Not one, but two gods sit before me. One is Demos, the mischievous god of trickery. The other is Vessyra, the loving goddess of fertility. Neither benign nor malignant, they are deities of a higher plane that exerted subtle influence in the world.
We're taught that while gods are powerful entities, they are subjected to the same laws that govern the universe as us mortals. Some may wonder, even I dread to think, that there exist higher beings than they.
Vessyra scowls at her brother, "You are tactless and without manners. Reign yourself in before I silence your flippant mouth myself."
My mouth hangs open. Who knew the Goddess of Love and Lust was so aggressive. Or rather in this case, dealt with godly familial problems with violence.
Demos pinches a thumb and index finger together over his mouth, and then proceeds to quite literally zip his mouth. Undeterred by Vessyra's threats, his wide, crescent grin still lingers as though to taunt her.
This is surreal. It doesn't seem to register for Taurac. He's content stuffing his face full of food. I'm here witnessing history being written.
Vessyra's eyes settle firmly on me, her warm smile brings comfort to my otherwise trembling nerves.
"What my impertinent brother meant was that we were robbed of a promise from a certain witch," she says in an almost harmonic voice.
"By a certain witch, could that be Edith Percouli? I saw the vision, witnessed Edith come back to life after she was made a mangled corpse. Don't tell me that was your doing?" I ask.
Both of them nodded.
"Our magic has waned, and we will disappear once that final spark goes out. Many of us solemnly believed Edith would restore us. This grand apparatus was designed to convey magic into us, instead she redirected its power into herself," Vessyra explained.
Demos unzipped his mouth to speak. "We want you to hang the bitch and finish what she set out to do."
"Why me? Why not someone stronger like Eudora or Mira?" I glance down at the glass of wine, the reflection of my weaker self stares back.
Vessyra appears at my side. Even kneeling, she towers over me. "Because you are kind—"
"And your sex drive is insatiable!" Demos chimes in, interrupting Vessyra who now stares daggers at him.
"Ahem. That is part of it," she says, putting a hand to her face. "You're able to charm others by way of your body, it's as if you are my proxy. You do not know this, but ever since you passed my trial, a piece of my power has been embedded into you. In fact, this strength has already been tapped into once."
"The power that helped me defeat the dracolich. But that power didn't feel divine, if anything it seemed warped!" A mixture of fear and astonishment wells up within me.
Thinking back to my darker form, how I was so easily able to sever life, terrifies me.
Demos comes behind me and clenches my shoulders with ten gangly fingers. His touch is frigid, a stark contrast to Vessyra's presence.
"That, my dear, is pride's doing. My stones are like oil and water to Vessy's power, you will just have to juggle them to find the perfect balance," he responds.
"What exactly is Vessyra's power?" I ask her.
Vessyra walks over to my other side where Taurac is sitting, chowing into a roasted boar's leg. She strokes his head and he doesn't seem to mind one bit. The look she gives to him, even me, is one of affection. Like a mother gives to her children.
"By love and lust, you siphon a portion of their magic by reaching coitus with another. And because you ingested a soul stone, that magic is stored into it," she answers.
It takes a few seconds for her words to register in my head.
"Did… Did you turn me into a succubus?!" I cry out.
Demos backs away and returns to his seat, laughing.
"Please, you are nothing like those foul demons. You are something greater," Vessyra answers, trying to calm me down.
It seems like every decision I made has played into their hands. Whether I like it or not, I've been embroiled in the gods' proxy war against mankind— or rather, Edith in particular.
I wonder how Mira and Belle will take the news that I've been championed by gods to do battle.
"Fine. As long as the gods have no ill-intentions, I'll restore you. But first, I want to know where my friends are," I demand.
"Why, they are dining alongside us!" Demos exclaims.
I glance down the table to find both Mira and Belle sitting next to each other. They have blank expressions on them, seemingly not all there in the head. I run up to them and try to shake them awake, but they don't respond.
"They are like that for their own sake. If they were to lay eyes on our forms, it would burn out their retinas," Vessyra says.
She states that as a matter of factly, yet I can see them just fine. Is it their power that dwells inside me that protects me?
There is one thing they didn't address. I promised the High Priestesses and their people that I would restore their lands. Eudora has plans to dismantle the towers completely to flourish the whole of Talmora with magic again.
But it sounds to me like Vessyra and Demos want that magic for themselves.
"How much of this magic will be going to the gods?" I ask cautiously.
There is a glimmer in their eyes, like a thief laying eyes on someone's pouch of gold. Even they could not hide their very mortal-like greed. I knew right then that whatever answer they were going to give me, isn't what I want to hear.
Vessyra's hands clasp around my cheeks. From just her touch, it feels as though I'm being lifted onto a cloud. Bliss envelopes me from all sides.
"I understand my worshippers' plight. Humanity and demi-humankind will continue, but if the gods perish, we are gone for good." Vessyra's words come out not like an explanation, but like an admonishment, warning me not to disobey her.
I swallow hard the retort stuck in my throat, thinking better than to respond with any attempts to reason with a god. Their morality is not tempered by virtues, simply that they exist as greater beings than the rest of us.
"So where's the exit room? I have to sever this tower's flow of magic traveling to Edith, but I can't do that while I'm stuck here."
For the first time, the two gods share a glance other than one filled with spite and derision for each other. They rise from their seats and make their way to the only door in this chamber.
I have Taurac carry Mira and Belle, and we follow close behind.
When the door flies open, I'm battered by dry winds that robs my throat of moisture. A bleak and barren landscape of obsidian crags stretches as far as I can see. Above it, just as somber as the ground, is a black sun with a burning ring that casts an unnatural red backdrop across the sky.
Demos steps forward and throws his hands out to his sides. "Welcome to this tower's forged world. Rife with demons and hellspawns that scoured your world in Crimson Wars."
"Unfortunately, we cannot accompany you," Vessyra confesses. "Zertos, a greater demon rules this world, and we make shelter here only by his amusement. His castle lies at the other end, and within it, should be your way out, as well as the tether to sever this tower's magic line."
"What can you tell me about Zertos?" I ask her, my scholarly mind hungry to see my first demons in person.
"He's a fat one, gorged himself on this world's magic, and has more appendages than he knows what to do with. The intrepid knights are there with him. Handle them as you see fit," Demos answers with disgust.
The knights he mentions must be the Order of Piety. So they did enter the tower after all. If they and the demons are working together, breaching Zertos' castle will be tougher than I think.
Taurac and I step out into the desolate plains, and immediately the dark star's heat beats down on us like standing next to a furnace. The shuddering doors behind us begin to close. Demos waves to us goodbye, and Vessyra stands as still as a statue, like parents seeing us off.
"Don't forget our deal," Demos says as the doors close shut.
Deal.
They make it sound so harmless.
Save the gods, and let the demi-human kingdoms of Talmora starve. Or, let the gods die, and preserve the lives of tens of thousands of demi-humans.
Was there no in between?
Why did I have to make this decision? What would Eudora do?
A thick tongue brushes my cheek. Taurac grunts and gestures forward to the long road ahead of us. Tall, black spires of stone, the howls of unrecognizable creatures in the distance, and a damning decision I'm forced to make await us. Had I known we were going to set off into a place like this, I would have eaten my fill of pork, too.
But what happened to her d*ck??
I at least hope the goddess of Life and Lust isn't an ass but I feel like I'll be disappointed...