I flew around and farther away from the column of smoke, and after flying half a circle around it, stopped to hover near Farini's shoulder. Not only this made us look like a united front to all the onlookers, the new position was also far enough away that I could see the smoke figure fully, not just separate pieces.
It was a few hundreds ters tall projection of Dalmanrach, which was weird to see—the last ti we t face to face, it was in the realm where everybody was the sa size.
Now he towered over humans and over , and his "body" was dark and half-transparent. The bird's head was still very recognizable, and on it, two eyes shone with unnatural white light.
No wonder people were awed. I felt awed myself, although I knew that this was just a parlor trick compared to what gods could actually do.
Then, I heard noises from outside—gasps and shouts. They cald down quickly, though—and I got a report from the Agents positioned there.
'Father, people looking at the temple's roof in shock. They are stunned speechless! The smoke from the altar turned into a giant figure on the roof. The figure of a human with a beast's head! Uh… The beast looks like the paintings of the dodos. Very large snout. Beak.'
So the smoke projection was for people outside, too? This was even more impressive!
"Mr. Dalmanrach…" I paused and looked around just in case humans began understating the bee language… no, they clearly hadn't. "Mr. Dalmanrach, I'm glad to see that you've returned to The Ga of Evolution. Does this an the dodos are sowhere, too?"
At this mont, Farini spoke, too. Although my grasp on human language was extrely rudintary, I understood the gist of his speech from the echoes in his thoughts.
Farini was asking politely what Dalmanrach ca to share with morals, and if it was, by chance, the secret of curing the Flaying Flu.
Dalmanrach raised his beak.
"I ca to this land with my holy animals, the bearers of my essence. Within them are my knowledge and shards of my power. Within them is the cure for your woes. Find them, ta them, and you will gain true wisdom and my favor—which are the sa."
Then he turned to look at specifically—I knew because Dalmanrach's gaze was heavy, like a physical thing. This ti, when he spoke, it was in clear words of bee language. Only myself and other bees understood.
"I hope this show, and the show outside, will serve you well with making humans join your cause, Nectus. After how quickly you did your part, I had to help you out, after all. However, not all is well."
I frowned.
"What is wrong? Everything was made like in the bet with other gods, no?"
"It was. Technically, I won the bet, but many were unhappy about it. Of course, they found grounds for complaints: that bee architects helped to build it, that it was all a result of manipulation, that the temple was too small and there wasn't a proper priest. But these people would've found a reason to complain no matter what."
"But you still got your dodos, right? So you can get more evolution points and so on, Mr. Dalmanrach."
He nodded again.
"Yes. But my opposition did their best to ensure that I would leave the ga again as soon as I arrived. So first, our plans will need more from you, Nectus."
Another quest? Of course, things couldn't have been so simple. Just a small temple would never satisfy the pricks that were the gods.
Wait, did this an that I had to…
"The dodos in question have just hatched in several nests of this country's birds—although you prefer to call them dragons, I know. Their nests are high in the local living mountains, but they aren't able to fly themselves. You must find these chicks and rear them with the humans' help before they all die again."
…I had to save the dodos!
I felt like I was about to make history. With the help of Farini and his lot, of course.
They all were listening with awe at the conversation they didn't understand, while I nodded at Dalmanrach.
"Sure! Can you tell more? Where are these dodos? How much ti do we all have? And the last but not the last—what did you an by shards of your power? Just pretty words for humans?"
Dalmanrach tilted his head in a sort-of-a-smile.
"No, I put plenty of power into these birds—all that I was allowed to. These dodos have a special gene that turns their blood into the best cure there currently is against all bacterial and viral infections. If you can get your hands on enough of it, no plagues should be a problem for both bees and humans. And of course, it will increase both our standings further. I will leave you a map on how to reach them, but you only have a couple weeks at most until the dodos grow too big."
I sucked in a sharp breath.
This was an incredible boon… But Dalmanrach was basically dooming dodos to beco precious livestock. Wasn't this a much worse fate than being "a bee's best friend"?
However, as I realized an instant later, Dalmanrach didn't care whether dodos were livestock or allies. To him, like to the other gods, living creatures were just a part of The Ga. And the only reason he was bothering with us was because he needed to be winning at this ga for the mont.
Until he could stop it. But what will happen to the living creatures then?
'Perhaps I should start thinking about it while gods are stopping each other from peeking into my head,' I thought, nodding to Dalmanrach.
"Thank you, Mr. Dalmanrach. I won't waste any ti. And that map?.."
Instead of a reply, he waved his smoky hand.
"Go forth!" he declared in two languages at once and dispersed like… well, like smoke.
And what was about the map?!
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