"So, you see how the girl is. She is scared of her own shadow when she is around me, but that is my fault. I was a hard man in my youth and lost a good number of friends before settling down with Dorthy," Tom explained as he poured some kind of amber drink into two glasses, adding some ice.
He turned back to me, where I was sitting in front of a fire in a comfy chair that put the ones in my room to shame. Tom handed me one of the glasses and then took his own chair.
"I think that she is just nervous around you because everyone holds you in such high esteem. You must have been quite the influential person," I said, bringing the drink close to my nose.
It had an almost sweet smell, with a hit of caramel, but I had no idea what it was. I hadn't drank in my previous life, so I took a small sip of the stuff at first.
The taste initially was pleasant, but then it gave way to a god-awful burn like I have just drank some Spitting Snail Acid! I swallowed the drink, coughed once, and then rubbed at my neck.
"What is Gaston's name is this shit?!" I asked, bewildered by just how much it still burned me all the way down.
"Rhum. Gets better the more you drink it, but don't go fast. You look like this is your first time drinking, but you're older than me, aren't you?" Tom asked, catching me off guard.
"Hm? You know about that?" I asked curiously.
While I didn't mind if Annie told him, I would like to get him to swear off that bitch before we got too deep into talking.
"Yeah, but don't worry. Dorthy told me about Jessel, and I was more than glad to toss her aside, but I never swore to you," Tom said, taking a small drink from his glass, and I nodded.
"Good. There is no need to swear anything to me; I am just a Nameless God with no real power. I believe that your daughter and Tracy will be the next two Goddesses that ascend to Heaven. Still, I can't make any promises; I don't even know if I can help them ascend," I said, and Tom raised an eyebrow at me.
"Straight to the point as always. Well, Dorthy did tell me that you were claiming to be a Nameless God, but if you never would have said that God's name, I wouldn't have believed you. There was an old man that talked about his great grandfather traveling with the Old Hero for a short time, who had always talked about Gaston bothering him," Tom explained, and I took another small drink, letting the burn hit me.
"Felix was the man's name, but after two days straight through the mountains with me, I had to leave him behind. I hope he was alright," I said, thinking about the persistent young man that had begged to travel with me.
"He made it back with only his clothes but never blamed you. I guess he begged you to travel with him and then did so even though you had told him not to. The man counted it as one of the stupidest things he had ever done. In the end, it was worth it to walk alongside the Hero, even if only for a short while," Tom said, and I sighed.
"Things were so much different back then, and I had just thought that Gaston was trying to get me to waste time. I just wanted to get everything that I was supposed to do as a Hero done! Then I wanted to retire, find a woman, and relax for the rest of my life!'' I complained, feeling my lips starting to get a bit freer, but I didn't really care.
It was nice to talk about this stuff with an average person who could understand my side of the story. The other Gods just assumed that I was some cheat that got the easy way, but I didn't feel that way.
"That is what life is all about, and I can see why no one ever really blames you. If that God had told you that you needed to save the world and everyone in it, things might have gone a different way. That wasn't the way it went, though, right?" Tom asked, draining his drink and getting up.
"No. I was told that my job as a Hero was to defeat the demons. He would just keep on bringing things up as we went. So, I assumed that he was just trying to get me to do things that he didn't want to do himself. I really had no idea at the time how gods even worked, and I am still sure I don't know nearly as much as I should," I complained, letting out a sigh and finishing my own glass.
Tom turned back and grabbed my glass, pouring me another one, but this time much fuller. I took the drink and didn't complain, but I was starting to feel warm inside, like a creeping feeling in my chest.
"Maybe there was a reason, and maybe there is a reason for all of this. There has never been a God to walk the mortal surface before, as far as I know. Maybe this world needs a Nameless God," Tom said cryptically, handing me my drink.
The world needing me might be a bit of an oversight, but it was a nice thing to hear. Possibly that was the reason for everything, but why have all the gods turned on me?
"There is a chance you are right, but there are too many other things at work right now that don't match up for this," I explained, and Tom shrugged.
"Enough talk of Gods; that isn't why I brought you here, and I am sure you don't really want to talk about that. I want to hear about my little girl taking out some freak of a monster!" Tom laughed, and I was more than willing to switch the topic.