A Path of Bone and Poison 89 Mantle of the Fallen.

The room around me was unfamiliar, but I knew where I was. I had spied several rooms just like these on my way in. This was one of the several rooms that led to alter room. I do not know hod long I had been out, but I could feel that the Bishop was still in the alter room.

There was no sign of my part members, even my minimap could not pick up their presence. This meant they were not in the immediate vicinity. I had little choice as to what direction to go, so I decided that I should continue the meeting with the bishop that had ended before it could even start.

Thankfully when I entered the alter room this time I was not assaulted by images, just the over whelming holy presence of The goddess of war. I shrugged off the goddesses presence as I stared at the statue of the God of Archery. There was no holy energy from the statue, but I could not help but feel attracted to it.

I ignored the Bishop, who had made no effort to speak as I walked to that statue of the god. I did not kneel, the god of archery was no more. There would be no point to it.

What I did was give the statue a warriors salute. I don't know why, but I knew no other person would do it. They were here to worship the majesty of the goddess of war, not a fallen god. After witnessing everything that I had witnessed I knew that the fallen god was worthy of my respect. Perhaps far more than any other god.

My mouth opened, and words came out. Words that came from the depths of my soul.

"Fallen one I have seen your battle with our mutual foe. I have seen you fight, I have seen you die, I have seen you win at the cost of your own life. This world may have forgotten you, but in will forever remember your deeds. For your actions I will carry on your mantle. Not with a bow, but with the pistols my mother cherished so much. Rest well Fallen god. Your legend will rise again."

The fallen god must have heard me as I felt my body tingle. At the same time I could feel a strong magic radiating from my side, attempting to block the the energy. The tattoo tried it's hardest, but was meant to block changes from the outside. I was not recieving a new blessing, but the blessing inside me was changing. Changing to something that was truly unique.

[Mantle of the Fallen]

Energies that are beyond the overwhelming strength of Kaos have heard your oath and accepted it. All blessings and curses are nullified. Luck stat has been removed, you are unaffected by the shackles of fate. Your stat growth is your own design. +20 stat points per level. (amount calculated by using 2/3 stat point increases of other blessings).

I could feel a huge burden on my soul as the talent came into play. I could feel my connection with the Goddess of war lesson, the only connection now being that she had named me her mistress. At the same time I could also feel the overwhelming power that came with her blessing leave me as well.

While my blessing from the goddess of war receded I could feel a power getting closer, as if it where right under my skin. I could not help but shiver at the familiar feeling of undeath. My skin began to crawl as the thought of the approaching emptiness.

I knew that I was walking on a knife's edge, and that the buffer I had from the goddess was gone. My own actions would determine how I ended up. Once again my mothers words echoed in my head. The more I advanced in my necromancy the easier it would be for the Necromancer to take control.

I could already feel his desire for my body breathing on the back of my neck. That I was dangerously close for a threshold I did not want to be at. I could no longer trust any of the decisions I had made. I could no longer trust the abilities I had. Save for one. The only skill I knew I could trust was the end given to me by my mother.

I looked up at the statue, bowing again as I once again turned to leave. The sounds of my footsteps could be heard as I left the alter room. The over whelming pretense of holy energy was making me sick.

The bishop did not stop me. She did not say a single word. There was no need to. I no longer belonged here. I could come and go as I wished, my title gave me that much. Even the Pope would need to give me respect. But this was not my home.

I did not look back as I walked from the church. I passed the rows of book shelves and once again returned to the outside temple. Here the holy Energy was much thinner, and did not effect me as much. I could see my party training with the soldiers here.

I did not bother them as I left the church. Only Hylia had noticed my departure. She did not say anything aloud, but I could feel her monitoring me with her telepathy.

I had no destination in mind, and I just began to walk. I was not leaving them, Not really at least. I was just going away for awhile. They had their training with the church to do, and I had to walk my own path.

I knew of their training because Hylia had told me. She was there with me, in my head as i walked. Our connection had not been broken, our life bound contract something that was not so easily broken. Even if I was on the other side of Kaos she would be able to feel me, and in this city she could communicate with me at will.

They were being trained in actual combat, that techniques were needed, and not just the skills that granted us the knowledge. Skills could be bought, but techniques had to be learned. They could be self taught, or the could be learned from a master, but there was no arguing that learning from a master was faster.

This is why I left them there. They still had a place there, and they would recieve the training they needed to go to the next level. But I did not belong there. I was not one of her servants, not any more.

Using the map we had bought from the merchant I eventually found a real estate agent. I only had around 5 gold left, and it cost me most of that to purchase a cheap place in the slums. The house itself was little more than a shack, but it had room in the back for training.

I sighed as I looked at my new home. It was no wonder the guild leader and the C ranked adventurers had chosen to go to another C ranked city. There they could live the life of a king, but here even the big fish of that pond were nothing but minnows compared to sharks in the waters.

I sat in the backyard, a backyard that was was made of dirt and stone and stared up at the night sky. As I admired the view I realized one of the many reasons people came to this city. The night sky was the most beautiful I had ever seen.

Chapter end