Gluttony

The New World, United Nations, Haven, Fortress Singapore, Conference Room

Everyone was quiet in the room as they watched and listened to the ongoing conversation on the display screen. In the image, a small doll like child wearing an old oversized uniform coat sat with her feet dangling off the chair with her tiny hands held onto a mug of beverage. The girl finished the drink and held out the mug with both hands to Magister Thorn at the side as if asking for more.

"Do you recall anything else?" Magister Thorn asked as he took the mug and handed it over to another person to have it refilled with more soda juice.

The girl shook her head, strands of curly golden hair poking out from the sides of the large beret on her head. "Dak... dakkness an... cold!"

She reached to accept the refilled mug and happily slurped the sweet drink only pausing to add, "Many many lights! Wakey here!"

Dr. Sharon at this point stood up and paused the video on the screen. She had a frown on her face as she said, "This was sent to us an hour ago from onboard the UNS Vengeance. As you all have seen the earlier two footage of the dungeon core meltdown and the sphere of lights, I am sure everyone has come to the conclusion that these events are linked."

"Somehow or rather, our... goblins... have managed to summon an astral being over from somewhere," Dr. Sharon said. "As we had once theorized that Gods are powered by faith... I think the goblins' new religion... The Faith of Superior Firepower... has brought in a God..."

"As to how this could have happened," Dr. Sharon ignored the commotion that broke out among the officers in the meeting. "I, Magister Thorn and a few senior mages and researchers have come to the idea that the dungeon core is some kind of catalyst of power..."

"As you all know, a dungeon core has the ability to create living matter out of magic..." Dr. Sharon said. "This is already going against the laws of physics. But... even with using magic to explain how a dungeon core works, is also something that is hard to do so."

"Magic requires mana to function, but a dungeon core can create mana just by itself!" Dr. Sharon switched the display to show a blown up image of the pyramid shaped dungeon core. "According to Magister Thorn, this would be similar to how a person could generate mana, but the amount of mana generated by the dungeon core is millions of times the amount a person can ever do so!"

"So it is like how we generate body heat?" Someone asked.

"Yes... But the similarities end there!" Dr. Sharon said. "We eat food to power our bodies. But the dungeon core clearly has no such need!"

"Could it be like some kind of nuclear material?" Another person suggested. "It decays and gives out energy?"

"No... We ran some tests before and our findings came out as nothing," Dr. Sharon explained. "Nor do we know what is it made out of. Our equipment can't identify the material nor its origin. The only theory we now have is that a dungeon core is something not from the mortal universe!"

"So you are saying its from another... dimension?" Captain Blake asked in a surprised tone.

Dr. Sharon nodded. "That is the only conclusion we can come out with. And this incident further proves our theory."

"I suspect that the dungeon core is made from some... Godly divine stuff..." Dr. Sharon explained clumsily. "It explains why it does not follow the laws of magic in this world and also how... It could create a God with nothing but the faith of some goblins..."

"This is all just guesswork..." Dr. Sharon added. "We totally do not know if this is true or have any way to test it..."

"Thank you, Dr. Sharon," Captain Blake said as he gestured for the lights to come on. "Now, the problem is this... God... How do we deal with it and is it a good thing or a bad thing for us?"

"Sir, I think if we can befriend this God... It would be greatly advantageous to us!" An elvish officer said.

"Explain!" Blake gestured for the elf to continue.

"Sir, as you know, the people's belief in Gods have waned over the generations," The elf officer said. "Even then, there are still many who still pray and honour some of the Gods their ancestors had once prayed to but not as fervent as before ever since the Gods had vanished."

"Our military had several clashes with opponents of the divine nature and this led to a surge in the people's belief of the Gods again." The elf officer pointed out. "And in the recent year, there has been a new belief that is fast growing within the nation, especially among the military forces."

"The Faith of Superior Firepower?" Blake made a guess.

"Yes sir!" The elf officer nodded. "The Faith has taken hold among the armed forces and I find that it is a good thing."

"Soldiers need to believe in something and having some form of religion would help boast the troops' morale!" said the elf. "And now, a being has appeared who exhibits divinity and is closely related to the Faith. I think we should recruit this God to be on our side, it will be a blessing to our nation!"

Blake frowned as he considered the words of his officer. "So, having the blessings of a God is a good thing?"

"Of course!" The native officers nodded and gave their assent. "A God's blessings will usher in a golden age!"

"But do we know who or what this God is?" Blake asked. "What is the price we need to pay for this God's blessings?"

The excited clamour around the table quietened down as the gathered officers considered the question, none able to answer. Finally, Dr. Sharon spoke up, "We do have a small clue on who this God may or may not be."

"Magister Thorn had said that the being had said its name was something like Plee," Dr. Sharon said. "We ran checks through all our database and local libraries. And we managed to come out with something interesting."

"The closest match we got was a Goddess called Pele," Dr. Sharon switched on the display again. "She is the Hawaiian goddess of fire and volcanoes as well as the creator of the Hawaiian islands on Earth."

"So our special friend here is a God from Earth?" Blake's frown deepened. "And a Goddess of fire and volcanoes?"

Dr. Sharon nodded, "Yes, in Hawaiian mythology, she is known to have a fiery temper and is somewhat capricious. That's all the data we have on the ship on her..."

"So we have a Goddess with a bad temper and unstable?" Blake sighed as he rubbed his face. "I know I did ask for a God to be on our side... but this..."

"But we can be said to be lucky!" Dr. Sharon gave a grin. "From what Magister Thorn is telling us, she appears to have amnesia. Only then a few minor things, she could not remember anything else!"

"And her childlike appearance seemed to indicate that she is like a child now," Dr. Sharon's grin went wider. "This means we can teach her and hopefully guide her in the right direction."

"Teach a God?" Blake's frown returned. "What happens if she 'grows' up and realized that we are making use of her?"

"Well, I would go as far as to say making use of her," Dr. Sharon's smile faded. "Rather it will be more like teaching her moral values!"

"Alright," Blake sighed. "Than, this matter I will leave it to you, Doctor!"

"Me?" Dr. Sharon pointed a finger to herself. "You want me to go teach her?"

"Yes," Blake gave a rare smile. "You and Magister Thorn!"

"Oh boy!" Dr. Sharon's eyes glittered with excitement. "This will be fun!"

-----

UNS Vengeance

She took a bite of the soft brown round offering that the beings, no, the people here, called a 'bur girl'. The multitude of different tastes and feelings exploded in her mouth, and greasy juices erupted down the sides of her mouth.

It was her first taste of food, as the words and thoughts she read from the small being, known as a gob or goblin, came to her. And it was delicious as much so as the strange bubbly sweet fruit drink she had several cups of.

She quickly finished the rest of the 'bur girl' and licked her fingers clean, even using the back of her hands to wipe her greasy mouth and further licking her hands. Letting out a satisfied burp, she felt had not had such a pleasant sensation before.

A brief flash of memory, had her recalling she had eaten food offered by mortals before, but in her memory, they did not evolve any feelings of enjoyment. She turned to the people beside her, a female like her, and asked, "Pee wan more bur girl! Yummy!"

The female's lips stretched into what was called a smile and the female left the chamber or cabin only to return in a short while with another tray of 'bur girl'. She joyfully picked up the 'bur girl' and attacked it, savouring the taste and describable emotions in her heart.

The door soon opened and the white haired being with the funny pointy hat came in who was called Thorn. She copied the female's expression and stretched her lips into a smile before finishing off the rest of the bur girl and started licking her hands.

"I see you greatly enjoyed that!" The white hair funny hat Thorn said and he reached over with a white cloth and wiped her hands.

She frowned but allowed him to wipe her hands and once it was over, she brought her hands to her nose to sniff them, unhappy that he had cleaned away the tasty scent and juices. "More eat?"

"Later," Magister Thorn laughed at her sulky expression. "Too much might make you unwell..."

"Than again, I don't know if you can even get sick!" Magister Thorn mumbled to himself. "Well, I like to ask you something."

"Ask, ask!" She pouted unhappily, wanting to have more of the 'bur girls'. She looked at her fingers and raised three up before hesitating and showed all five fingers. "Aw wan fi- hive 'bur girls'!"

"Hahaha! Ok ok!" Magister Thorn laughed again at her childlike innocence. "Deal! You can have five burgers later!"

"Good!" She smiled happily and patted her tummy. "Bim bam boom!"

"I like to ask if you are willing to stay here with us?" Magister Thorn's tone turned serious. "In exchange, we will teach you our language and culture. And in the future, if you wish to leave, we will not stop you. You have your own freedom to do whatever you want, as long evil is not committed!"

"E- evil?" She frowned at this strange word. "Fe- dom?"

"Evil is to do bad things, hurtful things... Like I steal your burgers away," Magister Thorn explained. "And freedom means the ability to do what you want without a care."

"Nooo!" Her eyes grew wide with horror before she asked timidly. "Fee dom? Like, eat many many 'bur girls'?"

"Yes! As much as you want! Hahaha!" Magister Thorn could not help grinning as he compared the tiny Goddess here with Blue Thunder's mannerism. Both of them appeared to be gluttons for food! He briefly wondered why historians used to say getting a God's or Dragon's favour was hard when all you need to do was to offer them hooman fast food!

"Aw agree!" She quickly accepted without any hesitation. "Hive 'bur girls! And drink! Bu- bubble drink!"

Magister Thorn inwardly shook his head as he felt like he had just tricked a little girl with food into some sort of under table deal. "Alright, you get your burgers!

"Yiss! Bim bam booom!"