Tree of Aeons

Year 238

“I’d feel better if Patriarch Lumoof or Edna were here.” Some of the senior Valthorns mused as they prepared the battlefield for the demon king from the harpy world. 

“Pretty sure that’s what everyone feels.” Arjan said as he participated in the preparations. After his departure from the Threeworlds, his new assignment took him to the Mountainworld, to do something he liked.

Fighting. 

The harpy demons have spawned, and with multiple rift gates everywhere, the Valthorns participated in a few defensive battles at the invitation of friendly nations. 

Mountainworld had their own high leveled individuals, but there were too few to actually protect everything. The wars between the kingdoms also led to some unfortunate deaths. 

It was a good chance for my guys to gain levels and build goodwill. 

The two local heroes, Adrian and Kelly, zoomed from place to place, participating in the defense. They split up, but were supported by a few of my Valthorns just to prevent any unintentional events. It wasn’t impossible for a demon champion to kill a high leveled hero, even if the chance was very remote. 

“It’s my first time fighting a demon king outside of my homeworld. I’m nervous.” Khefri said as she hung out with the Treehome heroes in Branchhold. They were just one short teleport away from the invasion location, and there were minders tending to them.

“You get used to it, milady. Do not worry, we’ll be here with you all the way.” Chung smiled. Chung was thoroughly smitten with the scorpion-lady, and so spent a lot of time trying to woo her with all sorts of things. Chung extensively tapped on the Valthorns to get bookings at the fine restaurants, beautiful beaches and beautiful gifts, but Khefri wasn’t impressed at all. 

Prabu and Colette collectively shrugged, though they both really enjoyed watching and gossiping. Hafiz was just minding his own business. Hafiz, as king in his own right, has a harem of his own, though he fairly recently decided to move his kingdom elsewhere. He gave his own kingdom to his harem members, though he still guaranteed their sovereignty and provided them with protection. 

If he dies, it’ll be just a repeat of what Harris went through, though his harem was a lot smaller. 

***

Ken and Snek approached my valley, escorted by one of my Valthorns. Ken’s hair had turned all white, and some parts balding. He had the best medical services on Treehome, and with the effect of various abilities, he was in exceptional health, but it’s so easy for it to fall apart. 

Age was like a gradual decay of the soul. The wearing and withering of time. 

“Would you not take Aeon’s offer, Ken?” Snek said, during his break away from the young Ularans. The Ularan’s progress was as fast as it could be, but clearly, not fast enough. 

“I’d like to die properly for a change.” Ken laughed. “In bed, surrounded by my friends. They used to say to die old and with whitened hair is a fortune of its own.”

“And what about a family?” Snek said. “Ularans used to believe that to die at one’s den, surrounded by fellow Ularans, to be a great blessing.”

“Neh. I think it’s unfair to anyone to be my partner knowing what I know.” To be fair, Ken did have some dates here and there, but his dates were usually elves. He had a thing for elves, even if he didn’t mention it. 

Eventually, they reached my central valley. Here in the depths of my valley, it buzzed with all the artificial minds, and various strange trees performing all the weird research.

Snek looked at Ken, and then, “Well, Aeon, there’s actually a theory that I’ve had on my mind for a while. I’m not keen on speaking about it with any heroes around.”

“Yes, yes. And you want to speak about it within my domain protection.” So I allowed the two into my [secret hideout]. 

“Aeon, have you ever considered that the gods and the demons are actually on the same side?” Ken said. It was something I heard before a few times, from my domain holders, no less. 

“Yes.” 

“What do you think of it?”

“Possible, but currently no evidence points toward it. The fact that the demon sun has remnants of divine energy strongly suggests they are not friends. My current belief is to approach the gods cautiously, that these gods are no more than higher leveled versions of myself, and their ability to intervene is strongly affected by distance.” 

Ken nodded and then continued his own side of the theory. “We know that this world copies a lot of abilities and systems from the fantasies of earth, and a common knowledge is that there’s always a war in heaven. A war of heaven. The presence of the dead god at least gives credence that there might have been such a war of heaven.”

“And you theorize that the demons are one faction of gods?”

“Currently, I have three main ideas. One, there is a demon god somewhere. Two, the demons are a creation of God that overwhelmed the God. Three, the demons are some kind of shadow of the gods, which makes them a natural counterbalance of the gods.”

“That last idea presupposes the existence of a counterbalancing mechanism in the system.”

“Yes.” Ken said. 

“It is also fairly common for demons to be creations of ill will and void energies. What do you think about this sort of theory?”

“That also requires a counterbalance mechanism in the system. Hell exists because of the evil of men. That demons therefore exist because man exists.”

“I hear your concerns that the gods might not take it lightly if we meddle too hard and upset this balance of things. But so far, their behavior has not indicated anything unnatural. Perhaps the gods have not gotten to the point of paying attention to them.” 

“Exactly. The gods barely keep track. But if they did-”

“Again, not worth worrying about. Our path takes us to the demon sun, and we will destroy it. Or whatever we need to do to disarm the demons.”

“What if the solution requires you to quarantine them. Have the demons focus only on a single place, a single world, instead of everywhere?”

I thought about it for a moment, and nodded. “So be it. If one world needs to be sacrificed to spare the other worlds from the wrath of demons, I will do so.” 

“What if- What if it’s you? What if you have to be the demon’s jailor for the rest of your life?”

I paused for a moment, and asked myself if it’s the only way forward. I actually don’t know the answer to it. 

I know the heroes would. They were compelled to.

But me? What I did so far was because this thing threatens to destroy us all. But would I go as far as sacrifice myself to stop it?

I- I might. 

I wasn’t sure, but I know it’s the right thing to do in the long run. 

Does it have to be me? 

***

Stella was on the demonworld, together with Lumoof and Edna. It took more hops, but eventually a group of thirty void mages arrived on the world, supported by another fifty or so builders and other generalists. 

They had an outpost to construct, and they deployed a huge amount of magical readers to try and figure out what was going on with the ‘barrier’.

How did it work? Why? Can we break it or get past it?

The void barrier was extremely fascinating. That my void master asked for help. “Is it possible for you to create a large pool of water here, and then invite the zaratans to come and see this?”

“I could- but I’ll need to protect them from being boiled alive by the waves.” 

Even the eighty or so support team had to be covered in thick protective armor and artifacts, at least before they finished construction of the underground base which was similarly covered in many, many layers of protection to weaken the effects of the void radiation.

Over the course of three months they built a massive dome that emitted an offsetting energy wave that counteracted the void barrier’s radiation waves. 

Their studies began to have some success, as Stella and her team was soon able to identify the net flow of energy in the void barrier, and followed it’s energies to trace it to a certain set of worlds within the void sea.

“There’s a set of ten or so planets that maintain these barriers. If we want to get closer, we’ll need to break down the barrier. So, we’ll need to hit these ten planets and crush whatever machine that’s creating this thing.”

We still couldn’t see what the demon sun did, but it’s likely that whatever they did, it either moved very slowly, or it was just some kind of message. 

“Alright. So more hops?”

Stella nodded. “Yes. We’ll need more hops.”

***

According to Stella’s speculation, the sun was probably protected by a set of sixty or eighty worlds, each of which had a role to play in the void barrier. 

Of course, Roon, Johann and Alka were rather keen to see some unique demon architecture.

“The demons are clearly capable of building things.” Even my own Valthorns had different understanding of the demons. Those less experienced, at least, before our education program, presumed that demons only built spawning pools, and those demon riftgates were some kind of invention from elsewhere, or were ported in. 

It’s a very appealing tendency to think of demons as this mindless horde. It’s a popular set of thoughts, especially Mountainworld and Threeworld, who view the demons as nothing more than overpowered pests. 

“How do we hop there?”

“We keep hopping until we find it.” Stella said, now that they’ve got some idea of where the demon’s barrier world is. “That’s largely the only way.” 

“Can’t you level up, get a skill and solve the issue? There has to be a better way than just random chance.”

“That requires me actually leveling up.” Stella responded over the transmission. “Building a starmap is still a work in progress. Their locations is largely on the demon’s map, here and here.”

The locations were marked in a magical projection, based off the demon core. “We could try to use riftgates to get there, but we don’t have enough void mana if it’s from Treehome.”

“What if we use other places? Like that place you’re at. Do you think it has enough void mana-”

“Possible. I’ll test it out.”

Roon nodded. “Alright. We’ll join you once we’re done with these two demon kings. We got one coming our way soon.”

***

The seven heroes waited, as I gave the signal. My void mages on the demon world already detected the demon king leaving it’s womb at the center of their world. 

It was coming out.

The demon king was a demonic giant of a bird, and the first set of magical traps prepared itself to go. 

“Seven heroes, one demon king. A fuckton of traps. This should go quite well.” Chung tried to reassure Khefri and calm her nerves.

My Valthorns retreated to a safe location. They would initiate the bombardment and the traps once the demon king landed. 

A massive rift opened at the predicted location, and the bird charged out, a flying bird surrounded by lightning. A thunderbird demon king. 

[Demon King Triclaw has arrived]

The spells triggered, and the Valthorns commenced fire. The entire Mountainworld felt the sudden surge of magic, as they unloaded the entire arsenal on that specific valley. 

The detonation of so much magic in a single short moment would leave magical scars in the place for decades to come, and cause the spawn of various magically warped monsters. But that was a later concern, as for now, the giant thunderbird was bombarded with an overwhelming amount of sufficient firepower.

“Holy shit.” Khefri had never seen such massive detonations in her life. “You guys weren’t kidding when you said Aeon’s really hacking this whole thing.” 

“I know, right?” Chung said, as the Thunderbird’s wings were vaporized, it’s entire body filled with scars and burns. 

The thunderbird regenerated, it had tremendous toughness, comparable to the older demon kings. But we were also getting better at fighting demon kings, and the firepower we deployed just got bigger and better. 

After the third volley of traps and bombardment, the demon king was already weakened. 

The heroes engaged with their star mana powered weaponry and abilities, and it was a fairly short battle.

Seven heroes overwhelmed the demon king, to the point it was frankly bullying.

Every demon king was escorted by a small army of demon champions and regular demons. These other demons were fodder, but even they could distract, weaken, and hurt the heroes. But here, they could focus. 

When the heroes could focus only on the demon king and nothing else, it made the battle nothing more than a one-sided beatdown. 

Even when the thunderbird split into three, and summoned lesser thunderbirds, seven heroes was still too much. The lesser thunderbirds were destroyed by the supporting volleys from the faraway Valthorns. 

“This is ridiculous!” The Scorpion lady lamented how her fellow heroes died for nothing. “No one would’ve needed to die if you guys were there to help us. I didn’t even need to deal with the lesser pests.”

“Khefri! Don’t drop your guard, the demon king usually has a nuke at the end.” Prabu reminded. 

“Got it got it!”

They killed the demon king in record time, and the thunderbird was about to detonate once more. It went so well, that it went according to plan. 

They teleported out, and the detonation was a relatively small one. It wrecked the valley and left a huge pile of daemolite behind. 

***

Next up, was Threeworlds.

“Khefri spoke greatly about your accomplishments in the other worlds.”

“Oh, she has?”

“Indeed. It seems sending her to the other worlds away from me, had improved our relationship. Perhaps absence does make the heart grow fonder.”

“She just couldn’t stand being cooped up.” I countered. 

“I admit that it is a flaw of my method of upbringing. It is what I know best.” Zhaanpu chuckled. Khefri returned to her little Queendom, where she played with her own harem once more. Her harem members were frankly a little bored because Khefri was away for so long. 

“The Crystal King sent a missive protesting my agreement with you. Do you want me to have it delivered to your outpost up north?”

“Oh? He has?”

“Yes. They discovered that my hero, Khefri was missing, and traveling to the other worlds. I suspect some of my servants may be compromised, and some of his agents are actively searching my lands.” Zhaanpu responded. “I normally let him do what he pleases, such small matters are not worth struggling over. But do you want me to intervene?”

“Let him search.” It didn’t take long for me to detect those agents in the quiet, secluded lands up north. They found nothing, but they didn’t stop trying. “It’ll just make him more angry, and I’d rather not deal with that. Not with the new demon king coming.”

“Indeed. The rifts should be here soon.” 

That was when the news was a bit annoying. The demon king would spawn in the human-populated Crystal King’s lands. 

A part of me didn’t want to assist. 

But that’s not what I agreed with Zhaanpu. 

So, now that the battle on Mountainworld was over, we began to move people over to Threehome, to wage the next war.

***

Since Arjan left Hoofhall, the capital of the centaurs, Eudoxus had continued to work on expanding my influence, indirectly. Most of this was through awareness of another world.

We didn’t need to be so discreet, now that we didn’t have any significant plans beyond friendship. Eudoxus’s plan was to create our own little allied group, and draw the attention of the relicholder of the Centaur. 

I also engaged a centaur diplomat from my Treehome, and now, armed with what we know of Centaur society, publicly sent a delegation. 

The reception was fairly lukewarm, but my centaur diplomat Kinnara was eventually allowed to set up a small diplomatic chamber in the outskirts of Hoofhall.

We accepted it anyway. Some official means of communication was better than none, even if the diplomatic chamber was pelted with eggs and other trash every now and then.

They claim we lied. 

They didn’t acknowledge the existence of other worlds.

It’s so weird that people think that their world is the only world, when there’s so much evidence to the contrary. 

***

After the defeat of the thunderbird demon king, quite a large assortment of my Valthorns gained levels. A few of them were now getting closer to the level 150 boundary, but for now, none reached it yet.

Strangely, one of the closest ones was one of the projectile makers. Allana, a [Magical Weaponcrafter] was now about Level 143, and she had a penchant for making her weapons in exotic locations, and making requests to use ley line’s energies to help enhance her tools. 

It rose quite drastically from this battle alone, and she gained 14 levels. Partly because she made quite a large portion of the tools used to crush the thunderbird demon king. 

For the heroes, most of them gained about three or four levels. 

Oddly enough, I also gained two levels despite playing just my coordination and support role.

[You’ve gained two levels. You are now level 240]

[New domain skill unlocked : Lesser wooden avatars (shareable with pantheon)]

[You are now able to create up to five lesser wooden avatars with the strength of approximately level 100. You may use these avatars yourself, or you may link them with any of your fellow pantheon domain holders, where they may use these avatars as a split version of themselves. Your pantheon members can gain experience through these wooden avatars, but will be unable to use their domain tier abilities. Once linked to a fellow pantheon member, the wooden avatars cannot change until it is destroyed. Avatars take a year to regenerate if they are destroyed, and can be spawned at any of your clone trees]

I suppose a conversation with my fellow immobile pantheon members would now be necessary.

Spaizzer

Do you guys write Harem? Here's a harem fic. Feels kinda slow though. But give it a shot. 

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/65061/the-emperor-zahar-opmc-harem-cultivation

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