Soulforge Legacy Series

Around me, the nearly featureless stone walls passed by as the priest led me through the building. While I couldn’t be sure, I was pretty confident that this was the same path I had been led down last time. If it was or wasn’t didn’t matter as I found myself in the same place.

Unlike last time, however, the place was devoid of all but a pair of armed priests. One held a cane up. Something that looked like a stone on its base shimmered as she scanned me over.

Her companion hefted a small hammer on the end of a long staff. I watched in fascination as lines glimmered along the heft. Mana likely tracing out paths that flowed from the holder to the head of the weapon. It reached the tip within a fraction of a second. Once there, the head vanished. Consumed by the massive golden axe head that would have felt right at home in any fantasy movie.

The two stood there, ready to attack me for all of three seconds before relaxing. Likely at some signal from the priest next to me as he continued into the room.

Unlike the last time, he didn’t rush me out the door. Instead, we moved toward the altar. It was a simple thing. A white stone with a multitude of symbols and images carved into it. Most of which were covered by a piece of shimmering cloth.

For some reason, the shimmering reminded me of Inari. Which made no sense as I highly doubted the people here would worship her, and not just because she was human. Which begged the question, who did they worship?

But how to ask such a question? I had to be careful of the wording as I didn’t want to piss these people off. Not when I needed someplace to hide for at least one day. “Which god is this church dedicated to?”

The priest tripped over the first step in front of the altar. That missed step was the only reason I caught his hand flicker and twitch as a pale white mist fluttered off each finger. A tendril of which reached for me.

Whatever it was, I had no clue. All I knew was that it was partially mana based. But it was paired with something else. Something that was completely invisible to everything but my eyes.

The mist billowed out from him fast enough to almost remind me of the early morning fall fog. Thick enough to block everything a dozen feet away. With it came an odd muting effect. One that was quite a bit more pronounced than what any natural fog could create.

Still, while it blocked out the sounds of the two across the room, it wasn’t enough to block the man in front of me. “While this church is not formally dedicated to any one god, there are three distinct gods that we priests pray to. Shiva, Hestia, and…” His eyes flicked to my ears as he let out a light chuckle “Inari.”

While I had heard of the first two, that didn’t mean I knew what they represented. But that was something I could figure out later. The last one was a bit too coincidental. I mean, what was the chances that I would find myself starting in a church that actively worshiped the goddess of the species I would be changed into?

Also, how in the hell did this priest know that I was Kitsune and not a foxkin? Had one of the gods spilled the beans? Or was this a trap? And if it was, who had set it up and why?

Scratch that. If it was a trap, it was probably set up by that damned demon. “It matters not what you are, not to us.” His voice became a bit rushed as he got a look at whatever expression was on my face. “To those that we pray to and those we protect, it does matter. And if the gods did not wish it, you would not be allowed near the altar.”

His pointed look at where I was standing made it known that I was close enough for one of the gods to make their will known. Not that I wanted to know how they would do so.

“Why should I trust you?” I managed to grit through my teeth as I tried to not kill the man and run. After all, if he knew what I was, then he likely knew about the orb. Something I couldn’t let anyone know about lest they try and take it. Not that they could, but still.

Instead of answering me directly, he gestured at the altar. “I know that you don’t trust that we mean no harm.” You got that right. “Feel free to ask the gods themselves. We are lucky to have three who are willing to answer a question or two. Just, don’t expect them to say more than one or two words.”

My teeth ground against each other at his non-answer. But there was nothing I could do. Not here. Not when a god might decide to do something to defend the man. Maybe even going so far as to smite me.

So I had only had a few choices really. I could ask the god a question, trust him, or just turn around and leave this place. Not that the last option was much of an option. Which meant that I needed to either trust him or ask a question.

But what question would I even ask? It needed to be something simple. Straightforward. Something that could give me an answer that I could actually use. Something like….

My hand reached past the priest to graze against the shimmering fabric. As soon as the tips of my fingers grazed the fabric, white light blinded me. Loud ringing noise filled my ears. Even the smell of the building vanished to be replaced by the scent of freshly tilled earth.

I had been an idiot. Even if I hadn’t trusted the man, it had still been too much. Whatever that fabric was, whatever spell was tied to it, it had moved me from the church to wherever I was now.

I didn’t allow myself to think. I let my body drop as I drew upon my mana. Thin streams raced out of me, draining my pool as it flooded through the space. Unlike most times I had used my mana, I didn’t push it through a spell or use it in any way. I did something new. Something different.

I asked it to protect me. That was it. Nothing special. Nothing complicated. I just willed the mana to protect me from anything and everything.

Around me, the mana clumped up as it condensed around me. Tiny beads of pure mana became visible as it did what I asked. Surprisingly enough, the mana reached back and fed me information. While it wasn’t on par with my Mana Sense skill, it was a decent amount to process.

That information included bit and pieces on the beads themselves. They were smaller than a bb, but they packed one hell of a punch. Whatever my mana did, it had managed to put more energy into each bead than any fireball spell I had made. All in a tiny, semi-stable package.

Then, all at once, as if by a wave of a hand, every one of the beads vanished. They didn’t explode. They didn’t disperse into the environment. They vanished as if they had never existed in the first place.

Slowly, the ringing subsided enough for me to hear the sound of a soft sandal tapping against a floor. It took only a few more moments for my eyes to adjust to the bright light enough to see more than a few feet away without squinting.

Sitting there, smirking at me as if amused, was Inari. “So, not a trap?” I asked without thinking.

“Not a trap.” She confirmed before starting to fade out.

“Wait,” the cry left my lips as I reached for the goddess. “Fuck, wait. That wasn’t the question I meant to ask.”

I inwardly cursed at myself as her eyebrow lifted at my curse. Thankfully, instead of leaving, or even punishing me, the fading reversed itself. Still, even as it did so, she didn’t speak. Almost as though she was waiting to see what question I had for her.

I took a chance and chose a question that only she could answer. One that wasn’t quite a yes or no question. “Is there a way for me to gain more tails, and if so, is it part of the system like quests or is it something only you can grant?” So I cheated. Technically that had been one long, multipart question. Still within the one question rule.

Could she answer one of the questions and ignore the rest, sure. But something told me she would appreciate this slight bending of the rules.

So it wasn’t all that surprising when she smiled at me. “Now that is a question. I was wondering if you would figure out how to reach me through the proper channels or if you were going to try to force your power to grow without help. Something that my other new children did. Each of whom nearly learned the dangers of such a process firsthand. Which reminds me, if you meet any of them, let them know I wish to talk to them.”

The shift in topic was weird. I mean, it followed along with the overall topic, but still. “Sure.” I nodded my head in agreement if for no other reason than to get her to answer my actual question. I mean, I would tell them, but I doubted I would meet any of them.

“As for gaining your tails…” One of her tails flicked toward me. It stopped a foot or two away and tapped at the air just as a new window appeared.

Permanent connection with goddess Inari has been established.

Species evolution tab unlocked.

Species trial tab unlocked.

Species shop tab unlocked.

Species training tab unlocked.

Direct messaging (limited) with goddess Inari unlocked.

I felt her reading the information on the screen at the same time I was. Almost as though she could see it. And for all I knew, she could. Especially given that she was a god and the god that made the system seemed to almost love her.

“There you go.” She nodded and even as she started to fade away, she continued. “Too bad you didn’t have this unlocked earlier.”

Before I could ask what she meant, the world flashed white once again. When the world around me cleared, I found myself back where I had started. And if not for the window still being present, I would have assumed it was a hallucination or some spell.

While all that was nice, I would have to wait until later to go through it all. With a flick of my will, the window vanished and I turned back to the priest. He didn’t say a word. He simply moved to the side and gestured at the altar.

I didn’t get much of a chance to wonder what was going on before the entire altar shifted to the side. Even though the thing was made of stone and likely weighed a ton, it didn’t make so much as a sound. And when it stopped, it revealed a set of stairs. But unlike all of the various movies, books, and games, the stairs did not descend into darkness. If anything, the light given off by the odd stones inset into the walls made the space just as bright as up here.

I didn’t wait for his gesture. Sure, there was a part of me that still worried that this was a trap. But the chances of that were so slim that I forced myself to ignore it. Even as the altar slid back into place, locking us down here, I only took a second to glance back. To see the complex spell diagram that was etched into the stone before I continued forward.

My feet slid quietly across the stone steps as I made my way deeper. One step, then another until I found myself at the end of the stairs and presented with a choice. I could either open up the wooden door in front of me, or the one on the right. Nothing about either gave any indications as to which path was the correct one.

Not knowing what else to do and given that we were already in a secret location, I went with the one in front of me. My hand was just about to grab onto the handle when the priest spoke up. “Not that one.” With a sigh and a shrug, I moved my hand toward the other option only for him to speak once again. “Not that one either.”

“These are the only options.” I half grumbled, half demanded as I spun to face him. “Unless I am missing something here.”

Instead of answering me, he finished his descent and reached past me. The entirety of his hand vanished into the wall. Slipping into a nearly invisible crack in the wall. A soft click echoed off the walls as the stone shifted. “Why would you have a hidden door in a hidden section of the church?” I asked, a bit annoyed at the absurdity.

“This space isn’t hidden. Just hard to get to.” He said as he pushed past me to take the lead. “The tunnel and those rooms are all on the blueprints that were given to the city. It just wasn’t possible to hide the excavation. This section, however, is not.”

Behind me, the stone door snicked shut. He gestured at the various doors that lined the short hallway. “The church keeps a few rooms down here for people that need sanctuary. Still, never in our worst nightmares did the church think we would have so many at one time.”

With those words, we exited the hall and into a room nearly as large as the sanctuary. Hell, if I didn’t know any better, I would have said that it was the sanctuary. The only difference between it and this room was the lack of any other openings. No doors to other rooms and no windows.

Oh, and the place was utterly packed. Every pew had been shifted to the side and stacked to make room for the multitude of cots, blankets, and bodies that filled the space. In the far corner was the only spot that was clear of obstructions. Well, it was free of bodies and such. In their place was what looked like a kitchen smaller than what I had in my apartment back on Earth.

Standing there, working over the stove and cutting boards, were the two old timers I had met on the day of the festival. And honestly, the sight made me a bit happy given that this likely meant that they were nice to everyone and not just humans.