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And the moment that last invisible gaze faded, both his and Ciri's heads snapped upward. In the sky, a massive shadow loomed—the silhouette of a giant spider skittering in rage and unimaginable fury.
It seemed his [Recall] ability—the one that pulled his entire being backward and forward through time—had freed someone connected to him from a fixed destiny. That was why the giant spider, who delighted in weaving the fates of others, was furious.
And seeing that, instead of manipulating the timeline from afar, these gods had decided to intervene in person, he could do nothing. But since this great game of destiny had many players on the board, he simply watched in amusement as the silhouette of the giant spider was kicked away by two white and black cats.
Feeling as though he heard the snap of countless threads breaking across the heavens—threads of the great web itself—Gustave silently thanked Freya in his heart for sending her chariot-cats, Bygul and Trjegul, to shield him from the Great Weaver's curse.
"What happened to you two children?!"
"I—I don't know, Uncle Ermion! Up up there in the sky… it's scary!"
Studying the sky—now filled not only with the spider's silhouette but also an ever-burning pyre blazing in fury, a giant monstrous bear, a seductress woman, and many other silhouettes arriving one by one—Gustave answered Ermion while spitting again.
"Gustave spat in the eye of destiny, Master Ermion! Blasted them all!"
Flipping his middle finger at the sky and ignoring Ermion, who was desperately trying to peer through the veil, Gustave dismissed the druids entirely and began tagging every presence casting its gaze upon the land.
Unlike Ermion, his [Knowledge] ability—already boosted by his Elder Blood and the wavefunction of superposition—allowed him to see beyond the veil into the Ethereal Realm whenever disturbances occurred.
On top of that, using the new aspect of [Knowledge] that let him glimpse and understand a 0-point-Googolplex moment into the future—long enough to spot Their mistakes, like dying or falling from high above right in front of him, and to download their knowledge—he identified them one by one.
Coram Agh Tera, the giant spider who liked to weave destiny in His own image. By making himself undivinable, Gustave had essentially broken His authority over anything connected to him, leaving Him blind in the great game of fate; that's why He was so furious.
The Eternal Fire, the ever-burning pyre that seeks to shape civilization in His own image, raged as well. He desired scientific progress—but not magical progress. And now that Cintra, with his presence, had become increasingly uncontrollable, as a result, sorcerers as a whole would flourish.
Svalblod, the monstrous bear, was present simply because He desired war and endless killing.
Lilit, the seductress and Lady of the Night, seethed because She could no longer approach him. Her avatar slipped through Her fingers, since Syanna was connected to him, making Syanna's destiny blur and impossible to read.
The Great Sun, the artificially created deity of the Nilfgaardian Empire—programmed by the Eternal Eclipse cultists—arrived simply out of puzzlement, wondering why so many gods and demons were enraged. Judging by His confusion at the sight of Cintra's army and banners, Gustave deduced that this artificial deity was still clearly outside Emhyr's control.
The Winter Queen, the legendary Aen Saevherne who could tame the White Frost, had died and ascended in the process, granting the entirety of Aen Elle access to Ice, Frost, and Winter magic. Being the first-ever main carrier and experiment of Elder Blood, she was present because his ancient grandmother, Lara Dorren, was here as well.
And with the enemies came the allies as well:
Freya and her pets; Dana Meadbh; Heimdall and some of his children; his ancient grandparents, Lara Dorren and Cregennan of Lod; and his sorcerer allies throughout history—those who had died yet were reborn in spirit on the Ethereal Plane—were all present, hurling blows that made the sky beyond the veil erupt in multicolored fireworks.
Many lesser deities also joined, including Lebioda, the human prophet; Lilvani, the moon goddess; Morrigan, the goddess of magic; Veyopatis, deity of river protection; Uroboros, deity of history; and Nehaleni, goddess of concealment—all of whom had decided to gamble on a different future after being persecuted and oppressed by enemy gods and demons.
And because, in this world, the faith of a civilization does not necessarily correlate to the strength of someone divinity, Gustave understood why Lebioda—despite having a religion that spanned the entirety of the Northern Continent—had become a low-level player in this great game of destiny.
Several monster deities, eager to enjoy the unfolding chessboard for fun now that it had become uncertain and was no longer solely controlled by the major players, also appeared:
Yaga, the Witch Queen and source of all witches and witchcarts; Baal-Zebuth, the leviathan monster with authority over kraken- and dracoturtle-like creatures; King Chrum, the Mountain King and giant god to whom every Ogroid arriving in the afterlife owes allegiance; Lord Riptide, master of tsunamis and coastal waters; and Ruehin, the insectoid god.
Other monster deities, drawn by curiosity and a desire to make his acquaintance, also arrived, eager to see the person who had become the trigger and opening piece of this great game:
Zerrikanterment, the legendary Golden Dragon worshiped by the Zerrikanians; Raróg, the Undying Phoenix with a story parallel to its dragon counterpart; Tugo the Elder, the lucky troll who ascended to the Ethereal Plane after dying of old age; the Lake Guardian, the owl god who simply wished to remind him not to pollute the world; and Aesculapius, the serpents of medicine.
Finally, some remained neutral, observing the game purely for entertainment:
Gaunter O'Dimm, the Master Mirror; Sedna, goddess of the entire sea; Kreve, the Forefather and Sky Father; Huldra, deity of feasts and indulgence; and Melitele, who—though her Freya aspect chose to intervene—herself remained detached, watching the events unfold as children squabbled among themselves.
The last to join this pandemonium were the living mages, priestesses, witches, druids, or any magically capable individual, who cast all kinds of divination spells, eager to understand why the concentration of Power in Kaer Morhen was so strong, yet it hadn't blasted the Continent apart.
Even those without a Source but with magical ability could feel the disturbance, allowing even oneiromancers to dream of this war on the Ethereal Plane, so great was the Chaos that had slipped through the planes of Order due to the presence of so many gods.
But since the longer they fought, the more knowledge Gustave gained about them, he watched in amusement as the battle remained surprisingly brief.
Deducing that this was probably because they sensed the timeline would grow even more chaotic if the fighting continued, all while feeling as if every inch of their being were being slowly observed, Gustave silently thanked Erwin Schrödinger for his quantum formula and theory, which made him far superior to these gods and demons in the art of divination.
With the final strike, he saw the gods kill the agitated and maddened Coram Agh Tera, exchanging blows with two lesser deities, Nehaleni and Veyopatis, before the aurora-like silhouettes returned to a normal sky in his and Ciri's eyes.
"What in the gods' name is that?! Stars blazing across the sky in broad daylight?!"
Following the death of the three deities, he saw three falling meteors in the sky, their trajectories indicating that two would strike Cintra and one would fall in Lyria and Rivia. Upon seeing one of the stars heading toward Lyria and Rivia—his home—his eyes filled with fury, longing to tear apart the spider that had dared to be reborn there.
Yet he was thankful his rage lasted only an instant, for he saw other falling stars willingly descending to become mortal, pushing the great spider's trajectory toward Kaedwen, before gathering enough power to redirect themselves toward Cintra.
"By Mother Freya! Stars, instead of falling, are rising into the sky?!"
With the death of gods and demons reducing them to mortality, it was also time for others to ascend, for the board had been reshuffled. Coincidentally, the veil on the side of the Ethereal Plane was extremely thin, emboldening those who wished to ascend to attempt it. Of the hundreds across the planet trying, only ten succeeded.
Among those ten, he recognized three: Dagon, the Vodyanoy's forced-worship god from The Witcher 1 in Temeria; the Crowmother of the Crow Clan in Skellige; and Aucwenn, Eithné's Naiad-like counterpart from the mysterious Loc Feainn—a place he knew lay somewhere within Dol Angra.
The rest were from Ofir, Hakland, Zangvebar, and the Far North, consisting of all kinds of people and creatures. Even from the Far North, he saw not only white dragons but also mammoths ascending to become new deities of this world.
Since there were now so many gods and demons in the world, Gustave decided to concern himself only with the deities and fallen deities in his immediate surroundings, as they were the ones who would become his current enemies and allies.
Now, with everything appearing normal and his [Knowledge] ability unable to peer into divinity any longer, Gustave began counting who among them were his immediate allies and enemies. First were the ones living near his home: the Lake Guardian and Aucwenn.
Considering his earlier divination had shown that they only wanted him not to pollute the land, Gustave realized he needed to improve his alignment with these gods from Loc Feainn, since avoiding pollution would be a relatively simple task for his inventions later on.
The reason was that he needed allies to defend his family, as the Wild Hunt might otherwise target his unprotected relatives instead of him. Adding environmental research to his to-do list, he resolved that after advancing to the 8th Sequence tomorrow, he would perform a ritual to speak with them and establish connections.
As for the two deities who had fallen to become mortals, plus someone who had willingly become mortal just to push Coram Agh Tera toward Kaedwen, Gustave, instead of making connections, needed to babysit these beings—knowing they would be very weak and could die with just a push of a knife.
But considering that they had once been deities, they might retain personal abilities unique to themselves, much like how many monsters in this world have their own unique powers.
Observing the trail of falling stars from Nehaleni, Veyopatis, and Morrigan—especially Morrigan, for whom he was grateful from the bottom of his heart—Gustave turned his attention to his enemies: the creeping vermin of webs, the Lionheaded Spider, and the holier-than-thou arsonists of the Eternal Fire.
He tagged them as enemies he needed to prepare for, since the rest had already been handled by his ancient grandmother, her divine allies, and Cintra. Then, from the front, he heard Calanthe shouting—her eyes still glowing green like LED lights even from a distance.
"Druids, spellweavers, enchanters—raise anti-divination wards and seal all routes of teleportation! Move, and return to Cintra at once!"
"By the gods, Calanthe! Who are they?! Those are no elves of Dol Blathanna—and that ship… spirits preserve us…"
"Yes, it's Naglfar, Ermion. They are the Wild Hunt. Aen Elle—elves who cross between worlds, bringing Tedd Deireadh wherever they go."
"Mother Freya protect us… it is Ragh nar Roog. What in all the ancestors' names of Skellige would they want from us?"
"Not us, Ermion. It's Ciri. All I can see is that the Elder Blood is the result of their meddling. But this much is certain: they are our enemy, druid. Our enemy."
Then, with a note of uncertainty—because the vision was blurred—she added, "And so are the kingdoms clad in black at the far end of the Continent."
Turning around, she looked at Gustave with warmth. Then, her expression shifted back into that of a monarch as she turned toward the witchers who had joined the battle, and who had been protecting Gustave and Ciri from harm before her arrival.
Facing the six witchers before her—especially Geralt, whom she had once wanted to kill, yet now could not bring herself to harm—she felt conflicted.
This conflict arose because the inevitable future, in which her granddaughter would come to see this witcher as her father, clashed with the knowledge that the past she had once foreseen would no longer come to pass, all of it disrupted by little Gustave's own specialty: the Eyes of Knowledge.
But unable to make a decision, Calanthe simply declared, "Witchers! All of you—come to Cintra at once! I will speak with you there! And you, Geralt—soldiers, put him in shackles and take him to the dungeon! He'll answer for himself at his trial!"
"No! Grandmama! You cannot do that!"
"Druids! Put Ciri to sleep—now! She has no need to witness what comes next!"
Watching all of this in amusement—typical Calanthe, giving someone a heart attack before showering them with affection—Gustave ignored their side of the story and focused on himself, thinking about how to bolster his home from afar now that gods and demons had entered the picture, as they all returned to Cintra before the sorcerers of Aretuza and Ban Ard could arrive.
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References may break immersion. Just go ahead to the next chapter.
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References
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The names of the gods come primarily from the Tome of Chaos and various Gwent cards. I'll provide more details later when I have time.