Silence took hold of the barracks. Three dwarves and a human, all ready for what may happen next. The eldest of the dwarves, white-bearded Noc put his hand in position to grasp his weapon incase Ren decided to get violent. The two younger dwarves followed suit alongside their elder.

  Ren stood unmoving, unwavering before what was happening. Neither his hand shook from the anxiety of the situation, and neither did his mind break away from what he knew must happen next. He did not possess the power to fight these dwarves, nor did he have the strength to run away back into the wilderness infested with behemoths.

  Ren looked deep into the eyes of the eldest dwarf. “I am from another world, I never asked to be here. In a way, I suppose I wished for it, but not this. I never wanted this. I just want to be free of what holds me down, seek out a life free from everything that’s held me down for so long.”

  Noc moved to speak as a grimace took over his expression.

  “I know what happens next, you’ll lock me away, or try to kill me. It’s not needed, I don’t use the powers of the thing that brought me here. If I do, I’ll die.”

  Noc took in a deep breath while eyebrows fell into a furrow over his eyes before he spoke. “So you suppose we just let you go off, doing whatever warlock rituals you wish to bring upon the end of the world, eh?”

  “I have no desire to appease that monster. I saw its body down in the Underdark, it tried to dominate me, take me over time and time again. It stole my memories and tried to make me its pawn.”

  “I have ears to hear you, though how am I supposed to believe you?”

  “My heart. When I ran over the western mountains, out of the human territories, I met orks-”

  Noc cut him off. “Now don’t tell me, you took in the amber?”

  “That I did. Humanity had hunted me down, and so the orks were my only connection to society for a time. With my power I was tracked, they killed them all.” A wavering note entered Ren’s voice.

  Noc’s head tilted. “Who killed all of what?”

  The worshippers of The Silver Goddess, Aethra. A paladin, he came from the sky like a meteor, he killed everything and everyone in the region. A golden aura came from him and turned everything into ash!” Redness came into Ren’s face. “He took away from me the only friend I had in this world. A human who was living in the Underdark for so long they had forgotten the stars.” Ren’s teeth clenched as he remembered her face.

  “Now there, that’s a lot to unpack young lad. If you can confirm your story, and prove that you are cut off from that power, things can proceed much more kindly.”

  “How am I supposed to prove anything to you?”

  “Well, we can have a ritualist take a good look at you. Have you had a reading done before? It takes a part of your soul, the tiniest piece, magnifies it, and transforms it into legible information. If you will submit to this, and confirm what you’ve said so far, we can have ale tonight without blood first.”

  This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

  Ren nodded, still standing his ground before the dwarves. “If this was how things were to turn out, then why even clothe me and give me the chance to clean up?”

  The two dwarves behind Noc looked confused as he spoke. “We are dwarves lad, you are a young human. We give everyone the common decency to be clothed and clean. No matter the criminal or crime, for the most part, you’re not some damned elf.” Noc signaled to the youngest of the three to leave, presumably to get the ritualist spoke of.

  “So even knowing you might have to kill me, you welcomed me in, told me of your people? What if I was an enemy who would flee and bring back allies?”

  “There isn’t much that could break into this mountain lad. Even that paladin you spoke of, anything short of a God, or one on the pinnacle before godhood. Only such a being at the true pinnacle of mortality could break through into this place. Dwarves don’t live under fragile stone.”

  Ren nodded again. The dwarves were so confident even with his patron’s help, it was impossible for someone of his strength to seige this place. Only if the Eldritch God itself attacked could it break into this stronghold.

  To see a hidden gem such as this before being quickly executed would be at least a small bit of reconciliation. Though, Ren would do everything in his power to avoid such a fate. It was unlikely, but perhaps these dwarves could aid him in what was to come.

  “Do humans know you’re down here?”

  Noc smiled. “Of course not, when their Goddess ascended long ago humans took this world by storm. They’re lucky that such a talented being was born to their race. If it was not for her, dwarves or elves would rule this world. It is rare for dwarves to seek such power as Godhood, but elves all strive for it. The bastard things spread across the worlds like colonies of insects.”

  “If dwarves, elves, and orks are all descended from the Gods who shaped them, then why are humans like we are?”

  “Well, what do you mean? Everything was once human, all the races were.” Noc’s eyebrows furrowed. “Seeing as a Void God rules your world, it is odd you are not all devilish fiends mutated and turned into monsters to spread across into other worlds to devour them.”

  “Is that what happens when an Eldritch God takes over a world?” Ren’s voice was quiet.

  “Well yes, if you were sent here by your eldritch patron, that means all humans in your world are marked by their God. Though it has not reformed them yet, it has not changed them. That is odd to say the least.”

  “My world spoke of many Gods, some societies worshipped one, and another society another. There were several large belief systems who had faith in one God or another, but none told of what I saw.”

  Noc’s expression dropped. “You mean to say… you looked upon the face of what sent you here? You saw what was within the void when you came here?”

  “Yes, but it's like trying to remember something that happened as a child. It's unclear and fuzzy, its like I know it happened, but my mind could not understand what it saw.”

  “There is something terribly odd about your situation. I am both excited and terrified to see what our ritualist may find. What you say, I believe you, but it's impossible. You cannot look at a being such as that. It would shatter your mind, ruin you. Only a true God can look into such a face and survive. The mere existence of such beings destabilizes and destroys worlds. It doesn’t make sense how you can be a normal human, let alone look into the face of an Eldritch one.”

  “In full honesty, can you tell me what they are? It’s dead, isn’t it?”

  “Gods cannot die.” Noc’s face was stern. “Not truly as you and I die. When killed, their body dies, but their soul is eternal. It can either be taken into the being of another God to strengthen it, or it can roam free as a faint ghost who can barely touch the world. Such Gods roam the world freely until they are taken in by a living God, or fade away from the world slowly losing themselves. Though there is another option, one can go into the void.”

  “A Void God?” Ren asked.

  “Yes. One whose soul enters the rift between worlds. Where space and time no longer exists, they can rule there. Weaker Gods that have fled into the void act as sustenance for those greater dead Gods. In the void, it is only the willpower and soul that matters. There, they can devour what other Void Gods are weaker than them and become something strange, something wrong.”