[Smite Happens] 5 - Time for Round Two

“What the fuck does that mean?” I didn’t like this riddle-like way of speaking. “Like, if I stab someone, what will happen to me?”

“It will be as if you have stabbed yourself,” Wonderwerk said as if it were the most logical thing across dimensions.

“That’s insane!” I considered myself insane sometimes, but this was too much for my standards. “How can I fight if I’d end up hurting myself too? The warrior’s fire whatever and all that. You might as well tell me not to do anything.”

“You forget, little one, of my gifts.” Wonderwerk nodded at me. “Your body will grow to be impervious to harm… in the future. But for the present, you will be circumspect with your actions. That is the lesson that this limitation will teach you—a very important lesson.”

“Pesky, pesky. You’re protecting my enemies with that. Aren’t you supposed to support me all the way, your saint who’d spread your religion? I might die before learning whatever lesson you’re talking about.” This limitation. I had a sneaking suspicion that this guy knew the true nature of my quirk. Was I really just an unintended spare as Wonderwerk made it appear?

“This will help you mature and control the warrior’s fire inside you,” said the god of fire. “It may be a small flame for now, but it will grow as you feed it until it spreads out of your control. Many times, throughout history, in my world and yours, men have been destroyed by the fires of their making. They are consumed by—”

“Fine, fine. I’ll be circumspect. I kind of like that word.” This limitation was sort of interesting. What would it be like to feel pain? Real pain. The most pain I had experienced before was burning a small patch of my arm while cooking. What if I get stabbed the same way that I stabbed the robber guy?

“The day will come that you’ll thank me for it, little one. A fine warrior you’ll grow to be. Honorable. Measured in her thoughts. And a fitting saint for many to follow. A champion that will save her people.”

I liked the sound of that. Leading a lot of people was very fit for me, but I didn’t try to become a politician because that required kissing people’s asses first before gaining power. No way I was doing that. I wanted power without groveling for it. But this saint thing might just work.

“Wait a minute, if there’s such a thing as a minute in this purgatory.” I placed my hands on my hips. “Did the other Emery have this restriction on her? I don’t think so, right? She didn’t exactly have this… warrior’s fire.”

“You are correct, little one.”

“Then it’s unfair that I have it! I know why—that circumspect thing. What I want is more power to offset the restriction. While I hit the enemy and hit myself in the process, the enemy will also be hitting me. I’m majorly disadvantaged. And what if I were up against a ton of enemies? It’s back to my point that I’ll die, for the second or third time, depending on how one counts it. The dead can’t fricking learn any lesson.”

Wonderwerk stroked his beard as he pondered. Entertaining to watch his flaming beard curl around his fingers. “You speak true words. I will impart to you the meager power I have left.”

“Nice, nice!” I didn’t expect Wonderwerk to agree. He had made it sound like he no longer had any powers to give after getting my soul from Earth. “I want to cast fireballs or maybe lightning bolts. Oh, no! That’ll mean I’d burn or electrocute myself, too. Just make me physically stronger.”

This was a safe bet because I could control my force for each blow, minimizing unnecessary damage to myself. When I’d become super tough in the future, like Achilles, who was invincible to swords and arrows except for his stupid heel, I’d have matching super strength. I’d really be like a hero in myths that everyone loves and admires!

Wonderwerk boomed, “I have the perfect gift to compensate for my imposed restriction!” 

“It’s not a gift if it’s to compensate,” I muttered under my breath.

“I bless you, Emery of Earth, with increased regeneration when facing uneven odds, be it in strength or number. The more overwhelming the threat you face, the faster your body repairs itself. With this, the lesson I want you to learn will be retained. You will endure the pain of your own strikes, conveying significance to each enemy you fell, while you regenerate as you fight.”

“You’ll make me a masochist healing machine?” Why couldn’t he give me a straightforward power? And since Wonderwerk could tweak the other Emery’s gift, or Boon, as the priest guy called it, why couldn’t he just give that gift to a native of his world? This was really fishy.

“Standing firm in the face of multiple enemies will be an impressive sight. Oho!” Wonderwerk chuckled, the soundwaves vibrating my body. “The masses witnessing it will surely follow you!”

“That does sound cool. It’ll also be a fun prank to pull on my enemies if I just keep on healing and healing.” I could picture myself cleaving through hordes of enemies, shrugging off their attacks.

Wonderwerk held his massive hand above me. I wasn’t covered by any shadow because light came from everywhere. Even Wonderwerk’s patchwork metal hand glowed as it dusted me with golden dust.

I stared at my arms. The sparkles vanished into my skin. “Is that it?”

“And so, it is done,” said Wonderwerk. He drew himself taller, towering over me like a building. I was level with the circular piece of armor that covered his round belly. He was probably sitting or kneeling under the platform earlier. “Prepare yourself to go to the Splintered Reach, Emery of Earth!”

I blinked. “I’m already going? Wait! I have so many things to ask!”

“The bridge between worlds is collapsing.” Wonderwerk raised his arms. “Time unravels. We must bid each other farewell.”

The whiteness around us was disturbed by streaks of darkness. They were jagged, like lightning, branching out everywhere. The Middle of Here and There started to break apart. Slabs fell off the ceiling high above, exposing the void on the other side. The floor crumbled underneath my feet.

“This is bullshit!” I exclaimed as I began to float, along with white pieces of the floor. I half-suspected this was Wonderwerk’s doing to avoid my questions. Were my instincts right all along? “I don’t know anything about the Splintered Reach! Advice! Any advice you can give me?”

“Do as you will.” Wonderwerk began to fade. “Be as you are. You are my chosen saint. My champion.”

“Chosen saint? I thought that you didn’t—? Hey! Did you plan to swap the Pyrebraid girl with me all along? Answer me! Did mess with the ice cream—eh?”

I was staring at a white surface that was yellowed in places. It wasn’t the Middle of Here and There. It was the canvas covering a wagon. Three people were inside it with me. The deterrent priest and the other Emery’s parents.

I was back in my dream.

No, not a dream. I was Emery Pryebraid.

“Huh? I can control this body now?” I blurted, waving my hands in front of me. “Oh, I can talk!”

“Are you alright, my dear?” My mother stroked my hair.

“I, uh, yeah…” I lowered my arms, my brain’s gears whirring to understand my situation. The Pyrebraid girl wasn’t killed yet by the fake bandits. So much fakery going on here. But this was a relief because I didn’t want to revive in a headless body or something. We had already left the village, but the bandit attack hadn’t happened yet.

A few minutes to go.

“Still your heart, Emery,” said Melphor, the bearded priest. “Enjoy the wonderful day that we have.” He gestured at the trees outside. “Let not worry overtake you, for the Silver-Gloved Lady guides our path with her hand.”

I heard Melphor say a version of that line before. That confirms that this was the moment I first came to Splintered Reach. The land of Vidwarane, to be exact. Wonderwerk must’ve done something to rewind time and kick the other Emery’s soul out of this body.

Or she could still be here, trapped without being able to do anything, just like I was before. That was her problem since she didn’t take care of her well-being.

All of this setup was too convoluted in contrast to picking another saint. I was willing to bet the broken ice cream machine back at the store that Wonderwerk chose me as a champion because the other Emery was a wimp. I couldn’t blame him—I was more special than our special Bite & Lite parfait that I hated to put together.

And if I’d ever find out that Wonderwerk arranged my death, I’d…

Not sure what I’d do to that sketchy fire giant. Kind of exciting being in a new world, actually. I had to thank him for that. Still, it was annoying that I got killed. I had to get revenge if he was responsible for this.

But that was for another time.

Now, now, what to do here?

“Only a handful were made aware of your daughter’s Boon,” Melphor said to Lorwin. Even the Knights of the Silver Order weren’t made away, though they may suspect the nature of their assignment. We are safe, and Emery will be safer once we meet with them.”

Should I tell them that the bandits were coming or not? If I spoke up, I wouldn’t know the exact events that’d happen. On the flip side, if things unfolded like last time, there wasn’t much of a chance for me to escape. Maybe when the wagon would crash? Nah, better avoid that altogether.

“Priest Melphor!” I exclaimed.

“I’m not a full-fledged priest. Call me—”

“Bandits will attack us!”

The three of them jolted. Melphor frowned. “What do you mean, Emery? There are no bandits here.”

“Not bandits, no.” I squeezed my memories for every detail of what had happened. “They’re assassins pretending to be bandits. They know that I’m a Chosen Bestowed and want to kill—”

“How do you know of this?” Melphor quickly asked. “Is it a divine vision?”

“Yes! Sure, let’s go with that. The god who granted me a Boon warned me of incoming danger just now. We’ll get ambushed further along the road. The leader of the fake bandits is Wilhelm, uh, something of Golden Something.”

“Sir Wilhelm Fenril of Golden Glade?” Melphor said in a low voice, almost asking himself as he looked to the side. His narrowed eyes flicked back to me. “How do you know of him?”

“The divine vision! Doesn’t that prove I’m not just hallucinating?”

Horror streaked Melphor’s face, realizing the trouble we were in. He grabbed my shoulders and shook me. “Tell us what you saw of the future!”

“Several minutes from now,” I said as I got rocked side to side, “fake bandits will come from the east. They’ll kill all of us. They have… sternial wielders.” I heard that term from one of Wilhelm’s men. I assumed it meant someone with powers.

“Reverend, did my daughter really have a vision?” Lorwin asked.

“I believe she had a vision, and I believe we’re in dire straits.” Melphor scooted to the front of the wagon to talk to the driver. “Stop! Stop! We have to turn around!”

“To the village we go!” shouted Lorwin.

My mother hugged me. “We’ll never let them take you, dearest.”

“No, no!” I shouted. “Don’t turn back! If we head to the village, they’ll just chase us and we’ll die. But if we move forward, we might meet help.” Was this the right call? I was the freaking saint—this had to be right by default.

“Help?” Melphor shook his head. “There’s none. Belldale is a long way to go. The Silver Order is—”

“—are coming here,” I interjected. “I don’t know why, but that’s what I’ve seen in my vision. We have to push past the assassins and meet up with the Silver Order. They’re our only hope!”  

Melphor paused for a moment. Then he nodded. “We trust in your god, Emery.” He climbed to the front of the wagon and shouted instructions to his men.

There might be three or four of them, judging by the voices. We had two sternial wielders, including Melphor, who unceremoniously died last time to an arrow. The detergent priest awkwardly climbed back into the wagon, his hands pressed together while conjuring a green bubbly blob. The other sternial wielder should be the stronger one, killing two fake bandits in the original timeline. I wasn’t sure how to support him.

Lorwin pulled out his trusty knife, which didn’t do much last time. My mother hugged me tighter. They could be used as human shields, if nothing else.

Lastly, there was me with full control of my body. I’d put Wonderwerk’s Boon to the test. Bring it on, Sir Wilhelm Fancy Pants!

(Author’s Notes: Minor edit to the previous chapter. I changed Velois (the name of the Splinter where Emery is isekaied) to Vidwarane. Velois is very close to Veloyce, the name of the orb that gave the stats. I don’t know why I named it that.

We have an “extended” intro compared to other isekais, where the main character is sent to the other world in the first chapter, and the adventure starts. I may be going against the norm here, and I’m also no expert in the isekai genre, but I think our five chapters add weight to the isekai itself, plus the character development we have. This also gives a different feel to the story. I’d like to hear your thoughts. Thank you! I’ll strive for another Smite Happens chapter tomorrow.)