Riezel and I found ourselves bowing humbly before the baron who was in charge of the city of Jasper. Baron Gomez was seated in an ornate chair and he had a small handful of local magi and guards around him, all of whom were gazing curiously at us.
"Rise, strangers. It seems that you have garnered the curiosity and attention of my court." The baron said, speaking authoritatively. He was a tall man, sitting in a chair that seemed to magnify his presence and almost amplified his nobility. He was dressed in finely made clothes adorned with various pins and medals that I knew at a glance signified his military career.
Riezel and I rose to our feet, and as we did I peered into his mind to better understand the man before me. His memories, knowledge, and thoughts poured into me as we began to stand before the baron.
He was a passionate veteran, a survivor of countless battles who cared for the men he employed and trusted to protect his city. In learning about everything the man I quickly and easily came to the conclusion that in addition to being a skilled warrior and tactician he was also a good man, one who deserved to have the patronage of a benevolent deity. And now I was here, ready to offer him that.
He was a handsomely dressed and visually distinct man. He had golden hair and the pointed ears of a human with elven blood but he was a full human. He was also fairly tall standing about 190 centimeters tall. He had muscles and as I studied him I saw that his hands were covered in scars from battles fought long ago.
"Hello, Baron Gomez. My name is Raul Medrano and I am a friend and traveler. I possess the power to heal your daughter, and I wish to offer that power to you." I told the man, speaking frankly. He looked at me and I felt the normally subtle effects of my superpowered charisma weighing on his mind. He was a cautious, intelligent man and he was hesitant to trust strangers.
"Raul... Since you are a traveler and you heard of my daughter's state then I fear that I have begun to lose control of my own home. Do you have any way you can confirm that you are a healer?" He complained, before deciding to test my claim. I smiled at him and nodded.
"Why yes, I do. I can heal any sort of wound. If you would like for me to show you my power then simply give me a person or animal to heal and I shall prove myself to you." I told the baron, ready and eager to demonstrate my power. When I finished speaking he stopped looking at me and turned to one of the magi accompanying him. He and the man began to whisper to each other, almost conspiratorially.
Riezel turned and looked at me curiously, clearly hesitant. Her doubt was visible to more than just me, and some of the men and women beside me examined her carefully. I watched as they began to share their thoughts over a telepathic link and inwardly smirked at them.
They thought that Riezel was quite strange, and they had no idea how right they were about that. After a few moments, the baron cleared his throat, the sound resounding throughout the grand chamber we found ourselves in. I smiled at him, able to read his mind and well aware of what he was thinking.
"Well, it seems that the city of Jasper has a new miracle worker. I think it'd be foolish of us to not put this man to the test. After all, every city needs a miracle every once in a while. Let's take him to the local infirmary and see if he can't work his magic?" The baron declared, having done a mental risk-benefit analysis, and came to the conclusion that his daughter's life mattered, to him, enough for him to opt to test me out.
What was even better was that the method that he had come up with to test me, all on his own with genuinely no interference from me, was one that emphasized his own military career and the passion he had for the soldiers who guarded his city. Which suited me just fine, after all, I'd need the guards soon enough, and doing this would no doubt make many of them happy to aid me when the time came for me to pursue my own agenda and purify the Emerald Cavern.
"Raul, if you truly believe yourself to be a healer who has the power to heal my Sofia... Then come with me. Commit to your earlier declarations and heal my men, the proud and honorable guards of the city of Jasper. If you do I will consider allowing you to have the chance to heal my daughter." He told me, staring at me and gazing into my eyes. I stared right back and smiled at him.
"Baron Gomez, please just show me the people you wish for me to heal. I shall prove myself with my actions." I replied, smiling at the man. Riezel, sensing the mood in the room shifting for the better also began to smile.
Many of the men in her presence, particularly those who were focusing on her began to blush and I sensed their hearts begin to beat faster. I couldn't blame them, Riezel was an incredibly beautiful woman. In time I'd probably bless her further than I already had and give her more power, especially if she turned out to be a loyal ally. Both she and I wanted more power after all, though admittedly to pursue very different ends. I knew that someday she'd ask me to aid her against Anthrios, and when that day comes I may well opt to aid her freely.
Baron Gomez stood and motioned for me to follow him. His guards turned in the direction of the infirmary and waited for their lord to lead the way. When he began to move, so did they.
They led us deeper into the keep, which I knew was larger on the inside than it was on the outside thanks to a favor that Baron Gomez called in earlier on during his tenure as the city's lord. We walked past several rooms such as a staff kitchen and dining room, living quarters, and even a room for the city's accountant who the baron insisted on keeping close at hand and always ready to discuss city business. Eventually, we made it to the largest room in the entire keep.
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The room we found ourselves in was a gigantic one with high ceilings, countless windows that let in natural light, and was staffed with numerous people who were tending to dozens of soldiers. Many soldiers were laying on beds behind thin, see-through, curtains and some of them let out occasional moans and whimpers of pain. Medics and a few alchemists tended to the wounded or at least tried to. There weren't enough medics here for them to properly get to everyone.
The men in the beds were afflicted with illnesses, covered in old wounds that never healed properly, some of them lacked limbs and others had other disfigurements which permanently affected their ability to work. They were in a miserable state, and in desperate need of healing, but the sort of healing that actually healed them not just any old pain-relief.
The room smelled of death and sickness, and shortly upon entering it I rose a hand and created a ward around us that shielded us from sickness and dulled the impact of the place on our senses. I applied this ward to Riezel and myself as well as to the baron and his entourage. I sensed several members of the entourage grow grateful to me, even as the baron cleared his throat to draw eyes to himself before beginning to speak.
"Men, medics, alchemists! Lend me your ears for a moment for I have come with fortuitous news. Today a new healer has come to us and he says he has the power to put an end to your suffering. He says he is ready to heal you and to end your stays here. Raul! Come, step forward. My friend, if you are ready to heal my men, then the time has come. Prove your worth, help my men! Please, I beg of you. They don't deserve to languish here in varying states of agony." The baron said, speaking powerfully and passionately. He pleaded with me, turning to face me after calling my name. I solemnly nodded at him and while stepping forward. As I moved I clasped my hands together as if in some sort of prayer.
A second later I began to radiate a soft white light and spread my aura of joy throughout the massive room. I dialed up the intensity of the joyful aura and began to create a specific mental image. The image I created in my mind's eye was of the entire room being covered in potent healing energy, the sort of energy that destroyed diseases and regrew limbs, while also erasing pain and replacing it with vitality. I focused on that mental image while the men in the room began to feel joy seep into their souls, unexplained and inexplicable happiness that felt strange given their current conditions.
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When the image in my mind's eye was all I could really see in it, I opened a bigger connection to my infinite wellspring of magical energy than I had ever opened before. A split second later I felt something akin to a floodgate open in my heart, as magical energy began to pour out of me so intensely that in the mind's eyes of the people who gazed at me I could see my skin beginning to glow with the power my soul contained.
I smiled and aimed the energy at the mental image I had in my mind's eye. And then I made it happen with a simple smile on my face. For the second time in my life I performed a miracle, and this time it was the product of a conscious choice.
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The infirmary, normally a place people either went to suffer while recovering from a wound or illness, or the place they'd spend their last few hours or days of life, was at the moment quite literally glowing with life and vitality. The entire massive room radiated a gentle, helpful, life-restoring light.
The soldiers in the room were astounded by the man who was radiantly shining at the room's entrance but their astonishment was only aimed at him for a moment. A second after he began to glow, they felt their pain begin to vanish. Some of them cried out in joy as they began to check themselves only to see that scars were disappearing and old wounds that had pained them for weeks or even years were knitting themselves shut, painlessly.
The men who had been missing limbs were awe-struck when they glanced at areas that had once been reduced to painful and gruesome stumps and instead saw the shining silhouettes of limbs which began to steadily but slowly become strong, hard, flesh and bone. Tears began to stream down their faces as they watched the worst injuries they had ever received vanishing and as they began to feel their new limbs, strength returning to them where there had once only been pain and shame.
Medics and alchemists watched this, truly and utterly astounded by the impossibly powerful divine might on display in the room. There were dozens of wounded soldiers in this room, and even doing something as utterly astounding as regrowing even one limb was beyond the magical abilities of any of the archmagi the resident healers knew of. None of them knew how to fully make sense of the miracle they were witnessing, and eventually, they all just turned and gazed at Raul, emotions such as awe not doing justice to their feelings at the moment.
Riezel was in awe as she watched the room which had once reeked of death become a place filled with joy and love. Every single soldier in the room was now fully in awe of the healer responsible for this utterly life-transforming miracle. Even she, a succubus, a creature who was thought by many to be a being of sexual depravity and malice was moved by the total joy visible and palpable in the room.
Baron Gomez watched, stunned beyond words, as Raul redefined reality in front of him. The men who had been in this infirmary the longest had been here for years, and they too were fully healed by the glorious, life-affirming power of Raul. The honorable baron had to work to prevent tears from streaming down his face. He would have been satisfied if Raul could have healed even one or two of his men, and the young god came into this room and healed them all at once, and even without asking them the baron knew that Raul had healed them fully. He sensed it.
Raul himself smiled and turned to face the baron. There was a look of incredible joy on the young adventurer's face, as he felt the emotions emanating off of even those who had once been among the least injured inhabitants of this room. He was silent for a moment, gauging the baron's reaction and whether or not to reveal the full truth. All it took was a moment of thought before he decided what to do.
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"Baron Rafael Antonio Gomez, I have come to you to become your friend. I do not need to reintroduce myself, for the name I gave you was my real one, but I do need to expand on my introduction from earlier. I am not just a friend and a traveler. I am also a deity. I have come to the city of Jasper for the purpose of becoming the city's patron deity, while earning worshipers, gaining allies, and beginning a religion." I revealed with a gentle smile on my face.
"I wanted to prove myself with my actions before I revealed that incredible truth so as to have shown you something beyond the capabilities of mortal magi and healers and therefore earned a measure of credibility for my astounding words. And before I did this." I continued, my voice beginning to reverberate throughout the minds of the people in the room, even as I blessed them and gave them access to the system so that it could confirm my words while sharing with them secrets only they would know.
I felt the room's inhabitants fill with awe as they learned my true identity and as the system began to fill their minds with information about deities and our powers.
"This is not the only miracle I have planned for you, Baron Gomez." I uttered, even as I opted to go ahead and lean on the momentum of this moment. The baron gazed at me and his eyes began to water.
"Raul... What other gifts could you possibly have in store for me? You have done this, and now I know you can heal my daughter... What other amazing feat could you possibly perform for me? Between this and healing my daughter, you will have made me as happy as I could imagine being!" The baron informed me, his voice filled with emotion as he struggled to hold back tears at the sight of his men, some of whom fought alongside him in wars decades ago, fully healed.
"As happy you can imagine being, yes. But not as happy as you could be. Not as happy as you will be." I decreed, as I began to reach into the underworld, where the souls of the dead who are not sworn to any particular deity, or specific afterlife go. I closed my eyes and focused on the name of the woman that the baron loved, his now-deceased wife, Margarita Esperanza Gomez. I envisioned the face of the elven woman who perished many years ago when her daughter was still a child.
"Sometimes Baron Gomez... Bad things happen to good people. And lives are lost before their time. When that happens very, very few beings can correct it. I am one of those beings. And as a gift to you and to the people of Jasper, I can right this once uncorrectable wrong." I uttered, as I rose my hand and pointed it to my side. I communed with the system and informed it of who to attempt to resurrect. A second later a notification brought a smile to my face.
[Your attempted resurrection of Margarita Esperanza Gomez has been... successful. Her body will be reconstructed in 3... 2... 1...]
Just beyond my hand, a silhouette made of white light in the shape of an elven woman appeared next to me, not much shorter than I was. The baron saw this and instinctively began to wonder if it was true. If it was even possible. A second later the silhouette began to transform, changing from a silhouette made of light into a beautiful elven woman beginning with her head.
Everyone watched, mesmerized, as the elf began to appear with her eyes closed. More of her began to fully solidify and when her body reached just below her neck an outfit made of gold began to materialize onto her skin, created by me when I realized that had I not intervened she likely would have been reborn in the nude since no clothes were appearing on her.
When her body was fully reformed she slowly opened her eyes and took a long, unsure look at the room, and then at the people around us until she saw her husband. When she saw him she froze, and tears began to form in her eyes. There was a split second where all of us, myself included, were unsure of what to do but that moment ended when she ran to her husband and embraced him, wrapping her long arms around him and lifting him into the air.
"Rafael! It's... true! It's really you! I'm really back!!" She said, her voice louder and more energetic than the baron had heard it for years before her eventual death of a long-lasting illness which caused her to waste away. The Margarita Esperanza Gomez who was now joyously hugging her husband was not suffering from that disease, indeed she was the epitome of health and energy.
The baron was weeping openly now, even as he was spun in the air by his overjoyed wife. His tears were tears of joy, and I sensed that he, his wife, and everyone in the room had become my worshipers due to the truly astounding and historic miracles I had performed today. This was confirmed a split second later when the words in the text box in my mind's eye changed to confirm the sensation that I had felt in my soul.
While we were at it, I also went ahead and fully healed the baron's daughter, who I filled with thoughts that she should come to the infirmary. She was suffering from a simple, yet stubborn illness that went away the second I used my powers.
She appeared a few minutes later, an astoundingly beautiful half-elf with long blonde hair and green spheres for eyes, and immediately began to cry confused, yet happy tears when she saw her mom before rushing over and confirming that it really was her since she hadn't seen the other miracles I had performed. It was enough to make me tear up as well, as I knew that moments of pure, unadulterated joy like this tended to be rare.
It would take a few minutes for everything to settle down and for Riezel and I to be invited to the baron's private chambers for a discussion about the future. We were led there by the happily reunited family who profusely thanked us the whole way there.