Love Volcano. Philippines.
Level 7 by mid-thirties.
Fuck Zeus and Athena.
"Fuuuuck!!" Gabriel awoke instantly.
The air under him suddenly turned solid, sending a jolt of adrenaline through his body. He was falling down-until he wasn't. Solid ground underneath him. He jolted upwards and stumbled to his legs.
His legs didn't work properly. He crashed into something cold and hard to his right. A ladder?? He couldn't see what. He was in the middle of a dark room with the only light coming through the window letting moonlight in, in front of him. It looked like a bedroom.
"Aaaah!" He heard the voice of a woman...under him? to his right?
"Holy fucking shit, Daevar!" Another woman above him. He hit a bunk bed, apparently.
Daevar. The 13 year old....well, he looked like he was 13 but...mentally.....this Daevar lived for 26 years, more like. 50 hours in a day??! What the fuck is this world? He was..Daevar now.
A third woman, Ziba - Daevar's brain filled that in for him - quickly got out of the other bunk bed to his left and put her hand over Daevar's forehead.
With the moonlight behind her illuminating her sillhouette, she looked...incredible. Daevar couldn't see much of her, which only added to her dangerous- sort of beauty. Black hair which looked luxurious- despite her bedhead. Blacker irises swimming in a pool of dull grey. Really well defined features, which seemed to cut into the moonlight
The cool rings on her fingers pressed against Daevar's forehead as she seemed to check his temperature. She smelled like sandalwood and lemons.
"H-how?" she looked shocked.
"Uhhh..." memories of Daevar came to Gabriel. This woman was his father's favourite prostitute (although he couldn't afford her much often). Whenever he picked Daevar up from school, he'd come to this brothel, telling Daevar to find someplace to sit while his dad gets women half his age to sit on his face.
She seemed to try to nurse him back to health after his father poisoned him.
Gabriel's (Daevar's) heart ached. Sorry, lady. The boy you once knew died.
He shut up though. He couldn't trust anyone, apparently.
"You're...not burning hot!" Ziba pulled him into a hug. Gabriel turned his face sideways so as to not suffocate between her breasts.
She was so warm...toasty.
Gabriel- on the other hand- now noticed how disgusting he felt. Sweaty and pretty ew-y.
Evil Gabriel popped out of the deep recesses of his mind and whistled. "Gawd dayum, dude! Shoulda kept your face straight!"
Good Gabriel seemed to jump into existence powered solely by rage. "Shut the fuck up, creep!"
Gabriel agreed with Good Gabriel. "Get back into the nothingness in my brain, dumbass." He directed it towards evil Gabriel.
"Easy. Practically all your brain is nothingness." Evil Gabriel flipped him off, grinned and disappeared, taking Good Gabriel with him.
"...so we got isekai-ed?" Logical Gabriel muttered to Gabriel. "Also she smells good."
"Yes. And yes." Gabriel noticed how long she had been holding him. Another woman patted Daevar on his back gently.
Ziba pulled away and seemed to stare at him. Her face was eclipsed by darkness, however her sniffles indicated that she might be crying.
"Thank the gods you're safe." She whimpered.
"Doctor. Now." lady number 2- Nayla- said.
"What's the time?" Ziba asked her.
"21: 35 PM."
"Doc's up till 22, right? Let's go."
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
45 minutes later
"Cookies?" Ziba held up a stack of mini-diabetes on her hands.
"Uh. Thanks." Gabriel/Daevar took one and was about to eat it when lady number 1-Saffron swatted it out of his hands and stared at Ziba. "Didn't you hear what the doctor said?? Only soups! Here. Ziba said you liked Ash-e Reshteh right?"
Who were this angelic ladies?
Daevar just stared at them in awe for a couple of seconds before composing himself and nodded. He allowed himself to be led to the dining table of the two-bedroom, homely apartment with soft yellow lights and cold, cold tiles. His toesies started getting a little uncomfy.
The people living here seemed to not wear slippers at home, which Gabriel found a little weird.
Ziba pulled the chair back to let Daevar sit down. "Thanks." he croaked, and began to dig in. Delicious.
"Okay...I have no idea why all four of us have to be around him the whole time...uhh..imgonasleep lady number 3- Parisa yawned and walked back to her room.
Lady number 2- Nayla giggled and said. "You know many men would be paying us a lot for this kind of money right, boy?"
"Nayla, shut up." Lady number 1-Saffron glared daggers at her. "How do you have no sense of civility? A fucking child just almost died and-"
"Jeez, alright." Nayla put her hands up and followed Parisa back to sleep. "I'm leaving, okay? I'm happy for you guys though, or whatever."
Ziba and lady 1-Saffron just stood around Daevar and watched him eat.
"Damn. Look at all these people caring so much for us." Good Gabriel came into existence and sat beside Gabriel. "I feel a little bad..."
"You guys can go to sleep." Daevar looked away from his bowl of soup and turned to the two gorgeous women standing behind him. "I'm all good now."
"No, it's okay." Ziba gave Daevar a forced smile. "We're free during the day anyways."
"Okay." This didn't make Gabriel feel any better though. Neither did it feel nice eating while having people stare at him. Gabriel suddenly became concerned. What if he looked really dumb while eating?
Although he was pretty hungry, he tried to eat in a manner that would make him look as sophisticated as possible.
Unfortunately. he tried so hard to eat slowly and carefully that he forgot to not breathe while swallowing soup and he ended up coughing all over the table, spewing beans and soup juice all over the table.
"BWAHAHAHA!!" Evil Gabriel howled wit laughter.
Logical Gabriel face-palmed in embarrassment
Lady 1- Saffron- patted his back, trying to alleviate his coughing fit while Zeba moved forwards to clean the table.
"Ugh-fuc-" Davear groaned and coughed some more beans right on Zeba's torso and arms.
"STOP!" Good Gabriel squealed and turned completely red. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING??!"
"HE CAN'T HELP IT, DUMBASS! WHY DID THE LADY COME IN FRONT OF HIM LIKE AN IDIOT WHILE HE CLEARLY WASN'T DONE COUGHING??!" Evil Gabriel growled at Good Gabriel.
"SORRY- *cough cough*" Gabriel wheezed. "sor-*COUGH- COUGH COUGH*" He couldn't stop as ungodly amounts of beans started flying at inhumae speeds, pelleting Ziba with second-hand slimy legumes.
He finally calmed down and looked at Ziba, face red as a tomato. "I'm so sorry.."
Ziba looked at him with an eyebrow raised. And then burst laughing. "Why are you acting so weird?"
Daevar didn't know how to reply.
"Don't worry about anything, okay? Your grandpa will come pick you up tomorrow. The doctor said there's no problems with you, so you won't have to be here."
"Okay.."
Daevar just got back to eating. Saffron left after some time and Ziba just sat down near him, scrolling on her phone.
"You should at least clean the bowl, ya know?" Good Gabriel suggested.
'You're right.' Gabriel stood up with the now-empty bowl, walking towards the kitchen when Ziba materialized behind him and said, "No! I'll take care of it. You go back to sleep. You're sick!"
"I *was* sick." Gabriel replied. "Please, let me at least clean the bowl." He tried to look as determined as possible.
Ziba sighed, then smiled at him and gave him way. "Alright big man."
Daevar smiled back and went to the kitchen sink. He made sure that there weren't any solid food bits in the plate. The few bits that were there, Daevar took it out with his hand and ate them.
Then he started to thoroughly wash up the bowl.
"Less water." Good Gabriel muttered.
Gabriel used less water.
Once he was finished, he placed the clean bowl in its deignated location and caught Ziba staring at him weirdly.
"With the way you were handling that bowl, it seemed like you were trying to difuse a bomb." She grinned.
"Haha.." Daevar replied and awkwardly walked towards her. "Uhh..I'm...gonna uhh...go to sleep now."
"Right after eating??" Ziba raised an eyebrow. "It won't feel good. Wanna sit in the balcony for a while?"
"Sure." Gabriel replied.
A few minutes later, they were sitting outside the sixth floor balcony, the building was located in the outskirts of the arid town. The air was nice and cold, and brought the scent of the desert. And a hint of air pollution. The sky was clear, and although it would have been nice to see the stars of the night sky in its full glory, the light pollution didn't allow that.
They sat down and were looking ahead at the vast, arid desert spread out in front of them. Ziba was smoking shisha to his left and Gabriel eased up a little. He still felt a bit icky, so he asked Ziba, "Can I take a shower before I sleep..?"
Evil Gabriel feigned a gasp and said, "Wooow, Gabriel. How ungrateful. What will daddy Good Gabriel say??"
"If you're okay with wearing my clothes." Ziba shrugged. "Sure." the sweet, aromatic shisha smoke gently made its way to Daevar's nose.
"Thanks." Daevar replied.
"Hey, Daevar." Ziba whispered, then looked around to make sure nobody was watching. "Wanna try?"
She pointed at the Shisha pipe.
Gabriel quickly replied, "No. Thank you."
Ziba laughed, "Hahaha! It's good to see that at least your comically unwavering sense of virtue has remained. Although you have become a lot more quiet than you were.."
"Well...I-I almost died, ya know." Gabriel fumbled with his words.
"Yeah." Ziba patted him on his shoulder. "I'm trying my best to not scream in happiness and freak you out." She stared at him in seriousness. "Listen. I don't know if you're feeling horrendous..you probably are- considering your pathetic excuse for a father killed himself and..your....infant sister and mom..." she looked extremely guilty.
"I know." Daevar whispered. "They were home, in Karim. No hospitals or doctors there. No way they could have survived." Gabriel tried to look as sad as possible, and it did come to him easily. He was inhabiting the body of a dead child, whose entire family had been erased because of one weak, pathetic man.
"I'll *always* be here for you. I know that I'm disgusting. But- but if you need any help, I'll be here for you. I'm your big sister now, got it?"
"Yeah. Thanks."
"See that place?" Ziba pointed at the sparse shrubbery that grew about half a kilometer in the desert. It seemed to be populated by cacti and hard, woody plants.
"Our meeting point, I know." Daevar replied. Since Ziba felt that it'd be weird for him to be seen with a 'whore like me' as she said.
"Yeah. You're not alone. I'm sorry that we're the only type of people with you. But we've got you, okay?"
Good Gabriel stared lasers at Gabriel. "Tell her."
"I'm proud to have you as my big sister." Daevar looked at Ziba solemnly. "Thank you."
That made Ziba short-circuit. "S-stop! Stop saying cheesy things like that." She turned away and covered her face with her hand.
Evil Gabriel whistled. "You'd think a whore like her would not even have a shred of embarrassment left, eh?" He elbowed Good Gabriel. "Eh?"
'Evil Gabriel'. Gabriel told him.
'Yeah?' Evil Gabriel perked up.
'Shut the fuck up.'
That made evil Gabriel look annoyed. "Like you guys are any better. You don't even feel any sort of familial love towards her, and yet Good Gabriel asks you to lie how you feel about her. And you-" he pointed at Gabriel- "You shamelessly listen to him, then act and tell her that you're proud of having her as a sister??!"
"She has been trying so hard. So fucking hard to keep this poor boy alive, you dumbass!" Good Gabriel shot back. "She deserves that we tell her what she wants to hear!"
This made Evil Gabriel face-palm and laugh. It sounded like he couldn't decide whether he was annoyed, outraged or amused. "Liar." He replied, flipped them off and disappeared.
Gabriel sighed and stared up at the sky. Ziba went silent, so Gabriel thought he'd follow suit. Apart from the sound of the gentle breeze, distant cars and the bubbling shisha, it was pretty quiet.
It seemed like the city he was in- Mehrzad (thanks Daevar's brain), was 'surrounded by walls' like in attack on titan. Well...they weren't exactly walls, but big buildings at the edges of the city, which gave the impression of walls. He was in one of them, of course. Facing the desert that surrounded them.
The gentle yellow streetlights behind his building somehow bounced around the smaller buildings to his side and made its way to his eyes, albeit softer and gentler still.
Hephaestus. He needed to enter an exclusive contract with him, eh?
'But why do this?' Logical Gabriel replied.
'Heaven.' Gabriel replied back. 'You felt it, didn't you?'
'Oh yeah. Fair point.' Logical Gabriel shrugged and disappeared.
Daevar's brain panicked a bit. 'An exclusive contract??!' it seemed to say. 'That too, with an Olympian??! Are you insane?'
'Why?' Gabriel asked it, clueless.
'That's impossible! You'll probably die before getting that!'
'Well..but...why though??' Logical Gabriel butted in. 'Please explain.'
Daevar's brain sighed. 'Okay. Try to keep up, alright? The more significant the Gods, the more they charge. There's a reason why they're so important ya know? It means that their abilities are the most versatile and useful given the state of the world they're in.'
'Yeah. Like, in peaceful, agricultural societies, it makes sense that the God of Harvest will be given more importance over the God of War or something, right? And since the meta gods provide more relevant abilities, they charge more....unless you wanna...for some reason start waging war in that agricultural society...Got it.' Logical Gabriel replied.
'Yes, good. You're more likely to reap greater rewards, get more opportunities and jobs, and earn more respect from your society members by going with a meta, popular God. I don't need to explain to you why you'll earn much more money if you pick to enter a contract with the Harvest God in a peaceful, agricultural society over the God of War, right?'
'Yeah. Got it, don't worry.' Logical Gabriel said.
'So Hephaestus is an olympian. A super-meta God, right?' Daevar's brain explained.
'Which means he's a really important god in this world. Which means his abilities are more relevant. Which means he charges more. Okay, I'm with you.'
'A *lot* fucking more. It's unheard of, to enter an exclusive contract with a major God from the start itself!!' Daevar's brain squealed. 'Listen, this is practically not happening dude!!
The meta is to usually enter a lot of contracts with low-level Gods first! Then once you get contracts with 4-5 minor Gods, and hit level 2 or so, only then do you enter a level 1 contract with just *one* olympian. And even maintaining that is absolutely miserable- even people WITH the major god's contracts and a buncha minor gods' powers to back them up can't maintain it and they lose their contract.'
'Okay but why?' Gabriel butted in.
'...alright. Do You know about ability levels?'
'No....'
'Okay I'll explain. Humans can usually can reach up to level 8, and each level correspoinds to increasingly more powerful monsters. Level 1 monsters are the weakest- and they can easily kill an elephant. Level 2 monsters are stronger than level 1 and so on.'
'Okay. Levels are like, strength. Stuff. This goes all the way up to 8.'
'Yes. So...usually, to get a level 1 ability from a minor god, you'll have to do something *like* kill a level 1 monster and sacrifice it to that god... but for olympians, to get a level 1 abililty, you'll have to do level 2 tasks.'
'so..if I want to be able to borrow a minor god's level 1 ability, I gotta kill a level 1 monster. But for Olympian gods' level 1, I gotta kill a level 2 monster?'
'Something like that, yes. Minor gods ask you to give something that is equivalent to the level you want.
Major gods, on the other hand, ask you for something roughly one level ABOVE the level you want.
Super minor gods are much easier to get than minor gods but...ugh that doesn't matter. You. Cannot just kill a level 2 monster with absolutely no abilties whatsoever. Honestly just killing a level 1 monster without any ability itself is-'
"Do you wanna come sleep?" Ziba stood up and stretched.
"Uh- yeah." Gabriel was just starting to figure out how to get into an exclusive contract with Hephaestus. Oh well, there was still time for him to find a way.
'If you really want to get an exclusive contract with Hephaestus, there is no time.' Daevar's brain bled its information into him. 'There is never any time.'
"Okay. Come on." She opened her balcony door and waited for Gabriel to come in.
They silently made it past the hall, into the bedroom where the other 3 women seemed to have fallen asleep- and while Ziba quietly crawled into the futon on the floor, where Gabriel was just resurrected.
"Wha-?" Gabriel looked confused.
"What? I'm just sleeping on the futon. I like it here anyways." Ziba lied. "You can take the bed. Goodnight, Daevar."
"Uhh...okay. Goodnight." Gabriel moved uncomfortably to the bed Ziba was sleeping in. It was nice and cold, and it smelled faintly of sandalwood.
Oh fuck, he forgot to take that shower.