“I don't have my resume with me”

Morgan nearly facepalmed as he blurted out the first thing that came to mind. Luckily it went down well, as Athena's lips almost imperceptibly twitched upwards.

“I understand this must seem surreal to you, but you would do well to overcome that soon.” Morgan straightened up a bit and tried to get himself in the right headspace. He figured he should probably listen to her, being the goddess of wisdom and all. Taking a deep breath Morgan latched onto the familiar. He didn't know anything about making deals with gods, but he did know job interviews. Granted, his long track record of unemployment wasn't a ringing endorsement of his skill in that department but still. Clearing his throat Morgan spoke up.

“I admit I'm interested, but at the risk of looking a gift horse in the mouth, I'd like to know more before I agree to anything”

Athena grinned.

“A wise course of action, if one has learnt anything from the old epics it is that caution is an oft undervalued virtue”

Athena held up a finger to forestall the half-witted quip about a tragically named condom brand that Morgan was about to blurt out.

“My offer is this: there is a contest that is taking place on these Isles. In this you will act as my champion. If you do so I will be permitted the right to grant you three boons to aid you.”

“Wha-hmpfhh” Athena placed her finger over Morgan's lips and shushed him with an aura of quiet command that any librarian would envy.

“Do not interrupt, questions will be at the end Morgan.”

Maybe it was because he had been touched-starved for the better part of a decade or maybe he was just a pervert, but at that touch Morgan felt an embarrassing warmth flush through him as his heart picked up its pace. Trying desperately not to think about how much it turned him on, Morgan nodded numbly for her to continue. If her intention was to get him paying attention, it worked.

“No, I cannot elaborate more on the contest at this time-there are rules by which I must abide. Yes, there are other contestants and no, you will not be directly competing against all of them.”

Athena finished by describing the boons she would grant if he accepted. The first she described was some kind of spiritual framework to help him channel his Will in certain ways. Apparently it was something everyone in the magical world developed to some extent, from high kings to lowly serfs. The second boon was a potent magical item she called a vestige. It would be unique to him and would likely act as an aide in utilising whatever abilities he got from his first blessing. Lastly, she offered to grant a unique ability of his choice. Morgan couldn't help the giddy grin on his face. While not as flexible as the old ‘you get 3 wishes’ scenario he had back when he actually had friends to talk to, this was still pretty cool. He tried to keep a cool head and think about it however. He stilled had a few questions he needed answered. Morgan gradually raised his hand and some of the mirth Athena had when she introduced herself returned. She gestured for him to speak.

“Just a few quick questions.” Morgan said.

“First, what are the limits on the third boon- I'm guessing I can't just ask for invincibility or the ability to stop time or something?”

Athena nodded with approval.

“You can ask for anything, however there is a limit to both how much power I am allowed to invest in you as well as what you could physically and spiritually handle.”

“I figured as much,” Morgan replied.

“Alright second question, the ship Argo, she helped me and I'd like to return the favour-I figure you might have a better grasp on how I could do that?”

Athena grimaced slightly as she glanced at the marooned ship

“It is good you wish to help, she is a noble spirit who has suffered much. If you truely wish to help, you will need to grow stronger. Accepting my offer would help you on that path.”

Morgan nodded somberly, he had one last question. He felt he already knew the answerx but he had to ask.

“If I don't participate, do I get to go back?” Morgan said in a low voice, head downcast. A look of pity crossed Athena's face

“No, there is no easy way back. Even if you lack the sponsorship of a god, you will still need to progress with the chosen inwards and onwards”

Athena glanced over her shoulder towards the sea.

“The storm will not remain still forever.”

Morgan shivered. Well that was just bloody brilliant wasn't it? Morgan couldn't shake the feeling that he was inadequate, unworthy. On top of that he didn't understand anything that was going on, he didn't even know if he could trust this woman, good things didn't just happen in his life. Beyond what little he assumed from the myths he knew, Morgan didn't really know who the ‘Athena’ before him was. Still, she seemed trustworthy and he didn't have a lot of options, so Morgan finally came to a decision.

“Alright Athena, I'm in your hands.”

“Good, before we discuss your third boon, I would like to learn more of you to decide how best to shape your first two boons.”

Morgan let some of the tension he'd built up go. He had made a decision and there was no use in second guessing it now.

“What would you like to know?

Athena hummed for a moment and spoke.

“Tell me, what do you wish you could be?”

“Aspire to be?” He replied, somewhat stunned.

“I suppose I originally wanted to be an architect and before that when I was a little kid I wanted to be a space wizard with a laser sword.”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Athena gave him a puzzled look

“Space wizard?”

Morgan barked out a laugh.

“Yeah you know, has cool robes, super wise, does magic and has a cool laser sword.”

Athena drummed her index finger against her lips.

“I could arrange for that, although due to your limitations I could not create the pathways required for martial prowess without taking away from your other talents”

As Morgan listened his eyes went wide and a stupid grin spread across his face.

“I could do magic!?” He exclaimed

“It would be a difficult path forward-” Athena began.

“I would like to be a wizard. Thank you.” Morgan said politely, before meekly apologising as he realised he had interrupted. Athena gave him a very effective look of stern reproach.

“I will ultimately decide what path I will set you on and the vestige to aid you. However, I will keep your preference in mind.”

Athena sighed, Morgan wondered if she was already regretting her choice.

“I would know your final boon and remember I cannot advise you on it, that is beyond what I have told you already.”

Morgan could see a keen interest in her eyes and he suddenly had the feeling that there was far more resting on this decision than he knew. Morgan licked his lips nervously.

“I’ve been thinking about that ever since you mentioned it earlier and I think I have an idea or two.”

Morgan's voice gained in volume and pace as he got into the subject.

“First I was thinking about some of the obvious ones, all the usual superpowers you see from comic heroes or maybe something you'd wish from a genie. People always talk about how they'd game the rules or something.”

“But instead I'm going to make an assumption.” Morgan said as he stopped pacing back and forth. He looked at Athena for any hints but her face was impressively impassive.

“I'm going to assume the rules made to bind gods are a little too tight for some mortal with a big head to exploit. Off what you've told me if I try to push the boundaries too much I'm going to get lumped with some kind of drawback?” Morgan looked again, Athena nodded to confirm what she had already told him, but he couldn't glean anything more. Morgan decided to wrap things up.

“I've been thinking about what I really need and I keep coming back to how lost and confused I am in all this, how new it is.”

Morgan spoke out quickly before he could second guess himself.

“I think what I need most is guidance and given that you are the goddess of wisdom, that will be my third boon. I ask for wisdom”

“Is that your final answer?” Athena said, her face and voice still utterly unreadable.

Morgan nearly changed his mind when swore he saw a twinkle of excitement breaking through the implacable poker face of the goddess. With trepidation, Morgan nodded.

“Yes.”

Her twinkle in her eyes spread across her implacable face suddenly broke into the warmest face he had ever seen.

“That was an unexpected request, though for what it is worth, I think you have chosen wisely”

Athena exploded with a corona of golden light and Morgan's world was consumed in holy light.

When he finally recovered whatever doubts that still lingered about her power were gone. A golden Corinthian helmet with a red crest rested atop her head, it bore a design that made him think of the face of an owl. Her hair flowed from beneath her helmet like a river of black mist, glittering with distant stars. Her cloak was swept back, her golden armour revealed in full. She wore an ornate breastplate with matching bracers and greaves over her tall sandals. Underneath the armour she wore a pure white chiton, rainbow light subtly shimmered in the shifting folds of the dress. She approached him, spear and gorgon shield in hand, her hair and dress gently flowing on invisible currents of power. The sharp aura of focus she seemed to always have was more intense. It left no room for doubt that what he was seeing was an illusion. It was as if the truth of her power had been thrust into his mind and it brokered no arguments. Faint plumes of glowing mist flowed from her lips as she spoke, distorting the space around it.

“Morgan Harris, I accept you as my champion, Step forth and accept my favour”

Her voice resonated through the air like nothing he had ever heard before. It was as if it came from everywhere around him and from within him all at once. In that moment, standing in her glory the aches of his body and the weariness that fogged his thoughts cleared. Like the sun breaking through on a cool and cloudy day her aura warmed him to his bones. Morgan stepped forward and the world around him fell away, in its place he found himself standing in a pearlescent marble temple. Sconces of golden flames and gilded pillars lined the hall. Fine pottery of clay and bronze filled the spaces in-between, each one decorated with innumerable epic tales. Some were empty, but others were filled with scrolls and more still with a blue-white flower, the scent of which mingled pleasantly with the smell of oils and incense. Beneath his feet stretched out a crimson carpet and at its head Athena stood as a giant, at least ten times her human size. She raised her hand towards him and he felt himself starting to float off the ground as power flowed into him. For a brief instant, Morgan felt a divine sense of clarity rush through him. The whole world seemed like a song, he could feel its beat and rhythm. He felt like if he listened long enough he could probably figure out the patterns of it too, how one note led into another, how the instruments complemented one another. As quickly as it came, it faded. Though in its wake he was not left empty handed, even in the diminished state of knowing he could feel how the blessings were taking shape. He felt the connection to a warm power inside him that he now knew to be his soul. But he felt a distance to it that he desperately wanted to close, like closing the gap would solve every problem in the world. It was in the in-between that he found the blessings, a part of himself that bridged the gap between his mortal self and his soul. It was in this spirit that the blessings did their work. His spirit was like an unfocused blob, or I worked clay and the power shaping it came from the light around him, pushing into him and moulding it like fresh clay. The first part of the power he could identify seemed to carved his formless spirit into something more human. It shaped it into channels and paths, veins and capillaries. The shapeless materials of his spirit that were left hardened in muscles, skin and bones. It was the touch upon the well of power from his soul though that he felt tug at him in the formless space. He saw it thread through the form like a nervous system that brought the whole thing to life and the source of power, his soul, sat in the head like a brain. He knew on some level this was just his mind trying to make sense of things, though he felt that like an analogy, there was some truth in it. The second boon came then, he saw the light around him pull something of itself and much in the same way as his spirit, it began to take shape. He was not tied to it as this happened so he had little insight into what was happening though soon the power of it seemed to become stable and solid. It shot towards him and lodged itself in his spirit as his soul sent tendrils of power into it. Morgan had expected it to hurt, but instead he simply felt… heavier somehow, he suddenly became aware of something new inside him, like an extra limb that he had no idea how to really control or sense. He just knew it was there. Finally the third boon came, though unlike the first two it seemed incomplete. It quickly made sense however as it started to merge with a power that was already in him and Morgan knew in an instant his awareness of this process was part of the boon. As the power pushed through him, he felt it compact and shrink, the awareness he had quickly fading with it. He felt it melding into his mind, the last insight he had was that it felt like someone trying to simplify the entirety of quantum physics for a toddler. As the light around Morgan faded, he got one last look at Athena's face, she gave him a glowing smile.

“Good luck my champion.”

Morgan awoke to the haze of pain. His accumulated injuries had apparently felt slighted by the relief the goddess had offered and returned with a vengeance. Blinking his eyes at the glaring light Morgan looked out at the ocean, lit up by the mid afternoon sun. Briefly, Morgan wondered what he was going to do next until his mouth dropped open in shock. A blue and white box appeared before him, with geometric decals around the edges and a small icon of an owl head with wings spread on the

top-centre edge of the box.

Hello there!

Welcome to the System

New Quests have been added to your quest log.