my EN. I will need to retain some for security, as I’m still incredibly nervous. But I definitely owe you a small donation, Clive.”

“Well, as long as you know, I’ll try and get the Neuma back to you in time. All of you. I don’t want anyone to be out of pocket.”

“Such a fool,” Destruction said with a dry chuckle. “The only reason we’re doing this is to save our own backsides, Clive.”

Life seemed to be looking at something else, her gaze momentarily vacant. “I can offer you 300. For now. I will ask my followers to make a concerted effort to pray so that I can offer more soon.

“300?” Peace said, appearing to be in pain. “300EN? That’s all you can spare.”

“Oh Nexus, no! 300,000EN. I will keep 200,000 in reserve.”

“Fucking hell, Life,” I yelped. “That’s a lot of EN. How’ve you got so much?”

“That is not so great a number in times of peace,” Destruction said. “I’ve had upwards of two million stored at various points.”

“As have I,” Death agreed. “This protracted war has been costly.”

“Well, shit. I’m excited now. I mean that’ll actually get me into the 900s, won't it?”

“If everyone provides the stated amount, you will rise 225 levels to Level 913,” Death stated.

“Then let’s get this party started. Sooner I’m there, the sooner we can get to work on the Admin Hubs and really put the cat among the Hakan.”

“That makes no sense,” Peace pointed out.

“’Fraid so,” I replied, confusing her further. “I’ll get your avatar back to Cethain and then send me your boxes, my lovelies.”

“You have an avatar with Clive?” Death asked.

“I do, yes. I made it to meet him on Galess. It will be best placed here where Clive spends most of his time.”

He clapped his hands in delight. “Then you can just pass him the points through the avatar. We can all give the points to you rather than creating boxes and portals.”

“What would that involve?”

“Just a quick get together on Onnekus. Five minutes and we can be done.”

Life nodded.