“By the time we go back,” Olivia whispered as she looked up from her notebook, “these directions will be useless.”

“Maybe,” Turtle agreed. “At the rate the Labyrinth changes…”

“They’ll still get us in the right direction,” Bunny added. “We can work with that.”

I nodded at that and looked around, looking for any sign of a threat…not that I was able to see much of anything through the thick fog that surrounded us. What I could see were the ruins of an old city, composed mostly of crumbling stone buildings, very few of which still had roofs. The whole place looked like it had been abandoned for at least a century, except for the monsters.

These ruins definitely had monsters, and I knew that mostly because of the bodies that I’d seen scattered about. They were small greyish creatures, shaped somewhat like monkeys but with scorpion tails and leathery wings. A few of the bodies were still intact enough to make out what our targets had been fighting, and what was probably surrounding us out in the fog.

Bunny was staring off into the fog as well, though I knew that she could see a little further through it than I could. Her head tilted slightly as she listened for additional clues. I could hear faint skittering and moving about, just out of sight, so she could doubtlessly make out a little more than that.

After a minute, Bunny held her finger up to her lips in the universal gesture for ‘be quiet’, then she gestured off to the side, indicating that she thought that there was something there. We all nodded while Ace even made the gesture of zipping his mouth shut.

None of us spoke as we slowly walked away, making our way through the ruins as quietly as we could. I winced every time our footsteps echoed off the cobblestone street, knowing that this was giving away our presence just as surely as if we were talking.

The skittering continued around us, and several times I saw shadowy figures move through the fog. I couldn’t make out any details, though I suspected that this might be a possible ‘big brother’ to the little gargoyle monsters. Considering the fact that the fog was hiding any such creatures, that made their possible existence even more terrifying.

I could feel the tension rising in the air, the anticipation of violence. The longer we continued, the more certain I became that the monsters were aware of us. They were following us. Stalking us. And before much longer, I was proven right as they finally attacked.

A dozen monsters suddenly appeared at once, emerging from the fog and diving straight at us. This might have caught us off guard if we hadn’t been expecting something like this. Turtle immediately acted to get their attention while Olivia began charging one of her shockwaves. Seconds later, most of the monsters had been knocked out of the air and had fallen to the ground. We didn’t waste any time before finishing them off before they could get back into the air.

“We should probably stay close to the walls,” I whispered, gesturing to the nearby building. “That will keep them from being able to come at us from those directions.”

“That way, we only need to watch one side,” Ramirez said.

Ace snorted. “Unless they drop bricks on us from the top of the walls.”

“Good point,” Turtle said, giving a nervous look upward.

In spite of any concerns for falling bricks, we continued on our way, hugging the walls to limit where the monsters could attack us from. Ramirez began following in the back, using her ability to blend into the shadows so that she became hard to see. When the next group of monsters attacked a few minutes later, they ignored her completely, which gave her the opportunity to kill two of them before they even registered her presence.

Our current type of monster was a bit of a mixed bag. They were small and weak, being easy to kill. This came from them being swarm monsters, the kind who fought in groups and were dangerous because they could overwhelm you with numbers. And that was a problem. They had numbers, and we had absolutely no idea of just how many more there were around us.

The gargoyles were easy to kill, but they were still dangerous, and not just because of their numbers. Between being able to fly, and the way that they hid in the fog, they were almost impossible to see until they were right on us. That made it difficult to deal with them. And then there was the fact that they had those scorpion tails. None of us had been stung yet, but I had no doubt that it would be bad if we were.

I scowled as I smashed one of the gargoyles with my mace, then I threw my dagger at a second and killed that one with one good strike. The last two monsters fell a few seconds later.

Bunny’s rabbits were spread about, looking frustrated. Well, Sir Fluff looked frustrated, and I was sure the horned rabbits would have as well, had they been capable of it. None of the horned rabbits had been able to even touch a single gargoyle, while Sir Fluff had barely been able to do so.

“It looks like you guys aren’t built to handle fliers,” I said sympathetically.

“There’s another one nearby,” Bunny said, staring into the fog with a scowl. “A bigger one. I think he might be sending these little guys after us.”

“So,” Ace asked with a scrunched up face. “He’s their boss?”

“I think so,” Bunny responded. “That’s just the impression I’m getting, but I can’t be sure.”

“I just wish we could see the damn thing,” I said. “I hate fighting shadows.”

Ramirez chuckled, looking a little smug as she responded, “I’m starting to like it… At least, when I’m the shadow.”

“Stalkers,” Olivia commented with a roll of her eyes.

“You’re just jealous,” Ramirez told the arcanist.

“We’ll have to keep an eye out for the big one,” Turtle said as he adjusted his shield. He looked out into the fog and added, “And ready to deal with more of the little ones.”

With that in mind, we continued walking through the ruins, following the trail of monster goo that our enemies had left behind. Every time we started catching up to them, we got another delay. I just hoped that these gargoyles didn’t cost us too much time.

Then I suddenly felt it, the tickling sensation along my skin that warned me of primal magic somewhere nearby. I stopped in the middle of the street and looked around, trying so see where it was coming from. I was pretty sure that it wasn’t from any of the gargoyles that we’d been fighting.

“What is it?” Ramirez asked me.

“A primal,” I answered. “Somewhere nearby.”

“Like that big devil thing?” Ace asked with a worried look.

The others all stopped and looked around. We all remembered that infernal as well as all those imps it had created. However, I also remembered the faerie and the water elemental. Just because there was a primal, that didn’t mean it was a threat to us.

I closed my eyes and tried to focus on the feeling of primal magic. It took me a couple seconds, but I was able to tell where it was coming from.

“There,” I announced, pointing off to the side, to the ruins of what had once been a nice building.

Most of the walls around us were made of grey stone or red bricks, and they appeared to have all been two or three stories tall. However, the building in front of me stood out, though not because of the height. It was about the same height as the ones around it, though it was made with a white stone that looked like marble. It was also more intricate, with patterns and pictures carved on the surfaces, though they were too worn and dirty to really make out any of the details.

“It’s inside,” I said as I moved to the doorway.

The doorway was side and open, with no sign of an actual door or even hinges. It looked like there had probably never been a door. And once I stepped inside, I understood why this place stood out as different.

“It’s a church,” Bunny blurted out.

I nodded at that. This had been a church, though not quite like any that I’d ever seen before. The whole building looked to be a single large room with a high ceiling. In spite of the building being about three stories tall, I didn’t see any sign of there having been multiple floors, even before the ceiling had rotted away. And instead of a single altar at the far end, like in the the churches I was familiar with, there seemed to be eight of them, spread out along the side walls.

There were four altars along each side, each one being completely different. Every altar appeared to have been made with a different material and in a unique design. About the only things that they had in common were their general size, and of course, the fact that each and every one was perfectly clean. They looked almost as though someone had dusted and polished no more than a couple hours ago.

The altar to the left of me was a rounded grey stone, about four feet long, which was covered in carvings. The carvings were all rounded patterns with flecks of blue and green emerging from inside. The top of the stone was a concave and filled with water, making it look like some kind of back yard water feature.

A popup suddenly appeared in my vision.

ALTAR OF EBBETH, GODDESS OF WAVE AND TIDE

I could feel the primal energy coming from the altar, though not nearly as much as I would have expected to come from a goddess. Then again, I realized that this wasn’t actually the goddess herself. This rock was not Ebbeth, but it was connected to her. Maybe like a phone.

The next altar was bright red, the color of fresh blood, and it was glossy so that it actually looked wet. The very sight of the altar turned something in my stomach. And as with the previous altar, a popup suddenly appeared in front of me.

ALTAR OF GORATH, GOD OF SLAUGHTER

“Do you realize what this place is?” I asked, more thinking aloud than anything else.

“Some kind of church or temple,” Olivia answered. “Though I have no idea which deity it might be for.”

“Deities,” I said, putting emphasis on the indication that this was plural. “It looks like it was a temple to eight different gods. Maybe their entire pantheon.”

“Interesting,” Turtle said. “But kind of a distraction for our mission.”

I nodded at that, knowing that we couldn’t afford to spend much time here. Still, I couldn’t help but pointing out, “This is basically a treasure trove for invokers.”

“Oh shit,” Bunny blurted out. “You’re right. Eight different gods you might get abilities from.”

I nodded again, though I knew that it wouldn’t be quite that simple. Wolf had warned me that a lot of primals had rivalries and alliances, such as the instinctive hatred that celestials and infernals apparently had for each other. He’d warned me that divine type primals, deities, could be particularly sensitive about who else you already had deals with. There was no telling how that kind of thing could play out among these particular deities.

But in spite of the potential complications, I had no doubt that this place was an enormous opportunity for any invoker. Invokers were like salesmen who worked on commission. If you couldn’t make a sale, you walked away with nothing. However, if you were good at sales, you could make a fortune in commissions. Or in invoker terms, you could gain a lot of power and abilities. This temple, with eight separate deities, represented eight potential sales with the associated rewards.

“Now, I just have to get selling,” I mused as I slowly walked around the room, looking at other altars.

SHRINE OF MERSHASS, GODDESS OF HEARTH AND HOME

ALTAR OF KASSAMACH, GOD OF HOPES AND DREAMS

I was beginning to notice that each of these altars had the same kind of primal magic coming from them, what I now recognized as the divine type. This was the type of primal energy that I was most familiar with, the kind that I channeled through my body every time I used ‘Invocation of Spite’.

However, I also noticed that the energy at each altar was slightly different. I would probably need to increase my perception to really tell them apart, but I suspected that this was the specific flavor of each individual god. If I increased my perception and learned to identify that subtle difference, I’d probably be able to recognize which deity…or even which specific primal an ability came from, just by feeling that energy.

Then I came to an altar that was made of red and black stone, with sharp edges and spikes that jutting out in nearly every direction. Even before the popup appeared in front of me, I knew who this altar belonged to. I could feel it.

ALTAR OF AVEXIS, GODDESS OF SPITE AND VENGEANCE

I stood in front of this altar for several seconds, licking my lips nervously. I could feel the connection to Avexis, very similar to what I felt through my ability, but stronger.

“Thank you for granting me the use of your power,” I said to be polite.

The sense of power I felt from Avexis’ altar grew stronger, as though she’d heard me and was responding. My eyes widened a little at that since I hadn’t expected there actually be any response. Fortunately, I’d been polite, so I doubted that she had any reason to smite me.

Just then, I suddenly felt a rise in power from the next altar over. I looked in surprise. That altar was white and smooth, looking rounded and almost soft. If I didn’t know better, I might have thought that it was a mound of cotton rather than a lump of stone.

SHRINE OF ARAELYS, GODDESS OF FORGIVENESS

A moment later, almost as soon as I’d finished reading that popup, a new one appeared in front of me.

YOU HAVE DRAWN THE ATTENTION OF ARAELYS, GODDESS OF MERCY AND FORGIVENESS. ARAELYS OFFERS YOU A BARGAIN FOR A PORTION OF HER POWER.

RENOUNCE AVEXIS AND BE GRANTED THE ABILITY ‘INVOCATION OF RESPITE’

DO YOU ACCEPT?

“What the…?” I blurted out in surprise.

I had to reread the popup three times to make sure that I was reading it right. Araelys was offering me a new ability…with a catch. A big catch at that. She wanted me to renounce Avexis, right after I’d just thanked the other goddess. I had no doubt that if I did renounce Avexis, I’d lose her support…and the ability that she’d given me.

“Invocation of Respite,” I whispered.

I didn’t miss the fact that this ability had a very similar name to the one I already had. And when I read the name of this ability, ‘Invocation of Respite,’ I had a vague sense of what the ability actually did. It didn’t really say in the popup, but the understanding was still there.

‘Invocation of Respite’ was almost the exact opposite of ‘Invocation of Spite’. It was an ability which would let me heal other people, and I was pretty confident that the act of channeling that power would also heal me a little in the process. That would be an amazing ability, especially considering how much danger we all faced in the Labyrinth.

“But the cost,” I reminded myself with a wince.

All that Araelys was really offering me, was to trade one ability for another. I would be trading my only offensive ability, one that I’d possessed since crawling out of the respawn pool, and which had saved my life, for an ability that would be useful…but situational. And then of course, there was the fact that she was asking me to betray a goddess of spite and revenge, which sounded like a pretty bad idea to me. If I had to choose between getting a goddess of spite mad at me, or a goddess of forgiveness, I knew which one I’d pick.

Before I could say anything, another popup appeared in front of me.

AVEXIS, GODDESS OF SPITE AND RETALIATION, OFFERS YOU A BARGAIN FOR ANOTHER PORTION OF HER POWER.

REFUTE ARAELYS’ OFFER AND BE GRANTED THE ABILITY ‘BLESSING OF AVEXIS’.

DO YOU ACCEPT?

I had barely finished reading this popup when another one appeared.

ARAELYS, GODDESS OF PEACE AND FORGIVENESS OFFERS YOU A NEW BARGAIN.

RENOUNCE AVEXIS AND BE GRANTED THE ABILITIES ‘INVOCATION OF RESPITE’ AND ‘SHROUD OF MERCY’.

DO YOU ACCEPT?

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said, hardly able to believe what was happening.

“What’s going on?” Bunny asked.

None of them could see my popups, so I could only imagine what this looked like to them. “Apparently,” I said carefully, glancing back and forth between the two altars, “I’m caught in the middle of a bidding war.”

“A bidding war?” Ace blurted out. “For what?”

“For me,” I answered wryly. “I think I just stepped into the middle of some divine politics…or at least…some kind of rivalry.”

I shook my head at that. Wolf had warned me about divine rivalries, but I hadn’t expected anything like this. And then, just as I half-expected, there was another popup.

AVEXIS, GODDESS OF SPITE AND SPICY FOOD OFFERS YOU A NEW BARGAIN.

ACCEPT AVEXIS AS YOUR SOLE PATRON AND URINATE UPON ARAELYS’ SHRINE, AND YOU WILL BE GRANTED THE ROLE OF ‘PALADIN OF AVEXIS’, WITH ALL ASSOCIATED RIGHTS AND ABILITIES.

DO YOU ACCEPT?

“Holy shit,” I gasped. “This is escalating fast.”

Then I blinked as I noticed something. Spicy food? That was unexpected…and a bit confusing, until I remembered that spicy food was food that hurt you when you ate it. It was food that fought back, which was sort of appropriate for a goddess of spite.

A moment later, I turned my attention to the rest of the offer, scowling as I did so. Avexis wanted me to…urinate on Araelys’ shrine…to piss on it. I knew that Avexis was a goddess of petty revenge, and this just proved it.

“And she’s offering me the chance to become her paladin,” I whispered.

Wolf had told me about such things, and he’d warned me of the risks. If I accepted Avexis as my sole patron, then I would be making a contract so that she granted me even more power and abilities, but I would be unable to channel power from any other primal. I would become completely reliant on her, which was dangerous in multiple ways.

There was something else about this latest offer which tickled the back of my mind. Sole patron? Paladin? I suddenly wondered if this was the big deal that Wolf thought Avexis was leading me towards. It made sense. But if it was, then I had a feeling that she hadn’t intended to make it quite yet. No, I suspected that Araelys’ interference may have led Avexis into making it prematurely.

Avexis… No, both goddesses seemed pretty interested in getting my support. A part of me was proud of that since having goddesses bid over me was good for my ego. However, I had a sneaky suspicion that it was also extremely dangerous. Who knew how far you could actually push a goddess of forgiveness.

“Besides,” I muttered. “This isn’t even about me.”

It was becoming obvious that this was some kind of grudge or rivalry between Avexis and Araelys, and I was just caught between them. I was probably just the latest thing that they were arguing over, a convenient excuse to continue their competition.

I took a deep breath, and before another popup appeared, I announced, “I’ve made my decision.”

The power from both altars seemed to focus on me even more intently. I knew that this was a dangerous moment for me, because regardless of what I said, I would probably offend at least one of these goddesses.

“I must politely decline your offer, Araelys,” I announced, carefully keeping my voice and expression polite and respectful.

I was calling up old skills, ones that I hadn’t used much since retiring from the Wardens. And to be honest, I’d never been much good at this back then either. Still, being able to deal with politicians and higher-ups who had the power to destroy your career, had been a valuable survival skill. I just hoped that I hadn’t gotten too rusty.

“Avexis granted me power when I had none,” I continued, trying to butter up my current patron in order to avoid her wrath. Nobody wanted a goddess of spite and revenge pissed at them. At least, not if they had any common sense at all. “Her power saved my life and will continue to help me on my mission. I am on a mission of vengeance, and I intend no mercy or forgiveness.”

I felt something from Avexis, both from the link I had to her through my ability and from her shrine. It felt like smug satisfaction, which seemed strange to consider for a goddess of spite. I was just relieved since her reaction could have been MUCH worse.

“Avexis,” I said, looking at her altar. “Thank you again for the power you have granted me. I know that it will be invaluable for what I am attempting.”

Then I took a deep breath, knowing that this wasn’t quite an ‘its not you, it’s me’ speech, but she might take it that way. That could be bad.

“I am unable to accept your generous bargain,” I stated, not apologizing or asking for her forgiveness. Considering who her rival was, asking for forgiveness would probably be seen as an insult. “I will not desecrate the shrine of a goddess who has not wronged me.”

I stood there for a moment, holding my breath and waiting to see how Avexis would respond. A moment later, power of her shrine faded away, going back to the same level that it had been when I’d first walked into the temple. Araelys’ power also faded, seeming to indicate that both goddesses had lost interest. Then I let out a sigh of relief, right before a new popup suddenly appeared in front of me.

AVEXIS, GODDESS OF SPITE AND RETRIBUTION HAS GRANTED YOU THE ABILITY ‘BLESSING OF AVEXIS’.

I read the popup and then chuckled. When Avexis had offered the second bargain, the one where she proposed becoming my sole patron, I’d assumed that it replaced the first offer. However, this popup proved that the first offer had still been on the table.

“Come on,” I announced, looking back at my friends, who were all standing back and looking impatient. “We don’t want to get any further behind than we already are.”