CH546

“Just right here then?”

“Yeah, that’s fantastic, thanks Abrus.”

After he’d finished his work for the day, Ben popped through the gate to Anailia, immediately hunting down the great spirit for the wide range of materials he was going to need for that day’s project and getting his help to move it all through another gate to the city where Helori kept her main church, placing a few heavy crates of materials outside before Abrus parted to get back to his own work.

Which leaves me to see what I’m dealing with.

During the night, Ben had at least been given the dimensions of the place he’d be working on, finding it to be large, but not overly so. More akin to a local church one would find on Earth rather than a grand cathedral, but that suited him plenty. He had ideas that he’d be able to finish by the morning so long as he worked hard and then he could go back to his regular tasks.

So that also means another sleepless night for me.

Just thinking about it left him tired but that was just life. He had work to do and he was going to need to squeeze everything else into what little bits of free time he had, which in that particular case meant when he’d normally be asleep, but rather than dwell in it he decided to get to work, letting himself into the church and seeing what was inside.

“Helori, if you’re listening I want you to know I’m personally offended you call this your head church when it’s in a state like this.”

There was only a single artistic flourish to it, the statue he’d made of her back in the earth tower, but otherwise it was nothing but a room with some seats along with a podium for any priest to speak at. Or in the case of the only other person there, an apostle.

“It’s been a while, Apostle Ben,” Greeted the only one making use of the space, a bright blue starfish man that Ben hadn’t seen since he had taken part in the crafting competition what felt like so long ago now.

“Good to see you again too, Xizle,” Ben said in return, hiding any exhaustion and showing his own friendly attitude. “How are the kids?”

“Growing quickly, that’s for sure,” He laughed. “My partner already wants more.”

Ben tried to keep his expression neutral hearing that, remembering full well that having more kids would entail eggs being laid in the apostle’s flesh to eat their way out once they hatched.

“Well, hope that goes well for you. I’m assuming Helori told you why I’m here?”

“She did. I’m at your service if you require any assistance.”

“Thanks, I’ll let you know if I need anything but I don’t think it will be too bad. Give me just a bit.”

He dragged in the few crates he had waiting outside before cracking them open, finding everything he’d requested. Hundreds of pounds of coloured stones and crystals, all ready for his use.

As poorly as he felt about the fact that Helori’s church had been left barren for likely hundreds of years, it did make things easy in some ways. He wasn’t going to have to break things down or throw anything away, he could simply get to work as he let his imagination go wild.

Along with having received the dimensions of the church itself, Ben had also flipped through Helori’s holy text for inspiration, finding passages about the feats of her great believers before the fall of her old world and the trials and tribulations they’d faced together, and with all of that began putting it out for the world to see.

He treated the task as a way to train both his crafting and his magic, using the former to guide the latter as he first looked to where the stone walls of the building stood, finding windows that were far too small and warping them with his power to enlarge them without bringing the building down, creating giant holes that would soon be filled with something beautiful as he went to his crates and took out the massive volume of translucent crystals first, taking the colours of each he needed before forming them into thin sheets of all shapes and sizes and binding them together, creating scenes of battle and triumph and discovery for light to shine through, filling the room with colour by the time he was done as satisfaction filled him with the end product.

It wasn’t technically stained glass, only for the fact that it wasn’t made of glass at all, but it did fill Ben with the desire to properly work with that medium one day, even if he knew it wouldn't be anytime soon.

Once that was complete though he moved on to the rest, seeing barren stone walls, ceiling and floor, and once again went back to his crates, taking the gemstones within and cutting them into thin tiles to fit around the area, each picture he made telling stories there as well while trying to capture a feeling of glory for Helori as it slowly all came together, his magic merging them to the building itself without need for any adhesive while the hours passed and the display was built up.

By the time he was done with most of it, he was able to notice no more light drifting in through the windows, the night having long since fallen, though Xizle was still there watching.

“I don’t suppose you might have a ladder around, would you?” Ben asked, finding the answer to be a no.

“I’m sorry, there hasn't been much need. Would you like me to try and find you one?”

“Nah, it’s fine, give me a second.”

He went out to the discarded piles of stone that had previously been part of the walls and took what he needed, shaping it to serve him before carrying it back in and setting up, taking a long look at the ceiling as he envisioned what to place down.

Looks like this world has officially got its own Michelangelo. He briefly laughed to himself before falling to an abrupt silence, the sudden thought changing his mood in a way that was clear to the one with him.

“Ben, is everything okay?”

It seemed like the answer was a firm no, but Ben tried to wipe it away.

“It’s nothing, doing this just reminded me that there was a time I was aiming to be a professional artist.”

“I’d say you’ve succeeded from the looks of it, this is beautiful.”

“Ah, well, maybe. It’s just a little different but… Sorry, ignore me, I’m just in a bit of a weird mood.”

He was now manufacturing hundreds of weapons each day to help with a war. Even though he loved blacksmithing now that he was doing it, along with alchemy and wood and stone working and everything else he’d gotten to try, in that moment it just really struck him how far he’d gone from what he’d envisioned for himself back on Earth, a feeling he was doing a terrible job of keeping to himself.

“Then tell me about it, it’s what I’m here for after all.”

“There’s nothing to tell. Life and death just don’t always go as expected.”

Ben appreciated the offer, but it was something he didn’t know how to talk about. A sudden feeling that he was sure would leave just as fast as it had come upon him so he did his best to ignore it the only way he knew how. Getting back to work.

He knew where he wanted to place each tile already so he did it as mindlessly as he could, letting himself get lost in the task until it was finally finished, the design of Helori’s church complete.

The building had changed from a barren landscape to a work of art, every inch of it dedicated to trying to show off the goddess’s grace and Ben couldn’t help but feel a bit of pride.

Helori, you around yet? Come on and tell me what you think.

<I think you’ve hidden ninety-two depictions of Myriad in all of this.>

You missed eight then, but aside from that.

<It looks good, I’m more than pleased, even if there’s now a hundred hidden cubes in all of this. Was that part really necessary?>

It’s just a fun little easter egg, it’s basically unnoticeable unless you’re specifically searching for it.

<Well, what’s done is done, thank you for your work Ben.>

Even if she wasn’t showing it, she really was thrilled. There weren’t many artists who gave her faith, let alone any with an awakened skill, so to have Ben do so much to liven the place was more than she’d hoped, certainly enough that she didn’t mind a few subtle depictions of Myriad snuck in there.

No problem, now I’ll just squeeze in a quick nap… I don’t have time, do I? Okay, never mind, back to Stonewall and back to work I guess.