Daniel and Star appeared on the streets of Rikendia without much notice. Apparently, the mana field suffusing the entire region was strong enough to support a teleportation network, which explained why the main palace didn’t have obvious entrances. The square they stood in was one of the largest, being in the center of Rikendia’s Divine Quarter. It was level with the edge of the terrain surrounding the city and connected to one of the sides so that it wasn’t under the floating palace.

  Many people filled the space, all praying in various ways to the Divine Pavilion visible high in the sky over the capital. If Star had appeared in his true form and been recognized it would have likely caused several to die in shock while the rest fell in absolute reverence. Meeting a god in this world was rare, as Daniel had learned. Even then most of those occurrences were mediated by Proxies, like the one Star was using now.

  From the looks of it, the knowledge that Hammer’s true form was above them had driven some in his church to insane lengths of piety. Daniel had heard of a man from his world who had kept an arm raised above his head for decades in devotion to his religious beliefs, and that level of fervor was mirrored here. There was a group in front of Hammer’s church that had been encased in stone while bowing towards the Pavilion, leaving only their heads free to observe their god’s construction.

  There weren’t even vendors here, the natural inclination of human or human adjacent species to capitalize off of big events suppressed by the importance of the gathering. In fact, Daniel’s appearance here with Star garnered some negative looks as he dared intrude on such an important moment. Wait, this probably is important if all these Clerics are advancing. Reminding himself that classes could advance through ways outside of combat made the entombed Clerics make a little more sense. While he’d never do it, he could get putting yourself in a very uncomfortable position for a week or two for guaranteed power.

  Star passed Daniel a small loop of a gelatinous material close to plastic. Daniel gave him a confused look until he saw another wrapped around the god’s ear. Placing his in the same spot, Daniel heard the god in his head. Sorry, I know this isn’t what you meant.

  You’re sure you can’t take me back to Aughal?

  It’s not going to make a difference. Star nodded to the closest exit to the plaza and they both started making their way there. If the pantheon wants to kill you, they will no matter where you are.

  Ok, but what if you did something, like enchant me into a marble temporarily? Daniel asked hopefully, since it had gotten that dire.

  Not going to work. Both because Hammer would kill my Proxy, and you’d die even if that wouldn’t already kill you.

  So, you’re ok with them just ending me because they feel like it?

  Daniel barely registered that the stairs he stood on were moving as he waited for the god, currently in the original form of the Proxy, to respond. It’s not my decision alone. Look, if they vote for this, I’ll at least ask them to explain why it has to happen to you.

  What if they take the Spoke out of me instead? I don’t care about lightning powers if they get me killed.

  Star had to give that more thought as they reached the bottom of the steps and came up to the floating walkways that bridged the various sections of the city like a highway overpass. The walkways here also moved, splitting off at intersections with something akin to a traffic light directing the flow. When it was red, the same color being used here, that side of the street would stop just before it would force people into each other.

  Alright, let me tell you how Spokes are formed, Star said as he led Daniel to, well, honestly the Artificer wasn’t sure where they were going other than around the city. One of us generates a godseed and gives it to the guys that go into the Crest. I’m simplifying here, but I don’t think you’re in the right head space to get really complicated.

  Yeah, Daniel agreed. I heard it takes two decades to fully form one. Why so long?

  So the first ten years or so, the baby Spoke is sucking up all the bad mana in the air. The things there really don’t like that, like, they hate it, so there’s another reason we need really bad dudes to defend it. Once the Spoke’s charged up it wards them away and it’s safe to send normal people there.

  What did it look like before that? Actually, what’s it look like after that too? Daniel was imagining something like a basketball painted over with nature themes, or more troublingly, a smaller version of the Origin Beast’s shell.

  It’s different for each god. Hammer’s is this kind of sphere that’s constantly changing what it’s made of. About the size of a house.

  Uh. Damn. I guess that’s on brand.

  Yeah. The light turned purple and the street Daniel was on started moving again. He was just going with it at this point, both in the conversation and destination. He was in almost full trust mode with Star and would tell him anything but Earth stuff if it could help. Once it’s charged, the rest of us provide a little bit of ourselves and something called a temple of unification is set up. We’re all part of the Octyrrum, and to expand that Spokes like you need every part of the whole. Another decade of the charged godseed assimilating all of that and aligning itself to the area and boom, you have a stable region and a fully developed Spoke.

  So, you did that with my Spoke too?

  Yeah. Star ruffled his hair a little. You’re like my nephew or something if I look at it like Hammer does. Not that we do all of this physically. There’s a… well, shouldn’t tell you that. Sorry. He raised his hands defensively at the look Daniel gave him. Even if Torch is already dead set against you, there’s still stuff I can’t say. If you started shouting it on the street it’d cause problems, and we’d be lucky if it was Cloak coming to fix them.

  Ok. So is the point that the process of creating a Spoke is so complicated you can’t just take one out of me? Star stepped onto a different pathway at a branching point and Daniel followed, noticing that their general course was both down and towards the city’s center. This was also one of the less busy streets, though they’d started near the Divine Quarter which was currently a humanoid traffic jam.

  It struck Daniel then that there were so many different kinds of people here. He’d been brooding and talking to a god in his head and hadn’t noticed a group of shavi standing a few meters behind him until they stepped onto a different street and passed by as his came to a stop. There were also ones he hadn’t seen before. One example was strangely reminiscent of the frost strangler, although it was clear they were both mortal and not tamed monster by appearance. This had to be an example of a water gestalt as the jello man looked like they would be more at home in the ocean than out here. He guessed the streaking ball of flame in the distance was a fire gestalt as well, though he couldn’t know for-

  Oh, wait, duh.

  In any other circumstance, Daniel would have been struck with wonder as he fully took in his surroundings. Star’s reply dragged him back down to the bog of divine imprisonment. Kind of. You are Hammer’s Spoke. There’s nothing to separate.

  But I have a soul.

  Do you have another body? Daniel briefly considered the smart answer and wondered if he could justify sacrificing any chance of Hunter’s return if it meant saving himself. No, the answer to that was no. Wait, let me put it this way. Do you have another body that can hold you? Sorry to say man, you can’t split the Spoke from you even if you are weird enough to have a soul.

  I guess that’d be too easy. Star led him to what was obviously an elevator and they began to descend. Where are we going anyway?

  I’m thinking we get souvenirs first and then hit some entertainment. Star chuckled at Daniel’s flat look. What, a god can’t have fun?

  I don’t see Torch ever going into a tavern.

  Yeah nah. But that’s the good thing about rocking up with a level 1 Proxy, I can get drunk.

  The two had been on the elevator for a full minute now and the floor, a kind of frosted glass that allowed the barest amounts of light through from the enchanted crystal underneath, had yet to reach the bottom. How exactly does that work? Daniel asked as Star held up a hand to stop them from getting off on yet another landing. I get that you can only influence your domain up to what level 1 powers can do, but how does that affect your mind? Also, is your Proxy still awake during this?

  Erik’s taking a nice nap right now, don’t worry. As for me, I’ve still got all of my, well, me, but this is like a projection of my actual consciousness and that’s as limited by Erik’s attributes as my body is. Unfortunately, I still have to direct my entire mind here for this to work, so my real body’s taking a snooze too while I’m here. I check in every once and a while because you can’t leave that kind of thing unattended, can you?

  Right, yeah. It was kind of weird to hear the god talk about the person he was puppetting so fondly, though as a counter point, Star wouldn’t be Daniel’s lifeline if he didn’t care about the little people. The elevator finally hit bottom with only Daniel and Star still riding. The last person to get off had given them odd looks and when Daniel stepped off he realized why.

  At the bottom of Rikendia’s floating capital was a mine. It was obvious in hindsight since it explained both why and how the city had been built here. Nothing of note was built on this layer of the city aside from the occasional mundane support column, leaving most of the structures above to rely on the multi-colored glowing crystals. As Daniel’s simple shoes stepped into the dirt, he could make out very small twinkling specks that glittered as he disturbed them.

  Wherever the bigger crystals came from, it wasn’t here but deeper down. There were several openings in the ground reminiscent of subway entrances, enclosed from the top and with a gate out front. The armor and weapons of the guards suggested this kingdom highly valued their antigravity crystals and didn’t tolerate theft. Daniel looked back to Star, wondering if the god would reveal himself and demand some, since there wasn’t anything else here to take a souvenir, when he realized he couldn’t see Star anymore.

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  Hey, come back onto the elevator and look a little lost. Hold the door open with your foot and stare at the buttons. Just give me a minute.

  Wha- Daniel felt something brush past him and hurried back to the elevator before it closed. He started looking at the buttons as Star had told him to and saw a flash out of the corner of his eye. Someone had appeared on the teleportation platform placed next to the elevators. Wait, Star, why did we take the elevator down? There wasn’t a response and Daniel tried his best to remain nonchalant. It didn’t take that much effort since honestly this was pretty low stakes. When complete obliteration was on the table, a couple of miners taking sledgehammers and picks on you wasn’t that bad.

  “Hey, are you lost?” one of them asked as they passed by. Identify Creature revealed that none of them had classes, further making any potential fight between them a non-issue. The guards by the entrance would be another matter since he couldn’t identify one of them.

  “Foreign Clerics,” another said with a shake of the head. “Why’d you think the Divine Quarter’s down here?”

  Daniel mentally added another class he’d been mistaken for and sighed, remembering he was still wearing the robes Hammer had given him. At least here his Earth experience could pull some weight. “Sorry, I thought this one was going up and once I was already on…” Daniel let the sentence trail off with an embarrassed smile. His upgraded charisma could be helpful when he let it, and the fact that he was two levels over these guys did mean there was no powerful wisdom to catch how he stiffened his hands to lessen his tell. That was something he was still working out.

  “Got on the wrong elevator,” another laughed. “Not all of them go all the way down but you’ve found the one that does. Where are you trying to go?”

  “Divine Quarter,” Daniel answered simply, giving them what they expected.

  The other man sucked through his teeth. “You’re a good ways away and I’ll assume you haven’t been cleared for the teleporters. Floor 50’ll get you to the main branchways but you’ll have to ask more there. Sorry, it’s going to take a while for you to get there.”

  “Hey, not to be impious or anything, but how much longer do you think that’s going to be there?” The one who’d complained about Clerics asked, pointing up to a giant UFO in the sky that was still visible through all of the buildings of the city. “Not like I’m a heretic or anything but it just appeared one day and then we start getting all of these travelers into the city. Everything’s crowded and more expensive, you get me?”

  “Yeah.” Daniel nodded, trying not to turn around as he felt a pat on his back. “It’s, uh, probably not more than another week?”

  “Better than a month,” she sighed. “Well boys, let’s get to work.”

  Daniel let the doors close and collapsed in relief. Since they were alone he just said, “Star, why didn’t we take the teleporters?”

  The god appeared as he took off a ring and made it disintegrate. “It’s more fun this way. Also, I wanted to see how you and normal people got along. Gotta say, Hammer’s right. You’re a special little Incarnate.”

  Daniel leaned against a wall and closed his eyes. “I don’t want to be one.”

  “Sometimes we gotta be things we don’t to be, man.” Daniel opened his eyes and stared the god in the face. “Yeah, even me. Think running a whole Realm is easy?”

  “I’m just surprised to hear you say that.” The next floor up passed by without the elevator stopping to the dismay of those waiting. “Uh, what?”

  “I might have messed with the enchantment a little. Don’t worry, I’ll fix it when we get off.” He chucked an irregular chunk of red and white crystal over to Daniel who caught it. Curious about what all this trouble had been for, Daniel used Analyze Material on it.

  “Interesting.”

  “I know, right? Keep it in your bag for now but be careful. It’ll get the dimensional attunement if you leave it in there too long. Just think about what you want and I can help you charge it.”

  “Is there going to be enough time?” Daniel asked morosely.

  “I-I’m sure there will be,” the god lied.

  …

  No further larceny was committed the rest of the day as Daniel and Star continued to explore the city. Having been deep in conversation before, Daniel only now noticed the miner had been right. The city was packed, people no doubt flocking to it due to the presence of the gods. While both food and entertainment had risen to insane prices, one restaurant advertising meals for viridian tripping his Bartering feature, Star paid for everything with normal money he’d brought along. The god must have been planning on doing this already and had taken Daniel when the opportunity came up.

  After two floating gardens, a couple snacks, and an actual play of the kind Daniel had missed seeing in Aughal, the day out ended at a restaurant whose highest price was in lapis. This one was open to the sky, and while altitude didn’t have as much impact on importance as it did in Aughal, the literal upper crust of the city was an exception. Daniel had taken Star’s suggestion of one of the soups and was only a little surprised when he got some mana from consuming it.

  “Is there a cook class?” he asked, feeling a little better since the elevator despite the impending doom.

  “Not right now, they just used the good stuff there.” The god sighed in appreciation of a honey-colored draft he’d ordered and looked out over the balcony they were sitting on. From above, Daniel couldn’t help but think of what an ant hive would look like without the dirt, floating areas of buildings bridged by the warrenworks of the branchways. It all looked far finer than that poor analogy, the overall white construction reflecting the colors of the crystals of the buildings above them. The casting of colors reminded him a little of Aughal.

  I wonder if they were trying to copy this, Daniel thought, taking another spoonful of soup as Quick Mind estimated that he’d regained a full percent of his mana pool from the meal alone. “Living here must be so much easier, all these ways to regain your mana.”

  “It can be, but the monsters are nasty. I took a look when my Proxy came through. Lot of settlements.” Star gestured out and Daniel could see a full town under a kilometer from where the road led out of the capitol. “Spokes like you change how monsters spawn but they can’t fully stop it. They’ve got to go somewhere and when they’re squeezed into small areas-“

  “You get stronger monsters,” Daniel concluded, thankful Star had put some kind of device on the table that prevented people from listening in. They weren’t the only ones with this kind of protection and didn’t stand out.

  “Exactly.” Star picked up his knife and changed it into a fork, then back and forth making it clear he was transmuting. “Any more thoughts on True Enchanting?”

  “Only that it’s something to do with mana,” Daniel replied with a frown. There were a few ideas in his head that he couldn’t fully pare down. One possibility was that all mana wasn’t equal and that his developing seventh sense hadn’t picked up on that yet. If the mana itself could be attuned like the crystal in his pouch, then could he be like a prism and single out specific kinds of mana to create new effects or even alter his current affixes?

  It was also possible there was something Star was doing with the mana flow inside of his Proxy’s body, manually moving it around to trigger the equivalent of powers like how he’d reached Bridge Space. Having been thinking on the topic for some time, Daniel also reasoned that was how the old man who’d met him in the desert had activated Moment of Clarity.

  If his encounter with the gods so far had taught him anything, besides how much he hated being controlled, it was that there was so much he didn’t know about magic here. Without that foundational knowledge, he still couldn’t grasp it. Daniel swirled the dregs of his soup, which were still excellent, as he ruminated. “Hey, this isn’t related, but what did Hand mean when she said Resurrection wasn’t in her domain?” That was something else he’d been doing a lot of thinking on.

  Star seemed to take a moment to consider, as if he were contemplating a list of banned topics that had been handed to him in a manila envelope, before shrugging. “You’ve already got an idea why, don’t you?”

  “It belongs to whoever that eighth god was.” Daniel pressed on despite this next conclusion having more assumption behind it. “When are they getting replaced?”

  Star shifted in his seat, looking briefly uncomfortable. He eventually answered, and there was a careful tone in his voice. “When we find the right guy for the job. Or the right woman, it doesn’t have to be the same.”

  “You’re not the original Star, are you?”

  The god looked out into the distance again, suddenly with an expression on his face that mimicked the loss of Hunter he still felt. “Only three of us have stayed alive that long. Used to be four, until recently. Not that we die of old age, but we can still kick it.”

  “Torch, Hammer, and the Hand are the originals?”

  “Hourglass, not Hand. Otherwise gold Star,” the god complimented, if a bit sorrowfully. “I’m the newest one, by the way. I hope I don’t get like they do but they’re already trying to reign in Scythe. I think she was kind of like I am now in the beginning but the power got to her head. Cloak… they didn’t have to do that for him, but that’s because he’s dedicated to what we’re doing. Like the… like the last god to die was.” An actual tear formed on the Proxy’s face. “He was the one I looked up to the most.”

  There was a minute of silence as Daniel absorbed the information, not knowing what to do with it now that his theory had been confirmed. It didn’t help at all with getting him free, especially since he now knew Hammer had seniority over Star despite them being equals. A last ditch effort of confessing everything to Star, including Earth, in hopes that would buy him enough pity for divine intervention wasn’t likely. Neither was he powerful enough to try and escape by himself. I wasted so much time in Aughal doing random bullshit, he thought. Could I have gotten to level 3 already if I’d pushed as hard as Gadriel does?

  Star was about to comment again when the setting sun moved back up into the sky at ten times its normal speed. Alarm shot through Daniel at first until the god reassured him. “Chill Artificer bro, it’s just Hourglass. We all did something like this when we showed up so the mortals knew we’d arrived.”

  “He’s just making it day again?” Daniel exclaimed, and he wasn’t the only one to show skeptical awe at the sight. Hourglass was not the most popular god of the Octyrrum and was the closest to a devil out of the cosmology, considering the Crest was more of a natural disaster and almost no one knew about the Origin Beasts.

  “We need to get back,” Star said, covertly tapping a heel to the floor and spreading lines of mana onto it, creating a temporary teleportation circle. Even restrained to level 1 power, the flexibility of Star’s domain control allowed him to manifest a great number of effects. As it began to charge, he gave Daniel a sober look. “I’m not going to lie. Your chances aren’t good but I’ll see if I can change their mind. You’ve got me and Hammer, and that could be enough for Hourglass. Cloak, though? Who knows, he could love or hate you.”

  There was a moment of transition, and Daniel was back in Star’s lab. After the wooziness faded, Daniel caught on to the finality in Star’s voice. “Don’t we still have to wait for Cloak?”

  “Man, he’s been here the whole time. I’d bet you all the crystal down there he showed up as soon as Hammer opened the way and has been skulking around ever since. He’s our man in the shadows, the inspector making sure the Octyrrum’s running fine. Heh,” Star chuckled, “He’s had a time of it recently with all the Spiritualists running around.”

  A sudden fear seized Daniel. “So it’s happening now?”

  “Yeah. Thought we had at least another day but Hourglass must have had a Proxy in the Realm.” The god made for the door but Daniel reached for his bag.

  “Wait! I know what I want to do with Hunter’s body. Do we have enough time for that?” Daniel could have asked for anything in that last moment even if Star couldn’t have provided it. He’d thought about a recording for those friends he still had, the thought making him somewhat guilty because of how much he’d focused on Hunter, and yet his fallen friend came first.

  “It kind of depends. What did you have in mind?”

  Daniel opened his mouth and pointed to his canines. “Replace one of my teeth with him.” Star gave him a very perturbed look and Daniel explained further. “I don’t want to lose him, and I’ll give up a tooth if it means it’s something that’s always with me instead of a marble that could get dropped or stolen. When I get a chance I can tear it out and it’ll just grow back.”

  “It’s not the worst idea,” Star offered generously. “Alright man, it’s your call. Once this is done we have to go. You ready?”

  Not having another option, Daniel nodded. He brought out Hunter’s body, Star poking him on his right canine afterward. There was a fluctuation in the mana flow there as the technically dead parts of his body still carried it, the mana going wild as Star used failing an enchantment to get rid of it. If he’d done this to Daniel’s entire body he had no doubt he would have died, but the effects were contained by Star. He did something else with Hunter’s body, the ringcat evaporating out of the armor and flowing into Daniel’s mouth. The fragments compressed into a tooth, and when it was done, he could barely feel the difference.

  “You good, Artificer bro? There’s a weird look in your eyes.”

  “I know what True Enchanting is,” Daniel said, caught between the thought that Hunter’s body was now merged with him, and the epiphany he’d had when Star had enchanted his tooth. He knew the god was limited to manipulation of his domain, and feeling what that meant on a personal level had given him the last piece of the puzzle.

  The lights in the room flickered rapidly.

  “Glad to hear it, but we’ve got to go. Last thing you need is to be late when the god of time shows up.”