Scipio seemed very hesitant, but carefully swung his legs over the side of the roof. "I'm just… gonna assume this is safe…" He mumbled. After hesitating for several seconds, he pushed himself off the roof and fell into the portal. He fell over as soon as he landed, groaning softly and rubbing his aching head.
“Yeah, ok, maybe it was worse than expected,” Xellis said as soon as he jumped down with him.
They stood outside of a smaller manor, it’s surroundings nothing like the manor in which Xellis lived. It was much colder, the place given a grey hue from the cloud cover. Every moment looked as if it were about to rain, and the plants were massive, luscious, and deep green.
The manor looked nothing interesting, more like a log cabin than anything else. Xellis grabbed Scipio’s arm, leading him up the steps and knocking on the door.
A man clad in white opened it, his hair a spiky white and his eyes a dark grey. He looked older than Xellis, but only by a few years.
“Xellis?” he asked, cocking his head. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
Xellis gestured to Scipio. “This. ‘S there anything you can do for hangovers? And then we gotta get his fatal wound fixed on up.”
Audomar stifled a laugh, but managed to say, “Alright. Come on in, kids.”
Scipio was shivering by the time they reached the door, clearly not a huge fan of the sudden temperature change. He allowed Xellis to drag him inside, glancing around weakly at the interior of the cabin. "What's the point of getting rid of the wound?" He asked after a minute or so. "It doesn't hurt or anything. It's not particularly bothering me at the moment."
“No reason? We don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Xellis mumbled, following Audomar as he swiveled into a back room.
“It’s basically only to signify you cut your ties to the mortal world. Some people don’t want to do that, because they really want to remember what life they served. It’s up to you.”
Xellis sat Scipio down on one of the chairs, and Audomar disappeared behind a cabinet. He reappeared holding two pills and a glass of water.
“So it’s just a hangover?” he asked, still trying not to laugh. “Is it your first one?”
He held up the pills and the glass for Scipio to take.
Scipio nodded, taking the pills when they were offered to him. "I died… um… yesterday, I think? Time feels weird here… and I'm only eighteen and lived in America, so… I'd never had alcohol. I thought drinking would be fun. And yeah, it was, but this part is very not fun…" He sighed softly and ran his fingers through his hair. "I don't remember much of anything about when I was drinking… but you know, the not remembering is pretty nice."
“Well, kid,” Audomar began, giving a light smile. “If you like the art or forgetting, maybe getting rid of your fatal wound would suit you. Once we get rid of that, you start to forget your mortal life. Some associates here can’t even remember their human name. Of course, that’s only after the gods give them their ascended name. Xellis, you haven’t done that yet, have you?”
“No,” Xellis replied. “I hadn’t really thought of it. But, I really all depends on you.” He looked over to Scipio, offering a shrug.
"'Ascended name'? What the fuck does that even mean??" Scipio asked bluntly, seeming bewildered. "What's wrong with my normal one?" He kept drinking the glass of water he'd been given, sighing quietly. He closed his eyes, hoping the meds would kick in soon.
“It’s like, the name a god gives a mortal, if the mortal chooses to leave their human life behind and become ‘ascended,’ so to speak,” Xellis murmured, slightly upset at Scipio’s lack of enthusiasm. “It’s what happens when a mortal fully pledges to a god, and finally cuts all their ties with the mortal world. It’s like… a ritual, or whatever.”
“Xellis, you should take it more seriously,” Audomar growled, as if Xellis were his rebellious teenage son. He looked over to Scipio. “It’s not a ritual, it’s simply a sacred practice. When you wish to devote yourself to this god’s plane, you receive a name different than your human one, and all memories are soon left behind.”
"How am I supposed to protect myself without my memories?" Scipio asked. "Sure, it's nice to forget for a while, but I like them to come back. Would I regress to view I was like as a child? Just a useless, weak little thing?" He still seemed very skeptical. "What kind of new name would I even be getting? I don't mind Scipio. I don't see much reason to change it, honestly, but I'm assuming I probably don't get much choice, do I?"
“It’s not like you’ll forget how to breath, calm down,” Xellis muttered. “You won’t forget the skills you learned, you’ll just forget what situations you learned them in. It’s complicated to explain, but you just won’t remember your mortal life, not including your skills. And hey, you can keep your name, but to be official, I just give you like… a title. I’m not taking your entire identity or anything.”
Scipio sighed, toying with the now empty water glass. "Alright, alright…" I still don't see the point of it, but whatever… "I don't really care. Just do the thing and we can move on with our… lives? Not sure what it would be called down here, but the point stands."
“Well, we can get to that much later,”
Xellis said, crossing his legs over one another.
“Yes, you can linger on that for a while,” Audomar grumbled, clearly upset with how lax Xellis was taking the situation. “For now, we can just heal your fatal wound. Not really any consequence to that.”
Audomar held his hand overtop Scipio’s chest, hovering over the bullet wound. Before lowering it, he looked up to the boy, asking, “May I?”
Scipio hesitated before nodding. "Uh… yeah… go ahead." He watched closely to make sure Audomar didn't try anything, gripping the empty glass tightly in one hand. He assumed that it wouldn't hurt, but he didn't want to seem like a wuss by asking.
Audomar placed his hand over the wound, closing his own eyes and sending forth the power he had stored into Scipio. No doubt, the boy would feel a surge of… power? Ecstasy? Audomar didn’t know how to explain it. Just a touch of the invulnerability of youth, perhaps. All the pain would just wash away for a moment.
Xellis watched as a pure green light was transferred over, the aura resting on Scipio’s chest for just a second before disappearing completely.
And just like that, Audomar opened his eyes, leaned back, and smiled. Based on his other patients, he assumed the boy would feel reinvigorated, or just better than before. Like a surge of energy and whatnot. But how much just varied for each patient.
“So?” he asked, leaning forward slightly. “How do you feel?”
Scipio trembled as the power surged through him, exhaling shakily. "H-Hah…" He closed his eyes as he shook. He slowly relaxed when the energy faded a bit. "Um… I feel good, I think? Tingly…" He tugged down the collar of his shirt to check if the wound was gone, which it was.
“That’s normal, don’t worry,” Audomar replied, sitting back and crossing his arms. “You’ll feel this… ‘happiness?’ for a few days, but it lacks each day. It’s just your wound internally healing, so the power will stick around for a while. Don’t worry, it won’t impact you much, besides the sort of floaty feeling.”
Scipio nodded a bit, releasing his shirt collar. "Alright… I'm not normally a particularly cheerful person, so we'll see how that goes." He looked around the cabin more thoroughly now that he wasn't distracted by pain, seemingly curious. "I guess all you gods have different styles, huh?"
“Of course,” Audomar said as if it were simple fact. “Normally weather and architecture varies with a certain field. For example, my students and I prefer colder weather because it’s easier to keep medical equipment sterilized and preserve medicines and foods. The house, though? We just like the cosy feeling of cabins. I guess that’s just Pixie’s preference. She’s the god of self-health and attuning to ones needs. She’s currently out fulfilling a prayer, so you probably won’t see her around.”
(Aa I'm so sorry! I thought I responded!)
"I bet she gets a lot of requests, huh?" Scipio snickered a bit and ran his fingers through his hair. "There's a lot of people who are fucked up mentally in way or another. I'd know; I'm one of them. I never prayed to her or anything, though. Religion was never exactly my thing. I prefer to dictate how I live my life on my own terms."
(Don’t worry bout it, you’re all good :)
“Moderately a lot of requests, but no one really takes time for themselves, so it would be less than you think,” Audomar replied. “And… it doesn’t surprise me you didn’t pledge to a god. Otherwise, I’m not sure how Xellis would have gotten you.”
“Hey!” Xellis growled. “I’m totally capable of getting my own associate.”
Audomar payed him no mind, keeping his attention to Scipio. “I wish you good luck with this god for eternity, eh? He can be much but he means well.”
“‘He means well’— wha— Audomar!” Xellis yipped, throwing his hands down. “Really gotta do me like that?”
The man just chuckled, standing from his seat and giving Scipio a nod. “You’re all good, sir. Pleasure to meet you. I hope you enjoy the afterlife.”
Scipio snickered again when Audomar started poking fun at Xellis. "I guess since I'm a soldier, the goddess of war would've probably had first dibs on my soul or something? What does she even do with souls? What do any of you guys even do with souls?" He asked, looking between Xellis and Audomar curiously. "Xellis said something about fulfilling prayers or something, but then I have no idea what I'm supposed to do since he apparently doesn't get any of those."
(Omagoodness sorry I thought I replied too)
“Excuse me—,” Xellis began, holding up a finger and glaring at Scipio, but before he could finish he was cut off by the other god.
“We contain all souls that aren’t associates in small gems, where they live out whatever afterlife they choose. For example, one of my souls was a researcher, and I supplied him with whatever equipment he wanted, as well as a few completely unalive subjects to test on,” Audomar explained. “Us gods normally keep them in their gems until we need to call on them.”
He opened up a side of his coat, his kind eyes drifting over the various gems placed there.
“It’s not imprisonment, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Audo said quickly. “They can come and go at will. Many just tend to like the days they spend there better than being out with the gods. Too many politics, and all that.”
(No problem lol)
"Mm…" Scipio examined the gem warily. "How is being in the gem different than being out here?" He asked. "What all could I be supplied with?" He glanced between the two gods, smirking when he noticed how annoyed Xellis was with him. Pissing people off was definitely one of his specialities. "I assume gods have some sort of powers that they can do whatever with? I mean… probably varies from god to god, but you get what I mean."
“You can be supplied with whatever you’d like, depending on the god’s power,” Audomar explained. “For example, many of my souls require laboratories of sorts. It’s possible, for Xellis, his gemstones would be different. Perhaps it’s a ship sailing the world, or perhaps it’s a new civilization each time you enter. Though, we don’t really know. The gods aren’t allowed within souls’ gems.”
He paused for a moment, flicking his eyes up to Xellis before continuing.
“However, the associate to a god always stays in the manor from which the god comes, and always works with the god for tasks. It’s considered a very large compliment if a god takes you in as his right-hand-man.”
"Mm. But wouldn't Xellis take anyone? I mean he was only able to get my soul because I wasn't religious, apparently. I don't see how desperation makes me all that special." Scipio shifted in his chair to be more comfortable. "And he said he rarely gets prayers because of all the advances in technology making travel safer or something. The hell am I even supposed to do most of the time if there's nothing to attend to?" He asked, raising one eyebrow questioningly.