Even as he pulled her away he knew he was spent. A broken arm with gashes running through it, over a day of bringing himself to the point of mana exhaustion again and again, and trying his hardest to keep the staff whole long enough for Thera to get off her spell, he had nothing left to give. He wouldn’t be able to get back to the statue he’d enchanted before the one of Anailia got to them, and even if they could he didn’t have enough energy to keep Thera’s magic from destroying the remaining enchantment. There was only one thing he could do.
“Run Thera! I have an idea but you have to get out of here now!” It was a lie of course, there was nothing he could still do after everything else. He’d done his best and come up close but still fallen short in the end. At the very least he could buy Thera time to escape if she believed him. She had the flower so her mother shouldn’t have any issue with her continuing on trying to be a mage, and with a level up in her magic to go along with it she would be fine.
Myriad might be sad, at least Ben thought his god better be sad, but he had a few other believers now, he was sure at least one of them would make a better apostle than he had. Maybe Sachel. Even if she doesn’t know it she is the second believer he got since coming to the world, and it seems like she’ll be able to be a lot more pious than I ever could.
Still, he wasn’t completely giving up without a fight and quickly bent down, picking up a couple of fist-sized stones. He’d at least distract it so Thera could get away.
He reared back and in an almost instinctual way felt like he knew where he needed to aim, launching it, and to his shock seeing a couple small flakes of powder falling down from the statue. He didn’t have time to question it though, Thera was on him immediately.
“Ben what are you doing! Can’t you feel that!”
She hadn’t run and now was screaming at him while he tried to protect her, was she under a mind effect or was something else at play?
The question was answered by the statue itself. “Any divinity you would feel leaking from my avatar is likely being blocked by your tolerance, but there's no need for that child of Myriad. I am Anailia, here to congratulate you and let you know the trial is complete.”
“Ah.”
Thera could see he understood and let him go, preparing to prostrate herself before her god when she heard another thunk as stone hit stone.
“BEN!” Thera screamed.
“Just expressing my displeasure, I’ll be good.” He told her, not sounding at all guilty for attacking a god. Anailia for her part let out a chuckle as a few more grains of stone flaked from her form.
“I must say, for my first time interacting with a sacrilege holder, this is a surprising experience. To think the skill would let you know exactly where to hit to cause damage to my avatar, no matter how minor it may be. I suppose I should consider myself lucky you weren’t left with any real weapons.” She stopped for a moment, tilting her head as if listening to someone else before her stone, reptilian mouth stretched out into a smile. “Myriad is begging you to be on your best behaviour for once.”
“Sorry Myriad,” He said aloud, but his mind was elsewhere.
Is that really part of the sacrilege skill? Oh man, that makes it so much cooler. The temptation to level it up had just significantly grown in him, but he did his best to suppress it. As cool as that sort of skill might be for some sort of hero, going against evil gods and fighting for the freedom of common people everywhere, he was no hero, and the gods of this world weren’t evil, even if he wasn’t fond of all the choices they seemed to make.
“Rise daughter of Abrus, there is no need for such deference.” Ben hadn’t even noticed that Thera had gotten on the ground to bow in respect, but she pulled herself up at her god’s request. “You have both shown you’re capable of exhibiting the values Tolona and I envisioned when making this trial, and as such get to reap the rewards such an achievement could provide.”
“Hm? We get rewards for this?” Ben asked innocently, but both Thera and Anailia turned to him, Thera with a face full of shock, and Anailia not managing to contain her own surprise.
“You didn’t know there was any reward for it and still chose to risk your own life anyway?” The god questioned him, bringing her large reptilian face close to his own.
Ben did his best not to step back. “I mean I guess I remember Myriad saying something about it offhand, but I didn’t give it much mind at the time. I was mostly under the impression that the reward was that Thera could keep doing her magic with her family's support. I wasn’t really expecting anything else.”
“I guess it was a little weird you didn’t try asking about them at all, but who doesn’t know you get rewarded for completing a god’s trial? That's pretty much the main point of a trial.” Thera asked him, still shocked he’d done all of that without realising he’d get anything more out of it than helping her.
He only shrugged. “If nobody at the church thought it was important enough to teach me I didn’t learn it. Can’t say I blame them, what sort of craftsman does this?”
“There are in fact trials created by crafting gods as well, but that's neither here nor there,” She told him, wearing a far gentler smile than she did before. “To go through unknown danger, not because you want to be rewarded, but because you must in order to help the one you care for exemplifies what my late husband and I wished to see. By doing the trial, even without worshipping me specifically, significantly more faith is generated than through typical prayers for a god. This lets us give you two gifts even if you don’t worship me. A skill, and my blessing.”
Thera couldn’t speak. She knew that was the standard reward for most trials, but she still never expected to receive something like it. Not only that, but to be in the presence of her god left her shaken, she couldn’t react.
Ben though needed information. As great as it all sounded he thought there might be a problem.
“Um, that sounds great and all, but I’m Myriad's apostle. Am I actually allowed another god's blessing?”
“Of course,” Anailia told him, not understanding the issue. “A blessing aids the one to gain it in the growth of all things and can open the door to options that may otherwise not exist. What god wouldn’t want their believers to have access to that, most of all an apostle, the one who is most important to their faith in the mortal world?”
God, I really should try and be a decent apostle sometimes. He thought to himself after hearing all of that. “In that case I’ll gratefully accept.” Something about her demeanor eased some of the anger he had grown as the trial went on. He believed he understood the points of most of what they went through, even though he harbored a serious resentment to some of it. That line of thought did lead him to one more question though.
“Okay, I get the importance of challenging us to see if we could meet your ideals or whatever the point of all this was, but whose bright idea was it to give me that title?” The issue stopped being as big to him in comparison to having to see his brother in the state he did, but he at least understood it was part of the trial. The title was just an insult to injury.
At his question, Anailias avatar noticeably grimaced. “For that, I must apologise,” She told him, bowing her head. “I promise there was no negative intent behind it, but some of the gods that were watching simply asked a question about you after seeing some of your choices, and it was enough for the system to notice and solidify it in a title.”
“What question?”
“How is he the forgotten one? They were impressed with your attempt to make use of your duplicates, as well as take the time to train with them even, but the moment the words left enough lips the title was granted. If it helps, for a god to interfere with someone taking another god's trial, and in such a way that could harm them, is a gross violation of the rules. Providing a title that may upset the participant to a great enough extent falls within mental harm. Myriad has been compensated for their thoughtless acts, and when you are out of here he will pass on reparations to you. Now unless there's anything else, shall I distribute the rewards?”
Ben gave a nod, a little shocked to hear that there were actual consequences for the gods who gave him the title, but at least was happy to hear it didn’t come from a more negative place. There were worse things than learning some gods were intrigued enough by him to question why he’d been forgotten by the mortals they ruled over.
Anailia bent her head down to Thera and placed a kiss on her brow. Rather than be excited though, Theras mood raised for a second before coming crashing down.
“Ah, oh.” Her spirits only seemed to lift for a moment before they came crashing down.
“I am sorry child, you must have been far closer than I had suspected for one who never attempts to use it.” Anailia shook her head sadly.
“Wait what happened?” He asked, walking to Thera’s side and taking her hand.
She didn’t speak at that moment, but Anailia did for her. “It seems that she was close enough to raising her charm that the application of my blessing pushed the skill over to the next level.”
“What? Didn’t you just tell me that gods aren’t supposed to do things that would cause mental harm? What the hell is that then?” The power of charm would increase with her level up, which meant the brace he’d made would be less effective. It still wasn’t at the point where she could go out wearing it alone, but the fact that the potential for that pushed it back even farther infuriated him.
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Anailia just shook her head. “Unfortunately it seems it was going to happen on its own soon enough. I would guess the span would be in terms of months or weeks. That much power simply wants to grow, whether used with intent or not.”
“It’s fine Ben,” She spoke in a voice that showed just how not fine she was. “I’ve always known that a succubi’s charm might raise on its own even without being trained at all, I just thought that if it was going to happen to me it would have happened by now.”
He could hear the misery in her voice no matter how much she wanted to suppress it and he ground his teeth. Making a decision he pulled her so she was facing him and pulled back her hood to look in her eyes.
“Ben, what are you doing? Especially now I can’t-”
“It doesn’t matter,” He cut her off, trying not to let the small tears he saw forming in the corners of her eyes get to him. “Thera I promise you, no matter how long it takes I will figure out a way to suppress your magic. Please be patient and believe in me, I won’t let you down.”
Faced with his sincerity she couldn’t help it, a small smile escaped her and she wiped her eyes. She did believe in him after all. “Okay, I know you will.”
“Wonderful, just wonderful,” Anailia said, wiping her own eyes with her tail and killing the moment. “That's exactly the sort of sincerity I want to see from one who’s completed my trial. Hopefully this will be able to help you achieve your goal.” She bent down towards him, and the same as she did for Thera placed a kiss on his brow.
Not only did the notifications go off in his head, but he felt his arm straighten and the pain in it disappear. His injury was healed, and he wanted to thank her for fixing it on top of the gifts she’d given him, but he was distracted. Something seemed wrong, and to be on the safe side he checked his card.
“It doesn’t have a level?” He asked aloud after getting confirmation that he had heard the announcement right.
“Indeed, though rare, it’s within the same class of skills as world speak+. It’s already in its maximum form, with no further growth intended. There have been cases where such a skill has been able to evolve to a higher form, but that’s usually as a result of meeting the conditions to merge with a more standard skill to create something more than the sum of its parts.”
“Okay cool, you have me interested, but what does it do?” The name didn’t give much away and it was a passive skill, he couldn’t imagine how to passively bind something.
“Ah, as for that it’s quite simple, The skill merely joins your souls to a small extent.”
“Um, what?” That sounded pretty big to Ben, even Thera seemed concerned and whipped her head to look directly at her god.
Unperturbed, Anailia continued on with her explanation. “It is a small thing, but the skill will always let you find each other, no matter where in the world you are or how far apart you might be. Of course, I understand that people can wish for privacy at times, despite it being categorized as a passive skill it is in fact possible to disable it if you so wish.”
While he wasn’t initially aware of its effects as a result of Thera being right beside him, it became more obvious when he felt her turn the skill off and on a few times, hesitating before deciding to leave it on. He left his on as well, he didn’t particularly mind her being able to find him if she needed him, and it seemed like it could be handy for while they were hunting in the event they found themselves separated.
“Alright, thank you Anailia, I’ll be sure to use it well.” He told the goddess before him, giving her a small bow.
“I’m sure you will, child of Myriad. Now, daughter of… No, Thera,” She stopped herself, making sure to properly address Thera by name. “While I can’t suppress your charm at all, I can offer you a piece of knowledge you might find helpful, as well as an extra motivation to achieve it.”
She looked up at her god and kept a respectful tone. “I’ll happily listen to whatever wisdom you’d offer me.”
“Excellent. The issue you have with your earth magic is admittedly quite rare. For one to have so much mana without any of the control it needs to utilize properly is something I’ve witnessed but a handful of times in this world or my last, but there is something that can help with it.”
“Really!” Her eyes began to shine with genuine excitement at the very prospect.
“Indeed, in fact your charm level increasing will contribute to it. Any improvement to one magic increases your overall ability to improve and control other magics. In the cases of most mortals the effects would be minor, essentially unnoticeable, but for one with the struggles you have every little bit should improve it and the effect will be much greater.”
Thera deflated. “Are you saying I should improve my charm to help improve my earth magic?”
Much to her surprise though her god disagreed. “No, I’m aware the skill is more a curse to you than a gift, however there are many other magics in the world. The benefits you have to being born between a spirit and a mortal means you’ll have access to significantly greater power without being confined to a single element. For example, your succubus heritage should give you an impressive compatibility with dark magic as a whole, not just charm. Perhaps take advantage of the great spirit staying in your family home in the meantime to see what you can learn. Once you start getting more control over your magic, the speed you’re able to raise its level and that of any other magic you learn should only become faster and faster as you practice thanks to the quantity of mana you possess.”
Thera realised she hadn’t taken a single breath as her god spoke and she’d unconsciously clenched her fists in excitement. She could do it. She could become a proper mage. It wasn’t clear on how much learning new magics would let her improve her skills as a whole, but if it was something her god suggested then she would do it.
As it felt like her heart would beat out her chest and her blood pounded through her from her excitement she bowed deeply. “Thank you for the advice, I’ll begin as soon as I’m out of the trial.”
“Excellent,” Anailia said with a smile. “And as for the motivation I mentioned, I offer you this quest. Thera Oress, gain four levels of magic. Should you succeed in this, I will reward you by raising any skill below the fifth level by one.”
Thera didn’t know what to say. A quest from her god, and one seemingly with no purpose beyond helping her own growth. It was more than she could ever have imagined when she first agreed to take the trial.
Ben for his part seemed just as happy as she was, a smile covering his face even as he joked. “So that’s the sort of quest and reward a powerful god can offer huh? Maybe I should convert?”
Anailia only chucked. “As you succeed in growing Myriad’s faith among mortals you’ll eventually get the chance for quests and rewards such as this, I wouldn’t be quite so quick to abandon your god.”
“Just a joke, I’ve tied my lot to Myriad, I won’t just abandon him.”
“Good. Thera, I expect great things from you, I’m sure you’ll make me proud. You won’t have to worry about encountering any of the trials as you leave and you’ll find it much quicker to get out. I can’t completely erase the spacial magic that expands this place, but it will weaken for you at least. I hope we may get the chance to speak again.” With that her statue laid back down to the ground and the emotion left its face. They were dismissed, and finally free to go.
----------------------------------------
“So what was your plan anyway?” Thera asked as they started walking back.
“Hm? What do you mean?” She had been silent when they left Anailia, and Ben had assumed she was thinking about how she would complete her quest, but it seemed Thera had something else in mind first.
“You said you had a plan to take on Anailia’s avatar, I’m just wondering what you were going to do.”
“Oh, that.” He said awkwardly, unsure how honest he should be about it before deciding he didn’t like lying to people he cared for. “The plan was kind of just making sure you escaped.”
She stopped in her tracks the moment the words left his mouth.
“What.” It wasn’t a question she was asking, but a statement, and one filled with anger.
He knew he was in trouble with her and rushed to explain. “I was spent and we had no way to attack the thing, I figured I was pretty much guaranteed to die anyway so you might as well try and escape while I held it off as long as I could…”
He saw the anger building in her eyes with every world and ended up trailing off, not knowing what would be safe to say. She took two steps towards him and he was sure she was going to take a swing at him, but instead pulled him in a tight embrace.
“Please don’t ever try and get yourself killed for me.”
Her grip on him was tight and he didn’t know what to do, nor if that was a promise he could keep. “Thera I can’t just do nothing if I think I can help you. There’d be no point in both of us dying like that.”
She pulled herself away and grabbed his face, bringing it close to her own so she could stare him directly in the eyes. “Do you think I’d be able to keep being a mage if my selfishness got you killed? We’re a team, aren’t we? If we need to figure something out we’ll do it together, or if we run we’ll run together. Please don’t ask me to leave you to die.”
As she spoke the anger left her voice, replaced by a far deeper sadness, reminding Ben of the lonely little girl he saw during her trial.
He grabbed the hands that clasped his cheeks and looked back at her. “I’m sorry. You’re right, we’re a team, I won’t go dying on you anytime soon.”
She took a step back and pulled up her hood, looking away from him. “You better not. Honestly, what is it about life and death situations that has you throwing yourself into danger like that? Save that sort of thing for people with the skills to handle it.”
“Ha well, people on Earth tend to think that when facing danger we’re inclined to either fleeing or fighting. Not sure how true that actually is but I guess I’m the latter.”
“Well, start choosing to flee. Seriously…” She put her head in her hand, finding it difficult to deal with her emotions. Her anger wasn’t at him, not truly. She just couldn’t stand the thought of making that choice, and that she was weak enough without a staff that he felt like he had to make it.
Without connecting with her, he couldn’t be sure about the extent of her emotions, but he got the impression she had calmed down at least and resolved to try and make it up to her later. He really didn’t want her mad at him for long. He was going to try and talk her into continuing on back when something caught his eye behind him. The figure of a small grey, staring at him for a moment before running back through the trees.
It only took Ben a moment to grab Thera’s hand and start running after it, his mind flying through possibilities.
“What, Ben? What’s wrong? The exit’s the other way!”
“I’m pretty sure there’s an emergency this way, If I’m wrong we’ll just head back.”
He already knew there was some spacial effect on the trial, and he was all but certain one of them was meant to keep participants from meeting up. If not, why even keep them from going through the same section, and why not have more people go at once to take on the final challenge together. But if that really was the case, why had he seen him, and why didn’t he say anything? A possibility ran through his mind and he couldn’t leave it be. He pushed himself to run as fast as he could, needing to know if his hunch was correct.
It took longer than he expected, and he was only able to catch glimpses of the small alien as he went, but eventually they arrived at the location he was seemingly being led to.
On the ground before him was Karly, trapped in a deep slumber, with glob nowhere around. Ben had a sickening feeling in his stomach as he figured out what must have happened, what was happening still, as he and Thera rushed to her.
He gave her a quick check over. Alive but definitely asleep, seemingly for at least a couple days as she was trapped in the fifth section of the trial.
He picked her up and pulled her onto his back. “We have to get her out of here soon. Hopefully she’ll wake up when we exit but even if she doesn’t there will be healers around to keep her alive while we figure something out.”
“But what about Glob?” She asked. “He must be somewhere nearby.”
Out of Theras sight, just behind her as she looked at Ben, the small grey emerged again, gesturing with a thin arm to follow along.
“I’m pretty sure we’ll find him soon.”