Mountain of the Immortals

The one Divine Smite I’d already expended had served its purpose of stunning everyone long enough for me to reach them. They weren’t physically stunned, of course, just hesitant to be the first one to move in case the lightning struck them next. Which was ridiculous beyond reason. I was the one that would strike them dead.

It took two more kills before the criminals realized the hopelessness of their situation and started running for their lives. Sadly for them, they didn’t have a level 55 goddess buffing them and so their meager, unbuffed mortal speed was nothing compared to mine. They all seemed to be moving extremely slowly as I carved into them with my spear.

None of their levels were higher than twelve and so it didn’t take more than one strike of my beautiful, enchanted spear to bring each of them down. I realized that to an outside observer, this might have looked like a crazed, bloodthirsty person spreading death among the people who lived peacefully in this wooden building. But that couldn’t have been further from the truth.

Granted, I was spreading death to these people, but they were mortals. If it wasn’t me today, it would be a wild animal tomorrow, a disease in two years, or—in the best case for them—old age in twenty years if they were lucky. I’d only shaved a few years off their time walking this realm.

And it wasn’t like I was having fun or was bloodthirsty at all. They were unfortunate enough to be standing in our way, so they needed to be dealt with. I was absolutely sure every other god would have done the same thing, especially if their own lives were on the line.

“That one!” I said, pointing at the back of a fleeing man as I ran my spear through another.

The man was running toward a steep slope leading down the cliff, most probably heading to a small boat or raft in order to escape. Aphrodite cast the same spell on him that she had landed on me when we first met. At once, glowing tendrils rose from the ground and wrapped themselves around the man’s ankles and calves.

I wasn’t keeping count of how many I’d already taken out so I momentarily pulled up the quest log and absorbed its information.

* * *

Status: 10/11

* * *

This man was the last one left before I completed the quest.

“I beg of you, almighty god of thunder,” the man said, pulling at his legs in vain while looking around at the decimated bodies of his comrades. “Please spare me. I will leave and never come back to this place.”

A new notification flashed on the periphery of my vision and I brought it forward, though I had a pretty good idea of what it was.

* * *

You have successfully completed “Bandits Begone”. You have been awarded 2400 XP and the promise of the people of Melathria to worship you as their true god.

* * *

I wasn’t sure if there was a cosmic balance being taken account of somewhere, and whether someone was taking notes on our deeds as gods, but I hated this when it happened. My quest was complete, which could only mean that this man was honestly going to leave the people of Melathria in peace and that he genuinely regretted his actions.

“Please, Master,” the man pleaded as I moved toward him. “I never harmed anyone. I only joined them recently.”

Oh, crows damn you, poor bastard. This is your unlucky day.

I couldn’t just let him go. Quest or not, I needed to eliminate him and protect myself from his tongue spewing the whereabouts of a thunder god. I hoped at least he had done some terrible things that would warrant his death despite his surrender.

“Leave and never come back here,” I said, as soon as Aphrodite’s debuff ended.

“Thank you, master,” the man said.

I turned my back on him as he started to run away.

“What do you think you’re—” Aphrodite said, surprised that I’d let the man go. But she fell silent when the lightning struck.

“He who mingles with the worms, gets eaten by the chickens,” I said, and shrugged at her.

“You had to do it,” Aphrodite said, offering a comforting smile, “and he was a criminal. You don’t have to feel bad.”

“Feel bad?” I chuckled at the ridiculousness of the suggestion as I walked past her. “He was just a mortal. It’s unfortunate, but I will not concern myself with it.”

* * *

The celebrations at the village were a bit lackluster for my personal taste but I didn’t expect much more from a village in the middle of nowhere. In fact, I was surprised to see they had access to the wide selection of white wine that they did.

Every single one of the villagers was waiting for us near the gates when we arrived back there. Having received the notification that the quest had been completed, they were anxiously anticipating our return and many of them were already preparing for a feast. Not only were they ecstatic about finally having a god they could trust and feel protected by, but they were already offering to name their children after me.

It was funny how something completely insignificant in the eyes of a god could be perceived as so important by mortals. The heroic deed that their new god had performed for them was as simple as letting out air for me, and yet here they were, falling on their knees and worshipping me.

* * *

You have regained a Divinity Level. Congratulations, your Divinity Level has increased to 5.

* * *

Divinity Level: 5

Followers: 26,892 / 30,000

Divinity Points: 3/5

* * *

Not only had I managed to get back my previous Divinity Level but I’d also got a buffer of almost two thousand followers. I could also see, however, that with every passing hour, the number of my existing followers was falling and I had no doubt my father would make sure the number continued to decrease.

I didn’t want to remain in the village too long in fear that Cronus would use magical means to locate me. I wanted to climb up the mountain as fast as I could, but even if I reached the top immediately, I still wouldn’t have enough DP to claim the place of power. And if I remained with my new followers for a while, that would surely boost their praying potential and thus recharge my DP faster. Aphrodite didn’t seem to mind the attention she was getting either. No doubt she’d seen a significant boost in her followers as well.

“I know we should probably make our way up the mountain as soon as possible,” I said to her once all of the villagers had spread out to continue preparations for the big feast, “but I think this will give us a big boost in terms of recharging our DP.”

“Of course,” she said, smiling at two women who bowed at her as they passed with expensive looking carpets. “The best way to keep your followers happy and praying to you like crazy is to spend some time with them immediately after they convert to you.”

“Is that a thing?” I asked.

“Are you serious?” she replied. “How the hell did you get that many followers if you didn’t do anything to foster your relationship with them?”

“I’m so powerful I don’t need to foster anything with them,” I said. “All it takes is one thunderbolt striking something to oblivion and I’m set for life.”

“Let me guess,” she said, apparently not a fan of my strategy at all. “Whenever they see a thunderstorm brewing after that, they pray to you that the lightning doesn’t strike them?”

“Works every single time,” I said. “Fear is a powerful motivator. Ruling with fear helps make sure the followship corrects itself. If someone disagrees with your doctrine, the rest of the followers will declare him a heretic and remove him.”

“Did your father teach you that?” she asked.

My gut was telling me this conversation wasn’t going the way I wanted it to.

“He didn’t teach us anything,” I replied honestly, “but that’s his way and it has worked wonders for him.”

“How can you say that,” she said, shaking her head, “when we’re here, plotting to take him down?”

“Well, I haven’t even managed to escape his grasp yet, have I?” I retorted, as if that was somehow a solid argument.

“You are a strong god,” she continued, her tone now softer, “but you have to reconsider what you know about treating your followers. The ways of the old gods don’t work anymore.”

“They worked fine for hundreds of thousands of years.”

“And where are they now?” she snapped back at me. “You have no doubt heard the stories of elder gods having been exiled, imprisoned, or even killed. There are only a few of them remaining and their followers are far fewer than they used to be. Their ways may have served them for millennia, but not anymore.”

“And what would you suggest? Walk among them and treat them as though I’m just their king or something? I’m a god, not a mortal.”

“I didn’t say you needed to be approachable,” she said, “but your followers need to think that you are. Perhaps answer a call for help every once in a while. Mingle with them on occasion, to have fun, if nothing else. Take care of your believers and your believers will take care of you.”

“I most certainly don’t need them taking care of me,” I said with certainty.

“I don’t mean it in terms of wealth and offerings. Tell me, how many followers do you gain each day?” Aphrodite asked, waving at two young men who were spying on her while hiding behind a tree.

“I’m losing them at an increased rate but that’s because my father—” I started saying, but she interrupted me.

“I mean before all this happened.” She winked at the two men who were walking away embarrassed, blaming each other for being made fun of.

“I was losing them really slowly most of the time, but then I’d make my appearance in a small village and gain most of them back in one go,” I replied, and let out a deep sigh. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Well, what if I told you that I haven’t had a negative day for years?” she said, seeming to search my eyes for the slightest hint of surprise.

She didn’t have to look too hard. I was, of course, surprised, and I wasn’t going to hide it. Not only were people slowly losing faith in the god of thunder—especially those that didn’t get thunderstorms often—but many of them died too, be it because of old age or getting killed. There were the few odd positive days, but the best I could manage most of the time were days when I didn’t lose any.

I’d always thought that those positive-sum days were because the children of my followers had finally been Zeused. That’s what I called it when new followers started to worship me. But those days were very few and far between, which meant that every now and then, I needed to go worshipper-hunting.

“That’s impossible,” I finally replied to Aphrodite. “It makes sense that your followers start believing in you when they’re young, considering you’re all about love and sex, but eventually they’ll die too. How can you keep that big of a positive day streak?”

“First of all,” she said, turning to look me dead in the eye, “love and the joy of lovemaking knows no age. And second, the people on my island love and celebrate me, rather than fear me.”

“That still doesn’t explain how your followers keep growing,” I retorted, “especially if you don’t leave your little island.”

“I didn’t move away from it, but my people did,” she stated, as if this explained everything. “Wherever my people travel, they spread the word about their goddess of love and beauty. I have no doubt that I soon would have surpassed most of the gods on Mount Orthys in terms of followers.”

“They really go out and find you new followers passively?” I asked, having trouble believing it. “Do you offer them gold or threaten their families if they don’t spread your gospel?”

“Threatening their loved ones would have the opposite effect, and I give them something much more valuable than gold,” she said, keeping me waiting a couple of seconds longer before finishing. “I gave them some of my attention.”

“What does that even mean?” I chuckled. “You smiled at them and what? Off they went, recruiting new people to worship you?”

“That is exactly what they did. You may not realize this because you’ve been so disconnected with the reality of the Apocosmos, having been born on Mount Orthys, but humans look up to us. There are only a few of us and a whole sea of mortals. A few words from my lips will be forever etched into a mortal’s brain. If I ask them to celebrate life and love with other people, they will repeat those words forever. It’s only natural that more people will want to follow.”

“So what are you saying?” I asked, and stood up. “I should smile more? Offer words of wisdom?”

“I would not ask that much of you,” she said, and I mocked her for thinking she was funny. “Just act like you care. Mortals have short life spans but they remember things for the best part of their lives.”

“I guess I’d better get started then,” I said, and smiled at the old man who had initially sent us on our quest as he approached us.