When the god showed up, no one knew what to think. They appear in the middle of the battlefields all across the land, wielding powers this world had never even dreamed possible. Gods, that's what they called themselves, but we had very little understanding of what that meant at the time.
The world we live in has never had any kind of power or magic, as they called it. Each one of the beings could become twice as tall as us and they were virtually unstoppable. We revere them because of their ability to stop a war that had been about to tear the land apart only six months ago. I was thankful for Healia stopping the war, saving all of us from having to fight.
The war had just reached our corner of the world, the last untouched place in the land. As the troops built defenses and worked to fortify our tiny city against a force that we had no chance to defend against. The moment that we were about to charge, a tear in the very air itself opened up blasting everyone with a blinding light.
After the light cleared, a tall woman with beautiful pink hair with blonde highlights was standing in the center of the battlefield. It was like seeing a star fall from the sky and then watching it get up and start walking around. Of course, a group of men from the other side thought this was some kind of trick with lights, and they rushed the Healia without holding back, thinking that she would be easy prey in the middle of the battlefield.
The goddess Healia, barely even batted an eye, instead, she drew in a sharp breath and the men rushing towards her fell to the ground. Their bodies that were examined after were said to be dried-out husks with nothing left, but I could see the life had taken from them. Like nothing more than white wisps of smoke leaving their mouths and eyes, but that was everything that person had ever held dear to them, their life.
Since most people give the gods a wide berth, I considered our town now known as Healia, to be in the best hands. Still, that was like saying it was worse to stick your hand in boiling oil vs boiling water, both still hurt, even if one might not be as bad, but Healia was the nicest one out of the nine. The rest had killed hundreds of thousands of troops before everyone backed down and surrendered. Healia was the special lazy and lecherous case, but that meant that we didn't really have radicals in our town, unlike the other cities, where opposing factions waged wars at the drop of a hat.
Our city was off in the far corner of The Tella Nation, and hidden behind a mountain range, making the place hard to attack, but not impossible. Since Healia has shown up, life has been pretty good, but now where have traded wars and dungeons, but most of the factions did more infighting than ever now. We always received word from travelers about new faction wars popping up and then became squashed before anyone even knew what they were about.
Healia always dealt with serious problems, like groups that thought they could come into town and strong-arm a guild into hiring them as bodyguards. Healia despised these types and since the last group had been sucked into dried husks, it had been over a month now since we had any problem. Healia had been good for our city, and still was, but that didn't change that she was a drunk pervert that didn't know how to keep her hands to herself.
"I know I might not be sounding reasonable right now, but trust me, and just grab the fire poker. I will let her get me first so you can see why you need to beat her off you but don't hesitate. That will be the one and only time you ever do or you will just never go inside another guild for the rest of your life."
"Dyster is always happy, but even his followers that pray to him stay away unless summoned by him. Anyone that gets close to him usually ends up dead just for being in the same room as him, and now you want me to hit another god?!"
"Healia is a lot different from what I have heard of other gods, she is more of a joker than a threat, but her sexual advances aren't anything to be scoffed at. No one can say anything about it, and she only bothers Hawk Vision guild, and the Guild Leader sits and drinks with her all day. She chases his patrons, while he sits laughing and drinking, making us the least popular Guild of the four in this city."
We had reached the outside of the tavern where the six-month-old sign of a hawk's eye hung over the door. Three windows stretched across the front and a steep roof you could almost touch from the ground. The building was three stories of wooden shingles, windows, and small balconies.
"Bottom line is that she is friendly, just, too friendly, and she won't get mad if you hit her. She likes it when we play rough, her words, not mine. So, maybe this time if we work together, we might fend her off."
"What do you mean, might? What has been happening to you with this god?!" Lesha asked, getting a bit heated.
"Just believe me when I tell you not to hold back."
I was surprised to see Lesha get angry, but that was good, we would need that and more if we hoped to have a reasonable conversation. I knew I needed to talk to Healia about touching the dungeon core, and what that meant for me now with the Guild and the rest of the dungeons. Asking Gram, the Guild Leader was pointless, the guild was a trading post at best, the place offered to help new adventures and many died because they don't have information or proper training before they go into the dungeon.
I wasn't ready for this, but every time I walked through this door for the last six months, she was always there.
"Kiada! My darling, why have you been hiding away from...did you bring me a present?!"
Healia called from the only set of chairs and tables in the room. She was drinking with an old short wizened man that had more hair than there was a little old man. He looked more like a ball of hair with eyes and a big nose, and when he took a drink, the glass always disappeared under the hair, coming back empty.
"Get ready!"