Chapter 49: The Gift of the Gods
John, Aliyah, Eufemia, and Nara gathered in Aliyah’s lab. The desk was scattered with books and papers, despite Aliyah’s best efforts to keep it tidy.
Aliyah was teaching the other three astral magic, to the best of her ability. As expected, John was the worst at learning it despite his ability to use skill books. Skill books provided practical knowledge; they didn’t help with theoretical knowledge, advanced application, or critical thinking. Nara was the best of the three students, although her knowledge of astral magic was oddly disjointed.
Aliyah sighed, gathering up the papers scattered on the table into neat piles to sort into cabinets later. The crystal drawing board was covered in figures and diagrams.
“It’s as you said, your knowledge of astral magic is very incomplete. That you even managed to cast a ritual as you described is almost miraculous.”
“I did have an expert with me.”
“That astral being you mentioned, Chrome? You said he was a Hand of Time.”
“That’s what someone else called him anyway. I didn’t exactly spend a whole lot of time inquiring into his background. When I did, he said it was ‘beyond my comprehension’.”
“I’m inclined to agree. Even for a world with magic, the Great Astral Beings and their workings are not well known. As you were, you must have been in a rather delicate state, mentally.”
“Oh you bet. I was talking to a volleyball for a while.”
“A volleyball named Wilson?” John asked.
“You know that movie?”
“It’s a great movie that discusses interesting psychological experiences. You know, I wouldn’t say it’s all that different to our situation now. We’re trapped on a different world with no way to communicate with the other one we know exists beyond.”
John’s comment provoked a thought within Nara’s mind.
“But what if we could communicate with the other world?”
“You have a way?” John asked.
“No,” Nara denied, “But what if we could invent a way?”
“It’s feasible,” Aliyah said after a moment of thought.
“I thought you’d deny it right away.”
“There is a lot of research conducted into communication past dimensional boundaries, such as astral spaces,” Aliyah said. “Or communication past barriers and within regions of unstable and concentrated magic. The best results have been with essence abilities like yours. Unfortunately, we haven’t figured it out with artifacts yet.”
Aliyah had seemed a little airheaded at first to Nara, but when talking about magic, it was clear she was the real deal. Her eyes usually sparkled with innocent curiosity, although she had enough sense to restrain herself as not to be rude, usually.
“Or communication in general. Amara seems to be whipping up something of her own.”
“Oh my, I look forward to it,” Aliyah said, clasping her hands together. “However, while it is possible, there is one fundamental issue with communication magic. An issue that ritual magic like summoning magic and portal magic share—how you find the destination.”
“I’ve heard a bit about them. Portal abilities just work on anywhere you’ve visited before, right?”
“Yes,” Aliyah said. “As long as the region has not changed significantly. That is why portal plazas are created. They are built to be distinctive and unchanged, hence their artistic beauty and memorable statues.”
“It’s too difficult to portal to an ordinary forest?”
“For shorter portals and teleportation, essence users find landmarks to serve as intermittent stops while waiting for the portal cooldown. Particularly large trees, ruins, unique rock formations, a field of flowers, a lonesome bridge. Anything will do as long as it stands out to you.”
“Then what if I perform that cosmic-searching ritual magic again?”
“You mentioned it sought a world with an astral to physical connection? If your world has no magic, that connection will not exist.”
“Ah, shoot. There goes plan one. I don’t have the know how to alter that ritual on my own.”
“Do you still remember it?”
“I’d make you copy but it’s too massive to fit on a piece of paper,” Nara said when Aliyah tried to hand her one.
She took the paper back with restrained disappointment.
“Our other option is to create an artifact that can travel past dimensional boundaries. That particular goal poses many technical challenges.”
“The whole ‘physical material can’t exist in the astral’ thing, right?”
“That’s just one of many issues,” Aliyah explained. “We can look into it.”
“It’s not as if no solutions exist?”
Aliyah nodded, “It is known that diamond rankers often leave their home world to explore the cosmos, returning occasionally for large events when their assistance is needed. But how they explore the cosmos or are contacted by those remaining is not privy to us.”
“So seek a diamond ranker for answers? Maybe we can hit up Sezan.”
Aliyah lips formed a soft frown, “I can’t say I approve of the notion to casually ‘hit up’ a diamond ranker for answers, nor is he likely to give them. He may not even know, nor have sought those answers himself.”
“What do you mean?”
“Honorary Duke Sezan Aciano is a young diamond ranker, for a diamond ranker.”
“Ala: he hasn’t gotten bored of this world yet?”
“That is not the phrasing I would use. Regardless, I do not recommend we pursue this research for the time being. I understand you want a method to communicate with your families, but training the two of you to pass the Adventure Society examination is our most pressing task. From what Nara has mentioned Traveler told her, the Celestial Book trial is an opportunity to access knowledge that may lead to the solution we seek. The both of you need to be adventurers to participate.”
“It all boils down to ‘just train’,” John said. “Nice and simple. That works for me.”
The group of four exited the lab walking through the beautiful paths of the Arlang compound. The entire estate was crafted in harmony with the environment. It was not only a masterful showcase of landscape artistry but of array defenses.
*****
“Hello there, Nara,” A voice said.
Nara had experienced divinity enough times to recognize the sensation. It was a god, but she didn’t recognize which one. She had only seen one so far, Traveler. This god did not possess his iconic cloak and hat.
John, Eufemia, and Aliyah had continued on ahead as if they had forgotten her existence entirely. That unnerved her, but it may have been an application of what Sezan had done with his own aura in Aviensa. She had no doubt a god could pull it off too.
“Hello,” she greeted, “You are?”
“I am Creator, the god of Creation.”
As usual, the god looked like the locals. He looked like a wise man, with heavy silver robes. His countenance was that of calm, with long black hair neatly braided and hung over his shoulder. He had the aura of a learned scholar, but also the tinge of youthful energy. It was knowledge and passion combined that birthed innovation. In many ways, the god reminded her of Amara but with less warrior flavor.
Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.
Nara’s expression furrowed, “Not like a creator god, right? I thought this world didn’t have that, but I could be wrong.”
“No, not like that,” he said with a smile like gazing upon an endearing child, “the god of discovery and invention, if that clarifies the matter.”
“Oh? Are you here to help out?”
“I am afraid not. I am here for another matter.”
“Another matter? That was about the only thing we were thinking of creating. I don’t think I’ve created or invented anything else. Except water, that one time. Is that bad?”
“That is fine. There are many abilities able to create matter,” he said. “As long as the scale is limited, there are no issues. Minor creation cannot unbalance the entropy of the universe.”
“Oh good. I thought it’d be strange for a god to care about the creation of matter when energy is being generated limitlessly by magic anyway. All you need to do is push some windmills with magic wind. Physics is really struggling here.”
“We are aware of the non-ideal state of physical mastery. We are here because of soul-song mutual communion.”
“We?”
Another god appeared. This time a woman.
“…And you are?”
“I am Knowledge, the goddess of knowledge,” she greeted.
It was the famed Knowledge, who Nara had once attempted to step into her temple grounds but turned back.
“Do you all need something from me?” Nara said, her tension immediately ramping with the appearance of another god.
“Not something from you,” a third god said, “This is something we bestow.”
Then another god appeared, one she recognized. It was the only god she had met before.
Traveler waved, “So we meet again.”
“That holds way less meaning when you can just appear whenever,” Nara said.
A fifth god appeared, an older man with a white beard and modest brown robes, “I am Healer. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
She didn’t think a god actually thought it was a personal pleasure to meet her. More than likely, he was just polite, as far as gods that could appear wherever and whenever they wanted could be polite. She found herself backing away. A single person surrounded by five people was imposing, let alone five gods.
“Healer? Redell mentioned you,” Nara said slowly, stepping back with equal care. “He was looking into soul-song for healing purposes. If this is about that, shouldn’t you look towards him? What’s this all about? Why are there so many of you in one place?”
“This matter is regarding soul-song. He may progress the technique in the future, but the original invention is yours,” Creator said. “What you created is the basis for a new field.”
“That doesn’t sit quite well with me. I really hadn’t done much. It was nothing big. If anything, I added on to his research.”
“And yet, it is undeniably your thoughts that birthed it,” Knowledge said.
“I thought gods couldn’t read minds?”
“They cannot. But everything, once thought, becomes knowledge.”
It seemed mind-reading was another one of those rules which had ways around it, in the same way that emotions were felt in the aura if they weren’t controlled and concealed.
Another goddess appeared, for a total of six divine figures. Nara felt like she was standing in front of a council that would decide her fate. She felt…divinely uncomfortable.
“Liberty,” she said, greeting her curtly, “Hello, Nara.”
“I am sorry about this,” Healer said, “This will be rather unpleasant.”
“I for one, am not,” another grinned, “I love this sort of thing.”
“About what?” Nara said, her nervousness spiking. If a god was apologizing, that was not good. Very much not good at all. Was she about to be smited? Smote? No, they said it was a gift, but her mind was racing. She debated astral jumping away from this location, which felt more and more like a good idea with each passing moment. She didn’t want to blow off a god, let alone a group of gods, but in this moment, she desperately wanted to.
Before she had a chance to react, a wave of condensed aura washed over her. The gods were weighing on her aura, and through her aura, her soul.
She wanted to escape but she had no recourse. The aura impact was almost physical, and she collapsed onto the floor, unable to concentrate nor move. Their auras squeezed at her soul, pressing on it like it was play-doh, shaping it into something else.
She was buried under their weight, plunged into the depths of the ocean with no protection. She struggled to breathe, although she had no need to do so, writing on the ground and clutching at her chest.
She wanted to throw them off. Her mind flashed to experiences more sensation than memory, trapped at the hands of a strange, all-powerful being.
Her soul trashed, resisting the pressure and rejecting their presence. But they weighed further, crushing her soul like they intended to transform coal into diamond.
Unable to hold on any longer, her physical body trembled once before her perception flickered away. With a soul tied to a physical body, she fainted. With her mind released from wakefulness, her soul felt the pressure of the gods recede, whatever gift they set out to bestow unwillingly received.
*****
“So what sort of communication does this world have? I can’t say I’ve seen much of it,” John said.
“There’s the water link system, and the duplicated papers the Societies and churches use. There’s also communication abilities, like what Sen’s sister has.”
“How does that water link system work?”
“It only functions with linked bodies of water. A chamber with water uses ritual magic to conjure a linked image formed of water to transmit sound and shape.”
“That sounds like it has many downsides,” John said, “Takes up a lot of space, one person at a time, needs linked water sources. Am I right about those?”
“Those and others, but it’s what this world has to offer,” Aliyah said, “It has much room for improvement.”
“It’s not like your world has something better,” Eufemia said.
“It does actually,” John said, “We have near-instantaneous communication worldwide with an object about this size.” John conjured a block of metal the size of a cell phone to show them, “Auditory and visual.”
“You’re lying, I can’t believe that.”
“Is it expensive? Resource intensive?” Aliyah’s eyes gleamed with a researcher’s passion.
“At the most basic? No. Almost everyone in my country has one. It requires some infrastructure—”
Suddenly, John, Eufemia, and Aliyah stopped in their tracks.
“Where’s Nara? How did we forget about her?” John asked.
He couldn’t believe it. The four of them had been discussing communication methods without realizing Nara had disappeared from the conversation. Only now did they realize that she was not walking with them.
Aliyah shook her head, then immediately sprinted back the way they came. The other two followed.
The found Nara collapsed onto the ground, curled into a fetal position. An older, gentle looking man with warm brown robes stood over her.
John could immediately tell it wasn’t a man.
“That’s a god, John,” Eufemia’s voice was a scant whisper.
Aliyah dropped to her knees, “Healer.”
She kneeled in silence. She dared not question the gods, and waited for him to speak first. She wasn’t religious, essence users besides priests usually were not, but almost all on the world of Erras held reverence for the gods, and many worshipped them.
John met eyes with Eufemia, who also stood, staring at each other and looking out of place. Neither of them had ordinary experiences and had no idea what the normal thing to do in this situation. John felt like he missed the chance to kneel and also felt awkward to do it without understanding.
Did Aliyah kneel because she was a believer? Or was that local culture? He didn’t know the answer.
This was the first time John had seen a god. Eufemia also had never seen a god, spare once, in the divine plaza of Nekroz where she briefly glimpsed Undeath. She hadn’t kneeled to the god then, disappearing back into the alleyways, too far to feel the brunt of its divine aura. She wanted no business with Undeath, and never wanted to see it again. Nekroz may worship him, but she would not.
Other gods, like Dominion, may have asserted their auras to illicit a true reaction a take a measure of those they were interested in, but Healer was not one to test others in that way. He was the god of healing, not of rule.
Healer smiled kindly, “There is no need for such ceremony.”
Taking that as a signal, John dropped to Nara’s side. His pulse spiked when he felt no heartbeat nor breath.
“She’s not breathing,” he said with rising horror.
“She does not need to breath, John,” Aliyah said quickly also quickly getting up to dash to where Nara lay, “and you don’t either. Outworlders do not have internal organs. Your bodies are formed and sustained through raw magic.”
John was calm in the face of crisis. There were already too many revelations for him to keep up, so he focused on what was in front of him. His Vision of Life allowed him to detect vulnerabilities. Nara seemed fine—other than her scuffed up clothes from a fall, she had no injuries at all. Stable life signs, despite the outworlder’s lack of typical vital signs.
He let out a shaky breath of relief, brushing his hand across her hair to remove stray hairs from her face.
“What happened to her?”
“We have bestowed a gift. One none to pleasant to receive,” Healer said.
“I’ve only heard of one gift of the gods,” John said, “The one the gods have been giving researchers and inventors in particular.”
“That is so.”
“But she hasn’t invented anything,” John said, “And what gift makes a person pass out?”
“She has invented something. Something remarkable, an important component for the cure to vampirism; a long-important goal to my church and clergy.”
Eufemia’s eyes shot up, staring the god briefly in the eye before her vision flickered away, “What component?” she asked softly.
“She has devised a technique to offer mutual access to a soul, in order to modify it. If one knows the method to change a soul from vampire back to their original race, then vampirism can be reversed.”
“That resolves the soul, but what about the body?” Eufemia asked.
“They already have a cure for that,” John said, “I’ve studied it a bit. If healers can get to one transformed by a vampire in time, they can reverse the effects to the body. The issue is, once it sets into the soul, its irreversible.”
“Yes,” Healer said. “Her method can change that.”
“Enough,” John said, “What about her, what can I do?”
Aliyah looked a little startled that John had snapped at a god.
“I have called one of my priests,” Healer said gently. “He will take care of her.”
“I can’t trust a stranger with my friend,” John said, “Even if you are the god of healing.”
“He is not a stranger, not to her.”
A dark portal opened up and a large man stepped out. He was wearing normal clothes, not the brown robes of a Healer priest. He was tall and muscular, and incredibly handsome even in older age, with a strong jawline and a neatly trimmed beard. He smiled warmly and John felt a powerful soothing sensation wash over him.
Aura, he realized. He had no aura ability awakened himself, but he could still sense the auras of others, thanks to his iron rank. He had similarly felt the overwhelming divine aura of the god, but had pushed it aside out of concern. If John relaxed, he was afraid it would overwhelm him, so he adopted the British norm of not giving a shit and ignored it entirely. If it worked for Arthur Dent, it would work for him.
The man stooped to pick Nara off the floor, carrying her in his arms.
John could only let him. Portal abilities were bronze rank, minimum, and John was barely an iron ranker. He couldn’t fight him even if he wanted to, despite what he told Healer.
“Oh, I’ve scared you. I promise I have to intentions to harm any of you.” The man offered a warm smile. “I’m one of Nara’s mentors. Redell Gainer. Perhaps she’s mentioned me? My god has told me the situation. Follow me.”
He gestured to the portal, then stepped through it first himself, carrying Nara with him.
John looked back by the god was gone. He stepped through the portal, Aliyah and Eufemia following behind him with confusion and concern.