Chapter 43: The Mechanic's Sacrifice

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Ryukana is trying not to make a bad situation worse. She's currently waiting patiently on the ground floor of the titanic castle known in this world as the Citadel. The three women, Treia, Gwenesphia, and Aoloan are also with her, but she made her presence known to the magic user that spoke to her without appearing.

The gods and goddesses of the Divine Realm uphold a system that has proven reliable for a long time. Nothing is perfect, as perfection is the domain of Order, and Order has always indulged Chaos when it comes to all of existence. For Chaos, imperfection is perfection, and it is their timeless balance that has allowed the existence of the Divine Realm, the worldly universe, and everything else.

The system the Divine Realm operates is a stability agent, injecting order in worlds leaning too far into chaos, and injecting chaos into worlds suffocating under stagnating order. Life is not complete without a balance between order and chaos, just as the Divine Order and the Divine Chaos.

That said, the gods and goddesses must attempt to correct the course of a world at the lowest level possible. This is achieved by several methods, but one of the most effective and reliable is to send help through means of divine summons. If the ritual is forgotten, the Divine Realm will sneak the knowledge back into the world. If the ritual is abused, the gods will evaluate the ritual's necessity and ignore it if need be.

Direct intervention is avoided for several reasons. One reason is that countries and kingdoms where gods or goddesses make themselves known tend to become destabilizing agents and endanger the world all over again. Additionally, if the existence of gods and goddesses becomes fact, instead of belief, then a threshold to be overcome if they utilize their divine powers too much, it can leave behind residual magic in a world, which can become problematic. And, while not the last scenario, it's definitely a prominent one; if a god or goddess lets their power be known, it creates a potential threshold that magic users of the world might be able to overcome, threatening the divide between the created worlds and the Divine Realm.

That said, she suspects the Citadel already has reached that threshold, whether they realize it or not, and she doesn't want to provoke any sort of action when she only wants to speak to Daniel. Whatever the case is, he seems to be a welcome member of the Citadel.

Sensing something wrong, Ryukana detects a magic return spell being used, bringing individuals back to the Citadel.

Did they...? Yes, they undoubtedly did... Two in one day?

Before she can gather her thoughts, a second teleportation spell, this time sending an individual out, appears in the same relative location.

Ryukana weighs her options. Whatever is happening, if Daniel is in the middle of it, it's her fault. She can't allow him to perish now that she's so close to finding him.

Ryukana states to the other three, "Stay here for now. You'll be safe in the castle."

Treia starts to object, but Ryukana transports herself to the roof of the castle, where she finds the source of the spell; a soul-infused golem resembling an anthropomorphized feldrok design. It's not identical to the feldrok girl nearby who is in a humanized form, but the intent is there. And, speaking of, the two dragons and the feldrok that she saw with Daniel the first time they left the castle are present now, cheering as they watch the blast of another nuclear weapon from afar, the mushroom cloud of the superweapon from Earth rising above the mountains in the distance.

The golem, less focused on the blast, stares at Ryukana. It states with a female voice, "Be cautious with your next move."

Ryukana replies, "I'm here to protect Daniel. Where did you send him?"

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