"-so it's like this. I summoned you here even though I'm done with my world. Done with being a goddess here. Sorry to say, I don't care enough to keep maintaining it; but I'm not heartless enough to just end it. So; you get to come here and be my proxy deity. Again, sorry ― but I can do nothing more than give you what I would get in this regard."
The sexy voice, which would make for a titillating scene if it weren't so bleak and dismal here, linked to the form of an unknown, unseen girl I cannot see or understand yet, is telling me something depressing.
I cannot even see her, or see around me; but by hearing the voice I can tell she is maybe a couple meters ahead of me, and by maybe the place she is talking, she is a head shorter than me. I just have this sense, a 3D positional awareness, by what I hear. But then from how close she must be, I do smell her scent too ― ugh, not a pleasant smell, is it. Body odors, the least of it. No. More than just body odor, maybe a trace of urine or feces, but mostly ... an erotic smell, like a girl who spends her time doing nothing but masturbating herself or having sex with random entities. I've known the smell in my past life; but it's strange to get the same sense from one who calls herself a goddess.
I cannot even understand her. The logic is just ... alien. She has this world, for one; not just any world, but one she herself created by her own admission, and she is somehow in a position to not be able to handle the mortal world's matters. Just like that; she's dumping it all upon me, for me to manage it? Win or lose?
"W, what-"
She coughs again, more raspy or throaty sounds of phlegm being ejected, spat out somewhere near here, and then resumes with the 'end of discussion' lines.
"It's a done deal, now; I can't take it back, and anyway I don't want it back. Do whatever you can, or whatever you want with the people. Build them up or tear them down, it's all purely your choice. You'll figure it out; you can have my deific space here too, and the systems attached and everything. Not like they're all so valuable, but ― it's all I had either. Lots of things to do to make things work, and some things might be a little broken, or a lot broken; but I don't care. I'm just, done with it."
"But. Why?"
"Moving on up, to bigger and better things. Got more to do in my existence than play around with those selfish humans and more feral monsters doing nothing more than making more babies or planning the ends or beginnings of things. No matter what I try, they cannot or will not improve, to make the world what I wanted it to be, so I'm done. And I can't figure out the systems here anyway, they don't do what I want them to do; so you can try it if you want. All I know is, a gamer from Earth like you should be able to handle it; or at least you probably have more patience than I do right now. You can have it; here, take it from me. You can even get all the DP I would get, if anyone still worships anyone still, so yeah. Goodbye-"
"Wait! D, don't leave me here, naked!"
As a parting shot I hear her exhale, then cloth rustling and something pulled off something else, then the goddess (presumably) threw a piece of fabric at me. I did not see this stained material until it's flying straight at my face, an overwhelming stench ascending my nostrils ― I see only a few centimeters in this darkness, for some reason ― and then POOF left me with the sense she disappeared from view.
"No way-"
Not even a full piece of cloth to wear ... only a simple thing to put around my waist, with fabric to hang loose in front and back. It's stained on the front half, on the inside worn toward the skin, which means she had just worn this too.
"Fuck. All I got is a crappy loincloth!"
Nothing could be heard in answer; she really must be gone from here.
I could continue crying over my 'presumable misfortune'; or I could actively try to do something about it. Well first, maybe I should at least put on the little item and ... ugh, my little member is now reacting to her wetness still on the cloth ... explore this space?
She did say, this realm is a deity's space for the mortal world, didn't she? What about systems? How do I deal with the world, too?
The girl did not even tell me her name, so I cannot properly curse her out at all. I can only think generally cursing thoughts.
Or maybe this status is how she wanted it to be ― for her to leave, before I could properly ask any deeper, probing questions on the world or her role in it? Or, how or why could it be so broken or she is unable to do a damned thing about it, but I'm supposed to?
I seem to still be in this blank void of seeing or feeling anything but the inky blackness of, well, a 'void' around me. Until at least, I keep walking one direction ― bumping right into a solid wall of force.
"Ow, my nose-"
Not broken, not bleeding, but it still smarts. I was walking at a good pace, too ― as if I could actually get out of the inky black space from walking at a good speed. And at least my dick wasn't sticking out to receive the full force of impact, or-
I don't want to think about what damage could happen to the little thing, in here.
"What the hell I just stepped in-"
Something wet, something yucky sticking to my foot. Spit, or pee, or girl cum ― eh let's not think about it right now.
Feeling all around me, I sense now the invisible constraints of the area, a firm wall without matter to define it, in which this might be a 'room' or something. I can follow it, as if trying to find my way blind outside a room of darkness, which it's like now to me ― though for sure the goddess saw all in this space? Makes sense how she could just leave, without hitting the wall too. It means, maybe it's something I can 'enable' or 'turn on' like in the games I've played, toying with the preferences to my liking.
Well then ... if I get this whole space, all of the systems, and even the world for free ... then hell yeah I'm gonna use them! Maybe even fix them all to prove someone really can manage it!
But wait. "Use" as in use up and dispose, like the goddess just did, I'm not gonna do. Might be my only existence, for some time; so I'm gonna make this count, too.
AAH!
Found it.
A proper 'door', of a kind.
At a touch on a certain place, I felt instead of saw some kind of movement in this wall, and I almost fell forward into the new opening. Walking forward, sight quickly returned to me as I passed through the doorway itself.
From inside this new room, I can see all the detail of the former room too, in all its inglorious shame. The last room I'll call 'outside' and this one 'inside' as if it even resembles a building in nature, which it doesn't. But at least this place is a starting point in which I can organize my tactical thoughts.
I ... don't understand. A dirt floor? Dirt? I mean, DIRT!?
The goddess. She did no housekeeping in her own space, it looked filthy. And felt squishy, in places, as if what was on the floor was more than just dust and dirt-
Shit.
It might at least be a stone floor, beneath all these layers of grime, but it seems like she's just let it go, let it go-
It's a room, anyway, a common one room structure like one might formerly see in a 'log cabin' catalog. Rustic, wooden log walls, their gaps filled with hardened plaster; but through them I still feel a slight chill of the exterior ... the cosmos from beyond this 'deific realm' maybe? If this room is a deific space, at least it's keeping me from getting my bits and pieces ... frozen off of me.
In one corner, ahead and to the right from where I entered, lay a bed, all messy and filthy too. Not much to say about it, but it explains why the goddess sneezed so much; she's probably getting ill, herself. A fucking goddess can get fucking sick from ... whatever she did? But a mere lamp stand next to the bed held only the one small lamp, and a book, and a ... oh my god is this object a pink dildo. Explains probably what she did while alone, all those centuries in here. Gotta pass time somehow-
To the other far corner, ahead and to the left, is a cozy little kitchen and dining area. Simple, but likewise dirty. Dirty kitchen meant dirty food which meant dirty things to eat, and so ... blah. I do not want to think so much on this.
Between bedroom and kitchen areas, a pair of 'walls' made of a couple of library styled shelves, books and scrolls stuffed into them ― made this part of the room a simple library. Probably all good things to learn, and to put to use as if the goddess never did, for her mortal world. But ... not even a chair and desk to sit at, to read? What did she do, grab a book and jump into her filthy bed and ... um probably want to handle the books with caution too.
So ... for now I'll think of the doorway I'm still standing by as the 'south' end of the room; and think the kitchen, library, and 'master bedroom' bits are on the 'north' side. Makes sense; I always did like my bedroom to be on the east side of a house, to see the sun streaming in for the morning. So I'll assume the goddess also set it up this way. If she were to get any sunlight here; maybe not, if she is as sick as I think she was. Just hearing her distressed voice, trying to hide it but never being able to do so from my keen hearing was enough to confirm it. What kind of a doctor would it take to cure a goddess, and how much would it cost her-
Straight to my left, the southwest corner, straight south of the kitchen, it's all ... blank. As if left completely unfinished, for now, as if the former tenant of this place had no thoughts on what to do. (But I do know why, she's had her fingers involved in other efforts.) If I can at least get a handle on what else needs to be done here, maybe I can setup a control space or office. Some way to monitor and/or control the world and its resident cultures and peoples?
But also on the south side, to my left and right, I see other few sections which could be useful. On the right, in the southeastern corner, the toilet and bath and OH DEAR GODS OF SPACE AND TIME it looks worse than the shabby mess of a bed. Though if the dildo on the nightstand is any clue how she passed the time, it's no wonder all those centuries of pissing or shitting or squirting various body fluids all over the place ... what the hell.
I may have been a NEET ― call me what you will, a loner and sis-con and chronic masturbator, if you must know anything more ― but dammit at least I was a clean NEET-
It's a matter of pride for me; a person should not leave random body fluids like this.
At least I see indication this room, and the darkness I just left, are not the only two rooms here. To the west and east I also see doors in the middle of those walls, leading off to ... somewhere more unknown. Hmm. Too much to explore, without knowing just how to deal with things.
Moving into the room, seeing what's here, I can also now know she didn't clean up because she herself had no cleaning supplies. Probably no cleaning or sanitation type spell or ability, either.
Then this makes me wonder about her more personal of values. The dildo here is ... icky, still wet, sticky with fluids. Toss it! And the slimy greasy bedding too! But no trash bin to speak of; so where to put it, I do not know.
The book on the nightstand ... some kind of personal diary, the only indication the girl may have had any thought worthy of being recorded. Hmm, maybe worth a read ... if I could stomach the fact of its probably raunchy content. Or maybe she did somehow start out all ignoble but somehow got sidetracked? Only time to see later.
The little library ... ugh, more than half of those books are sappy steamy romance trash! Even worse than the kind some little sister liked to read so much! Trash them, too. Hmm this one might be a 'signed original' but I do not care to keep it. When I get a way to dispose of all this, they're going bye-bye, good riddance, we'll have none of that trash here anymore.
Kitchen, perhaps one of the first things to properly clean ... or is it the bathroom. Or, bed. I'm hungry and maybe have to pee too; at least thankful I don't have to do the sitting stuff just yet. At least not on that toilet!
Well okay, maybe not literally nothing to clean with; the kitchen does have one last scrap of cloth I can use as a washcloth, and a pan I can fill with water to carry along as cleaning water.
Scrub, scrub, scrub. An hour passed. Scrub, scrub. Another hour, and then a third, of doing nothing but the same thing. Scrub, scrub, scrub, scrub.
All the while, streaming bitter invectives at the unknown, unnamed former inhabitant of this place.
Finally almost to the point of exhaustion, I look around to see, hey this might be passable, for a kitchen. At least the surfaces upon which I might want to prepare foods, or sit at, or place my hands upon, are clean. I am not going to be picky any more; I will have to just ... endure the rest, and hope I got it all, wherever the former goddess' fluids might have landed. Not even sure if the goddess tried hitting the kitchen from her bed in her ejecta, but by some streaks through the library parts, it seemed possible; I mean even look at those books, many of them are stained along the spines and deteriorating too. Or maybe she just sprayed her stuff in any which way she'd turned when she got off. "Paint the walls the color of girl cum' ... and looking up 'painting the ceiling too'. Don't look up, don't look up, it's not ready to ooze down to the floor, it's not I tell you-
I'd got ready to pour this messy water down the drain now ... but first had to confirm the presence of a drain pipe, below the sink.
... yeah. Or at least I hope this was a pipe which carried away the waste water. I'm gonna hope, and ... believe it too. Believe it!
The water poured, but did not drain, just sitting there, the fluids I'd meticulously dumped into the sink just mixing and looking far from appetizing now.
"Well crap. What now."
I hear a sound from the blank corner. I've thought I heard something for some minutes now; then let's confirm it.
Stepping into the corner which seemed empty where I could have swore the sound came out from, I suddenly saw. In the same way as coming in from the outside, the sight of a more appropriate control desk. But at the same time, sight of the rest of the inside room fell away to similar darkness happened. Not so filthy here, as ... maybe the goddess did not 'come' here much.
Okay. Bad humor. I will stop, I do promise myself, I will. Someday-
But the one good thing I see, is another entity in this space.
Not a physical entity; but the glowing 'holographic' sense of another being, perhaps running from the equipment I see in places. Hmm; from the appearance of this space, could it be ... maybe Earth 1950s or 60s tech? Diodes and resistors and dials and sliders-
Which might have been the only sort of 'system' the goddess could afford ... figuring on how she otherwise managed (or mismanaged) her realm and her world.
But the entity. The form was not one depicted with the smooth skin of a humanoid, but one which more resembled the fuzzy television signal of Earth long gone ... but still one which got to me. 'She' was a beauty, not the common younger sibling type of beauty I'd become known for liking, but the 'hot damn' kind of beauty for me to say 'I could fall in love with her'.
Not even pure human in appearance; she appeared as an elf girl, pointed ears laying at an angle, maybe late teens if she were human, but no telling how long she existed this way to know her sentience level. If this tech was any indication, not very high chances of getting much conversation from her.
"Hello?" I offered softly.
"SysssSteM BrEAkpoINT."
The image flashed with those stuttered words as a mouth tried to keep up with the generated voice coming out of the wall ― the form disappeared, and then seemed to 'reboot' the whole realm. I'm in darkness, so thoroughly blinded.
But slowly, the light level in this corner ― no maybe throughout the whole room beyond too ― raised, bit by bit, until back to a comfortable brightness. Dim enough, but I would not stumble as long as I can see all around me.
"Mistress-?"
Not so stuttered of wording now, the face only slowly looked around, confused.
"Your mistress is not here. Your mistress has left. She brought me here, then she left."
I'm sorry to say this, but at least the entity deserves to know.
A blank look resumed on the face, and the form more or less stayed floating in the air here.
Aah, that item against the back wall ― seriously, the goddess used it to prop up the broken leg of the electrical cabinet? ― I see what I'm looking for, the 'instruction manual'.
"Okay then, let's get settled into reading, and see if we can get this place working right."
The holographic form might have almost smiled. I might only be imagining things.
Reading through the manual and confirming the state of each and every thing, the knobs and sliders and controllable things, I see how what the goddess was intending, just would not work. No wonder she wasn't getting anywhere with this setup; she had it all backwards. A system like this, just did not work 'out of the box', but required finesse, and constant working with it.
The 'sales spiel' at the beginning of the tome indicated the system might 'upgrade' along with the effort its user puts into the system; and the wise master or mistress will get out what they put in. A clever way of its developers saying, 'if you end up with nothing, it is because you put forth no effort yourself'. Ha; they also meant, 'you get what you deserve'.
The manual instructions said it may take an hour to initialize and go through the steps; I almost think the goddess must have thought she could have a tech team install it, and it would be good to go. I'm hungry, but I'm more or less determined to survive the hunger pains ... while this system is being 'properly' managed by me now. Each step will take input from me, and I have a long way to go ― but it will be worth it, even if none of the results include a domestic skill or ability.
But ... I would much prefer getting a cleaning skill, to not getting one-
Time passed, I eventually completed the setup. And for all my effort ... nothing got granted to me as a boon.
Okay, not nothing at all; but a slight upgrade to a late 1970s or even early 80s era console only helped alleviate my fatalistic mood somewhat. Better graphics in its holography, though small imperfections showed; smoother voicing as the entity gave a test to speak a response to the instructed testing; and ... nothing more. Maybe she 'thought' more easily than the scrambled state the former resident left this entity? Still not up to the AI levels I desired to have again at my side.
Me, a gamer, was what the goddess called me? Shyeah, in my younger days ... but more recently the press had called me also master roboticist. I liked that; "Master Roboticist David Percival Schmidt". Or, "DPS" as my lifelong friends called me, since the earliest gaming days.
And for it, I had the patience and knowledge to somehow rebuild this system, if needed, but ... only if I would have a proper tech lab again. Wouldn't even have to be the three story structure I'd maintained for decades; even the spare bedroom I'd started building in at first would do.
What was the overall current draw, to project such a thing? My more logical mind of many decades wandered a small bit, while I still considered the beauty of this form. And how each ampere was a waste in being shown so brilliantly; when instead a more rechargeable physical form would draw less power until the time of recharge. Might make this system work more smoothly, less resource intensive, if I could build a body for her, like I had done for my pet project of the past-
Having the patience of an octogenarian's mind to ignore this firm erection tenting up the loincloth on this now fifteen year old body, I kept at fixing and repairing what small things I could, only fully ensuring proper connections were being made. Hard to do without a proper set of test leads and a voltage tester; kind of have to use my own fingers and hope the voltage in those parts don't get me first.
Finally. Done. Press this, one, last, button-
Bzzt-
Oh crap, did I just kill it-
Whatever happened inside of the hard tech, seemed to burn out all the light in this space, maybe elsewhere in the deity's realm too.
Uh no, I moved a bit, and then the lights came back on. Lights all over the panels were blinking like furious things, indicating startup sequences and tests were being done and passed, but this occurred so fast I could not read the light statuses as they occurred. Probably wouldn't do me any good even if I could; I'd have to wait and see if this machine or system would boot up.
In the earlier setup work, I had properly put in my own credentials as part of the process, replacing any mention of the former goddess, whose name I now knew to be Gabi. Such a simplistic name, as if that's all she had to her existence, two simple syllables and done. Pretty much how she'd lived her life-
-unlike me. I may have started out selfish, but sure did end with a bang, and one which spread prosperity to humanity. Even my first generation thinking machines in humanoid forms were boons to human culture as I knew it. Sometimes domestic or industrial labor, sometimes 'marital aid' for the intimate needs of a lonely guy or gal, sometimes business or clerical assistant ― I had done all of this, and had not bragged at all.
Well in this life I'd still not brag, but I'd be certain to not be like Gabi. Even if I jerked it as an old man, or used some of my own creations for the simple enjoyment, I'd still not let it sidetrack me ... so as to keep me from managing a world!
The form was back, slight better resolution on the holography, but still not up to human equivalent. Not that it's important, if I were able to do what I wanted and build a proper body for this form, why would I need the holographic one? Good to have it as a backup, but not something to rely upon, for the main work.
"Master-" said a much less choppy voice, no hint of stilted cadence, although the voice can still be heard as 'generated' by the trained ear, of which I might still be one. "What are your instructions?"
"Please tell me your name and status."
"Name is ... Luria. Status is ... operating."
I thought so. Nothing further to report than this? Even my own first gen model said more than this little blurb!
"Aah okay. Then, what systems are available for me to learn and use?"
"No systems available to learn; master knows all of the systems this construct knows."
"What ... how is this possible-"
"Former mistress has given control of this domain over to master. With it, came the knowledge and awareness of how to use them, so no learning is needed."
"Oh."
If the entity had more to add, nothing else was said. Perhaps at this stage of technological development, the intelligence could not say more, because it could not yet intuit his thought processes.
The instruction manual did say, system upgrades could also be bought by visiting the main store through the deity's shopping space. But where or how to get there, were thoughts past my concerns.
"You are aware though of the difference between the past mistress and the current master?"
"Yes, master. Current master is performing maintenance upon system equipment which former mistress did not do."
This detail is all? This much work, is the only difference between us? I want to shout at Gabi but ... eh.
But wait. If a cleaning skill or ability exists ... do I have it?
While Gabi did not eject her cum quite this far from her bed, this corner still had its share of dust and dirt. Focusing on one spot in the corner, I thought hard and cast some form of 'cleaning' thoughts its way.
Guess what. It does work, sort of.
Problem is, I cleaned a maybe ten centimeter diameter circle of wall, and already I feel drained. But at least satisfied with this much effort!
"Do you also have the use of these systems, or their abilities or skills?"
"Yes master."
"Do you have enough energy to perform a cleaning operation, such as what I just tried?"
"Yes master."
"Please do this, for the rest of this interior living space, and the room I came from."
"Master. Sorry but not enough DP remain to clean the specified rooms."
"DP?"
"DP ― a common abbreviation for 'deity point' or the plural of it. Definition. Noun. Points which are attributed to a deity, who may use them as desired. Common sources are from a deity's worshippers who give it through various deity honoring activities. Common uses are for a deity to improve him or her self; to upgrade the deity's space or constructed world; to summon or call forth more of the world's inhabitants; or to give boons to mortal beings who worship the deity."
This sort of fit; I recalled how earlier the goddess also said something like I could 'get all the DP', so ... somewhere inside the system, some worship must be coming in.
"How many deity points are currently held? And what amount are coming in or going out?"
"Master; former mistress left here with exactly one DP, and twenty DP income per day, but twenty two DP expenses per day. At the same moment of mistress leaving, however, her expenses vanished except the one DP for managing this space as a required cost, leaving only nineteen DP gained per day."
So, in other words ... the problem with the DP income/expense ratio was Gabi herself, causing the drain. Yeah ... a dead end world, with her here; but now she's gone, I can gain some clean space-
"And, how many deity points would be needed for my query for cleaning?"
"Master. Unknown. Observation for outside of this room has been terminated by mistress."
Yeah I bet; probably the only preventive measure against DP spending Gabi thought to try.
"Then what about only in this room, how many DP to clean up just the bed corner, or just the toilet corner, or just the kitchen corner?"
"Master. This space is arranged twelve meters wide by six meters long; if divided up into the six zones, then each zone is twelve square meters of floor space. At the projected cost of one DP per square meter, it will consume more than half a day's DP income for one section. Additional modifiers do add or subtract from the cost. With the effort master has done in the kitchen area, this drops the cost of the kitchen zone to ten DP; while in the toilet and bath area, the cost is as high as twenty DP, a whole day's worth of DP income."
"What, I'm supposed to wait around in this filth for a day! I won't do it. There has to be some way-"
"Master. The remaining options are: raise the DP income by affecting the followers to believe more; or draw in more followers so the income comes from more persons; or cut expenses, which has already been done to a large extent. Or, instead of the 'wait around' part, master could transfer to the world, and walk around in it for a short time."
"Transfer, where?"
"Master. Observation and choosing the destination are not possible at this time, due to the limited DP and the costs associated with transfer; only enough remains for a one-way transfer. But note, the transfer will still place you within the vicinity of a supporter or worshipper of the former mistress; thus a means to connect with, and improve relations toward, a source of DP income."
I sigh, the only real thing I can do in this moment.
Even if I just fidget or tinker with the machinery of the system for a few more minutes, by now my stomach is starting to protest the lack of food. Nourishment. Something, anything, even some packet of the processed stuff from Earth might be okay in this place. But only if it's the pre WW3 stuff, from before when all the bombs fell. I'd kill for the old mac n cheese right now-
"How many food items can I obtain?"
"Master, the kitchen has a refrigeration unit which still contains food items-"
"No I've seen those, and I'm not sure I can trust their edibility. I just, wanted to know, can some food be summoned or something?"
"Yes master, from the deity's shopping network. Here is a list."
Before me, a gamelike dialog representing some virtual store is presented to me. But strangely, it's showing foods which are costing as high as three and four DP.
"Filter the list by those which I can afford, with my current DP amount."
"Master. The list is already so filtered."
"Huh? Explain, Luria. Earlier you said the income was netting now nineteen DP per day; yet as the former deity had only just left here a few hours ago, how could it be a new day so soon?"
"The daily income is expressed as an integer for the daily total; while the actual income is metered out in fractional portions per minute. You may see a gain of more than three quarters of a point per hour, but divided into much smaller quantities per minute or so. Also, because most deities' DP income is so high, the list filter will allow for a brief 'negative balance' of up to one hour of DP gained."
Clearly, Luria was capable of doing the math, and allowing for how much had been gained now- aah yeah, in the lower corner of the same screen, it showed a counter of the current DP available for spending. He should have looked at this first.
I'd been here ... well maybe four hours plus a small part of another one, and this left me with over three and a half DP, showing even to the second decimal place. A mere pittance to what a goddess should have had, if she managed things properly by now.
"Master. Latent senses within the world lead me to believe, the strongest worshipper of the former mistress is being attacked, now."
Oh no- If I lose so much as even one person who worships the goddess ― and therefore my livelihood ― I may end my existence for this world too.
"Send me there!"
"But a targeted transfer will consume the remaining points, and also Master is not armed-"
"Send me!"
Light wrapped around me, and within seconds, I see myself in a forest scene.
Watching, as two small green creatures attack another.
Two males, goblins their status show them to be, are beating with a club, a female goblin who holds nothing but a simple book, clothes ripped by her tormenters. The girl ― this is my largest supporter?
"Halt!" I yell, without concern for race.
The two clubbers spin fast, targeting me. The anger at possibly losing my first supporter is with me, and without even thinking so much, I raise an arm to deflect the inbound swings. One of the clubs has broken in contacting my arm with a large snap; the other cracked in a strange way. Hmm. Maybe a latent boon from being handed Gabi's authority?
Both males back away, hissing at the perceived difference in their power to mine.
"Why are you attacking her?"
Both continue to glare; but the one on the left, whose club was broken outright, mutters, "King say kill, we kill."
"This girl is protected by me now!"
A much deeper rumble of power behind me-
King?
W, w, what k, kind of k, king-
Turning slowly, I note the goblin king, which is now standing, almost to my own height.
I mean, I'm not short as a human, I never was. Even as a teenager, I was thin, lanky, bony, but otherwise over the common height for a well fed male fifteen year old. Luria back in the domain seemed a thin bodied form; to be a 'simulated being' she could have been any height really and I would not have cared either way. In contest with those factors, the two clubbers and the girl here were short enough for their head to come up to my navel ... but this king. His eyes already even to my pectorals, his forehead even with my shoulders, but much wider stance and seemingly more muscled. And behind ― a couple goblin princes, half a dozen goblin generals, various lieutenants and sergeants, and a hundred or so goblin soldiers.
He will be a problem, if I have to fight him first ... or fight at all.
"Why save girl-"
"She worships goddess. But goddess left this world, goddess left world to me, to my care. All life in the world, mine to care for. Even you, your life I care for."
"So. Why."
"In whole world, in all races ― this girl ... she supported goddess Gabi the most, of any being, any race. Hope she support me as well."
The king looked hard for a few seconds, between me and the girl, and then chuckled. "Goddess Gabi. Trash Goddess. Always trying to mate with me. DO NOT WANT DEITIES."
"I said. She is gone. She left the world to me. I do not try to 'mate' with you. Only try to protect this girl, here, first."
"Take her, not want her in tribe more longer."
"You throw her out?"
The king rumbled another laugh. "To order her killed means bash her to bloody mess, or slit her throat. Maybe rape her body before or after death, don't care what. She escaped the sword, to let death be quick. So ... bash her is what I say. What, you protect, you take her with?"
"I am willing to do this. You willing to let her live, to let her go with me to goddess' place?"
"If goddess ever did exist, if goddess ever did have place to be but here trying to mate me-"
"Hey I see your status, the status of your race too. If you goblins mate with any creature who spawns children with you, why you so against her mating with you?"
"No matter how much mating, she not pregnant, she not give tribe children. Says her children would be too powerful for this world. So, tired of her, tired of claims of being goddess when no proof but fun time of mating, and seed all over floor."
So ... she did that here, too-
"Then ... girl have belongings back in tribe she can go get, take with her? Some items which are hers to take? Allow her to get them and go with me? Any other goblin too?"
"Kika-" the king called to the goblin girl, so naming her. "Go, get only what you carry of your things. Say proper goodbye to mother and father. Then, leave. Anyone else die, if they go too."
The girl scampered off through the trees without further word but a smile, while I and this goblin army stood here, in a literal face off. But no other goblin moved to follow.
My stomach growled, some goblins laughed nervously, and I explained. "Came here without eating food. Sorry, hungry."
In a second, the king threw a chunk of meat from his own pouch on his waist, and I caught it.
"Dried rabbit meat. Salty, but tastes good. My only gift to you."
I'm so hungry, I'm not going to turn this down; and in a second I'm chewing on the hard dried slab.
Maybe five or ten minutes later, the little goblin girl comes trotting back, slowed down by how much she carries. Maybe four layers of animal hide clothings, an animal hide pouch at each hip also filled with things, one more pouch hanging from each shoulder, and pulling two more pouches from each fist. Damn, this girl knows how to grab all she wants to take.
-but, she's loaded down completely. Together we may not go so far in this world, unless she lets me carry some of this load in her behalf. And if we have to fight or run, she would have to drop most of it, just to survive.
Ignoring the rest of the goblin army ― maybe a dangerous thing to do any other time ― I turn to the little girl and give an introduction.
"Hello. My name is David. You?"
"Kika. You come from goddess Gabi?"
"She called me here, from another place. I am here to find her followers. I do not 'come from' her, no. But she give to me the right to use the worship she gets, to make things better, to help her followers who worship her."
Behind me, the king harrumphed. "Gabi not so kind. Gabi only use you."
"So, used me to bring me here, but she done using me. If she left this world, but left it to me ― am I wrong in fixing what went bad or what she let happen?"
"Pah. I see you fix something for goblin tribe, I worship you too. Not before."
Oh- a promise? Would a goblin king ever follow through on his words?
"You mean what you say? You not just say it but mean it?"
The king's eyes glowed a pale red, an only indicator of his latent ire building. "Goblin king does not lie. Only knows of other races to lie!"
I thought. Something to let the king see, I am not faking this, nor am I- oh. Maybe this?
A faint sense within me, tells me maybe I can use one ability Gabi left to me, to fix an item.
"You see me fix something, then you worship me? This all?"
The glare grew again, but both sides held their ground.
"I fix an item, something you have, a broke thing or something not working well, I fix then you give me honor?"
"Kursk! Bring me axe!" he called behind him. "Be quick!"
At once, a goblin stepped forward, dragging along a warrior's axe, made from perhaps a different race who knew metallurgy or forging. The head of it was half as wide as the goblin was tall; while its height was at least two thirds its width; its thickness was at least as thick as my own wrist. A much more impressive weapon than what any other goblin had now, meaning this weapon is among this tribe's prized possessions, having been taken sometime in the past. It had a gnarled twisted handle, which might shatter or break with the next use. This handle itself might have been hastily cobbled together by their best craftsman, but even this did not do the axe head justice.
But if I fix this, who's to say the king won't try to do away with me? Or who says Gabi's benefits would also protect against such an attack?
Kursk, urged on by the king, came dragging the great axe to me. Trembling ― the little guy actually trembled at my presence. I could only smile, trying to ease the critter's fears.
