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awkwardgtace · 2 months

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City of Opulence

day 11 opulence. I might get something out tomorrow, but it's unlikely. we might pick up day 12 in a weeks or so.

Felix is desperate to atone for the sins the former god of prosperity committed.

City of Opulence

Felix did his best to atone for the sins of his predecessor. He was uniquely aware of them in comparison to the others. His room hadn’t moved or become fit for him when he arrived. He had to fix it himself and when he did he found the old god’s trophies. Golden statues had been hidden all over. They were shaped to look like a variety of mortals. All stuck in moments of terror.

He tried to send them away, but it didn’t work. The truth of that made him sick. Those statues were, at least at one point, the very mortals they looked like. Felix decided to show them a respect his predecessor did not. Cleaned each and every one of the former mortals. The god before him was a slob.

That hadn’t been enough for him. He sought out a place in the mortal realm. One that gave a lot of open space, away from the societies of the world. Felix carefully crafted a shrine. Piece by piece.

The floor first, crafted out of the finest material he could make. Soft to the touch, but sturdy all the same. The walls were made of a stone so dense only he could move it. He included windows made of transparent gemstones. It took a lot of time to get them just right. He wanted to make sure the light would glitter and make the ones who suffered shine.

Felix placed each of the mortal turned statues in the shrine he crafted. A spot made for each that would keep them stable. Nothing would ever cause these former mortals to break. He’d guarantee they stayed whole.

Once the last of the statues was in place he had to make the roof. It took time to decide on the right material. Something dense, to protect them from any weather. Sturdy enough that it would never fail them. Light enough that if something went wrong it wouldn’t hurt them. As he considered his options something started to take shape. Before long a solid roof was in place on the small shrine he made. A material he’d never seen before. It was exactly what he pictured. He called it mortalis.

For more than a century the shrine was all that existed in his corner of the mortal realm. A place where he visited on occasion to pay his respects. An attempt to offer apologies for how someone of his domain caused pain. He thought that was all it would ever be. Until the first time he heard a mortal’s prayers echo in his head.

“Help, please help! This can’t be how prosperity is granted!” the voice screamed.

Felix blinked and he was moved. Another spot in the mortal world. The prayer to him was louder. He often avoided mortals directly. The sins of his domain left him reluctant. Delphia gave him at least a bit of confidence. Enough that when he found the crowd of humans he grew curious.

It took more effort than he expected to get close enough to see them clearly. The houses felt much smaller than he’d expected. He worried he’d break one, at least he could fix it. Once close enough he could see a single human woman trapped in the center. A pose that reminded him of the golden statues.

She screamed as one of the others approached. The staff the other held caught his attention. A magic that made him shudder bled from it. Gems formed an eerie glow. Red despite the prevalence of jade. The woman fought against restraints.

At first, Felix planned to back away. It was better not to interfere with mortals. It could cause too much of a problem in the long run. Make the mortals suffer for things outside their control. Then the staff touched the woman’s leg. The same gold of the statues fed into her skin.

“Please! Let me go!” she begged.

Felix’s mind went blank as he acted. The crowd of humans shouted when his shadow covered them. He didn’t care. His fingers easily pushed the staff away from the woman. The force cracked the gems, the magic dissipated instantly. Prayers hit his mind again. The woman’s were the clearest despite the voices of the crowd coming through. She begged him to spare her.

“What are you doing?!” he growled. The prayers stopped. The one with the staff stepped forward. Felix wrapped his hand around the woman. Lifted her off the ground. She didn’t fight him, it was like Delphia. The little gem had been too afraid to speak her mind at first.

“L-Lord of prosperity,” the staff wielder said. “W-we have struggled and intended an offering for your blessing. H-have we chosen p-poorly?”

Felix narrowed his eyes. Stood to his full height. A part of him wondered if the mortals ever noticed the gods had changed. That they were no longer the ones who enjoyed acts of cruelty. These ones didn’t. Rhys had mentioned worshippers of his own hadn’t either.

“Actions like this won’t grant you my favor,” he said. He made a point to speak loudly. Pressure that the god of prosperity had turned against pain for profit. “Causing pain would more likely grant you my ire.”

Felix left before another could speak. He took a deep breath as he appeared back near the shrine. Near the proof of sins done in the name of his domain. He sat down next to it before he brought the woman up to his face. Carefully moved his fingers to see her clearly.

Brown hair, dark skin, and a leg made of gold. Felix brought a finger close and touched it. The same magic he didn’t understand. It made his eyes burn. Another suffered because of a past he had no control over. An innocent hurt in his name.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. The woman moved. Pulled herself from the tip of his finger against her leg. Her small hands felt a bit cold. Not how a mortal’s skin should feel. He knew that, even Delphia was too cold. “I should have acted faster after I arrived.”

“What are you going to do to me?” the woman asked. Her voice cracked. Felix closed his eyes. The burn in them grew stronger. Too strong to fight back. A tear fell free. He managed to catch it before it left his skin to form a gem.

“I’ll give you a home here, a place safe from the eyes of others. You’ll want for nothing, but you're free to leave at any time.” He opened his eyes, put his finger on her leg again. “I don’t have a solution for your leg, but I’ll make sure it never causes you pain.”

“I-it’s true isn’t it?” Her hands touched his finger. “The gods did change. I-I was right to beg for your help.”

“It’s true, under my protection you will be safe.”

“Thank you.”

The woman started to cry. She buried her face into Felix’s finger. At first he froze, but knew she needed comfort. More than what he could give the way they sat. He pulled his finger free. She rubbed at her eyes, but he quickly pulled her to his chest. Held her over his heart. The little gem was comforted like this, he could only hope it worked with others.

As she cried he focused on her. Tried to understand the woman in his hand. Started to form a home in his mind. It had to be easy for her to move around in. She might need a wheelchair. He had no way to know if she could walk with a leg of gold. Anything she could need had to exist. The same things he did for the little gem with Rhys.

The house formed. The same materials used for the floor, walls, and roof as the shrine. The windows were designed after the stained glass art he’d learned about in the last few decades. Big enough for her to have all the space she needed. The woman shifted as the house completed. Her golden leg filled his mind. He gasped when the final product sat in front of him. It had an exterior of glittering gold.

“I’ll have to remake that,” he whispered. The woman struggled in his hold. He curled his fingers over her, she was shorter than Delphia. Less than half the height of his smallest finger. He put his hand on the ground and slid the woman off. “My mind shifted as it formed, the gold wasn’t intended.”

“Is this for me?” she asked. Felix offered her a soft smile.

“A home that will leave you needing nothing. You’ve been cursed because of me. I will care for you all of your life.”

“It’s… beautiful.”

The woman climbed to her feet. Limped forward, the gold wasn’t as heavy as it could have been then. He waved his hand for a wheelchair to appear in front of her. She looked up at him with a smile he didn’t expect. Appreciative and warm. She’d never struggle in her life after what she’d been through. Felix would protect anyone hurt in his name.

That creed stuck with him. More prayers came that begged for help. Mortals of all kinds had this belief that one turned to gold would give them his blessing. Elves, dwarves, giants, fae, and more. At every ritual he found he destroyed the magic they tried to use. Warned that another attempt would cause his ire. Then take the victim away. He brought each to the same spot as the shrine and the woman. What had once been a solitary sign of past sins, grew to a city of his atonement.

As time passed the prayers slowed down. The mortals started to show their age. A part of him was afraid of the day they’d be gone, but the community continued to grow. The mortals formed families. His visits almost always included someone asking him to bless their relationship or introducing a child.

Each year, when he would spend a day focused on the shrine, they did too. Offerings to those trapped by a spell he didn’t understand. The ones who knew magic would try to break it. He knew it wouldn’t work, but appreciated the attempt. A god’s magic could only be broken by someone just as powerful.

Every attempt made him consider asking one of the others for help. Lord Life had enough power and knowledge to help. It was something he couldn’t bring himself to reveal. The past sins would be easier than his new ones. Lord Life and Lady Death always pushed them to avoid interfering with mortals. He’d gone against their wishes. One year the choice to bring it up was taken from him.

“Felix,” Lord Life said as he returned from a shrine visit. It had been longer that year. More attempts were made. “I have something I think you could use.”

“Oh? What would that be?” he asked. Lord Life held out a bottle of a bronze liquid. An eye dropper on the tip. It was carefully placed in Felix’s cupped hands.

“This should reverse that gold spell from the old prosperity. It’ll be easy to make more if you run out of this batch.”

Felix nearly dropped it. The solution to his problem was dropped into his hands without any effort from him. Before he knew what he was doing, his arms had wrapped around Lord Life. It was still hard to believe that acting familiar was something the powerful god wanted. Yet arms surrounded him, hugged him back.

“Thank you Vitus,” Felix whispered. A hand was placed on his head.

“Sorry it took so long. I don’t think I could have made it sooner even if I’d known longer,” Lord Vitus said. Felix swallowed a million questions. Called up his door and disappeared before anything more could be said. They could talk later.

He arrived in the city late in the day. For the first time he saw the aftermath of his shrine visit. A more somber feeling sat among the people out in the open. A pain that looked to mirror his own. Those whose attempts failed were being comforted, this wouldn’t happen any longer.

“We’ll do it next year and make him smile,” one said. He stepped closer and took a seat before he became visible.

“There’s a chance there won’t be a visit next year,” he said. The others were shocked, but only one approached him. The same woman he’d first saved. Her hair had grayed and her skin was wrinkled. Her leg stayed a solid golden reflection of her age at the time

“Lord Felix, what do you mean?” she asked. He carefully pulled the roof of the shrine off. Set it down away from the city and placed the bottle Lord Vitus gave him next to himself.

“I’ve been given something that should help, a gift from another god.”

“I thought you kept this a secret from them!?” Fear in her voice, a fear he might have placed.

“They learned of the past, they offered help. I’m going to try it.”

She nodded. The others of the city gathered around him. For once it scared him. This could kill the ones he tried to set free, but it could save them too. Give them back the life that they never should have lost. He grabbed a giant first, they looked like a doll in his hand. He grabbed the eyedropper from the bottle, careful not to let the solution fall.

With a small prayer to Lord Life that it would work, he dropped it on the giant in his hand. After a few seconds he could feel something about them. Something alive. As he felt more, he started to form a home in the city for them. One that matched the time they’d left and offered entrance into the modern times.

The giant’s look of fear became one of shock. They took in a series of deep breaths. Felix set them down near the house he’d made for them. Other giants approached them to help. He moved on to another. Continued the process with each of the statues from the shrine.

It took days to finish. He worked without pause. Each was given a house suited to them. Just as he did with the others he’d saved. The denizens of the city took shifts to help those who only just woke up. The golden city he’d made tripled in size.

By the time he finished there was none of the solution left. Those only partly gold would need to wait. The dozens of mortals turned into trophies were gone. Alive. Tears fell from his eyes, gems filled his hands as they landed. The sins were finally gone.

“Lord Felix,” the first woman said.

“Yes?” he asked. His voice was thick, he couldn’t stop his tears.

“Could you fix the shrine?” He nodded, but didn’t move right away.

“Is there a reason?”

“It’s the first thing you made for mortals, isn’t it? I think it’s a good idea to use as our shrine to you. It started our city.”

More tears fell, but Felix did as he was asked. So long ago he made something in a poor attempt to atone. Sins of his domain were finally undone. A city of gold formed from it. A place of opulence that he’d continue to care for until the mortals left it. Golden curse or not, they were under his care and he’d prove the faith they placed in him was earned.

#gt #g/t #giant/tiny #giant tiny #g/t writing #gt writing #gianttiny #gt community #g/t community #seerandthegodsau #oc: felix #gt july #gt july 2024 #g/t july #g/t july 2024 #gt july opulence

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