There was no time to waste. I began scavenging through what remained of the houses. Although most of what I could have taken with me burned in the fire, there were still a few objects left unburnt. Luckily I found a few daggers that were in decent shape, but sadly most of the clothing was lost in the flames. I somehow managed to find a coat that, although sustained some damage, was still usable. Other than that, everything I had to wear was the clothes on me.

Luckily the fire revealed a secret stash in one of the houses. Inside were some gold coins, a battered backpack, and the owner’s will. He was going to leave everything to his children in the unfortunate event of dying. Ironically, he was the one who killed them instead. I couldn’t bring myself to imagine how one would enact such an atrocious act as murdering your own children, but I guess faith comes first. “-Love God before all, even your family-”, huh. I guess my village truly did live by that saying.

After making sure I had found enough gold, even though you can never truly have enough, and storing everything else I found in the backpack from the stash, I decided to make my way to the closest nearby village. My father often sent me there to sell our products, so I was familiar with the path. It wasn’t far either, perhaps a few hours by foot. Taking my first few steps outside the village made me take one last look at it. It made me chuckle because I realized that there was no village to look back to. It was a sad chuckle, the kind that makes you question your life and all the events that brought you to this point. But there was nothing I would obtain from staying here anymore. Maybe except frostbite.

Traveling to the neighboring village was uneventful, yet slow. It recently snowed and the road was not cleared yet. The hot flames of last night seemed as though a distant memory now that I was surrounded by the harsh winter cold. Even so, I kept going forward at a steady pace. By noon I had passed the village’s gates and entered an old Inn called “The Traveler’s Hearth”. I used to come here with my father all the time when we had business in this village. Thankfully the innkeeper hadn’t noticed my entrance so I chose a chair where I could sit with my back to him.

A waitress soon came to take my order and I ordered some of the Inn’s seasonal specialty - Rabbit Stew. As I waited eagerly for my well-deserved meal, I managed to overhear two men mentioning my village.

“... I hear it’s been burned to the ground,” the first man said.

News traveled faster than I did I guess.

“Rumor says the Black Pirates did it... I don’t find that hard to believe considering their reputation.”

“I’ve heard a different theory which I somehow find more plausible. That village was notorious for being inhabited by the last worshippers of some unimportant God. Apparently it was prophesized in their holy book that their Champion would be chosen yesterday or something. Most people think that he went mad and torched the town.”

“I find that far fetched,” scoffs the first man.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“Is it? Champions of Gods can be crazy powerful, even if its a lesser God.”

“Maybe, maybe not. Perhaps time will tell.”

After that, they changed the subject and I lost interest, especially since the waitress arrived with my stew. Or so I thought, but a pretty, young lady made herself comfortable in the seat in front of me instead.

“Hello there.”

“Umm, hello?” I answer visibly confused.

“You seem down. What’s wrong?”

“I don’t see why that concerns you,” I said warily.

“Oh but it does!” she exclaimed with a hurt expression.

“How so?”

“Because I could always cheer you up, you know?” she winked.

I finally caught her drift and was quick to dismiss it.

“Thank you for your concern, but that won’t be necessary.”

“Oh… pity. Perhaps you’d want to play a little game with me instead?”

“A game?” I asked skeptically.

“Yes! It’s the least you can do after turning down my generous offer!”

“Generous?... Fine, I guess we can play your game.” I sighed. "Nothing better to do anyway."

“Wonderful! Alright, here’s how it’s going to play out.” She takes out a gold coin and holds it between her fingers for me to see. “I am going to be putting this coin in one of my hands. You’ll have to guess in which one it is. If you win, you get the coin. If I win … you buy me a drink. Sound fair?”

“When did this turn into a bet?” I raise an eyebrow.

“Is it ever any fun if it’s not a bet?” she winks again.

I find myself sighing again.

“Alright fine.”

“Great! Let’s start then”

She proceeds to simply close her right hand around the coin and stretch her arms towards me, all right in front of me.

“Uhhhh…”

“Is something wrong?” she smiles.

I stay silent and mentally shake my head. This must be some kind of mind game. She wants to make me think that there’s no way she would just show me which hand she put the coin in and make me choose the other one out of sheer disbelief. But there’s no way she could have moved the coin, I had my eyes on it the entire hand.

“It’s in your right hand.”

She feigns a disappointed look and opens her fists revealing an empty right palm and perfectly round coin in the other.

“How did you…”

“Sorry bud, you guessed wrong. Guess you owe me a drink now, ey?” she interrupted.

“I suppose I do.”

I barely managed to get the last word out as the tavern’s doors flung open to allow four identically dressed men strut right in.

“Acolytes of Luto.”

Confused for a second, I realized it was the girl I just lost the bet against that just spoke. Despite her earlier cheerful and slightly condescending tone, she had a dead serious look on her face now.

“Hear me, earthlings! Luto demands your faith!” the priest roared at the top of his lungs.

“I told you not to return to my tavern with your divine bullshit. Get out, NOW!” the innkeeper growled. The priest didn’t seem to take notice, or at least he did not care.

“Luto, God of earth and crops, is willing to bless you and your harvests in exchange for a measly few gold coins in his name! His shrine awaits your offerings! If you do not know where to find it, do not refrain fro-” he stopped abruptly, looking straight at me, wide-eyed.

“You… you are Luxor’s… kill him!”

Well, fuck. This is definitely not what I had anticipated when I walked into this tavern.