Harsh Rebuke

The door’s runes flashed as they reached 100% and the stone began to swing inwards. Bright sunlight streamed into the chamber, the strong light slightly blinding John before his eyes adjusted to the natural illumination. Beyond the doors was a familiar sight: the spire and boulder filled clearing with a forest on the other side. If John was a betting man, he would have put money down on them emerging from the cliff face they had seen.

Before any of them could comment on it, a more supernatural white light filled the clearing, emanating from a spot about ten feet from the threshold of the mine. It faded, revealing Verida and Fortuna in its place. The invading goddess had a sour look on her face while Verida looked confused for a moment before her eyes found them inside the cave.

She opened her mouth to greet them, body pitching forward to rush towards them, when Fortuna took a deliberate step forward, her expression morphing into a cocky grin.

“Well, well, well. I’m impressed how well you all performed,” the goddess of fate smugly said as she approached. “Certainly wasn’t expecting…”

Whatever Fortuna was going to say was interrupted when a great pressure crashed down on her, silencing her and forcing her to freeze in place. Even from within the cave, John felt a heavy weight settle against his shoulders and he found it slightly harder to breath. A glance around showed everyone was feeling the same effect. Everyone except Kiera and Teri.

The shapeshifter and shaman looked on more in awe than minor distress and John had to wonder if their connection to Verida was the reason for their immunity. For it was clear that this display of power was from the dragon goddess, even before her clothing changed from the hiking attire to an elegant and regal yellow and black dress with embroidered vines and flowers in silver decorating the cloth.

“I believe you have said enough, goddess of fate,” Verida said, her voice no louder than her usual talking tone, but it seemed to resonate around them as if blared from concert speakers. “We are not obligated to listen to your honeyed words, especially given how you muscled your way in here and put those under my protection in danger. I do not care if Gaia gave you the opening to interact with John’s powers, or that things worked out in the end. You could have approached us with this opportunity. Instead, you imposed your will with no regard, no chance to prepare or opt out.”

Fortuna tried to argue but no words could come out of her mouth and her attempt to turn towards Verida was met with an increased weight of **** upon her, causing the pink haired goddess to buckle.

“You have done us a great disservice,” Verida continued. “And it is well within my rights to **** you out of this Kingdom. And so I will. Goodbye.”

And Fortuna just vanished, gone in the blink of an eye. The pressure of Verida’s power faded a second later and she offered them an apologetic smile. “Sorry I wasn’t able to do that earlier.”

“I think we can forgive you for that after that show,” Aeolia quickly responded with a grin as she flew out of the cave. “Not that often you get to see something like that.”

Verida’s smile grew slightly brighter. “It did feel good to give her a piece of my mind. She was far from a pleasant person to spend time with.”

“Wait, were you watching us?” Beth asked. “Like, everything we did was being shown in 4K HD?”

Verida nodded. “Fortuna was treating everything like some game being broadcast. And she got rather irritating when things weren’t going the way she liked. She was rather put out when you summoned an avatar of me, Teri and Kiera. I won’t deny I felt rather proud of how you all were making things less enjoyable for her.”

“Hopefully that will make her think twice about trying anything like this again,” Senka remarked.

“At the very least, she won’t be able to interfere with us here,” Verida said. “I’m not sure if the summoning further unlocked my abilities or Gaia is letting up on capping my powers to slowly incorporate me into the weave of the world, but I will take the win as it is. It feels good to be able to back up my desire to protect you.”

“Well, now that we’ve got the mine started, we can get moving on fully unleashing you,” John said. He stepped into the clearing and his view was blocked by a popup.

Quest Complete - New Mines of Pruzonia
Well, that’s one way to deal with a hostile DM. Anyway, I knew you lot were going to rise to the occasion. And such a display deserves the right reward. How about laying claim to some of the bounty deep underground?

Rewards: Remaining enemy loot and EXP, 100 lbs of Weaver Wood, 14 Attuned Geodes. Raw materials added to Kingdom Management System.

“Well, looks like we’ve got a fast way back,” John said before reading out the quest rewards.

“I’m not sure I like how Gaia deflected any blame for this whole mess,” Vivian muttered, crossing her arms.

“I don’t think pissing her off would be a good idea.” Estelle nervously chuckled before glancing over to Verida. “Unless you think you can go toe-to-toe with her?”

“The Highest Star remains well above me,” Verida replied. “Even within my domain, she surpasses me. Beyond that, she has an in with John’s powers. I doubt there is any power that could contest her in regards to that.”

“Hurray, I’ve got divine malware,” John dryly said. “At least it provides more than spam. And speaking of provisions, let’s see how this travel gate’s supposed to be built.”

Waygate
A ring of woven wood keyed to the Pruzonia World Tree and its lesser brethren grown by the goddess Verida. Allows for instant travel between two points.
Resources needed (per gate): Weaver Wood (50 lbs), Attuned Geodes (7), an open area less than 100 meters from the World Tree or a regional tree.
Time to completion: 1 hour

Do you wish to build (1) ‘Waygate’?
Yes/No

“At least it's a quick build,” John said. “But we do have one problem.”

“Indeed,” Vivian nodded. “We don’t have a gate back at the World Tree, which means we’ll need to travel back there and build one too before we can just walk back and forth freely.”

“I think I can make the trip back to the clearing in under an hour,” Verida said. “It will be a bit of a quicker flight than our trips out here though.”

“I think I’ll just have to deal with that,” John remarked. “It makes more sense to start the building of the one here, then jet back to the Clearing and start the one there. Even if there is a lock on starting another building project while one is in progress, that’s still only a two hour wait instead of having to wait for Verida to make a few round trips.”

“I guess chilling for a bit after all that isn’t a bad idea,” Beth said before she promptly dropped to the ground and laid on her back, staring up at the sky and treeline.

“You don’t have to get all relaxed that quickly,” Vivian scolded her though her fond sigh afterward showed how little heat her words carried. She turned her gaze to John. “I think that plan’s the best way forward. We really don’t need to all make the trek back if the portals work.”

“And if it doesn’t for some random reason, I can fly back and ferry everyone back,” Verida added.

“Sounds like we’ve got a plan,” John said. “Just wish there was something you could do out here besides twiddling your thumbs.”

“Well, I can think of a few ways they could pass the time,” Senka remarked in a sultry tone, leaving no misunderstanding to her suggestion. “Though I suppose you’d have to send Teri’s comrades away for a bit.”

“Don’t think that’s how we’re going to pass the time,” Vivian protested, though the flush to her cheeks made John second guess if she didn’t find the idea appealing. “I think if we do anything, we should gather some samples.”

“That’s probably a good idea,” Estelle said. “I’m sure there are good things just inside the mine we can take to further prove our case to the dwarves. Maybe some plant samples too for Jeri and Cleo to look over if we snag them. Still haven’t heard from Cleo, by the way. Might need to head to her and make sure she hasn’t been swallowed by something.”

“You’re a little too calm about that being a possibility,” Aeolia dryly remarked.

“Well, Cleo gets a bit into her work sometimes,” Estelle said, a faint blush touching her cheeks. “Not that I can say anything about that or throw stones about getting too into things and having them blow up in my face. But I know she’s not so hyperfocused to get into too much trouble. So she’s fine. Probably.”

“Ringing endorsement right there,” Beth commented from her spot on the ground. “Not that we really can throw stones either. We’re not exactly what people think of when the word ‘proper’ is thrown around.”

“I’d say that’s more a you thing, but yeah, we’re kind of all over the place in terms of looking like we’ve got things on lock,” Aeolia said, lightly poking Beth’s side with a talon.

“Well, I wouldn’t have it any other way.” John chuckled. “Anyway, I should get to building the gate and set off. No point in putting it off.”

John turned his attention back to the build menu and hit the ‘Yes’ button. Like the meeting hall before, an outline version of the gate appeared to his eyes, this one a round arch that likely would be a perfect circle if it was completely off the ground. One that had to be around ten meters in diameter.

“Any idea where we want to put this?” John asked.

“I think maybe a bit away from the entrance so it’s not completely in line with it?” Vivian suggested. “And maybe pointed perpendicular to the entrance? So we’d have to walk out and turn towards it?”

“I don’t think it being right in line with the gate is a bad idea,” Estelle countered. “If we put it some distance away, there should be enough space for traffic and getting things out of the way.”

Vivian hummed in consideration, her eyes moving around as she gauged distances. To help, John willed the light arch into the spots they were considering. After a few more minutes of debate, with a little input from everyone else, they elected to place it right in line with the gate around thirty meters from the cliff face. Close enough that walking to the mine wasn’t annoying, but with enough space between them that people wouldn’t be tripping over each other as they moved to and fro.

“Okay, locking it in,” John said, willing the hologram into its final spot. Unlike the central hall, the projection remained in place as a countdown appeared over it. “Well, at least you’ll know when it’s close to being done. Guess that means it’s time to fly.”

Verida nodded before she shifted into her dragon form. With little preamble, John climbed onto her back.

“See you lot in a bit,” Senka told the group before she vanished back into John’s aura.

“I didn’t get any ‘build in progress’ sort of notification, so I should be able to start the main gate as soon as we land, so we’ll get the network on line asap,” John said as he readied for the flight.

“Hold on tight,” Verida said into John’s mind. He grabbed on as best he could then Verida rocketed up into the air before flying back to the World Tree at great speed.

The flight back was a quiet affair. Not in the literal sense as the rushing winds rang in John’s ears loud enough that even mental conversation with Senka was difficult. Left with only his own thoughts and the raw feeling of wind whipping against him, John wondered about what was next. They had the mine basically given to them, with a little unwanted challenge attached, which hopefully meant they were well on their way to securing the employment of the dwarves.

Fortuna’s interference did give him some darker thoughts. He couldn’t help but feel worried about powers beyond them beginning to find out about them and make moves to undermine them. Or worse, simply take what they’ve been building by ****. The only thing keeping him from feeling a deeper fear was that the Order seemed to be a good deterrent to more nefarious groups, Phantom Reach’s covert actions notwithstanding.

‘At least Verida’s powers are unlocking,’ John thought, thinking back to how she cowed Fortuna. The offending goddess looked utterly shocked that she was being put in her place and John found that to be a nice bit of **** for what she put them through. But a nagging thought kept him from being able to fully enjoy that. ‘But she’s still trapped here. What if something way beyond what we can handle tries to come after us? Hell, what if Fortuna decides to fuck us over once we pop back home?’

The only thing keeping him from doom spiraling into thoughts of Fortuna cursing them, or worse, going after Brenda, was that Gaia was more on their side than against. Sure, she had allowed Fortuna to mess with them, but they hadn’t faced anything that they couldn't deal with, more or less. But he still wished there was more he could do to protect everyone from divine wrath than praying that Gaia would run interference.

The rushing wind began to weaken, and John chanced a glance forward. Sure enough, he spotted a break in the forest below them and the gleam of the World Tree’s crimson leaves basking in the sunlight.

‘Has it been an hour already?’ he wondered. While he didn’t want to risk taking out his phone to check, he could roughly gauge the time via his mana regeneration. A quick calculation put the time of their flight at about fifty minutes, give or take a few.

Verida slowed as they reached the clearing and dropped like a gentle leaf in the autumn, landing on the grass in front of the hall like she weighed nothing. John slid off her back, summoned Senka and pulled up the building menu, barely noticing as Verida shifted back into her humanoid form.

“Where to put you?” John muttered as the hologram appeared. “By the entrance and the meeting hall seem like a bad idea. Too busy.”

“I would advise against putting it too far from the things we have already built,” Verida gave her council.

“I concur,” Senka remarked as she did an exaggerated stretch.

“Okay, so maybe we make a triangle,” John muttered. “Put the gate on the opposite side of the World Tree, across from the entrance at the same angle it is from the Hall. Gives us some symmetry.”

Senka glanced around at the rough area John indicated then nodded. “That sounds like it could work. Verida?”

The goddess weighed the option. “I think that will work.”

Not wanting to waffle about any longer with the rest of the girls out in the wild, John moved the preview arch over to its intended location and finalized the order.

“And that’s that,” John muttered, pulling out his phone to check the time. “Looks like there isn’t some limit on building, or at least the limit’s two projects at once. One hour and we’ll all be back together.”

“Wonderful,” Verida said, before her expression darkened somewhat. “I hate to bring down the mood, but I couldn’t help but think about the situation we were in with Fortuna on the way here.”

“Great minds think alike then,” John remarked. “Guess getting sucker punched by that is going to make that be on our minds for a while.”

“I might have a means to ensure such a thing is less likely to happen,” Verida revealed, her face growing slightly red. “But, um, the process is, er, a bit involved. And, well, intimate.”

“Oh,” John dumbly said. Even Senka seemed a bit surprised by the goddess' admission, and had no witty or sultry retort on her tongue. “Um, if this thing is going the way I think you’re insinuating, I think it’d be best to just say it to everyone at once.”

“That was my intention,” Verida muttered, glancing away from John. “I suppose I could have Kiera relay it, but I don’t want to impose and **** her to.”

“Yeah, that’s probably for the best,” Senka interjected. “I do hope you’ve told her that we’ve got the second gate cooking.”

“Yes, I did,” Verida replied. “And she told me the gate there appeared without issue.”

“Then we’ll pick this back up in an hour,” John said. Even with his increase of social skills, he still wasn’t all that comfortable with talks of this nature. Especially with someone he wasn’t already sleeping with.

“Um, do you think Brenda would be available for this?” Verida asked. “I know she’s still mundane, but I don’t know if her knowing about all this makes her more at risk from the more magically inclined. I’d rather be overly cautious.”

“We can check,” Senka answered before John could, linking her arm with his. “We’ll get on that now and be back before the gate’s done. Might as well drop off the loot while we’re at home.”

Senka pulled John towards the pathway and he followed without protest. It seemed things were going to get interesting once more.