“Fortune,” I bowed my head.
“I can hear the bubbling of the Serendipity you have collected. Hurry, take it to the altar!”
As soon as she spoke, an altar materialized in the center of the hall in the shape of two cupped palms.
A pale pink flame enshrouded my own hands, forming into a gleaming sphere. The goddess and I walked to the altar and I placed my hands on it…
The Serendipity flickered, flowing in a warm light into the silver hands, and for an instant they seemed alive, the fingers twitching. Then the Serendipity flowed into the hourglass-shaped stone pedestal, making it glow from within. I even took a step back, thinking for a moment that it might explode, but no. The stone turned clear as glass, and now the hands were held aloft on a column of light, with flashes of blue lightning lancing down from above.
Fortune couldn’t hide her emotion — her divine joy and desire touched me. Half closing her eyes, she raised her hands to the altar and the stream of light flowed into her palms. After absorbing the whole offering, Fortune’s sigh of relief echoed through the hall.
Quest of Fortune, Goddess of Luck, completed: Serendipity for Fortune.
You have collected enough Spheres of Serendipity from the corpses of fallen sentients and sacrificed them to Fortune.
Reward: Elixir of Luck.
Experience: +1 bil
Experience at current level (579): 283 bil / 934 bil
Your reputation with Fortune, Goddess of Luck, has increased: +5000.
Current reputation: adoration.
Unlocked achievement Lucky Dog!
You reached maximum reputation with Fortune, Goddess of Luck!
Rewards: title Lucky Dog, perk Felicitas (you get more gold from enemy corpses and you and your allies feel no fatigue in battle!)
Elixir of Luck
Divine artifact.
Unique item.
You don’t have to believe in luck as long as she believes in you.
One-time use: +1000 luck forever.
Chance of loss after death lowered by 100%.
As I read the system messages, I didn’t notice the goddess coming closer. She embraced me and kissed me on the lips. For a few seconds, I forgot the world, and Fortune and I melded into a single whole. Pulling herself away unwillingly, she gazed seriously into my eyes.
“I will suffer no unfaithfulness, young Scyth. You are my chosen one! Do you agree to remain loyal only to me?”
She didn’t mean women. She meant gods. The next quest in the chain beckoned, but first I had to clear this up.
“I can’t abandon the Sleeping Gods,” I warned.
“I do not mean them. The Sleepers are the Sleepers,” Fortune breathed. “But you must concern yourself now with no other gods, Old or New. You can serve them, but none of them can make you their chosen one while my mark is upon you. And if you let them erase it… Oh, that would be a big mistake!” Her figure grew to the ceiling, her voice hardened and anger flashed in her stunning eyes. “Mortals tend to exaggerate or underestimate their luck,” she boomed, “but few would like to lose it forever!”
I gulped. The message was clear — no being the favorite of more than one god. If that happened, the first would interpret it as a betrayal. Well, that suited me just fine. Not counting Morena and the Sleepers, I had no contact with other gods.
The quest window popped up while I was thinking:
Fortune’s Favorite
Fortune, Goddess of Luck, invites you to become her chosen one. This is the final quest in the Wheel of Fortune quest chain.
Rewards:
— divine ability Wheel of Fortune
— status Fortune’s Favorite (of all possible timelines, fate will unlock the most favorable to you)
Attention! The status of Fortune’s Favorite will significantly lower your chances of reaching maximum reputation with other gods. If you do reach maximum reputation with another, you will lose Fortune’s blessing. She will hate you.
Penalty for refusal: your reputation with Fortune, Goddess of Luck, will be lowered by 5000.
“Does that count beast gods too?” I asked, remembering Apophis, Orthokon and the Montosaurus.
“No. Beasts remain beasts, even with divine status. They do not concern me.”
“Then I agree.”
The goddess flashed with light, shrank back to her usual size, put her hand on my brow and whispered something. I felt as if wings had unfurled behind my back; an incredible lightness washed over me, along with a certainty that I could achieve anything, that whatever I touched now would be sure to work out!
You have invented the divine symbol: Fortune’s Favorite!
Fortune, Goddess of Luck, gives you the Wheel of Fortune!
Wheel of Fortune
Divine ability.
Lifts the fallen and debases the prideful: use it wisely!
On activation on target: Fortune judges the deeds of the target sentient, and depending on the verdict, either lowers or increases their level by a random number.
Cooldown: 7 days.
I stared at the ability description dimly for a while, trying to figure out what exactly it did. A completely random number? What were the lower and upper limits on the level change? Could it be used on players? What exactly did Fortune judge?
I asked the goddess these questions and waited for an answer, but she just smiled shyly and shrugged.
“Use it wisely, young Scyth,” Fortune said, repeating the words from the description. “And be sure not to waste your gifted strength in frivolity, envy or anger. The effect may not be what you expect.”
I swore mentally — no clarity at all! I didn’t even want to risk testing it, definitely not on my own people. If Fortune didn’t like Infect’s envy, our bard would have to start over from nothing. Or maybe she’d do the opposite, launch him all the way up to level one thousand?
“Very well,” I promised, and, fearing that she might suddenly disappear, moved on to what I came for: “May I ask you a favor, Fortune?”
“Whatever you wish, chosen one.”
“I have important business on Holdest. Now that I’m alive, I can’t withstand the cold of the icy continent. The Sleeping God suggested I ask you for advice.”
“The Sleeping God?” Fortune’s eyes widened. “Behemoth? Ah… Because of my friendship with Hodr… No, I fear it is not within my power to help you. Hodr went beyond the Barrier. I have not seen him for some time. Nergal wanted me to lure him out, but I refused. And not because I wished no evil on an old friend… I simply did not know how to do it. And Nergal…” Her eyes darkened, her voice quietened. “He is horrid… I hate him!”
She covered her mouth, as if fearing her own words. Looking around to check that we were still alone, Fortune smiled guiltily.
“I have spent too much time among mortals, become too emotional. What were we talking about? The frost? No, forgive me, I cannot help you.”
“Behemoth didn’t say you’d help directly. But is there really no way? Please think, Fortune!”
“A way…” She looked up in thought. “There is one method, young Scyth. But it is too… powerful. I am not sure it will be suitable. And I do not want to lose my chosen one.”
“You won’t lose me.”
“Oh, Scyth… For a mortal, reaching it would be harder than withstanding that cold, and taking it from where it is kept… It is simply impossible.”
“What is it?”
“Coals of Hellflame, which can be found only in the Inferno,” the goddess whispered. “There are only a few of them, all kept by the higher demons: Belial, Azmodan and Diablo. Their heat is so strong that just one such coal could melt all the snow and ice on Holdest. But no mortal has ever reached the Inferno alive…”
Chapter 18. Journey to the Inferno
AS SOON AS Fortune mentioned the Inferno, I thought of Flaygray and Nega. Some non-player characters still stubbornly called the Inferno the Underworld, a plane inaccessible to players. Nobody knew whether Snowstorm planned to make i
t playable, but for now, players’ only interactions with the Inferno involved summoning demons from it. Warlocks frequently used them as servants, and all kinds of ghouls and devils could be found in cursed dungeons and castles. The satyr and succubus were another example of how Dis and the Inferno interacted.
I remembered that Kusalarix was waiting for me, but first I had to go back for the boys and Irita. I could talk to the guardians at the same time. Emerging from the temple, I cast Depths Teleportation to Mengoza.
If the former guardians couldn’t tell me how to get to the Inferno, I didn’t know who else to ask. Damn game conditions! I was sure that Tiamat could have protected us from the deadly influence of the frost — she was a goddess! What did weather matter to her? If it weren’t for the artificial limitations… The world continued to evolve, but some things were hardcoded into the kernel forever.
Without distracting my friends, I went straight to Flaygray and Nega; thankfully, my clanmates showed up on the minimap. They were guarding the workers at the mine. Just as I thought. In fact, the guards were engaged in their favorite pastime: sitting around a campfire and drinking. Not all of them — Anf, at least, was out patrolling, — but most were draining barrels of wine and talking drunkenly. Although… For them, that was normal; I hadn’t really seen them sober, which meant their conversation was ordinary too. They needed the fire to stay warm. Before turning undead, the satyr and succubus had always been cold, and they felt it again now that they were alive. Maybe they just weren’t used to the island after the heat of the desert, where they felt at home.
Ripta greeted me with a screech, Flaygray raised two fingers to his forehead, his way of greeting, and only Nega got up to hug and kiss me.
“How’s it going, boss?” she asked.
“I need to get to the Underworld!” I said.
Flaygray choked on his wine, spraying ruby droplets all over the raptor.
“Why?” Nega asked, raising her tail and placing it on my forehead. “Hmm… No fever, and you don’t seem crazy. What’s going on, boss? There are easier ways to end your frail existence, you know.”
“Here, boss, have a drink. You’ll feel right as rain in a moment, your head’ll clear right up,” the satyr suggested gently. “Elvish wine, I’m afraid, there’s no better to be found in this dump.”
“I’m serious!” I snapped.
“Well, alright,” Nega answered, crossing her arms. “Then first tell us why you want to go to a place that even Flaygray and I have no burning desire to return to.”
“Certainly not a burning one,” the satyr confirmed. “Burning in hellfire isn’t the most fun way to spend your time, boss, let me tell you!”
I told them what I’d learned from Fortune, then looked at their stunned faces. Flaygray scratched the back of his head.
“We don’t know how to withstand the frost. But we do know a thing or two about the Coals of Hellflame.”
“Mortals think the Underworld is down there,” Nega pointed down. “But down there is only the earth’s crust, mantle and core. Otherwise the sentients of Disgardium would have already found a way to drill down to it.”
“Yes, it isn’t down there,” Flay added. “Underworld is purely figurative. Our home plane was initially a chunk of firmament in the great nothing. There is no sun there, no stars, no light. Before us, there was no movement whatsoever, which meant that absolute cold reigned supreme. In the time of the first banishment, Diablo got so cold that when he returned to Disgardium, he immediately set to thinking of ways to improve his existence if the Sleepers sent him back to the Underworld. And he found a way. Azmodan created a spot of mayhem to distract the gods. In the meantime, Belial pulled Hephaestus into a deep conversation and Diablo crept into his smithy, stealing several Sparks of Eternal Flame, which, when infused with the Chaos of the Great Nothing, turned into Coals of Hellfire.”
“They say Hephaestus noticed nothing,” Flaygray laughed. “When the New Gods came, those three ran through into Chaos. The fabric of orderly creation itself tore asunder, and the three became Fallen Gods, descending into the Underworld. Along with all their followers.”
“And that’s how demons came to be?”
“Uh-huh. Chaos corrupted our ancestors.” Flaygray took a few generous gulps from a hole in his barrel, his Adam’s apple and goatee bobbing rhythmically. Done drinking, he threw the empty barrel aside and grabbed me by the shoulders. “Listen, boss. A mortal gets to the Underworld only if none of the gods want his spirit after death. It is final death, you understand? You don’t plan to pay that price just to test out flighty Fortune’s dumb advice, do you?”
“I’d rather not.”
“Then there’s only one way left,” the succubus declared.
“The Demonic Games?”
“What?” the satyr asked in surprise. “No, what do they have to do with anything? Entering the Games will bring you no closer to the Underworld.”
“Flay speaks true,” Nega nodded. “Here’s how it works, boss. Certain particularly gifted mortals make deals with demons. Usually, it’s a soul at stake — theirs or another’s, but if one wishes to obtain truly powerful demonic gifts, only one’s own soul can suffice. You must find one such idiot, someone who has sold his soul to one of the higher-ups, and… then… you…”
The satyr drew finger across his throat slowly.
“End his life’s path. That will open an infernal portal that will pull in the unfortunate fool’s soul…”
“And then you have to not let it leave and go in its place,” Nega finished the thought, pointing to my Reaper’s Scythes. “You have a tool for that.”
“And where, and more importantly how, do I find a crazy person who’s sold his soul to demons?”
“We can smell ‘em a mile off,” Flaygray answered. “It’s always clear when there’s a demonic mark on someone’s soul.”
“A mile off isn’t figurative, boss. That’s about how close we have to be.” Nega circled me, stroking my cheek with the tip of her tail. “But this old fart and I will have to go looking. Not in our own forms, of course. Don’t worry, we can easily disguise ourselves as a couple of young humans…”
Flaygray immediately overflowed with ideas for his disguise. Nega started arguing with him.
I sat on the ground, face in my hands. Each day, each hour, I seemed to sink deeper into a tangled web of problems. Solve one and two new ones spring up in its place, like the legendary hydra when you cut off its heads. I was annoyed with myself for not laying a route on Holdest when the frost wasn’t an issue. But now… Wait! A revelation came to me. I shot to my feet, leaving my guardians in confusion and jumping straight to Holdest.
The icy coast met me with a biting wind. My eyes froze, my nose stung, my breath caught. The hell with it!
Paying no attention to any of it, I ran as fast as I could toward the South Pole. The frost debuff refreshed, adding a penalty to movement speed to the deadly ticks of damage. My Resilience did nothing at all. But that didn’t bother me. I had a theory to test.
Sinking in snowdrifts, I staggered to my goal and remembered how I’d reached Behemoth in the Mire. I had drowned and died, but revived in the same spot thanks to Patrick’s curse. Now I had something similar — Second Life, with a one-hundred-percent chance. Did that mean that I would, after dying time and time again, eventually reach the place of power?
You are dead.
Remaining time to respawn 9… 8… 7…
Second Life! You managed to dodge death!
Choosing my place of death as my respawn point, I came back to life, but had no time to even celebrate before I died again.
You are dead.
Remaining time to respawn 9… 8… 7…
That damned frost buff hadn’t gone anywhere, and it kept all its stacks through death! Second Life had canceled my death, and the penalties to experience with it, but the debuff hadn’t reset.
There was no way we could reach the Nucleus, even if I won the essence at the Demonic
Games. My theory had failed.
Flaygray and Nega would have to take a trip round Dis.
Chapter 19. Trials at Mecharri Mountain
I COULDN’T TAKE the whole group through the depths to the Auction of Special Sales all at once — the boys and Irita didn’t have the right to be there. So I contacted Grokuszuid and introduced the girl to him.
The auctioneer stuck his head through the portal opening, shot us an exaggerated frown and scratched his throat with his claws.
“I don’t know, Scyth, I just don’t know. This goes against the founding principles of the entire League!” He looked at Irita in displeasure and spoke to her directly: “You might have at least bought some goblin souvenir, young lady, for decorum. Or made a sacrifice to greedy and heartless Maglubiyet, to demonstrate your, shall we say, respect for the League.”
Path of Spirit (Disgardium Book #6): LitRPG Series Page 19
