The welcoming aura I had felt vanished as I found myself in a white room. More accurately, I was in an endless white space. There were no floors or ceilings, no windows, or walls, just the great expanse of nothing.
I turned around to check and sighed in relief as I saw that the door was still there. Oddly, it was open, showing the hallway through it.
What a strange place, I thought. Why would the cultists have a room that’s really just an empty expanse?
Without warning the door closed and disappeared and I was trapped in the plain of nothingness.
I turned back around, or at least I think I turned back around. It was hard to tell in a featureless realm. Stood before me was a large man,
He gave off a fearsome aura, but somehow I could tell it was part of the same welcoming aura that I’d followed. Because of that I was not afraid as I stared at him.
He wore a long, green cloak, underneath it was a barely contained, muscular body with a deep red scar across the chest. His lower torso was wrapped in white bandages and his hood was down revealing a handsome yet serpentine face.
Parts of his cheeks seemed to have scales growing on them and his yellow eyes looked inhuman.
“Kaleb Akabane,” he began in a confident, deep voice that didn’t match up to his snake-like features. “I am Chrysus, the god of wealth. I have summoned you here to instruct you to worship me.”
“Sorry mate but I’m an atheist.” I replied cooly.
The god might have thought he was intimidating and powerful but nothing in my instincts told me that he was. His aura felt ferocious now, but only seconds ago it felt warm and welcoming. For some reason, I found it hard to see him as anything but that now.
“An atheist?” He replied slowly. “You realise I’m standing right in front of you?”
“Well I’m not blind.” I replied with a chuckle. “Listen mate, I don’t really know what the word god means in this world. But where I’m from it’s about blind faith and in my opinion, blind faith is akin to a lack of accountability. That’s a dangerous game to play with yourself, and religions are known to have started plenty of wars and committed lots of atrocities. I mean each to their own and all, but I don’t want anything to do with it.”
“Then why do you wear my cloak?” He asked, folding his arms, and looking at me with a surprising amount of amusement.
I realised that was why I recognised his name; it was the name on the cloak I had looted from the cultist I’d killed. That meant this was his cult. Which in turn meant he was the one behind the attempted skinning of both me and Brad. I felt my eyes turn cold as I defiantly stared at him.
“I don’t have any clothes and it’s got some good buffs. My turn, why are you and your cult trying to skin people and why the fuck did you think it was ok to have your little hunter abduct me?” My voice felt alien and cold as I spoke. This wasn’t a fiery rage like the kind you might see in battle, no, this was cold, hard hatred.
“You dare to question a god? You have got some meteoric sized cajónes my boy.” He laughed, which only made me madder. “I just told you I’m the god of wealth, the Celestial Map is the pinnacle of all that I embody. I want it, so I’ll take it. That is what it means to be a god boy, absolute power, no matter how whimsical.”
He unfolded his arms and placed them in his pockets. His lips curled into a bemused smile, as if he was educating a small child. It irked me, but my hatred was still cold. I wasn’t going to do anything irrational. If he was a god it’d be futile anyway.
“Right… so what are we doing here exactly? Can I go now?” I replied, trying to remain nonchalant to show him I wasn’t intimidated.
He sighed and rubbed his hand over his eyes, like he had a stress headache or something.
“You’re here because I led you here, to the door. I led you here because I want you to become my vassal, I thought I was pretty clear on that. Listen boy, I saw you take the map piece from the other prisoner. I didn’t realise that was possible. Do you know how much easier it would be to put the map back together if all I had to do was bring you people and let you kill them? That’s why I want you to be my vassal.”
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He got more and more excited as he spoke, his eyes lit up. He was obviously passionate about the damned map, not that I really cared.
“So, you didn’t know that I could adsorb map pieces? I thought gods were supposed to know everything.” I replied with a smirk.
I was playing a dangerous game here but I couldn’t help myself. He stared at me for a long moment with a hard glare, then his gaze broke into a momentary look of surprise before he continued.
“Gods in Celestia are not all knowing, well apart from maybe Athena, that woman is truly insufferable, but I digress. We aren’t all knowing, we are simply the supreme power in Celestia. Suffice to say, it’s unprecedented that a mere level 5 outworlder like yourself even can refuse a request from me, let alone that you would. It is most perplexing.”
Athena, as in the ancient Greek god? What the fuck.
“Yeah I am a bit of an enigma, so can I go now I’ve got things to do.”
“Yes, yes, very well. But I’ll only let you leave here alive on one condition. Refuse it and I will kill you right here and now.”
“I’m not being your walking talking map. Just kill me.” I said arrogantly. I didn’t know what had come over me. This was a god I was speaking to, why on earth was I asking him to kill me. I must have had a death wish or something, but I honestly couldn’t help myself. The dude was just so flippant about the idea of killing 10,000 people.
He seemed to have no qualms at all about causing all of that death just so he could attain some treasure from a map. It was absolute lunacy.
“No not that, I already know you won’t accept that. I want you to accept my blessing.” He smiled a predatory grin that gave me chills.
“Why would you want to bless me? You know I don’t like you right?”
“Have you ever heard the old proverb, keep your friends close and your enemies closer?”
“Fine, it’s a deal,” I said.
I felt power flow into me and my HUD felt like it wanted to give me a notification but nothing happened. I wondered if the system was blocked out of this realm. If gods truly were the most powerful in Celestia than maybe the system couldn’t affect them.
Though it was much more likely that the system was the true power and this god was just an arrogant tool.
Chrysus gestured and the door reappeared. I opened it and walked through without saying goodbye.
***
Chrysus sank down into his throne, rubbing his throbbing temples. The boy had been so obstinate, yet there was something important about him. For a moment when he stared at him, he’d tried to kill the boy with soul pressure but he didn’t even wince.
It was almost as if he hadn’t noticed it at all. Chrysus had to know more about him. A power that can withstand soul pressure from a god as easily as a mild breeze, that was a power he wanted.
He was the god of wealth after all and it was his right to claim everything in this world for himself.
“My Lord, that boy was insufferable. Far be it for me to question the wisdom of one such as yourself, but why did you let him live?” His servant, Lucius asked.
“He’s interesting.” Chrysus replied in a strained voice. “I want to keep an eye on him. He might prove useful to me later.”
Lucius furrowed his brow. He had been alive for a painstakingly long time. Not as long as his god of course, but much longer than most mortals.
As the longest reigning high priest of wealth in history, he felt that he knew his god better than most. Yet this behaviour seemed odd to him. The boy was greedy, that’s for sure. He seemed to relish loot and that was a quality highly regarded by Chrysus.
However, his blatant disregard for rank disparity and divinity left much to be desired. Lucius had seen good men burnt to cinders for less by the very god who had just blessed this disrespectful boy.
“My Lord, does this boy have your protection?” Lucius asked.
“He has my protection from you Lucius. Don’t you dare kill him when I’ve just blessed him. Do you know how tiring it is to give one of those? If he attacks a member of the order they are entitled to protect themselves though and of course the low rankers currently in the temple can do as they wish.
“If the boy can’t best the likes of them he’ll never be of any use to me anyway.”
“Understood My Lord.” Lucius replied. “I have to ask though; how did he manage to resist your soul attack? I didn’t think that was possible.”
Chrysus sighed and looked at Lucius with sad eyes.
“Lucius old friend, you’ve been my longest serving high priest ever. Do you know why?”
“Because I mostly keep my mouth shut and don’t pry into godly matters?”
“No, because I thought you were too stupid to understand my secrets. Apparently I was wrong.” He sighed and flicked his wrist.
Lucius exploded into tiny specks of ash and was no more. The high priest likely didn’t even know he had died it was so instantaneous.
Chrysus rang a little bell that sat on the arm of his large throne and a small man in crimson robes hurried into the chamber.
“The high priest is dead. Let the order know, I’ll be holding a competition to find the next one in a few months.”
“Yes sire!” The small man said before running from the throne room.
Things are getting interesting Kaleb Akabane. I just killed my oldest friend because of you. You better be worth it. Chrysus though menacingly, his fanged teeth poking out from his lips as he smiled.