Setoth hummed a happy tune as the three walked back to the makeshift shelter where Apis and the children laid. Khonsu kept looking behind his shoulder nervously at the strange god while Teti walked with a face entirely devoid of any expression.

“You shouldn’t have taken their deal, Teti. You’ve no idea what they could do, or worse, make you do.” The boy said anxiously.

Teti was unperturbed.

“I am not afraid. If it’s going to help Apis, then it’s all worth it. No one’s looking out for us, so it’s time we look out for ourselves. Besides, there’s no going back. The contract is already signed.”

Khonsu grit his teeth but said nothing in response. Soon enough, they made it to the orphanage’s entrance.

“Be quiet – the children need proper rest. Everything else they need is already hard to come by.” Khonsu said.

With a wave of their hand, Setoth cast a spell on the three of them.

“For the next ten minutes, none of our voices will go past two meters. This should be good enough for our purposes.” Setoth said with a wink and a smile.

“…Follow me.” Khonsu said, walking inside carefully.

The three made their way to where Apis laid. The sickly, malnourished boy was asleep.

“Just as I thought. This isn’t something a run of the mill healer could handle.” Setoth said, putting a hand to their chin.

“You know what’s wrong with Apis?” Teti asked.

The Evil God nodded, waving a hand to cast the same silence spell on Apis.

“He is afflicted with [Eternal Hunger]. This status condition takes away all the nutrition its victims consume and gives them just enough to keep death at bay, ensuring that they remain starved for as long as possible. Death by starvation will only arrive once the condition consumes all the nutrition it locked away. As such, the more the victim eats, the longer the prolong their own suffering. Truly an insidious condition, especially for those who don’t understand their affliction.”

Khonsu winced as Teti’s face darkened.

“So, can you get rid of it and heal Apis?” she asked impatiently.

“Of course. Watch closely now!” Setoth said, moving his glowing hands in a set of gestures.

A complicated magic circle appeared in thin air, before vanishing and appearing over Apis’s chest once more.

‘An advanced-grade magic circle… Still, the Akashic language used was the same one that the Gods in Tamery used. Divine Akashic I believe.’ I thought to myself.

I tried to memorize as much of the spell as I could, but it made no sense to me regardless.

‘I suppose decoding Divine Akashic was never going to be that simple.’

Focusing once more on what Teti’s perspective, I saw Apis’s body change.

Where the boy’s skeleton was pushing against his pale skin, healthy muscle and a thin layer of fat was formed. The boy’s sunken cheeks and thin limbs were filled out, and life was breathed into the boys eyes, which was opened wide by the powerful magic affecting him.

“…W-What?” Apis asked, looking at his hands and his body, the very picture of good health.

His clothes that were too wide now barely fit him, with his tunic and pants appearing to be a few sizes too small.

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“Apis!” Teti yelled, rushing to hug the boy.

“Teti, what happened? How am I not starving?”

Teti released the boy and gave him a radiant smile.

“Don’t worry about that. What’s important is that you’re alright now. I told you I’d find a way to help you!”

Apis choked up, and tears started forming at the edge of his vision.

“Thank you, Teti. Thank you.”

While the two were celebrating Apis’s recovery, Khonsu turned to Setoth.

“What now? What are you going to make Teti do?” he asked.

Setoth smiled.

“That, dear boy, is between me and my Champion.”

***

After a while, Teti asked Apis to rest and Khonsu to stay with him while she spoke to the god – her god – in private.

A few minutes walk along the river was enough to isolate them from eavesdroppers.

“So, now that you’ve helped me, what are my duties as your champion?” Teti asked.

The god’s smile widened.

“What a pious champion, you are! Eager to serve, are you?”

“I just want to get this over with. Come on, out with it.” Teti said impatiently.

“Straight to business, I see. No matter, that works for me as well.” The god sighed.

A card flew out of each of the god’s sleeves, which they dexterously caught between two fingers.

“These here are hex talismans. Normally,” Setoth said, somehow holding each card on a finger, “afflicting crippling status conditions on targets to sow chaos is a task for lower-ranked followers, but it’ll make for good practice. Champions of Chaos aren’t forged overnight, after all.”

“Who are my targets, and when do I strike?” Teti asked.

With each of the talismans now standing on a corner on Setoth’s fingers, the god somehow began to spin them in place.

“You strike now, and your time limit is before sunrise. Your first target is a low ranked guard by the name of Pipui. You’ll find her sleeping in the guards’ barracks. The guards don’t expect the starving population to cause problems for them, and the gangs are terrified of provoking the guards too much, so they got complacent enough to not place guards at the door. You will simply walk in, find Pipui, and apply this talisman on her.”

The card spinning on his left hand’s finger flew off the god’s hands and floated towards Teti.

“How will I find her, and how will I apply the talisman, and what does it do?” Teti asked.

“Each of the guards has their name etched onto their clothes. As for the talisman, simply place it over their heads, and it will apply itself on its own. The effect of this talisman is [Induced Schizophrenia], which is a complicated effect of its own. To put it simply, it’ll make the guard see and hear things that aren’t real, which could drive them mad. Even I can’t predict what the guard will do, which makes waiting to find out all the more exciting!”

Setoth giggled as Teti shuffled uncomfortably.

“Your second target is the head of the priests in the town’s Temple of the Gods. By targeting the head priest himself, you will plant a seed of fear in the entire town’s hearts: ‘If even the head priest of the god is not safe, then who is? If he was not able to cure himself, what chance does he have of curing us?’”

Teti grimaced.

“That would definitely unsettle people at the very least. It might plunge the entire town into a riot.”

Setoth’s smile was now as wide as it could possible be.

“Quick on the uptake, I see! I have a feeling that you and I are destined for great things together.”

“Alright. I’ll do it. What does the other talisman do?”

The other talisman floated off the God’s hand towards Teti, who caught it with her free hand.

“That talisman applies an affliction that you are quite familiar with. It applies [Eternal Hunger].”

Teti froze.

“…What?!”

“I said, the talisman appli-”

“Don’t play dumb with me! You know what I am asking! Why the fuck do you have a talisman that can apply [Eternal Hunger]?!” Teti snarled.

Setoth’s smile finally turned predatory.

“Why, because I am the source of that affliction.”

Teti’s jaw dropped. Setoth walked up to her and leaned forward, their face mere inches from Teti’s, as the god’s smile expanded far deeper into their cheek beyond anything a human could have, revealing more teeth than three men did put together.

“It was my people who afflicted your ‘little brother’ from the orphanage. Despite what the priests may claim, the only one with the power to remove the affliction is myself. And it’ll remain this way for quite sometime since the other gods have their hands full with other things to figure out a way of removing it. You never had a choice to save the boy except by placing yourself beneath my wing.”

Teti’s hands and legs trembled, and her vision started to blur. Setoth stood back up, their smile finally gone.

“Now go. You’ve got a job to do, and the sun will rise in a few hours.” They said before vanishing.

Teti’s feet suddenly began urging her to walk towards the town, the compulsion from the contract already setting in. Minutes passed in silence as Teti started walking towards the town.

“I really am a fool, aren’t I?” Teti whispered.

She slowly started giggling before outright bursting into laughter. Her vision began to cloud up as tears began streaming down her face. No one was in the streets, since it was past midnight, and the gangs were finally resting after their long night. Seeing that the temple was closer than the barracks, she headed towards it first. As she entered the town’s perimeter, Teti wiped away her tears with her arms.