Chapter 19: Introspection

Adriana and Davos rushed back to the village as fast as they could safely carry Alicia. The girl was conscious, but only barely. The act of being swallowed, squished, burned from stomach acid, and then in the radius of an explosion hadn’t killed her, but she would need healing and rest. Luckily, Davos could lighten their combined weight and move fast when he needed to. The way from the swamp to the edges of the village passed in a flash.

One of the older boys in the village sat as a lookout on the fence of the furthest farm. Upon seeing them running his way, he started and fell back into the field. He popped back up and screamed out something Adriana couldn’t quite make out. Then he hopped the fence and ran their way.

“You’re alive,” he said, excited until he saw Alicia. “What happened?”

“We won,” said Adriana, with no small amount of smugness. “We killed the monster!”

“And Alicia got a little hurt,” Davos continued with a sigh. “Run ahead and get Merja and meet us at the shrine.”

The boy nodded and took off. Now that they were in the village, Davos didn’t feel the need to hurry. They walked at a decent pace past the farms and towards the center. Once they were at the firepit, they turned south towards a squat, stone dome at the end of a field, where the healer and general priestess of the Gods lived.

Adriana vaguely remembered Merja as the woman who had blessed the wine they drank the night before. She had seemed like a reserved, grandmotherly lady who stayed out of the way and supported Marano while he ran things. Unusual for a village priestess, but that was as much thought as she gave it.

Every person they passed watched as they followed, and Adriana could feel the weight of their eyes, and the whispers that followed. Her heart raced with excitement, but a groan from Alicia got her back on track. She took the girl from Davos.

All along the empty field before the stone dome had shrines to some of the more popular and well known Gods. Iosephos, Deliana, Balbus, Cytherea, and Hessius had little stone altars with sculptures depicting the God in question. Adriana eyed them thoughtfully as they passed.

Merja emerged from her home as they got there, eyes wide with concern. “What happened to her?” she gasped, and ran forward.

“The monster swallowed her. We were able to get her out, but she spent a couple minutes inside it before we defeated it,” said Adriana.

“We might have blown the monster to pieces in the process,” Davos added. “Some of those burns are from the creature’s belly, the others are from her.”

“Hmph,” Merja tutted. She brushed singed dark hair out of Alicia’s face and examined her face. The tween breathed unevenly. Her eyelids fluttered open and she tried to smile at the village healer, but fell unconscious again.

Adriana shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot. “Can you help her?”

“Of course I can help her,” said Merja with a chuckle. “I’m not looking forward to how much this is going to hurt, though. No one else in the village better get hurt for a week or two.”

“What do you mean?” Adriana asked.

Merja motioned to the soft bedroll in the center of her little home. “Set her down there, and I’ll take care of the rest.”

Despite her misgivings, Adriana did as she was bid and set Alicia down. The little girl groaned a little, but at least her life wasn’t in jeopardy, it seemed. It was good enough for now.

“C’mon,” said Davos, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Merja has this. We should go tell Marano.”

But their return and Alicia’s state had been all the announcement they needed. Marano waited for them. He gripped his walking stick so tightly his brown, gnarled knuckles were white. “I see you came back alive. What of the monster?”

Davos held up a bulging sack of Bestia. “Dead, and its remains collected so they aren’t picked up by animals and reborn into a new monster, just as bad as the first. Alicia will be okay, but Merja is taking her wounds onto herself, I believe.”

Adriana winced. That’s what the healer had meant. Generally speaking, there were only a few ways divine healing worked. One either sped up natural recovery, or they took the wounds onto themselves and their own Divinity healed them faster. It was rare for anyone below a lesser God to be able to heal more cleanly or safely than that.

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Marano sighed. “With the bounty you caught for us and the monster dead, Juthida will last another season. In time we might even make up for lost ground and grow. This is cause for celebration! A feast and day of rest for everyone!”

“Another feast? Weren’t they just talking about being hard up for food?” Adriana whispered after they left. They were directed back to the guest shack they’d shared the night before, where they could rest and recover after their battle.

Davos laughed. “Yes. But that’s the thing when you don’t have much. There are times to conserve and stretch things out so you can survive…and there are times to live it up, and remind yourself that you’re alive. There’s a difference between living and surviving. Before we go, I’ll help catch them some more fish, and they’ll be okay.”

“Why do you care so much?” Adriana asked. She realized how it sounded and added, “You always seem to care about whatever village we’re in. You stopped for those few weeks we were with Synto, but…”

Davos sank to his bedroll with the groan of someone approaching middle age. “Because no one else cares about them. We go in and out of these villages, and then we forget about them. But they remain when we’re gone, and whatever we do in them will echo for all time.

“Juthida is a nothing village, just off one of the better trade routes. The people here live simple lives, away from the worst of what the Maw has to offer, away from the drama and politics of the cities, but also away from anything that could help them. Why not help them? They need it more than most, and we can provide it.”

Adriana thought about it for a few seconds. “But what do we get out of it?”

Davos sighed once more and lay down with his hands linked behind his head. “Believe it or not, sometimes it’s just good to do things for people because they need it. Not everything needs to be done in the pursuit of wealth and power. Let me ask you a question, Adriana. When you are a God, what then?”

She blinked. “What do you mean?” she asked, sitting down on the bedroll next to his.

“Exactly what I said,” Davos said. “Let’s say you become a God, right here, right now. What do you do? What’s your plan?”

“I…I don’t…who needs a plan?” Adriana laughed. “At that point I can do whatever I want, and nobody will be able to stop me.”

“Fantastic! What do you want to do? Once you’re a God and no one can stop you, and all.” Davos’ smug smile grew wider as her silence dragged on. “Oh, spent so much time thinking about getting there that you have no clue what you’d do. What is it you think the big Gods do? Other than fighting the Maw, of course.”

“Screw you,” she spat. “I never said I was going to be one of the bigger Gods. I don’t want the responsibility they have, or the expectations. I just want freedom. Is that so bad? When I’m done climbing and am as strong as I can be, I’ll travel wherever I want, eat whatever I want, and I’ll pick up jobs along the way -- “

“Gods pick up jobs like normal mortals?” Davos faux-gasped. “That’s new to me! And sad, really.”

Adriana kicked him. If it hurt, he probably wouldn’t notice after the litany of aches and pains they’d collected from fighting the hydra. “I’ll fight the Maw. I know that much. And I know of a few people back home who need to be dealt with.”

“Revenge. Mortal thinking,” Davos said. He sighed, deflating as the amusement wore out. “You need to really think about who you are and what you want. Power for power’s sake doesn’t end well. It makes most people into assholes, and you’re already kind of an asshole. Think of what you want to do with that power. If I was a God, you know what I’d do?”

“You’d probably be a God by now if you didn’t refuse more Divinity,” Adriana grumbled.

“I’d help out little villages like this. What’s the point of a God who doesn’t answer prayers, and just does whatever? Don’t say anything,” he added, before she could retort. “Just think. Take some time, and think. I’m going to nap.”

Rather than argue, Adriana did as he suggested and let her mind wander. Her imagination, never her strongest quality, struggled to come up with much. She wanted to fight the worst of the world, and she wanted recognition for her efforts. More than that, after a life fighting for the bare minimum, she wanted it all. She drifted off to sleep with dreams of glory, and of finally being satisfied.

When Adriana woke a couple hours later, Davos was already gone and she had trouble remembering where she was or even the year. It had been exactly the nap she needed, but now the grogginess smothered her. She staggered out of the shack to see it was nearing sunset. She’d been out longer than she expected.

“She’s awake!” A voice called out. She looked up to see dog-faced Snopos at the firepit, pointing a skewered fish at her. Adriana froze.

The entire village, possibly just over a hundred people, cheered. They were assembled around the firepit, outside their homes, and throughout the well-worn footpath, waiting for her. Adriana’s blood chilled at so many people, watching her intently. Then a cheer rose up through the population, louder and louder until it threatened to bowl her over.

Alicia pushed her way to the front. She looked tired, but otherwise in good health. Her eyes lit up and she jumped on Adriana, who caught her and returned the hug with enthusiasm.

“Hey, you’re okay!”

“Thanks to you,” said Marano as he limped forward. “You killed the monster, saved our children from being eaten, and you brought our Alicia back to us alive. Our prayers have been answered, thanks to you.” With great effort, he lowered himself to his knees and bowed low to the ground.

Behind him, others joined in. One by one, the villagers of Juthida paid their respects by kneeling and touching their heads to the ground. Adriana shivered as a new sensation infused her entire being. A sense of strength of numbers, of the distance between her and others, simultaneously miles away and right next to her. Respect, faith, devotion.

“Praise the Gods, and their newest member!”

She laughed, and basked in their adulation. Maybe this was what Davos meant, when he said there was more than power. Adriana would save people, slay monsters, grow in power, and be worshiped for her deeds. Just as things were meant to be.