Blessed Ch. 01: Gold in The Blizzard

I only half-heard what she said. "Magic," I repeated. "Like, 'abra-kadabra,' 'hocus-pocus,' wave your hands around and shoot fireballs, magic?" I gestured in random ways like you'd see stage magicians sometimes do while I talked.

The blonde smirked in amusement. "While I don't recognize any of those incantations - or those arcane gestures - yes, that's the gist of it. Do you... is magic rare where you're from?"

I swallowed. "You could say that." My gaze flitted among the other four women - the short woman's height, the dark one's tusks, the pointed ears of one of the gingers, and the fox-like appearance of the other ginger. "Um, if you don't mind me asking, where am I? And who are you all?"

The blonde answered again. "I am Gladra, priestess of Au'rea and leader of this monastery. To my right are Rhaliyah and Di'ia," she gestured at the two fingers, who nodded as they were named, first the pointy-eared woman, then the fox-girl, "and on my left are Vlere and Othri," the tall, tusked girl and the short woman nodded in turn. "This is a monastery of the disciples of Au'rea, the Golden Goddess."

I nodded slowly, trying to memorize which name went to which face. "Okay... what nation or... or continent are we in?"

Everyone gave me surprised looks. "You are in the Kingdom of Eldara, on the continent of Mheres."

I gulped audibly. "I uh... I'm still a bit fuzzy from... well, almost freezing to death, so could you remind me what the world is called?"

The five women all looked a little concerned. "Why Xeria, of course."

I took one last look at the odd features of the five women, then promptly fainted. We're definitely not in Kansas anymore, Toto.

*****

The five woman all gasped in concern when the Man collapsed without warning, the empty bowl and spoon slipping from his fingers to clatter loudly on the stone floor beneath him.

Gladra reached him first, and after a moment of concentration with her hands hovering over his forehead, she breathed a sigh of relief. "He just fainted."

Othri looked up at her companions. "Sort of a strange fellow, isn't he? I mean, I've heard of people going snow-crazy from being out in the winters alone for too long, but this is... well."

Vlere nodded once, her eyes narrowed at the Man. "It is difficult to believe that a brush with death would deprive him of his memories of not only which nation he is in, but the name of the world too."

Rhaliyah, who had been frowning to herself, stood, setting aside her bowl, which still steamed, half-full of soup. "I need to check on something," she said, picking up her outerwear and leaving the hall. Four pairs of eyes followed her departure, before their owners returned to speculating about the odd young man they had saved.

Once she was away from the hall, Rhaliyah donned her outerwear again, and left the monastery, following her trail back to where she had found the Man, led by Au'rea, or so she believed. Gladra, upon hearing Rhaliyah's recounting of the golden goddess' appearance and of how she had led the young elf to the nearly-dead Man, had been inclined to agree that, for whatever reason, Rhaliyah had been led by Au'rea to save that Man. Though it was hard to believe - the gods hadn't been felt upon Xeria for ages beyond counting - even the oldest elves had difficulty recalling the last time the gods had directly involved themselves in matters of the world.

Regardless, Rhaliyah, though hardly devout, knew that Au'rea had indeed appeared to her, and had indeed led her to the Man. And now she followed her own trail back to where she found him. Once there, it was simplicity itself to follow his own trail away from that point, deeper into the woods. Neither path of breached snow had been disturbed since Rhaliyah had found the man. No new dusting of snow, not even a single breath of wind had crossed the trails.

Rhaliyah followed the Man's trail for an hour, then stared, dumbfounded, at what she saw at the end of it. Nothing. It was as though he had dropped from the sky and simply started walking in the middle of the woods. Casting around the area, she found nothing, no other trails, no shelters in the trees, nothing at all to explain where his trail had come from. She knew it hasn't been buried - while the latter half of his trail had been covered by some snow, there was still a foot of space between the fresh snow and the top of the drift the Man had seemingly teleported into.

After a few more minutes of searching, Rhaliah threw up her hands in defeat and turned back towards the monastery, jogging. She had questions for the young man, and she wanted answers. And she was sure that Gladra and the other senior priestesses would be interested in the circumstances of the Man's arrival in the middle of the woods.

It was then, suddenly, that Rhaliyah recalled what those woods were named: the Golden Forest. The leaves were gold year-round, and myth said that Au'rea had a special connection to the woods, hence the ancient monastery which laid at its western boundary. Rhaliyah shivered, and not from the cold. What was going on that Au'rea herself would be involved, ages beyond counting after the gods had ceased their interaction with the peoples of Xeria?

*****

When I woke next, it was to stern gazes. A glint beyond the four robed women showed me that Rhaliyah was sharpening the already wickedly-sharp blade of an elegant spear. I also noted that I was in an smaller room, and in a bed.

I swallowed, then propped myself up in bed. "Um... hi?" I tried.

"Who are you? Where do you come from?" Gladra snapped, her visage stern.

I briefly considered lying, trying to convince them that I was from their world, that I just had a really bad time of it out in the blizzard. But lying isn't something I was ever really good at. So, with a sigh, I admitted the truth. "I'm from a place called Minnesota, in a country called the United States of America, on Earth. My name is Aaron; Aaron Wells."

The women glanced among themselves, sharing shrugs and confused looks. "How came you to be here?" Gladra asked, still staring me down.

I shrugged, and again decide for truthfulness. "I'm not sure. I was on my way home when my car got stuck in the snow. I couldn't call for help so I started walking towards the nearest town. Then I ended up in a forest that shouldn't have been there and... well, this is going to sound crazy, but right when I was about give up from exhaustion, I saw this golden glow, and a woman. She was wearing a gown a lot like yours, Priestess Gladra, and she had golden hair down to her waist and golden eyes and her skin was even gold. She held out her hand to me and led me through the forest, but eventually I just... I couldn't go on. I collapsed in the snow and she was gone." I chuckled to myself. "She was probably just a hallucination."

When I looked up, I was surprised to see that the women all looked unsure of themselves now. Gladra was still frowning at me, but the look was more speculative than condemning. Finally she leaned over me, staring deep into my eyes. It felt like she was looking into my soul.

Her frown deepened. "This... golden woman. Did she touch you?"

"Huh?" I asked, confused, as Gladra pulled away to give me space. "Oh, no. At one point I tried to catch up to her, to take her hand, but she kept ahead of me, though our hands nearly touched." Then I remembered. "No, wait, we did touch! Right before I collapsed out, she appeared right in front of me, and held out her hand to me again. She was only inches away from me. I thought she would pull away again, but she let me take her hand. Then I was blinded by a golden light and I felt like I was burning. Then it was suddenly all over, and she was standing away from me again. I tried to follow, but that's when I collapsed and she disappeared."

The women were all staring at me in shock now. Glancing around, I let out a nervous laugh. "Look, I know it sounds crazy, but it was just a hallucination. I was hypothermic when you found me, right? People start seeing things when they get to that point."

"No," Gladra said softly, reverently. "You weren't seeing things. The Golden Goddess, Au'rea, brought you from your world to ours, and she blessed you, and led Rhaliyah to you when you could no longer walk." Her eyes widened as if in revelation while I struggled to take in what she was saying. The golden woman was real? "Of course, that's how..." Gladra trailed off, deep in thought.

It was then that I saw that the three robed women, Othri, Vlere, and Di'ia, had all backed away from my bed slightly, and were bowing their heads with their hands clasped together in some weird way, with the first two bones of their right pinkie fingers over their left pinkie, and the first two bones of their left ring finger over their right, and back to right over left for the middle fingers and left over right for the index, with their thumbs making an X at the joint, right over left. Their lips moved silently and their eyes were closed. They were praying. Rhaliyah had stopped sharpening her spear and was simply staring at me, her eyes narrowed.

That's when I started to get worried, and the impact of what Gladra had said, had implied, hit me. I had been blessed by a Goddess? Then I realized she had said something about this Au'rea leading Rhaliyah to me after I had collapsed. I looked at the ginger woman with a questioning gaze. She the look she gave me was unreadable.

Gladra suddenly shook herself from her contemplations. "I apologize, you must be weary from your ordeal. Please, rest. If you truly are from another world then you must have many questions, and we would be happy to answer them. But you should rest first and recover your strength."

"W-wait, hold on," I protested, even as Gladra herded the three robed women out of the room. "What do you mean 'blessed?' What does that mean? Is something happening to me? You can't just dump that sort of thing on someone then walk out!"

Gladra paused, glancing between her fellow priests - or so I assumed - Rhaliyah- who was still sitting on a stool across the room, spear in hand - and me. Finally she sighed, shooed the other three out, and looked at Rhaliyah for a long moment. "Since Au'rea appeared to you and not one of us, and led you to save this Man, I can only assume that she wishes for you to stay with him."

I cleared my throat. "'This man has a name, you know," I grumbled.

Gladra smiled at me. "Right, of course. Aaron Wells, you said? That's a rather unusual name."

I shrugged. "Aaron is pretty common first name where I come from. Wells is my family name."

Gladra nodded. "I see." Then she pulled another stool from by the wall and sat down beside the bed. "You have questions, yes?"

I laughed. "Yes, I've got loads of questions. But let's stick to the important ones for now. This... Aura? Aure?"

"Au'rea."

"Au'rea... she's actually a goddess? Like, an all-powerful being?"

Gladra's smile changed slightly, like a teacher whose student had just asked a question she had been expecting. Not surprising, if she was a priestess to this Au'rea - preaching was probably something quite familiar to her. "Au'rea is one of the many divines of Xeria. She is the Golden Goddess, a caretaker, nurturer, and mother, but also the goddess of fertility, love, and lust. It is said that when the divines walked upon Xeria among us mortals, she was among the most powerful, and was respected by all the other gods and goddesses."

I frowned slightly, wanting to ask about the 'gods walking on Earth - or in this case, Xeria - bit, but that was secondary to my other concerns. "Goddess of love, a mother figure... okay, so what does it mean that she's blessed me? Am I going to be a great parent or... er... er... lover? Shit, I'm not going to turn into a woman, am I?" I blurted the last bit out, then blushed. "N-not that I have anything against women, I just... I'm good being a guy."

Gladra laughed softly, then sobered. "Honestly, I am not sure, though I doubt you'll become a woman. I have read and heard many, many of the histories of Xeria from that ancient time, but I cannot recall any account of Au'rea bestowing her blessing upon anyone - least of all a male."

I raised an eyebrow. "'Least of all a male?'" I echoed. "What, she have something against guys or something?"

Gladra shook her head. "No, not at all - she is a goddess of fertility, after all, and males are required for that. It's simply that only women can be disciples of Au'rea, and in all the accounts of mortals - or immortals," she glanced at Rhaliyah with a slight nod, "only a disciple of a god or goddess has ever received a blessing. So for someone who not only is not a disciple, but isn't even from our world and has never heard of our divines, to receive a blessing from Au'rea, a goddess who has never bestowed a blessing..."

I nodded. "It's bizarre." I thought for a moment. "Okay, disciples who have been blessed - what did the blessing do for them? Did it bestow some power from their god or goddess?"

Gladra thought for a moment, but it was Rhaliyah who answered. "Jechiro, disciple of Aelor, Divine of Secrets, gained the ability to become invisible, among other things."

Gladra smiled. "Ah, yes, Jechiro, that is a good example."

I nodded to myself. "God of secrets, so invisibility - keeping yourself, your presence, secret, that seems to fit."

Gladra shook her head at me. "Divine of Secrets - none know Aelor's true sex."

"Sorry, my bad." We were quiet for a moment. "So if Au'rea is Goddess of love, lust, fertility, and also of nurturing, then I'll what, have really potent... uh... seed?"

Gladra spread her hands, palms up. "It could be so, or something else entirely, or that and more; Jechiro also knew when a secret was being kept from him, and could ensure that secrets he kept weren't discovered without his leave.

"And too, Au'rea is not just love and lust and nurturing - she is warmth and light as well, and had a strong aspect of healing and renewal. As a goddess of no small power, she had many faces, and I suspect now that her blessing is what saved your life and limbs - her warmth and healing restored you to health after nearly freezing in mere minutes - Di'ia and Vlere had hardly stripped you and wrapped you in blankets, and Othri had just returned with that soup when you awoke. You had been on the brink of death when Rhaliyah brought you in."

I thought for a few moments, trying to ignore fantasies of the kitsune and orc - for that was almost certainly what they were - stripping me naked. "Look, as miraculous as my recovery is, I'm still not sure I buy into the whole 'being blessed' thing. I've never believed in any gods - or goddesses - and I'm still not sure that what I saw in the forest wasn't a hallucination."

Gladra smiled softly. "Aaron Wells, you have a mark upon your soul - I can sense it, not only as a High Priestess of Au'rea, but also as a user of magic. Au'rea has blessed you, of that there is no question."

I made an unconvinced noise, then set aside the topic of divines and blessings. "I have another question, about... well, let's just say that in my world, there are only people like me - and you, Priestess Gladra, assuming you're human. Nobody has pointy ears or tusks or fox ears and tails, and most people are within a foot or so of my height, though I'm a little taller than average. And there isn't any magic. I'm guessing all that is a bit more common in Xeria?"

Gladra smiled, while Rhaliyah seemed to blush and look away from me, though the red on her cheeks could have been from the heat of the fireplace. "I am Human," Gladra reassured me, "and yes, Elves, Orcs, Kitsune, and Dwarves are all peoples of Xeria, though kitsune are rather rare in these parts. And tomorrow, if you're well enough to be up and about, you should be aware that among our disciples are women from many peoples. I hope that will not be disturbing for you."

I smiled back. "It shouldn't be, though I might be startled by anyone who looks distinctly non-Human. I'm pretty open-minded though."

Gladra's smile became slightly wider. "Good. Then, if there's nothing else pressing?"

I thought for a moment. "Once I've recovered, what do I do?"

Gladra blinked, looking over at Rhaliyah, who met the Priestess's gaze, then glanced at me before quickly looking away. Definitely a blush. What was up with that?

"I know of no magic to pass between worlds. If you intend to return to your world, I'm afraid you will be delving into unknown magic. But I believe that Au'rea brought you here for a reason." She turned and looked straight at Rhaliyah now. "And I believe that she appeared to you, lead you to Aaron for a reason as well. Whatever it is, I encourage the two of you to stay by each other's side, and discover Au'rea's plan together."

Rhaliyah gave me a sidelong glance, and... was that a gasp? Licking her lips, she gave Gladra a quick nod. The Priestess smiled oddly at her, then stood and bowed. "For as long as the two of you need, our hospitality is yours. And now, we all should rest. I would be happy to answer any further questions you may have, Aaron Wells, when you awaken tomorrow."

I nodded at the woman. "Thank you, Gladra. I think some sleep will definitely help." With another smile, one which morphed somehow when she turned it towards Rhaliyah, Gladra left, closing the door softly behind her. I sighed, then looked at Rhaliah, who was inspecting her spear's edge with keen interest. Was... was she going to stay here?

"Uh, Rhaliyah? Not that I'd really mind, or anything, but... you do have your own room, right?"

Okay, she definitely gasped that time, and I don't think she jumped in surprise - that was a full-body shudder. What the heck?

Rhaliyah finally looked straight at me and I was shocked by the... the need in her eyes. Was she horny? Shit, she wasn't going through some elven version of pon farr, was she? This was another world, sure, but she wasn't a Vulcan! Her ears were too long!

"What are you doing to me?" she gasped breathily. Yup; while I may not exactly be the most experienced with women, I could hear the pure lust in her voice.

Then her words caught up with me. "I... I'm not doing anything, I swear," I blurted. Then I paused, considering my next words carefully. She may be horny, but she was still tightly gripping that spear of hers. "Are you... should I go get..."

I wasn't able to finish though, because Rhaliyah suddenly dropped her spear and leapt across the room - all dozen feet of it from where she was sitting to me - gracefully landing in a crouch over me before dropping to her knees to straddle me. Her hands twisted into the blankets covering me, and she leaned down, her light-filled gaze and parted lips mere inches away from my face.

"Gods, I can't think," she moaned, taking one hand and working at her belt, which she swiftly removed.

I shifted back and sat up, my eyes wide in surprise. "R-Rhaliyah!" I exclaimed. "Hold on, what are you..." Again, I was interrupted, this time by her lips crashing into mine, and her tongue eagerly seeking out mine.

It was at that point that I said 'fuck it,' and helped the lithe elf strip off the rest of her clothes, the blankets being shoved to the bottom of the bed in the process. Once all the offending cloth and leather was removed, Rhaliyah wrapped one hand behind my head, her fingers threading through my hair, and kissed me hard again, her other hand scraping at my chest, angry red lines appearing in the wake of her nails. My hands went to her firm ass and her slender neck, holding her close as I slipped my tongue between her lips, tasting her.

When Rhaliyah shifted, pressing her crotch against my waist, I couldn't help the grin. She was soaking wet, her pussy juices already coating her thighs and leaving a slick trail across my lower belly as she ground against me. That knowledge made my already firm cock harden fully, and my length swung up and nestled between Rhaliyah's smooth cheeks, causing her to groan with lust.