Disappointment

{Continuing in the mansion in another universe}

As Jono reached the top of the sweeping staircase, there was a large door on his left. The stairs and doorway were so wide that he briefly wondered if this realm had elephants that needed to get into the room.

The large double doors looked like they should have been made of heavy marble. Faiknowld had caught up to Jono. He easily pushed one huge door open and shoved Jono in.

“In you pop, we don’t have all day you know,” Faiknowld said. “She’s ready to see you now.”

Jono struggled to process the room before him. Its grandness and the warmth washed over him. He couldn’t focus and make out the details of the room he had been pushed into. His eyes were drawn to a beautiful being seated on a throne. His vision focused.

Everything about her seemed to be oversaturated. It was like someone had found an angel and coloured her in. She had bright scarlet hair and bronze skin. Her golden eyes were looking thoughtfully to one side of the room. It was the woman from the largest statue outside.

She wore a silver decorative breastplate that was held in place by a shoulder guard. Her scarlet coloured ripped jeans had multiple tears across one quad. The jeans were tucked into elegant silver shin guards with intricate details etched by white energy. These sat above even more finely crafted silver and white sabatons.

She sat across the seat of a chair, with her legs hanging over one side and translucent wings expanding over the other, as she stretched the silver boned arms that they were part of. Sensing movement at the door, she turned with a practised warm smile…

Seeing Jono, her expression stiffened. Her nose wrinkled as she looked at the being Faiknowld was ushering in. She seemed unimpressed one moment. Then, as her confusion passed a look of disgust flashed across her face.

“Um Faiknowld,” she said with urgency. “Come here for a moment.”

Faiknowld quickly hovered over.

Adelia pulled him close and whispered behind her hand, “Are you sure this is the creature that you meant to summon for me?”

“Yes Goddess,” Faiknowld replied.

“Well, he doesn’t look like the usual…” Adelia started leaving Faiknowld to fill in the blanks.

“Well, drastically altering the usual format and search criteria was bound to give us a different result,” Faiknowld whispered back. “This was the result of the process you had me research for this experiment.”

“So this is the result…” she whispered.

“Yes, this is the result,” Faiknowld reassured.

She cleared her throat, “Greetings adventurer. Fate has been kind and given you a second chance. Your diligence in the past life has left you with the capability to be a hero in this world. You have been granted another chance to serve me, Adelia, Goddess of the Adventures and bring light to this world.”

“Oh sorry, I can’t do that,” Jono replied.

“… You can’t do what?” Adelia replied.

“I can serve a foreign demigod,” Jono replied.

“…Demigod,” Adelia muttered through gritted teeth.

Adelia stared at Jono with a gaze that radiated anger.

Faiknowld quickly pulled out his spectacles and looked through them at Jono again. There was an uncomfortable silence, then he spoke, “Is it okay for you to be granted gifts by holy spirits?”

Now Jono looked really confused, “Ah, I think so…”

Faiknowld stroked his chin.

“What are you getting at Imp? This creature is severely testing my patience and I’m not going to step down from being a Goddess,” Adelia said with a scowl.

“Well actually, you don’t even fit his criteria of a deity…” Faiknowld quickly stopped, realising he was thinking aloud.

“Sorry, I mean the prisoner could be useful in this situation and it would deal with two problems at the same time.” Faiknowld quickly finished.

Adelia looked surprised and the scowl disappeared from her face. “That’s actually a half-decent idea,” she responded.

With a click of her fingers, there was a flash beside Jono.

He heard a shriek as someone dropped to the ground beside him.

The prisoner was a female spirit. She stayed on the ground with her legs splayed in an awkward sitting position. It felt like she gave the aura of prey that was too exhausted to run anymore. Jono wondered if this was some queen nymph that had found disfavour with a short tempered ‘goddess’.

“Ah Kaire, so nice of you to drop in,” Adelia said, clearly enjoying herself now.

Kaire looked at her cautiously, wondering why she had been teleported from her cell.

“I have an opportunity for you that will let you return to the greater dwelling again,” Adelia announced.

Kaire looked surprised and sat up a little straighter on the ground.

“Next to you, you will see a migrant who has refused to serve me,” Adelia said, gesturing.

This was enough to shock Kaire and her head snapped to look at Jono beside her.

“This is Jono. He serves the special God. If you want, you can be demoted and swear allegiance to his God. Then, if you help him with a mission to find out what is happening to make my heroes disappear, you will regain your citizenship.” Adelia announced.

“But I did nothing to warrant losing my citizenship in the first place,” Kaire sighed.

“Well, would you like to go back to your cell till I come up with another idea?” Adelia asked.

Kaire thought quickly, her eyes darting between Adelia, Faiknowld and Jono.

“…Well…” she started before pausing.

“Well?” Adelia asked.

Kaire turned to Jono, “Does your God have more patience and generosity than Lady Adelia?”

Adelia’s expression instantly sharpened.

Jono replied obliviously. “Well he brought up a nation for over a hundred generations. It allowed him to show them and the spirits helping, how things could be better. I guess he nearly killed them off a couple of times because they were pretty keen to corrupt themselves, but when they listened He made a system that cared for them well.”

“It’s actually His Son that is dealing with things for the moment, but I think He treats spirits pretty well. He went to the planet and was killed out of jealousy. It allowed Him to give the spirits working with Him a massive upgrade.” Jono said

Kaire thought a little, “Well, I guess that sounds better than Adelia.”

Adelia’s expression grew more stormy.

“Okay, I’ll do it,” Kaire said.

Adelia realised she had got the answer she wanted and forced herself to relax.

She forced a smile onto her face and said, “Great, I’ll demote you now.” Adelia quickly waved he finger and Jono could feel coldness heading towards Kaire.

What was left of Kaire’s gentle glow evaporated.

Kaire got to her feet cautiously. Then she said, “I swear allegiance to the Special God that ran to the turbulent heavens. I request to serve under His Son, to help His believer Jono investigate the hero disappearances.”

For a while, it looked like nothing had happened. Then a little flame shot into the grand room. It headed for Kaire.

Kaire’s eyes opened wide in shock.

Before she could do anything, the flame grew into a flaming being and touched down in front of her.

“Hello, I am Zhaundo,” he introduced himself. “I come from Sir God of the heavens and the universe of Earth. Do you wish to avoid failing as a servant of a false god and help push darkness from your land to make things right again?”

Adelia angrily flicked a finger, but nothing happened. Zhaundo ignored her.

Kaire thought for a bit, “Okay, I would like to do better and help more. How do I make things right in Eckvalonge dwelling?”

Zhaundo waited for a bit, “ As far as your heart is concerned, that was close enough, so I will pass on what we have been given…”

Zhaundo’s placed a hand on Kaire’s head and she burst into golden flames. Black smoke poured off her for several moments until she burned clear.

“Cool, when you are in this form, you can shrink into flame form like this,” the Zhaundo said.

Because Kaire was beside him, she could feel how to change and so after some hesitation, she copied. They were now two little flames.

“Nice, then when Jono is on the planet, you will be able to assist by hovering over him and accessing the settle command,” the flaming being said. “Come here.”

Jono arched back to stare at both of them, hovering over him in little flame form.

“Cool and that is the command there,” Zhaundo said.

“Oh, okay,” Kaire said.

The rest of the room wondered what was going on.

“Cool, that will be enough to get you started,” Zhaundo said. “I’ll continue on my way, but might manage to catch you on the way back. Go well.”

With that, the flame flew through the opposite wall and was gone.

Adelia looked irritated, “Right, I’d better grant you some gifts to complete my responsibilities and you can be off.”

“Right Jono, I have to grant you gifts. What will help you serve your God and change our world for the better?” Adelia asked.

“Um, I guess, can I have tongues? Jono asked.

Faiknowld quickly looked through his glasses again as Adelia gripped the armrest and forced herself to maintain controlled breathing.

“Ah, he means languages,” Faiknowld exclaimed.

“You already have been granted the ability to speak to anyone on the planet if you make it there,” Adelia threatened.

Faiknowld stepped in to explain, “Now imagine we can only give gifts that will help you in fights or settling disputes in our land. What would you ask for then?”

“Um, I guess invisibility so that I could figure out what was actually going on,” Jono replied.

Adelia threw up her hands to cover her face.

Faiknowld tilted his head to one side, interested.

“Okay and what else would help you get things done in our world?”

“Um, I guess I’m afraid of heights. Before I came here, someone pushed me up a tree to try and help. If I could safely fall out of trees, I guess I would be more confident. Maybe something to make me less likely to be hurt or so that I can recover well as well?”

Adelia started muttering to herself and Faiknowld now looked worried too.

“Hmm, I guess that’s not too hard to do,” Faiknowld said as he walked over to Adelia.

Faiknowld whispered in Adelia’s ear, “The rouge class could work. If you gave him basic stealth and an item, it could meet the first criterion. Then if you gave him the Feather Step ability, that could grow into a framework for fall correction.”

“I’ll give the freak exactly what he’s asked for,” Adelia whispered back. “Especially unrestricted universal translate.”

Faiknowd looked shocked.

“Right this will do. You can sort the rest out on your own.” Adelia snapped her fingers and a glowing orb floated towards Kaire, “Let’s see what you and the Special God simpleton can do with that.”

“Right that’s been enough of team special for one day,” Adelia said.

Adelia snapped her fingers. Jono and Kaire disappeared.