anwhile, as Zhen Liu was busy ssing with esoteric bullshit that he honestly should’ve stopped fucking with by now...
"What the hell is that?"
"Are you referring to the sudden explosion, the surge of energy, or the weird feeling that sothing just descended from on high and is currently trying to probe this place like they own it?"
"Yes."
"I don’t think either of us wants to know that."
"Fair."
"But we should probably prepare for the worst."
"Also fair."
In another part of the library, Zhen Xing and Zhen Tai had finished their studying and training for the day and had decided to take a break by playing sothing called a "board ga."
The Library of Nowhere had this very odd section filled with colorful paper boxes that contained even more colorful pieces of stone inside them and paper maps that were clearly designed to be a ga.
The ga they were currently playing was sothing called "Stratego," which was like a mix between chess and old maid.
Right now, they were one for one.
"Oh, speaking of preparing for the worst, did you read that letter that Zhen Yue sent back to the family awhile back?" Zhen Tai asked as he made his move on the board. "The one about that cursed aether treasure statue that they had to disarm with her [Chaos] abilities?"
"Oh yeah," Zhen Xing nodded as he made his countermove. "Can’t believe that succession war is starting to get that underhanded. I an, we’ve been in our own fair share of battles and had beef with the main clan, but I don’t think we ever got to the point where anyone sent anything cursed. At least, I don’t think so."
"You don’t think so?"
"I an...Zhen Liu did ntion how he had the kaijin prevent a lot of sneaky underhanded shit like that ti with the Wolfe Family, but I don’t think he ever ntioned anything involving curses," Zhen Xing explained himself. "Well, except his equipnt."
"Yeah..."
As the scions of the Zhen Clan continued to play and converse, the energy spikes that they were feeling earlier beca more and more intense.
"You think we have enough ti for a mother ga before we should investigate?"
"Yes."
...A bit nonchalant, don’t you think?...
’Okay, this is going much smoother than anticipated,’Zhen Liu thought to himself as he continued to infuse the divine fragnts into the bodies before him.
When he had initially decided to wing it, Zhen Liu fully expected the fragnts to just jam themselves into their respective bodies like he had initially planned to from the start. However, seeing the fragnts unspool themselves like thread and infuse themselves in such an elegant manner worked as well. If anything, it got Zhen Liu thinking on how he could use this mont on how to make future kaijin stronger...or even improve his current ones.
Unfortunately, Zhen Liu couldn’t indulge in these thoughts for too much longer as the last vestiges of these fragnts finally infused themselves into their respective bodies. In other words, Zhen Liu had succeeded in creating better versions of that Smoking Mirror asshole...maybe.
He was going to have to see on a firsthand basis whether or not his handiwork worked, but for now, he would settle on them moving and talking.
’Okay, any second now...’
Once the last of the divine fragnts had unspooled themselves and fused into their respective bodies...nothing really happened.
The bodies before him began to slightly glow brighter than before, but they didn’t release any powerful surge of energy or anything like—THOOM!
"THERE IT IS!"
A powerful surge of [Chaos] and aether rocked the room and beyond as the bodies before Zhen Liu began to convulse and twitch due to the sudden surge of life being infused into them.
^Grk!^
^Hrk!^
^Hiss!^
From the trip before him, various sounds began to leave their mouths as the semi-divine occupants began to get used to the feeling of having physical bodies again.
Thankfully, this adjustnt period didn’t take too much longer than it needed.
The three Tezcatlipocas eventually took deep breaths and reigned in their power so that the sheer amount of [Chaos] and aether didn’t leak past this room. Once they had all settled, the trio proceeded to get up off of the tables they were resting on and initiate conversation.
Sort of.
^Holy shit! I haven’t been able to physically breathe in centuries! That felt weird.^
^Arms, legs, shoulders, head...alright, everything is here.^
^Even in a new set of skin, I feel the urge to flay it off...^
Zhen Liu was silent as he watched the divine beings before him adjust to their new bodies, before making a rather pointed declaration.
"Okay...I understand that you’re getting used to your new bodies, but please put on so clothes!"
^Whoops!^
^Our bad.^
At that mont, Zhen Liu made a ntal note that the next ti he had to do a weird body construction thing again, that he would provide clothes.
’I didn’t even add genitals to these bodies, why did they just manifest?’ Zhen Liu asked himself as a zako entered the room with several sets of clothes.
^Don’t mind if we—wait...I just realized we should probably take on human guises for this next part. I don’t think the Kaijin Lord here would appreciate us ripping apart these clothes.
^Agreed.^
^I call dibs on the white three-piece suit!^
"Wait, when could y’all do that?"
...One adjustnt period, a changing period, and an apparent human transformation period later...
After the three Tezcatlipocas got their clothes on, they didn’t idly stay in Zhen Liu’s workshop. Instead, they imdiately got up and began to explore the [Library of Nowhere] in order to exercise their new bodies.
As they left, they ended up passing by a very starry-eyed Axer, much to Zhen Liu’s surprise.
"How long have you been watching from the doorway?"
"Long enough to realize that I’m only at the edge of a very deep valley of crafting knowledge," Axer answered in a slightly stupefied manner. "I...I need to get to work and put this inspiration to good use!"
Once Axer had left, running like a jackrabbit with its ass on fire, Zhen Liu proceeded to catch up with the three deities, who were in the middle of reveling in the fact that they were corporeal again after many, many centuries.
"So this is the infamous [Library of Nowhere]...I can sll the culture and history locked away in these shelves," Huizipotchli, whose blue-tinted body was currently wearing a dress military uniform. "I wonder how much warfare has changed since we first waged it?"
"I care more about the advances in dicine and agriculture to be honest," Xipe Totec, whose red-and-gold body contrasted with the white suit on his skin, responded. "Then again, perhaps our people already got it right the first ti and there was no need for change."
"You know I could just grab those books for you," Quetzalcoatl comnted, his jade green body working surprisingly well with the casual clothes that made him look like he was ready for a day at the beach more so than anything else. "All it would take is a little wind power."
"Please don’t kick up a cyclone inside of the library," Zhen Liu begged the feathered serpent in human form. "The kaijin already get admonished for that, and I’m not sure how much more powerful you guys are in comparison to them."
"Oh that? No worries," Quetzalcoatl dismissed with a wave of his hands. "At most, we can leverage the power of an Aether King or an Aether Emperor right now due to physical limitations. You did wonders for the materials and these bodily compositions, but if we went too hard, we’d be destroyed."
"h, that’s only if we don’t strengthen our bodies like how Smoking Mirror is doing," Huizipotchli chid in.
"Fair point."
"Huh..."
The three tezcatlipocas continued to ander through the library halls until eventually arriving into the main one where Zhen Liu’s mortal friends and family were spending ti.
Due to the inn that they were staying being smaller than the library, they had figured it was better to rest and relax here instead of there.
"Hey, Zhen Liu. Have you finished—whoa!"
"Hola!"
As such, they were all more or less caught off guard as the three divine beings entered the scene and stood by Zhen Liu’s side.
"So...these are the guys that are going to help deal with Smoking Mirror," Zhen Liu said as he gestured to the three tezcatlipocas. "This is Huitilopochtli the blue tezcatlipoca, Xipe Totec the red tezcatlipoca, and Quetzalcoatl the white tezcatlipoca."
"I still find it confusing that Tezcatlipoca is sohow both a na and a title," Lythero comnted.
"Oh trust , that feeling is very mutual," Quetzalcoatl agreed with the sword master from Dozing Salamander. "It especially irks that Smoking Mirror is considered the nasake."
"Where is that old bastard anyways?" Huitzilopochtli asked. "We were hibernating for quite so ti but we kept feeling his presence pop up like a bad migraine."
"Did you actually manage to kill him before we arrived?" Xipe Totec asked.
"No...it’s a little more annoying than that."
"Oh?"
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