Nero Walker, Book 4 Ch.84 (315)

The conversation between Archmage Jennings and Nero carried on for quite some time. They chatted away long enough for Ms. Davis, Nero’s subconsciously fate-reading super-maid, to make multiple deliveries of fresh coffee, bring in two servings of snack trays, and personally provide a bottle of some very specific wine that Jennings never asked her for but delighted him anyways.

It was, all in all, a surprisingly delightful way for Nero to spend the remainder of his day. Somehow, the conversation even managed to avoid turning into just another lecture from Jennings, likely due to the fact that this time Nero had done enough reading on the subjects they were discussing for Jennings to take his questions somewhat seriously. Together, they covered the topics of gods, planar lords, religious politics and its place in Oglivarchian society, all the way until they called it a night when Nero finally broke the poor old man.

Jennings had been trying to explain the differences between divinity and essence, claiming that divinity is ‘representative’ while essence is ‘direct’. Somehow, this was supposed to explain why gods couldn’t manifest themselves on the material plane, and why higher planes were separate from the material ones.

Nero, having listened closely, asked innocently, “So, correct me if I’m wrong here, but you’re basically saying that divinity is just essence from the higher planes. But, wouldn’t that just make gods like regular people living in a realm running on a different wavelength from this one? OH! And wouldn’t that mean that when people tie themselves to their god, through rituals or prayer or whatnot, then they would have to digest that essence by filtering its meaning through their own perspective, probably using their identity or center? Otherwise, that ‘divine’ essence wouldn’t work here, right?”

The shock on Jennings’ face would have been awesome had Nero been paying attention to him. But instead, he was too absorbed with his theory-crafting to notice.

Nodding as if he were agreeing with himself, Nero added, “It sounds to me like it’s pretty much the same process people use to take in essence from the world around them when they gain the experiences they use to level. Doing it on their own is just using unbiased essence from this plane rather than essence which had already been interpreted by their god. That would also explain why it takes longer for people following an already defined faith to grow, they’re borrowing the understanding of their patron rather than producing it themselves. It’s like they’re using a crib sheet to cheat their way through life rather than letting their center learn to understand the world around them. When you look at it that way, it’s no wonder they’re leveling speed sucks. Not that there is anything wrong with that, as I’m sure it takes a lot of pressure off them going through life that way.”

Snapping his attention back to Jennings, Nero asked, “Hey, totally random question here, but is there a god of awesomeness and easy-living out there in the upper planes somewhere? And if so, how would one go about creating a binding ritual to them?”

Finally noticing that Jennings had gone utterly pale, Nero was about to ask him what was wrong when the man stood up from his seat. He was rubbing his temples as if he were suffering a headache while pacing back and forth like he was considering whether or not to run away.

After muttering a few curses under his breath, the old man eventually looked down at Nero, stating somewhat harshly but firmly, “Processed essence, which was still tied to the material plane but otherwise untethered to it, would explain the mechanics of a person’s failed ascension. Conceivably, it could cause them to create their own plane and settle for what we would consider godhood. And, I suppose you’re not wrong in considering them infinite bundles of already processed essence. But please keep this theory to yourself for the time being. Not that it’ll matter, as I can’t begin to guess how many people just heard you equate their gods to regular people who are only allowing people to borrow their previously processed perspective to continue feeding off our plane. Honestly, my boy, you already have enough enemies as it is, but you just can’t seem to stop yourself from making more.”

Sighing in defeat, he added, “Get some sleep, tomorrow the dwarves should arrive, and you’ll have some decisions to make. Hopefully, we’ll still be able to get you out of Dorchester before you end up being vilified by the locals, raised to godhood, kidnapped by Center Research, or summoned against your will to the capital for a hells be damned tribunal.”

Chuckling to himself, Nero watched Jennings flee into the ether, likely transporting himself back to wherever archmages go when they are overwhelmed by his superior and enviable logic.

Sensing the door opening, Nero looked over to see Ms. Davis walking into the chamber.

“My lord, will you be retiring for the night?” she asked as if she already knew the answer to her question.

Granted, Nero had come to understand a little bit of how her ability likely worked, but he still found the fact that she could so easily predict what he was going to do somewhat off-puting.

Standing up from the couch, he brushed off any finger-sandwich crumbs from his robes while replying, “Yes, thank you. And I’m guessing you’re here to collect the trays and stuff?”

Before he’d even finished his sentence, two servants came in from behind her, passing her by and attending to their duties.

“Yes, my lord. You should also be aware that tomorrow the house’s leadership will be meeting in conference room 3C. Would you like me to wake you up an hour beforehand so that you can have some breakfast before you prepare?” she asked, her hands comfortably folded in front of her waist like she was the image of professionalism.

Figuring he’d rely on his link to find ‘conference room 3C’ when the time came for him to need to know where it was, Nero replied, “Sure, if you that’s how you wanna do it. But I’ll probably just set an alarm.”

While watching the two servants leave, Nero began walking over to his bed before realizing Ms. Davis wasn’t leaving with them. She remained standing there, watching him like she was waiting for something.

Pausing, he asked, “Is there anything else?”

Replying immediately, she said calmly, “No, my lord.”

Somewhat distracted by her still being there, he found himself frowning as he looked around for his satchel. He wanted to do a little reading before he slept, and the book he’d been thinking about was inside it the last time he saw it.

He asked, “Then why aren’t you…” before stopping himself. Deciding to take advantage of the fact that she was still here, he asked, “You know what, before you leave, do you know where my satchel is?”

Looking up from his search, he realized this question was likely why she’d remained behind. She’d just been waiting for him to ask her for something. He could almost see the smugness around the tightening of her eyes as if she were willfully holding back a smirk.

“Yes, my lord, it’s next to the bed. The book you’re looking for is on the pedestal beside it,” she replied.

Realizing she must have surreptitiously arranged things this way at some point during one of her many visits, obviously, having taken advantage of him having his conversation with Jennings to move things around without him noticing. Nero felt himself shiver at the frightening thoroughness of her predictive abilities. He could only imagine how powerful abilities like hers would be if they weren’t specifically tailored toward managing a household. She was much like a genie, with unlimited and ungodly powers, but incredibly narrow in their possible scope and applications.

“Uh… thanks. I guess that’s it. So… um… goodnight,” he said lamely while offering a goodbye wave over his shoulder as he turned away from her.

“Goodnight, my lord. Sleep well. I’ll be waking you up in a little over 5 hours,” she said, as if she were choosing to specifically remind him of something.

Halting his steps, Nero looked back over his shoulder at her, noting that she was still standing there with that smirk-not-smirk on her face.

“I’m not going to remember to set my alarm, am I? And you’re going to have to wake me up personally, am I right?” he asked, possibly beginning to see through the pattern of her behavior.

Gently smiling at him, she replied, “I’m sure you’ll remember to now, my lord. Enjoy the rest of your night.”

Having apparently accomplished everything she’d intended to, she offered a short bow before turning around and leaving, gently shutting the door behind her.

Standing there, Nero’s brain felt like it was overheating at all the possibilities and implications of her powers, ideas and explanations that he couldn’t stop himself from considering.

When did her powers alert her to the fact that he’d wanted, or would want, that specific book? Had it been when the subject of the conversation with Jennings made him think about it? Or could it have been predetermined from the moment the guy from the religious district first published his theory on the Thought Hub, which would then have inevitably led to him and Jennings having this conversation? How far back did it go? Without her doing the predictive modeling herself, how was her ability to read ‘fate’ predicting anything?

And what was that about him now being more likely to remember to set his alarm? Did she specifically say those things to make him more likely to remember to do it? Or was this some kind of mind game that was intended to cause him to forget? Could her abilities predict the effect her actions would have on the future?

He’d read about how fate-weaving worked here, and up until now, he’d thought he understood it. However, having now seen the practical applications of abilities which could do it, he was beginning to think that he should just chalk the process up to magic and no longer worry about it.

He remembered reading that the Tower of Fate was created to mimic abilities like Ms. Davis’, using science and analysis to read the essence in the ether to make predictions, but he couldn’t wrap his head around how that could be possible. There were simply too many variables to take into account, and it would rely too much on guesswork.

Tossing his robes onto a chair, he hopped into bed while pulling his book off the pedestal. Propping up his pillow against the headboard, he tapped his finger against the cover as his mind was still chewing over everything he’d just learned.

This world was so hard to understand, while also being so blatantly and annoyingly obvious. As long as he could conceptualize the underlying metaphor behind things, he could at least understand the mechanics of how everything worked. It was like the whole existence here was a pun, but only one which would be understood by someone who’d spent their life mocking it.

Aside from that, the major problem he had was that he’d trained his mentality to focus on the details. Back on Earth, those details mattered, while here it was the opposite. Here, the less he knew about the details, the more he could fudge things. Considering that that was exactly how ‘magic’ was supposed to work, it only fed fuel to the fire of his own growing headache.

Mentally berating himself for wasting time pointlessly going around in circles, he reached out to his link, which of course was still in his pants. He couldn’t believe that he’d almost forgotten to set his damn alarm. Even after just having been reminded, he was still almost distracted enough to forget about it.

“That woman is like the magical version of my mother, always knowing exactly what was going on in her house, and effortlessly manipulating everyone into doing exactly what she wanted them to,” he thought sourly to himself.

Unwilling to keep thinking about this crap, Nero flipped open his book to find some of the answers he’d been wondering about. This was one of the books Jennings had given him, specifically the one that talked about essence disturbances and planar theory.

Although it wasn’t meant to be a textbook or anything, as it was more geared toward the conceptual understanding of the subjects rather than the applications, Nero still found it helpful. He wanted to look up something Jennings had spoken about, something which had been bothering him. And he really wanted to check if what he remembered reading was actually what the book had said. He would have mentioned it to Jennings, but his growing theory seemed a little too far-fetched, even for him.

After a few minutes of searching, he found it.

“Son of bitch,” he muttered, while running his fingers over the page and double checking what he’d just read.

He’d been right. The book had mentioned upper and lower dimensions, referencing them as possible linkages to dungeons and essence disturbances. While most of what happened in the wilds was from nearby material planes interacting with this one, more powerful disturbances could cause bleed-through from some of the more metaphysically distant planes of existence. When those were found, the book was direct in that higher-level magics were needed to deal with them. Regular hunters and soldiers were told to contact their superiors, ending the short blurb on the subject.

While not exactly everything that he’d hoped for, it was enough for Nero to piece together a theory of existence that wrapped everything up in a nice bow. And while it took some reading between the lines, it was enough.

The material planes, the one he was currently on included, were all filled with unprocessed essence. By unprocessed, he meant essence which was only given a purpose and not willfully imbued with meaning. The higher and lower planes were filled with filtered essence, given additional meaning through whoever or whatever controlled their planes. Gods and devils or whoever, they each ‘made’ their worlds through the essence they collected from the material planes. It was a very literal interpretation of the concept of people ‘creating’ their gods and demons.

It even worked with the idea that each person had ‘god’ inside them. Everyone is a god in their own way, creating the world around them through their actions. The world provides the clay, and people shape their lives. Together, through their interactions, they build the sculpture that is the world around them.

When spelled out like that, it all sounded so annoyingly spiritual but also kind of poetically obvious. Sort of like, ‘we reap what we sow’, ‘act like an asshole, expect to be treated like one’, ‘you can only go as far as your willing to walk’, and ‘there’s always a sunrise following a sunset’. All true, all poetic, and all annoying.

But getting back to his point, thinking about the people who followed the religions, he could see how their faith was both helpful and limiting. They never needed to question things or figure anything out for themselves. If their god said that murder was bad, they didn’t have to take the time to figure out for themselves ‘why’. In the same way, he assumed, demons or whatever there was on the lower planes probably freed people by stripping them of their identities, alleviating them of their sense of self in their own completely different way.

The upper planes ‘added’ to people, while the ‘lower’ ones ones took something away.

He was absolutely sure it was more complicated in the application of the details, but the general idea he was developing didn’t seem to contradict anything he’d learned. That said, it also made him wonder if Jennings wasn’t possibly wrong about what gods actually were.

When people died here on this plane, he’d seen for himself that their minds were absorbed into the world, adding their experiences to its meaning, metaphorically returning to the ether. But, wasn’t it possible that a person who hit level one hundred was just too ‘strong’ for this world and instead passed onto a higher plane where their mind could create its own little slice of heaven? If that were so, then why should anyone assume their soul stayed there in their new plane of existence? Wasn’t it possible that the followers were just following a really powerful mind remnant?

Someone that powerful could conceivably shed their mind and body, leaving their physical form to disintegrate into material essence while their mind went on to create its own plane, leaving their soul to move on unencumbered to its next great adventure… or whatever a more spiritually enlightened person might want to call it.

In that way, following a god here was like following a life blueprint, borrowing the understanding and meaning that someone who came before had already figured out for themselves. From everything he’d read, no religion here specifically talked about their gods being ‘creators’ aside from creating their own planes. They were just people who achieved what people here call ‘godhood’.

Closing the book, Nero tilted his head back and looked up at the ceiling, letting his thoughts marinate.

‘This world is a weird combination of spirituality and science. They believe that the world was created from the accumulated meaning of essence over time, building the world out of the concepts that sentient beings will into being. The gods aren’t like the gods I’m used to, and I need to start accepting that. Sure, in many ways they’re like the pantheons back home, but they’re also… not. I wonder if they ever developed a religion for the ‘one above all’ or some kind of local equivalent,’ he mused to himself.

Chuckling, he muttered out loud, “Probably not, religions here give real tangible benefits. No one would sign up for a life of service to a deity that didn’t give them anything, not when there were alternatives.”

On one hand, it was totally understandable, but on the other, he felt like this might just be another example of how limited they were in their imaginations. Although it did feel somewhat sacrilegious to equate a lack of recognizable religions to a lack of good available fiction.’

“Whatever, if I never got smote down for my disturbing lack of faith back home, I seriously doubt I’ll be in trouble here for actually having any, no matter how disrespectful its form may be,” he said to himself while tossing his book like a frisbee toward the couch his robes were laid across.

He intended to enjoy his first night back in a real bed, regardless of how short a rest he had to look forward to.

Nero’s last thoughts were of what Vera’s face might look like if he decided to call in sick and not show up to the meeting. He could instead just spend his day lying in bed, enjoying the random deliveries of snacks Ms. Davis would no doubt provide based on his subconscious desires. It was such an amusing thought that it led to him drifting off to sleep with a smile on his face while hugging his crumpled-up bed sheets as if they were one of those anime body pillows he’d definitely never owned.

*Chapter 315 - Musings before beddy time.

*Spoiler - Nero doesn't realize it, but his mind is improving.  It's fun to write his perspective being the same while his mind and brainpower growing stronger.

That said, I wanted to touch on how different religions in fantasy novels were to what we have in reality.  I've rarely, if ever, come across a fantasy novel that had a religion that was entirely reliant on faith.  And by faith, I mean one that didn't have any observable proof.  Granted, people in our world may see signs and whatnot, but the central concept of faith is that if it were proven, then it wouldn't BE faith.  Fantasy worlds have religions that have tangible effects on reality.  I think it's interesting to consider how that might affect a society's development.  I'll let you all think about the correlations.