Chapter 21:
Sein knew very well, that he was not a good priest. He never had been. He loved women, and not necessarily in the proper way one should. He loved to drink, definitely more than he should.
His brother praised him as the best healer he’d ever seen in the priesthood, but being a Good healer didn’t make you a good priest, being a good healer just meant you had a talent for manipulating Mana in a way others didn’t.
And now, as if to cement just how unfit he was for his robes, this… this… everything regarding Kratos, Mimir and Atreus’ story.
The teachings taught that there was only one true Goddess of creation. One being by which all mortals with souls should live their lives according to her teachings and tenets.
Except that now it wasn’t just one being. It was… Hundreds? Thousands? Mimir had already gone through at least a dozen and those were just the ones that he knew apparently.
Sein wanted desperately to simply proclaim them liars with his full chest. People making up stories.
But then his rational mind caught up to him, clashing with his faith; poking holes in the ideas that a proper priest should hold; reminding him that they did have powers that were unexplained even with Magic. Kratos’ raw strength, Atreus’ rapid mastery over languages even an ability to communicate with animals, the fact that Mimir was a head, that Brok and Sindri could seemingly disappear completely from both physical and magical senses at will, that there was no real need to lie about their origins and even if there was, why would anyone come up with such a bold faced and impossible to believe lie?
He knew that Frieren believed them for whatever reason, Stark and Fern took their cues from her lead. And so here he was, desperately kneeling before the village’s small little shrine to the Goddess, praying for some kind of guidance, some kind of answer.
“Mr. Sein?”
Fern’s voice almost made him jump where he knelt, stopping himself only just as he turned to look over his shoulder, finding her at the doorway to the tiny temple.
“May I join you?”
Of the three native companions… Fern had always been the most pious, the most dutiful, even compared to him sometimes.
“Of course.” He answered, shuffling slightly to the left to give her some room to kneel beside him.
She knelt, offering a murmured thank you before she clasped her hands together, closing her eyes and beginning to pray in silence.
Sein joined her.
But even so, it wasn’t very long before his brain itched, his prayers doing nothing to quell his conflict.
“You mind if I ask you something?” He ventured, bringing Fern’s gaze towards him.
Sein sighed, leaning back to ‘sit, more than kneel before the altar. “What do you think?” He asked. “About… everything?” He gestured helpless somewhere vaguely behind them.
“I think I’m much the same as you.”
Sein couldn’t stop the snort from escaping him. “I think you’re giving yourself too little credit; you seem to be taking things much better than I am.”
The girl didn’t really seem to know what to say to that. Her lips thinning, pressed into a line before she turned away, looking back to the altar for a moment.
“I think its because… I’m happy for Miss Frieren.” She finally said. “If… If Mr. Kratos, Mr. Mimir and Mr. Atreus are Gods… Well, that means that the Goddess must exist as well… and if the Goddess exists, then Aureole exists and that means that we can reach it. And Ms. Frieren will be able to see Mr. Himmel, and Master Heiter again. She won't be lonely anymore.”
“And the fact that the scriptures are wrong?” He asked. “That there isn’t one true Goddess. That doesn’t bother you.”
Fern was quiet for a moment, then she shook her head.
“I don't want Miss Frieren to be lonely… So why would I want the Goddess to be lonely?”
—
Stark:
He wasn’t entirely sure how he’d gotten roped into training with the old Dwarf, Voll, but he was somewhat grateful for the distraction; because it kept his mind off of the very strange thing that was his current reality.
Frankly, he wasn’t sure he believed the story, but he also wasn’t sure he disbelieved it either. Fact was, everything about Mimir, Atreus and Kratos was strange. Kratos was, far and away the strongest person, physically, that Stark had ever seen, no matter how many times they practiced, no matter how hard Stark tried to strike him, he could tell that Kratos was always holding back, barely even budging against the strongest of blows that had even made Stark’s old Master flinch and Eisen was said to be the strongest warrior of his age, maybe even the strongest warrior in centuries.
Atreus learned magic and languages so fast, and even though he didn’t train like Stark did now that he cared to notice he’d never once seen Atreus get winded or tired even when they had to run to get away from a Monster or hike up a trail quickly to catch whatever game they were hunting.
Mimir was a talking head for goodness sake. Frieren herself said that kind of magic was impossible to her knowledge.
So maybe they really were Gods.
And that was so very strange to think about.
So, he trained with Voll, kept his mind focused on the tasks the old Dwarf told him to do, worked on improving however he could, if only to keep himself from going in circles.
He was so focused on his task, he never noticed the approaching sets of footsteps drawing closer.
“Oh, hello.”
Voll’s voice drew his attention up from the ground, mid push-up as he found-
“Atreus?”
“Hey.” The… young- Younger than him, and wasn’t that odd with context -God smiled, holding up some sloshing water canteens. “Brought water.”
In spite of everything, Stark smiled in gratitude, sitting up. “Oh, that’s great, thanks!”
He took the offered canteen, drinking the cold water happily as Atreus handed the other Canteen to Voll, who simply settled the sloshing vessel in his lap.
“Atreus however suddenly hesitated, seemingly shuffling from foot to foot as Stark drank.
“So-” The Godling said slowly, addressing Voll. “I was wondering-”
“You would like to train as well.” The old Dwarf spoke before Atreus could finish, his old, barely opened eyes settling on the young Archer.
“Umm.” Atreus’ voice trailed off with nervousness. “Yes sir.”
“Why?”
He blurted out the question without thinking; then blanched as he realized what he said.
He waved his hands infront of himself as though trying to clear up the misunderstanding. “N-not that you cant or that you shouldn’t or… well. Just-” ‘Do Gods even need to train?’ He thought but didn’t ask. ‘Wait Mr. Kratos trains; or was that just passing the time for him?’
“Hmm.” Voll made a sound. “The tall one, with the pale skin.” The old Dwarf nodded. “He is your father; yes? He is a powerful warrior. Likely stronger than I ever was I think-” Kratos hadn’t fought infront of Voll, could the old man just… tell outright? “Do you not wish to train with him?”
“I uhhh… think a different perspective might be good. You stagnate if you train with the same person too much.”
That was true. Eisen had told him that even when they’d started training.
“Hmm.” Voll nodded and stared at Atreus for a long time. Almost too long… Stark wondered if the old Dwarf fell asleep.
Then- “Very well.” He nodded. “We begin with conditioning…”
Atreus began to smile- “You shall push that Boulder-” Voll pointed at a fairly sizable and conveniently round rock just a few feet away. “Up the hill to the village… as many times as you can.” -And that smile quickly died.
—
They kept training as the sun rose to its zenith and fell to the horizon, until the sky was covered in orange fire and the mountains were crested with the purple of twilight.
Stark was covered in sweat, breathing heavy, and Atreus, for all his Godly status didn’t seem to fare much better.
When old man Voll handed them the still full canteen of water Atreus had brought for him, it took almost superhuman effort to stop himself from just chugging the whole canteen and instead giving the better half of the water to Atreus who took it gratefully.
Old man Voll shuffled off at his slow pace, up the hill, back towards the village, leaving the two of them to catch up.
Exhausted as he was, Stark couldn’t really stop himself, the curiosity gnawing at him.
So he just blurted out his question.
“Why didn’t you want to train with Mr. Kratos?”
If he were of sound mind at the moment, he might have blanched at the fact that he just kind of called Atreus a liar. He called a God a liar…
He was so gonna get Smited.
But no, Atreus, who seemed tired in his own right after shoving that Boulder up the hill for… Stark didn’t even know how many times- stared up at the sky in silence for a moment.
“When I was little-” the archer began. “-I was always sick.”
“Gods can get sick?” Again, the question was just blurted out without thought, luckily, Atreus seemed to just nod absentmindedly.
“I didn’t know I was a God then. Father didn’t…” He trailed off. “Mimir explained that, because my mind thought I was mortal, my body decided that it would be mortal. And the best way to do that was to keep me sick.”
Stark listened, attention fixed on Atreus’ every word.
“Mother was the one who took care of me then. And I…” He shrugged. “I always felt like I disappointed Father; always being sick.”
Stark… could relate to that, being a disappointment.
“I know what that’s like.”
For a third time, the words slipped free without thinking and he only realized he spoke when Atreus turned to look at him with a questioning gaze.
Stark turned away, looking up towards the village. “I was never the son my father wanted.” He whispered. “I was always…” He trailed off. “Weak… cowardly-” He shrugged. “In the end, I think I even disappointed my Master.”
He heard Atreus suck down a breath, maybe to speak, maybe to tell him he wasn’t a disappointment- whatever it was, Stark pushed through, determined to say what he had to say before he lost his nerve, or swallowed it down the way he did for so many things in life.
“I don't think Mr. Kratos is like my father.” He said, offering a weak laugh. “And I don't think you disappointed him the way I disappointed my Master.” He paused, turning his gaze to the sky. “In fact-”
He thought back, back to the moments when he had trained with Kratos, remembering the brief instances where the pale giant had tossed a look towards his son as he practiced magic, or helped Fern and Frieren learn the runes of his own magic, or even just did something as simple as train his archery just a few steps away.
Those brief little instances where Stark got the feeling that he wanted to call his son over, but refrained for any number of reasons.
“-I think it’d make him very happy if you did ask to train with him.”
They fell into silence and after a moment.
“Anyone who thinks you’re a disappointment is an idiot Mr. Stark.”
Stark smiled in gratitude. “Am I allowed to say the same?”
Atreus shrugged.
By the time the two of them found the energy to get up and make their way back to the village, the sun was already setting beneath the distant horizon.
(X)(X)(X)
So this one is a bit shorter than normal, but I wanted a nice little quiet moment exploring the thoughts and Character interactions of the "normal/human" characters and how they're all taking the information regarding their traveling companions. Next chapter I will either have an interlude with a certain set of characters that havent been seen in a while ;) , or expand a bit on the mindset of immortals and how Mimir and Kratos compare to Frieren; let me know which one you'd all like to see.
After that, we're off to a certain one eyed Father's residence where no, Kratos will NOT be fitted into proper dancing vestments :p
Read, review and all that good stuff and thank you all again for joining me :)