Path of Gods and Fiends ch.1 (Patreon)

Path of Gods and Fiends

Chapter 1:

A great galleon rode the waves, its wooden frame uncaring of the direction of the current. Enchantments carved on the inside and outside of the hull propelled the ship where it needed to go.

On the deck, the crew and their guests all wore thick coats because of the cold weather that had set the further along they were on their journey. Finally, they saw a snow-capped island appear on the horizon.

The island of Umito rested deep in the Northern reach of the Baldic Sea. For 500 years, its inhabitants had settled there far away from the world. 

The Kingdom of Lorwan only discovered the island recently after one of their merchant ships got lost during a storm and found the isolated landmass.

After being hosted by the locals, the merchant had managed to discover that they were descendants of settlers who wanted to leave the affairs of the great kingdoms. However, the current generation was amenable to opening their borders and discussing with the wider world.

And so, after the merchant ship came back, Lorwan sent a diplomatic party to the self-proclaimed Arcanocracy of Umito.

Lord Niken Estepan, Earl of the Estepan Household rubbed his hands to counter the cold numbing his fingers. He was used to diplomatic missions, but they generally didn’t happen in places so cold.

He really hoped everything would go alright.

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On the coast of Umito, there was a city hugging the shore. The capital, Tenran where the king resided, was also the greatest portuary city of the island. Fortified walls surrounded the city in a half circle of magically reinforced stone.

A figure was approaching those walls, covered in a thick, hooded fur cloak, and dragging a sled behind them. Upon the sled, there was the corpse of a fallen beast; a great, white bear taller than five men put together. From its paws protruded translucent claws which looked like knives carved from ice. 

The gate guardians, wearing lamellar armor made of white plates and holding staves, foci to channel the elements, crossed their weapons to bar the figure’s way.

“Halt half-breed!” One of the guards barked.

The cloaked person stopped before the guards. The two soldiers guarding the gate had to look up. They were both tall men, seeming even more imposing in their armors, chosen to guard the gate for their intimidating look more than anything, yet the top of their heads barely reached the cloaked individual’s shoulders.

Under the hood, a fanged mouth opened, letting out a cloud of steam flow between their sharp teeth. A feminine voice followed.

“What’s the issue this time?” The abnormally tall woman’s voice had a bored tinge to it.

“Our glorious kingdom is hosting envoys from beyond the sea. It would not do for them to have to bear the sight of you. Make yourself discreet.” The guard spat.

The cloaked giantess’s eyes narrowed at those words, one gray like sharpened metal, the other a feline amber, both slitted. Heterochromia: the symbol shared by all hybrids, unloved by the spirits and Aeons, unable to cast magic, abomination to the arcanocracy.

Slitted pupils dilated before eyelids closed. Another foggy breath escaped the woman’s mouth before she reopened her eyes.

“Very well. I’ll sell my stuff in the lower district and leave.” 

“Do that.”

The guards uncrossed their staves and let the woman pass.

Inside the city, unlike the outside covered in snow, the air was warmer. Mages bonded to air and fire made sure to keep the enchantment covering the city stable every week.

She removed her hood. She had black hair with white stripes set in a lazy bob around her neck. Over her front bangs, a white circle was set between two vertical stripes, giving the illusion of a third eye. Her feline ears protruded horizontally, the black fur turning white at the tips. Her facial features were sharp, giving a handsome turn to her mien.

Mio Onizaki was born of the union of a cat Beastkin father and a Goliath mother. This gave her a physique that made her tower above and outmuscle most men while still keeping a clearly feminine charm.

Her black, white-tipped, bushy tail swayed behind her as she dragged her sled to the lower market.

After her mother died at sea and her father wasted away, she had no choice but to find a way to provide for herself. However most jobs wouldn’t take her for a simple reason.

As a half-breed, she couldn’t use magic. For unknown reasons, hybrids could not connect their spiritual energies to the elemental spirits., making them unable to cast spells.

In the arcanocracy of Umito, this made her an abomination not executed only because the people considered themself civilized.

So, she made herself useful outside the walls of the capital. She hunted monsters and did one of the few things a mage couldn’t do better than her with magic.

Mio carried the bear to a butcher who didn’t mind where the meat came from. She lowered the price she sold him the meat in exchange for his expert skinning and dismantling of the beast. With the pelt and claws in a bag on the sled, she continued until she found a spot.

She pulled the cover covering the sled, revealing potions, tints and essences.

Alchemy was an art that relied on the inherent nature of the ingredients, no spirits needed and her father taught her all he could before he died.

Setting her wares on the cover, she sat down and waited. While people disliked her existence, most also preferred to buy cheap potions where they could, so it didn’t take long for the usual customers to come and buy. There was no small talk or bartering. They paid, took their potions and left. They didn’t want to be seen with Mio as much as possible.

The Goliath-Beastkin hybrid knew her customers, so that’s why she was surprised when she saw a new face.

A girl crouched in front of her, examining the bottled potions.

She had a cloak with the hood up, however, her long teal-colored hair escaped its confines to rest on her chest. Bright blue eyes with reptilian slits, thinner than Mio’s feline ones. Mio’s own gaze lowered to observe the stranger’s clothes. They weren’t local, not of Umito. Just when Mio promised to not be seen by the foreigners.

“The color of your blood-replenisher is quite deep. That’s a sign of good quality.” The girl opened up, making Mio’s ears perk up.

“Uh. You’re an alchemist too?” It wasn’t often Mio could talk shop.

“Oh, no, no, no. I just go through a lot of potions with my work, so I know what a good one looks like.”

“Fair. Though, you shouldn’t talk with me too much. Wouldn’t want people to say you talked to the cursed beast.”

The other girl’s eyes widened.

“Are you actually cursed? I saw other Beastkins walking around, and there was no issue, so it isn’t some backward discrimination. Do you need an exorcism?”

Mio blinked at the rapid fire question. She pointed at her face.

“I’m a half-breed.”

“And?” The foreign girl tilted her head to the side like a puppy.

“No magic, abomination to the eyes of spirits and Aeons.” Mio precised.

“Aaah. That old superstition.” The girl nodded. “You know, even spirits don’t know why they can’t hear hybrids.”

“Really?” Mio couldn’t help the skepticism mixing with that single word.

“Here, let me show you.” 

The hooded foreigner clapped her hands. A surge of spiritual energy emanated from her body under the form of a white aura which quickly rearranged itself in ancient glyphs of prayers and supplications to the elemental spirits.

The words formed a circle in the air, and from it came the spirit, given shape in the material world.

It looked like a snake. Two snakes, actually, joined together at the middle. One was white as snow, the other black as obsidian. Both heads turned to look at Mio.

“Our contractor speaks the truth, child of Beastkin and Goliath. Though we see the shape of your soul in the immaterial plane, your voice can’t reach us. Our kind does not respond to your prayers not out of spite, but out of deafness.”

And with that, having no need to help their contractor with a spell, the spirit went back to being ethereal and unseen.

“So yeah. No one knows why, but it certainly isn’t because you’re some kind of abomination.”

It was one question answered, but it didn’t change much for Mio.

“By the way, my name is Eliarin. What’s yours?” The teal-hired girl asked with a grin on her face.

“Mio.”

“Nice to meet you, Mio.”

There was a lull in the conversation.

“... so, are you buying the blood replenisher?”

“Oh! Yes, I got some of the local money. Here you go!” Eliarin took out the required money after looking at the price.

“By the way, where did you learn alchemy?”

Mio looked up after counting the coins to answer.

“From my father.” She answered while putting her inventory back on her sled. She made more sells than usual today. it wasn’t likely there would be more. “And shouldn’t you be with the diplomatic party?”

“They sent me out to visit and observe the local culture. There is only so much you can learn of a kingdom from its nobles. The people and the culture are what makes a country, after all.”

Mio snorted as she got up.

Eliarin blinked when Mio finally stood to her full height.

“Damn, you’re tall.”

“The culture is simple. The better the mage, the higher on the ladder you stand. There’s nothing more to it.” Mio ignored the shorter girl to inform her of Umito's ways. “For people like me, they bare my presence until I finish selling things. I should go now.”

Eliarin’s face scrunched up

“That’s not right. People’s worth isn’t linked to their ability to do magic.”

“Is that so? Maybe your country is better than this place then. When I’ll have enough to buy a boat, I’ll go there.”

“Is that why you sell your alchemical products? If that’s the case, I’m sure we have a place on our boat for you.”

Mio didn’t expect the sudden invitation. 

Of course, before she could respond, things went to shit.