Tenur was sleeping in his room, his body turned to one side and squishing his left arm. His bed was messy, where his pillow was on one side of the bed, his blanket was on the floor by his feet. One corner of the bedsheet which was supposed to act as a buffer between the mattress was undone, leaving the surface of the mattress exposed.
A shudder went through Tenur's body. After a few seconds, the shudder intensified, turning into spasms as Tenur struggled to wake up. Tens of seconds later, his eyes fluttered open to reveal the nostalgic ceiling of his bedroom. Once he became aware of the pain brought by his spasms, he sat up as quickly as possible. He intended on using his left hand to support his body, but it felt like his left arm was missing. Panicking, he looked to his left, relief filling him when he saw his left arm was still intact, though not responding.
He tried poking his left arm with his right hand, but there was no feeling. He tried raising his left hand up, but all that lifted was his entire arm, indicating his left arm muscles weren't working at all. It hung like dead weight and as he swung it around, careful not to hit anything with it, he could feel fresh blood rushing into it. Soon, sensations from his left arm returned and he could control it again, tested by raising and gripping things with his left hand.
Curious as to why that happened, he looked at the table by the window. The sun was shining brightly through the window, showing it was morning, but he didn't care about the time of the day, just why his left hand was temporarily paralysed. "Hey Denka, why was my arm paralysed just now?"
The book on the table shuddered a moment before a groggy voice came through. "It's morning already...?"
"Yes. And answer my question already."
A few seconds of silence came up as Denka thought of an explanation. "It's probably because you slept on it too much. The weight of your body blocked fresh blood from flowing into your arm, as for why it didn't decay, well, blood did flow in, but at a comparably slower pace compared to other parts of your body."
"The paralysis?" Tenur raised an eyebrow.
"Probably because your cells went into a mode similar to hibernation for us." So far, everything Denka said was believable, everything except for the cell part.
"You're pretty good in explaining this kind of stuff, aren't you?" Tenur reached for the floor with his legs. As soon as he stood up and stretched, he felt something sticky and slimy at his crotch.
"What the...?" He looked at the wet spot around his crotch. It took a moment before he recognised it as nocturnal emission, or a so-called 'wet dream'. Denka laughed as he sensed it as well. "Look who had a good dream just now!"
Embarassed, Tenur's face flushed as he retorted. "Shut it! At least I still have my manhood, unlike someone who's currently possesing a book."
"That's harsh," Denka's laughter became giggles as he suppressed the urge to laugh more. "So, mind telling me what happened there? No, don't, I'd rather not hear about it unless it concerns my daughter."
Tenur thought back to his dream, before remembering the quest he was given by the goddess of fertility. Realisation dawned on him as he muttered "Ah..." under his breath. He then turned and spoke to Denka. "Apparently I destroyed what kept the gods and goddess' homes safe from a kind of creature during my last visit, which I no longer remembered."
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Denka made a sound similar to someone drinking water choking on it after hearing something incredulous and impossible. "What the hell!?"
"Yeah, that's my reaction as well when the goddess of fertility told me the same thing." Tenur nodded as he mused at the thought of having a wet dream after seeing the goddess. A glimpse of her average but mature looking face made him shudder in disgust, considering the god was centuries old.
"But... how?" Denka paused for a moment before adding, "And what happened to the gods?"
"They died."
"Dude, what the actual f-"
"No, I mean, the stronger ones died, like the gods of elementals and other influential gods," Tenur said as he thought back on what the goddess of fertility had said. He was trying to process what everything meant. Did it also mean that only the spells and magic of the surviving gods who govern that type of phenomenon can be used? He hoped that wasn't the case, considering the loss of magical abilities will cause beast culling to be more difficult and dangerous. "most who survived are the weaker ones."
"But that would mean the magic governed by the dead gods could no longer be used until a new one is made," Denka swore under his leathery breath. Now that it came down to this, that means he can only properly rely on sperm magic, considering the life and death of other gods wasn't exactly confirmable.
"More importantly, I've been given a quest by our goddess to make amends," Tenur paused, letting the words sink into Denka's thick, leather cover, "I have to create a magnum opus with sperm magic at its base, and other important elements atop of it." Any other mage would be honoured to receive such a quest, but considering the what's at stake and the weight of the current situation, it wasn't time to celebrate at all.
Denka's leather cover seemed to bulge as he processed what it meant. "You're not leaving a choice for me to back out, considering what this means."
"I can't quite grasp the danger of the situation, so explain please." Tenur crossed his arms in front his chess, waiting for Denka's self-explanatory facts.
"Basically, once a magic's governor is dead, the magic will become dead magic, corrupting anything that still taps into it until a new god is elected or created to regovern it again," Denka took a deep breath before continuing, "the symptoms don't start immediately, they take years to form and the corruption will unnoticeably crawl onto the mind's of its users."
"What you're saying is, if a god isn't created or elected, then that particular magic will deviate from goodness?" Tenur sounded sceptical. "Then don't use it, the end. End of magic, problem solved."
"You're not serious, are you?" Denka sounded like his eye was twitching. "Other mages wouldn't know about the corruption until its too late, and they'll bring you down with the world when that time comes."
"Okay then, if I did create a magnum opus, how will that help?"
"Presumably, our god would be strong enough to breed more elements to remove the corruption," Denka mused before speaking again, "basically, you creating a magnum opus will give her enough power to overcome the problem."
"Ah, that makes sense," Tenur rubbed his chin, then widened his eyes, "that would mean I would be making everything fertile, wouldn't it?"
Disbelief coloured Denka's voice as he spoke, "What the hell's wrong with you! I'm not even sure what's going through your mind right now," he paused, grunting in anger before continuing again, "you know, for a mage, you're a lot dumber than most people are."
"That a compliment?"
"No! What you say may be correct, but if you didn't mention it, I wouldn't have thought about it," Denka's cover was glowing a reddish hue. The hue gradually subsided as Denka made breathing noises.
"Hmm, okay then," Tenur looked strangely proud as he stepped one foot onto his bed, "from now on, I'll be a fertility mage!" Denka tried face palming, but he didn't have hands so he just sighed instead while muttering "This sounds so dumb".
Tenur looked down, focusing on the wet spot on his crotch before narrowing his eyes.
"And she just had to make me wet myself as revenge..." the bitterness in his voice was indescripable as he mumbled.