Chapter 10

“Being god looks like it’s a huge pain in the ass.” Drew said as he slumped back onto the vintage couch in The Lady’s study. They’d just gotten back from dealing with the Robert situation, and Drew felt mentally exhausted from the experience. The information Drew had absorbed from that entire interaction had some fairly deep implications that he didn’t want to think about.

The Baleful Lady had teleported Spock, Amber, and Freya to a town within her realm. It was an outpost that had been built up around the training dungeon that Drew and his team were going to level in. Instead of joining them, The Lady had asked that Drew remain by her side when handling the Robert issue.

Drew had seen The Lady doing her job previously, and had assumed it was going to be simple and easy to deal with. Instead, it had turned into a headache.

“You have no idea. I might be taking your wife up on her offer of a dinner invitation sooner than I had originally imagined.” The Baleful Lady replied, also slumping back into her couch across from Drew.

Jeeves, The Lady’s shadow butler… brought in two mugs and placed them on the coffee table in front of The Lady and her guest.

“Jeeves, is there any way you could fix something a bit stronger for us? You know how I feel about Ezereille.” The Lady asked her butler politely.

“Of course, Madam. I’ll be back in a jiffy.” The shadow picked the mugs back up and quickly left the room.

“I imagine that was an overwhelming experience for you, my apologies Champion.” The Lady said sincerely.

“Yeah, on more than one level. I don’t even know where to start with processing everything that happened. You killed God, that’s the first thing that comes to mind, I wasn’t the one that pulled the trigger, but I still felt blasphemous just seeing it happen. Then there’s the fact that everyone I’ve ever known and loved that passed away prior to The Descent is stuck in the Abyss slowly going insane. Oh, and you have a sister who will likely come to Earth and sleep with everyone… It’s just a lot to take in.” Drew said with a sigh.

“If it makes you feel any better, I’ve sent several detachments from my Cadre into the void of the Abyss to search for lost souls. It will take a long time, but they should be able to find a majority of the souls from your planet.” The Lady said in a kind manner.

“Actually, yeah. That does make me feel a bit better. I didn’t know that was a possibility, but I couldn’t bear the thought of my Nana, Papa, and Gram being stuck in that hell. Do you think they’ll be okay?” Drew asked with hope.

“If they died within your lifetime, they should be okay, but I cannot promise anything. Individual souls are affected differently by their time spent there. I will do everything in my power to rescue as many as I can, but sadly I’m sure some will be missed, or already driven insane. You should know, what that ‘God’ did is a big no-no, and an absolute death sentence if and when I hear about it happening.” The Lady said grimly.

“As long as there’s a chance you’ll find them, that would help put me at ease.” Drew said, slightly relaxing. “I don’t understand what God did exactly, some of what you said I was able to comprehend, but a lot of it seemed to go over my head.”

“That’s not unexpected. Mortals are not privy to the workings of divine beings typically. You are a special case due to your position as my Champion. Let’s see, what would be the best way to word this…” The Lady pondered, steepling her hands.

“Please excuse me Madam, I’ve brought your refreshments.” Jeeves said, reentering the room with two small glasses. He set both down, and retracted from the room. Both Drew and The Lady picked up their respective refreshments. Drew looked down at the amber colored liquid, and put his nose to the glass.

“It smells… sweet. I know this smell, but I cannot place it.” Drew said, wafting the vapor of the liquid.

“Ah, it’s a gift from Hades that he brought me from his vacation on your planet. Amaretto, I believe he called it.” The Lady said, taking a sip.

“That’s it! I haven’t had Amaretto in ages.” Drew took a sip and sighed contently. This is a nice treat, I wonder if it’s technically extinct now?

“Right, I’d appreciate it if you keep this information to yourself. Other divine beings can be irritable about mortals knowing certain truths.” The Lady took another sip.

“Sure, that’s fine. The only person I’d tell is my wife anyways.” Drew nodded.

“To keep it simple, I am a Primordial, as you’re aware. That is more than a title, it is representative of my power in comparison to other Divine beings. That’s well known to mortals in the Multiverse. What isn’t well known, is that power and status allows Primordials to create and enforce specific rules, this is done with our power alone, and not via The System.”

“Right…” Drew said, stating that he was listening while taking a gulp of the delicious beverage.

“The one rule I enforce is thus: divine beings cannot promise afterlives to mortals if the god in question cannot actually grant it, specifically on unintegrated worlds. This is different from a divine being tossing aside a mortal soul and not granting it an afterlife. As long as a planet is integrated, that soul will come here when their body perishes. As you’ve learned, souls from unintegrated planets are sent to the Abyss unless the divine being in question has the ability to grant them an afterlife.” The Lady said.

“Sorry to interrupt, but I have a question. What happens if a weak soul perishes and the god doesn’t grant it an afterlife, even if it’s within their ability, in an unintegrated world?” Drew asked.

“The simple answer is, they don’t have a choice. If the world is unintegrated, and the divine being processes the capability, that soul will be granted an afterlife, regardless of the god’s wishes. This is a calculated risk. If a world goes too long without being integrated, and the souls remain weak, it is entirely possible that the god in question has their energy drained drastically to the point of losing their divinity.” The Lady answered.

“Holy crap. If that’s true, why do they bother at all? It sounds like a major risk.” Drew asked, leaning forward while still holding his glass.

“It is a major risk. But the payoff is large as well. The god has unfettered access to an entire world’s worth of souls, and when The System integrates that world, the divine being suddenly has many devout worshippers climbing in power rapidly. This translates into a major increase in their energy in a relatively fast time frame. But this is normally only done by younger or weaker gods.” The Lady explained.

“Okay… but if they’re younger and weaker, like God was, doesn’t that mean they're not capable of granting an afterlife.” Drew asked, becoming confused.

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“Younger gods eventually grow in age and power, but very slowly. Most join pantheons, and perform services or create contracts with other divine beings that will allow them to use their afterlifes. That’s okay, because the mortal souls have a place to go. What’s not okay is what happened earlier.” The Lady answered.

“So… God didn’t have permission to use someone else’s afterlife as his own, so he collected energy from billions of souls, and they were sent to the Abyss instead, and that goes against your one rule?” Drew asked, the whole thing starting to come together.

“Basically, yes.” The Lady said, nodding her head and smiling.

“What a bastard.” Drew said angrily, polishing off the rest of his drink.

“Agreed. What’s more concerning was his statement before I killed him, that there were others who did similar things.” The Lady said grimly.

…Huh… but what about… oh. OH! Oh, shit!

“Err… well, he wasn’t lying, per se.” Drew said, rubbing the back of his head.

“What do you mean? Explain, please.” The Lady eyed him seriously.

“Uh, well religion was a big deal on our planet. I’m guessing it still is technically… but over our recorded history there have been a lot of gods that people worshiped… at least in our mythologies.” Drew answered, a bit nervous to get anyone else killed… especially the man in the black toga.

“Define ‘a lot’.” The Baleful Lady glowered, leaning forward.

“Hey, uh… don’t shoot the messenger, okay?” Drew said, putting both his hands up nervously.

“Apologies, it is a… sensitive subject for me.” The Lady said, leaning back in her seat and rubbing her temples.

“I’m not a scholar, so I don’t have an exact number for you. But over the course of recorded history? Maybe more than forty or so gods?” Drew said, still somewhat nervous.

“Forty!?” The Lady leaned forward again, this time very quickly.

“Again, I’m not sure of the exact number. But, the vast majority haven’t been actively worshiped in… ages. Our planet had a staggering amount of ancient cultures, and each one had a mythological pantheon. Some pantheons were huge, with over ten gods each. But I’m not an expert on any of this. It’s been a very long time since I studied them in school.” Drew said, trying to hurry up with the subject so he could get away from the extremely irritated and very powerful woman in front of him.

“I see. Who would know more information regarding these pantheons?” The Lady asked. Drew felt a slight chill in the air, and could see frost starting to build up on the glass of her drink.

“Teachers, professors, anthropologists I guess? But uh… you’ve got frost on your glass…” Drew said with caution. The Lady looked down at her glass and her eyes widened. The pressure in the air suddenly cleared and the frost on her glass receded.

“I apologize Champion. Perhaps it would be best if I take some time to relax before continuing this conversation. I’ve let my emotions get the better of me, and I’ve lost control of my aura too many times today.” She said in a low voice, rubbing her forehead with one hand.

“Uh, yeah. Probably a good idea to de-stress. I don’t think I’d make a good popsicle. On a side note, what’s this aura you’re talking about? Is that the pressure I keep feeling today?” Drew asked, happy to change the subject.

“Yes, it’s not something you need to worry about until you hit D Grade. I believe I’m going to take your advice and take some time to myself before something unfortunate happens. I’m truly sorry about your experience with me today. I’ll teleport you to your wife and friends.” She said, clearly the whole ordeal was bothering her a great deal.

“Okay, that works. Oh! Before you teleport me off, can you have Hades meet us in the Outpost town?” Drew asked. He needed to warn Hades, and quickly. The Baleful Lady may end up going on the warpath soon, and if she found someone who told her about the Greek pantheon, one of his favorite actors could end up in a heap of trouble.

“I can, why?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh, he said he wanted to get us some equipment or something.” Drew said, chuckling. He better give us some damn equipment…

“That was very nice of him, I’d be happy to send him your way. I’m sending a new member of my Cadre to join your dungeon team, five people typically is best for delves. Have fun!” The Lady said.

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Drew had been teleported to the dungeon town an hour ago, the Lady had been nice enough to send him directly to his teammates for the training session in the dungeon. It was something he was thankful for, because the town they were standing in was huge. There was no way he would have found Amber, Spock, and Freya in any reasonable amount of time if he had to search for them.

When The Lady had told them about the dungeon town, he wasn’t sure what to expect, and now that he was here, he felt extremely out of place. Most of the residents were dead, or undead. The team hadn’t seen anyone else that seemed to be alive in their time here. The town itself was a cross between the renaissance fair and a necropolis, but it was the size of Dallas. Gothic architecture was meshed with a classic fantasy town look, only on a much larger scale.

Drew wasn’t sure if he’d actually call this place a town at all, as the word city felt far more apt. The residents of the town, which was called Barrowcroft, consisted of all forms of the dead. There were ghosts, specters, zombies, skeletons, and even a few vampires… they sneered at Drew as they passed by. Apparently the vampires weren’t fans of his Dhampir race he’d chosen.

“I did say they were notorious racists, Drew Wright.” Spock said.

“Yes, I remember the conversation. I just didn’t expect to run into any so soon.” Drew replied, trying to keep his head down.

“I kinda dig the spooky atmosphere though, it’s like a real life haunted house.” Amber said, looking around with wide eyes.

“I feel out of place, this isn’t a realm for the living, and we are sticking out like a sore thumb.” Drew said quietly to his wife.

“Well, we don’t have to go far. The Baleful Lady teleported us to the line for the dungeon. Did she say when this new team member would be coming?” Amber asked. She was still looking around, taking in all the sights and sound. Freya didn’t seem to be enjoying herself though, she held her ears back, and her tail gave pitiful little wags.

*POP!*

“Sorry we’re late.” Hades said after instantly appearing in front of them.

We’re? Drew thought to himself before noticing the being next to him. An undead of some kind? A woman stood by Hades’s side, she wore oversized metal pauldrons, a metal breastplate, and a large axe was attached to her belt, she had a black velvet skirt that went down past her shins, but it was cut in a way that would allow for easy movement in combat. Her eyes were blue flames, like many of the undead, and she had white shoulder length hair with red ribbons. A Soulflame huh?

“Oh my god! Are you coming with us too!?” Amber jumped up and down with excitement on seeing Hades.

“No, no. I’m here to deliver your new teammate, and to speak with Drew about… some equipment?” Hades half-asked with his head tilted in question.

“Oh, poo.” Amber pouted.

“My thoughts exactly.” The undead woman said.

“Please excuse us for a minute.” Drew said, grabbing Hades by the elbow and pulling him away from the group.

“Eager to see me? I don’t think your wife would enjoy competition.” Hades joked.

“Do something about the sound, I wish to talk privately, away from all ears.” Drew said quietly.

Hades raised his eyebrow, but then nodded his head and snapped his fingers together. Suddenly the hustle and bustle of the Barrowcroft ceased to be, and Drew could hear his own heartbeat racing.

“No one can hear us now, what is this about?” Hades said, clearly taking things seriously.

“The Lady just turned God into a popsicle, and sent him into a tiny black hole, that’s what’s going on!” Drew exclaimed in a loud and hurried whisper.

“A…oh. OH!” Hades said, with surprise.

“Yes, OH! If you didn’t have permission to be a god on Earth, you better be quick and find a way to tell her before you’re sent to oblivion as well. She’s extremely pissed, and she’s going to be looking into things about Earth.” Drew said, tapping the god’s chest with his pointer finger.

“Ah. I understand now. There was no equipment, you were worried about me.” Hades said in a low voice.

“Yes! So find a way to get out of trouble before I have to tell my wife why she won’t get to see one of her favorite actors again!” Drew replied, his heart still racing in his chest.

“I had permission to be a god there.” Hades said smiling.

“You did?! Then why were you so nervous about us talking to the lady about the culture thing and incursions?” Drew asked, visibly relaxing, but clearly confused.

“She uh… didn’t know about how involved I was in movies. If she knew, she’d want to see them, and that would be super embarrassing.” Hades said with a sigh.

“Oh… well… bad news on that front. Earth’s TV shows and movies are all over the freaking cosmos now.”

“Yes, I know. But Raynalyr doesn’t watch a lot of TV. If she heard I was in a lot of movies, that would be a different story. Also… thanks for looking out for me. I didn’t think you’d risk your neck…” Hades said, his feet shuffling back and forth.

“Uh… yeah. Don’t worry about it. My wife would have been sad if something happened to you, that’s all.” Drew said embarrassed that he blew everything way out of proportion.

Drew and Hades rejoined the group that was waiting patiently for them.

“Well, it’s been fun! Be careful in the dungeon, just because it’s training, doesn’t mean it’s safe.” Hades waved.

*POP!*

Drew looked around at his group and saw everyone was acting somewhat awkward. Most likely due to the inclusion of a new unknown person joining their team.

“Hey there, I’m Drew. This is my wife Amber, our dog Freya, and our friend Spock.” Drew said to the woman, holding out his hand in greeting. The woman looked down at his hand, and grabbed it, shaking it firmly.

“Maud.” She said curtly.