Dance of the Gods

From the church she walked to a public carriage station and waited for one to arrive.

It took a while, but she was finally heading back home...

'Home?... Since when was the Miles Inn my home?'

This realization only surfaced in her now. At this point she spent just about a week in this world, but when she asked herself where she felt safe, only the inn came to her mind.

'Isn't it weird though? I haven't spent much time here, but this world is already growing on me... I mean it's not bad, but I would still like to return to my own world...'

She quickly changed her thoughts, today wasn't the time to think about such discoveries about herself. Instead she just looked outside and enjoyed the passing cityscape. Her mind turned weirdly tranquil, and a small smile crept onto her lips.

The ride lasted for half an hour. She got off at the same place where she and Sofie used to go to the Market District. Calmly Veronica approached the inn, and was very bewildered. It was full of people who were very annoyed.

There was no way of getting in from the main door, so she opted to enter from the alley. Quickly she ran there and entered the kitchen, where Suze was struggling to keep up with the demand.

Veronica didn't wait for her acknowledgement and grabbed the first two dishes she saw. But just as she was leaving Suze finally saw her.

"Finally you are back! We have been drowning in customers since Sofie had to leave for the market. Quickly, deliver those to the sailors close to the stairs!"

She didn't have to tell Veronica twice, and in the next second she was out the door.

The hectic situation lasted for a long time. For some reason today loads of people decided to use the Miles Inn as their place to have lunch or get a drink. Only when the Sun went down did the customers finally died out, and mostly only the regulars remained.

As the demand decreased both Veronica and Suze got some free time to speak, it also helped that at some point Sofie came back. There was one issue though, when Veronica tried to tell her about the path she had chosen, Suze immediately made her shut up.

The only thing she said was 'We will talk about it in the basement.' and that was that. But even then they didn't stay silent, and instead talked about things not related to the mysterious part of this world.

The time went by quickly as they spoke, soon the kitchen closed and Sofie took care of the orders. Veronica thanked her kindly, but she just made a bit of an awkward nod and moved on.

Suze and Veronica didn't waste any moment. They went downstairs which was a lot more lively than before. At a quieter corner they found an empty table, and sat down.

"I didn't know there were this many people living down here... Are all of them criminals, like Alex?" She dropped his name with only one purpose... To see Suze's reaction.

She just turned her head a bit and looked her up and down, before nodding satisfied.

"So you figured it out, good! You are a smart girl, but you hide it well. In this new world you are about to join, you have to be better than everyone else." Her attitude changed, and she became deathly serious.

"You have to understand one thing, this isn't a game! When you become an ascended there will be a high chance of you dying, even before that you will be put in greater risk just by this knowledge. And don't think the more power you have the safer you will be, it's actually the exact opposite... So, do you still wish to change from a regular human?"

For a sane person the answer should've been no obviously, but for someone in Veronica's place there was only one response...

"Yes! I know the risks... No actually I don't, but that doesn't matter... I will ascend!"

Suze's reply wasn't what she thought it would be... "Why?"

Her mouth opened to answer this very simple question, but no words came out...

'Why?... I don't know... Because it could help with my quest of returning home? But couldn't I do that without becoming an ascended?...'

The answer only came to her after a long time, but it was something she wasn't prepared to say out loud, so instead she tried to change the subject rather abruptly.

"I decided which one to choose from the six paths..."

"No, Veronica answer my question! Why do you want to ascend?... Is it for making money, probably not since you didn't even ask for your first paycheck!... Is it to become the strongest, well good luck fighting with gods!... Why? Answer me or you can leave!"

At this point she knew Suze enough to not take anything she said personally, but it still hurt a bit. Her eyes turned teary and she sniffled a few times, while looking away she replied in a voice that was barely a whisper.

"I don't want to be powerless again..."

In the giant room full of people their table turned silent... Or that was maybe something Veronica imagined. Slowly she turned her fearful expression back towards Suze, and just like she thought her disposition changed drastically. The façade of seriousness broke and turned into a warm motherly smile.

"Okay, then. That is a good reason, didn't expect any less of you. Not guided by greed for power, money or anything in between, but pure desire for self preservation... *sigh* Never change Veronica Navarro!"

Her frown and teary eye turned into a bright smile, like the ones few people actually saw from her.

After then both went and grabbed something to drink since the talks were about to become serious.

'If I continue like this, my alcohol tolerance will quickly come back... I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing...'

When they were finally seated again and both drank some whiskey, Suze looked into her eyes. On her face a curious smile appeared as she asked, "So? Which one?"

For some reason her smile turned wistful, like she was longing for something in her past. As that weird thought arose in her mind she quickly chased it away and focused on the decision she made a long time ago.

"I thought about all of them carefully, and the one I felt would be the best was... dancer."

Veronica was looking sideways while grinning and imagining all the wonderful things ascension will make possible. Only after a few minutes did she notice the silence and looking back at Suze all she saw was a very confused person.

"Really?... I would've never guessed... I thought you will pick soldier, or maybe knowledge pursuer since your personality is all curiosity... But dancer?! Are you sure?..."

Veronica's suspicion grew further, something was strange about this path.

"Why? What's wrong with dancer?" She asked with raised eyebrows, Suze just slowly shook her head.

"It's not that anything is wrong with it. Well, that's not entirely true. The orthodox churches do seem to hate that path, but that wasn't the reason why I asked... *sigh* This is very important decision, whatever you choose there is no changing it or going back. So, you have to think through every option before deciding!"

'Ah, I see... But the decision has been made since my dream so I must insist on following this journey... Wherever it leads...'

"That's why I asked last night to sleep on it! And I spent the whole day thinking through every possibilities, but every time I came up with only one path that I truly want... the dancer!"

In her heart there was no regret or second guessing, only determination for become something more, something new... Something old...

Her mind glossed over that last feeling of deep sadness and yearning. It was focused on the next part of their conversation.

"I understand, but before we can actually discuss your ascension, you have to learn more about mysticism! Which I think we should start from the very beginning..." Suddenly she became silent and stood up. Suze began moving towards a room before realizing her weird behavior.

"Oh... Sorry I will just grab a few books to make the whole learning process easier. I will be back soon, you can grab another drink until then!"

Then she was off, leaving Veronica sitting at their table speechlessly. While still looking where Suze went, she downed the rest of her drink and walked to the open bar to grab another... another few...

'Seems like getting a good night of sleep is basically impossible in this world... Strangely enough the best sleep I had was in a jail cell... *sigh* Maybe I should commit some crime...'

With these kind of thoughts she kept her mind busy, but under the surface she wanted to jump out of her skin from anticipation... Finally more learning!