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Salt and Blood - Chapter 67
🕑 Added 2024-11-06 10:01:57 +0000 UTC<< Chapter 66 | Table of Contents | Chapter 68 >>
1.67 - Divine Portents
Be careful who you make friends with, because you never know how they’ll react if circumstances change. Sometimes, it’s the people closest to you who can hurt you the most.
-Quoted from Murian Redclaw, Vice Captain of the Saltbeard Pirates
You have received a [Minor Blessing] from Sylack, God of Fish and Fishermen!
Through your faith and your deeds, a member of the Pantheon has granted you a fragment of their divinity!
Will you accept this gift?
[YES][NO]
Rose was frozen in shock. Blessings are real? People whispered of receiving a blessing from the gods. Oh sure, countless heroes in stories and legends were the recipient of a blessing from one member of the Pantheon or another.
Often they came from the ‘Greater’ gods, like Amarel, Celesina, or Terrannor. Why would a hero take a blessing from some minor god that lorded over an irrelevant portion of the world, after all?
Even Saltbeard was rumoured to have received one. A blessing from Zetharos, God of Chaos and Destruction. One of the most ancient and powerful gods, feared by most—though revered in a near cult-like manner by those who worshipped him.
But her? Plain old Rose Everblue from Emerlan Isle. She was… no one. In fact, she’d even run away from a life dedicated to fishing in order to become a pirate, an act that some might see as sacrilege towards Sylack.
And yet the words hung there, clear as day. A Minor Blessing. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the whorl, reading it over and over.
What surprised her even more than receiving the blessing was that she even had the option to decline it. Who in their right mind would say no to the blessing of a god?
Glancing around, wondering if the others realised the magnitude of what had happened, Rose realised none of the crew were even looking her way. That helped her calm down, though only a little.
Her breathing was quick and light. Before she could spiral into further panic, she tapped yes. The whorl exploded into motes of gold and blue light, hovering in the air for a moment and then shooting into her forehead.
She stumbled backwards, beginning to fall to the ground. She never had the chance to regain her footing. Waves thundered in her ears and she felt as though she was floating.
Her eyes seemed to fill with water until she found herself at the bottom of an ocean so deep that the light of the sun couldn’t penetrate down. In every direction, all she could see was pure darkness.
Despite being under so much water, the pressure was minimal. Rose had always been comfortable in water, but this was on another level—it almost felt as though she was a part of the ocean.
An arcane ripple passed through the water. The moment it touched her, she was drawn to it. She had the feeling that nothing in the world was more enticing than the source of that energy.
And then she saw movement in the darkness. A curved object fell from above, a thin line splitting the shadows in two. A familiar sight.
Rose knew exactly what it was, yet she couldn’t stop her body from moving; swimming towards the alluring danger. Was this vision trying to teach her something?
She tried to look at her body, but her eyes didn’t listen to her commands. That was when she realised she was simply an observer here, with no power to alter the events unfolding.
Whatever creature she was possessing continued to swim towards the sinking line. Regular pulses of arcane power washed over the surroundings.
The creature sped up the closer it got to the energy. And then it opened its jaws, far further than she was used to. The sensation was strange. It bit down and a comforting warmth spread through her body, from tip to tail.
What? That’s definitely a fishing hook. Why doesn’t it hurt? Instead of the pain she expected to feel through her connection to the creature, it seemed elated.
Even as the line retreated, dragging them out of the depths and towards the surface of the water, the creature felt no fear; offered no struggle. This broke the natural order. No creature of the seas would accept death so calmly.
Light entered her eyes, the waters becoming less abyssal the closer they came to the surface. On the way, she saw countless wondrous sights.
Coral reefs in every colour of the rainbow, spanning miles like great underwater forests. Fish of all shapes and sizes, swimming alone or in shoals so large they could cover a country.
Monstrous beasts with squirming tentacles, predators with endless rows of teeth and claws. Life under the sea was strange and wonderful. Everything she saw was the domain of Sylack.
And she had been granted a little piece of this miracle. The magnitude of his gift struck her. She had always viewed Fishing as a simple exchange.
She gave her time and focus, receiving sustenance and a small measure of satisfaction in return. How shallow that was. Fishing was so much more.
A battle of wills. Meditation and prayer, dedicating your time and energy towards Sylack and his divine domain. More than that, it was a reflection of the cycle of life.
Most of the time, it was the fish that lost, losing its life as it was ripped from its home to feed another. Sometimes, purely for sport or the thrill of achievement.
However, after her encounter with the sea serpent, she realised that there were probably many encounters that ended with the fisher losing. Acknowledging the risk brought a feeling of balance.
At that moment she was ripped from the ocean, flying into the air with a splash. She realised something then—there was no hook; no line.
A man sat on a rock in the middle of an endless ocean, wearing a simple mackintosh and rubber boots. His face was obscured by the coat’s hood, with a flowing white beard trailing out towards his chest. His forefinger and thumb were pinched together, and a final pulse of arcane power travelled along the thread into her body.
She exploded into pure energy and the vision ended. Her eyes opened and she saw Nasar standing over her, a concerned expression on his face.
Panting, she wiped a layer of sweat away from her forehead. That was the most intense dream she’d ever experienced.
“Are you okay, Rose?” he asked, helping her to her feet.
Looking up, she saw another golden whorl and smiled. She was more than okay. She had received a blessing from a god!
[Minor Blessing]
Touch of Sylack: Through the divine power of the God of Fish and Fishermen, you can channel your arcane energy through fishing rods to empower them. Your affinity with the ocean is unparalleled. In moments of great need, call on the denizens of the deep to assist you.
“I’m… great,” she replied, arms shaking. The aftereffects of such an intense experience would take a while to fade. Suddenly, fire exploded in her stomach and a thousand burning needles pierced every inch of her body.
A soft splash echoed in her ears as she collapsed into Nasar’s arms. Yet, even as agonising pain threatened to tear her apart, Rose couldn’t stop herself from grinning.
Along with the pain came a familiar crackle—the arcane power of the tide. More than simply arcane, there was another thin thread of energy hidden within. A touch of the divine, a gift from Sylack. She passed out.
***
She stood up too fast and staggered, grabbing onto the railing of the ship to steady herself. The after effects of her blessing and subsequent arcane awakening were still raw.
Opening and closing her fist, she reached inside her navel and sent a pulse of energy racing through the new pathways that filled her body. Her arcane circuits.
Trent and Nasar hadn’t told her much, promising that they would sit down after dinner once she’d acclimated to the sensation and explain what had happened. Though they had both said the blessing was something they couldn’t help her with—neither of them had one or knew how to handle one.
Trent had muttered something about fate and bad omens while Nasar just smiled and patted her shoulders. Either way, she had taken a major step towards achieving one of her goals for the voyage—furthering her grasp of the arcane.
There was one thing she’d been putting off since she woke up from her ordeal. A plethora of whorls demanded her attention. The blessing had only been the beginning.
You have earned a new title!
Godtouched: Few can claim to be the bearer of a blessing, even a minor one. Believers of gods who have blessed you will behave more favourably towards you and you will always find a haven in their homes. This title permanently increases the potency of your arcane core. When equipped, the effects of any blessings you possess are slightly more potent.
Receiving Sylack’s blessing gave her a leg up on most of the world. She knew now that the tingles she felt, the strange feelings in her stomach—which she also now knew didn’t originate in her stomach, but her arcane core just behind it—were signs she was on the way to awakening her arcane core.
However, this new title gave her a forever boost to the strength of her core. For starters, manipulating the arcane energy in her body was as easy as waving a hand. Trent said it usually took people up to a year to reach the same proficiency.
The title wasn’t all. A few of her skills had seen major growth—a side effect of so much energy pouring into her body at once, both arcane and divine.
You have earned a new skill!
Divine Attunement 0 > 1
Skill up!
Arcane Attunement 5 > 6
Arcane Attunement 6 > 7
Arcane Attunement 7 > 8
You have earned a new skill!
Water Attunement 0 > 1
Water Attunement 1 > 2
Water Attunement 2 > 3
Water Attunement 3 > 4
It would be really useful if these whorls could condense down a little. I never imagined I’d ever be complaining that I was gaining too many skill levels at once.
Skill gain display has been adjusted to short form display
That was surprising. The tide had never listened to her before. Maybe the more powerful you became the more attention you received. Wouldn’t that be terrifying…
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