The spirit plane felt raw. In Celeste's opinion, this was the only accurate description. It was like the plane was trying to push her out, which made sense since she wasn't a spirit, and the feeling of static electricity could be felt all over her skin.
Surprisingly, the spirit world mirrored the real one in many ways. Celeste could discern the faint outlines of Spif and Spaf and the solid figure of Orlek charging towards her. Yet, all her senses seemed muffled, as if she were perceiving the world through a thick veil. The goddess didn't have time to dwell on it as Orlek made his way towards the rift, an angry look on his face.
Without hesitation, Celeste sprinted, channelling her will into a rapid escape before finding refuge among the towering ferns that speckled the forest floor.
Orlek's below echoed throughout the plane as he stepped through the rift, but Celeste was already enacting the next step of her plan. She felt her Domains synergise as she journeyed back through time, rewinding her own personal clock while keeping the world around her the same.
She stood outside the portal, and she was a mid-dodge. Thanks to the overlap between her Domains, she only had to spend a single Energy to rewind her own personal time, though she hadn't healed from the damage she had taken. She tried to ignore the small voice in her head that told her that she had essentially teleported and looked at her resources.
Health 6/40 Energy 2/7
With a push of Divine Energy she accessed her Journeying Domain, pouring her will into wanting the rift in space to be closed. She felt her husband's magic aid her as the veil the Scribe had created slowly tried to stitch itself back together.
The sound of the portal collapsing reminded Celeste of a heavy metal plate hitting concrete. An echoing boom accompanied by the sound of air being forced away.
The goddess groaned before sitting down on the ground. Celeste was fairly sure this was the closest she could come to being in pain. She had been forced to use two points of Energy to wrap the tear in reality.
Energy 0/7
The rift wasn't mended but pushed together like closing a piece of pastry. The might of the Axe had forced it apart, and the rift could never be mended, but Celeste had ensured that only a scar would be present. The veil between world would never be completely closed here. It seemed like there would really be a portal in the Tree of Life.
Spif and Spaf looked at Celeste with awe in their eyes.
"You defeat Orlek!" One of them said, and Celeste was too tired to even pretend to know which one of them had spoken.
"Very great warrior! Orlek be strongest ork." The other said before they looked at each other.
"But you defeat strongest ork, means you be strongest ork." The first one said again with a wide grin.
Celeste didn't really have the heart to tell them that she hadn't defeated anything. If she had done something, she had just prevented herself from being defeated, but it had been a close call.
"Yea, so are you going to defend the tree?" She asked, opening her menus with her free hand and slowly dedicating Impact, the resource that determined what her character would be doing while she was logged out, to ensure that the portal was closed and inside the Tree of Life.
Impact 6/7
Doing that cost her two Impact leaving her with four, though that was assuming that she would still keep Marcusburg fully repaired at all times.
She dedicated a single Impact to keeping Oathbreaker dormant, since she didn't want something like that in mortal hands. To her frustration this cost her two more Impact instead of just one, leaving her with only two.
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Impact 2/7
Celeste sighed and leaned back, deciding that she might as well take a small nap on the forest floor. It had been a very long day already.
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The world felt almost fuzzy as Celeste woke up to an exciting message.
Gain 13 Worship [https://i.postimg.cc/8cd29xj7/image.png]
Celeste smiled, pleasantly surprised by the amount of Worship she gained. She quickly checked her vitals as well.
Health 13/40 Energy 6/7
She only healed her Rank, which meant that she wasn't really ready for any fighting, not unless she wanted to spend a lot of Energy to get fully restored. She still had one Energy dedicated to using time as her weapon, which she almost always left on.
With slight grunt she sat up, looking around to see if anything had happened while she had passed out from exhaustion. Her body was aching, and she was sure that she would have been in pain had it been possible.
"SHE UP!" A scream of glee echoed out over the battlefield, and Celeste could feel the discomfort rise.
"ME SAW HER FIRST! ME GET REWARD FIRST!" Another voice said. The words were quickly followed by the sound of a punch.
"HAHA! YOU ONLY HIT HEAD! NOT EVEN HURT!" The first voice said.
Celeste considered using her Death Domain on the pair but decided she would be better off keeping them around.
She got up and looked at the pair of goblins. Spif and Spaf were currently rolling around on the forest floor, hitting each other and kicking each other whenever possible. Celeste didn't say anything and decided that she might as well leave them to their squabbles.
The goddess started her walk back to Marcusburg without disturbing the goblins. She felt exhausted and overwhelmed, but the fact that nobody was arguing and screaming made the trip through the forest much more pleasant.
While walking, she could actually think, and Celeste started to wonder what she should do with Spif and Spaf. They were so inefficient that they could only really focus on one thing. Before, that thing had been raiding, but as she had asked them to protect the tree, she was sure that most caravans could make their way to A'kastin, even if the land wouldn't be considered safe.
The more Celeste thought about it, the more she realized she would have to make Spif and Spaf immortal. They might just be sharing a single braincell between them, but if a more competent leader stepped up, things might get out of hand.
Celeste had to think it over a bit more before cursing the world with a pair of immortal annoying goblins.
The goddess was still contemplating the conundrum as she reached the town. It looked unchanged from the day before. Even though Celeste felt worn out from her fight, she still felt the pang of discomfort from seeing the hungry looks of the malnourished townspeople.
The Architect of Creation flexed her Health Domain and let power surge through her, pouring all over the town. She willed them to be healed, for them to be fixed, and she saw her Energy start to drop.
Energy 4/7
The miracle of health seemed to want to stop, as it cured everyone from their malnutrition and the effects of starvation. Celeste, on the other hand, kept pouring the miracle into the world around her. Divine winds started to whirl around her, and as she stood before the town, she began to glow with holy light. The goddess wasn't going to let this town suffer. She commanded reality, just like when she had destroyed an artefact not far from this place. Around her, cracks in the fabric of space and time started to appear, revealing the hidden mechanisms behind the world itself. She spoke her command out loud, and the world obeyed. "Mend".
As she spoke her command, the world shifted. The divine power that had initially healed malnourishment surged in strength, and every person felt the transformative touch. Limbs were restored, and muscles ceased their aching. All was healed. All was mended.
The pure divine power that Celeste had poured from her body would undoubtedly reveal that she was more than she appeared, but her fight with Orlek had probably already blown that cover.
Energy 2/7
Celeste sighed and slowly started to walk inside the town, looking around and seeing people examine themselves and their healed bodies. Checking everything from their aching bellies to teeth that had been missing.
Celeste's command had restored all.