Surprisingly Common

I had to stop recounting my story as the dark skinned boy’s laughter had gotten too loud for me to continue. I also want to mention that while I initially described the villagers as having a dark complexion, that was before I met this guy. Their skin was more of an olive or deep tan.

“What exactly has been so funny?”

He took a moment to stifle his laughter while wiping the tears rolling down his cheeks.

“It’s nothing. I was just thinking that you were on the right track earlier when you suggested that your head was empty.”

“I never suggested such a thing, and I’d rather you not call back to something so minor like that as if it were an important plot point.”

“That’s why I said it was nothing. I’d finally heard enough to piece together the rest of the story, and then I couldn’t help myself.”

“Huh? You think you figured out the rest?”

“It really wasn’t that difficult.” The boy stood up and started pacing around me. “Here, let me guess. Feel free to tell me if I’m wrong.”

I would. I was looking forward to correcting his smug attitude. He’d see that my actions weren’t so easily predictable.

“After realizing that the girl was telling you the compass would always point toward the spider, you left immediately without taking a moment to think about why those villagers would have such a strange item.”

“Well, that’s one way of looking at it, but I’d have phrased it differently.”

“Following the compass, you quickly found the spider in question.”

“No disagreements there.”

“That’s when you realized something was wrong. You were expecting a giant spider, but you found a colossal one.”

Colossal might even be an understatement. That spider was bigger than most of the buildings back in Ah’Ruh. The size wasn’t the only thing wrong with it. Instead of a pale white, it was the same shade as the snow, I mean, the sand. There wasn’t any of that glass like material either.

“Then, if I had to guess, you were unceremoniously eaten.”

“Again, I would have described my heroic battle differently, but I won’t deny that it did end with me exploring the inside of a spider.”

“Any other creature would have been instantly dissolved by the spider's venom and digestive enzymes, but because of your constitution, your body was continuously being restored.”

That whole experience was rather painful. Two out of nine stars, I wouldn’t recommend. I thought about just punching my way out, but being actively digested made it difficult to summon up my full strength.

“That let you find the only other thing in that spider’s stomach that couldn’t be digested.”

Correct. After wandering through that acid prison I found a pure black bird encased in some kind of crystal. I reached out to touch it, but as soon as I did the whole thing disappeared.

“I didn’t break it or anything! It just disappeared all on its own. I won’t accept any blame for that.”

“Then, enough of your blood tainted by the frost spider leaked out and started to freeze the spider’s stomach contents. That internal discomfort caused it to vomit you back out. Deciding you weren’t worth the trouble, it decided to just leave you.”

“I feel like a broken minstrel here, but when you describe things like that it really makes me seem like a lucky idiot. I’d have said that I fought the spider to a draw.”

“Think that if you will, I was just curious about how we ended up here.”

“Well I’ve still got some questions on that front. You seem to be satisfied with knowing my side of things, but I’m still trying to figure out why I have someone like you currently living inside my head.”

The boy walking around me wasn’t real, I understood that on an instinctual level. I mean, in a sense he was real, but he wasn’t a living breathing person. He was a ghost, or something like that at least. And most importantly, his existence was currently based inside of me. I’m not sure if other people could see him or not, but that was hardly important. The important part was that I somehow gained a parasite.

While he had previously made a show of reading my thoughts, let me declare that I could do that as well. Not all of them, but I could detect his surface level thoughts and memories if I concentrated. That’s how I learned that I made a few completely understandable incorrect assumptions about deserts and sand. And if I wasn’t concentrating, it was even a bit difficult to tell whose thoughts were whose. The fact that it was my head and yet he was thinking way more than me wasn’t helping things.

“Oh, that? It’s pretty simple really. I’m sure someone like you will understand instantly. You see, I used to be the god of this area.”

“Really? I guess things like this are surprisingly common.”

“No, they’re really not. You just have an odd luck. Anyway, my true form was the bird encased in crystal you found inside the spider. Unlike you, I wasn’t a god from the start. Originally, I was just a common bird, but after becoming an object of worship for the locals I gained divinity. That all ended when I was eaten by the spider though. It took everything I had to just avoid being digested. I had to watch while every other deity that neighboring villages worshiped were absorbed, knowing that eventually I’d run out of strength and meet the same fate.”

I gave him a somewhat dubious look.

“You expect me to believe people who lived in the desert deified a bird? I don’t think birds could live here in the first place.”

“This was a long time ago. Back then, this region was full of life. After eating me that spider became the new god around here. It used its newfound power to turn things into this desert, forcing the villagers to adopt a completely new lifestyle, along with countless other demands.”

“You seem to be avoiding this, but how did you get eaten in the first place? You were supposed to be a god, right?”

“There are plenty of spiders that hunt birds, you know. I was unprepared and caught by surprise. Besides, it’s not like I was some kind of big shot god or anything, I wouldn’t even compare to you in your heyday. And it’s not like I was the only one. This is a bit of extrapolation on my part, but I’m fairly certain that spider ate every god in this region. I doubt I was the first, and I know I wasn’t the last.”

It seemed like an odd story, but I knew that he wasn’t lying. And if I was forced to be completely honest, it’s not like I was any kind of important god either. Sure, I had some modicum of power, and the locals worshiped me, but I wasn’t particularly special. Me, the bird, even the colossal spider, people called us gods so that’s what we called ourselves, but in reality we were just monsters and spirits that powered up through the prayers of mortals. We permanently existed on the mortal plane. Real, legitimate gods tended to exist in a higher realm.

“Alright, that’s all fine, but you haven’t actually explained why we’re able to have this conversation. Looking back, you disappeared the moment I touched you in that spider’s stomach.”

“That was my escape plan. I sensed the minor level of divinity you still retain and chose to let myself be absorbed by you, much like the spider was trying to do to me. It wasn’t really a conscious choice, but instinctively I knew any option was better than giving my authority to the spider.”

An interesting development, but not one that I wanted. Was he trying to set this up as some sort of adventure where I go around absorbing small time gods? No thanks, one extra passenger was more than enough already. If it ever got to the point where my imaginary friends could talk to each other I’d probably lose it. Besides, I wasn’t an adventurer looking for experience and friendship, I was a mercenary looking for her next payday.

“No, I don’t think you need to worry about that. I can’t imagine you’ll ever run into a situation like this again. Most gods would never willingly let themselves be absorbed into someone else, but I was truly desperate. I shouldn’t have called it an escape plan. It was more me choosing how to die.”

“Fair enough. I could understand why you’d rather hangout with me over that spider. Still, I feel like I didn’t get a say in the matter.”

“Actually, I was surprised by that as well. I figured I’d be completely absorbed, but instead, we formed some kind of partnership. If I had to guess, I’d say that in your current state your divinity is so low that you couldn’t overwrite my consciousness.”

For some reason it felt like he was insulting me.

“Well, I have no interest in being a god anymore, so let’s just push aside things like who has more divinity.” That may have sounded like the words of a sore loser, but I was being honest. I was done with being a god. I’d already moved on to something new. I knew better than anyone that there was no point chasing who you used to be. “More importantly, can we be separated?”

“How should I know? I’m not supposed to exist anymore. The only thing I know for certain is that if you gain enough divinity, you should be able to fully absorb me.”

“Well that’s not going to happen.”

“I figured. That means we're stuck with each other.”

I slumped my shoulders with an exaggerated sigh.

“Hey, Miss, don’t think you’re the only one displeased about this. Becoming your other half wasn’t exactly my ideal scenario either.”

“That's particularly insulting once you realize that your only other option was death.”

“At least there’s a lot of room in here.”

“I said it before and I’ll say it again, stop bringing that up!” If he keeps mentioning it, I’m afraid that my empty head will become plot relevant at some point.

“On a serious note, what exactly do you plan on doing? I can’t force you either way, but I’ve got some feelings on what to do next.”

“Don’t bother. Just like how you could sense what I wanted you to wear, I can sense your desire without trying. And I couldn’t care less about what you want. Any lingering attachments you have from your time as a god mean nothing to me. I’ve already decided what to do next. Actually, I didn’t decide. That would imply there was some kind of decision to make. Rather, I’m just going to do what I was always going to do.”

“And that is?”

He didn’t need to ask. I’m sure he just wanted to hear me say it.

“Shouldn’t that be obvious? I’m going to claim justifiable self defense and kill a spider.”