CH990

“You know, I just want to say that the idea of doing this without any of my family present is horrifying to me,” Thera told him as they sat within Stonewall’s church for Ben’s god, waiting for their test subjects to show up. “Why again are we doing this?”

“It’s going to be decent life magic practice for you, and it lets me get some personal testing done before we move on to doing this for my student and possibly her mother too.”

“And if I mess up, someone could die.”

“Not to worry, I made sure to pick out your first test subject so that it would be as close to a victimless crime as it could be. If they die then we can get you some help, but honestly, I’m not expecting it. You’ve done enough time at different hospitals to be able to work under pressure; you’ve got this.”

“Mmh,” was all she managed to say before the doors of the church opened, bringing in their first four test subjects, with two of them looking far more uncomfortable than the others as Sachel’s party arrived, the oracle of Myriad dragging Skoe and Ralia behind her while Aso needed no persuading to come along.

“Hey Thera,” Aso called out, waving happily while Sachel joined in.

“So, what are we doing here? Myriad kept it brief when he told me, but he said it could make us stronger?”

“And it absolutely can,” Ben answered, wanting to focus on the positives and not the exact details of what they were going to be put through. “By now, maybe you’ve heard of it, but there’s a way to turn people into demigods and having gone through it myself, it’s perfectly safe. As your friends, we just want to try it on you. So, who’s up first?”

It seemed like Aso was about to volunteer, but without a word, Ralia covered her mouth and shook her head, forcing the girl, herself, and Sachel to all take a step back, leaving Skoe alone at the front.

“Alright, looks like someone stepped forward,” Ben said encouragingly, forcing the man to look around to see which of his companions had been insane enough to volunteer, finding nothing but his own betrayal in the end.

“Wait, no-”

“Oh, don’t be like that, Skoe, you’re going to be perfectly safe,” Ben pressed on. “Don’t you want to be stronger for the next wave?”

“Well-”

“Don’t you want to be able to protect your team and the people you care about?”

“I mean-”

“With the world on the edge, don’t you want to be able to make a difference?”

“Can you at least tell me what agreeing to this involves!” he finally managed to yell out, seeing Ben sadly shake his head.

“Sorry, divine secret,” Ben lied, pointing to the sky to blame the gods above. “You think this sort of thing can be so casually revealed? Listen, there’s only one thing you need to know and one reason to trust me on this. Seems like Sachel did a good job and kept it secret, but the guy who modified yours and everyone else’s souls was me.”

“What?”

“Yeah, you’ve already trusted me with the most important aspect of yourself, so now trust me with this. You can still get stronger before the world ends, Skoe. You can still make more of a difference and you can still improve your odds of living to see this end. Are you really going to let this chance slip through your fingers?”

“Can you not give me slightly more time here?”

“Nope. So, what do you say? I’ll tell you now, if you back out here, I’m not giving you a second chance.”

“… Ugh, okay, fine then. Let’s get this over with.”

“Wonderful! You won’t regret this! Now, Thera, if you don’t mind?”

With a slight nod, she cast a spell and knocked the man out, letting Ben catch him before he hit the ground while the rest watched before he materialized a thin wall to block their view, allowing them some privacy.

Ben materialized enough meat for Thera to use to make Skoe’s clone, getting both it and the original set up on two tables in preparation to start, leaving only one question as she did.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“So, what god are you using for this?”

She knew he’d slipped off to get another crystal in the morning but hadn’t found out which one until then, Ben giving a small shrug as he answered.