Chapter Text
Lakrak was sure he fell asleep, so why was he standing up with his eyes closed? He felt no other concern in this state of being so he slowly opened his eyes, darting them around to find himself on what seemed to be a giant land formation. He looked around his surroundings and saw that the ground he stood on had a giant map of the world from above.
Sure enough, standing on the same surface as him but a distance away was a knoll, also staring around in disbelief at the giant surroundings that were not possible in the real world. He recognized them as Salkait, a priest of the Angry God, who thankfully seemed also astonished to be here as well. Lakrak may have been shocked, but soon realized a being was materializing near him and another was appearing by the knoll. They finally appeared and he was stunned to find that two humans had also come into this strange place.
Soon two giant bodies came into being some distance from the apparent table he was on. One he recognized by the buffalo skull - his own god, the Nameless Blue Insect God. The other was an unknown being, wrapped in some metal armor and seemed to be on fire. Though he saw from the distance that Salkait seemed to know them.
Thankfully, he didn’t have to deal with their own shock before the giant gods talked. It was strange, to see the being that he and his tribe worshiped to look upon them and remember them so clearly - and to interact with another god at that. It was also interesting that it appeared the gods did not notice them, given that the two humans had shrieked in surprise at their surroundings and the giant forms of the gods.
The Angry One seemed to be in a good mood, seemingly smiling at his god.
“It's been a while, Nebula.” said the red flaming armor of a god.
Nebula? Was that the Nameless Blue Insect God’s name amongst the gods?
His god -Nebula- had a relaxed stance, one hand on their hip, “When did we become friends?”
“Don’t you remember us playing the last game of the Lost World together?!”
The god was certainly living up to the name of Angry One, if this was how they acted. Although he was now curious as to the shared past of the gods, and the mention of games.
“Other than a trivial story, why did you request to chat?”
“Trivial? Was that game trivial to you!?”
Lakrak could faintly hear the swearing of Salkait in the distance, apparently not amused that Nebula was not treating their history with the same weight that the Angry One did.
“I was worried about the Holy Orc Strategy following the meta. Getting hit by the counter is boring right?”
That seemed to hit the Angry One right where it hurt, as they jolted straight before hunching forward.
“Hmm” the god seemed to be holding their head in pain, before jumping up and pointing. “This time, I’ll be the winner! I will definitely put an end to you!”
They had certainly bounced back quickly. Salkait was even riled up in the distance, holding the unknown human by the arm and seemingly punching their fist in the air as if she could destroy my god in whatever the gods' games were. Lakrak smirked slightly, as if he would let his god down.
“Always saying stupid things. Why would we fight now? For whose advantages? And I guess you forgot. There won't be a next time. This will be the last round.”
His god was calm, but there was something dangerous in what was being said. This was a game to the gods. They had previous games and Nebula won. There were most likely other tribes of mortals his god had claimed, yet here they were now. The one thing that stood out the most out of all the information given was that there would not be a next time. The final round rang in his head, the consequences of what that even meant.
So wrapped up in his thoughts, Lakrak didn’t notice the human near him come closer, their eyes staring at the gods in disbelief as they were not sure why they were hearing this.
“I know. I just got carried away. So you want to decide who is the winner with a different method right?” The Angry One calmed down, looking away in an attempt to move past the moment.
“Yeah”
“So you want to decide who’s the winner with a different method, right?”
“Yeah”
“It seems clear that we both want the same thing”
Nebula held out a hand, “It’s decided.”
“Putting Automation and humans at stake, let's go for a contradictory prophecy.” They both speak at the same time. The surroundings around us changed to show the gods hovering overhead of a location that seemed to be Automation.
“One side receives a reward and the other side receives a penalty… that would be perfect” The on fire armor of a god stated. “So what kind of prophecy should we go with?”
Lakrak was starting to get worried. A penalty? How could he and his people help the god that assisted them to a better life to win and not suffer a penalty?
“You must know that the Lord of Automation is deciding on his successor, right?”
“Of course!” the Angry One literally lit up brighter in glee. “Automation chooses its owner on a regular basis. And only the Lord of Automation knows how long they will stay in power.”
“That’s right. Then…” His god pauses for a moment. “‘Who will be the next Lord of Automation’. Let’s set this as the contradictory prophecy.”
“Do you mean out of the five children of the current Lord of Automation?”
At this, the human at his side and the one over by Salkait began to panic. He wondered why as the gods continued to discuss their ways of setting the rules.
“Well. If we pick different ones and predict they will be the next Lord of the Castle Automation, then our prophecies will certainly contradict each other.”
This was an interesting way of settling a bet, that both prophecies could be true but only through their believers could the god win. So they would have to support whoever their god picked.
“I have the list in here, would you like me to tell you all about them?”
“Yes, this would be great”
“The first child, his name is Dan. A man in his early thirties. He has a strong physique and is trusted by Hwee Seo - the current Lord of Automation and father. He is the strongest candidate receiving support from two of the four families under the castle lord.”
The god displayed the image of the man in question as if he was captured in time. As the god continued, Lakrak realized he recognized the next heir.
“The second child, Jun. A man in his late twenties. He’s Dan’s half brother and considered weak. He really doesn’t show himself to others. There are rumors that he isn’t that interested in becoming successor. He has support from his mother’s side.”
It was. The man in the image was at the side of Salkait. It seemed that he had gone pale, given that he was the talk of gods giving thought to who the next Lord would be and the fact Salkait was giving what seemed to be an interrogation it wasn’t shocking. Though it did bring the question of why these two humans were here with the two priests of the gods, given the topic they were talking about it wasn’t hard to guess why.
“The third child, Jin. A woman in her late twenties. She has the same mother as the first child.
“The fourth child, Kyung. A woman in her early twenties. She has a different mother from the first and second children. I think her mother already passed away, there’s something weird about her appearance too. It seems like she was cursed. Because of that not only the lord but her family members neglect her.
Said fourth child was next to Lakrak. He turned to her as she put her hands over her mouth and shook. It wasn’t a shock given the previous children were named by the god, but it was interesting that she was near him. He wondered at the fact that the two priests and two humans the gods were talking about were witnessing this without the gods seemingly knowing despite their watchful eyes.
Lastly the fifth child was shown and the gods stared at each other.
“What do you think, should we decide it now? Or do you need time to process the idea?”
“Okay, let’s decide right away.” His god stated.
Lakrak leaned close, even though they were far away. This was it, this was going to decide who he would support to serve his god. Though he had a hunch on who his god would choose given the humans that were watching with the priests. But it was interesting watching the process behind his god’s decisions.
“I, Hegemonia, state my prophecy that Hwee Seo’s second child Hwee Jun will become the next Lord of Automation.”
“I, Nebula, state my prophecy that Hwee Seo’s fourth child Hwee Kyung will become the next Lord of Automation.”
Lakrak saw and heard distant yells as Salkait and Hwee Jun finally realized what was happening with the gods' prophecy. Hwee Kyung at his side seemed shocked, and he wasn’t surprised. It is always a shock when a god picks you as the one they will place their duty on. It was a good thing he was getting a heads up on who to guard. Why his god chose Hwee Kyung was irrelevant.
As well, he heard Salkait scream their gods name. It seemed the gods had their own names among other gods, it was interesting to note. However, it was unlikely for them to even say the gods chosen name due to having no reason to know it and that they would have no explanation for how and why they would name the gods as those names. But still. To hear and know the gods true name felt undeserved. He didn’t feel like he had earned it.
All this introspective made him startle as ‘Hegemonia’, Angry One, after lifting their fist slammed it down onto seemingly open air shouting, “Let’s get it started!”
The surrounding area started blurring together. It seemed that he was waking up, along with the others. He stared at Hwee Kyung. He wished he could have talked to her more to learn about where she was to guard her. It would also have given him time to strategize on how to have his god win and avoid penalties. But it was fine, he knew who she was and what she looked like.
As Lakrak awoke, he realized he remembered what he saw in his dream. The gods, his god. The priest and the Hwee’s. The fact that his god had a true name.
First things first, get a guard for Hwee Kyung. Sairan seemed like a good fit.