The transition from Oros to Valtar’s Divine Halls was surprisingly gentle. Having only just experienced Eir’s ritual and visiting D at his home in his realm a week ago, the experience was fresh in Jadis’ mind. Even though that last visit had been much easier to adjust to compared to every previous trip, Jocelyn’s ritual was far less of a jolt. That probably had a lot to do with the method of the ritual. After all, Jadis wasn’t having sex with the Hero’s Oracle to make the spell work. She didn’t even have to put her head in Jocelyn’s lap. All Jadis had to do was hold the blondie’s hand, close her eyes, and pray.
Jocelyn’s ritual took much longer to complete than Eir’s ritual, but the combination of candles, incense, and the Oracle’s droning prayer soothed Jadis to the point where she almost felt as though she were dreaming. The only way she knew that she wasn’t still kneeling in the circle Jocelyn had drawn in her bedroom was the sudden change in sound, scent, and temperature. Jadis’ bedroom had been a little chilly since they hadn’t fully set up a more advanced system of keeping the building heated beyond the fireplaces scattered about. The only sound in the room had been Jocelyn’s voice as she incanted her prayer and the occasional crackle of the sweet-smelling beeswax candles. The moment Jocelyn’s prayer was completed, new voices took the prayer up, starting anew from the beginning with a quiet chorus that filled the background with a constant musical chant. The chill in the air disappeared, replaced with a warm summer’s breeze that smelled faintly of cherry blossoms and rain.
Opening her eyes, Jadis saw Jocelyn kneeling before her in the same position that she had held a moment before, except that instead of the travelworn cloak she had been robed in a second ago, she was dressed in a clean white gown trimmed with gold. The clothing was modest, yet clearly made of the highest quality materials. With the simple yet elegant jeweled bracelets and other baubles that had somehow appeared on her arms and around her neck, as well as the flowing blue cape draped over her shoulders, Jocelyn looked far more like an actual oracle than Jadis had ever seen her look before.
Glancing down at herself, Jadis quickly gathered that she still looked much the same as she had back on Oros. She was even less fuzzy than she had been at D’s house, her appearance practically identical to her normal self other than the fact that she was now wearing her full plate armor for some reason.
“It’s so beautiful…”
Jadis glanced up at Jocelyn to see that the woman was looking to her right, which was Jadis’ left. Jadis had only focused on herself and the Oracle and had yet to really examine their surroundings. Now, turning her gaze to look in the same direction as Jocelyn, she took in the sight of where the ritual had brought them. Her breath caught in her throat as she stared, openmouthed, at the vista before them.
They were on a balcony of some kind, at what looked to be the end of a cathedral located on the top of a mountain. That wasn’t what knocked the sense out of Jadis, though. Spread out in an impossibly expansive landscape below them was… heaven. Jadis didn’t have another word for it. The rolling green hills and pastures, the cobblestone roads, the buildings that ranged from towers to farmsteads… no one part was particularly special or unexpected, yet together as a whole, the scene embodied a perfection of simple peace that made her heart ache. Jadis couldn’t find words for why she felt the way she did as she looked down from their high vantage, but she knew that there was something impossibly honest and wholesome before her that she wanted to experience directly. The sight made her want to be a better person, if only to achieve some small part of the gloriously pastoral life laid out before her. She felt like she could spend hours just gazing down at the valley below them, and she just might have if Jocelyn hadn’t broken the silence between them.
“I’m sorry,” the Oracle stirred herself, releasing her hold on Jadis’ hand as she got to her feet. “It doesn’t matter how many times I see Valtar’s divine realm, I can never seem to get used to it.”
“Yeah, I can see why,” Jadis murmured as she forced herself to look away from the heavenly sight.
Turning her gaze to the right, Jadis got a better look at the building they were inside of. It was, just as she had first thought, a cathedral of some sort. The balcony they found themselves occupying was on the end of a huge hall made of marble arches and towering stained-glass windows. The colors were predominantly whites, blues, and gold, yet the place had a surprisingly warm feel to it. The design of the cathedral was faintly reminiscent of the imperial halls of the royal palace and yet had none of the cold and reserved feeling that the capital building possessed. This place was warm and welcoming. Rich, yet not opulent. The wealth on display seemed more a sign of respect and good craftsmanship than a show of power or prestige.
At the far end of the hall opposite from where Jadis and Jocelyn stood was a huge statue of a man that dominated the room. The man was seated on a marble throne, his right hand on the pommel of a sheathed sword that rested point down before him. He was clad in armor, yet his left hand was bare and he wore no helmet, showing points of vulnerability, or at least that he was not immediately intent upon war. He looked fatherly to Jadis, like a man in his forties who had experienced the world in all of its aspects, both good and bad. There was a roughness about his nose and brow that spoke of a working man, yet his blonde beard was neatly trimmed and his hair was combed back with not a strand out of place. He had a stern expression on his face, yet his eyes had a kindness to them that softened his looks.
Jadis knew that this statue was Valtar. She had seen his likeness before in temples and works of art in the palace. This statue was far, far more detailed than anything Jadis had ever seen of the God of Valor before, though. The craftsmanship of what had to be some kind of temple altar was so exquisite that she felt as though the statue belonged in Lyssandria’s domain rather than Valtar’s. It was so detailed, in fact, that as Jadis looked at the thing, she could have sworn—
“Come closer, my children.”
“Holy fu—ah, crap.”
The man that was not a statue had spoken. Raising his left hand in a beckoning gesture, the colossal figure of Valtar motioned for the two of them to approach his throne.
Jocelyn bowed, then calmly walked forward to approach her god without commenting on Jadis’ faux pas. Taking a moment to catch her breath, Jadis enacted a hasty bow as well before walking up to join the oracle.
Jadis had visited Washington D.C. once when she was a child with her grandparents. One of the places they had taken her to on that trip had been the Lincoln Memorial. She remembered thinking at the time about how huge the statue of Lincoln had been, not just in size but in sheer presence. Lincoln had nothing on Valtar.
“Jocelyn,” Valtar’s voice echoed in the hall like a golden bell. “My gentle daughter. You have served the people of Oros well since we last spoke. You have my blessings and will continue to have them so long as you continue to heal those in need.”
“Thank you, All Father,” Jocelyn bowed deeply. “I will serve the people to the best of my ability, always.”
“I have no doubt,” Valtar’s mouth twisted into a loving smile that was barely hidden by his beard. “Now, what question has brought you before me today?”
“The Hero’s faithful companions are in pursuit of the enemies of you and your children, All Father,” Jocelyn spoke without raising her head. “When Wilhelm and I return to the field from our errand in the capital, where should we go that would best serve our purpose in capturing the foul cultists who attacked the city?”
“Meet your companions in the city of Leath. You will find the trail you seek under the Sparrow’s Wing.”
“Thank you, All Father,” Jocelyn raised her head. “I will inform Wilhelm and we will see justice done.”
“Go in my name,” the god spoke solemnly.
While Valtar’s gaze remained kind the whole time he looked upon Jocelyn, Jadis saw the change to a more serious, stern expression when he turned his focus onto her. She didn’t get the sense that he was hostile towards her, but the lovingly paternal feeling that he had exuded a moment before was gone, replaced with a strict intensity.
“Jadis Ahlstrom,” Valtar addressed her directly for the first time. “You have come before me to seek my council. Your future rests on a perilous crossroads. What questions will you ask of me?”
Staring up at the immense figure of godhood, Jadis hesitated. There were many, many questions she had for the deific figure. She had barely narrowed her list down to twenty entries from all the various points that her lovers had made, never mind her own private concerns and considerations. Before performing the ritual, she had gone over her list one last time with Aila and Eir while getting Jocelyn’s input at the same time. The formal and carefully worded questions, while many, had all been drilled into her head and she knew that even in that overwhelming moment of being face to face with a God, she could recite any one of them from memory.
“I… don’t know.”
Jocelyn’s perfect composure broke as she turned her shocked expression up towards Jadis.
“I mean, I’ve kind of already made my decision on which class I’m going to take,” Jadis pushed forward, keeping her head raised high as she met Valtar’s steely gaze head on. “I want to take the Progenitor of Succubi class. Not because I think the other options are bad, but because I think that class is going to give me the most power to protect those I love. I don’t know if Una is right about it potentially leading to me becoming a Demi-God, but I do think she’s right about me needing to think about the future. Not only is that class going to enable me to better protect and raise my children, but if it does hold the remote possibility of me becoming a Demi-God, that’s something I can use to protect my family. I still have other goals. I still want to adventure. I want to fight and explore and see new places and punch jackasses in their faces. I want to end the destructive cycle of demonic invasions. None of that has changed. But now I have another goal, one that matters just as much to me, maybe even a little more. I want to be there for my loved ones. I think Progenitor is going to serve that purpose best. I don’t think there are any answers to any question that I can ask you that’ll make me change my mind.”
Jadis was very aware of Jocelyn’s wide-eyed, disbelieving expression. The poor girl looked like she wanted to either leap onto Jadis and physically stop her from continuing or melt into the floor and disappear.
Valtar’s stern expression hadn’t changed in the slightest during Jadis’ little speech. He simply gazed at her, silent but listening, not even twitching a single finger.
“All of that said, I guess there are two questions that I’d like to ask you. I know you won’t answer if you don’t want to, or you might give me some kind of cryptic response that’ll be open to interpretation, or maybe some kind of platitude about ‘finding things out on my own’ or something like that, and that’s fine. Like I said, I’ve made my own choice. But if you want to answer, I’d like to know. The first question I have is, which of my class options do you think would piss Samleos off the most if I chose it?”
A second or two of silence filled the air as Jadis’ question settled like a bomb with a lit fuse between the three of them. Jadis gazed up at the stony face of Valtar, while Jocelyn stared silently aghast up at Jadis. When the third second passed, both Jadis and Jocelyn leapt halfway off their feet by a sudden burst of laughter that echoed like dynamite. It was loud, it was high pitched, and it was filled with a mad intensity that Jadis knew all too well.
The laughter had not come from Valtar.
“Out!” Valtar commanded in a deep, booming voice that shook the foundations of the world.
In the next moment, the laughter was gone, fading into the distance as though some door had been shut and the source had fled.
Releasing a weary yet bemused sigh, Valtar leaned forward, his left forearm on his knee as he shook his head once.
“I can see why he likes you,” the god said before letting out another amused puff of air. “That boy has always had a soft spot for ones like you.”
“I, uh… thanks, I guess?”
“Before I answer your question,” Valtar spoke, a slight smile curving his lips. “I want to ask you a question.”
Jadis blinked. Taken aback for a moment, she opened her mouth, then closed it. Tilting her head to one side, she nodded once towards the giant god.
“Yeah, of course. Go right ahead.”
“Do you think Destarious cares about what’s best for the people of Oros?”
That was not the question Jadis had expected Valtar to ask. Well, she hadn’t expected any kind of question from the god at all. He was a god, after all. She was pretty sure he knew the answer to everything he wanted to know, and probably everything he didn’t, too. That meant the question was more rhetorical than anything, something for her to think about rather than inform.
“I… would say no, he doesn’t,” Jadis answered after a few seconds of contemplation. “D told me he would have been perfectly happy with me taking sides with the Demon Lord and killing off everyone, just so long as the status quo was changed. I don’t think he really meant that he wanted everyone to die. If he supported Samleos, I don’t think he would have chosen me. He would have found some other soul that was more inclined towards destruction. But, no, I don’t think he really cares about people beyond the entertainment he can get out of them.”
“A harsh judgement,” Valtar nodded his head. “But not an unfair one. Do not forget who Destarious’ mother is when you think poorly of the boy. Neither should you forget about who he is and what he represents. Chance is not always kind.”
“I will try to keep that in mind.”
“Good. Now, in answer to your question, Jadis. If I were in your place, with all the same information that you have, I would choose the Progenitor class as the one most likely to upset Samleos.”
Jadis frowned at the qualifier Valtar had put in his answer. He agreed with her choice, though only on the basis of having the same knowledge that she possessed. That didn’t mean the class was truly the option Samleos detested, just that it was based on Jadis’ knowledge. It was a mildly frustrating response, but not truly unexpected. She hadn’t thought it likely that Valtar would have so easily revealed the thoughts of another god, even if that god was his enemy.
“Alright, fair enough,” Jadis nodded in acceptance of the god’s answer. “Then I have one more question. In your opinion, which of the four class options I have available to me for my tertiary class would you choose if you were in my place?”
Valtar’s bark of laughter caused both Jadis and Jocelyn’s hair to blow back from the forceful expulsion of air. His head fell forward with a shake as his shoulders quaked with internal laughter. After a moment, he looked up, a twinkle in his eye that reminded Jadis strongly of her own father when he was amused by something rude she had said as a child but was trying not to reward her bad behavior.
“And so I see why my Lyss likes you. My answer remains the same. The Progenitor of the Succubi would be my choice, were I in your place with the knowledge you possess.”
“Oh. Really? Wow. I was expecting Cycle Breaker to be your pick, honestly.”
“Now you must ask yourself another question. Have we both made the right choice?”
“Good question. I guess I’ll find out.”
“I am certain that you will,” Valtar smiled enigmatically.
Leaning back into his throne, the God of Honor, Order, and Life resumed his regal stance. Holding up his free hand, palm outward, he nodded his head once. In the same moment, a warm breeze passed over Jadis, and the light in the room brightened to a point where she had to squint to see anything other than the god’s shining, golden figure.
“Go now, my children. Return to the world that needs you. Remember to act with justice and honor in all that you do. Know that I will always be here for you.”
By the god’s final words, the light had grown so bright that Jadis’ eyes were forced closed. Abruptly, she felt the world had changed around her. Blinking the bright spots out of her vision, Jadis looked around to find that she was back in her room, seeing from the perspective of three selves instead of one. Jay knelt in the center of the ritual circle, her hands once more clasped with Jocelyn.
Blinking her own eyes, the Oracle took a shaky breath before looking up at Jay.
“You are absolutely insane!”
“Do I want to know what she did?” Aila asked from her seat on the bed where she and Eir had been waiting for the ritual to complete.
“No,” Syd shook her head. “But I’m going to tell you anyway.”
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