The flight to Bovia did not take long, and my relief to be firmly on the ground was palpable, as I quickly exited the carriage.

Looking around, I saw we had landed in a field outside the township, and a small crowd was already gathering to stare in awe at the massive bird.

Hood concealing my face, and tails hidden by the cloak, I walked towards the town flanked on either side by two of the four armored Tengu.

Bovia was not a large town, with only a smattering of wooden houses and a single street lined with stores. Though, with the temples now spread across the distant mountain range it was expected that would soon change.

Even now, it appeared to be bustling with people, with tents scattered around the outskirts of the town.

“The bank is at the end of this street, your eminence.” One of the tengu said, gesturing towards a two-story building at the far end of the busy street.

I nodded, keeping my expression from showing my distaste for his choice of words. I would need to ensure no one from my team heard anyone calling me that, or I would never live it down.

Together, we walked swiftly down the bustling street, where people appeared to be in the process of setting up a handful of market stalls.

When faced with the armored Tengu, most of the pedestrians were quick to move out of the way in recognition of the light temple paladin’s.

“Glory to the light! Please, I beg your blessing.”

My steps faltered as a woman in front of us, flinging herself onto the road at our feet.

I hesitated, turning my head towards the paladins who gazed down at the woman, their expressions stoic as she continued to plead for blessings.

“I am a disciple serving the high priestess of Trismegistus,” I lied, not wishing to reveal who I was publicly. “There is no blessing of light that can be gained from me.”

I did not wait for the woman to say anything more as I stepped around her, and continued down the street.

My path did not remain clear for long, as soon another person tried to push their way toward me, pleas for blessings falling from their lips.

Finally reaching the door to the bank, I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the building's lobby was nearly empty.

A single counter sat at the far side of the room, with only two people standing in line to speak with the banker.

As we approached the back of the line, a door along the far wall burst open, and a harried looking man rushed out of it.

“Glory to Vēdiovis, the blessed light that shines upon us all.” The man cried out, bowing deeply as he reached us. “How can we assist you this day, blessed ones of the light.”

“I would like to use a call room,” I said, not bothering to correct the man as I pulled down the hood of my cloak, and handed him my life token.

“Certainly, certainly.” He said, eyes widening as he looked at the token’s information. “Oh, ah, my apologies high priestess, but I do not know the greeting used by the temple of Philosophia Naturalis.”

“If it is a non disciple performing the greeting, it would be “I greet thee, disciple of Philosophia Naturalis”. If the one you are greeting is of the clergy, or a scholar, you may change “disciple” to their position.” I explained, grateful such things were included in the former high priestesses' journals.

“I greet thee, high priestess of Philosophia Naturalis.” The man said, a beaming smile on his lips as he lowered into a second bow.

“Blessed be you on this day,” I replied.

The blessing was nothing special, and for this man, it would only be noticeable as an increased effectiveness with any potions or tinctures he used.

If he were a disciple, the effects would be more noticeable, giving him an increased efficiency within Trismegistus’s domains for a few hours.

“I shall escort you to a call room,” he said, gesturing for the door he entered the room from.

“Thank you, mister?” I let my words trail off, glancing at the man questioningly as I followed him to the door, with the two paladins remaining behind in the bank’s lobby.

“Mr. Frugal, manager of the Bovia branch of the Hand of Midas bank. It is an honor that you have graced us with your patronage this day.”

It took every ounce of my control to keep the amusement off my face. His name was a clear indication the man was an artificial being, though I suspected that would be true for all bank workers. I doubted players, or digital citizens, would be trusted to work in such positions.

Mr. Frugal led the way into a comfortably furnished room, where he indicated towards a desk at the far side of the room before leaving me alone.

Following the bankers instructions, I took a seat behind the desk, and placed my life token on a golden plate which lit up with a faint glow.

A transparent screen appeared before me, showing a familiar communications interface.

Swiping through the interface, I found the contacts menu, and saw it was loaded with a single contact.

Mr. S. Davis office, and Mr. S. Davis personal.

Clicking the office number, I watched as the screen changed to show a black box, and the soft buzzing of an outgoing call rang through the room.

Several moments passed before the screen showed the call failed, and after trying once more I clicked on the personal number, only to get the same result.

Lips pressed into a frown, I gazed at the interface screen. Had Gaia blocked me from external communication?

Swiping through the options to the manual input screen, I typed in a number, and waited to see if it would connect.

“Welcome to Greene Pharmaceutical. Our offices are currently closed, our regular business hours are from nine am to five PM, Monday through Friday. If you would like to leave a voicemail, please include your name and number, and we'll respond to you as soon as possible. Thank you and have a great day!” A soft robot voice said as the call connected.

“Input code Delta Nine Nine Six, Kadia Greene. Connect me to Dr. Carlson,” I directed, wondering if my connection code for the company would still be valid or if they’d removed me from the system.

“Connecting to Chairman Carlson, please hold.”

I leaned back in the chair, gazing at the Greene Pharmaceutical logo which floated in front of me.

My eyes burned with unshed tears as I gazed at the logo, and I found myself unable to continue staring at the screen. That logo once represented my future, and now it only served as a symbol of my father’s betrayals.

Sooner than I expected, the logo disappeared, replaced by a gray haired man wearing a crinkled white coat.

Dr. Carlson looked older than I remembered, the man looked as though he hadn’t gotten a good night's sleep in weeks.

“Hello Dr. Carlson, or should I call you Chairman Carlson now?” I said, lips curling up into an attempt at a polite smile.

“Doctor is fine,” he heaved a sigh, running a hand through his hair. “I didn’t expect to hear from you. I mean, your brother said you didn’t want anything to do with the company anymore, and that you were going to assign a proxy.”

I inclined my head. “Davis should have been drawing up the paperwork for me to digitally sign, and name you proxy. I don’t care what’s done with the company, the only reason I am not selling my shares is because of the patents. The only thing I ask is that you fix the corruption left by my father, and run things as my mother would have wanted. You worked with her for many years, and I know from my time interning for you that you share many of her views.”

“He did contact me about the paperwork, but we didn’t have time to go over it before he was taken into custody.” Carlson said, his words hitting me like a shock wave.

“Davis in custody? What do you mean?” I demanded, sitting straighter in my chair.

“You didn’t know? No one has questioned you about what happened?” He asked, his brows creasing.

“Would I have asked you if I knew?” I snapped, my ears pressing back against my head as I fought the urge to growl at him.

“You really have changed,” Dr. Carlson murmured, staring at me through the screen.

“So I’ve noticed,” heaving a sigh, I slumped back into the chair, the anger leaving me as quickly as it had come. “I was told there was some neurological damage, but not how bad it was.”

“There was damage to your prefrontal cortex.” He said, reaching up to tap his forehead.

“That would explain the lack of emotional control, and my apparent inability to remain focused on a single task.” I sighed again, pushing the matter aside for now. “Tell me about Davis, why he is in custody, and by who.”

“He was taken in for questioning by the Department of Digital life, regarding the incident with your transfer to a long term capsule.” Dr. Carlson explained.

“What incident,” I asked through gritted teeth.

“The issue did not become apparent until you were connected to the facilities network.” Dr. Carlson sighed, his expression weary. “Davis arranged for your capsule to be sent with about ten thousand others being shipped to the Oceania facility. After your capsule was transferred onto the transport vessel, someone hacked into the Everlife network, and muddled up all their identification data. I believe this was done to conceal which capsule was yours.”

“I doubt Davis would have been involved in that,” I drawled, keeping my expression blank.

If Davis was under investigation, and it was suspected to have something to do with me, they would likely be monitoring my communications.

“There’s more. The Everlife capsules that are connected to Gaia corps worlds have a function which chains them together, creating a backup server for the worlds to be hosted on. This server was used to send out the virus.”

“What do you mean by a virus?” I stared at Carlson through the screen, trying to make sense of what he was saying.

It shouldn’t be possible. The servers of virtual worlds were meant to be nearly impossible to penetrate. After all, no one would be willing to connect themselves to a world that was vulnerable to outside interference.

“There isn’t a lot of information, no one is saying anything about what happened. I’ve spoken to a few people I know, and to be honest, it’s sounding like an internal attack on the servers. They’ve gone fully onto the backup server connected to the capsules, and haven’t been able to bring their main system back online.”

“Weren’t the main servers going to be shut down anyway? I thought the whole point of the capsule servers was to eventually have the world entirely hosted on them.” I said, furrowing my brow.

“I am not sure,” Dr. Carlson said, his own brows creasing. “I can’t see why they would do such a thing. The capsule-based server was only meant to act as a backup to prevent disconnections if the main server ever went down. If the capsules are the only active server, that wouldn’t make much sense.”

No, it wouldn't. Tapping my fingers on the desk, I mulled over the situation in my head. Something really didn’t add up.

Tris told me the main servers would be shut down, but as Carlson said, it didn’t make sense that Gaia would do such a thing.

A low buzzing sounded from Dr. Carlson’s end of the call, and the man looked away from the screen. “Kadia, I’m sorry, but I need to go. I’m in the midst of an experiment, and-”

“I understand,” I sighed. “It was nice talking to you Dr. Carlson, I’ll have Davis finish up the paperwork to name you proxy when he is released.”

I had no doubts that Davis would be released. The lawyer was far too intelligent to leave anything that would connect what occurred back to him, and he would contact me when he was released.

“Are you sure you want to name me proxy, Kadia?” He asked, his eyes locked on something off screen as he typed something into his input device.

“I am,” I swallowed heavily, pushing down the aching feeling clawing through me. “I don’t want anything to do with Greene Pharmaceutical. In fact, if possible please rename it. It would probably be better for the company if you rebranded, and created some distance from my family.”

He nodded. “Yes, the public relations director suggested the same thing. I was planning to bring it up at the next board meeting.”

“Well, you’ve got my vote. If you need me, a message can be left at this number and I will get it in letter format. Then I can either send a letter back, which you will get in a digital message or call you when I next visit a town. Though, I would prefer communication to be limited to important matters only.”

Dr. Carlson sighed, a strained smile on his lips. “For what it’s worth, you look happier than I’ve ever seen you. Even with the poor topic of conversation.”

I stared at him. “Yeah,” I whispered after a brief moment of silence. “I think I am.”

Back in the carriage, I allowed myself to mull over my conversation with Dr. Carlson.

It felt as though I were looking at a puzzle that was missing most of the pieces. Things weren’t adding up with what he told me about the capsules, and I suspected someone, or something else had played a part in what happened.

With a frustrated sigh, I pulled back the curtained window of the carriage.

The vibrant landscape was unlike that of earth.

In Kaledon there was no fog of pollution fouling up the air, the land was vibrant and filled with life.

“If only it wasn't a false life.” I murmured, letting the curtain fall back into place over the window.

Earth was a dying planet. Every year more people joined the colony ships in hopes of seeking out a new life on Gaia nine, or the various orbital habitations. I had considered joining one myself, but set those ideas aside in favor of following in my mothers footsteps, and perhaps one day taking over the company from my father.

Something which had only brought me misery.

The carriage rocked, and I braced my feet against the bench seat opposite me as we descended sharply.

Flying in a carriage carried by a giant bird was not at all like traveling in an aircraft.

The wind buffeted the sides of the carriage, which filled the cabin with a continuous loud sound as it shuddered and shook.

A sharp avian cry pierced the air, and with a bone jarring thud the carriage came to a stop as it was deposited on the ground.

My stomach churned, and I staggered to my feet intent on getting out of this flying box of death.

I am not doing this again. I’ll find my own way home, or insist someone carry me as Icarus did when I left Airus. On shaky legs, I clambered out of the carriage to see Icarus standing with a crowd of people gathered around him.

The winged priest wore a bright smile, as he spread his arms and wings wide.

“Greetings High Priestess Kadia! We welcome you to the temple of Light, may the glory of Vēdiovis shine upon you!” Icarus’s words of greeting were echoed by dozens of voices, and the air seemed to hum with power.

Inclining my head, I smiled at the priest. “Greetings High Priest Icarus, it is an honor to be here.”

We stood in a large courtyard, with massive pillars of white marble.

The temple of light rose up behind the gathered people, all of whom were dressed in white togas.

Gazing at the group, and the architecture of the temple, I was reminded of the ancient Flavian Amphitheater which once stood in Italy, a country that had long ago been swallowed by rising oceans.

The similarities continued as Icarus led me into the temple.

At the very center of the building, surrounded on all sides was a large courtyard with a towering statue of Vēdiovis.

Clergy of various races mingled in the courtyard, all bowing as we walked passed.

Within the courtyard, one would not be able to tell it was winter. The sun shone brightly, and there was not even a single snowflake to be seen.

Sweat beaded on my skin, as my heavy fur cloak became unbearably hot with the shifting of temperature.

Seeing Icarus was distracted with a pair of priests, I took the opportunity to remove my cloak.

As I slung the cloak from around my shoulders, I directed Faux to move out the cloak, and onto my leather bracer I wore beneath my robes.

Even with the cloak off, the thick material of my robes felt uncomfortable in the heat of the temple. I felt as though I were back in the blazing heat of the desert.

“High Priest! The dark one has arrived!” I looked up as a breathless looking woman came running towards us, interrupting Icarus’s conversation with his priests.

“Ah, excellent.” Icarus said, looking over at me with a smile. “High Priest Haiden was meant to arrive before you, but he was running a little late. Now he is here, why don’t we head inside?”

I inclined my head, following as Icarus led the way across the courtyard. “I will admit, I am looking forward to meeting Anubin’s priest.”

Icarus chuckled. “Try not to be disappointed. He isn’t what one would think a high priest of corruption, ambition, and dark magic should be.”

“I could say the same for us all,” I murmured. “One would expect those in our position to be artificial beings, yet here we are.”

“Indeed, at times I regret the choices I have made which led me here. Yet, I would not change it if given the chance to go back. On Earth, I could never have achieved that which I have in Kaledon.” Icarus sighed.

My heart ached at his words, but I could not refute them.

Icarus led the way into a room that was reminiscent of my own office.

Large arched windows filled the room with bright sunlight, and overlooked the courtyard with its statue of the temple's patron.

A desk sat in the center of the room, with floor to ceiling bookshelves behind it, and off to the side was a comfortable sitting area with plush chairs.

A pale skinned man with messy dark hair sat in one of the chairs, his legs slung over the armrest as he flicked lazily through a book. He wore a tattered gray cloak, with the clothing beneath it looking to be in even worse condition.

“Ah, Haiden, glad you made it.” Icarus greeted. “This is Kadia, High Priestess of Trismegistus.”

The dark priest grunted, not looking up from his book as we took seats, and Icarus gave a short introduction.

Heaving a sigh, Icarus smoothed his hands over his toga. “We are gathered here today to-”

“This isn’t a fucking wedding,” Haiden grumbled, cutting of the light priest as he slammed his book shut. “Get to the point.”

“Haiden,” Icarus grimaced, shaking his head. “As the high priests, and priestess of the three faction leaders in the divine pantheon, we play a very important role within this world. It is our duty to aid the gods in ensuring Kaledon’s success, and to assist in pushing forward the world's development. We three are the handles that turn the cogs of this world.”

This fucker is going to give me more work! I silently raged, as I listened to Icarus talk.

“Stop faffing around.” Haiden cut in with a huff. “We get it. The peons are too stupid to pick up on the whole, “break the heros symbols in each city to drop the barrier thing”, so the gods want us to spoon feed them. Let's just set off a war, or something.”

This is the first I’m hearing about this, but I guess it makes sense. Damn it Tris! How come they seem to know what’s going on, while I’m left in the dark!

“It’s a little more complex than that, we cannot just start a war.” Icarus said, his brows creasing.

“It’s easier than you think,” Haiden said, waving a hand at me. “She already set the wheels turning for Airus, all we need to do is prod things along a little. We can send out “quests” to both free the city from the corrupt chancellors, or in my case further corrupt it by sending in people to perform dark rituals. We’ll tell people the statue is a power source fueling the dark magic, and with luck, they’ll destroy it. After that the barrier should show signs of weakening which will prompt people to destroy the others.”

“After Airus, you could do Valonia next. The light gods forsook that city, but you could say they wish to reclaim it from the dark.” I suggested.

The two nodded, looking thoughtful.

“The hardest will be Rivera, and Caruan,” Haiden said, rubbing his chin.

“Rivera is heavily controlled by the magical academies,” Icarus mused. “Actually, this might work, but I’ve got a slightly different idea. We don’t need to set off a war, we can divide and conquer.”

“What are you suggesting?” I asked, wondering how I had gotten to a point in my life that I was discussing ways to start wars, and destroy cities.

“Haiden deals with Airus, building on the corruption already within the city. I will take Valonia under the guise of reclaiming a place for the gods of light, and Kadia will overthrow the academies in Rivera who in a way could be seen as opposing her patron due to their control over who can learn certain magics.”

“That only leaves Caruan,” Haiden said.

“Once the first three power sources are dealt with, it should be obvious the barrier is weakening, and hopefully Caruan will take care of itself.” Icarus replied. “If not, we’ll think of something when the time comes. For now, we’ll focus on dealing with our assigned city, and tackle Caruan together if need be.”

Excuse you? I don’t recall agreeing to this. I frowned, trying to think of something, anything to say that would extract me from this situation.

“Sounds good to me,” Haiden grinned, slouching back into the chair. “What kind of timeline are we looking at? I’m thinking it’ll take me a few weeks at a minimum to get a foothold in Airus.”

“The goal is to open Kaledon up to more people at the end of this year. According to my cousin who is a player, it was recently announced that Avalon is about to get a big content update. There are rumors going around that they’re planning to merge Avalon into Kaledon, allowing people there to buy a transfer pass for a discount.”

“Yeah, I heard they’re shutting down some of their older worlds to focus on an expanded universe, unlike anything seen before.” Haiden said, his voice taking on a dramatic tone as he spoke the last part.

I hadn’t heard any of this, but then again it wasn’t really the kind of thing I paid attention to.

As the pair continued speaking, laying out plans for how they would deal with the cities, I found myself trying to make sense of what was happening.

Trismegistus hadn’t told me anything about the barrier, or that I was somehow expected to play a part in its fall. The other two appeared to have been informed, yet here I was in the dark once more.

“If you’re paying attention, I would really like a heads up if these two are crazies trying to bring down cities for their own amusement or if I’m really meant to do something.” I called out mentally to the god.

“Do as you please, we are neutral and not required to interfere. You may refuse their request for aid.” The god responded.

I frowned, glancing at the two high priests. They didn’t exactly ask for aid, it was more of an assumption I would be on board with the whole bringing down the barrier thing.

Admittedly, their goals did align with my own in a way. I wanted to see what was beyond the barrier, and technically all they wanted me to do was destroy the symbol of Rivera’s hero.

Plus, I didn’t need to bother with the whole bringing down the academy's thing, a few “not for Tink sticks” and bam, job done.

If they wanted to play around masterminding some convoluted plot for their cities, that was up to them, but I didn’t have the time for such things.