I awoke to find myself relaxing in the arms of what could only be described as a beautiful elf maiden, while soaking naked in the pool. “You? Who are you?” Somehow, the girl looked vaguely familiar, though I was certain I’d never seen her before.
“I’m the one you call Casper. I thought you might find this form more pleasing?” Smiling warmly, the naked elf girl gently stroked my head, as Casper’s soft feminine voice entered my mind. It took several moments for me to make the connection that one was the same as the other – this elf is Casper!!
“Is this better,” Casper asked, “or would you prefer me to take a different form? One with larger breasts perhaps, since you seem to enjoy those?”
“You’re fine.” Forcing myself to sit up, I stood and walked several feet to the side, before sitting back down and relaxing against the edge of the pool, out of Casper’s reach. “You can look however you want – I don’t even mind your first form,” I assured her. “I was simply startled to see someone who looks like you do.” Hell, I’ve never even seen pictures which look like she does – and yet, somehow, Casper still gives off the very distinctly sexual allure of a beautiful woman in heat!
“Are you really God?” I found It almost impossible to believe, but after all I’ve seen so far in this place, and after seeing her appearance before, and how she looked now, I find myself completely unable to deny it, if she claims it.
“One of many,” Casper laughed lightly, in my head. “I am known as the Goddess of Life, and I wish for you to be mine.”
“Umm… Your what? And why me?” It took all my concentration not to be overwhelmed and simply blank back out from it all. A goddess apparently wanted me – and was sitting here, enjoying a nice soak in a pool of magic, with me! Hell, even Moses only got to speak to a burning bush!!
“My child,” Casper laughed, cheerfully. “I like you. You give the Breath of Life as I do, and yet, you’re not boring and stupid like all the other humans who claim to be mine.”
Breath of Life? Like when I gave CPR to Laulaia?
“Exactly,” Casper laughed, while stretching out and soaking her small naked elf body out in the pool. “The girl’s life had ended, and yet you restored her with naught but your own breath. When the angels told me of what had happened, you caught my interest. Listening to you speak of your own God’s ways, and how you strengthen your children, I finally decided I wanted you to be mine. Forsake your god and become mine,” Casper said, enticingly. “Your god isn’t in this realm, and I can offer you many benefits if you follow me instead.”
Benefits? Follow? Am I being offered a job as a priest?
“If you wish to be called a priest, I can make it so,” Casper confirmed. “I find the mortals who claim to follow me to be dull and boring. I wish to learn more of your ways, and I wish for you to teach them to my other children.”
And which rituals am I supposed to teach? What do I know about the Goddess of Life? I know she’s apparently reading my innermost thoughts, as I’m not even trying to talk to her in my mind, and yet she’s still responding to me.
“Not your innermost thoughts,” Casper assured me, laughing lightly. “Given the chance, would you read the deepest, most secret, thoughts of your own child’s heart and mind? Would that not be a betray of their trust and love? Everyone deserves their secrets. I’m just reading, and responding to, the surface of your thoughts,” Casper reassured me again.
“I would like you to teach my children the Ritual of Kissing, which you shared with your servant-wives, as well as the Ritual of Seed and Soil. Though my people here did not have such a ritual in the past, I’ve already blessed your women with it, as it seems they’re dutifully performing it with such devotion. Your god has many interesting rituals for fertility and life. I wish to learn them all, and for you to teach my foolish daughters a better way,” Casper sighed, sounding sad for perhaps the first time, in my mind.
“Would you believe that the idiots who worship me think that only a woman can give life? And that any woman who gives life, can never take it? My daughters are taught to never fight, nor even raise a single hand in violence – not even to save their own lives, or that of their children! Pure stupidity!”
Holding out her tiny elven hand, a warm pink glow enveloped it and the water of the pool in front of her. Slowly, the water rose up and shaped itself into the form of a beautiful woman made of pure water. Nodding slightly in satisfaction, Casper took a single breath and gently blew towards the figure, which began to move and wiggle like a newborn.
“Live,” Casper whispered, as the woman collapsed to all fours. Swaying like a newborn fawn, the woman of water slowly stood and stared directly towards where Casper relaxed. “Mot.. Mother?” The water woman’s voice was weak and feeble, as she stuttered while staring at Casper.
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“Return,” Casper ordered, waving her hand slightly. The water-woman spasmed once, then broke apart and splashed back into the pool. “I may have breathed life into the world,” Casper snorted, “but I’ll take that breath back, if that life annoys me. Teach my daughters to, ‘do no harm,’ my ass!”
“You give life, and yet you have no qualms about taking life, if it’s necessary. I much prefer your ways, than I do that of the bastards who are teaching my so called children, now. Be mine,” Casper offered, once again. “Teach the younglings.”
“What’s in it for me?” Somehow, I couldn’t help but feel as if trying to overthrow a whole organized religion might not be a bad idea.
“Haven’t I already did much for you,” Casper asked, actually sounding amused at my hesitation. “Did I not help teach your women the language you use? Did I not warn and protect you from the blink bunny? The blisterberries? What more do you wish for?”
“Can you send me home? As you can tell, I’m obviously not from this world, and neither are the girls.” I can’t be certain that Casper will tell me the truth, but I have to ask anyway.
“I can’t,” Casper replied. “I’m the Goddess of Life, not the Goddess of the Void. If I knew how to open and traverse the void, I would’ve left this dull realm ages ago.”
Maybe that explains what happened to God. The last time He made a confirmed appearance on Earth was back when he manifested as a burning bush to Moses. Maybe he simply got bored and left to find a more interesting world to reside in and watch over.
“So your god has already abandoned you! Good!” Casper laughed happily and sat up straight, splashing water everywhere. “Then there’s no one who can object to you becoming mine. There’s no problem at all now, with you saying yes!”
Turning to face me, Casper the elf-goddess was beaming wildly, as she whispered, “Let us bargain. I will tell you what I wish, and offer you my bargain. You may accept, or offer your own terms, and we will work to reach an accord.”
“That… sounds fair, I suppose.” Am I really bargaining with a God? Nobody would ever believe me, if I told them such a far-fetched tell!
“First, I want you to become mine. Accept me as your god, and forsake all others. You don’t need to learn the stupid ways by which the people worship, or honor me. Instead, I wish to learn more of the rituals and ways of life from your realm, and I wish you to share them with my other children.”
“That’s three things,” I told her, absentmindedly, while trying to organize my thoughts. “To follow you, to introduce you to new knowledge, and to teach others.”
“It is,” Casper agreed. “And I offer you three things in return. First, I shall share my grace with you, and allow you to invoke my essence, in my name. Second, I will remove the poison from your body, which accumulated from your time within the Dead Lands. Third, I shall grant you my blessing to strengthen your spirit and body. None of my children will harm you, nor will the children of my brothers and sisters. All will recognize you as mine, and support you, if you but ask it of them. Of course,” Casper chuckled, “you must be willing to offer them the same respect and do them no harm, and aid them when required.”
My mind was reeling with questions from her offer. Invoke her essence? How? Was Casper offering me some form of magic? What poison? Are Shadow and the girls poisoned as well? Strengthen my spirit? My body? How? And what might her brothers’ and sisters’ children ask of me?
Chuckling lightly in my head, Casper eased up and gracefully strode over to caress my cheek. “Fret not, youngling. Allow me to put your mind at ease.”
“What those here call ‘essence’, you seem to refer to as ‘magic’. If you accept my offer, I will grant you the ability to call upon magic, in my name. To begin with, I will gift you the power the heal wounds, cure diseases, and remove poisons from others.”
“The Dead Lands corrupt those who travel within them,” Casper warned, “so all of you are filled with its twisted corruption. Beasts which remain in the Dead Lands for too long will eventually explode from the corruption to the core of their magics. It alters them, as it has altered all of you, and eventually it will completely destroy the poor beasts. That’s why you never saw any creature which lived inside the Dead Lands.”
“With the gift I am offering you,” Casper whispered, reassuringly, “you can remove that darkness from both the girls and your beast companion.”
“As for strengthening your body,” Casper laughed, “I can make you reborn. Shaping, and reshaping, of flesh is a trivial thing for me. I will restore your youth, make you immune to all the diseases and poisons of this world, and increase your strength and stamina. If you wish any changes to your appearance, simply show me as you would like to become, and I can shape you to that form easily enough. Taller? Darker skin? Longer manhood? All trivial alterations.
“As I enhance your body, I’ll also alter your spirit so it will match and not feel foreign or unusual for you. You won’t notice any change, as you humans don’t notice your own spirits, but yours will bare my mark and carry my protection. Demons and such may try to kill or destroy you, but they’d never be foolish enough to try and eat you.
“As to what the others, and their children, might ask of you, I can’t say. After all, I’m not them, and I don’t care to know what the future may hold. Can you honestly say what you might ask of them, when you meet? You may not harm each other, so you may not ask any task of the other which would bring them to harm – even if that’s simply harm to their heart, or mind. Your Aunts, Uncles, and cousins shouldn’t ask much – if anything – from you, beyond you simply showing your respect for them, as they show theirs for you.”
“Now then,” Casper laughed lightly, gently rubbing my cheek once again. “Do you have any other questions to ask, before you make your decision?”
Follow Casper. Teach her new rituals. If she approves, teach them to her other children. In return, I get magics, a new body, and a new life in this new world.
“You… You have a deal.” I’d already ruined the girl’s lives when I crashed into their ship. I certainly couldn’t let them explode from some stupid poison from the beach I dumped them onto. If Casper could give me a means to save them with magic, I’d happily teach various rituals of life to her and her children.
If ever I get out of this damn swampland and back to civilization, that is! Dammit! I should’ve bargained for transport to a human settlement before saying I agreed! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid, Steffan!!