Chapter 020:

Anton's head hurt when he woke up. It felt like a hangover but much more insidious.

Oh god that hurts. What was the last thing I remember? I had a few drinks, quite a bit to eat, then left the celebration for some fun with Verona. Then, I went to sleep. Speaking of which, I can't feel her warmth.

Forcing his mind to work he looked to his right. Where Verona had fallen asleep, there was now an empty spot.

As he was about to ask for her when he noticed that everything else was strange.

A faint blue light came in through the window, definitely not from the night sky. The table and chair floated in the air.

Well, this is definitely a dream. It just looks so much more real than usual....Unless....

Throwing the covers off he found himself to be wearing pants, something he knew he did not go to sleep with on. His shirt was on the floor which he put on.

He walked to the window and tried to look out. The light grew in intensity as he drew closer, becoming almost blinding as he reached out to touch it. It refused to budge, even with all his might.

Damn, alright lets try the door then.

The door opened with the slightest touch. The hallway looked the same. Anton tried to open them but found they were held shut by the same mysterious force.

With no other option he opened the front door. Everything outside was utterly bizarre.

The sky had disappeared, turning into the same pale blue light. The plaza and the main hall appeared to be the only things intact. Broken segments of houses floated in the air along with the furniture and other pieces of junk. Small stones and chunks of dirt floated along side them.

In the center of the plaza, which should have had tables, chairs and fire-pits from the previous night, lay a single very large and ornate wooden table. Five chairs were placed around the table and three people sat at them. It looked almost the same as the first time he met his gods. Then it clicked.

“So, it's you guys.” Anton said loudly as he approached. “How have things been going in your world?”

The three gods turned towards him. Stratos, the elderly purple sash wearing Lightning god waved him over.

“About time.” he said, Anton had missed his elderly and reassuring voice. “We were beginning to wonder how long you were going to keep us waiting.”

Anton took the empty seat next to him, “Do you even perceptive time the same way we do?”

Stratos smiled warmly, “No. No we don't. But we still do feel its flow.”

A chair to his right creaked as it was pulled out. It was Tethra, goddess of prayer. She wore the same white nun outfit as before, though this time he could see the chains she wore were on the outside of her body. They linked several times around her body, each overlap held together with a large lock. If Anton was honest, it looked like a seriously kinky bondage gear.

“Hello Tethra.” Anton said to her but got no reply.

She said nothing, walking past him and grabbing the empty chair, finally seating it next to him. She sat down and, before Anton said anything, hugged him around his shoulders. The metal was cold through his clothes though her body was warm.

He said nothing for a few seconds before sighing.

“I take it this will be a regular occurrence each time I come here?” he asked the other two gods.

“She's just happy to see you.” Esperit answered.

The goddess of fire wore something a little more appropriate this time. It was a form fitting low cut top with shorts and high heels, all in the same brilliant red as her seemingly sentient hair. He found himself watching the flaming hair wisp and flow for a bit.

“So, why is she so happy?”

Tethra brought herself closer and started nuzzling her head into his neck. He could feel chains covering her face, he wanted to remove the cloth and look but felt that it would be extremely rude and might get him killed.

“Every time you use our powers, we gain strength ourselves.” Esperit answered. “And as you used her power quite a lot, even to the point of collapsing, she gained quite a bit of power.”

“We all have.” Stratos continued. “It has been some time since we have felt such a surge of mana coming to us.”

He held his hand out, summoning a disc of lightning, just like the one Anton used.

“None of us really expected you to experiment to the level that you did.”

All three gods seemed quite happy.

“By the way,” Esperit began talking, “There are still many, many forms of our magic that you still have to find. You should try experimenting a bit more with Tethra's power. There are quite a few interesting things I've seen done with her powers over the ages.”

“Any chance of some clues?” Anton asked, hoping for something free.

Esperit and Stratos shook their heads. Stratos coughed and spoke.

“While we are free to interact with you as often as we can, the other gods are vaguely watching us even now. Especially that Elven witch. It's more like an agreement between us not to interfere too much with your affairs, otherwise everyone would and everything will descend into chaos.”

Esperit's face scrunched at the mention of the Elven goddess.

Their rivalry must go much further than I thought.

“Regardless,” Esperit continued as her face returned to normal, “They don't pay that much attention, so we can still congratulate you on certain things..I especially liked what you did to those Yellow Goblins. So many screams...”

Esperit’s face twisted into one in the throes of joy.

“Esperit....happy...long time since...” A raspy and hoarse voice spoke into his ear. Tethra started coughing violently, retracting from Anton and holding her sides.

“You can speak?” Anton asked with a little shock in his voice.

Esperit got out of her seat and rushed to her side. She held her gently until the coughs stopped. With a cloth covered hand, Tethra pointed to Esperit and then herself. Then, using both hands, drew a smile over the cloth on her face.

It did not take a genius to figure that out.

“You need not to try to speak. You're still weak.” Esperit started massaging Tethra's back.

“While we still have quite a few disciples and mages left practicing our magic, Tethra has none.” Stratos explained. “None, for many, many years. It's taken its toll.”

“I take it that the chains are not ceremonial.”

Stratos shook his head. “No. I wish they were. We found them and bound them to her...to keep her alive, even with no disciples still living. It just makes her unbelievably frail and weak.”

A smile came across his face. “The fact that she can speak, even those few words, shows how far she has came.”

How bad was their situation before I arrived. It seems everyone has troubles.

Esperit finally backed off and took her seat, after Tethra seemed to be better.

“That's part of the reason why we called you here.” Esperit explain as she placed her legs onto the table.

Despite your looks, you aren't elegant at all.

“We've been watching you,” Esperit continued, “And we like your idea to build your little village, Atros, into a bastion against the darkness and demons. But...”

She seemed to be having trouble finding the words, scratching her head and legs uncomfortably.

“We would like you to build a temple...to each of us.”

Anton said nothing and allowed her to continue.

“With that, we could grow in strength. Tethra can actually get the strength to speak again and we can start to grow our disciples once again.”

“I really don't know what you would require for a temple, but will it mean that there will be people like me that can use magic?”

Esperit shook her head, Stratos answered.

“Not to your level. But there will be those that could use one of our powers, so long as they have mana within them.”

“I can, but it won't be for a little while yet.” Anton answered, hoping it would be enough for now.

“That's fine.” Esperit said. “We can't expect you to just drop what your doing and start building all three temples.”

They all smiled, Tethra leaning onto Anton again.

An army of mages....not really the army of steel and gunpowder that I had in mind, but I suppose it's good to keep diversity. And it'll help repay the gods which have given me so much.

A few things were still on his mind.

“What about the others?” he asked. “There must have been dozens off us that you picked up. How are they doing? They're not scattered to every corner of the world, are they?”

There was movement on his shoulder, Tethra was shaking her head.

“They are...not doing that well.” Esperit said with some smugness. “Combined, all thirty five, have done less than you and have worse magic and physical control. All with near limitless wealth...It's rather enjoyable to watch the Elven bitch fail so spectacularly.”

Even Stratos started chuckling. “They're not even fighting the demons yet, currently fighting creatures weaker than the Yellow Goblins...which says a lot about them.”

Anton had mixed feelings about that. Some of the people he knew and liked them to live, a few his wished had died. The rest he had no idea about, but he still wanted them to not die.

“Well...I suppose that as least they're not dead, that's good.”

Esperit shook her hand. “Not for much longer. Soon, they'll be part of an assault on a demon hive and they are not that good. You should see them in training.”

“Can I?”

“Not really.” Esperit explained. “It would be like you were a ghost floating through their world. You would see but not be able to interact with anyone.”

“That seems like it would be good. Can you show me them?”

“Not yet. You're running out of mana...and you're not fully attuned to your mana. It could kill you.”

“Oh.” Anton replied in surprise. “Is this dream using my mana?”

All three gods sighed.

“We really don't have that much mana to spare at the moment.” Stratos explained. “So we're having to use yours. We've gone through about half so far, and yours is nothing to scoff at. This dream will end pretty soon.”

“You guys must have real trouble communicating with normal people.”

“It's basically impossible.” Esperit explained. “If we tried something like this, it would just be a few flickers of a dream, with no meaning or reasoning.”

Just like Verona's weird dream before she got her power...I should probably ask them.

“So, what's with the fifth chair?” Anton asked. “Do we have another god joining us?”

“Sort of.” Stratos answered.

“More like an intrusion.” Esperit quipped.

A sickening sound erupted infront of them. Red trails, quickly revealing themselves to be blood, carved a circle on the ground. Out of the circle a woman arose.

She wore a blood red vestment, bones of all kinds hanging off her clothes. On top of her head she wore a large wide-brimmed hat, also with bloody bones on the rim. Blood dripped from the edge of her hat in great beads but vaporized as they fell down. Her hair was brown and kept long enough to reach her shoulders. Underneath was a soft and calm face, though Anton felt that it was just a mask hiding something cruel and vile underneath.

“Now, I didn't think you would call me that.” the new person spoke with a raspy and sickening sound. It sounded similar to Tethra. But while hears was still sweet, this was full of malice and hatred.

She walked slowly to the free chair, her large boots thumping onto the ground.

Like Esperit, she placed her feet upon the table.

Is every god on some level of crazy?

The new goddess looked dismissively at each of the gods before focusing her gaze on Anton. He held her gaze, her face eventually breaking into a smile.

“So you're the brat that started this whole mess.” she said, leaning forward. “I really should jump over this table and crack you in the face.”

Anton was stunned by this, feeling Tethra tense a little as well.

Stratos sighed loudly, rolling his eyes and shaking his head. “This...delightful creature is Jira, Demi-God of blood. Don't let the title confuse you, she's just as dangerous as the rest of us.”

Jira snorted and took her boots off the table.

“Stratos is right. It's just a different name your people give us, but it really means nothing. And yes, before you ask, I am Verona's contracted god.”

Her face darkened as she lent forward.

“The reason I'm here is that I want to know. How did she do it?”

“Do what?”

Jira slammed her fists onto the table “Rip power from me!”

Anton still knew very little on how the usual way to get the glyph power. Almost on cue, Stratos answered his questions.

“Usually it takes weeks to months to get the glyph properly. You are an extreme case, in that you do not naturally exist in the world. Verona, on the other hand...”

“Yes. Two days!” Jira said angrily. “I and quite a few other gods and demi-gods had our eyes on her. She seemed to be so easy to....see. I offered her my power, and then...”

“And?”

“During one dream, I was talking to her subconscious, and mentioned you. You needing strength for your plans.”

Jira lent back and folded her arms.

“Next thing I know, there are hands reaching out of the darkness and rip right through my chest and grabbing my throat. It was angry, screaming for power. I panicked and gave in. I don't know how or what it was...but no god can killed by a mortal. And yet...I was scared. Just for a moment.”

Jira smirked a little.

“But, I decided not to press the issue with the other gods. I watched...and now I'm glad. You've turned her into quite a killer.”

Anton could not help but frown. That was not his intention, but a by-product of his actions and the situation they found themselves in.

“I have never seen that before, so I wanted to see what's so different about you.”

Jira stood up and walked slowly up to him, Tethra did not move away but got closer to him. She looked him in the eye, before checking his body. The moment she got to his right hand she stopped, her eyes going wide in surprise. Her eyes darted between the white gem and the other gods.

“Are you fucking serious? You are pretty sick.” she said, trying her best not to laugh. “That makes a bit more sense now.”

“Why, what does this thing do?”

Jira laughed, resting her hands on Stratos's head.

“That gem weakens the walls between our world and yours. Allowing us to communicate easier...which is probably why she was able to literally take power from me. She was probably going to go with me eventually, but it just made it easier.”

Anton was about to say something when a dull thud echoed throughout the air.

“I think that wraps up today.” Esperit said, looking up into the blue sky. Above, the blue light was weakening and becoming black, growing all around them.

Jira laughed again, “Good luck Anton. I'll keep an eye out for Verona, she's almost already paid for a quarter of the mana she owes me. She's a good investment. You, on the other hand, have a lot more problems than just humans and demons.”

She cackled as another blood circle grew beneath her feet, descending into the ground and disappeared.

“Good luck Anton.” Stratos said as warmly as he could, the darkness beginning to envelop his vision. “You'll need it.”

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Hello,

Final chapter for this arc, though the last one could technically count.

Anyway, next Arc deals with the collapsed local power balance as but mainly the first interactions with humans from a still functioning kingdom. Also, the beginnings of Anton's forced industrial revolution, powered by magic and science. Not that everyone is happy with his actions and ideas, especially in a rather rigid society.

Gave enough away, so thanks for reading. Absolutely no idea when the net one will be ready.

Thanks for reading.