Book 2: Chapter 9: Questions & Answers

Book 2: Chapter 9: Questions & Answers

True love is a whisper, and deep hate is a shout. Often the two are intertwined.

- Attributed to the playwright Vlan di Panoli.

It was ironic that the agony I had endured at the hands of my captors in the slave pits gave me the tools to make the fat man, quite literally, spill his guts. With the aid of my healing magic and the judicious use of one of the potions, we had quite a margin of error to work with. Even when one of my companions got a little too enthusiastic in their cathartic questioning, we were able to bring Mr. Vanes back for another round.

According to my magic and confirmed by the man himself, his name was Amon Vanes. The man had confessed to being a priest and mage of the Church of her Divine Radiance, Avaria Goddess of Justice.

Amon Vanes - Mage (Human lvl.18) Health 26/166 Stamina 2/17

Mana 4/18

The lump of lard had impressive magical capabilities, though I doubted he could run a full marathon with his physical attributes. Still, he was of a comparatively higher level than the local mobs. Of interest to me was the fact that he had been able to resist, at least initially, some of my magic. If he had not been so fixated on his own personal glory and had come with the full force of his Church behind him, things might have turned out a little differently. What was pleasing was that, ‘unlearned’ as I was in the Control, the use of the arcane in the local nomenclature, my maximum Mana was only a little behind a full on Mage’s. At this stage of play, I reckoned that Control was probably something to do with my overall level of my spells.

What worried me was his ability to nullify magic. If there were others like him, who could perform similar arcane feats, then I would have to prepare accordingly. Though truth be told, I did not know where to begin.

Another concern was that the man had known where to look for me. The organization he was part of, the Church, had been able to divine my general location and had sent many of their agents to this land to find me. In between his screams of pain and dull pleading for mercy, we were able to learn that the ecclesiarchy of the Church wanted him to bring me in at all costs, on the orders of a certain Cardinal Mauros.

Amon claimed that he had been visited by the goddess Avaria herself and given the mission of finding her lost champion and bringing him back into the fold. Believing himself to be one of her chosen, a prophet, he employed a local guide and some hired blades and set out to search for me, the "Herald of Avaria," in the Sainba. Fortunately, for me at least, in his desire to claim all the glory of finding me in the goddess's name, he neglected to inform his superiors of his divine visitation. That meant the other teams still had no exact idea of where I was.

Providence works in mysterious ways.

Had he succeeded, he would have climbed several rungs up the ladder of the Church hierarchy. It was no different here than in my old world, where greed, power, pride, and the desire for social status were also prevalent. These were emotions and ambitions that I was familiar with. From Amon, I concluded that there were others like him, searching for me in various parts of this continent.

“The fat one was of Qisnian old imperial stock,” commented Elwin offhandedly, as he tightened one of the loose straps on Patches’ bags.

“Livestock,” grunted Kidu, from the front of our small formation.

It took a few moments for the Rogue to mentally adjust to Kidu’s attempt at a joke before he finally chuckled, which was soon echoed by Patches’ braying. Then, I saw Elwin’s face concentrate for half a second, mulling over a smart rejoinder before he just gave up and simply laughed along.

Our group trudged on. Kidu, despite being armored and larger than I, seemed to manage this almost preternaturally and with far less noise than me. Gradually, the sounds of the wilderness returned. Up above, creatures moving agilely through the branches of trees and beautiful multi-winged songbirds crooned their ardent melodies.

Lost in my own anxious thoughts, I couldn't shake off my constant state of worry. It was clear that I was being hunted by some powerful organization, and I couldn't help but wonder why the goddess had only revealed my location to Amon. Was it a deliberate choice, or did the gods of this world have their own limitations?

Perhaps it was my overactive mind but, moving through the undergrowth, I could not help but imagine another set of eyes upon me.

“I think I feel something or someone following us,” I hissed to Kidu, and I almost tripped over a tree root as I voiced my concern. The wild man simply nodded to me, before falling back to cover our rear.

We had chosen speed over stealth, and we had made no move to hide our trail. Even a blind man could have followed us.

My mind was spinning as I pondered various tactics and strategies to help evade potential trackers. However, my thoughts were interrupted by uninvited musings that crept in like unwelcome guests as I caught another sight of this world’s nature in action.

Looking up, I saw a six-legged squirrel analog jump across one of the boughs. A fraction of a second later, a jagged spike shot out and impaled the poor animal. It all happened rather fast. Too fast, really, to see what kind of predator was responsible for the kill. The animals of this world were truly perplexing; while some animals were familiar, such as horses and donkeys, others were completely alien to me. I couldn't help but wonder how that was even possible. And for that matter, why were humans present in this strange world?

Shaking my head, I realized that I would have to set aside such rambling thoughts for another time. Elwin, ever the practical one, posed a question that had been lingering in the back of my mind. In truth, it was more another worry than a direct question.

"So, it looks like we got the Church on us. What in the Dark Lady's name are we going to do now?" he asked us, his usual nonchalant grin absent from his features.