Chapter 6
Breath in.
Breath out.
Concentrate.
Focus all your belief into the Gods.
Funnel all your energy, more, more, and more. Give it shape. For hours upon hours, I prayed and beseeched with all of my faith.
Yet, nothing.
"Well, I guess you can't be a genius with everything." The voice snapped me out of my trance, making me spin around from my sitting position and glared at him.
The man before me had all the attributes of a typical prince charming, blond hair, blue eyes, a lithe muscular frame, and an easy on the eyes face. But you shouldn't let your eyes deceive you, his name was Ikriam Poslaes, an incredible cleric fully in the realm of heroes, and the fourth seat of the Black Scripture.
A secretive unit which acts as the Slane Theocracy's greatest military force. Each extraordinary in their own right, many being God-kin like myself.
"Whoah, relax, no need for those evil eyes, I mean, shouldn't you focus on being a warrior instead of a cleric anyways.
It's been over two years since we've started this training and you haven't made any progress, maybe it just isn't for you, you're a prodigy regardless." He explained and raised his hands trying to placate me.
If that were the issue I wouldn't have pushed so hard for this training, I just know it isn't for a lack of talent. I can feel something blocking me.
I turned away from Ikriam and started to leave, needing to meditate on this problem by myself, ignoring his shout of annoyance. I need to figure this out.
Let's go back to the drawing board.
At its core, the cleric class requires you to put your faith in something or someone, then casting spells with your mana through belief.
But you don't necessarily need to fully believe in the object of your worship to draw power from being a cleric. It's more like the deity you revere is an idea from which you gain the ability to wield magic.
So what's hindering me?
I, like all clerics from the Slane Theocracy, use the Six Gods as the focal point of my faith, in my case the Fire God. And it's not like I really disagree with any of the fundamental ideas that represented him.
As I lay in my bed, I continued my self reflection, then as I delved deep within my psyche, a vision of darkness flashed through my mind, that of the impending future and an innumerable mass of depraved emotions collided with my soul.
Every shred of negativity flowed through me, and through it, I obtained my answer.
To arrive at an answer you must ask a question.
When the flood of wickedness drowns the planet, who will be there?
I will.
When Death descends upon us all, who will be there?
I will.
When the world collapses under the weight of those Eldritch monstrosities, who will be
there?
I will.
The Gods are dead, the True Dragons slaughtered, and after the end of all things, what will be left?
I will.
Who will stop them?
I will.
Not some deceased deity, not some prophesied hero, I will.
The only thing I need to have faith in is myself. To believe in some long gone humans that were blessed with divine power?
No. I only need this body of mine. With these legs, I shall march for eternity. With these two hands, I'll carve my own path, through whatever bloodshed, with whatever means.
I'll sleep upon a sea of the dead, and I shall conquer them with every fiber of my being.
No matter what it takes.
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Following Crais down a flight of stairs that stretched on into the darkness, for whatever he wanted, I contemplated my life over the last few years.
My nightmares have significantly subsided recently, allowing for more restful nights, and due to that I've been much more productive, but never once have I forgotten the terror, horror, and despair.
These negative emotions only spur me further.
At this point, I'm a little over eleven years old and it should be a few years before I'm sent out onto the field to get some real experience.
Noticing the end of the stairwell, I halted my train of thought, focusing on the changing environment, as the blackness was brightened with a corridor filled with lights, and while we strode across the hall of splendorous marble, I gazed upon a door at the end of it.
A colossal circular steel gate towering over us.
"This is where we store the treasures of the Six Gods, from weapons and armors, to artifacts, and divine mementoes. Not many have ever set foot within this sanctuary, always being guarded by the most powerful of the god-kin, this era being your mother, however she is currently indisposed.
I'm bringing you here today, like we do with all our most prominent assets, to see if you are compatible with any of our prized treasures." Crais explained whilst using some sort of runic key, which glowed with a holy golden light, to open the grand vault which grinded against its frame with a grating metal sound.
The barrier unraveled, revealing an enormous chamber, and strung about within and separated into six different sections, were the gifts passed down through the centuries from the very first Travelers who crossed over to our plane.
"Of course, even if you are compatible, if you don't have the necessary levels, classes, or the dozens of other variables that could affect your ability to use these artifacts, you won't be activating anything." He walked forward while he continued explaining the details of the situation.
Though I was already aware of this information.
Crais trod on to the far end of the room, and there stood a single altar, and upon it layed a single book.
It had a crimson spine, red like blood, the cover black like the night and on top, a solitary unrecognizable rune.
"This is a construct forged by an ancient divine entity. The Logs of Akasha, a book used to analyze an individual's affinity and statistics. To filter your compatibility to all the items cataloged within.
Now, place your hand on the rune of the Mind." He spoke then stepped aside, leaving me a direct path to the sacred tome.
Moving my feet forward, I reached the shrine, halting, whist holding my hand above it, then lowering it, my fingers brushing against the leather that was colored black, before fully covering the rune.
Light started beaming from between my digits, it was vermillion and nearly blinding. Then I felt the book push against me, as it started levitating.
I removed my hand as it opened on its own, flipping through the pages, moments later, it floated near me, encouraged, I grasped it and held it open.
I looked in the direction of Crais, seeking an explanation, he nodded, understanding my non verbal communication.
"Ordinarily, all the pages of the book are blank, it isn't until someone touches the Mind rune, that every treasure one can utilize appears. Additionally, every item one could use if they continued on their current trajectory materializes in a different section.
Most objects don't have stringent requirements, it is only the greater ones that require high level investment." He vocalized.
I looked back to the book, noticing that there were only a few dozen pages instead of the several hundred there seemed to be.
It was divided into two categories, those I could currently use, and those I would potentially be able to use in the future.
There were all sorts of artifacts, categorized with different tiers.
From the highest: Divine.
To the lowest: Low.
Exempt from this form of classification are the World class items. Treasures that could rewrite reality itself.
Amongst everything I could employ, there were devices that could distort space and warps its fabric, celestial armor that could revive those from the great the beyond, talismans to summon demons and angels, blades whose edge can rend steel, rings and amulets that provide a myriad of effects, and those are just a small quantity of what's written on the tome.
But for now, they will just have to lay sleeping a little while longer.
A/N:
I decided to make a slightly longer chapter today, tell me if I should make them longer and post them less frequently or have shorter chapters.
Also, do you want to see me write character sheets, to visualize their abilities.