Spellheart 10: Chapter 13 (Patreon)

After Tivana and I cleaned ourselves and left our rooms, we were surprised to find Elara waiting just outside.

“Hello, Miss Elara,” Tivana gave Elara a polite bow.

“Please, Elara is fine. Any companion of Theo’s is a companion of mine,” Elara said, smiling.

“How long have you been waiting outside our door?” I asked. “I hope we didn’t keep you.”

“Oh, it was fine. I wasn’t there long,” Elara replied. I sensed that she was lying, but I let the matter rest. “I simply wanted to ask you to join me for breakfast. Well, the two of you, since you’re both here.”

“That sounds wonderful, Elara,” Tivana replied, accepting the offer. A new set of buffet tables were out, this time arrayed with typical breakfast foods. Some were elven, some were human, and all were delicious and finely made.

Tivana and Elara spoke a little about common topics, such as their ascension to Demigod or daily life in their respective periods. All the conversation was a polite surface-level exchange. They both smiled, but it was clear they were mostly just being polite. It was only made slightly awkward because the two women were pressed against either side of me the entire time they spoke.

I was taller than either of them, so to talk properly, they got real close and poked their heads out in front of my chest. There wasn’t much room for my arms with them doing that, but they seemed perfectly content to keep my arms wrapped around them while they fed me my breakfast.

“Enough, ladies. If Sam and Dean see this, they’ll think I’ve become some sort of overgrown baby,” I laughed as Tivana held a spoonful of her scrambled eggs to my lips.

“Sam has a reputation to maintain, but I wouldn’t worry much about Dean.” Elara held up a slightly larger portion of sausage for me on my other side, hoping I’d choose it over Tivana’s scrambled eggs. Left with little choice, I opened wide and ate them both simultaneously.

“I suppose Dean would garner an eccentric reputation if he pulls what he tried yesterday at every party.” I smiled at the thought.

“He does, to both of those,” Elara replied, quickly shoving another slice of sausage toward me before Tivana could gather another spoonful of eggs.

Breakfast finished soon after that, and things took an abrupt turn towards becoming more formal. The casual meet and greet we’d had the day before was gone, and now everyone wore more somber expressions. The staff for the place we rented for this venue set up a half-circle of chairs. All told, there were about thirty of us. However, a couple of people had brought attendants at the late sorcerer realm, and they would be sitting out these important world-shaking Demigod discussions.

After they departed, along with the venue’s staff, there were about twenty of us left. We looked at one another, and eventually, Ethan stood.

“Alright, first order of business!” Ethan announced as he climbed to his feet and circled around the front of the chairs. A solemn silence filled the air as though the world itself was holding its breath for the profound matters we were about to discuss.

“I heard someone mention wanting more vegan options at breakfast. How does everybody feel about sauteed mushrooms?” Ethan asked.

Perhaps not so profound after all.

An hour of arguing over the quality of breakfast had set the tone fairly solidly. I had no strong opinions about mushrooms one way or another, so I let the others talk. I chimed in occasionally but largely wanted to fade into the background and see where everyone stood.

In groups like this, some people were naturally louder than others. It was a combination of social standing and some people being more extroverted than others. Those who were both would be the ones to watch, since they’d most likely argue against me when the time came to talk about the Planetary Defense Array.

I wasn’t surprised to learn that Ethan was one of the people to watch. The real surprise was that Louis, who I’d thought was in charge of the whole cult, remained quiet. The entire time the others argued about mushrooms, he kept one hand pressed to his ear, listening to whoever was whispering to him. Still, other than a few disinterested comments, he didn’t speak much.

He did, however, catch me looking at him. I did my best to conceal my interest.

We moved smoothly from the discussion of mushrooms to the venue for the next golden age party. After a lengthy debate, it was decided to keep it in the same place as this year.

I again threw in my two cents, each time backing up some of the people I’d spoken to the day before. The more friends I could make, the better.

“Alright, now that those matters are settled, it’s time for anyone to take the stand. If you’ve got a grievance with another Demigod, we’ll hash it out together. Hence, nobody back home has to deal with a wrecked continent,” Ethan said.

Before I could dart in, another Demigod showed up. She hardly wore more than a pair of straps over her breast and running between her thighs. Even in the warm weather of the World of Sanctuary and Serenity, that had to be a chilly outfit.

“I’m once again proposing we increase the world’s temperature by four degrees!” the Demigod proudly announced, much to the groaning of everyone else.

“We’ve told you this before, Yeminel. If we make the place any warmer, then equatorial regions will become uninhabitable. Besides, some of us enjoy winter fashion,” another elf protested.

“You can just use cooling spells,” Yeminel replied.

“Why don’t you just use warming spells!” the elf arguing with her replied. After that, there was another shouting match, even louder than anything that came before. I waited patiently for my chance to take the stage. When Yeminel’s proposal was soundly rejected, I stood right away.

“Hello everyone! I’m Theo. I’m a new Demigod, but I know a few people here. I met most of you last night.” I waved to the familiar faces. “I want to talk about something plaguing the world we call home for a long time. The Planetary Defense Array.”

I took a deep breath, letting the moment hang just long enough to ensure I got everyone’s interest. “I want to disable it.”

The uproar that followed my statement dwarfed what had happened when Yeminel proposed making the world warmer. Several people jumped right out of their seats, Ethan among them.

“Well, hold on now, let’s not be so hasty!” he waved his hands nervously.

“The suffering the people of the World of Sanctuary and Serenity have faced because of that array is tremendous. My own nation was nearly completely destroyed because of it, and we weren’t even the hardest hit. I know that many other nations have completely collapsed,” Queen Lyanva said to support me.

“Prosperity and calamity go hand in hand,” an elf from the Elven Star Dominion turned her head contemptuously.

“The common people have dealt with the golem attacks for generations. They are in balance with them now. To allow them to thrive over much might simply bring about another Elven Star Dominion. And another calamity to go with it,” another added.

If I hadn’t spent last night rallying support for my personal crusade, I probably would have needed to have the answers to all those questions myself. But now I had allies who’d already discussed the topic and were ready to defend me.

What followed was nearly an hour of arguing as intense as any battle. I never thought I would take on so many Demigods at once, but I thought I might manage it here on the stage and with support from new friends.

Then Ethan stepped into the verbal sparring ring to oppose me.

“Theo, I have to question your motives. I wasn’t going to mention this, but just months ago, you destroyed an entire planet,” Ethan explained, gesturing wide and speaking loudly so everyone else could hear him. “That was bound to draw us some unwanted attention. Now, you want to disable the barrier that keeps the World of Sanctuary and Serenity safe? What happens if some new enemy you made decides to destroy our world like you did the World of Woods and Wilds.

Murmurs filled the ring. This was news to some people, and no matter their affiliation, nobody wanted to see the World of Sanctuary and Serenity destroyed. Even the ancient Demigods of the Elven Star Dominion, who considered themselves entirely separate from the nations of modern elves, wouldn’t want that.

“Shutting down the golems would not shut down the shield. Far from it,” I replied with raised hands.

“Attacking a static shield is far easier than fighting something that will attack you back. The Witch of Frozen Blood or Grognak the Orc Wargod could force their way through it, given time and help from the inside. The shield is only somewhat effective at blocking the powers of Immortal Ascendants.” Ethan pointed a finger at me in accusation.

“Not so,” Elara interjected with a shake of her head. “That is true for the current version of the shield, but it was not always true. The original shield that existed before we added the golem network was far more powerful. We weakened the shield by tapping its power source and control unit to turn it into an offensive weapon. If it were restored to its natural state when gifted to us by our creator, it would be able to block even Immortal Ascendants.”

“I’d like to see proof of that before you risk the entire planet on such a venture,” Louis spat, speaking up for the first time since I’d started talking.

“I’m sure there’s plenty if you visit Elven Star Dominion Outposts in the Primordial World.” I glanced at Elara for reassurance, and she nodded back at me. “There, you see? There are answers to all your concerns. There is no good reason we shouldn’t solve this issue once and for all, for the sake of future generations!”

“Few of us even have any descendants left. Why bother helping the fleeting ones when they will be gone in the blink?” Yeminel, the scantily clad elf asked.

“Perhaps you have no descendants left now, but you don’t look dead yet. I’m sure there could be more in the future.” I shrugged.

Yeminal bit her lip, face flushing. “You know what? Perhaps you’re right. Maybe we should shut that stupid broken golem thing down.”

Louis had finally had enough. After pressing on his earpiece one last time, he stood up with a nod. He shot one glance at me before facing the rest of the seated Demigods.

“Shutting down the Planetary Defense Array's golem production systems will be a serious mistake with serious repercussions. No, I will not elaborate. I have spoken.” He sat down without so much as another word like that was the end of things.

And apparently, to some, it was. Louis was a Late Demigod, which made his word as good as law to most of the Early Demigods present. If he was determined to have his way, precious few here could oppose him. But Elara was one of those few.

“Now, hold on just a moment.” Elara stood. “When we began these meetings, we did so to establish a rules-based system that would limit conflict at our level and foster cooperation. We can accomplish the former by gathering here and arguing about mushrooms, but we rarely do the latter. This is an opportunity to change that. I know many of us here don’t care much about this sort of thing, but for the average elf on our iteration of the World of Sanctuary and Serenity, this is life and death for them.”

I joined her, throwing what support I could behind her. “And look at this where we’re on here. Isn’t the whole reason we come here because it’s a utopia? Despite being far smaller than the sprawling Ten Thousand Worlds we’re used to, this shadow of what we could have had proved that disabling the golems will lead to prosperity never seen before. The average young elf could make her way to the Wizard realm with confidence.”

“Yeah, what he said!” Dean cupped his hands and yelled. Unlike the others I asked for support, I’d asked Dean to be as casual about supporting me as possible. He had a way of cementing strong opinions, and now was the time to sway more people to our side.

Louis started to get out of his seat again, brows drawn tight. It looked like he was going to reiterate his previous threat. But before he could, Ethan placed a hand on his shoulder and ushered him back down. He whispered something in the cult leader’s ear before turning back to me.

“What the two of you say is very tempting, assuming it works. Maybe we should shut down the Planetary Defense Array. But for something this important, why should we rush?” Ethan shrugged, turning to regard the others. “They’re done, and we’ll have a century or so before they become a problem again. That’s plenty of time to think things through and ensure we have the right of them. So why don’t we think about the issue and deal with it then? If you agree to wait, you’ll have our full support. Right, Louis?”

Louis gave Ethan a curt nod. Others slowly relaxed. It was a reasonable compromise, and by all accounts, I had won the debate. That should have been something to be proud of. Already, many of the newer Demigods who’d been sitting near Tivana and Queen Lyanva were celebrating.

We’d done it! We had everyone else’s permission and support.

So why did it feel like I was missing something?