A Theory on Godhood: An Overlord Story

Chapter 31: Endless Labyrinth

The Academy of Secretorum Hermetis, one day after arrival

Nfirea was fidgeting in the chair of the room he'd been given, unable to soothe his nerves after having met with his new "teachers", the mysterious trio that they were. He hadn't much of a chance to talk with them before he was whisked away by servants of theirs, taken to the place where he would be sleeping and studying in for the foreseeable future.

At first, he wasn't sure what exactly he was looking at, seeing blobs of a murky, shapeless substance pool around their feet and gathering themselves in a sizable puddle. Once they reached an appropriate size, they rose up, taking shape before his eyes into something both familiar and completely alien.

Two of them had grabbed his arms, pulling him along on a predestined path to begin his training, or so he thought. They were still forming while they dragged him along, color infusing itself into their gelatine, moist bodies.

"Wait, Master Hermetis!" He had called out then, "What are they doing? I thought I was supposed to begin my training! Where are they taking me?!"

Panic and his prior fears that the entire experience was merely a ruse to capture him for a nefarious purpose rose like bile in his mouth. Already, a panic attack was rearing its ugly head, ready to debilitate him and completely knock him out like it had prior.

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately depending on where it went, Master Hermetis answered him. It was difficult to describe the way his voice sounded, simultaneously coming directly from his mouth and somehow in his own head.

"The mind is the first obstacle we must overcome in our lives," he echoed, his voice both young and old now. "It is the source of our greatest pains, our worst fears. If you can overcome that hurdle, than anything else is possible, but only if you're willing to see it through."

Whatever magic that Secretorum Hermetis used ended, stopping the splitting headache that was forming. As easily as a stringless puppet, he was dragged along. He looked at his handlers then, holding back a strangled gasp at seeing the monsters that gripped him.

They were dressed in fine attire, dark blue suits, with a lighter shade vest and sea green tie. Their dress shoes made a harsh clacking noise on the wooden floor while they took him out of the meeting room. One of them pulled out a handkerchief, dabbing away at his forehead.

In any other situation, they would've been ordinary butlers, at least until one saw their face, or lack of it.

Up until the neck, their skin color was a fair shade, but then above an visible line was simply... nothing. There were no eyes, there was no nose, and there was no mouth. No prominent cheekbones, or defining aspects of the face. Indeed, there was just an expansive, blank canvas as white as chalk, completely smooth and barren of blemishes.

One looked at him, tilting its head in curiosity once they had fully left the room. Its face rippled, a wave of fluid disturbing the calm surface. Nfirea had the strange urge to poke it, to see if he could create more waves on the creature's face.

"Where are you taking me? Please, I came all the way here, I don't want to think I'm being led astray here," he tried to appeal to the servants, prodding for some idea of what they were doing.

There was no response save a soft gurgle. The pace of the well dressed slime-like creatures quickened, however. Did they respond to his request nonverbally?

Through an endless sea of hallways, Nfirea became dizzier and dizzier, trying to keep track of all the twists and turns they made trying to reach their destination. For a place meant to be a simple cabin, there was enough space here to possibly house the entirety of Carne Village and then some.