Portals of Infinity: Book Two: The God Game

by John Van Stry

  "So, what brings you here to my table?" Circe asked Stephanie when we were finished eating.

  "I'm on a task for my Goddess Aryanna," Stephanie said. "I'm not able to tell you more than that."

  "And you, Will?" She asked looking at me rather directly, it was a very intense gaze and I would not have been surprised to find out she was reading my every last thought as I looked into those eyes. "My God Fel and her Goddess Aryanna both asked me to follow Stephanie, and that has led me here tonight, Goddess."

  "Not just your god's request?" She asked looking amused.

  "She was very polite and asked me even though I had already been told by my God Fel to go," I said soberly. I had the distinct feeling she liked me because I wasn't human, but feline; however I found the idea of trying to flirt with a goddess to be rather terrifying.

  "And you?" She asked Joseph then.

  "Ah, my good Lady and most beatific goddess of these wonderful lands, I too am simply a humble acquaintance of my Lady Stephanie and her most wonderful Goddess Aryanna. I was fortunate however to be asked to accompany her and her companions on this humble task."

  "Fortunate?" Circe asked and I could see the amusement in her eyes. "How so?"

  "Because I have met the most glorious and wonderful goddess of all the Infinite that I have ever had the joy to behold."

  I blinked; Joseph was laying it on thick, very thick. I was rather shocked to see him so blatantly flirting with Circe, who appeared to be loving it more and more as he went on. Cenewyg I noticed looked disgusted, he hid it well but I knew him wel, enough to see it. Stephanie just sat there smiling and not saying a word.

  "You know I could turn you into a pig, I have done such things to men who have tried to sweet talk me before," Circe said smiling.

  "My most gracious and lovely Goddess Circe, while normally I might find the idea of being a pig revolting, how I could possibly be upset with such a manifestation if it came from your desires? I would hardly be able to know any upset, as any pig you might create would surely be the most finest of any swine ever to exist."

  I felt the power play, and I knew something had happened.

  "Your base form here is now that of a pig," she said still smiling.

  "Then a minute while I partake," Joseph said and sure enough, there was suddenly a pig sitting there as he moved from his champion form.

  "I must say," Joseph the pig said from the chair it was now perching on rather carefully, "If there was ever a finer swine that has graced this fair land or any land of my travels I would not believe it."

  I blinked, because dammit if he didn't pull it off.

  "I could make you into other things you know," Circe warned still smiling, but I could see she was intrigued.

  "I could be anything you wished me to be my most glorious Lady," Joseph said and ducked his head in a bow.

  I looked at Stephanie surprised and she just winked.

  "I find this most interesting, Joseph. Let us retire inside to my chambers and discuss this further." Circe looked up at the rest of us then, "You are all excused. Tomorrow we can discuss what you may need."

  "Thank you, Goddess," Stephanie said standing, and we all did the same and bowed, except for Joseph who jumped to the floor and on all fours followed Circe out of the room.

  I walked up to Stephanie, Cenewyg walked up as well.

  "What's going on there?" I asked surprised. "He's not?"

  "Stupid idiot is making a play for her, that's what's going on," Cenewyg grumbled, "I can only imagine what she'll do to him. It'll serve him right too."

  "Joseph?" I said looking surprised. "She's a goddess, and a strong, very strong, woman. I can't see him even trying to seduce her."

  Stephanie laughed, "Joseph likes strong, powerful, dominate, women. You know that, Cen."

  I looked at her, "Circe is a goddess that can physically manifest in her sphere, is extremely powerful, and likes to dominate men?" I asked unsure.

  Stephanie nodded.

  "He wants to be her champion, doesn't he?"

  "I'd say it sure looks that way, wouldn't you?"

  "But, what about our task?" I said, "We'll be short yet another."

  "Oh we can carry on without him I'm sure," Cenewyg said with a slight sneer, reminding us all of what he thought of Joseph and any man who let a woman control him I guess.

  I looked at Stephanie and shrugged and headed back to the boat.

  "Where are you off to?" Stephanie asked.

  "My bunk on the boat. This will all sort itself out come the morning I suspect."

  "Well hello there, sailor!"

  I sat up wide awake, it was Dezba!

  "What are you doing here?!" I said shocked.

  "What, not happy to see me?" She smirked.

  I gave her a big hug, "Oh no, I'm happy to see you, just how did you get here by yourself?"

  "Joseph gated me in."

  "Joseph? How?"

  "Joseph changed gods this morning," Stephanie said joining us. I didn't see or hear any sign of Cenewyg. "So Circe helped him gate Dezba here."

  "Why'd she do that?" I asked curious.

  "Probably because Joseph is really smitten with her. She's incredibly pleased with having snagged him."

  "Oh?"

  Dezba nodded, "She's everything he wants in a woman, and he behaves exactly like she wants her men to. Almost as if somebody was matchmaking," she added the last with a rather nasty smirk and looked at Stephanie.

  "Oh we don't know that," Stephanie protested, but not that strongly.

  "So now what?" I asked.

  "Go say goodbye to Joseph. He's staying and we'll be leaving in an hour," Stephanie told me. "I know where we're off to next, so we're moving on."

  I nodded and got out of bed. "Where do I find him?"

  "Probably at the house. Cen's getting some supplies, Dez and I will go help. Don't take too long."

  I nodded and went off to find Joseph.

  He found me, but then I'm not surprised, he didn't look like Joseph when we met.

  I looked at him, he was a rather large wolf; I think he was a dire wolf, whatever it was he was as big as a large pony.

  "I thought you were a pig?"

  "That was just her putting me in my place," He laughed. "She actually prefers wolves, sometimes lions too I gather. I don't care, whatever she wants is fine with me."

  "Is that your champion form?" I asked surprised.

  "Sort of, she can change it as she sees fit. The rules here really are different in some interesting ways."

  I nodded. "So, happy?"

  Joseph's canine lips pulled back in a huge smile, "I finally found my goddess, Will. I thought Treyonith was a good god, but Circe? When she's done with me I'll retire here."

  "Well I hope that's not till a very long time from now, Joseph," I said smiling.

  "Me too!"

  "Well, it was nice knowing you; maybe we'll meet again some day?"

  "Maybe. Bye, Will.” He stuck out a paw and we shook.

  “Oh, and good luck dealing with Cenewyg!" He added with a canine laugh.

  I shook my head and left him there still smiling. I wasn't surprised he'd fallen in love with her, but I was going to miss him. Joseph had become a lot friendlier as I'd gotten to know him, while Cenewyg had gone in the opposite direction. But at least Dezba was back.

  "So where are we off to now?" I asked Stephanie as I sailed us out of the small harbor.

  " Telepylos."

  "What's a Telepylos?"

  "According to what Circe tells me and what Aryanna has let me know it is a sphere full of cannibals. We'll not be making landfall at all anywhere near there; we're just going to sail through. It's a two-week journey to get from the portal we'll enter in, to the one we'll leave by."

  "Well, that doesn't sound too bad then."

  "There will be a lot less technology as well from this point on."

  "Oh? Why's that?" I asked curious.

  "We're nearing the end of a branch of what Circ
e and a lot of the other gods call 'The Infinite.' Think of it as one of those huge fractal designs they had back on your home sphere. With me?"

  I nodded.

  "That's how all the spheres link up, and it determines who can link to what. We're moving out towards the end of one of those arms. Each sphere we move to now will have an order of magnitude less connections to other spheres, because there are less there to connect with."

  "Is that why the rules are different?" I asked curious.

  "Exactly. When we crossed over from the Sireen’s sphere to Circe’s, we crossed some sort of threshold."

  "Great," I said. "More unknowns. So when do we get to the portal out of here?"

  "Should be about two day's sailing. Now if you'll excuse me, Cen's been pushing for a little 'personal' time," she grinned and shook her head, then left.

  I watched as she walked off and went below decks. I sighed and shook my own head; I should tell her something, but what? When?

  "You look like a man with a lot on his mind," Dezba said coming over and sitting down next to me.

  "The last sphere was kind of different, we were there a while."

  "Yeah, so I heard. Is it me, or is Cen different?"

  I shrugged, "I hardly know the man to be honest. Until we started this whole affair I'd never met any of you but Steph before."

  Dezba looked up at me as I sailed the ship. "I thought he was changing before, back after Ogygia, in that place were I got stomped to death. But it's hard to be sure when someone you're with everyday gradually changes. But after not seeing him for a several months? I think he has."

  "For the better or the worse?"

  "I don't think he can get any better," Dezba snorted. "He's definitely more of a prick to me than he used to be, and he's kissing up to Stephanie more than I've ever seen him kiss up to anyone."

  I shook my head, and kept my own feelings to myself, I had figured he was just always annoying. "You know him better than I do."

  "Well the sooner this is all done, the better. Any idea how much longer we have to go?"

  I shook my head again, "You know as much as me."

  "I get the idea from Cenewyg that this place is all part of your ancient history or something."

  “What about you? You’re from the same sphere as us.”

  “Yeah well, American Indians didn’t get a lot of European education back then.”

  I nodded, she had a point. "Well it does sound familiar, I've heard of Circe before, and the Sireens did ring a bell; but unless we're looking for the Golden Fleece, I don't have a clue."

  "What's that?" Dezba asked.

  "From a movie I saw as a kid. This guy Jason sails off with a crew of hero's called 'The Argonauts.' They're after this magical fleece made of gold that will supposedly cure some cursed king or something."

  "Well, I haven't heard that anyone is sick," Dezba grinned.

  "All I know is that if we come across some huge metal statues that attack us, undo the hatch at their ankle and let all the hot water out. That's what kills 'em!" I grinned. It was a dumb movie; wish I could remember more of it now though.

  "I'll be sure to keep that in mind. Go take a break, I'll sail us for awhile."

  I nodded and let her take the wheel and went below decks to get a bite. I was still in my feline form and as I was eating, I could hear Cenewyg and Stephanie talking in her cabin.

  "I don't like him," I heard Cenewyg say.

  "You sure seemed to like him a month ago," Stephanie laughed.

  "We spent an entire extra month in that last place just so he could enjoy playing that noise to a bunch of idiots. We could have stormed that gate a lot sooner and got out of there when we first got to the city."

  "We don't know that, Cen," he could hear Stephanie sigh, "besides which Aryanna's rather happy to be on good terms now with Sireen, that'll help if we have to come back through here later. So it was worth it."

  “Then the bastard flaunted that big chest all over the place and would only sleep with you! I was left high and dry!”

  "Really, Cen, I had no idea you found Will attractive!" Stephanie teased.

  "And then you wouldn't sleep with me for the three months we were stuck there!" Cen said rather loudly.

  "Well that was then and this is now. Unless you'd rather sleep alone tonight?" Stephanie said rather seductively.

  From the sounds of what I heard next, I guess he wasn't planning on leaving so I grabbed my food and went back up on deck. I really had no desire to listen to them anymore.

  Ten

  “So what’s up between you and Cen?” I asked Dezba a few days later. I’d noticed they’d both been avoiding each other’s company.

  “Nothing,” she replied. “Nothing at all.”

  “Nothing as in ‘things are fine?’ Or nothing as in ‘you’re not having anything to do with each other anymore’?”

  “The second one. Which reminds me, doing anything later on?” She asked grinning and leaning into me.

  I laughed and shook my head. “Sleeping. I’m the only one who really knows how to sail now, so I need to actually sleep at night.”

  She frowned at me, “What’s wrong? Did I piss you off or something?”

  I looked at her, “Now why would you say that?”

  “Because that’s twice now I’ve tried to drag you off and you’ve said no. Steph’s mentioned that you haven’t slept with her since you left that Sireen place.” She looked at me kind of sideways, “You don’t miss being a gal do you?”

  “What?” I said looking at her rather surprised. “Where in the hell did you get that idea?” I laughed.

  “I think Cen said something about you becoming a faggot or some such now that you’d been a woman and all that.”

  I snorted, “He would say that.”

  “Well is it true?”

  I shook my head, “No it’s not.”

  “Well then why don’t you want to go to bed with me?”

  I sighed and looked at her, “A bunch of things really messed with my head back there, not the least of it was the music and the effect it was having on my mind. I tumbled into Steph’s bed half the time because the music we’d been performing had me hot and ready to go. Now that I’m not under that effect, I’m kind of just enjoying not being a creature of my lusts anymore. And well ....”

  “Well what?”

  I didn’t know if it was wise to tell her I was missing my wives, but I did trust Dezba, she seemed to play it straight. “I’m missing my women, that’s what,” I whispered. “I’m missing my home. I like Fel, I like my people, I even like Aryanna’s people and like to visit there as well.”

  Dezba nodded, “Yeah, I wasn’t buying that bullshit about you just grabbing the hottest gal in town and getting your kicks on her.”

  I laughed softly, “Stephanie told me to say that.”

  “Oh don’t worry, I’m sure Cen bought it hook line and sinker, maybe Joseph too at first, but Aryanna told me she likes you, and I’ve learned that she doesn’t care much for assholes who abuse women.”

  “Can I ask you something?”

  “Sure, go right ahead,” Dezba said smiling.

  “Are you still with your first god?”

  She nodded, “Yup, been over a hundred and fifty years now. Steph’s the only one in the group who isn’t. I think she’s on her fourth one now. She’s been doing this a long time.”

  “You planning on sticking with your god?”

  “Diannion? Maybe. I’m on my second set of husbands; after the first set passed away, I stayed single for like fifty years until my current ones made a serious play for my affections. But when they pass on, I think I may just move on and work for someone else. It gets hard at times, losing friends and family to the ravages of time, but Diannion and his people are such a part of me. I’ve heard it said you never forget your first job, that when champions retire, most go back to the first sphere they ever worked in and retire there.”

  “I still find it all so hard to accep
t, that a hundred years from now, I’ll still be young and alive. It’s such a strange gift that we have.”

  “Don’t be so sure it’s a gift,” she said smirking.

  I frowned and looked at her, “How’s that?”

  “Well going on to your final reward, the afterlife, is supposed to be the gift. As champions, we’re denied that as long as we’re working, we are putting off nirvana to work for a bunch of spoiled brats who use and abuse us as they seem fit. Seems like more of a curse than a gift if you ask me!”

  “Then why do it?”

  She shrugged, “Somebody has to or the whole thing falls apart, we’re just the closet masochists who got talked into taking the job.”

  I yawned and shook my head. “Well, I’m tired; go tell Steph that she can take a turn at the helm. I’m for my bunk.”

  “Aye, aye, Captain!” Dezba teased and went below to get Steph who came up to take over with Cenewyg in tow.

  Yawning, I made my way down into the cabin below deck as Dezba latched onto my arm and steered me into the small stateroom she’d been using. There were only two and Steph had claimed the other one, I’d been sleeping on the bunk in the main cabin.

  “Dez,” I started.

  “Hush, you don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to, but you’re not the only one missing somebody. Besides, it’ll shut Cen up.”

  I chuckled, “Okay.”

  We sailed through the portal the next day, with no real changes to our bodies that any of us could tell. We stayed a good distance offshore as we sailed, not wanting to encounter any of the people that lived here. One the fourth day, we ran into a rather stiff headwind, but I knew all about tacking into the wind so while it slowed us down a little, it didn’t hurt us all that much. If Joseph had been here sailing with us and had me working the sails for him we probably could have picked up speed.

  That night however, we were hit by a nasty storm that the winds blew into us. I spent the next two days and nights at the wheel, keeping control of the boat as Dezba and Stephanie helped with the sails when I needed it. Cenewyg apparently came down with a nasty case of sea sickness.

  “How bad is he?” I asked Dezba at one point.