Quickly, Mortal! Prepare for battle!

“What?”

Belinda. The mayor. She’s a priest of Veritas! Why else would she have abandoned our faith? I’ve suspected ever since last night, but here is our proof!

“I’m not sure this really proves—” Callan cut off. Now wasn’t the time to be arguing with his head-mate. Raising his fists, he summoned Mountainform.

Alert: 5% Apotheosis used.

Total Apotheosis is at 5%

“Calm down, Avatar, there’s no need for that.” Belinda made her way gingerly down the stairs. She glanced at Lisson. “Grandson. How long have you known about this place?”

“I didn’t—I wasn’t—Please don’t tell—”

“Oh, calm down, boy. You’re not in trouble.” She glanced at Callan. “So, please tell us, how long have you known about this place?”

“Um... four years, maybe?”

Four years? Xeph sounded as surprised as Callan felt. Had Veritas really been plaguing the village for that long?

As if sensing his unspoken question, Belinda asked, “And when did Veritas first appear in our village, do you recall?”

“At the start of planting season, I think?” The boy looked thoughtful, then nodded. “I remember, I’d just finished seeding the northeast field. My father sent me to town to get—”

He cut off as his grandmother held up a hand. “Thank you, boy, that should suffice.” She looked at Callan. “So, you see, Avatar, this altar cannot belong to Veritas. You have no reason to corrupt it.”

“How do you know I was corrupting it?” Callan asked, only to realize that was hardly the most important question at the moment. He opened his mouth to start over, but Belinda beat him to it.

“That is a conversation better held back in the privacy of my home.” Belinda glanced around. “Better chairs, and better tea, too. Would you grant an old woman that much curtesy, before you start in with your hundred questions?”

Callan crossed his arms. “Maybe. Xeph?”

Hmm. It may be worth humoring the yeth, if it leads to the answers we seek. But let her know that she is walking a dangerous line! She has roused the ire of a stone god, and if she isn’t careful, we shall bring the full weight of mountains to bear upon her!

“Yeah, alright. He’s cool with moving this conversation elsewhere.”

That isn’t what I said!

As they trudged out of the basement, Callan turned to Lisson. “Why didn’t you tell me you’d known about this place for years?”

“I didn’t think it was important,” the boy said. At least he had the decency to look embarrassed.

“Don’t go blaming my grandson. He can’t have understood what that would mean.” Belinda glanced back at them. “I imagine you’ve got an inkling though, don’t you?”

“I have a few working theories.”

“Hmm. Lisson.” The boy tensed as his grandmother spoke his name. “Go collect the avatar’s priests, if you would. No sense having this conversation more than once. Then perhaps tell your father what has happened. You needn’t let him know your part in it,” she added, seeing the look of horror on Lisson’s face. “Now, go.”

The boy ran off as fast as his legs would carry him. Callan turned and followed Belinda back to her house. The sun was moving steadily across the village, but there were hours still until Veritas’s arrival. Lucky, that. He had a feeling they’d need every one of them.

Once inside Belinda’s house, she busied herself in the kitchen while Callan sat with his arms crossed, watching her. One by one, Kivi and the two lud brothers arrived, followed by Radavan and Alyssa.

“Good. You’re all here.” The mayor surveyed the room, a look of resignation on her face. Her gaze settled on Callan. “So, you found my altar.”

“Your what?” Kivi said, sitting up straighter, almost spilling the tea in her hands. She hurriedly set it aside. “Avatar, what is the mayor talking about?”

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out myself, High Priestess.” Briefly, he explained about finding the room beneath the trading post. When he finished, Radavan let out a laugh.

“I told you that secret wouldn’t last, mother. Honestly, it’s amazing some village urchin didn’t stumble across it before now.”

Callan snorted, turning it into a rough cough as the yeth man looked at him. He asked, “So you knew already?” His gaze darted between both Radavan and Alyssa. “You both knew.”

“Of course. I have no secrets from my children.” Belinda’s gaze landed on her son. “No matter what secrets they keep from me.”

Somehow I doubt that, Xeph grumbled. Callan grimaced in silent agreement.

“What I don’t understand is this,” Kivi said. “The altar down in the basement, whose is it? Not Veritas, surely?”

“No, of course not,” Belinda said with a shudder. “It belongs to the wind goddess Athakolu.”

There was silence around the table as Callan and Kivi glanced at each other. At last, the high priestess spoke. “You’ll have to forgive our ignorance, but... who?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t expect a couple of Badlanders to recognize the name of some fourth sphere goddess from the north. Just wanted you to know the temple didn’t belong to Veritas.”

“Yeah, sorry. We’re going to need more of an explanation than that,” Callan said.

“Hmmph. Figured you would, but nobody can give an old lady the decency to let her work up to something anymore.”

“Perhaps if our time weren’t of such a limited nature,” Kivi pointed out. “If, perhaps, you had chosen to share this revelation with us before the day of the avatar’s confrontation, we might be better prepared to take the information at a gradual pace.”

“Oh, you don’t need to butter it up, High Priestess. Only reason I didn’t tell you before was because I didn’t think it would be relevant. Not like my former deity should be of any importance to the current conflict.”

“Sorry, did you just say ‘former’ deity?”

Belinda took a deep breath. “Let me start at the beginning. You know how this village was founded by me, my husband, and Falchion?” They nodded. “Well, we didn’t just set out one day to found a village. We were led to this place. By Veritas.”

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“But I thought you just said—”

The mayor held up a hand for silence. “I’m getting to it. We came here, under orders from our goddess to finish the fight that Veritas had started up north. You see, these two deities had been at war with each other for, oh, five years or so at that point. I was just a newly initiated priestess at the time, but I and three dozen others followed Athakolu into the Badlands after Veritas’s main temple was broken in Kipsing.

“It took weeks, but we eventually tracked them and their remaining priests down to this plateau. After a pitched battle, with all of their priests dead at her feet, our goddess struck a fatal blow to the enemy avatar. Unfortunately, at the last moment they managed to slip away. We searched and searched, but never found any trace of where Veritas went to ground, or where their last temple was hidden, either.”

“So is that why you remained here?” Kivi asked. “Because your goddess never found her quarry?”

Belinda nodded. “With Veritas’s cult broken, we knew they would have no power, would pose little threat, yet Athakolu would not allow the possibility of her enemy rising again. One of her archon’s volunteered to remain behind, to watch for any sign of Veritas’s return. That was the man who eventually became my husband. Perhaps a dozen of us stayed in total.” She looked down at the table. “Now there’s just me and Falchion left.”

Glancing up, her eyes moved from first her children, then Kivi, and finally to Callan. “My husband established the temple you discovered, and Falchion and I maintained it after he departed for the Cairn. I thought I’d be able to continue to do so after accepting Xeph as my new god, but...”

Ah, now it makes sense, Xeph said, his voice a rumbling purr. Without a tie to her goddess, she would not have been able to interact with the altar. It must have been quite the shock.

Callan repeated Xeph’s words to the others. When he was done, Belinda nodded.

“I admit, I panicked when that happened. My first thought was to abandon Xeph, refill the temple’s reserves, and then swear my loyalty again without any of you becoming the wiser, but as you clearly know, it didn’t work out that way.”

No, it wouldn’t. Once the bond was broken, she would need to visit her goddess in person to reestablish it again. That temple is now useless. It will continue draining its remaining conviction, and once it runs out it will fade away.

When Callan repeated this last tidbit, the mayor hung her head. “I suspected as much. Hoped otherwise, but still suspected.”

“But why did you say that my corrupting the temple would kill us all?” Callan asked. “Honestly, it doesn’t seem like you’re using it for much anymore.”

“Because that temple is the only thing that’s kept Veritas’s own from covering the entire village in its domain. Unless you want that prisoner of ours to simply melt his way free or have the cult be able to strike even without Veritas present. We’re at enough of a disadvantage as it is. Don’t need to go adding more fuel to the fire.”

This also explains why the mayor was so opposed to us establishing our own temple, Xeph mused. The domains would have fought each other, allowing Veritas’s temple to overwhelm them both.

“I thought you said these temples wouldn’t have a range of more than a hundred yards?” Callan asked.

Only if it is a first-tier temple. If Veritas was here before, likely the temple they established still persists. Meaning it could be significantly more powerful—with an amplified range to match.

“Okay, fine. So the wind goddess temple stays.”

“Not for long, I’m afraid.” Belinda sighed. “It only had enough power to maintain itself for another week. Less now, if you managed to drain any away. My own fault for not powering it up again sooner.” She shook her head.

“I think we need to return to the more important matter at hand,” Kivi said. “Mayor, you told us that you and your husband remained behind to watch for Veritas’s return. The god has done so. Does this mean your former goddess, this Athakolu is coming here?”

The mayor shook her head. “Perhaps if I’d sent a message when Veritas first appeared, priests might have arrived from the Reach by now, but I was arrogant. I thought we could handle this problem ourselves. Now I’ve been cut off from all temple functions, and it’s too late to send a message over land. Either your avatar defeats Veritas in a duel, or this plateau will soon be the next epicenter for their expanding kingdom.”

“Bullshit,” Callan muttered. Everyone glanced at him, and he realized the exclamation must have come out louder than he’d thought. Whatever. He leaned into it. “Total bullshit, Belinda. I bet you were just afraid this wind goddess of yours would sweep in here and ruin everything you’ve worked to build over the last half-century or so.”

“Avatar? Why would you think that?” Kivi asked. She glanced at Belinda. “That cannot be true, can it?”

“Hmmph.” The mayor crossed her arms. She and Callan locked eyes for a minute, but when they broke it was her who looked away. “Yeah, it’s true. I’ve done everything I can to shelter this town from the outside world. Can you imagine dozens of foreign priests showing up, bringing with them stories of what life is like up north? I’d lose half the youngest generation, easily. If we’re lucky, maybe a quarter of them would manage to make their way back once they also experienced the less glamourous side of living in civilization.”

She stood up and moved towards a window. Glancing back, her eyes found Radavan’s. “I know you resent me for keeping the outside world at a distance, for limiting our trade prospects and our growth, but everything is so much better that way, don’t you understand? Empires like the Reach can only grow by consuming what’s around them, whether that be other nations or their own citizens, using them up and tossing them aside like so much chaff. There was a reason I chose to stay here, to work with your father at making a better life. For us, and for our children, and for our children’s children.”

“Pretty words, mother,” Radavan said, his expression unreadable. “Unfortunately, it’s not your choice to make. Not anymore.”

“No, I suppose it isn’t.” Sighing, she turned back to Callan. “Well, now you know the whole truth. I never meant to keep anything from you, except to make sure the situation wasn’t overcomplicated. Guess that could have gone better.”

“Yeah, it could have.” He cracked his knuckles. “Alright, time to talk about what happens next.”

“I figured there would be consequences to this.” Belinda took a deep breath. “I’m ready, Avatar. Name your price.”

Callan held up a finger. “First, all those memory shards in that basement belong to me now. They’re not going to do you any good anyway and might just make a difference in the coming fight.”

Belinda opened her mouth to protest, then seemed to think better of it. As she closed it again, Callan held up a second finger. “Next, whenever your wind goddess temple does fall, we’re establishing one for Xeph in its place. At least for so long as we’re here. It gives my priests an advantage in defending Aos and will help keep Veritas’s domain from spreading.”

“Hmmph. Suppose that makes sense. Fine.”

“Third, you’re going to tell me everything you remember about Veritas back when you first encountered them. No more trying to pass information through your daughter.” At Alyssa’s surprised expression, Callan grinned. “Yeah, I should have realized something about that whole story seemed off. Why would a priest have been practicing metal shaping behind your forge, and how would they have done so without Veritas present? In hindsight, it doesn’t add up.”

“I’ll tell you what little I remember, but it isn’t much,” Belinda said. “Veritas was defeated fifty-seven years ago, and I was only sixteen at the time. Not much of my memory that far back is particularly clear anymore.”

“We’ll take whatever we can get. Finally—” Callan held up a fourth finger. “—You’re going to swear your loyalty to Xeph again. Right here, right now.”

“Oh, that one’s easy. I already did that. With her.” Belinda jerked a thumb towards Kivi.

“Wait, really?”

“Yes, my apologies, Avatar. When I confronted Belinda earlier this morning, she told me there had been an ‘accident’—” She glowered in the mayor’s direction. “—And that she never meant to sever her faith to Xeph. I merely forgot to pass it on to you amidst all of the revelations.”

“Well, don’t be stingy, High Priestess. Let’s do this thing.” Callan held out his hand.

“Is it really that important, Avatar?” Belinda asked as Kivi made her way around the table. “After all, it is one mere faith. Can’t count for that much.”

This yeth has no idea... Xeph grumbled. Callan resisted the urge to chuckle.

When Kivi reached him, she clasped his hand in her own. An involuntary gasp broke from Callan’s lips. There was a jolt that ran through his body, one of pure, distilled energy like he hadn’t felt since... well, ever, really.

Ah, and there it is, Xeph said.

You have been awarded 1 additional faith.

Congratulations! Due to crossing the required threshold of 100 followers, your God Bond has increased to Gypsum — I.

+1 to all stats.

Quarantine threshold increased from base by 2.5%

Conviction rate has increased.

Mountainform’s coverage has also slightly increased.

Next God Bond threshold: 200 followers.

Congratulations! You have reached Gypsum tier!

Number of available temples has increased to: 2

Maximum conviction has increased to: 10

Additional orison slot is now available.

Xeph’s voice rumbled all around Callan, redolent with victory. Welcome to the second tier, mortal. Welcome to Gypsum.