AN: Sorry for not updating, I don't have an excuse, I may not update often from now on. It depends on how uni treats me: priorities and stress and all that. Not that I'm that busy compared to some people. I suck with stress, so it could suck if I start having a hard time with my classes.
The deity moved at a slower pace than their usual travel speed. Aside from the distance difference, there was another reason. They were hoping to draw as much attention as possible. It was likely to be easy, given they already had a small group not too far away on their metaphysical heels.
Korban's house was coming up, the priest was not there, though. No, he would likely be present at their destination. The shrines were now visible, There were four altars, and all of them were in the open air. Each made out of carved stone, though appearance differed. They were like stone block tables of varying sizes.
The shrines were in a clearing of trees and had a well-beaten path to them from the village. A few offerings were visible at the base of each. Though Korban himself was sitting in front of one of the alters. 'Most likely, Athena's given she is the goddess he worships.'
Korban, for his part, seemed to hear the distant footsteps of the small crowd. As they moved closer the trinity saw the man's neck become straight in attention. The Athenian stood and turned, a small amount of surprise placed on the man's face.
Whatever he had been expecting, whether it was a family come to give offerings or merely people out for a walk. He had not been expecting what was slowly approaching him. The robes he had gifted to the deity, not more than a day ago. A floating object was trailing behind the clothing.
Behind the robes was the source of the sound which initially drew the priest's focus. A group of about seven people. Not large by most metrics but considering over half a dozen people were willing to follow and see what this "new god" was doing showed a lot. Even if they were merely curious or wanted to ask something since they had stated they would answer questions.
Now closer the lord of knowledge studied the altars. Each was decorated in a way to show what god or goddess they were attributed to. From left to right the altar was as such. The farthest left was Poseidon's, the stone showed waves, fish, and a trident. Though all of this was rough in appearance, no master sculpture to be sure.
Next was Athena's, it showed less skill than even Poseidon's. However, While it was clear the person who had made the altar was not an artist. It showed extreme care and lots of detail. Owls flew near the top of the altar, some were perched on trees. Olive trees, to be precise. Weapons, armour, scrolls, weaves. As many symbols of Athena that could fit.
From there was Artemis'. This one was a smooth altar with a simple unstrung bow placed on top, there were also wood carvings of animals and a general feeling of casual ease seeped from it. Though that could simply be the choice of display.
And finally, Demeter's Altar was made of stone as well but the difference was that it had no permanent decoration. Instead, there were plants growing around it. Multiple types, grain, flowers, a small tree that would bear fruit in the future.
Now within the clearing, the deity spoke to the man, "Hello Korban." the older man inclined his head a few degrees in a nod of greeting.
"Omnissiah." the name if it could be called that, sounded uncertain, unfamiliar. Not unexpected considering he had only recently learned it. "What brings you here, was there something you wished to talk about?"
The man had enjoyed explaining what he knew of the gods to the deity, their points and questions had given him many things to think about. Even if a lot of them were brushed aside as meaningless due to him not only not knowing the full story. But also since he couldn't grasp the unique views of immortals on life and how to lead it. But a few still stuck.
"Perhaps later. For now, we have something to do." the robes moved towards the shrines as Korban replied.
"What do you need to do?" the man turned as deity came to be next to the shrine he had made for Athena. The robe seemed to look at it for a moment before they continued past. The robes moved away from the altars now close to the treeline, "Uh, Omnissiah. Where are you going?"
They didn't immediately answer, or at all for that matter. They were about two meters away from the back of the closest altars. The lord of all machines was roughly at the middle line between Athena and Artemis' shrines.
Before the man could ask again two trees which were in front of the deity began to tip. They were caught by an invisible force before they hit the ground. The robes continued forward and several more trees were cut down. The bottom of the logs smooth without a mark. The leftover trunks were wrenched from the ground.
The empty holes were filled with dirt and bark. The dirt came from a squared line, a bit below a meter in width. It was about two inches deep. The length was extending down the path the deity was taking. The priest and people stood and watched in silent awe as the bark was taken off the felled trees, crushed into small pieces, and placed into the holes.
The logs were cut into pieces and floated behind them along with the trunks. All of the trunks still had stumps of the roots they were once attached to. As more holes were made and the ground converted, stones were present in the ground. All of these, no matter the size, were floated away from their previous location.
The sheer multitasking on display was monstrous, and that was from an outsider's perspective. The focus required was truly beyond most minds. The deity was now placing his focus on the ends of the posts they had cut.
The Machine God was growing in strength daily, it wasn't massive but the Machine God certainly was much better off than two days ago. They now had the strength to not only multitask their focus but also impart energy into materials. What does that mean?
The ends of a few of the beams caught fire. Eventually, four beams began to char black. This was done for several feet up each board. Once the fire stopped and the ends of the boards were done charring, they stripped off some of the burned wood.
Four holes appeared in the ground, the closest was roughly thirty feet from the altars. These holes were about fifteen feet apart from each other in a square.
Rocks were floated into the bottom of these holes before the posts were placed into them. More rocks were placed between the posts and the soil. As this was done, the deity searched for more rock.
They had not found enough. Their search was soon rewarded with a large patch of rocks, many roughly three feet wide. All of different shapes and volumes. There was of course variation in types, not all of them were ideal but it mattered little. These were taken and used to top up the now compressed rocks around the four posts. Now with access to a bit of rock.
The deity took these rocks and cut them into flat plates. The empty path of removed dirt was then filled with these small rock slabs. This created a rough stone path. The largest of the rocks were taken and cut in the same manner. These specific rock slabs were taken and placed on the ground inside the square made by the posts.
Once this was all done. The deity spoke, "To answer your earlier question. We are creating a place for our shrine. However, since our shrine has metal in it, we must take a few measures to ensure it will not rust."
The remaining boards floated over to the posts. The posts themselves were about ten feet tall, squared in length and width at one and a half feet. At the top of each of the posts' holes were cut by the same invisible force.
Korban spoke in response, "If that is so, then why are you so far from the other shrines?" The question was more from confusion than anything else. The wood from these holes was left whole and saved. The holes at the top were roughly four inches from the very top. The holes were a square foot to accommodate boards.
The floating boards were threaded into the posts, "We are not an Olympian, or truly like them. Thus, some distancing is good for stating that much." They did not mention the metaphorical reasoning. That any of his followers would have to move past the gods they were used to follow him. The shrine should represent that.
Once put through it resulted in the two left posts having a board running through and between them. The same was true of the right posts. Now that two pairs of posts were connected, two more holes were made in an identical fashion this time below the previous holes to allow boards to threaded through. However, they connected the four posts together by being on different sides of the posts.
Now the left and right pairs were connected by boards, and the front and back were connected by the boards below the former. Now four vertical holes were made into the very top of the posts. The holes were five inches in another square formation and went down five inches. An inch deep into the horizontal boards.
It was then that four different pieces of wood floated over to the construction. They were like the other boards in that they were a square foot. However, each end was slanted on one end of each of the boards was five inches of squared wood in the center. This peg was three inches and at a ninety-degree angle with the surface, it protrudes from.
At the other end of each of these boards was a hole. The deity took some of the smaller saved wood and created a peg that fits into two of these holes. Keeping these boards together. Then another board was cut to fit on top of and below the meeting point of the slanted boards in a "u" shape.
Though to fit the upside-down "v" formed by the two pairs of slanted boards the bottom of the "u" was smaller than the top. Both of which fit into the angles of the slanted boards.
However there were also three inches of overhang, the slanted boards didn't fill the entirety of the board. This leftover space was filled with another specially fitted slab that stopped the slanted boards from moving.
This board was now a center beam for the roof. Several holes were cut and support beams were added to both the central roof beam and the four slanted beams. All of these supported by beams fitted into not only themselves but also the beams running horizontally in the posts.
While admittedly odd, it was interesting to watch. Especially to the audience, the deity did have. The remaining wood was fashioned into much thinner pieces. These became shingles that fitted together and ran down to the end of the boards.
Several more trees were cut and stripped to create the walls. Once it was finished, a decent-sized building stood. It was no palace but it was bigger than a lot of houses. It had small open windows to allow in light and no door. With the last bit of wood remaining, the lord of knowledge created a simple table for the shrine to sit on.
Now that the construction was finished their focus shifted to the wood of the whole structure. While the wood in the ground would be fine. The rest was fresh and contained a lot of moisture, possibly even fungus, parasites, or insects.
Thus, their focus would be on putting energy into the wood to heat it. It would have a similar effect to the sun drying it. An even and warm energy was now washing over the structure. To an outside observer though nothing was happening. And they were done.
Just as they appeared finished a voice came from behind them, "What do you mean you're not like them?" the Machine God turned and saw the source of the voice. There was a young man standing at the front of the group. The expression on his face was uncertain. Continuing to warm the shrine's shelter they responded.
"We are not an Olympian, nor do we share much in common with them. What is unclear?" the question was to ensure that the crowd's questions were answered. Whether or not all of them actually asked the questions the group shared within their minds.
The man seemed uncomfortable but pressed onward, "What makes you different from them. You claim to be different but what is it that makes you so? All we know about you is that you...say you have domain over machines and knowledge. That and you wish to guide humanity."
'Ah. Understandable view, we have not spoken much of ourselves. And Korban had not asked much of ourselves in our conversation with him.' The deity nodded, "We will guide humanity. As for differences, there are too many to count. However, if you come and sit in my shrine with us, you may ask us more specific questions we can answer."
The robes gestured to the building, the man seemed greatly uncomfortable. This didn't stop him from nodding, "You are all more than welcome to join the two of us, ah, Korban." At the sound of his name the priest perked up and met the robes head with his eyes instinctually. "Considering our last conversation was you explaining what you know to us, you may wish to ask your own questions."
The priest wasn't exactly close with the deity but it doesn't mean he wasn't closer than most in the village. "Of course." he didn't have much else to say yet. The group of eight including the young man and Korban moved to the newly built structure.
The floor was stone with tiny gaps and cracks due to their source being small rocks. Something that no one had noticed until they were inside was that all around the shrine table were the stumps. "You will use these as seats for now. It is not perfect, but we did not have time to prepare."
The stumps themselves had been flattened on the bottom to be used properly here. The tops were of course still smooth and without a mark. Just the ringed patterns of the oak. A young woman spoke as they sat down, "Hmm, it's a bit warm in here." The casual air seemed to be a way to cope with the situation.
The seeming small talk was latched onto by the awkward group, "Yes," Korban spoke, "It feels as if we never left the sunlight. I find in the last few years that shade is often colder than I would like." a few hums of agreement or understanding came from the group's members.
"While we are glad you all find it pleasant. It is due to my heating the wood to remove moisture. Not due to the building itself. It is far too primitive for that to be a part of the design." the words seemed to bring a bit of confusion to the group, clearly none of them were part of a carpenter's family. "Do any of you have anything to ask?"
AN: Also, these chapters take hours to write so that slows down the process since I am not a fast writer. Though to be fair, I think it takes so long cause I try to think about how the flying fuck I'm going to get what I want to be built, last time it was smithing. This time it's looking up videos on preserving wood, and then thinking through the process of fitting beams together without nails. Idk why I was so focused on that. Also, I'm sorry if I made a building error I just didn't feel like saying, "And he built a house for the shrine, here's its height." But also fuck math. Fuck trigonometry.
