Chapter 47: Of Gods And A Fork

Sunday. It’s almost fitting that I’m doing this today, although I don’t think the day has the same meaning here as it did on Earth… Well, what little meaning it has these days.

In front of me is the temple. It’s a large, decorated building without being over the top. In every pillar, arch and window you can see the work and care that went into the construction. And, most likely, the money.

The front area is a place of worship, with many shrines dedicated to each god, most of them tended to by a dedicated member of the clergy. Behind that are some rooms were other clergymen are tending to a few injured or ill people. Behind that there are small rooms, presumably where some of the clergy stay, and then a small training area where some paladins and young men and women are sparring and practising magic.

I float in through the open doors and move towards an unoccupied altar, one bearing the symbol of a mountain.

The priest raises an eyebrow as he sees me approach, obviously unaccustomed to flying cutlery. “This is an unusual sight – someone coming through a remote magic tool?”

“You can think of it like that if you like. I have some questions about gods in general, do you have some time?” I ask.

He nods. “Of course, ask away. I’m here to help.”

“I’ll be honest, I don’t know much about the gods, so I’ll start with something simple.” I admit. “All these shrines in here, is there one here for every god?”

“All the good ones, so to speak, and most of the more neutral gods; those that might not get along with the other gods exactly but don’t do any harm.” The priest nods. “The darker, less friendly gods don’t have a place here.”

“Right.” I say in understanding. “So, who decides who gets to have a shrine and who doesn’t?”

“Well, the gods themselves I suppose.” The priest muses. “I’ve heard that any priest or devotee wanting to build a new temple gets handed a list from their god. If there were to be one missing, well, who would want to be the one who has to answer to a scorned god? But I’ve not heard of anything like that actually happening before, so who can say?”

“What sort of idiot would want to piss off a god?” I ask rhetorically. “Anyway, someone told me that the stars each represent the gods. Is that all of them, or sort of the same situation?”

“Much the same.” He nods. “But of course, those are built by the gods themselves instead of us.”

“The sun and moon?” I continue the line of questions.

The priest strokes his chin. “I don’t know if any god in particular created those… I have heard among the other priests, although I can’t say for sure whether it is said literally or symbolically, that the sun is the meeting place of the gods.”

I take a moment to take in what he’s told me and think about what I should ask next. Nothing much concrete so far, but in a sense I hadn’t expected anything of the sort.

“Alright, so going away from the sky, gods have… aspects?” I try and find the right words. “Things they represent or something like that? I’ve heard of a god of death, shields, farming…”

“That’s right. Most gods have a single skill, thing, or even ideal that they represent. Sometimes they even overlap, like the gods of combat. Other gods have multiple.” The priest gestures to the altar beside him. “Stigunder, the god I follow, is the god of adventure and exploration. Of venturing into the unknown. He’s often popular with, well, adventurers and explorers.”

“And are gods with more… Aspects, more powerful?” I ask.

His smile turns awkward. “Well, who could say which gods are more or less powerful other than they themselves? It’s not as if anyone has ever seen two gods fighting.”

“You don’t know anything at all?” I say with some disappointment.

He scratches his cheek in embarrassment. “Well, I… It’s not something that’s considered in good form to ask about. But if you must know, then very well. When people talk about ‘powerful’ gods, they are usually referring to one of the older gods, with one of the widest domains. For example…”

The priest points across the room to another altar. “Do you see that altar, the one with the symbol of a dagger? That is the altar of the god of death. People often pray to him at funerals, the anniversary of a loved one’s death, after wars, sometimes even just when one of the livestock is sickly. Which, put together, is very often. Hermenegild is probably one of the oldest and most powerful gods.”

“Older gods? What do you mean, ‘older’?” I ask, confused.

“I don’t know, it’s just how the gods refer to other gods sometimes.” He shrugs. “Maybe they just came into being earlier than the other gods. Death is a fact of life, after all, always has been. More so than the domains of many other gods. Before magic, before war, before exploration and fishing and farming, there was life, and there was death.”

I ask some more questions, but while the priest provides quite a bit of information about their god’s ideals and personality, as to specifics of the whats, wheres, whys and hows of the gods, he’s almost as clueless as me.

“I think that’s about all the questions I have.” I conclude finally. “Thanks for standing around and answering all my questions. I think it’s helped me understand the gods a bit better.”

“You’re welcome. I hope you come again, though I would appreciate if next time your questions were a bit simpler.” The priest admits.

My apologies, sir, but sometimes questions burn within me, and you were one of the few that could answer them.

…I leave that reply unsaid, and head over to the altar of the god of death that he had referred to earlier. This will be a long shot, to say the least, but at least the question of whether there will be any reply will stop lingering in my head.

“Do you mind telling your god, ‘The fork asks why?’” I ask the priest in front of the altar.

He sighs. “Alright, but I should let you know that he hardly replies to anyone, let alone the millionth person wanting to know why a loved one has passed.” He closes his eyes, and a good minute passes in silence.

“Nothing.” He shrugs finally.

“No worries.” I say. “Thanks for trying.”

With everything I had wanted to do done, I leave the temple and return to the academy.

---

I create a small flame and snuff it out. Create it again, and snuff it out again. Create, destroy. On, off. I’m more doing it out of habit while I’m thinking than for any particular reason. Forming magic formations has almost become second nature at this point.

Things are going well, I think. I’m getting close to getting the Aerus language to expert, my last base elemental language. Development of the next version of my eye is progressing gradually, and my understanding of several schools of magic increases by the day. And yet…

 

 

Mana control is still stagnating. It’s increasing, but incredibly slowly. I know Master proficiency exists, and even that there’s something beyond that, but at this rate it’ll practically take decades or more. In my expert mana control class, I recently learned mana sense and had hoped that it might be that push I needed.

 

 

No dice. It’s certainly something different, a more instinctive than literal perception of mana, but it hasn’t changed anything. I’m missing something. I know it, I can feel it… I just don’t know what.

My mind turns in circles, going over everything I’ve ever seen or heard about magic and mana, from magic missile to portals. I consider the latter for a while, intrigued about the meaning or method behind the twisting door in space, but fail to learn or perceive anything new from them.

I sigh internally. I feel like hitting my head against a wall right now, but I don’t think it would do much to either me or the wall. Staring dumbly at the fire, I let my thoughts wander; I don’t feel like doing anything in particular right now.

The flames swirl, flicker and bob, sway and waver, my mana trickling slowly away. It dances in the heat as I look at it, through it, without seeing it. Not paying much attention at all to this most ordinary of magical flames.

“Oh. I’m an idiot.” I mutter in realisation as I refocus my vision on the fire, simultaneously scanning through some of my memories.

 

Although a bolt of triumph shoots through me at the message, I’m more disappointed in myself that it took this long. I have excellent understanding and control of mana, yes. But only in a vacuum, so to speak. Ironically the reason it took me so long was that I focused too much on mana itself.

I know how mana congregates and splits apart, how it flows in the air, which materials it flows through with difficulty or ease… But I hadn’t spared a single thought before now as to how it might be impacted by other forms of energy.

Does the mana conductivity of a material increase if it is heated? Does it decrease? What about if electricity is flowing through the material? What about if radiation is present? Sound waves? Ki? Psi? How do they all interact?

It’s as if a dam of possibilities has broken open upon me. Whereas before I had no clue how to further my understanding of mana, now it feels as if there is too much, so many possibilities and questions to explore that my mind is overwhelmed.

I laugh aloud, possibly traumatising my roommates from the shock. Excitement and glee floods my mind as I consider where to go next. It really is true what they say, the more you know, the more you know you don’t know.

Understanding how mana interacts with different forms of energy will also deepen my understanding of those energies simultaneously. And rather conveniently, I’m uniquely capable of performing such experiments, possessing the ability to utilise mana, psi and ki by myself. I can use fire magic, and there are resources available for me to learn ice and lightning magic as well.

I don’t doubt that there are some forms of energy I can’t control – divine energy, for one – or even know about, but for now I have plenty to consider. I won’t need to wonder how to improve in mana control for quite a while, I think.

Mana control is the cornerstone of all magic, so this improvement… it’s not insignificant. I’ll be able to form and activate formations faster, and control them better with less effort. And this new ability as well, before I would attract nearby mana passively, even actively through meditation. But now I can directly control ambient mana within half a metre of my body. Can I interfere with other’s spellcasting in this area? Form spells with ambient mana, perhaps? I’ll have to see.

Knowledge enough to explore for lifetimes… Can anyone truly discover it all?

---

“Are you not going to say something?” The high elf Faida asks.

Having been immersed in watching the sunset, the question causes me some confusion. “Is there something to be said?”

“Usually by now you would have asked me a favour or tried to buy me with gifts.” She says, sighing. “Or to sweet talk me, or… Well, something.”

“Your life sure sounds like fun.” I muse sarcastically. “I hope you have some friends and family you can trust to speak to about things, or that’s a disaster waiting to happen.”

She looks strangely at me for a moment. “And what of you? Normally rumours of one such as you would spread like wildfire – and yet they are few and far between. Do you speak to no-one of yourself?”

There’s a moment of silence, and I sigh. “No, not really. I try sometimes but it’s always been hard for me to trust people. No fault of theirs, my head’s just never been screwed on right.”

“Nobody? Surely there must be someone you confide in, a family member or close friend?” She asks with some surprise.

“Ah yes, forks are well known for their large families. I remember well the time my sister the tea fork danced with my cousin, the splade. Such a scandal.” I say sarcastically. “No, the only person like that would be Ferdinand. Adventurer friend of mine, we were separated somewhat abruptly.”

“Do you mind if I ask what happened?” She says curiously.

“Sure.” I reply easily. “We were working together with some paladins and priests – there was a necromancer who was basically being mind-controlled and one thing led to another. Turned out there was a demon involved, and I realised there was a portal to hell in the castle. Said demon had just left through it, and I was worried there were other portals, so I followed it through to destroy them. Obviously, that left me stuck in hell.”

“Hell? That is to say, the fabled land of hellfire, demons and death? Then, how did you escape that place?” She asks, surprised.

“Luck, pretty much. Didn’t know anything about hell going into it, other than that there are demons there, and it’s a bad place. Once I was there, I had no clue how to get out. Thinking back, I really should have just killed the demon that created the portals then destroyed the last one from outside of hell.” I sigh. “I wandered around for a little while, stuck near a demon city for a bit hoping to hear of a way to leave… Nothing. Then, well, do you know about Dreyer?”

“Dreyer…” Faida muses. “The space magic teacher that’s in and out of the academy sometimes?”

“That’s the one. When he’s not here, he travels to different worlds.” I explain. “He had the misfortune of being in hell at the time, too. Guess he didn’t have anything to eat with, so he tried to summon a fork. Everything from there was pretty straightforward.”

Her eyebrows furrow. “Of all things, and all places, what are the chances of such a thing occurring?”

“What are the chances that you were born as a royal instead of one of the quadrillions of insects that crawl on and under the earth?” I reply simply. “Stuff like that happens sometimes. You can only thank your lucky stars when it works in your favour.”

---

Looking out over the moonlit ocean atop the lonely mountaintop, Faida speaks a name. “Savoy?”

Tilting her head upwards to look at the sky, she watches as a dot quickly grows in size to the form of a man landing softly nearby with a gentle gust of wind. With a deep bow, he asks, “Lady Faida, is there anything you needed?”

Nodding slightly, she replies, “Is it possible to confirm if there is any truth to anything he has said?”

“His grace, your father, already ordered us to investigate him, actually.” Savoy inclines his head, causing Faida to let out a small sigh. “We couldn’t find out much about him, unusually. And before his enrolment at the academy, nothing at all. We were actually able to confirm that when he enrolled he was accompanied by the master space mage, Dreyer. It’s impossible for us to confirm if he came from hell before that, but I think it is possible, even likely, that he came from another world.”

Faida nods thoughtfully. “It does lend some credence to his words, at least. Thank you for your good work as always, Savoy.”

Savoy bows. “Always a pleasure, Lady Faida. In addition – a thought, if I may?” At Faida’s nod, he continues, “With his grace’s permission, we could include a truth seer among the ground team. While I doubt his grace would be eager to spare one to join my team permanently, short-term assignment ought not to be a problem.”

Faida nods slowly. “Yes, that sounds like an excellent idea. You have my permission to contact father about this.”

Bowing once again, Savoy launches into the air.

“It would be nice to know that someone isn’t lying to get close to me, for once.” Faida mutters, looking gloomily at the moon.

---

“Ah, it is finished. My masterpiece!” I exclaim.

“Oh, you’re finally done with that eye tool thingimajig?” One of my roommates comes over.

“What? Of course not.” I reply in the negative.

“But you just said-”

“I was being theatrical! Moment ruined now. Many thanks.” I huff.

He scratches his head. “Uh…”

“Kidding. Relax. Anyway, yeah I’ve finished the design for my second prototype for my artificial eye magic tool. Theoretically, it should work.” I say happily.

He walks over and looks at the blueprints for a moment before shaking his head. “So what’s the difference between this and the first one? You said something about waves of light, but I don’t get it at all.”

“Well, if I had to explain it simply… This isn’t exactly correct, but compared to the previous eye I made, the one I’m currently using, this new one will have a toggle on it. As well as normal vision, I’ll be able to switch on heat vision.” I explain with relish.

“Heat vision?” He tilts his head. “So, you’ll be able to see heat? Can’t quite picture what that’d be like. What sort of uses would it have?”

“It’ll be like anything with any heat is a light source. The hotter, the brighter. I’d be able to tell roughly how hot something is without having to touch it – not that that I’d be able to tell from that, but you know what I mean.” I say facetiously. “It means I’ll be able to see people in the dark, even if they’re wearing clothes that would make them hard to see. Even if someone’s invisible, depending on how it’s done, I’ll be able to see straight through it.”

“Seriously? Just like that, you can see through invisibility?” He gasps.

“As I said, depends how it’s done.” I verbally shrug. “If the person who developed the spell is aware of it, it’s an easy fix. Even some animals have the same ability, you know. Fact of the matter is that no method of stealth is perfect, no shield can’t be bypassed. You just gotta manage what you can.”

He rolls his eyes. “You say that, but not everyone is here to learn how to fight.”

“Perhaps not, but personally I think everyone should learn at least some basics, something they can use defensively or offensively.” I say. “Even if you don’t go looking for fights, some will come looking for you eventually. And if that happens, you don’t want to be a fish out of water.”

“Maybe.”

“Anyway, I gotta get started on actually making this now. Seeya later.”

“Seeya.”

---

A string of curses greets me as I enter the workshop.

“God damn, why does this thing have to be so fucking complicated? I mean, I know why, but fuck this is ridiculous!” The guy bangs his fist on the bench in frustration.

“Uh… You right there mate?” I can’t help but say, noting that he’s the only person in the workshop at the moment.

Clearly not expecting anyone to be here, he jumps in shock. “Uh… Yeah, fine, fine. Just harder than I was expecting… y’know? Really need to figure this thing out soon.”

“Want me to take a look?” I offer. “A second pair of eyes could offer a new perspective.”

“Ah – no, no, that’s fine.” He stammers, flustered. He seems to think for a moment, then says, “Need to get it done on my own. If the professor thinks I cheated I’d be in a whole lot of trouble, right?”

“Right…” I agree, somewhat perplexed. “Machite, put the stuff down on this bench, thanks.”

I start work on the magic eye mk 2, but I can’t help but pay a bit of attention to the frustrated artificer behind me. The guy just weirded me out a bit. I get being so engrossed in your work that you don’t pay attention to the world around you, but his excuse for not letting me help him was… questionable at best.

Sure, you don’t want to get caught cheating, but there’s no harm in getting a second opinion or a bit of advice. Still, I can’t afford to spare much attention to the guy. I want to make sure I don’t make any mistakes here. To say that I’m a bit excited for this to work… Would probably be an understatement. In fact, so long as this works it means I’ll be able to try and sell the one I’m currently using, and start getting a welcome bit of income.

Money makes the world go round… Well, perhaps not literally, but it is important.

---