Chapter: 58
So, I took Yama, the newly named god of death, to the north of the world.
Even though he had been promoted, let’s not forget he was originally an earth spirit and mountain god. Long-distance travel must have been quite an adventure for him.
In my true form, I transformed and flew northward with Yama in my hands. Delivery of the god of death? Complete!
On our way, I did hear Yama scream in terror, but come on, it wasn’t important at all.
I’m pretty sure he was just feeling queasy from the speed.
Anyway, once we landed in the north in front of the underworld gate, Yama looked so moved that he knelt on the ground and started bowing deeply.
“I finally understand the greatness of the earth. I realize your preciousness now. All beings must live upon you.”
“Drama queen much?”
Hearing that, Yama just stared at me in silence.
He kept looking at me without saying a word for about 30 minutes.
So, I went with Yama through the gates of the underworld, downward and deeper.
We ran into those dark spirits cleaning up Talos’s mess, introduced Yama to Thanatos, who was directing them, and finally ran into Talos itself, who had dug out all seven layers and was just… standing there.
“This is… amazing.”
“Yeah, Talos is pretty impressive.”
Sure, it was just a golem made on a whim, but you can’t deny its performance. That fact was undeniable.
I praised the admirable Talos.
“Now that we have the place, it’s time to finish the underworld.”
Oh, but first things first. I need to check if Yama has really levelled up to the god of death.
That was super easy. I had a way to peek at the list of all the gods.
GodTalk. That magical list! I saw Yama’s name pop up there and couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Letting someone become a god through some wild incidents, a sprinkle of gossip, and a bit of public manipulation? This must be the easiest time to slip into godhood.”
The god of death. Yama. His name was officially on the list.
Hmm. Should I just create gods to my liking this way? Thetis, Ifrit, and Sylphid becoming gods could also work out.
Well, Thetis and Sylphid will probably be worshipped as gods once sea travel takes off. Just needs a little nudge.
As for Ifrit… maybe I’ll give it an extra push. Having an unquenchable flame is a huge perk in this era, but Ifrit’s location is such a bummer.
How about I spread some Ifrit essence here and there… Or set the stage to cremate dead bodies with holy flames?
Oh, or I could introduce Ifrit as the god of flames and forges to the dwarves. That could work!
While mulling over these trivial thoughts and browsing through the GodTalk list, a name I hadn’t seen before caught my eye.
“Cloud Whale.”
What’s this now?
A whale made of clouds?
But if it’s on this list, it must be gaining faith as a god, right? A cloud whale? What even is that?
Humans can’t even know about whales, right? With their current seafaring skills, they can’t just spot whales!
Oh wait, they might know from the occasional dead whale that washes ashore. So there’s that.
Eh, it’s still uncertain. After all, I’m not the only one who knows the word whale… I’ve told Shamash and the kids all sorts of tales.
Maybe those kids’ stories leaked to others? Like elves or dwarves?
Since I’ve unified everything under the same language, the elves and dwarves might have heard these kids… right?
But didn’t they hear directly? They probably just grasped the general idea, right?
So where did the word whale even come from? Ugh. Seriously no clue.
Or maybe it’s just a massive coincidence that they ended up using the same word.
Anyway, what kind of being is a cloud whale? Seeing it on GodTalk means it seems to be a god or something…
I’m so curious. Like, stupidly curious.
Even though I was knee-deep in making the underworld, I couldn’t shake this rising curiosity.
Cloud whale. Maybe humans mistook a giant whale-shaped cloud for a god?
Hmm. My curiosity is off the charts, but I really need to finish the underworld. Guess that work can wait.
Feels like this new god is stealing my focus while I’m busy creating hell, but hey, I must check on what kind of being this newly minted god is.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
So, when I went to check out the cloud whale, it turned out to be this huge cloud-like creature flying through the calm sky.
It really did look like a whale too, kind of like a humpback whale.
But it wasn’t soft or cloud-like at all.
From a distance, it seemed like a whale made of misty clouds, but I only grasped its true identity when I got closer.
The cloud whale was a god birthed from the gathering of many souls floating in the sky.
The clusters of souls I’d glimpsed while checking out spirits before, which had risen and formed a mass in the sky.
That mass morphed into a whale shape, floating overhead, hence what we call the cloud whale.
Because so many souls stuck together in that blobby form, it became visible to human eyes, making it resemble a giant fish, which is probably why they dubbed it the cloud whale.
Seriously, how did it end up like this?
I can’t control every single human thought, so preventing gods from popping up like this is totally out of the question.
Well, anyway, I approached the cloud whale.
This cloud whale, a compile of souls, seemed to lack any real intelligence.
It just floated around, dispersing the souls that made up its form.
Under the sky the cloud whale drifted through, the increasing number of newborns surely wasn’t a coincidence.
Looking at this mindless cloud whale bobbing around, I thought maybe I could leverage it somehow?
Because, while I planned to process souls in the underworld and reincarnate them as pure spirits… how to actually reincarnate those souls was something I was still wrestling with.
I’d contemplated just sending souls up to the sky without a second thought, but finding a way to send souls from the bottom of the underworld wasn’t going to be a cakewalk.
Each layer was significant in size too; it would take an ordinary human walking nonstop for seven days just to reach the next layer.
Maybe if I could create a space connecting the underworld and this whale, soul processing would become easier?
Of course, first things first—I need to be able to communicate with this cloud whale.
While continuing to build the underworld, I made repeated attempts to chat with the cloud whale.
All the cloud whale could manage were sounds similar to animal cries. Its intelligence was about on par with a newborn since it was composed of pure, unblemished souls.
But hey, that makes sense! Since the souls making up this cloud whale were totally pure and untouched spirits, they haven’t even been born yet.
So it makes total sense for the cloud whale not to be able to talk.
If it could, things would surely be easier, but with its animal-level smarts, there’s really nothing to be done.
I kept chitchatting with the cloud whale using GodTalk while focusing on making the underworld.
No, wait a minute.
Why am I the one always trying to talk to this cloud whale?
There are loads of other methods!
This cloud whale is a god formed by a massive gathering of souls that has gained faith.
And that faith comes from humans.
If I can steer that faith, maybe I can reshape this whale into something more appropriate?
Like… a god that floats above, spreading new life across the world…
Hmm… Zeus?
Nope, that’s a bit far-fetched. I can’t compare a cloud whale that just scatters souls everywhere to the biggest playboy in mythology.
If this whale had intelligence and could read my mind… it wouldn’t be weird if it straight-up grabbed me by the collar!
The only thing it shares with Zeus is that it exists in the sky while spreading new life!
Anyway, I can probably steer the faith directed toward this cloud whale using humans.
Like turning it into a deity that blesses people with new children!
I bet that’s a better story than just some whale floating around aimlessly with no brain!
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