Claustrum Chap. 8 The Gods of Claustrum Johnathan stood. He was satisfied with his new look. He bowed to Kriolle and looked towards the door. I assume thats the way I aught to go now, he thought. He looked at Kriolle and she pointed towards the door, he nodded and walked through the door. This hall way was completely dark, one could see the light at the other end, John did not like the whole feeling of it, it reminded him of the dungeon where he had spent some time. He walked quickly and reached the other end, he walked in to find him self in a green room, plants of all species could be seen, John walked towards one of the plants and touched the leaves of it, he was amazed at how realistic it was. He looked up to the glass ceiling and could see now that it was getting dark, to one side he could see the what he thought was the moon, but this moon was orange in color and about three times larger. Looks more like Mars, he thought. �Beautiful isn�t it� he herd Lady Lizbeth�s voice come from one side. �More like amazing to me� I don't think I will ever get used to this, he thought. No wonder that man called Geomar wanted to return to this place. �It�s something that some, get too used to� she said. �So I�ve herd� Johnathan looked about the whole room, curiosity got a hold of him. �So, what is this place?� he asked. �This is the nursery, Here we nurture and shape trees into anything we like� �And what does that this to do with my training?� �Nothing, of course, your training is pretty much done with� �This is more like a place to keep your self busy until dinner tonight, those that will be leaving tomorrow will be sitting at fathers table�. Johnathan walked towards a nearby bush and pulled one of its leaves, and felt the smoothness of it, after a minute or so the leaf banished into thin air. �What happened?� he asked, as he rubbed his fingers together. �If you do not have knowledge to preserve the leaf, it will disappear, that is what happens to everything that disconnects it self from the world of Claustrum� she explained. �So in another words, I pretty much need to learn a profession?� �Yes, this is a must, if you wish to live in Claustrum, and, you can also must choose a character class� �A class?� John asked. �Yes, a character class is like a title, once you have chosen what class you are going to be, you will be a little more formidable in this world, plus you have the help of the guild, where you will train your skills for the chosen class.� she explained. �What kind of class? How many classes can one take?� �There are many character classes, and some yet to be discovered, and you can learn up to two, but I�ve herd of some that can learn more than that� �But, what can choosing a class do for me? Do you have a character class?� John asked. �Yes, I�ve chosen to be a Bard� �a Bard?� he asked. �A bard, is someone that tells stories through music, they can do much more with music also, they can lead men into battle, make even the strongest men cry in fear, put anyone to sleep, a bard through music controls human and animal emotions� she explained. �That explains the music you played by my bed� �I am sorry? What do you mean?� she asked. John remembered that he had changed his appearance, then he laughed out loud. �Lady Lizbeth it�s me, Johnathan Baird, the man you nursed, from death, the death that your brother, almost gave to me� �John I did not recognized you, but how come such disguise?� �It�s a long story, but I have many enemies in this place, and I do not wished to be recognized by any of them� God, that sounded like I�m a coward, he thought. �It�s best that you disguise your self, people here are very determined once they realize who you are.� �So how do you like, my combinations?� he asked, he raised his arms in the air and turned his whole body around. �Believe it or not, you could form a city with the amount of people that have the same skin color as you, and as far as the hair goes, only but a few have that color of hair, with that skin color� �You gotta be kidding! I even saw a pink color in those pills, you mean to tell me people actually have pink skin tones here?� �Oh yes, you will be surprised at what other colors there are, for some reason the Gods like playing mind games with the inmates and people can choose to do stuff for them for rewards, and there are inmates that have a skin of a color so rare that they notorious� �Gods?� John had herd this before and needed some more explanation. �They are the creators of Claustrum, but here they took the names of a God and wish to be called so, and they have fun, at the expense of the inmates� �But why? do people call them Gods?� �Oh yes, if they are smart they will call them Gods, and each God has their own rules and requirements, and those who follow and serve them, will be rewarded and given power over many� �Do you choose to call one of these man God?� he asked. �No, I do not, I am not an inmate, therefore they cant control what I do, father does worship the Goddess Ursena however, and in return, he is feared and protected by her� �but that goes against all human morals!� John cried out. �He claims that it is only while in prison, that this way he has everything he needs and desires in Claustrum, including having us around, even do they can�t control us they can keep him from us, you know� �If you ally your self with one of the Gods, you have protection against other Gods, those that do not follow a God will have a hard life, most agnostic inmates have strong religious back grounds in real life and will rather die than bow to another, and they usually do.� �Can anything be done in real life about it?� �It would be nice, but, because they are the creators and the ones that solved the problem of overpopulated prisons, and only they and those whom they chose, have total control over what goes and what doesn't in Claustrum, they can destroy life if they wanted too� �They cant just kill anyone they want?!� he cried out. �Oh but they have, they have destroyed entire villages, because of wars against other Gods, that to them is a chess game, but to us means life or death.� You gotta be lying to me, he thought as he shook his head in disagreement. �How many of these Gods are there?� John asked. �We believe that there are thirteen of them at the moment� �You don�t know?� �Sometimes they fight and destroy one another, they do it for fun, but they always return in one form or another, plus it is said that there other Gods, that favor us and wish not to be called Gods but fellow man, yet they have the power to destroy other Gods if they chose to� �I am beginning to dislike this place� he muttered. �Once you get the hang of it, you will do fine� she explained. �I don't think I will get a hang of it� he replied. �It is hard, but here, we all help each other, well at least those of your clan� �And these Gods, give power to inmates?� he asked. �oh yea, the whole character class idea, is a way for the Gods to give power to the people� �how so?� �Well, you see...like my music, they created my music to do what it does, the enchantment that my music has, it all depends on how I play it, and how I direct the power of it� she explained. �And every class, has some sort of enchantment?� �well here we call it magic, in the real world, it would be more like illusion, but here its a make belief world, and just about everything can be done, and yes, almost all chosen classes by you will have some sort of.. magic� �what if I choose not to use the...magic� John felt uneasy saying the word, magic to him had always been a thing of illusion and trickery, but here it had a different feeling� �Well then it would be best for you not to learn a title then� �How powerful can one be after you have chosen a class?� �You can pretty much rule the whole Claustrum, if you new how to use the power� �for each power there are some requirements, that you must have, before even trying the power� �requirements? How so?� �Well yea, you wouldn�t aspect that a man with very little strength be carrying a large battle Axe, in the same if a man with very little weapons skills to be carrying a sword� �That makes sense� agreed John. �You will be given a statistics test, to determine where you are, and where you can go, with the results, they will give you options to where you need to go to learn the skills they will tell you that you can learn� �when?� �More than likely, in the next couple of days� The room grew quiet, and John seemed to be out of words. Johnathan looked around the room, Talk to her, say something you fool, he thought. �So,� as much as he would like to have something to say, he could not get the words out, he was amazed, he felt like a child and wanted to take of running, I can�t run, thats crazy. Lady Lizbeth looked at John curiously, �are you ok? You are acting kind of strange.� �Yea, my mind went blank there for a second� �There you are� a voice was herd from the other end of the room. John turned to see who was calling out. �Hello father� Lady Lizbeth responded. John gave a small nod and said �hello� The man walked towards John with out stretched hands � I am Gillium lord of this house�. �John� shaking the mans hand. �Well it seems John that you are done with your training, I assure you, it will never be done, there is always something new to learn� �Well as a matter of fact, thats one of my philosophies� replied John. The man laughed �a man after my own heart, but come walk with me� The two man walked about the room and Lady Lizbeth stood back, making her self busy with one of the near by plants. She glanced periodically at the two man to see how the conversation was going, but always returned to her work. �So my son tells me that you gave him a beat down� asked the man. �Nothing he did not deserve� �Well so I�ve heard, John� Johnathan looked at the man, he was about a foot shorter than John, his head was full of hair and so was his face. He looked like a strong man, but his belly gave the appearance of an over weight man. He wore a long robe that wrapped around his body and held together by a large leather belt with a buckle that was about the size of a mans hand. A pair of sandals that wrapped around his calf to keep them in place. He wore a large gold necklace, at the end of it, there was a glowing eye. His fingers were covered in rings of all sorts. �What is that symbol on your belt buckle?� �Ah...you have wondering eyes, well my boy that is the symbol for the Goddess Ursena� He grabbed the buckle with both hands to get a better look at it. �But how can one worship, something that is not?� �In Claustrum, it is, therefore, we must� Replied the man. �Ursena, has blessed me plenty full, and has kept me safe all these years, hell if it wasn't for her, I could not be Lord of this home and I would have never been able to see my kids� �Another thing, the only character classes that are left for those whom do not want to choose a God is that of a Warrior and a Rogue. The rest you must have a power source to be able to use it� �So yet another way to control inmates!� Replied John. �And I don't even want to get into the politics of the whole thing, you will learn them soon enough� �It�s more complicated?� asked John. �But of course, you have good and evil Gods, you cant be a Paladin worshiping and evil God. Or Berserker worshiping a good God� �This is a game to them� cried out John. �To them, yes maybe, to us is not, and we must live as best as we can, with what we are given to live with, here only the strongest survive, the weak must become a slave to the stronger, and so on� �but lets not get ahead of our selfs, you will have plenty of time to learn all of this� �Where is your son?� John asked. �He is out walking within the city� �How can you bring someone into this world, how long have they been here?� John asked. Lord Gillium looked at John then back at Lady Lizbeth, they have been here nine years� �Nine years? Have they even been in the real world since they have been here?� �No they haven�t, and I fear that its going to be a shock to them, even to my self, but we will manage, we have wealth and other family� �But why bring them here?� John asked. �Because, we have strong family unity, and I wanted to keep it that way� �How old were they wen they came?� �Lizbeth was thirteen and Brum was fifteen� �Man, they were young, I hope, that they can cope with the real world� �I don't see why not� Gillium replied. �Well one thing that concerns me is that this place is to good, for people and they learn to love it and live here, some even commit crimes so that they can return to this place� Lord Gillium look at John, his face blushed red, he looked as if he was cut, John knew that he had touch a soft nerve, but he was right, the culture shock of nine years was going to be tremendous on Brum and Lizbeth. �One thing I am glad for, is that I am wealthy John, I can make my real world, look a lot like this one� The man said then turned his face away from John�s and muttered �the other is that I too have come to like the life here� �But enough about me John, lets talk about you, what is it that got you into this place?� �I killed the man that Killed my family� he answered. �Nonsense, you can be charged for a crime like that!� �Well I got my best friend killed in the process also� �In another words, you are here for the murder of your friend� �Pretty much� John did not want to talk to much about his life and what he had been, he quickly changed the subject �So how many are leaving the House of rest tomorrow? Lord Gillium looked at John and knew that he was avoiding the subject and responded �five, including your self� �In a way I am glad to leave this place, I want to see what creativity these Gods, as you call them, have� At this they were walking back to where Lady Lizbeth was. Johnathan looked at her and asked Lord Gillium �Did you all keep your real appearance?� �Definitely, We wanted to see each other as we were, so when we returned to the real world, we would not be strangers in sight� John understood then, how much Gillium had done and worked so that everything would be perfect, for his return to the real world. �One thing I do not understand, Lord Gillium, is Master Brum, how come he is so rude to the inmates?� he asked. Lord Gillium looked to the ground and answered �He has so much power here that, it has spoiled his heart, I�ve had many talks with him about the issue, but I cannot change his mind, he will always be that way, I love him just the same, and as long as he respects and honors me, I am happy� They reached Lisbeth and she smiled at them, �well I guess we must be getting ready for this dinner huh?� she asked. She graved her fathers arm and put hers around it, then bean walking next to him, John followed but his eyes glancing up and down Lady Lizbeth�s body. She wore a pair of leather pants, dyed to a dark brown color, these were tight to her waist and legs, she has a pair of leather boots that almost reached her knees,these were of an even darker brown color. She had a long sleeve white shirt the arms were baggy and were tied at the wrists with a leather strap, over the shirt she had a leather jerkin tight to her waist, this too was of a light brown color. She looks so good, His thought was interrupted by a glance backwards from her, he quickly looked to one side in shame. They walked out of the room, into another long hall, John was used to these halls by now, but at first they were strange and awkward. Up ahead the laughing sounds of man and woman could be herd, dinner was about to begin.
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