Chapter 3 The Life of a Neophyte.
Whether you’re free or not is only in your mind.
True freedom is at the hearth, true freedom is being content.
Lokamesh, Father of Mortal Kind.
My room is simple and sophisticated. A comfortable bed with white covers. A mahogany wardrobe with three sets of white robes that are a bit too big for my malnourished body. I'm relieved to see they hold a star on the shoulder instead of a feather. A wooden footlocker with bronze metal working, a brown desk with a few drawers, and a white padded chair completes the room.
The walls of this place are made of a deep blue gem, and there are no windows. The air is supplied by a small air vent in the glittering blue ceiling. Too small for me to crawl through if it comes down to it, but also keeps me safe from the same possible invasion.
If I want to survive, I have to acquire information, and the best way to do that would be to learn how to use my abilities. I have a long day tomorrow, and the warm-looking bed is too tempting. Yet I figure that the next few hours are going to be the safest to move around since everyone had a long day. Like me, everyone is tired.
Thus I turn on my heel and leave the warm room. I spend the next few minutes learning about my surrounding area, I get acquainted with the numerous blue hallways around the neophytes’ rooms.
I explore further away, and come across the twelve different temples dedicated to the twelve gods. Some of them are closed, others are open.
The temples to the gods do not matter to me, I’m an atheist. Before my mother left, I promised her I wouldn't ever pray to the gods. I was five then, and to this day I have no idea why she wanted me to promise such a thing. Yet, this was my mother’s only wish, the only thing I have left of her.
Until I see her again I shall never pray to the gods. The gods had never done anything for me, I have no reason to worship them. Faith is merely a lie being sold to the common folk so they can keep working their fields without complaints.
However, the temples to the twelve are more than a simple place of worship.
The Temple of Kilako, God of Trade, is also a small market. The place sells small everyday items for a single gem each. Things like a change of robes, socks, shoes, or underwear. It also has hair accessories, sheets, pillows, handkerchiefs, pieces of wood, tools, and all kinds of other assortments.
The Temple of Tukado, God of Knowledge and Creation, is also the library. The place houses thousands of books, all on sale. The front desk is manned by a pair of Loremasters with a large eagle on their white robes. Behind them, there’s a painted statue of the white bearded smith and the eagle perched on his shoulder.
One of the elderly priests raises his chin in my direction. I ignore him and pass the large statue. I move between the shelves, eyeing the price tags on the iron chains binding each of these books.
Wind’s Breath, how to form your wind mana-pool – Basic Meditation Method – 30 gems.
Shavi’s Sword – Cantrip – 40 gems.
Salendar’s Choking Grasp – Cantrip – 38 gems.
Shavi’s Breath (Breeze) – Cantrip – 28 gems.
These prices should be manageable before I reach the number of a hundred gems, the number that would make me a target. I just need to find a stable way to make money.
Near the exit, I spot a large board with a long list to apply for lessons. Here I can hire an apprentice for a lesson on various subjects. The apprentices have set hours, set times, and a single set price of ten gems per half an hour lesson.
The Temple to Nuriss, Goddess of War, serves as a sparring hall and a weapons shop. The bronze weapons are much cheaper than the spell books, selling for ten gems at most.
The Temple to Mayan, Goddess of the Sea, is also the public bath and toilet. At least unlike the death room, they have the decency to separate the genders to different pools. The doorway leading to the men’s baths is blocked by a red wall of light that stand in stark contrast to the blue gem surroundings.
I touch it lightly, it feels like a solid warm wall. I’m pretty sure the same type of protection applies to the women’s bath, and only men can see it. If a man ever picks on me, I can always run here… other than my room that is…
The Temple to Amaret, the God of Atonement, serves as a place of punishment. I swiftly avoid the place when I see the whips and racks. I hope I won’t be forced to see it.
The Temple of Tonisha, Goddess of Adventure and the Wilds, serves as the dining hall. It has its own set of rules and regulations written on the wall, along with a job board.
Here I can sign up for work. State the hours I want to work, and the type of work I can do. The orange robed priests will assign me to a job accordingly.
After a brief look, I can deduce that there are four types of jobs: assistance, porterage, prostitution, and adventuring.
Assistance will assign me to an apprentice that required help with something, and they’ll provide me with a payment of a single magical gem per hour. My safety however is in question. The worth of a neophyte’s life is a hundred magical gems. My employer can simply kill me as long as they paid the fine to the tower.
Prostitution is the same, except the nature is sexual, and it pays better. I eye the words thoughtfully. This had been my life for the past five years, a living hell I thought would never end.
I let out a heavy sigh. Do I really want this to continue? Do I really want to spend more time with perverse beasts?
What are the alternatives? If I can become stronger faster by earning more of these gems and using these resources to learn magic, maybe I should allow myself to suffer more? I was willing to offer myself up to that terrible guy for the sake of survival, becoming stronger is my survival now.
I’ll think about it later…
Porterage pays three gems an hour, and the description makes it clear that the job includes a lot of heavy lifting. Combined with the fact that my safety isn’t guaranteed, this is something I should avoid.
Adventuring seems to be even more dangerous. This includes taking assignments along with a group of up to ten strangers who list themselves for the same assignment. These assignments look like something that’d take up to a month to complete, but in the end, the reward would be larger.
The assignment with the lowest reward lists eight hundred magical gems for the group to split between them. So I’ll also have to watch my back during the task, fewer participants mean more reward…
This one is for later, after I get orientated and figure out how to control my magical abilities. If I can get strong enough to defend myself and apply my magic in battle, I’ll definitely pick this job.
{26} Noxi (April) the 3rd
I wake up in a cozy bed for a change, I haven’t had such a nice bed in five years. I enjoy the warm laziness of the morning. I might die tomorrow, along with my aim to get stronger. I’m going to have as much fun as I can! Just for the off chance that I might die…
I know it’s morning since the sapphire glows with bright light, during the night it turns dark, letting out only the faintest of dim light.
It’s late morning when I force myself to leave my comfortable bed and head to the dining hall. “Are there some leftovers from breakfast I could eat?” I ask the young freckled priest with the dragon symbol on her robe.
She shakes her head, her dark ringlets of hair dance with her movements. She points to the board at the side.
Meals are served at 8:00-9:00 after midnight, 1:00-2:00 past midday, and 8:00-9:00 past midday. If a neophyte wishes to dine at any other time, they may purchase a meal for a single gem.
Each neophyte will only receive a single meal at the designed hour. If a neophyte wishes to eat more, they may purchase a meal for a single gem.
There’s even a large clock here, another expensive item, but I shouldn’t be all that surprised by now. It’s a little after midday, I only have to wait a little bit longer for the food.
I pick an empty table in the corner and wait. The hall slowly populates by dazed white robed neophytes, it seems like I’m not the only person to oversleep. After everything we’ve been through, I don’t blame them.
People form three small queues in front of the priests’ bar. I shortly join them. If I’m waiting anyway, might as well secure my spot.
At 1:00 past midday exactly, the three orange robed women hand trays of food on the wide elongated wooden bar. While the white robed neophytes pick a single tray each.
I end up at the front of the queue pretty quickly and receive my food as a long line already forms behind me. I go back to my seat and inhale the mutton and potatoes. Meat is something I haven’t touched in five springs, and the lavish meal is most welcome.
“That’s my food! Go fuck yourself!”
"Fuck off, meatloaf!"
"Who are you calling meatloaf, swine! Go fuck yourself!"
I raise my head to see two brutish neophytes fighting over a tray of food after they just stole it from a scrawny looking man. The potatoes and mutton spill on the ground as the two punch each other, stepping all over it. The scrawny man kneels between the two and chews on a piece of meat like a hungry animal.
I watch wide eyed as an orc with a fist symbol on his shoulder snatches a food tray from a purple haired gnome woman. She steals a small piece of meat from the tray and runs out of the temple, shoving it in her mouth. The brute barely manages to eat a bite before a chubby human woman aims her hand at him.
A wave of cold breeze blows through the large dining hall, lifting her long brown hair in an impressive manner. The muscular orc takes two steps back, shivering.
Only now do I notice the star on the woman’s shoulder. She raises her eyebrows at the orc with her hand aimed in his direction. He hands over the food begrudgingly and heads back to the queue to pick on another poor sod. The chubby woman heads outside with her food, undisturbed. I want to have that kind of power!
Soon, people realize that there’s no need to stand in the queue and wait for their turn. They can simply grab the food of the next weak looking guy or girl that received their meal, but too many of these thugs attempt to do it at once, and they end up fighting each other. The weaker looking people, attempt to exit the queue and leave the hall, but too many of them get caught up in the brawls.
The fights grow bigger, and people form groups to fight over the food. Especially when everyone realizes that the priests refuse to give food to the same person twice. I’m so glad I got here early and finished my food already… I look at my empty plate with a smile. I use my fork to move the gravy around as I watch the brawls.
I’m full. I would’ve gotten out of this temple if I could, but this is currently a battlefield. It’s unsafe to cross or I’ll end up on the floor like the death room again.
“Thank you!” I spot Adir shoving a blue haired gnome who just got his food. A burly orc attempts to take the plate from Adir. The blond man places his hand on the orc’s chest and sets him on fire.
The orc screams and rolls on the ground, but the flames only intensify until he stops moving entirely.
“Neophyte number M-0816 will report to the temple of Amaret for disciplinary action at four past midday. Failure to show up will result in an increased punishment.”
A loud masculine voice can be heard from the blue walls. He's not shouting, his deep emotionless voice is only amplified by magic.
The dining hall goes silent, the fights stop abruptly, and people gawk at Adir with disbelief. A few awkward seconds later, people form an orderly queue in silence. No one wants to lose their life over food, not after everything we’ve been through.
Adir takes another tray of food from a beautiful brunette woman. She doesn’t fight him, she simply hands her tray and runs. His lips curl up as he makes his way to one of the tables. He consumes both meals.
*
An hour later.
“Oops! Clean that up!” the black robbed woman says to the loud giggles of her friends.
I sigh and wipe the floor from the food she purposely spilled. Assistance job was a bad idea… I thought they’d actually use me as a maid… not a fucking clown!
“Tell her to lick it! She’s our dog!” says another black robbed girl.
“Lick it! Clean it with your tongue!” Her name is Rose, she’s my current employer. I signed up for a two hours assistance job, just to test what kind of work apprentices will give us, and here I am pretending to lower my head and eat their spilled food without saying a word.
I wince as I feel the wet pieces of salad on my head and in my hair. One of the black robed girls decided it’d be fun to spill food on my head.
“Aw! I think your dog needs a haircut. How about a haircut M-820?”
If I protest they’ll enjoy doing it. I should pretend I don’t care, even if it’ll most likely ruin my chances at the prostitution job…
I shrug.
“Don’t be cruel, Jean.” To my relief, Rose, my employer, moves the other girl’s hand away.
Jean pushes her friend away, she leans down near my ear, and pulls my hair. “Don’t worry M-820 I’m hiring you next!” She heads out and slams the door behind her. Like hell you are! I’m not applying for this kind of job again! I’d much rather sleep with some pervert and receive five times the pay for less than an hour of work.
“Don’t mind her, she’s just bitter because she can’t figure out a spell.” Cynthia, a blue eyed blonde wearing the same black robes tries to comfort me. “If you ask me you should try selling yourself, but it’s your choice. Can you make me a cup of tea?”
The apprentices have a dorm of five connected rooms with common access to a living room, a kitchen, and a bath. Unlike the neophytes who share those in mass.
I nod and head to their kitchen. The moment I come back, the ground is covered with leftover food again. Rose points to the ground with a wide smile on her face, and the blond girl behind her rolls her eyes and shakes her head.
I’m never picking the servant job again! I move down to clean. After a little while, a ringing tone marks the passing of an hour. This sound repeats itself every hour during the daytime.
I stand up, dusting my knees and gestures at Rose with my open hand. She moves her black curly hair out of her pale face and pays me a pair of magical gems. “Thanks for your hard work 820! I’ll see you tomorrow!”
Like hell you will!
*
During the evening the sapphire walls dim slowly to tell us night is falling.
This time, I’m not the only person who comes an hour before the meal. A long queue is already formed by the bar, and people are pushing one another for positions.
I sigh. I’ll probably starve tonight… I can buy myself a meal, but not now, they’ll simply take it from me, I should buy one later tonight… No, I’ll save my money… It’s not like I’m not used to starving at night. I really need a better income source to buy my meal at hours no one’s here… I should go take a bath and wash the salad from my hair…
I turn to leave and spot Adir as he enters the dining hall temple. He’s not wearing his white neophyte robes, only a pair of short white pants. His back is marred by ugly marks of lashes, but the man acts as if he doesn’t care.
Now he has a group of followers too. A bunch of burly looking men, half of them are orcs, most of them are holding cruel looking bronze weapons purchased from the Temple of Nuriss.
Adir picks the seat in the middle and his gang relocates itself around him like extra limbs. He gestures with his hand, and the gang turns to beat up the people who stand in the long queue.
I run out of there as far as my legs can take me. Back to my room to store my gems safely and then to the Temple of Mayan for a bath.
I take off my robe and wash it and myself with a free piece of soap the temple offers. It’s nothing like the hard soap I had back home five springs ago, it’s oily and keeps splitting in my hands, but it’s much better than the nothing I had as a slave.
I fix the robe on one of the air dryers and go back to soak in the pool, submerging my head in the warm water. Ahhh… nothing like a good bath… I didn’t have this luxury for a very long time… I can't believe I used to take this for granted… bathing in warm water… having no idea what it’d be like without it…
I stand up, poking my head out of the water and eye the various girls in the pool. Would’ve been nicer if I had some privacy, but can’t have everything I guess… at least the place is half empty an hour before dinner time…
“Hey, girls, we’ve got a little fairy here! Hello fairy! You’re so beautiful aren’t you? Can you sing us a song?” A young black haired woman points at me with an acidic smile on her tanned face.
Fuck… The water got my hair stuck to my scalp and exposed my ears. I’m used to covering them up with my hair, but I’m not used to bathing in public.
It’s not the first time I’ve gotten a bad word for being a half elf. Even in my very home, my stepmother and her maids made sure to remind me of my foreign blood. As for the soldiers and slavers who took me from home, comments on my heritage were all too common. But to them I was exotic, not something that should be shunned.
According to the books I've read on the subjects: Humans hated Orcs for raiding villages and enslaving humans, and they also hated Elves for breaking marriages and kidnapping young children out of their homes. Gnomes hated Humans for trying to steal their secrets, and Orcs for the same reason everyone hated orcs, they pretty much enslaved everyone. Orcs, hated everyone who isn’t an orc, or more accurately people whom they considered weak. I don’t know who’s bright idea it was to put all these different races together… Oh yeah, they want us to fight and kill each other… great! I should come here at midnight…
I ignore the group of women who circle me with poisonous giggles, keeping my face emotionless. In my time with the slavers, I learned the best way to deal with this kind of treatment, apathy.
One of them pushes me. “We’re talking to you, weed eater!”
Yeah, I’m not talking to you though…
Another grabs my hair and pushes my head under the water, they hold my head down and pinch my ears.
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They won’t kill me! They won’t kill me! They won’t kill me!
They’re a group of bratty girls who stick together and bully weaker girls because they’re scared!
They’re too scared of being whipped. They won’t cross the line!
I tell myself over and over in order to calm down.
Disappear!!! No. I can’t kill them, I won’t survive so many lashes.
I gasp when they pull my head up again, and stare blankly at an empty spot of air, waiting for them to go away. If only I could use my magic and kill them all...
“That’s enough!” A chubby woman in her late twenties steps closer to us. “Look at her, she’s just a harmless young girl!”
“She’s an elf, she’s like a seventy years old hag, you moron!” one of the girls explains.
“They don’t have elves here. Look around you, see any elves? Elves don’t let their children get taken away by humans, she’s probably just a half elf.” A gnomish girl comments from the side in a condescending manner. She sits on the edge of the pool, brushing her long purple hair.
“If you want to join her, boot licker, we’ll be happy to drown you too!” Another one of the bullying girls grabs the gnome’s arm. "Let's see if you're even tall enough to stand in here, shall we?"
Then they all scream. The chubby young human who stepped in my defense aims her hand at them. I gasp as the cold air hits me. The group disperses, they stumble around as shards of ice form on the surface of the water.
The chubby woman grins, fully enjoying the application of her power. I can’t wait for the day I’ll learn how to actually use my powers. “I’m Phoebe, what’s your name?” She gives me her wet hand for a shake.
“Marisha. Thank you…”
“You’re welcome. I’m forming a group of girls for the meals and baths, safety in numbers and all of that. Want to join us?”
“I’d be more than happy to, but I think we’ll also attract the wrong attention from Adir.”
“Who’s Adir?” She frowns.
“That blond man? The guy who burned someone earlier today. He already has a small gang of brutes. He’ll pick up on us during the meals.”
“Leave him to me, you’re too young to worry about those things.” I do look like I’m in my teens… I guess I could use her protective side… it can’t hurt.
“A half elf her age should be around her late thirties.” The gnome girl comments in her nasal voice from the side. “They mature slowly. Their brain also develop slower than you humans. She’s younger biologically, but not chronologically, you know that, right?”
“I’m twenty six.” I admit, the pixies saw the gold already.
The gnome raises a long purple eyebrow. “Younger than you look, much younger! You look like you have thirty five blooms behind you at the very least.”
“Maybe I’m only a quarter elf? I’m not sure if my mother was a half elf or not…”
The gnome shakes her head and gives me another nasal speech. “Quarter bloods don’t exist, or at least they don’t survive very long. If your mother is a half elf and a half human and your father is a human, you’d be human. You’d grow at the same pace humans do and have round ears. You may inherit some genetic traits like looks, hair, or eye color, but not the life span of a half elf. If your mother had been a half elf and a half gnome and your father is a human. You wouldn’t live past twenty.”
“I’m sorry, what’s your name again?” Phoebe asks the rude gnome.
“Sina. And no, you can’t know where I’m from or what my hobbies are. I hate personal questions, and I won't braid your hair.”
Phoebe grins. “None of that. Do you want to join us though?”
“Me? No thank you! Go knock yourselves out with the group thing. I have my own plan.”
*~*~*
Social status: A dormant neophyte evoker.
Wealth: 2 magical gems.
Companions: Phoebe