Chapter 25: Reuniting With My Pint-sized Priestess… as a Rock?! (Patreon)

Chapter Twenty-Five

Reuniting With My Pint-sized Priestess… as a Rock?!

Alice studied the stone statue that was her new body. She squinted at the ruby brilliance sprinkled across the stone knots that rested at her core. Urd had enjoyed stroking Alice the Rock like a puppy, but that would be decidedly more difficult with this new form. The Girl might even poke one of her eyes out on Alice's stalagmite arms!

Silly thoughts like these raced through her mind as she dwelt in the earthen cavern. The flames on the walls never wavered, making Alice wonder if some skill or magic was at work. She supposed in a world like this there may not even be a distinction between the two.

"Oh."

She felt a faint tug on her consciousness as she watched the nearest flame dance hypnotically.

"That must be Urd," Alice said at once, recognizing the faint tickle that had accompanied The Girl's comings and goings back at the dilapidated house.

Without a moment's delay, Alice slipped into Urd's skin with [Divine Communion]. And without a moment's delay, Alice felt herself overwhelmed with vertigo.

Urd was in an unfamiliar room, most likely far above the cavern. Alice could see both the dank earthen floor that surrounded Alice the Rock and the ramshackle bed where Urd now slept. It was as if the two scenes had been layered over one another and blended into one so as to exist simultaneously within Alice's field of vision.

This... This is giving me a migraine...

Alice felt more than a little dizzy as she tried to distinguish the bedroom from the cavern below. She quickly realized just how far Urd must have been from Alice the Rock. Before, [Divine Communion] would sever whenever The Girl crawled out of the dilapidated house and onto the street, but now...

"It must be because of the rank-up," Alice said to herself, and she continued to try and reconcile the two very different environments layered atop one another.

Urd had been curled up in the bed, her body hidden beneath a patchwork quilt, but she suddenly shot up like a Jack-in-the-Box.

"God?!" The Girl shouted, looking left and right.

"Calm down!" Alice said instinctively as panic spread across Urd's scaled face. "H-How are you feeling?"

Urd went very still... and then burst into tears.

Kuonrat's shaggy black beard burst into the room. Alice could hardly tell the two uniforms apart, but he had put aside his black cultist robes and now wore his black priestly robes instead. The latter had a couple more stains.

"What's wrong?!" the Priest shouted in alarm, staring down at Urd.

"Don't cry!" Alice said as Urd continued to weep.

Kuonrat disappeared from sight as the child rolled into a ball of misery. Alice's vision of the room contracted to the patchwork quilt Urd clung to. Alice heard a second set of feet quickly enter the room, however, and then the worried voice of yesterday's doorkeeper.

"Something the matter, Elder?!"

"Why are you crying, little one?!" Kuonrat asked, his voice hovering unseen beside Urd.

"C-Could get her a doll?" the wizened doorkeeper said, also out of sight. "That always quieted my niece."

Kuonrat gave no answer, but a moment later Alice heard a scamper of feet, as though one of the men had fled the room.

"I'm shoooorry!" Urd gasped between her violent sobs. Alice had no idea what had gotten into her. "I faiiiiiled you!"

"You didn't fail me!" Alice said consolingly. How she wished she could have reached out and patted The Girl on the back!

"B-But you told me! You didn't want him to...!" Urd whined, and a sudden panic filled Alice's nonexistent chest. "The blood...!"

"You did very good!" Alice said quickly. She could not see Kuonrat with how Urd was balled up, but the last thing she wanted was for the Priest to find out yesterday's sacrifice was a misunderstanding. "I wanted... Y-Yeah, I wanted him dead!"

Bram's death had been the linchpin that had earned Alice the belief of all those cultists. If they were to find out that Alice had not actually wanted the man dead, that it had all been a mistake...

A pair of footsteps reappeared. No words were exchanged between the two hovering specters at first, but then the doorkeeper croaked out a few words, somewhat embarrassed.

"Worth a try...?"

Something soft was pressed against Urd's face. The Girl flinched, turning towards the previously hidden Kuonrat and doorkeeper. In the latter's hand was a rather beaten-up stuffed doll.

"Don't cry...?" the doorkeeper said, shaking the doll. It was as worn down as the rest of the room, but Alice thought it looked like some kind of rabbit.

Urd sniffled loudly and grabbed the stuffed animal with a trembling hand. Alice thought she might throw it across the room, but then Urd faltered, her tiny hand squeezing the ragged bunny like a stress ball.

Instead of hurling it into oblivion, Urd clutched it tight to her chest, her breathing still a ragged misery, her nose still full of snot and sniffles. Kuonrat and the doorkeeper both relaxed, as did Alice.

"Just calm down, Urd," Alice said, placatingly. "I'm not... God isn't angry. I'm very happy. You did a very good job."

Urd continued to shake and huff. Alice's vision contracted to the cavern once more as The Girl rubbed the last few tears from her eyes, but then the bedroom layer was added right back on top.

"Are you... OK?" Alice asked. She realized rather quickly what a stupid question that was. Not only had Urd watched someone's throat get sliced open, but she had also heard all sorts of things about Eva the Witch. "I'm sorry, Urd. You must be so confused."

Because Eva the Witch was a horror that made grown men like Petre Bearblood tremble. Alice could only imagine how terrified Urd must have been when she realized she had been thrust into a den of crazies that worshiped such an individual.

But hadn't she looked rather excited last night? Alice wondered to herself. [Geological Memory] replayed that evening like a movie, and Urd had not seemed frightened by all the Dark Mother and Unbound Queen talk.

At least not before Kuonrat had colored her face red with blood.

"You... You were talking about the Witch," Urd said, her voice momentarily freed from its miserable huffs and sniffles.

Both Kuonrat and the doorkeeper exchanged a look. Urd turned away from the pair, and her sight anchored onto the stuffed rabbit in her hands. Alice found herself at a loss for how to proceed.

But then Urd spoke.

"I'm not afraid..." She squeezed the rabbit tightly. "Master Merry Weather, I'm not afraid. I don't care wh-what the [Magi] say. If God says Eva the Witch is good, then she must be... must be good!"

Alice felt a smile tug at her nonexistent face. An invisible weight lifted from her stalagmite shoulders at the sound of Urd's renewed faith. Alice had been more than overjoyed to have found these new adult followers, but if it had meant losing Urd...

"Eh?!"

Urd's vision swam around the dusty room as she seemed to leap off the bed. Alice felt a moment's vertigo as the room's interior seemed to slip and slide over the static cavern below.

Kuonrat and the doorkeeper took a nervous step away from Urd, the latter almost falling over in his haste.

"God?! God, where are you?!" Whatever calm had fallen over Urd disappeared as she began to tear apart the bed, as if she expected to find Alice the Rock tucked in beside her.

Oh...

Alice's nonexistent smile quickly faded. Urd had not seen Alice's transformation. It had never occurred to Alice before now, but Urd had passed out before the evolution had finished.

What will she think...? Alice wondered worriedly. Alice the Rock was certainly not the small adorable stone that Urd could hold in her lap anymore.

But that's the least of my worries!

Kuonrat blurred in and out of Urd's vision as the child continued her vain search for Alice.

I can't wait any longer...

She felt as though she had a hundred dozen questions, with more arriving each day. It had been one thing to be the god of a bunch of children, but these were adults, and adults quite unlike any other.

"Urd!" Alice said, and The Girl froze mid-search, her face upturned. "You're going to need to be my voice again."

"O-Of course, God!" Urd said at once. "But where...?"

"Have Kuonrat bring you to me," Alice said, a little shakily. Her vision was two layers, and the layer downstairs revealed a monstrous stone statue sprinkled with red rubies. "I have questions for him."

Urd relayed Alice's Divine Decree, and the Priest's face immediately became somber. She thought she could even see a few flickers of fear as he led Urd from the bedroom and down the ramshackle home's many twisting corridors.

Urd pushed and shoved Kuonrat in her haste to reunite with Alice the Rock. She almost knocked the man through the hole in the wine cellar floor as she hurried past him after he had moved the broken wine cask. The child was in such a hurry as she clambered down the ladder that Alice worried she might slip and fall... but then Alice's nonexistent eyes widened with shock.

Because she could see Urd. This was not [Divine Communion] at work, where Alice was simply a passenger behind Urd's eyes. Alice could see the white lines of fear written across Urd's face as she reached the bottom rung of the ladder.

All within the ten feet of her CCTV vision.

But it's definitely not ten feet anymore!

[God Sense] had clearly expanded. Alice could think of no other explanation. When Urd had carried Alice the Rock down into the tunnel last night, Alice had not been able to see the wrought-iron door that stood at its end, but now Alice was able to watch Urd as she sprinted down the full length of the tunnel towards her god.

The skill didn't rank up, though, Alice realized. It had already been Rank X. She didn't think it had anything to do with her divinity ranking up either. Is it because of... my stats?

Her first transformation from [Ordinary Rock] to [Grudge Stone] had seen her stats more than double. Had that same kind of stat boost occurred with her ascension to [Grudgeheart]? Was it possible that her earlier stat gains had just been so small that she simply hadn't noticed [God Sense] slowly adding an extra millimeter of sight?

Does that mean if my stats increase enough... Could [God Sense] cover the whole town eventually?

The thought filled her with a thrum of excitement as she continued to watch and hear Urd fly down the tunnel. Kuonrat was not far behind her, though whatever strength of arm he possessed did not extend to his speed.

"L-Let me in!"

Urd reached the heavy iron door at the end of the tunnel and began to pull on its handle, though the door refused to budge. Her tiny, bandaged hands banged against the heavy iron in protest, the stuffed bunny she still clutched flopping wildly with each attack.

"Calm down!" Alice said, realizing she had not spoken once since Urd had scrambled out of the upstairs bedroom.

Her words did little to soothe her pint-sized priestess, however. The Girl's teeth flashed white in an anxious grin as she looked over her shoulder at Kuonrat's slower trod.

The Priest's face was a similar mask of anxiety as he arrived beside the door.

"Urd, I may look... a little different," Alice said anxiously. "I mean, I will look different."

"Wh-what does that mean, God?!" Urd whined pitifully, looking from the heavy door to Kuonrat.

"Just have Kuonrat open the door," Alice said with finality, and Urd was all too eager to convey Alice's decree.

She did not remember the door opening so slowly the night before. It creaked with an almost malicious reluctance, inch by inch, as Urd bounced behind Kuonrat like the overexcited child that she was.

When the door finally did slide open, however, The Girl made no move to step inside. Beside her, Kuonrat stared, transfixed, at Alice the Rock.

The Priest's entire body shook. His eyes misted, and then he fell to the ground just outside the doorway in prayer. It was not long before Alice felt a familiar tickle across her new rock body.

Prayer received from believer.

Received experience!

Received faith!

Urd did not fall to her knees, however. She did not move. Her stuffed bunny hung loose in her hand as she simply stared.

Biting her lip, Alice slipped back into Urd's senses... and a horrible odor tickled her borrowed nose.

She could smell Bram.

Stupid, stupid, stupid! Alice wanted to rip out her nonexistent hair. How could she have been so stupid?!

Bram Staaf's corpse had been left draped across the floor for the entire night. Alice the Rock had no nose of her own, but she could smell the corpse now.

Am I trying to traumatize Urd?! Not only do I have a freaky new body, but there's a shriveled-up corpse in front of it! And the smell! How could I have been so-

Prayer received from believer.

Received experience!

Received faith!

Fresh faith tickled Alice's rock body as Urd fell to her knees beside Kuonrat, her hands joined together in prayer. She seemed to have forgotten all about the bunny still clutched between them.

"I... I always knew!" The Girl cried, her voice full of zeal. "And now even th-the Priest believes! You've woken up, and now everything will be better!"

Another invisible weight lifted from Alice's stalagmite shoulders. Even with a rotting corpse at Alice's proverbial feet, Urd still believed.

"Thank you," Alice said before she could stop herself. "Please, get up."

Urd did so, albeit reluctantly. She glanced furtively at the New and Improved Alice the Rock as if afraid it would be impertinent to stare. Beside her, Kuonrat remained prostrate, his body trembling.

"Tell Kuonrat he can get up, as well," Alice said. Urd did not repeat the Divine Declaration at first. Her eyes had drifted away from Alice the Rock and were boring into Bram's savaged throat. "And tell him to take this corpse away!"

"Y-Yes, Master!" Urd said at once, snapping free from her trance. Alice was very glad when Urd relayed Her newest Divine Decree. The Girl should not have to suffer the company of a dead body.

Kuonrat drew near with a nervous reverence as he picked up and dragged the corpse out of the cavern. Urd seemed to lose some of her restraint with the body gone, and she openly stared and studied Alice's stone sapling of a form.

"You're so pretty!" Urd's eyes were full of rainbow sparkles as she inspected the bumpy knots that rested at Alice's core. The Girl held the stuffed bunny close to her chest as she did a small circle around Alice the Rock.

Alice was not sure how to feel about the compliment. She looked horrifying. But if Urd was happy...

"Thank you," she said, and focusing on the patchwork rabbit, she continued, "Do you like bunnies, Urd?"

The Girl's eyes widened, and a cartoon flush reached her cheeks. She immediately dropped the stuffed rabbit onto the ground.

"I... I forgot!" Urd squeaked, forcing herself to look away from where the rabbit had fallen. "I didn't realize it was still in m-my..."

The Girl bit her lip as more of her face turned scarlet.

"It was soft..." she mumbled under her breath.

Alice felt more than a little guilty for embarrassing Urd.

"I've never..." Urd continued weakly, and Alice perked up. The Girl was staring at where the doll now rested awkwardly on the ground. "I've never had a doll like him before."

And her eyes darting anxiously around the cavern, Urd knelt beside the rabbit. The stuffed animal had been sprawled out across the floor, but she sat it upright and patted it furtively on the head.

"Mister Roobit was... He didn't look comfortable," Urd said very quietly, biting her lip. She glanced nervously at Alice the Rock, her face the same color as a tomato.

Mister Roobit?! She hasn't even had the thing for an hour, and it already has a name!

Kuonrat deposited Bram's corpse a little ways outside the room. Alice watched him with [God Sense] as he seemed to collect himself before turning back towards the cavern and passing over the doorway, his arms and legs trembling.

Urd looked away from Mister Roobit then and watched Kuonrat warily.

"That man..." Kuonrat licked his lips as he spoke. "I cannot apologize enough, Master Merry Weather, for that man's lack of faith."

Alice nodded to herself, understanding now at least some of the Priest's fear.

Most gods would probably punish someone like Kuonrat if a bad egg was found among their flock, Alice thought to herself. Thankfully for the Priest, she needed all the followers she could get.

"Know that none of my other brothers and sisters are of such weak faith," Kuonrat continued, as if he could read Alice's thoughts. "I wish I had a proper offering to present you. We are... I am numb with jubilation at your arrival, though so shamefully unprepared. I am your servant. We all are."

And Kuonrat fell to his hands and knees once more. Alice still had no idea what he expected from her, but she latched onto his comment all the same.

"Urd, tell him that I..." Alice thought for a moment about what to say. Her excitement at seeing Urd had loosened her tongue, but she had to be careful with Kuonrat. The man had only become a believer last night. "Tell him that I look forward to meeting the other faithful."

Urd relayed Alice's words, and Alice realized she was actually looking forward to meeting them. Aside from Tall One, Short One, and Erik's father, most had remained hidden behind their hoods. But for now...

This'll be the tricky part.

She had sent Kuonrat and the others away last night with so many questions left unanswered. She had convinced them all that she was a god, that she was their god, but what did that even mean?

Somehow I know they'll want more than just free bread like the street urchins.

Right now she needed information.

And the best place to start seems to be where it all began.

"Urd, tell Kuonrat that you will be my voice," Alice said. "Tell him that I have... questions."

Urd relayed Alice's Divine Proclamation, and Kuonrat lifted his face from the floor. A stony seriousness fell across his features as he looked up at Urd.

"What would the Master have of me?" he asked at once.

Alice took a deep, nonexistent breath and said...

"Tell me about Eva."

Nothing bad better happen to that rabbit...

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