Chapter 7 #3
“Because while you’ve given up on love, it hasn’t given up on you.”
Aphrodite nudges my chin up, so that I’m gazing at the sky.
At first, it’s too bright, but the blue shifts to black, and I see millions of stars.
The goddess beside me somehow plucks one from the sky and then another from much further away.
In her palms, they’re soft, glowing orbs that fit just right.
“You see, that’s you,” she says, lifting one palm higher than the other. “And that’s your soul mate.” She lifts the other to the same height. “Well, one of them, anyway.”
One of them?
The stars all look identical to me, but I trust that a goddess can see more than I can. My heart dances at the thought of a soul mate (and possibly more?), and I realize she’s right. There’s something deep down inside me that longs for love.
“Bring me the right offering,” Aphrodite says, “and I’ll bring you and your love together.”
I thought back to what Guy had said. The gods would offer us whatever we asked for with the right offering.
I need to see Mom before she dies.
“What if I would rather go home?” I ask.
Aphrodite looks at me with tender disappointment. “Then I will grant that, but you would never be happy. Not truly.” Her smile returns. “Besides, who’s to say this person isn’t where you came from?”
That’s true. Perhaps, by uniting with my soulmate, I’ll come home as well. But still…
“Any hint as to what offering you’d like?”
“You’ll know it when you see it,” she says. “It will show that you truly worship me.”
Well, that’s the vaguest answer in the world.
My frustration must be on my face, because she throws me a bone—a small one, but it’s something. “Follow the quests given to you, and you’ll see it,” she says.
“Is there a level I need to be to see it?”
“You can get up to level 100 here, but you really don’t need to be high at all to find it.”
That will have to do. At least I don’t have to level up one hundred times to get home.
“Would you like to change your appearance?” she asks.
I nod. “I’d at least like to see my options.”
Aphrodite winks. “I know it’s one of your favorite parts of any game.”
Just how long has she been watching me? Is she why I wound up here?
The world shifts again. This time, I’m standing on a platform in what looks like a changing room.
I’m in front of a mirror, butt naked. My arms clap over my privates with impressive speed but then I realize I’m alone.
Aphrodite has vanished. Except for the exit button, my menu is only related to appearance and race now.
After my pulse stops thundering, I take a long look at myself.
I’m not awful to look at. Many people remark on how beautiful my honey-blonde hair is.
I’ve got gray-blue eyes, which I’ve been told are pretty, though I’ve always secretly wished were a brighter blue.
I also have a smattering of freckles across my face that kids used to make fun of but everyone thinks are cute now.
My body has some curves, with pretty large breasts.
All that does is make me look boxy when I wear a t-shirt, though.
I’m pretty average in weight, which is to say my doctor likes to remind me I should be more active since my BMI isn’t perfect.
I always wanted to chew him out when he said stuff like that, but deep down, I wanted to have the svelte body I saw in weight loss ads.
A body like Cait’s. After considering all my features, I decide there are a lot of things about me I want to dabble with.
First things first, unlike most of my player friends, I’m not content with staying human.
If I have a chance to play an elf, I’m taking it.
I choose it from the dropdown. My ears point at the end, and a caption at the bottom of my vision states that I have an extra 15 percent buff to magic stamina now.
Nice.
I get to the eyes category, and it presents a series of boxes to choose from.
I try out all the blues, but none of them look right on my face.
They belong to a stranger, and it freaks me out.
When I return to my original gray, I sigh with relief.
I try out all the other changes I consider with my face, but they all make me feel the same as changing my eye color did. So, I leave my face the way it was.
Then, I try out the different body presets.
They’re all beautiful—some are athletic, some are reed-like, some remind me a little of Jessica Rabbit.
None of them feel right at all, though. It’s like I put my head on a Barbie doll’s body.
Returning to my original body gives me a new appreciation for it.
Perhaps it doesn’t belong to a model, but it’s mine, and I love it just the way it is.
I understand better why most of my new friends stayed the same, or at least close to it.
The only thing I really want to change is my race. Somehow, being an elf makes me feel more like me. Plus, it’s really going to help a lot with spell casting.
I still think racial buffs are racist, though.
I hit the exit button, and I’m once again surrounded by worshippers in a tall stone temple. I touch the tips of my ears. Sure enough, they’re pointy. As I make my way to the tavern, I wonder how my new friends will react. I decide it doesn’t matter because I look exactly how I want to.