Chapter Twelve: Passing Of Time

Lenart wandered the desolated, cold fields of their village. The snow was deep and the world was growing colder everyday. In his hand was a small ball of wind. The wind was uncontrollably spinning inside the sphere. Wanting to escape at any given moment, however Lenart showed no signs of releasing it.

Lenart sighed, contemplating the events leading up to today. Some months ago, some weeks after the wave of monsters, his wife had taken the liberty to get pregnant. Her stomach had been growing steadily ever since and at this point it was even bulging. 'Trouble in paradise, as they say.' Lenart though, kicking a pebble close to him.

He finally let go of the sphere of her, letting it wreck havoc in the empty fields. It became a small tornado that died out a minute after its birth.

"I wonder how Jasmine's doing. Hopefully better than we did! I haven't asked the deity, he's not our communication device!" Lenart said aloud. Talking to himself, like any self respecting normal person does when alone. Even though Lenart never felt alone, even when sleeping, creepy if one asked him. Even when bathing he felt like someone was watching him. It gave him chills just thinking about it.

Some days ago Lenart even took the matter into his own hands and asked Jantyr about it. Who was silent for way more than an hour and the response was just as miraculous. "I haven't got a single clue, sorry!" he told Lenart and answered no prayers for the rest of the day. Lenart didn't know what was up with the deity, so he left it be.

Lenart slowly strolled back to the village. Even kilometers away, the wall protecting them could still be seen. Though there had been serious improvements. Not just that, some months ago a wave of refugees arrived. Not everyone was lucky enough to be protected by a deity. Many villages had been destroyed and thousands had died to the monsters. Those who survived wandered for weeks, until they made it here. A small backwater village, still standing.

Lenart could still remember their priceless reactions the first time they saw the wall. Their mouths hung wide open for minutes. Those who had been in the village before couldn't help but ask "How did you construct such marvelous archistructure so fast?"

Now months later these refugees had been made part of the village. Some lived inside the comfort of the wall, others outside. But that problem was being worked on as they spoke. Young and old, man or woman. All with no work had volunteered to work on an enormous wall. Though admittedly it wouldn't be as sturdy as the first wall. But it would protect the village from outside threats ever so slightly. While also allowing Jantyr to affect the inside of those walls more effectively, by blessing the walls with weather.

As of now his blessing wouldn't do much, but in the future it would serve as a medium for his godly powers. But for the moment he could only affect the weather inside the walls and nothing more. Now some might think of this as a nerf, an unjust sealing of power. But Jantyr was different, thanks to Jantyr from the other world he had another way of thinking. He was a baby deity and they need protection. Just like babies know how to swim at a young age and have incredible grip strength, humans at least. He, a deity, had some special features that would keep him alive, a safeline in a way. But since he no longer needed it, it disappeared and now he had to forge his future alone.

"Hi Lenart" "Welcome back Lenart." "Your baby is coming soon, congratulations in advance!" many villagers greeted as Lenart returned from his stroll. Over fifty houses were built in a cluster close to the entrance of the main wall. In the distance a construction sight was taking place. It was hundreds of meters away, with over hundreds of people working on it.

As Lenart continued walking, he eventually reached a pebble road. It was recently built and was about fifty meters long. At the end of the road was the entrance to the village, where two of the fighters from the monster wave stood guard. Equip with two of the few spears Jantyr blessed some months ago.

Lenart walked past the duo, after greeting them. They of course greeted back, happy to talk with one of the three leaders of the village. Those being Harold the hunter, Lenart the strongest fighter and Jantyr experiment and Jasmine the child away from home, learning magic. She would later on return and become a noble of the village. Finally legally making this place a city.

Lenart arrived at the lodge, well next to it. He didn't enter the lodge, it was only to be entered once a day. Then they could sacrifice and pray to Jantyr. Something the newcomers had grown accustomed to. Well most of them, some found it blasphemy to worship anyone but lady Catara, the county's goddess. But their voices were quickly snuffed out and most started the daily worship of Jantyr. Something he very much liked, as it was expensive to keep the city warm, from his own disaster. Ironic in a way.

Next to the lodge about eighteen people were swinging their spear, or doing other kinds of exercises.

Even if Jantyr no longer blessed them with more power, they had heaps of potential thanks to him. So they trained to turn that potential into power.

Ragnar had only blessed one person since Lenart, Jasmine. He had decided that she could use some talent in a specific field, as she was his worshiper.

Jantyr watched her learn magic and copied everything she read in books. He had made a secret stash of magic books in the lodge, hidden away from all. It was small now, but Ragnar requested Jasmine to flip through books every week, even if she wasn't interested to learn about that specific thing.

Now onto the next exciting thing. Jasmine casted her first spell yesterday successfully. It wasn't anything special, it was a curse. What the curse did was simple. It would make someone sweat for some days. Making them lose a lot of water and sometimes lose consciousness. Pretty much a harmless spell, in the world of curses.

"How's the training going?" Lenart asked Harold, who shrugged and said. "It's going as expected. My accuracy and shot are more precise and deadly. If a wave like the one before was to occur again, I would swiftly deal with it!"

"I'm glad you're confident." Lenart replied.

"What about you, any progress with your special powers?" Harold asked.

"Yes, less than I wanted, but I've made some progress. Not enough to bring an end to this harsh winter though. Even if I started it." Lenart answered truthfully.

"Aghh, don't berate yourself. It's not your fault, or the deity's. We all make mistakes."

"Yeah, but thousands, if not hundreds of thousands will die due to my mistake!"

"Well, guess you have to master your powers fast before we enter an ice age!" Harold halfheartedly joked.

"That I must!"