A Theory on Godhood: An Overlord Story

Chapter 43: Beyond the Sea

On a distant shore, in an unknown land

The full light of the moon was out tonight, illuminating the world in its sleepy hues. The hulking form of a charcoal grey wolf prowled along the half-dead forest. Random patches of emerald hell-fire burned eternally, but did not spread or otherwise consume the still living portions of the forest.

All manner of exotic prey thrived in the world around him, some from his old home, and some that lived originally in the land. He knew not how or why, but many of the inhabitants that came with him to populate this land were quite weak, weaker even than the ones who battled him at the golden palace of the gods.

They inhabited peacefully with some of the native prey, but the larger predators that came with him quickly established themselves as the dominant species, with him alone at the top of the food chain. The sentient races of this land developed, over the course of many centuries, a delicate balance of being able to fend off those monsters from his old home and barely managing to avoid them.

Like him, they avoided the green fire, instinctually knowing the meaning of it and tucking their tails between their legs or exposing their throats in an act of submission. That was an aspect of the world ever since the wolf awoke there. A persistent flame, one all too familiar and foreshadowing ominous warnings. He did not know relatively where his new home was in the world, but he knew that anywhere that fire was merely bidded its time until the next great disaster came along.

Prey was plentiful, and he was twice the size of the humans' dens that shared this land with him. He had no desire to hunt the humans for sport, or otherwise fight them for whatever forces compelled him previously.

He experienced a cycle of life and death enough for a thousand lifetimes as a result of fighting others, he lacked the willpower to do it all again.

At least his siblings came to this world with him as well. He could not sense where his sister was precisely, only felt the steady hum of her life force deep in his chest. His brother was far easier to find, given his gargantuan size.

His padded feet felt the transition from cool, moist earth to loose sand. He had arrived at the meeting place, the moonlight giving a glossy glow to the lapping waves of the beach.

That area in particular was the only place in this land the fires dared not touch, or even exist outright. Tall cliffs of tan and brownish rock scaled up high into the sky, a natural wall of defense from nature itself. Jagged rocks sprinkled the beach line, a result of the edges of the cliff eroding away and flaking pieces of itself on the beach below. It would make ship landing very difficult, since the edges of those boulders were sharpened to deadly points.

In the wall, the entrance of the forest, which was barely big enough to fit him, was the only way to make it past. He once ran across the beach in both directions for many leagues, and found the cliffs to be unbroken in their density. Not even the inhabitants, in their mighty fortress cities, were able to stake out a living here, hence why he chose it as a meeting place for his brother and him.

He sat down on his haunches, scratching at his snout where a rope had previously bound it closed. His left eye was dull, damaged in his battle with Havi. A minor loss, for he had full access to all of his senses, as any supreme hunter did.

There were scars on his snout still from the burning touch of the rope, and he managed to remove the chains that were wrapped around his body and his ankles shortly after he arrived. The rope was taken away long ago, by the one who claimed the title of his daughter.

How curious, to call yourself my child, but in order to do so, you must strike the killing blow. Such is the way of an apex, to be brought low by a stronger generation.