Bel and James trailed warily after Ventas as he rushed through the hamlet. The excited priest threw out greetings left and right to everyone they passed, beaming with exuberance. He seemed well liked – people stopped to wave and return his greetings with just as much, or more, excitement as he offered. Several times he couldn’t resist introducing the two of them as young acolytes who had escaped some bad circumstances and come to his shrine for aid. Invariably, when each person heard the explanation they offered them well wishes and bits of food. By the time they’d made it through most of the hamlet James wasn’t even complaining about the insects that he’d been forced to eat and was instead rubbing his belly contentedly.
Bel was suspicious at how trusting the townsfolk seemed, but she didn’t have enough experience to know if it was truly odd.
That aside, Bel thought that the people seemed friendly enough. They smiled and said hello when she shyly greeted them with a nod or whispered hello. The town didn’t look particularly prosperous to her, but it wasn’t in a state of disrepair either. The small homes had fresh thatch on their roofs and healthy egg-laying birds roaming their yards. Everyone seemed close knit and friendly once Ventas introduced them – which was probably normal for a tiny community that had little contact with the outside, right?
There was a noticeable lack of older men though, which Bel asked about as they were walking past another large field between the clusters of homes.
“Ah, most of them went away to the war,” Ventas answered.
“The war? Wait, that fight by Baytown is still going on?” Bel asked, confused.
The priest shook his head. “With help from the delvers, the southern army was able to force Baytown’s militia back to the city limits. Unfortunately, they failed to take the town. It’s not a true siege either, not unless the ships from the Points can successfully blockade the port.”
James looked around. “So who do people here support? Actually, what’s the war about?”
“Many things,” Ventas replied, a grim tone entering his voice. “But most importantly, Technis, that cursed betrayer of oaths, imprisoned you in his temple. My goddess’ joy at your freedom rang across the land and we immediately began planning his downfall.”
“Four years ago?” Bel asked, surprised.
Ventas nodded. “Of course!” He thrust his staff into the ground with righteous vigor. “But these things take time. Technis has made many enemies of course, and the people of the Points welcomed our aid. Alas, a secret cannot be kept between so many and Technis’ priests recently began a purge of Lempo from his approved list of deities.” He shook his head. “That was the flash in the pan that set off this war prematurely.”
Bel’s eyes were wide. “So this war is because of me?” she asked with a tiny voice. Beth hadn’t told her any about this – not a single hint! What other secrets was her supposed sister keeping?
Ventas raised a hand high and pointed it accusingly at the sky. “The war is because Technis is a liar and a fraud!”
James pursed his lips. “So if everyone knows about Bel, why hasn’t anyone recognized her before now?”
Ventas nodded. “Well, because we priests of Lempo have kept her a secret.”
“Then the war isn’t really about her, is it?”
Ventas shrugged. “In truth, the delvers and many of the southern cities were already at their breaking points. We gave them a minor push – Lempo is one of the most popular deities in these sparsely populated areas, you know.”
James looked around nervously. “One of? Hey, is everyone here on our side? Didn’t you say that Technis’ people were lurking about?”
Ventas was silent as he considered James’ words. “I suppose that your concerns are justified.” He glanced around quickly. “Most of the villagers here in Clearbrook are much more attached to Lempo than to Technis, and the majority of men-folk here are former delvers. Of course there were some who disagreed, but we encouraged them to leave when the conflict broke out.”
He gestured around with his staff. “We don’t exactly have any borders or walls here though. You are right. We should remain careful.”
James rubbed his chin as he considered the priest’s words. “So, just to check, Technis is at war with the Points and anywhere Lempo is more popular than him?”
“Well…there is of course the aristocracy in the capital, and anyone in Central City may as well be a servant of Technis. It’s probably easier to think of this as a war between the less developed west of the country – all the towns south of Hammerstrike along the Spine and near the southern coast – and the richer towns to the east and north. And the delvers of course, Technis’ priests have ground them into the dirt for far too long.”
James nodded, but Bel wondered if he really understood. They didn’t really have a grasp of anything past the woods around Baytown after all. Actually…
“Ventas,” she asked, jogging slightly to walk beside him, “do you have a map?”
“A map? Of course! There are several back in the shrine.”
“Great!” Bel put her hands together with satisfaction. James had told her all about maps. She was excited to finally see something better than lines scratched into the dirt.
----------------------------------------
“Is this to scale?” James asked. The three of them were leaning over a table tucked into the back of Lempo’s shrine in Clearbrook. The shrine itself wasn’t very impressive, although it was well maintained. The area around it was clear of growth and there was an offering box sitting under a wooden statue of Lempo. Inside, the shrine had a large, empty room that Ventas said was for rituals and medical treatment, a small study, a room with Ventas’ bed, and a storage cellar crammed full of papers, ritual objects, and preserved food. They were currently standing in the study poring over the map that Ventas had unrolled onto his desk.
Bel hadn’t seen a map before, so she was still puzzling it out, but she thought that James was disappointed with the quality. She hadn’t actually gotten to looking at the places on the map yet, as she was too busy looking at all of the little drawings of beasts and sea creatures that filled the open areas.
Ventas chuckled at the question about scale. “Only the aristocrats have the money to hire surveyors to walk enough landmarks to make something accurate. I can tell you how long it takes an adult to walk any of these marked routes, but anything better than that is outside of our means.”
The priest gestured to overstuffed shelf. “I do have a local map that is better, but it doesn’t leave the valley. It won’t be useful at all if your goal is the Barrier.”
Bel had told Ventas about her quest. If anyone would help her out, it would be one of her mother’s priests, right?
She smiled at the helpful man. “I think this is fine, Ventas. It’s not like we could miss the Barrier anyway, and I’m in no rush. I still have, well, I don’t really know, but I think there’s no rush. Getting through the Barrier will be a challenge anyway.”
“Yes, that does sound like something difficult,” he replied.
Then a smile bloomed on his face. “But I am sure a child of Lempo will have no difficulty succeeding where a less talented mortal such as myself would fail,” he said cheerfully.
Bel’s intestines tightened. Ugh, no pressure.
James cleared his throat. “Yes, I’m sure she’ll make quick work of it. That being said, I don’t suppose that you could offer some help? You know, to Lempo’s favorite daughter and her adopted brother?”
Ventas laughed, a friendly chortle that brightened the room. “Of course, of course. I didn’t mean to imply that a goddess’ quest would be easy. Did the task come directly from Lempo?”
“Um, yes,” Bel said hesitantly. “from her and her sister Kjar actually–the goddess of corporal punishment. And the divine spirit of chaos, Dutcha. I can’t really remember much of it though – apparently gods overwhelm the brains of mortals? Something like that?”
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Ventas bobbed his head with excitement. “Of course, of course, that makes sense. And Kjar, hmm, now I see. Who better to be involved? Technis deserves to be punished after all he has done.”
He nodded to himself for a few moments, clearly enjoying whatever fantasy of divine punishment was running through his head. Then his eyes refocused and he started rolling up the map. “Well, I can certainly offer some help.”
He placed the map gently back on the shelf and gestured for the two of them to follow him.
“For you,” he pointed at Bel, “I can offer a small collection of essence that we have stored. It should be enough for you to advance, although not quickly.”
“That would be great,” Bel exclaimed.
“And for you, young man, I sense that you are Pathless.”
“Oh,” James nearly shouted, “can you give me magic?”
Bel suppressed her laughter. James was nearly falling over with excitement.
The priest tilted his head. “I… am not sure what you mean by that. I can implant the core for a Path that is, hm, healing adjacent. There could be better improvements, but I believe this would be the most helpful to the two of you.”
“You can do that?” James exploded, eyes wide. He turned to Bel, his eyes wild. “I told you that Beth was holding out on us!”
Bel held up her hands. “Whoah, calm down brother.”
She turned to the priest. “You can do that? So easily? Even though Lempo isn’t really a goddess of healing?”
Ventas hummed thoughtfully. “Well, to be honest, it is not a trivial thing. But what could bring more joy to the goddess of upheaval than granting a mortal the strength to change their fate?”
Ventas clapped James on the shoulder. “It’s a procedure usually done on infants who have suffered through some trauma. The survival rate is rather low, but with a healthy young man like yourself I’m sure it will be much less risky.”
Bel cringed. “Uh, I don’t know…”
James gave her a thumbs up and a goofy grin. “I’m sure that I’ll be fine Bel! I’m practically the main character, and I feel like we’ve finally left the prologue. Besides, the worst thing that can happen to me is to be helpless when you, y’know, need my help.”
Bel’s snakes flicked their tongues with suspicion as she narrowed her eyes. “Are you sure that you aren’t just living out one of your strange Old W–, uh, strange fantasies?”
Bel didn’t want to mention the Old World, at least not yet. Ventas seemed like a nice guy, but Bel realized that she really didn’t know anything about him or how he felt about people who weren’t Lempo’s children. He was willing to risk her brother’s life to give him magic, but that was probably more for her benefit than to help James. Her instincts told her that he was just trying to be helpful, but being helpful didn’t necessarily mean that he was trying to keep her brother safe.
If the priest noticed her hesitation, he didn’t acknowledge it. Instead, he cheerfully descended into the storage cellar and began rummaging around. He hummed a cheerful tune as he opened chests and pulled things out, making an absolute mess of whatever organization the area used. Soon his arms were full of an odd variety of objects: a few short rods of dull metals, a couple of large, dried leaves, a strange set of jangling rings of several different materials, a tiny scoop on a long leather strap, and a large bundle of gauze.
Ventas galloped up the steps and past the bemused siblings on his way into what he’d called the ritual room, where he dumped his armful of items on the floor. He went to a closet and pulled out a large sheet with so many stains that Bel thought it looked like a painter’s drop cloth. He unfurled it onto the center of the room.
Bel interrupted the priest before he could spend too much time setting things up. “Excuse me, but do we really need to rush? We’ve just been through a bunch of stuff, like getting lost in the dark and eating bugs. Why can’t we take a break first?”
“Well,” Ventos responded, “because we are at war. Time waits for neither mortal nor god.”
Bel opened her mouth to say something, but thought the better of it. The priest had a point. Beth wasn’t around, and the two of them had no way to defend themselves. If one of Technis’ inquisitors found them, they would be floating out to sea without so much as a log to hold on to.
Ventas took her silence for agreement and continued setting things up.
James was barely restraining his excitement, but Bel decided that she needed to ask some more questions.
“So what are you going to do to him anyway?”
Ventas pulled out a wide bowl and poured a clear liquid into it. From the burning sensation in her nose, she guessed that it was some strong alcohol. Then he stoppered the jug and crumpled up one of the leaves before dropping it in.
“Well,” he replied, “you know of the Bargainer, yes?”
“No,” they both replied. Beth had probably said the name as part of a long string of her endless curses, and James repeated them often enough, but the pair had quickly discovered that asking Beth about definitions and etymologies yielded additional swear words, but never any answers.
“Hm,” he frowned. “Well, I suppose Technis’ priests, may their souls be damned to eternal torment, wouldn’t have seen any need to teach you things.”
Ventas was quiet for a few moments while he carefully measured out a dark powder and dropped it into the bowl’s increasingly murky liquid. The smell now not only burned Bel’s nostrils, but also made her want to sneeze and throw up. Whatever he was making, it was quite powerful if its olfactory effects were any measure.
“Well, I’ll tell the story quickly. In the beginning, the world was simple. There were fewer deities back then, but the primordial deity of instability strained against the primordial deity of entropy and eventually won, forcing the four corners of existence to change.”
“Whoah,” Bel muttered, “is Lempo older than everything then?”
Ventas shook his head. “No, this was an earlier incarnation of instability. She tends to change from time to time. Let’s not get sidetracked though, I’m almost done setting up. Where was I?”
He gently stirred the bowl as his gaze unfocused for a moment. “Ah, right, change. Well, existence changed and eventually the Old World gained life, and intelligence, and all sorts of things. This, in turn, brought about new deities as they budded from the primordial essence.”
He tapped his stirring spoon with satisfaction. “Obviously these new deities came into conflict, and legends say that they nearly ended the Old World. The remaining gods and goddesses created the New Worlds and the Divine Treaty in response – you could say that our world, Olympos, is like a storehouse of all of the interesting things from the Old World that the gods saw fit to preserve.”
“Whoah,” James marvelled, “so they created a new universe because they almost destroyed the old one? But wait, what does this have to do with me getting magic? You know that the Old World doesn’t have magic, right?”
“I’m getting there,” Ventas replied quickly. He dug through his pockets, eventually producing a stick of incense. “So, to quickly summarize, the gods and goddesses created these worlds, not just as storage houses, but as a means to generate enough essence that they wouldn’t need to fight over it. Every – well, most living beings have a core of essence that draws in energy from the world around them and funnels a small amount of it into the Heart of their world. The Heart of Olympos sends that energy out to our deities, and in return they remain mostly peaceful and out of mortal affairs. Creatures could learn how to harness this power for themselves of course, but with no additional guidance that was all that they could do.”
Ventas pulled a short table out from the wall. He pulled several tools from a wide pouch and arranged them across the table for easy access. Bel’s eyes widened at the wide variety of blades, saws, and drills present.
Satisfied with his work space, Ventas tossed a pillow down on the floor and knelt on it.
“Humans were brought to this world very recently, and all of the other creatures had already found ways to use their cores. The Bargainer, a great leader from the Old World, refused to bring the humans they ruled until we had a way to compete. The result is what you call the Paths.”
Bel and James looked at him expectantly, but he only stared back in silence.
“Uh, that’s it?” James said, incredulous. “That’s not even enough detail to put on the back blurb of a book.”
Ventas looked slightly annoyed, but Bel thought that was more because he was excited to start his ritual than because he was insulted.
“Well, we’re in a rush,” Ventas huffed. “The important point is that the Divine Treaty guarantees all humans and their descendants the opportunity to follow a Path, which means that there is a ritual to create a core of essence with its own Path inside of your body. Not every deity needs to offer you something though, so some cursed beings who refused to follow the will of the gods – and some mortals who were missed during their birth, like yourself – have only what they can earn themselves.”
The priest gestured to the stained sheets. “Now, lie down on this James,” he instructed. “We should get started right away. It will take around a week to heal after the procedure, so it’s best that we begin immediately.”
“Um,” James gulped, suddenly taking in the tools and stained sheets.
“Still sure about this?” Bel asked him.
James swallowed and nodded, lying down on the cloth. “Your tools are clean, right?”
“Of course! I bless them daily, and eradicate the impure with the abilities that Lempo has granted to me.”
Ventas nodded happily and handed James a leather-wrapped stick. “Hold on to this, you’ll want to bite down on it later. The pain will be exquisite.”
James broke out into a heavy sweat. “I’ll have cool abilities after this though, right?” he asked, his voice breaking.
“Cool?” the priest asked, confused. “Does that mean something? No matter – I will implant a core that we know works with some abilities to facilitate natural healing and pull your future patients from death’s grasp. You could likely learn other abilities as well, but it is untested for that.”
Bel frowned with worry. “What was it tested for?”
“We used it to restore abilities to a great many who were injured from the bone melting plague that struck Satrap many years ago. We then recruited many of those who we saved to continue our work and contain the contagion.”
Ventas reached for his tools, but paused and turned back to Bel. “Ah, Beloved. You… may want to wait in the office. The ritual can be finicky, and I can’t afford any distractions.”
He held out a dull metal bar. “This stick is filled with essence suitable for someone early in their development. Why don’t you go absorb this while I help your brother?”
Bel took hold of the bar. It tingled in her hands, and she could feel a similarity to the cores she had absorbed from the creatures of the Labyrinthos.
She looked at her brother. “Good luck.”
James grinned back at her. “I’ll be fine. Ventas is a professional, right?” He turned to the priest. “You’ve done this before, right?”
Ventas smiled. “Of course! Several times! Now, this will take an hour or two, so let’s begin!”