[The Goddess of Knowledge has sensed you in her divine realm.]
[She wishes to invite you to her Divine Palace.]
[You have been invited to meet the Goddess of Knowledge.]
Shade froze.
For a brief moment, the room felt colder than the nightin Antarctica but just as then he started sensing something strange.
A new kind of energy appeared around him,which was for him impossible to describe.
It was neither Umbra nor the faint traces of other energy he felt from the soldier he had sensed earlier.
This energy felt like when he first entered KFC as a kid.
It gently pulled at his existence, like a cook guiding his chicken towards the last moments of the chickens life.
At first, Shade hesitated like a lam that was about to be slaughtered not that he had a choice.
Meeting a god sounded like a terrible idea like a chicken going to meet gordan ramsay himself.
But then his eyes returned to the title in the message that was frankly luring the chicken with seeds.
Goddess of Knowledge.
If anyone in this world knew the truth about his current condition… If anyone could tell him how to return home… It would likely be her.
As for the fact that gods existed, Shade barely reacted, it was like telling a guy who had seen the ocean that there was a river.
After everything that had already happened to him, the existence of gods no longer felt impossible.
In a world where creatures like his current self could exist, Why couldn't gods exist as well?
Just as he was thinking about it—
Knock. Knock.
A voice came from outside the door.
"Sir, General Gerrard is asking for a report. If you don't go, everyone might get punished."
Shade blinked.
Only then did he realize something strange.
The soldier was speaking a language he had never heard before.
And yet…He understood every word.
'How…?'he thought
Well ,There was no time to think about it.
The mysterious divine energy guiding him was growing stronger cause the chicken was planning his way to KFC.
Another knock came.
"Sir? Sir, please respond! General Gerrard is already in a bad mood."The poor soldier outside sounded nervous.
Shade moved quickly,His body dissolved into darkness as he slipped back into the shadows of the room.
Just as he vanished, The door slowly creaked open like a loyal friend who never betrays you.
The soldier outside peeked in carefully.
"Captain?"muttering in low voice as to not to make the guy inside angry.
His eyes landed on the corpse lying on the bed, For a moment he simply stared.Then his face went pale.
Meanwhile, Shade was no longer in the room,The strange divine energy had wrapped around his shadow like a gentleman covering his crush with his court.
The world around him blurred,Everything stretched into black.For a moment, Shade felt like he was falling through an endless ocean of shadows.
Then suddenly—
The darkness disappeared and he found himself standing somewhere completely different.
Before him stood a massive tree.
Its trunk was wider than any castle tower he had ever imagined, and its branches stretched endlessly into the sky.
Thick vines curled around the heavens themselves, as if the tree was holding the world together.
Soft droplets of light slowly fell from the leaves, drifting down like glowing rain.
The entire place felt ancient like a place that existed outside reality itself.
Beneath the tree stood a simple table and two chairs, arranged neatly as if someone had been waiting.
In one of chairs a female elf was sitting, waiting to have the best chicken of her life.
Shade froze like a chicken who had seen the world for the first time in his life.
She was the most beautiful being he had ever laid eyes upon but beauty alone didn't describe it.
She was majestic in the sense of unique, the one and only who had ever existed.
Perfect to the extent that no human could even imagine such perfection existed.
Looking at her created the strange feeling that something was wrong.
As if the human mind simply wasn't meant to witness something like her.
As if he had stepped into a reality where he was not worthy to exist.
Then she slowly stood.
"It is an honor to meet a shadow of your caliber."
Her voice echoed through the entire realm,
It came from the grass beneath his feet, From the branches above his head,From the drifting droplets of light falling around him.
The entire world seemed to speak with her voice.
Shade stood there in a daze trying to process what she had just said.
'A shadow… of my caliber?'
He forced himself to regain focus ao as not to turn into a real kfc this time.
"Honor is mine to visit such a beautiful place," he replied carefully.
Every word was chosen with extreme caution as if they wouldbe his last.
"I am pleased to know that you like it," she said with a gentle smile.
She motioned toward the empty chair across from her.
Shade slowly walked forward.
Each step felt strangely heavy under the enormous presence of the divine tree behind her.
Finally, he reached the chair and sat down trying to be calm with his life on the line.
The elf goddess folded her hands neatly on the table caringelegance in each movement.
"May I know the reason a high-ranking shadow such as yourself has chosen to visit this humble realm?"
Her voice was graceful that the grace itself was bowing down to her.
But in Shade's mind, the meaning sounded closer to something else.
'What the fu*k are you doing here?'
Shade kept his expression calm.
"Well… I would like get answers to a few of my questions," he said slowly.
He had carefully thought through every word before letting them leave his mouth.
The goddess smiled softly.
"That is precisely what I specialize in."
She paused slightly.
"But according to the laws of nature, every exchange must hold equal value."
Her smile remained warm but the meaning behind her words felt far sharper.
'Nothing here is free you dumb piece of shit.'
Shade nodded slowly.
"What would you like in return?" he asked.
He kept his voice steady while suppressing the tension building inside him.
The Goddess of Knowledge leaned back slightly in her chair, Her glowing eyes studied him like a new specimenof chickens.
Then her smile deepened.
"Oh… don't worry."
"I simply wish for something very small."
For a brief moment, the falling lights around them seemed to pause knowingtheir master was about to drop a bomb.
Then she spoke again calm as ever, containing no meaning of the word racism.
"Tell me…"
"What exactly are you?"