《Price of Divinity》 Prologue My life was unfulfilling. More accurately, I had wasted it. I had friends but not many, and I was never too close with my family. It¡¯s not that I was unhappy, I found plenty of ways to distract myself: I played games, I read, I watched TV. I spent every minute I could distracting myself from the monotony of life, and never once bothered to contribute more than absolutely necessary, or actually bond with others; I was too afraid to open up to others or put myself out there. It wasn¡¯t all over, however; I was still young. I changed course, put myself together and made plans. I started writing, and looked around for new people to put in my life than just the gaming buddies I had had before. I did charity work. I even had the courage to set up a date. Too late. Crossing the street and it was all over. Barrelling through a red light because they just needed every second they could get and who cared who suffered from that? So my body smeared across the pavement, torn to shred and crushed. All I felt was pain.
¡°You have been offered a chance to begin anew.¡± The soft, even voice echoed through the void, emanating from an odd spiral of sparkling blue light. I was rather caught off guard by the whole situation. If it weren¡¯t for the agonizing pain I was in a few moments ago, I might have crossed the whole experience off as a dream. Well, I still considered the idea. ¡°Uh¡­ What?¡± Was all the genius I could muster to the spirit, or whatever it might have been. ¡°Your soul has been determined of quality enough to be distributed to a world in demand.¡± The spirit declared. ¡°Enough quality? Does that mean, like, as a person, or some sort of magic power thing?¡± I felt stupid, but considering the situation I wanted to get as much information as I possibly could. The spirit took a moment to answer, almost enough that I considered asking the question again, but it did answer. ¡°Your disposition is sought after. Your suffering has successfully refined sufficient determination to provide a good chance of success.¡± I was no theologian, but the implications of the situation were beginning to quite rapidly fill my thoughts. Did earth exist just to make good people for other worlds? Well, it didn¡¯t mention other worlds but¡­ come on. ¡°Success at what, exactly?¡± I asked the obvious and important question for my current fate. ¡°You will be a deity.¡± It answered. I swore it paused for dramatic effect.¡±To be precise, you and many other souls will compete for dominion over a world in need of a deity. Should you succeed, the world is to do with as you please.¡± ¡°Compete? Against who.. Or what?¡± I was no longer nearly as pleased about the idea of a ¡®second chance¡¯. ¡°Other souls like you, sponsored by other forces.¡± The light shifted, the spiral spinning slowly. It sounded regretful. ¡°You will have to destroy them.¡± A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. I didn¡¯t like the sound of that at all. ¡°Sponsored by who exactly?¡± I couldn¡¯t keep the tinge of fear from my voice. ¡°There are many concords of powerful divine beings among the multiverse. They seek to claim this world and bind it to their wills. As such, they have granted sources of divinity to souls of their choice. Most are not kind, though there are some you may ally with temporarily¡­ but in the end, unless you wish to submit to their will or challenge the multiverse itself; you must banish them.¡± ¡°So¡­ I am supposed to make this world yours?¡± I felt rather defeated. I didn¡¯t want to be a slave to some sort of eldritch entity. ¡°No. I will ask nothing of you¡­ Well, one thing.¡± Its color began to shift, deepening in intensity. ¡°What is that?¡± My anxiety was unconcealed. ¡°Be kind.¡± It sounded¡­ bemused. ¡°There has to be a catch. This has some sort of cost to you, doesn¡¯t it?¡± I questioned the validity of contradicting this entity¡¯s gift, but I didn¡¯t quite believe in it. ¡°No, Oscar. I believe in you.¡± I was rather taken aback by it using my name, but I really should not have been surprised. I paused for some time, letting the statement sit in the air. I was simply unprepared for all of this. My eyes stared at the foot of the light spiral, as unordered thoughts swept through my mind. ¡°Okay. I have a lot of questions.¡± ¡°Ask.¡± It commanded ¡°One. Who are you?¡± It knew my name, so it felt appropriate. ¡°You may call me Orison.¡± ¡°Two. What exactly does being a deity involve?¡± To survive I would need as much guidance as I could get. ¡°Deities like myself are many things, but to explain it to you we are made of essence. Essence may be collected and created in many ways, and it is the basis for our powers. It won¡¯t be possible to explain much, but when I give you your divine form it will be rather intuitive. Within your spirit I will bind knowledge to guide your growth. It will meld with your mind in a way which is convenient.¡± Wow, two sure is a lot of questions isn¡¯t it. ¡°Uh, will you be granting me powers any different from the others?¡± ¡°Indeed. The boons the candidates are granted all vary. From me, I grant you this.¡± From the center of the mass light began to gather, before forming something in a flash; an ethereal pink flower. I instinctively grabbed it, feeling an indescribable power from it. ¡°What is it?¡± I asked, observing the glow of the petals. ¡°It is love.¡± Orison answered cryptically. ¡°You will understand in time.¡± Great, a vague and apparently useless gift that promises great power in the future. How clich¨¦. ¡°Are you ready? There is not much more I can tell you without breaking the ancient concord, and you may already be late.¡± I looked about the void hesitantly, before my gaze returned to the strange flower. It had a certain allure to it. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose I was ever meant to be prepared, was I? Go ahead.¡± ¡°Goodbye.¡± The light¡¯s spin increased rapidly and its brightness soared. I felt a tingling sensation as I watched my body almost dissolve into light, condensing and reforming. What was once my body was now a delicate teal orb floating in the endless void. Within my fragile orb was a droplet of silvery light. Essence. Suddenly, the sensation of movement overwhelmed my new senses. In a few disorienting moments I was sent somewhere new. 1 - Arrival ¡°Oh please, protect this home and grant us fortune.¡± A young girl¡¯s voice called out. I hadn¡¯t even realized that I was ¡®somewhere¡¯. All I could sense was myself, in an empty void. My orb slowly fills with a condensation of essence, flowing to my thought and will. Not seeing anything was an immediate problem, and I took some time to consider how I could change that. The first thing is that I could quite easily ¡®see¡¯ my own essence and myself; perhaps I could do something with that. I practiced for a few moments moving the essence within myself. It was easy, if a bit sluggish. Feeling confident, I opened a pore in my core and allowed a droplet to escape. Much to my pleasure, the essence was very much still under my control. I willed it to spread out like a gas in infinitesimally small particulates. The essence formed into a sort of lattice all on its own. I could see! Congratulations! You have established your first realm of influence. Name: Oscar Willtroth Level : 1 Race: Deity Title: House Spirit Essence : 2/10 Domain(s): N/A Huh. Must be that ¡®knowledge melding¡¯ Orison mentioned. I tried to glean more but nothing seemed to happen, so I decided to focus on the moment. In a small room with a bit of a shrine, before me was a plain, brown haired young woman, perhaps 19 years old. I was never very good with age. Either this place had a strange fascination with renaissance fashion, or this was indeed the generic fantasy realm I believed. She wore a clay-colored linen dress. I was curious about her, and my own abilities. Wondering the extent of my perceptive abilities I concentrated my essence into observing her more directly. It moved through my domain with ease compared to before, before it spread and surrounded her and my head was overwhelmed with a headache and absolutely far too much information. In a moment I simultaneously knew everything about her, more than I knew of myself. If I could have screamed, I would have. Warning! Too much knowledge absorbed, insufficient mental capacity. Sealing information. And the pain, thankfully, was gone, but so too was everything I had learned, except her name. Nora. Something felt powerful about that. Names¡­ something to consider. I took a minute to reassess the situation, and noted that I had used my paltry store of essence completely, but while Nora paid her respects more continued to condensate. It was slow, but thankfully not that slow. In planning for my future, I really had to figure out how to ensure I continued to get essence. It was clearly my only way of interacting with the world, and being starved of it was certainly a terrible fate. Presuming the condensation correlated with Nora¡¯s prayer, It seemed best to find some way to ensure her faith. That was what deities were supposed to do, wasn¡¯t it? Nora interrupts my thoughts by standing, holding a bottle of something. She pours it into a bowl on the shrine, revealing it as wine. She presses her hands together. ¡°The first pour of this house, in your name.¡± Notification. Willing sacrifice detected. Absorb? Y/N Obviously, yes. Absorbing¡­ The wine began to drain from the bowl, to the surprise of Nora, and essence began to rapidly fill me. Warning! Insufficient Essence capacity. Leveling up. My consciousness was overwhelmed with sensation, stinging pain, and a subtle calm pleasure. My essence began to rip apart the orb that was me, pulling pieces apart and remaking it, larger. I faded in and out before it seemed the process was done. I immediately checked my status. Name: Oscar Willtroth Level : 2 Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Race: Deity Title: House Spirit Essence : 17/25 Domain(s): N/A Sacrifice appeared to be a rather rapid way of gaining essence, and I was quite pleased by the sum I had gained but I didn¡¯t like the idea of asking sacrifices from my followers, at least not as my primary source of essence. I wished not to take, but to give. Regardless, that seemed something to decide on in the future. For now, I had to deal with Nora, who was currently looking at the now empty bowl with surprise. Maybe with so much essence I could speak to her. I decided that my followers were my only source of essence, ensuring their faith was worth any price. I concentrated 15 of my remaining essence on her in an attempt to communicate with her. Warning! As a House Spirit, there is a significant cost penalty for communicating. Are you sure you wish to continue? Y/N I was already resolved. Yes. My essence rapidly disappeared, and it appeared nothing happened, but Nora almost jumped. With so little essence, I was only able to allow her to briefly sense my presence. She suddenly fell to her knees and bowed down as deep as I had ever seen someone do. And it was to me. I felt a lot of feelings, some of which I definitely needed to suppress. ¡°O-Oh thank you, great one, for listening to my prayer!¡± She said, with a mix of fear and reverence. I did not like being feared. Either way, essence began to trickle in. Nowhere near as fast as the sacrifice, but if she kept it up¡­ far more efficient. She prayed for a few minutes before hesitantly rising, and running from the room. By the end, I had 20 essence. I decided to expand my domain, hoping I could follow her. My lattice slowly spread in every direction. As I reached beyond the edge of the home in one direction, I noticed the effort seemed to increase, so I limited myself to spreading to the rooms of the small home. About half way through the process, I found Nora speaking to someone, an older looking man in his 40s. ¡°I¡¯m not sure why, but It seemed more powerful. Something more than a house spirit, and w-when I gave it the sacrificial wine, the wine disappeared!¡± She explained increasingly manic. The man simply chuckled warmly. ¡°Nora. I¡¯m sure it¡¯s nothing. I know coming here and everything has been a lot for you. You clearly need a bit of rest.¡± His tone turned soft and caring. ¡°I wasn¡¯t imagining it. Come on, I can show you!¡± She grabbed his hand and the bottle of wine she had left on a cabinet. He shrugged and begrudgingly followed along. ¡°If it will put you at ease, daughter.¡± In a minute they were in my shrine room and I was watching with anticipation. More essence for me! She fell to her knees and prayed. ¡°Oh, please, great one, allow me to offer to you again.¡± Her father watched with concern, and a bit of awkwardness, shifting on his feet. Nora paid no mind to him as she stood and slowly stepped to the shrine, pouring the wine again. I immediately accepted the sacrifice, watching it drain and filling my stores. Warning! Insufficient Essence capacity. Leveling up. It happened over again, less painful this time, and I noted a roughness to the growing orb that was me. I checked over my status. Name: Oscar Willtroth Level : 3 Race: Deity Title: House Spirit Essence : 11/50 Domain(s): N/A Doing some quick math, factoring in the drain of expanding my domain it seemed the wine sacrifices provided about 25 essence. Turning my attention back to the two at my shrine, Nora was looking a little relieved, and the father was looking rather astonished. ¡°You weren¡¯t kidding, were you?¡± She turned back to him. ¡°Let us talk of this outside the shrine.¡± She left the room. Her father followed and she closed it behind her. ¡°I told you I wasn¡¯t imagining it.¡± She declared, clearly a bit offended by her father¡¯s lack of faith. Her father shifted nervously again. ¡°W-well, what do we¡­ What do we do? I was never the faithful sort. That was you and your m- Ahem. That was your expertise.¡± He caught himself, but It was obvious to put together the pieces; something had happened with Nora¡¯s mother. Nora looked at him with a complicated expression I didn¡¯t really understand. Nothing good. She shook her head. ¡°Well, first, you should pay your respects personally. Then¡­ I don¡¯t know. Maybe our luck is up.¡± She said with a weak hope, which crushed me. I promised myself I¡¯d do everything I could to help her. Nora¡¯s father took a brief stop into the shrine, and prayed quietly. I noted that I gained less essence from him as compared to Nora. I decided to stop snooping and get about my task of expanding my domain, and finishing up with the house. As I did, I got a notification. Alert! As a House Spirit you have gained full control of a house willfully given. Your realm is upgraded automatically, increasing passive essence generation, and granting significant discounts to influencing parts of the house, especially those that can be explained away by natural causes. Well, that was good, but I¡¯d rather not be just a house spirit. Perhaps If I gathered enough essence I could commune with Nora and fix her misunderstanding, but I would need a lot of essence. For that, all I could do was wait.