Spellheart 10: Chapter 12 (Patreon)

The difference between walking around the courtyard greeting people with Tivana on my arm and walking around the courtyard with Elara on my arm was night and day. Everyone seemed so much more eager to say hello. There were smiles when they saw Elara, and they stepped forward to shake hands with me and introduce themselves. None of that had happened when Tivana was at my side.

Truthfully, it made me feel a little bad. Odds were Tivana’s night hadn’t improved in the slightest, whereas mine had suddenly gone from bad to great. Perhaps I could introduce her to Elara later. The two didn’t have much in common other than their connection to me, but maybe that would be enough.

With her at my side and our recent conversation about golems, I brought up a topic that had been increasingly on my mind as of late.

“Oh, I’ve been keeping busy...” I waved off the usual icebreaker question. “The end of the last golden age meant golems wiped out a lot of cities and downs on the Groveguard Continent. I’m helping rebuild. New damns, rivers, roads, apartment complexes, that sort of thing.”

“Very generous of you,” said the dark-haired elven beauty who’d come off as arrogant the first time I’d spoken to her. “I confess I haven’t left the Primordial World in a long time. A century, at least. I prefer the company of elves from before the fall of the Elven Star Dominion, you see.”

“I understand.” Though truthfully, I nodded politely. I hated how these ancient elves considered themselves superior to their modern descendants. If the elves of the current day merely had the same knowledge and opportunity, they could reclaim the accomplishments of their ancestors and then some. I just knew it.

“You should come sometime. There is an absolutely lovely resort island. Daily massages, theater, music, fine food, and everything a Demigod could ask for. Now that you’ve reached the peak, you’ve earned the right to spend the rest of your lengthy life in luxury,” the Demigod woman insisted. Nearby, her friends nodded along.

“I don’t know about that...” I shrugged. “A few minutes of my time can do work that would take lesser cultivators a lifetime. A new bridge or waterway will be useful for generations.”

“And in three or four generations, they’ll have forgotten your kindness entirely and take all your hard work for granted.” The dark-haired beauty shrugged. “It’ll happen to you, mark my words.”

“Or worse,” one of the woman’s friends added. “They’ll think they have the right to work you day and night like a common laborer. The thought of a Demigod like you rushing around a continent to work for a bunch of mage acolytes is comical, don’t you think? And the more you do it, the more they’ll expect you to do. Trust me, their gratitude does not last long. The short-lived are always like that.”

I grit my teeth. This conversation wasn’t going in the direction I wanted to steer it. Thankfully, I had Elara by my side to help.

“Don’t knock Theo’s good deeds. He is helping people. When you were young and weak, wouldn’t you have loved and respected a Demigod who gives his all to help you and those like you?” Elara asked.

The two Elven Star Dominion Demigods shrugged. “Perhaps.”

“Maybe you don’t want to help as directly as I do, but there is something I wanted to bring up this party.” I slowly broached the subject that had weighed most heavily on my mind.

“And what is that?” the dark-haired beauty asked.

“The matter of the Planetary Defense Array,” I replied. “It is the cause of so much suffering for the World of Sanctuary and Serenity. Would it not be for the best to shut it down for good? The shield can remain, but the golems were clearly a mistake.”

I felt Elara’s hand wrap a little tighter around my own momentarily before she relaxed. She seemed just as concerned about the Planetary Defense Array as I was.

The other two looked skeptical, however.

“Oh, I don’t know. Anyone important can survive the end of the last Golden Age. If those important people failed to recover enough to survive the next one, it’s their own fault for being weak.” The dark-haired beauty shrugged. “If they had any skill at all, they would reach the Sorcerer realm at least and then hide in the Primordial World every time it came around. There really isn’t much to it. It might even be good for the surviving population. Maybe in a hundred thousand years, the worthless addle-brained idiots that are our descendants will finally be able to make something of themselves.”

I hadn’t been prepared for the level of callous disregard the Demigods from the era of the Elven Star Dominion had for the current generation of living elves. It seemed like they genuinely didn’t care much about the modern world. Most had confined themselves entirely to the Primordial World, living in scattered shadows of the past left behind long after the fall of the Elven Star Dominion.

They were content to stay in illusions of the past like the one we were in now. Perhaps that was why this venue had been chosen for our little party. I doubted many of these Demigods had even been to our reality in a long, long time.

The next few conversations went just as poorly as the first, but eventually, I spotted Tivana and her mother gathered with a small group of elves. I wanted to introduce Elara to Tivana, so I nudged us over to the two of them. These elves seemed a little cheerier, though they were excluded from the larger groups. I realized why shortly after spotting them.

This was a collection of more recent Demigods. All of them were younger and more newly ascended. These were elves who had reached the Demigod realm in the modern era, like Tivana and Lyanva. That was why the two of them suddenly fit in so well with this new group.

“I hope we’re not interrupting?” I asked as I butted in on their conversation. “Tivana, Queen Lyanva, I wanted the two of you to meet Elara here. She’s a new friend I made recently.” I gestured to Elara hanging on my arm.

“Miss Elara! How kind of you to grace us with your presence!” one of the Demigods surrounding Tivana and Lyanva gushed. The others rushed forward and quickly began brown-nosing. It was clear to me that Elara’s status was head and shoulders above any of the elves near Tivana.

And it was no wonder why. The elves of the Elven Star Dominion were far stronger than their modern counterparts. And Elara was a late Demigod, meaning she was even more potent than most. Just being seen talking to her would boost the social status of these lesser Demigods while in this gathering.

Once again, I was surprised at how normal this lofty secret gathering of the world’s secret mightiest warriors was. Demigods were each fearsome and powerful figures who were terrifying to behold and whose might caused nations to tremble. But the gathering here wasn’t all that different from what the various tribes of the Hearthwood might have put together for their various Mage Acolyte level leaders.

I supposed it just wasn’t natural to think of oneself as the top of the food chain. Or to behave as though you were emperor of all creation all the time. After all, these Demigods still had Immortal Ascendants to look up to the same way those tribal matriarchs I had once met looked up to True Mages.

There was one thing I was thankful for from Tivana and Lyanva’s group of new friends. They at least seemed a lot more receptive to my ideas.

“So, what do you all think about shutting down the Planetary Defense Array?” I asked.

“Can such a thing even be done?” one of Tivana’s new friends asked.

“The golems, yes,” Elara quietly explained. “The shield can not be deactivated, but there is nothing wrong with the shield. In fact, the shield would likely become considerably stronger once the weapons the Elven Star Dominion attached to its power source are deactivated. It would become considerably harder for foreign Demigods and Immortal Ascendants to show up on our world, even with help from the inside.”

“So someone like the Witch of Frozen Blood wouldn’t be able to attempt to take over the world with her vampire spawn,” I nodded at Elara appreciatively. It seemed like she knew a thing or two about how the Planetary Defense Array worked. That made sense, since she was a skilled enchanter who was active when the array was being built. It had no doubt been popular news among her peers once upon a time.

“I think it’s a wonderful idea!” said one of Tivana’s new friends. “If we can end the constant golem attacks, things will be much easier for my descendants. Not having to worry about building a secret bunker or a trip to the Primordial World for all the core members of my family means that my descendants can really sprawl. That’ll make raising up another Demigod all the easier.”

“There could be a lot more of us here then!” Another Demigod added. “Maybe then we’ll actually get some respect from the other Demigods.”

“I’m glad you’re all on board,” I told my new allies. “Because I could certainly use your support.”

***

Night came soon after that. Though Demigods had no need for sleep, we still took a break when night came and retired to our rooms. Socializing all day long was emotionally tiring, so the rest was welcome, even though I wasn’t physically tired.

I separated from Elara, much to her disappointment, and rejoined Elara. After kicking Tivana’s mother out of our room again, Tivana settled onto the bed for a little nighttime fun. We had to unwind somehow, and we weren’t about to go to sleep.

“So, that Elara woman you brought over? She was pretty,” Tivana asked as she sent a quick probing question my way.

I laughed. “Yeah, she is a strange one. Let me tell you how I met her.”

I quickly filled Tivana in on how I’d met Elara and the fact that she claimed to be one of my lovers from some point in her future but in my past.

“I do not envy your love life,” Tivana said as she snuggled up against me. “It sounds very confusing.”

“And getting more every day,” I chuckled. “Fortunately, I can feel my way through it most nights. I like feeling my way through things.” My hand wormed its way along Tivana’s naked stomach and over her breasts.

“It certainly seems that way.” Tivana tilted her head behind herself, arching her back beautifully to turn and kiss me. There wasn’t much time for conversation after that as I ran my hands along her familiar curves.

It was all in the name of dual cultivation, really. Tivana had recently ascended to Demigod-hood, so I needed extremely frequent and thorough interactions with her cultivation to ensure that nothing was wrong with her.

Technically, I had done that already, but one could never be too careful. Besides, this allowed me to experiment with that crystalized concept that Elara had given me. It wasn’t that different from what Tivana had partially inherited from me.

She had crafted her own concept by partially understanding mine. With a bit more work, I could likely replicate the feat with my other women, who weren’t nearly as close to Demigod as Tivana. The tricky part would come later if I wanted to push them toward Immortal Ascension. Using my concepts would prevent my companions from establishing their foundations throughout the Demigod realm.

There had to be a solution to all these issues, but perhaps it wasn’t one I’d truly understand until I reached Immortal Ascension.

Usually, I’d figure there was no rush, but sooner or l expected someone to come and destroy the Hearthwood. Having a dozen surprise Demigods would be a massive game-changer if I ever faced such a threat.

But I had to put all that thinking and experimenting aside as Tivana writhed against me. Maybe I did a little more than was needed for dual cultivation. Tivana certainly didn’t mind.