The escape of the chapel was dangerous and both Ed and Rennish felt a wave of relief that they had made it out in one whole piece. Ed was in total relief to see the two gods waiting for them at the end of the lane out of the chapel. Rennish on the other hand was in absolute terror. He was certain and sure that they were here to demolish him. Ysennia had already had her way, using his body as work out session. He knew Golliad collected more than just souls and had more than enough ways to torment a soul, even one such as his.
"Ed!" said Golliad. "I was certain you would get out of their just fine!" He smiled like a proud papa.
"Yes, thankfully that useless Bard didn't manage to get you mangled or killed." Said Ysennia as he motioned him across the street. She scowled at Rennish, who was trying not to cower in fear like a dog.
"You commanded his safe retrieval. And here is he is safe and sound!" Rennish said smoothing out the wrinkles in Ed's new clothes and trying to rearrange his hair like a mother presenting her son for inspection.
"Good god Rennish, knock it off!" Ed said batting his hands away frantically.
He looked at the gods. "What on earth happened and why couldn't you both come? Why send this useless spirit in?"
"Well, that's a bit more complicated my dearest E," Ysennia said as soothingly as possible. "Follow me across the park."
She led them to a small gardener shed that stood in an unassuming corner of the field. The carriages were all still parked where Ed has seen them earlier. They were all still watching the church intently as you could see smoke from some areas and guards were running from others. The rats were no longer swarming the building. It must have been quite the sight to behold. Some parts of Ed felt guilty at what had happened, and the other part made him feel glad to be alive.
Golliad opened the door of the shed and ushered them inside quickly before stepping in. The inside was dark at first, and when they walked further inside the inside became quickly much different than he expected.
The outside was a dirty wooden shack with rundown walls. The inside was as different as you could ever imagine. There were white marble columns and chairs everywhere like it was designed by someone with no attention to architecture. It was a reasonably cool temperature inside and smelled of flowers. Ysennia pointed them towards a table with 3 chairs.
Golliad and Ysennia took two chairs and motioned for Ed to take the third. Rennish took a hint and stood at the edge just behind Ed. He was being reminded of his status as a servant and not as equal in this talk.
"This is God's chapel E." Ysennia said leaning back and breathing a sigh of relief. "I had HOPED some idiot would have filled you in with the details but here we are."
Golliad poured out 3 glasses and put them at each spot. He was being unusually quiet for someone who normally was as loud as possible.
"You got my note, I know you did but I wanted to come here and explain a few things. Now we are here, sitting around trying to recover. This house is connected to several other unassuming buildings. You will find that they are in sheds, outhouses or other buildings often out of the way and hidden from prying eyes. You are welcome whenever we summon you. Please try not to come when we are not here. Other gods and spirits may not have your best interests at heart." She said not hiding her meaning about a certain spirit already in their presence.
"Okay, so this is where you wanted to meet me. Okay, so why can't you cross into the chapel grounds?" Ed asked taking a sip. He was still processing.
"Well, that is now being seen as a miracle in the humans' eyes and unfortunately we were not responsible for it. Most of the higher-level divines will have a hard time going there until the power dissipates. Miracles of that magnitude are designed so that the creator can hang around and create more miracles or absorb his power back if need be." She said quietly, a little ashamed and trying not to give too much information to Ed.
"You were supposed to be given information incorrect doses and then inspired to try them in the right order. That was his job and he failed. Because of his failure, you have put all the spirits in the capital in a rage. The church has always held the balance between life and death. Certain spirits are guaranteed an afterlife. You demolished many of them and upset the balance of power. At this point, you are being hunted by even the most harmless of spirits seeking retribution." Golliad said to him in the most solemn voice Ed had ever heard him use.
"Great so what I use the sewers and sneak out?" Ed said.
"No," Golliad replied. "You unleashed a mass of rat kind that will take ages to dissipate the sewers are unsafe now. We have no choice but to directly interfere and send you as far away as our powers will secure. There are parts of this planet that we are not fully in control of. You were meant to find this out later, but we are in a crunch now. We have to send you so far away that hopefully the spirits will not know what you have done, and we can fix this before they find out and want to do you harm also."
Ysennia finished her drink and waved a hand at Rennish who collapsed to the floor like a limp rag. "You will prostrate yourself. The more I see you the more I get angry." It was the first of her vengeful streak that Ed had seen and was shocked at first.
"You need to know a few things. We know you are a magical catalyst. And your ability to amplify the divine powers is even greater when you are dealing with the powers of the other 14 handwritten souls. Brother Darby is the first of the 14 and the most devout. He has been visited by us before and in this iteration of his life, he is the head of the church. He has unwavering belief because he knows we are real. In his previous lives, he was a saint and horrible sinner as he made other choices. Of the 14 most of them are doing good in one way or another. We can't just reset it all again at this point. This is probably the best set of circumstances we will ever get."
"You also have the ability to act as a spiritual battery so when you are not using divine powers you are saving them up and they may release. That is what happened here. You unknowingly released almost everything you had at once. The effects were so strong that even Golliad and I were shaken at first. Your soul is very close to our level and if you were any more gifted we would have been in trouble."
Golliad nodded. "You were supposed to have a handle on your magic. I gave you the pointers hoping that you would push Rennish and he would remember that you are gifted in the creation and dealing with people and he was supposed to foster this ability. He decided to get drunk and see what happens. As with most of his work he just sort of does the minimum to get by."
Rennish mumbled from the ground, "He was doing so well I figured he would figure it out on his own by now!"
"Silence!" Ysennia pushed him harder to the ground. "Either way your action is not all that harmful in the long run. You have created a force of power and belief for the church and the divine we have not had in quite some time. Hopefully, the word will get around and help solidify the church in areas where a good miracle is needed. The problem is you personally Ed."
She leaned over and caressed his chin. "If I had my way, I would take you to my palace in the divines and hide you away myself but your spirit is needed here." He blushed and felt his skin become hot.
"It's a shame really," She said leaning back again and holding her glass behind her as someone came by to refill it. "You would be amazed at what centuries and eons can teach you. Most of us were human once also Ed and we remember what it is like to enjoy mortal things."
Ed was realizing that there was more to Ysennia then he initially knew. These gods were supposed to be, well godly, but they were acting more like mortals as time went on and he wasn't' sure he was comfortable with it. He knew he was being toyed with and he was starting to wonder who he could really trust.
Golliad put a hand on her shoulder and shook his head. "You are just still worked up over Rennish's failure and you know you can't take a human against his will or before his time."
She sighed and nodded. "I'm sorry. I am a goddess of creation and destruction and occasionally I don't hold myself in check when I'm angry."
"Okay so here is the deal." Golliad said redirecting the conversation. "You will be dropped off at the southern continent where the humans are few and far between. You will see a whole different side of the world. We will calm down things here. Brother Darby will search for you, but you must watch out for other parts of the church. We will do our best to slow them down, but your skills have caught other people's notice. Peoples with your skill set are few and far between but not unheard of. You are just stronger than anyone in the last few centuries.
I have left you some instructions in your bag of people to meet. I have also put in a list of the other 14 souls. You know the first one, a few others may be familiar, but you need to remember them, so you are no longer caught off guard. Rennish will give you lessons on how to release, store, and manifest your powers or he will become part of my permanent collection, being a plaything of the old ones, I keep as pets."
Rennish squirmed on the ground knowing that the oldest souls were unrelenting and embodied one emotion or feeling. He would be exposed to eons of torment in any number of human emotions.
"Okay, so I go south and train until I'm more useful?" Ed said with a sigh knowing he was being shipped off.
"Not at all my Dearest E." Ysennia stood up and release the spirit she had been subjugating as a reminder of her power to him. "You have things you need to do there, but you will find that we will give you better support from now on. Allowing you to run free has worked out so far but things are escalating too quickly, and the Lord has noticed the tug on his powers. This world does not need to be wiped from existence for simply becoming an inconvenience to him."
She pulled Ed up from the table and he took her hand as she pulled him up. "I promise you a much better time from now on. No more struggling. I will be around more often to keep an eye on you."
Rennish was standing behind her and gave Ed a look of warning. Something was bothering him. Ed smiled and made his way to the door. Ysennia ushered him to the door and opened it. He could see that the outside had changed, and he stepped through.
"Thank you, Goddess." He said. "I can't wait to see what will happen."
She looked at him and kissed his cheek, before whispering in his ear "Oh you will be surprised when you get to the nearest settlement. Please take a break when you get to town and follow my instructions. I have left something for you in your bag."
"And you, follow your instructions better now. You know what to do." She said looking to Rennish and being as menacing as possible. He nodded feverishly and smiled.
They both walked out into the sunshine and emerged from the door to an old mine, it was time to find a place to sit and see what had changed.