Chapter 9: swift diagnosis and departure.
Archibald ‘the reborn’, blessed of heaven.
Jade-touched divine spark, defense orientated.
A sturdy individual that can take a beating, but can’t necessarily avoid one. Courageous to a fault, leading to unwise decisions. An intellect and physical strength not worth mentioning either way.
Rituals known amount to 1. Efficient usage is average for a blessed.
Heavenly realms touched are none.
Heavenly connection is extremely high.
Divine sparks level of awareness is unusually high.
Overall, Archibald is a great potentate, with more study and training, he will surely rise through the ranks.
Observational changes since last report:
Resilience to hunger and thirst has increased due to prolonged fasting.
It’s not recommended to this trend, as further fasting will result in overall weaker vessel.
Mental response to pain and stress had dulled, increased likelihood of suffering severe wounds without noticing but states of adrenaline will last longer.
Repeated self repair and tissue replication has mutated to increase the length and depth of self repair, although longer durations will bring degrading results, leading to possible malformation.
Heavenly guidance has solidified greatly, longer durations of blessings require less physical and meta-physical stress, although recoil if the limit is passed has also increased. Procede with caution.
Based on your current information and our past experiences, here’s what we suggest:
You could remain in proximity of consecrated buildings, temples, and monuments to increase the likelihood of a heavenly realm blessing. It would augment the divi-, it would augment Jades blessing providing more options of use.
You could surge forward and reach the city of Southforest, there is strength in numbers but resources are limited. You’re estimated to be flooded with requests and responsibilities, but the posible societal impact is high.
You could forge a path towards lost territories surrounding Southforest, hunt demons, destroy trade routes and sever connections to realms of hell. It’s a high militant impact strategy, high stakes.
You could travel to eas-“
Jade kicked off Archibald’s head, twirling in excitement! “Nope! I pick option 3! Option 3! No more sitting around, no more hiding in villages or whatever a city is. Let’s kick some demon butt!”
“Well I’m not fond of the first option, I’d rather not stick around given Aurelia’s threats against my life.” Archibald shuddered at the thought.
“As you wish little one, another torrent of light swelled and began to descend upon Jade and Archibald.
“Hey! Wait, I don’t get a say in this!? And what do you mean unwise decisions and can’t avoid a beating!? Are you calling me a dumb oaf!” Archibald, flustered, tries to defend himself and regain some agency over the situation.
“Oh, come on Archie! You saw what fighting Aurelia did to people! Lest do that some more!”
“Yes but the city could be a smart-“
Archibald lost his train of thought, being drenched in heavenly light.
Jade clutched her head and winced.
“Archie! It’s incredible, ok, let- let me back in, I’ve got a lot of processing to do. There’s a lot of information here.”
“Wait, we should talk about-“
*thud*
Jade unceremoniously slammed into Archibald’s chest disappearing inside, it felt alien to Archie having someone move through you like that, but quickly he felt the familiar feeling of Jade tightly woven around his soul.
*sigh* “we’re going to talk about this at some point, mark my words. Overseer, what does all that mean?”
“Your progress report simply details how far you’ve come, you can compare it with previous reports every time you visit, and I can provide future insight into opportunities you might have discovered or missed. For now, your path forward has been chosen, Jade has the divine wisdom to guide you, as you shall guide her through this mortal realm.
That is all for now, Archibald, I bid you farewell.”
The vignette of darkness began to engulf the white void once again, the overseers voice trailing off into nothing.
“Wait! I have more questions!? How do I learn new ritual circles? You mentioned objects of worship for traveling? Hey! Answer me!”
But his voice fell on deaf ears.
‘Jade, you can’t just decide I’m going to go around killing demons, it’s not that easy, physically and mentally. This is going to be a tough enough goal without unnecessary danger. ’
Jade sent a wave of excitement shuddering up his spine and guided his thoughts to her own high, sharp voice. “Trust me, dumb ass!!” “Let me into your head!”
He could feel her buzzing with excitement, she guided his memory again. “It’s Jade, my names Jade!”
A wave of joy coursed through his body, and Archibald couldn’t help but laugh.
“Ahh, you’re never going to shut up now are you?”
She leapt for joy, and reminded him. “Nope!”
“Ha ha ha!”
— — —
Watching from behind a door, only closed-to, Ruantha stared at the man casually laughing and having what looked to be one sided chat with both the heavens and his spark of the divine.
It brought both a desire to follow suit and a wave of doubt to her own abilities. She sat down on top of the kitchen table and hesitated.
‘Can they really respond? It’s not that easy right?’
…
“Um, hello? Divine spark? I know it’s been years, and I’ve never treated you as an individual before and I’m sorry for that, I see that now. So may we start over? My name’s Ruantha, it’s nice to meet you!”
…
*THUMP*
Ruantha gasped in shock.
— — —
Archibald entered the living quarters of the church, after all the work he’d done today coupled with the lengthy conversation with the overseer, dusk was now arriving.
“Blessed Archibald! Little Bennet has been sent back to his father. Please, sit! I made tea!” There, sat at the table in the kitchen-dining room was the angelic blessed Ruantha, out of her professional garb, wearing a flowing white night-gown that was slightly revealing. She still bore a flushed face as she smiled, watching Archibald sit before her, her eyes firmer than before, decided, excited.
Archibald poured himself a hot cup, blowing softly on the rim. “Blessed Ruantha, it’s getting late, I’ll have to get going soon. Finding a place to sleep in the woods can be a lengthy process.” Archibald’s mind was already in the outskirts and how to go about navigating them.
Ruantha didn’t immediately reply, but gazed into his eyes, softly smiling. “Archibald, may I call you Archie? You know, you don’t have to leave just yet, it is getting late, and I’m sure we can find, appropriate levels of accommodation for you here in the church-“
Her hand slid across the table, finger tips touching his hand that curled around the hot cup.
She paused, only for a moment, looking as if to mentally check something, then she smiled.
“-call me Rue.”
Archibald snapped back to reality, processed the situation carefully and raised an eyebrow. ‘Jade, I might need you to give me some space tonight.’
Jade brought forward Archibald, sat naked in the forge saying “-you know what, I’m not going to comment on how hot that was.”
— — —
Archibald woke up, covers sprawled across the bed, sunlight streaming in through the window, silhouetting the vitiligo woman’s sleeping figure, barely covered by the sheets.
With a heavy sigh, he kissed her forehead, which stirred her awake, he got out of bed and found his clothes.
“Archie, there’s some leftover robes from some of the male priest that lived here before. You can take anything you want.
Anything.” She smiled, removing the sheets once again.
…
An hour later Archibald found himself tired and hungry, facing the wardrobe full of old dusty robes, he absentmindedly perused his options.
‘What do you think Jade, too much?’ She asked grasping a billowing white overcoat with coat tails.
“I need to look special” she reminded him.
“True...” He pondered.
Ruantha finished adorning her profesional garb, her robes and tabard, looking over she said “I think it’ll suit you, try it on! She urged. “Oh, where was that black robe, hmmm, Ah! Here we are.”
Archibald tried on the outfit, it was very loud to say the least.
‘Long, black-cloth robe, angel motif buttons all the way down, a white overcoat made from thicker, wool? Cotton? It’s surely expensive…’
Jade buzzed positively!
“No, I think the robe doesn’t work, wait, here!” Rue rummaged through more drawers, picking out a few more options.
Archibald changed outfits again, this time adorning a black thin, buttoned shirt and black dress trousers.
Archibald felt better about this one. “It’s, elegant, for sure.”
Jade responded positively again, and brought up the image of the forest demon Archibald had met.
He chuckled “I’m not sure I want thigh highs Jade.”
Ruantha laughed at the comment “Well you certainly won’t find any here!” She came up from behind and hugged Archibald around the waist, resting her head on his shoulder. “Very dashing, you’ll certainly be taken seriously.”
Archibald mulled over his new look ‘The big white dove-tailed overcoat is lovely. I’ll have to do up the collar on the black shirt, and the trousers are going to be a nightmare on the journey…’
“You’ll fit right in at Southforest, the priests there love to dress up.” Rue said, chucking him a thick hide jacket “this use what you’ll need for traveling, the overcoat will get filthy.
Archibald sized it up “I tend to believe in form over function, besides, a well dressed gentlemen in the middle of nowhere is far scarier than robes and hide jackets! I’ll take my chances.”
Jade flashed the image of Archibald up to his knees in mud, then Archibald covered in Monkey pee, then Archibald rolling on the ground-
‘Let a man hope, Jade! It’s high time I got to make an executive decision for once!.’
If Jade could roll here eyes, she would.
— — —
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