Chapter 26- Seven Shards

"... No more?" Malice frowned when he heard the last part. The sudden twist in the story took him by surprise. After all, how could gods die? He thought gods were immortal, supreme beings that could not be affected by worldly things like death for example.

"Yes, one day, out of nowhere, all the seven gods vanished with no trace left. It happened simultaneously to all of them."

"... What made them vanish?" He asked.

"We do not know. All the historical material we have doesn't indicate anything about the reason, nor where they went. It also didn't specify whether they died or not. They just disappeared as if they never existed before."

'This sounds ominous, for some reason…' Malice shuddered just thinking about it. Seven great beings, perhaps capable of things his mind cannot fathom, vanished out of nowhere. It sounded like a horrifying thing to think about. The reason for that was a simple possibility… That someone or something did that.

'Wait, something?' At that moment, it suddenly clicked in Malice's head.

"I see you reached that conclusion," Cipher said.

"... The Oath… That's the only thing capable of doing this!"

From what Cipher said, The Oath was the highest authority in existence. It controlled everything and anything, it even created those seven gods, so naturally, it had the highest chance of being the culprit.

"Yes, The Oath. That was what many of us had concluded after years of research. However, there is one single problem with that theory." He said. "That it makes no actual sense in the grand scheme of things." 

"Why is that?"

"It's because, we have piles and piles of ancient writings, ones written by the gods themselves that explained in detail how much they revered The Oath. They talked about how it was akin to their creator, the god they themselves worship. None of them seemed to have any kind of problem with the Oath. Even The Oath seemed to care for these seven gods and saw them as its very own children." Cipher explained.

"... Why would it do that if it saw them that way?"

"Exactly. That isn't logical. Unless The Oath had realized something we don't know, it still makes no sense." He said.

The more Malice listened, the more he grew confused. It felt like a deep rabbit hole he was diving into. 

"It is a mystery that nobody knows about. But, its effect is still present to this very day. In fact, their disappearance is the main reason why this world became this way."

"Oh, what happened next?"

"After they disappeared, the gods left behind something, or rather, some things. These things are called 'The Shards'. They're remnants left by these gods that contained their dormant powers."

"I see…"

Malice struggled to stop himself from reacting visibly. 'So there were seven of these things?! Why did Avatar not tell me that? Or did she tell me? Ugh, I can't remember!' Shaking his head, he focused on Cipher again.

What the blonde man might say next could be very helpful and crucial for Malice.

"These Shards were a treasure like nothing else. The power they contained was simply unimaginable. It is even said that touching one of them would turn you into a god yourself. Naturally, greed took over the people and everyone suddenly wanted one of these shards or all of them. It's not that hard to guess what would happen if countless people wanted the same thing."

"... War…" Malice instantly knew the answer.

"Exactly, many wars, one after the other, across thousands of years. People of all races fought tooth and nail to get their hands on a Shard. Countless souls perished in these wars and they are to this day, the worst thing that happened to the World Beyond."

Frowning slightly, Malice closed his eyes. Even if he tried to imagine the scale of such a conflict, he would still be selling it short. Even Cipher seemed unable to give him a good idea of how bad it was.

'Greed really does reveal the worst out of everyone.' He mused. It all came back to 'Greed', the mother of all problems. If no one had greed, perhaps this world would've been far more merciful to the weak.

"It was, for the lack of a better word, a complete catastrophe. Nations fell one after the other, and countless cities, villages, and entire regions were erased from the map or changed beyond recognition. It was truly a 'World-Changing conflict' or in other terms, The Shard Wars." He said as he tapped on the screen.

Immediately, an image of a vast army of humans fighting what seemed to be flying, scaly monsters appeared on the screen. The battlefield was burning with fire and the soil was tainted with a horrible red color. Even though this was a mere concept image, Malice felt its weight immediately.

"We were truly lucky as a human race to survive from these wars and emerge stronger than ever. In any case, after countless years, these wars finally came to an end and four of these shards were obtained by four different factions."

Then, the computer image changed again. "We were one of the lucky few to get a shard and the shard we got is called: The Shard Of Greed, ironically enough. Then, there was the dragon race, and they obtained The Shard Of Pride. The third race was the Elves and they obtained the Shard Of Sloth, and finally, the Beastmen, who obtained The Shard Of Lust."

On the screen, images of the different-looking creatures appeared, and next to them was the image of the shards they obtained. Malice examined the pictures curiously.

'Wow, they surprisingly look… Majestic…' He blinked in shock.

The first one was that of a white dragon, soaring through the sky like a behemoth. Its beautiful body seemed to shine with pure aura and its long neck twisted to the side, staring down with clear disdain of everything. It looked mesmerizing, to say the least. However, that still didn't hide its fearful presence that seemed to emit through the screen.

The second race was the Elves and they looked somehow even more beautiful than the dragons. Essentially, they looked very similar to humans, except far more attractive. The one in that image had long flowing, black hair that seemed to glisten under the gaze of the moon. She had a pair of hypnotizing green eyes and a white, shiny skin.

Finally, there was the Beastman, this one in particular was the most savage-looking out of the three. Its body was standing tall, almost reaching three meters in height, and it had the grey fur of a wolf and a ferocious look in its bestial eyes. It had a set of extremely sharp teeth and claws.

"You don't have to look at them so closely because you're bound to see one, or all of them, in the future if you live long enough," Cipher said.

"..." Malice nodded in a daze as he memorized their appearance in his head. He was certain he would never forget how they looked even if he didn't meet one of them.

After that, he turned to Cipher. "Uh, what about the last three shards?"

"Good question. We don't know where they are." Cipher replied. "After the end of the conflict, the last three vanished and were never found again to this day."

"What are their names?" Malice asked.

"The remaining three are: The Shard Of Gluttony, The Shard Of Envy, and finally The Shard Of Wrath." He said. 

"..." Malice's face froze for a second. "T-That's it? There are no more?"

"Hm? I already said there are seven shards, why would there be more?"

"... Oh, yeah, haha, I forgot for a second there. Seven, of course, there are seven. It's very obvious. Haha!" He said with an awkward laugh.

'Like hell, it's obvious! Where is the Shard Of Hatred amongst these?' In his head, however, Malice was having the panic of a lifetime. 'Did I read its name wrong last time? No, of course not, its name is the Shard Of Hatred. But, it isn't a part of these seven shards? Or maybe…'

"Mm, Cipher, do these Shards have other names associated with them?"

"Why you ask?" Cipher raised an eyebrow.

"... Nothing in particular. I was just wondering." 

'This is too suspicious, but I have to know or I will be freaking out.' He thought to himself as he hid his thoughts to the best of his abilities.

"Hmm, not that I know of, no. These are the names of the Shards as they are." He said.

"Yeah…"

'I'm officially confused now. What is going on, really? Was that Shard fake? Or maybe nobody knows it exists?' Questions kept piling up in Malice's head. He was truly on the verge of having an existential crisis right there and then. But, he was able to calm himself down with a few quick breaths. 'OK, calm down, there is no reason to panic. Avatar must have an explanation for this, hopefully. I will ask her tonight and see.'

He knew that trying to figure things out on his own was pointless. He had something that provided the necessary information for him, so he naturally had to ask her.

'The Shard Of Hatred… What is this thing, really?'