Rise of the Godking - Chapter 94

For the first time since he had begun his journey, Daneel did not have to skirt the edges of an island to reach his destination.

The entire place was a wasteland, filled with nothing but dunes of sand and rolling mountains that could be scaled easily. As he made his way forward, with the system securely scanning everything so that he didn't need to be worried, he found a few remnants of buildings that had once been present here and there.

Only the foundations could be seen, made of stone and built to weather decades or even centuries, if need be. Whatever had been built atop them had faded away long ago, and unlike one of the islands he had passed, they weren't even any bones left to suggest that humans had once lived here.

He needed to do something to pass the time for four hours, as he wasn't really happy with the idea of just standing by the exit, tempting anyone or anything who might wish him harm to come find him in such an obvious place. The masked man had seen him, and even heard what he had said, and even the bartender had seemed as if he would have loved to make an attempt on Daneel's life.

There were both obvious reasons, and those that he couldn't guess behind their actions. Of course, the one that seemed most probable was that the man had some sort of an understanding with the main power that took the crystals from all of these islands, and so, any news that spoke of a rebellion against them would call on more bratty idiots who would love to kill, first, then ask questions later.

As for an explanation regarding the state of the island around him, he had already ventured a guess, but he asked the system to make sure.

[Host is walking on an island whose energy resources have all been thoroughly depleted. The Will of the island has also perished. The only reason the island is still floating on top of the sea is that an artificial Will has been placed here, which does nothing but keep it afloat.]

It still felt sad to hear the answer, and have his guess confirmed.

There seemed to be a natural evolution of stages in which an island targeted by the Mainland could be in. Graiton was not in a very advanced stage, with mining still going on, whereas this one was at the end of its life-cycle, with no fate left for it but to sink into the sea and be forgotten forever, its name erased from the annals of history and the world.

To think that there had once been a vibrant force of nature present here, too, that had been snuffed out so that those filled with greed could prosper…it rankled within him, but there was nothing he could do about it as he was now.



A melancholy mood settled down upon him as he made his way onward. He only stopped when the system gave him a message that he was within sight of the teleportation matrix, and then, finally, he composed himself and frowned, thinking about what he should do.

A few moments after that, he just shrugged and asked the system to create a hiding spot from where he could observe the matrix, but not be seen. The system assessed his surroundings for a few moments, then led him to the peak of one of the hills nearby.

By the time he had dug a hole and hid himself with a bush, an hour had passed since his departure from the bar. The way he was now reminded him a lot of his plan that had been used by those rebels…and right now, he found himself really hoping that things wouldn't play out in a similar manner.

As he settled in to wait, he kept remembering the cries of those dying people, and how much they had been looking forward to the advent of the one who had been prophesied to arrive. The Grand Seer also made him think of his lovely wife, Xuan, who was one, herself, and of course, that led him down a path of remembrance that was a tad bit better than everything else, but still sorely bitter, at the end of the day.

No one appeared at the crystals even after four hours passed. It was only 15 minutes after that that he heard the maid making her way down the same path he had taken, and after reaching the crystals, she stood there, fidgeting and looking around, as if afraid that someone might see her but still not wanting to give up and leave.

To make sure that she was alone, Daneel waited for five more minutes before finally revealing himself. She breathed such a huge sigh of relief when she saw him that it surprised him, and when he came near, she even shouted, "You scared the life out of me! You know how risky this is? I'm supposed to be sleeping with my husband…but I had to tell him to grunt and act as if I was in there in case that blasted Hopkins checked! Well? What's the message?"

She was wearing an extremely short skirt that hid almost nothing of her legs and a tight shirt that left nothing to the imagination. After merely glancing at her clothes, though, Daneel didn't pay any attention to them, and the only reason he gave the answer was that her eyes…reminded him of that of the woman.

"The Grand Seer has spoken. He who is of this world, but not, comes. He who is of this land, but not, comes. The Advent is near."

She just stood there, frozen, for a few moments, looking at him as if she couldn't believe the words that had come out of his mouth, and then…she broke down crying, the tears dripping onto the dry ground as she wiped them away from her pretty face.

"I was hoping that that was the message…but I was too afraid to be sure. Everyone knows that the Grand Seer is in one of the biggest hellholes of all the islands…so it's so hard for word to get out. Thank you for carrying on the message. Now, you should leave, before Hopkins—"

[Incoming danger!]

At the same time that the system sent the message, Daneel ducked, feeling his whole spine tingle. Then the sickening sound of a blunt object hitting flesh, then crunching into bone reached his ears, and without caring about himself for a second, he stood up and caught the maid's body in his hands.

He heard a faint whistling sound as he did so, and an object flashed in front of his eyes before disappearing. It was shaped like the head of a mace, with spikes jutting out of it, attached to a chain that had tugged at it with such strength that it had flown away with a speed that made it seem as if it had vanished into thin air, and of course…it had ended the woman's life the moment it had struck her.

Daneel felt frustration, despair, and hopelessness as her face melded with the faces of all those who had just died for him. All of these emotions vanished, then, as they all turned into the same thing that flooded throughout his body and made him look behind him with a bloodthirsty growl.

A second later, he was running in the direction where the mace had flown with the dagger in his hands, and the other hand already touching one of the crystals and absorbing them in his bid to gain more power, more strength, more speed to catch the culprit and do something about what had happened in front of his eyes for once. The system was saying something, but he couldn't hear it as a roaring sound filled his ears.

Each step he took seemed to cause the ground to shake. Each lunge seemed to create small tornadoes in his wake. Ignoring them all, he ran…and as he did so, his heart throbbed in sync with something that had given up a long time ago, and a red tinge covered his eyes.