The mortal realm seemed to be a far emptier and lonelier place than Fellaroth had remembered. Now standing alone deep in a part of the world that had scarcely seen human life, he wondered to himself how he had ever earned his divinity in the first place. What was it that Aerabus had seen in him that made him worthy of being a God? As he stood beneath the setting sun, he could think of nothing that could have deemed him worthy. Anger grew in the pit of his stomach, causing him to clench his fists at the thought of the beings who had led his people down the path of destruction. As his anger grew, Fellaroth was about to shout to the heavens when a gust of wind blew across his path, bringing with it a smell that was worse than death.
Fellaroth looked around and saw that beasts of all kinds seemed to be fleeing from the origin of this unnatural odour, which piqued his interest. He started to make his way through the forest, following the pungent odour that was the bane of monsters throughout the forest. With the smell growing stronger, faint memories of a very distant past flashed through his mind. He remembered a time when he stood around a fire with a group of faceless people, laughing as they too burned something that produced this very odour. 'Who were those people? Was that my past? I've been a God for so long that I can't even remember my human life anymore!" he thought as the glow of a fire in the distance started to come into view.
"That's quite the smell you're making!" said Fellaroth, stepping out from the forest into the open with his hands in the air. The group of adventurers that had been seated a short distance from the fire scrambled to their feet and pointed their weapons at this strange new arrival who could not have looked more out of place. There standing before a group of dirty adventurers stood a perfectly clean young man in his thirties, wearing loose-fitting long silk pants and a short-sleeved silk shirt that made him look as though he had just wandered out of the famous markets of Silver Peak City.
"Are you some kind of demon?" asked one of the adventurers, stepping forward with his claymore squared and ready to attack.
"I can assure you that I am nothing of the sort!"
"So you say, but how else can you explain your sudden appearance this deep in the forest with no weapon and not even so much as a speck of dust on you?"
"I have a weapon; I simply chose not to draw it in the hopes of showing that I was no threat to you."
"And where is this weapon? I can see no axe or sword anywhere on you! Are you perhaps a magic caster?"
"My weapon is right here!" answered Fellaroth, reaching for his lower back, where a small thirty-centimetre spear had been fastened.
"Is that some kind of dagger, or short sword?" asked a second adventurer who was holding two battle axes, one in each hand.
"Oh no, this is a spear!" Answered Fellaroth, to the amusement of the adventurers.
"Ha! Don't make me laugh, what could you possibly do with such a weapon?" yelled the axe wielder, trusting Fellaroth even less.
"There is no way you made it this far through the forest with that tiny little dagger. Tell me the truth, who or what are you?" asked the claymore wielder.
"I am human, as to how I got here, I would prefer not to say. I will prove to you that I am strong enough to make it this far into the forest without an escort. Why don't the three of you attack me together, if I can defend myself against the three of you, then will you allow me to spend the night at your fire?"
"And that's all you want, to spend the night at our fire?"
"I wouldn't mind some conversation to go along with it."
"Fine, but what if you lose?"
"I will leave it to you to decide that."
"Very well then, prepare yourself!" yelled the Claymore wielder, barely finishing his sentence before launching his attack, followed quickly after by the dual axe wielder, while their third party member fired arrows at Fellaroth from a distance. The adventurers were a well-oiled machine, each one would move in for an attack, creating the perfect opening for the other to attack, while the bowman would fire his arrows into any gaps left by the other two. Had they been fighting any other opponent then the fight might have been over in an instant. However, they were not fighting just any opponent, they were fighting Fellaroth, who for better or worse was a God.
Fellaroth effortlessly dodged the swing of the claymore, and the subsequent onslaught of the two battle axes, while using his thirty-centimetre spear to deflect the arrows that managed to find the gaps between the two vanguards. The three adventurers stepped back and paused to reassess their opponent, while the claymore wielder issued his first order of the fight, saying, "Calvin, drop the bow, we're going to need you in close quarters with us for this one!" at which point Calvin replaced his bow on his back and drew two dual-wielding swords from two scabbards on his waist.
Seeing as he was about to face off against three skilled fighters in close quarters, Fellaroth spun his spear once in his right hand, at which point it rapidly grew in size, until it was just as tall as he was. He then grabbed the spear with both hands and readied himself for the next attack. The next barrage was far more fearsome than the first, the three adventurers were able to perfectly time each of their attacks to ensure that their opponent would have no time to rest. The moment one attack was made, whether the attack landed or not, the member would immediately withdraw, creating an opening for the next to launch their attack. In spite of this terrifying tactic, which saw Fellaroth fending off multiple attacks at once, he was still able to parry attacks with his spear, often deflecting one attacker into another, while still managing to dodge any attacks that he was not able to block with his spear.
After two or three minutes of furious unrelenting attacks by the adventurers, they each jumped back, panting and out of breath, before the claymore wielder said, "Fine I suppose you have earned the right to join us for the night."
"I don't believe it, how is it possible that none of us was able to land even a glancing blow!" asked the axe wielder, who had by now started making his way over to the fire.
"I know, nothing has ever been able to face all three of us in close quarters and escape without so much as a scratch!" added Calvin, placing his swords back in their scabbards as he too walked back toward the fire.
'Perhaps I should have gone easier on them, maybe if I had let them land a few blows then they would be less suspicious of me.' Thought Fellaroth, noting the glances he was getting from the other two.
"Don't mind them, they're just sore losers." Said the leader of the party, extending his hand to Fellaroth. "Names Riegert, I'm the closest thing we have to a leader."
"Fellaroth." He answered, shaking Riegert's outstretched hand.
"Where did you get that spear? I've never heard of a weapon that could change its size before!" added Riegert, watching the spear grow smaller in Fellaroth's hand until he replaced it on his lower back. "Also, are you sure you're human? I mean, I've never seen anyone move the way you do. Though I suppose it would explain how you've made it this far into the forest alone."
"The spear is just something that I've picked up in my travels, and for the last time, I am human!"
"Very well, we'll take you at your word." Said Riegert, leading his new guest over to the fire. "Fellaroth this strapping young man is Jackson, he is our party's berserker and as you saw for yourself, he is quite talented with those axes. This other fine-looking young man is Calvin, he's our party's scout and is also very talented with dual swords, as you have no doubt seen. Gentlemen, this is Fellaroth and as per our agreement, he will be spending the night with us at our fire, make him feel welcome!"
Now standing by the fire, getting his first good look at the young men he had just faced off against, Fellaroth was shocked to see that they were a group of men who could scarcely have been in their mid-twenties, making their earlier performance all the more outstanding. "From the skills you've just displayed I would assume that you were a highly ranked adventuring party, but looking at the shabby leather plate armour that you're all sporting, I think I'm going to reassess and say that you're just starting out?"
"Oh, that one hurt!" said Calvin, looking down at his armour that had just been insulted. "It's the best we can afford, low-ranking parties don't exactly get paid well you know!"
"You appear to be a merchant, though you fight like someone who has seen real war, how much do you know about the adventuring system?" asked Jackson, while cleaning one of his axes.
"Well let's see, if I remember correctly the rankings started at 'G' and progressed all the way up to 'A', from which point you then get 'S' – 'double S' and 'triple S', is that correct?"
"That is correct!"
"And where on this scale would we find your party?"
"We are currently E-ranked." Answered Calvin, as though it pained him to admit it.
"But there's no way, not after the performance you just put on, I would have thought that you would be at least A-ranked!"
"That means a lot coming from someone who was able to fend us all off so easily. Might I ask what rank you are? I mean you have to be at least S or even double S-rank, right?" asked Riegert.
"I'm afraid not, I'm not registered with any guild."
"Then what in the world are you doing this far out in the forest? The only reason for any person to be this far out is if you were on a job from the guild. I mean there's nothing out here but monsters!"
"I'm afraid that that's not something I'm willing to share just yet. Let's just say that I'm glad I followed my nose, as it led me to you lot. Speaking of, what in the world are you burning that could cause even the monsters of this forest to flee?"
"I'm surprised you would follow that smell without knowing what it was, you must be a truly brave man. That smell is burning goblin blood. We've just completed a job that had us track down and kill a small horde of goblins that had been raiding a farming village not far from the edge of the forest." Answered Calvin.
"That doesn't explain why you're burning goblin blood though?"
"You really aren't an adventurer are you, Fellaroth? When you complete a job for a guild, they require you to bring back trophies as proof that you have completed the job. In this case, we had to collect a single ear from each goblin that we killed. And in the process of cutting off goblin ears, you will inevitably get your gloves soaked in their blood, which is impossible to wash out and the horrid smell never fades. The best option is to burn your gloves or any other item of clothing that has their blood on it. The best part about it is that the smell that is produced by burning the gloves is enough to chase off any other monsters in the vicinity, ensuring that you will have a good night's sleep before heading back to the guild!" answered Jackson, with more enthusiasm than Fellaroth would have thought him capable of.
"But there's more than just gloves on that fire!" said Fellaroth pointing to a second fire that was burning a few meters away from the one they were seated around. "There's almost a full set of armour in that fire, and it doesn't look to be bad armour either." At Fellaroth's observation, both Jackson and Riegert burst out laughing, while Calvin seemed to want to shrink from view.
"Oh yes, that would be Calvin's newest armour, he was quite proud of it actually, until he managed to get it almost completely drenched in goblin blood that is!" said Jackson, battling to speak between bursts of uncontrollable laughter. "If you had arrived only five minutes earlier you would have caught Calvin here prancing about completely naked!"
"He can be thankful that I had thought to pack a change of clothes." Added Riegert, managing to pull himself together.
"It was some really good armour you know, cost me almost all of the money I had saved in the past few months!" said Calvin, looking over at his burning armour with regret.
"I'm certain you will be able to get another set soon Calvin. With the skills that you have all shown today, I am certain that you will all be getting promoted before you know it!"
"Unfortunately, that's not likely, the guild requires us to have a party member who can use healing magic before they are willing to promote us. The problem is that there are very few people around here that can cast healing magic, at least very few humans."
"So then why don't you party up with a non-human magic user?"
"I wish it were that simple, non-humans don't exactly like humans, you must have seen that in your merchant dealings, right?" asked Jackson.
"Are things really that bad?"
"They are, and I can't say that I blame them. The past few human kings have done nothing but advocate for war and try to enslave the other races." Answered Riegert.
"It's the damn church's fault! What kind of sick God is worshipped in those churches that tells people that they should hate anyone different from themselves?" interjected Jackson, barely able to contain his rage.
'This is your opportunity Fellaroth, tell them that you can use magic and ask to join their group!' the sound of Mythus's voice in Fellaroth's head was almost enough to startle him, but luckily, he was able to keep his composure.
'What are you doing Mythus?'
'I'm trying to help guide you down the right path!'
'By telling me to join a human adventuring party?'
'How else are you going to learn more about this new religion? Don't forget, you don't have the luxury the other Gods have. They can walk into any city or village inhabited by their people and be recognised as a God. No one in this world will recognise you as a God. The best thing for you to do is to join up with this party and make a name for yourself. Then you will be able to collect more information about the current religion that the humans follow and when the time is right you can reveal the truth and regain your place as their true God.'
'It's a fine idea Mythus, but do you really think that I still deserve to be a God?'
'Aerabus believes you do. If he didn't then you'd no longer be a God. But I suppose the true question here is whether or not you believe you still deserve to be a God?'
'I honestly don't know the answer to that question Mythus.'
'Well then take this advice Fellaroth. Join that party of adventurers, live a human life again and along the way, when you discover what is truly going on in that world, then you can decide what you want to do next.'
'Very well Mythus, I'll do it, I'll join this party!'
"You alright there Fellaroth? You kind of zoned out there for a bit." Asked Riegert.
"I'm good, I just got lost in thought for a moment… listen, what would you say if I told you that I was able to cast magic? More specifically I'm quite skilled with healing magic."
"I'd ask if you wanted to join our party… but that's just silly, right? I mean there's no possible way that you could be that talented with a spear and be able to use magic… but then again for your spear to change its size the way it does would mean that you would have to use magic, but that can't be, can it?" the others could only watch on as Riegert rambled incoherently as he tried to grapple with the idea of Fellaroth not only being skilled with a spear but also being skilled with magic.
"Well then I'd say, I'd love to…" Fellaroth's words brought Riegert to a sudden and complete silence as he simply stared agape at this stranger before him.
"Excuse me?" stammered Riegert.
"I'm sorry Fellaroth, Riegert's brain seems to have taken a break. What he meant to say was welcome aboard!" said Calvin, pushing Riegert aside and extending a hand to his newest party member.