I honestly wasn't sure what to do now… Even though I was given a few days to think about it… What was I even hesitating about?
I suppose most of this was just me being worried about the fact that my life would be changing quite drastically once I accepted this role as a Mortal God.
I stayed up late just to do some research on Mortal Gods and what they were like, though most of what I found was already common knowledge.
From what I already know, these portals are basically gateways to other Worlds and Earth wasn't even the first World to experience the Anomalies trying to invade us.
It's ironic that our first contact with an alien species wasn't through space exploration but through a magical portal opening out of nowhere.
I was only just vaguely aware of the details before but now that I was reading more about it, it felt like something straight out of a fantasy story.
While reading through some publications about the history of Anomalies, my phone vibrated beside me.
I picked it up to see it was Dan messaging me.
'You still up?'
I quickly typed out a reply, 'Yes, still up. Why?'
I saw the blue coloured tick mark appear on my message right before my phone started to ring.
My finger swiped across the screen and tapped on the loudspeaker button before placing it on the desk.
"Yo, what's up?" I greeted Dan.
"Mmm… Just bored. Family's asleep but I'm not sleepy yet. You gaming now? Still playing that MMO?"
"No. Just reading."
"About what? Is it interesting?"
I paused, wondering how much I should tell Dan about my situation.
I let out a breath, "About Mortal Gods."
"Oh yeah! Did you see the news? Didn't that happen near you?"
I paused, "See what?"
"What? You don't know?! A portal opened up in the park near your house! And apparently it immediately led to a Rift Breakout and Anomalies were crawling out of it!"
Ah… So he knows about it too.
I scratched my cheek, "What happened then?"
"Some glowing guy appeared and killed all the Anomalies before flying into the portal. They said there was lightning and fire all around during the fight and the portal closed afterwards. There are already comments that it might be a new Mortal God! Can you imagine? Our country having a new Mortal God of our own? That's some really big news!!"
I shrugged, "How do they even know that it's a Mortal God? Could just be some random Vanguard that just happened to be there."
"Pfft, if there's any Vanguard that could do what that guy did, they would already be famous! Isn't that why you're looking up Mortal Gods too?"
"Hmm… I suppose…"
I could practically imagine him smirking on the other side of the call, "Oh, could it be? Are you intending to sign up as a Guardian?"
I sighed, deciding I might as well just tell part of the truth.
"I might be, actually."
"Ha! I knew it! So you're trying to figure out how to act in front of the new Mortal God, right? Well I can tell you that unless that guy has the same kind of thinking as you, you would probably have a bad time!'
I frowned, "How so?"
"Most of them let that power and authority get to their heads and they become really arrogant, thinking that they're some hot shit for a power that was literally just given to them and not earned."
I paused, "What if… I told you that I am the new Mortal God?"
He let out a bark of laughter, "Hahaha! If you are the new Mortal God, then I'll gladly be your shield bro! Because we both know you'd be fucked without me!"
I rolled my eyes, "Sure, sure. I will make sure to tell the MAM to kidnap you as my first order as a Mortal God and make you one of my Guardians whether you like it or not."
"Ha! You wouldn't even need to kidnap me, I'd just show up banging on your door myself!"
I chuckled, feeling some of my tension bleed out as I got comfortable with the usual banter I would have with Dan.
He then got serious, "So what are you looking for specifically? The process of applying to be a Guardian?"
"No, I'm just looking at the history of the rifts and Anomalies."
"Huh? What's there to look at? We all know that they're monsters looking to eradicate life on the planet, right? And through the mana in those rifts, the people in that world will awaken and gain powers."
"Yes, I know that."
He then chuckled, "Haha! I know now! You're hoping that some cute girl from another world will also be your fellow Guardian, right? Too bad though, I don't think the Mortal God would be happy that his Guardians don't only pay attention to him!"
"More like wondering if we would even have people from another World as Guardians. Isn't it common knowledge that people from our World awakened stronger powers than people from those other Worlds? That's why the people who come to our World are basically refugees because they can't defend their own World from the Anomalies and are forced to flee."
"That's true for the average person, but they also have strong individuals from their world. Some of them might even be just a step below our Mortal Gods in power."
Yeah… I read about that too. The people from other Worlds also awakened powers as well but for some reason, people from Earth awakened stronger abilities than people from other Worlds on average.
But in return, while the people from other Worlds only turn into Anomalies upon death, people from our World are susceptible to be corrupted by the miasma and turn into Anomalies even while alive.
The only people who are immune are, of course, Mortal Gods.
That's why there's an open secret that they are trying to see if children sired by a union between people from our World and the people from other Worlds might result in children that possess power levels of our World and also the immunity to the miasma from the people of other Worlds.
Since the oldest child between such a union was barely five years old, we still have a long way to go before we are able to see the results.
"So… Are you really going to be a Guardian?" Dan asked, his voice serious to show that he was expecting a genuine answer this time.
I sighed, "If there really is a Mortal God… I suppose I will have to head down to the MAM myself. But honestly… I doubt that they would accept me as a Guardian anyway."
It was technically not a lie but of course, I wasn't telling him the whole truth either.
To be honest, I would definitely want to have someone I know with me instead of people who are total strangers.
But if I know anything about Mortal Gods, they would be involved in especially dangerous expeditions so I wouldn't want to put him in danger.
He chuckled, "Haha, let me know if you are going then. You're not leaving me behind and becoming a Guardian on your own."
"I'll think about it."
"Hmmm… Any plans for tomorrow then?"
"Not really… I was planning to take a few days off after that expedition. We're quite fortunate that it went as well as it did."
"Yeah. I was expecting it to last three days at least. But we're lucky that the Gatekeeper was so easy to find and there weren't as many Anomalies as we feared."
That's true.
It wouldn't be surprising for an expedition to take several days to complete, even at the lower danger levels. That's why we could be considered fortunate that the previous expedition we went on went as it did.
We were fortunate in the sense that this meant the rift was quite safe and we weren't in a lot of danger. The unfortunate part was the fact that we won't get paid more for working several days in a row.
I let out a yawn, "Phew… I think that's it for me tonight. I'm calling it a night."
"That's surprising. Usually you would be up later than this."
"Give me a break. My sis has been bugging me even more these few days for some reason "
"Well, she's going to university soon, isn't she? She's probably thinking that she would have less time to spend with her dear older brother once her classes start."
I was going to say that it wasn't like I was going anywhere before I stopped myself.
Once I accepted my role as a Mortal God, I would definitely have less time to spend with my sister.
I guess… For these few days that I was given, I should just spend it with my family as much as possible.
…
Why does it feel like I'm preparing for my own death? Tsk… Let's just see it as me preparing to go on a long trip instead.