by Logan Jacobs
Torya led me through the entryway and toward a set of stairs leading to the second floor. A doorway led off from the back of the main room to what I could only assume was the kitchen, and the scent of freshly baked bread was hanging in the room. There was another door just past the foot of the stairs, but it was locked, so I could only fantasize about what might lay beyond it. There wasn’t anybody at any of the tables scattered around the main room, probably because they were dragged out to clean up the bodies of the kobolds.
A twinge of guilt stabbed through my gut. I should have been out there helping to clean up after myself rather than relaxing in a nice hot bath, but then again, it seemed like these people needed someone to believe in, so I quickly overcame my negative feelings and grinned.
People don’t want a walking God to do his own laundry. They want him to kick ass, protect them, and have sex with all the hot women. I needed to give these people what they wanted.
My room was the first on the left after the landing. The furnishings were minimal with just a bed, a large tub at the rear, and a small desk with a chair. There was a trunk at the foot of the bed, probably for putting clothes or gear into, and a fire was already roaring in the small fireplace. The room smelled mostly of the smoke from the fire, but at least it didn’t smell like the last guy who must have slept here.
“We are one of the few inns with hot water plumbing,” Torya said as she turned the faucet knobs of the tub and tested the water. “It comes up from the spring the inn was built over. I’ll be right back with some clean linens for the bed and a change of clothes for you. My oldest boy was about your size, so his things might serve you well until Bellona is finished.”
“Thank you,” I said with a smile. I could only assume by her words that she had lost her son in a battle for the town, but I figured I’d eventually find out.
I crossed the room and opened the window just behind the large tub. The town was laid out before me in an organized pattern, and I could see the damaged buildings better from this height. They drew the eye like a bunch of boils on a man’s face, and I figured things must have been really bad if they didn’t even get the chance to fix the buildings up between the attacks.
Or maybe there was some other reason the townsfolk weren’t trying to fix the buildings up.
“Here you go, dear.” Torya sauntered into the room, placed the linens on the bed, and held the clothes out. “Hold them up against you so I can see. Yes, they should fit you just fine.”
The shirt was like something from the days of the Salem Witch Trials. It was off-white and had a deep V-neck that could be tied together with a pair of strings hanging from the collar. The sleeves were long and poofy, but at least there weren’t any frills at the cuffs. The pants weren’t all that different from the ones I was already wearing, although they were definitely a shorter cut than I was used to. A clean pair of long wool socks completed the main outfit, and I couldn’t wait to throw my blood-soaked socks into the fire.
Torya placed some towels onto the desk chair and got to work fitting the bed with the linens. While she worked, I tested the rapidly rising water for myself. The steam lifting from the surface was too strong a pull to ignore, and I didn’t care if Torya saw me naked or not.
I kicked off my shoes, peeled off my blood-soaked socks, and unbuckled my belt. I didn’t bother taking the weapons off as I would be wearing the same belt again later, and I quickly shimmied out of my trousers and underwear. I sat on the edge and submerged my feet with a deep sigh. I snatched up the bar of soap on the tub’s rim and started cleaning the blood from between my toes. The rich lather of the soap was like heaven, and the room quickly filled with its floral scent.
“Mmm, mmm, mmm! You are going to create quite the stir among the ladies of this town,” Torya said, and I turned to find her with her hands on her hips and a smirk on her face. “I’d steer clear of the married ones if I were you. I doubt the men wouldn’t try to take on the God of Time, but I’m always the one who has to nurse their wounded pride.”
“I’ll do my best,” I laughed.
Torya left me to bathe, and I took my time enjoying every moment of it. After cleaning my feet, I slipped into the tub and threw my head back against the rim. My aching muscles all but sighed with relief as the heat soaked into them. Once I had rinsed off all the soap and cleaned the parts I had missed, I simply relaxed in the water and closed my eyes. I didn’t let myself actually sleep, but it was a difficult fight. It may have only been a few hours since I had fought and defeated Raijin and his cronies, but in linear time, I’d killed some Raijin and his fourteen henchmen, walked down a mountain, and then the twenty kobolds. That was some pretty epic shit, and the thousands of respawns made it feel like I hadn’t slept in many lifetimes.
I was probably going to sleep for a month when I finally threw myself onto that bed.
The water was cold by the time I dragged myself out of the tub. A little plug covered a little hole near the one end, and when I yanked it up, the water slowly drained out with a faint sucking sound as I dried myself off.
I had just pulled the new pants on when someone knocked on the door.
“Come on in,” I called out as I tied the waist closed.
A scrawny woman with skin even darker than Caelia’s trudged into the room. Her face looked even more severe because her hair was pulled back tight against her head. I figured this was a woman you didn’t want to mess with, even if she did look like a gust of wind would knock her over.
“I’m Theodora, the town Healer. Call me Dora.” The woman wasted no time as she crossed over to me and grabbed my injured arm. “I can’t use magic, I’m afraid, but I’m good with a poultice that will keep the infection out.”
There was healing magic in this world? I had to find a way to learn spells as fast as possible. But not yet. I needed to have a savepoint to return to in case I caused suspicion. The God of Time was probably expected to know all kinds of epic magic that could be used in the heat of battle. I could play off the injury for now if anyone badgered me about it.
“Hey, no worries,” I said with a half-shrug. “It doesn’t hurt or anything, but I don’t want to stain the new shirt Torya gave me.”
Dora gave a little snort, but made no comment as she inspected my injury. She twisted my arm back and forth to get a better view of it, and she muttered a few times, but I couldn’t hear what she said.
“At least I don’t have to sew you up,” she said after a few minutes of analyzing the wound. “I’m all outta herbs that would numb you up, and most people get all fussy when I poke them with needles and they can feel it.”
I smiled as she set to work mixing up a poultice. She was a little rough around the edges, but her heart was in the right place, and her lighthearted teasing set me at ease. The townsfolk obviously trusted her with their injuries, and she clearly knew exactly what she was doing, magic or not.
The poultice was ready in a jiffy. It was a sickly green color, but it gave off the pleasant scent of fresh herbs, and it had a cooling effect when she slathered in on the abrasion. I didn’t even try to suppress my sigh of relief as the itchiness went away.
“I’ll want to look at it again tomorrow, but it’s just a scrape,” Dora said as she covered the poultice with a bandage. “This stuff will work with your body to speed up the healing. You probably won’t need a second dose unless you go out and poke another beast with that sticker of yours.”
“I make no promises there,” I laughed. “Jax might not approve of me using such a poor blade, though.”
“Bah!” The healer grunted. “Anything he didn’t make himself, he considers a poor blade. If it gets the job done, who cares if it’s the right length or balance?”
“Thank you,” I said once the bandage was secured. I flexed my arm in a few different poses to make sure it didn’t pinch. It was perfect. “Would you teach me how to make that poultice if I asked?”
“If you asked,” she replied with a glimmer in her eyes. Her expression was
blank so I wasn’t sure if she was being serious or not. Then she shoved her bony finger in my face and almost jabbed my nose with her long nail. “We are all happy you are here to protect us, so I expect you to come ‘round my shop as soon as you wake up tomorrow. No side stops, no delays. You got it? You may be a god, but if you got injured, you’ll be needing my help.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I replied as I put my hands up in surrender.
She let out a snort and left the room before I could say anything more.
Yup. I liked her.
Torya returned to check in on me and to assure herself that the clothes fit properly. She handed me a second set of clothes much like the first, just in case, before leaving me to do as I pleased.
The first thing I did was focus on creating a new savepoint. I was pretty happy with the dialogue earlier with the townspeople, the bath had been delightful, and conversing with Dora was entertaining, but the less I had to repeat this first day on the world, the better. The tingling sensation washed over me and filled me with a sense of peace. The kobolds were defeated, the town was in one piece, and unless a fire-breathing dragon descended from the mountain of the Great Catacombs, I wouldn’t have to worry about any more battles for the rest of the day.
The promise of safety bolstered my confidence and my stamina. It no longer mattered that I was mentally exhausted from my gruelling day. I had an entire town to explore and learn about, and then I would be eating a hot meal with a delightfully attractive young woman and the leader of the town I had just saved.
But that wasn’t until much later, I assumed. Our conversation had been about an hour ago, so I figured there was plenty of time for me to run around and meet the townspeople.
And if I was late, I could always reset back to my room and be a good little boy and wait for Elrin’s messenger.
I slipped the new shirt over my head but didn’t bother tying it shut as I crossed the room. I paused only long enough to grab my belt, and I fastened it around my waist as I descended the stairs. I gave Torya a little wave as I passed her in the main room and threw open the doors leading into town.
The warrior-woman who lent me her sword was leaning against the side of the building, and she jumped to attention when she spotted me.
“May I walk with you, O Great One?” she asked as she dipped her head politely.
She still looked just as fierce as she had when the kobolds first lined up outside of the town’s walls, with her iron-and-leather armor she wore like a second skin. She was without her helmet now, and her black hair was pulled back into a short ponytail. Her piercing blue eyes cut right through me, but there was something more to her expression that drew me in.
I was determined to figure this beautiful warrior woman out, and with my powers, I could make a thousand attempts.
“Of course,” I said as I gestured for her to follow me. “And you don’t have to call me that. I prefer Bash.”
“No,” she said firmly. She didn’t even glance my way when I looked at her. “You are the God of Time, the Great One who had been foretold to save this world. I cannot be so... familiar with you, even if you ask it of me.”
“What? But why?” I asked.
“Again, you are a god.” She was simply stating a fact, but she had no idea how far from the truth she really was. “I watched you take out the horde of kobolds like you were dancing to the beat of a drum that nobody else could hear. You knew where your enemies would strike, and you dodged attacks that came at you from all angles as if you already knew they would happen. That injury to your arm was not caused by a beast that got too close; you sustained it while handling a corpse as a weapon.”
I just stared at her for a long moment. Was that really what it looked like on the other side of things? I could hardly imagine it because I was always stuck going through it time and time again. But the truth was that everyone in this world would see me the way this woman did. I was someone who could predict the movements of my enemies and annihilate them all without breaking a sweat.
I really was a god to them.
Would I want to try to get close to someone like that? If this woman were the one who had taken down all of the kobolds, I’d have reckoned her out of my league. So I guess I saw her point.
Well, shit. There went my chances of getting to know her on a deeper level. Probably worth trying this again.
I took a deep breath and focused on my room at the inn. Her response felt like a door being slammed in my face, and I didn’t want her to keep me at arm’s length. I wanted to know why she was the only warrior left in the town and why she had that hard-to-read expression on her face. I didn’t want to go walking through the town with what felt like a royal escort.
Even if she was an extremely attractive one.
Chime.
I once again threw my shirt over my head, grabbed my belt, and waved to Torya as I bounded out of the inn. The dark-haired warrior woman was there, as expected, and her spine went rigid when I closed the doors of the inn.
“May I walk with you, O Great One?” she asked again as she dipped her head.
I really hated that title coming from her mouth, but I had to grin and bear it.
“Sure, I don’t mind,” I said as I gestured for her to walk before me. All I got for my chivalrous effort before was an arched eyebrow, so I shrugged and led the way. “I’m Sebastian, but you can keep calling me Great One, if you prefer.”
Her eyes widened briefly, but she recovered quickly and nodded as she lengthened her stride to match mine. “Thank you, I would. My name is Mahini.”
Mahini. It had a nice ring to it. The name was exotic with a touch of a melody, and it was almost impossible to say it without smiling.
“It’s nice to meet you, Mahini.” I got another polite bow for my effort. “I was really impressed when you showed up at the frontlines. Are you the only warrior the town has protecting it? I didn’t see anyone else by your side when the dust finally settled.”
The look on her face was enough to stop me dead in my tracks. Her piercing eyes were focused on something a thousand miles away, and whatever she saw was so much worse than whatever Torya had seen earlier. The haunted expression filled me with instant regret, and I knew I had fucked up once again.
“I am the only one who survived,” she whispered. “I should not be standing here right now, and there is no greater shame than that.”
“What do you mean? I’d be pretty happy to be alive if I were in your shoes.” I tilted my head, but I immediately realized I said the worst possible thing.
“How dare you!” she cried out as she leaped away from me. Her nostrils flared with her rage, and the tension in her neck spoke of a tight chord that had finally snapped. “It is an honor to die fighting for the people you love--the highest honor! To be the only one left behind, when you could have saved them, when you are the reason they went to their deaths…”
Her voice quivered, but not a single tear fell from her eyes. She looked more pissed off than truly sad, and when she finally looked at me once again, there was nothing but the deepest hatred waiting for me. Her hand fell to the hilt of her sword, but she didn’t draw. If she had, I don’t think I would have had the heart to fight back.
“You may be the God of Time, but you have no sense of honor,” she spat out.
Chime.
In such a short span of time, I had managed to first have an ocean spread between us, and then have Mahini almost draw her sword and run me through with it. The saying ‘curiosity killed the cat’ had never made more sense to me than in that moment.
I let out a sigh as I grabbed my shirt and my belt and then headed down the stairs. Now that I knew what kind of fresh horror was in Mahini’s past, I could avoid any kind of triggering topics. But how was I supposed to get to know her if I couldn’t really ask her about herself? There had to be some safe middle ground that we could stand on without creating an ocean or a galaxy between us.
“May I walk with you, O Great One?” Mahini’s nod wou
ld not have been out of place in a royal palace.
“I don’t really have a destination in mind,” I warned her. “Maybe you could suggest something?”
“Jaxtom’s shop is my favorite place to be,” she answered without hesitation. “But he is out helping collect the weapons from the kobold horde, so the forge will be cold.”
“You could just show me around,” I suggested. “I’ll be staying here for a while, and it would help to get my bearings.”
“As you wish,” she said with an obedient bow.
I followed her as she turned down the main street Torya had led me down an hour before. Most of the buildings along this route were boarded up or damaged and looked so lonely standing there. What had happened to the families that had once lived inside? Were people just up and leaving the town or had most of them been killed by various raids? Torya said the very first attack took them completely by surprise. Without any kind of warning, Mahini and her companions would have been easily overwhelmed with trying to defeat the raiders while also keeping everyone safe.
“Torya told me that this town has had trouble with attacks before today,” I said. I watched her expression for any big change, but although there were dark clouds brewing in her eyes, her jaw didn’t tighten and her nostrils didn’t flare.
So far, so good.
“Today’s attack is just the most recent in a long string of unwarranted raids,” she explained, and her shoulders drooped as her eyes fell on the next boarded-up house. “We have lost many good people in such a short amount of time. Nothing will ever change that.”
I knew she was thinking about the other warriors that had been killed recently, and I wondered if it was worth trying to approach the subject from a different angle so I could understand the specifics.
“Nothing can ever change the past,” I agreed, though I would have told her about my power if I thought it would bring her any comfort. It would probably have had the opposite effect. “All we can do now is look to the future and prevent any further loss of life.”
Mahini turned and looked at me with wide eyes, and she stopped in the middle of the street. I tilted my head and hoped I hadn’t just fucked up again.