Dance between Mortals and Immortals

Chapter 4.1

The night of the first full moon was when the annual day of the deity began. It was a day that all people would pray for the blessings of the gods and yearn for them to be given the power to rise in this world that valued strength and power over all else. The Qi would be unnaturally thick everywhere particularly at the academy where young disciples would be selecting or communing more closely with their familia or deity.

Thousands of amateur cultivators gathered at the Phoenix academy preparing themselves for the massive amount of talent that could emerge. The masters made this a huge event for it decided who would stay in the outer court or move up into the inner court which would have an enormous impact on the politics of the empire as nobles would try and secure loyalties of powerful new disciples who did not yet have loyalties.

Finally the moment arrived when the gods would enter the various shrines that were set up along the outer edges of the enormous complex. At this moment was when the disciples were allowed to go and give offerings to the shrines.

Rize wandered for a while looking for the specific shrine of the first goddess on her list. She looked over to where a small crowd of outer disciples were all meditating and praying to the goddess Bishamonten, a goddess of war.

Rize's heart was jumping with joy. She clearly chose a popular deity. Quickly getting into position she crossed her legs one over another and began the prayer that would beseech Bishamonten for her blessing if she so desired her as a follower. A Goddess of war was something that not many people would think of, but for young women who desired strength Bishamonten represented the strength to overcome foes and enemies.

"Goddess of war, Bishamonten, I implore you to answer this humble mortal's prayers and to bless me with your might. Goddess Bishamonten this mortal asks to be made part of your familia." Rize prayed earnestly as she prayed for one of the great war gods to bless her.

"I see you child. I am the goddess Bishamonten and I will now assess your request" the voice belonged to that of a powerful woman who was speaking from within her skull. It rang out causing Rize to flinch from the sudden sound.

Suddenly a force put an immense pressure on her body as if gravity had increased by several times as fast as it came it swiftly released itself on her body.

"Child I do not accept you into my familia I believe you would not be suited to the blessing I would give out to you. Leave me now and allow others into my shrine."

Rize's heart fell like a rock as she hears those words. Unsatisfied and her pride slightly wounded she got up and decided to go to the next deity on her list. Walking away from the shrine of Bishamonten she quickly walked towards her second choice which was Xarasil one of the more popular gods of fire in the empire. Images of her conjuring flames with her Ki sending fear into her foes as she walked through flames as if nothing happened caused her eyes to shimmer as she pumped herself up for the next shrine, she was seriously glad she read up on the deities before today it was an immense relief knowing she wasn't going to a lesser fire god she wanted the real deal. Minor deities if you were unknowledgeable often took advantage of the ignorance of commoner children who were accepted into the academy to gain followers who normally wouldn't choose that deity had they known the truth.

She made it to Xarasil's shrine which was equally full of students as Bishamonten with over thirty disciples all meditating and chanting prayers. As she was about to get into position one of the male disciples suddenly combusted lighting a flame his body looked like a black silhouette in the flames, but was neither screaming or harmed by the flames themselves. Rize quickly understood what had happened; he had been accepted by Xarasil and was being blessed with his holy flames.

Fire wisped off his body as he smiled with content his clothes did not burn and his Qi began to change in nature.

Closing her eyes she tried again to beseeching the fire god Xarasil. "Great fire god Xarasi---."

"NO!" Rize's eyes snapped open as she heard a voice that sounded like a raging house fire "you are not one I will accept. Be gone child!"

Rize was still dazed; she was rejected before even finishing her prayer... WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT! Rize stormed away from the fire god's shrine, her feet pounding the ground hard as she went to the next shrine on her list. She felt very much slighted by the rudeness the god treated her heartfelt prayer, her lips pursed as she thought about how angry she was at the whole situation. Rejected by two of the major gods on her list, but she still had hopes for some of the others on her list.

...

Yiseri forest goddess.

"No!"

Aiur a wind god.

"Not worthy of a wind god! Be gone like a leaf in the wind!"

Yara god of tricks and thieves

"Sorry darling you aren't my cup of tea! As much as I would like you are marked and I want nothing to do with a child of the blue eyed. Sorry lovely you are going to have to leave now I got places to be and disciples to harass!"

"So the heavens discriminate against blue eyes as well…" both rage and anger boiling inside of her as she realized that she could never escape her blue eyed fate.

Rize was fuming, she had gone to the last god on her list and even the god of THIEVES didn't want her! If she wasn't so prideful she would have sat in the middle of the path and pout, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. After being rejected by every shrine she came to they all said the same thing a big fat no... She rubbed her forehead to see if someone had actually written no on her head at this point. What did she do so wrong to be rejected by every single deity she had written? She even went to what were considered last resort deities shrines and they rejected her.

Of course there were minor deities who always needed disciples, but in reality it was important to get a strong deity who could allow her and there wasn’t a guarantee they would accept her either.

Maybe she would be stuck with an outer disciples forever and she was cursed to this life of mediocrity she sighed sitting down next to a cherry blossom tree that had just started to bud. The smell of spring was refreshing and helped calm herself.

Are there any other deities out there? She thought to herself. As she was about to resign to her fate and get up and go back to her bedchambers a single name popped into her head. Naga-Jin. Don't…be ridiculous. How can that deity whose name was so obscure that it looked like someone was erasing him from the tomes.

Maybe the god who didn't have a description would be useful at this point. It was better than nothing. She did get rejected even by the god of wisdom and learning Tenjen who would accept pretty much anyone who was rejected by the cooler deities. Rize stood up and walked towards the direction of where the shrine of Naga-Jin was supposed to be based on the tome.

As Rize reached the small clearing far away from any of the other shrines the trees in this area of the academy were overgrown and not kept up as it was mostly unused and rarely anyone came here.

Naga-Jin's shrine was made of simple wood whose paint had long since chipped off. The stones were withered from years of rain and it was obvious that little to perhaps even not one person had prayed to this god in many years. The wood had moss growing on it, the sign with his name was hanging by a single wooden cog. The whole look was that of a homeless beggar of the gods.

Rize stared at the shrine in disbelief "this had to be a joke, this was her last shot?" Her mouth hung open slightly as she tried to process the disaster of a shrine it was. Maybe he is the beggar god? Please let that not be true. She prayed to herself silently.

Perhaps he is a god of poverty or tragedy? Trying to encourage herself as those gods even though they were considered bad omen gods were still widely believed in at least and were powerful in their own right. As Rize approached the shrine, she thought to herself, maybe this wasn't the best idea... shaking her head furiously and slapping her cheeks she snapped herself out of it, it didn't matter if this was a god of s****l perversions of 13 year old girls, she needed a blessing and she needed a patron deity to help her achieve her goals.

Before she crossed her legs she decided to clean up the shrine as best she could to curry favor with Naga-Jin her last hope for a blessing from any deity she could think of in the academy. Rize reorganized the rocks into their balanced state and rehung the sign on the appropriate cogs. She then peeled off the layers of moss that grew on the wooden shrine and lastly she lite a new ceremonial candle that she kept with her just in case she needed it.

Getting into her meditative position she did one final desperate appeal to this unknown god "Naga-Jin this disciple calls for you that you may grant her your blessing and accept me into your familia. Please consider my most humble request! This servant does not know you, but would be honored to be a part of your familia."

Time passed slowly each second felt like an eternity of waiting as she meditated on the words focusing all her desire into the prayer.

After several minutes of waiting her ceremonial candle grew brighter "Who is thisss?" a voice said with a slight hissing sound "after ssso many centuriess a mortal hasss finally assked for me?"

A wicked laugh filled her soul as the mysterious god continued to speak "young girl though I have no dissciplesss I am ssstill going to tesst you to see if you are worthy... prepare yoursself!" his voice spoke with a slight hissing sound that came out like the hiss of a serpent; a hint of pleasure and enthusiasm drifted off the back of his voice.

Just as Naga-Jin spoke those words a painful burning sensation filled her veins a feeling like molten fire was being pumped through her body around her entire being. Even her soul felt like it had lit a flame. Rize wanted to scream out, but her jaws were clenched so hard from the pain that nothing, but a muffled moan escaped her mouth. The pain rose higher and higher until she arched her back in an unnatural pained expression. After five minutes the pain slowly faded, before it turned into a numb sensation.

"HA HA! Good yesss good" the sinister voice filled her head again. "You are a worthy mortal. To receive the blessing of the sserpent god of venom... Naga-Jin!"

Rize could feel a similar burning on her shoulder blade, but this time it was over quite quickly she never would have thought such a sinister god existed in the academy who normally shied away from controversial gods like gods of death or calamity, she was certain this god belonged in that category. What have I gotten myself into?

"Child you will sserve me well. After tonight you have received by blessing, use it wisely. Do not make me regret choosing you as my firsst disciple."

Rize nodded grimly not sure whether to be happy or terrified by her new patron deity. As the presence of Naga-Jin fled from her and the area the candle light flickered off leaving Rize tired and exhausted. Her whole body was filled with sweat and her complexion paled even more than normally.