GREED: ALL FOR WHAT?



The golden monkey appeared in a world of whiteness. The phantom of a titanic eldritch octopus stood above him with one of its tentacles anchored into the golden monkey. It indicates that he is currently connected to Legion-7. He is not alone. He thinks it is assuring. But the first sage had other thoughts.

"You are an abomination."

That's the first thing the sage said. The first sage felt the latest Soverick die. He saw the title of child of the plane shift and attach to Salvini again. He sent out people to the last location where he sensed Soverick and they found a dead broken body. 

Someone with a soul body shouldn't leave behind a body and even if they did, their body shouldn't rot in the short amount of time since the death. But here is another Soverick in another location within the plane. As for the previous body, it has decayed beyond the point of recognition.

Soverick rolled his eyes at the sage, "Why, thank you. Now, enough of the compliments. Let's get back to business. And don't ask me to prove myself again."

The fact that he managed to make a world God flustered did not improve his mood at all. He also doesn't like the sage. The sage is responsible for him dying twice in a roll. His opinion of the sage is at an all-time low.

"What do you want to give up your title and to maintain the facade of your death forever?" The sage asked with a very severe and cold tone.

He went on a tirade, "I want compensation for my unjust treatment. You failed to protect me like you said you would. I want reparations for the emotional and mental damage I have gone through. I also want it to account for the recent traumatic experience that you made me go through just to prove myself. If you can't trust me, who will ever trust me now after you ruined my good name and made my death a laughable matter?"

"Enough!" The first sage interrupted. "Am I to assume that this compensation will be different from the two requests that I owe you?"

"Yes." He replied without hesitation.

The sage stayed silent for a while. The single eye stared down at the golden monkey while the golden monkey glared back.

"Fair enough." The sage agreed.

Soverick also nodded. He knows that his death was actually planned by the sage. The sage knows that he knows that too. He is certain of this not because of the false news about his death but because he thinks very highly of the sage. The sage is capable of protecting him if the sage wanted to. He died because the sage didn't want him to live. The false news can be explained away with an excuse but his death is proof that the sage wanted him dead. 

Some might think it is incredibly foolish to now show that he is alive and well, and even go further as to negotiate with the one that wants him dead and took advantage of it. It is not foolish if you are capable of killing yourself and coming back from it. Even that world god that wants you dead will think you are an abomination after seeing what resurrected you. 

Even so, he was delicate about it. He hasn't accused the sage of murdering him and he doesn't need to. They are civilized people. The sage could have brushed him off and ignored him if he thought nothing of him but the sage has never thought less of Soverick. That's why they are even talking and negotiating.

The sage knows that Soverick has great potential and should never be underestimated. He knows that he should expect the unexpected from Soverick and that was before he thought Soverick was a single entity. Now he knows that there is more to Soverick figuratively and literally. He can't brush Soverick off and neither can he kill him now for good so he wants to appease him. Or at least, pretend to appease him.

The sage asked him. "So what would you like as compensation?" 

He answered. "I want a world fragment with your law of order inside it. I wasn't done with it the last time. It is not easy to envision an entire world in my mind." 

"You mean this world?" The sage asked and made the phantom of a large world appear.

Soverick could see some details about the world. The world is very large. It is spherical and there are landmasses created in the shape of concentric circles around an island at the very center. Living things live on the land masses and in the water that separates them. There is a large tower that reaches the sky on the island at the center of the world. 

The whole thing looks like an eye when viewed from above so it looks like the sage summoned the phantom a gigantic eye into his mind space. The phantom of Legion-7 looks like a dwarf to the phantom of the world. That world is the assurance of the first sage just as Legion-7 is the assurance for Soverick. But Legion-7 is obviously lacking. 

Soverick nodded and said in affirmation, "Yes, that world."

"Then no."

The sage rejected his request and made the phantom of the world disappear.

Soverick complained. "Why not?" 

The first sage replied, "I have realized that I made a mistake to underestimate you. Let me tell you that it was supposed to be impossible for me to underestimate you but you proved me wrong. I have realized that by underestimating you, I have made a fool out of myself in exposing my law of order to you. I did not expect much to come out of you seeing it but I know now that I was wrong. I was very wrong. I will not make that mistake again and I will not expose my law of order to you any longer."

The first sage declared solemnly, "It shall never happen again."

The mind space quaked and reverberated with that declaration.