“What’s going on here?” Restaro came running, a dark expression on his face. He cast his gaze accusingly first towards, Callan, then Kivi, then the two older priests.
“I am sorry, husband, I did not mean to draw you away from your work.” Sadie looked mildly embarrassed. If Callan had to guess, she probably wanted to avoid informing her husband until she understood the matter herself. Seemed like the cat was out of the bag though.
Or, at least in the process of flailing its way towards freedom.
“Look, I wasn’t going to make a big deal out of this,” he said, trying to head off any trouble before it began. “Xeph and I needed to, ah, practice a bit, that’s all. I promise the wall is perfectly fine.”
Better than fine, actually. But maybe wiser if he led in that direction gradually.
“Avatar?” Kivi’s brow was still knitted together in a way he didn’t particularly care for. “What exactly did you do?”
“Nothing. Just practice. You know how I’ve been practicing with Xeph after you went to sleep, right?”
“It is more than practice,” Sadie said. “You spent all of yesterday morning doing something to our wall, and almost the entirety of last night! I was up with the little one for most of it, he’s begun teething and can’t seem to sleep for more than an hour. You moved from section to section, round the entire perimeter. Whyever for?”
“You were awake for that?” Callan asked. Inside his head, Xeph let out a rumbling laugh.
Hah. The ruse is over, mortal. Might as well simply come clean while you still can. Besides, it is better this way. I did not care for all the skulking and scheming. We are god and avatar! An avatar may do what they wish, and the world bends to our will or breaks beneath it.
“You know, there’s such a thing as humility, Xeph.” Callan muttered, rolling his eyes. Then, seeing the frowns on everyone’s faces, added, “Look, I had an idea for a... side project. It just kind of got away from me, okay? Besides, I started it before I knew about—”
He managed to change what he had been about to say into a cough. “I just thought since there was such a nice wall here already, maybe... it... could keep the tides out.”
Kivi blinked. “You mean you changed the entire wall into a solid piece?”
She turned and studied it. From the outside, you couldn’t even tell. Honestly, Callan was rather proud of that accomplishment. It had taken Xeph a bit of work to show him how to manipulate the inner stone only, but after all their recent adventures, manipulating stone he couldn’t see was starting to become rather routine.
“All the way down to the plateau foundation?” she went on. It didn’t really sound like a question, so Callan didn’t answer. Instead, he turned to Restaro.
“Look, could I talk to you privately?” He glanced at Sadie. “Both of you.”
“Avatar, it would be better if I—” Kivi cut off as he placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Kivi. Please.”
She held his gaze for a long moment. Callan was starting to wonder if she would outright refuse when she finally let out a sigh. “The others and I will wait for you at the tower. Please do not tarry overlong, our journey today is just beginning.”
He watched the lud trudge between the fields and slip into the distant woods. Once they were well out of sight, he turned back to Restaro.
“I know about your condition.”
The farmer paled visibly. He turned an accusatory glare towards his wife, whose own eyes had gone wide with fright. Before either could speak, Callan hurriedly continued, “Xeph informed me. He’s a god after all, and it’s kind of their job to know things. Besides, he was, like, there when your entire race was made. It probably wasn’t as big a secret then as it is now.”
This comment seemed to draw the farmer up short. He turned back to stare at Callan in surprise. In the moment’s silence, his wife spoke. “I do not understand. What does this have to do with changing our wall?”
“So I’m not sure how much my high priestess knows or suspects about this whole situation, but she seemed to have gotten it into her head that we might be able to convert your husband into a follower if we built that tide tower.” At Restaro’s frown, Callan chuckled. “Yeah, I saw that was never going to work, either. Clearly you don’t have an interest in pledging yourself to Xeph. I can’t for the life of me fathom why, because if I was dying, I’d do whatever it took to stay alive. Especially if I had a wife and brand-new baby to worry about leaving behind—”
Mortal. Xeph’s cautionary tone cut into his ramble. Callan coughed.
“Look, the point is, you’ve got your reasons, and I’m not going to pry into exactly what they are. But I also didn’t want to leave you and your wife completely undefended against the tides, so while outwardly I made it look like we were comprising our plan into something I thought you could tolerate, I also started my side project.”
He explained to them briefly what he’d done. The wall connected all the way down to the plateau capstone, so there was no chance of leakage underneath. Its only weak point was the gate.
Restaro’s gaze seemed to return to it about the same time as Callan’s. “What about—”
“Yeah, Xeph and I hadn’t quite gotten that far in the plan. I figured when I told your wife about it, I’d ask her opinion as to the best course forward.”
“Mine?” Sadie asked.
“Sure. Depending on whether or not you wanted to tell your husband about it. But now that you both know... I guess there’s a couple options. You can sandbag it whenever a tide comes, or I can complete the wall, then make a ramp or something on both sides. Think about it.”
“Avatar, all this...” Restaro shook his head, seemingly at a loss for words.
“Look, I’m sorry I had to get into your personal business over this. That was never Xeph and my intention. You don’t owe us anything, and we don’t want anything.” Callan ignored the god’s squawk of protest. “It really was a training exercise as much as anything. But now that you know, at least there are options. Between that and the tide tower, hopefully you won’t have to worry about your wife’s safety after... well, you know.”
He turned to leave. Actually, every fiber in Callan’s body wanted to book it for all he was worth, but he forced himself to walk at a sedate pace.
Dang, but that had been an awkward conversation.
“Avatar, wait.” Restaro started after him but stopped a few paces away. He looked at the ground awkwardly. “If Xeph told you about my race’s condition, then I’m certain he told you about the side effects.”
What side effects? Xeph grumbled. Callan shook his head.
“Truly? Interesting.” The farmer hesitated, then continued, “When a rutain offers a god their faith, often they are... changed. Many of the personality traits of that god become their own. Sometimes for better, but often for worse.”
Interesting. That was not something that occurred back in my time. Has the rutain race evolved since my slumber? Or perhaps... The god descended into muttering. Callan didn’t respond, instead waiting for Restaro to continue.
“I have not always lived in the Badlands. When I was younger, I belonged to a family that had sworn ourselves to Liasa, a goddess of plants and flowers. But in my fifteenth year she fell in battle to another god known as Kvetch.” The farmer shuddered. “A god of chaos. When my family swore new oaths to their oppressor, they... it was not immediate, but the family I knew ceased to be that day. I watched as those I loved tore our family bonds apart. Before I was of age to swear my own oath, I fled. It was years before I found my way here. Hard years. But free ones.”
He shook his head. “I do not wish to die, but I do not wish to become other than I am. My wife knows this, understands this, but...”
“I also do not wish to lose the man I love,” Sadie said, coming up and wrapping an arm around her husband. “You have seen me these past weeks, have you not, my beloved? Am I a different woman than the one you married? Am I less for giving my faith to Xeph, or more?”
Restaro nodded. They all stood in silence for few minutes. Callan was beginning to wonder if he should go and leave the couple to their privacy when the farmer finally spoke.
“Is it true? Did Xeph wish only to aid us out of the kindness of his heart?”
I keep telling all of you, I do not have a heart, the god rumbled. Callan almost laughed, but stopped himself at the last second. Instead, he gave a quick nod.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“Both Xeph and myself. I’m sure you know about the damage that Zavastu has caused across these plateaus. We’re trying to do what we can to fix that. Even if it’s just one family at a time.”
“I see.” The farmer looked at the ground. Sighed. Raised his eyes to Callan’s. “Then I wish to pledge myself to Xeph-Zul-Karatl. If he’ll have me.”
Yessssss. The sound was a buttery purr in Callan’s ears. At the same time a message appeared in his vision.
You have been awarded 1 additional faith.
“Xeph accepts your faith, and thanks you,” Callan said. He hesitated, then added, “And for what it’s worth, I hope you don’t change, either. But it seems to me that everything in life changes us in little ways. I’m certainly not the same person I was before meeting Xeph, and I’m not sure I’d want to go back to who I was, even if I could.”
“Thank you for your kind words, Avatar.” Something had changed in Restaro’s face. He appeared less strained than he had been before. Or maybe that was just Callan seeing what he wanted to see.
“I should get going,” he said. The farmer and his wife nodded, so he started walking again—at a sedate pace. At least this time he meant it.
He found Kivi and the brothers inspecting the work on the tower. At his approach, the lud clambered down the sides to join him.
“Everything alright, Avatar?” Kivi asked.
“Better than alright, High Priestess. Restaro pledged his faith to Xeph before we left.”
He’d thought that Kivi would be shocked by that news, or possibly even angry over his perceived meddling. Instead, she gave him a relieved smile. “I am glad whatever plan you have been working on was successful. I like Sadie and did not relish her being alone.”
“You knew?” Callan asked. He realized belatedly that his question could have been pointed toward any number of possible answers.
“Oh, Avatar.” Kivi grinned at him, leading the way into the forest. “You cannot hide much from me. When you concocted that flimsy excuse to send us away for the day, I suspected you had more up your sleeve.”
She reached out, and slipped a hand in with one of his own. “You asked me to trust you, and I did. I am just glad to see my trust was not misplaced.”
Indeed. I too was uncertain as to the wisdom of your plan, mortal, but it proved to be worth the trouble in the end. It is good to show you care for our followers. I only wish it had been for something more significant than a single profession of faith.
“Oh, have some patience, Xeph,” Callan said, a wide grin on his face. “We’ll get you some more followers yet.”
Hmph. Hopefully at a little quicker pace. If we continue at the rate you followed here, the sun will have collapsed in on itself and gone dark long before we have a chance to return you to your home world.
----------------------------------------
Luckily, their next stop was not nearly so involved. The lilish community was happy to see Kivi again, and even more so to receive an offer of a tower. When they left the next morning, Xeph had gained another six followers on top of Restaro’s faith from the day before.
Soon they reached the edge of the plateau. From here, Callan could clearly see that the pythian tree he had spotted growing in the distance was located on the Aosan plateau ahead.
“Is that where the village is?” he asked, indicating the tree. Kivi shook her head.
“Aos is located at the far end of the plateau, opposite the pythian.”
“Huh. I would have figured they’d be taking advantage of its resources the way your own village did.”
Kivi gave him a smile that Callan suspected had a bit of a superiority complex to it. “I doubt anyone residing in Aos possesses the natural talents required to harvest the tree’s resources.”
Also, I believe our high priestess said that this is a farming community, yes? Xeph added with a low rumble. Farms, as a general rule, tend to do poorly when near a pythian.
“Right, because of the roots or whatever.”
And the large shadow that the tree itself casts. Tradeoff in all things. What is a boon for a large city is a curse for a small community. One day we will travel to one of the true cradles of civilization on this continent, and then you shall see. Where growing plants are not as important, life beneath a pythian flourishes unlike anywhere else in the outerworld.
Somehow, Callan doubted there were many places where plant life wasn’t considered of at least ancillary importance. Even in the heart of Seattle there were parks and other little pockets of green space. It wouldn’t be the Pacific Northwest without something growing in the constantly damp atmosphere.
They began their descent to the canyon floor, utilizing a path that was almost identical to the last one. Soon, Callan lost himself in the slow, careful rhythm of the gentle switchbacks, and turned his attention to other matters.
He had seven points of faith to spend, and six stats to choose from. Enough that he didn’t want to just dump it all into Fortitude—or, more accurately, he did want to dump it all into Fortitude, but something told him that wouldn’t be the best choice.
Instead, he added only four of the points, spreading the remaining three between his lowest stats—Momentum, Concentration, and Influence. It wasn’t a huge difference but did help shore up his abilities a bit more.
When he was done, he studied his stat sheet. Slow but steady improvement.
Name: Xeph-Zul-Karatl (3rd Sphere)
Avatar: Callan Whitlocke (Trueborn Human)
-STATISTICS-
Brawn: 17
Momentum: 15
Fortitude: 39
Concentration: 15
Influence: 15
Piety: 16
-BOUNTIES-
God Bond: Talc - IX
Manifestation: Mountainform
Orison slot 1: Shape Stone (Talc - X)
Orison Slot 2: Wurmchain (Talc - X)
-DISPENSATIONS-
Perk 1: Wane
-DOGMA-
Total Followers: 88
Available Faith: 0
Conviction: 4/5
Conviction Rate: 4.5/week
Temples: 1/1
Domain: 16 yd
APOTHEOSIS: 0/25%
Unfortunately, he doubted slow and steady was going to win him the race. Xeph must have been thinking similar thoughts, because he broke into the middle of Callan musing over his stat sheet.
Mortal, I think it’s time you and I speak more at length about what lies ahead of us.
“What’s there to talk about, Xeph? We’re going to investigate this other avatar and determine if we can take them or not. If we can, we fight. If we can’t, we get out of there as fast as our legs can carry us.”
He and Xeph had already formed a plan for analyzing this other avatar’s strength. How soon they’d be able to put it into action was a bigger issue, but one Callan figured they’d solve after negotiations with Aos’s mayor.
Yes, and while I can find no issues with that stage of our plan, I wish to discuss what comes after. The ‘we fight’ portion, as you so eloquently put it.
“Okay. What’s up?”
I have not spoken at length to you about this yet, but it would serve you to know that there is... an etiquette to observe when gods encounter each other on the battlefield.
Callan waited. When Xeph didn’t elaborate, he gave the god a mental nudge. “And?”
And this is a difficult topic for me, human! Give me time to find the right words to speak of it!
“Oh.” He frowned. “Why is it difficult to talk about?”
I... don’t know, actually. There was a genuine note of frustration in Xeph’s voice, which was the only thing keeping Callan from calling BS. I remember battles with my fellow deities in ages past, but they were usually friendly things. Or, if not friendly, then at least not antagonistic. We fought over petty matters, and usually just to first blood.
“Yeah, something tells me that whatever is going on in Aos, it won’t be like that.”
I know, I know. There are also memories of other conflicts. Darker ones, where I... where... Hmmph. It is gone.
The god let out a loud sigh. This is all irrelevant. What you need to know is this: when two gods both take to the field, they are expected to fight each other, and no one else.
Callan frowned. “What does that mean?”
It means that while you might engage with an enemy god’s priests, once their avatar enters the field you are expected to fight them and only them. Until one of you retreats or is defeated, you may only face each other. You may not render aid to our allies, and you may not strike at enemies, even should the opportunity present itself.
“Okay, I can see where that might limit our choices.”
Indeed. Especially if this god proves infinitely more powerful than us. I doubt this will be the case, as this part of the badlands does not appear to contain sufficient souls to fuel such levels of faith, but... the longer our presence can remain undetected by this other avatar, the longer we may strike at their priests with impunity. Once we are discovered, then direct combat may be the only resource left to us.
“I’d just as soon avoid direct combat if possible.” Callan hefted his bag. “Anyway, isn’t that why we brought these bad boys?”
Yes, but as you saw in the lud village, plans have a way of escaping. Better to prepare yourself mentally for the possibility.
They crested the far canyon and stepped out onto the Aosan plateau. Other than being slightly higher than its neighbors, Callan couldn’t tell much difference.
Well, besides the giant friggin tree, anyway.
He’d seen the tree outside of Tok before, of course, but now standing here, maybe a quarter of a mile from this one, he realized the Tokash tree was actually small in comparison. This one’s branches extended out far enough he was almost in shade even all the way over here, and it seemed maybe half again as tall as well.
They’d never gotten too close to the pythian back home, with the scouts meeting them in the village before they departed, and now Callan was wondering why. He had a sudden urge to run his hand along the tree’s trunk. Feel the bark beneath his fingers. Stare up at the canopy from right at its base.
He was in a world with goddamn giant trees, and he’d been so busy he hadn’t taken the time to fully appreciate that.
When he looked back, he noticed Kivi watching him. She gave a half-shy, somewhat knowing smile. “Would you like to go closer? It’s not too far out of our way.”
“Actually, yeah. That would be nice.”
They set off in the direction of the tree. Kivi took his right hand in her own and gave it a squeeze. “I’ve spent my whole life in the shadow of a pythian, so it’s easy to forget what effect they often have. I’m sorry I never asked before now, Avatar.”
“It’s okay, High Priestess. Been a heck of a month.” Or had it been two, already? Callan frowned, trying to remember exactly how long he’d been in the outerworld. Surely no more than two.
Maybe.
As they got closer, he started to notice the patterns of light the leaves above made on the ground. It occurred to him that it had never seemed particularly dark in the lud village, either. At least, not as much as one would expect with a mountain-sized tree in your backyard.
Glancing up, he saw the sunlight forming prisms of color in the treetops. Yeah, it did look as if there was plenty getting through. Just not enough for farming, apparently.
Soon enough they arrived at the tree’s enormous base. Here the ground grew rougher, slowing their pace and forcing them to crawl over and under several exposed roots, most of which were the circumference of a mid-sized house.
Then they emerged from beneath a particularly thick cluster and found themselves at the tree’s base. Callan stared up in wide-eyed awe.
Majestic, aren’t they? Pythian trees are profound things. Even to a god such as myself, they evoke a timelessness that I can only aspire to.
“What, you saying you don’t intend to live forever?” Callan joked. He reached out a hand and felt the rough bark covering the tree’s surface.
As he touched it, a spark leapt from the tree to him, unseen but feeling like someone had goosed him good. He snapped his hand back.
“The hell was that?”
I’m uncertain. It was... that... Hmm. Interesting.
“What?”
Xeph was silent a moment. Then. I believe I have uncompressed... something.