Chapter 7 #2
“Let’s get you a staff,” Guy says, and he ushers me further down the hall until we’re face-to-face with a woman in red standing in front of a row of four staffs bearing gems of various colors at the tips.
Thank God! I get more than one choice here.
“Can you tell me about your staffs?” I ask the woman.
“We have four cleric staffs,” the woman answers. “All four heal, but each grants a different additional spell. The staff with a red gem can cast a fire spell of your choice, the yellow gem can cast a smiting spell, the green gem can cast a poison spell, and the pink gem can cast a charm spell.”
I suck in an indecisive breath between my teeth. “Ooh, that’s a hard choice.”
“Well, what are you gravitating toward?” Cait asks me, sounding a little impatient with me. As gorgeous as she is, I don’t like it when she’s grumpy with me. For some reason, I don’t exactly hate it either. It suits her.
Fire spells are a lot of fun but can be pretty dangerous in the wrong setting. Poison is good, too, but…
I turn my gaze from the staffs to Cait. “Are there any poison-resistant enemies in this game?”
Cait shrugs. “I’ve only encountered a few.”
With a nod, I turn to the merchant. “I’ll take the staff with the green gem.”
The woman smiles and extends the staff in my direction. “That will be nine copper pieces.”
I wince, but Guy produces the copper right away. I’m going to owe him even after Alexander pays me for the locket.
When I reach to grab the staff, my peripheral vision grays out and red words in all caps appear: “Not proficient in poison magic.” The staff disappears from the merchant’s hand and returns to the row behind her. The nine copper pieces jingle as they return to Guy’s pocket.
“Okay, then,” I say. “Guess, I’ll go with the red gem staff.”
Once again, I’m not able to grab the staff presented to me.
Turns out, I’m not proficient in fire magic either.
The yellow gem staff gives me the same issue.
That leaves only the staff with the pink gem.
Out of all the staffs presented, this is the one I want the least. In fact, I don’t want it at all.
Charm magic isn’t my thing. I’d rather beat a monster’s head in than persuade it to let me pass by.
I think back to the harpy’s shrill cry as she dove at me, claws ready to rake off my face. I remembered her bleeding stump and pierced temple.
Who am I kidding? If I could have charmed that harpy into giving me the locket, I would have taken that option.
“Well, let’s try the pink gem,” I say.
This time, the exchange works.
“That was so weird,” Cait says. “Those were all cleric staffs. They all should be available as an option.”
“Maybe it’s because she’s a Cleric of Aphrodite,” Sylvia chimes in. “She doesn’t really do violence. She gets what she wants by other means.”
I think about mentioning that she had an affair with Ares, the god of war, but I have a feeling that might upset my patron deity.
“Well, a staff is a staff, and now I won’t have to use my menu in a fight,” I say as I place my new purchase in the weapon slot on my menu.
The staff poofs out of my hand, and I sense its weight on my back. I grab it and easily pull it forward until it’s in front of me. Then I return it to my back, and it snaps into place like a magnet. That’s going to be so much easier than carrying it around all the time.
“I think you’re ready to pray now,” Sylvia says. “Just so you’re not surprised like I was, you should know that you’re going to be given the option to change your appearance.”
I blink. This is a game changer. “You mean like in character creation mode in Legends of Sacrifice?”
Sylvia nods.
“Can I be any race I want?”
“Of course,” she says with a smile.
Oh, fuck yes!
I picture myself as an elf. I’d wanted to play one when I first started up the game, but they were terrible for playing pugilists.
An elf would be perfect for a cleric though.
I look around my group and realize that they’d had the option to be whatever race they wanted but had all chosen to stay human.
“Did any of you choose to change your appearance?” I ask.
I look first at Cait because she’s a total knockout, but she shakes her head. “By the time I got to this stage, I was so sick of other players being surprised that I was a barbarian that I felt like making a point about it. So, I stayed how I was IRL.”
God, she’s blessed with great genes.
“Well, I made it so my hair is always pink, but I enjoy being kind of fluffy,” Sylvia says. “My girlfriend used to say she loved cuddling with me because I was so squeezable.” Her eyes dim. “I miss her so much.”
“Oh, yeah, I definitely changed my appearance,” Tara says. “I’m a rogue. I wanted to be as inconspicuous as possible. Also, halflings give you great buffs for stealth.”
“You’re not human?” I ask. “You look human.”
Tara laughs. “That’s because you haven’t seen my feet.”
“Isn’t it kind of weird that there are halflings in a game inspired by Greek myths?” I ask, and everyone groans.
“Don’t get Tara started about how none of this makes any sense again!” Cait gripes.
Tara says nothing but winks at me conspiratorially. Apparently, we’re on #TeamQuestionEverything together.
“What about you?” I ask Guy.
He shrugs. “I changed one thing, but this is pretty much me outside of the game, too.”
“I didn’t change anything about myself,” Joshua says. He motions down his body and raises his chin up with pride. “I mean, who would want to change perfection?”
Cait fails to stifle a laugh, and he glares at her.
“Tell her the truth,” she tells Joshua, and he responds with a sigh.
“I kinda got bored praying and skipped past most of it,” he says, his eyes cast to the ground. “So, I didn’t realize I’d missed that bit until it was too late.”
Oh, so you can skip parts! I file that away to ask about later.
“Thanks for all the info,” I say to Sylvia. “I’ll be back whenever Aphrodite is done with me.”
“We’ll meet you at the tavern,” Guy responds.
As we part ways, the sound of chanting on the other side of the wall grows louder, as if greeting me.
I’m not sure what to do at first, so I watch the NPCs.
Along the walls, there are twenty statues almost the height of the temple.
Worshippers kneel before them in clusters, obviously aligned with the god they’re closest to, most of them huddling around a statue of Zeus.
Some walk away looking non-human—a few elves, a gnome, a halfling like Tara, and two orcs.
Like Zeus, some of the gods I recognize.
Hermes and Dionysus are pretty obvious because of their distinctive outfits.
Athena is wearing a helmet like a crown so that her face is still exposed.
Small clues help me figure out who most of them are, and I narrow the last two statues down to Hera and Aphrodite.
I really don’t want to choose the wrong one because I’m pretty sure neither goddess wants to be mistaken for the other.
They’re both so beautiful, though. Eventually, I decide Hera must be the statue next to Zeus since they’re married. The other statue is between Ares and Hephaestus. Given that Aphrodite was married to one and in love with the other, it makes sense that it’s her.
Like the other worshippers, I kneel before her, closing my eyes and clasping my hands below my chin. Mom wasn’t a religious person. The only time I ever went to church was when my grandmother took me to a Christmas Eve service, so I don’t have much experience praying. I hope I do this right.
Around me, the other worshipers are chanting, but that doesn’t feel right. It’s more like an invitation to join the quest, not what I should be doing. The quest said to pray, not chant.
Well, fuck it. Let’s wing this.
“Dear Aphrodite,” I say, sounding like a child to myself. “I’m uh…here…praying. I’m not sure what for, except to say that I’m pretty sure you’re the one who helped me not freak out when my ankle got sprained…and some other times. So, thanks for that. Um…”
“Cleric,” a clear, familiar, feminine voice says. “You’ve come as bidden.”
My eyes flash open, and I scan the room. I had expected maybe a voice in my head, but it sounds like she’s right there next to me. But she’s not next to me, she’s above me. The statue of Aphrodite is looking down at me with a smile.
“Oh, uh…” I say. “You’re talking to me, like talking to me, talking to me.”
“Of course,” she says. “You are my cleric, one of the few I have chosen to bring me an offering. You’re one of my cherished children.”
“Can I ask why you chose me?”
“Why do you think?”
“Because I yelled ‘holy fuck’?”
Aphrodite chuckles. “That helped.”
Her spirit pulls away from the statue and shrinks down to my height.
She’s even more beautiful in this celestial form, a breathtaking woman formed by galaxies of pink stars with her hair splashing around her like ocean waves.
Though it took me time to deduce which statue belonged to her, she’s unmistakable in this form. She exudes love and sex.
With a wave of her hand, the temple disappears, and we’re standing on a beach made of what looks pink Himalayan salt. The sea sparkles under a bright blue sky, and small white flower petals drift along on an ocean breeze.
To my surprise, Aphrodite takes my hand and squeezes it affectionately. You might think the touch is seductive, her being the Goddess of Love and all that, but it’s more reassuring than anything. She knows this has been a hard journey.
“I can’t tell you why I chose you,” she says. “Not yet. But one reason I’m glad you belong to me is that I know you’ve given up on love.”
That makes no sense to me. Shouldn’t that be exactly why she wouldn’t want me? Besides, she’s wrong. “No, I gave up on Doug. I can still feel love.”
Aphrodite cocks an amused brow. “I know you can still feel it, but you’re resisting it.” I open my mouth to speak, but she holds up a finger to stop me. “No, a scripted romance with an NPC doesn’t count. Love isn’t a dream. And what you felt for Doug wasn’t love; it was obligation.”
“So why do you want me, then?”