’Hell no-’
While in the crowd, Lucien wouldn’t deny that he had been moved by them—by what they said, the way they hailed him. He could have sworn he felt goosebumps ripple across his skin.
But now that he wasn’t there, now that he was inside the Evelaine Temple, he had regained his sanity.
What was that feeling again—responsibility? Let him first take care of his own ass before he could take care of others.
Lucien wasn’t being negligent without reason. His priority was gaming. As intriguing as leading people sounded, he had never thought he was cut out for such a thing.
Lucien sighed and focused on the room. He was sitting in a chamber within Evelaine Temple.
The ruined temple had sprung back to life. Towering columns rose throughout the exterior, and the interior was even more magnificent—white stone almost comparable to the color of the Palebranch trees ford its construction. But these were stones, albeit a different kind entirely.
They were seated on the ground around a small fountain that burned with a flickering white fla.
In the circle sat Gayanna, cross-legged, with Valdris at the head of the formation.
After eting the crowd, he had led Lucien here to et and understand the Moonshade Pact.
Each of their faces was unique—so beautiful, so strange and unsettling, so radiating kindness while others looked like trouble incarnate walking on two legs.
If there was one thing Lucien noticed about them, it was that unlike Gayanna and her father, none possessed the silver hair color.
Which most likely ant they were of different origins? Lucien didn’t know, but at the very least he could tell with the long ears that all ten people he sat among were elves.
Elder Moon shattered the silence with his gentle voice.
"As we all know, this is the young man who unsealed the pact and breathed life back into us."
He looked directly at Lucien.
"And this is the Moonshade Pact. To answer your unasked question. None of us are related by blood."
Lucien paused for a bit.
’Oh...’
Then he frowned subtly and raised a brow, stole a glance at Gayanna, whose eyes remained closed. Then looked back to Valdris.
"...None?"
Valdris nodded firmly.
"None at all."
His gaze lingered on Lucien for a mont.
"The Moonshade Pact is the union of the first elves ever created in the Cradle World."
He paused barely a breath, studying Lucien.
"You might not know this, but the Cradle World was never ant to exist. It was what happened when the old gods and the new gods clashed.
"The universe once existed solely for the gods. There were the first gods, who forged the foundational laws, concepts, and existential rules. Then ca another generation we called the pri gods, now known as the old gods. The pri gods built upon what the first gods had established. The problem, however, arose with the young gods—the deities manifesting after the concepts, laws, and existential rules had been anchored."
He allowed himself a breath.
"They began dismantling everything the pri gods and first gods had constructed. And they craved growth. For a god, growth was a perilous thing. It was why the first gods and pri gods embedded the rules so that such evolution was impossible for deities.
"A god should never be able to evolve."
Lucien’s brows furrowed slightly.
The statent was sohow correct. If gods could evolve endlessly, they would most likely beco their own undoing. That part made sense, but before they reached that conclusion, he was curious about sothing else.
He had read about gods nurous tis, especially the historical materials that spoke of the kinds of deities that existed millennia before now.
So when the subject of gods was ntioned, Lucien’s curiosity sparked on many fronts. First, he wanted to know what culture of gods the deities of Evo were modeled after, because first gods and pri gods weren’t terms he’d encountered much.
He asked:
"Not to sidetrack you, but aren’t gods immortal? Besides these first gods, how did they co to be? And what existed before they did?"
Elder Moon nodded, smiling solemnly.
"Your question is indeed profound. The gods erged from the Origin—however, that is the furthest near-immortals like us can comprehend. But are gods truly immortal? Well, we are immortals, yet we have been dead for ten thousand years. For the realm beyond mortality, death becos sothing vastly different from what it ans to mortals. The forces beyond are incomprehensible to a terrifying degree. Even creatures like us can only speculate from what we’ve heard, seen, and experienced."
He paused for a mont, then continued.
"As for what existed before the first gods... I have never pondered such a question before."
Lucien raised his hand again.
"If death differs from what it ans to us—to mortals—then when the first gods departed and handed power to the pri gods, could that be considered death? Where exactly did they go?"
Valdris touched his chin, thinking deeply for a mont. Then he lifted his head.
"Lord Cien, your questions are profound. You are definitely no ordinary man."
Lucien winced slightly.
’Isn’t this common sense?’
Were the NPCs designed to be this naive? He didn’t think so. The way Valdris answered his questions felt too genuine for Lucien to believe he was built and programd to respond that way.
Lucien sighed and folded his arms.
"So the cause of the war between gods was evolution?"
Valdris nodded thoughtfully.
"The war tore the world designed for gods into four separate realms. Where their blood spilled, life flourished. The first god whose blood was shed was the Moon goddess, Evelaine, and we were the first life to spring from her blood. All ten of us."
Lucien studied all of them carefully before speaking.
"And I’m guessing she was an old god. The Moonshade Pact exists to exact vengeance on the god that killed her."
Valdris looked at Lucien and chuckled softly.
"Exact vengeance on a god? Such a feat is impossible. What we aim to do is reverse what the new gods have wrought. Because of them, a new world—an unstable world—was born. Beings now have no logic, no rules, no boundaries for growth. The very essence and aning of what growth should represent has been stripped from the world. Demons can beco angels, angels can beco sothing macabre that should not exist. The world is crumbling, but no one sees it aside from us.
"So we sought to restore balance. We were this close to bringing back Evelaine before God Zilla found us."
Lucien looked at them all and nodded slowly.
"I see... that explains why you were all sealed away from the world..."
He studied them all, a hostile glint flickering in his eyes.
"You were trying to destroy it..."
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