[Flashback] The Manipulator [Bob Barton]

[Templar]

73rd of Summer 505 AV The Temple of All Gods had fallen silent. For it was nearing the eleventh bell in the evening and all honest men had gone to bed. Yet the Temple was still well lit. The candles burning brightly as the midnight neared. However, despite the unusual silence, the temple was not deserted. There were some individual still hunched forward with their elbows leaning against the pew in front of them. Silently in prayer. Desperately seeking divine guidance. Sitting on the second front row, halfway in ,was a sackcloth wearing man. The sackcloth was white with perhaps a slight gray hue about it. He was not in prayer, however, for his chin was supported by his elbows that rested on the pew in front of him. His intelligent eyes staring straight at the raised platform. He seemed deep in thought, unlike the other people scattered in the room. He was unshaven with stubbles visible across his cheeks and above and below his lips. But it hardly seemed the man took notice.

[Bob Barton]

A temple, isn't that where all the religious wahoos go to? Bob was not religious. Heck, he preferred to keep the stance that if he keeps away from the gods then they will keep away from him. A very good position in life. No way he wanted to become a god's plaything like his akalak friend Xalet. So why was Bob at the temple? Simple. His akalak friend preached about the gods too much for the past few days and it made Bob look...stupid in comparison. They may be gods and Bob does not even know if they are real but everyone else took them seriously so knowing more about them would be good.

Bob stepped into the temple. It was so late that only the crazy devouts and the crazy Bob would be here at this hour. Well, it was the only free time he had after wasting away the whole day with Xalet just like every other day. Bob gave a little chuckle and looked around the temple and saw everyone too busy praying to gods knows who and for gods know what.

Not wanting to join in useless prayers, Bob took a seat at the back to watch how stupid everyone was being. He just took a look down the rows in front of him watching how everyone was. What were they thinking and asking for? That one must have a dead relation or something seeing his depressed face. Oh, that woman must be having money troubles seeing the way she is shabbily dressed. No doubt that man was a fanatic. I mean look at him. He is just acting too normal over here even with the sackcloth in the temple compared to most of the other people. Finally, a kindred spirit among all this wahoos.

Better him than anyone else here. Bob got up and made his way through the third row, squeezing in through all the people to get to the middle right behind the man. He stared right at the raised platform to try and see what this man was so interested in but there was nothing. "So...what is someone like you doing over here? You don't look like the other people." It might have been a little bit rude but if the man got offended by that so easily then it would just mean that Bob misjudged him.

[Templar]

oocTerribly sorry for the massive delay! Devan did not notice that the man had sat down behind him and he jumped on the pew as the man surprised him. Goosebumps appeared on his neck and a shudder went down his spine. Devan hated when people snuck up on him. Snapping him out of his own thoughts immediately as he turned to watch the man. He looked quite annoyed, he had been so close to reaching a breakthrough in his thoughts. But when he saw the man, the annoyance was replaced with surprise and curiosity. What a peculiar man! He looked quite short, even for someone who was sitting. The size of a child, perhaps, but with the looks and voice of a man. Very interesting. If he had been rude, Devan had forgotten it already. "Likewise." He started "And, I... Work here. I help people if they require guidance." He explained. "Is there anything I can help you with?" He offered.

[Bob Barton]

It seems that Bob was wrong. This man was not like everyone else in the building because he was something more, or less depending on how Bob wanted to interpret the sackcloth which he finally noticed now that he got the man's attention. Xalet must have been pushing him more than he had thought. The same Xalet who has shown Bob his ignorance in something that most people in Mizahar firmly believes in and since admitted that he worked in the temple and offered, "how about we talk a little bit? While I do not need any real spiritual guidance, I could use some exposure to everyone elses beliefs."

To start of with Bob expressed his stance on the matter of "how is it that these people can believe in something bigger than themselves? Something that they can't see or something that does not affect them?" The same thing that he told Xalet on the same season. "At least that was what I used to believe until a friend of mine used that mark thing on me..." he explained as he looked at his hands before trailing off to a quiet but discernible word "...hypocrite..." since everything the akalak said against the one called Sagallius was done the same to him with his Luminance.

After a few moments, Bob would remember to explain that "it was not the goddess who did anything but one of her followers and I don't like that at all. It was like something came over me and changed me?" Starting to speak louder and more energetic, "it was like the greatest feeling in the world which wants to do nothing but lead you to your doom, doom!" Bob does not want a repeat of that. Running straight into danger without caring about his own well being is going to get him killed one day so "I need you to tell me if there is some way that I won't fall into her control again." If the man asked it should come as a surprise that the manipulator that Bob was talking about is not Sagallius, but rather one of the goddesses that he opposes that is "Priskil."

[Templar]

Devan listened to the peculiar sized man as he spoke. Soon it became very clear to him, this man had been touched by the powers of the gods. Not directly, but through one of their many mediums. He stayed his tongue and listened to what he had to say. "What goddess are we talking about?" It did indeed surprise him. How could anyone be against the surge of hope that the mark of Priskil gave. But that was beside the point. Some mortals preferred that greater powers not meddled with their affairs. Devan had a hard time understanding those people. "First off, the gods have affected you your whole life. Each time winter comes, it is the great lady Morwen who travels the lands. But to answer your question. You can seek protection from a different god or goddess. Rarely do the gods want to mess with one another's subjects. But you would just be trading the influence of one god to a different one."

[Bob Barton]

No one understood Bob unfortunately. He was a man who only wanted to live long and happy. That hope that the mark gave him as he explained was nothing but doom especially when it led him straight into danger. What if those promises of victory were false as he thought it was after he learned about the effects of the powers? He would have been dead. Dead and lost until a patrol of knights or a group of explorers chanced upon his and Xalet's body if it was not eaten by animals first only to be forgotten forever and ever after a few days. "No...I cannot allow it to happen again..." he quietly remarked when he heard the man talk about trading influences.

Where did this leave him? Be it that "the lady comes with the winter..." but following an argument that he once gave the akalak that he will not believe in anything that does not affect him, "...she does not do anything to me does she?" That was in fact the truth. Bob was not a subject of anyone else and Morwen following the example does "not anything that she isn't already doing to everyone else." So that was something that Bob knew perfectly well and now what he wanted was "how do I keep it that way?" Not only with Morwen but with everyone else as well.

Though one thing for certain, Bob did not stay safe for so long despite his shortcomings because he was strong. He did have to seek protection under someone else who was bigger and better than anyone else at times. That was how the world was and supposing that he needed protection from someone else, "who would be the gods that Priskil would not mess with?" Bob's own knowledge about the divine were limited but for a few swears here and there unless some people might have tried talking to him about them like now. In one such conversation, the Akalak follower of Priskil told him some. Aquiras? No. That was the lover. It was...

"Sagallius?" The man who was once mortal which Xalet talked about with such disdain but to Bob that position was one that he could relate to and perhaps see Sagallius differently compared to the rest of the pantheon. But it was still dangerous all the same because manipulation was suggested along with his name bit it was not him who intruded into Bob that time. Blinded by the desire to not allow that again, Bob asked "what about him?" He sounded the most suitable so far if Bob wanted the protection but if it ever came to that he needed to know more. "Why is he called Priskil's enemy?" besides from the selfish fact that she lost her lover to him.