V2Ch15-A Good Husband

“So, I have to choose between my destructive power and your more mysterious set of offerings,” James mused.

“You won’t be giving up your offensive power completely,” Anansi said. “I can’t offer you a massive power boost whenever you’re destroying something, but some of the advantages I can grant you will make you deadlier—and in a more targeted way than just blowing things up!”

“Well, I don’t know,” James said, hoping the Spider God would offer some further incentive.

Anansi reached up and removed his mask. There was a flash of lightning, and James saw the real head of the Spider God for a moment. Or at least the version he wants me to see.

The face was a human one, despite the spider body beneath. Like Ntikuma.

African from the features. An almost perfectly round head. Ageless and free of wrinkles, but the lightning flash had revealed scars on each side of the Spider God’s head. James couldn’t quite get an idea of what sort of scars they were, because the brightness faded too quickly. But they ruined the symmetry of Anansi’s face.

Assuming this is a real image of him, James reminded himself. Perhaps this was the image of the Spider God best calculated to win James’s respect or sympathies or loyalty. It was hard to trust anything the Spider God did or said, knowing his reputation. That would be lonely, if it was me.

“If you switch over to my Chosen One,” Anansi said, “you’ll have a direct line to me, to receive my help whenever you need it. I will always keep one of my children with you, ready to carry our messages back and forth. I know Apophis would never provide such support, unless you were on the precipice of destroying your world. My responses may not be instant, but my attention is vast, so they should be fairly quick unless there’s some sort of emergency here.”

“Interesting. Are you going to be guiding me through the rest of Orientation, like Moloch does for Rostov? His followers said that he basically knew where things would be before they happened, like he was on a two-way radio with his god.”

Anansi slumped backward into his throne.

“That shouldn’t be possible. Moloch has no children. He plants no seeds. The only things he grows are cancer cells.” He seemed to become lost in thought.

“Well, that doesn’t seem quite accurate,” James said. “He grows the plants that live on Earth, right?”

“There is more than one Sun God, James,” Anansi answered. “Moloch represents the cruel aspect of Earth’s Sun. The scorching heat that strikes the desert, the radiation that damages living tissue. Nyame is the embodiment of the Sun’s paternal aspect, giving life. Apollo represents the creative aspect, the light of truth and beauty. And there are others. The Sun has been important enough to many humans over the millennia to give rise to more gods than one. So, believe me when I say that from my point of view, Moloch is nothing but destructive.” A pause. “I think the way he communicates with his Chosen One must be different than what I might have imagined. I hadn’t realized the Tyrannical Sun was this desperate. I think that what’s happening is that Moloch is communicating directly into his Chosen’s brain.”

“So it is possible for you to do that,” James said.

“Well, if I was willing to destroy your mind, then yes,” Anansi said. His voice sounded agitated.

“Why does this seem to bother you so much?” James asked. “If Moloch is desperate, and Rostov is going to lose his mind or something, that all sounds pretty good for us, right? What am I missing?”

“A desperate god is a dangerous thing, naturally. There have been rumblings for some time about Moloch’s situation. In the other universes, he has fewer and fewer worshippers. Sometimes, an evil god will be targeted by other religious groups. Given that Moloch demands human sacrifices, he’s never been one of the more popular deities. Gradually, he receives fewer sacrifices as his worshippers are marginalized or killed. This weakens him. I think he was desperate to reestablish his base of sacrifices with the relatively weaker and more vulnerable humans of Earth. He’s so desperate that he’s been willing to burn through a Chosen One and let Rostov’s decline be witnessed by all his new followers. Not a good way to spread your religion. But if he’s that hungry for sacrifices, then he’s not going to be restrained about using his powers at all.”

From what Anansi mentioned earlier and now, it sounds like Moloch could actually fade away—and die?—if his goals in my universe aren’t met. Just my luck that it’s here where he’s apparently making his last stand.

“Sounds like a mad dog. I should stay away, then, and not think about trying to get revenge or rescue prisoners anymore. I don’t want to get bitten.”

“That is one approach, and a sound one,” Anansi granted. He raised a limb as if to forestall any further questions. “But I’m not going to give you the benefit of any further divine guidance until you decide whether you’re willing to be my Chosen One. If you’re not, you can take your prizes from the dungeon and get out of here. The door is right behind you.” His voice was only slightly playful as he made these last remarks. “If you are—well, then I have a bit more advice for you, and I’ll sweeten the pot with a bit of knowledge up front. Ask any three questions, within reason, and I’ll answer them.”

He stopped me just when I was going to try and fish for more information. He probably always intended to offer me three questions, but he wanted to get me curious about something first.

“Honorable Spider God Anansi, I accept your gracious offer to make me your Chosen One.”

I was already going to accept it before I made it here, honestly. I’ve been thinking about it, and I definitely prefer the god I used to read about as a kid over the evil chaos god, even if it affects my ability to blow things up.

Anansi stepped down from his throne, closing the distance with James.

James felt, rather than saw, Anansi stare deeply into his eyes. The sound of drums, rain sticks, and strings playing filled his head rather than his ears this time.

[You have been offered the Title of Chosen One of Anansi. In order to accept this Title, you must abandon the Title of Chosen One of Apophis. Accept? Y/N]

James chose ‘Y’ without another thought.

The music that filled his head intensified, and a bright orange spotlight shone down from Anansi to James.

[Required conditions met. Title obtained: Chosen One of Anansi!]

[Patron deity Anansi has granted additional Titles: Storyteller, Dreamweaver, Deceiver, Trickster, Spider-King, Friend of All Spiders, Figure of Destiny, and Living Legend.]

[Required conditions met. Title obtained: A Stitch in Time!]

James felt noticeably different for a moment, but not in the way that he had been accustomed to when obtaining previous Titles or Status increases. He didn’t feel stronger. Not exactly.

Damn, that’s great! I feel more real, somehow. Like there’s more power inside of me, or I started to grow in a new direction maybe. It was hard for him to describe the change in a way that would do it justice, even in his own mind. But he had no doubt that it was an improvement. Which Title did that? Chosen One, or one of the others?

The music and the light faded away, leaving only James and Anansi. The Spider God stepped back, giving him a little room.

“That feels pretty nice,” James said, cracking his neck and then flexing his arms. “I’m surprised you didn’t mention all those extra Titles when you were selling it to me.”

“Better you feel that I over delivered than under,” Anansi said. “Frankly, if I had to sell you on it too hard, it would probably mean we weren’t a good match. I like a man who knows his own mind. Otherwise I would’ve started dropping names of other people from your world who I’ve blessed. From Louis IX of France to Shaka Zulu, Alexander the Great, Hannibal Barca, Qin Shi Huang, and Christopher Columbus, I have a great track record for picking winners and helping them get to the finish line.” He cleared his throat. “Ah hem, that was pre-System for your world, so they didn’t have to accept or reject my blessing, and none of them were a Chosen One. It would have been a waste for me to bestow such a Title on a being that would only live a normal human lifespan. The point stands, though.”

“Hm.” Did he bless them before, or after, they were winners, I wonder…

“Now that you’ve accepted, you can ask your questions, and I’ll give you some strategic and tactical advice.”

“Let’s reverse that,” James suggested.

“Good catch,” Anansi said. “I wouldn’t want you to waste your questions on things I would’ve told you anyway.”

James thought he caught the Spider God winking at him as he put his mask back on and sat back down on his throne.

“First things first, then,” Anansi said. “What do you have on your Status sheet? Give me everything, nothing held back, and I’ll give you some optimization hacks.”

James rattled off his entire list of Skills, Talents, and Titles, plus his Stat points, Job, and Class.

“You haven’t been using Skill Fusion, have you?” Anansi asked immediately.

“I used it for experiments,” James said.

“Did you permanently combine any of your Skills?”

“No, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to commit to that,” James admitted. “Plus, some of them are really useful by themselves.”

“The combined Skills will inevitably be better than most of the non-combined Skills, though.”

“I guess, but I can always combine Skills on the fly if I need them.”

“Yes, but a newly fused Skill will always start without any levels. If you don’t use Skill Fusion for permanent combinations, you’re going to hit a bottleneck in your growth. Basic abilities won’t be as effective as abilities created through Skill Fusion. Even if you’re worried about losing some of these Skills permanently, most of them besides gravity magic are pretty common. By fusing Skills, you create something uniquely yours, and you only lose something you can fairly easily replace. You’re also accruing so many Skills currently that at some point soon, you’ll hit the cap for your mortal body. Then you’ll either lose some or have to transfer them into other people or items.”

“Fine, fine,” James said. The Spider was making too much sense for him to argue anymore.

“Next are a few suggestions about how you handle the remainder of Orientation. First of all, once you leave here, you’ll be going out the same way you came in. Moving through the same black void. It’s a bit like dreamspace. It can take you back to where you came out, elsewhere in the Orientation space within reason, or somewhere else. That’s a choice you have to make.”

“What are the options specifically?” James asked. The Spider God’s statements on the void were simultaneously vague and tantalizing. “Can it take me back to where I left my group?”

“No. It can only take you to places that connect to the void. Fortunately, there are other locations that could get you near them. There is also another option.” Those last words sounded strangely reluctant.

“What are we talking about, Anansi?” James asked, trying not to be impatient.

“You could travel to another Orientation. For instance, to where your wife is.”

There was a silence so complete that for a moment, you could’ve heard a pin drop.

“Why didn’t you lead with that?” James asked carefully.

“I felt I had to bring it up, or you might hold a grudge against me, but I didn’t want to. I think it’s a bad idea. I’m a god of storytelling and tricks, not prophecy. But wisdom is also a part of my purview. I think that if you go to her, you’ll only increase the danger to her and your whole family. If you want your loved ones to survive, I believe you need to stay here.”

James took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled.

“Please explain.”

“Your wife’s Orientation is challenge-based. It’s composed largely of non-violent competitions for food. People who fail those competitions can still survive by hunting. Given her wits, I would estimate that she and her sister have a high likelihood of surviving there, as long as they have decent Skills. I detect only one plausible threat to their survival present in their Orientation. The bigger threats to your family once Orientation is over are two life forms in this Orientation.”

Two?

“Rostov and who else?” James asked.

“Every Orientation has a final boss creature. In your Orientation, it’s a particularly potent one. Any monster that isn’t defeated by the conclusion of Orientation will return to Earth along with the surviving human participants.”

“So I should stay here so I can fight Rostov and one monster?” James said, unimpressed.

“Don’t underestimate the followers of Moloch,” Anansi cautioned. “Their strength will only grow with numbers. This is a threat that should be nipped in the bud. As for the Ruler of the Dead Swamp, I can’t tell you much about him unless you burn one of your questions for it. What I will say is that he would make your home region effectively uninhabitable within a week of returning to Earth, if he is not exterminated here.”

That felt more like a real threat. What kind of biohazard was the Ruler of the Dead Swamp? James gritted his teeth.

“You don’t give easy choices, do you?” he said.

“I just make sure you know all the options,” Anansi replied.

“Fair, I suppose,” James said thoughtfully. “Before we make that decision, though, I should probably use my questions.”

He felt an inexplicable sense of time pressure even as he spoke, despite the fact that there was no particular deadline attached to his decision making. I could be with Mina, protecting her right now… But that might put her in more danger in the future. What would a good husband do here?

His darkly pragmatic inner voice spoke up: Well, do you believe in the woman you married, or don’t you?! You know Rostov is probably more dangerous than anything she’s going to face in her Orientation. If you leave him alive, Anansi’s as good as saying you’ll regret it!

She’s pregnant! She’s about to burst! She can’t fight! Another voice screamed back.

James placed his fingers on his temples, gently massaging them. He felt the beginnings of a headache coming on.

After he had a bit more of a grip on himself, he looked up to where Anansi sat.

The Spider God simply nodded for him to go ahead with his questions.

“First question. If, gods forbid, something should happen to me or Mina or Yulia or anyone I care about, is it possible to resurrect the dead?”