The Beta players were not the only group of players to be experiencing new sights and interesting things. While other Beta players all over the one hundred universes were going through the different settings made or not made by their starting universe creators a certain group while not new was going through a region change.
The first thing every one of the players saw when they logged in that day was the bold welcome to Aswingnir in black and gold italics over their eyes. They barely had enough time to get their bearings when the game began.
Franco watched stupefied as he noted how he and the other gods had been filed into lines like mere cannon fodder. To his left was an unknown random God, the slight intent he got from him was enough to classify him as a known god. With a head shake he turned to his left finding yet another known god. While a thought spawned in his mind to leave the line and find someone with a bit of knowledge on what was going on another part of him warned him to stay in line.
As he stood Franco took in the environment, something he noted the others had been doing. They were all lined up at the center of what could be called a city. A destroyed ruined city. While it was a bit reduced to rubble it was obvious that a lot of work would be needed to bring the city back to what lost glory it had. His eyes went to the pond before them.
"Just like the one at the Silver Palace," he whispered to himself. He caught sight of a path that led deeper into the city and then he spotted the mountain behind the city.
"Are those stairs?" while his sight was good he didn't want to make assumptions. The sky soon caught his eye as he failed at it. Thick black clouds covered the entire skies for as far as he could look. What was disturbing though was the slight mix of red he could see within the sky. Like the sky was designed with red wavy lines.
'Where are we?' his mind reeled at all this information. This was nothing like he had seen before. He was certain there was no place like this in Torheim. 'Maybe Feyryire'. A look to a Daemon in the line shut down that thought. The female Argonne looked as curious as him.
'Wait' A sharp turn in both directions helped him clear the fact that indeed they had been arranged into racial brackets. Argonnes first, Elosas second, Qitsarlmers third. Franco blinked as he stared at these folks. He had not looked at them quite extensively due to the war but now he could see them he had to say they look just human. Their only differentiating quality was the tri slits on both sides of their neck, aqua eyes and swimmer build. A look at their feet showed legs and not merman tails. His acute sight did help to note the webbed skin between their toes and fingers. Beautiful emerald scales littered some parts of their body. It seemed to differentiate according to the individual. Like some had on their forehead, some on their cheeks, or their necks. Others had on their arms and Franco noted these to be more muscular.
"Dependent on physical or perk capability," he murmured.
His eyes moved to the fourth group the Undules, there was nothing new about them so he just looked to the fifth race, Evershu. Next was the Lomrie and finally the Argats. A queue of each had been arranged according to racial strength which bugged him but the more he looked the more he shut down the thought. Each race had its capabilities, perks, and specialties. The Argonmes ruled the air was stable on the ground and weak in frozen areas against the Elosas. The Qitsarlmer even with their Terra perk would be at a disadvantage against the combat society of the Undules. Of course, the reverse was the case in water. Finally the last three races. Evershu had their numbers and intellects for them. Basically they were like humans of the Star Rings. Adaptable. Lomries had their agility and small size as well as their intelligence to depend on. Finally was the Argat, the race built for war. It was a tough cookie to admit who could win among the three as any probability could curry a battle in any side's favor. As such they remained tied.
Franco's assessment died as he and the others picked up on the sound of footsteps headed for them. Slowly the sound drew near and they all watched as silhouettes appeared in the distance. Several gasps came from the gods as the figures drew close enough for them to take in their features.
"The Unborn" a god muttered. The name went through most of their lips as they kept watching the approaching entities marching in a straight horizontal line of two rows. Franco made a quick head count and gulped as he came up with a total of sixty-two.
'It's true. She had just this few.' Franco knew that this was a known fact but honestly, most of them were more preoccupied in the last battle of the war of endings than the number of allies. After the forced log out Franco had spent his days schooling, researching all the known information about Hildelith. Surprisingly it had been easier to find information about her as she was the most known creator. At the same time Franco for some reason felt that all the information gotten was something that wouldn't matter in the long run.
'Almost like she created a false view of herself to surprise her enemies when the time came' The greatest surprise though had been the Unborn. The public and fans already knew about them but their actual number had remained a mystery until the War. While no one was interested in the number a die-hard fan had made count somehow and posted the total number of fighters. Franco had doubted it a bit when he saw the information but now he couldn't do t it anymore.
His thoughts vanished as the steps stopped. The Unborns were right before us standing rigidly like statues. Their black skeletal, yet filled-out sculptured bodies basked in the glow of the sunless sky.
The center parted and two figures stepped out of the lineup. The first was one Franco instantly recognized. Mostly due to his height and size compared to the others. The second caught Franco's attention for a different reason. The pressure around this one was filled with hellish death. Franco's body shivered as he happened to lock gazes with the red light called eyes.
"Welcome to Aswimgnir." the being's voice was like thunder on booze. For gods like them, it struck a chord due to their normally greater senses. The look in the Unborn's eyes held no emotions, just warmth but not the fuzzy, cuddly kind. The Unborn seemed to be equally appraising them as they felt the intrusion of intent on them.
It was so minuscule and so light that it could have been seen as nothing but a breeze.
"I see most of you have achieved level twenty-five. While the weakest is level twenty" he stopped as he seemed to ponder something. "The weak fodder must have gotten removed in the war". Franco felt his fist clench in anger. He wasn't the only one though as Gertrude and the rest of Aegis frowned with anger at this comment.
" Pardon me, I forget how annoyed the weak get when their flaws are pointed out to them." The contempt in that statement was so thick that it was impossible to ignore. The gods were barely digesting it when he spoke again.
"Puny beings who couldn't even save themselves from a chaos entity" the blood in most if not all boiled. The next words though quenched their fiery hearts.
"She lost an arm for your incompetence." he roared.
"If she was so powerful then how did she manage to lose an arm?" A gasp escaped the gods and even the Unborns stirred at this. Franco couldn't help but facepalm even though he felt like the idiot who spoke was a bit right. Right in a different way. Franco had watched that fight. Watched the mother lay into the entity like a child getting scolded by an adult till it had become ¼ its original size. Then lost her arm to it. Even he had found this strange.
"You fool!" the bark didn't come from an Unborn but from a god. An Argonne to be precise. Standing close to him was none other than Steller fuming like a bull and almost about to pounce at the god who had insulted the absolute. Franco followed his line of sight and spotted the player.
'It was a player. Of course.' the known gods dared not voice such queries. Not yet at least.
"If you had watched that fight like the rest of us or at least had any idea of what was going on you'd know that defending was the only way to save the administrators." Steller fumed as he berated the Undule whose one eye stared on like he cared not.
"That does make sense. With all the skills she showed, using any long-range attacks could have severely harmed the administrators as such getting there on time and physically acting was the best cause of action.". It was obvious the analysis was more for himself than others. " It was simply bad luck that she had to defend Admin Haero and Freyr from certain death."
Franco looked up from his monologue to realize all eyes were on him.
"Wouldn't that mean your absolute isn't powerful any to control even luck" the Undule pointed out. Steller was turning red at this point a feat that was commendable considering he was feathered. The Undule raised his hands in placation.
"Just asking the tough questions here man. Chill".
Franco shook his head but was unable to speak as pressure descended on them. He and every other god froze in fear as the air took on a burning aura.
" Let me show you" It was the Unborn that spoke. His feet moved him towards the Undule, clear murder in his eyes.
[WARNING]
[Player is currently under the suppression of Higher Lifeform]
[Death from a higher life form will lead to permanent and continuous 15% debuff in the will stat as well as conditional sealing of 20% stats in all attributes]
The instant silence turned even more oppressive. It was obvious that every single god had gotten the warning.