Chapter 4 - True Devotion – COMPLETE

The most angelic of beings are those who embrace our Mother Jita and bear the black horns of our Creators.

The most demonic of beings are those who would forsake our Mother Jita and take to the sky on the wings of a bird.

-excerpt from the Black Scriptures

Zed slowly, gradually floated back up into consciousness. What had happened? He remembered eating the Dragon Plum and Phoenix Cherry, catching a glimpse of nirvana, and... passing out? He guessed that's what had happened. He felt very warm and comfortable, like his body was resting on a cloud. His head was elevated on what could only be described as a down pillow. Zed tried to raise his arm to his head but didn't make it very far. It appeared that he had been tucked into a bed. He let his arm drop with an insignificant fwump.

He blearily tugged his eyelids open. His entire body felt leaden with sleep. It was dark, almost pitch black. He blinked his eyes a few times, slowly, allowing his eyes to adjust.

Skill Acquired: Dark Vision. LVL. 1.

Well... that's an unfamiliar ceiling.

He was able to make out the angular outline of a desk and chair nestled along the far wall. A long, thin silhouette of... something?... in the corner by what he perceived to be a door. A faint light could be seen from under the door. He turned his head to the right and saw a simple bedside table. Spartan.

He yawned so wide he thought he might unhinge his jaw.

Don't think I've ever slept so much in my life, Zed thought.

The damned notification signal was blinking at the edge of his vision again.

You again, eh?

Zed willed the notification box to open. It blinked eagerly into existence, casting a warm glow.

Three (3) New Notifications

NOTICE: Job Acquired: [Dark Hero]

Heroic Quest Received:

(!) Introductions

Another quest? Cool. Zed expanded the quest box.

Objective: Meet the God of Justice.

Reward: ??

Zed blinked several more times in disbelief. Meet... a God?

Holy shit. Zed dismissed the quest. Not going to deal with that right now.

(!) Have Faith (Complete)

He heard a soft rustling noise on his left. Startled, Zed quickly dismissed the notification box and sat up, struggling against the blankets. A slender silhouette rose, stretching their arms over their head. He heard a soft, effeminate yawn.

“+++, ++++ ++ ++++++ +++++. ++++++++,” the figure said. Her voice sounded soft and melodic, but Zed couldn't understand a word of what she was saying.

At her last word, several magically conjured orbs appeared around the room, each giving off a soft glow similar to candlelight. Strangely, it appeared that there was no heat emanating from the orbs.

A woman clothed in diaphanous black silk robes knelt expectantly on a sleeping mat beside the bed. She was stunning. She had sleek black hair tied back in a half-tail and shimmering green eyes. Her hairstyle accentuated her slightly elongated, pointed ears. She was nervously biting her lower lip.

Zed froze. “Ah... Uhmmm.” He awkwardly attempted a smile, but it came off as more of a half-demented grimace.

The notification light blinked a little more urgently. Zed lifted an uncertain WAIT finger and reopened the box.

(!) Have Faith (Complete)

Objective: Locate the High Ebonblade Priestess.

Reward: Acquire new follower.

[COMPLETE]

In some unseen corner of Zed's mind, the pieces were starting to fall into place. He understood he needed to confirm this quest's completion immediately. Several confounding things happened at once:

Gained New Follower, [High Ebonblade Priestess Emi Hallowedblade].

The kneeling woman suddenly grabbed at her chest and screamed in apparent, unbidden agony. She doubled over, rocking back and forth in a vain attempt to mitigate the pain. Involuntary tears burst from her eyes.

The back of Zed's right hand erupted in searing pain. He fell over sideways in bed and clawed desperately at his hand, yelling wordlessly.

Skill Acquired: Language Comprehension – High Human LVL. 10. (MAX)

Skill Acquired: Language Comprehension-- Elven LVL. 10. (MAX)

Skill Acquired: Language Comprehension – Goblin LVL. 4.

NOTICE: ALL LIFE QUESTS HAVE BEEN COMPLETED.

Unique Skill Acquired: Classy

The door burst open and two heavily armed men flooded into the room, weapons drawn. One knelt before the screaming woman, shielding her. The second took an aggressive stance with his sword pointed menacingly in Zed's direction. Zed rolled over, hands raised in a defensive posture.

“Explain yourself, angel,” the swordsman spat. “What have you done to our High Priestess? Answer me!”

Angel? What?

“I-i-i-i-i-i-i don't know! I didn't do anything! I didn't touch her, I swear!”

Fear Resistance has increased to LVL. 2.

On the opposite side of the room, the priestess was attempting to pull herself together, waving off her protector.

“L-let him be!” the priestess croaked, waving a dismissive hand at the armed men.

“But Priestess--,” her shield objected, before she raised her hand in a definitive SILENCE gesture.

Face still streaked with tears, the priestess' face now took on a beatific aura as she gazed at Zed in total adoration. She slowly lifted her hand from her breast, revealing a magical sigil tattoo that hadn't even existed moments ago. She rose gracefully to her feet and took Zed's right hand in hers. It, too, now bore a matching tattoo.

“Our dark angel has finally returned to us. He has chosen me as his sacred vessel; I am his to command.”

The men gasped audibly, lowered their weapons, and knelt before Zed.

“Leave us now.”

The men nodded in understanding and left the room without another word.

---

The woman closed the door to the room and turned back to Zed.

“My hero, I must apologize on behalf of my fellows' horrid behavior. They do not understand what a momentous occasion this is. Please forgive their intrusion.”

She crossed the room and sat delicately at the edge of the bed, hands clasped in her lap. She bowed her head ever so slightly.

“Allow me to start over. My name is Emi Hallowedblade. I am the High Priestess of the Order of the Ebonblade. Welcome to our humble shrine. I –we –have been eagerly awaiting your return,” she said, bowing her head once more. She kept biting nervously at her lower lip.

Zed sat up in bed warily, silently examining the tattoo on the back of his hand. Fortunately, it didn't hurt anymore. It was a black five pointed star with an eye nestled in the middle. Squinting a little, he observed the pupil was actually an inverted star. Some kind of magical or occult thing? He pressed his fingers into his eyes and exhaled a long, slow breath.

“I'm Zed Thorne,” he said, mumbling into his steepled fingers, “Your... dark hero, I guess? Whatever that means. I don't remember ever agreeing to being anyone's hero.”

Emi furrowed her brow, tilting her head to one side. She seemed to be at a loss.

“It is known that everyone who is born receives 3 Life Quests. They're hard, but they're not supposed to be impossible. If a person manages to complete all three quests by the time they turn sixteen they receive the job and title of hero automatically. You're the dark hero because dark is your associated elemental affinity. You also receive a special skill once you've finished your quests, a gift from the Creators.”

Zed chuckled.

“Ah, priestess? Emi? I hate to burst your bubble here but, I'm definitely older than sixteen.”

She went rather pink and started giggling uncontrollably.

“Are you? Hee-hee. I'm sorry, I wouldn't know! It's so hard to tell with you High Humans! Age, I mean. Our ageing and lifespans are so dissimilar.”

Emi seemed to notice Zed's look of consternation and clapped a hand over her small mouth, attempting to rein the giggles in.

“Well, um. For example, I've actually just finished my third life quest,” She paused, considering something. “My quest was to find you, alive. And here you are! Finally.”

She gave a small, exasperated shrug.

“Obviously, it's taken me way longer to complete my quests so I don't get the hero title like you, but I still received a special skill.”

“Sorry, but... can I ask how old you are? Am I allowed to ask that?”

“Why couldn't you?” Emi asked, puzzled. “I'm only two thousand years old. Give or take a decade, I guess.”

I must not comment on a woman's age. I must not comment on a woman's age.

“Soooo... what's the skill you got?”

“Um, I'm not sure, I haven't read it yet.” Her expression grew distant; it looked like she was reading something just over the horizon. Suddenly her eyes bulged and her mouth formed an O in surprise. “Oh. OH! Oh, wow! Listen to this: Unique Ability: Respawn! This skill gives me the ability to resurrect at this shrine if I die, although...”

She squinted.

“Sorry, small print. There's a caveat to it, though... if the shrine has been defiled I won't be able to resurrect unless the shrine has been reclaimed and purified. Then my spirit would be stuck in-between until a year has passed since the shrine has been purified. But still!”

She blinked hard, looked back over at Zed and beamed.

“Also, I got a bonus! Due to the near-impossibleness of my last quest, I won't age anymore! So, as long as you live, I live! Pretty incredible, right?” God, her smile was radiant. And those curves... “So, what's your special skill?”

Zed started, semi-distracted. “Oh, er... right. Let me see...”

He resummoned his Skills Menu. It seemed that he was starting to accumulate quite a list of skills and abilities.

“I actually got a lot of skills at once just now. I think... did some of them come from you? From when we completed our life quests? All at once I learned Elven, High Human, and some Goblin.”

Emi nodded eagerly.

“Mhm. If you didn't know, we've been conversing entirely in High Human.”

Zed nodded thoughtfully, tucking this new bit of information away in his head as he continued to browse his new skills.

“Oh! Here it is. Um, Unique Ability: Classy. It gives me the ability to discover other classes. And if I don't meet the requirements to become a certain class I've discovered, this ability will tell me what the requirements are, and how to train to meet said requirements. Oh. And I can freely change between any of them at any time.”

Zed held up his right hand, waving his new tattoo in Emi's direction.

“So, what's up with these tattoos? I don't understand this symbol. Have you ever seen this before?”

“I'm pretty sure it's a magical transference tattoo. They're... well, they're really rare. It's hard to be completely sure because each tattoo pair is unique to the individuals who have become soulbound to each other. Um. Basically, the tattoos symbolize a sort of slavery between master and servant. The master bears their tattoo on their hand, while the servant's mark is displayed on their chest. It's... kind of a taboo subject...” Emi trailed off. “But it's okay, though! I'm happy with this, really!” she quickly added, seeing the look on his face. Her ears drooped a little.

Zed swallowed hard. He felt a cold, heavy stone sinking into the pit of his stomach. His fists were clenched so hard he could feel his fingernails biting into the flesh of his palm.

“What do you mean exactly, slavery? What if I want to free you?” He spoke slowly, deliberately, each syllable wrought with tension.

“It... doesn't work that way, Zed. I'm sorry. Once two people have become soulbound they're destined to spend the rest of their lives together. It's not really something that can come undone.” She reached out to touch Zed's shoulder but he flinched away. She sighed and her hand fell away. She looked back at him in despair.

“Please don't be upset, okay? Each of our final Life Quests have brought us together. This wasn't a chance meeting; If anything, this is the happiest day of my life. I've been waiting all this time to meet you, and now you're here. And I'm here to support you in any way I can from here on out.”

Emi paused. Her expression clouded and she bit at her bottom lip again.

“There's still much we need to discuss, I'm sure. But I'm sure you're starving. A special feast has been prepared in your honor; would you join us? The fellows are anxious to meet you, and I'm sure you might like to speak with the rest of the party who took part in the rescue mission.”

Rescue mission...

Zed shook his head to clear it, refusing to jump down that particular rabbit hole right now. He was hungry, but this entire conversation made him feel incredibly sick to his stomach. He just wanted to crawl back under the covers and shut out the rest of the world. He looked back to Emi and tried on a smile. It felt lopsided and a size too big, but he was trying.

“Sorry, I'm not all that hungry.”

His stomach betrayed his trust with a loud, unpleasant rumble. Emi raised her eyebrows pointedly and Zed sighed, defeated.

“Dinner sounds fantastic, actually. What're we having?”

With a small squeak of glee, Emi jumped up and pulled at Zed's hand, coaxing him from the relative safety of his bed.

Okay, now that's a little cute.

“I'm not really sure,” she said, pulling him out of the room and closing the door behind them, “but if I know anything about our chefs it's going to involve a bonfire of epic proportions and a lot of grilling. It's going to be a feast for the ages!”

The room opened to a wide stone hall that stretched out to their immediate right and left. The hall to the right ended in a dead end. There were at least a dozen doors set into the wall behind them, small, ornate numbers painted in silver on each one. Emi's door was marked with the number '33'.

“So, the least I can do right now would be to give you the ten-copper tour, yeah? So,” She spun a wide, graceful pirouette in the middle of the empty corridor. “There are two main buildings that make up the Ebonblade shrine: the temple, and the residences. Both buildings are horseshoe shaped and mirror each other. They kind of look like a broken H-shape from the outside. Okay?”

Zed nodded absently. Side by side, they began a slow stroll down the corridor.

“This branch is designated strictly for housing. There are three halls attached to this branch: the outer hall for the travelers, middle hall for the monks, and inner hall for the priestesses,” she glanced over toward Zed. “We allow travelers to rest here for a time during their journeys in exchange for a small donation to the shrine.”

They reached the L-bend in the hall. There was no door here, just a simple wide vaulted archway to a grand rectangular common room. The room was covered end-to-end in rich black mahogany flooring. The walls were lined with an array of decorative weapons displayed with great flourish.

An impressive stone fireplace served as a central meeting place for the shrine's denizens with several mismatched plush armchairs encircling the ample hearth. A crackling fire blazed merrily away in the fireplace, bathing the room in light and heat. Each end of the common room contained a cluster of circular wooden tables surrounded by wooden chairs. The far corner of the room was crowded with several bookshelves which were stuffed full to bursting with fat tomes and scrolls. Although the room was quite empty, it felt surprisingly cozy.

“Welcome to the common room,” Emi said, opening her arms wide. “This room serves as a gathering place for all of the fellows. We have the library nestled in the far corner along with a few tables and chairs dedicated for studying, an area for rest and relaxation-- some of the fellows are really impressive storytellers-- and another area for study and down time. Normally this area is bustling with energy but, well, you'll see...”

She gestured toward the far end of the room as they continued on their walk.

“The other branch consists of the kitchens, pantry, storage, and armory along the outer wall. The armory is guarded at all times, just in case. We've never had a breach, of course, but you can never be too cautious.” She grinned wickedly.

They approached the wide-set heavy double doors opposite the grand hearth. Even from here Zed could hear a great deal of muffled commotion coming from the other side. He hesitated. Already he could feel a tight steel band of fear constricting around his stomach.

Oh, no. I don't do crowds.

“Emi...” he started, sweat beading up on his upper lip.

Don't choke. Don't choke.

“Now,” she said, placing her hands on the polished silver door handles, “don't panic. You're about to meet a lot of people. But remember, this is a celebration! Everyone is here to meet you, to celebrate your glorious return!”

“Emi, I don't think...”

The doors burst open. The open air dining hall fell completely silent. Every head turned. Zed dug his heels in but Emi, not to be deterred, shoved him bodily inside.

A moment later, the entire hall erupted into deafening cheers.