by David Burke
Stats: (Current/Max)
Strength: 15/42
Agility: 5/42
Constitution: 14/45
Will: 10/45
Mind: 5/39
Charisma: 2/19
Essence: Current/Max
Judgment: -/-
Death: -/-
Love: -/-
Sea: -/-
Deceit: -/-
Air: -/-
Earth: -/-
War: 11/50 – Conversion rate: 1/second
Raw Essence: 1,078
Kyle looked at the screen that appeared in his head. Now this was better. He had always been an analytics guy. He looked over it for a minute before thinking, “Well this isn’t so bad. My strength is already almost one third to my maximum, but what is the overall max? Or is there such a thing?”
Hilde laughed again. “I fear that you misunderstood again. The numbers are not purely linear. There are five tiers of every stat and type of essence, other than raw essence. A strength of one is equivalent to what you would consider a one-hundred-pound bench press, and—”
He interrupted at that point, “Wait. Are you saying I can bench press fifteen hundred pounds now?”
Again, he felt the invisible head shaking.
“Children know more about… but I guess I shouldn’t expect any better from an uppity ape with delusions of grandeur. Even your prior incarnation was overly impressed by strength. But as I was saying, it is not exactly linear. The five tiers are mortal which is 1-10, monster 11-20, spirit 21-30, demi 31-40, and divine 41-50. Nothing on Verden or the associated planes can pass fifty.
“But eleven is twice what ten is, just as twenty-one is twice what twenty is, and so on. So your strength of fifteen is actually one hundred times greater than a strength of one. But to get to the strength your former incarnation had, you would need to increase your current standard by thirty-two hundred times. Even the physically weakest of the gods, your sister Begaer, would crush you without breaking a sweat.”
“Oh, that is cool. Does the same apply to essence, and what level are you?”
“Yes, the same applies to essence, although I’m not sure why the sheet I created for you shows the other essence types. I would not have expected that, as you should have zero affinity for them. Even having them present themselves seems to imply that you can learn something about them. I’m not sure what to say about that.
“As for what level I am, there is no crude measurement like a ‘level’. You used to say, or pardon me, Krig used to say, that any warrior could defeat any other warrior given the right circumstances. I can give you some idea when you gain skills, and how you are progressing in them, but the reality is that it is impossible to quantify how powerful an individual is overall. There are just too many variables.”
“I get the feeling though that you are dodging my question. So, tell me a bit about the different tiers,” Kyle said.
“You command as easily as Krig did. Fine, tier one is the mortal tier because it is the cap of what most mortals can obtain. A mortal cannot have a strength greater than ten, no matter how much training he performs. Only supernatural interference or enchanted items can change that. Even then, those always come with a price.
“Tier two is the monster tier because, again, that is where most monsters will be powered. It doesn’t mean that they will be powered there in every stat, but at least in some. Again, remember that the weakest tier two is twice as powerful as the strongest tier one. So, you can see why monster hunting is not a game for the faint of heart.”
Kyle interrupted again. ”So are there a lot of monsters on Verden? Don’t the gods take care of that? I thought they were supposed to keep things under control.”
She grew quiet, and again he wasn’t sure how he knew she was frowning, but he tried to wait patiently for her to answer. When she finally did, she said, “That is actually your fault, or that of your prior incarnation.”
He didn’t know what she was talking about, but got a sense of dread from what she’d said and, maybe, what he sensed hadn’t been said.
“I don’t know if you remember any of this, but right before he passed his mantle on to you, Krig had gone to confront his sister Dod, the goddess of death. He had learned that she and some of the other gods were conspiring against him, and he meant to deal with it head on, as he always did. Dod and Lige, the god of justice, were the only ones who compared to Krig in power, although he was clearly the strongest of the gods.
“As he would have put it, the worth of a being is only truly measured upon the field of battle, and so all beings who seek greatness eventually serve him. Your brothers and sisters saw it differently. They were okay with the occasional war, but Krig sought to stir up wars over the entire world. The humans and elves were always at war. It might be over land or simply to prove who was stronger.
“The other gods felt they were diminished, because he kept the mortals at war, and so they could never properly develop. They had decided to put an end to him and, as near as we can tell, had planned to kill him. Whether they meant to capture his essence and eventually allow him to reform or had intended to divide it up amongst themselves is unknown.
“What happened instead was that he went to Dod’s realm in the underworld on his own. He told me and my kin to prepare for war in the heavens, but didn’t allow us to come with him. The only one he took with him was his dragon mount, Skylar. And even she was forced to flee once the battle between the gods was truly joined.
“Your siblings were not fully united. Hav, goddess of the sea, wanted nothing to do with it. Her domain is the chaos of the waves and she couldn’t care less what happened between mortals. Lige felt it was his role to watch. Begaer is ever a coward and more interested in her perversions than in ruling anyone.
“So, when he went to confront Dod, she wasn’t fully ready, but several of your siblings answered and Krig fought them all. What exactly happened is unknown as the gods will not speak of it, and even the undead servants of Dod who were there, were all obliterated. We do know, however, that you shattered the body of Jordan, goddess of the earth.
“When that happened, great rents in the ground were broken open and terrors long buried awoke. Glykan and Urebi crawled out from the depths and made war on the other races. Other races, like the dwarves, emerged and have become allies of the surface mortals. Worse, there were monsters without names, from hordes of goblins to terrors that go bump in the night. Even some elder fiends had been trapped there and were freed.
“The sky was likewise shattered, and Himmel’s control over it remains imperfect, due to whatever injury Krig inflicted on him. Now, storms ravage every continent of Verden. They can appear out of nowhere and rain down hail, lightning, and sometimes even acidic rain on unlucky mortals. The storms also have driven birds mad, so as you might have noticed at the quarry there were men posted all around the top to keep an eye out for flocks of birds waiting to descend upon their victims.
“Lige lost an eye, and justice has been muted. Many nations where law ruled have fallen into restlessness. Mortals understand what morality is, even if its god is wounded, but without his subtle guidance, many who crave power simply don’t fear the reach of justice. To balance that though, apparently Krig also wounded Bedrag, god of deceit. The underworld was thrown into chaos and the resulting fighting was good for the cities of mortals, lest in their own chaos they be overthrown.
“The worst wound of all was the one that Krig delivered to Dod. Apparently, he shattered her scythe into six pieces. The force of his blow was so great, it spread the pieces across Verden and the associated planes. That scythe, which is much like your soul weapon, Sjaelkamp, is an aid to her performing her functions. Without it, she is unable to reap all of the dead and bring them to the underworld to await judgment by Lige.
“That has resulted in groups of undead forming all over Verden and adventurers are needed to hunt them down. Now there’s everything from skeletons and zombies to
shades and ghosts. Commonly known nightmare lore like ghouls and vampires to rare or unheard-of creatures like bone storms and bloodmists. It is the reason why this city and every other one down to the smallest village, gates their walls at night.”
“This sounds awful, but how have all of these things happened? Krig only gave me his mantle yesterday,” Kyle said.
“Ah, yes, you wouldn’t realize. From when you saw Krig, it has been three years here on Verden. It took a great deal of time for your essence to be consolidated, even in this diminished form. No, the world has been torn asunder since your battle with your siblings,” Hilde said.
“You speak of me doing these things, but I don’t remember it at all,” Kyle said.
“It may be that you never do, but I suspect that you will regain portions of the memories of your former self. This is just new territory. Mortals, monsters, celestials, and fiends have all been reincarnated before, but never a god.”
“And what is your role in this?”
“As I told you, I am bound to serve Krig, or in this case his mantle and thus you. He defeated my people and as a result one of us must serve at his side at all times and a thousand of us must answer his call if he ever goes to war in the heavens,” Hilde said.
“In the heavens. Does that mean that you are some sort of spirit or angel?”
“I and my kin are different from other celestials. Most of those serve either Lige or Himmel. Just as most fiends serve Dod, Bedrag, or Begaer, as much as fiends can be said to serve anyone. My kind are formed of raw essence. You might call me a fire angel,” Hilde said.
“Okay, that sounds hot. Have to admit, I’m even more anxious to see what you look like when I manage to get you to manifest. So how do you stack up with the other tiers you have talked about?” Kyle asked.
“We are almost to their home, but I’ll give you a final run down. Mortals typically can’t exceed tier one as I explained earlier, and usually have aptitude for two or three types of essence. Wizards are mortals who have cultivated extra essence aptitudes and might have four or five. Monsters are usually tier two, and some vary from having only one type of essence aptitude to having as many as five.
“Celestials and fiends are different. They normally start out their existence in the second tier but can grow in power until they are in tier three. Most of us have at least four, and maybe as many as six, essence aptitudes.
“The most powerful of non-divine creatures are archangels and archdevils. They are always well into tier three but a couple, in the past, have reached into tier four. Currently, only the Archfiend Devos and Archangel Mikos are tier four. Both of them are proficient with all eight types of essence.
“Then there are demi-gods. These are those born of a deity and a lesser being. Despite the stories of your world that I read from your mind, those others are not usually mortals such as humans or elves. Besides being too frail, the deities are rarely physically present on Verden due to the various agreements between themselves. More often, the non-divine parent is a celestial or fiend, although some have been born to dragons and even monsters. I am not going to say that no mortals have ever borne the child of a deity, but it is quite rare.
“At any given point, there are usually never more than a couple dozen demi-gods. First off, they tend to hunt one another down. Then, if that doesn’t happen, everyone from mortal rulers to archangels and devils may seek to use them for various purposes. A true demi-god can never have offspring of their own, so that is not a concern. Demigods range in power from tier two to tier four, with most of them having a range of essence aptitudes with one being much stronger. That being the type of their divine parent.
“So, you can see there is quite a range of beings in Verden. You stand in a most fragile spot. You are one of only eight beings here who has the potential to reach tier five, but because you are so far removed from that level now, you are either a pawn or a victim to any powerful entity whose attention you attract.”
Kyle wanted to ask more questions, but they had arrived at his temporary home. The two little girls came running out to greet their father. They gave him huge hugs and spoke in extremely animated tones to him. Kyle knew other players who had kids and wondered if he had missed out on that. They’d certainly seemed happy about having kids. For all the poverty that Lucas and Freja obviously lived in, their kids were an equally obvious source of joy.
Freja was out the door a moment later. She paused and looked at Kyle as though to ask if it was okay for her to go to her husband.
He felt bad about that. He had always liked the attention in public, but not the type of fear that he saw when Freja or those workers had looked at him today. He simply nodded and then walked into the small home as husband and wife greeted one another.
He decided to offer them some money. He had certainly earned a bunch today and knew that it would be easy to repeat the same performance again. The more he learned, he might even be able to do better. They had greeted him when he was just a stranger, and maybe they could help him learn the language. That, and help him find a place of his own to stay in. He needed to begin finding his own way in this world.
Kyle immediately missed baseball and all the time and effort he had put into excelling at it. That wasn’t an option here. But just the same, he was committed to finding something else that he could excel at in this world.
Chapter 6 - Career Counseling
That evening, Kyle worked to try to get Lucas and Freja to be more comfortable with him. He gave them what was a fortune in coins. After all, he needed help, and what better way to get it than by sharing his wealth? He knew he could make plenty of money in the limestone quarry, so he wasn’t worried about giving away a fifth of the money he had on him now.
It had the desired effect, along with a few comments that he dragged out of Hilde. She didn’t seem to want him to be nice to Lucas and Freja, or even the children. Kyle hadn’t quite figured out what that was about yet, but he had no patience for her snark, so before long he found himself sitting in front of the fire and singing silly songs with the children.
One of the things that he had figured out a long time ago, was that children were the best at learning languages. They picked it up naturally because they had no other choice and it often began with silly little rhymes. He got Hilde to translate a few words for him and before long he was singing a song with the kids. As near as he could tell, it was Verden’s equivalent to Three Blind Mice.
The exercise made the children laugh. They seemed to have lost all fear of him, and seeing him being so gentle with their children obviously went a long way to making Lucas and Freja seem less fearful. He still caught furtive glances from them when they didn’t think he noticed, but it was understandable, especially after how they’d met him.
Once again, they offered him a blanket and the spot next to the fire to sleep. He now realized what a sacrifice that was for them. The days were very warm here. He would guess it had been in the low eighties earlier, but the nights got very cold. It didn’t seem to bother him much, but he noticed how the children shivered. It showed in the way that they cuddled up to him for warmth while singing.
So Kyle, with help from Hilde, insisted that they take the spot next to the fire and soon the entire family had huddled up there and were sound asleep. Lucas was the most resistant, likely because he didn’t want to feel he’d abdicated his responsibility to protect his family, but once Kyle said he would sleep next to the door, they all felt better.
After Kyle had taken up a position next to the door, he found that sleep wasn’t coming. He lay there awake, his mind awash with the possibilities this new life presented.
A cranky voice sounded in his head, “If you are done playing with the mortals, can we discuss what your plan is?”
“What is it with you and the mortals anyway?” Kyle thought back to her.
He could just feel the scowl on Hilde’s face, assuming she had a face, when she answered, “I think I found a phra
se in your head from one of the books you read. It called them meatbags. That is all they are. Sure, they have a soul, a teeny tiny little one incapable of holding much essence, but they are essentially just a bag of meat and bones, really little more than animals.”
“Well, I was a mortal who achieved a great deal. People just need to be given a chance to prove themselves. Those who seize it will rise or fall on their own merits,” Kyle replied.
“Now, you really do sound like him. For all that the other gods hated Krig for encouraging constant war, he really did care about the mortals in his own way. He alone had no prejudices for country or occupation. He always said he judged based upon an individual’s merits. He even treated elves and humans alike. Of course, he also treated celestials the same as he treated mortals, so no one is perfect,” Hilde said.
“Didn’t he have a natural preference for warriors and soldiers? You know, being the god of war and all that?” Kyle asked.
“Krig thought all of life was a battle. He saw it in everything from sjakk, a game much like your chess, to cooking, to the battlefield. It was how one excelled in their given profession, which was how he judged them. And he was wont to say that even the best warrior is supported by a dozen others, from the smith, baker, farrier, medic, and even the whores,” Hilde answered. Her tone made it clear that she didn’t agree.
Kyle didn’t respond, but instead just sat there, lost in his own thoughts. He wondered about Hilde, if their perspectives were so different. It sounded like he had more in common with a dead god than he did with the voice inside his head.
Eventually she broke the awkward silence. “Now, is it your plan to break rocks all day and learn the language by singing songs with mortal children at night?”
The disdain in her voice made Kyle feel like he wanted to tell her off, but as his grandfather always said, ‘beggars can’t be choosers.’ He didn’t exactly have any other options here. Then he thought maybe he should take a different tact. What woman didn’t like to be asked questions about herself?
