This Ascent to Divinity is Lewder Than Expected

7.01 – The Temple

Enzo d'Celestin was a man of efficiency. Zoey didn't know what magic he had worked to secure them a building in Mantle's temple district in less than a full day, but magic it must have been. Then again, the red tape of bureaucracy must be far less daunting to the effective dictator of half the Fractures. Of course it hadn't been difficult to arrange something for them.

Enzo was a feared if well-liked leader—not as strange a dichotomy as a person would think, considering the nature of this world—and his word was law. Not that Enzo himself had been the one to pull strings, rather assigning the task to a 'fixer' of some sort, but he'd had his weight behind it, and that was what mattered. Having allies in high places was no small advantage.

Four of them had set off from the d'Celestin estate to visit the temple: she, Aria, Sabina, and Adrienne. Everyone who had a role to play in Zoey's strange burgeoning business-cum-religion. Aria, of course, as her high priestess; Sabina as the brewer of what would be the temple's most popular wares; Adrienne as their business manager, and who would be handling many of the more mundane aspects of both the temple and the alchemy business—since the two would be closely intertwined.

What an odd situation she'd found herself in, Zoey mused. Then again, compared to ear-fucking slime girls and dungeons filled with lava elementals wanting to pour magma-cum into her stomach … well, the word 'unusual' was starting to lose meaning.

Mantle's temple district was gorgeous and well maintained. It was situated high up the mountain, slightly beneath the homes of the lower nobility. Zoey couldn't help but find that amusing. It wasn't a codified thing, the way a location's prominence up the mountainside indicated its importance, but it was obvious nonetheless: and the nobility had happily situated their homes above their places of worship. Did that count as blasphemy?

Part of it was simple practicality, of course, with the entire city, commoners and nobles alike, wanting to attend various temples. Thus proximity to the more common districts was a necessity, but there was still humor to be found in its location.

In a place like Treyhull, despite the size and prominence of the city, many gods, even some major ones, had lacked dedicated temples. But where Treyhull was large, Mantle was a capital: the seat of power for one of the highguilds. So there was much greater variety here. Walking down the neatly paved and well-kept road, Zoey took in the sight of dozens of buildings, each dedicated to either a specific god or goddess or a collection of them.

Many, she assumed, especially the larger buildings, were general places of worship for the sprawling populace to attend. Zoey didn't think this world had a 'Sunday Service', so to say, though there were sermons and congregations of a sort on a regular schedule: it just wasn't concentrated on a single day. People attended as they felt they ought to, which personally Zoey saw as a more intimate way to commune. But she didn't hold that opinion strongly. She wasn't very religious to begin with, so she didn't have any strong opinions on the subject of religion, really.

Her secularity was maybe ridiculous, these days, seeing how she knew gods and goddesses were without a doubt real. Some of them at least. Then again, even Ephy, for all her grand power, had also come off very human in their interactions, not as some inscrutable entity. Was that because of her aspect? Lust was, after all, a trait of base nature. Carnality was closer to humanity than divinity, she assumed.

Reasonably, her temple—their temple?—wasn't located in the center of the temple district. Zoey wasn't sure she'd want it to be even if it had been possible. If she had visitors, she'd prefer them to be people who knew what they were in for. People who sought out the temple intentionally, not wandering in because the building was plopped down in the busiest part of the district.

Plus, Enzo could only pull so many strings. The larger, more prominent temples were all occupied. Finding an empty one that was still in serviceable shape couldn't have been the easiest task even with loose requirements. It wasn't like buildings in a prime part of the city were going frivolously unused.

From what Aria explained, even theirs had needed fixing up under rush orders. Fortunately, problems could be solved fast when an appropriately ridiculous amount of money was thrown at the issue, and when the world's strongest man was leaning on the organizers to get things done, so something had been arranged in time.

The temple was about sixty feet wide and a time and a half that deep: a large building, but not enormous. It was a simple yet attractive structure made of white stone, with two large glass windows flanking the heavy wooden double doors, which Zoey pulled open to invite her party inside.

The interior was likewise clean and well constructed, if nothing gaudy. Like other temples she had seen, there weren't any pews for sitting, but rather an open space with various alcoves available, meant for private prayer. At the front was an altar, currently bare; everything was to be retrofitted for their needs in the coming days. Enzo might be a miracle worker, but there had hardly been time to outfit the temple for their particular use. And Enzo hadn't even been told what that use case was. She expected he didn't want to know. Might keep informed out of necessity, but he hadn't pressed Zoey when she'd alluded to its lewd nature, and maybe he would keep his ignorance out of preference.

"I like it," Zoey said, eyes roaming across the stained glass windows, the altar, the arched ceiling. It was cleaner than she expected. After living in Enzo's manor, though, it admittedly felt plain. Not that plain was bad. "There's a basement too, right?"

"Over here," Aria said. She led them to a cubby to the back-and-right of the altar, where a door swung open to reveal a staircase down. The basement was lit with magical lanterns putting off a soft glow. It was barren down there, and smaller than the temple itself, but still plenty spacious. Larger than Sabina's previous workshop had been.

"This will do," Sabina said with an approving nod, looking around.

Some might have preferred a place to work that had windows or natural sunlight, but Sabina was of course not bothered with such frivolities.

"There's also an office space through a door to the back left of the altar," Aria said. "We can section off this basement as needed, if storage or whatever is necessary. Um, you don't need all this space, right?" she asked Sabina.

"No," Sabina said, though she didn't elaborate. Not out of unfriendliness, but simply because she was distracted: those cool gray eyes were scanning the space and cataloging where she would be putting her equipment. Zoey could tell she was pleased she'd be getting her own dedicated workspace back.

"We'll figure out the details later," Aria said. "But yes, so much space! And all clean and ready to be moved into. Isn't it nice?"

"Very," Adrienne agreed. She was also peering around, if a bit less distractedly.

They walked back upstairs and did another once-over around the rest of the Temple.

"I can't believe you found a place that fits all our needs, in the middle of the temple district, and all in one day," Adrienne said, shaking her head in incredulity. "I don't think you three appreciate how insane that is. I don't think I appreciate how insane that is, and I'm an accountant, I at least have some idea of the bureaucratic nightmare. There were some serious strings pulled, to make this happen."

"Perks to dating a Guildmaster's daughter," Zoey said.

"I'm not sure dating is the eminent word I would use to describe your relationship with Miss Rosalie, as of current," Sabina said, straight-faced. "Not from the impression I've received, at least."

All three of them paused and turned to Sabina, who quirked an eyebrow as if to say, yes, I made a joke, what about it?

"Perks of making a Guildmaster's daughter squeal every night, then?" Aria corrected jokingly. Then, she blushed furiously, going red in an instant. "W-Wait, sorry. I don't know why I said that. That was so crude. Why did I say that?"

"Influenced by the spirit of the temple, I see," Adrienne said after an amused pause in which Aria squirmed under their attention. "You are the High Priestess to a Sex Goddess."

"Well, Sex Goddess isn't technically…" Zoey trailed off. Who was she kidding? She didn't champion Ephy's 'carnality at any cost' paradigm, but the aspect she represented was most certainly sex, or at least sex so intertwined with other aspects that it hardly mattered. She coughed. "Anyway."

"S-Speaking of," Aria said, trying to move past her crude joke—which Zoey had been amused by, but more because it had been made by Aria than the content itself. "Did you decide on a name? We're going to try to open up as soon as possible, and that's one of the starter requirements."

"Name?" Adrienne asked.

"That she'll be using as a nascent goddess," Aria explained. "The name people will worship. Zoey would be fine, if that's what she decides, but…" she trailed off, looking for Zoey's input.

"You know," Zoey said. "I'm kind of torn. A part of me just wants to stick with my actual name, because not doing that feels like I'm putting on airs or something. But I am, literally: I'm setting myself up as a concept, I suppose, an icon people would pray to for good luck in like … relationships or sex or fertility or whatever. So I should put on airs, and pick an appropriate name." She chewed her lip. "But what's good? I was thinking to just steal part of Ephy's name, I honestly think she'd like if I did that, and go with Zoe'thithys or something." She shrugged. All deity names sounded long and complicated to her, so while Zoey'thithys felt like an odd name, it was no less so than the others that were standard in this world. "I'm also considering picking a name in a totally different style," she said. Honestly, she'd wondered whether she should steal names from similar goddesses on Earth; she would find that kind of funny. Aphrodite, Venus, Eros, or some other. "Or maybe like one word, Bliss or Harmony or Euphoria or something like that." Another shrug. "In the end, I think I would be fine with anything. What do you three think?"

Aria, Sabina, and Adrienne each considered.

"Paying respect to your patron goddess by taking a name similar to hers is what I would do," Aria said, which was maybe not surprising from a woman who had worked as a priestess before falling in with Zoey.

"She did mention she wanted me to 'declare myself as one of hers,'" Zoey mused. "And mimicking her name would do that loudly and visibly. Maybe that's the best, then." Being on the good side of her patron was a smart idea.

"Has a ring to it," Adrienne said thoughtfully. "Zoe'thithys. And hey, you can cheat that way: people can shorten it to Zoey, if you or they want. Best of both worlds."

"Does seem like a logical choice," Sabina said. "I would hesitate to pick a name outside of standard conventions. Names hold power, and on this particular stage, belief is your primary currency. Would a name not inherently interpreted as divine in the eyes of the common people harm your progress?"

"I didn't even think of that," Zoey said. Like usual, Sabina saw things from angles other people didn't. "Would it?" she asked Aria.

Aria blinked. "We're a little off the well-trodden path, here," the priestess said tentatively. "I couldn't begin to guess. I suppose it's possible though? Ideas and names do have power. She's not wrong about that."

"Then Zoe'thithys?" Zoey said.

Thankfully, she didn't get apathetic shrugs: everyone nodded, seeming to think it fitting. So she guessed that was it, then.

"And so a goddess is born," Sabina mused.