The Door

Chapter 4- What the Hell?

The next instant, hovering window panes immediately popped open and filled my field of vision. They read:

“Achievement Attained!”

“Achievement: Door Opener!”

“Description: You have opened the Door. You have gained the attention of the goddess Freya. This Door was no ordinary door. No. In fact, it was the personal Door of the goddess Freya. Her door has been closed for millennia.”

“Reward: New title: Door Opener.”

“Announcement: Congratulations! No man has slid through Freya’s Door for a long, long time. Freya, most often known as the goddess of love, beauty, fertility, s*x, war, gold, and clairvoyance, is also known by another name, Frigg. She is also associated with marriage, motherhood, and prophecy. This is whose door you have so casually opened. However, do not worry, for her Door is opened wide to you. Do not disappoint her.”

My brain took a minute to process what I just read. Freya? The goddess Freya? And the flavor text of the achievement. I couldn’t help but get a sense of sensualism and s****l innuendo from the context. However, I had absolutely no memory of meeting Freya if, indeed, I had. Then, after a few seconds of thought, I mentally dismissed the achievement pane only for it to be replaced by the next one:

“Achievement Attained!”

“Achievement: Door Buster!”

“Description: Not only did Freya open her Door fully to you, but upon entering you exceeded all of her wildest expectations. Due to your exceptionally mind-blowing performance, her Door is now busted! It will take time before Freya regains her composure. Until then, you will not have access to her Door.”

“Reward: New Title: Door Buster!”

Now, I was really, really wishing I remembered what had happened after walking through the rainbow colored event horizon within the casing of the mysterious Door. Freya’s Door. What did I do?

With a thought, I dismissed the achievement only for another to immediately appear:

“Achievement Attained!”

“Achievement: Freya’s Champion.”

“Description: You have exceeded Freya’s wildest expectations and thus gained her highest blessing.”

“Reward: New Title: Freya’s Champion”

“Announcement: You are Freya’s Champion. She has chosen you to champion her interests and goals. In the furtherance of her interests in love and war, she has blessed you with a Sound Body.”

“New Unique Ability attained: Sound Body- Returns the blessed person’s body to a state of perfected youthfulness. +5% Bonus to all Physical Stats.”

‘Well, that certainly explained my feeling so much younger,’ I thought.

I dismissed the notification, and another popped up:

“Achievement Attained!”

“Achievement: Freya’s Beloved”

“Description: Congratulations! The goddess Freya loves you.”

“Reward: New Title: Freya’s Beloved!”

“You are loved by the goddess Freya. You have become more than just her champion. Due to your bond with the goddess, she has blessed you with Perceptive Eyes.”

“New Unique Ability attained: Perceptive Eyes- greatly increases Perception and Charisma. +5% Bonus to Perception and Charisma. Also grants limited Foresight.

“New Rare Ability attained: Foresight (limited)- Foresee impactful events. Foresight limitations: Only able to see 30 seconds ahead.”

“Holy s**t!” I gasped softly under my breath as I reread the new title and the abilities it granted. Two new unique skills and +5% to Perception and Charisma. Those bonuses were no joke

I dismissed the notification, and the next one popped up:

“Achievement Attained!”

“Achievement: Freya’s Consort!”

“Description: Holy s**t! You actually did it! You have won the War Goddess’s hand in marriage. Congratulations!"

“Reward: New Title: Freya’s Consort!”

“You are more than just loved by Freya. She has given you her heart and her fidelity. Likewise, you have returned her love and created an unbreakable bond with her. Due to the depth of your bond with the goddess, she has granted you a final boon, Silver Tongue.”

“New Unique Ability attained: Silver Tongue- Greatly increases Insight, Persuasion, and Deception. 5% Bonus to Insight, Persuasion, and Deception. Also grants the natural use of the rare abilities: Friends, Charm Person, and Suggestion.”

“New Rare Abilities attained: Friends (special)- You are always passively under the effect of the Friends ability. Grants advantage on all Charisma checks directed toward all creatures within a thirty-yard radius that aren’t hostile. When creatures leave the affected area and are not hostile, they are left with a feeling of fondness for you.”

“Charm Person- You attempt to charm any humanoid you can see within range. It must have high Wisdom to have any chance of resisting. If it fails to resist, it is charmed until it leaves the affected area. The charmed creature regards you as a friendly acquaintance. When the charmed creature leaves the affected area, it is left with a feeling of fondness for you.”

“Suggestion- Your words have power. Any words you speak have a suggestive power. You suggest a course of activity and magically influence any humanoid you can see within range that can hear and understand you. Creatures that can’t be charmed are immune to this effect. The suggestion must be worded in such a manner as to make the course of action seem reasonable. Suggestions that would cause the creature to harm itself end the effect. Conversely, suggestions that would cause the creature pleasure re-enforce the effect.”

“What the hell?” I mumbled to myself as I read through the latest notification, and as I said, I’m an old gamer. Which means I also played some tabletop DnD, and I knew the specs of a succubus, or incubus in my case, very well, and all of my blessings and abilities so far sure made me sound like a Seducer Class.

Shaking my head, I closed out the rest of the notifications and decided to turn right and started walking. I reached the sawgrass and kept moving until I came to short, gnarled pine trees. It didn’t take long after that before I found myself deep within the depths of an ancient forest of pines, cedars, oak, and walnut trees, and somehow I knew what every tree I passed was and whether its seeds or nuts were good for eating. When I found those trees, I made sure to squirrel away several handfuls of walnuts and pecans. Then, I found a wild orange tree, and I did my best to pick every orange I could reach. It all went into my bottomless bag of holding until finally nothing else would fit inside. So, not bottomless after all.

Afterward, for the rest of the day, I walked until I found a small tributary stream and started following it. As I did this, the stream grew larger until finally it emptied out into a river. I was looking for a good place to set up camp and wash off in the river when I finally came across other living creatures!