The soft touch of silk greeted Daniel as he regained consciousness. Beds had been a luxury over the past few months so it was welcome. Between those times he was camping or traveling, Daniel had been roughing it far more than he would have preferred. Even the Painted Dusk had only had serviceable amenities. He half expected that the mattress had been stuffed with old clothes since the desert didn’t offer much else in the way of stuffing.
This bed was really nice. It was like there was a minute black hole below the frame that sucked him down into perfectly firm bedding. The sheets were smooth and cool, pairing with a slight breeze from an open window. Honestly, this beat everything he’d ever slept on, including Earth and Hunter’s fur after he had gotten the feature that made it softer. If it wasn’t for the fact that he knew Lograve would give him hell if the Arcanist ever caught him napping with the ringcat, he’d-
Hunter. Daniel fell out of the bed as he scrambled, taking the marvelous sheets with him. He hit the wood flooring while still covered, unable to see his surroundings. Falling off the bed felt odd. From the way hitting the floor only fainting hurt, he knew he hadn’t somehow teleported back to Earth in some ‘it was all a dream’ way, as his endurance put in work to resist the admittedly incidental damage. No, it was the fact that he should have far more control over the motion given all the powers he had.
That was a secondary concern he put off for later. Hunter is dead. He had met a god, but this was his first coherent thought waking up. Hunter was dead. Casia Seliri, the strange undead sand creature, had killed him for nothing. His team had practically been wiped by her alone on top of the Eye. It had taken strange powers that allowed him to directly contest the Spires of Aughal, as well as some guy coming out of nowhere, but she was dead.
So was Hunter. Daniel threw off the sheets, finding himself in some kind of Victorian-adjacent room with the symbol of the Hammer everywhere, even in the wood of the headrest. It was like he’d landed in one half of Stalin’s bedroom. A candle flicked to life as he stood up, the only source of light aside from the faint silver reflecting from the nearly new moon off the mirror attached to the desk. That itself was odd as the reflection in the mirror showed the room as if it were illuminated by some omnipresent light source, banishing all shadows, but it didn’t emit any light that would have spoiled someone’s sleep.
Daniel’s eyes passed over the person standing there until his head registered the obvious. Wait, that’s me!? Daniel paid no attention to the very fine bedsheets he’d trampled on the ground as he made his way to the desk, trying not to hold up an arm to his face so he could deny what he was seeing for as long as possible. He put both hands on the desk, leaning forward towards the mirror so he could inspect his face as closely as he could. When he brought one of his hands up to touch a cheek, it got very hard to say the person he saw wasn’t him. What the hell is going on?
When Daniel had appeared on the Octyrrum, he had been physically changed by the addition of attributes boosting his natural talents. Even so, his body had been the same, that of a young white guy in his early twenties with just a little more fat than most doctors would have recommended. Surviving in a magical world where some kind of disaster happened every other week had gotten him into shape, something the version of himself that had stayed behind on Earth had been very envious of. Along with all the friends and magical powers he’d gained.
The person Daniel saw in the mirror wasn’t him. Oh, the body moved when he told it to, but this went beyond what cosmetic surgery on Earth could achieve. For one, someone had taken the skin color slider in his character builder and moved it two thirds of the way towards the other end. His face overall gave him a faint impression of how more shaded Middle Eastern people could look, though no one anywhere on Earth would think he was a local.
Daniel’s damn eyes were purple, and there was a thin secondary ring of light blue around the pupil that sat about halfway from the center when he was looking straight forward. He used to have brown eyes and hair, but the latter was now dark red. The difference wasn’t too much, and honestly the color fit his current features better than the original. Otherwise, not much else had changed. He still had the same build and height, and everything was fine under the hood. The flowing, first phase JRPG end boss robes he’d been changed into made it a little easier to check than what he’d been wearing before coming here.
“Still, what the hell is- what?” Daniel spoke for the first time and really shouldn’t have been surprised that his voice had changed too. This one was deep and commanding, achieving Murdon levels of stoic without him having to try. Out of all the changes he did like that one, though whoever had done this needed to undo it before he started to worry if this was some kind of unwilling cultural appropriation.
Daniel was about to head for the door when he glanced at his face again and got an odd feeling. It wasn’t as if he’d seen this person before, otherwise he’d worry this was some kind of body swap power hitting him. No, there was only familiarity. It was when he wondered when the hell he would have met someone with a blue ring in their eyes that he remembered he had, Daniel had just been too worked up in the moment to notice.
This was kind of what Hammer looked like. The hair had thrown him off at first since Hammer’s was graying. The skin tone matched, the weird eyes matched, and the god could command people to sacrifice themselves upon his sacred altar by voice alone. Well, he was a god so people would do it anyway. Since Hammer ruled over the transmutation domain, he could make himself look and sound like whatever he wanted. Wait a minute. Oh. Oh no.
“Little one, is everything well?” Hammer appeared right behind him, and since Daniel had been looking in the mirror he knew it had been either teleportation or movement so fast he couldn’t track it. Seeing both reflected images hammered the point home. This god had changed his body so he’d look like his son. The fact that this had been done to him without any forewarning boded very ill, contrasting to the concern and fondness the god’s voice had for him.
Daniel decided to ask something that would get the god to answer the question he wanted to ask, without appearing rude to the divine that had given him a non-consensual extreme makeover. “What happened?”
“I am sorry, little one. You are more remarkable than I had first expected.” Hammer put a hand on his shoulder and Daniel tried to suppress his shudder. Either the god was blind to his discomfort or was mistaking the reason behind it. “When I brought us to Rikendia, I had assumed you would have no issue traveling as I did. However, you are more reliant on your corporeal form than I thought. You may still be feeling unwell, but this will pass.”
Ok, but how did we get here? Daniel asked the question in his mind but directed it at Hammer as if they had a Telepathic Link. He needed to know five seconds ago whether the god could passively read his mind or not. Fortunately, Hammer just patted him on the shoulder in what would have been a comforting gesture for most people, not having heard it. “How did we get here?”
“By linear transmission,” Hammer said as if that was supposed to mean anything. “Would time not have been against us I would have enjoyed showing you the other regions of this kingdom, but I needed to prepare this space for the coming meeting. Journeying to Aughal took longer than I thought it would. Ah, but fear not, little one, it was worth it to have discovered you. For some reason, I was not able to find you after you left the Thormundz until just before my arrival.” His face darkened, which in another context would have preceded someone getting smited to hell and back. “In fact, up until that moment, I had thought you lost, as you fell from my sight entirely.”
Divination Aegis, Daniel realized. It works on him? I guess it failed when those weird powers manifested. He didn’t explain any of this out loud because he still barely understood what this god’s whole deal was. Part of him wanted to start screaming at him for what he’d done, but it was complicated. Hammer could bring back Hunter, or at the very least get him in contact with Hand who was the source of that magic. Daniel would tolerate this for at least a few hours if that was what it took. Also, it had to be said, Hammer was a god. Instead of inviting the man who was otherwise acting benevolently towards him to get biblical, Daniel opted to go for more information. “Linear transmission?”
“Ha!” Hammer chuckled, humor directed at himself. “I forget. You are so young, even more than your other siblings. There must have been something terrible that interfered with your creation if you can’t access the Octyrrum’s records on the subject.” Daniel just let Hammer continue talking at that point, but he was starting to get a suspicion. If he was right, it might kind of explain why Hammer was acting the way he was, but it would also be insane. Even more so than waking up with the wrong skin tone.
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“Consider this, young one.” Hammer picked up a quill pen from the table as Daniel finally turned to face him. The god laid it flat on one hand, and in the next moment, it appeared in the other. “How did I accomplish this?”
“Teleportation?” Daniel answered, playing along with the lesson for now.
“No, little one.” Hammer gave him the wink every grandchild got from their grandfather at some point in their lives and put the pen back on the desk. He didn’t even do whatever it was he had been doing either. “No god can teleport. Do you know why?”
No? Daniel pondered that rather than immediately show ignorance, and Hammer seemed to enjoy watching him think. He had no real experience to pull from or secret knowledge to cheat with, save for one thing Hammer had said when he’d asked about bringing Hunter back. Part of Daniel’s initial tutorial into the world’s lore, credit to Lograve, was an explanation of the theology of gods and their domains. Daniel ran the seven through his head and realized something.
Oh, wait, I do have secret knowledge to cheat with. “Teleportation doesn’t match with any of your domains?” There was one domain he’d seen among descriptions of his Encyclopedia no god was responsible for. “It’s under the universal domain, isn’t it?”
“Yes!” Daniel felt the air grow both warm and still in the room all of a sudden. It wasn’t unpleasant, more like the feeling of being around a fire with friends. Hammer hadn’t visibly done anything to trigger the change, though it had been him. He took it as a sign of approval since the god was praising him. “You are as clever as you are personable, for an Incarnate. It’s good you haven’t lost everything. Even though we gods are bound to our domains, that does not mean we cannot replicate that which is solely administrated by the Octyrrum. I, for instance, can compress myself down into a very small thread.”
“So you spool yourself out, cover a huge amount of distance because you’ve reduced your width to something on the microscale, bunch it back up at the end, and then repeat?” Hammer’s grin grew as his eyebrows raised, but a look of horror crossed Daniel’s face. “You did that to me!?”
“Ah, yes.” Hammer looked a little apologetic, which was another absolutely bonkers thing happening today, and he took a seat on the bed a few centimeters from Daniel. “As you saw, that quill was unharmed. Likewise, I can do this to myself without fearing for my existence. I have moved your siblings at times and encountered no difficulties. Why, I am certain other Incarnates tolerated the journey, though I have rarely had the opportunity to do so over my long, long life.”
“So, this.” Daniel gestured at himself. “You remade me to look like you?” They were finally getting to the topic he wanted to cover. Well, one of them. Hunter. I haven’t forgotten you, I just need to feel this gu- this god out more first.
“Of course,” Hammer said as if Daniel really should have been able to figure that out. “You are my child.”
Ok, he needs to stop saying that because he is not Dad. Or, well, if he is, then everything Earth-Daniel’s doing would make more sense because Dad’s gone crazy. Daniel looked out the window, which he was now facing, and just saw clouds and sky. Alright, I’m going to ask him if I’m right about this Incarnate stuff and I hope I’m wrong. Or he’s wrong. Or both. “Uh, Hammer?”
“Please, call me father. It has been so long since I have been able to interact with one of my Incarnates.”
Daniel did shudder a little there, but he had to play along. “Uh, Dad,” he choked out. “When you talk about Incarnates, what are those?”
Hammer took Daniel’s chin in a light grip and moved his head so they were looking straight at each other. There wasn’t much force behind it but Daniel was so stunned by the suddenness that he didn’t resist. “You truly don’t know?” Hammer asked disbelievingly, letting go. “Why, little one, I have never met one such as you. You must know of the Spokes, of the nature of this world?”
God dammit, Daniel thought, as his theory was practically confirmed. Well, Dad dammit now, I guess? “I’m a Spoke?”
“A sentient one,” Hammer added quietly. He seemed quite disappointed that Daniel didn’t know certain things, but at the same time wasn’t blaming him for it. “Oh, but I don’t know if Incarnate is quite the right term. You are unique. You have personality, individuality, and?” A hint of a smile returned to his face. “Friends.”
“Yep.” Daniel was beginning to grow very tired of how similar he and Hammer sounded. Ok, so I’m what the Thormundz Spoke turned into. That was why Hunter was still able to feel it up until Aughal. Hell if I know how that makes sense but it explains a lot about what happened yesterday. At least it wasn’t a hidden third soul, I could not handle another OP dragon coming after me. That settled, Daniel finally asked a question that would determine exactly how hard his life was going to be from now on. “Uh Hammer, Dad, could you change me back to how I originally looked?”
“You aren’t satisfied with that body, little one?” There was a slight huff to Hammer’s voice as if Daniel had said the bed was uncomfortable. The god was almost certainly the one who’d willed it into existence.
“It’s not unattractive,” Daniel qualified, looking again into the mirror and admitting to himself that Hammer had upgraded his looks. The eyes were still weird, but there was a kind of exotic quality to them that Evalyn would have liked. He stopped thinking about that when he realized he’d have to explain himself very carefully. Hammer did not know Daniel wasn’t from here, judging by what he’d said so far. He was also assuming Hammer could tell when he was lying, even if he was working on suppressing his tell. This was more out of general caution since truth detecting powers shouldn’t be in the transmutation domain. “It’s the body I’ve had since I was created. It’s the ones my friends know,” he added, since Hammer was so wrapped up on that. “I do like this one, but I’d also like my old one back.”
“Sentimentality,” Hammer remarked, with the same inflection he used whenever Daniel mentioned he had friends. “Oh, little one, I suppose I may indulge you. Hold your breath for one moment.”
“Wait, you’re going to just-” Hammer poked him in the arm and Daniel felt the same whole body twist that had preceded the last time the god had done this. That was also what had almost killed him. Instead of being spaghetti’d to death, Daniel watched as his body rippled in the mirror and returned to what he knew and loved.
“Better?” Daniel looked himself over, though not as closely as he had the last time since the god was still sitting right there. He nodded and Hammer added, “You need not keep to that form forever, little one. You are my child, and we are the everchanging. Is there anything you could think of now that would be an improvement? When our guests arrive there will not be time for me to make adjustments until this meeting is over, and that could be… we will get to that.”
Daniel was a little taken aback as he realized having a god just do things to his body could have an upside. There was the obvious thing he thought of, as well as asking if Hammer could give him actual wings, or triggerable transformations like how Claw Strike worked. Gaining the ability to turn into a dragon himself was extremely tempting. In the end he didn’t ask, mostly because he didn’t want to encourage Hammer to make more unsolicited changes down the line. “I’m good right now, thanks. Dad. I can tell you if I change my mind.”
“Splendid!” Hammer clapped his hands and Daniel winced, expecting the sun to suddenly turn into a basketball or something equally crazy. Instead it was just a simple gesture, not even louder than normal. “Well, now that you are feeling more at home, we should discuss things further. I would very much like to hear of your experiences, though at the same time, my preparations must continue. Torch’s Proxy will be arriving soon and I’d hate for our first real meeting in ages to start with half-materialized hallways.” Hammer chuckled again as if talking about the one time he’d forgotten to get propane before hosting a barbecue.
Ok. More talking is good. Meeting the avatar of the god who’s been unidentifying half of the things in my Encyclopedia? Daniel suddenly considered the merits of the perfect disguise he’d just thrown away, but reasoned Torch would know it was him either way. It was kind of the god’s job. Daniel pushed himself off of the bed and did his best to match the attitude in Hammer’s voice, even if the family resemblance was gone. “Sure! Uh, before we go, though, can I ask what happened to what I had on me in Aughal?”
Daniel waited with held breath as Hammer considered the question. A half-formed plan came to his mind of punching the god and diving for the window if he admitted to putting Hunter’s body in some kind of garbage can, or worse, if Hammer just hadn’t remade it along with his altered body.
The god half-frowned for a second, during which Daniel felt more terror than any dragon could inflict. “Oh yes. Those things.” Hammer gestured towards a drawer in the room. “I suppose an Incarnate as strange as you wouldn’t shun the products of Star’s domain. Please, gather your possessions and meet me outside. I only ask that you do not take too much time. We have so little alone, and once the others are here I will be unable to spend as much with you as I’d wish.”
Daniel nodded, again feeling deep conflict about the whole situation. Hammer seemed so earnest and invested in him, yet at the same time assumed Daniel would go along with whatever he wanted and would be happy about it. Once the god left the room, Daniel ran to the drawer to find his armor, weapons, and most importantly, a greater skink bag of holding. He peered inside, the opening revealing a space about as large as the room he was in, and saw what he’d been looking for.
Tears came to Daniel’s eyes as he saw the dead look in Hunter’s. The armor, and his body, were both still broken. Hammer hadn’t changed anything and Daniel prayed that meant he could still use this to bring his friend back. Wiping at his eyes, not even caring if the god could see him at this moment, Daniel prepared to play out a classic tale in mythology by bargaining with gods for the soul of someone he cherished.