I rose a single hand and aimed it in the direction of Athena's vestige. The woman's gaze fell upon my hand and there was visible tension in her eyes and on her face in the form of her furrowed eyebrows.
"It'll be okay." I told her reassuringly, a lopsided grin on my face. I sure hope that's true. I thought, somewhat nervously, as I began to quietly direct the energy that idly laid in my hands.
I focused on my conceptualization of the vestige's soul, picturing it as a silhouette of the vestige. I pictured my hand sending out rays of restorative energy that gently phased into the soul of the vestige. And then I silently began to cast Soul-Heal, the most basic spell in my arsenal that could undo damage inflicted on a soul, aiming the concentration-type spell at the incredibly helpful vestige.
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[Spell Type: Healing
Spell Name: Soul-Heal
Effect: Detects and undoes harm to one's soul. This spell is used to heal the immaterial aspects of a living creature in the rare instances that such a part of a living being is harmed.
Harm to one's soul can come in a number of ways, such as the strain on the spirit one undergoes when they travel from one universe to another and are not adequately prepared to do so, or interacting with sufficiently powerful evil extraplanars, or even angering a god if that god has sufficient influence over the domain of souls.
Casting this spell on a damaged soul causes the soul to regain an amount of wholeness. Damaged souls are souls that are tattered and torn, and healing them is the act of reweaving them back together so they are unscarred by whatever experiences hurt them in the first place. Damage to one's soul can result in a number of other afflictions, such as memory loss, personality changes, alignment shifts, and even losing control over some abilities.
Base Cost: 50,000 magical energy per second the spell is active.]
The air between the vestige and myself turned a subtle shade of green as magical energy drifted out of my palm and towards the vestige. I watched with a smile as it began to drift towards the vestige, and when it reached her it flew into her without any problems. She closed her eyes and gasped in delight as she felt my spell settle within her and then immediately begin working on soothing and healing her soul.
I watched as more magical energy flowed out of my hand and permeated the air between us. And this was how we spent several moments, with me pointing my outstretched palm towards Athena and Athena basking in an otherworldly green mist that surrounded her while flowing into her to repair the harm unwilling travel had inflicted on her.
Behind me, my followers, creations, and worshipers watched this. They had confused expressions on their faces, but I had told them what I was told by the system and a handful of domains and that I was healing Athena's vestige. They patiently watched me, no doubt making observations of their own. Observations I planned to ask them about later, once we were out of this strange dungeon.
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After a few moments of me consistently casting my spell, there was enough green air in the chamber that it was as if Athena's aura and my restorative magic were competing to dominate the room we were in. My restorative magic was now not only surrounding Athena while trying to seep into her, but it was also spilling over into the rest of the chamber.
Athena's eyes were closed, her mind hazy as she luxuriated at the center of where my magic was pooled. After waiting a few more seconds I ceased casting my spell and pulled my hand back to my side. I watched as the vestige sighed in delight, as my energy continued to flow into her and heal her devastated soul.
Under different circumstances, I had no doubt that I'd inquisitively ask about the state of her soul and see if I could quantify the damage done to it, as well as the rate at which my spell was healing her. I was tempted to do so even now. But I focused on the tiny ember of rage I felt directed at my deceivers and willingly quashed my desire to be inquisitive.
For now, no unnecessary questions. At least until I know which domains and subdomains voted to try and trick me. I told myself, keeping that feeling locked tight in my mind until I had more information and had time to think about what I had learned minutes ago and process how I felt about it.
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After a few minutes of quietly absorbing the magic that surrounded her, Athena opened her eyes and stared absent-mindedly in front of her. She was gazing in my direction, but not at me. Her grey-eyes were relaxed, and I watched as she slowly worked to regain her focus.
"Hello Althos." She said, sleepily. I chuckled and smiled at her. I didn't know that gods could experience sleepiness but judging from the tone of her voice and the way her voice flowed out of her like syrup on a cold day I knew that she was tired.
"How are you feeling?" I asked her. The vestige yawned and stretched like a human child in need of a nap, before beginning to consider my words. Her response was childlike and innocent.
"I am feeling quite good. Sleepy though." She told me, her voice filled with unwary exhaustion. And then she began to speak some more, her voice unguarded at that moment.
"I am going to award you with the next tier of influence over the domains of law, knowledge, and faith. They are critical domains for you to gain strength in before you move to challenge Paimon. He's... dangerous." She said, her voice becoming increasingly tired the more she spoke. And the helpful goddess still wasn't done speaking to me.
"I... might be a lawful vestige, but my universe wasn't one with a system like this one is. Not having one of those was... helpful for me. Or... it was helpful for Athena. It taught her to be creative in how she flexed her divine muscles. You would be wise to take some time to truly master your current powers and to work towards creativity... and flexibility." The youthful sounding vestige said to me, basically lecturing me on the importance of mastering the fundamentals.
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A way to use powers that doesn't rely on the system... that sounds pretty chaotic. And honestly? Maybe I could use a bit of chaos. If I am a creature of chaos, I should seek to explore and understand that part of myself. I thought, a grin on my face as I did so. And then more of Athena's sleepy ramblings interrupted my musing.
"I remember everything. But I'm just so sleepy..." Athena whined, her voice surprisingly petulant at that moment. I looked at her sympathetically and began to speak.
"Athena, go to sleep. It's fine. When you wake up, send me a message." I told her, effortlessly linking our minds. She nodded at me, appreciatively before beginning to try and sleepily apologize. I chuckled and brushed it off.
"You've helped me so much. All I've done is help you remember who you are. You helped me learn who I am. I... am a lot for words to describe how much I owe you. Even now. But I can do something to help you. For right now at least. It's just a little thing, but since you're tired it'll help you a lot." I told her before I targeted her with and activated the "restorative" part of one of my dream-domain powers, the Restorative and Restless Dreams power.
A soft sound of delight mixed with sleepiness escaped her lips, innocently entering and echoing throughout the chamber as the power washed over her. Even my followers chuckled at the childishness of it, something which caused the sleepy vestige to glare at them, though her difficulty keeping her eyes open made it lose a lot of the edge her look would have exuded otherwise.
I turned to my followers and with a dramatic flourish, I whisked my followers, including my followers who weren't in the chamber, back to their homes throughout the universe. I quickly composed and sent out a mass mental message to the creatures I had called to my side to accompany me during this adventure.
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[I would like for you all to consider what we saw today. In the days to come I will be visiting you and asking for your insights and opinions on what we saw, and what if anything we should take away from this journey. But for now... get some rest. I think we've all earned it.] I told them.
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Behind me, Athena fell asleep, but not before I received a brief notification alerting me to the gift that the vestige had given me. I willed it away, almost instinctually, while promising myself I'd read it later.
I looked up at the ceiling of the chamber I was in and began to speak to the Parthenon.
"So... how are you feeling about all of this?" I asked, curious about how the thing felt about the strange events of the past forty-five minutes.
[Well... it definitely could have gone worse. There was an absolutely a possibility that the vestige tried, and probably failed, to kill you on sight.] The temple revealed. I chuckled at that, mildly annoyed that that was evidently an option but I also wasn't particularly surprised.
"Do you think this would qualify as a success?" Genuine curiosity colored my voice as I asked that question to my one remaining companion. Silence fell as the temple considered my question for a moment.
[Honestly? Yes. There are parts of this that are less than satisfying, we have no problem admitting that, but all in all this was a success.] The temple confessed. I looked at it curiously, my head still pointed straight up and asked it a simple question.
"Why?" I wondered, legitimately interested in hearing its insights.
[Because everyone won from this. The cause of Athena's memory loss has been discovered and has been meaningfully addressed. Your spell successfully undid the harm that was done to her, I can feel her conscious mind acclimating to the memories you allowed her to safely recall. And you gained the knowledge of how to create holy-sites, as well as tiers of influence over several critical domains. Plus you learned a bit about your origins.] The temple told me, before pausing for a second to gather its thoughts further.
[Plus now it seems that you're both more knowledgeable about the multiverse, about other gods, and alternative methods of... exerting your divinity. Before your ignorance kept you using the system. Now that you are keenly and consciously aware of other, less structured ways, who knows what divine and eldritch secrets you may unlock?] The temple said, its voice coming into my mind and vibrating out of the temple's walls.
I nodded in consideration and appreciation of the words of the temple. And then I asked another question. "You mentioned parts of this that were 'less than satisfying'. Care to expand on them?" I questioned, wondering if it'd entertain my polite interrogation for a bit longer.
I heard a booming laugh come out of the ways, as if my question assumed the location I found myself in. And then the temple's voice began to ring out around me once more.
[Sure. So... I had hoped that you'd learn more from Athena than you did. Because of that, I'd like you to come back once Athena is awake. Athena can teach you about more natural and less structured ways to use your abilities. Plus she can teach you the secrets of holy sites that made them a necessary part of being a god in the ancient past. Which they were.] The temple told me, beginning to reveal some of its frustrations with the events of the past hour. I smiled at it, and realized that my time here, for now anyway, had come to an end.
"I appreciate you sharing your insights with me. I'll be back, to have more conversations with Athena, and to learn more about other ways to channel and use my divine powers. Those... 'less structured' ways, as you put it." I told the temple, grinning at it, before deftly wrapping myself up in my teleportative aura and departing the temple and the dimension altogether.
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In the span of time that passed when someone blinked, I went from being within the Parthenon to finding myself within my realm. I was starring out at a grand blank canvas, in the form of the plains I had once practiced using my powers in an orderly way on. Now as I stared at it, I mused introspectively on the nature of chaos.
What is chaos? I wondered.
Is chaos the antithesis of lawfulness? As evil is too good? If so... then chaos is a lot of things. I realized.
If chaos is the opposite of law than maybe I should be creative. I mused, my mind lighting up with possibilities as I instantly considered the hundreds of thousands of years of memories I had mastery over and access too in the back of my mind.
If I want to begin to understand chaos... I should experiment right now. I told myself, a sinister smile lighting up my face as I began to recall all of my memories, and the memories of the tens of thousands of creatures whose memories I had copied and safely stored within my mind.
"I'm in the mood to see what chaos and freedom can do." I said, aloud, my eyes lighting up with alien joy at the thought of rebelling against the structure I had long known and unconsciously obeyed my whole life but which I now knew was keeping secrets from me and stringing me along in alien machinations.
I lifted my right hand and pointed it towards the plain while envisioning a multitude of chaotic possibilities. And then I attempted to unleash my will without the direction of any particular divine power or framework to aid me.