This is unexpected. There's a me.
Woah.
Am I drunk? I'm all over the place. That's not figurative. I… open my eyes? Activate my senses? Too many impressions assault me. I'm watching dozens of television programs at once, only they're not on a screen in front of me, I'm right inside them.
Through all the cacophony I can hear a familiar voice, the only one speaking directly to me. “Please don’t be dead. Please don’t be dead. Please don’t be dead. Please don’t leave me!”
You have been offered Tribute. Do you accept Y/N
I could ignore it. Whatever Worship I've been given that has pulled me back out of the well of oblivion, I can give away. They'll forget me eventually, leave me literally pointless, let me go.
DeeDee is sobbing. Those are not childish tears. That is heartbreak, wrenching her into pieces. “Please don't be gone. Please. Just show me you're still here.”
There are more messages awaiting my attention, almost lost amid the impression of having eyes and ears in multiple locations. They weave in and out of my seasick awareness.
Achievement unlocked!
Deathlessness
It is said that everyone dies, even the gods. That is incorrect. You have denied the Sovereign of Death his victory by embracing Oblivion. You are forever denied the influence and authority of Death. The Domain of Death is eternally opposed to you.
+50 Levels*
*To prevent data overload, activation of Levels will be scaled as number of Worshippers increases.
[SANDY THE COMPASSIONATE,
MINOR ROCK NUMEN LEVEL 4*
Enemy of Death
POWERS
Inconsequential Miracle (WP 1)
Minor Miracle (WP 2)
Miracle (UNAVAILABLE)
Bless (Max WP L)
Heal (Max WP L)
Curse (UNAVAILABLE)
Sacrifice (*)
Vituperation (UNAVAILABLE)
WORSHIPPERS: 0
DEVOTEES: 0
FAVOURED DEVOTEES: 1
WORSHIP POINTS: 1
ACHIEVEMENTS
*Creation
Deathlessness
INFLUENCES
Life
Oblivion
Invective
DOMAINS
Invective UNAVAILABLE
Livestock]
It's too much. Too much to grasp, too much to bear. Too easy to release that last Worship Point. To slip away with DeeDee's anguished sobs following me into nothingness. To leave her broken.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
I can't leave little Dee broken.
Sluggishly, I accept the Tribute.
Worship Point received
Pulling my attention in just to my Devotee, I focus. I realise I'm not out in the plain of grass. I'm a roughly shaped pebble, just the right size to be grasped in a child’s hand, and DeeDee is in a small and homely bedroom. A faint glow ought to be Inconsequential, I think, and try for a Miracle.
I don't know what I look like through DeeDee's tears, but from her reaction I must seem miraculous. Her shriek alerts the whole household as she runs into what looks like a general living area. The baby starts crying. Namuna starts to scold her daughter, until she and her husband realise what it is she is holding out to them on her palm.
Level gained
Level gained
Level gained
My attention fractures again, my view nauseatingly divided. I cling to Dee to try and control the sensation. Eventually things steady, and I can view the room again. Ganzor and Namuna both have pebbles in their hands, similar to DeeDee‘s. Realising what that might mean now, I will myself back to the grassy plain. There is no cheese-wedge rock. There are just a few lumps of sandstone, one scarred with the mark of twin claws.
Deathbringer cut my rock into pieces. Turned me into that tartare. So now… now I'm everywhere those pieces have been taken. The guy might even have done me a favour. If I can just learn how to cope with being in multiple places at once.
For now I focus on my first Worshippers, my little family of Devotees. They've brought the baby into the room with them, and have set up something like a shrine in the middle of a rough-looking plank table. Candles are lit. Dee shoots outside and comes back with flowers and eggs. Namuna sets down a plate of what look like dumplings. I'm seriously worried that Ganzor might decide to offer me my baby lamb as a sacrifice again, and I'm not even sure I'll be able to take sacrifices as Tribute now, and I certainly don't want to. I'm glad when he puts down something else instead. A… spoon? It's small, but beautifully carved from something white.
Worship Points received: 7
You have been offered Tribute! Do you accept Y/N
Almost before I have time to accept the Tribute, Dee has grabbed her glowing pebble and gone barrelling out of the door. “We have to tell everyone!”
I check my status again as I'm shaken up and down with the pounding of Dee's feet. From Ganzor’s pebble I can tell he's following her at a more sedate pace. I don't try to split my attention any more than that.
[SANDY THE COMPASSIONATE,
MINOR ROCK NUMEN LEVEL 7*
Enemy of Death
POWERS
Inconsequential Miracle (WP 1)
Minor Miracle (WP 2)
Miracle (UNAVAILABLE)
Bless (Max WP L)
Heal (Max WP L)
Curse (UNAVAILABLE)
Sacrifice (*)
Vituperation (UNAVAILABLE)
WORSHIPPERS: 0
DEVOTEES: 2
FAVOURED DEVOTEES: 1
WORSHIP POINTS: 13
ACHIEVEMENTS
*Creation
*Deathlessness
INFLUENCES
Life
Oblivion
Invective
DOMAINS
Invective UNAVAILABLE
Livestock]
That is quite a lot of Worship Points, but now I should probably pay attention elsewhere. I can't truthfully say I've never seen the village before, because I think several of the villagers must have picked up their own chunks of me so I probably got glimpses of their homes before I pulled my focus in. I didn't take in what I was seeing though.
DeeDee's arrival, shrieking at the top of her voice and waving her glowing pebble, caused a stir. A crowd assembled quite quickly, although Worshippers were not so fast to re-appear. One sympathetic old dear tried to console the girl, thinking her distraught.
It was the old man in plain clothes who was first to properly take in the glow of my Devotee's pebble, and it's significance. He took out one of his own, nodding to it reverently, and another Worship Point was added to my total. Concentrating to the point of discomfort, because I was splitting myself three ways now. I used a third Inconsequential Miracle to make the man's pebble glow.
That proved to be the start of an avalanche. Villager after villager took out pebbles. At first I kept up, adding another three Miracles to my total.
Level gained
Level gained
Level gained
Level gained
Worship Points received: 4
Things get a bit out of hand after that, because the Prayers start. I can feel pressure building, as though I'm a boiler reaching boiling-point and my safety-valve is stuck.
Level gained
Level gained
Worship Points received: 7
I can’t juggle more than five things in my mind at once. I try to think of it as cycling through each thing in turn instead. Villagers one through six, check rocks are glowing. DeeDee, Ganzor, rock glow. Prayers one through four, add to mental To Do list. Messages pop up. I mentally wave them away. No time to take a break. Villagers seven through ten, rock glow. Dee, Ganzor, glow. Prayers five to seven, add to list. Ignore messages. Can't stop. More keep arriving. Villagers. Devotees. Prayers. Messages. Villagers. Devotees. Prayers-
Ow!
Ow.
Oh!
Power gained
The sense of pressure has all but gone. I'm maintaining two dozen Inconsequential Miracles, and watching the world from as many different locations. I can't say it’s effortless, but suddenly it's no more difficult than riding a bike. Rather than, say, riding a unicycle blindfold along a tightrope over Niagara Falls while one-handedly juggling six live alligators and a chainsaw, while suffering from a nasty bought of ‘flu.
I'm about to check my summary again when a figure steps to the fore. The villagers fall back a little, watching him with distrust. He's a tall figure, lean, in long robes. DeeDee scowls at him and holds my pebble closely. There's a strange man in the village, I remember. DeeDee told me about him... and now he knows about me.