Recovery

She came to and gazed at an unfamiliar ceiling. This is starting to become a habit.

The good news was that she wasn't dead. Then again, something felt off. She was probably still undead, but something didn’t add up.

“How are you feeling?” A woman sat next to her and removed a damp cloth from her forehead. It took Nia a moment to recognize that she was burning. Ah, so that’s wrong. I’ve got fever. Great. The first undead that had a fever.

At least she wasn’t cold anymore. She could hear the blood rushing through her ears. Had her heart restarted all of a sudden? That meant that the full heal seemed to be working, but wasn’t finished yet.

“I feel … alive, at least,” she answered. Her voice was still rough, but had gotten far better, too.

“Tell me,” the woman continued. “Who would attack a saint like that?”

“A saint?” Try as she might, she just couldn’t make the connection. At least not between the label and her.

“I'm speaking of you, dear.” The woman smiled kindly at her.

No, no, no. Don’t put me into yet another cliché. We already checked enough boxes already. Don’t make me play bingo with this after denying me the lottery win!

“We have seen quite a few saints come through over the last decades. They all had unusual hair and eye colors, not to mention the aura of a high priestess of Luaria.”

The name of the goddess sent shivers down her spine. Nia tried to sit up, but the sudden pain in her back held her down. They were still in Luaria’s world. And Saesquar was almost certainly looking for them already.

“You need to rest more, dear.” The woman pushed her gently down. “But what has you this startled?” Her nurse seemed concerned. She was maybe in her mid-thirties, had a slightly rounded face and pretty normal brown hair. Disheveled hair that had lost its luster. She was probably a farmer’s wife or something like that.

“What … What do you know of Saesquar?” The pain from moving and taking a deep breath made Nia hiss.

“Shouldn’t you know more about the machinations of the gods than a lowly farmer’s wife?”

Bing- Nia wanted to laugh at the question, but that would only exacerbate her pain. I had to run into that, didn’t I?

“A wise man once said ‘I know that I know nothing’. That’s where I am at. I know nothing of Luaria or Saesquar,” she explained while taking very shallow breaths.

The things Qiin had told her before, were not trustworthy. Especially since he had Saesquar as a mistress and he had tried and succeeded in killing her.

“As far as I know, Saesquar is the daughter of Luaria.” The woman shrugged. “The priests have told us that Saesquar has been a willful child, that has gone against the wishes of her mother. Our savior. That she’s turned to the darkness, and that her mother still loves her child dearly.”

Wait. Saesquar is Luaria’s daughter? We have been dragged into a mother-daughter-conflict? Because of a rebellious teenager?

Granted, Saesquar had looked older than a teenager, but who could tell the age of gods and goddesses?

Nia did her best to hide how incredulous she felt. “But Saesquar is still rebelling against her mother?”

The woman shrugged. “I don't know. The priests tell us that Luaria keeps watch over the world, while Saesquar has retreated into exile with a handful of followers to live out their dark ways. If you want to know more, you should talk to the priestess that has summoned you.”

Nia let out a long sigh. Very carefully. Any fast breathing only managed to bring more pain. This Full Healing did more for me when I was dead. Why is this magic so damn inconvenient? Also I don’t want to talk to the priest…ess that has summoned me.

“I lost contact to that priestess. Do you know where I can find another priestess of Luaria?”

“You can find someone over in Gibbons. There is a large temple dedicated to the goddess.”

“And,” she took a slow deep breath, “where is that?”

The woman smiled as if she expected that question. “About a day’s travel to the west. It’s the closest large city.” She immediately put a hand on Nia’s chest. “But before that, you have to rest. Don’t go running out to fight Saesquar’s minions immediately.”

Smart woman. Than again, who said that a farmer or a farmer’s wife couldn’t be smart? I should examine all my preconceptions …

“I don't suppose you know a prayer for healing wounds?” Nia looked hopefully at the other woman. She wasn’t sure whether her impromptu prayer had been a sign that she could do whatever she wanted with her priestly magic, or whether it had just been a fluke and whatever she improvised could harm her even more.

The woman shook her head. “I don’t know of any such prayer. We know a few for good harvests, but we also lack the mana to do anything with it.” She patted her on the head. “Just heal naturally. Don’t worry, you’re safe here. And maybe you can ask Mother Clemens about it, when she visits tomorrow.”

I’m not so sure about that, she thought. Saesquar was a goddess, and such a small town had nothing to deter that woman from getting what she wanted. There was, maybe, one person, one goddess, who could stop Saesquar: Her mother. Luaria herself.

“Just relax for a bit. I have chores to do.” The woman got up and went to the door.

“Thank you.” Nia sighed and closed her eyes for a moment.

“Everyone here would help a saint. You’re keeping us safe, after all.”

Nia’s thoughts derailed, just as the door closed. There had been saints before her. Real saints, probably. But what happened to them? And how had they appeared on this world? Were they from this world, blessed by Luaria, or were they from another world, summoned by Luaria? Or maybe … also by Saesquar?

“Hey.” A new voice made her look to the door. Ralf was standing there, his face blackened with dirt. “How are you?”

“Not dead anymore, as far as I can tell,” she answered and went back to staring at the ceiling.

“You’ve been out for two whole days.” He slowly walked in, followed by Tom, Sonja, and Tina.

“Turns out, that coming back from the dead isn’t as easy as any game makes it out to be.” She gave them a smile, hoping to lighten the mood.

“I can imagine,” Tina said. “Jesus also took several days to come back from the dead.”

Why haven’t they made you into the priestess? You’re far more suited to that role! Ah yes, that damn virgin thing.

“We have more important things to discuss.” Tom ground his teeth. Nia could only hope that he had a competent dentist back on earth. “What are we going to do now? We can’t stay in this village, or even this world, forever!”

“I know. Saesquar is probably already searching for us.” Nia winced, as she the pain in her chest flared up once more.

“We should fight her.” Everyone looked at Tom. Nia had no desire to fight Saesquar. Not after she’d been killed once already. She didn’t even know, if she had seven lives, like a cat. Or were that nine? No matter, she didn’t want to find out.

Maybe five, like in those Mario games …

If she could scream at her own thoughts, she would have done in that moment.

“No, think about it,” Tom insisted. “Nia here was able to hurt this goddess, and all she had to do was touch her. We just have to work together and we can do this!”

“Unless Saesquar has a few thousand followers,” Nia interjected. Her back started to hurt. She had to change how she was lying, and soon.

“Well, we haven’t seen anyone else besides the monks that have … trained us.”

Sonja looked at the floor. “Maybe she just hadn’t had the chance to amass a large following, after going into exile.”

“This goddess is clearly not omniscient and also not omnipotent.” Tina smiled, her hands folded in front of her. “She won’t be a match for our lord.”

“But she’s clearly a match for me,” Nia grumbled. “And your god isn’t here. Only we are.”

Tina looked at her in shock.

“But you’re right,” Nia finally conceded, “we have a chance. Saesquar is neither omnipotent, nor omniscient.”

“So, we just have to get you past those monks, which are all clearly stronger than us, and have you touch her? And then what?” Ralf had crossed his arms and was tapping his foot.

“Then we force her to send us back?” Sonja’s statement was more of a question.

“And trust her that she won’t kill us then?” Ralf shook his head. “It’s good that we have a means to hurt her, which means we’re not powerless. But we can’t trust her, and I don’t see a way to make her reliably do what we want.”

His words were met with silence. The heavy silence of him having spoken the truth. A silence that also told of nobody having a better idea.

“There’s one other path we can go.” Nia whispered, almost afraid that her voice could be crushed by that silence. “We look for Luaria. If the daughter exists in this world, then the mother has to exist as well. Maybe she can send us back …”

The silence stayed with them, as if it was analyzing her words, ready to pounce, if there was any bad logic within them.

“It’s a plan,” Ralf said finally. “A vague one, but it has merit.”

“Do you have any idea where we can find this Luaria?” Tom stepped a bit closer.

Nia shook her head. “No. But there are temples and priestesses in the next city. We should consult them.”

“I don’t like the plan,” Tina whispered. “Our lord should be strong enough to help us. We don’t need to consult another goddess.”

“What, if your lord doesn’t have any jurisdiction in this world?” Nia looked at the office lady and waited. Contrary to the one in this world, her god still needed to prove that he really existed.

Tina didn’t answer immediately.

“Besides, we aren’t worshiping Luaria, so that should be okay, shouldn’t it?” she added.

Tina took a deep breath. Nia waited for a tirade, but all she heard was “You’re right.”

The sudden admission surprised her, but she wouldn’t look the gift horse in the mouth. Now there was only one more thing for her to do: Get better.

“I don’t suppose you learned any healing magic?” she tried, looking at Sonja.

“I barely learned any magic at all!” She spat in a corner of the room. “At least now I know why …”

“Make sure, you get well as soon as possible.” Ralf wiped his hands on his pants. “I don’t like field work. At all.”

Nia gave him a smile. “I’ll do my best.” She didn’t like lying in bed all day either.

Though … Would I rather do field work? No, definitely not.