Level Up Saintess

It was dark, but once my eyes adjusted, I could see the dawn, rising from the sleek, uninterrupted horizon. The rising sun that was casting its light onto everything continued rising higher and higher, and coming closer and closer to me from the depths it had started in, revealing the empty space I was standing in. There was ground, or a floor maybe; I was sure of that because I could feel myself standing on something. But it seemed that whatever I was standing on was actually just a ledge, placed precariously against a gap.

 

And from that wide open gap, she rose.

 

A beautiful shining visage filled my eyes. Her head was like the sun, luminous and bright, but not harmful to the eyes, and her hair was like long beautiful wisps of fire, wreathing it. Her arms were a cosmic night sky, breathtaking and beautiful, and somehow still shimmering brightly despite the darkness of space. However, between these celestial features, where her torso should have been, was an abrupt change to flesh, just the same as any human’s. Her tawny skin was marred with all manners of wounds; Cuts, bruises, stabs, burns, even festering areas that revealed her ribs like a zombie’s would. And yet somehow the skin in-between, where nothing had afflicted it, was absolutely perfect and beautiful looking, as if it would have been as soft as a baby’s, and yet somehow still sinful looking, enticing the viewer to touch.

 

I peered down to try and see more of her giant awe-inspiring body, but sadly her flesh was not as luminous as her head or arms, and the light in the pit didn’t make it past her stomach. Perhaps it was to preserve her modesty. Or perhaps there was something so heinous and dark down there that I shouldn’t ever hope to see it.

 

The large Goddess looked down upon me, the features of her face unreadable with all of the glorious light she radiated.

 

<My daughter,>

 

Her voice boomed, almost hurting me with its volume, and yet somehow it was still enticing, like hundreds of overlapping sweet sighs.

 

<What wish may I grant for you?>

 

It was only after she spoke that my mind was freed from the entranced haze that I’d been stuck in without even noticing. I blinked and rubbed at my eyes, worried that looking at her brightness for so long would have affected them, and tried to take a quick look at my surroundings. Sadly, though, this place was quite empty, only seemingly made of shadows and hardness, somehow.

I’m sure this must be the Goddess I’m looking at, so she probably took me to some kind of spirit realm or something, right? But then why can I feel the pressure of the ground against my feet so easily?

 

Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter. I’m talking to a literal god right now, so it’s not strange at all that she could do something like this. I mean, she’s already done much weirder things to me, hasn’t she? Maybe it’s abrupt, but this is a good opportunity to finally talk with the Goddess who’s been shaking up mine and Kale’s life like this!

 

Oh...

…Except I can't, I guess, because nothing will come out of my mouth.

 

I tried saying hello to her? Nothing.

I tried asking her where this is? Nothing.

I tried asking her why she did this to me? Nothing.

In fact, I’m pretty sure no questions were working at all.

 

Yeah… I can’t say that I like this. But I guess I shouldn’t have expected anything less from her, what with all that she’s done so far.

 

What was it that she’d said to me earlier? She called me her daughter and wanted to know what my wish was? Does that mean now’s when I’m doing that whole level 15 wish fulfillment thing? I guess that’s fine, if that’s what this is about. Honestly, I just figured I’d get a pop up or something when it happened, one that asked me to type in my answer or something, you know? Never thought she would have shown up to ask me herself. It’s even more restrictive than if I’d been allowed to type, though… Although I suppose the system would have vetoed anything non-wish that I entered into it anyways, so I guess it’s not really so different.

 

My wish was obvious, of course. Part of me still wanted to ask her if this new Kale even really was my Kale, but that didn’t really matter right now. No matter what the answer to that would have been, I’m sure I still would have made the exact same wish as I am right now. Perhaps I’d be doing it with a completely different feeling though, depending on what I heard.

 

Funnily enough, as soon as I opened my mouth with the purpose of saying my wish, sound started coming out of it, just like it should.

 

“I wish the birdfolk would never be enslaved again.”

 

Saying it out loud, I suddenly felt like I might have forgotten some important part of my wish, and I panicked a little. Should I have made my wish more specific? Or perhaps I should have been a bit more selfless and demanding, and asked for all slavery to be removed? Ah, that really sounds like it would have been a better idea! But what if she got upset if I asked for too big of a wish and just decided to kill me and get rid of all the trouble? I mean, the quest said it would be a ‘minor’ wish, so I’m not supposed to be asking for anything too big, right? But then again, even rescuing an entire race from slavery should probably be considered a pretty big thing too, then… 

 

Ahhh, this wishing thing is too damn hard!

 

Even though I couldn’t make out her features very well, I could somehow tell that the Goddess started smiling at me.

 

<Your wish shall be granted, daughter.>

 

I flinched at first when she started talking, but luckily it seemed that she accepted my wish! That means Kale will be freed now, right...? That’s amazing! I could feel my body moving like it was going to jump for joy even before I knew what I was doing. I opened my mouth to scream my thanks up to her, but once again nothing would come out. Really? I thought we’d gotten past that stupid bit. How lame.

 

Just when I was thinking about trying one more time to talk to her, her large glorious celestial arm moved, and her hand came towards me, catching my eye. It was only now that they were raised up from the deep dark depths below that I’d finally gotten a glimpse at it, and what I saw definitely surprised me. I’d expected it to just be more of the night sky motif that her arms had, but instead of any of that, I could see that each one of her large fingers on the hand she raised seemed to be made out of beautiful shiny and pristine glass.

 

Glass! Like the glass I haven’t been able to see this entire time since I came to this world! Glass!

 

She impossibly folded her hand, somehow naturally bending those glass fingers as she pointed at me.

 

<Safe travels, daughter. Until next we meet.>

 

And then she poked me, sending me sailing into the distant darkness off on the horizon, where her light no longer reached.

 

****

 

When I opened my eyes, I kind of thought everything I just saw might have been a dream. I mean, I woke up in my bed, and I could even tell that I had some drool dripping from my mouth, so I’d obviously been sleeping, right? Did the Goddess whisk my soul away as I slept or something, or did I just dream everything up?

 

If I really think about it, I shouldn’t even be 15 yet, since I still needed about 500 exp to level, so why would she have let me make my wish early? Or maybe it’s always been like that, so that it’ll be ready once I level up?

 

Orrr maybe I really was just dreaming.

 

Eventually I gave up even trying to figure it out, since I didn’t seem to be making any progress trying to logic things out. I turned my head on reflex to take a look at my character sheet, just like I always did whenever I was laying in bed, but before I could even see it, I was suddenly pounced on by Chella and violently shaken.

 

“Arissa! If you’re awake then freaking say something! Don’t just lay there like an idiot after all this time we spent on you!”

 

Yup, Chella’s certainly stronger than me, seeing as how I couldn’t get her to stop shaking me no matter how much I tried. Is it too much to ask to get a strength boost with my levels too or something, Goddess? I’m practically only a child with how strong I am!

 

At least Meria was there too, to stop her.

Maybe I still haven't made up my mind on exactly how to treat her yet, but at the very least I’m glad she was here right now, for sure.

 

After Chella finally managed to calm down and they gave me a once over to make sure I was fine, Meria brought me some breakfast in bed, and the two of them slowly took the time to tell me what was going on. Seems after I passed out from blood loss, Chella ran and got the Bishop to try and heal me. It was a very good choice on her part, considering everything I’d seen from the rest of the priests... By the time they made it to me I’d gone completely cold, and they thought I might have died. Chella still insisted on healing me anyways just in case I was still alive, like the great friend she is, but the Bishop knew that even if he started, he wouldn’t have been able to save me in the state I was in.

 

From what they tell me, I was actually way worse off than I thought I had been.

Apparently the attack that missed my heart had actually ripped open one of my sides and almost cut off my arm.

…Scary...

 

I actually had to check myself over when I heard them talk about how messed up I was, just to make sure that I was really as okay as I felt right now. Luckily I’m all in one piece, and my health is at a full 160/160, so I should be perfectly healthy right now. In fact, I was suspicious when I saw that, because I should still be at 150 max health. It was super obvious why it was like that, though, when I looked a little further up on my character sheet.

I’m finally level 15!