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As Ervas and Veronica slumbered, they felt a dragging force slowly engulf their souls, as their consciousness emerged elsewhere.
?
This feeling seemed rather familiar to them already, it was like those times when they were 'called' by Ratatoskr and the other Goddesses, but this time, instead of a tiny and cute Squirrel meeting them, there was a large bear, and a small bird sitting on his shoulder.
The bear seemed to be a grisly, being covered in brown fur, his face seemed serious and ferocious, and his left eye was scared, seemingly blind as it lacked color, the rest of his body was also filled with scars, leaving some areas without fur. There were also several swords and arrows stuck into his back, where he was bleeding constantly from. Although it must be incredibly painful, he seemed calm and composed.
And the bird sitting on his shoulder was rather small, its feathers were azure, green, and yellow-colored, creating an iridescent combination. Her beak seemed to be made entirely out of gold, but it was very small, and her eyes were bright emerald in color. Her left leg seemed injured, and she lacked a lot of feathers around her wings, she seemed injured as well.
"So it happened just as Ratatoskr said…" said the tiny bird with the voice of a youthful and gentlewoman.
"Hm, it seems that they have the capability of speaking with us directly through some power within their souls, amusing! Couldn't expect less from the saviors of my children," said the bear with a serious and manly voice, like that of an old man on his forties or fifties.
"Hello?" asked Ervas.
"Are you two gods, by any chance?" asked Veronica.
Both Ervas and Veronica's souls were currently merged as one, but they were able to think separately and speak individually from one another.
Their appearance was as intimidating as when Ratatoskr saw them the first time, but aside from the spectral, gray-colored body, the wings, arms, head, horns, halo, the grotesque eye that represented Oggoth, Anir's Bone Marrow, and Kelsus Dark Scales, there was now something resembling a ferocious, dark, blue-colored monster made out of phantom around their bodies, entangling them as if it were a snake. There was also a large dark-colored core where their stomach would be, which was constantly releasing a black-colored aura.
The Bear and the tiny Bird seemed a bit intimidated, although they tried their best to remain calm, it seemed to be quite the hard task when they were in front of such a being, Ervas and Veronica's soul when fused was more intimidating than most Demon Gods, whose appearances were already bizarre by themselves.
Mustering all the strength they could, the bear and the bird presented themselves.
"Ahem, I am Hasaen, the Bear-kin Heroic God, Ratatoskr has given us the chance of meeting with you after she gave us your coordinates," said the bear, whose name was Hasaen.
"It is as you imagined, we are Gods. I am Ocypete, the Heroic Goddess of Harpy. We came here to thank you for what you've done for our children who had remained within the Continent of Anir's Hands… Due to being so far away from us, it was very hard for us to help them… and well, we are rather injured, so our power is limited," said the bird, whose name was Ocypete.
"Is that why you're showing yourselves as animals?" asked Ervas.
"That's right… just like Ratatoskr and the rest, when we beast-kin gods become weakened, we take this 'lesser' form to recover our wounds while still being able to do a few tasks, it is a 'perk' that we possess, if it could be called that… Well, it is better than simply slumbering," said Ocypete.
"That's right…" said Hasaen.
"I see… Wait, what do you mean by coordinates?!" asked Veronica.
"What we just said, coordinates within the world of Kritias. When we know your exact ones, we can send a very accurate oracle towards you. It seems that it worked perfectly, and we even have the opportunity to speak with you in person," said Ocypete.
"To be honest, you two didn't even know much about us yet our oracle hit you pretty accurately, could it be a power within you two?" asked Hasaen.
"Maybe… We are not sure. We seem to have more powers than what we are aware of," said Ervas.
"Yeeeaah… It is a bit overwhelming at times, you know? We used to be simple mortals, so it's hard to imagine that we got so many weird powers that are similar to that of Gods all out of the sudden…" said Veronica.
"Hm, it is understandable, you might be special existences amongst mortals…" said Ocypete.
"Special Existences?" asked Veronica.
"Yeah, although they are rare, they are not impossible… and you two, from what I can see, have two… no, three? Divine Protections… Two of them seem to be from strong Dark Gods… Impressive," said Hasaen.
"Special Existences are beings that possess qualities of both mortals and gods… Such as beings that we sometimes call 'Demigods', who are mortals that become as strong as Gods, for example, and their strength can rival ours…" said Ocypete.
"Well, a proper ritual is needed for someone so strong as a Demi-God to become a God-like us, and it often needs the intervention of another God like us, or a bit stronger… Ah well, there are a few exceptions… such as Elder Dragons, Titans, or Beast Kings… and a few other Monsters, which make the majority of the Demon Gods…" said Hasaen.
"Amazing, that's some sweet info we didn't know about," said Veronica.
"Hm, thanks for telling us that," said Ervas.
"Oh? It is nothing, don't worry!" said Hasaen.
"Anyways, I believe we are going far too off-topic… We wanted to deeply thank you for what you've done for your children, and also for fending off that… being," said Ocypete.
"Hm, that… thing, whatever it is, surely gave us a large headache a few hundreds of years ago… damned bastard…" said Hasaen.
"What? Being? Thing? You mean…?" asked Ervas.
"You mean the Necromancer?" asked Veronica.
"Indeed, the Necromancer as you folks call it. He's an… Well, it could be cataloged as a Special Existence similar to you two, and a very dangerous one…" said Hasaen.
"Although we don't know his complete origins nor where he exactly came from, we know that he is made of at least two of Anir or Kelsus Fragments, or well, if we go with technicalities, the Demon God King Fragments…" said Ocypete.
"We guessed as much…" said Ervas and Veronica at the same time.
"You're rather sharp, I like that," said Hasaen.
"Anyways, he's a Special Existence in that he possesses god-like powers within a 'mortal' body. It seems that the Fragments and the soul of that Lich that they're parasitizing had merged almost perfectly, like a perfect match, and such a combination had brought forth a strong consciousness that carries several memories from the original Demon God King… alongside his knowledge, powers, and the dangerous Death Attribute Magic…" said Ocypete.
"Death Attribute Magic is such a pain to deal with…" said Hasaen.
"So that is what he is exactly…" said Ervas.
"Do you know something else from him? Like a weakness, perhaps?" asked Veronica.
"We have no clue. We simply know that the bastard showed up one day a hundred years ago and began to plan a terrible scheme that ended in the death of most of the tribes within the mountain territory where you are… afterward, the damned fiend used the corpses and dead spirits of such people to create his dungeon through special means and… well, that's where we are now," said Hasaen.
"What we know is that his motives seem to… become a full-fledged Demon God," said Ocypete.
"And that's why he did such a tricky and nasty thing as that… well, he has the memories and personality of the Demon God-King, so you two can guess how much of a senseless monster he is," said Hasaen.
"We can guess as much," said Ervas.
"Yep, he's quite the bastard," said Veronica.
"Now that you've rescued both of our tribes, we recommend you two to escape the mountain and get as far away as possible from the Necromancer," said Ocypete.
"Indeed, you definitely cannot confront him for now, he's way beyond your capabilities…" said Hasaen.
"Hm, really?" asked Ervas.
"Isn't he weaker than a God though? We ate Oggoth after all, although he was weakened, we inherited part of his power," said Veronica.
"That's… right, you somehow ate a God, you two are, perhaps, just as ridiculous as this 'Necromancer'…" said Ocypete.
"Hm, but still, I am rather worried about it, you should escape. There is no point in exerting revenge if the chances of dying are so high," said Hasaen.
"It is simply not a matter of revenge," said Ervas.
"We want to rescue the people he still holds prisoner, such as the children… and the thousands of suffering dead spirits that he holds, those that were once the strong warriors and heroes of the ancient beast-kin tribes of the mountain," said Veronica.
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