Despite the initial display of power in which Kyle eliminated half a dozen Mutts in the space of seconds, once the dog like humanoids were alerted the kills tapered of almost instantly. This was in part due to the marks applied to Kyle, allowing the now alerted Mutts to predict and avoid the incoming arrows. Even when one hit the curse sapped its strength turning what would have been a mortal wound into a mere hinderance. The slayer knights, trained to fight from horseback, moved to intercept. The goal was for Kyle to kill enough of the monsters that the other packs were drawn to him, how many kills that required was largely unknown, so the more he could get the better.
So while the Slayer Knights could fight from horseback, and the horses themselves were trained for combat, it was harder to fight without killing as demonstrated as one particularly large horse stamped the first mutt to approach it into the ground. Largely the Knights simply attempted to ward off the Mutts with the tips of their lances while trying to give Kyle angles to fire.
Gregory tried to decide if he should dismount, having managed to get into the saddle before the Mutts arrived. On one hand they need to be ready to go, knowing at least three more packs of the vicious little monsters were in the area they could easily be swarmed once Kyle hit the threshold. On the other he wasn’t confident in his ability to fight from horseback. About the only thing he could use was his aura.
“Stop!” he shouted, pointing his spear at a mutt that had leapt into the air, jumping off the back of another mutt. It was at the extreme range of his aura, since Gregory was hanging back, but still the monster was shrouded in a blue aura and came to a halt midair. It looked around in confusion, the knight it had been about to land on kicking his horse to move, before a pair of arrows buried themselves in its temple.
Kyle nodded his thanks towards Gregory, even as he drew more arrows from the quiver on his back. Lex, apparently trained in fighting from horseback herself, was menacing a mutt that had attempted to make a break for the archer. Between the rapid, animalistic movement of the monster and the large horse upon which Lex sat it was clear Kyle couldn’t get a shot. Ensuring his aura was in range Gregory attempted to freeze that mutt as well. The blue shroud covered the mutt, but only lasted a moment before the monster broke out, a pair of arrows shooting through the space where it head would have been.
Gregory cursed himself, his aura needed time to recharge between uses. The more force it was required to counter the longer it needed before returning to full power. Stopping smaller things like the tip of a sword he could do repeatedly, but freezing an entire monster in place? That took more power. And the recharge meant that Gregory was basically out of the fight now. He was able to stop a couple thrown stones before they hit anything, though they wouldn’t have done much damage it was all he could do.
Thankfully the battle was quickly winding down, several of the knights had taken minor hits from thrown objects, but the mutts had become weary of the horses after seeing one of their own smashed into pulp. From there it was just a matter of time before Kyle managed to line up shots on them. Once there were only a couple more of the monsters they understandably turned and ran. Over the rough terrain of the hills they likely could find someplace to loose the horses had they been followed, whether or not they could have gotten there before being run down was another question.
Kyle sent a few more arrows after them, resulting in one of the mutts having several arrows stuck in its back, not deep enough to be fatal, but enough to not be dislodged by running.
“Should we chase them?” one Knight asked.
“No,” their leader shook his head, “we want them to follow us, Master Kyle, mount up and lets get moving.”
“Righto,” Kyle said with a casual salute before running over to a spare horse that had been the pack animal for the group of knights Gregory and Lex had accompanied.
“We should be able to make it to Templeholm by tomorrow evening,” Lex said.
“Horses will be in quite a lather by that point,” the leader of the knights pointed out, “if we don’t stop to walk them at least a few times they might not make it.”
“Mutts are nearly as fast over land as a horse,” Lex replied, “and they aren’t bothered by these hills, I doubt we’ll be able to make camp for the night.”
Not having a counter point the leader of the slayer knights ceded the point and the entire group spurred their animals into a fast trot.
\*\*\*\*
Nathen got out of bed slowly, it wasn’t comfortable, having gone unused for years, but it was enough for him. Walking out into the small, open area behind the temple of Kalasen he idly thought about what he had to do today. The first day he’d spent sweeping up the main temple, replacing candles that had long since burned down and gone unnoticed by the blind high priestess. Today he was going to work on the stained-glass windows that had been nearly blackened by dust and soot.
The temple of water, one of the elemental gods, had a large supply of water atop the god stone that they gave free access to for the other temples. After filling a large wooden bucket and carrying that back to his temple he dropped a soap stone on the ground next to it, picked up a flat-bottomed broom with some kind of animal hair for bristles, dunked it into the water, scrubbed it against the soap stone and then lifted it to wash the windows. The broom had a long handle, likely being here for exactly this purpose, but it clearly hadn’t been used for as long as the acolyte’s bed he used.
The high priestess often simply sat in the church, listening to him as he worked without comment, only speaking if he asked a question. He knew she couldn’t see but he still felt like she was watching him as he worked.
The clergy of most temples took care of food for themselves, buying it from the markets in the city below and storing by the churches atop the god stone. From there every church had at least a small kitchen to prepare food in. Naturally the High priestess wasn’t able to do this herself, instead an older man, still younger than her by half, made his way up to the temple every few days with supplies, selling to her directly. This kind of behavior was generally looked down upon, they didn’t want the top of the god stone to be infested with vendors and food stalls, it was a holy place. But for the blind old priestess of a minor god they seemed to be willing to look the other way.
Much of what she ate was either pre-prepared or ready to be dumped into a pot and boiled for a simple stew. That much, it seemed, she could accomplish on her own.
Despite her seemingly lonely existence, the high priestess had a number of friends in other churches, many of whom helped her out in minor ways. A priest of the god of happiness, who’s temple was right next to their own, brought over a lantern and taper to light their cooking fire once a day and exchange some small talk. An acolyte from the god of cleanliness would take their chamber pots and, judging from their conversation, help the priestess clean herself off every so often.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
All these tiny interactions Nathen noted as he spent more time here. Having been unable to make up his mind about what to do he’d asked to spend the night. The high priestess had told him where the acolyte quarters were and said he could use whatever he could find there. In the morning she’d told him that, if he wanted to stay, he could find a broom and sweep up the years of dust and cobwebs that had collected in the main church hall. And it had just spiraled from there, with Nathen moving from one task to another. Despite being mindless work, he had surprisingly few thoughts about his past as he worked, keeping his focus on what he was doing, how to do it better and what to do next. In that kind of minor trance, he worked around the exterior of the church, cleaning the stained glass, before moving to clean them from the inside. It was clear they would need more than one wash, the soap stone nowhere near as effective as window cleaner from his world.
Inside he found oddly empty, the high priestess nowhere to be found. Shrugging he continued his work, not thinking about it more than he needed to. She’d show up again, she always did and, despite her age and blindness, seemed quite healthy in all other regards. He might have worried she would get lost, or have some other complication, but she’d apparently lived in this church for decades and knew the layout so well she could walk around without even a walking stick and not run into any walls.
That left only the altar at the front of the hall as noteworthy. The High Priestess insisted that the candles around the small relic be burning at all times. Her hands were covered in burns from her early days after going blind, she joked that it had taken her a while before she figured out how to tell if a candle needed replacing without burning herself.
While the lighting in the church had improved due to Nathen’s efforts, the altar was still the most brightly lit part of it, easily standing out against the dark stone that dominated every temple atop the god stone. Every time Nathen walked past the altar he felt a small pull, as if asking him to reach out and touch the relic atop it. It wasn’t a compulsion, it felt like an invite, making it clear that the god of the temple wished to speak, but was unwilling or unable to force him to do so. Most likely both, knowing that he was the god of freedom and quite weak without many active worshipers.
Still, he’d ignored the call every time so far, he wasn’t sure why. This would mark his second day here, he thought idly, with the high priestess out maybe now was a good time to talk to the boss?
After pondering it for a few minutes, he sighed and gave in, reaching out to touch the circular stone compass. Just like last time everything around him went still, unnaturally so.
“Is this all you wish to do?” the gentle voice of Kalasen asked him.
“Thought you would be happy I was cleaning up your temple,” Nathen remarked.
“Of course I’m grateful, but, is this the extent of your ambition?”
“I might try my hand at cooking a proper meal one of these days,” Nathen admitted, “your high priestess is pretty good at making a stew while blind, but I imagine that gets old after a while.”
“Do you really want to spend the rest of your life as a priest?” Kalasen pressed, “if that’s what you decide, then that’s fine, but you have so much more potential.”
“I-,” Nathen started only to cut himself off, grimacing as he remembered his actions in the last few weeks, actions he’d been almost pointedly ignoring, before continuing in a softer voice, “I’m not sure I deserve to do anything more.”
“Because you killed,” Kalasen prompted.
“Yes, without even realizing what I was really doing I took lives. Yet no one seems to care, even that other guy from my world, Greg? Even he seemed unbothered.”
“But that isn’t what is really bothering you.”
“What do you-.”
“You are truly scared because of how easy it was,” Kalasen replied in a gentle voice to soften any accusatory tones such a phrase might have carried, “you are bothered because you weren’t bothered. You are afraid that you might do it again.”
“Of course I am!” Nathen erupted, anger and fear he’d bottled up over the last few days rising to the surface, “I don’t want to act like human life is something that can just be taken at a whim.”
“Yet it can be,” the god said, “humans are fragile beings, for someone with power that can be made quite apparent.”
“Even more reason I shouldn’t have power!”
“Not everyone or everything shares your conviction,” Kalasen responded, “even now lives are being snuffed across the world by monsters, nature… humans. Would you just sit and watch? Allow them to die?”
“What choice do I have?” Nathen demanded.
“You have power and potential.”
“No amount of power can save everyone, otherwise you gods would have done it.”
“I know,” the god said, suddenly sounding very sad, “more than you realize, I know the limits of my abilities. But you do not share my limits, where I have failed you might succeed.”
“Even if I can,” Nathen said in a softer voice, “do I deserve to?”
“It doesn’t matter, if you don’t deserve it now then earn it. Ultimately no one can forgive you but you, so you have a choice: You can go out and try to make up for your past, in whatever manner you see fit, or hide in my church and live the simple life of a priest. I shall not begrudge you either choice, it isn’t in my nature. But I do ask you imagine, could you live with yourself if you didn’t at least try to make things right?”
“I…” Nathen said slowly before cutting himself off, tears forming in his eyes he could see himself decades from now, sitting on the pews by himself where the high priestess normally sat, sassing the few visitors that came. He would struggle to manage the church by himself, but he could do it, even after the high priestess passed, he knew. But the whole time he could see it hanging over himself like a dark cloud, that ‘what if.’ What if he’d accepted the blessing and gone out? What if he did his best to make up for the lives he’d taken? What if he helped Kalasen bring freedom to more people?
What if he’d tried?
It would haunt him to his dying day, not knowing what he could have done. But still…
“I’m scared,” he finished his thought out loud.
“I can help you there,” Kalasen said, his voice warm and grateful, “accept my blessing and I shall stay your blade should you attempt to kill one who needn’t die.”
“You can do that?” Nathen asked, surprised.
“I am a god,” Kalasen replied with a small hint of pride, “same terms as before, I shall empower you as I am myself empowered, I shall stay your blade if needed, and I shall guide you should you ask.”
“That’s all?” Nathen asked, “aren’t these pacts supposed to be, I don’t know, deal with a devil kind of thing?”
“I’m a god, not a devil,” the god of freedom said, Nathen could nearly hear the smile in his voice, “and if you wish to do know the restrictions, you may not take slaves and you may not force another to go against their will. You are still free to temporarily imprison those who deserve it and convince others to change their minds, but you may not compel or force it.”
“I still don’t know if I’m worthy of such power,” Nathen admitted as the air around him seemed to glow as energy gathered around him.
“This power is mine to give, if you do not feel worthy, then use it to become worthy,” Kalasen countered, “and, to be honest, it isn’t much power at the moment.”
“Then… I accept,” Nathen whispered. Immediately the power surrounding him came to a peak before streaming into him.
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*YOUR MAJOR FACET* Freedom *HAS BECOME* Blessed Freedom
-Passively increases all abilities
-Significantly increases resistance to control effects
-These bonuses grow as your patron grows in strength
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*NEW ABILITY:* Stayed Hand
The god Kalasen shall watch your blade
-Your weapon will stop before delivering a lethal blow if Kalasen wishes it.
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*THE PENALTIES FROM SHATTERED FACET* Gaming *HAVE BEEN PARTLY CLEARED*
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“I… expected more,” Nathen admitted as the lights vanished, not feeling much different than he had.
“As I said, my powers are weak right now, but with luck you will change that,” Kalasen replied.
“So what now?”
“My first suggestion is: Retrieve the Sky Blade.”