Chapter 923 — The Vanishing God

"Also, when I received the news I tried it myself... there was indeed no response at all."

Gao You's face was like still water as he said slowly: "According to our research on how gods operate, so long as a god exists, it must maintain a connection with its worshippers—prayer must produce feedback, and that feedback does not change with the god's will, unless, like Amorn, it destroyed its own divine seat and fell into feigned death, or like the Lord of Storms, had its place taken..."

"Yes, Ancestor," Hedy said gravely. "So there's only one explanation for the present situation: the Goddess of Magic has vanished... At the very least, the 'divine seat' corresponding to the Goddess of Magic has vanished."

"...I'm afraid that is the truth," Gao You replied. "Hold things steady on your end for now. Most mages' faith in the Goddess of Magic is shallow, so there shouldn't be too much turmoil. Announce the success of the network merge first, then release everything we prepared in advance for contingencies—the football match news, the new shadow-play trailers, those aerial documentaries, the commercials, including the songs Wendy recorded... release them all. In short, give ordinary people something to watch and fill their attention. As for the voices of the mages... the Goddess of Magic has no church, so let the Ministry of Extraordinary Affairs in the government hall deal with those mages—for now accept only feedback from the public, and wait for the findings of the Magic Research Department.

"Arrange it that way for now; we'll discuss the specifics after I return to the physical world."

"Yes, Ancestor."

Hedy's connection cut off, and Gao You turned his attention back to the meeting. Wendy, sitting not far away, seemed to have noticed something and cast him a curious look: "Your Majesty, have you thought of something?"

"It's very likely the Goddess of Magic, Milmina," Gao You let out a breath, his expression complicated. "Hedy just sent word—the divine seat of Milmina, Goddess of Magic, has vanished."

The people in the hall exchanged glances.

"Narratil," Gao You turned to his left, "the 'intruder' once told you that she couldn't have any contact with mortals now, that she had barely managed to sever her connection with mortals—isn't that right?"

"Yes," Naritel nodded. "And before she left, she said she owed me a favor, and told me to tell you she would repay it one day... But I keep feeling she never intended to come back at all..."

"...If my guess is right, then she certainly does not intend to 'come back,'" Gao Heng said unhurriedly. A great mass of clues was taking shape in his mind, and rising alongside them came a great mass of conjectures and hypotheses; the fog that had been so tangled seemed to have cleared for the most part, and the whole sequence of events was at last assembling itself in his head — and beneath the conjecture lay a shocking conclusion. Had he not seen Amorn's feigned death with his own eyes and spoken with the other at some length, he would likely never have thought in this direction. "Another god who smashed her own divine throne, is it..."

Then he shook his head. Though he could now be almost certain that the intruder Naritel had encountered was Miremna, goddess of magic, and equally certain that she had no intention of "coming back," the "coming back" here meant "returning to the divine throne"; as for that goddess of magic's promise to Naritel that she would "repay the favor" — on that point he did allow himself a measure of expectation.

The reason was simple: gods find it very hard to lie, and they do not make promises lightly; even a god released from the bonds of the divine throne still seemed constrained in this regard.

Only now was plainly not the time to be pondering how a god might "repay a favor" — because a certain willful deity had, after abruptly running off, left behind an enormous mess.

Of course, a mess was not all she had left behind. For Gao Heng, who was very good at seizing advantage, that mess also held a great many precious clues that could help him understand the operating rules of gods, and even to infer the condition of other gods.

Perhaps... it was time to go have another talk with Amorn.

...

In the deepest part of the Fortress of Defiance, within the "Courtyard District" located in the Shadow Realm, countless shattered boulders joined into broken continents floating in the air; metal fragments from the ancient age and restraint devices left from the Gondor era crisscrossed one another, together pinning the vast "corpse" of the white stag.

In this dark and chaotic world, Amorn lay patiently in wait as ever; solitude and silence seemed to mean nothing at all to him.

But suddenly, those tightly shut eyes of his opened once again, and his gaze, like light-forged gemstones, fixed upon the depths of the Shadow Realm.

A figure of pale violet, holding within it many spheres of light and runes, abruptly appeared in the depths of that vast, chaotic darkness, hurtling forward like a swift wind, and like a swift wind sweeping past not far in front of Amorn.

Amorn watched quietly as this "swift wind" appeared and receded; he gazed at the direction in which it had vanished and waited patiently a while, and moments later saw the pale violet figure come rushing back from the distance in a great flurry.

The figure halted. A lady as tall as a bell tower, her whole body dim with light, stood upon the shattered earth of the Shadow Realm; she stared wide-eyed at Amorn lying there and uttered a voice full of doubt and surprise: "You... so you were..."

But the next second she shook her head. "No, I must isolate myself deeper..."

Before the words had faded, the lady turned once more into a "swift wind" as she had come, flying with immense speed toward the depths of the Shadow Realm, and in the darkness only a voice, growing ever more distant, reached Amorn's ears:

"Don't say I was here!!"

Amorn made no sound at all throughout, and no movement either; he only watched in silence, and in those eyes like light-forged crystal all of it was quietly reflected.

"...Huh?"