A brief jog around the big chasm got us with the rest of the group. After looting the bodies of course. Strangely, the rest of the group wasn’t exactly worried about us.

“Not even a little concern?” I asked. For some reason their lack of worry hurt my feelings.

Angelica punched my shoulder, “Were you worried about us?”

“No,” I admitted.

“Why?” She pressed.

I didn’t answer immediately. Yeah, Let’s worry about Doug, he just ‘killed’ a god, maybe the ugly gorilla over there is going to murder him. Not likely, “Because you are a high level, high power, pack of ultraviolet hard cases. Honestly my concern was for the Bigfeet.”

“Pretty sure the plural is Bigfoots,” Angelica corrected.

“I am going with Bigfeet,” I explained, preparing to fight and die on this hill.

Angelica shrugged, “You are wrong on pluralization but correct in sentiment.”

I got what she was saying, “I am telling you Bigfeet seems like the way to go. Brand, what do you think?”

“The term Bigfoots has a certain ‘Je ne sais quoi’” he replied. He clearly was not trying to spite me, but that somehow made it all the more an affront.

“That doesn’t count, he is European, they use the wrong word for things all the time,” I said, completely free of any childishness.

“British, not European,” Brand corrected in a rote response. The words ‘stupid colonial’ was implied.

“Okay.” I agreed without really listening “Drinking buddy, what do you think?” I asked Brunhilda, totally not rigging anything.

“Bigfeet,” Brunhilda answered, backing me instantly.

Angelica frowned, “You’re just saying that because Doug is your drinking buddy.”

Brunhilda nodded, “True, but it is Bigfeet.”

“The important thing is that leaves us with a two to two vote.,” Brand pointed out.

We all turned to Spine. That was probably unfair. Even Brunhilda could loom over the little goblin. Angelica and I probably towered.

Spine, still trying to figure out the best path forward, shrugged “Sasquatches.”

Anyways, eighteen cats later we reached the Mandir of the War Goddess. Damn. That was a big place. This was a city. That probably doesn’t hit hard to you, but I had spent the entirety of my existence wandering in the snow from small place to small place. Seeing an actual collection of people gave me a small dose of hope that I hadn’t realized I needed.

Yes, the goblins had small villages, but both I had seen had been desolate ruins. This place was whole and populated, alive.

The whole place was surrounded by a wall. The buildings were a strange hodgepodge of all sorts of stuff. Some looked like American suburban houses, some looked more like pioneer sod, and dozens of other types of building style were everywhere. Eve, a sleek skyscraper was in the mix: so was a mountainous-looking temple building at the center of the city. It was both a beautiful and imposing structure, a massive spire sat atop a central dome. The exterior, at least the parts not covered in snow, were covered in intricate pieces of artwork portraying a female figure battling various inhuman beings.

The gate to the place was missing doors. A sign near the entry read in bold and clear lettering: ‘Warning! This is not a place of peace. This is the realm of the Goddess of War. Monsters roam and Violence is Allowed. Warriors welcome.’

“Is it just me or is that sign kinda ominous?” I asked.

“Nah,” Angelica said, “Ominous signs start with things like ‘Abandon all hope’, or ‘woe to you’, or ‘Terms of Service Agreement’. This is just a polite reminder.”

“Reminder to?” I prompted.

“...not fuck up.” Angelica elaborated. Her tone sounded like it was self-evident.

As we crossed the gate I started to ask, “What is the point of this place?”

You have entered the Domain of Lola Goddess of War

Mobs will not spawn but may enter the area.

Scale is currently not suppressed.

You are now under the effects of Warrior’s Suraksha:

Warrior’s Suraksha

This boon allows anyone affected by it to fight to their hearts’ content. Anyone marked with this boon cannot be reduced below 1 HP by someone also under the effects of this boon while in the Domain of Lola. Permanent injuries will heal over while in the Domain of Lola. Environmental effects and conditions cannot reduce anyone under the effects of this boon below 1 HP while in the domain of Lola. Fight well.

Angelica could tell I got the prompts. “Places like this are a great opportunity for people to up their game in combat and improve their skills. People used to travel from across the continent to learn Martial Arts or break through to Master Skill level.”

“So it is Fight Club?” Spine asked.

“Yep, probably has some Project Mayhem stuff happening most days,” I joked.

Everyone else gave Spine and I the side eye.

“So I can’t die in here?” He asked, clearly desperate for that clarification.

Brand and Angelica turned to Brunhilda.

She gestured for us to come closer. When Spine hung back I placed a hand on his back and gently guided him forward. He eyed me but didn’t argue, at least not out loud.

Brunhilda spoke quietly, “There are ways around it. Duels being the obvious one. Mobs can also kill you. There are a few more theoretical tricks, but the short answer is ‘do not rely on that too much.’”

“Anything stopping Lola from just taking the buff away?” I asked, pretty sure I knew the answer..

Brunhilda shook her head.

“Let’s not start any fights,” I muttered, standing up straight.

Spine immediately stepped back from Brunhilda. That could be a problem. I mean I am pretty sure Spine couldn’t really hurt Brunhilda, but if he took a swing at her there is a chance she may splatter him on reflex. I didn’t exactly know him, but some paternal part of me didn’t want to see him become chunky salsa.

“Agreed,” Brunhilda nodded. She pointed toward the massive temple, “We should introduce ourselves to whomever is home.”

I saw a few people watching us from down the twisted roads, and through a few windows as we walked to the temple. Most were keeping a cautious distance. Some of the folks seemed to be unconcerned. One lady did lift a toddler up to the window to watch us walk by. I waved back as the kid pointed.

The main door to the temple was closed but not locked. The entryway was… okay, I am not a practitioner of the Hindu faith and don’t really know for certain, but the vast mural on the walls had several folks I was pretty sure were in that club.The guy with the elephant head, and the dude with blue skin, and that fierce lady with lots of arms. A bunch of other gods were depicted as well. Noticeably absent for this art piece was the female figure on the outside. That Lady, who I was pretty sure was Lola, had a consistent portrayal of black robes and red hands. None of the beings in the mural seemed to match that. I’m not sure why, but given how prominent she was on the outside, I figured she would be front and center on the inside.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Before another set of doors leading into the temple was a little sign on an easel. It read ‘This is a place of peace and worship. All followers of the quiet gods are welcome so long as they accommodate others. Violate the tranquility of this pace at your peril.’ That message was written about fifty times. It took a moment but I realized my Universal Communication perk was translating the different languages for me.

Before I could ask a question the doors opened, and an older man peered out at us. He was probably somewhere in his sixties but in excellent shape. His hair was gray, and his skin was wrinkled, but his back was straight and he was borderline jacked in physique. He smiled politely before asking, “Is one of you Doug, the Left Hand of the Titan, Humbler of Grond?”

I raised my hand stupidly.

The man’s smile became genuine, “The Lady of the temple would like to speak with you in private,” he opened the door further and turned to the rest. “You are all welcome in this place. If you like, my friends can make arrangements for you to stay.” He turned to me, “Would you please come with me?”

I looked to the others and shrugged. They all shrugged back. I shrugged a second time, and received a followup shrug from Brunhilda and Spine.

“Your friends will be quite safe, Lola has offered a day of hospitality minimum should you come speak with her,” the man said.

“Okay, see you guys in a bit,” I said.

“Doug,” Angelica took my arm. I turned and she let go before saying, “Try and be polite.”

“I am here to make friends,” I lied. I was full hypervigilant and expected this to all go to shit. So far the least awful interaction I had with a god involved me beating their head in during a fit of rage. All the other interactions were downhill from there.

I’ll just say it: I hate Adora.

How much worse was a goddess of war going to be? Female Kratos seemed like a bad time.

Focus on important things: get info, “I didn’t catch your name, sir,” I said, falling into step with the man. He was about the same height as Brand. Maybe a little shorter, so I towered over the guy.

“My name is Sunit Patel,” he said as he offered a hand, “It is a pleasure to meet another enemy of Grond.”

I took his hand and shook it. My big mitt engulfed his, but he wasn’t frail. “You know about that?”

He nodded as we continued down the hallway. The walls were covered in yet more depictions of what I was pretty sure were the Hindu gods doing… well, all sorts of stuff. There were also several depictions of four men and an older woman doing things too. I would have stopped but I was keeping pace with Sunit.

“Yes,” Sunit said, “Your shaming of Grond was made extremely public by Goddess Adora. I doubt there is a man alive who does not know of your battle.”

“And that puts us on friendly terms?” I pressed.

“Very much so,” Sunit replied, his crinkling as he smiled. “I believe you can judge a man by his enemies, and since my Lady the Goddess Lola opposes Grond and his perverse attempts to seize power, you harming his interest serves her. That puts us on very friendly terms.”

I could understand Lola appreciating me bitch-beating Grond. That didn’t really explain Sunit’s, or the rest of the people here for that matter, stake in this,“So you worship Lola?”

Sunit hesitated slightly before answering, “I follow the Living Goddess Lola, but I also practice the Hindu faith.”

That didn’t fully make sense to me, “I am sorry if I am being rude, but how does that work?”

Sunit chuckled, “Very easily. Most of the living gods allow their followers to worship the quiet gods of their choosing. Even here we have followers of the Hindu faith, the Buddhist beliefs, a few of the Abrahamic faiths, and even an atheist. Goddess Lola is more pragmatic than most, though.”

“I see,” I said, pretending to understand what was going on. Brand was right, I really should knock this shit off. The hallway led to a massive room full of shrines, but Sunit led me to a small room to the side. “We are not going in there?”

“No, Goddess Lola’s shrine is not part of the Brahma pada, she prefers to be at the gate,” he said. He opened the door for me, nodding encouragingly when I hesitated.

I stepped into a room that was missing any real ornamentation besides two features. In the center of the room was a table with several cushions around it. Also on the opposite side of the room was a statue showing a woman sitting on a throne. The woman was a mature figure that had a clear strength and vitality to her visage. She was wearing armor and draped in ornate cloth. Her face was slightly weathered, but undeniably regal.

The door closed behind me. Like a moron I turned to look at the sound. Yep, those doors were closed.

“Would you care for some Chai?” someone behind me asked. I turned to find the statue gone and a woman matching its appearance sitting at the table pouring herself some tea.

“...Sure,” I managed. I didn’t approach her though.

She looked up from her cup, “I am not like Adora. I will not drug or poison you. I simply wish to talk to you. Since you are about to fight a demon, I want to help. Please sit.”

After a bit too long to not feel tense I sat down across from her.

She poured me a cup of tea, “I wished to talk to you alone.”

“Why alone?” I asked, not touching the tea.

Lola sighed, “It hurts my pride, more than a small amount, to ask a Titan Spawn for help.”

“Why?” I asked. I was trying to be polite but that probably sounded blunt.

“Nadia has killed so many of my followers,” Lola considered me for a moment. “Millions. Then there is Aella. She has taken thousands of followers from my ranks, often against the will of said followers.”

“That’s horrifying,” I admitted. Everything I kept hearing about Nadia was death and destruction. That just didn’t seem to jive with the listless shadow I met, but I was getting used to missing the full picture.

“It is the reality of the world. Your siblings tend to be… disruptive,” She explained before taking a drink of her tea. The motion brought attention to her hands, and the dried blood stains on them. She noticed me noticing “I, like you, have become marked by violence. I always have the Blood Splattered Condition.”

“Oh,” I managed. Even with my limited understanding of the world, the implications were… worrying.

Lola set her cup down, “You seem tense.”

“I haven’t had the best experience with gods,” I admitted.

She gave me a knowing look, “You have not had the best luck with the gods you met. Mendus is a true paragon. Sims, the God of Cities, is eccentric but fair. The God of Hope… if i hadn’t spoken to them personally I would insist he was a quiet god walking the earth. To stand in his presence…” a genuine and serene smile crept into her expression before fading. “The world truly lost something dear when Nadia killed him.”

“I get that, are you planning to break the streak then?” I asked.

Lola chuckled, “Actually I called you here to ask you a favor.”

Of course she did. “What would that be?” I braced for bullshit.

Adora had colored my opinion on deities. Grond had reinforced that opinion.

Lola poured herself more chai, “In this domain there is a man, Cohen. Seth Cohen. He is a follower of mine about to achieve apotheosis from Rare to Epic Scale. I would ask you to allow him to teach you about Cosmic Martial Arts. The achievement he would receive for helping you break through to a Master Skill level would allow him to ascend.”

That didn’t sound bad, “What do you get out of that?”

Lola smiled a little sadly at my question, “An Epic Scale follower, and to remove a debt I owe to you.”

“How do you owe me?” I asked, genuinely confused.

“You cleared one of the five local dungeons. The relative lull in mobs will allow more of my followers to make the journey here. From here they will be able to clear another, further opening the way. You also plan to fight the Demon of Frost. I wish to assist you in that endeavor. Several of my followers are trapped by that fiend.”

That… seemed a bit too tidy, “What else?”

A slight look of annoyance flashed across Lola’s face, “Fine. You are also traveling with Nameth Brand. I wish for him to succeed on his mission. That will prevent the Eternal Kingdom, what you knew as the United Kingdom, from falling to the forces of Countess Dacul or the Steam Meister.”

“Okay… why?” I may be pushing my luck here.

Lola drank more of her tea, “Fine,” she muttered before continuing, “Mostly because the constant war over there feeds me power without anyone I care about suffering too much. You care because it will prevent a few million people from being bombed by a mystical death merchant, or culled by a horde of blood-thirsty vampires.”

“Is it that hard to just level with me?” That was probably pushing it, but if this was going to be anything other than another ‘god’ pushing my buttons, I had to at least try and establish an expectation of open and honest communication.

Lola studied me for a moment, “You seem the type to not approve of such things.”

I almost just responded but I paused as a thought struck me. “You are from the world that was, right?”

“Yes. Before the System, I was a… well, not quite poor young woman working in a factory. It was a complicated time, but not a bad time,” she explained. It was also clear she didn’t say that much often, nor was she really going to elaborate much further.

“Okay I am going to be honest here, I lived decades in the world that was. This new world is strange to me, but not entirely alien. I understand violence. I understand desperation. I also understand I don’t have all the answers here and now. If you want to try and be friends, I am willing to meet you halfway. But if you are going to play games and make maneuvers… I see no positive future between us. Can we start over and just be frank?” I watched her closely.

I think she expected me to be a dick. Maybe the bad blood from my elder ‘siblings’ put her on guard. She paused and considered for a long moment before saying, “I would like that.”

“Good,” I said, “I have a few more questions though.”

“Go ahead,” Lola prompted.

“The hospitality you offered, how does that work?”

“Those under my hospitality will be welcome here, and none who follow me will harm or even hinder anyone who has it. They will be safer here than anywhere else on this earth.” Lola said.

“How long will that last?”

Lola shrugged, “How about at least until 48 hours after your party has left this place. So long as they do no harm, no harm will be done to them.”

Part of me still suspected some sort of manipulation was occurring. That said, level ups and getting another enemy killed probably was what she was after. I thought about pressing Lola for more details, but figured it would be better to just ask Angelica. I trusted her answers. “I have one last question. Are you a good person?”

Lola hesitated before answering that one, “No, I am not a good person. I have had to live the life of a goddess, one with a violent and destructive purview. Most pay me homage out of fear, but I have stood as a means for people to drive back the monsters. I may not be good, but I am fair. Since you did right by me, I will do right by you and yours.”

I believed her. I picked up and tried the tea… it was surprisingly sweet.