The Primal Hunter

Jake had to admit that it was actually quite impressive he could have so many talks with Miranda without ever bringing up the subject of gods. He had honestly just come to assume everyone knew about gods being a real tangible thing. Maybe his view on the topic was a bit skewed, though. Just maybe.

So, when Miranda came to his lodge for their weekly meetup, and she brought up the topic, Jake just listened as she ranted a bit about someone wanting a temple. Apparently, a follower of some god had come, and Jake’s first question was upon hearing this was just:

“Oh, who?”

Which got a perplexed look from Miranda, who clearly hadn’t expected that to be his first question.

“What do you mean?” she asked, trying to get him to reclarify.

“The name of the god. Or title; a lot of them prefer to go by titles over their actual names, I heard,” Jake tried to explain, as Miranda just looked more and more confused. He didn’t help the situation by casually rubbing the belly of the bird on his head.

“I… didn’t get a name… do you know something I don’t, about this so-called god?”

At this point, Jake realized there was quite a knowledge-gap when it came to divine stuff. Thinking back, he never mentioned anything about gods to her before, and without meeting one herself, it was quite natural she didn’t know about it.

He reckoned many people had met factions or people associated with gods… but Haven only had citizens from limited areas. Abby only recruited people from her own tutorial, Neil and friends coming from that same one, and Miranda’s tutorial didn’t have any divine involvement as far as he could tell. At least not on the surface.

The same was true for the fort. Jake had yet to hear anything about gods from them, and clearly, Phillip wasn’t blessed by any. I guess it’s time to bring her up to speed.

Jake could see many issues arise in the future if Miranda remained ignorant about the fact that a bunch of bored gods likely fucked around behind the curtain and had many followers on Earth doing their bidding.

“So… here’s the deal…”

The entire night was spent with Jake giving her a bunch of exposition that would make everyone complain if written in a novel and dumped all at once. He didn’t really bother hiding anything, which got many confused looks and questions when he said that he was blessed by a god but wasn’t really a follower of a god. He didn’t give any too personal details, just saying that he was on good terms with a few gods, which in itself was enough to screw over her understanding of divinity.

“Gods are just people who got extremely strong. Some are assholes, some are nice. Well, from what I gathered, most tend to be arrogant asshats towards mortals, but I guess they did kinda earn it. I got lucky with the ones I met, I guess,” Jake said, shrugging.

That was just his understanding of gods… and he had a feeling he wasn’t wrong, even if his interpretation was a bit simplified. Villy honestly was just a dude - an extremely strong and immortal dude, but still a dude. And as Villy had said: one doesn't become a god without at least having a bit of arrogance. The audacity to believe that you of all people can achieve godhood was just inherent to divinity.

“I… this changes a lot… the ideological differences between gods will trickle down to their followers and inadvertently lead to conflict… if we keep recruiting as we are now, there will without a doubt come parties with opposing religious views… wait, what does the god you follow, eh, I mean befriended… what is this god’s faith?” Miranda asked, after sitting in contemplation for a while, taking it all in.

She didn’t believe that Jake was lying for even a second. He had no reason to. So either he was some delusional fanatic himself, or he was actually telling the truth. And while she did think he was pretty weird, she also saw him as relatively sane.

“Eh… not much? He said faith isn’t really a big thing for him… but he does have an Order…” Jake answered. Had Villy told him what his whole Order was about? Jake didn’t remember…

Miranda, sensing Jake was unsure, swiftly moved on with the conversation. “Back to the whole temple-construction business. Should we allow it then? What if others come and ask for the same?”

in,” Jake said. She had described the monstrosity of ore and stone that the man

idea either and is adamant about not making it. Personally, I am also against it, but it could be dangerous if we offend some divine being

someone bring him here,” Jake said, after thinking a bit. “I’ll handle this

for a few more minutes before she went to get that

faith, but since I

and just when he questioned if he caught the god at a bad

A statue or a church or whatever on your tiny planet won’t help me much

they can bring outside help to your universe, and when

and power gives freedom. I like people who try, and I despise those who don’t. I hate those who surrender to fate, and I give a big thumbs-up to those that tell fate to go fuck itself. Actually, you are quite a good Chosen now that I think about it. Oh, and if you really want to do something religious for me, I am still open to mass ritual sacrifice.

a snicker before turning a bit more serious. “But seriously… if you

me nothing; at least I am not keeping a score. But I’ll

luck conquering the multiverse or whatever you’re up to,” Jake answered with a sincere smile. Soon after, he felt the presence of the Malefic Viper fade, and everything returned to

him a bit when they first met, it was just Villy doing him favors over and over again. It felt like having that one friend that always brought you out to do cool shit and

just too weak to be of any help, Jake admonished himself. He didn’t feel like he was slow. The gap was just absolutely enormous, to begin with. But it wasn’t like

much longer before he felt Miranda and a man enter the valley. Jake took the little bird off his head and put her on a pillow

Miranda. The man looked to be in his late fifties to early sixties, with finely combed hair and a big fake-looking smile on his lips. He instantly rubbed Jake the wrong way, but he didn’t let it show. Mainly because of the mask

the newcomer as he loudly exclaimed: “Honored City Owner, I am delighted that we could finally meet. I shall not waste your precious

any of the charisma. He was closer to some traveling salesman than a priest or preacher… and he had the audacity to try and openly recruit Jake to join his

paused briefly before

using an offensively pathetic mental skill to try and sway me while being insufferably annoying… no, not really,” Jake answered, instantly seeing the man pale a bit. “As for your whole preaching shtick… who is the one that blessed

is no

“Name. Of. God.”

follower of Terauasniom, the great shaper, he who forms the mountains

shitty temple elsewhere. I don’t give a shit what you practice in your own time, but don’t go around preaching like a lunatic. You can find somewhere else to

don’t think you comprehend the situation. Terauasniom has tasked me with bringing this Pylon under

and definitely not Tera-something’s. I don’t give a shit about your god, and I don’t give a shit about any

anything as Jake let his aura press down on

has any complaints, he should bring it up with me directly. And if you have any complaints, then you and your followers can just fuck right off. I don’t need you, and I most certainly don’t need some shitty god that isn’t even

sounded a lot like apologies, but not to Jake but to his god for Jake’s blasphemy. Honestly, he couldn’t help but consider giving the guy an arrow in the knee at that moment. He didn’t, mainly because it would make the man leave his valley

he was gone, Miranda turned to him with a hint of

choice. He can choose to leave now, get in line, or he can become an example of what happens to those that don’t listen to the soft

he will just leave or

to leave, we can just remove him. One

Miranda coming by to tell Jake that the man left with his followers. Jake couldn’t help but think he would likely become