Bab 10: Deities plight
[|Kalvera Aegisfell|]
"What's with that look. He survived AND found a free ticket to that city. Else Thalis was it? I would say it couldn't get better unless one of you directly interfered. Ah, but there are those rules, huh? Forbidding the deities to interact with the mortal world. Well...Not like anyone listens to those anyway, hahaha."
I look up to the source of the voice and immediately set my face back down on the table. "Not now, FOX," I say venomously.
"You see, this. This is why you're disliked, haha. If you keep this up, I'll have to blacklist you", He says jokingly. I look up to the figure, a tall man with long white hair tied back out of his face. His most prominent features are the two fluffy fox ears on his head and nine tails swaying rhythmically behind him. "Sorry... it's just been a pain having to deal with the ridicule of the other deities..." I spoke in a low voice. He took a seat at the table and pulled out a large wine bottle. On it is an insignia of a nine-tailed fox. Immediately I perk up, "Ichirou, this is..."
"My specialty? Sure is. Drink up and unwind."
I look at the unnamed brew hesitatingly. This concoction is revered even by the deities, and it's not every day that the fox gives one out for free. It takes a lot, but I refuse the bottle, "Everything has a price, especially when it's from you. I'm not taking anything without knowing what I'm paying."
He nods with a knowing smile and takes back the bottle, replacing it with something else. "How about something a little less pricey," He says. The new bottle is a mortal wine. Leagues worse than the unnamed drink but acceptable nonetheless. I take the bottle and uncork it with a fizz, then before he could stop me, I down half the liquid savoring the taste. He shakes his head, "Wine is something that's supposed to be sipped and savored, not downed like beer or mead. Never the matter. What brings you to my inn besides brooding. You have a whole domain to do that in, you know. You don't have to come here and bother my patrons and me," He says. I look around the inn. Its large and warm atmosphere brings a welcomed peace to mind. They're eleven other people in the inn beside me and the fox, five of them are other patrons while the rest are workers. Though they're all trying to hide it, I can tell that they are listening intently to us. I can't blame them. This isn't a place deities frequent.
The nine-tailed fox inn is a domain created by a long-forgotten and faded deity who made this place a neutral point of rest for the mortals, immortals, and us, the deities. He named it after a spirit they raised and subsequently rescinded ownership of it to that same spirit. That spirit being this fox sitting in front of me, Ichirou. Despite being a domain, this inn is available to the lower world in that there's a tiny chance you'll get transported to it by entering any other inn. Sounds simple, but there are many prerequisites to enter, which are unknown to me. Of course, being a diety, I have access to the inn whenever I want.
"A change of scenery. I cant manipulate my domain like the greater deities. A painful reminder," I say.
He looks around at the other patrons, and chantlessly casts a dampening field around us. "It's dangerous to talk about such subjects openly," He chides. "So. That's it, huh. a few hundred years before you return to the old gods."
"it's not by much, but every now and then, I can feel a fraction of my power leave me. Its...frightening. Not even a millennia can prepare someone for this", I say, my voice on the edge of cracking. Gods, is this the state I've been reduced to? "And...we were wrong...about how much time I have left. At this rate, I have less than a hundred years", The words hang in the air as silence ensues. After a long pause, he finally says something, "Take no offense, but you're quite emotional about this. I've met more than a few deities that were happy to find their end" Fog seeps from my body and covers the floor of the entire inn. I grit my teeth in an attempt to keep calm. It doesn't work. The foxes eyes narrow, but he doesn't move. He doesn't even flinch as I send a piece of my intent towards him. He looks around and sighs, his tails flick as he stands up, "If you keep scaring my customers, I'll have no choice but to escort you out" His words snap me out of my anger, and I immediately dispel anything I had subconsciously cast. I hadn't realized when I had stood up, but I sat back down with a soft thud. Ichirou nodded and mouthed something to a nearby worker who was temporarily stunned by my small outburst. She then said something I couldn't hear because of the field the fox put up and ushered out the remaining patrons. "Clearly, I poked something I shouldn't have. I apologize for that. I realize that facing...Nevermind. But if you don't mind me asking, why are you not like the other death-seeking immortals?", He questions as he also sits back down. I take a long time before answering, "It's...Not something we like to discuss. As you know, we like to think that there is no power above us, besides the old gods who are absent, that we are our own masters, But...We aren't like the mortal races, born with free will. It's like we were pre-written to act certain ways, say certain things, feel a certain way. The cause of this is unknown to most of us, but I know it's because we are fragments of some of the old gods, pieces, unwhole. It's only when an entity is entirely whole are they rid of this...control."
He nods in understanding, "He once said something like that," He said, referring to the deity that raised him. "What a... miserable existence. So this 'unwholeness' makes you more emotional? Noted", He says, smiling. "No! It's not that! It's jus- nevermind", I say, defeated. he laughs and stands up, heading towards behind the bar at the other end of the room. "It's morning. My other patrons will be waking up soon. If you want to stay, you can, but wouldn't it be more interesting to see how your 'champion' is doing? Haha," he teased.
"Watch it, fox. I'm not completely calmed down from earlier", I warn. I snap my fingers, and a domain portal opens in front of me, leading me to an endless field. My endless field. "Kalvera," He says. I turn my attention back towards him. "I'm not going to do him a favor and forcefully bring him here. IF he meets the requirements and if he is lucky enough to find an entrance, I'll consider helping him out a bit from time to time", He says with an unreadable expression.
"I'm not gonna owe any favors for that, right?" I ask.
He shrugs, "Everything has a price."
Of course, it does. I say nothing as I enter the portal and close it behind me. I'm met with a small blue-furred wolf pup at my feet, and I smile as I pick her up. "Let's see how Aesar is doing ok?"
The pup barks happily and tries to lick my face as I hold her securely. I sit down on a summoned seat and use my scrying magic. Forming in front of me is a series of white hexagons, and in the middle of the shapes is a birds-eye view of the mortal world. I relax comfortably as I stroke the pup, who is watching intently. I wonder whats he's been up to?
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone