"You know a god?" Razaranje smirked, almost annoyed by the mortal's insolence. "I don't believe you. Who is it?"
"Free me, and I'll bring you there myself," the restrained man replied. "If you really are the god of destruction, then that means you're one of the main 10 in the pantheon. Surely you could imagine that one of the many hundreds of minor gods or goddesses could be down here."
"Oh, I don't care about those idiots," Raz explained as he stepped over to the man, not reacting to his many wounds and scars. "Who are you anyway, and why did that lady choose you? Was your only crime being 'handsome' by mortal standards?"
"No, no not that," the dark-haired prisoner laughed, before groaning as this apparently brought him pain. "I'm actually an assassin that was hired to kill Lady Auguste. As you can imagine, I failed, but since she found me attractive, she locked me up down here instead of hanging me. For the last 2 years, it's been weekly beatings, lashes, mental, physical, and sometimes sexual abuse, so I'm kind of shocked that I haven't lost it. I had a name once…but that she-devil beat it out of me. I go by '28' now, get it? She designated me 'Slave 28', you see."
"Your new name is a number? Hahaha, idiot, you did this to yourself by getting caught," the god laughed cruelly at the man's plight. "Well thank you for the entertaining tale, but I must get going. Best of luck to you down here, but like I said, I didn't come to shake things up, I'm just passing though."
"NO! No, please, man, you gotta get me out of here," 28 begged, his confident, cool façade quickly dropping as his desperation grew. "Like I said, I promise I'll take you to see the god."
Razaranje simply turned and began to walk towards the staircase, unfazed by the prisoner's begging. He was about to drown the man's pleading out completely, when his instincts caused him to pause again. True, there was a good chance that this mortal was lying to save his own skin, but if there truly was another god down on earth, then that meant that they were there by choice, and if that were the case, then that would also mean that they had the ability to return to the realm of the gods by choice. Although he'd met some interesting mortals, Raz still wanted to return to his home more than anything, so if there was any chance at all that there was another deity walking amongst the kingdom, then he felt that he might have to explore it.
"Where is this god, then?" Razaranje asked, turning around and walking back towards the chained mortal.
"Assuming nothing has changed, he works in Casburgh, it's a city that's only around a day's march from here," 28 explained, relief flooding his face.
"Alright, I'll entertain you, condemned mortal," the god explained as he returned to the chained man and held up his hand. "You'd better not be wasting my time. Gone Touch."
"What are you?—
28 was cutoff as Razaranje touched his back, causing the prisoner to vanish from sight as the elements that made up his body were split and separated. Holding out his palm, Raz watched as the particles that he'd divided came together and formed into a glowing, spherical ball in his hand. Shrinking to the size of a grape, the ball was hidden by the destruction god behind his kilt, where he nonchalantly left the dungeons afterwards.
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The next morning, Oakina yawned sleepily as she sat up in bed, realizing that she'd failed to undress the night before due to fatigue and had fallen asleep in her robes. Per Lady Auguste's offer, she gathered herself and went next door to the tub room after saying good morning to Corporal Silverbell, who was already dressed and sharpening his spear. A wooden double door was just down the hall from the guest room, and sliding in into it after prying one of the heavy doors, the priestess knew she was in the right place with how much steam was in the room.
A large tub was half-visible at floor-level amongst all the condensation, and assuming she was the only one in the room, Oakina stripped and took a piece of pumice from a shelf that was stocked with things like towels, buckets, and soaps. Selecting a bar of tea tree-smelling body wash, the priestess hummed to herself as she sat down in the hot tub, shivering at the comfortably-steamy water while taking all ties out of her hair to let her long brunette locks flow freely. Stretching out her pale legs, feeling the dirt evaporate in the sudsy water after weeks out on the front lines, the priestess cherished the feeling of relaxation.
Idly kicking her feet gently, Oakina nearly jumped as her foot brushed up against something. Blinking in the steam, she leaned forward and reached out under the water to feel a distinctly-solid leg. Gulping, her eyes were finally able to adjust to see that she was not along in the bath.
"Good morning," Razaranje greeted, himself a bit shocked. "Ahh…how did you sleep?"
"Lord Razaranje!!" Oakina screamed, jumping out of the water and unintentionally exposing her bare, giant breasts. "I-I'm so sorry!! I thought I was the only one in here. I'll get out right away!"
"Relax, stay," the god insisted, quieting her. His long hair was down and dipped into the water. "There is more than enough room in this tub. It's nowhere near as luxurious as the bathhouses that we have in the realm of the gods, but this place will do."
"Um, well okay, if you insist," the priestess blushed, sitting back down while some water splashed up at her curvy body. "Have you been in here since early in the morning? I got up at one point to use the lavatory, and saw that you weren't in bed."
"Oh yeah, the red lady wanted to see me," Razaranje smirked. "I'll tell you about it later."
"R-really? What could she have possibly wanted?" Oakina mumbled, looking down into water.
"Like I said, I'll tell you about it later."
The two sat in silence for a while, before Razaranje suddenly started to chuckle about something.
"Hey, Oakina," he asked. "When you threw yourself at me the other night… was it because you felt that you had to, or was that because you legitimately wanted me?"
Feeling as if she were going to die of embarrassment, Oakina buried her face in her hands while Razaranje assured her that it was okay and that she could be honest.
"It was a bit of both," she admitted after some deliberation.
"Hahahaha well, your life might just be at risk," the god continued to laugh. "I'm so sorry."
"What!? How!?" The priestess cried.
"My fiancé is the goddess of lust, she'll know," Razaranje smirked mischievously. "And I know my Luavida, she doesn't like to share. She'd probably slaughter a whole country if even one women from there put her hands on me."
"Ahhhhhhh!! Why didn't you tell me that before?" Oakina cried, sinking into the tub.
"Relax, I'm just messing with you," the god sighed, nudging the priestess's thigh with his foot under the water. "Luavida might be watching, but I doubt she'll ever come down here. Athelion hopefully had the decency to explain the situation to her."
"The king of the gods himself," Oakina mumbled, continuing to soak as she wasn't put at ease in the least at the god's words.
The two continued their bath for a little while longer, until Razaranje got up first after Oakina (poorly) covered her eyes. Drying off with a towel, the god donned his kilt, which had a curious ball of light emitting from behind it, and reapplying his tall sandals, he left the room first to allow the priestess to get dressed at her discretion.
The trio of Razaranje, Oakina, and Silverbell eventually regrouped back at the guest room, where a guard soon arrived to escort them outside. Following the armored man, the group exited the castle through the large solid door, where they were met with a large formation of armored Fallavrokian soldiers neatly lined up and waiting for them on the other side of the moat.
"I am Captain Graventon, and I'll be taking command of our combined forces," a tall, stout man with a vibrant red beard explained, mostly towards Silverbell in particular, his head partially obscured by a knight helmet, and a broad red cape flowing from behind the shoulder pauldron on his armor. "I understand that you were commanding what remains of the Cloudian 4th on your own, Corporal, and you did well to keep them all alive up until now. If you accept, I'll have you remain as my second in command."
"Sounds good to me, leading is a lot of pressure!" the gnome laughed as he shook the taller man's hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Captain. Let us lead our forces together towards the same goal."
"Good luck to you all, and if you're ever around my land, feel free to stop in and say hi!" Lady Auguste exclaimed as she suddenly appeared from within the castle, before blushing as she saw Razaranje nearby.
Bowing before the baroness, the army formed up with their provision wagons in tow. 1500 men strong, they'd absorb the 74 remaining Cloudian soldiers once beyond the walls, and continue on their way to central Fallavrok. As Oakina began to walk behind the soldiers, she paused when she realized that Raz wasn't moving. Smirking as he nodded farewell to the baroness, the god began to walk in another direction.