Jasmine felt like she had been floating in a void for ages. She was barely conscious and she felt rather overwhelmed. Everything ached, and she was barely conscious. She could feel flares of pain from time to time, making her groan in discomfort. Her mind felt like she was moving through tar, a heavy slog of darkness and dense thoughts.
Suddenly the world appeared around her, it was like a light had been turned on from one second to the next. She could feel herself tremble a little, as she realized that she was still back in the most horrible place she knew. She had been here once before, underneath the orphanage. The room with the alcoves. She knew that each gateway would lead to another orphanage, she had heard the stories, though she had never thought that she would through seeing this place a second time.
Above her was the Goddess Celeste, well most others knew her as Armandos. Jasmine felt scared for a second, as the goddess had definitely been through a rough battle. Her cloak had been torn in multiple places. Her outfit looked like she had tried to walk through a tornado of knives. Jasmine could see the anger in the Goddess's eyes, though her smile was kind and caring. Behind her Magnus was standing, he looked just as roughed up, but he also looked like he had been caught sneaking cookies from the kitchen. Apparently, he had gotten quite a scolding for some reason.
It was the third man that made Jasmine smile. The Scribe looked like he was about to collapse on his feet, though, he had tied something around his eyes, Celeste felt bad for him, she had no idea what had happened, but losing your vision was never pleasant, even if the healers might be able to restore it. She didn't worry about him though, she had seen him stop a horde of orks, so she was sure he would be okay, besides, they had two gods in their corner, surely they would be able to aid her master.
Jasmine tried to get up, but a sharp pain in her stomach made her lie down. She groaned a little, as she realized that a knife was still sticking out of her chest. Apparently, she had been stabbed. She definitely considered that a complication on how well things were going.
Celeste looked down at the young girl and Jasmine tried to smile. "I am going to remove the knife." She explained, making the redhead groan a little. With a quick movement, Celeste pulled back the knife, and as they had discussed, Jasper poured an Endurance miracle into her body allowing her to endure the bleeding that quickly followed. Neither Jasper nor Celeste really had any healing available, however, Celeste quickly sped up the local time for the wound, allowing Jasmine's own body to knit itself back together. It was clearly a painful process as Jasmine's cheeks were soaked with tears. Celeste hated herself for not being able to do more for the young girl, but what was done was done, and she would live.
Jasmine slowly got up from her position on the alter. Her body felt sluggish and tired, and she could barely stand, but the old hand of her mentor slowly helped her to stand up. She saw a massive hammer in the centre of the room, pulsating warmth and justice. She could feel the divine Energy rolling off it, though it was the fact that the room was empty of shadows that made her feel safe. She could see the multitude of archways and the long winding paths that were connected to each of them. Jasmine guided The Scribe out of the room, using her ability to see to help him out, though she herself could barely stand.
They didn't speak as they made their way out. Despite Celeste's powers ensuring that they wouldn't need to sleep while travelling, all of them still felt like they were going to pass out. Even Jasper who quite literally could not get tired realized that he was exhausted. The mental exhaustion of fighting against a god was intense and overwhelming.
The quartet more or less passed out in the orphanage, none of the kids had stuck around after the main nun had been exposed as a shadow creature, and none of the squad wanted to walk around for a city where they could sleep. For once they all slept fully and soundly.
Worship gained [https://i.postimg.cc/MxNVwfhj/image.png]
Jasper woke up to quite a surprising message. He hadn't expected to see such a large bump in Worship, though he was aware that they had pretty much kicked a god in the butt. It seemed like there was quite the advantage to taking on a challenge that was probably impossible to surpass. Even so, he couldn't help but feel like they had been manipulated by the AI, forcing them to change location and ensuring that they interfered with the thieves guild.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Jasper looked at the worship available to him. He had 35. That would make for some rather impressive changes to the world, though they would probably have to think about it. They could make changes to entire nations, if not the realm with this ability. They could create some of those powerful artefacts that they had been looking at. Jasper looked over at Jasmine. The young girl had curled up against the blind man, and he held her in a protective embrace, like a grandfather protecting the last thing dear to him. Jasper couldn't help but feel his heart break a little. He wanted to ensure that Erik never got into a position again where he would have to choose between helping Jasper and Celeste or helping Jasmine.
Jasper could feel Celeste's breathing grow deep followed by her pushing against him. It seemed like she was awake. He whispered in her ear as they came to their senses. "You know... Jasmine might be a good candidate for you... you know as a chosen." Celeste gave a groan as she woke up and deflected, seemingly not wanting to talk about the topic. "How long have you been up?" She asked. Jasper wouldn't let her get away that easily. "I am being serious. She might be young, but don't tell me that you would ever want to separate the two of them." He said, and Celeste sighed. "But don't you think that she should be Erik's replacement?"
Erik cleared his throat. "You know... for a pair of divine the two of you suck at being stealthy." He grumbled. Slowly he stood up, letting go of Jasmine who gave a whimper as she was woken up. "You should never give that kind of power to a child." The old man said, looking at them, even if he was blind. Jasper had tried to fix his sight using magic, though it left the old man with the ability to see mana, which was practically just as good as real sight.
Celeste and Jasper had to good grace to look ashamed, as they nodded along. However, Jasper didn't give up on his argument. "Erik, you are going to end up alone. I mean, you can pass on my gift, but as you said, you will be doing so to someone who is much less qualified." The God of Knowledge knew the counter to his argument before he even made it. The old man got a serious look on his face, even as his eyes were covered. "You know, for the god of knowledge, you are as dumb as a sack of dirt that has been kicked by a mule. Of course, they will be less experienced. That is the nature of human existence. You will never be as skilled as you would like to be, and you will never be as proficient as someone who has had more than one lifetime to learn. I do not wish to live forever. The burden of the divine is for the divine. I will gladly help you in any way that I can, but please, understand that even with your blessing I am not eternal, and you will get someone new to take my place." Jasper sighed as he was reprimanded. "Fine, what would you have me spend my Worship on then?"
While Jasper and Erik started to talk about what to spend their worship on, Celeste knew exactly what she would like to spend her points on. She knew the game didn't like teleporting, she had experienced that herself, so why was Raffael Moordet able to teleport? Celeste had to assume that it was thanks to the demonic intervention that he was able to slip into the shadows, which was properly done by taking a detour through the Demonic realm. That was probably the most likely way of doing it. Celeste had teleported to the same plane as she was currently on, which had practically tapped her of all her divine power for the day. She would have to assume that travelling between planes would be easier and with precision it might even be reliable.
The question then became how to fix the Teleportation exploit. She knew that Jasper might consider it a bug, but she thought of it more as using established mechanics in a way that hadn't been intended, and as such, an exploit. She didn't want to remove transportation between planes. That would be bad for all involved, seeing as the souls of the dead needed to get to the god they worshipped. Though maybe that could be fixed as well.
Celeste tried a couple of different iterations, but she quickly realized that the easiest way to solve the exploit would be to completely remove transfer between planes, or at least make it so randomized that it couldn't be done with any kind of reliability, and then have some sort of system that could sort the souls of the people that died.
The Architect of Reality, as she had come to see herself, was quite proud of her work. The plan was fairly simple. She hoped that she could implement the plane transportation randomizer for cheap since the system didn't really like that aspect, though she would also implement a new element called: The Whirlpool of Souls. The idea was fairly simple. Souls would be sorted based on their faith and spat out at the top of the metaphysical Whirlpool while souls with no belief or who hadn't adhered to a divine dogma would be thrown into the void... She would admit that it still needed some work, but having a consequence for the people who didn't actively worship a god would essentially ensure everyone could be expected to follow a religion, even if it was believing in spirits.
She started her work and poured her Worship into the feat and much more slowly than she had expected, a pop-up started to crystalize in front of her eyes.
Creation of a new natural law. [https://i.postimg.cc/mLDwhfLX/image.png]
She accepted it with a smile before another one appeared.
Creation of the Whirlpool of Souls [https://i.postimg.cc/2ymwSSr0/image.png]
She accepted this one as well with grace.