Valen sighed in regret, If they had only known of the abilities of the beasts to draw others to themselves it would have been a different story, and hindsight, as they say, was twenty-twenty.
It would not be much of a problem, they thought, as the Great Storm would scour the surface of the planet, but with the unknown ability of the golden beast to gather others of their kind, it led to massive damages on their properties as their workers were being eaten.
The governors collectively decided to deploy mercenaries on the planet to slaughter the beast, deciding at that time it was the most valid option, and by all indications it was, and with the progress of the extermination going according to plan, especially when a power house like Dorian Kuranes accepting the bounty, it became a smooth sailing extermination, with Dorian alone racking up billions of kills.
There were even calls in some quarters to save some of the golden beasts as pets, and also to experiment on them for any further usage beyond their beautiful forms, but that line of thought quickly stopped when the atrocity on the planet truly began.
If Valen was to point out the timing where it all commenced it should be with that damned name being added to the Nemesis Plate — Erohim.
It was not the first time that the name of the long fallen god was used by locals and charlatans, it was even encouraged in order to kill what was left of any reverence for the god. What better way to make something less mysterious and noble than to defame and cheapen it.
It was a tactic used by the Empire on the many fallen gods they conquered, if it was done to its fullest extent, the true demise of the god would be assured. Except for the God King and the seven gods, none should look on any other gods with ardor and worship, after all they were conquered.
A mercenary taking the name of the fallen god was viewed with amusement, and his rise in the Nemesis plate was a subject of betting and endless speculations.
This time it was different, whatever mercenary took that name was shrouded in an ever-increasing fog of uncertainty, but his results were nothing to scoff at, he flew through the ranking at a dizzying pace, and the response Valen and everyone else expected for such a powerful mercenary was one of respect from the locals, but certainly not awe and worship!
Valen knew there was an underground network of communication among the locals, where news, rumors, and information about the various happenings on the continents were shared, and they had placed their eyes and ears in the network and ignored it for the most part, letting it exist, as it was a valuable source of information about the actions of their properties.
Numerous insurgencies had been quelled because of their hidden ears in the Network, although some unsavory members of the Boreas Family sometime used the information against their family rivals, it was something normal for a family of their size.
The news about this enigmatic figure of Erohim that was spreading inside the Network was disturbing, as the popular rumor floating about was that the people believed that it was their god who walked the surface of the world and the time of grand transformation was near at hand, when he would rise up and cast out the yoke of their servitude.
How could such a conclusion emerge from the minds of these monkeys baffled Valen, he had expected them to worship Dorian instead, but apparently the signs this man gave was too strong.
Of course, Valen and the rest had a good laugh about it, their 'god' was being used as a product—a very profitable product, and his people were the harvesters processing the flesh of their god for survival.
He laughed every day when he saw the massive chanting in the square, and it became a habit for him to take a couple of his wives to the roof of his mansion, and under the endless chants of Erohim, he would satisfy himself, and he fancied that they were chanting his name as he thrust his hips furiously in the bodies of the moaning women.
Yet, the cries of the mad men seemed to be coming to pass, as in less than 48 hours, sweeping changes had occurred all over the planet, and they got more drastic even as the name of Erohim rose to Dominate the Nemesis plate.
Where should he start? From the clouds turning red even as the world screamed, to a bright golden light that was visible all over the planet, to the battle on the moon where a powerhouse such as Dorian seemed to have fallen, who could have killed such a powerhouse? Was it the so-called Erohim? This was becoming a crisis far beyond his pay-grade!
And now that Krakow had gone dark, and he knew he would have to pay for not drawing more attention to the growing situation quickly enough. He had sent missives to the Ancestor, and reinforcement was surely on the way to flatten every problem on the planet, and end his cushy rain as the governor of the continent.
But how could he have known such changes would happen?
Valen gritted his teeth. No! He would have to take drastic measures, even if he had to butcher millions of his properties to begin enforcing his rule and search for solutions to this madness, he dreaded the inevitable summon from the Ancestor, and before that happened he must show signs that he would place things in order!
Valen had been pacing about in his expansive office, he was about making up his mind to summon all the chief protesters and die hard followers of Erohim and begin beheading them in the central square of the city when he caught the smell.
It was fishy and a dash of iron, it was unmistakably blood.
