— GREAT EDRYAN, YEAR: 7294. SEASON: COLOR FADING.

  Kubrat took a deep breath; she didn’t need it, of course, but she never once stopped mimicking human actions. It was a measure to keep herself sane, to prevent herself from fading and the illusion from breaking.

  “You want me to do what?”

  “Recreate Akoni in an illusion and…”

  “I heard you the first time,” Kubrat interrupted the excited Minerva, a frown on her face. She waved her hand, pacing around the large open hall with bright fluorescent Mage Lights above. “I don’t think I possess the power to do something like that—not without the Goddess’s help and experiencing Omnipresence again.”

  As Kubrat said the name of the skill, a strong desire fluctuated in their surroundings. An invisible wind picked up, ruffling Minerva’s feathers and throwing strands of Lawruthian’s hair out of place. Threads of her Intent silently spread through the place, sensing everything about the NARC facility. Every step, every word spoken, every blink, every breath, any and all information within the facility entered her mind. A faux of the skill she named.

  It was wonderful. It was fascinating being able to see every little detail and how it interacted with one another. And, this was only the surface level of Omnipresence . Its true abilities would only be unlocked once Kubrat became a Goddess.

  This level of Omnipresence would allow her to calculate a limited amount of information and even start predicting the future actions of the people present. Usually, this state was completely passive. It was like when the Goddess originally showed them when establishing the Pantheon of Imperius, but on a smaller scale. If she truly put in all her effort, she could perhaps cover the capital and a few kilometers surrounding it, but she’d barely be able to comprehend much more outside of it.

  “Minerva, although that is the end goal,” Lawruthian chuckled. “Even I know that’s too broad a demand. We have to start smaller, such as using an interface. Our goal is an Internet, not a virtual world off the bat.”

  Lawruthian stood a small distance away from the demigoddess with Madria next to him. His arms were crossed, his scarred left hand lightly tapping his elbow. His hair draped just past his neck, and its white ends spilled onto his shoulders, having been trimmed recently.

  “Let’s start from the beginning,” Lawruthian stated, moving before the demigoddess. “Kubrat, what is the range and extent of your power over Illusion? Can you make illusions of anything?”

  Kubrat frowned; she didn’t exactly see how this would be the method in reviving her and providing her with the necessary faith and Law Points to reverse Life and Death, but she trusted Lawruthian enough to go through with his plan. Not that she held a choice truly.

  “I could cover Akoni and some of its surroundings in an illusion with time to set it up properly. It would not be instant but similar to what occurred in Starglow Valley--using smell to induce you under my control.”

  The demigoddess released some of her power, and the smell of lilac and lilies entered the air, causing a frown to appear on Lawruthian’s face. He waved a hand, trying to dispel the smell.

  “Do you need a sort of medium like Priestesses do when casting Divine Skills and such,” Madria asked curiously.

  She’d followed Lawruthian and the demigoddess into this hall, splitting up from the rest of the group to reconvene later.

  “Yes, that would help,” Kubrat said, walking forward and waving a hand as if to grab Madria. Her hand went through the young woman, and she finished her words. “But… I’m nothing more than an illusion. I cannot interact with anything physical.”

  “And if you possessed Priestesses that could work as a medium as we do for the Goddess,” Madria followed up curiously.

  “They would greatly enhance my reach and range but…” Kubrat said, looking to Lawruthian.

  “We’ve talked about this before,“ Lawruthian updated Madria. “What we need to do is find her some believers and those willing to be trained as her followers. Many are starting to appear for my mother in Akoni, and the same goes for Margret in Camilla in their respective territories, but Kubrat…”

  Lawruthian sighed. “She’s unknown. To the populace, Kubrat appeared from nowhere; she has no reputation or rapport with the people of Edryan that would make one wish to worship her or offer faith. That’s why the internet is my idea for her. If Faith works in the methods I’ve come to understand, then when a person is offering any sort of thanks to a God, they receive some faith energy from it.

  “What I propose for her is a medium, like a stone tablet with runes that specifically call to the Demigoddess of Illusion, offering her thanks to access the Illusion-net. Minerva knows my idea is to eventually expand that Illusion-net into an entire mock world where people could practice skills, classes, and more by experiencing a realistic illusion. It would provide Kubrat with so much—faith energy, Law Points, and perhaps help her gain understanding of the Law of Illusion on a deeper level. A place where Edryani Honey is everywhere and accessible to everyone.”

  Madria widened her eyes, staying silent. The craze to get Edryani Honey had only gone up since the announcement of the Path of Apotheosis, and all those above level 220 would be forced into it. People pursued levels frantically, chasing to get even one more attribute point stronger in preparation for the journey. Madria didn’t blame them, and Lawruthian’s idea was more than novel; it was reality-changing.

  “You guys truly don’t do anything small,” Madria eventually responded, her voice bemused. She looked at the man she fell in love with and the owl on his shoulder. They stood tall, gaze measured, pondering solutions for problems that she didn’t know existed. Problems she would not once think about in a million years. It was novel… it was Lawruthian . And, it was a reason she fell in love with him and all his quirks.

  “An Illusion-net,” Kubrat muttered. The light in her magenta pupils grew brighter and brighter by the second. “That is… a device to connect directly to it… offering me faith indirectly…,” Kubrat continued. She looked up at Lawruthian with those shining eyes. The same vigor she met him with slowly returning. “Brilliant. You’re brilliant. The people would worship me without even truly realizing it. What an underhanded scheme—what a method of collecting faith.”

  She immediately recognized the ingeniousness of the method.

  Lawruthian’s frown slowly turned into a smile. There was a phrase on Earth that he’d always remembered when it came to the Internet.

  It’s an illusion.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  He didn’t truly believe that himself, as an illusion became the backbone of society, but Lawruthian understood why that notion came about. On Earth’s internet, you could be anyone you wanted to be. You could have any nonsensical username on any platform without censorship in most places. So long as what you wanted wasn’t truly vile or out of pocket, you could be whoever you wanted to be.

  An illusion.

  Before him was Kubrat, Demigoddess of Illusions… and she predominantly used her powers for battle? Lawruthian internally shook his head when he recalled that first conversation and learned about her methods. He realized her scope of view was highly limited, a thing that was prevalent in all Edryans. They couldn’t help it. Their Goddess was originally one of War. The others, Wealth, Wisdom, didn’t come immediately, and a society of a war-based culture had long settled deep into the Edryan blood. Lawruthian was taking steps to alter that blood, alter their genome into something more fitting, more broad and open. But, those things take time.

  And, that was something he desperately lacked.

  Ten years is a short time. Less than a full seven remained, which meant he was gradually coming closer to that, pushing that button and setting the world on fire.

  A son’s love pushed it sooner, but Lawruthian held no regrets. If it gave his mother a chance, even if it was half a percent…

  He would push it ahead of time, everytime.

  He wouldn’t watch his mother die. Not the only family he had in this world. He couldn’t, even if that meant others would die for it. That was a decision he’d come to terms with.

  “That’s why the method is ingenious,” Lawruthian stated. He sent a command to Monday to bring several materials to the room before he continued his explanation. He partially focused on explaining it to Kubrat, who he figured was coming to understand the deeper implications without him, but primarily Madria, who stood confused, Minerva on her shoulder. “Madria, it’s like this… Kubrat, as a new Demigoddess to Edryan, has two problems.”

  Madria nodded, following along to Lawruthian’s words. “The first is she’s unknown, and the second is time. Both are directly related to faith, which she needs to revive herself. However, how can she achieve it currently?”

  Madria answered immediately. When it came to understanding faith, she could confidently say this was her domain. “She could gather followers, find priestesses and more to convert to her faith, but that would take time,” Madria stated, fully realizing the conundrum. She put a finger on her chin, head cocked to the side as she mused. “The Path of Apotheosis is open soon, and just getting initial followers and worshipers would take a minimum of 2 to 5 years. However, they would be newly initiated and low-level. The level of their faith would be minimal...”

  Lawruthian nodded, gesturing for to different areas for the personnel to set down the items brought before dismissing them. “Exactly. It would take far too long for her to get sufficient faith through a direct method; that’s why we’re going to cheat.”

  Their eyes turned toward the small pile of materials. Various rocks, metals, and crystals were all present in multiple groups at every grade, from Common to Mythical. Lawruthian continued to explain as he picked up some materials and began to fiddle with them.

  “Do you want to know one thing I absolutely love about this world?”

  Lawruthian’s question was weird and didn’t seem related to the previous topic he spoke of as he fiddled. Madria watched him start with the common materials first. He roughly shaped a stone into a flat surface using nothing but his hand as he continued to explain. His question was more of a ramble rather than something he was looking to hear a direct response to.

  “It’s the ability to wield magic and apply science-based principles to it, but if I were being really specific about what I love,” Lawruthian continued, eyes bright with excitement. “Then it’s forging golems and the spells that bring them to life. One thing I realized early on is the absolute multitude of uses golems have. But, especially the spells that bring them to life.

  “These spells are slowly becoming the backbone of the Edryan Queendom, and the population will not fully realize it. Do you know we’ve developed a driverless bus system for Edryan, as well as driverless carriages and other personal vehicles? We haven’t released them because that would destroy the job market for too many people. And, this is all from the golem creation spells.

  “See, the common golem spells can be related to a simple computer from Earth, like a Raspberry Pi. It can take relatively simple commands and be programmed for a specific function. Now, golem spells can do the exact same thing. They can be programmed and left with specific instructions and functions.”

  Lawruthian continued to fiddle with the stone in his hand, cutting it in half before laying the pieces to the side. He peered at the pile of materials, a hand on his chin as he contemplated what to grab next. Madria watched curiously, listening to his words without interruption. Sometimes… Lawruthian just liked to talk, and as a Priestess of Madris, listening was one of her earliest skills. Kubrat seemed to be in her own world; her finger traced through the air as magic spilled from her in droves, a complex rune was taking shape, one that Madria found difficult to look at.

  When Madria attempted to peer at the illusion, her mind felt unstable, and the light above them seemed to transform into the blue sky, while the ground beneath them also transformed. Sometimes she would see the ground, other times she would see something else, an illusion of what wasn’t present. Eventually, Lawruthian grabbed a Common crystal and began to stretch it like dough, his voice animated and excited.

  “Most people from this world involved with golems regularly understand that. What they fail to understand is that golems can be in any shape, and nearly any size. Who stated that a golem is restricted to a humanoid shape? I realized that very, very early on, which is why you have golems like Monday, Blue, and more in charge of this facility and Imperius College. Technically, this entire facility is Monday’s body and not… but that’s a topic for a different day.

  “A golem animation spell is a basic runic component built with Life Elemental runes and other minor runes for support. I’ve seen hundreds of golem life imbuing spells stripped to their most basic function, which is partially how the Adaptive Learning Algorithm was birth—a computer, but not. A living thing, but not… it lacks sol . Although it’s a spell past Mythical and can be referred to as a Divine Spell and can be known to be a Living Spell, it truly isn’t living in the sense of you and me.

  “It simply lacks that crucial essence… what Rasheed chased after all this time but could never achieve. That’s besides the point; what matters is that a golem’s spell has no criteria on the shape and size, allowing a golem to be anything. Do you remember those small balls I used when fighting Olvido? Those were golems built specifically to detonate their cores. Ingenious, if I do say so myself. Unfortunately, they lacked the punch I was hoping for during that time.

  “Regardless, a golem’s life imbuing spell can be used for anything you desire. Perhaps… you could even forge a world golem,” Lawruthian said ambitiously. He looked to Kubrat, his construction done.

  “Place your rune in the center. I’ve carved a basic life imbuing spell,” Lawruthian commanded, his eyes fixated on the glowing magenta rune floating above the demigoddess.

  The rune was large, shaped like two entwined flowers that sprouted from a mountain’s peak… lilac and lilies. To Kubrat, it was the most fascinating thing in the world—a raw manifestation of the Law of Illusion in her interpretation. Whereas Lawruthian, Madria, and Minerva only saw the lilac and lilies sitting atop a mountain, Kubrat saw much more. She saw the interworking of reality and how this Law found its place among thousands of others. She saw how this reality could be called an illusion to some, and in truth, that was what kept her alive. To everyone, she was the illusion, but to her, they were the illusion. It was the reason they could not touch her and she them.

  Slowly, gently, she condensed the rune and lowered it into the center of Lawruthian’s spell, the final piece necessary for the spell to give a bright glow of life. Lawruthian took the two halves of the stone slabs and merged them, but not before grabbing a vial filled with mana and placing it within. He then grabbed the crystal screen he flattened like dough, and placed it on top of one side.

  Madria watched in fascination as the crystal screen spewed white light and the symbol of Kubrat shone on the screen. At first, it was a simple 2D object, but eventually it spread, turning into a 3D landscape before their eyes. They watched carefully as lilacs and lilies appeared on a high mountain. Two turned into four, four into eight, and so on as they spread down the mountain.

  “Well then,” Lawruthian said, chuckling as the scene finally came to an end. “It looks like the wallpaper is complete; all we need to do is make an app.”