Chapter 32: 32: Shiny Shrine

Mum was a little wary about letting me log in to Pellan immediately. I think because now that we had broken through the barriers that had been between us she was much more protective of me. I obliged her and we spent the afternoon cuddled up on the couch watching TV. It was nice to have caring parents, did I mention that? I should have opened up to them much sooner than this. So many years spent sad and alone when I could have been surrounded by love.

When Dad got home, we went over the whole episode again, then once he was calmed down and assured I was okay, we ordered food. Neither Mum or Dad were interested in cooking, so we ordered burgers from the local burger place. When the drone delivered our food it was still hot, and dad went on about how the world had changed and things were so different and all that old person crap whenever technology is mentioned.

With dinner over and done with, I finally went back to my room with my parents' permission. I hopped into bed and got myself settled, then reached for the helmet.

I stared at the helmet for a moment or two. This thing was so much more than it seemed. Crazy how this lump of plastic could transport my mind several thousands of lightyears away to another world where I inhabited another body, wielded and learned terrifying powers, and came back from death. I felt very small in the face of what I knew now. I grinned through that feeling, I was small anyway. Time to be small and powerful! I put the headset on.

 

****

 

When I materialised on Pellan, I found myself outside the log cabin, and took a look around to see if anything had changed. So far it seemed like nothing had happened since I left, which made sense since in this reality I had only been gone for twelve hours or so on Earth and a day and a half here. It still confused me how Pellan and Earth could be in two different time scales while both being in the same reality. Was it a function of the structure beneath the world?

Whatever the case may be, I had a girl’s life to save. Izzy needed help and it was my job to give it. Which meant continuing construction on the shrine. No one else was in the game yet, so I left the camp site and wandered off to have a look at the shrine.

The site was much the same as it had been. Open to the sky and basking in the late afternoon sun, the half carved rock was sitting there without a care in the world. It was time to get to work! We were at the point where it was time to carve some detail work into the rock. I was by no means a talented sculptor, and I don’t think izzy was either, so this was going to be rough.

So far we had a few scenes of deer playing in the sun and clouds drifting overhead. The central part had Feslia in all her glory smiling out at whoever was viewing the shrine. I summoned my radiant blade and got to work, carving slivers off here and chunks off there. I was trusting in my artistic intuition right now, with no reference to go by and no second chances if I messed up.

It ended up being a lot of fun and I got lost in my work. I began to get a visual image in my mind of how each curve should take shape and I followed that image. I traced Feslia’s image out of stone in a trance, almost as if I was dreaming. I felt the stone begin to yield to my blade almost eagerly, like I was leading a cat to its food bowl.

The image in my mind took residence in my mind’s eye, I could see everything. The way the light bounced off Feslia’s golden skin, catching the little particles of the metal that hit just beneath her skin. Her shining blond hair billowed out around her like a mantle crowning her shoulders. Carving her likeness began to fill me with a sense of peace and happiness, as though I was laying upon the stone and basking in the sun rather than doing the sweaty dusty work of carving up a stone.

I realised after a long while that there was energy gathering in this place. I could feel it surge into the stone with every movement of my blade, every careful shaving of stone. It came from above, from the sky above this world, the afternoon rays energising the shrine like a solar panel. I could feel something about the place around the stone change. It took on a peace that did not feel entirely natural, and it seemed brighter even as the sun began to fade below the horizon.

When it was over, I felt myself stumble backwards, unable to keep my balance as the weight of the carving was lifted from me. It was like I had become a conduit for Feslia’s power to enter the stone and the area around it. I was fairly sure I had just consecrated the shrine by accident. The carving of my goddess was perfect, utterly perfect.

I almost fell over in my stumbling, until a pair of soft strong hands steadied me. I looked up in a daze to find Karen looking down on me with caring and concern. Gosh she was beautiful too. I was too unsteady to hold myself up, so I decided instead to melt into her arms. She accepted my limp form with ease, cradling my tiny body like it was infinitely precious.

“What did you just do? You were glowing! Really bright!” she asked.

“I think I just consecrated the shrine to Feslia. I can feel her in there now,” I mumbled, feeling oh so tired.

She nodded slowly, then frowned, “Right. Uh, what now then?”

“Sleepy time,” I said, cuddling close.

“Oh um, right here?” she squeaked as I cuddled even deeper into her embrace.

“Unless you’re going to carry me to bed,” I whispered, then promptly fell asleep.

 

****

 

I did indeed wake up in bed, with Karen dozing next to me. I was still wearing all my clothes, and she was wearing hers too, minus her amour. The bed was surprisingly comfy for one made out of the corpses of our enemies, so I elected to stay there and watch my girlfriend sleep for a while. It was nice to just chill out and not have to deal with any crazy pressing matter of doom and destruction.

Karen seemed to be sleeping pretty deeply, and if I had to guess it was pretty early in the morning. I could see her eyes shifting sometimes under her eyelids. I wonder what she was dreaming about. I hoped it was me, cuddling and laughing with her. I hoped I was making her happy even in her dreams. She shifted slightly, and I felt a wave of affection roll through me like a physical force. I was falling so hard for this girl.

It’s crazy to think I barely knew who she was a few Earth weeks ago, but by my own subjective time it’s been closer to two months. Gosh, I just really liked her. Look at her! She was so tall in this game form. Her skin was that darkling pinkish red that seemed so warm and inviting. I wanted to touch her. I needed to feel the warmth of this incredible human that for some crazy reason cared so much about me.

Unable to hold myself back, I wiggled forward and eased myself into her arms. I felt her stir, breathe in deeply, then pull me closer of her own volition. I cuddled into her welcoming arms, nestling my head under hers and draping an arm around her waist. My other arm was trapped awkwardly between us, but I didn’t care. My heart sang, and I felt myself grow drowsy again. It wasn’t moments, but it wasn’t long either before the peace of the moment put me back to sleep.

 

****

 

I woke again slowly, my brain inching out of sleep like… well like me when I really didn’t want to go to school that morning. Luckily I was in Pellan so school wasn’t for another day. Gosh, having like, an extra day between school made it so much easier to deal with.

I felt a hand brush lazily through my long hair, pause to scratch a little, then continue onwards. It was the most luxurious incredible feeling, and it was putting me right back to sleep again. I felt so warm and safe. Another hand found its way to my back and began stroking gently up and down the line of my spine, pausing to scratch lightly at the same time the one in my hair did.

I made a vague grumbling sound and cuddled closer to Karen, unwilling to fully exit sleep but wanting her to know how damn nice that felt. It was so nice. Like, really gosh damn nice. I think after this point I fell back asleep for a ten or so minutes, my mind skipping across the pond of consciousness like a stone. It was heavenly. I needed this so badly, like a balm to my anxious mind.

“You’re so cute,” the voice of my pamperer said quietly.

She got another odd mumbling grumbling noise in response from me.

“It’s true, one hundred percent adorbs,” she teased further.

“No you,” I grumbled.

“No… you,” she giggled.

“I said it first,” I complained lightly, wiggling back to get a look at her face.

Her big green eyes were crinkled at the edges with a grin, and it was super infectious, almost instantly transferring to my own face. Gosh her eyes were so bright, I swear they must have had some back lighting like an old phone or something. So beautiful.

“Sleep well? For the record, I did carry you back to bed. You really don’t weigh much. Maybe a tiny bit more than my sword,” she smiled, nodding towards the giant claymore she liked to swing around.

“I slept soooo well,” I said, yawning and stretching luxuriously in her arms.

“That’s good, because the others want to know how you managed to make a rock glow,” she laughed.

I blinked blearily at her, trying to get my foggy sleepy brain to parse what she was saying. Glowing rocks? What on Ear- Pellan?

“Glowing rock?” I asked.

“Yeah the shrine. It glows now. Not a whole lot, but it has this blue aura. It’s really pretty to be honest,” she explained.

“You’re really pretty,” I grinned cheekily.

Karen blushed, paused for a moment, then grinned her own cheeky grin. Leaning forward, she purposefully licked up the bridge of my nose.

“Ewwww!” I squealed, diving forward to wipe it off on her shirt.

“You deserved it,” she said haughtily.

“Pretty sure when someone calls their girlfriend pretty, they actually deserve this,” I pouted, then leaned forward and kissed her.

She broke the kiss quickly, “Morning breath!”

“Do you care? Cos I don’t,” I giggled.

I got a kiss as an answer, and suddenly we were lazily making out on the bed. It wasn’t the type of heated kiss that spoke of desire, it was a caring and adoring kiss that spoke of our feelings for one another. Oh and how my feelings for her soared at the touch of her lips. She was such a good kisser. If it wasn’t for her arms around me I would have floated away for sure. Like seriously.

How does anyone with a significant other like this actually get out of bed in the morning. Life and duty and all that can wait, there’s kissing to be done! The type of kissing that leaves you with jelly arms and legs! Karen’s arms must be super strong because kissing gives you a huge strength debuff while your doing it. I know mine were like overcooked wet noodles now. Practically disintegrating.

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She started doing that thing with my hair again, and I was totally at her mercy. I mean, I was at her mercy before but… oooohhhhhhh goddess that was nice. I gave her a happy chirping noise of approval and pushed myself closer against her.

We stayed in bed for about half an hour more before I grew restless. I wanted to see the shrine now that I was all here upstairs. I was like really sure that I had channeled Feslia’s power into making the shrine. I wanted to see my handiwork.

“Do we have to get up?” Karen grumbled as I wriggled around in her arms like a restless puppy.

I pouted up at her and said, “I want to see the shrine! I made it and then passed out remember?”

“I know. We need to talk about what happened when you went missing too. Dana said I should talk to you about it when you got back,” she said cautiously.

“Yeah we can talk about it, but not now and you should probably be like, dressed and sitting down for it,” I said, trying to deflect her away from asking more questions. I had no idea if I was allowed to mention Nia and who she was yet. We hadn’t talked about it.

“Why…?” she asked, her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“Uhhhh… reasons. I’m not sure if I’m allowed to tell you… um… yeah. It’s something good though!” I said, waving my hands around trying to placate her.

She stared into my eyes for a few moments, then sighed, “Alright. I trust you… but I want to know soon okay?”

“Sure! The moment I track down that fluffy dragon and get her to… cooperate, I’ll let you know,” I smiled.

“Fluffy dragon… right,” she said with a bemused smile.

I laughed as I changed into new clothing, throwing the dirty stuff into a corner, “You’ll understand.”

“I’m sure,” Karen said absently, her eyes roaming my body as I got dressed, “You’re um, not shy then.”

“Oh… heh,” I nodded, feeling a blush burn my cheeks.

I quickly threw on the rest of my clothing. I had sort of not been paying attention when I stripped down. I mean like, she was my girlfriend so she could see right?

“Maybe a little then,” she grinned, still watching me.

“Want me to turn away while you get changed?” I asked as I quickly threw the rest of my clothing on.

“Uhhh, I feel like it shouldn’t bother me after uhh… that,” she said, waving her hands at my now dressed body.

“No, no I’ll give you some privacy. I’ve seen a lot of you but not all. We’ll save that for a few years time,” I giggled, turning so I couldn’t see her.

She began rustling around, but there was a little wobble in her voice when she asked, “A few years?”

Oh crap. That had just slipped out. You weren’t meant to put expectations on a relationship like that were you? Maybe she just wanted to be together for like a few months like most people our age, or… oh no, here goes my anxiety. Sweating and shaking urgh.

“Um, sorry! I mean… like… If…” I said, trying to figure out how to fix this.

“Hey no it’s fine. A few years sounds really nice. I want… a lot of years,” she said shyly from behind me.

I gulped, straining to keep myself from turning to look at her as my heart leapt into my throat to say, “Me too.”

“Phew… that’s good to hear. Should we um… go outside then?” she asked, a hand moving around my waist.

“Yup! Also I’m hungry,” I blurted.

“Cool we’ll get food after you see the shrine?”

“Yup!”

Karen led me out of the room and outside. We passed the gnome and the bear from the other party, and both of them watched me warily. Geez, why the hostile looks?

Outside we found Col sitting on a log around the fire. He looked up and saw me, then turned his head away and refused to make eye contact. That wasn’t unexpected. Guy should have taken even a single second to think about his dumbass stunt from earlier.

Taking Karen’s hand, we walked along the vague trail towards the meadow that the shrine had been built… or created. There was a noticeable trail now too, it seemed quite a few people had been tramping down the grass along the way to the place.

As we got closer, I could hear voices from ahead. They seemed excited, or maybe upset. I couldn’t tell from this distance. The people came into sight first. It was everyone who we hadn’t seen on our way here. They stopped speaking when they saw us approaching, and I couldn’t help but start to feel nervous. Why was everyone treating me so funny? I clutched karen’s hand tighter.

We moved a little past the group, and finally I could see my handiwork.

The stone was completely different. If it was even stone anymore. Where the stone had stood before, now a shining statue of metal stood. The metal had all the subtle divots and and colours of the real Goddess, and if it hadn’t been for the shine of the metal I would have thought it was  her standing there. It was ten feet tall, with a podium rising about a foot and a half out of the dirt. She wore loose robes and a kind smile, while her hands were stretched low to either side like she was poised to begin a dance. The whole thing glowed with the subtle aura of her colours blue and gold.

“Wow,” I breathed.

“Yeah,” Karen nodded, “It didn’t look like that last night.”

“No, it did not,” the statue agreed with Feslia’s voice, making us all jump.

“Who the fuck was that?” I heard Alexia ask from behind us, while Izzy gave a squeak and rushed forward.

Izzy lost her courage pretty soon after and backed off again, but her eyes shone with hope.

The statue didn’t move, but Feslia’s kind and powerful voice came from the statue nevertheless, “I am Feslia, Goddess of the Bright Sky and patron of your friend Sylanna here. It appears she has found herself some broken piece of power. Come closer please my little priestess.”

I did as she asked, letting go of Karen’s hand and inching closer to the statue.

“Ah yes I see it now. Such a magnificent working, yet it is far from complete. Merely a shard of a larger whole… Sylanna could you please place your hand upon the podium. I need to examine this up close,” she said, and her usual calm tone wavered under her excitement.

“You’re not going to hurt me are you?” I asked timidly.

“My dear, with what you hold inside of that body, it is I who should be wary of you,” she said kindly.

I didn’t have much of a response to that. A goddess fearing this tiny ass? That didn’t seem right. Shrugging regardless, I moved forward and placed my hand on the podium as she’d requested.

Feslia gasped. Actually gasped, then told me in a hush, “Keep yourself safe little daughter of mine. You might just be a part of something that could turn the tide. We could… with you we may even be able to recover much of the knowledge we have lost.”

“Okay… I’ll be safe. Like.. do you mean safe in Pellan or safe on Earth or… what?”

“Your real body. Keep it safe,” she implored me.

I looked up at her and rolled my eyes, “I mean I was planning on doing that anyway, but I’ll extra do it now.”

“Ah yes… that’s true. Uh,” she replied, at a loss for words, “I must go, but thank you for this shrine. However you built it, this is a wonderful place. Please take care of it for me too.”

“Yup, will do!”

“I will contact you at a later date, for now I must bring this news to my brothers and sisters,” she said, her voice fading.

“Wait! I have someone who needs your help! She’s like I was, and she wants to be a priestess!” I said quickly.

“She does does she? Hmmm. Please give me time to gather the energy I will need. It is not easy to do what I did with you, but I will try,” she said, a smile in her voice, and then she was gone.

When I stood up and turned to my friends, I saw them all staring back at me. Oh boy, I had some ‘splainin to do.

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