That day, as soon as she left, I made my way to the library, eager to understand more about the gods of this world and the elusive Goddess Qalena. My search was fruitful; after scouring shelves and skimming through ancient tomes, I found a passage on her. Qalena, the goddess of life and death, stood as one of the most revered beings in the gods' realm. She was the wife of Xaereus, one of the three great gods, and was rumoured to possess strength surpassing all other gods.
This discovery only deepened the mystery. Why would a goddess of such power have any interest in me, a mere mortal? The question lingered in my mind as I dove further into my reading, determined to uncover everything I could about this pantheon of gods.
Apparently, there were thirteen pantheons, each ruled by its own set of deities, with the primary power structure resting in the hands of three great gods: Xaereus, Krayreus, and B'rameus.
Xaereus, as the lore described, was the strongest among them, ruling from the gods' domain, a mystical realm high above the world of mortals. Below their domain was our world, the Midlands, and below that lay the Netherworld, ruled by the god Ax'dall.
Within the gods' domain, there was a hierarchy.
Directly below the pantheons were the deities, overseen by their king, Inadrys.
Inadrys' tales, in particular, were… colourful, to say the least. One story spoke of him descending to the Midlands to seduce the wife of a powerful sage, a fairy princess with immense beauty. A battle erupted between the sage and Inadrys, and, against all odds, the sage managed to defeat him, as the sage held Xaereus's blessing.
Humiliated by his loss, Inadrys devised a deceitful plan.
He disguised himself as the sage and returned to seduce the fairy princess once more. She, unable to distinguish between her husband and the imposter, welcomed him into her embrace.
When the Sage returned and found them together, his fury knew no bounds. In his wrath, he cursed his wife, declaring that she would remain eternally young yet forever roam the Midlands, unable to return to her fairy realm. She would live an endless life, cursed to see her loved one's age and die while she stayed the same.
I continued reading, fascinated by the numerous tales of gods and their flaws.
Despite their powers, these beings were not free from weakness. Infidelity, jealousy, vengeance—these traits permeated their stories as much as they did human lives.
Inadrys, particularly, seemed to have a reputation as a "player." Countless tales described him pursuing queens, wives of kings, and other women of exceptional beauty throughout the Midlands. Many of these unions resulted in offspring known as demigods, mortal children with divine blood coursing through their veins.
These demigods were said to be remarkably strong, blessed with heightened abilities that set them apart from ordinary humans. Legends claimed that when a demigod accumulated a certain level of divine karma—acts of valour, selflessness, or wisdom—they could transcend the mortal plane and ascend to the deity realm, where they too might attain the rank of a deity.
Sitting amidst these ancient texts, a new thought struck me: even gods, with all their might and splendour, wrestled with desires and shortcomings just as humans did. Perhaps their power did not exempt them from the very flaws they so often inflicted upon mortals.
As the days went by, one day, the patriarch of the family visited the Stormholme keep. He arrived with a group of his knights. There were about 30 of them, I think.
Of course, he didn't know I was there or that anyone in the family knew I was there. I didn't get to see him, nor did I care to see him.
Previous Jolthar longed to be recognized by his father. He wanted badly to stand in front of his father and look him in the eye. He knew from the memories.
I didn't understand, how one could never care for their children. Even dogs would fight back if anything happened to their pups, but these people never even cared about him.
Well, I can't talk much about mine.
"Haa!" Too much of this sighing these days. I will too feel today.
Right now, I was sitting in the stands of the training grounds. I didn't when he came, but Orimus was standing before. What now, I thought.
Orimus smiled at him and said, "So, this is where you have been hiding. I thought you ran off or something."
I didn't reply, just stared at him. Sometimes, it was best to stay silent. And now it was that time. I couldn't really do anything to him, nor was I stronger than him.
"Hey, I am talking to you."
When he stepped closer to me, someone called out to him.
"Orimus."
Then I saw another young man if I could remember correctly. It was his third older brother, Davis.
He didn't bother to look at me and told Orimus to come.
Then Orimus quickly hurried over to him, and then they both left. Orimus glanced at me before he left. Little bastard, I felt like smacking his head.
It seems like the patriarch had come with his whole family, but not him. They didn't call him or want to meet him. They stayed in the Keep for a half day and then left.
I was standing on the walls, watching them leave. The patriarch sat in a carriage, so I couldn't look at him.
***
I had reached what the book described as an "intermediate" level of skill. But I hungered for more. The basic techniques I'd learned were a solid foundation, but I knew there was so much more to discover about the art of the sword.
As mentioned in the book, to become 'one with the sword', it's what intrigued me. To feel the metal, to feel it as an extension of your body. To understand the essence, I even started swordsmithing.
To my own luck, the training grounds had a swordsmithing workshop. Then it struck, Why not make a sword for myself? This mysterious power inside had been a great boost to his sword practice; it was like adding fuel to the fire. But I need materials for making a sword.
The majority of swords were made from carbon steel or some alloys. Some of them are made from steel too. But I felt like, these swords wouldn't hold against the power of voidwrath.
I don't know a lot about sword making, but I had a lot of time on my hands. Other than training and reading, I haven't got much to do. But it sure was peaceful here, without any technologies around me. It was weird at first, but after I had started training, it didn't bother me much.
Back then, when I was working in the construction field, there was this man; who talked a lot about katana. He had a hobby of making them, and he sometimes even brought them to the site. Everybody was so mesmerized by his craftsmanship. From what I know, high carbon would be an ideal metal. And there was titanium with its corrosion resistance.
So, I asked around the smitting workshop. For reference to the material available in this world, I even went through a set of books. Perks of a rich family library. After a day or two, I found something—the metal ore called Dreitrium, a very rare metal ore.
Though it had the properties I was looking for, it has its downsides. It was denser than other metals, and it was very hard to extract the metal from the ores. The process of melting and moulding involved a very complex method.
Also, I had to find the ore first, as it wasn't available, like vegetables in the market.
Suddenly, I thought of the goddess. Maybe she would help me.
HAA!
Sighing, I got up and left the library.