FAITH

The night was cold, and the incessant howling of wolves, and the rather strange sounds that made a symphony in darkness made sleeping quite hard for any one of them, except their dad though. That man can sleep through an earthquake.

But when the sun came up Faith was so relieved that she felt the urge to dance around. With the coming of the dawn, it was enough for her to forget how much she hated sleeping on the cold, hard and wet ground under the blanket of the night sky and it’s freezing caress.

Faith did not mean to be sarcastic but the previous night with her family was probably the closest they have ever been with each other….physically that is. They were forced to huddle together so that their warmth would tide them over the night. Faith hated every moment of it, especially when you consider the fact that she couldn’t sleep, it was a wonder she didn’t wake up whining and complaining like a pregnant woman.

But the discomfort of the night aside, Faith looked forward to the day, she was quite eager to see what it held for her. She turned to her family, and took her time to greet every single one of them. But the exhausted look on their faces was more than enough to tell her that they had also found it difficult to sleep the previous night.

Faith shook her head at them and made her way to what could be considered a public bathroom. A shack had been erected a few meters away from where they were given a plot, it was a rather horrifying experience using such facilities, but it brought up one of the first problem that Faith really had with this world…..no indoor plumbing. And to make matters worse, there was a distinct lack of necessities required for female use. What was she ever going to do without her ultra soft and super absorbent sanitary pads. Faith felt like she was in a nightmare.

But when she was done with her business she hurried back to her family only to see Smith standing there and waiting for her and the rest of the families to gather around.

“Good morning to you all, I can see that all of you were able to go through the night relatively unscathed. I can’t say that’s a pleasure, the monsters in the forest always seems to come up with colorful ways to kill people every night. This is a massive disappointment.”

Faith was startled by Smiths blatant disregard for life. She might act and think like someone in their thirties who had seen a lot of shit happen in their life, but she was still just a fourteen year old girl, and hearing Smith talk about human life like it was cattle left quite an impression on her. No one could really say whether that impression was positive or negative.

“Anyway I’m here to allocate to you all, your classes and area of work. If you so choose, you can hang around and enjoy a life of leisure for the next six days, but after this six days are over you’re expected to report to your various class trainers and get to work, or I can assure. There will be consequences.

Now come forward when you hear your name and you would be told your class and where to report for work. First up Faith Omaye.”

Faith was shocked, it was not that much of a big deal, but why did he have to call her first. She made her way towards Smith with as much grace and confidence she could push into her shaking legs and finally came to a stop in front of him.

“Your quite a beauty are you not……hmmm am sure there would be more uses for you when you’re a little grown up. Any way your class from now on will be herbalist, and you will be working with the herbalist within the castle as an assistant. You can start today if you want.”

[QUEST ALERT]

[YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN A NEW CLASS, REPORT TO THE HERBOLOGY CLASS TRAINER WITHIN THE CASTLE FOR YOUR CLASS SKILLS, THEN REPORT TO THE CARETAKER TO BEGIN WORK]

[REWARDS: 10 EXP, CLASS SKILL STEADY HANDS, HARVERST, HERBOLOGY, GARDENING, GENERAL SKILL INSPECT]

Faith did not really need to have what a quest was explained to her, But Smith had seen the system prompt appear in front of her in the form of a glowing blue screen. After she endured several more minutes of Smith’s torture of an explanation, she was free from him and was set aside so that the next person could get their own class.

The next person to come next was Nathaniel, who was given the class druid. Apparently since he was to work with the shepherds and take care of the animals and on occasion bless the fields so that the harvest could be bountiful. Next came Esther and her chosen class was cleric, she was to work with the local doctors and priest that ran the church in Orun. She was going to be a healer. Her mother was actually given the blacksmith class.

It was not as if women were not blacksmiths, but blacksmithing was a stereotypical job that was mostly handled by men. And a woman of her mother’s caliber with beauty and brains was actually relegated to the job of a brute; lovely.

Her father was asked to be a hunter. It was not a combat class per say, but it was strong enough that her father might be able to cause descent damage than to just the animals he was expected to hunt.

The Omaye family gathered to one side and continued to watch the entire process of the other family being given their classes. It was a rather bland activity but they all had to stomach the boredom of the entire event. As soon as Smith was done, he turned around and left without a word. Faith watched him leave while hoping she could slap him silly, and that was a thought she felt her family completely agreed with.

“So what are we going to do next. I don’t know about all of you, but I don’t want to sit around here doing nothing.” Faith spoke up with a rather demanding tone. Esther looked at her with a raised eyebrow, but it was their mother who gave her an answer.

“I agree with what you’ve just said baby, we need to get a head start and at least get a basic understanding of our environment and the people who control it.”

Faith wanted to sigh in frustration, but such an action might actually earn her a slap from her mother. Her mother was in all sense of the word a gold digger. She was smart, that much was true, but all of her intelligence was being channeled into her sheer prowess of being able to manipulate men in power and make them dance to her tune. It was so much a part of her, that some times she has hardly ever noticed when she let traces of her character slip out.

“That much we can agree on, but I need all of you to be careful. And as much as possible please don’t draw attention to yourselves, the consequences of such a scenario is not something I can stress on enough.” Faith was more willing to accept her father’s word of advice, after all, of all the children he had she was his favorite.

Even though much has changed, there was a certain trait that they all shared as a family, they hated being idle. They all loved to be on the move, to be caught doing one thing or the other. There was a saying about how “an idle mind is the devil’s work shop” Faith had no intentions of being the devil’s workshop.

Eventually everybody dispersed, majority of the families chose to sit back and enjoy the one week period of grace granted to them, Faith could not help but look down on them for being such lazy free loaders. Of course most of them will give the excuse of trying to adapt to a new environment, but Faith knew fear and indecisiveness when she saw it.

She shook her head at them and bid her family a rather bland goodbye as she marched towards the castle and town in the distance. It might be considered wise if she stuck with her family and not wander around to much, but she had grown up in a family the stressed and encouraged self discovery and self reliance…….or it could just be that she had rather lazy parents who could hardly be bothered of the children’s whereabouts the moment they clocked twelve.

But all this aside Faith was rather strong willed, she really had a do it all myself syndrome that set her apart from her peers. But again this could also be attributed to her upbringing, if you have a family you can’t completely rely on, then it’s left for you to take your wellbeing into your own hands.

Faith marched on with a purpose occasionally stopping to ask for directions to the herbology class trainer. Unlike yesterday when they were practically rushed through Orun, without getting a proper glimpse of the town. This time Faith took her time to appraise the dump that was going to be her home for the foreseeable future.

Orun was a dirty place that really suffered from a distinct lack of poor management and stupid architecture. The houses were built haphazardly, with some of them looking like they would fall apart at the slightest gust of wind. The entire town was also a mishmash of different eras. On one side you would see a somewhat fantasy like Victorian era, on the other you would be seeing a steam punk wild wild west or a van helsing movie set. There were street lamps, mechanical dogs, people with metal prosthetics that moved just like normal limbs. Gun slingers, swordsman and a huge werewolf in chains.

Faith shuddered in revulsion, she so hated it when things were not organized or are so completely out of place she could not properly predict or anticipate the next moment. Looking at Orun showed Faith the most glaring example of one of the situations she hated being in. She hated not being in control.

She pushed the matter of poor real estate management as she made her way into the castle and headed for a tower on the eastern part of the castle. The gardens and alchemist tower were located there, apparently the Alchemist and herbalist worked closely together since their jobs sort of aligned. Faith approved of that course of action, at least one thing seems to have been done right here.

However when she was within the vicinity of the alchemy tower, a rather pungent odor permeated the air, if Faith had to guess, she would say this place smelt a little bit like a hospital, a laboratory and a tanning factory. The whole thing made her extremely nauseous and she had to hold her nose as she walked past the tower. Thirty feet away from the tower was the entrance into the gardens, but the smell did not get any easier. This time it was mixed with the scent of flowers of various species and kinds.

But the garden was not just filled with flowers, Faith saw weeds, strange looking grasses, trees and even a plant that had the face of a human in pain etched on its stalk. Faith was unsettled to say the least, but she had a significant amount of self control tempered from a rather rigid character. A child she might be, but she had more will than most grown up men.

The atmosphere in the garden had a certain pinkish hue, it was as if she had stepped into a different colored reality. Just a few moments of experiencing this and she already hated it. No matter how bizarre the real world was, you would never see something so unreal. It also cemented the fact that no matter how realistic Zion seemed to be, it would never be anything more than a whole bunch of ones and zeroes.

The garden; thankfully was more organized than anything she had seen so far. There was an area for grasses, each with their unique color, flowers had their spot and so did the trees and many other strange looking plants. The only thing that was rather off about the whole place was the hunched over figure currently tending to a batch of yellow roses.

“Excuse me, I’m here for my class change.”

At first the person blatantly chose to ignore her, whether he heard her voice or not, he gave no indication that he heard her at all. Faith was miffed, but before she could raise any protest the person came up to a standing position and turned to Faith.

If you completely ignore the shawl and robe covering her body, then it would not take much for you to realize that the person standing in front of Faith was a woman. A beautiful woman non the less.

She looked like quite the nerd with wire rimmed glasses and rough looking brown hair. But that did not displace her emerald green eyes, full lips and a figure that was to die for. Faith was fourteen almost Fifteen, which meant she was right at the age where she would explore her sexuality. While she was still figuring sex and feelings out as a whole, she could not help the fact that this woman in front of her was so damn attractive to the point where Faith’s own heart was beating way to fast to be contained in her chest.

“Oh! I’m sorry I didn’t see you there, once I get close to all this plants I get so lost in their beauty and the wonders of their effects. My name is Colea, what can I do for you.”

Faith felt weak in the knees, her voice was so soft and comparable to that of an angel, Faith felt the urge to just bow down and worship her. Somewhere at the back of her mind something was screaming at her that such a beauty should not be possible, that it was just the game making her feel strange and out of sorts. This woman probably had a charisma stat and it should be quite high.

It was easier this way for her, she could quite perfectly attribute the fact that she was attracted to Colea due to interference from the game’s mechanics, if not what would possess her to like a woman. Never in a million years.

“I…….I…….I am here for my class change. My name is Failea, I mean Faith. My name is Faith Omaye.”

Fourteen year old Faith wanted to curse at the world with the most colorful curse words known to man. It was not as if this drop dead gorgeous bitch in front of her and this fake ass world of a game did not deserve it. They were making her go completely out of character and acting like a fool. How can anyone live like this.

Colea did not seem to mind Faith’s rather abstruse bumbling and stumbling over her own words. She was not surprised by it either, it looked like she was rather used to this kind of reaction from people who saw her for the first time.

“Finally a girl with a good head on her shoulders. This Olagoke folks have been sending a lot of stupid men and boys to become herbalist when its quite obvious this was a job that required a woman’s touch.

Any way forget about my useless rant, I do that from time to time. If you go straight down all the way to the end of the garden you would come across an altar with plants carved on it’s wooden body. Touch it and you will gain the class herbalist. Now hurry along, I’m waiting for you.”

At the thought of such a beautiful woman waiting for her Faith could not help but blush in embarrassment. But her snow white hair turned completely pink with her change of mood further making Faith horrified. She picked up the pace and ran straight towards the end of the garden hoping the ground would just open up and swallow her whole.

When she got close to the altar she felt completely off. The altar looks like it was carved from a tree, it was circular in shape and had various plants and nature spirits carved on it. She could see fairies on it, and gnomes and a host of different insects too. She stepped up to it and placed her hands on it causing a system prompt to rise up.

[ CLASS CHANGE ALTAR: HERBALIST, FARMER×]

[CHOOSE CLASS: HERBALIST OR FARMER×]

[HERBALIST CHOSEN: YOU HAVE GAINED PASSIVE SKILL GARDENING, HERBOLOGY, STEADY HANDS. YOU HAVE GAINED ACTIVE SKILL HARVEST AND GENERAL SKILL INSPECT.]

[CONGRATULATIONS YOU HAVE GAINED 10 EXP. YOU ARE NOW LEVEL 1. YOU HAVE FIVE STAT POINTS FOR ALLOCATION.]

“Status.”

NAME: FAITH OMAYE

AGE: FOURTEEN

RACE: HUMAN

CLASS: HERBALIST

SUB-CLASS: N/A

STATUS: CONTRACTED SERVANT

HEALTH: 12/12

STAMINA: 20/20

MANA: 30/30

STRENGTH: 4

VITALITY: 4

AGILITY: 2

DEXTERITY: 6

INTELLIGENCE: 10

ATTACK: 1-8

DEFENSE: 16

STAT POINTS: 5

SKILL POINTS: 0

Faith felt weird, very weird. And it most probably had to do with the fact that, she now had this knowledge of skills that she had no memory of learning. Once again she chalked that up to the fact that this world…..Zion was not real. It was a creation of a man, of someone who was flesh and blood thereby calling into question everything it meant to be human. This was not entertainment, this was a sin.

ESTHER

Esther remembered a time when she was religious. She remembered a time when she was holy and pure and innocent. She went to church every Sunday and sang happily with the choir and played around with the other kids and listened to sermons about how much God loved her and how his son Jesus died for her sins.

But then she remembered that Friday when her mother had gotten a call from the pastor of their local church, apparently he had a vision concerning her future and to prevent the forces of darkness from derailing her path in life an extensive prayer session was required.

And what a session it was, the pastor took her innocence, her chastity in the name of God, right there in front of her mother. Her mother who with every grunt of pain and squeal of pleasure she made, chanted amen in tandem with the pastor’s frantic thrust and feverish gasping.

With a memory like that it was a surprise she did not try to strangle her mother every time she laid eyes on that woman. Till today Esther never got to know the reason why her mother let that pastor do that to her. It was quite painful but she learnt to move on. And then she learnt to live what most would call and extremely bad life style.

Her brother lived for the drugs and his dangerous cult activities, but she lived for the sex and the dangerous secrets that came with it. Politicians, religious leaders, family men and people with a reputation to keep. She fucked them all, took their secrets, took their money and then took their life.

Anything they ever considered important fell at her whim, their glory and the monuments built to their name, their reputation and their family. She made sure it all came crashing down like a stack of building blocks ran into by a 250 pound man.

But it’s ironic really, because here she was, in a place where her rather sinful life started……a church. Well it would be wrong to call it a church, it was more like a shack that was standing on its last legs. Thankfully the church was built with stone just like the castle, it was located south east away from the castle itself, with it being the first thing you see when you step into the town.

The first word that came to mind when Esther looked at the church was ugly, but another was ancient and calm. It surprised her a lot, the shabby building in front of her seemed to instill a sense of calm within her. Esther shook her head with a smile, it seemed that deep down she was still that same church girl who believed in God and how much he loved her.

She pushed open the almost fallen apart double doors, the termites in Orun seemed to have a taste for church door. The air within the church was rather stale, the whole place looked abandoned, the floor was dirty and covered with a significant amount of dust.

Every step she took made the wooden floor boards beneath her feet creak and moan in protest and complaint, it was quite obvious that they had withstood quite the ravages of time. The pews were covered in a thick layer of dust and dirt. This building was really, really old. But Esther loved it.

There was something about old buildings that she just could not help but admire. They withstood the ravages of time and fate, going through many tough days and happy days. Seeing history make itself and watching time pass on and by as it ticked away with every blessed second. Old buildings gave her a sense of solidarity, of hope and dependence. Her family was rather broken and messed up, she had her connections with them, but they never made her feel safe. The only thing her family ever gave her was a sense of responsibility and the urge to set them all on fire while they sleep. That’s quite a family.

When Esther got to the pulpit she finally noticed the aged man kneeling in front of a cross and praying fervently. His entire hair was white, not fantasy white like hers and her family, but more like aged white. There were small traces of wrinkles around the edge of his chin and eyes. He had a rather trimmed goatee that was still black rather than white like his head.

If Esther could hazard a guess, she would say he was probably around his mid forties to early fifties. He had on a white and pristine garment that even with all of the dirt and dust, did not have a single residue of either on it. His whole persona just screamed out pure and holy. With a rather stray thought Esther wondered if he was good in bed.

“What have you come seeking in the house of God……. child?”

There was a rumble to his voice, the sound came from deep within his chest and sent waves of vibrations all over the empty church. It was the first time Esther felt really off since she stepped foot into the church.

Pure like look or whatnot, this guy’s presence was everywhere. It was like he could see everything, hear everything, feel everything. There was no room for secrets within his presence and Esther hated that. After all she was a woman who thrived on secrets, she lived for it and the thrill of holding information worth a person’s life within the palm of her hands. Now she felt that Mr. holy and pure here was in a position to put that in jeopardy.

“I’m here for my class change. I’m supposed to be a cleric.” Esther answered with an edge to her voice.

“Indeed you are, hmm do you understand what it entails to be a cleric, the responsibility that comes with such a position?”

“I think I have a general idea of what I’m supposed to do, and to be honest am not cut out for a job in religion or the responsibilities that come with the damn position. In my opinion I’m more closer to the devil than God himself, with the things I have done and at such a young age……..I deserve to burn in the deepest part of hell for all eternity.”

“well that was certainly enlightening, but it’s not your place to decide whether you deserve to burn in hell for your past mistakes. But unlike many people who I have led down the path of holy servitude and healing, you are one of the few to acknowledge their own sins.

But now the question that remains is, are you willing to make amends for it?. Because my child, second chances come when you least expect it, and this could be it for you. The house of God accepts all, sinner, saint, killer, savior, hero or villain. You just have to set your heart in the right place and make every moment of your life count. Because serving God is not a right, it’s a privilege. Are you willing to serve him child.”

[CHANGE CLASS TO CLERIC]

“Yes”

“Then by the anointing and power bestowed upon me by the decree of the living God, I welcome you into our ranks as a new woman reborn in the favor of the lord our God. Sister Esther please rise and take your place among the ranks of shepherds who are meant to lead, soothe and heal the flock of the one true God. Glory to his name.”

Esther was overwhelmed by an intense feeling of belonging. The slave contract aside this felt so right that it completely unsettled her. Was this a path of redemption, a way for her to be absolved of all her past sins…..please who could be that stupid. No matter how eloquent his words were, this was still just a game, and Esther was not in the business of giving herself false hope that she could be saved from an eternity of torment in hell. But there was no harm in playing along, because to be honest it felt good to believe in a higher power once again. Even though that power was made from a complex algorithm of one’s and zeroes.

“Glory to his name.”

[CLERIC CHOSEN, YOU HAVE GAINED PASSIVE SKILLS: FAITH, NURSE. YOU HAVE GAINED ACTIVE SKILL: HEAL, BLESS, PRAY AND INSPECT]

[CONGRATULATIONS YOU GAINED 10 EXP, YOU ARE NOW LEVEL 1. YOU HAVE FIVE STAT POINTS FOR ALLOCATION.]

Esther did not feel an sense of accomplishment from completing this quest. It was just something she had to do, and from now on it seemed her life as a slave starts proper.

“Skills!”

[FAITH: LEVEL 1: PASSIVE(HOLY) : INCREASE EFFECTS OF HOLY AND CLASS SPELLS BY 2%]

[NURSE: LEVEL 1: PASSIVE(SUPPORT/GENERAL): INCREASE THE EFFECTS OF ALL HEALING ACTIVITIES BY 2% AND REDUCE THE PAINFUL EFFECTS OF ANY INJURY BY 5%]

[HEAL: LEVEL 1: ACTIVE(SUPPORT / HOLY): RECOVER 5% HEALTH EVERY 5 SECONDS FOR 15 SECONDS. COST 10 MANA, COOLDOWN TIME 5 MINUTES.]

[BLESS: LEVEL 1: ACTIVE(SUPPORT/HOLY) : INCREASE ALLIES STATS BY 5% FOR 100 SECONDS. COST 10 MANA, COOLDOWN 2.30 MINUTES.]

[PRAY: LEVEL 1: ACTIVE(SUPPORT/HOLY) : INCREASE THE EFFECTS OF ALL HOLY SPELLS AND SKILLS BY 5% FOR 30 SECONDS. COST 10 MANA, COOLDOWN 7 MINUTES.]

Esther felt rather apprehensive about her future as a servant to the Olagoke's, she had no idea what to expect from those people, especially with her family involved. But the journey of a thousands miles begins with a single step, it doesn’t matter if there’s a stone in your path or if you have to walk through fire. The only thing that matters is that you take that step, that way even though it hurts at least you would know that you moved forward. Esther turned to the priest and said to him in what she considered her most cheerful Sunday voice.

“Please your eminence, if its not too much trouble, I will like to know everything that being a cleric entails.”

“My child it would be my extreme pleasure.”