by A R Chen
Page 2:
11) Beast-man
12) Vampire
13) Dragon
14) Orc
15) Dwarf
The list seemed to go on for at least several more pages, but none of it meant anything to Steve so he tried to gather more information. “Does each evolution require different amounts of energy?”
“Yes! Some evolutions are more powerful than others, so the base energy necessary for the change will be greater!” Bonnie paused, then helpfully offered, “I can list them out in terms of most to least energy required if you would like!”
“Please do,” Steve agreed, and immediately saw the reorganized list, which now read:
1) ???
2) ???
3) ???
4) Dragon
5) Undead
6) Elf
7) Slime
8) Turtle
9) Goblin
10) Vampire
“I can’t read the first three choices,” Steve stated. “What does it mean?” As he asked, the smoldering embers became tongues of flame. Not particularly concerned, Steve turned his attention back to the list.
“Um, they’re hidden, but I think the cost means they must be better than a Dragon!” Bonnie exclaimed, stating the obvious.
“Well, I suppose I should focus on gathering energy then.” Steve thought of something. “By the way, why are you helping me?”
Before Bonnie could reply, she was cut off by a shout.
“It’s over here!” an unfamiliar voice called from somewhere on the other side of the smoke cloud which surrounded the burning tree.
Chapter 2
“It’s over here!” Ash turned and called back to his group. Then he hastily chanted a basic water spell to put out the small fire, which was licking its way up the bark of the tree before him. The water, collected from the atmosphere, doused the small flames. Breathing heavily from the run, he thanked the gods that he’d arrived in time to prevent it from spreading. Just as he was preparing to head back, he noticed the tree before him was blue. Maybe it was diseased?
Turning to really examine his surroundings, he found himself in a wonderland. A multitude of the trees around him were various shades of blue. He’d never even seen a single blue tree before, in all his nearly fifteen years, but that was actually the most mundane aspect of the scene before him. There, in the center of clearing he stood at the edge of, was a hovering globe of light and… “Wait, are those Crystals?” Ash breathed in disbelief. His thoughts raced. Crystals. Glowing mass of light. Blue trees. It was all adding up.
“Azra! Loop! Come take a look!” Ash turned around and called for his companions, before turning back to watch over the strange scene. He was aware that the glowing yellow orb of light in the clearing might be dangerous.
“What is it? What do we need to do?” Azra asked, then went silent and wide-eyed as she took in the scene. As usual, Ash’s sister looked very put together, like she’d just left the house, rather than walked half the morning. She was younger by almost a year, newly fourteen, and a good head shorter than Ash.
Azra’s red hair was pinned to the side with her trademark flower, which was blue today, matching her clothing. Her dress was modest, but with the hem still high enough to properly explore the wilderness. Azra could be a bit hot-headed, but she was still practical, and certainly didn’t enjoy mending tears, nor getting caught on things.
“Is that a god or something?” Ash turned, to see that Loop had also caught up. His friend’s brown, shaggy hair had sticks and leaves in it, and his simple tan smock had a half-dozen fresh green scuffs, as if he’d hit every branch he passed on the way here. Despite being almost two years older than Ash, Loop was a few inches shorter, and always seemed to be colliding with things, including the ground, or getting into trouble.
Ash sighed. “Well, I’ve never met one before so I wouldn’t know.” Of their little group, Ash knew he was the most responsible and level-headed, but it got tiring sometimes. He kept on observing the light globe, while trying to keep out of sight behind a tree. “It doesn’t seem like it—”
“Ash! We need to do something!” Azra demanded, cutting Ash off. When he looked over, she was preparing her ice summon spell under her breath. Her hands were glowing. “It could be a threat to the village. We need to—”
“No, we don’t!” Ash told her emphatically. He was the leader, and she was acting without direction. Last time she’d done that, they had nearly been gored by a wild boar, and this thing could be much more dangerous. “Stop that, Azra! Just give me a moment to think.” He glared at her a moment, before she caught his eye and the glow around her hands faded away.
The glowing light ball had to be a magical entity, right? So Azra casting a spell would likely alert it to their location and attacking would be certain to anger it. They needed to proceed with caution. Ash massaged his forehead, as he tried to remember what the Elder had told him about gods, but he just couldn’t.
Ash felt out of his depth—whatever he did here might affect the lives of everyone in the village. There was no guarantee that the light ball would still be here if he went back to consult the Elder, but he was nervous making such an important decision on his own; they weren’t equipped to deal with something like this.
On the one hand, if this light were a magical construct formed by some conjuror, they might still be around, and could be a rogue mage much stronger than their party of three. On the other hand, it could be a blessing to the village. Only one thing was certain: this was no natural phenomenon—it could be terrible, wonderful, or both. He was only sixteen, what was he supposed to do if Loop was right and this was a god! Finally, he had an idea.
“Loop, run back to the village. Look for the Elder, tell him we saw something in the forest,” Ash said quickly. He was in a cold sweat now, sneaking looks back to the glowing light in the clearing. Though it was afternoon, with the sun shining brightly and illuminating the clearing, the orb was clearly visible. “We’ll stay here.”
They were close, but it hadn’t noticed them yet. Or maybe it had but didn’t care.
“Ash. I have an idea,” Azra said. Ash looked at his sister again curiously; she had apparently grown calmer while Ash worked himself up. Before he could ask about her idea, she shocked him by marching into the clearing.
4 Days 23 Hours 0 Minutes 0 Seconds.
Out of nowhere, Steve was hit with a wave of euphoria. He felt confident and powerful. None of his earlier concerns mattered in the face of this glorious feeling, so he tuned out everything and just basked in it.
“Steve, there is a human here,” Bonnie interrupted his bliss.
Grudgingly, Steve turned his focus back to reality. Hmm? It seems like my presence has attracted visitors! he thought, as he watched a human use water magic to extinguish the fire he’d started. After a while, he was joined by two others. They spoke amongst themselves and it seemed like they thought he didn’t notice them, as they peeked around the tree.
After a while, one determinedly marched towards him, followed reluctantly by a second one. When they were near, they knelt and seemed to intently study the dirt. As he examined the prostrate humans, wondering what they were doing, he realized they must be expecting him to do something and spoke, “Rise, good people!” Steve didn’t really know what he was saying and didn’t really care. Being magnanimous seemed to be coming naturally with the way he felt now.
The two human youths shared a glance before slowly rising, while keeping their eyes on the ground. Finally, the smaller one asked a question. “Please forgive our ignorance, mighty one, may we know which god we have found ourselves in the presence of?”
“My name is Steve!” Steve exclaimed, confirming to himself with the pronouncement that Steve was his name, as it felt right, even though he still couldn’t remember how or when that name had been bestowed upon him. Hearing himself called a god made him wonder, was he a god? He wasn’t sure what exactly being a god meant, but from what the short one had said, it was clear
they must be strong. The term didn’t resonate with him like his name did, but he did feel powerful, so maybe—looking back at the short one, a concept formed in his mind, girl— yes, maybe this girl was correct.
“Oh mighty god Steve, I, on behalf of my village, beseech you to bless us with your presence!” the other human, who seemed to be a boy asked, then paused, as if trying to remember something. Steve waited patiently, trying to appear humble in all his shining magnificence. “Uh, please come meet with our elder,” he clarified.
“I think we should take this opportunity, Steve.” Bonnie’s voice had a crafty tone, which was new. “We could learn a lot from this village.”
“I will come with you!” Steve said confidently. This wonderful feeling seemed to have something to do with the arrival of these people, so surely being near more people would be even better. “Lead the way, good people!”
It was at this moment that another human boy hesitantly walked out of the trees and the three began whispering. After a few moments of hushed but fierce conversation, the smaller one, the girl, looked back, stealing a glance just below where Steve was hovering. She asked, “May we take one of your Elemental Crystals back to the village?”
The new boy immediately stammered, “P-please, she meant no offen—”
“It’s completely fine! You may even have two!” Steve interrupted the nervous human, impressed with his own generosity.
At this point, Steve was completely overcome with his newfound feeling. The rush of confidence kept growing every time he made a decision, and the quicker he made them, the better he felt. He almost worried he would lose himself, but that concern was quickly swept aside just as all his earlier ones had been.
The first boy and girl moved forward hesitantly, but eventually stooped down to collect the two rocks they’d been allowed to take. They chose one red and one blue rock, neither of which seemed too big or heavy. The new boy fidgeted in place, seeming not to know what to do with his hands, as he watched the other two. When the three humans were standing together again, they shared one more look.
“Oh mighty god Steve, follow me,” said the tallest boy. “My name’s Ash.” Then he pointed to the girl next to him. “This is my younger sister, Azra. That messy one over there is Loop. Please, follow me.”
With that, Ash turned and put action to his words, heading towards the thicker part of the forest. The other two youths followed, with the one called Loop now holding the two rocks in his arms.
Steve took one last look at where he’d awoken, then followed Ash. As he began moving, he floated up to head height and easily matched their pace. This was far faster than he’d moved before, and he felt momentarily proud of the accomplishment, before that feeling was also subsumed by the mania he was experiencing.
When they were into the forest proper, Steve noticed that the trees and rocks abruptly looked completely different. The trees were green, and in place of the variously colored rocks, there was only a grayish-white. At first, he wondered what was going on, then finally was able to reason out that he had been in a special place before, one where the environment had had different colors. When he figured this out, he experienced a burst of satisfaction, feeling incredibly clever.
The four of them moved at a leisurely speed. Steve discovered that he didn’t have any trouble with the terrain, adding to his overall good mood. He became so engrossed in examining their surroundings, he hardly noticed that the humans kept talking to him. As they walked, Ash, Loop, and Azra took turns carrying the stones. Carrying them seemed to cause the humans some difficulty. Despite being significantly smaller than others that had been in Steve’s clearing, they were still apparently quite heavy. Occasionally, Azra would sneak a peek at Steve, thinking he wouldn’t notice.
He noticed.
Steve once again checked the countdown. It now read:
4 Days 22 Hours 40 Minutes 3 Seconds
He felt that there was something more to the countdown, but without any new information, the thought didn’t hold his attention long.
The four beings walked and floated a while longer, before they arrived at the point that the forest gave way to a plain. The plain was filled with blue grass that grew to the youths’ waists. After looking around a moment, Ash led them to a weathered-looking path of gray stone which cut a gash through the ocean of grass. Ash started down it, cradling the red rock in his arms. His clothes were soaked with sweat at this point and he looked exhausted.
“Eh…I really thought it would be more fun than this,” Bonnie complained. “We’ve been doing nothing but wandering through this boring forest.”
Steve was taken aback by this, having quite enjoyed the journey so far. He decided not to even acknowledge the comment as he continued taking in everything, turning his focus on anything that caught his attention.
A while later, Ash pointed forward. “Up ahead is our very own Niti Village!” He sounded excited at first, but then coughed and said, “Uh, we’re just a simple farming village.”
Steve noted what the boy said but didn’t respond. He decided to float far above the uniform grass, moving higher until he could see the entirety of the village in the distance. As the group grew closer, he was able to see that while simple, it did look fairly large. Its buildings and animals looked strange to Steve, but again he didn’t know what would feel normal.
In the immediate vicinity of the town, a number of animals grazed, and there were more still within pens near some of the homes. Beyond the grazing animals, there was something large and blue, which sparkled in the sunlight—with a moment’s concentration, he realized it was a pond. He tried to drink in all the sights at once, but even with his omnidirectional vision, he could only study one thing at a time. The people he saw seemed similar to the three he had first met. When he noticed that a group of people had gathered together near the entrance, looking his way, he observed them with interest.
“What are all these people?” Steve inquired of his guide.
“They are the humble residents of Niti Village,” Ash replied deferentially.
The group kept moving until they arrived at the village entrance. A wooden pole with a larger block of wood on top had been pushed into the ground, with characters that Steve didn’t recognized carved into it. So, this place is called Niti, Steve thought.
As they entered the village, Steve noticed that almost all the people were wearing dark, pointed hats. As they noticed him, they stopped their conversations and bowed low towards him. It seemed like a respectful gesture, which pleased Steve, even if he didn’t understand why they were doing it.
As he thought on the matter, he remembered that the boy named Ash had talked a little about the gods of the world while they were walking. He’d said that the texts in the village taught that gods could take on whatever form they wished and were the highest form of existence in Zeth, this world. Gods held the power to change the fate of lower-level creatures like humans. None of this had really meant anything to him before, but now he realized that the villagers must really believe he was one of these gods.
Now that he understood a little more about his situation, he felt even more reluctant to ask questions. Steve worried that admitting to his lack of memories, or ignorance of something the villagers might think a god should know, would cause them to lose faith in him. He wasn’t certain that he was a god, but Steve was definitely enjoying their belief that he was.
As he examined the bowing people, Steve thought about the journey to the village. How far had they traveled to get here from the clearing? Maybe a few miles, he decided. He had no idea how he’d calculated that, but it felt right.
To the side, Ash suddenly said, “I’m sorry, uh, god Steve, but I must leave you now to check in with the Elder. Please wait a moment.”
When Ash walked away, the bowing villagers seemed to take that as a sign and began to disperse to their own tasks. Most of them avoided looking directly at him, but Steve found himself liking the attitudes of these pointy-hatted people. He n
oticed every time one of them would turn to face his direction, studying his magnificence, and Steve wondered if their expression was worshipful. He wasn’t sure but decided to believe it was. Steve floated proudly, trying his best to give off a regal air.
In his peripheral unfocused view, he saw Azra follow Ash to a pointy-hatted villager and a smaller human. Focusing on the man, he noted strange symbols on the hat the man wore, but Steve didn’t think too much on it. They would come back to his godliness soon—at least, Ash had said they would. Ash, Azra, and the man spoke in hushed tones, too quiet for Steve to make out, then returned to where he still hovered.
“Esteemed god Steve,” the older man began. “I am the village chief, known as Leffer. We welcome your presence in our humble village.”
“Hello, Leffer!” Steve said, grandiosely. “I am in need of a place to stay for a few days. Is Niti Village willing to accommodate me?”
“Of course, Great One,” Leffer answered. “We will see to your lodgings right away. We thank you for blessing our village with Elemental Crystals of fire and water. These resources will not go to waste.” The Elder turned to Ash and issued a command. “Lead god Steve to the guest house.”
Ash nodded in acknowledgement and then said, “Please follow me, Great One.”
Happy that the villagers were being so accommodating, Steve followed Ash’s lead. The boy pointed out and named many buildings in the village as they passed, but the names meant very little to Steve, so he found it easy to tune them out. His thoughts wandered to himself, and he ultimately concluded that his form must be quite pleasing to the eye, given the frequent glances of the humans in his direction. Contemplating his circumstances, he decided that though he had no idea where he was, or why he was here, he was quite satisfied with the course of today’s events.
Steve followed Ash to a small building constructed with thick earthen walls. Although it looked quite small and simple from the outside, the inside was surprisingly cozy.
When Ash was done with the tour, he apologized for the simple accommodations, but assured Steve that it was the nicest guest house in the village. He finished by saying, “If you need anything, god Steve, feel free to come to me about it.”
