The barrier stands in all its glory staring down at a group of rebels who plan to infiltrate it. It didn't give Tanya confidence at all.
Tanya said to her council, "I will go first and look around just as we planned. We will communicate and move according to the situation."
The four other leaders of the rebellion nodded. Two of them are former demigods like her that survived while the other two are not. The other two are like Tanya's dead servants. They were lucky to become transcendents on their own.
Demigods or not, all five of them want to become gods. That's the major aim for banding together and resisting the kingdom of life. Of course, their followers don't know that. They don't know that their leaders have selfish motives.
These ignorant followers fall into two major categories. The first category is the conspiracy theorists who believe that the tree father is responsible for the invasion of the demons and the death and destruction that was unleashed on their plane by the demons.
This group also believes that the god-king is evil because he uses some addictive pollens to create loyalty in his followers. No one listens to them of course. People just shake their heads and wonder where they get their preposterous ideas from. History has stated clearly that the sun god and the tree of life, who are the same by the way, helped to protect the people of the plane when the previous god-king who was a dictator and mad that people weren't listening to him, unleashed the plague of demons on the plane.
This knowledge is common sense so the conspiracy theorists must be nutjobs. It doesn't help that some of them believe that the god-king came from outside of the plane when it is common knowledge that the plane is sealed.
The extremists claim that this information was leaked by the gods before they disappeared and they even claim that the god-king is working with the demons which is absurd since the forces of the god-king are the ones that fight and kill most of the demons.
The second category of ignorant followers are the ones who believe that the kingdom of life ought to help the whole plane to prosper instead of themselves. They believe that the god-king shouldn't horde his power for only his believers and that the god-king should strengthen everyone else with the demorgorg system or at least bestow them with some divine Stigmata so that they can better survive out in the wilderness.
The extremists in this second group believe that the kingdom of life should actually reclaim the whole plane for the race of giants instead of sitting peacefully in their kingdom.
They want all the available power and resources of the kingdom of life to be used for communal benefits. They want food and shelter without doing anything. These two groups were very eager to join a rebellion against the kingdom of life.
At least the first group has a made-up but worthy reason to target the kingdom of life. The second group ought to target the demons instead of asking for free things such as public welfare and healthcare. Either way, it is their fault that they are following lying leaders.
The leaders promised peace and prosperity as the goal of their rebellion. They promised a rebellion that would make things better. Their followers came with them to risk their lives for that. But all the leaders want is to become new gods and share in the power of the god-king.
They want the kingdom of life to claim the wilderness so that they can start their own churches without the harassment of demons.
The leaders didn't tell their followers that their true aim was to replace their oppressors. Tanya also didn't tell them that there can be only one god so here they are. A rebellion for peace and prosperity built on a foundation of lies.
"Go ahead."
"We have your back."
"You can always count on us."
The other leaders said encouraging words to her despite the fact that they believed that she would die soon.
She is going into dangerous territory and might never return. The risks are too high and she didn't have to go. In fact, as the leader of this rebel group, she shouldn't be the one to test the efficacy of the stealth method that their sponsor gave them. But she has to. That's what happens when she goes to a meeting with 2 other transcendents and is the only one to return alive. You lose trust and influence.
Tanya claimed that the artifact that was meant to help them killed the two transcendents that went with her. That explanation didn't relieve the other leaders. It did the opposite. It made them trust the artifact even less.
They didn't trust it more when they witnessed others dying for not heeding her warning and looking directly into the artifact. It made them fear for their lives. Now she has to prove that it works or die trying.
She took one last look at them. There are about 16 of them here. 5 leaders and 11 followers. They are all the transcendents they have in their rebel alliance. The rest and majority of the alliance are at their other base camps. 2 of the followers here are hers. The others have 2 followers each except for one other demigod that has 3.
She used to have 4 followers. But two of them died recently. So her influence fell in the alliance and took with it her voting power. It is another reason why she couldn't refuse this mission when everyone voted for it. The majority wanted her to risk her life to test the artifact she brought and she didn't have the power to veto it.
All of them are standing around under the canopy of the forest. They are waiting for her to take the step that will take her beyond the borders.