76 A Bush and a Girl (1/2)

”What happened to your arm?” John sends his voice into Laurel's head.

Laurel jumps in surprise as she grabs her chest she releases a deep breath. 'I'll never get used to that,' She thinks. Laurel then looks up at the hill and gives an awkward smile. ”Um well,” She murmurs while looking around. She eventually sighs and says, ”I'll come talk to you.”

John laughs, ”Why does everyone feel they have to come up the hill to talk?”

”It's just weird,” Laurel replies with a sour face.

”It's not weird. It's convenient,” John explains.

Laurel puffs out her cheeks in frustration as she ignores John's reasoning. She makes her way through the village while thinking, 'It's easy for a bush to say. If you just talk into thin air, it looks like you're crazy.'

After a short wait, Laurel is now standing in front of John. John bobs up and down and says, ”Alright now that you're here, are you ready to talk.”

Laurel nods and explains, ”So I had another dream with the other me's. The dancing me's are named Thalia and Aglea. But they are totally different from me! They are good at dancing and are super confident.” As she goes on, she gets excited and forms a fist as her eyes shine.

John waves a branch up and down in front of him and interrupts, ”Alright, I get that those girls are awesome. What does that have to do with your arm?”

”Oh, well, after explaining what Raul Emerald told me about making promises, we decided to try it… Then with a bang, we all thought of what to do, so we recited a chant to the god of chains,” Laurel recounts with energetic gestures.

”That does explain the chain, I guess,” John sighs.

”No, I didn't get this chain imprint then… That happened before you went to sleep. But Catherine said invoking gods wasn't good. So I'm a bit worried,” Laurel admits while fidgeting and wringing her hands.

John contemplates for a bit while stroking his leaves. ”I can't say it's good. Gods that like to meddle in the affairs of mortals tend to have some goal in mind, or at least that's how the stories go. I, of course, have never met a god. Even large clans like the Harlyn clan would be loathed to pay the sacrifice necessary to consult some god.”

”They just keep popping up for me!” Laurel complains while clenching her hair in her fists.

”Yeah, it's almost impossible for gods to directly influence reality. Which means you must be outside the standard bounds of the universe during your dreams. You should be careful,” John warns.

”Have you ever heard of the goddess of chains?” Laurel asks with a cocked head and finger on her chin.

”No, but most cultivators don't pay attention to gods. Identifying one is almost impossible, ” John explains.

Laurel frowns and questions, ”why is that?”

John points up to the sky with his branch. ”since contact with gods is so hard, we don't have much information. If you are expending the effort, it's because you're in dire straights. No one would waste their one chance to call on a god for help to ask about daily life,” John tells Laurel.

After a short pause John shakes his body in the negative. ”There truly isn't any way to tell the difference between the ravings of a mad man and the truth. In your case you know a powerful cultivator that can confirm the truth. But if you were still in your old town and this happened, how could you prove it?” John points out.

Laurel frowns and thinks back. ”There wouldn't be anyone who'd believe it…”

Then he remembers, ”That's right. They'd just think you're abused or something. If you were zealous enough you might be able to build a cult. Still, that wouldn't prove the Goddess of Chains exists.” Then John remembers with a shake of his leaves. ”Oh, so then how did you get the chain marking?” he asks while gesturing towards Laurel's arm.

”Yeah, well, you see when we were going treasure hunting with Elanor….” Laurel recounts the events while rubbing her right arm.

”Come here so I can smack some sense into your head,” John commands while making swinging motions.