A Solitary God In A Dark Multiverse

The forest was incredibly different from the town I was just in. It was a wild, unclaimed, and fully natural area. The trees that surrounded me on all sides were taller than any building I had seen in Comillas, and with just a glance I had a feeling that much of the wood that was used in the construction of the homes in Comillas came from a place with less dense trees than this area.

As I moved through the forest I was able to see and hear a range of sights and sounds. I could see trees, bushes, and small animals flitting too and from their homes. I could hear the gentle swaying of leaves as they drifted down from trees and the soft pitter-patter of tiny feet on soft gra.s.s.

As I dove deeper and deeper into the forest I relied on tremorsense to guide me. Striding with confidence felt right, it felt natural for me to move with purpose. Nearly a minute into my trip I received a message from that little voice in my head that told me about the world and appeared to know more about me than I did.

[This sure is a pretty forest! We quite like it. Lots of animals, trees, and plants. A perfect place for a druid.] The thing told me, and as far as I could tell it was being sincere. It seemed to truly like the forest I found myself in. And so did I. That said, I knew I would probably like it even more once the situation with the goblin was resolved and I could appreciate it fully. A second later the voice spoke again.

[Anyways, do us a favor. We"ve unlocked your spells, but none of us can see them until you open your spell list for the first time. In a second, when we"re done talking, you should see a book-like icon pop into being in your mind"s eye. That"s your grimoire and you can use it to access your spells. Mentally click it when you see it so we can all glance at what spells you can already use.] The strange voice told me.

This time when my vision changed it wasn"t after I blinked. It happened the moment after the system stopped talking. It also wasn"t at all like what happened with tremorsense. Instead of a painful ordeal, it was more like a casual awakening. One moment the top-right corner of my mind"s eye was empty and the next there was a symbol of a black book there.

Upon noticing the thing I smiled and did as I was asked, tapping it with a single mental gesture. And then another system-like bracket-box filled with text appeared unintrusively in my mind"s eye, just like when I clicked on the goblin while testing tremorsense.

[Accessing grimoire... Loading spells... Preparing shortened descriptions...

Base spells provided by your influence over the subdomain of healing:

Restore Health (Heal a target for 15 points of hit point damage)

Abate Sickness (Lessens the symptoms of a disease, providing the affiliated target with immediate relief, including lesser symptoms of magical diseases)

Cure Disease (Immediately cures any mundane, as in non-magical, disease in a target. Single target per cast.)

Restore Stamina (Provides the target(s) with 100 points of stamina. If the target"s stamina points would go beyond their maximum as a result of the spell the excessive stamina points are returned to the caster in the form of magical energy to help offset the magical costs of the spell.)

Numb Pain (Dampens a target"s sense of pain, allowing them to endure blows without the negative effects of pain on the body)

Cure Condition (A condition affecting a target is ended)

Prognosis (This spell scans and reveals a target"s condition, it identifies. .h.i.t points, stamina points, and magical energy, as well as letting the caster know what, if any, non-magical diseases the target is suffering from and their current mental state. It also provides caster with recommendations on treating them.)

Subdomain Notes:

1: Normally healing spells wouldn"t work on machines, spirits, constructs, or plants unless they state otherwise. However, yours do. This is because you are a deity of healing.

2: You also have no cooldown on healing spells and can cast them on people no matter their location, provided you know the target you intend to heal and the target consents to being healed. If you increase your influence over the subdomain of healing then you"ll be able to influence people you"ve healed, though at the moment you cannot do that.

3: You can cast this spell through someone else if they permit you to. This means that if someone prays for healing you can heal them or others they know as if you knew them. Those who pray for healing will receive a notification the first time you attempt to heal them, and if they allow the healing they are opening themselves up to future heals.

4: These healing spells may sound unimpressive but healing magic is the third rarest basic school of magic and the ability to heal someone unseen from even thousands of miles away is literally miraculous.

Druid Spells:

Embers (Produces a small sphere of flame that can be used to illuminate your surroundings or as a ranged attack on enemies)

Mote (Produces a tiny triangle of elemental energy that can be used to attack an enemy from a distance, sample elements include: electricity, ice, earth, fire)

Boulder Bash (Hurls a medium-sized boulder at the enemy)

Chaos Burst (Fires a ray at the enemy that displaces them, sending them a few meters away in a random direction)

Tangle (Vines grow out of the ground that entangles an enemy and prevents them from moving)

Beast Bond** (Creates a temporary bond with a beast that allies it with you and enables mind to mind communication. This spell can be targeted to create a bond between a targeted humanoid and a targetted beast.)

Create food** (Creates real, healthy food. Due to influence from your domains and subdomains, any food you create will be fruits and vegetables but anyone who eats something you created gets a boost to their stats and it meets all of their nutritional needs no matter their normal diet. This food begins to go bad if uneaten in two hours.)

Animal Chatter** (Enables a target to understand and speak with animals)

Notes:

1: You unlock more druid spells as you gain experience and as you practice your magic. Legendary magic refers to lost spells that are tied to domains and subdomains.

2: If you reach the 30th level of the druid cla.s.s before unlocking all druid spells you automatically unlock what non-legendary spells the cla.s.s possesses that you didn"t already have unlocked.

3: Several more spells, legendary and non-legendary alike, are hidden away while you are in tutorial mode, including healing spells. These will be made useable by you in time, especially once your magic domain and healing subdomain abilities are unlocked. The spells you currently have access to are a small sampling of useful ones that allow you to begin to understand your own magical abilities.

4: To cast a targeted spell, focus on the spell itself, and select a target in your mind. Visualize the spell pouring out of you and into, at, or onto the target and then will the spell out of you once you feel it"s ready. To cast a non-targeted spell just focus on the spell in your mind and then will it outward.

5: Being a deity of agriculture gives you an extremely handy power. Food created by you, including when something eats a creature or plant you influenced the growth of, results in the devourer unknowingly opening themselves up to your influence and becoming more easy for you to control or bring to worship you.

6: Legendary spells are marked with an asterisk and spells that can be remotely cast are marked with a double asterisk. In the future this will be changed, but all of the spells that you"ve gained access too that are legendary can also be remotely cast.]

When I finished reading the textbox it vanished, though not before influencing what I planned to do next and leaving a strong impression on me. I kept walking while reading the long textbox, aided by tremorsense and just moments before I finished reading through the grimoire"s spell list I had begun to be able to mundanely detect the goblin.

The reason why I was now able to detect the goblin without my divine ability was that the thing was emitting piteous, agonized howls. Its howling caused the hairs on the back of my neck to go up as if I too was in some sort of danger even though I knew I wasn"t.

The goblin was close enough now that I could hear its agony. It sounded like it was in incredible pain and it was howling constantly, from somewhere not far from me.

It wasn"t saying anything in its inarticulate howling, it was just making disturbing sounding animalistic growls that echoed throughout the forest. In order to get closer to it, I was following both my divine power"s map and the creature"s eerie sounds.

It took a minute or two of speedy striding for me to finally lay my eyes on the creature whose agony I was hoping I could alleviate.

________________________________________________

The goblin"s back was turned to me. The little creature was a small, yellow-skinned thing wearing what appeared to be mishandled animal furs to provide it with some degree of protection. There was a poorly constructed stone knife on the floor next to the tiny humanoid, and one of its legs was trapped in what I knew at a glance was a rusted bear"s trap.

I paused as I studied the thing, before opting to try and send another message to the system. I took a second to formulate the message in my mind before sending it.

"The odd things I know... do you think they may have to do with the domains and subdomains under my control? And possibly that wild trait of mine, the one that startled you?" I asked it, in my mind. It was silent for a moment while it considered my question, and while it was silent I continued to study the goblin.

The goblin was standing still, unconsciously trying to minimize its movements so that the rusty iron jaws of the trap didn"t cause it any more pain than it idly felt. Blood was still pouring down its leg, which suggested that the thing had triggered the trap only a few minutes ago.

The area around the creature smelled of its blood and sweat, the foul odors mixing together to create a noxious vapor that probably would have sickened many weaker willed mortals. The system"s voice interrupted my attempt to learn about the creature.

[It is... very possible that the source of the strange knowledge you sprang into being possessing is a domain, subdomain, or another sort of primal power but if it is, none of them have come forth to confess that this was their doing.] The ent.i.ty said, its voice quiet and filled with concern, which only served to increase my concern about the weird things I knew and about what I didn"t yet know.

[Also, humans think druids are potent spellcasters capable of shape-shifting, healing, and communing with nature. That is incredibly well-suited to you and your domains and subdomains so hopefully, if people ask about your healing when you say you"re a druid they"ll be accepting of that.] The system said, whispering into my mind. My response to that was to nod and ready myself for what I was about to do next.

Here"s what was clear to me:

First, the goblin was in mind-rending pain. I was operating under the a.s.sumption that pain had robbed it of its ability to reason. That would explain the howling.

Second, this was relatively recent. I couldn"t see any visible signs of infection and there were currently no nearby scavenger animals who had been lured here by the goblins pained yowling.

Third, the goblin wasn"t entirely inexperienced, or it wasn"t alone. The thing"s armor and weapon, however shoddily made they were revealed that it was either part of a larger pack who had access to the tools it was equipped with or that it had the skills to make those things on its own, both of which made it more interesting to me.

Fourth, I needed more information. I could only see surface-level problems. If there was anything wrong with the goblin internally I wasn"t yet aware of it and I was not about to take that chance. Luckily, I had the perfect spell to give me more knowledge concerning this odd creature"s plight.

I moved closer to the thing and brought my hands together. I aimed them at the back of the creature and focused intently on the name of one of the spells I had seen in my grimoire. I knew I didn"t have to aim my hands in the direction of the target since it was a targeted spell, but something about that felt right. It was like I was being appropriately dramatic for what was about to happen.

I focused harder than I"ve ever focused before, on a single word. "Prognosis". I locked it in my mind and selected the goblin as the spell"s target. Half a second later I visualized the spell leaving me and gently touching the goblin. And then I pushed the spell out of me, urging it towards the goblin with my mind.

Rather than create a text-box in my mind the spell manifested itself as a womanly voice that whispered in my ear, which was strange, to say the least. I was surprised and weirded out by this as it happened, but I"ll say this in defense of the spell: it was really fast. I heard the whispers of my magical nurse almost half a second after I cast the spell.

"Scanning target... Scan complete!" The voice began, speaking calmly and soothingly.

"The name of the target is Triok Bloodknife. He currently has four hitpoints remaining, out of a total of seventeen." The spell revealed, immediately before diving into a longer-winded explanation and breakdown of the goblin"s status.

"His stamina is down to two stamina points out of fifty, he has zero magical energy and is unmagical, is now afflicted with teta.n.u.s, of which he is in day one of a four day incubation period, and he is currently suffering from the frenzied condition. Preparing recommendations for treatment..." The voice told me, letting me know the specifics of his condition including that he was suffering from an incubated disease.

I rose my staff in its direction and ran my mind over the list of spells I had at my disposal. I was mentally preparing my own plan with regards to how to handle the situation I had inserted myself into and I wondered how my plan would differ from the approach the spell recommended.

Personally, I thought it"d be best to numb the thing to pain, followed by curing it of the frenzied condition and then healing it. A small, mischevious voice in my mind wanted to see how it reacted to me healing it before I cured it to teta.n.u.s. The voice of the spell made itself known right as I began to chuckle at the idea of waiting to make sure it wouldn"t attack me before curing it of teta.n.u.s.

"Here is our recommendation for treating Triok: First, numb his body to pain and then cure him of his condition. It is unknown if he will fall unconscious when you do, but it"s not likely that that will happen. After you do that, with his consent, remove his leg from the bear trap. It is likely that the goblin does not possess the strength to break free himself." The spell told me, pausing for a second at that point.

"When Triok is free from the trap, you should heal him of the damage he"s suffered. He will be unlikely to try and fight back as you free him or after you fully heal him because he"ll know you have saved his life. Cure his disease last, as its incubated status renders it harmless at the moment and thus the lowest priority on a decently long list of priorities." The voice finished, giving me a solid plan that I felt comfortable enacting myself.

I nodded, accepting the spell"s recommendation and began to enact it, quickly casting "Numb Pain" on the goblin. A second later I immediately followed my first spell with "Cure condition", targetting the goblin"s frenzied condition. Both spells washed over the goblin at the same time, and the thing immediately stopped the shouting it had continued to do while I was preparing myself to act.

It was an immediate change, as the goblin went from yelling so much that his voice was starting to crack, to suddenly stopping and standing still in confusion. At this point, I felt comfortable introducing myself and did so by taking a few steps towards the tiny humanoid and walking into its view.

"Hi there." I said to the little creature. He reacted to my sudden appearance by hissing at me, but the hiss was half-hearted and there was a look of confusion and fear in his surprisingly large yellow eyes. I put my staff on the ground behind me, carefully placing it in a soft and clean patch of gra.s.s, and proceeded to showed the tiny man my open, empty hands in a peaceful gesture.

"Hey, I"m here to heal you. I know you were in a lot of pain before, right?" I asked, purposefully keeping my voice soft and non-threatening so that the tiny beast-like humanoid felt like I wasn"t trying to scare him.

He nodded, silently. I gave him a serious, empathetic look before I next spoke, hoping to begin to build a relationship with this strange creature.

"And you aren"t now right? You should be feeling next to no pain." I said, hoping to lead the goblin to realize that I was able to at least make it not feel any more pain.

The trapped creature considered my question. He mulled it over in his mind and seemed to chew on it. And then he looked at me and nodded at me, his eyes filled with quiet grat.i.tude to me for whatever I did.

But then the thing began to pat himself all over as if checking that all of his limbs were in place. He started off by patting his face, cautiously testing if all of his limbs were intact and unharmed and then proceeded to give himself a near-complete pat-down.

He was calm until he got to his leg and realized that the thing was still stuck between the jaws of the bear trap when his fingers went down to the device.

His face dropped after he realized that his leg was still stuck between the iron teeth of the bear trap and he began trying to pry the thing open with his bare hands, frantically trying to free himself yet again. I realized that because he was numb he was probably checking that his limbs were all still attached to his body which was a smart move, in its own way.

I chuckled and walked over to the goblin until I was right in front of him but just out of reach of his arms. When I was in front of him he looked up at me and scowled.

"Was this you?" He asked in an angry voice. There was a look of fury and hatred in his eyes. I sighed and realized that I had overestimated this thing"s intelligence.

When he saw me sigh he reacted emotionally and began to throw his tiny hands in my direction as if trying to hit me. His hands were almost long enough to hit me, but when he realized they couldn"t that seemed to make him angrier.

I stopped him with a question. "Why do you think I"d calm you down and numb you to the pain of the trap if I set it?" I asked, speaking in a loud enough tone to cause the goblin to stop attacking me for a second out of shock and slight fear. He stopped his attack and his eyes narrowed in suspicion as he considered the question I had just asked him.

"I... don"t know. You want me to be a slave?" He asked, fear audible in his tiny and weakened sounding voice when he said the word "slave". I gave him a long, hard look for a second before next speaking. And when I began to speak I slyly moved my hands to the trap"s jaws and readied myself to yank the two jaws open.

"I don"t want you to be a slave. In fact," I said to the little man. The instant I said the word "fact" I yanked the jaws of the trap open, freeing the goblin"s leg. "I want you to be free and healthy." I told him, speaking both honestly and kindly to the wild creature.

"Now hold still while I begin to heal you, okay? Remember... I just freed you." I asked the gremlin-like being, hoping that what I was doing had left enough of an impression on the monster.

The goblin"s face made it clear that he spent a second debating what to do for a split second, but he gave me a timid look and nodded at me. I smiled gently and prepared to heal the little humanoid. At that moment, the system opted to chime in.

[Goblins are quite respectful and fearful of magic-users. Why don"t you say that you"re a healer? That may help set the thing"s mind at ease. Or... you could feed him an apple you create using magic.] The system suggested.

I looked Triok in the face and asked it a serious question. "I could feed you, if that"d help. Do you want to eat? Are you hungry?" I asked, hoping that the thing would be after enduring this mind-rending pain for an unknown number of minutes and nearly dying.

And at that moment I saw Triok do something I hadn"t seen him do yet: the goblin began to smile and nod excitedly at me.