Chapter narrated by: Me, the most wonderful and recently incarnated goddess Aelith.
Date: It is still the 9th of the last month of the year.
I have come to a conclusion about being a mortal. I know what those little mortal heads of yours may be thinking:
"But Aelith, how are you already making a conclusion? You haven't even been mortal for an hour."
For you mortals, conclusions take time, but for someone as brilliant as me, it is the other way around. I don't take time—time takes me!
And now this leaves the obvious question in your mortal head: "Oh, what great conclusion has the goddess Aelith reached? I want her to bless me with her divine knowledge." And you are lucky, because I'm in a good mood today.
The great, grand conclusion that I, the goddess of light, Aelith, have reached is...
That being mortal is terrible.
I know perfectly well, because I have been one for around two minutes and have already almost died and can't even speak.
This body feels so strange—the need to breathe, the strange force that is pushing my body down... feet. Now I have feet. I hate having feet. I feel the fingers in them moving, and I find the feeling extremely annoying.
Honestly, no wonder mortals ask for divine intervention all the time. Even someone as amazing as me would, if I had spent all of my life living like this.
"Is the goddess... okay, Father Cedric?" asked one of the newer members of the church, a girl who, if my memory does not fail me—and if it did, I put all the fault on my new form—was called Lin.
"The homunculus body should be perfectly fine," said Halven.
Perfectly fine?
This is perfectly fine for mortal standards?
"Then what is happening to her, Brother Halven?" asked another new member.
Halven turned toward me. He was staring at me. This felt very weird—the only person I have ever felt looking at me before was Lira.
"I think the goddess just does not know how to use a mortal body."
They all turned toward me. A strange feeling appeared in my stomach, a feeling that I did not like at all.
Why are all of them staring at me?
Come on, relax, Ali. They are your church—mortals who love you so much they have dedicated part of their lives to you (who could blame them).
"Goddess, can you raise your right hand if you understand us?" said Mayreel.
Raise my right hand? Which one? I have three of them... Oh wait, now I have only one.
Let's see, I just need to lift my arm. Very easy for someone like me.
I tried with everything I could. I felt a part of my arm getting tighter beneath the skin and the arm moving a bit upward.
That bit was all I could manage.
"There was muscle contraction, a small one, Father Cedric. Looks like the goddess will need to learn how to use her new body," said Halven.
Me?
Learn how to use this vessel?
Absurd.
Completely and utterly absurd.
If anything, this body needs to learn how to handle me, not the other way around.
Besides, I have no time to waste. I have an oracle that I need to catch.
Come on, Ali, just stand up, give a powerful speech that will leave all of them in awe for being present at this moment, and go find her.
I was using all my will, and I was making it. My legs were moving slowly. Everyone was looking at me expectantly. I was going to stand up, and then...
PAM
"Father Cedric! The goddess just fell to the ground!"
"I know, Mariane, I know," said Cedric with unamusement in his voice. If anything, he had a sad tone.
How dare this invisible force pull down my body!
Now all the times Lira fell to the ground seemed less funny. They were still very funny... but not as much!
Cedric got close and kneeled on the ground, offering his hand.
"Aelith, do you need help?"
Help? If he were not Cedric, I would already be throwing a beam of light in his face for the humiliation.
"Goddess, it is obvious that you need help learning how to use your new body..."
There is no way I would accept something like—
"...the sooner you learn how to use it, the sooner you will be able to go meet Lira."
I grabbed his hand without hesitation.
He helped me stand up from the ground and hold my body so the force pulling me down would not return me to the floor.
"We will take turns teaching the goddess how to use her vessel. I expect the help of everyone here."
"Yes, Father Cedric," all of them said.
"Mayreel, Mariane, could you please take the goddess to an empty room and give her some clothes? The rest are dismissed until dinner."
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Mayreel and Mariane got beside me, holding me by my arms, and helped me go upstairs.
My legs moved slowly, each step almost returning me to the cold, hard floor and taking away a little part of my pride.
They took me to a room and helped me get dressed in a simple uniform that the sisters of the church used.
I would have liked my first clothes to be something more elegant or beautiful.
But wearing the clothes of women who dedicate their lives to me felt a bit appropriate.
It was acceptable.
After this, Mariane spent the next hour helping me learn how to sit on a chair and move the fingers on my hand.
I totally did not need a teacher for this—not even when I fell off the chair three times. Surely, I could have learned these basic skills by myself...
But having someone help did make it easier, I will admit that much.
After I was able to sit properly in a chair, Mariane took me to the table and began calling the other members of the church.
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They seated me at the head of the table (obviously). Cedric was seated to my right and Mayreel to my left.
Cedric had a sad expression on his face, the same one he has had since I entered this mortal body. I wonder if it is because he has realized that now I too will leave the church.
Surely this would make any father of any church extremely sad, even more so if it were someone like Cedric, who had started my religion all by himself.
I wanted to say some words to him, but the vocal cords of this body still do not obey my will. They are proving to be quite a challenging rival, but they are not one that will be able to stop me.
The remaining members of the church came from the kitchen carrying a variety of different foods. There was chicken, fish, bread, turnip soup, and other vegetables I did not recognize.
I took a breath, and the air now had a mix of the scent of those different foods. Maybe noses are not so bad after all. The smell of food is something I am truly liking—maybe what I have liked the most about being a mortal so far.
They all sat down and put a piece of each food on my plate, then began staring at me. Again, the same feeling in my stomach that I had felt before came back.
Why are they all staring at me?
Did I do anything?
Did I do too little?
Were they amazed by sharing a table with their goddess, or was it something more?
Cedric made a small cough, drawing my attention.
"My goddess, we are waiting for you to take the first bite."
Oh, that was it.
Mariane had taught—completely unnecessarily—how to use a knife and fork. I used her lessons perfectly and did it in record time. It only took me three minutes to cut the piece of chicken. I'm a complete natural at being a mortal.
I put the piece in my mouth, and when they saw this, the members of the church began eating.
They took bite after bite.
I don't get how they do it. I have the piece of chicken in my mouth, and my body has still not absorbed it yet. How weird.
Could it be that my body was malfunctioning?
Apparently, it was not that. Halven noticed that I had only taken one bite in all this time and told me that I needed to move my mouth to break down the piece of chicken.
"Brother Halven, stop it. You don't have to show the goddess how to do it—it is gross. Just telling her was enough," said Mareen.
"I'm teaching the goddess how not to starve, Mareen. Do you want the goddess to die of hunger?"
They began to discuss across the table, but my attention was elsewhere, on the chicken in my mouth.
I tried following Halven's instructions, cutting the chicken in my mouth using my teeth and then swallowing.
It was good, very good. So this was flavor. I liked the flavor of chicken.
Apparently, they saw that I liked it on my face because they stopped discussing and looked at me. Mayreel placed the turnip soup in front of me, telling me that I should try it next.
At first, I doubted. This was the soup that Mayreel made every time Lira played a prank on her. The soup my oracle hated.
I got a bit closer to the soup. The aroma of roasted roots and fatty broth rose in a cloud of steam. My mouth suddenly began to fill with a watery substance.
What is this? Am I leaking? Is the homunculus melting?
"You need to use a spoon, Goddess," said Mariane, passing me one.
The moment the liquid touched my tongue, my entire world exploded. It was warm and tasted of a mix of so many things. I took another gulp. My tongue was dancing.
I have decided that whoever designed the tongue... good job. You're almost as smart as me.
When I was eating the last of the soup, Father Cedric stood up.
"I'm sorry, I know it is a joyful occasion, but the day has left me completely drained. I will take my leave early."
The table was filled with goodnights for Cedric. I attempted to also say the common phrase, but my body still did not obey me completely.
Sister Mayreel stood up immediately, her face pinched with a look of deep concern. She was already moving to go after Cedric but stopped and turned around.
"Mariane, please take the Goddess to her chambers after dinner is over. She has had a... taxing first day of existence. See that she rests."
After that, she continued going after Cedric.
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After dinner, Mariane helped me go upstairs again. For some reason, this body was feeling heavier than usual, and my brain was going slower than usual. Besides all of that, my mouth was opening on its own at random times, making a random sound. It was something like:
Yawn
Mariane helped me get to an empty room and change into more comfortable clothes.
"Here we are, Goddess. This is your bed. You must sleep now."
Sleep? I'm a goddess. I don't need to sleep. The mere suggestion of that is absurd and honestly a bit offens—
Yawn
Mariane didn't even argue. She just tucked a heavy wool blanket around my shoulders and blew out the candle. "Goodnight, Aelith."
My body felt warm and comfortable. My eyes were closing on their own. So this was being tired.
Maybe I will just close my eyes for a short while and rest a bit.
No sleeping, though. That is not something that a goddess like me does.
Completely and totally not sleeping.
Completely...
...and totally...
...not..