《Godsbuild》 Book 1 Ch 1: Rules of the gods ¡®Belief in the gods is a given on Belphus. They are real. We can see them in person, in the skies above our heads, when we look out at night. They are real and they love, care and protect us. This is a truth. Worship however, is a selective choice. Each one of you can choose your own god or goddess to follow, we have no rules regarding those as long as you have faith and believe.¡¯ The teacher had the attention of the entire class this time. Mia noticed this, she was clever enough not to say anything when she had initially approached him regarding expressing her god-given opinion on how she felt. How she truly felt. She sat down in her seat, wishing that the teacher, Mr Rictor, would have simply declined her, directly called her parents to pick her up from school or even bringing in one of the school priests like Atticus to have a deep discussion with her on the true nature of faith. All she could do at this point was to listen, the voice deep within her consciousness had been pushing her towards this point. To actually express herself rather than running through the motions and listen to ancient stories of gods she didn¡¯t even care about. ¡®Someone in our class has chosen to express a differing opinion to this, which can be hard to believe I understand but you are all here to learn and develop. There will be those who dissent in any society and we only punish according to the standards and the rules that the gods have passed down to us. Mia, please come forward and express yourself. We will listen in silence and pass judgement as is needed but you will come to no physical harm. We aren¡¯t ancients after all.¡¯ The teenage girl stood in front of a room of students who watched her in silence. She felt the pressure build in the unpleasant atmosphere, she could almost sense what the others in the classroom were thinking. She¡¯d never stood out, not totally and after the last few months had become a little more withdrawn, a little less sociable than her former self. Her class teacher stood nearby with a slight smile on his face as he learned against his desk. It felt even worse when all the students had been issued with manufactured colourful stones and the class teacher had given them both permission and the option to throw them at the girl. They had the right to disagree with her opinion as she was free to express hers. The class teacher, Mr Rictor, gave a smile and made a gesture toward her before he stepped back. ¡®You may now take your opportunity to express your¡­opinion. Please speak your mind in front of the class. And the rest of us will listen, I repeat, we will only pass judgement after she talks. An expression is a precious thing to be valued.¡¯ Mia nodded. She took a single step forward she gestured with open palms to show that she was calm. She knew that any show of violence would lead to greater violence, at least in theory. By clenching her hands into fists it would show clear signs of how stressful she felt right now. ¡®I¡¯m calm and prepared.¡¯ She told herself but her heart was racing. The thought of everyone turning on her almost made her stomach turn. If possible, she wasn¡¯t going to shed a tear or show any discomfort. This wasn¡¯t a pitiful attempt at attention, not in her eyes. There was no way that she wanted to give that idiot Trev or his friends the satisfaction to watch her get upset in front of the entire form room. It¡¯d be the sort of thing that he liked. Although she¡¯d managed to stay under the radar and mainly get by through focusing on her studies the last few months had been pretty hard on her. Keeping her gaze form Mia glanced toward her home room teacher. Mr Rictor nodded briefly giving her permission to speak, not that he could have stopped her. One of the few benefits in expressing an opinion as strong as she wanted to be that he was literally unable to stop her from saying it out loud. The school priests wouldn¡¯t allow it. They were strict that way. It was finally time for her to express her deep felt opinions and get the whole thing out there. She felt her heartbeat faster deep inside her chest. Mia clenched her teeth inside her mouth as soon as she had muttered the words. ¡®I¡¯m an Atheist. Does it matter so much? I have the right to express my opinion under the rule of the gods.¡¯ At this point, the first manufactured stone was thrown at her. She was fifteen years old at the time, in high school after the school daily worship and belief session when she had been called out by the local priests again for not joining in the daily hymn and prayers to chosen gods. It wasn¡¯t a conscious act that she made and not a reason for trouble but rather a small act of rebellion from a deep part of her mind that did not want to submit to the worship of a higher-level being. Her actions had been noticed by a school priest who had mentioned the event to her class teacher, the action prescribed was a request freely asking for her opinion with the class listening and a suitable punishment then considered. Mia was not a girl who accepted a change in her views despite any peer pressure from either her school, family, or friends. Once she had decided her opinion, she stuck to it regardless of the consequences. The first rock that was thrown at her was meant to be symbolic, an expression of the strong belief that her fellow students had in the gods that formed the basis of their society. It should have been a soft throw that bounced off her body but instead, it cut through her sleeve on her school uniform and caused a small trace of blood on her arm. Smack The sound of the rock hitting her arm had been far harder than she had imagined. It should have been symbolic, in the same sense that putting a paper vote into a ballot showed which political party was an expression of your beliefs. This manufactured rock in particular had been illegally altered to provide it with a single sharp edge. That hurt! Mia was determined not to show the pain on her face. This was her opinion and others had no right to convince her otherwise. A small trickle of her dark red blood was beginning to flow from the altered stone that had been thrown at her. The most popular young man in the class had just hurled it with a wide smile on his face. Mia looked at him for a second before fixing her gaze on the back of the room, just above the heads of the students. The class teacher whose name was Mr Rictor was an older man in his early forties, his close-cut hair streaked with grey. The suit that he wore was in the middle price range, not too expensive but it would still cost a reasonable part of his salary. Around his neck, he wore a religious symbol showing one of the gods that had been worshipped when the school had first been established. He nodded his head towards the young man who had just thrown the stone at Mia. His face showed little sign of concern that she was hurt, or if he did, he was able to hide it well. ¡®Good throw Trevor. You¡¯ve been practising your throwing arm as expected of one of our top sports students. But I¡¯d appreciate it if you didn¡¯t aim to hurt. Your fellow student has been braving enough to express herself, while we have the right to show our disapproval it does not mean that we have the right to stop her freedom of expression. ¡¯ Trevor grinned even more before sitting back down hard in his seat and folding his arms. He leaned sideways and whispered to a red-haired girl next to him before looking back over his shoulder at the rest of the class. His face was stern as though he was checking if anyone disapproved of his action. Mr Rictor¡¯s eyes moved towards Trevor before briefly scanning over the rest of the classroom and straightening his posture. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡®Does anyone else want to express their personal opinion which differs from Mia''s?¡¯ he asked the whole class. Mia felt thankful that she was able to express herself in her home room rather than during an entire school assembly. This time it was just the kids in her class who were armed with smaller manufactured soft-shaped rocks with the words Hereticker? printed on them. The mock rocks had been designed by a company according to regulation standards, you would feel a slight impact when they hit you but as long as they were used in the right manner there should have been no risk of injury. The school had been given them as part of a sponsorship deal By the regional godsfollower department. It had been a corporate deal through one of the parents in the classroom that were currently reacting. One of the male teenagers at the back of the class decided that shouting out would be a promising idea to show their enthusiasm and dislike for her belief. ¡®The heretic deserves to have stones thrown!¡¯ ¡®I¡¯m not a heretic. It¡¯s called having the right to express my personal opinion.¡¯ She felt a wave of exhaustion hit her then. The absolute draining feeling that is understood when a person has grown up using chopsticks as a kid and someone notices them eating a bowl of noodles and tells you how skilled you are at using them. Humiliating but if you pointed it out to the person you might come across as rude. Another stone came hurtling towards her, this time it hit her in the stomach, right where her white school shirt was covering. Thankfully, this one hadn¡¯t been altered in any illegal manner, so it only caused a light effect on her body. Oof. Mia didn¡¯t feel any sense of pain from this throw but couldn¡¯t stop her face from showing a reaction. Not hard enough to hurt but enough to cause a physical response. A different person had been throwing it this time then. A girl this time, carefully aiming at her with another rock in her delicate hand. ¡®Sharon or Share was her name. Can¡¯t remember just yet. She was a good friend of Trevor. It was their parents who had done the sponsorship deal with the school for the manufactured tools. This meant that they were given slightly more leeway from this class teacher as their parent¡¯s influence would make a substantial difference in further school funding. Mr Rictor leaned back with a wry smile on his face. ¡®Not a bad throw Sharle. Please make sure we don¡¯t hit anyone¡¯s face. This is being recorded by the school priests. This is not punishment but a simple expression of our own chosen god-given personal opinion¡¯. Mia glared at the teacher but kept his mouth tightly shut. When a teacher mentioned a priest, it wasn¡¯t an innovative idea to challenge them. Even having soft rocks thrown at you by potentially an entire was better than facing a religious person who held power and influence. It would lead to further discussion and questions that she was not willing to get further involved in. ¡®I¡¯m not a heretic, just an atheist. That means that I don¡¯t believe in the gods, but I can accept that they exist as these amazing, super beings that guide and support us in our society. They¡¯re great and all. ¡¯ This time a stone came, a hair¡¯s breadth from hitting her cheek. Ah. So, so close. ¡®Oops, that was an accident. I swear it was. Sir.¡¯ came the voice of her classmate Trevor. The rest of the class was in their seats while Mia stood there in front of them. She had the sudden thought that they had just realized that her arm had blood on it. It was leaking into the rest of Mia white school uniform¡¯s long sleeves and was more noticeable due to the light colour of the fabric. That had driven home the fact that a fellow student had been hurt, one of them had caused this injury. Some of the teenage students turned towards their class teacher as if in expectation for him to call an end to this and were expectant for a punishment to be dealt out to Trevor. This time the teacher had let him go too far with one of his pranks. Other students had traces of paleness on their faces as they also saw the blood on their sleeves as if they had gone into a state of minor shock. Mr Rictor raised his voice firmly, then his eyes narrowed, and he finally took notice that a substantial proportion of his class suddenly showed a physical reaction against hurting one of their fellow students. Although he felt that he had been forced to give some allowances to Trevor and Sharle due to their parents¡¯ influence on the school he decided to put a close to the entire session. ¡®This will be counting towards your religious quota this week. The school priest will be checking through a recording of this event to make sure that it was done fairly. The class will be dismissed shortly. Then we can finish for the day. Thank you and please don¡¯t forget your prayers towards the god of your choice today. You can pray in your family shrine. If anyone else would like to throw a stone, then please do so but we need to avoid causing unnecessary injury as Trevor did.¡¯ At the mention of his name, Trevor smirked and nudged Sharle who was sitting next to him before fixing his gaze on the door to the classroom. He appeared impatient to finish his class and talk with his other friends in school about this event. The class teacher gave them a look that was hard to decipher as though he was thinking about how much leeway was needed. He decided on a firm approach which would provide a medium amount of support. In any case, he would be covered. Gesturing with one hand vaguely in the direction of the young man he spoke. ¡®I¡¯ll need you to report to the school office Trevor about your defective rock Trevor. Thank you.¡¯ The smirk vanished from his face as he turned towards Sharle and nodded his head. Watching his actions Mia had experienced a few of his minor pranks before and how the school had chosen to turn a blind eye to them. She didn¡¯t expect this time to be any different, even though this had been a more serious event. She patiently stood there in front of her whole class waiting to see if any final rocks would be thrown in her direction. She refused to avoid responsibility and making a bigger deal of the situation by drawing further attention to herself would be worse than actually taking it head-on. The local regional factory-produced soft rocks had been assessed and evaluated before being released into the education system, although there were many different gods in the world and various opinions meant that conflict would take place people in her home country still stuck to the main principle of freedom of expression. Only when a class teacher considered a serious situation that needed to be immediately rectified, that they would be permitted to allow a class mock stoning. Society had been formed around the worship of different gods and although several countries in the world followed a purely secular society and viewed worship as a purely personal affair only, they were still few and far in between. Gods existed as far back as human history could remember; it was only the form of worship that had changed over time as education and current ideas created further innovations and concepts that could be applied. Mia thought that the rock that had cut her must have sharpened either in school or prepared in advance as there was no way that it should have cut her. They were like the idea of rubber bullets but far softer, looks like a rock, and the impact looks hard, but it would be no worse than being hit by a foam ball. All edges despite appearance and texture had been altered to be smooth and yielding. She tried her best to appear expressionless given that the school priest would be viewing a recording of this event after all. Finally, after a few minutes of waiting there was no one else who had decided to throw anything at her. Hands were lowered and fake rocks were placed back on tables in front of the students. It could have been the fact that she didn¡¯t show a great deal of emotion or react strongly against it, or simply that her class was full of compassionate and kind people who didn¡¯t want to hurt someone else even if the situation allowed for it. Mia thought it was more likely to be the latter, they could work out their aggression and frustration during sports or watch the demi-god¡¯s competition events instead. She considered it unlikely that a normal person would take it out on someone in their class who had only decided to express an opinion. Several students thought were the odd ones out though with slightly more aggressive tendencies. Mr Rictor looked over the rest of the class and let out a soft sigh. The classroom alert has just rung which meant that it was finally the end of the academic school day. He finally turned towards his student who had been the centre of the mock stoning. He tried not to release a breath that he didn¡¯t realise that he had been holding. She had chosen to express herself and the best he could do was follow the school guidelines. The fact that she was injured by a fellow student would show up in the record. All events were reviewed afterwards by the local priests. He simply hoped that they didn¡¯t want to intervene. Not this close to his retirement. Book 1 Ch 2: Prayer for a Heretic ¡®Thank you for expressing your personal opinion. We will pray for you to reach an understanding between your expression of free opinion and respect for the gods. This event has been recorded and will be viewed by the school priests afterwards. If you would please wait for me afterwards I would appreciate it. Thank you again for your efforts in demonstrating a brilliant example of free will that is truly treasured by our society.¡¯ Then he turned his keen attention toward the rest of the class. The expressions on their faces gave him the impression that he had an either made a mistake or caused emotional or psychological offence. The school priests would simply review the material and pass their own judgement. He hadn''t acted emotionally or out of order, simply followed protocol according to strict educational guidelines. Not that a student had ever behaved as strange as the girl Mia had during his entire time in the school. Time to wrap this up, make sure I''m covered and only a few short weeks until my full retirement. I didn''t need this. What''s wrong with her today? Out of all of the students inside his class she was usually the balanced adjusted one who worked well enough with others and kept fairly quiet at the back. There was no way he was going to discuss the events of today with her parents though. He''d let the priests deal with the fallout and next actions to take. ¡®Now that our class stoning has ended, please make sure to put the Hereticker rocks back into the supplied container boxes by the entrance once you leave. They will be checked and cleaned by the school.¡¯ The bell then rang signalling the end of class and the opportunity to finish lessons for the day. ¡®The school day has finished, remember that our society welcomes expression of opinion and free speech according to the will of the gods. Feel free to pray to the selected god of your choice at your household shrine. The regional demi-god competition events will be happening next month as well. Remember to finish your assigned work, have a nice weekend and I¡¯ll see you all back in school on Monday morning¡¯. The class made a great deal of noise as they began to chat, grab their bags and head out of the class. Thirty-odd teenagers were looking forward to the weekend or attending their after-school activities. As he was walking out Trevor made a deliberate point to bump into before dropping his altered rock by her feet rather than in the designated box by the door. still didn¡¯t think that he was a bad person, but she still disliked him regardless of his thoughtless action. He wasn¡¯t worth time getting annoyed at, that would be an effective way to be further noticed by the rest of the class and wasn¡¯t an attention seeker. kept standing at the front of the class waiting for everyone else to leave and for this minor punishment to be finished. This was the first time that expressing her personal opinion had her facing a class stoning. At fifteen years old she had felt that you gradually faced less leeway because her opinion and actions were meant to have more of an effect on society. After this it would be the priests contacting my parents and having to sit down and review the footage again, it shouldn¡¯t be such a big deal though as I had been a good student and just taken it. Just take it. Like a model student. ¡®¡­hello? Did you hear me?¡¯ It turned out that Mr Rictor had been standing in front of her in a now-empty classroom. ¡®Yes, Mr Rictor. I apologize for my behaviour in front of the class and renounce my claim of atheism. I do not want to be known as a heretic. Punishment will fall upon me from the gods if I do not consider my actions upon my household and my community.¡¯ Her class teacher looked a little shocked for a moment at her carefully considered response. A trace of emotion flashed through his eyes too fast for to catch. ¡®I was asking if you wanted your wound treated by the school apothecary before we have a chat. Does it not hurt?¡¯ Looking down at her arm realized that it was still bleeding slightly. The blood had dropped onto the floor of the classroom but given that the front of classes was often covered in absorbent sand-type material that wasn¡¯t such an issue. The smell of religious incense would cover the smell of any blood that stayed. ¡®No, it¡¯s fine.¡¯ bent down to pick up the sharpened mock rock that had fallen by her feet. ¡®This one seems to have been damaged, could be a malfunctioning product. I¡¯m sure that it wasn¡¯t deliberate. Don¡¯t worry about it. Would you like to check it to make sure Mr Rictor?¡¯. She held out the rock that still had a small part of blood on it to her teacher. If he was willing to watch one of his students get hurt in his classroom, then surely, he deserved to have a little blood on his hands. All of this was being recorded anyway and a designated school priest would be reviewing the entire situation afterwards for response and adhering to current school protocols. Will he or won¡¯t he take it? It was one thing to be a teacher in front of a classroom of eager students when he was in a position of authority but another to accept that an actual person under your charge had been hurt and you failed to take an appropriate response towards it. Will he accept a stone with blood on it when he¡¯s being recorded? In the end, his hesitation won out against his principles. The teacher put his hands behind his back and straightened up as though he has just remembered that he was in a respected profession and a position of authority. Not a person who had just induced an act of mock violence on a young student under his charge. At the least, Mia thought that he would be feeling some sense of shame from his actions. It wasn¡¯t something that she planned to discuss with her parents. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. ¡®You can place that damaged item on the top of the stack in the box by the door, please. I apologize that you were injured by a faulty item and as your class teacher, I will be taking full responsibility for your injury. Trevor will be reporting to the school office regarding this event.¡¯ She wasn¡¯t planning to make a big issue out of it either and stood there listening to him with one hand on her arm and the hurt arm holding the manufactured rock. ¡®You may notify your parents and the priests that I think you did a fantastic job in expressing your personal opinion in front of the entire classroom. That was a very brave act indeed. You should feel proud of your actions.¡¯ I¡¯ll be prouder if my parents don¡¯t need to be involved. In the end, he turned out to be a reasonable teacher. Every classroom always ended up with some students being more favoured than others, she did think that he had appreciated that she didn¡¯t make a great deal about her injury, and nor did make any accusations towards Trevor or Sharle. Everyone else in the class just decided to go with the flow and just follow their moral grounding which was to disagree with my opinion by holding up a manufactured rock in a threatening manner. She didn¡¯t see any reason to argue with him anyway or cause an issue. One thing that she had learned from her parents was that shouting and getting angry didn¡¯t often solve a situation. She might not be mature enough for her teachers but keeping calm and collected was the best way to avoid any further action or interest being taken against me by either my home room teacher, classmates, or the school priests. ¡®Thank you, Mr Rictor. I appreciated the chance to express my personal opinion about the gods. Can I go now? I¡¯d like to go home.¡¯ He hesitated for a moment before responding with a smile. ¡®You can. Please remember that the local priests will be viewing a recording of the message and may be in contact with you later if they have any further questions about your strong personal opinion. You can skip your assignment on the nature of the demi-gods in sports competitions. I¡¯ll just mark you down as having passed as given your experience you¡¯ve certainly given the rest of the class a great deal to pray on. The best thing is to go back home and get some rest, eh? Have a great weekend and I¡¯ll see you back in class on Monday.¡¯ dropped the slight blood-covered fake rock into the container by the classroom door. She then walked to her desk and grabbed her backpack below it containing her things. Before leaving the room, she turned her head and stared into the camera that had been fixed on the front entrance of each classroom. Giving it a blank look, she left realising that there was no point in further drawing attention to herself, but it was worth it to make sure that the school priest realized at least that Mia knew that her actions had been recorded and would be checked. Once she was outside of the classroom Mia quickly grabbed her arm, finally letting herself feel the pain and releasing a heavily suppressed groan. Her hand came back with a small streak of blood on it, and she realized that the cut still hadn¡¯t stopped bleeding yet. It hurt, but not so badly that she couldn¡¯t move it. Taking a closer look, it didn¡¯t look deep but the fact that the cut hasn¡¯t stopped bleeding yet meant that what had cut her had a sharper edge than originally felt. The adrenaline rush had stopped her from feeling the pain initially. The wound felt odd somehow, a small injury shouldn¡¯t have kept on bothering her for so long, but this did. Mia felt that she should be thankful that the idiot didn¡¯t hit her face. Non-existent gods knew where he sourced the rock or arranged for it to be placed there. It was more likely that he had used his parent¡¯s money and influence to make it happen, it had been enough that he would be reported to the school office, but she didn¡¯t consider that anything would come out of it. A minor warning and a probationary period before he had to make offerings to the school gods was all that would happen. She didn¡¯t think that Trevor had a genuine problem with her, she wasn¡¯t unlikeable in school and tried to get on with others and be friendly enough while keeping to herself. It was more likely he saw an opportunity for him and Sharle to gain some brownie points with the school priest and further reinforce his religious position and gain a good impression from his rich father. It turned out to be hard for her but a good opportunity for him, hopefully now that the incident was over, she wouldn¡¯t have to deal with any further interaction with him. Mia considered Trevor to be an opportunist more than a troublemaker. He had simply seen her as a chance to declare a strong opinion and make his parents happy with her actions. She had seen it before several times when students who diverged from normal values were chosen as targets, sometimes it was teenagers who had a minor interest in foreign gods. Any student who could build up a pious reputation and a harsh attitude towards any would-be heretics would be given points for the fast-track program to become a Seeker. The priests who hunted down and discovered any traces of heresy in all its forms, not that it existed much these days. On the news, there were sometimes reports or rumours through social media of gatherings that had been broken up or some arch-heretic who had been found and punished but she didn¡¯t believe in it. Given that these days most news and information focused on what happened inside a country it was hard to tell what was going on in the wider world. Regional and local events took priority except where the main gods were involved. Not that Mia believed in the gods, not really. At least not in the sense that they existed as divine beings. As a kid in primary school, she remembered seeing a picture of a person hanging from a building looking up to the sky like they were expecting to be rescued or something. The words underneath it had stuck in her mind. ¡®Don¡¯t pray for a flying person to come down from the heavens and save you. You won¡¯t like the result.¡¯ Mia liked the style image and it kind of stuck with her as she grew older and started to think more about the nature of the gods and how many people had expectations of them. Like, how people were meant to live their whole life praying to these beings which could exist but most of their work was protecting us from the influences of foreign gods. It did strike her as strange that she remembered that thought at this particular time. Her arm ached again as if to remind her of the importance of that particular memory. Still, it had been entirely her opinion that had created the whole situation anyway. Her thoughts remained her own. She could accept the fact that there were beings who had power and influence over my society, even over the whole planet. That was the same principle for any leader of a civilization, elected or otherwise. It was all the religious beliefs around it that Mia didn¡¯t agree with, humans were meant to deal with other humans. The idea that gods were watching over her country¡¯s society to protect them from other foreign gods from different regions of the world felt ridiculous. That might have been what got her into trouble in the first place, but she lived in a country that promoted and allowed for freedom of thought and expression. She felt a sense of wrongness about the whole thing as though humans weren¡¯t meant to have gods living over them in the first place. This kind of thinking was what created the situation in school. Thankfully, this was only the first time that it had happened though. Mia didn¡¯t want to think about the next set of consequences of her actions. This main issue was what was going to get her into trouble at school and in her personal, and home life. Mia¡¯s parents although slightly supportive didn¡¯t clearly understand the ramifications of her actions. That was why when she finally got home later that day, she didn¡¯t expect what would be happening next, an old uncle turning up who her parents argued with. The first step would be leaving the school without being overly noticed though. Book 1 Ch 3: Unwanted Kindness Mia found that once she had finally walked out of the classroom that no priests or religious goon squad were waiting to escort her to a post-event interview. Frankly, it made her feel relieved. The school was just full of kids who had finished their academic day and were either hanging out with friends chatting, going to after-school clubs, or making their way back home either by bus or walking. She did think about taking my headphones out of her bag to listen to some music. It might distract her from the stressful feeling of standing in front of her home class armed with manufactured fake rocks. Non-existent gods knew that she needed a break after how her day had ended. Explaining the whole thing to her parents was going to be even worse, her Dad might show some understanding, but her Mum was going to lose it, given that she was the more aggressive parent of the two. It wouldn¡¯t help either for her younger sister to see that she had an accident in school. Putting it out of her mind she thought about if it was worth listening to some music and just shutting out the outside world for a while. ¡®I heard that the new Believer JaJa Swag album was fairly good. Worth trying before buying. The singer was pretty hot as well.¡¯ Given that one hand was on her arm and the other was holding her backpack Mia decided to leave the headphones in her bag until she got my cut treated and dealt with. No point in making more of a mess. The school itself held exacting standards and was considered one of the tops in her region. If it was academics, athletics, or religion it produced students who delivered results and took on higher-level positions once they graduated. It had been a pretty hard school to get into through the merit of having high academic results. Mia had taken quite a few mock tests at the end of elementary school and had a personal tutor to make sure that she passed the test with a decent score. She did have to thank her Mum for all of that though, despite her working full-time she still took the time every evening and weekend to go through past papers with her. Her Dad had focused on the rest of the household including helping her younger sister with her homework and driving her to her after-school activities. Mia was sure that her parents wanted her little sister to follow her in her footsteps and attend if not the same, then a school that was a similar academic standing. Not that she knew at the time exactly how much effort she made for her daughter with passing the test. She had just wanted her to form good academic habits. When she was a ten-year-old preparing for the exam, she didn¡¯t think about it so much but felt proud of passing. That had been five years ago. Why does this cut keep bothering me so much? The school medical office should have been open, though, seeing as the end of the school day. She hoped it would be emptier with nobody hanging around asking questions that she wasn¡¯t willing to provide answers for. All she would need was some disinfectant and medical gauze to wrap it up by herself. A cut wasn¡¯t worth involving her parents. She had to deal with her school shirt though, some bleach or just taking a shirt from the lost and found box. If she was lucky though then it would be possible to scrounge up another uniform in her size. As Mia was walking in the direction of the school medical office, she became lost in her thoughts. Everything else became a distant haze to her mind as she walked without thinking. Her feet follow their set path determined by her unconscious mind. ¡®Hey!¡¯ a male voice shouted out. ¡®Heeyy!¡¯ ¡®Yeah, that¡¯s none of my business right now.¡¯ Mia muttered under her breath. She didn¡¯t want to be involved in any further issues, her first issue was getting a change of uniform and fixing herself up. ¡®Heya!¡¯ called out a female voice. ¡®Heya!¡¯ Mia realized that both voices were in talking in her direction and were getting increasingly closer to her current location. She saw them before they arrived, they were her year group school prefects. ¡®My gods, look at the bleeding! Ben, and that arm!¡¯ called out the female voice. ¡®Let¡¯s go to the school nurse right now. Do you have a spare shirt?¡¯ ¡®I agree with you. We need to help our fellow students. I¡¯ve got a spare shirt if needed, I¡¯ve got a spare pair of trousers in my bag.¡¯ The two walked closer to her, and Mia saw that their faces showed genuine concern for her. She wasn¡¯t friends with either of them but neither did she remember being ignored by either during year-group sports events. They were just faces that often led or presented themselves in need when they saw a situation to intervene in. She had seen them lead prayers for school-based religious events on occasion. Mia was noticed after all. It happened to be two prefects, Ben, and Marie. She remembered that they were super-kind and did think about others especially when they were a fellow student in distress or difficulty. I guess that to reach a position of responsibility in the year group you had to be real about it. She didn¡¯t dislike them but rather preferred not to have any further attention drawn to her at this time. ¡®I¡¯m not sure if your clothes are the best fit though¡¯ ¡®That¡¯s true. It¡¯d be better to just get a new uniform.¡¯ Not something I want right now. At the end of the day, they would still try and stick to their guiding morals and help her out as a fellow student. Although they were not close friends with her, they were still keen on helping her out as soon as they saw that she had been hurt. Mia considered herself more than capable of giving herself first aid and finding her change of clothing. ¡®Hi Marie, so I¡¯ll be fine without any help. Really. And thanks to Ben for the offer, I¡¯ve got some spare clothes that I can change into. This cut? It¡¯s nothing much, haven¡¯t you had worse playing sports?¡¯ She tried to make her tone more relaxed and joking to put the two school prefects at ease. The situation wouldn¡¯t get better if they had gone to the medical office with me. She¡¯d just end up with more questions and records being put on file. Her main aim was to treat the wound, change clothes and get out of the school site before any priests or affiliated helpers turned up to call her in for a quick discussion on the nature of prayer and religion. ¡®Are you sure that you don¡¯t need help? Asked Marie. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. She had more than a concerned tone to her voice. Mia was sure that she did care about her fellow students, but she never knew when to back off. ¡®I don¡¯t need this. Not right now.¡¯ ¡®Marie, she doesn¡¯t seem to want assistance. Kindness has been offered but we can¡¯t force our help here. How about we compromise, you wait a moment there and I¡¯ll be right back with a clean shirt and a change of school uniform for you. Then Marie can walk with you to see the school nurse just to make sure that you get there safe. We won¡¯t ask any more questions, but we are here to help our fellow students in the same year as us. Sound good?¡¯ Marie had a strange look on her face, not annoyed or confused but it was hard for Mia to read. She turned towards Ben with crossed arms. ¡®Ben, I can make my own opinion as well thanks. I want to make sure that first that she gets treatment for her arm. I think that you get a spare change of uniform for him is a great idea though. Make sure you make a note that you lent a uniform out though and why don¡¯t you just check out a spare instead? I don¡¯t think that he would like to wear a prefect¡¯s uniform with a purple stripe. Just ask in the school office for it, they know our position of responsibility.¡¯ ¡®Sorry, Marie. I talk too much for myself sometimes, not trying to talk for you. The office sounds like a good bet. Would say the school uniform should be around size nine? I¡¯m not so good at fitting clothes.¡¯ Mia gazed at Ben, lost for a moment in her thoughts. ¡®That guy looks pretty built so it was unlikely that his clothes would fit me. That and other reasons. Mainly the fact that he was male. He was sort of good looking though.¡¯ Ben turned to look at her, noticing that she had looked at him without starting. It looked as though he had taken her silence for uncertainly in accepting their help. ¡®Hey, are you sure you¡¯re feeling alright? We can find a teacher if you think you need to talk it out with someone or I¡¯m more than happy to escort you to the office. Uh, if you¡¯d like me to. I¡¯m not trying to take control of your choices here.¡¯ Mia decided to agree to their help. Sometimes it was just best to go with the flow. Her little action in the classroom would become better known after today. Best to get it over with so she could make her way back home and pray at the family shrine on time. ¡®Hey guys, size nine sounds about right. I appreciate the help. You two are good people you know. Marie, do you want to walk with me to the medical office? Even if the nurse isn¡¯t there, I can still find some gauze and disinfectant and treat myself. Ben, thanks for the spare uniform. You can put it down in my name so I can make sure it¡¯s cleaned and returned next week.¡¯ She smiled at both of them. At least the fact that they were trying their best to help her out without asking lots of questions was one reason for her to be thankful. ¡®Great! It¡¯s all worked out then. I¡¯ll walk with you now and Ben can meet us at the nurse¡¯s office once he picks up a spare school uniform. Thanks, Ben, and we¡¯ll see you soon. Firstly though, I have a scarf in my bag here. Just wrap it around the cut and you can keep it. You need to get treated first. I¡¯d imagine that you don¡¯t want it drawing attention.¡¯ ¡®Thanks, Marie. See you soon Ben, the office should have my size but please don¡¯t make a big deal out of it. I can record my name, so I¡¯ll return the change of uniform later.¡¯ ¡®I guess. I¡¯ll be seeing you two around. Stay safe now.¡¯ The hallways were gradually emptying as all the other students were beginning to head back home. A few glanced in Mia¡¯s direction and at Ben and Marie but they just gave friendly waves when they saw them. Keeping her hand tight on the wound up had stopped any further blood from getting through. As long as nobody else got too close they wouldn¡¯t notice the injury. It¡¯s not as though anyone was making a big fuss about it, and we were all talking normally. Neither of them had asked many questions about exactly how she got hurt which made her wonder if they already knew and had been sent by the school council to come and meet her to keep the whole situation low-key. Mia wondered if she was getting paranoid about the whole situation and tried to remind herself to keep an open mind. Nope, no potential heretics around here. She considered that it wasn¡¯t an innovative idea even thinking about it. There could always be a rogue ichor user around that could read minds. Nope, just nope. That way lies madness. Her thoughts were purely private and standing around thinking to herself would just make others think she was a weirdo. Seeing the few students hanging around or heading to their after-school clubs Mia turned to look at Marie. ¡®Hey Marie, did you have any after-school clubs today? I didn¡¯t want to make you late or anything. It¡¯s kind of you to help me out though. Thanks.¡¯ Mia smiled at her but kept one hand covering up her wound. Just leave. I don¡¯t need anything else. Please, just go now. ¡®Don¡¯t worry about it.¡¯ Marie responded. ¡®Ben can let the school office know and they¡¯ll tell our clubs directly that we¡¯ll both be delayed for a bit. Are you sure you¡¯re feeling well enough? You had an annoyed look on your face just now.¡¯ Don¡¯t show it. Idiot! Mia¡¯s face blushed for a moment. ¡®Ah, no sorry. I don¡¯t want to be a hassle for anyone. Sorry.¡¯ ¡®Let¡¯s get to the nurses'' office straight away.¡¯ The two girls both started walking together. Mia didn¡¯t realize how pretty Marie was. Not cute, she was a pretty-looking girl and nice enough to walk with a wounded student to the medical office. Realising that she was staring at her and that the other girl hadn¡¯t noticed yet she turned her head to look straight ahead instead. Focus. Focus. Mia kept her distance slightly from Marie because the felt that it would be more polite. It wasn¡¯t as though she really knew her that well. She just knew of her and Ben being Head prefects for the year. Ben was handsome as well, but he was also on the school swimming team, so he looked good for that. ¡®Cute, handsome, and kind. Popular with the girls then lucky guy.¡¯ ¡®You don¡¯t talk much you know that?¡¯ ¡®Ah, sorry?¡¯ ¡®I haven¡¯t heard you say anything since we started walking.¡¯ After around five minutes, Mia and Marie reached the school medical office. There was no sign of the nurse or Ben yet. ¡®Don¡¯t worry about it. He¡¯ll turn up soon.¡¯ ¡®I can check into the medical office by myself but thanks for the assist, Marie.¡¯ ¡®No, I think I¡¯ll wait here for Ben to return with that spare uniform. He shouldn¡¯t have taken that long. You can check if the nurse if there is there, I¡¯ll be outside waiting for a bit.¡¯ Mia knocked on the blue wooden door to the medical office. It had a sign on the front that was a mark of one of her country¡¯s gods. There was a snake or a lizard wrapped around a red cross. A reptile but she didn¡¯t want to make a mistake and call it a gecko. ¡®I don¡¯t remember that god.¡¯ Finding her memory at a loss she struggled for a few seconds before realising that at least she wasn¡¯t in her class with the record session. Any mistakes here wouldn¡¯t be easily noticed. Book 1 Ch 4: Fussy Atty Mia frowned, racking her memory, but she still found herself drawing a complete blank. She turned towards the other girl who was waiting with her to decide. ¡®Hey, Marie?¡¯ ¡®Heya! What¡¯s up Mia? Ben isn¡¯t here yet.¡¯ ¡®Ah, sorry to bother you again. Could you do me a big favour and remind me which god this is?¡¯. ¡®Where¡¯s the holy symbol for the god?¡¯ Marie looked confused for a moment. The school had gradually become quieter as most of the school students had left the building or moved towards their extra-curricular activities. At this moment it felt as if the two of them were the only ones in the nearby area at the moment. ¡®Right here, on the door to the medical office.¡¯ Mia decided against pointing at the icon of the unknown god as she didn¡¯t want to come across as rude despite how good-natured the other girl seemed. Religion and worship of gods were a part of society, after all, it was best to stick closely to cultural norms while she still could. ¡®Oh, right. Yeah, I know the name. Obviously. Wouldn¡¯t be much of a year perfect if I didn¡¯t remember all the important ones.¡¯ Marie flashed Mia a bright smile as if to show that although she was knowledgeable, she wasn¡¯t trying to put her down in any form. ¡®I just knocked on the door, but the nurse didn¡¯t answer yet.¡¯ ¡®It¡¯s so cute how polite you are! Obviously.¡¯ ¡®¡­.thanks?¡¯ This girl does not like me. She¡¯s just being polite. High EQ personality. Respond positively. ¡®Anyway, the god? Do you recognize the symbol?¡¯ This time she shrugged her shoulders to try and indicate that although Marie might know she couldn¡¯t remember, and it was a little embarrassing to admit it. ¡®Let me take a quick look then.¡¯ Marie moved towards the door while I stepped back for a moment while she examined the icon. ¡®That symbol belongs to a god of healing and patience.¡¯ ¡®Healing and patients? A doctor god then.¡¯ ¡®Ha-ha, no, no. Patience as in being able to wait patiently.¡¯ ¡®Ah, got it. My bad. What¡¯s the name of the god?¡¯. ¡®Stupid god puns.¡¯ ¡®Asileticus. You can see the lizards twinned with the red cross. That was a more recent symbol of the god. I think it changed the symbol a few months ago. Don¡¯t you subscribe to the channels of many gods?¡¯. ¡®No, no. We have a shrine at home, but I don¡¯t subscribe to god channels or updates. They don¡¯t interest me that much.¡¯ ¡®Really? I guess each to their own. I mostly follow the well-known ones as recommended by the school council.¡¯ ¡®Seems like a good idea¡­¡¯ I said weakly. Hey, is that Ben over there? I don¡¯t recognize who¡¯s with him. Wait, is that the school priest? What do they want?¡¯. ¡®Here comes trouble. Don¡¯t make it worse¡¯ There was a figure dressed in a smart white and black suit with a short purple cape behind them walking with Ben. I noticed that Ben had picked up a spare school uniform after all and it was in my size. That was one thing out of the way then, just in time for another one to crop up. ¡®I don¡¯t like priests. Even school priests. Respect should be earned.¡¯ The school priest looked to be in his mid to late thirties. An older man but not too old. He had closely cut brown hair with bushy eyebrows and a plain look on his face with one part of his mouth raised in a slight smile. Not bored but it just looked like he was aware of something that we didn¡¯t know about and found it a little bit funny. His cape trailed behind him as he walked towards them, arms open in a friendly gesture. ¡®Hi there, hi Marie. I told the officer that we were helping another student who was hurt, and they recognized our efforts. Oh, and the school priest was helpful enough to find you a new school uniform. You can keep it!¡¯ ¡®Hello, all faithful followers of the gods. Blessings of your deities of choice are upon you¡¯. Said the priest. ¡®I¡¯m still hurting here. Mostly stopped though. Make your blessing fix the wound then priest.¡¯ ¡®Hi, Ben, Hello priest. Thanks for your blessings! We were just talking about Asileticus. I was saying that I didn¡¯t follow them particularly, but I know who they are. I still subscribe to god channels and updates though¡¯. ¡®Hello, priest. Thanks for sorting me out with a new uniform Ben. I appreciate the effort.¡¯ ¡®Heh, I do have a name young students. Please call me Priest Atticus. Better that than to be called priest all the time. I¡¯m well aware of my nickname of Priest Fussy Atty as well. Although that would be better suited for the younger ones in school hmm?¡¯. ¡®Yes, Priest Atticus.¡¯ ¡®Yes, Priest Atticus.¡¯ ¡®Yes, Priest Atticus.¡¯ ¡®Are you called Fussy Atty in school? That doesn¡¯t sound right to me. A priest should be given a degree of respect.¡¯ I just realized that I was the one who had talked, and Ben and Marie were both looking at me with a degree of confusion. ¡®Only by the younger students and then on occasion when they¡¯ve had enough of my preaching. I try not to bore them too much with talk of choices of gods.¡¯ ¡®I agree that you still deserve a degree of respect Priest Atticus.¡¯ Replied Ben with a touch of respect in his voice. ¡®It¡¯s true.¡¯ Said Marie. ¡®Now, Marie, isn¡¯t it? I remember you as being one of the Head Prefects for your year group along with Ben here.¡¯ You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. ¡®That¡¯s right, Priest Atticus. Yes, I was lucky to be chosen. So was Ben, he didn¡¯t want to volunteer his name, but I pushed it forward anyway. He deserved to be a Head prefect.¡¯ ¡®Marie! The school priest doesn¡¯t need to hear that!¡¯ ¡®I¡¯m certain that both of you are excellent year prefects. Ben was telling me about which gods he prays to at his home shrine. Don¡¯t forget that we also have the school temple on-site if you care to visit. We have sigils for all the major gods in our country and space for others that are lesser-known. All are welcome to private or public worship in school. We even allow space for¡­exceptions.¡¯ The priest looked directly at Mia when he said that last word. Another thought unbidden rose from the depths of Mia¡¯s mind and plugged itself into her consciousness. He doesn¡¯t know that gods are built. Not made. Marie turned towards Ben after nodding at the words from Priest Atticus. ¡®Ben? We should encourage more students to visit the school temple. I think we should submit it to the school council.¡¯ ¡®Wait a moment, Marie. I need to pass on this spare school uniform first. Here you go.¡¯ Mia took the uniform from his outstretched hand, her hand lightly brushing against his. ¡®Thanks, Ben.¡¯ ¡®Marie and Ben, the gods will thank you for your service to your fellow student here. I can see that both of you are pious, generous with your time, and kind. If you are willing, I would like to put you both forward for a recommendation for your efforts.¡¯ ¡®No, no Priest Atticus. We don¡¯t deserve more than helping. That¡¯s our role as Head Prefects for our year group.¡¯ ¡®Ben? Do you not want a recommendation?¡¯ Priest Atticus frowned for a moment. ¡®To be honest, I¡¯m a Head Prefect because I want to be a good model for other students. I¡¯d prefer we don¡¯t have anything as a reward. Our effort will lead us forwards in the name of our chosen gods.¡¯ ¡®So be it then. I appreciate it. Oh, and I¡¯ve already let your respective after-school clubs know that both of you will be arriving slightly later than usual. I¡¯m quite happy to take my leave of both of you once I can see that your fellow student has gone in for medical treatment. That arm, it must hurt slightly still, yes?¡¯ He looked at Mia¡¯s face directly with a solemn look. ¡®Uh, it¡¯ll be fine. Looks like it stopped bleeding quite some time ago. Don¡¯t worry about it.¡¯ ¡®I regret that my particular gods do not focus on healing. My talents do not lie in that field. If the nurse is in the office, then they will be able to give you better treatment. I have some first-aid training if that would help. Part of my duties as your school priesthood is to give aid where needed to students in need. Do you perhaps worship the god Asileticus?¡¯ ¡®That¡¯s, that isn¡¯t one of the gods that we pray to at home.¡¯ ¡®Priest Atticus, now that you¡¯re here to provide support is it acceptable if Ben and myself go now?¡¯ ¡®Yes Marie, both of you can head off now. Again, the gods thank you for the kindness you have shown in your role as year Head Prefects.¡¯ ¡®Bye Mia!¡¯ ¡®Yeah, see you!¡¯ ¡®¡­bye and thanks, guys!¡¯ Holding onto the spare school uniform I watched Ben and Marie both walk back into the school corridors to attend after-school curricular activities. It would have been better if they stayed. The school priest remained behind. He looked hesitant about something. ¡®Now¡­don¡¯t you think that you should go into the medical room to get treatment for your arm?¡¯ ¡®Uh, sure. I¡¯ll go and do that right now.¡¯ ¡®Aren¡¯t you forgetting something? Didn¡¯t your fellow student Marie tell you the symbol of the god that can be seen on that door? The gods need worship in turn as they supply their support and guidance for our mortal lives. Ah, my mistake. Maybe Asileticus isn¡¯t a popular god in your class. You don¡¯t like to click the follow and update buttons. With the demi-god competitions coming up, your students tend to support those more during these times. Still, can you please offer a prayer to this god as a sample of good faith? I would appreciate it, a small request on my part.¡¯ Mia looked carefully at the symbol on the blue wooden door. To her eyes, it still looked like a lizard sitting around a red cross. It made her wonder exactly what kind of god would choose a symbol like that. Worse would be a stick with snakes. She didn¡¯t know what the religious symbol had to do with healing. Looks like a god of bad taste. ¡®Well?¡¯ the school priest interrupted. Mia shook her head. While she didn¡¯t want to be overly noticed when she was faced with a figure of religious authority, she found herself becoming braver. ¡®Look, Priest Atticus.¡¯ ¡®Yes?¡¯ Mia slumped her shoulders slightly and let out a sigh that he had been holding in since she had left the classroom slightly earlier. At this time the number of school students had become far fewer as most had headed home or to their after-school classes at this point. The sound of her voice echoed within her ears as her heart pounded hard for a moment. ¡®I used my god-given right earlier today to express my personal opinion.¡¯ ¡®As you should. An open mind is very beneficial for all, we don¡¯t exist as a strong country compared to others without the importance of freedom of expression. Diversity leads to a stronger environment.¡¯ ¡®I, uh. I thought that Ben notified you to come along, or you saw the record of a new school uniform being borrowed from the office.¡¯ ¡®I can assure you, young woman, that everyone experiences different crises of faith with the gods. We do have so many different ones to choose from and choosing to switch to a new belief while rare is not wrong to do. Are you having any concerns about your particular faith in a god? We match ourselves to the gods according to our personalities and beliefs. They respond with protection and miracles.¡¯ ¡®Um, sure. Let¡¯s call it that.¡¯ ¡®Even as your school priest I have to take a long view with regards to the gods. Experiences shape beliefs, not the other way around.¡¯ ¡®I certainly had my moment in my classroom earlier. It was an experience all right. My eyes are pretty open now about the effect of gods on society.¡¯ ¡®As a young woman, you¡¯re becoming more independent while at the same time being given restrictions by your parents, your education system and even your friends. Religion exists in our society as a support, not a hindrance. I apologise if I¡¯m coming across as condescending or demeaning, your personal opinions are entirely your own. We welcome freedom of thought and expression of belief.¡¯ Priest Atticus brought his body standing upright and rested both his hands in front of him, trying to assume a non-threatening posture. ¡®My opinions are my thank you. It¡¯s the expressing them that I find the hard part, especially when in a society that is meant to welcome independence and expression others use violence.¡¯ ¡®There are always consequences for the harmful actions of any individual. Your¡­event in your home room was not without cause.¡¯ ¡®You saw what happened?¡¯ Mia felt surprised that any recordings had already been viewed. It should have followed a set process surely and at least been checked by a panel of religious authority figures. ¡®To be honest, yes. I will not pass judgement or personal opinion. The individual was responsible for hurting you though. I think that someone that you know closely would like to have a strong word with that young man. No, I know this person will act on your behalf.¡¯ Mia just stared at Priest Atticus. This whole conversation was going past her head at this point. First, she had been approached by two head-of-year prefects who offered their help and asked no questions and then a school priest turned up and offered kind words and the statement that someone was going to deal with Trevor for throwing a faulty stone and hurting her. ¡®¡­Yeah. I don¡¯t need my parents to hear about this right now. If I wanted to make a serious complaint about a particular person, then I would have headed straight to the office.¡¯ Priest Atticus had a strange expression on his face at this point, as though he had revealed something that he should not have said. He seemed to freeze in time for a few seconds before he lowered his head and muttered something to himself quickly. Quickly, raising himself back up into a firm stance he smiled at Mia and put his hands by his side unclenching his hands. ¡®My apologies young lady. I just received a message from a priest of a far higher calling than myself. Still, I¡¯m here if you would like to share your faith. Or perhaps you¡¯re interested in a new god to worship. Surely you young students like to change and shift your interest between which god is popular or most rated this month.¡¯ Mia felt slightly odd at the behaviour of the priest, but her impression was that he felt friendly enough if not too sure how to talk to people her age. The priest was left standing there as they both fell onto an awkward silence before Mia decided to shatter it. Book 1 Ch 5: The Voice ¡®Sure, that¡¯s a thing that people my age like to do¡­ Heh. Just always changing our minds all the time. Say, do you mind if I have some privacy going into the medical office just to check with the nurse there? I need to change my clothes and get my injury dealt with.¡¯ ¡®Certainly, if you would first like to show me a dedication of your faith and personal belief to the gods by offering up a prayer to that icon on the door. Then I would be pleased to let you go around your day young lady. After all, school has finished and I¡¯m sure you would be eager to return home and pray at your family shrine this evening.¡¯ ¡®Um, Priest Atticus. Are you sure that you didn¡¯t hear of what happened in my class earlier?¡¯ She felt confused that this priest seemed to possess alternate views. He hadn¡¯t condemned her actions or said anything derogatory but still, he came across as a little demanding as though trying to quietly test her or inspect her religious views. ¡®Life can be a trial for the young. Our country believes and was founded on the freedom of expression. Take the gods, for example, we know that gods have existed throughout human history and we have seen the proof of their works. Demi-gods are mortals who are offered the ichor of immortals to become stronger or supplied equipment to reach a stage that is beyond a normal person. We can be angry at the gods; we can even hate their existence on occasion. But we must show our belief. That is all that is asked of us.¡¯ ¡®Fine, I guess.¡¯ Mia looked directly at the symbol of the lizards on the door to the medical office. ¡®You are a being of great power and influence Asileticus. I acknowledge that.¡¯ Not really. The priest gave me a deeper look, something flashed past his eyes. It wasn¡¯t anger. Pity? Hard to tell from just his eyes. The priest closed his eyes and moved his hands into some sort of gesture before beginning his prayer. Lowering his head his cape rose in the air and fell behind him as he began. ¡®We praise the god Asileticus for your worth and support in the ways of healing both our physical bodies and also our mortal souls. Thank you for your benevolence in being a patron god in our school. Blessed be your name. Aeium.¡¯ The priest opened his eyes and looked at Mia brightly with a sudden fervour on his face. He looked pleased somehow, as though he was the one who had passed a test and got a good score. ¡®So, we¡¯re done now? I can go into the nurses¡¯ office?¡¯ ¡®Please, wait a moment, young lady. I have something to pass on to you. I¡¯ve also been¡­instructed that this is the only version. This item entirely belongs to you at your discretion. I received a brief message during my prayer earlier.¡¯ The school priest held over a small shiny black metallic cube for Mia to take. It glinted brightly in his hand for a second before returning to matt black. It was small enough to fit in the palm of his hand, but I didn¡¯t have an idea of what it was. A sudden unbidden thought ran through her mind. Take. It. ¡®Huh?¡¯ Mia responded, feeling confused. Her hand had begun to reach out to take the cube without her conscious decision. It didn¡¯t feel as though a god had suddenly intervened and hijacked her brain through one religious artefact. According to the stories and rumours that she had heard from the school, it was more like a voice in the air or just behind you that you couldn¡¯t identify an exact location. This sensation was more like an instinctive feeling. She should have received a direct message in her brain telling her things. Similar to how Priest Atticus froze earlier when receiving a message from another priest or a representative of a demi-god. It ought to be unlikely though, she wasn¡¯t important enough for any of that and put it down to simple shock and tiredness. Mia wasn¡¯t feeling up to taking stuff from older men. Even if they did belong to my school and had a large amount of religious authority. She would end up taking one small thing and then it snowballs into a bigger issue of demi-gods, and that whole issue was not something that she wanted to get involved in. ¡®Thanks but no thanks. Uh, I mean thank you for the offering Priest Atticus, but I don¡¯t need something else for a shrine right now. We have our stuff at home for that.¡¯ ¡®Ah, I see. No, no, this is not an offering. I have been looking to move in a different direction. Different jobs for different gods and all that. A superior strongly requested that I hand this over to you for safekeeping. And before you ask no it¡¯s not something that has been formally run through the school office. I promise that it will cause you no harm. ¡®¡­You¡¯re making it sound kind of weird. I don¡¯t think that I want it now.¡¯ ¡®I am somewhat lacking in manners perhaps. I apologise for my abruptness in this affair, let me explain what I can. I am looking to become a follower of the night. Your Uncle was in contact with me this morning and asked me to keep an eye out.¡¯ ¡®Oh? Um, good for you. Sorry, Priest Atticus I do need to get going now. Thanks for the help and all for saying my prayer to the school¡¯s healing god.¡¯ ¡®I¡¯m unable to discuss it further. It simply is something that I was told to hand in your possession before you have left the school premises. Young lady, the gods are real. They do exist and through their work out society thrives. They are the partners of our mortal leaders in the management of the world. Opposing gods look to change our way of life.¡¯ ¡®¡­sure. I agree with that. Opposing gods are bad for our way of life.¡¯ ¡®The war of faith is a precarious thing. I¡¯m getting off track here. ¡®Thanks for the thing. Bye, I guess.¡¯ I called out to him as he was walking away back to his regular after-school duties. Oh, it was a great prayer, Priest Atticus!¡¯ The school priest turned and looked at me slightly taken aback. My words had a visible effect on him. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡®Young lady. Please be careful.¡¯ ¡®Uh, sure?¡¯ ¡®Goodbye for now.¡¯ ¡®Yeah, uh, bye!¡¯ Time to get this wound treated, change my school uniform for a new one, and get back home. I¡¯m so, so fed up with school today. Come at the weekend! I opened the door to the school medical office. ¡®Oh, hello dear. How can I help?¡¯ said a kindly voice as soon as I was visible at the entrance. Great. The school nurse was around. More questions and lies. Now that the school day had ended both Marie and Ben were heading to their respective after-school classes. Although they had both been elected as their year prefects and were reasonable friends it didn¡¯t mean that they shared entirely the same interests. Ben was more interested in how religious support developed and how the gods helped humans to become better and work through their issues. He hadn¡¯t chosen a particular god to worship and become part of, but he was fairly open-minded. Marie was focused on the demi-god events and how they shaped current events in society, she was less interested in celebrity status and more in the process of how to become one. Firstly, in her eyes, it all involved dedication and the willingness to assist others in times of need. If she was able to become a demi-god, then she would use her powers for good similar in status to a superhero. The entire purpose of the demi-god competitions was to further the ambitions of young people to become more than themselves. According to historical records, there had been a series of events in ancient times where athletes and contestants from different warring regions had gotten together to show their physical and mental prowess and the winner would be awarded rights on behalf of their country to initiate a new war with another region to secure resources. Thankfully, all of that barbaric nature had been eliminated when the gods had gotten directly involved and promoted specific demi-gods to compete against each other instead. Rather than total warfare and total devastation and ruin they chose instead to participate in specified areas and isolated islands without the deaths and chaos of countless soldiers and civilians. War itself had been tamed through the actions of the gods and to fight on their behalf brought both glory and power. Over time the demi-god competitions had evolved to become more than sheer combat, rising to become a quarterly event that through the development of technology was viewable by entire populations. There did remain a key understanding though that the role of the gods in their country at least was to protect them from the machinations and influences of foreign gods. They did not, to say the least, have the personal interests of the nation and the hearts and souls of the populace and were instead interested in slavery and human sacrifice. This was the popular opinion and had been for a thousand years. ¡®I¡¯ll see you tomorrow, Ben¡¯. Said Marie as she waved goodbye in greeting. ¡®Yeah, do you think that she''ll need any further help? I did get her the change of uniform and that school priest said not to worry about it, but she was involved in a serious matter. If it was a case of bullying, then we need to make sure that it gets reported and the matter dealt with. You saw that wound and her attitude, seriously she was upset even if she didn¡¯t want to express it. I¡¯m going to have to take steps t-¡® Marie interrupted, placing her hands on her hips, and staring at Ben directly into his eyes in the now-empty school corridor. He recognised when she was looking for confrontation and this was one of those times. ¡®Ben. You¡¯re getting too involved. Now, it¡¯s great and all that you think that I¡¯m sorry, you want to help others work through their issues with the gods. I need to you think about exactly how well you know that girl. Do you fancy her?¡¯ Ben flustered for a moment, but his cheeks didn¡¯t blush up. He felt more uncertain about how to frame his response. Trying to describe an innate feeling which was harder to describe when you were a sixteen-year-old male was harder than he had thought. If he told her that he felt something about the female student Mia then he was concerned that Marie might take it for another sort of feeling. Not the type that he had in mind. ¡®No. At least now how you think. I admire her strength and discipline. I met her a few times previously but only briefly. There was a remarkable trait about her that I¡¯ve been unable to identify. I don¡¯t think that she was chosen by a god yet, but¡­.it¡¯s there.¡¯ ¡®Are you trying to tell me that you think that she¡¯s a demi-god candidate?¡¯ ¡®It¡­could be. No. She¡¯s not going to compete with you Marie unless she¡¯s had private training or has a higher-level sponsor. Are you thinking about paying for an investigation on her?¡¯ Her face hardening for a moment. Marie looked several years older than her actual age. Ben had heard that the training involved for those who wanted to become demi-gods or even be considered for initial trials was comprehensive, to say the least. The look on her face was almost scary. Almost. ¡®Now Ben. Do you think that I¡¯d pay for an investigation for some girl who you have a strange feeling about? I¡¯ve given my time and patience to a fellow student in our year group. She¡¯s had assistance and support and now she¡¯s on her way.¡¯ Marie smiled at Ben, but her body language was showing signs of impatience. He knew from working with her ahead of the year perfect that she had now moved her focus and despite his words, she would choose to do what she wanted regardless. Despite being friendly with each other and understanding the goals that each of them wanted to reach they still held their aspirations when their school duties were no longer active. Ben raised his own hands in mock surrender. ¡®I saw a student in our year in need and gave her some help. I guess I did fancy her a little bit and it made me confused. It¡¯s not every day that you see a bleeding student at school outside of sports training. Even then it¡¯s a rare occurrence. You should be on your way. The school office has her details, and so does the school priest. See you on Monday for our usual weekly briefing. We¡¯ll have a much clearer view of the situation once Priest Atticus files his report.¡¯ Nodding her head in agreement, Marie brushed a stray hair away from her face before holding her hand out to Ben. ¡®Pleasure to work with you, Ben. Sometimes my emotions get the better of me.¡¯ Ben shook her hand before shaking his head in mock amusement. ¡®You can still be sixteen you know. Our time will come soon enough. Your demi-god training and my priesthood enrolment are plenty enough.¡¯ ¡®Ugh. Fine. See you Monday. Bye!¡¯ Marie and Ben made their respective ways to their after-school classes not noticing that both of their shadows in the lights of the school corridor had failed to move away when they did. The school priest who called himself Atticus was standing in an empty classroom far down the hall. His eyes squeezed tight and the olive skin on his hands whitened as his hands were both clasped in prayer. A single drop of sweat rolled off his head and onto the floor as his head was bowed and his mouth constantly murmuring unheard words. The shadows of Ben and Marie began to meld and shot down towards his location at a speed hard to discern from a normal human eye. Releasing his clasped hands as soon as the large shadow touched his feet Priest Atticus released a single deep breath out before his heart stopped racing. The direct borrowed power of a god was hard to take even if it had been filtered through the actions of a High Priest. Without sufficient training, it was difficult for any normal person to operate. Thankfully, as a school priest, Atticus had a degree of training and preparation in channelling the power of the gods albeit on a far smaller scale than normal. Guiding the power was easier in smaller portions than performed as genuine acts of faith and not direct actions. Book 1 Ch 6: Nightbringer It hadn¡¯t helped that he was unfamiliar with the actions of this particular god and the fact that it was still late afternoon with the sun high in the sky. He swiftly left the empty classroom and left it to lock behind him as he walked towards a place that would allow him peace while remaining on school premises. There were various prayer rooms distributed throughout the building that houses small altars and offering statues of the various gods. There was even a small room allocated to the side that was used for atheists although it was almost, never used. Priest Atticus removed his purple cloak and robes and dropped them onto the floor in a rough pile to reveal a dark-coloured uniform underneath. ¡® Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡® ¡® ¡® ¡® ¡® ¡® ¡® ¡® ¡® Goddess Speak was a pretty popular social media platform for all that. They showed so many videos and funny images about all the current trending gods in our country. With the demi-god competitions coming up more and more interest was generated. Her sister was in the middle of all that interest, she wasn¡¯t a follower and more of a leader for the kids in her age group. ¡® ¡® ¡®¡®What does that mean?¡¯ ¡® ¡® ¡® ¡® ¡® ¡® ¡® ¡® ¡® ¡®