A gang of saber-fanged monkeys, some twice the size of an average man, lept from tree branches propelling themselves with long muscular arms. They fell towards their prey with piercing screams and over-sided teeth ready to sink into soft flesh. Despite their number, size, and stone bodies, most died before landing.
A spinning ax glowing a faint blue ripped through the primates cutting several in half and slicing limbs with the ease of a master butcher's cleaver. Those lucky enough to land intact did not turn to help their fellows. They were busy staring down the pre that had suddenly become a predator.
“Can, can any of you talk?” Brand said with a questioning look. The saber-tooth monkeys turned and ran without a word. “I guess that’s a no,” he said conjuring a spear in his hand. He took a moment to lineup his shot then launched the spear with throttled strength.
Three more saber tooth monkeys fell as they were pierced one after the other by the weapon. Brand let the rest go as the monster’s beast cores were not worth much. Even their meat tasted sour and was hard as stone, so he'd let them be if they learned to stop hunting him like most of the creatures in the area.
After collecting the cores of the dead, Brand continued his journey deeper into the forest just outside of North Bastion. He had no real clue of where or when he’d reach his destination. Every other time he visited the elves, it took drastically more or less time to reach the village even though he headed in the same direction.
Whatever kept the village safe and secluded could not be some form of psychomancy. If it were, Brand could see through it or at least know his mind was being manipulated. Divine magic had to be at play. It was the only way to explain why every attempt to map his journey ultimately fail.
Hours later, Brand suddenly felt the mana concentration in the air increased by several dozen folds. He was now running through an environment perfect for cultivation. Drawing on the mana at the center of the rift to Jötunheimr, which acted as the forest’s heart could yield several beast cores worth of cultivation within a matter of days; you just had to be welcomed by the locals and their pets.
He continued to through forest feeling the ambient mana increase with every step. Soon Brand came upon individuals that won the elves’ favor for however long it lasted. Most were beast kin from North Bastion but here and there were jötunn who traveled through the rift to take part in this bounty of power.
Some were truly massive in stature, augmenting themselves to grow up to 14 feet tall. Brand was the only human though, due to some ancient slight against elves long forgotten by mankind. The only reason he was aloud entree was thanks to him being Jabari and not a colonizer as the elves called the pale-faced humans.
As his journey continued, Brand encountered fewer and fewer people cultivating. The increasingly dense mana forced weaker magic users away. By now, most would feel like their skin was on fire as magic dug into them. Soon after, without the careful control of cultivation, most would start mutating into monsters like the many animals native to high mana zones like the rifts.
Luckily for Brand, his mana channels were wide open and felt no strain as he entered where was considered to be certain death. Along with the lethal mana density were creatures that lurked at the edge of his perception each one probably able to rip him to pieces. One almost did on his first visit. The elves might not attack him, but their tamed monsters couldn't help but pounce as they caught his human scent.
A growl echoed through the air to Brand’s right. He immediately dashed away and turned conjuring an ax in both hands as he tried to see what his magical perception could not. The dense fog misting the area began to move, coalescing into a white-furred bear reaching near the treetops on its hind legs.
Brand raised his weapons defensively and called out. “I swear I'm going to kill this thing if you don't stop it!”
“If I even can,” Brand thought.
The last time one of these monsters attacked him, he almost lost. With no magical defenses to easily break through, harming the beast was more than difficult. Worse was that very few beast use spells of any kind so running out of mana in a prolonged fight was a possibility that was only helped slightly by the area’s mana density.
“No need to worry,” said a soft almost childlike voice. “We learned our lesson last time.”
Brand had to fight down the urge to face the speaker as he felt breath gently waft over his earlobe. “Then do your job and restrain that beast before do it for you.”
The translucent image of a man walked through Brand’s body and up to the bear. Like every elf he’d seen so far, he was blonde with long pointed ears and blurred features that could barely be seen through whatever spell was being used to communicate.
The man placed the ghostly hand upon the bear releasing a flash as he did. The monster immediately calmed falling back down on all fours and sagged side to side looking very sleepy.
“I should get what I want simply for being attacked by those damn things you claim to control,” Brand said as he banished his weapons.
“Not our fault,” said the man. “How could you blame these beasties for wanting you dead. You do smell like a colonizer. But anyhow, did you get it done?”
“Yeah,” Brand answered. “Your ring was melted in that cursed volcano.”
“Reliable as always,” the elf beamed. He then turned away and spoke to what looked like empty space. After a short moment of speaking to nothing, he turned back to Brand. “The fairy court welcomes you.”
Brand suddenly felt hundreds of eyes on him. The scenery changed as a ghostly structure appeared around him with wraith-like humanoids inside, some smaller than newborn babies and others nearly as tall as jötunn . The translucent building was made of twisted wood grown into desired shapes to create the sense of a banquet hall filled with tree grown tables and chairs occupied with the ghostly figure of elves.
No means of light or fire burned within this temple of nature. Small winged humanoids emanated with light flew about. Brand could feel their power through the adjacent dimension he was peering into. The winged creatures were fairies; the progenitors of the fey.
At first, Brand thought the little winged monsters were gods, enough people certainly worshiped them as such. But in time he came to realize what they truly were. they were all spirits or living mana constructs like the gods without the overwhelming and nonsensical powers. He theorized they could still use such powers as a whole but from what he saw they were nothing more than pests or annoying bugs.
Like the annoying bugs they were, the fairies flew towards Brand aiming for his face simply to agitate him. If he were truly in this banquet hall, he would craft an especially nasty spell for them. Unfortunately, he only knew of one type of magic that could reach them from across the veal.
“Gravitas.”
The fairies suddenly stopped in their tracks as the gravity around a Brand increased and reversed. The few that were too close shot into the air with their wings uselessly flapping as they were pinned against the ceiling.
“HAHAHAH!”
Bountiful laughter echoed throughout the hollowed tree. It was the same annoying laughter Brand heard his first year in Prometheus Hall, the laughter of a God that could rattle his very bones. His left eye twitched under the verbal assault while the ghostly elves shuddered from the display of power.
“Hey Oberon,” Brand said in a deadpan tone
“It's always a laugh to have you here Brand,” Oberon boomed from on top of his twisted tree of a throne.
The god’s image was something to behold. Antlers adorned his head surrounded by a bed of long grass and flowers in lieu of hair. His face was young and childlike, something like a boy on the cusp of manhood. The truly strange part of a god was his large butterfly wings that draped around him like a robe. Not even his dear-like legs could compare to their otherworldliness.
Next to him, his wife cleared her throat loudly to place all eyes on her. “Aren't you forgetting something,” Tatiana said
Brand eyed the goddess drinking in her beauty through his eyes. Tatiana only covered herself bountiful breast and womanhood with thick dark green hair longer than she was tall. Other than her nakedness she looked completely human, unlike her husband. Brand preferred she look more monstrous. He didn't like that gods could be walking around in hiding with the simple effort of getting a haircut.
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Peeling his eyes away from the goddess, Brand removed the illusion over his body. His skin returned to its dark brown, his hair to black, his eyes to gold, and his teeth to the polished silver of Damascus rune-covered teeth. It made no real sense, but he now felt far more comfortable as himself.
“Now isn't that better,” Tatiana said her voice somehow more beautiful than her body. “You shouldn’t cover what makes you special.”
“Now that’s everyone’s comfy, how about that ring,” Oberon said in excitement.
“The job is done,” Brand said. “Now about my payment?”
“Oh yes, I have something very special for you,” Oberon giggled as his wife rolled her eyes derisively.
“You have... something, for me?” Brand said in an angry whisper growing louder as he spoke. “I don't remember asking for, something, when I accepted this quest, or the last three.”
Oberon snickered. “You’ve gained my favor, but it will take a lot more before I feel like curing you of whatever plagues your mind. For now, I grant you entry to our forest for as long as you may live.”
Brand drove his fingers through his hair to give himself time to think. He didn't want to tell the gods to go fuck themselves, they were gods after all, but he was angry. In fact, he was seething with rage at once again being told the striker’s oath would not be removed.
With the psychomancy rattling around his brain, Brand couldn’t act in any way that could hurt Vellia. It's not that he wanted to go on a crusade to punish those who harmed him years ago. He was just tired of having to mentally juggle his thoughts around to find a way to bettering Vellia before making a move.
“Now for your next quest,” Oberon went on. “There’s an eight-tailed fox spirit that I need sealed in an elven child.”
“Yeah, that's not happening,” Brand said.
Titania's gaze steeled while Oberon leaned forward and spoke trying to hold in his laughter. “And what do you mean by that?”
“What I mean is, give me what I want now, take this psychomancy crap out of my head? or I'm walking.”
“What do you mean by walking,” the Titania asked.
“Sorry, you don't really understand mortal talk.” Brand said. “What I mean is, fix my brain or this is the last time you’ll see me. I appreciate the time you've given me in the forest, but that's not what I'm here for and you know that. I've been patient, I've been respectful, but you two are fucking with me.” Both gods looked confused obviously not understanding. Brand groaned wishing he didn't have to check his speech. “I think you two are using me to clean up your messes and either can't or won't give me what I want.”
Oberon shook his head up-and-down speaking in a more serious tone than Brand had ever heard before. “Brand, you need to have faith. I can cure what ails you, but you being a foreigner and not even a worshiper of mine makes me hesitant to bless you.”
“Ok then, I'm out of here,” Brand said turning and walking away.
“What!” Oberon gasp.
Brand stopped for just a moment speaking over his shoulder. “If you remove the psychomancy from my head, I'll do one more quest, that’s the only deal you'll get.” Then he continued to walk away.
After nine steps, a field of flowers bloomed in his path. Brand had assumed they’d be giant thorn bushes meant to shred him to pieces, but these were soft sweet-smelling flowers meant only to give him pause. He turned to the gods finding Oberon looking very annoyed and Titania looking apologetic.
“Tell him,” Titania said forcefully to her husband.
“Not until he agrees to another quest,” Oberon replied.
“You wish to make a slave of him?” Titania asked putting on the perfect tone of a nagging wife. “Have him work even though we cannot give him what he wants. You would have us stoop as low as the Aesir?”
Oberon laughed. “If I were Aesir, I would have him chained by now.”
Tired of listening to the couple argue, Brand cut in. “And if I were Aesir, I’d already of tried to kill you both for wasting my time. So can we all agree to be better and get on with it?”
“We can't remove what afflicts your mind,” Titania said. “But we thought we could,” she quickly added.
Brand's composure slipped as he forgot the two in front of him were godly beings. Now, all he saw them as were swindlers. “And you were going to send me on another quest!”
Oberon shrugged. “There was a chance that quest would be the one that fixed you.”
“If he is still faithless after all we've put him through, there's no fixing him,” Titania said waving a dismissive hand at Oberon.
“Faithless,” Brand repeated to himself. He heard the term before, years ago in the presence of the first god he'd ever met. Prometheus said no faith came from him but gave Brand no real insight into what that meant.
“You're not the first gods to call me faithless,” Brand said. “What does that have to do with you tricking me.”
“It means you don't believe in us so we can't help you,” Oberon said as If it were obvious.
“What it means,” Titania said knowing her husband's foolhardy explanation would not be enough. “Is that you have no faith in us or any gods which makes performing miracles for you impossible.”
“So you knew I was faithless from the beginning and yet you, wait, what the fuck is a miracle?” Brand asked.
“Something impossible,” Titania explained. “As a goddess of nature, tampering with one's mind is beyond my normal purview but if I were to perform a miracle on you, I could easily remove the shackles on your mind. But you must have faith in me to do so, without it, nothing can be done.”
“This is ridiculous, it sounds like if I believe you can cure me then you can,” Brand argued.
“It's not that simple,” Oberon said playfully. “Belief is not faith.”
“Then what the hells is faith!” Brand exclaimed. “Regardless of what you call it, it just sounds like an exotic particle-like mana.”
“It's that kind of thinking that keeps you from being faithful,” Titania said. “I bet you're wondering how to harness faith itself, so you won't have to depend on any god.”
Brand's eyes widened in surprise, then he checked his mental defenses to ensure his mind was not being read. Titania was completely correct in her assertion. If faith was some kind of catalyst needed for gods to work magic outside over their innate abilities, then there was a chance he could use it for himself. The only problem was he still wasn't sure about their definition of faith.
It sounded like some kind of psionic power found in those that worship gods. But why didn't he have it? In fact, why did Oberon and Titania think they could help him at all unless they were lying.
Brand broke away from his inner thoughts addressing the gods once more. “If you could tell I was faithless from the moment I walked into your court, why make it seem like you could perform a miracle on me?”
“The quest was meant to build your faith,” Titania said.
“That makes even less sense,” Brand said. “How is working for you supposed to give me anything but a headache.”
“I don't know,” Oberon said dismissively. “It works for everyone else. What little faith they had grew exponentially in most cases. After a quest, pilgrimage, or sacrifice, most usually grow more faithful.”
“But I completed those quest and am apparently still faithless,” Brand groaned growing more frustrated about the vague explanations he was getting. “Nothing you're saying makes sense. It's more likely I've just been used.”
“I can clear up all of your misgivings with one simple question,” Oberon said. “Answer truthfully now. Where will your soul venture when you die?”
Brand was struck speechless as no answer came to him. He never thought of such things like his death or what came after. What truly struck him as strange was that everyone he knew could probably give a definitive answer without a hint of hesitation. Especially Uhtred, who thought his goddess of choice would give him a second life as one of her avatars.”
Most humans thought Vara would claim their souls upon death bringing them to her golden city of wonders where no pain could be felt and no desire would go unfulfilled. Brand however knew the golden city was not for him. He cursed, fornicated, killed, ate whatever the hells he pleased, dabbled in necromancy, and had not once attended her church services in his entire life; not that Magna never tried to make him go. Vara herself probably saw him as the very definition of evil.
Brand was also barred from entering Tir Na Nog even though he was currently peering into it with the permission of its divine rulers. Only fey and beast kin were allowed entry to the land of everlasting youth and beauty upon death. Beast kin believed they'd be reborn as whatever animal was present in their blood and after living a full life they'd return starting the cycle anew.
Fey kin, on the other hand, believed their spirits would venture to Tir Na Nog upon death. They would either live amongst the fairies or become them depending on who you asked. Although Brand doubted any fairy was ever mortal. They had the same endless well of power as gods but in a different way. A smaller infinity was the best way he could put it.
“I guess I’m going to Helheim,” Brand muttered to himself.
“It took you that long to come up with Hel,” Oberon said. “And you don’t even sound sure.”
“Well if you don't worship the Aesir that’s where you go. It might not be that bad. jötunn look forward to it. But I’m still not convinced of what you say.”
“And you never will be,” Titania proclaimed. “Even in this court of wonders, you search for answers that most would think beyond their understanding.”
Brand flinched just a bit as his attention drifted to the specially made thaumaturgical crystal ball in his pocket. It captured not only images but every magical pattern he could think of.
Brand wanted to know how the elves traveled to Tir Na Nog after being ravaged by mankind and beast kin alike. The adjacent dimension only existed in heavily forested areas but was completely invisible to most. Oberon and Titania did not create the world they ruled but could somehow move between It and the realms of men with ease. They were probably using some god magic nonsense but on the off chance they weren't, Brand wanted to know the method for himself.
“What you need is a god of magic who doesn't rely on miracles.” Oberon said “Only one comes to mind that won’t smite you for not groveling in their presence, but she's not very popular. Although, you've already decided your soul belongs to her so it shouldn't matter anyway.”
Brand was still disappointed and angry, but at least there was still hope thanks North Bastian’s many necromancer cults that worshipped, or more accurately, offered sacrifices to Hel the goddess of death.