Odyssey of the Blind God

When Nial woke up, his entire body felt like it was tearing apart. He didn't dare to move, even when a bunch of Elves had entered the wooden hut he had been sleeping in.

'Their mana is weird, it soothes my pain and allows my cells to heal much faster,' Nial realized the moment the soothing mana shrouded his body. Four or five Elves focused on soothing his pain to release his tension, while the rest were focused on tending to Nial's internal injuries.

His mana core and his mana veins had received severe damage due to the fusion he underwent with Kaeldur. At the same time, he had controlled way too much dark energy that was putting a huge strain on his brain even after the battle was over.

By absorbing all the excessive dark energy, which the Symbol of Life had greedily sucked in at the end of the day, Nial's mana veins had been put under lots of pressure.

However, that was not all. He did not have the energy to even move after he had pushed himself past his limits to defeat Silvian.

It was already a wonder that he had survived fusing with Kaeldur. Nial should be happy about it but he was somewhat disappointed.

'Why is my body so weak? I should be able to do much more…' Nial frowned deeply, thinking that he was capable of doing much more than killing a miserable half-dead incarnation of a God.

This thought was ridiculous but it kept bugging him, adding more to his restlessness. He tried to divert his mind and his ears twitched. At least he could hear his master and friend talking to each other. An entire month had passed since the battle against the Dryx had concluded, but that was not something Nial knew about.

He had been in a coma, after all.

"Nial knew everything, didn't he? Why didn't he tell us?" Mathias' worried voice was the first thing that Nial heard. He felt a sting in his heart hearing how to hurt his friend sounded but it was not as if Nial could jump up and defend his actions.

Nonetheless, Nial wanted to say something, he wanted to explain everything that had been on his mind to his friend. However, in the end, he could only stay in his bed like a statue that was unable to move a single inch.

'I cannot even move, my body is really way too weak…' Nial cursed his own body inwardly while frowning deeply. He circulated mana through his body before inserting it into the Odyssey seed.

Nial wanted to access his Odyssey seed to figure out whether he could still control the Essence of Darkness, or if the trace of the Cursed Divine energy was still tightly sealed within him.

Everything was still located where it was supposed to be. However, Nial quickly noticed that something about the Odyssey seed had changed.

'Is the Symbol of Life more accessible now? Well, that's great then.' Nial thought while using the mana within his body to actively use the invigorating function of the Ankh.

It invigorated his body faster, but Nial was still not able to move his entire body. All the influx of energy merely allowed him to move his pinky finger but that was already more than he could hope for.

"Incarnated Gods…other races….dungeons created by Divine Existences and Gods, Divinity Fragments…can we even face all of that with our strength?" Miranda's voice could be heard. She sounded frustrated and as if she was not able to answer this question. Her earlier motivation to lead mankind to a new era; an era where they were finally able to live freely seemed to have disappeared.

"We will survive…" Mathias mumbled. His hopeful voice reached Nial's ears, causing a faint smile to appear on his face.

'Yes we will survive!' Nial thought with determination, while Mathias kept speaking,

"I am sure of that…"

Nial's determination and confidence to survive all the hurdles that would appear in their path began to influence the Odyssey seed that began to create and release dark energy.

'Oh fuck, no. Not right now, you naughty…' Nial cursed inwardly, feeling that the dark energy inside his body was currently doing more harm than good.

It prevented his body from healing properly which was why Nial suppressed his Odyssey seed.

'I should really be careful when I try to control so much dark energy at once, ever again…I was not prepared for it… Ending up in a state after fighting Silvian should be the first but also the last time it happened,' Nial thought, feeling slightly frustrated.

Based on the conversation between Miranda and Mathias, he could tell that quite some time had passed since the battle against the Dryx. When Hana and Kirlia Maverick joined them, Nial got to know more and more information, which caused him to frown.

'If even this weird woman is ignoring Mathias' antics, and accepting what Miranda says without retorting in a rude way or by launching into a tirade, the situation has to be quite drastic,' Nial realized.

He could tell that everyone had gotten to know about Silvian's real identity and that they believed it to be the truth as well. This was much more than Nial could have hoped for because it would make things much easier in the future.

"Shit will get real the moment Jundra awakens its planetary mana core…" Kirlia suddenly said in a warning tone, and Nial visualized that she was running her hands through her hair until it was completely disheveled. It seemed like she was having a breakdown.

'I have rested long enough. It is about time that I move out of this shitty bed,' Nial thought, forcing his body to get up from the bed.

The Elves looked at Nial in shock when he began to move, and one of them was about to hold onto Nial, fearing that he would collapse.

"You need to rest. Your body needs one or two more weeks before it can carry your weight!" The Elf, who suggested him, seemed to be confident in his diagnosis, but Nial merely smiled as he ignored him.

'Sorry, but I have better things to do than to waste my time in bed!' He thought apologetically, as he leaned out of the window with a pained expression.

"And that's what we have to be prepared for…with the Elven race's help," The Elf continued, his expression clearly showing the pain he felt.

However, that was something Nial ignored as he trusted the soothing sensation of the Elven mana and the Ankh's invigorating sensation as he spoke,

"We can use the black market to reveal…" He started but his voice came out as a whisper. He took a deep breath and spoke slowly.

Every word uttered made him wince in pain but he somehow managed to reveal his plan. As he neared the end, a faint smile appeared on his face that was supposed to hide the weakness of his voice,  "…potential 'rumors' about the incarnations of Gods in the midst of our race?"

"They would be interested if they were to hear some insane rumors, wouldn't they? Gods descending on Jundra…that would be motivating enough to desperately become stronger," Nial added, visualizing the facial expression of the people around him.

Everyone was glad to see Nial regain his consciousness, including Kirlia. She wouldn't acknowledge it openly, but it was a fact that Nial scared off the Dryx when they had nearly overwhelmed the Elven and human Originals.

It might sound ridiculous to everyone who was not present, but Kirlia and many others had witnessed everything. They knew the truth.

"Gods descending on Jundra…sounds pretty solid to me," Mathias remarked, smiling brightly at Nial.

He was happy to see his friend out of coma, which was why he simply agreed to whatever Nial said, without thinking about it. Nial's face looked roughed up and it was almost as if his entire face was void of any blood. That was how pale he looked.

"A rumor about Gods descending on Jundra…yeah, great. How about we great a few religions right off the bat so that we can pray to whatever God." Kirlia frowned deeply when she spoke.

Gods were usually something most humans connected to something good, a heavenly being they could rely on, an existence that would help them escape reality. Many humans would probably start praying in the hope that someone else would solve their problems.

However, that was not what would happen. The Gods Nial spoke about were different. They had their own races, their own goals, and many of them wouldn't show any mercy to humans, who foolishly prayed to them without knowing anything about them.

"It would be quite a hassle to explain it to everyone that we don't mean Saintly figures, who will help all of their believers. The Gods I refer to are not some religious figures but mighty and powerful existences that rule their own race. For example, the Elven Empress is a God because she meets all the requirements.

She has a Divinity created out of her Immortal foundation, the power she accumulated, and some more things I didn't understand quite well when Master Crevian explained them," Miranda said while counting it on her fingers. Her last sentence indicated that Crevian told them more information about the universe than it previously seemed.

Even Nial didn't know how a Divinity was created, or what the actual use of a Divinity was. He merely knew that a Divinity was one of the trademarks a God possessed.

"Should we just say that Immortals will descend? Or maybe Devils, or something like that. If we want to be neutral, we can say that more races that could be terrifying, hostile, or possibly friendly will descend on Jundra when its mana awakens," Hana offered as she lightly touched her chin while she was thinking about a solution on how to create a perfect rumor to motivate humans to work hard with the Elves to become much stronger.

Everyone seemed to trust the Elves now, and only Nial seemed to be questioning the Empresses' actions.

By now, Nial knew every single Elf, who had lived in the Forest of Life before the Dryx attack. That was why he also knew that the nine Elves, who were with him in the hut, hadn't lived in the Forest of Life before.

'Crevian or Valvian activated the Empresses' divinity fragment to allow more Elves to emerge on Jundra. This should have consumed quite a lot of energy. The healing ability of these nine Elves is powerful as well. To bring a single one to Jundra…quite an effort they have put into this…'

Nial was not sure how they activated the permanent portal to the Elves' origin planet. However, what Nial could tell was that they were a lot friendlier than before.

According to Damian's memories, Elves would only act overly friendly to other races if one of three scenarios occurred.

First, the entire race was as beautiful and talented as the Elven race. This was definitely not the case with the human race.

Second, the Elven race owed the other race their life and future. Nial didn't exclude this, per se, but the third reason sounded as logical as the second one.

Third, the Elves were scheming something that other races couldn't fathom.

Nial wanted to exclude the third but something held him back. He presumed it to be Damian's memories that influenced him but that was not something Nial could tell for sure.

"Let's go with the last one. We will spread rumors that Jundra's mana will awaken and that more races will come. Let's also share the fact that Dryx is also a race, and not just some type of beast," Nial said, taking a deep breath to calm down his mind.

'The future will tell me what the Empress plans. Right now, my focus needs to be somewhere else!'