God of Gnomes

by Demi Harper

  ‘Erm. Yes?’ As far as I could tell, we hadn’t ‘done’ anything here yet, but shattering certainly did sound bad.

  ‘Promise me, Corey,’ Ket insisted. ‘Promise you’ll never let your mana deplete entirely.’

  ‘I promise,’ I told her. A rush of emotion washed over me: concern, anxiety, and then relief. Back at the hillock, I caught sight of my gem shimmering between colors, reflecting these unexpected sensations. ‘Whoa – what was that?’

  ‘You… you weren’t meant to feel that.’ She shuffled her feet awkwardly. ‘As Core and sprite, we share more than just dialogue. The nature of our bond means that we can also sense strong emotions from each other. For instance, the pain and confusion you felt upon regaining consciousness was what drew me to you.’

  Huh. Interesting. And potentially inconvenient.

  ‘I try to shield my emotions as much as possible,’ she continued, ‘but sometimes they… slip out.’

  I could sense her shame at this fact. Embarrassed by it, and by the intensity of the relief I still felt from her, I changed the subject.

  ‘Why is this ability called Insight?’ I asked, focusing on the mushroom’s blueprint once more.

  Before she could reply, some of the blue lines began to move, darting and squiggling across my vision in a ghostly mushroom-shaped dance against the shadowy backdrop of the cavern.

  It was different to the mana lines; this time, it was as though they formed words, except that I could not read them. Instead, they danced their way directly into my consciousness, so that my mind was filled with words and concepts I’d never known before – things I wasn’t entirely sure I even wanted to know.

  For instance, I now knew that the network of roots spidering out from the base of the mushroom was called the mycelium, and that it actually formed most of the mushroom’s body mass. I also knew that this particular mushroom could be scientifically classified as a bolete, and belonged to the Basidiomycota division of the Fungi kingdom.

  Whatever that means.

  The bluish symbols continued to swirl and dance around the image of the mushroom. All the while, my mind swam with this new inrush of awareness. I had to admit, it was a fairly impressive – if slightly nauseating – trick. But what was the point of it?

  Ket anticipated my reaction. ‘It’s more useful than it first appears.’

  I mentally raised a skeptical eyebrow. ‘Useful in what way?’

  She tutted. ‘Understanding your environment is the first step toward influencing it, Corey. But not only does this skill let you identify and understand all living things you cast it upon – such as this rather delightful fungus specimen – it also allows you to create more of those things, should you wish to.’

  ‘More of the weird freakish blue things?’ That didn’t seem very useful.

  ‘No, Corey. I mean actual living, breathing beings.’ Ket zipped down and tapped the mushroom’s disgusting slimy cap. ‘When you become a little stronger, you’ll be able to form as many of these beauties as you want. Or rather, as many as your mana pool allows.’

  That… still didn’t sound very useful.

  ‘Why would I ever need the ability to make mushrooms?’ I demanded. ‘I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but my days of ingesting them are long past.’

  ‘It’s not all about you, Corey.’ Ket’s scathing tone took me aback. Before I could ask her what she’d meant by that – of course it was all about me! – the blue-lined mushroom faded from view.

  ‘Hey – where did it go? How am I supposed to remember all that blue squiggly rubbish?’

  ‘Relax, Corey. This blueprint will have embedded itself in your consciousness by now. I’ll show you how to access it again later, but rest assured that this is something you couldn’t forget, even if you tried.’

  To my amazement (though perhaps I should’ve stopped being surprised at this by now), Ket was right. I found I could conjure the image perfectly in my memory.

  Something about this niggled at me; it was almost too easy. If I’d learned anything during my years as… well, whatever I’d been before, it was that nothing worth having could be gotten without a hefty amount of blood, sweat and tears – preferably someone else’s.

  ‘Ket… how is any of this possible?’ I had a vague recollection of magic – fire and flashiness, mostly, conjured from the twisting fingers of those who’d studied dusty books – but this sort of instinctual, intrinsic knowledge of the world itself seemed something different. Something more.

  ‘Anything is possible… for a god.’ This seemed to contradict what she’d said earlier – whatever happened to ‘no delusions of grandeur’? – but before I could question her further she clapped her tiny hands together.

  ‘Anyway, enough of my explanations for now. I can tell you’re getting bored, you ungrateful rock. Let’s go and find more blueprints. And you can practice maneuvering your god’s-eye self while we’re at it!’

  Yippee. I can hardly wait.

  Five

  Faith

  Ket and I toured the cavern’s sights, from moldy mushrooms to dirt-paved floor to the silty stream that trickled through a crack in the wall near the mushroom patch.

  Up near the ceiling, we found glowing worms. They constantly emitted a greenish light, which I hadn’t noticed before, and from a distance they glittered like emeralds, making the moss-covered walls look like some magical gem-encrusted grotto.

  And just like that, my new cavern-home had a name.

  The Grotto was huge by gnome standards, and there was plenty of ground for Ket and I to cover. My inexperience with my god’s-eye vision meant that moving around at times felt akin to being drunk – a state I vaguely remembered from my time as a (presumably) flesh-and-blood being.

  I’m sure I would have been far better at it had Ket just left me alone to experiment. As it was, she oversaw my every movement, and trilled excitedly every time I managed to identify a new blueprint, be it the moss carpeting the walls or the cave spiders lurking in dark corners.

  We practiced this for what felt like hours, with Ket helping to guide my focus until I no longer whizzed around uncontrollably any time I tried to alter my perspective. I was amazed at how much life there was to be found in my cave; things I’d barely even noticed before.

  Insects and lizards were plentiful; there was also a squirrel that scampered down a tree root overhanging the ceiling hole, and a fox that briefly wandered in from the Grotto’s single side-tunnel entrance, at the far side of the mushroom patch.

  Every creature was revealed to me and elevated in my understanding by its blue-glowing form, thanks to my Insight ability, and all of them fed me with a small but constant source of ambient mana, which I did not currently need, but which was nonetheless welcome.

  Finally, we returned to my gem on its humble hillock. Gneil still stood beside me, guarding me from his impious kin.

  Why won’t he leave me alone?

  I attempted to use Insight on the scruffy little gnome. But instead of a simulacrum made of glowing blue lines and useless information, I saw… nothing.

  I tried again. And again. But the only gnome form I could see was the mundane one kneeling in front of me.

  ‘Why can’t I see Gneil’s blueprint?’ I asked Ket.

  ‘Because, Corey,’ she explained patiently, ‘Gneil is an intelligent being, as are the other gnomes, therefore your Insight ability does not extend to him. Plants and animals – in other words, non-intelligent creatures – are the limit of your intrinsic understanding, I’m afraid, as well as your source of ambient mana.’

  Wonderful.

  As much as I disliked what Ket was telling me, I supposed it made sense – though I suspected calling the gnomes ‘intelligent’ was pushing it a bit.

  ‘If I can’t replicate them, and they don’t give me mana, how do Gneil and the others benefit me?’

  ‘You’ll find out in just a moment. Look!’

  She sounded excited. Below us, my gem had glowed a very faint red, p
robably in response to my frustration. Gneil had caught sight of this and moved closer.

  To my utter surprise, he proceeded to kneel in front of me. He stared down at my gem for a moment, those huge, watery eyes of his closing. Hands clasped together in front of him, he bent forward and bowed his head, the unmistakable pose of a man at prayer.

  Immediately, swirling blue lines began to flow from Gneil. Bright, strong, fast and sure, they whirled along their unseen channels from my new worshiper and into my gem. I felt their presence like a sugar rush, a nourishing boost that no doubt could not be sustained for long.

  ‘You’ve just gained your first Faithful denizen, Corey. Congratulations!’ Ket beamed.

  I barely heard her. It was like being pleasantly stuffed after a meal of the finest food, except I hadn’t even realized I was hungry. I would have gasped aloud, had I lungs and air to fill them. As it was, I simply lay there and glowed, basking pleasantly in the warm sensation.

  ‘Are you… purring?’

  ‘Maybe.’ I groaned happily. ‘Don’t care. Ket… what is this?’

  ‘You, Corey, have just Ascended.’ She sounded smug, as though she’d been the one to cause it.

  ‘Ass-what?’ I slurred, my mind befuddled by the warm fuzzy feelings enveloping me.

  ‘Every fragment of Faith that penetrates you—’

  ‘Ugh, please don’t use that word…’

  ‘— is absorbed by your gem until your current capacity is completely filled. When that happens – when fulfilment occurs – you Ascend.’

  Confused, my mind formed a mental picture of my gem levitating in the air. When I asked Ket if she meant I’d be able to float, she chuckled.

  ‘Not physically,’ she explained. ‘Though your gem will grow slightly larger and more resilient the more powerful you become. But no floating. I mean you Ascend… spiritually.’

  ‘To where?’

  ‘Not ‘where’. What.’

  ‘To what, then?’ I asked.

  ‘The next tier of godhood.’

  ‘Oh.’

  ‘Now take a closer look at Gneil and tell me what you see.’

  More curious than annoyed now, I scrutinized Gneil with every ounce of focus I could muster. In addition to the blue lines flowing from gnome to gem, Gneil’s kneeling form was also suffused with a warm green glow.

  This green aura was erratic, peaking and ebbing sporadically. Furthermore, the blue mana lines were already growing wispy and weak. Some even faded completely before they reached me, which I thought to be rather rude of them.

  ‘What is this?’ I asked Ket suspiciously. ‘Why is he giving me mana now, but not before? And what’s the green stuff?’

  ‘The “green stuff”,’ said the sprite, ‘is Faith. Gneil is actively worshiping you.’ Ket gestured down at the kneeling gnome. ‘Whenever a Faithful denizen does this, they produce mana – the blue lines – which will replenish your own supplies. Furthermore, every Faithful gnome emits a certain amount of ambient Faith at all times – the “green stuff”.’

  ‘He’s barely giving me anything,’ I observed. ‘Can’t he worship a bit harder?’

  Ket flared, and I felt her anger across our invisible connection. ‘You might try to be a little more grateful for what you’ve got, Corey, especially considering you’ve done very little to actually earn little Gneil’s Faith so far.’

  I subdued my own frustration at my pathetic situation.

  Don’t anger the sprite. I need her, at least for now.

  ‘Yes. Sorry,’ I muttered.

  It was enough to appease her.

  ‘Yes, well, as I was saying,’ she huffed, ‘Faith is what enables you to Ascend, which in turn gives you access to new God Core abilities. Do you see the triangle on the left side of your vision?’

  Now she mentioned it, I did. It was inverted; point-down. The triangle’s outline was greenish and faintly glowing, and it was labelled with a symbol I didn’t consciously recognize but which my mind knew represented the number two. The bottom tip of the triangle seemed to be glowing a brighter green than the rest.

  ‘That triangle measures your progress toward Ascension,’ said Ket. ‘You reached tier two when Gneil converted to become Faithful. The next milestone is tier three. Look more closely at the triangle’s point and you’ll see what I mean.’

  I focused on the bottom of the triangle as Ket instructed. As I’d suspected, it was glowing more greenly than the rest. To my surprise, the more I stared at it, the more it seemed to fill with the green stuff. As faint parallel horizontal lines came into view, crossing the triangle in rows of striped tiers, I realized I was actually honing in on the very bottom portion of what was a very large and many-sectioned measuring device. The bottom-most section was filled with glowing greenness; everything above it was empty.

  It seemed the lines represented these so-called ‘god tiers’, and I’d have to gain enough Faithful followers to fill each section before I could reach the following tier. The inverted shape of the triangle meant that every subsequent section was larger, and would therefore be harder to fill.

  Well, that’s just awesome.

  I glanced across from the triangle over to the mana globe on my right – no, two mana globes now. A second one had appeared, just above the first and connected by a narrow aperture.

  ‘I’ve got another mana globe!’ I exclaimed.

  ‘That’s right! And if you take a look at your gem, you might notice why…’

  Wondering why she sounded so pleased with herself, I eyed my gem – and yelped. ‘Did I get… bigger?’

  The sprite sniggered. ‘Just a little. Like I said earlier, each time you Ascend, your gem will expand, which increases your mana capacity. This is visually represented by the amount of globes you have.’

  The new globe was paler and almost transparent – empty, I realized – but was slowly beginning to fill up with pulsing blue mana.

  ‘So I now have two mana globes instead of one. One globe for each tier?’

  ‘That’s right, Corey.’ Ket sounded pleased. ‘And the new globe should already be filling as a result of the mana you’re gaining from Gneil’s worship. Ascension is a wonderful thing, no?’

  It was indeed – though, disappointingly, the pleasant feeling it had given me had almost entirely faded by now. Still, the receding euphoria allowed me to better concentrate on what Ket had just said.

  ‘So these ‘tiers’,’ I said. ‘They’re sort of… internal milestones?’

  ‘Correct.’

  ‘And I have to reach these in order to gain new powers?’

  ‘Correct.’

  ‘And the only way to reach these milestones – these god tiers – is by filling the triangle with Faith, which can only be done by gaining more worshipers?’

  ‘Correct again! Smart rock.’ Ket glowed proudly at my understanding.

  I didn’t feel very smart. My mind whirled with all these new revelations. Learning so much – first the god’s-eye vision and Insight ability, then all the ambient mana stuff, and now Ascension and Faith – in so short a time was messing with my brain, wherever that was situated now.

  Suddenly, Gneil clambered to his feet. A moment later, I saw why: another gnome had appeared on our hillock, a female this time, judging by the wispiness of her beard.

  I tensed, assuming she’d come to fling fungi like the others, but it seemed she wasn’t interested in me. Bent-backed and wizened, she spared not a glance at my gem, instead hobbling straight toward Gneil.

  Six

  Growing Pains

  The elderly gnome plucked at my disciple’s ragged tunic with crooked, dirty fingers and gestured toward the far corner of the cavern, where the mushrooms’ shadowy forms lurked. Reluctantly, Gneil threw one last, lingering glance at my gem before trudging off with the old woman.

  ‘What does old Granny here think she’s doing? Gneil’s mine!’ I exclaimed, outraged.

  ‘Gneil still has a job to do, Corey,’ said Ket calmly. ‘The gnomes’ wo
rld doesn’t revolve around you, you know. Yet.’

  The two of them headed down the hillock and across the stream, the ancient female shuffling ahead, Gneil plodding along behind her until they passed beneath the mushrooms’ canopy. Still a bit annoyed at losing my lone, apparently part-time worshiper, I followed them, mulling over what Ket had told me about ‘god tiers’.

  ‘So I have access to new skills now I’ve reached tier two?’ I asked her. ‘What are they?’

  ‘Hold on. I’ll show you.’

  There was a faint glow, and then tiny silver writing shone in front of me. The arcane symbols hovered in the air, just like the Faith hourglass and the mana globes, and the blueprints that appeared whenever I used Insight.

  Ket saw me ogling and explained, ‘As a god, you have the power to augment reality – though only in limited ways – using this.’ She gestured at the glowing silver words. I stared at them, mesmerized.

  ‘And what exactly is “this”?’

  ‘I like to call it the Augmentary. It contains a wealth of information, and provides you with a toolkit with which to influence the world around you. You can view it at will.’

  ‘The Augmentary?’

  ‘Yes. As I’ve said, with each god tier you Ascend to, you’ll gain new abilities. You can view and keep track of these new abilities in your Augmentary, which only you and I are able to see. What you’re looking at right now are the abilities – or ‘augments’ – you’ve learned so far.’

  ‘I thought you said I couldn’t forget that stuff?’ I asked as I scanned the short list.

  ‘You can’t,’ she replied. ‘But sometimes it helps with problem solving to have your options laid out in front of you. You’ll see.’

  ‘Mhm.’ I squinted at the bottom of the list. ‘Growth?’

  ‘Ah, yes! Your newest ability. And a very useful one, might I add.’

  ‘Growth,’ I read aloud from the silvery writing. ‘Tier two ability. Enhances and accelerates the growth of vegetation, including fungi. Wait – vegetation?’ I protested. ‘That doesn’t sound very god-like. You told me I’m to be the god of gnomes, not the god of mushrooms.’