With parts of himself sent up to the twenty gods directly responsible for organizing his damnation and all of them trapped in his grasp in a way they couldn’t escape, Ben immediately reactivated bind to ease whatever worries Thera had before sending a piece of himself to a different section of the heavens above, off to see his god while, in the world below, he released the actualization that had been hiding him away from the various priests who made their home there, making him look like just another pilgrim there to give his prayers.
Though potentially, the first in a long while, he acknowledged, with both the sight of that church, empty of other visitors, as well as the memories of the people who lived there telling him how dead that location had been.
And understandably so. Even if it was a spot people were meant to travel to, to give greater volumes of faith to the gods, it was also out of the way and in the middle of the planet’s invasion but, even still and even despite the fact that he’d never taken the opportunity to come back for a visit before then, returning felt nice. Even if the circumstances of it had been horrific, that church had been his home for almost half a year when he’d had nowhere else to go, and while he'd felt abandoned by both the people and the gods of that world, everyone there had treated him with nothing but kindness, teaching him about the planet and how it had been different from his own, as well as humouring what had to have seemed like exceptionally dumb questions as he tried to understand that world. He’d been accepted and he’d been cared for, and he couldn’t deny that there were people there he missed.
And it seems like everyone’s still here, plus a couple new faces too, he acknowledged, flashing out his soul to search the area but didn’t look deeper than that. If he was going to meet with a few among them, then he wanted to actually talk, he didn’t want to already know everything by searching their memories, so with that he got started, hunting down the first as she worked, the elven woman organizing some books that had been taken out of the church’s small library, flipping through them occasionally as she did.
A passage of one caught her eye, and it captured her attention enough that she didn’t notice him there, standing off to the side while she read until she was satisfied, closing the book and looking up to see him, his hood still up and face not visible, making her jump.
“Oh, you surprised me,” she said, hand on her chest and letting out a long sigh after that bit of shock. “Are you lost? I know this place can feel like a bit of a maze when you aren’t used to it. I can lead you back to the main hall if you got a bit turned around.”
She thought he was just one of the rare visitors still coming to give his faith, but Ben just shook his head, pulling back his hood and speaking as he did.
“No, I’m just here to visit some old friends,” he smiled, seeing a look of shock cross her face before she smiled back. “Hey there, Lehie, it’s been a while.”
After the initial greeting, Lehie, the elven priestess who’d acted as his caretaker, both when he’d first arrived, as well as when he’d been left behind, pulled him with her, dragging him to see the other member of that particular church who was sure to want to see him most, the reptilian cyclops, father Yan, as they made their way to his office, talking non-stop as they went.
Or, Lehie spoke non-stop while Ben listened, barely able to get a word in. Less than the idea that she had anything to say, it seemed more like his reappearance had frazzled her in a way that left her struggling to organize her thoughts, and while he wanted to read her mind to see if there was a deeper meaning behind it, she was a friend he hadn’t seen in years, only having exchanged letters. He wanted to have a conversation, not to dissect her mind in his own.
When they reached their destination though, she didn’t bother knocking, letting herself in and pulling her boss’s eye, the man seeming like he had comments of his own at the rude arrival until he noticed Ben by her side, making him stand up as he did.
“Ben, you’re back,” he said, sounding kind as he got up and gently held the other’s shoulders, looking at him as he did. “You look well, all things considered. Please, come, have a seat.”
“‘Course, you guys look well too. Both of you. Sorry it took the end of the world for me to make the time to visit, but, well, I’ve kept you mostly up to date. Life’s been busy.”
The two cast a small look to each other as he said it, but no words were exchanged. Instead, all eyes were on him, with a strange pressure he couldn’t place behind them.
“It was good to hear that you’ve been doing well, Ben,” Lehie told him. “It sounds like your life’s been… adventurous.”
“But if it’s too much for you out there, I still hold true to what I’d said when you left,” Yan added. “You always have a place here. Why not come back? We’re safe enough out here; you can forget whatever troubles the world has left you with.”
“We just want you to be okay,” Lehie joined in, seeming like she was pleading with him, and left Ben to do his best to control his expression.
Okay, this is actually starting to feel really weird. Did something happen to them while I was gone, or…
Or, were they involved with any gods he’d made an enemy of? He didn’t want to think it, but even though they were technically priests who devoted themselves to all of the deities of the world, that didn’t mean their faith wouldn’t have left them impacted if any god above actually reached out to them, and depending on what was said, the way they were acting could have been part of some other plot or plan, though it would have had to be unrelated to the gods he was in the middle of breaking. Their minds showed him nothing concerning those two, after all, but if there were yet more trying to manipulate his life from the shadows, the time to learn would be then, so he could handle all groups that had decided to act against his interests at once.
For that matter, since I’m here anyway, I should really learn the paths to all of the world's gods now before I might need that info again in the future, just to save myself the trouble of traveling if I need to hand out another beatdown, but as for these two…
They were his friends, as long as it might have been since he’d seen them last. He didn’t want to believe they could be plotting against him, but he had to know, so, as much as he wanted to enjoy the conversation without spoiling himself through their mind, he couldn’t keep himself from looking for answers in their surface level thoughts, with what he’d found somehow worse than his initial fears.
You’ve got to be kidding me, he told himself while they continued to talk, trying without an ounce of subtly to get the idea that he should stay across while he calmly pulled out his card, choosing to hide nothing and simply slid it over to them, with Yan noticing first while Lehie went on.
“And, well, even if it was only for a little while, I worry about you, Ben,” Lehie told him, not noticing Father Yan grow pale beside her. “A child like you shouldn’t be struggling. If you move back here, then you can let the adults look after you. We’ve spoken about it enough; we really want to. We-”
Her words were cut off by her boss, Yan grabbing the back of her head to force to her look at Ben’s status, openly displayed for both of them to see, and, after getting over the distraction that the forceful act left, her eyes focused enough to read what it said while Yan scrolled through it for them, leaving his old caretaker to scream.
“What the fuck!”
“Lehie, please, I’m like a child,” he teased. “Adults shouldn’t be swearing like that around me. Let alone a priestess.”
“No, what? What? No. Ben, you’re-”
“Not insane, and still have my full grasp on reality,” Ben told them, having discovered the horrible, embarrassing truth about what they’d been assuming. Over the years, Ben had made sure to send them letters, updating them on his life, and while he’d kept plenty of it to himself, not wanting them to worry about some of the more stressful experiences he’d been put through, he hadn’t been shy about sharing his victories. At least, the ones he thought would be a bit more tolerable to a priest than his authorities or his sacrilege levels. Yet, with every bit of growth he’d shared and every adventure he’d been put through, exciting or horrifying, they’d fallen into a different assumption. That Ben, ripped from his old world and left by himself on that one, had lost his grasp on reality, everything he’d been put through having been too much for his young mind that had been forced to make it on his own out in that strange new world, and that it had broken him. That every letter they received was a record of how he’d slipped further and further into madness. “And a little insulted you both thought I was crazy. You could have come to check on me.”
“We actually tried in the past, but you weren’t anywhere in Stonewall we could find you,” Father Yan told him, still staring at the card and reading through all the information it held as he scrolled down it.
“Ah, okay. Honestly, fair. I’ve had to go on all sorts of trips since I left here. I’ve been constantly busy so I guess the timing must not have lined up.”
Lehie barely noticed what he said, too focused on his status as well before looking up to stare into his eyes.
“There’s a lot on here that you didn’t tell us about too.”
“Well, the abridged version was enough to make you think I went crazy,” he tried to joke. “Imagine what you would have thought if I didn’t leave any details out, but… alright, I actually came here because a different emergency sent me this way and I can’t stay for long, but I did want to talk with you both for a bit since I was here anyway, so now, without holding anything back, I’ll tell you what my life’s been like since we last met.”
It wasn’t quick; both asked him questions throughout it, but eventually, he told the two everything. The first people he’d grown close to on that new world, Ben held nothing back, his triumphs and his tribulations, the skills he’d gained, the skills he’d grown, and, how the things he’d done to raise them had left some of the world’s gods opposed to him, leading to the very revenge that had brought him there after so long.
“And now, as a result, I’m currently also in the heavens above, beating their sorry asses,” Ben said, trying to make light of it, trying to sound like he was telling a joke, but couldn’t look in their eyes as he did it. Even if it had been years, he cared about them, but with the truth of everything he’d done since coming to that world, both good and bad, he wasn’t sure if they’d like the man he’d become.
Ben knew he was a worse person for his time on that planet. He’d done things that would have been unimaginable to him back in his life on Earth, and he’d felt nothing for doing them. He had killed people before and, even then, he was still debating whether he was going to let any of the gods who’d worked against him survive by the time he was done with them. He’d tortured and extorted, he’d threatened as well. Even knowing that, as he currently was, there wasn’t much he would have done differently either if he’d been placed in the same situations again, but he didn’t want to see their judgement.
So he avoided his gaze and suppressed his alien sense all he could, but even without those, he felt as Yan’s scaled hand reached out and took his own, speaking gently as he did.
“Your time on this world hasn’t been kind to you.”
“It’s been a mixed bag,” Ben admitted. “For all the bad, I have work I enjoy, wealth like nobody else, and people I love. I’ve got a fantastic girlfriend, and her extended family has all really accepted me and made me feel welcomed. We've got a great kid, and I’ve got a great student too. I’ve made friends and seen things and… Even if there’s been rough spots, I’m glad I’m here.”
He finally faced them properly, Yan smiling at him while Lehie rubbed her eyes and, cheating once more, he peeked into their thoughts again and found no judgement. Even if he was worse and even if he’d done things that would disgust plenty, they still accepted him, easing his heart more than he’d expected.
“Good,” Yan told him. “Then you’ll have to visit again in the future, and bring some of the people you love to introduce us.”
“And hurry up and get out of here already,” Lehie scolded him. “How are you going to tell us you have a girl you love so much and then leave her waiting when she thinks something happened to you? Us old folk can wait another day.”
“You know, now that I’m a mind reader, I can finally learn how old you actually are,” he teased the ageless elf before him, watching her cover her head with her arms as if that could do anything to stop him and left him to chuckle before getting up. “But you’re right. Thank you, it was great to see you both again. I’ll make sure my next visit out here doesn’t take me years to make.”
“Good,” Yan laughed. “In that case, until we see you again, Ben. Have a safe journey back.”
“Until the next time.”