"Lord Zenith is at the peak of his path, you can stop," Vidian yawned and stopped playing, "You have passed my work."
"Thank you, Lord Morrius."
"Don't thank me, but lean forwards," he began whispering, "Have this, it allows you to talk to all the beings on this world," A small orb formed in his hand, "Eat it and you will be able to speak to all, but only once, use it wisely," He spoke normally, "Lady Dorana, he has passed my work, he may continue."
"Perfect, Sanytanya, go with Vidian, for his work," Sanytanya nodded and gestured for Vidian to follow her, "One step closer, Vidian, one step closer."
He followed Sanytanya out of the temple to a large, open area behind it. There was a large boulder in the middle of it, with several other, smaller, boulders. They walked up towards it.
"First part of your work."
"Is?"
"Clear the boulders of the plain."
"Are you just asking me to clean it up?"
"No."
"Then, Lady Sanytanya?"
"You will move each one out of the city, towards the north, where you will break them and give them to a small community, and then help them build their homes, that is work, and that is my work."
"Okay, no problem."
"Without using Lady Structania's blessing."
"Oh," He sighed and walked towards the large boulder, "This is just stone?" She shrugged and then stood, watching him as he walked around, "I guess I might as well start with the smaller ones," He created a pickaxe with his right hand and then removed it to have an actual tool. He lifted it and slammed it down, the boulder tinged as the pickaxe bounced back violently. He tilted his head and analyzed the stones. He withdrew his pickaxe and then made his hands metal, before punching the stone, over and over again, causing hundreds of tiny cracks. He lifted both his hands and slammed them down, shattering the stone, the stone reformed as Sanytanya shook her head. He sighed, he couldn't cheat the way he wanted to and walked over to a smaller one and crouched down, wrapping his arms around it and then lifting it to his shoulder. He dropped it and removed his cloak, before lifting the stone up once more. He turned to Sanytanya.
"I'll lead the way, follow me," She began walking, he followed her, "You'll have to move all the stones to the village, a human village, on the outskirts of Solarianus, it is around an hour of walking."
"How much do these things weight?"
"For me? Nothing, for you? I don't know."
"That's helpful," He walked with it on his right shoulder. Each step seemed to be able to make his knees give out. With each step, the stone got heavier and heavier, he blindly followed Sanytanya.
After while of walk they arrived in a small human village. The humans saw him and his demonic appearance and hid, only having one man stay visible to talk to Sanytanya, he looked like a priest, "Vidian, place it there, then break it," Vidian let the stone fall to the floor, "These are Tinamynte ores, they are for you, this man will bring bringing you more, don't thank him or help him, or he will have to do more."
"We have understood you Lady Sanytanya, thank you for hearing to our needs," The priest bowed, "What is he?"
"A human that is collecting blessings."
"A human?"
"Indeed, you can talk to him if you want," She turned to Vidian, "You will work without stop or you will have to restart everything."
"Understood, Lady Sanytanya," His arms turned to steel and he began hitting the stones, chipping them slowly, creating hundreds of sparks with each blow and suddenly the stone shattered, not into two pieces but into what seemed like a million pieces, pieces of dense ore. He cracked his back and then turned to walk back to the temple to continue his work. A child stopped him, calling him out, he turned and knelt down, "You want to talk to me?"
"Mister, why do you have that horn and that face?"
"Well, I am gathering blessings, signs that show the gods that I am worthy, this was Lord Eternum's quest for me, the most powerful god, so this, the horn and the face, is Lord Fendian's work, that is why I am like this, but don't worry, I am not a bad guy."
"Wow, that is cool," A women that looked like his mother shouted at him, "Bye mister."
"Vidian, call me Vidian."
"Bye, mister Vidian," Vidian got up and he began thinking about if it would be able to learn to fly with his body.
"Listen Vidian, I am Inventaariy, I can give you that knowledge, but there has to be a small counterpart."
"I am listening then."
"All the knowledge, about yourself, about everything you do and see will be recorded in one of my books, until you die."
"That doesn't seem like much."
"Perfect, whenever you need knowledge, just think of it, you should be able to fly now, and I have just gotten more research, perfect, I was starting to run out," Vidian created wings with his arms, large dragon wings, like the ones Chippers had, "Now just beat your wings and with the size of your wings you should be able to fly."
He landed in the area where the boulders of Tinamynte lay. He looked around, seeing Sanytanya staring right at him, making sure he didn't cheat. He sighed and moved to the stone that he had broken before. He tapped it and then inspected it. He took a deep breath and then put his arms out, storm clouds gathered above him and water began pouring down. Sanytanya looked at him with an eyebrow raised. He smiled as the water began swirling around his arms and the clouds faded, he could control water with his blessing, Lord Aquariusinarium's blessing. The water moved below the stone and began lifting it, he placed it on his shoulder and then the water continued to swirl around his arms and he began walking again.
"Vidian, Vidian, I should've guessed that your human side would make you try to find shortcuts, and you did, I never spoke on that rule," She spoke to herself as Vidian began walking away from her, back to the village, Zenith had begun his path already and he still had 3 rocks to move, ever gaining in weight.
He placed the stone on the floor as the sun began setting, the villagers had already begun to build a house with the bits of Tinamynte that he had delivered before. He said nothing as the water wrapped around the stone and entered into all the cracks of the stone, his steel fist struck the rock, shattering it with a single blow. He turned around once more and began walking back to the Altar of Dorana, but someone called him out again.
"Young one," He turned to see an elderly woman sitting on a tree stump, "Why do you do this?"
"A god told me to."
"And you listen blindly?"
"I have a quest, that doesn't mean fame or glory for me, but hope for the world, I am the last hope, in a thousand years, the world ends, I prefer die now then sentence our descendants to assured death."
"Who gave you this quest?"
"The God of Time, Lord Eternum."
"He spoke to you? It is hard to believe, some sub-gods have only spoken to him once or twice in their time here, and you, as a mortal, spoke to him."
"I have, and it you find it hard to believe, so be it, I have work to do."
"Young one, I have a last question."
"Shoot."
"Do you care about our village?"
"I am going to die for you, so I care, I want my life to help the people on this earth more than help myself, I don't need to be famous or rich, I try only to help others, that, I think that is what I am going to do," He turned and left the village once more, "I have to get working, but ask me anything when I get back."
"Are you human?"
"I am, but my blessings have given me this appearance."
"So the gods do trust us after all."
"They always have, we just forgot them," His arms mutated into wings once more, "We are one of their creations, we are as important as the others, I heard one day, that the gods gave us a trait more important than skill or strength, or magic."
"Hope, they gave us hope, I know, I say that a lot, I believe we are like that."
"Then keep thinking that way," He smiled as his wings reformed, "The gods made us that way, we just have to honor that."
"You are wiser than any youngster I have even met."
"I am only 20," He pushed off of the ground with a single beat of his wings and was flying back to the altar.
"I wonder if he isn't too crazy, well, I shall return to my altar, in Enspiritus, my gods will probably wonder about where I am."
He landed on the ground in the yard behind the altar, Sanytanya was still sitting there, the water began swirling around his arms once more, and then moved around a larger stone. It placed it against his back, with the water holding it like a backpack. He began walking once more, this stone was heavier than the last. He sighed at the thought of the last stone, still continuing to walk.
The Sun had set when he arrived in the village, the elderly woman was gone, and the villagers were asleep. He walked over to the foundation of the new house and put the stone down, he looked at the foundations and tilted his head, "What is this building, they have more but they didn't build up the walls?" He looked around and saw all the houses were like that, with wooden walls, "Well, this is probably done," He made the water pass into the stone and it slowly began cracking, he hit his hand on the stone and it broken once more. The water moved back around his arms like a living creature. No one was awake in the village anymore.
He landed at the altar, in front of the last stone, the stone was taller than he was by several heads, and it took him over 10 steps to get around it, it was a colossal stone to lift. He tapped it and lifted his eyebrow as the stone began to shrink, he still felt it in front of him, but the image was smaller than what he saw. Sanytanya still sitting looking at him. He made his arms create tentacles that wrapped around the stone before lifting it. It was as heavy as the first stone, he placed it on his shoulder, it seemed like a crazy task at first but it was actually lighter than it looked. He held it with his right arm as he held the front part with his left. He walked back towards the village. He began to feel sore as the sun began to raise once more. He had worked through the night and was going to work a little more than just a night.
He dumped the stone down as the villagers began waking up. He pushed himself up the top with the water before letting it dissipate into the air. He made his arms become steel and began slamming them against the massive stone until it crumbled beneath him and he landed, his feet on the floor, on top of the pile of Tinamynte. He cracked his neck before beginning to walk away from the town. He turned to see all the people of the village standing outside of their homes. He smiled and waved at them, "Don't think about thanking me, it's normal," he said before created wings with his arms.
"Wait!" He stood up and turned and saw a man from the village, "Who are you?"
"Ever heard of the legends of a mortal being that Lord Eternum created to save this world?"
"Are you?"
"Well, if you look at the stories you might find similarities, so, connect the dots, but I am not yet as good as him," He pushed off of the floor and began flying away.
He landed on the empty court of the Altar, Lady Dorana, Lady Sanytanya, Lady Vidania and Lord Morrius were waiting for him. He landed and regained his partially human form.
"Vidian, Vidian of the Great Desert, you have shown yourself to be, in the last couple days, worthy of my blessing," She walked forwards, "You already have my brother's blessing, making you a child of the night, but will you take my blessing, to make yourself a creature of the day?"
"I will take it, my quest demands it from me."
"Very well, here it is," A small, sun-shaped stone formed in her hand, "Place it to your amulet and you will become a creature of the day, you might have a small change to your appearance but clearly, you do not care about that," She smiled as his amulet locked it in. Another horn, like Lord Fendian's blessing, emerged from his head, black, but then they both split, into gold and silver horns, that lay in his hair, his right eye forced itself shut and when he opened it, it was gold and silver, two wings appeared from his back, that then split into two pairs, a pair of angel wings and a pair of black dragon wings, "You are now a child of the Eternal Domain, you have collected the powers of the night and the day, you have completed my work, Vidian of the Great Desert."
"Thank you, Lady Dorana, I have one request."
"Of course."
"Can you tell me where my next work shall be?"
"Let me see your amulet, so, you have done 6 out of 11 of them, your next is the work of Tardunus and Temprania, their city is in the forest of the uncanny, to the Northeast, good luck, Vidian of the Great Desert."
"Thank you, Lady Dorana, Lady Vidania, Lady Sanytanya, and Lord Morrius," Morrius walked up to Vidian, handing him a page with a small text written, "The Great Desert's Tune, thank you, Lord Morrius."
"Complete the works and save this world, I don't think any god wants to start from scratch one more time."
"I will try, as much as a mortal can."
"You are no ordinary mortal, Vidian," Lady Sanytanya, "You are a child of the Eternal Domain now, you have 6 blessings, you only need 5 more, then comes the last part of your task."
"I know I am not, but I think that as a mortal, I only have so much that I can do with my life."
"Do you know about the Death of the World?"
"Not much."
"You will have to kill it 11 times."
"Lord Fendian told me that."
"11 different ways," Lady Dorana sighed, "And only then will it start shrinking, from a mountain to a regular human's size."
"How long did you fight it for?"
"2 weeks, but we were unaware of the 11 ways of death."
"I hope I never get to a week of fighting."
"Don't worry, it will be fine."
"That is what I hope," He said as he began walking away, "Lady Sanytanya, can I have my cloak back?"
"No, you don't need it, you are a child of the gods, take it as it is, your wings can create an armor for you, you don't need your cloak"
"Um, okay then, thank you, I will be leaving to the Forest of the Uncanny, thank you again," He turned his back to them and began walking away. He had completed the 6th work, and they would only get worse, or probably get worse. He slowly walked down the steps of the altar towards the city square. People who were there turned to look at him as one of them called him out. He set foot on the main square and several people walked towards him, "I would like to ask for directions, to the Forest of the Uncanny."
"I know where it is, you have to take the Path of the Wanderers, which will take you to and through the forest."
"Thank you, I will be leaving then."
"Before, what is with your horns and the wings?"
"I have collected the blessing of Dorana, but right now, I am moving on, tell the Priests of Dorana that I am leaving, they should know."