Chapter 17: A Brief Aside

Chapter 17: A Brief Aside

 

The expedition ended, and Nara returned to the crafting complex after parting ways with Sen and company.

 

Nara and Chrome were currently within Nara’s Astral Domain. They were sitting on a well-furnished veranda overlooking a large lake. On the far side of the shore, peach blossom trees were in full bloom.

It was of course, all an illusion of the astral.

“So you’ve finally worked up the courage to open that damn box?” Chrome peered at the white and red box Nara had set on the table.

“Yeah. And I figure here’s the best place to look at it. It’s a good chance to verify some things.”

“Oh, that ostentatious letter you received from the Church of Knowledge?”

Nara had received a letter from the Church of Knowledge at the Communications Office of the Sanshi Academy. The letter detailed a variety of requests, such as abstaining from explaining a list of undiscovered topics on Erras such as gravity because “your knowledge of such topics are incomplete and would result in a faulty understanding”, and “the Goddess of Knowledge promotes the organic discovery of new knowledge”.

“That doesn’t make any sense to me.” Nara discussed with Chrome, “all knowledge is incomplete. Only with continual trial and error and scientific discovery do we accumulate ‘factual’ knowledge. Even now we rediscover what we once knew as fact to be incorrect or incomplete.”

“I hardly presume to know the working of a mind of a Goddess, let alone your mind. But that does strike me as strange.”

“Besides, how many thousands of years has civilization in Erras been around? How can they not know about gravity when diamonds are jumping into space making space videos?” Nara peered at Chrome, “You know about gravity right?”

“Of course I do. I’ve been to far more advanced worlds than yours even. Gravity is child’s play.”

“And wouldn’t the Goddess of Knowledge want to correct the Magic Society? They seem to have their own internal corruption and lack of proper research going on.”

“It’s not as if your world doesn’t have corruption in academia.” Chrome pointed out plainly.

“We don’t have a Goddess of Knowledge.”

“True. But who’s to say what the realm of Gods entails? It’s something poorly understood by even I. Something privy perhaps to only the Gods and Great Transcendents themselves.” 

 

The second part of the letter was even more baffling.

‘With due expediency, please open the box.’

Nara had often taken out the box once, briefly, to ponder its contents, before deciding to leave it for another time. That was all it had taken to reveal the existence of the box to the Goddess of Knowledge, presumably.

“We can’t say for certain whether or not she knew of the box’s existence before you removed it from your Astral Domain,” contemplated Chrome, “Is that related to what you want to verify?”

“Yeah. I have a hypothesis. I think what happens in the astral stays in the astral, so to speak.”

“Why so?”

“Once I got that letter, I did a little digging with my Guide. All knowledge that enters the world is the domain of the Goddess of Knowledge.”

“She is Knowledge, after all. That is what it means to be a Goddess.”

“All knowledge that enters the world.”

Chrome’s eyes widened in rare surprise. “You mean to see if your Astral Domain is outside of the purview of a Goddess?”

“Yes.”

Chrome leaned back and thought for a moment. “Once you re-enter the world, would that knowledge not become hers?”

“Unless I change the rules of this Domain. I control everything here. I don’t see why I can’t control information originating in it as well. What I control need not be tangible or well defined.”

“There’s certainly no harm in trying. Verifying this would make your Astral Domain an even more formidable tool in your arsenal. Something you may very well need.”

“So, either she knows, and all’s well that ends well. Or…”

Chrome finished her sentence for her, “She sends another letter.”

“Yes.”

Chrome’s golden eyes were gleaming with anticipation, “Get on with it then!”

“Aren’t you glad you became my familiar.”

“I didn’t say that.”

 

She gently tugged on the ribbon of the box, and the entire box faded away in flames, leaving a palm sized token on the table. Another token had long been in her Astral Domain. The moment Nara found herself conscious within what was now her Astral Domain that token had been there as well.

Nara took the Astral Domain token in her hand and inspected it.

--------

Item: [Astral Authority Token] (unranked)

Classification: ???, Consumable

Effect: Returns the authority to create Astral Constructs to [Nara Edea]/[??? ???]. Can only be used by [Nara Edea]/[??? ???].

[Use? Y/N?]

-------

 

“Oh no.” Chrome said, breaking his composure. “Do not use that yet.”

“Even I can tells that’s dangerous stuff. It’s all just question marks.”

“I’m not saying never use it. Wait until gold rank, at the minimum.”

You are reading story Fear Not Death at novel35.com

It was Nara’s turn to ask, “Why so?”

“That sort of power will annihilate your body. Your soul will probably be find on account of… all this.” He gestured his arms to the astral around us. “Your soul is used to it. Your body is not.”

“I get sent back to zero. Instant body dematerialization.”

“Your fragile body wouldn’t be able to contain the power of your soul. Even at gold rank you would have to be extremely careful in using that power. Lose control and…”

“Still poof. Gotcha.”

Chrome gravely nodded.

“It does, however, potentially solve two pressing problems of yours. With the ability to create astral constructs, you could create an astral bridge back to your original world, if you can locate it. Or perhaps create an astral triangulation device to locate your own world.”

“So that’s one problem ‘maybe’ solved. What’s the other?”

“Your world’s ‘Soul Thief’.”

“Oh.”

“Your world has no Goddess of Death to guide souls of the dead to the Reaper. To what lays beyond death. Souls will naturally wander there, eventually, on their own.”

“But without a Goddess of Death, we’re without protection. Is it seriously a choice between introducing real divinity to Earth and letting people get spirited away?”

“Not all Gods and Goddesses are benevolent either.”

“I’ve read a bit from one of the notices in Sanshi. The world is currently dealing with rising cults of the God of Undeath? Vampires, liches, zombies, and the like.”

“Among other malignant divinities such as Pain, Disguise, and Deception. In some ways a reflection of life, divinities can be benevolent, malignant, or neutral themselves.”

“This really doesn’t sound like a decision I want to make.” Nara said groaning.

“For now, you don’t have to make it. Your world will just be pitifully and helplessly assailed why you wallow in your fractured memory and weak body. You don’t have the means to act on it regardless.”

“Hey. But thanks.”

“The second token.” He said, “What does it say?”

As his mention, Nara inspected it as well.

--------

Item: [World Phoenix Token] (Transcendent, legendary)

Classification: ???, Consumable

Effect: Initiates communication with the Reaper’s Prime Vessel. Can only be used by [Nara Edea]/[??? ???].

[Use? Y/N]

-------

“This would be option two I guess. Talk to The Reaper and sic him on the Soul Thief.”

“You don’t just ‘sic’ a Great Astral Being. They’re so powerful that directing materializing in reality would annihilate it. That’s why they use Prime Vessels to communicate and act.”

“Not desirable.”

“That’s putting it mildly.”

“So that means, Earth’s current situation is related to him? The Reaper I mean?”

Chrome rubbed his chin in contemplation, “If we judge this token to be related, that would be the logical conclusion.”

“Why’s the token from The World Phoenix then?”

“The World Phoenix governs dimensional stability. Since you never died, you aren’t within his domain. The World Phoenix may have acted on his behalf in this instance.”

“He gave me a weapon though.”

“Another gift passed through the hands of The World Phoenix.”

 

“So, a decision to make. Eventually.” Nara said, leaning forward, hands clasped.

“Create the type of Astral Bridge that allows for divinity to move between worlds, or manipulate the Astral Membrane of your world to raise the magic level of your world to naturally manifest divinity, or communicate with The Reaper’s representative and figure out a solution that way.”

“Three options. Maybe a fourth.”

“A fourth?”

“Hear out the Soul Thief and see what he has to say.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can find story with these keywords: Fear Not Death, Read Fear Not Death, Fear Not Death novel, Fear Not Death book, Fear Not Death story, Fear Not Death full, Fear Not Death Latest Chapter