May was joking with me, but I had actually thought about it. I think I should like to be the God of the Duel or God of Fencing. Neither sound like a name for a good god though.
“Don't jest, Love. I'm trying to take this seriously. Perhaps the God of Luck, or Hope, or something I'm good at besides swordsmanship. Have you given it any thought?”
"Oh, yes, of course I have. I think I should like to be the God of Female Warriors. And my name shall be Afgrid, a good warrior name. Solid and stout.”
"I certainly don't feel bad now. You've spent a lot of time thinking about this. I thought I was being indulgent while you've redefined the word.” I had to laugh, despite my mood, despite the circumstances. Her eyes burned through me.
"No, seriously, Love, it sounds perfect. It suits you. Though I would make you the God of Beauty and Grace.”
"There's always that option,” she playfully tossed back at me without breaking a smile.
"Tindel, do you have your things together? You won't need much. I have a new set of weapons for you and a new suit of armor. Something more befitting a god.”
"But I liked my armor and rapier,” I complained.
“Those things were functional, Dearest. You need something more ornate for this. You'll see. You'll love it. I got new things too as did everyone else. We can't very well be gods looking like merely functional vagrants.”
That was my turn for an eye roll, and it went undetected. Thankfully.
"Personally, Love, I think a good patronage for you would be Truth and Honesty.”
"That's pretty good, May. I like it. Truth better than Honesty just because it sounds more serious I think. And you?”
"You pick for me, Love. I trust you to make a good decision.”
"Then you're the Warrior Goddess and the Goddess of Beauty. Can you handle all of that responsibility? Your name can still be Afgrid."
"What if Janiver and Brevid have both decided to be the Goddesses of Beauty? What if they didn't even consider it because they thought it would be terribly vain to call oneself that?”
"You worry too much. The honest truth, and I'm the authority on that, is that you're the most beautiful woman in the world. Objectively speaking. The others pale by comparison. Take ownership of your gift.”
“Will you keep your name,Tendil?"
“No, of course not. Let's see. It must sound authoritative. Easy to say. Hmmm. ‘Lagmir.’ Yes, that's the one. ‘Lagmir.’ What do you think?”
"I think it will grow on me. Lagmir and Afgrid. Aren't we a pair?”
As the bells rang six, four footmen arrived at our rooms with boxes from the smithy. Our armor and weapons.
“Oh, Waldinor! May called, and he came at a quick jog.
"Yes, Your Majesty?”
"Please bring us a platter of cheese, fruit, and bread with tea for two. Who knows when we'll eat again.”
"Yes, Your Majesty!”
"Timmins!” she was working them hard this evening.
“Yes, Your Majesty?"
“Help the Prince and me put on our new armor, if you would?"
“Of course, Your Majesty!"
The boy was as excited opening the boxes as we were. May’s was first. The big box of full plate and a long thin box which would be her sword.
The armor was beautiful. Mithril polished to a high shine with engravings of wisteria coming from the shoulders and falling across the breasts.
The sword was fully five feet long, as tall as May, with a leather bound gold hilt and a massive heart-shaped ruby in the pommel. I had a feeling I'd see that motif again.
May went behind the modesty curtain to disrobe and change into the quilted padding to be worn under her armor.
Once she had Timmins’ help, the job of getting her suited up went rather quickly. She looked amazing.
“Now, open yours, Love. Hurry! We need to get going soon." she demanded.
And, indeed, mine was as beautiful. The scale mail hauberk was shined to a reflective quality. This suit had the addition of pauldrons, solid steel caps for the shoulders. Here, the wisteria motif continued, as if its vine was spilling down my arm.
The rapier. By the gods, what a beautiful instrument. Again with the matching heart-shaped ruby. This weapon came with a basket hilt to protect my right hand. Oh, but at the bottom of the box. A much shorter scabbard, a smaller ruby, a large dagger — what they call a , a left handed weapon to be used in conjunction with the rapier.
“It's all so beautiful, May. I can so clearly see your hand in every bit of it. You must have worked old Joakin night and day.”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
"I actually had the armor done in Nez Clar?. Joakin did the blades. Come, Darling, we need to get to the others so the rituals can begin.”
"Lace me up, Timmins! I've been commanded!”
Once that was done and we looked about as good as one might possibly look, we came to the sanctum where the rest of the crew was waiting.
"Oh, my!” I said, taking them all in. "Don't we all look absolutely stunning?
Allow me to introduce us. The creature to my left is none other than Afgrid, Goddess of Beauty, and I am Lagmir, God of Truth.”
They were all exchanging glances like they had done something wrong. Margrin stepped forward.
"Ah, well, see we took a vote while we were waiting on you two, and we came up with two things on which we agreed unanimously.”
"Well, what is it?” I asked.
Margrin stepped forward a little further.
"First let me say that I felt pressured to vote the way I did, Your Majesties. But we've decided to just go with gods, no goddesses. Secondly, we've decided to keep our regular names for now. We've all chosen ‘god names,’ but while we're figuring it all out for the time being, we just thought it would add confusion to try and use them.”
"Is that all?” I asked.
"Yes, Your Majesty, that's all.”
"Is May still the Queen? Did you vote on that? Wait, let's cut to the chase. Did you make any more major decisions in the three minutes that we were late?”
His head sagged, “No, Your Majesty."
“You certainly work quickly. Okay, well let's have a seat before we begin this thing. Even though we won't be using the names, I'd still like to know them.”
After we were all seated, May and I on one side of the table, Janiver at the table head to May’s left, Margrin, Brevid, and Milost across from us, and Pelisir to my right at the other head.
Janiver was wearing her usual maroon robes, but these were meticulously trimmed in gold thread in the floral style of the Gnolls.
May took charge.
“Janiver, let's start with you."
Blushing furiously, she said "In god form, I will be Eltane, God of Love."
“And it's about time," I added. May flashed me the most gorgeous smile.
May looked to Margrin, “What about you, Margrin?"
Gone were the courtly trappings I had come to associate with Margrin. Instead, he was in all black. I guess what he wore in his capacity as an assassin: black leather armor, black tunic, black chausses and hose, and soft black leather shoes. He had a shortsword in a scabbard on each hip, and I could see his bow and quiver leaning against the wall behind him.
"In god form, I shall be Emrich, God of Night.”
I had to commend him, "Aha! Good one, My Friend. Spooky."
May kept going “What about you Brevid?”
Sheepishly, she replied “I am Sealo, God of War Song."
"That put an end to the levity, didn't it?” I asked rhetorically.
What a surprising choice from such a quiet person. She was dressed in her ceremonial Sand Elf wardrobe. A beautiful sand colored cloak covered her robes of maroon, red brown, pale yellow , and peach, with plentiful gold bangles, bracelets, earrings, and belt chains.
“The White King, Milost, what did you choose?"
Milost was dressed much as I was: black cloak over reflective scale mail, white tunic, black chausses, hose, and shoes. On his hips were two scimitars, and his longbow was neat Margrin's.
“You know," he began, “I had a name. But hearing you say ‘the White King' just then, I think I'll stay with that. I am the God of Passage, a psychopomp to interfere where I can with Carca's vision of Death."
"And, finally, Count Pelisir.”
He always cuts a dashing figure, but tonight he was resplendent in polished silver plate mail with a lavender cloak. Like May, he wielded a two-handed sword equal to himself in size.
“My god name shall be Indrin, and I am the God of Dreams. And, yes, Tendil, we do dream,” he smiled.
He smiled! I don't believe I had seen that in the past week. I think everyone had a sense that things could go against us. They were living for today. Not a bad thing, but I was much more optimistic about our chances.
“Well, we look good, and that's half the battle," I joked, and the table laughed with me.
“One more thing before we start," Janiver stood and had the floor, “In god form, we'll each have our own special ability stemming from whatever patronage we chose. But you won't know what it is until it tells you to use it. The research I was able to do was from crumbling texts in some ancient celestial tongue. That's the best I can give you.
Now, this process is easy and it's quick thanks to the copious amounts of included amber I've used over the past few days. You'll drink a much more concentrated draught of serum. You'll step into the circle over there, announce to the world your new name and patronage, drink the serum, and Ascend.
Oh, one more thing. We have skipped making sacrifices of the Human sort, but a sacrifice must still be made. Before you drink the serum, let go of something that's been holding you back. Failed dreams, personal struggles, hatreds, guilt, whatever it is. Let it go.”
The circle she had indicated was roughly five feet across, drawn from chalk on the bare floor. Runes and glyphs surrounded the circumference, and a large heptagram occupied the circle's center. There were white and lavender candles at each of the seven points.
“I'll go first, unless someone else feels they should," Janiver announced.
“No, Janiver, thank you," May interjected, “But I'm the Queen and the responsibility should fall on me if anything should go wrong."
“As you wish, Your Majesty," Janiver replied, looking slightly relieved. “Just step into the circle and do as I said."
Janiver poured her serum concoction from a large ewer into an ornate silver chalice studded with amethysts, perhaps borrowed from the Church. Handing it to May, she extended her hand toward the circle and said “Whenever you're ready, My Queen."
May took the chalice and stepped into the circle. I had to smile. As worried as I was, she looked as graceful in full plate as she did in her queenly raiment.
But I was worried. Or perhaps I should say anxious. We were dealing with wild magic after all. As much as Janiver knew, we were doing things the world hadn't seen done in many millennia, tapping into the power that created the first gods.
As she entered the circle, May began to enjoy a soft, orangish glow, like heat. The glow caused her image to ripple and weave.
Holding her head high, she proclaimed to the heavens “I am Afgrid, God of Beauty, come to claim my place among the gods before me!”
She immediately quaffed the serum, and the orange glow became a blinding blaze of radiance. It gave off no warmth, but the very air crackled and hummed with cast off Mana.
And then it stopped. Then it was just May in the center of that circle, the chalice on the floor at her feet. She looked woozy, unsteady, and I moved to give her my support, but Janiver grabbed my arm.
"She's okay, My Prince. Just give her a moment to steady herself. You can't violate the sanctity of the circle or it will undo everything.”
She was right. Gradually, May straightened, raised her head once again, and said "It's good, Tendil. I'm fine. Just so much power coursing through me. I wasn't ready for it. I can leave the circle now, Janiver?”
"Yes, May. For you, the ritual is complete."
And so it went. Margrin, Brevid, Pelisir, Milost, me, and, lastly, Janiver.
When I was in that circle, I knew I was transforming. As the glow about me intensified, the world fell away. Literally. I looked down into a gaping maw of nothingness. And there was I, suspended above it, pulsing with Mana.
At that moment, I made the decision to lose my anger with my father. He no longer mattered. Feeling all of that animosity flowing out and away from me, the pain and hurt feelings, the sense of neglect, feigned concern, all of it. And a warm wash of Mana to take its place. I was complete.
As Janiver exited the circle, she said “Take a moment to allow your bodies to come to grips with what you just went through, then we go to see what we've become."