Chương 15: Answering My First Prayer as a Rock?!

Chapter Fifteen Answering My First Prayer as a Rock?! Alice stared blankly at the notification. Dragonkin? Those with dragonblood? She looked away from the unusual words and focused on Urd. Alice seemed to see the child's scales for the first time. They had always looked monstrous, but Alice had assumed they were some kind of... fantasy skin rash. But dragonkin... Alice read the curse's description again. Is Urd some kind of... dragon?

She had lived in this world for over sixteen years, but Alice realized just how little she knew about her new home. She didn't even know what The Fates were, though she had heard the phrase several times. Alice had assumed they were gods at first, but Urd's talk about Zora made it sound like The Fates were something else. And the dragonkin... fought them or something? She was yanked free from her confusion as the twins looked up from their prayer. Axel and Iver stared at Urd as if she were a stranger.

Neither seemed particularly revolted anymore, neither by her scales nor the blood that dribbled down her arm.

"Wh-where...?" Axel swallowed deeply as he tried to push out the words. He turned to his twin for support, but Iver had none to offer.

"Where'd you find... the Master Merry Weather?" Urd had been staring intently at Alice the Rock, but she glanced at Iver and Axel. A strangeness came over her expression, a confusing look that Alice could not decipher.

"F-Find her?" Urd's voice was a high-pitched squeak at first, but as she continued, an unfamiliar courage began to color her syllables.

"M-Master Merry Weather called out to me...! Sh-she was sleeping! For a very long time!" The twins had been full of derision when Urd first told them this lie. Axel had even sneered and called Urd a liar. But now...

"Wooow!"

"Whoa!" The twins turned to one another in astonishment. There was not even a hint of doubt in their identical faces.

"This... This is big!" Axel said, and Iver nodded excitedly.

"We gotta tell Bram!" Iver said, and he looked over his shoulder and down the alley, as if half expecting this newly named friend to appear.

"And Mouse! Mouse will freak out!"

"Y-You said they're... That Master Merry Weather is the God of Waterhold?" Axel asked, his eyes glued to Alice the Rock.

"I felt... I felt all good when I gave my blood," Iver said. He turned back to Urd with a wide smile.

"We should tell the Priest, right?"

"N-No!" Alice said at once, and whatever elation she had felt earlier vanished. Iver looked as though he was about to run out of the alley and reveal Alice's lie to the world.

"Urd! Tell him... Tell him to stop! Don't tell the Priest about me!"

"Eh?" Urd looked down at Alice the Rock, confused, and Alice could not help but wince. Just how suspicious was a request like that? It was not hard to imagine that [Priests] in this world carried the same kind of respect they did back in Alice's. But she would figure out an excuse later.

"Go on!" Alice said urgently.

"Tell them!"

"Y-You two!" Urd said, and the twins turned to her with matching smiles.

"M-Master Merry Weather says not to tell the Priest. Don't... You can't tell him... about Her?" Alice chewed on her nonexistent lip. Urd was her biggest fan, and even she seemed confused by Alice's request.

"Eh? Why's that?" Axel asked, just as Alice had been afraid of.

"Y-You three are special!" Alice blurted out, but the lie seemed a good one.

"Special...?" Urd's face filled with a rush of color.

"Wh-what they say?" Iver asked impatiently.

"Tell them that you three are special," Alice repeated.

"Tell them that is why I called out to you three. You three specifically."

"Master Merry Weather..." Urd trembled as she spoke, but there was no fear in her eyes or face.

"She said that we... we are special! She... She called out to us... because we're sp-special!" Iver and Axel turned to one another. Alice suddenly felt a lot less confident about her lie.

"Wooooooooooow!" the twins gasped, their eyes full of rainbow sparkles. That's right... They're just stupid kids, Alice thought to herself, relieved.

"Wh-what's special about us?" Axel asked at once, taking a step closer to Urd.

"That is a good question," Alice said to herself, and Urd started to repeat Alice's quip.

"N-No! I'm still...! Don't repeat that!"

"Y-Yeah!" Iver said, and some of his excitement chipped away.

"We're not... We're just... Ain't nothin' special about us."

"D-Don't say that!" Urd said at once, stamping her feet. Axel and Iver jumped.

"If Master Merry Weather s-says we're special then... then...! Y-You can't disagree with G-God!" Alice wanted to pat Urd on the head. She was such a precious child!

"Oh!" And the answer came to Alice in a flash of inspiration.

"Y-Your pure hearts! Tell them I was drawn to your... to your pure hearts?" The idea had sounded better in her head. Iver and Axel had bullied Urd, after all. They had been as nasty as nasty could be before Alice the God had made Her appearance. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. But i t doesn't matter, Alice thought to herself as Urd repeated Alice's explanation.

"Tell them also that... Well, for now I only want to be known to those with p-pure hearts. So... only people like children. Y-Yeah, that's why no [Priests]!" Axel and Iver ate up the lie without a hint of suspicion. It was a rather crass thought, but if these two were any indication, it would be a cakewalk to trick the children of Waterhold into thinking she was a god. Maybe later on Alice could convert a particularly dimwitted adult or two.

"Hmm... Mouse and Bram." Alice repeated the names the twins had shared in their excitement.

"Urd, ask them if... if Mouse and Bram can be trusted." Alice probably did not want too many kids running around telling the whole town about her. That would be the same as telling the Priest himself, and then he would likely show up with an angry mob and pitchforks.

"Mouse and Bram are good," Axel said after Urd had repeated Alice's question.

"Well, Bram is kind of a shit," Iver said, looking a little embarrassed as Axel shot him an angry look.

"B-But Mouse is good! He got that... that pure heart, right?"

"Y-You want us to grab him?" Axel asked, quickly forgetting his frustration.

"We can... Yeah, Mouse will go crazy when he hears about this! He lives up in The Chubs!" Alice had no idea what The Chubs referred to, but she could not contain the electric excitement that filled her nonexistent rock body.

"Y-Yes!" Alice said, and Urd was quick to relay her Divine Proclamation.

"G-Go forth and bring me a new... a new disciple!" Urd's stomach chose that moment to make a particularly loud rumble.

"A-And bread!" Alice added to her Heavenly Decree.

"I desire a... a grain offering?" Iver and Axel were all smiles as they sprinted out of the alley and out of sight. Alice was all smiles, too, as Urd cradled her black rock of a body.

"You did great," Alice said, and Urd's chest swelled with pride.

"You did a very, very good job!"

"Th-thank you, God!" Urd said, her voice thick with emotion.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Alice remembered The Girl's bleeding wrist then.

"You need to clean your wrist right away," Alice said. She suspected infections were a much bigger deal in a world where people threw the contents of their toilet onto the street.

"I need you to stay healthy!"

"Y-Yes!" Urd bowed reverently.

"Yes, of course! I won't let myself become dirty! I m-mean dirtier!" Alice's vision rocked back and forth as Urd marched confidently out of the alley and back onto the street. A tidal wave of humanity surrounded her, the passersby sneering as they saw Urd's unbandaged face. The Girl made no attempt to hide behind her thin hands, however. She seemed to be in half a trance, her scaled face bubbly with excitement as she returned the way she had come. Hmm?

Alice squinted her nonexistent eyes as a noise scratched at the edge of her hearing. It did not seem to belong to the chorus of tradesmen who thronged the road. What is that? Urd either did not notice the noise or did not care about it. She was all smiles and confident steps as she marched around a swineherd and half a dozen of their squealing pigs. Alice, however, focused on the distant scratching. As if encouraged by her attention, the noise grew louder and louder. Alice soon realized... it was a voice!...

thank you...... I hope this happiness...... never...... fades... That's Urd! Alice realized in astonishment. Was Alice reading The Girl's thoughts? Urd's lips remained decidedly shut. It almost sounds like... like prayer. And as if summoned by the thought, a notification flashed across Alice's vision. New Prayer Received Petitioner: Tyri Karlvold Status: Believer (zealous) Prayer Category: Happiness Description: Tyri Karlvold prays that her current level of happiness never fade s.

"W-Wow!" It was Alice's turn to be astonished. Another notification quickly followed. Would you like to accept this prayer? [Y/N] Alice's first thought was yes. Of course, she wanted Urd to always be happy. But some strange suspicion kept her from accepting the prayer. It seemed a little too... simple. Could Alice really give Urd eternal happiness just by saying yes? This must be that new skill, Alice thought to herself. She had unlocked [Voices of Prayer] when her [Object of Worship] class ranked up.

Sure enough, her reluctance proved to be the right move as she reviewed the description of her newest skill. Passive Skills Voices of Prayer (Rank I): You are a font of hope for your believers. Their innermost desires will reach you, begging to be made a reality. You can choose whether to accept or deny a believer's prayer, and i f you are able to fulfill the prayer, both you and your believer will be strengthened. I knew that notification made it sound too easy, Alice thought to herself.

Accepting Urd's prayer was not the same thing as granting it. Not sure if even a real god could keep Urd always happy. Alice had not forgotten that The Girl was still cursed. Doom was fated to come her way if Alice could not [Bless] the misfortune out of her spindly limbs. No, I can't accept a prayer like th is, Alice thought to herself... and another notification immediately appeared. [Tyri Karlvold]'s prayer has been denied.

"Oh fuck," Alice said flatly, and Urd gasped.

"G-God?!"

"N-Nothing!" Alice said quickly, kicking herself for the blurted curse.

"W-Wash your arm! Don't worry about anything else!" Urd looked more than a little confused. But she did not look any more miserable. Denying her prayer didn't... do anything, right? She studied Urd more closely, but The Girl remained the same beacon of smiles as before. I guess gods ignore prayers all the time. I should know... She could not help but frown, however. I- I'll definitely accept the next prayer! Assuming it' s a little more, uh, realistic. Urd and Alice did not speak for the rest of the walk.

Urd washed her arm in a river that ran through the town and then took Alice the Rock back to the dilapidated house from the night before. Despite all of Urd's excitement, and Alice's own, an awkward silence settled over the pair of them. The hours passed, and Alice's curse energy slowly refilled. Urd's stomach remained decidedly empty, however. Alice wished the slowpoke twins would return with some breakfast, though she left the complaint unspoken.

She studied Urd instead, looking at her scales and wondering once more whether Urd was wholly human. She was afraid to ask, however. A god like Alice of the Merry Weather should already know things like this. Urd's stomach was practically a full orchestra and chorus by the time Iver and Axel appeared with bread and a few other bits of food. Alice would have urged Urd to quickly fill her tummy, but between the twins stalked a thin boy who had to be Mouse.

"Ugh..." Mouse's lean face drew back in disgust when he saw Urd sitting in the cramped room.

"What's Rotty doing here?" Alice was filled with a flash of anger. Before she could whisper in Mouse's ear, however, Axel punched the tiny boy hard on the arm.

"You don't talk ta her like that!" Axel said, glowering down at him.

"Y-Yeah!" Iver said, confused. He slugged Mouse's other arm after Axel gave him an encouraging nod.

"Wh-what are you two talking about?" Mouse sputtered, obviously shocked by the kindness the twins were showing Urd. Alice's anger had transformed into a brilliant smile as she grabbed hold of Mouse's ear.

"Urd is my voice!" she whispered, and Mouse jumped.

"You will listen to all that she says!"

"Wh-what was- " Mouse began, but Iver stopped him with a laugh.

"Bet that was the Voice of God," he said with a knowing smile. Iver and Axel walked over to where Urd stood, The Girl's face a mask of confusion. The twins positioned themselves on either side of her like a pair of bouncers at a nightclub.

"You can't call her Rotty or rotface or..." Iver turned awkwardly to his twin.

"What, uh, are we supposed ta call her?" A few tears tickled Urd's eyes, but her smile was radiant as she took a step towards Mouse, Alice the Rock held high over her head. Without any instruction from Alice, she spoke in a loud, confident voice.

"You stand b-before Master Alice of the Merry W-Weather, God of Waterhold! Bow your head!"