Rise of the Godking - Chapter 86

Giant bodies whose heads rose above the clouds. Spells that could kill armies of hundreds of thousands, and burn entire countries. Mythical beasts that could strike fear into millions with just a single look. The power of Gods, the power of legends, the power of myths made flesh and given bone by the strength of one's will.

All of these things flashed through Daneel's mind a moment later, their burning glory shining seemingly just a few inches away from his face. He wasn't dreaming of all these things; he was merely remembering them. He had been capable of all of them, and more before the arrival of the ultimate enemy against whom he had seen no other choice but to sacrifice his countrymen so that they would at least leave them alone. He had come to the Mainland to find a way to give back life to all of them, as he had managed to store fragments of what could be called their souls which were enough for the act of resurrection… if one had enough power.

Before departing, though, he had been extremely loath to leave behind all of his achievements. It had taken years of extreme effort to gain all that power, and the idea of starting anew in a new world was quite depressing.

Hence, after racking his mind for quite a while, he had found a way in which he could store a large part of his strength in a way that could be accessed if he found a method to do it. For the system, one of the most important directives he had given was to identify exactly how he could do so, and hence, now that he had succeeded… he felt like clapping his hands wildly and laughing until his throat went hoarse.

He did no such thing, though. Reese was talking to the outsider inside the room, and the house was also filled with people who might think that he had gone crazy. The dwarves might take it in stride, believing that madness was just a step away from masochism, but it would not do to make all the people who had just begun to believe in him doubt his sanity.

Controlling himself with a superhuman effort, Daneel began to walk in the direction of the library. He did not trust himself to keep a straight face while talking to Reese or the outsider as images of himself when he had been at the peak of power were still flashing in his mind, and he needed some time to himself so that he could push them down.

He shut the large doors of the room behind him as if he was a thief running away from the police. The first thing he did after that was look at the spot on the ground where he had almost entered that pretty woman, and this made a slight blush creep into his cheeks once more.

Snapping his head away from it, he walked to the bed and sat down. Letting his face finally show the sheer joy that he felt, he began a conversation with the system that ended after a few minutes.

His earlier plans could not hold, now. It was glaringly obvious that procuring an object that would facilitate this was much more important than even getting the machines that could make the work easier in the Pit, but how could he explain such a thing to the people who believed in him?



He did need to be very, very careful. The situation in the town wasn't as rosy as it seemed on the surface. From the beginning, the residents of the Courtyard hadn't really liked him. What they did was an essential service that gave them quite a bit of leverage, and if they decided that they wanted something which was not good for the town, Daneel might have to take harsh measures to put them back to work. But if he did that, he would appear no different from the master, and that was something that would spell the end of his leadership and his dream of turning the town into a city, so he had to juggle all these things while precariously standing on a ledge if he wished to reach where he wanted before he was able to depart from this place.

Taking a meditative position, he embarked on a task that was difficult, but one he loved with all his heart. It was that of creating plans, backup plans, and even more plans that would step in in case the backup plans failed, and he had already lost count of the number of times this act had saved his life or those of his people. He let his mind work deep into the evening, and even the night, and he paused only when he heard of a knock on the door.

Daneel got up and stretched his body, a small smile playing on his lips as he was quite happy with all the progress he had made. He had figured out multiple scenarios in which the future could unfold, and he had prepared for each and every one of it exhaustively, not even ignoring something that might seem as if it had a very low probability of coming true. Hearing his shoulders pop, he opened the door and found Reese waiting with the face of an excited child.

"That superior is almost here! I thought you might want to come talk to him. The outsider was shocked as apparently, the man takes ample time to get anywhere after a request is sent, so it seems that he might actually be serious about closing the deal. I can't believe it! You're amazing, Daniel. I thought I would never see the day when no one would have to work in the Pit… but already, it might be upon us. Shall we go?"

With a grin and a nod, Daneel walked forward, getting caught up in his friend's enthusiasm despite the nagging thought about the decision regarding the machines he had just taken. Both of them had a spring in their step as they made their way through the town that had just begun to wind down for the night. As everyone was living on the surface now, the crystals around the town constantly flashed, teleporting chattering refinery workers or former slaves who made their way to their homes with a general atmosphere of contentment and happiness about them. Looking at them made Daneel's smile broaden even more as it was incredible how much change could be brought about with a single step, and by making it so that everyone lived at the same place and hence could be said to be part of the same family, he had laid the groundwork for the residents of the town to mix together and form a society slowly but surely that they could believe in and rely on no matter what happened.

He found himself thinking of his own support system back home. Before his departure, a lot of people had been added to the original nine, too, whom he missed with all his heart almost as much as the rest. He began to think of each and every one of them, but he put such thoughts away when they started to near the edge of the land where the outsider was only waiting with two enforcers on guard.

After the two of them reached him, they all stepped outside the dome around the town together, and as soon as they did so, Reese and the enforcers gawked at a cloud that was seemingly floating towards them, hanging just a few meters away from where they stood.

Daneel wasn't really phased, but to put up the act of being a country bumpkin who knew nothing, he acted surprised, too, making his jaw drop as he studied the individuals on the cloud. 

One man was positioned in front of two who were wearing full armor that almost looked medieval, in nature. He stood in such contrast to them that Daneel blinked, wondering whether he was seeing things. Dressed in the rags of a beggar, with a coarse wooden staff for support, the man had an unkempt beard and short hair that looked like it hadn't been washed in months. His face was grimy and his skin was wrinkled, making him look middle-aged, but his eyes were that of a hawk, missing nothing at all as they ranged over everything in front of him.

The men in silver armor were wearing large two-handed swords behind their backs and a helmet in the shape of a snarling dog's head. As they came closer, the cloud sped up, and soon, the three were stepping off of it on to the cliff at the very edge of the town.

They were just a few feet away, so Daneel stepped forward to welcome them. Before he could put down his foot, though… his instincts that had been honed in countless battles blared with danger, and he ducked before hearing a whistling sound from where his head had just been.

Behind him, there was an enforcer who stood rooted to the ground, his eyes open wide with horror. A needle stuck out of his hand, and from that spot, his skin began to melt.

Daneel watched, dismayed as the man soon turned into a puddle. The tell-tale signs of another needle being thrown entered his ears, and without thinking, he leaped in Reese's direction to pull the man down.

Sure enough, Daneel heard it hit the spot where he had been, causing the ground to smoke. The sounds of swords being unsheathed reached his ears, next, and after shouting to his friend to stay where he was, he stood up with a face filled with fury… and jumped forward, mind already calling to the Will.