Now sound asleep, I metaphorically awoke in that place of nothing, but this time, it was different. My form had solidified further, and had started to gain much more detail. Furthermore, there appeared to be the makings of terrain beginning to form. With my arrival here no longer being so unexpected for me, I felt much more at ease, and this time, spoke first. “Deimos? Are you here,” I called out.
A figure began to materialize in front of me, once I spoke. Standing at about ten feet tall, broad-shouldered, clad in intricate robes with a hood pulled over his head which cast a deep shadow across his face, was who I could only assume to be Deimos himself. “What is it that you seek?” While much quieter now, his voice was still deep and booming.
“Well, where do I start? What is this place, and why am I here? How did I even get here,” I started slinging questions, but Deimos held up a hand, signaling me to stop.
“This plane, or universe as you would call it, is of my creation. Currently, you are in my pantheon,” he stated, gesturing around to the almost entirely empty space. “As it stands, you are not yet properly attuned to this plane. As a result, you will be unable to properly perceive your surroundings,” Deimos admitted.
“How do you even create a universe, and how did I get to a different one?! And if I can’t perceive this place, why keep bringing me here,” I asked indignantly.
“Gods, as you would refer to us, are simply beings of the fourth dimension. Much like the way those that inhabit the third dimension can create works in the second, we can do the same with the third,” he explained. “As to why you are in the pantheon… you are not of this plane, and therefore do not inherit any of the power that is natural to its inhabitants. Your presence here allows me to give you that power directly,” he concluded.
“Power, as in magic,” I stated more than asked, and Deimos nodded. “So what is ‘attuning’ supposed to do, then?”
“It will allow your existence to stabilize both here and in the full world, granting you greater ease when wielding your given power. Use it cautiously, as your presence here will inadvertently strengthen your connection more than those who receive their power naturally,” he warned. Apparently, with that, Deimos decided he’d had enough of me for now. He casually waved his hand and I was propelled backwards, off into nothingness.
I awoke with a start, having not been prepared to fly in reverse this time. Taking a moment to stretch, I then hesitantly left the warmth of the bed. Drawing back the curtain a little, I took a peek outside. The sun was just barely cresting the horizon, but there was already a decent amount of activity outside. Suddenly, I heard two sharp knocks at the door. I barely had time to wedge myself behind the armoire as the door swung open.
“Mornin’, Zach! Breakfa-” Taran froze in the doorway as I peeked my head out from behind my cover. Judging by his expression, I must have looked rather shocking in my current state. That wasn’t all too much of a surprise. I didn’t give my hair the time to fully dry before I crashed last night, nor did I yet have time to fully wake up. All in all, I likely looked either a downright mess or insane.
“Uh, can I get a minute here? I’m not exactly decent behind this thing,” I said as I knocked on the armoire currently protecting my modesty. Taran blushed slightly in embarrassment and nodded quickly before backing out of the room and closing the door. I came out from my hiding spot and quickly ran into the bathroom. I got dressed up in a set of my more casual clothes; just a plain pair of jeans and long sleeve T-shirt. I stuffed the rest of my clothes in my backpack, being reminded of the obsidian antlers I had in there, and donned the rest of my gear.
Stepping out into the hallway, Taran was nowhere to be seen. Guess he was expecting me to be up and ready a bit earlier than now. I headed down the stairs and into the dining room. Quite a few of the tables already had large groups occupying them. I spotted Hanne waving me over to the group of hunters I led yesterday and took my spot among them. “Everyone gets up pretty early around here, huh,” I asked as I sat down.
“Yeah, sorry about that…” Taran apologized, sheepishly. I just laughed and waved off his concerns.
“Don’t worry about it. Just, maybe wait for a reply next time, yeah,” I joked, nudging him in the ribs a bit with my elbow. He nodded and gave a slight smile in response. “So, Oruan, I assume after breakfast, we head over to meet this Aniel,” I asked as Rea brought over a plate of food for me. I thanked her with a smile and she wandered back off to wherever it is she spends her time. Breakfast this morning was a nice plate of some rather large fried eggs, a toasted slice of the sourdough from last night, and a thick piece of ham. It all smelled delicious, and if dinner was to be any indicator, the taste would surely be just as excellent.
As I stacked the ham and eggs onto the toast and took a bite, Oruan responded. “Well, first, we should stop by the guards’ quarters to get you some armor and a sword if you won’t be using that gun of yours.”
I shook my head before giving my reply. “While some light armor for my arms could be a good idea, a sword will be of no use. I’ve not trained with one before, and I’ll be much better suited to using my knives. I’ll also be able to just use my hands if it comes down to it.,” I told Oruan with a smile. At that, Oruan nodded and we finished our breakfast. It was, indeed, as good as dinner and left me feeling ready for the journey ahead. We could hunt along the way, or use my rations if need be, but nothing is gonna beat this cooking for a while.
With breakfast out of the way, we headed to the armory to grab a little bit of equipment. Oruan stocked up on some more arrows for the trip, and I got some light vambraces to help protect my forearms in the event that I need to block a strike. It’s likely to still hurt a fair amount, but it sure beats the hell out of losing an arm. With gear secured, we ventured to the East side of town to one of the few remaining large buildings I had yet to visit, which turned out to be a church. Apparently bell towers may not be something I could use to identify churches here.
Walking inside, Oruan and I were greeted by a friendly priest named Horvok. He was pleasant enough, if a little eager to meet a new face. We were guided out of the sanctuary and back toward the living quarters where we located the priestess we came for. Knocking on the door, we heard a faint “come in” from inside, and made our way in.
“Aniel, I take it Edran he informed you of our plans,” Oruan asked the woman. She gave a small nod in return as she finished packing a few items into a backpack, then closed it up. “Well, Aniel, this is Zachary. Zachary, this is Aniel. She will be joining us on our journey to the capital,” he said as he gestured between Aniel and myself.
“Nice to meet you,” she stated politely.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“Likewise,” I responded. “I’m told you may be able to educate me a little during our travels. I’m not even up to speed on the basics,” I admitted shyly. I certainly wasn’t used to being undertrained or underprepared when out of my normal environment, so my lack of preparation for winding up here certainly had me out of my element. Aniel smiled excitedly as she threw on her backpack and started toward the door.
“Well, there will be plenty of time for that! I heard Deimos has spoken to you, is it true,” Aniel asked, barely able to contain herself. It was odd to me that a religious figure would seem so excited that someone would be spoken to by a god. I would think that in a world with actual gods, it would be relatively common for them to communicate with their subjects. What do I know? It’s not like religion is something I’m intimately familiar with, I thought.
“Yes, it’s true. I think I’ve spoken to Deimos more than anyone else since coming to this world, honestly,” I explained as we started heading North out of the village. “I was terrified, at first. Being transported to an empty dimension without warning or really any way of telling what was going on was not a pleasant experience,” I mused. Aniel’s eyes widened at my comments.
“You’ve not just spoken to Deimos, but met Him, too,” she questioned. If I wasn’t mistaken, Aniel almost seemed starstruck. “It’s been over four hundred years since we last heard of Him speaking to a mortal, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone actually meeting the gods,” Aniel stated. Well, aren't I just special? I suppose that explains the shocked reactions from people when I give the news. Hopefully I’m not viewed as some sort of prophet. I shuddered at the thought. I’ve been used enough already, I didn’t want to be some tool for missionaries to spread their word.
“Yeah, I guess I’ve been to the pantheon, but I can’t really see it because I haven’t been there enough? It’s kind of hard to make sense of it all,” I said. “In my world, we don’t really have gods, not in the sense you do here. There are many gods people worship, but nobody has been able to actually prove or disprove their existence,” I explained. “I can't say I have any doubts here, though. I’ve seen enough already to turn my entire world view upside down.”
Oruan and Aniel seemed to ponder what I said for a while as we walked along a narrow path through the woods. It wasn’t hard to imagine that they couldn’t conceptualize a world without magic, gods, and powerful creatures. Even the simplest technology from my world would likely seem like the most advanced of magic to them. I remembered that my phone was in my backpack and contemplated giving a demonstration of its capabilities, but decided against it. If I was going to survive in this world long enough to make it out, I needed to learn everything I could about it.
I had to break the contemplative silence to meet my goals. “So, Aniel… How many gods are there,” I asked. Hopefully the number wouldn’t be something in the thousands. Without any idea what constituted a god, or if they reproduced in any way, it was hard to guess how many beings I had to avoid upsetting. The priestess tilted her head slightly in thought for a moment before responding.
“Well, there are several levels of godhood. There is Deimos, who is the ultimate god. He is the creator of this realm.” Aniel explained. “Then, there are ten greater gods, who inhabit the pantheon alongside Deimos. After that, there are fifty minor gods. Most of those and beyond that are outside of my scope of knowledge, though,” she said. That number was significantly larger than I had expected. I had hoped that the list would end at Deimos plus ten, but I was not so lucky. I wasn’t sure I could even remember fifty names, let alone what their power would be.
I mulled over this new information for a while as we continued on our way. Well, having access to the top may work in my favor. Being the only known mortal to ever visit the pantheon could potentially garner some automatic respect from lesser gods. Who knows, maybe some of them haven’t even been there themselves, if Deimos doesn’t like having guests? No matter how important or unimportant any of the gods may be, I still had to tread lightly. To assume I was out of harm’s way for simply knowing someone powerful would surely be a mistake.
After a not-so-insignificant amount of time had passed, I noticed my mind really start to circle around the topic of just how different my life would need to be to avoid a smiting. I needed something to prevent me from spiraling, and magic was as good a distraction as I could wish for. “What can you guys teach me about magic?”
“Magic comes from the gods,” Aniel began. “Deimos created all magic, but all of the gods beneath him control various different forms of it, which are called aspects. The aspects one can use depend on the gods whose favor they manage to obtain.”
“As a hunter, I am favored by Irahil and Buhtal,” Oruan added. “Irahil is the goddess of nature, and Buhtal is the god of combat and strength. Their favor allows me to use magics that grant me a deeper understanding and moderate control of the natural environment, and that allow me to enhance my physical form.”
“Priests and priestesses tend to be favored by a wide variety of gods and demigods. My work has earned me the favor of Adina, Ethrel, and Marquis,” Aniel stated proudly. “They grant me the ability to protect others from harm and heal their wounds, give me passive enhancements that allow me greater ease in my teachings, and provide me with protection when I journey from home.” Okay, so magic can cover quite a wide range of things. The information I was receiving from my two companions could turn out to be quite helpful, indeed.
If one’s work could earn them favor with a god, then every action taken in this world had real meaning. Oruan’s abilities stem from his time spent hunting in the woods, which has made him more efficient, in return. Aniel seems to have gotten her abilities from giving out aid wherever she could. But I’ve already used magic, so did I already have the favor of some gods? Deimos had mentioned that my connection to magic would be deeper than most. Are favor and connection the same thing, I wondered. And would that mean I’m ‘favored’ by all of the greater gods and Deimos?
“How many types of magic are there,” I asked. “For example, I’ve seen fire and healing magic. Apparently I’ve seen and used physical and dark magic… Is there, like, luck magic and chaos magic, and stuff like that?” If the term aspect was anything to go by, there was potentially magic to control every conceivable part of life.
“Yes, those do exist,” Aniel confirmed, and Oruan nodded while maintaining stride. “There is theoretically a way to use magic for just about anything,” she continued. “However, some gods are not known, nor has it been discovered how to earn their favor, so there are some things that nobody has ever been able to achieve.” Oruan gave another nod and the three of us continued in silence once again.
The rest of the day was mostly uneventful. Aniel occasionally taught me about a god here and there, and I threw in the occasional question about how magic worked. Apparently, there were incantations and rituals, which could be used to empower a spell’s effect. You could also use prayer to receive blessings, which were essentially a god casting a minor spell on you or your target. Spells, themselves, were apparently just the term for any magical effect, which made perfect sense to me. Maybe tomorrow could lend some time to a little experimentation.
At some point during my lessons, Oruan had managed to split off for a moment and bag one of the giant squirrels I had seen when I first arrived here. As the sun began its descent across the sky, we found a spot to set up our camp for the night. Oruan went about preparing the squirrel, while Aniel set up the tent, and I gathered wood for a fire. When I got back, the squirrel was cleaned, sleeping quarters were ready, and an area was cleared for our fire.
I pulled my firestarter from my bag and lit the fire. The two of them seemed intrigued by my firestarter, probably on account of ferro rods not existing in this world. I let them inspect it while the squirrel cooked over the campfire. We ate our meal and rehydrated. The meat wasn’t all that bad. It tasted better than I assumed an Earth squirrel might, at least. After dinner, we retired to the tent which Oruan had been kind enough to pack. It was surprisingly spacious, and with three bodies occupying it, it would likely stay quite warm throughout the night. I added an extra layer with the clothes from my backpack to be sure, and we said our goodnights. After the long day of walking, I was rather sore and ready to turn in. As I drifted off, I heard Aniel softly reciting a prayer beside me.