And (N)one Shall Remain

“Talk about a quick change in treatment,” muttered Esperanza under her breath as she watched the dozen locals go down on their knees and place their heads on the ground before her. Just moments ago these very same locals were pointing spears and arrows in her group’s direction.

 

You are still rather unaware of the effect you have, We see. For those who still worshiped us from the heart, the aura you emanate would tell them beyond any doubt that you were a messenger we had sent to this world. It would be like… If you were to see an Angel from your god back in your previous world?

 

“I no longer believed in that, honestly, though that would’ve been a hilarious scene to watch,” replied Esperanza with a slight chuckle. “Our idea of angels were pretty goddamned fucked up that every pendejo who saw one for real would have probably pissed and shit themselves on the spot, given how creepy many of them are.”

 

We feel like it would be improper for us to comment about that, given the physical form you have received from us.

 

“Eh, it’s in the past. I’m guessing as this shapeshift skill keeps getting better I’ll eventually be able to pretend to be whatever I wanted to without anyone being able to tell, so it’s all good, I guess,” replied Esperanza rather nonchalantly. Come to think of it, she did feel that she acclimatized to her new body rather easily, given how monstrous it was, but perhaps it was the body itself that helped with its instincts being so strong it took her a while to get used to them at first.

 

“Anyway, who is the one in charge here? Speak up. There’s enough prostrating already,” she continued, adressing the locals this time, as they were all still kneeling before her without daring to speak a word. They seemed to fidget for a moment as if unsure on what they were supposed to do, but eventually one of them raised her body and adopted a pose like someone praying on their knees, head down with their hands clasped before them.

 

“T-This one is Belug-ur’ani, O, Exalted Messenger of the Deities of Yore. This one begs forgiveness for the rudeness we had unknowingly subjected you to. There was no excuse for our actions!” said the woman while bodily trembling. She looked like she was genuinely afraid that Esperanza might eat her whole or something, with the way she acted.

 

The woman herself looked rather unusual, as she had features that would not have been too out of place for a Ma’Varok mixed with a Nevilosk, with a slender but muscular figure, long ears and prominent tusks, but also had other bits Esperanza had never seen before. Most notable were the scales that seem to adorn a large part of her arm as well as her cheeks, as well as opening that looked like gills on the sides of her throat.

 

“Okay, okay, get up already. We’re not about to eat you or anything like that,” said Esperanza with some exasperation to the kneeling locals. “As Tiesya here had said, we came here to seek refuge from those who worship the new gods. There are more of us, and some might have difficulties passing through the road we took to get here. Are there any other ways to reach here?”

 

“There are several passages that lead to our little town, Exalted one,” replied Belug-ur’ani respectfully. “Most of them are very well hidden, however, and had many traps to prevent outsiders from accidentally wandering to our town. The passage you took was the labyrinthine one, which we left open since most who entered it would just get lost along the way.”

 

“It was quite a challenging road, indeed, though fortunately we had a good guide to get us through there,” admitted Esperanza. Dali gave a happy bark on her praise, and held his head high in a rather smug pose that made her want to laugh. “Can you arrange for some people to help bring those we left behind to the town as well?”

 

“Most certainly, Exalted one,” replied the mixed-breed woman. “Enu, Wic, Olias, K’Veno, you four go and help show the way to the others that the Exalted one had brought here…” she commanded before she went silent for a moment. “Uh, Exalted one, may we inquire on where the others would be located? We generally keep to ourselves in the depths, so we rarely pay attention to what happens at the surface.”

 

“Legisvula, would you lead them to the others? Take Dali with you” asked Esperanza, to which the young Tesh’ka nodded affirmatively. The four locals named by Belug-ur’ani led him and Dali to a different passage from the one their group had taken to reach their current location, probably one that was easier to traverse, given the information they had received. “As for you, while we wait for them to return, can you lead us to your town?”

 

“Of course, Exalted one! It would be our honor to host you and yours!” replied the woman excitedly.

 

Belug-ur’ani and the rest of the locals then respectfully led Esperanza and Tiesya deeper into the cavern complex. The open area they had emerged in earlier turned out to be more of a gate of sorts, where the paths that led to the main cavern where the town lay converged. The locals had apparently artificially enlarged the region to make it a chokepoint, where they could defend themselves better if needed.

 

Fittingly, the corridor they were brought to had high walls to its sides, where Esperanza could see slits from which the locals could have rained arrows down on any invaders who tried to force their way through the place. The road itself took a few sharp turns that she noticed wound around itself almost like a large spiral, clearly constructed that way as a defensive measure. As such, it took them a good fifteen minutes of walking before they reached the actual gate to the town itself, at the far end of the corridor.

 

She also noticed how that gate was cleverly located across a bridge over a chasm, and was off to one side of the corridor. Had some invaders tried to break their way straight through the corridor, their path would have ended straight down into the seemingly bottomless chasm that awaited at the end, rather than reach the gate.

 

The gate itself was made of heavy blocks of stone, and clearly needed at least a dozen people to open, even with the aid of some mechanisms on the inside. Esperanza could have seeped through the gate with the aid of her shapeshifting, but deemed it to be rude to their hosts, so she refrained. All along their path, any locals that saw her – her aura still blaring unhidden – bowed towards her as she passed.

 

“Our little hideaway from the world, the town of Agur-Bas,” said Belug-ur’ani as she gestured with her arms to show Esperanza and Tiesya the town hidden underground.

 

Contrary to her expectations, the underground town was well-lit, with some sort of naturally bioluminescent moss and fungi growing all over the roofs and walls of the buildings of the town. Those bathed the town in a gentle, bluish-green glow that was easy on the eyes, and just at a glance Esperanza could see that the place must have at least a couple thousand people, if not more, living there.

 

It was at a scale uncomparable to Navef, and the same also applied to those who guarded the town. Belug-ur’Ani herself was a [Child of the Sea Lvl20/Hunter Prodigy Lvl20/Spearmaster of Agur-Bas Lvl20/Fang of the Depths Lvl8], a full fledged fourth tier who Esperanza sort of doubted she could have taken on in direct combat without abusing [Respawn] quite a bit.

 

The rest of the guards were mostly third tiers, with classes that generally had some sort of hunting background, which was not surprising given their isolated location. All of them were clearly more competent as warriors than the inhabitants of Navef, though. Similarly, Esperanza doubted that Belug-ur’ani was the only fourth tier pure combatant present in the town.

 

From afar she noticed the townspeople with all sorts of classes – they clearly had made themselves a self-sufficient community in their hiding spot far below the ground – with other guards positioned at strategic locations around the town. Some of the latter noticed Esperanza’s arrival, and like those before, immediately bowed where they stood.

 

Esperanza didn’t ask why Belug-ur’ani made no attempt to announce their arrival, as the commotion that their presence attracted already did that for them, unbidden. Sure enough, before long a group of what seemed to be important people – they were elderly, wore finer clothing compared to most of the people around, and even had some decoration and jewelry made from some sort of coral on them – came towards them.

 

As one, those elders prostrated themselves before Esperanza and started to recite prayers and praises to the Deities of Yore for its deliverance of guidance in the times of hardship.

 

It took a good bit more effort for Esperanza to coax the elders to rise, though she quickly realized the reason for their fervor at the sight of her. The elders led her towards the largest building in the city, which turned out to be a temple dedicated to the Deities of Yore. At the altar of worship were multiple slates of rock with carvings that formed rather indecipherable shapes, likely representing the various gods Oldies used to be.

 

The worship in the town of Agur-Bas proved to be strong, even after the eras that had passed under the reign of the new gods, which partly explained why they were so subservient to Esperanza, who in their eyes were no different than a messenger directly sent by their gods.

 

Esperanza quickly explained what she needed to those elders, that she came to their town while leading refugees from Navef, most of which were children or injured. When she asked for them to help house those refugees, the elders almost fell over each other in their haste to be the first to agree to her request, which they viewed nearly as a gospel.

 

That was before one of the more inquisitive elders asked if he was allowed to use [Analysis] on Tiesya, having received familiar vibes from the mixed-breed girl.

 

When the elders saw her [Progeny of Yore] class, they almost fell into a riot and acted as if they were about to enshrine Tiesya as a holy maiden on the spot. At least, they acted that way until Esperanza told them that Tiesya was not the only one, which made the elders prostrate themselves in worship deeply once more.

 

Apparently, there were old legends about Progenies of Yore, which mostly told of tales where they were sent to the world by the old gods to fix imbalances that threatened the world’s continued existence. Even so, it was a rare case that any Progeny of Yore were to be sent at all, much less eight at once, which the elders eventually rationalized as only fitting given the tight grip that the new gods had on the world.

 

All that did alleviate some of Esperanza worries about what she would do if the locals were to refuse her request, though. The way they acted, they would probably have killed themselves before even considering saying no to her requests, as they saw her as the Exalted messenger of their gods. All the worship did little to make Esperanza particularly comfortable, however.

 

“So, how did it feel to be the object of worship for once?” she asked Tiesya half-teasingly after they were given some privacy. She herself was never really comfortable with the worship she got in this world, even after so long.

 

“Honestly? It feels… rather nice,” replied Tiesya with a smile. “I sure could get used to this.”

 

“Just don’t get drunk on the adoration. It really gets into your head if you allow it.”