Intro.
For as long as he remembered the world was empty. There was nothing in front of him or behind him, above or below him. All that he ever saw was a dark emptiness surrounding him. And yet, despite the void surrounding him he held knowledge of things that shouldn't exist in his current circumstances. People, materials, scientific instruments, schematics, family and so many other things that simply existed in his mind.
He found it weird having all this knowledge of things that existed while being in a world devoid of everything save for himself. He realized a long time ago that there was more to himself than he knew but every time he tried thinking of his past his mind came to a blank. As if there was a mental block stopping him from remembering his past but still granting him his technical and social know how.
He also realized a long time ago that it was pointless to continue his attempts at remembering his past as all his numerous attempts had failed. All he knew was that he was Keller Sokolov and that was enough for him. Knowing that he had a name was more than enough for him in this void of emptiness.
Change never occured here. The void was constant, unchanging... Until it wasn't.
One second there was nothing and the next a blinding light encompassed the void. He had to shield his eyes from the force of the light as it consumed the dark. He didn't shield his eyes for long before his back felt something solid beneath it.
Something solid? The... ground? Imposible... Keller thought to himself rising to a sitting position and daring to open his eyes.
True enough he was on solid ground, a paved brick road to be exact. He then scanned his surroundings, the environment had changed. New structures, buildings, houses and shops lined the brick road leading to a massive tower reaching out into the sky beyond the clouds. Behind him there was a big gated entrance to the big city protected by a massive wall. He then turned to the sky above. He only saw the sky in his mind, an image burned into his mind that he never could've imagine was real and yet here it was.
A bright blue sky with very few clouds drifting around and the most beautiful thing he ever saw in his existance. The sun... A magnificent, radiant sun that bathed the land in its light. It was... Beautiful.
The world from my mind... It's real?
"Hey buddy..."
I can hardly believe it... And yet here I am. An eternity of nothingness and here I am feeling the radiance of the sun!
"Hey.. Are you listenin' to me...?
A new world to discover! I can't wait to meet the people of this city!
"HEY!"
He was finally brought out of his day dreaming and realized his surroundings were quite populated. Various carts with many people populated the road, either going to and returning from the inner city. Of course they no longer moved, as whoever was around the area had stopped what they were doing and stared at him with confused and frightful stares.
He also noted that he was surround by a group of armed guards. He was confused as he stared at them, they didn't have any standardized equipment, prefering to armour and arm themselves as they either saw fit or could afford. The term that came to his mind was that of a irregular millitia as he stared at them.
A spearman here, a twin blade wielding woman over there, a rather stunted man of serious physique wielding a great mace over there and a... He paused as he stared at the next peson... A rather voluptuous woman barely wearing any clothes holding no weapon but looking ready to throw hands...
From how tense they looked the situation could turn south at the slightest mistake and so he acted accordingly. He threw his hands in the air in the form of surrender
"Wait! Don't hurt me! I mean you no harm!" Keller pleaded
"Whatever you say buddy, get on the ground and spread your arms away from your body!" the spearman ordered
These people weren't taking any chances and so Keller did as instructed. They thankfuly eased up just a tiny bit as the spearman, their supposed leader marched up to Keller and pointed his spear at his face. He flinched away from the tip before the spearman continued.
"If you don't mind I'm gonna ask you a couple of questions blue man. Is that alright? Of course it is." He then crouched to Keller's head still pointing his spear at his head. "What are you and how did you do that?"
The first question was something Keller asked himself many times before. He didn't know the answer to it. He never saw himself but every time he thought about himself the word 'Seraph' came to mind... He didn't know what it meant though... The second question was more confusing though...
"Do what?" Keller asked
"Materialize out of nothing in the middle of the road! You scared the shit out of us, we thought some monster escaped the dungeon!" The spearman replied
Dungeon? Do these people have a dungeon to lock people up? Nevermind, it is irrelevant to his situation.
"I can assure you that wasn't my doing... A couple of moments ago I was in the void of darkness and then poof I was here. I didn't do anything!" Keller pleaded even if he knew it sounded insane what he just said
The spearman's face turned to confusion at the mention of the void "The void? What does that even suppose to mean?! Are you some kind of monster in disguise that somehow learned to talk?!" the spearman then brought the tip of his spear a millimeter away from Keller's eye.
"No! No, I'm not a monster! I never hurt anyone in my life! Please don't hurt me!" Keller continued to plead
It was then the small muscle man's turn to speak, his eyes softening a little bit as he turned to the spearman "Hey lad, maybe this guy's tellin' the truth. Those eyes of his speak of nothing but fear and confusion. Besides, people start starin'"
The spearman then looked to his surrounding, taking note that the people's attention were on them as they held the weird looking man on the ground. He then sighed, retracting his spear from Keller's face before lowering himself to eye to eye level
"Alright blue man, this is how were gonna do this. We will bring you in, take you to someone you can't lie to and find out what is going on. You won't be harmed I can assure you of that."
Keller nodded along, a chance to explain himself even if he didn't do anything wrong was a good thing at least. Although he didn't understand why the guy before him kept calling him 'blue man' he at least hoped to learn why
"Good, good." The spearman continued before turning to the twin blade wielding girl "Lana, get this guy restrained and escort him home. I'll go inform the captain, I'm sure she and lord Ganesha-sama will be interested in this guy."
The spearman then departed, sprinting towards the inner city with a speed that surprised Keller. No normal human being could achieve such speed. It looked unnatural... Perhaps there was more to this world than Keller knew.
The twin blade girl, Lana, restrained his arms with a sturdy rope and then the group escorted him towards the city, supposedly to where that Ganesha fellow was. The group thankfuly was not as tense as before but still keeping their eyes on him as they led him towards the destination.
During their journey Keller managed to gather his courage and ask a question, turning to the stunted muscle man.
"If you don't mind me asking good sir, but I have a question." Keller said
The guy gave him a side glance before replying
"What is it?" He asked
"Earlied, that spearman called me 'blue man'. Why is that?"
The stunted man snorted "It's cus your skin is blue, that's why."
My skin is blue? Keller thought to himself before looking down at his hands. True enough the colour of his skin was that of a grayish blue. It made him long to find a mirror and see himself but that would have to come at a later time.
The journey lasted some twenty minuted before they arrived at their destination. Their supposed home made Keller pause as he stared at it. The building was shaped in the form of a sitting well built man with an elephant mask. Its front entrance was unfortunately in the crotch of the statue... Thankfuly they didn't enter through the front and entered in some other passage underground. It was here that Keller realized this was where prisoners would be housed but thankfuly no one was here.
He was led into one of the cells and told to wait. The group, save for Lana then departed, probably to return to their posts. Keller didn't feel like he was getting locked up. These people didn't even lock the door to his cell and the girl didn't show any ill intent. Most likely they realized he posed no threat to them. And so, he felt content to wait for their captain and that Ganesha fellow to show up and talk to him which didn't take long.
Two figures came by, a man and a woman. The man was definitely the owner of the place, as he looked exactly like the building outside. The girl though was an unknown, a beautiful young woman with blue hair and eyes, wearing a flowing orange outfit. Keller found it odd that the girl's only armour were the gauntlets and boots... Come to think of it every guard they passed on the way here followed the same trend. Favoring looks over functionality... Although from the speed the spearman achieved earlier there was reason to believe there was more to them.
The two briefly talked to Lana before they dismissed her and made their way over to him. The first to speak was the woman.
"Hmm, it seems Karan wasn't lying when he said you were an oddity. I believe introduction should come first and then see what we can work out after."
Keller nodded
"Yes, that would be nice... My name's Keller Sokolov."
The girl relaxed just a little bit but not the man. Despite the elephant mask Keller knew that the man was studying him from the moment he laid eyes upon him.
"Nice to meet you mister Sokolov, my name is Shakti Varma, captain of the Ganesha familia."
"And I am GANESHA!" Ganesha went and shouted
This caught Keller off guard. Just like that this man destroyed his serious image with his flamboyant introduction, striking a pose as he announced himself. Shakti had no reaction, she definitely was used to his antiques. But just as fast as he changed to his eccentric behavior he changed back to seriousness.
"Now that introductions are out of the way I wish to express my apologies to the way my children treated you." Ganesha said bowing deeply pulling the girl in a bow too
Keller waved them off "Please, you don't have to apologize. I'm sure they acted accordingly to a situation that never happened before."
The two of them raised their heads "Thank you." Shakti said gratefully
It was then Ganesha's turn to speak "Could you tell us what you did to come here and perhaps what you are? You certainly are not part of any race that inhabit this world."
"Well umm..." Keller didn't knew how to respond as this was something he didn't know himself. "My mind always draws to a blank when I think about myself but I know I am something called a 'Seraph'?"
He didn't seem too certain about that but regardless he continued
"And as how I got here it might sound insane but before I poofed into existance I was drifting through the void..." He sheepishly said rubbing the back of his neck
Shakti didn't seem too convinced but Ganesha for some reason nodded along
"I see." Ganesha said nodding
"Wait... You're going to take my word just like that?" Keller asked
Shakti visibly relaxed for some reason when Ganesha spoke
"Well, you have not lied so far."
"How can you even tell?" Keller asked
Ganesha smiled "We gods have the ability to tell when mortals lie and you good sir have not lied and you don't paint the insane type."
Keller's mind blanked... Gods? Is the man before him a god?
"You're... a god?"
"Yes I am, GANESHA!" Ganesha said striking that pose again
"Aren't gods supposed to stay in heaven?"
"Yes, we used to be but a long time ago we decided to descend down from tenkai to genkai and live as mortals for many different but mostly personal reasons."
Keller hummed "So you came down to Earth to pursue your own goals I guess?"
"Yes we have but- Hold on... Did... Did you say Earth?" The supposed god asked
"Yes."
"It is actually called Gen-" Shakti began but was silenced by Ganesha raising his hand
"Can you perhaps tell me of this 'Earth'?" the god asked curiously
"Well, it is identical to this 'Genkai' of yours... And just like here inhabited by humans."
"Only humans?" Shakti asked curiously
"Well there were various animals, birds and fish inhabiting the world but the only inteligent race was humanity."
Shakti seemed even more curious than before while Ganesha nodded along looking deep in thought. It was Shakti that responded
"Well, mister Sokolov, here in Genkai humanity isn't alone. There are many more demi-human races living alongside humanity." She said smiling
"I see." Keller replied nodding
Their attention was then caught by Ganesha as he snapped his fingers as if he solved a very hard fiddle.
"I believe I've solved a part of the puzzle my new friend." Ganesha said smiling
"Explain please."
"Yes lord Ganesha, do tell."
Ganesha then went and striked another one of his eccentric poses before explaining
"The world's name, the only race being humanity and gods staying up in Tenkai. You perfectly described the 'Old world' my friend."
"The old world?"
"Yes" Ganesha said striking yet another pose "Before Genkai there was Earth, the old world, the first world that we gods created. It is a world that we were unfortunately too limited to be able to interact with its inhabitants and slowly but surely, they forgot about us. Not out of hate or animosity but simply ignorance they relegated us to history and so we gods left it behind and created Genkai."
"But what about Earth Ganesha-sama?" Shakti asked
"The destiny of that world belongs to its people. They are free to do with it as they see fit. And from what I'm seeing they managed to achieve quite a fit. Whether intentional or not they managed to traverse from one plain of existance to another!" He exclaimed smiling and pointing to Keller "Tell me my friend, how long did it take you to cross over to our world?"
"Well... I don't really know... time was convoluted as I drifted in the dark... A couple of centuries maybe...?"
A mirror shattered somewhere as Shakti's and Ganesha's faces were reverted to blank states with thin lip lines.
"You're not lying..." Ganesha confirmed in a whisper
"Are you feeling okay mister Sokolov?" Shakti asked with concern
"I feel fine I guess. Certainly don't feel any mental pain or anything... I guess I'm alright despite my circumstances."
"Centuries spent in the void... That's something no mortal can do..." Ganesha said deep in thought
"I agree, I think there's more to me than I know but I have no idea of anything..."
"Yes... You'll have many things to discover as you get accustomed to our new world."
"I'll manage to find a way, don't worry about me."
"You don't have to do it alone though." The god began clasping his hands behind his back "I want you to stay with us until you get your bearings. It certainly won't sit well with me to just kick you out the way you are. You just entered our world a short while ago, you know nothing of our world and don't have a single valis to your name."
Keller smiled at the god's generosity but still just living off of these people didn't sit well with him.
"That's kind of you to say but I don't wish to be a burden to you or anyone else."
"You can always find some work." Shakti began "There's always a demand for workers in the city and from your clothes alone I can tell you must've been some machinist or blacksmith of some kind."
The girl was right, despite the mental block most of his knowledge that he kept at heart revolved around machines and trinkets. Perhaps there was someone in the city that he could work... Actually, Keller remembered something...
"Hey, lord Ganesha?" he asked
"Yes?"
"You're a god right? Can't you use your divine powers to restore my memories?"
The god sighed and smiled sadly.
"As much as I would like to help you I can't. You see, one of the terms that we gods had to adhere to when we descended down to genkai was that we wouldn't use our arcanum as that would put us over the mortals. I can't use my powers to help you otherwise I'd breach the rules and be sent back to Tenkai."
It took Keller a couple of moments to digest that information. It slightly dissapointed him but he understood the gist of it, gods weren't allowed to use their divine powers over mortals as that would put them in a position of power and that would be cheating and create an imbalance in the world.
"That's unfortunate but understandable." Keller said turning to Shakti "And you are correct miss Varma, most of my knowledge does revolve around smithing."
"Mmm, if that's the case there's a familia here in the city thats completely dedicated to smithing and their patron goddess hephaestus, the godess of the forge will be very interested to know what kind of things the old world created." Shakti explained
Keller hummed in agreement, a chance to not be a burden was good enough in his book.
"Alright, I'm interested."
"Yes!" Ganesha exclaimed striking yet another one of his pose's "Hephaestus-chan will be delighted to see what new idea's the old world managed to conjure! I am loathe to say this as a god that helped created this world but there is a certain spark of ingenuity in the old world that is simply missing in Genkai!"
From her facial expression, Shakti must've been surprised by what her god said and even Keller, while feeling a little bit of pride at being lauded even if he no longer knew of his prior life was surprised.
Regardless, the woman quickly recovered before turning to Keller "I can lead you to her headquarters right now if you don't have anything else to ask about."
"I'd like that but I do have a single request though."
"Do ask."
"I'd like to look at myself in a mirror before we depart. Other than my sking being blue I have no idea how I look like."
"Ohh" Shakti began "Is that because of your amnesia or something?"
"Could be."
"Alright, there's a mirror at the entrance to our house, you can look at yourself before we go to the tower. Now, come along."
The three of them left the prisoner holding cells and made their way to the entrance to the house. Keller hated that he had to enter through the crotch of the giant statue house of Lord Ganesha but did so anyway and then finally got a good look at himself. It wasn't the clothes that he wore that he was interested, they were those of a blacksmith anyway. It was his face and height that he was interested.
He already knew he was taller than everyone he met so far and despite standing at around 2.2 meters tall he had a rather lanky build but that didn't matter that much to him. What mattered was his face. Despite knowing he spent an ungodly amount of time drifting through the void his face looked no day older than 20, with short black hair and purple eyes for some reason he both looked as human and unhuman as he could.
Satisfied that he finally knew how he looked like he departed with Shakti as Ganesha waved them off.
Shakti Varma - Level 5 - Captain of the Ganesha Familia
This day has turned out to be one of the most interesting days in her entire life. A visitor from another world, confirmed by lord Ganesha himself. A being that was stuck between worlds for centuries and yet despite that, the man before her had an almost childlike wonder as they traveled to Orario's tower, shooting glances around and occasionally asking questions about the races of the people that they passed by.
The things that really caught his attention were any magic stone powered trinkets they came across. The way he seemed to concentrate as he stared at them as if he's working out the inner workings of the things painted an endearing image in her mind but soon enough they reached the tower and took the elevator up. In the elevator mister Sokolov seemed to look for something glancing at the ceiling and the floor.
She was genuinely confused when the man got on his knees and pressed his ear on the floor before getting up to look at her.
"Miss Varma? I have a question?" he asked dusting himself off
"Ask away mister Sokolov."
"How is this elevator moving? There's no rope above pulling it or any mechanism below pushing it. How is it moving?"
Shakti blinked "That's because this is a magic elevator. It is powered with magic stones."
The man froze in confusion. "Magic... Stones? Magic is real?" He asked confused
"It isn't in the old world?" Shakti asked curious crossing her arms
"No, I don't feel like it is."
Huh, that's something she didn't expect. A world without magic, something she could hardly believe. But that raised more questions.
"But if you don't have magic how do you efficiently power your machinery?"
Her question seemed to bring some pride to Keller's face as he brough three fingers up "Through the three staples of fuel of the old world of course! Coal, oil and..." He stopped, suddenly looking at the floor deep in thought "...And..."
"And?" Shakti asked already expecting his amnesia to have robbed his knowledge of the third ingredient from his mind
"I... I don't remember..." He replied looking dejected "I know it is a vital part... but I don't remember what it is..."
"Well, whatever it might be hopefully it is something that can be found here in Genkai." She replied trying to raise his spirits up
Thankfully it worked as he nodded along "We can only hope."
Just as he said that they reached their intended destination, exiting into the more expensive area of the tower where high tear adventurer weaponry was sold. They weren't here for that though and she led the stange blue man to the office of the goddes of the forge. Shakti respectfully knocked on the door before they were let inside. At the desk of the office sat a beautiful young woman with fiery red hair and eyes... Well, left eye, as the right eye was covered by a large leather patch hiding something the goddess didn't want to show to the world.
She was currently engrossed in a piece of paper, studying its contents as if it held the secrets of the stars in it. Still, she was the first to speak as the visitors came up to her.
"Quite an unexpected visit Ankusha. Is there something you need?" The goddess curiously asked not bothering to look from the piece of paper she was studying
Shakti Bowed deeply before replying " I hope we didn't catch you in a busy moment Hephaestus-sama."
"No, I was currently getting a little too bored looking at this piece of paper." she then crumpled said paper and threw it in the trash can before giving her undivided attention to the newcomers finally taking note of Keller's skin colour
"Is your friend alright? His skin's looking a little off."
"I am quite alright, thank you for the concern goddess Hephaestus" Keller said bowing slightly
"Alright" the goddess said before turning to Shakti "What's up Ankusha?"
"I will tell you something that might sound strange but it has been confirmed by Lord Ganesha himself, Hephaestus-sama."
That got the goddesses attention "Mmm? Is it regarding your friend here?"
"Yes."
"Do tell, I love an interesting story."
She proceeded to tell the goddess of his circumstances, of how he simply appeared at the city's entrance, of how he's a being from the old world that whether intentional or not was flung from the old world and drifted in the new one over the span of many unknown centuries. As she spoke the goddess remain silent and studied Keller with an analytical eye. When Shakti finished the goddess rose from her seat and went around the desk to lean against it.
"As interesting of a story this may be but I feel like this visit of yours isn't simply to tell me that someone from the old world decided to visit the new one, is it?"
It was Keller that responded "It isn't, when miss Varma said you have the most prestigious organisation of blacksmiths in the city that got me interested. I don't wish to be a burden to them and so I want to work to at least return their favor of letting me live with them until I get my bearings."
The goddess hummed "As noble as that might sound, one must earn the privilege to work in or for my familia." The goddess replied "You'll have to prove to me that you can forge."
Keller nodded "I will prove myself." He said with certainty
"I will be the judge, now come alone."
Hephaestus-sama then led the two of them to one of the currently unused workshops on the floor. Once inside she took a look around the tools before turning to Keller and gave him a hammer.
"Forge me a sword."
That caught Keller off guard
"A sword?"
"Yes, doesn't matter the type as long as it is a sword."
"I've... I've never forged a weapon before." He sheepishly said
"And yet you said you wanted to prove yourself." Hephaestus replied crossing her arms
The blue man seemed to weight his options for a couple of seconds before looking back at the goddess with conviction in his eyes
"I'll do it."
"Alright, time limit's until midnight sooo you have about 9 hours to complete it. Plenty of time." The goddess then turnet to Shakti "Miss Ankusha, do you have somewhere important to go in the near future?" she asked
"No."
"Then would you join me for a cup of tea in my office?"
Shakti bowed smiling
"I would be honoured."
The two women left the Seraph to his work and retreated to the goddesses office to enjoy tea and gossip.
"So, what do you think about him?" Shakti asked while sipping from her cup
"About your friend?"
"He's more like an acquaintance. I've known him for only a couple of hours."
"I see, as for your question he is definitely off."
"How so?" Shakti asked curiously. Mister Sokolov definitely was curious about many things but he didn't really paint a bad picture in her mind
"There's something in the back of his eyes. Something subtle..."
"Hmm? I didn't see anything."
"Of course not, what I saw is too subtle for any mortals to perceive and I know Ganesha doesn't have the eyes for subtle things."
"Alright then, what did you see?" Shakti curiously asked
"A fear of something. A primal fear of something... Although I don't know what it is unfortunately and fortunately so doesn't your friend."
"His amnesia finally has an upside." Shakti said smiling
"Yes but this all paints a rather bleak picture in my mind."
"And what might that be?"
"I'll call it a hunch but I don't believe your friend left the old world willingly. As you said it before, whether intentional or not he was flung from his world into the void between worlds and slowly drifted towards us as if it were a complete accident... What a unique bunch of people we created." Hephaestus said smiling sadly playing with her cup
"If I may, I have a couple of questions about the old world Hephaestus-sama."
"Hmm?"
"Earlier today, when Lord Ganesha revealed to us the existance of the old world he said that it had something that we lack here in Genkai. A certain spark of ingenuity."
The goddess of the forge thought for a second before replying
"I personally think it is because of magic."
"Magic? Is it because the old world has no magic?"
"Yes, here magic acts much like a crutch for the people, something that wasn't in the old world. People on Earth had to do things the hard way as they couldn't say a few words and things would magically happen. That led to a lot of innovation... even if most of the time that innovation came from their desire to find better and faster ways to kill each other..."
Shakti frowned and sighed deeply. She was too familiar with this sort of thing
"Things never change huh... Old world, new world, some things stay the same..."
"Unfortunately so, any other questions?" the goddess asked sipping her tea
"Yes, when we made our way up the tower Mister Sokolov said that the old world runs on three types of fuel. Coal and oil are things that we also have but he said there is a third one that is vital to their machinery. Do you perhaps know what it is?"
The goddess thought for a little bit but shook her head "The last time we gods still looked over the old world the main components that its people used were predominantly coal with some oil sprinkled here and there. There wasn't anything else so that third fuel source must've been discovered or invented after we left that world."
"Huh, what a shame."
Keller Sokolov - Seraph
It was done, it took far less than he expected but he managed to complete the sword in only 3 hours. Something that surprised him was that despite the effort he put in working the metal he felt no exhaustion. He chalked it up to after effects from the void and went back to the goddesses office. The two women were engrossed in their conversation but ceased when they saw him enter.
"Hmm? Do you wish to take a break mister Sokolov?" The goddess asked
"I'm actually finished."
"But its been only three hours."
"I know."
He saw the goddess frown, even he knew it was too little time to finish but still he knew his work was done. It was now up to the goddess to decide if it was okay. The three of them went back to the workshop that was temporarily given to him. There on the anvil was his sword, he gingerly scooped it up and offered it to the goddess before retreating to Shakti's side
"Did you lie when you said you never forged a weapon before?" Shakti asked
"I didn't."
"Could've fooled me..."
The goddess studied the blade for quite a while, looking over its edges, testing its weight and giving it a light swing. A unique curved sword, which didn't follow the same trend as other curved swords. Instead of the curve bending backwords, it instead curved forwards with its tip acting much like a hook. When she felt satisfied she turned to Shakti
"Ankusha-san, do you know what kind of sword this is?"
It was a rethorical question, the goddess knew what exactly she was looking at but was curious to see if anyone else knew.
Shakti shook her head "I'm afraid this is the first time I'm seeing this type of blade but I believe it is part of or close relative to the shotel family of blades."
"Close enough, both types have their origins in the sickle." The goddess said placing the sword back on the anvil "It is a falx, a rather unique and rare sword type designed for combat against armoured targets. Its curve bending outwards makes its tip act much like a hook or spear tip, ensuring that the first contact it pierces through the armour of its target. Although I must ask you something mister Sokolov." The goddess said turning to Keller
He nodded which prompted the goddess to continue
"You have completed you work in a mere couple of hours and what you have built is the definition of utilitarian ruggedness. Don't get me wrong, this sword will achieve its intended purpose, it will kill but you had more than enough time to continue and make it more appealing and yet you chose to present it to me like this. Explain to me your decision please."
Another rethorical question just like a teacher asking her student about the assignment. Still, the answer to her question was easy to him.
"It is simple, there simply was no need."
"Uh huh, go one."
"This tool of war that i've made is built and shaped for its purpose and purpose alone. Wasting resources in making it more appealing to the eyes is unnecessary when its purpose is to take lives. Its simply just that."
The goddess nodded along before she made her way over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder
"I must say, I'm surprised. Your answer and decisions are not something that I often see when aspiring blacksmiths come seeking my familia out. Congratulations mister Sokolov, you've proven that you're capable."
And here it is... This moment he dreaded ever since he started working on the sword. Despite being accepted he realized one thing about Hephaestus's organization or familia as they called it. Despite it being the most prestigious organization of smiths in the city it completely focused on weapons and that was not something that he wanted. He nodded along though even if the look in his eyes told another story. The goddess realized this though.
"Is something wrong mister Sokolov?"
Keller sighed "Unfortunately yes. While working I've thought about your organization, you build weapons and that's not something that I want. I wish to build machines to help the common man, not build weapons to take lives."
The goddess nodded even if a frown adorned her face
"I accept your desire but I must tell you. My familia does not craft weapons to take lives, it crafts them in order for our adventurers to be able to survive in the dungeon mister Sokolov, I hope you understand this."
This dungeon again that he had no knowledge or idea what it was. Something that he had to learn another time. Regardless he saw her point and nodded accordingly
"I understand, I just hope I didn't waste your time Goddess."
"Quite the contrary actually, too many times I've seen people present beautiful weapons to me only to find out they are weak and brittle. Your work is something that is rarely presented to me and that is something I respect."
"But all you did was look it over and give it a light swing."
"I am the goddess of the forge my friend, this things are natural to me." She pridefuly said "And as for your desires I'm sure you'll find what you seek in the civilian sector of the city. There is an endless demand for skilled workers for the city's magic infrastructure. It shouldn't be too hard for you to learn how the magic stones work."
Keller bowed "Thank you for the advide."
With their conversation over Shakti and Keller took their leave with the goddess seeing them off. It would probably take some time to get adjusted and learn more about this new version of the world he knew about but he was sure in time he would adjust.
Author's note:
Aight gather 'round folks, this one's gonna be weird.
The thunderlord D̸̨̧̨̮̰̜̥̥͊̿̍̿A̸̗̅̽̂̕͠͠V̶͉͇̱̉̇͐̄̉́͋ͅE̴̫̳̘͔̅̅̌ came to me in a dream and lore dumped this idea of a crossover between a very niche survival block game called Vintage Story and Danmachi.
As for what vintage story is for those of you who don't know (Probably like 99.9% of readers) it is a game that started off as a minecraft modpack originaly but the devs realized this:
"Boi... modding in java fucking sucks, lets make our own game with blackjack and hookers."
Yeah... as for what it is about I won't incorporate the main story of the game but the backstory.
Just like before I'm pretty sure none of you who read this know anything about Vintage Story so I'm just gonna give you the gist of its backstory.
That being that during the 13th century 2 things Happened.
First one is that a young genius named Jonas Falx and his close friend Tobias discovered a different plain of reality called the rust world and found out he could draw power from it. That lead to him being able to build advanced machines and robots and fucking Teleportation in the medieval times.
(Ensue that funny meme with Roman legionnaires getting out of a helicopter)
The second thing that happened was that the Black Plague (IRL stuff) decided to take a chill pill in Papa Nurgle's garden and come back 1000 times worse and was rebranded as THE ROT.
Because of this humanity went underground with jonas to seek shelter from the rot and build a machine that in Jonas's words would save mankind. Unfortunately what they ended up building wasn't the same thing that they set out to build and the Seraphs are the main result of it.
Seraphs are former humans that were time bombed out of reality when the 'Temporal event' took place. This does not mean that humanity is dead in vintage story. Its still around thankfully.
As for the seraphs abilities I'm just gonna dump em' right here for those that will get confused about some shit down the line.
The first one is of course the ability to revive (minecraft logic duuhh) but it is fucking canon. There are lore books in the game written by humans talking about the seraphs appearance across the land. Popping into reality from thin air across the land even after dying. They also have no memories of past events or their prior lives (They get described as the most oblivious strangers so amnesia)
Next ability is infinite stamina. In game you can literally starve to death and you can still sprint like a maniac all day long
Next up is the mapmode and waypoints (also fucking canon) Whether it is a ruin across the land, some trader outpost or ore deposit the Seraphs always have a knack to remember where everything is.
And last one is telepathy with other Seraphs (Chat is real...) I'm not incorporating this one into the story as Keller is the only goober around.
Oh and the last thing Seraph's skin color is more akin to stone than skin. As you've read the intro chapter (I hope you enjoyed it) Keller's skin color is grayish-blue (dabba dee dabba daa... I waited soo long to make this joke). Their skin colours can vary based on stone colours (granite gray, andesite blue, peridotite green to basalt black) they ain't human looking
(Also they are very tall. In game the player character is a full head taller than human npc's and considering the average height of a human is 1.7-1.8 meters the Seraphs standing around 2.1-2.2 is appropriate.)
I don't own either of these franchises but I greatly enjoy them.
See ya next time