Arcane Journey

Half a year has passed since the Felin Sorrel was completely wiped out. Everything is as Brian expected. The desert is constantly recovering its vitality, and his power is gradually growing. He has accumulated strength and is ready to march towards the desert. In this way, he will rebuild an extraordinary arcane empire.

It's just that Brian can still remember deeply that he once promised a deal with Miss Lost.

So after explaining everything, he came alone to Sultanza, the city of ghosts docked on the Shadow Sea.

Brian walked into the hidden door and walked down the stairs.

The stairs are very narrow, spiraling in circles and extending downwards, I don't know how deep or far.

The City of Shadows was built by the Supreme King using magic power to cut down the mountain peaks and turn them upside down 2000 years ago. According to common sense, the height of the entire city is no more than 1000 meters.

With Brian's speed, if magic is used, it will be in the blink of an eye.

Yet the secret door and staircase were constructed in such secrecy that who knows if there were any oddities in them.

Even though he knew that there would be no danger, Brian was vigilant and always ready to respond, so that he was made to be careful with every step, even after walking for more than ten minutes, he was still dawdling on the stairs.

The secret door at the entrance has long been closed, and the stairs are pitch black, and you can't see your fingers as far as you can see. Any magic or non-magic lighting means are useless here.

Not only is there no light, there is no temperature here, except for the cold and cold wind, there is only absolute darkness.

If you can't see it, then don't look good.

Brian stopped and thought about it calmly, then suddenly pressed the handrail, jumped out of the stairs and jumped.

The sound of whistling wind passed by his ears rapidly, he used the levitation technique, and fell rapidly like a meteor falling to the ground.

The long, bottomless staircase seemed to come to an end suddenly.

Brian felt as if he jumped out of the city of ghosts and went straight into the sea of ​​clouds.

It was still dark, but the soles of my feet were light and soft, and no matter how I thought about it, it couldn't be mud.

By feeling the airflow with his skin, Brian knew that the place he was in was a large open plain.

The fierce and cold wind blowing from hell has become soft and warm here, caressing the body like a lover's hand, and blowing with the wind.

There are even traces of lingering singing voices.

The singing voice is mellow and soft, soul-stirring, touching, and indescribably alluring.

As if recalling something, Brian sighed unconsciously, sat down cross-legged, and listened intently, the graceful singing gradually approached, and suddenly turned into a very short moan.

Like weeping and complaining, like pain and bliss, it is enough to draw out the most secret primitive desires in anyone's heart and turn them into raging desires.

Then the singing suddenly disappeared again.

In an instant, a delicate fragrance floated over, lingering in the nose.

That refreshing fragrance doesn't even seem to enter from the nose, but seems to penetrate directly into the body, penetrate into the lungs, slowly circulate in the limbs of the whole body, and merge with the soul.

Brian could tell right away that it was a woman's body fragrance, and only a stunning beauty could produce such a moving fragrance.

Faced with this situation, Brian seemed to be intoxicated. He took a deep breath and didn't exhale for a long time, until the smell of the aroma was completely remembered in his mind, and then he let out a long breath.

At the same time, there is also a fragrant breath like orchid and musk, blowing provocatively in the ears.

Brian could feel...someone coming.

The soft and boneless arms stretched up like a snake, wrapped around his neck, and then two soft lips were sent, staying only a few inches away from Brian's face.

Very naturally, Brian stretched out his hands, hugged the soft, smooth and graceful body into his arms, then actively pressed down, and kissed the beauty in his arms.

This is a long kiss that is so beautiful that it can suffocate...

After an unknown amount of time, the woman in the darkness leaned against Brian's arms, panting slightly.

Brian turned his head slightly, even though he couldn't see anything, it still made his heart beat faster.

He immediately restrained his impulse, and then sighed: "I never thought that you... would..."

"Don't you like it?" The woman in the darkness opened her mouth for the first time, although her tone was sweet and lingering, it still seemed to have a hint of lingering sadness and loss.

"How is it possible, but..." Brian lay lazily on the ground, hugged the woman's slender waist tightly, and said:

"I don't understand. Are you spending so much time just to become like this with me? You should know that I am actually a person who can't stand temptation. Didn't I agree to your request last time? Why bother?"

He paused, and said word by word: "What is your purpose in looking for me, the Lost Lady, one of the most powerful gods in the kingdoms, the goddess of the night—Shaer."

The woman who was snuggling in her arms froze suddenly.

In an instant, the intoxicating fragrance became gloomy and cold again, and Taoyuan Township, which was soft and fragrant, seemed to have really become a deadly hero's tomb.

Even though he still couldn't see his fingers, Brian felt that one moment in his arms was a gentle and affectionate character girl, but in the next moment he had turned into a deadly poisonous snake, which could bite off his neck at any time.

This change did not last long.

But it was already long enough for the person concerned, the woman in the dark finally moved, seemed to open her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by Brian again.

He tried to keep his tone calm, and said to Shar:

"It's not fair. You can see me, but I can't see you. Give me a little light, and then we can have a good talk. There are many questions, and you have to give me answers."

The Lost Lady sighed faintly, pulled her right arm out of the man's palm, and waved it lightly. Immediately, several bluish-white light balls appeared out of thin air and danced like fireflies.

It illuminated him, and it illuminated her.

Of course she was beautiful, beautiful.

The jet-black long drape hangs down on the shoulders, faintly covering the towering chest, looming, even more seductive.

In the middle of those unforgettable purple eyes, there are dark and deep pupils like the night sky.

Her skin was different in color from the black pearls of the dark elves. It was like a faint black jade, shining from the inside out. It was hard to tell whether the luster was there in the first place, or because of the dripping sweat from the lingering love just now.

Recalling the scene of meeting the Lost Lady Shar for the first time, Brian sighed and asked, "As one of the most powerful gods in the kingdoms, do you also believe in the so-called prophecy that disturbed the seeds of destiny? Shar."

"No matter what you think, it has nothing to do with me. In fact, there is only a deal between us, and there can only be a deal. I am the goddess of the night, not the goddess of love." The lost lady's tone returned to her coldness:
"Now I have already paid the reward. Counting the last time I helped you deal with Feilin Mokui, it is equivalent to paying twice. I think it is time to talk about the specific details of our next transaction."

"If you feel that calling our relationship a 'deal' can make you feel more at ease, then it's a deal." Brian sighed, "So, what do I need to do? Fight against the mysterious 'it' you said?"

"Now you can't deal with 'it', at least not now." Ms. Lost shook her head and said:

"I know almost all the secrets in the universe, but everything about 'it' is an exception. No god can directly confront 'it'. As long as 'it' wants, it can turn immortal gods into mortals at any time, or make weak mortals suddenly become the most powerful gods. This kind of control and manipulation is absolutely impossible to get rid of and resist, except for one god. And his name is the king of the end of all things, the recorder of death: the ancient death god Jaeger."

"Ancient Reaper? What's going on?" Brian asked, "Reaper? Three Death Gods? Why is there another Reaper named Jaeger?"

"Three gods of death? What are they?"

Miss Lost said disdainfully: "Mirkor, Bane, and Baal. They are the so-called three gods of death. They have been in the kingdom of the gods for less than 500 years. They are just three upstarts who got the power of Jaeger because of inexplicable luck before the last catastrophe created by 'it', that is, before the collapse of the Netheril Empire."

"What's going on, can you tell me in detail?" Brian's interest was aroused even more, because the slight unhappiness caused by being treated as a "bargaining chip" has disappeared.

The lost lady waved her jade arms lightly, and changed into another large black robe, covering her graceful body.

She changed her posture and sat down, and said, "Let me tell you a story, Beard. The name of the story is "Fingers, Skeleton Balls, and the Empty Throne."

Long, long ago, there was a powerful deity in charge of battle, death, and the dead. He was honored as the "Lord of the End of All Things", "The Recorder of Death", and "King of Bones". His name was Jaeger.His duty is to record the destination of all dead souls, and try his best to maintain the order of the dead world.

As the judge of the dead and the god of death, it is said that only Jaeger can know the final destination of each soul and the doomsday of all survivors. No one can escape Jaeger's grasp.

Over time, Jaeger's power continued to grow, and even all the other gods in the kingdoms could not compare with him. However, at this time, in the human world, the war broke out between the Netheril Empire and the Felin Mokui.

The attention of all the gods was attracted by this protracted war, but no one could have imagined that it was this war that led to the fall of an unprecedented super empire and brilliant magic civilization in human history.

At this time, three powerful adventurers appeared among the mortals, namely Bane, Baal, and Melkor.They covet the power Jaeger holds, eager to replace it.So they formed an alliance with each other and traveled all over the world to find a way to fight against death.They even destroyed a lost ancient god and obtained some weak divine power.

Then they entered Jaeger's god domain 'Bone Castle', and after defeating a large group of skeletons, zombies, and undead army, they finally saw what they had been pursuing all their lives: Jaeger and his bone throne.

The three ecstatic careerists immediately clamored loudly, declaring that they would take away the throne and the power it represented.But something that no one can think of happened!Before they had time to start the battle, the 'King of Bones' stood up from the throne first, and in a lazy and indifferent tone, announced that he would give away all his strength, and whoever liked it would take it.Not only that, but He also offered to serve as the steward and guide for the newly appointed God of Death.

The three careerists were stunned and couldn't believe their ears and eyes. At this moment, Jaeger asked again, who is going to inherit the power he sent and become the new ruler of death?This issue immediately led to new disputes, and the alliance between Bane, Baal, and Melkor immediately collapsed, and they immediately began to kill each other.

The 'King of Bones' seemed indifferent to their internal strife, but he intervened when they almost died together, and proposed to end the fight, divide his divine power into three equal parts, and let them use another method to decide who gets which part of the power.

The three careerists agreed, so Jaeger took three skulls as rolling balls and distributed them to them, and used the rolling ball game to decide the winner. But just in the middle of the game, the beast god Mara happened to visit Jaeger, and after knowing the reason for the game, he also wanted to get the power of death.

So Mara, the beast god, chased the skull and wanted to stop the game, and asked herself to join the game again. Seeing that the game could not go on, the three careerists began to fight among themselves again. Jaeger intervened again and proposed to decide the allocation by drawing lots.

The "Lord of the End of All Things" broke off his three skeleton fingers and handed them over to three careerists to draw them long and short. When the beast god Mara finally came back panting with the skull, the winner was already decided. The one who got the right to choose first was Bane, who chose to get the priesthood of strife, hatred, tyranny, and fear.

Next came Melkor, who chose the realm of death and the dead, and succeeded Jaeger as the new god of death, and finally Baal, who chose the power of murder and killing. Although the beast god Mara roared in dissatisfaction, she was powerless.

From then on, Bane, the king of tyranny, Melkor, the king of the dead, and Baal, the king of murder, were born.

They are collectively known as the 'Three Gods of Death'.

Jaeger, on the other hand, retained only insignificant priesthoods such as "Grave Guard" and "Grand Funeral", and became Melkor's subordinate god.

The originally huge church has also declined rapidly. Up to now, not to mention the believers who joined the Yeager Church on the entire continent, even ordinary civilians who have heard of this god are rare.

When the story was finished, Ms. Lost paused and asked, "Brian, tell me, what do you think is the most special part of this story?"

"The special place...it should be Jaeger's behavior, why did he give up his power so easily?" Brian thought thoughtfully:

"This is the part that makes me feel the most suspicious. Since I gave up my power, why do I still stay and take the initiative to serve as the steward and guide for the newly appointed God of Death?"

"Good question." Ms. Lost said quietly:

"If you ask the surviving pastors of the Jaeger Church, the answer you will get is: 'King of Bones' is tired of his duties, because he knows everything and knows everything, and everything loses its challenge, and it also loses its fun. He only has endless darkness. In this case, there is no boundary between absolute power and absolute powerlessness. In order to seek relief, he gave up his rights in exchange for freedom."

"The same doesn't make sense. Will God get tired of his duties?" Brian asked with a frown, "And, does He really have such a great power that he has already surpassed all other gods in the kingdoms?"

"Yegger is indeed very powerful, but it is not enough to surpass me, Mystra the goddess of magic, Amaunatar the lord of light, Targos, the god of war, and my twin sister Suren, the enemy of the night. In addition, Taj, who has mastered the two priesthoods of 'luck' and 'unfortunate' at the same time, is not something Jaeger can directly confront."

The Lost Lady said indifferently: "However, shortly after Jaeger gave up his power, the Netheril Empire perished. In order to avoid being stolen by the great arcanist Karthus, Mystril resolutely destroyed herself and reborn into the current Mystra.

Su Lun's power was also weakened to the point of unbearable weakness, Targos was defeated by Tempus and renamed Karigos, and Taj, the collapse of the Netheril Empire seemed to have no effect on her.

Even I lost a lot of my original strength after that turmoil. "

"So that means, except for Jaeger, all the gods without exception have been severely weakened or even destroyed. Only this 'death recorder' escaped because he voluntarily surrendered his power, right?" Brian nodded and said:
"So you think that he probably foresaw that 'it' would create disasters in the world, so he took preventive measures in advance and took the opportunity to get rid of 'it' control, right?"

"It's almost like this. I don't know the details of what happened, but since that time, Jaeger has become a very strange existence among the gods, almost completely out of the control of 'it'." The lost lady's expression became very serious, and she said solemnly: "So, I need your help. I don't want you to find this 'Lord of the End of All Things', find a way to get the secret why Jaeger can escape from the grasp of 'it', and then tell me, because I don't want to give up my power like Jaeger and hide like a Moles in musty burrows."

Combined with Miss Lost this time, and the first meeting with him, about the god god Io, Brian suddenly recalled a conjecture about the 'Io' conspiracy theory.

Undoubtedly, in the world of Toril, God Io is the most puzzling existence. Some people think that he is the master of the creation of the world, but looking at the birth of Su Lun and Shar, it seems that the king of the gods created nothing except light and darkness, not even matter, and the creation of the world cannot be cut corners like this.

It took seven days for the Creation of God to make the world look good, even human beings.

Pangu opened the world, although there was only one axe, but at least the sky and the earth appeared, and then turned into rivers, mountains, stars and a lot of things.

In comparison, Ai Ou is really too lazy, if Su Lun and Shar also learn from 'it', wouldn't this world be hopeless?
The war between light and darkness did not see 'it' intervene, and the great arcanists of the Netheril Empire are so powerful, and the gods of Netheril are so powerful, how come no one even knows the existence of Io?
Later, another document stated that Io was a visitor from the Alien Crystal Wall system, and Su Lun and Shar were the oldest gods in the world of Toril. The arrival of Io came after the birth of the world of Toril.

If you do the math, you will find that many things make sense.

First, during the so-called turbulent years, Io knocked down the gods and forced them to look for the tablet of fate.

The strange thing is that only the human gods, to be precise, some human gods have been tossed down. The elves, gnomes, dwarves, orcs, and even the Muharred gods have not been affected much, let alone the eastern Karatu continent and other continents.

With such a small jurisdiction, how dare you call him the king of the gods?

But it all makes sense if Io is an outsider.

Because the persimmon is soft, Ai Ou only conquered or controlled these loose gods, and the other ones were at most submissive to him in name, and if they really wanted to give orders randomly, it would be Ai Ou who wanted to die.

Secondly, Io easily drove the gods down, but he was unable to find out where the slate of fate was.

If there is no reason to say that it is trying to impose a crime, then why does 'it' hide its existence from mortals?

Even if the gods don't care about beliefs, there is no need to hide them.

Organize some believers among mortals, and you can also monitor the behavior of the gods.

After thinking about it, there is only one possibility, and that is that the gods blocked the news together for some reason?
Most of them think it's embarrassing, if Io is really the master who created the world, then what's the embarrassment of submitting to 'it'?
Therefore, Ai Ou must have used some very insidious means to hijack the gods, and his identity is also very doubtful. In short, it is very embarrassing for 'it' to be its subordinate.

Third, if Io can really create the world, what's the use of the Three Death Gods stealing the Tablet of Fate?

For the supreme ruler, laws, contracts, and oaths are all farts, and telling nonsense with open eyes is the basic skill of the superior.

The three of them will do this, which definitely shows that Io's authority is not absolute, and there is a possibility of overthrowing it.

If Io is an alien conqueror, it makes sense.

The emperor takes turns doing it, so come to my house next year.

Therefore, imagine Io as a monster from the heteromorphic wall system, and the time is roughly on the eve of the rampant felin magic sunflower.

'It' is essentially illithid-like in that it uses mind control, but not against creatures but against gods.

However, in that era, the major gods were relatively united and formed a god system. Io could deal with one but not a large group.

So "it" brought down the most powerful Netheril Empire and its pantheon with the help of Felin Mokui, completely disintegrated the Netherese pantheon that was still somewhat united, and then controlled the destruction within a certain range in the name of Sharon spirit, so as not to cause too much trouble and expose itself, and be attacked by all the gods.

After the demise of the Netheril Empire, Io could deal with the lonely gods, and in turn use the gods under his control to oppress other relatively united gods, making them at least verbally submit. In this way, it is still possible to get the title of king of the gods.

So Ai Ou, the king of the gods, is probably similar to the emperors in the late Tang Dynasty or the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period in China. In name, "it" ruled the world, not to mention the Central Plains, even the southern countries and overseas barbarians paid tribute to "it".

But this is all fiction. If 'it' really wants to send some order to the separatist regime, people will just think 'it' is crazy.

Even his own subordinates are a bunch of feudal town governors who listen to the tune and don't listen to the announcement. In fact, they are still independent small countries, and orders have to be discounted when they are issued. When the feudal town becomes stronger, it will be ambitious to seize the throne under 'it'.

As for "it" knocking down the gods, it looks majestic, but in fact it was just caught off guard.

Emperor Muzong of the Tang Dynasty also changed the residences of the vassals on a large scale. The seemingly rebellious Jiedushi seemed to be obedient, but in the end they were of no use at all.

Everyone knows what the Faerun Continent was like in the turbulent years, and 'it' pinched off the slate of fate again, and it doesn't matter what you say, who will convince you!

There is a boss who likes to abuse employees but does not keep promises, always replaces old employees with new employees, and does not provide any welfare guarantees to those who retire. It is better to join hands to get rid of it. It is better to replace it with anyone.

Such a mess, it stands to reason that we should work hard to fix it.

But Ai Ou prefers to sleep forever, probably because of the unacceptable relationship after crossing the crystal wall system, he just blindly intimidated the gods, and then relied on the most loyal dog-leg guardian god Haim.

"Then what do you need me to do?" Brian recovered from this unreliable thoughts, he shook his head, faintly aware of a bad premonition, "Could it be to help you find the legendary person who is beyond fate, so as to deal with 'it'."

"That's right." Miss Lost nodded.

"Why don't you go find it yourself?" Brian asked puzzled.

"I can't do this." The Evernight Goddess sighed, and said again:

"And the movements of the gods, no matter how secretive they are, cannot escape the surveillance of 'it'. Only the actions of mortals cannot be taken into account by 'it'. Besides, this is a journey across the crystal wall system. Anyone who tries to cross the crystal wall system will be sensed by 'it'. Only you mortals who come from worlds other than the crystal wall system can escape the detection of 'it'."

Travel across the crystal wall system?

Brian was directly shocked by this sentence. This is like a mortal who has not even conquered the moon, but was suddenly told that it would be as outrageous as possible for him to take a trip across the solar system.

"As you said, it seems that I must do it." After a little thought, he sighed and said, "Okay, I agree, then tell me, what should I do."

"In order to avoid the monitoring of 'it', I can't send you away directly, but I can join hands with Mystra to temporarily open the authority of the time domain."

Miss Lost stood up and warned solemnly:

"Be mentally prepared. This time journey will definitely not be easy for you. In order to escape the surveillance of 'it', we cannot give you any help on the way. Whether you can return smoothly depends on yourself."

……… (End of this chapter)