“You have a body now. That’s… neat. How’s it going bud?” Deacon asked stepping back from the cosmic form of chimera.

“I’m doing fine. My worshipers are increasing and my holy power along with them. You on the other hand, have a dimension breaking beast soul in your repertoire and I’m not talking about the monkey king. You will have to give it up,” explained Chimera.

Deacon looked around his entire mental universe. All the planets that represented his connections to other dimensions. He didn’t understand why all of a sudden Chimera cared if he had the spider empress or not. Deacon was already breaking the boundaries of established Arcanum with each new ability he learned. That was evident to him. What was so special about this one? Deacon decided to find out.

“Why?” Deacon asked crossing his arms.

“There is an eighty five percent chance you will shift into it and not be able to shift back. It was dumb luck, and almost impossible, that you were able change from the empress to the dispel ram as smoothly as you did. Typically you need to go back to your starting form first. I digress, this doesn’t have to be one of those things you fight against. I’ll even give you a reward for complying. What do you say?” Chimera inquired.

“Depends on the reward,” Deacon replied, mentally creating a chair beneath him, and sitting down.

“You really want to drag this out, huh? The reason the dungeon went rampant was because followers of Hipag seeded the boss with that soul. All true. They did that to distract their opposition. If there are more things fighting based in Hipag’s power, the more of Mantarok’s abilities will lessen. It’s all very complicated god stuff. Let’s say you relinquish that soul, we complete this transaction, and you can go back to doing what I asked you to do. Finding Ryan,” Chimera said, really emphasizing the last part.

“You can’t take it from me, can you? I have to willingly give it to you. Is that the rub?” Deacon asked as a look of smugness spread across his face.

“Did you get it? Time’s running out Chimera!” came the voice of Mantarok from over Deacon’s right shoulder.

Deacon spun around in his chair to see a blood covered Mantarok. Red hair a mess and if Deacon’s memory served, down several of the weapons he was usually adorned in. Deacon then looked back at Chimera who’s toothy grin was gleaming from some unknown light source. Mantarok just looked back and forth between them.

“Deacon was just about to hand it over before you so rudely interrupted, brother,” Chimera chastised between gritted teeth.

Deacon instantly realized he had a supply and demand opportunity on his hands. He hoped he could leverage whatever was going on here to his advantage. Mantarok seemed desperate and Deacon didn’t believe for a second that he’d not be able to turn back to himself. He easily swapped between the two forms on the road.

No he believed something more was going on and he aimed to profit from it.

“Whatever you planned to give me plus another Shard of Divinity, and you’ve got yourself a deal,” Deacon spat out before Mantarok had a chance to calm himself.

Chimera actually frowned. That sent chills down Deacon’s spine. He’d never seen that before and he didn’t like the way it made him feel. Internally his soul energy began to swirl like someone was sloshing a bowl of cereal while they walked across an expensive carpet. Then space in Deacon’s mind seemed to warp around all three of them. Deacon’s universe faded into the background, and they were now in the presence of a three headed being with six arms in a white empty void. The arms extended from long robes that appeared to made of unfurled scrolls. Each set of appendages had different skin tones ranging from pale white to dark tan. The first head looked at Deacon. It’s eyes were sunken and it’s nose was long with armless spectacles on the tip. The spectacles were attached to a chain that went around its neck. Atop its head was a mass of greasy black hair. It was matted down around the scalp. The other two heads looked roughly the same although the skin tones varied.

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Two of the arms extended forward and text appeared running up and down the length. A book opened out of nothing before Deacon. Then the creature spoke.

“Sign here Champion of Chimera, then here, then here,” it said holding the book lazily before Deacon.

“Wait! No one has agreed to this Bookkeeper. No need to sign anything. Ha ha ha,” Chimera interrupted with nervous laughter.

“Terms were offered, and a deity was about to accept. This is occurring between the gods and a mortal necessitating my official participation,” the left head that was looking at Chimera said.

“I have not decided yet. The mortal had just begun negotiations—” he began before Chimera was cut off.

“I accept the terms. Give him the reward. This isn’t a game, Chimera. The others are counting on us, let’s go,” Mantarok said as he waived his hand over something Deacon couldn’t see.

“Fine. Sign your contract, Deacon. Mantarok’s in a hurry,” ordered Chimera who also waived at something.

Then the oddest thing happened. The Bookkeeper winked at Deacon before sliding the ledger closer to him. Deacon reached out his hand and received a slate prompt.

The Bookkeeper wishes to confirm the deal with Deacon Champion of Chimera hereby known as the first party with Chimera God of Gambling and Chaos, hereafter known as the second party. The first party is to relinquish the soul of the Planes Weaver Empress Spider to the second party in exchange for a Shard of Divinity and one reward of the second party’s choosing.

Is this correct? Yes/No

Deacon wasn’t well versed in godly contracts, but this seemed simple enough. He selected yes. The book snapped shut and all three of the Bookkeepers heads nodded. Mantarok practically jumped out of his skin before dissolving into motes of energy.

“It seems my daughter chose our representative well for the Centennial Games. I look forward to watching your performance. Good day Chimera,” spoke the Bookkeeper before his other arms grabbed at nothing drawing the white void into itself revealing Deacon’s universal head space again.

“What the fuck just happened?” Deacon asked no one in particular.

“Poor word choice on your part and the presence of two gods. There are rules we greater beings must follow, and the king of the Fae enforces those rules. You may know him better as Oberon or Erlking. In this world he’s known as the Bookkeeper,” Chimera said rubbing his forehead.

“Okay… wait that’s Morgana’s dad?” Deacon asked, putting the pieces together.

“Yes. The Fae have a natural tendency toward rules, and nothing is more rule bound than a contract. Now onto your reward. Here,” Chimera explained before waiving his hand at Deacon.

A greyish-black flat sphere winked into existence behind Deacon. It then rotated counterclockwise before Deacon received a new slate notification.

You have consumed energy from seven out of ten hells, New Class Specializations will be available to you at level twenty.

Quest Update: Class Specialization Quest- Create sympathetic links to five more planar dimensions. Two out of five. Rewards- Legendary Specialization unlocked.

As soon as he finished reading the prompts, Deacon felt an object bounce off his chest. He looked down to see a sparkling Shard of Divinity. He leaned down to retrieve it and his hand passed through it. Deacon frowned trying to grab it again. Then he gave up and looked up at his mental universe. There was a new celestial object. It was two comets traveling through his solar system spiraling around each other. When they reached one of his planets, they changed course, spiraling off in new directions. It felt like watching a rollercoaster that had no track.

“So which hell is that?” Deacon asked as they kept swooping and twirling through his cosmos.

“The Suppression Plane. It’s the hell of weighted burdens. I think you’ll quite like what you’ll be able to do with that one. A final hint before parting. Visit graveyards. Get back to finding Ryan, please,” Chimera said before he winked out of existence. His body going first and his teeth going last.

Deacon opened his eyes noticing his whole body was drenched in sweat. The bed he was sitting on was crushed to the ground like someone flattened it with a giant palm. Once he got up, he noticed the shard at his feet. Quickly sweeping that up into his bag, he looked around his room again. The stained glass windows depicting his adventures and the mostly open space between where his bed was and the shower. Now was the time to test if Alfred had gotten the hot water working.

Deacon depressed the plate in the wall and warm water hissed from the shower head. He almost jumped through the roof from joy. Taking off his pants, Deacon hopped right in. He hadn’t felt this good since the bath house back at Iron Mountain. Then the water started to sting. Deacon began taking health damage. The water was increasing in temperature but there were no knobs to regulate the heat. He swung the door open and stumbled back into his room.

“Did the hot water work?” Alfred asked from the far end of the room as he reconstructed the bed.

“It just kept getting hotter. What happened? How did you make it work?” Deacon asked.

“I put the Infernal glass plate between the shower head and the water supply. Did you not like it?” Alfred asked mind not fully on the conversation.

“I just bathed in Infernal waters. No wonder it hurt. Nope. We need a new solution. Tantus!” Deacon bellowed toweling off and reaching for his pants.