Chapter 56: Manifestation

A lot of things happened all at once.

First was the sudden influx of an absolutely monumental amount of divine mana — the kind that would escape the notice of most people's [Mana Sight], but not the notice of the [Divine Sense] that many clerics had. Several priests over in the nearby temple jerked their heads over, their eyes growing wide; Velykos, in contrast, narrowed his eye-equivalents and stepped back somewhat cautiously. A spell began to form in his hands, though there was too much of a storm of divine mana for Sev to be able to tell what kind of spell it was.

But the caution was warranted, in Sev's opinion. The magic was terrifying. It acted like no form of divine magic he'd ever seen before. Layers of divine mana twisted themselves over him, then attached to his body — to his soul, if he was understanding what he was seeing correctly — like golden, divine strings. Those strings led a short distance away, and then abruptly vanished.

Just as quickly as it began, it was over. The notification box vanished, and the storm of divine mana abruptly calmed, although it didn't disappear; instead, it started to slowly dissipate, spreading out from where it had coalesced.

For a moment, Sev was confused. Hadn't the box said that it was manifesting? What, exactly, had manifested, except the strings that now seemed attached to the stuff of his soul?

"What was that?" Velykos asked him, and Sev realized with a start that the stone elemental had been gathering healing magic into his hands. Now that the immediate danger seemed to be over, he let the magic flow away, joining the rest of the ambient divine mana in dispersing.

"It was..." Sev hesitated, then sighed; there wasn't much use in keeping it hidden, he thought. Velykos knew most of the story, anyway. "I told you that the system is erasing gods. My team was able to rescue one that we think was in the process of being erased. We don't fully understand the mechanics of what happened there, but apparently the god needs something to anchor to, and I was the only available option."

"Anchor..." Velykos repeated the word with a slight frown. He shook his head after a moment, not getting whatever he needed to get out of the word. "It reminds me of the connection that we share with our gods, perhaps," the stone elemental said. "Though I am certain it is not the same thing."

"The notification text implied that all gods need to be attached to an anchor," Sev said. "On top of all the people that worship them. I'm not sure exactly what relationship that implies, but... we'll find out, I guess."

The strings were still there, attached to him. There were no notifications that he could see about new skills, or new abilities — though his status was still fuzzy and grayed out, like something about it was still updating. Experimentally, he tugged on the strings of divine mana he could now feel.

This time, there was a response.

H-hello?

That was Aurum's voice, echoing back down through the connection; Sev metaphorically jerked back from his grip on the thread, startled. He didn't quite know how to process that. Aurum's voice was gone almost as soon as he released his grip on it, so he reached out again, feeling for the connection and this time connecting as gently as he could.

Aurum? he asked, trying to send his thoughts along the connection — the same way he'd done with Onyx, before his god had been forgotten. The sensation wasn't exactly the same; the nature of the connection was different. Can you hear me?

Yes! Aurum's mental voice was suddenly enthusiastic. I'm back now! The angels were all so worried about me... Histre is here, too. They didn't think I would come back, but I did! Did you guys do that?

I think so, Sev answered. The system says you're connected to me, now. Do you know what's up with that?

I dunno, Aurum said. Um... Lemme ask!

A short pause.

All of us have to be connected, the angels say, Aurum reported back after a moment, sounding more confused than anything else. They don't really know why. But they say it's a price we have to pay. Um... They say that it's also the source of our powers? It's how I can send down angels and stuff! If I pull from the connection.

Please do not do that, Sev said with a slight wince. You're connected to me, now, not to an anchor. If you try to pull anything like what you did before, with the angels, uh... I don't really know what will happen to me.

I don't think I can even if I wanted to, Aurum said. Your connection feels... um... weaker? I dunno. There's not much I can pull from it even if I want to. If anything it feels like it's almost the opposite.

The opposite? Sev frowned. You mean I can pull from you instead? Why would the connection be inverted like that?

I dunno! Aurum said again. Sev sighed, and changed tacks.

Do you remember anything about what happened? he asked, keeping his mental voice gentle. He wanted to know where Aurum had been, before the god had been anchored to him. After we freed you?

Um... Aurum seemed to give this some serious thought, but then Sev felt the mental sensation of the god shaking his head. Kinda. But I can't remember clearly yet. The angels say ice cream will help.

Excuse me? Sev blinked.

You gotta eat some ice cream, Aurum told him. I can taste it through the connection. And then I can remember things! Maybe.

Sev paused for a moment, then let out a sigh. You just want ice cream, don't you?

The angels tell me to tell you that I won't speak without my lawyer, Aurum supplied helpfully. Sev groaned.

Where did you even hear that, the cleric muttered, and then looked up at Velykos, who was blinking at him curiously. He hadn't stopped tending to the flowers even then.

"Do you happen to know a place I can get ice cream?" Sev said out loud, a little awkwardly. He didn't have much hope for that; he'd never seen it in town. But if Aurum was giving him an excuse to try to find a treat for himself...

"There is none nearby," Velykos said, his tone impying that he'd been thrown off by the question, but was going along with the flow anyway. "But I know how to make some, if you wish."

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"You do?" Sev blinked up at him, surprised.

"I did not always live here," Velykos said. "And I have encountered the children of the planeshifted, before. Ice cream is a common demand."

"Is it?" Sev sounded bewildered. "Are you telling me I could have had ice cream this whole time and all I needed to do was come to the temple and ask?"

"Well, that was not my intention," Velykos said, his tone an amused rumble. "But I would have made you some had you asked, yes. In all fairness, I doubt you could have reasonably expected to find ice cream within a temple."

"I mean I definitely didn't, but I kind of regret not talking to you guys more," Sev muttered. Then he thought about what he'd said, and amended his statement. "I regret not talking to you more. Maybe Ixome, since all he needed was a little bit of a wakeup call. Jury's still out on the rest of the priests."

"Do you have something against us?" Velykos asked, sounding amused. He was leading the way back to the temple, though he stopped as he passed by some plants — very carefully, Velykos reached out to the bean pods on those plants. He didn't pluck them off, instead using a tiny knife he manifested on the tip of a finger to split open a pod. He scraped out the insides with a blade of divine magic, and held it there carefully as he closed the pod shut again.

Healing magic gently suffused the plant, and the pod seemed to heal completely. Sev blinked.

"Does that plant have health?" he asked, slightly thrown off. "Wait, no. To answer your question, I don't have anything against priests, it's just that a lot of them preach at me a lot, and... I care about my friendship with Onyx, you know?"

"You have a closer and more casual relationship with your god than most," Velykos acknowledged with a nod. "Many in the temple would call it blasphemous. And no, that plant does not have health; healing magic is more effective on it because it is able to absorb that mana independent of the system, and heal itself."

Sev blinked, glancing back at the plant. "Huh," he said thoughtfully. That was a line of research to follow, if he could get Vex to research it. If he could heal people that were disconnected from the system... it'd be easier to heal people like Kestel. Healing magic was too ineffective otherwise without health to help it along.

"Will you be telling anyone what happened?" Velykos asked him curiously, and Sev blinked up at him. "It was rather obvious, and many of the priests seem eager to ask."

"Oh." Sev had almost forgotten. "Uh... no, I don't think so. That's something that I want to keep private. I'll say I got a divine message from my god, or something, and it's not meant for them."

"Did you?"

"I mean, technically, that happened," Sev said. "It's just that the god just wants to taste ice cream."

"Ah! Thus the current quest." Velykos seemed inordinately amused by the prospect. He continued leading the way into the temple — several priests immediately began to approach them, but Velykos waved at them, and they backed off, seeming to get the message.

"Wow," Sev said. "Maybe I should get you as an escort more whenever I need to visit the temple."

"Remember," Velykos said with a chuckle. "I am planning to return to adventuring, to uncover what may have happened to Ramos. You may not find it quite that easy to find me."

"Well, I'll be in Elyra, anyway," Sev said with a shrug. "Are you planning on heading in that direction?"

Velykos nodded. "It has been a long time, and all traces of him may be gone," the stone elemental said. "But that is where I last saw Ramos, and I believe I will try to track down where he went, and what happened to him. There were dungeons near that area that I will have to check."

"Can you do it alone?" Sev asked.

"I hear there are teams of adventurers that are recruiting, now," Velykos said with a shrug. "A paladin of gold? His party is down to three members, and they may be in need of a mage."

Sev winced slightly. "Uh... good luck with him," he said. He couldn't imagine what Jerome's team would look like with Velykos there, actually. "If you do join his team."

"It is just a thought," Velykos said with a chuckle.

They arrived at a small room at the back of the temple — all of the priests had their own little bedrooms, each separated by a thin cloth barrier, although Velykos' was larger than most due to the simple nature of his size. In the corner of his section was a small chest; the telltale mist of frost magic spilled out when he opened the chest.

Velykos retrieved a small bottle of milk, some sugar from the nearby drawers, and the various other ingredients he needed, including the small pods from the plant that he'd retrieved. Sev simply sat back and watched. It was nice, in a way, that so many planeshifted recipes had spread as they had.

Soon enough, he had a small bowl of ice cream, and a very pleased god humming along to the taste in his head.

Sev couldn't deny that he was enjoying it, too.

I'm gonna try to remember, Aurum told him, while enjoying the taste of the vanilla-flavored ice cream alongside him. The angels think I should, too. But gimme a few hours.

Sev just nodded. Aurum had only just returned. He'd figured it might take a while. He could wait.

Hopefully Aurum didn't barge in with a world-changing revelation during dinner with Misa's family, though. That would just be awkward.

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