“No,” she said. “Your mind remains your own.”
“Really? I don’t feel like the same person I was before I came here.”
“You aren’t,” she told him. “Circumstances change, and people change with them. That is as true in your world as it is in mine. Not everything is a matter of magic.”
Jason nodded to himself.
“Alright,” he said. “Then I guess I just have one last question.”
“I do not know if the gods of your world are real,” she answered, not waiting for him to ask. “No one from your world who knows that particular truth has ever come to this one, and I only deal in knowledge.”
“No one from my world. Are there other outworlders from my world?”
“There have been, in the past. Not for centuries, now. Those that came before either died or returned home.”
“But essence users can live for centuries,” Jason said. “Are there essence users running around my world?”
“I do not know,” she said. “Perhaps you should go back and see for yourself.”
Jason took a deep breath.
“You know,” he said, “you really dropped some bombs on me, lady.”
“People do not come to the goddess of knowledge for recipes, Jason.”
“Is that an option?”
“No.”
“I guess that’s everything, then,” Jason said. “Do I just go, now? Is there a donation box or something?”
As the goddess laughed, the doors were pulled open from the outside by Gabrielle. The acolyte gave a curious glance at the mirthful deity.
“My lady,” she addressed the goddess.
“I’m sure you can find your own way out, Jason,” the goddess told him.
“You’re going to talk about me behind my back, aren’t you?” Jason asked. “Gabrielle, try and explain privacy to your boss. I think she might have trouble with it, given her inherent nature.”
“Go away, Jason,” the goddess said, and he wandered off with a chuckle and a wave.
“I think it was this way,” they heard him say as he disappeared among the bookshelves.
“He seems like an unusual man,” Gabrielle said.
“Yes, but also a dangerous one,” the goddess warned. “Take care in your future dealings.”
“He never seemed that way,” Gabrielle said.
“It isn’t his powers or his appetites that make him dangerous,” the goddess said. “It’s his ideas. He’ll have you question your faith, just because it’s faith. He’ll have you question everything, if you let him.”
47
Mirage Chamber
Rufus looked up as Gary emerged from his room, stretching his long arms and yawning.
“You’re not breakfast,” Gary said.
“You’re just getting up?” Rufus said.
Farrah emerged from her own room, rubbing her eyes.
“Oh, welcome back, Rufus. No breakfast?”
“Why would I have bought breakfast? I told you to relax the training, not give it up entirely. Jason needs to develop good habits now.”
“Forget that guy,” Gary said.
Farrah nodded her agreement.
“He went to see the goddess of knowledge few days ago,” she said. “Since then he’s been like a monster. All we wanted was a few relaxing days before you got back, but he won’t stop. The closest he comes to taking a break is having a drink with Jory down at the clinic, and I’m pretty sure that’s only because it lets him train his resistance ability.”
“Turns out booze is poison,” Gary said. “I’m not going to stop drinking it, but it makes you think.”
“Did you at least show him around the city?” Rufus asked.
“Oh, we showed him,” Farrah said.
“Now he does an evening run each night around the Island,” Gary complained.
The door opened up and Jason pushed in a trolley containing two rows of covered food trays.
“Rufus, you’re back,” Jason said happily. “You can join us for breakfast.”
“From what these two were saying, I thought you’d be training.”
“Yeah, I ate a spirit coin this morning, ran into the clinic and did some weight training. Then I ran back and got to work on breakfast. These two have been slacking off while you were away.”
As he talked, Jason transferred food from the tray to the dining table. Gary and Farrah sat down, Gary rubbing his hands together.
“I’m starting to get a handle on the local food,” Jason said. “I’ve been checking out the markets when I’m taking a break. But we can crank up the training intensity now that you’re back, yeah?”
Gary’s hands stopped moving.
“What do you mean by crank up the intensity?” he asked.
“We can stop slacking off. I’ve been slacking off a bit, cooking, making my way through Jory’s liquor cabinet.”
“Rest is an important part of training, too,” Rufus said.
“Exactly,” Gary mumbled around a mouthful of sausage.
Gary and Farrah were already tucking in as Jason poured out glasses of juice from a large pitcher.
“Have something to eat,” Jason told Rufus, pushing a laden plate his way. “Tell us how your field assessment thing went.”
Rufus picked up his cutlery.
“It does smell good.”
“So, I know this guy Humphrey,” Jason said to Rufus. “He was part of your group, right?”
“Humphrey Geller?” Rufus asked. “You know him?”
“We went in for induction on the same day,” Jason said. “Nice guy. How’d he do?”
“He failed. His skills are solid and he has a good grasp of his abilities. The ones he’s awakened, at least. His problem is one of mindset.”
“What do you mean?” Jason asked.
“Humphrey’s confluence essence is dragon,” Rufus said.
“Makes sense,” Jason said, thinking of Humphrey’s familiar. “I have to imagine that’s a good one.”
“They’re all good, if you use them right,” Farrah said.
“And there’s the problem,” Rufus said. “Humphrey is considerate, thoughtful, cautious and humble. Does any of that sound like a dragon to you? He needs to be confident, bold. He knows how to use his abilities, but he’s too indecisive about doing so.”
“I get it,” Jason said. “He’s a nice guy with the powers of an arrogant prick.”
“Actually, that’s exactly it,” Rufus said. “He wasn’t alone, though. There were nineteen people and we passed six.”
“Ouch,” Jason said.
“That’s a big group,” Farrah said.
“Some of the local aristocrats were looking to make a social connection,” Rufus said darkly. “Some of the records of their recently accepted adventurers were mysteriously lost, forcing them to re-take the assessment.”
“That sounds shady,” Farrah said. “The Adventure Society let them get away with that?”
“You haven’t seen what it’s like in these outlying branches,” Gary said. “They don’t have the same funding, so they have to compromise with local powers.”
“Corruption,” Jason said.
“It’s easy to call it that,” Gary said, “but sometimes compromises have to be made. You pay adventurers with money, not principles.”
“Is there going to be any backlash?” Farrah asked.
“Probably,” Rufus said. “The ones who’d passed before their records mysteriously vanished had already been working as adventurers, but after I failed them, their membership was revoked. They won’t get it back until they pass another field assessment.”
“I bet they loved that,” Farrah said.
“The Duke of Greenstone’s nephew is part of that group,” Rufus said.
“You flunked out the city ruler’s nephew?” Gary chortled.
“I did,” Rufus said. “I suspect the people I failed will have an easier time with their next assessor.”
“Have you considered that you might not be the one to take the pain for this?” Farrah asked. “You might have dropped the local Adventure Society officials right in it.”
“Actually, the branch director was urging me on. Seems she’s trying to flush out at least some of the external influence.”