Strongest Among the Heavens
Chapter 263: Curious

Chapter 263: Curious

An hour and a half later, Kazi was inside the elevator of the House of Wisdom. Harp music played and he whistled to himself. "What to do, what to do..."

The hundred-plus buttons on the elevator panel were drawn with symbols. Swords, spears, imagery of fire, water, and the other elements. It was very encompassing and often vague. His finger hovered over the button. That was when a System box appeared and the specific section name was given.

"Gate history...Gate history...there it is."

Click.

The harp played faster. Kazi crossed his arms, fingers tapping, until the elevator doors opened. He went through. He had been here once before and like last time it was half-populated, not due to a lack of information or books. Rather, the shelves were ginormous and encompassed tens of thousands of books. This place was simply supersized and humans looked small in comparison. The centerpiece of the section, the thick magical tree, hid the shelves on the other side.

Kazi’s left eye pulsed.

’Something is different.’

His eyes found what it was immediately.

Staring at the tree with the head of an ibis was a mighty male. Shirtless and in a white shendyt, the humanoid-ibis’ wings were folded neatly against his back. His complexion was brown and sculpted, marred by nothing and graced with inhumane perfection.

Thoth, the librarian of the House of Wisdom and the god of knowledge. Kazi was drawn to him. He had to talk to him.

The ibis-headed male’s long, thin black beak faced him. Thoth sensed Kazi. His eyes were tiny dots, black like the void, regarding Kazi with a gaze that said nothing.

"Ah, a guest." This ibis-head fully turned, towering over Kazi like a child. "I am Thoth, the librarian of the House of Wisdom. How may I help you?"

The librarian of the House of Wisdom, one of the seven pillars of the White Abyss. He must have been an Architect too. Kazi fought the urge to bow. "I’m curious about the recent announcement and wanted to do some research." He glanced around, finding people already littered throughout. "Looks like I’m not the only one."

Thoth’s black beak turned toward the shelves, then back to Kazi. "It appears not." His small, dark eyes seemed to peer through Kazi for a moment, and then the god’s head tilted, a sharp, sudden movement.

"Valknut."

Kazi blinked twice.

"Your left eye..." Thoth murmured, leaning forward with the grace of a bird inspecting something curious. "Valknut, the knot of the slain, the symbol of Odin. Curious."

The bird and human were seeing eye-to-eye, neither one fazed. Thoth was the god of learning and writing. He was wise and kind, a true arbitrator of the gods. His curiosity was pure. No malic. Only knowledge. Knowing.

And it seemed he didn’t know what he was looking at.

"Hm..."

Kazi felt a pulse in his left eye—a sharp, almost painful throb. His vision blurred for a moment, but he forced himself to remain still. "Something wrong?"

"Pardon me, I can feel something strange from you," said Thoth. "I mean no insult. I cannot seem to put my beak on it."

Resisting the urge to bow again, Kazi inclined his head respectfully. "I pray this is not an insult, Great Thoth."

"No," the god replied in a voice as plain as stone. "Not an insult, but—" He trailed off. Thoth’s dark eyes bore into Kazi’s, as if searching deeper than sight could allow.

Suddenly, Kazi’s vision shifted.

He was no longer standing in the library. Instead, he found himself floating in space, surrounded by an expanse of inky blackness dotted with distant stars. The void was silent, deafeningly so, and all at once, Kazi felt small—smaller than he had ever felt. Ahead of him, hanging in the vastness of the cosmos, was the moon.

The moon?

’Where the hell...!?’

The craters on its surface seemed to pulse, as though they were watching him. The pale glow it emitted felt alive, not like the calm, nurturing moon he had seen in the night skies. This was vast. Incomprehensible. Kazi’s breath caught in his throat.

This was Thoth’s true form—the god of the moon, the arbitrator of the universe. What he had seen in the library was merely an avatar, a sliver of Thoth’s existence. This, here in the infinite space, was the real Thoth.

They say Thoth settled disputes between Horus and Set. Kazi believed it.

They say Thoth was the author of every work of every branch of knowledge, science or magic, human or divine. Kazi believed it.

The moon loomed closer, and Kazi felt its presence crush down on him like a weight. Time and space felt warped, distorted. He tried to move, but then, just as quickly as it had begun, the vision snapped away.

Kazi found himself standing back in the House of Wisdom, the towering tree and bookshelves still before him. His heart pounded in his chest, though outwardly, he appeared calm. Thoth was still staring at him, unaware of the brief glimpse Kazi had just experienced.

Kazi eyed the shelf beside him, then looked back at Thoth, smiling. ’You’re okay, you’re here. Just...speak.’

"Have you heard the recent news?"

Thoth cocked his head. "News?"

Huh. So he didn’t know. "Gate 13 was closed."

Seeing confusion on a bird head was funny and concerning. "What...? That’s not possible," the deity proclaimed.

"I got a message. It was written by Architect Cain."

"Cain? Alone?"

"Yep. It specified that it was a message from Cain," Kazi clarified.

"We don’t...he doesn’t have such jurisdiction." A strange expression came over Thoth as though the world suddenly didn’t make sense. Without a word, the bird god walked past him. "Apologies. I must get going."

Kazi’s gaze followed him until he disappeared inside the elevator. ’Something REALLY went wrong in Gate 13.’ His left eye pulsed. ’What could it be...?’

Valknut, the symbol of Odin. He remembered peering into the mirror and seeing the symbol. Sometimes, it disappeared whenever he was lax. He did understand this much: this power came from the well. This power was divine. However, only a select few seemed to be able to sense it. Anna Roleffes, Thoth, that one man in shades, and the Eternal Emperor, for example. He caught the latter most glancing at it during their shogi game match. Never commenting, simply observing. Knowing.

This left eye of his belonged to Odin. That much was obvious. Kazi knew his folktale well. Odin sacrificed his eye into the well for wisdom. Mímisbrunnr was located under the world tree. A fixed location that could not be changed.

Or so he thought. Why was Mímisbrunnr in Ireland? Specifically, Ireland’s Eye, an island with no real significance.

’Other than its name, I suppose. Ireland’s Eye does sound like a fitting location for Odin’s eye. But Celtic and Irish mythology is separate from Norse mythology. It really does feel like whoever put the eye there did it for the sake of aesthetics. Because the name fits. Otherwise, placing the eye of the Supreme God of the Norse in an Irish region is...’

Insulting.

But also noticeable. The Unorthodox Sect were on the island as if already knowing it was there.

Hrm.