Chapter 1: Pale Dale, A Forced Object Of Worship.

Dale opened his eyes slowly, taking in his surroundings.

“Where the heck am I? How did I get here? My head is pounding. It also smells like shit. Wait. Those religious people sprayed me with something while I was walking around town, didn't they? It must have been them....Tsss. That smarts. Was I sleeing on stone? Damn, the pain's making it hard to see properly." Dale asked, rubbing his head.

"What is this, a bracelet? What is this thing? It reminds me of an altar. There are a few rocks over there. More rocks over there. A ceiling, stained glass, a ton of seats...wait, why are there rocks in a cathedral?!" Dale asked, unreasonably bewildered by mere rocks.

He sighed and continued to take in his surroundings.

"There’s one guy in a religious cloak staring down at me on my right, another one staring-wait, what?” Dale asked as his eyes cleared.

The figure shifted, making Dale flinch.

“Hello. What is your name?” It asked, taking off the religious garb.

"Pfaah. That's better. These stupid clothes suck." Said a girls voice.

“I expected a weird looking monster,” Dale said, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, I'm not. The mask garbles my voice, and nobody would expect a cute girl to be wearing this thing. So I kinda get it. I’m Maya. It’s nice to meet you….?” Maya said.

“I’m Dale. Can I go now, and can you never kidnap me again? Why the hell did you bring me here, anyway?" Dale asked, sitting upright.

His eyes widened.

"Wait! You didn’t steal my magic, did you?” Dale asked, panicking.

He held out his palm, and a screen appeared.

"Ignite," Dale whispered.

A small ball of fire erupted in his hand but flickered away almost instantly.

A blue bar on the screen had lost a small amount of its color, but it slowly deepened back into a darker blue after a few seconds.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

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“Oh thank god! It’s still there." Dale rejoiced.

"Wait, then why did you kidnap me? To convert me into one of you freaks?” Dale asked.

“No, of course not. We’re just going to make you the avatar of god that we worship.” Maya said.

“Oh my god that’s a thousand times worse” Dale said.

“It’s not that bad. You have a power greater than even the king now. Why don't you just calm down and listen to us?” Maya said.

“Look, I’m not interested in this stupid scam, so can I go?” Dale asked.

“No. It’s not a choice. Sorry for any inconvenience it may cause, but it isn't up to me to decide your fate.” Maya said, shrugging her shoulders with an "Idunno, sorry" look on her face.

“Look, you seem like a good person, so can you possibly just let me go? Please?” Dale asked.

“No can do, chief. We already performed the operation, and we can’t undo it.” Maya said.

Dale paled.

“Oh god. What the fuck did you do to me?” Dale asked.

“Don’t worry so much, Dale. We gave you a blessing from the one true god. You now walk the earth as the avatar of god!” Maya said.

“......I have no idea what the fuck that means. And I have no idea what the fuck is going on.” Dale said.

“I’m not surprised, I'll explain if you want me to.” Maya said, tinkering with a machine in the background.

“You're...Maya, right? I have a lot of questions, but for some reason, the only one I can think of is; Why did you choose me?” Dale asked.

“Well, you passed the test and didn’t die after becoming a living god, like those guys did.” Maya said, gesturing to a pile of dead bodies and melted corpses in the corner.

"Holy shit!" Dale exclaimed.

He nearly puked.

So that's what that smell was.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?! Why are you acting like that’s completely normal and all in a day's work?!” Dale yelled.

He tried to escape, but large steel chains that were clamped on his wrists stopped him from getting very far. The chains were long, but not loose.

“Fuck. Stupid long-ass heavy chains.” Dale muttered.

“It is normal, Dale. Sacrifices are nothing new, lots of people have done them over the course of human history. And you can’t leave, no matter how hard you try.” Maya said.

“I think I figured that out already.” Dale grumbled.

“Good to hear that you finally gave up. Do you want to know more about what we did to you? Surely you’re interested in the magic core we fused with your mana.” Maya said.

“I don’t give a fuck about what it is, I wanna know how the fuck I can get rid of it! I don’t care about you, I don’t care about your stupid religion, I don’t give a fuck about your stupid god-“ Dale started.

Thunder rumbled, and the cathedral was bathed in purple light.

"You made god mad, Dale." Maya said, shaking her head in disapproval.

“....I think I’ll shut up now.” Dale said.

“That’s probably a good idea.” Maya agreed.

“How the hell did that happen?! It’s not raining, there’s not a storm, nothing!” Dale said, clutching his head in his hands out of utter shock and genuine fear.

“It’s god. What do you think happened, Dale?” Maya replied.

“Fuck.” Dale said, realizing the situation he was in.