“You know, unlike other Gods, I don’t enjoy seeing mortals quivering on my floor.” Theraius’ voice entered my ears as my pain began to subside. The sound of shuffling entered my ears as I gasped for breath and Theraius’ grinning face entered my vision. “Not that you’re a mortal any longer. How does it feel transcending your mortality?”
“Fuck…you…” I gasped and pressed my hands against the carpeted floor to push myself upwards.
“Now now, thats no way to speak to a God to whom you’ve pledged your everlasting service.” Theraius chuckled and grasped one of my arms before pulling me up to my feet as if he were lifting a child. “How do you feel?”
“Like I’ve had my entire body ripped open with a chainsaw and put back together with a nail gun.” My grumbling only made Theraius’ grin widen.
“Part of the procedure I’m afraid. Luckily, you probably won’t ever feel something as agonizing again. Think of it as your soul being stretched far beyond what a mortal soul could handle. Thankfully, any increases in power you gain from this point on are quite minuscule in comparison.”
“Thank God for that.”
“Hey now, no blaspheming in my presence. You should always give your thanks and curses to me from now on.” Theriaus chuckled, “Regardless, you should take a look at the new you. I think you’ll be quite taken with how you’ve changed.” With a snap of his fingers, a large mirror replaced the desk in the hall.
“No way…” I gasped as I stared at…myself. There was no difference at all! Other than the new silver eyes as opposed to my usual blue. “Theraius!” The sound of his chuckling only stoked the fire roaring within me.
“What? You were expecting something more?” False innocence filled his tone as his benign smile stayed firm upon his face. Was I really going to work for this bastard for the rest of eternity? With fists clenched, I stalked towards my new boss who raised his hands in surrender. “Now Randall, before you blow your top, let me ask you a question. Are you currently in a physical manifestation, or a spiritual one?”
“Oh.” Right.
“Exactly. Remember, you can change yourself as you please so long as you have the willpower to do so. Regardless of how you change yourself though, your physical manifestations will be stronger, faster, and far more durable than most of mortal kind. Exceptions being beings such as Dragons, Demons, cybernetically enhanced beings, and other such creatures of course. Now if I’m remembering correctly…” In an instant, a manila folder appeared in Theraius’ hands with an old picture of myself stapled to the front.
“Hey is that…”
“Hmm?” He quickly noticed I was staring at what he was holding. “Oh, yes. This folder contains all the information about you. From random thoughts in the shower, to embarrassing moments at elementary school. Now lets see…” His fingers flew and an incredible pace as he shifted from page to page. “Ah! As I expected. Other than a brief year in a martial arts self-defense course, you have no experience in fighting. Well, other than a few school brawls and a couple forays into some trashy virtual reality game that is.” He snapped the folder closed and tossed it to the side, causing it to disappear in a flash. “You’ll find that unlike those games, reality can be much more intense.”
“Sorry.” What could I say? Fighting was never an interest to me.
“No worries Randall, no worries at all.” His smile turned serious, “however…you will need to learn how to fight effectively in order to deal with rambunctious Ascended that get in your way. Fortunately, I planned ahead for this very situation!” With a clap of his hands, everything changed.
Where once there was pristine white walls and rich carpeting, now there was only cold stone from floor to ceiling. Unlike the endless hallway, this massive room had a perimeter of only a few hundred paces and a single door leading outside. Wooden weapon racks filled the room, forming a multitude of aisles. Out of the hundreds of racks, only a handful held a weapon of some sort.
“Welcome to my armory.” Theraius announced as he paced towards the far side of the room. “I know what you’re thinking Randall.”
“Do you now?” My voice dripping with sarcasm as I regarded the nigh arm-less armory.
“Indeed! You’re wondering exactly why my armory is so devoid of actual weaponry!” I shrugged noncommittally,
“You said it, not me.” With a harumph, Theraius turned away from me.
“Anyway…unlike a God of War or Battle or any other muscle-headed divinity out there, I simply don’t find interest in collecting such tools of slaughter. But these…” he caressed the haft of a rather plain looking battle-axe forged entirely of what seemed to be solid bronze. “These weapons are special. Most were even forged by Herameus himself!”
“Herma-who?” Theraius sighed,
“Oh…nobody special, just a God dedicated to smithing the finest weapons ever created in existence.”
“Alright…” Were they really special? I mean, to me they seemed like simple weapons you’d find at a Renaissance Faire. “Special how?” I asked aloud while trailing my hand against the leather pommel of a plain longsword.
“Because they are Soul-Forged weapons. And since you don’t know the significance behind such a term, I’ll explain.” He must have noticed my lack of gasping and glee at his words. Woe to me for being uneducated I suppose. “Soul-Forged weapons are special in that they are bound to the soul of their user. Nearly all are crafted by some God or another exclusively for their Ascended. Unlike normal objects made of various metals they can never be broken in any way and if they are lost, the Ascended merely has to expend some small amount of their power to bring their weapon to their side.”
“So…summonable weapons?”
“In layman’s terms…I suppose…they’re so much more though…” He sighed, “They do have a downside however. After binding to a user the weapon will siphon a portion of any gain in power you would make. It will take longer for you as an Ascended to grow in power, but your weapon will grow along with you.”
“If you don’t mind me asking…” I began as I poked at what looked to be some sort of crossbow, though far smaller than the ones I’d seen in the history books. “How exactly did you come to acquire these oh so amazing items of great power?”
“Your mockery is as clear as your ignorance.” Theraius rolled his eyes, “But I supposed a brief lecture in morality is in store.” He cleared his throat. “Some Gods are good and focus on helping and saving mortals or otherwise leaving them alone. Others are evil and seek to manipulate, sacrifice, torture, and commit other nasty bits of business. And then there are ones such as myself who are neither good nor evil. As a neutral party, sometimes Gods petition me for help and promise rewards in return for the assistance of my Ascended. These are just some of those rewards given as payment for services rendered.”
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“So sometimes I’ll be required to save a village…and other times I’ll be required to kill innocent people?” I couldn’t help but grind my teeth at the thought of hurting innocents.
“Yes.” Theraius said simply. “Best kick personal feelings of morality to the curb while you’re ahead Randall. Sometimes an oath made will require you to do something you find very distasteful. Such is the way of being among my Ascended.”
“And if I refuse?”
“If you refuse…the pain from becoming my Ascended will prove to be but a drop in the bucket compared to what you will suffer.” He spoke in a low tone, but his words spoke volumes of what would be required of me. Just what had I gotten myself into?
“You said I wouldn’t feel something as painful as that again.”
“Correction. I said probably. This is that probably. Defy my orders and you will regret it.” He shrugged, “But I am not without mercy. If you truly find something distasteful, I can always send another to do the job. But if all other of my agents are busy, and most are, you’ll be required to do your duty as promised.”
“I see.” I sighed. I didn’t like this. “Then what if you simply don’t accept requests that force us to do those kinds of things?”
“Sometimes the choice isn’t as easy as that, Randall.” Theraius grumbled. “In some worlds, Evil reigns supreme. And in those places, it wouldn’t take much effort to snuff out any sort of foothold I have in them. As a God, losing any significant amount of power is a rather…agonizing process. And by extension, when I feel great pain, so too will you and all my Ascended. Only a small echo of the real thing…but pain nonetheless.”
“Jeeze…thats some heavy shit Theraius.” The God merely smiled at me with a shrug of his shoulders. “Not to mention, you’re dolling out a lot of information to a complete rookie such as myself. Do you tell all this to all your other Ascended?”
“Indeed.” He nodded.
“Why?”
“Trust is a two way street Randall. You can’t take any without giving some first.” He clapped his hands together before beginning to rub them in a rather nervous manner. “Now enough with this heavy talk of things to come far, far later on down the line. You should really choose a weapon that catches your eye, as it’ll be one you’ll use for a long, long time.”
“Alright…but this won’t be the last time the two of us have words about this.” Theraius merely bowed his head in acceptance of my words.
‘Right, something that I’ll use for a long time…’ I pondered my options as I looked over the various weapons. A pair of long swords, a trio of hand-axes, a single battle-axe, some sort of two-handed sword, a mace, and a massive maul all forged from solid bronze all hung limp upon their racks. Meanwhile, a pair of bows and the single crossbow I had been poking at were made from some indistinct wood beyond my ability to identify. Wood was wood.
“One last question before I pick…okay two questions.” I chuckled at my wandering mind.
“Go ahead.”
“Why are all these weapons so…medieval?”
“A simple question with a rather lengthy explanation involved. But I’ll surmise best I can since we really have a schedule to keep. In short, not all societies advance to the point of interstellar travel like your own world is close to achieving. Sometimes certain breakthroughs just aren’t achieved for reasons unknown and societies stagnate. Some races just aren’t clever enough to ask questions such as why certain things are certain ways. Worlds that develop to the point of interstellar travel are just a small, small fraction of the total that exists. These weapons are created as such to better reflect what they’ll be used most often in.”
“Interesting. Sad, but interesting. As for my second question…I can only pick one right?” Better to ask and be thought as greedy than to take and be confirmed as such.
“Technically, no. But bonding with more than one weapon will slow your growth to the point where your it could be measured in centuries rather than mere years.”
“Alright, then.” I sighed. Doing tasks for centuries just for a slight increase of power was not something I would put up with. “I’ll take this one.” I spoke simply as I picked up the wooden crossbow. I remember being fascinated with the weapons when I took a course in Medieval Warfare back in my college days as fun course for some easy credits. Powerful enough to puncture through armor from a long range and it’s ease of use made it deadly on the battlefield.
Not to mention I was more comfortable staying far away from my targets than fighting them in close range.
“As you wish.” Theraius spoke with a smile. “All my other Ascended passed the thing by without a second thought, so I’m glad to finally be rid of the thing myself. It was even crafted by Hinscallia herself in fact!”
“Who?”
“Oh…just a Goddess of assassins.”
“I see…” I shook my head. “Hopefully I won’t be doing any of her dirty work anytime soon.”
“Of course not.” Theraius agreed, “She has her own Ascended for those jobs. This was merely a gift for helping get her records sorted.”
“Theraius, you truly are the God of pencil-pushing.” I chuckled.
“Not the worst I’ve been called. Not the worst by far.” He spoke with a grin plastered to his face. “Oh1 before we forget, to bond the weapon…well…the best way I can describe how to do so is to…reach out towards it with your soul.”
“This is going to hurt, isn’t it?” I spoke wearily as I eyed my new weapon.
“Of course not!”
“Right…wellp, here goes nothing…”
Darkness filled my vision as I closed my eyes. The feeling of the hard, smooth wood of the weapon’s body firmly in my hands as I pictured the weapon in my mind. The cool metal of the stirrup and lathe, the strength and flexibility of the string, the looseness of the release lever. Within moments, a solid picture of my weapon entered my mind.
‘Now…reach!’ I called out with my heart as I pushed myself towards the weapon mentally. An instant later, something snapped so loud that my ears nearly popped.
“Watch where you’re aiming that weapon you’re caressing like a lost lover!” Theraius shouted in a very serious tone. “Almost took an bolt to the ribs I’ll have you know!”
“Huh? But it wasn’t even loaded…and I don’t even have any ammunition for this thing!” I gasped as I opened my eyes to see a rather distraught looking Theraius and a bolt of clear energy sticking into one of the empty weapon racks. An instant later, the bolt dissipated entirely.
“Yeah well with your hands all over that thing you most certainly did load it. Besides, like the bows back there, it fires projectiles formed of your own spiritual energy. Ammo is hardly a concern to you.” He harumphed and shook his head in clear exasperation. “Regardless, congratulations on bonding your weapon. May it serve you well, so on and so forth.”
“Sorry Theraius, I never knew I was such a quick trigger.”
“Hah! Well, I’ll suppose I’ll let bygones be bygones. Now let us be off as time waits for no man and your training needs to begin immediately!” Without waiting for a response, he clapped his hands twice and my surroundings shifted once more.