Chapter 1396 (Patreon)

“She already left,” I told Anise, hoping to snap the woman out of her current hysterical state. Sadly, she only continued to plead and whimper, unable to even hear my words, let alone act on them. For a moment, I considered waking her up with a blast of freezing water, but then I decided against it.

Instead, I focused on something more interesting, namely, the study of Lady Hecate’s chair. Now that the deity wasn’t sitting on it any longer, I didn’t have to restrain myself as much when it came to testing and experimenting. Otherwise, I might have accidentally unravelled the construct while Lady Hecate was sitting on it, and that would have gone badly. The deity might have a sense of humour on most days, but I had a feeling that dumping her on her backside would rile her up, especially if it happened in front of another mortal. Or another deity, or, really, anyone. 

When I examined the chair in greater detail, I noticed it was already starting to unravel, leading me to assume that Lady Hecate had held its transformation together with nothing but an act of willpower, perhaps using something conceptually similar to my Mind over Matter ability. Only that her version allowed her to control reality on a fundamental level, as opposed to the comparatively simple telekinesis I had access to.

Shaking my head, I could only watch in awe, even as my mind was trying to categorise and conceptualise what I was observing, wondering if I would ever be able to replicate this feat. Lady Hecate had, using nothing but her will, turned material conjured from Astral Power into different materials, ignoring the elemental paradigm entirely. It was beyond anything I had ever seen, or even imagined, maybe even something fundamentally different compared to the elemental magic I was used to.

Reaching out, I picked up one of the cookies Lady Hecate had conjured and took a dainty nibble. The cookie was excellent, just as delicious as the one I had tried earlier, and it was just as inconceivable as that one had been. As the chair was. 

Maybe Lady Hecate had done this on purpose, just to show me how big a gap remained between us, or maybe it was a lesson. Something to show me what I could aspire to learn, if I had enough time and put in the effort. Or maybe she had simply wanted to have delicious cookies while sitting on a comfortable chair. It was possible that the deity didn’t have some elaborate scheme in mind when she acted, though I felt it was more likely that she had one or more plans in mind. She had never given me the impression of being unthinking or overly spontaneous. 

Finally, Anise’s whimpers were starting to seriously annoy me, so I tried to shake her from her hysteria with my voice once again, only to be ignored. Again.

Grumbling to myself, I reached out with my mind and conjured a stream of freezing water, just barely warm enough to remain liquid, and imbued it with enough power to remain in existence for about a minute. No need to make a bigger mess than needed, and it should be enough to give Anise the shock she so desperately needed to snap out of it. Plus, by drenching her, even with vanishing water, the mess she made when Lady Hecate got angry with her should be partially removed, or at least diluted to the point that it wouldn’t be a problem.

I couldn’t help but feel a gleeful satisfaction when I was blasting Anise with the freezing water. The woman’s snivelling had cut short a wonderful conversation, one that might have revealed additional interesting little tidbits if only it had been allowed to continue. So, punishing Anise for her lack of composure was well-deserved, especially as she had soiled the shrine with her insolence. Or incontinence; she had done both.

After hosing Anise down for a little longer than strictly necessary, to the point that her whimpers had turned into coughs and sputters, I let the conjured stream of water cease. The water already here would linger for a little longer before fading, leaving Anise a shivering wet mess, but given that she had already been a mess, the difference was minor. And, in a minute, even the wet would cease to apply, likely leaving her a simple mess, maybe still shivering. 

“Now, are you coherent again!?” I snapped, not even trying to hide my annoyance. 

“What happened? Did I… Did She?” she stammered, devolving into incoherence once more as her eyes darted between me and the statue of Lady Hecate in the background. 

“Yes, Lady Hecate manifested an image, or maybe an avatar, within this shrine. Yes, we had tea, not that you participated, despite the invitation offered. Yes, you were incredibly rude, making no sense at all and being generally little more than a snivelling toddler, unable to articulate anything useful in her presence. And, finally, yes, you wet yourself under her attention,” I paused, considering if there were other relevant facts Anise needed to be informed of, only to mentally shrug. Maybe there were, maybe not; I didn’t really care. 

“Not the best impression upon meeting your Goddess in the flesh for the first time, eh?” I asked, not even trying to keep the mocking undertone out of my voice.

The result was as striking as I had hoped, maybe even more so. Anise looked as if I had killed her puppy, only to resurrect it as an undead, mutilate it, set it on fire, and, maybe finally, run it over with some type of heavy equipment, not necessarily in that order. 

“Do I need to spray you down again?” I asked when she was reduced to weeping and snivelling, her head shaking back and forth seemingly uncontrollably as she was trying to deny reality. Not a good look for a grown woman, certainly not for a supposedly burgeoning practitioner of the Arcane. 

When no reduction in hysterics occurred, I sent out another blast of water, right into her face. Again, much coughing and sputtering was had, and I could watch with a bit of fascination as the water I had originally conjured mingled with the newly conjured water, right as the old water was fading out. The mix caused some interesting phenomena, as some of the new Astral Power was transferred, making me take notice that this might be a relevant observation. For what, I had no idea, but it was more interesting than the woman slowly gathering the scattered remains of her mind. 

“Now, are you coherent?” I snapped, my patience slowly approaching its limit. Anise, in response, simply nodded, apparently too overwhelmed and scattered to even try speaking.

“Excellent,” I smiled, and I had an inkling that my smile wasn’t a pretty one, certainly not with the way Anise flinched back. “Now, you will clean the mess you made, and the shrine in general. Really, what were you thinking? Lady Hecate doesn’t need people to snivel and grovel; she needs them to think!” I barked, still annoyed that my conversation had been ended prematurely. 

“I’m sorry,” she sobbed, “She’s just so much, so awe-inspiring,” her voice cracked. “She’s divine. She’s so much more than I could ever be,” she continued, her head shaking back and forth. To me, the entire reaction felt excessive. 

Maybe I was simply used to the deity and her antics; I wasn’t sure. At some point, I had lost a lot of the fear and awe one would associate with the divine, though I wasn’t sure why. Exposure to Lady Hecate, alongside the pleasant discussions we shared and the lessons I had received from her, was a possible reason, or maybe it had been the influence of the Mother and the growing divine domain associated with that.

Either way, it seemed that Anise was dealing with the divine a lot worse than I was, or maybe this was the expected and usual response. If so, it would explain why Lady Hecate seemed to enjoy talking with me; I was treating her like a teacher and an example to follow, not like a deity to be grovelled before or a colleague of some sort, as the other gods might.

Looking at Anise, I couldn’t help but shake my head. Just an hour earlier, we had discussed magic, and she had impressed me with her insights. But now, with her looking completely distraught and mentally scattered, I couldn’t help but wonder if she actually had the mental strength to study the Arcane, or if her fear and awe would get in the way. After all, the Arcane was so much more than any individual, so much more than even a Goddess like Lady Hecate. So, if Anise was reduced to little more than a snivelling toddler by Lady Hecate’s mere presence, what would happen if she encountered something truly weird and inexplicable?

Or would she simply die off in one of the myriad potential accidents an Arcane practitioner would likely encounter on the Path?