The Misadventures of a Terrestrial Anomaly

The mist haze dissipated, and she looked around. She turned and saw a girl made of crystal-clear water. Charlie threw her hands over her mouth as she squealed loudly. The stereotypical cute anime magic water girl put her hands on her hips. Her icy skin was covered in dark blue water covered her like flowy robes. Her long hair floated like she was in water with bangs crossed over the front of her large, vacant eyes.

Under the effect of Godly Presence.

Godly Presence: There is a high-level person in your general area. Their presence is known to strike fear into the hearts of others. All those in Godly Presence have disadvantage against that creature.

Fury radiated from her noticeable to everyone, but Charlie. She was still halfway sure it was a dream. An animalistic urge to squeal took over her and she approached the elemental with open arms.

“You are SO cute!” She put her hands on the girl’s shoulders, “Can I hug you?!”

Charlie moved to hug the girl, but her arms waved through the water. After a moment of shock, she was thrown back.

“How dare you touch me?!” The girl’s voice boomed, “I am a goddess of water! You will pay for your insolence!”

A deadly curse has been cast on you.

Curse: Wrath of Water

Wrath of Water: All the liquid is drained from your body. Loose seven thousand health. The caster of this spell absorbs your health, and gains experience equal to half of all points drained.

This curse can only be cast at God-tier levels due to the ability to instantly kill a creature under three thousand health points.

“That’s not nice,” Charlie furrowed her brow, “I was just giving you a compliment.”

You are immune to Godly Presence and Wrath of Water.

The young goddess’s jaw dropped as if she heard the announcement. She sputtered about angrily as her spell did not take effect. With the flick of her wrist, more of these notices echoed in Charlie’s mind until a new one appeared.

Racial ability identified: Anomalous Immunity

Anomalous Immunity: An unexplainable ability that negates damage in UNKNOWN circumstances. This ability is permeant and non-transferable.

“I don’t think that’s going to work.”

“How?” The water goddess steamed, “How did that not kill you? How can you stand against my will?”

“Honestly? Not sure,” She bowed, “I’m Charlie. It’s nice to meet you…?”

“Puddles,” She crossed her arms and sneered.

“A water goddess named Puddles?” Charlie squealed happily, “You keep getting cuter!”

An icy fist slammed into her stomach. She gripped the forming bruise and spat out a bit of blood.

“You hate being complimented, don’t you?” She laughed, “Maybe let all these nice people go and we can go somewhere else to talk?”

“My benevolence will let this slide, but you are the rudest person I’ve ever met!” Puddles huffed and crossed her arms, “Navara, bring her to the interrogation chambers!”

Quest “Exploring Oasis” completed!

Navara ushered the group to the temple. She led the group to a secluded room and motioned to the simple table with four chairs.

Charlie childishly kicked her feet from her tall chair after she sat. Puddles kept her face scrunched as they spoke. Navi, to the best of her abilities, tried to keep the conversation civil.

“Why did you want us to meet?” Puddles blew a raspberry, “Why should I even concern myself with her?”

“Oh, come on!” Charlie grinned, “We’re going to be friends. I just know it.”

Davon snorted when the unbridled confidence shocked the lesser water goddess. His mother’s damage control only seemed to anger her further.

“Your eminence, I know you are busy but—”

“Where did she come from?” Puddles skipped the introduction.

“Not around here,” Charlie smiled, “I’m something called a – what was it again?”

“Identify.”

Water swirled in the air around her. It splashed over her skin with an icy backlash. She shuddered as the screen appeared between them.

You’ve been identified!

Name: Charlotte Leah Watkins!

Race: Terrestrial Anomaly

Class: ERROR

Subclass: ERROR

Level: ERROR

Status: ERROR

Location: ERROR

Racial Abilities: Anomalous Immunity

Active Traits: ERROR

Passive Traits: Southern Charm

The goddess tried not to have a physical reaction, but her eyes widened.

Puddles pursed her lips, “I see.”

“You can see that too?” Charlie waved to the screen.

“You shouldn’t be able to see it,” Her hand rippled the water on her face, “How can you see it?”

“Don’t know. I keep getting told to contact an administrator. Any ideas?”

Puddles let out a large groan “Alright. Navara, good job bringing this nuisance to me. I’ll ask Ocean what we should do.”

“Is that like, your mom?”

The three of them turned to her with wide eyes. Charlie shook her head and motioned to Puddles.

“She is the supreme god of water that oversees all water and water elementals,” Navara cleared her throat, “She one of the original gods of our world.”

“Oh, okay.”

“She is a creator,” Puddles huffed and threw her waterfall of hair over her shoulder., “To call her ‘like my mom’ is just so… ignorant.”

“I didn’t know. I’ll try to be more respectful. There’s not a whole lot of that where I’m from,” She smiled, “Now, how do I go home?”

“I’m not sure,” She shrugged, “Ocean might know.”

Charlie kicked her feet impatiently, “So, what do I do?”

“We should figure out what you are,” Puddles looked between her and the Leonies, “What have you told them?”

“That she’s from a cousin’s pride,” Navara reported, “There is an attunement on her shoulder that—”

“Tattoo, not attunement,” Charlie interjected.

“—a tattoo of a lion that could be mistaken for an attunement,” Davon finished his mother’s interrupted sentence.

“It’s worked so far,” The lioness continued, “We’ve got her basic supplies as well.”

“Good. Good,” Puddles nodded, “They can’t know what she is until I hear back from Ocean.”

“How long will that take?” Charlie raised her hand, “Because I have a lot of questions.”

“You have too many errors to be useful,” The goddess sneered, “We’ll have to figure out what exactly you’re good at to get through them.”

“How do we do that?”

“Bring her to the dungeon tomorrow,” She turned to Davon, “With a plethora of weapons. She can’t be disastrously bad at all of them.”

He eyed Charlie’s slim physique and general lack of muscles. She caught the grimace on his face.

“I can take her if she tries something,” He responded.

“Charlie would never!” Navara huffed, “She can stay with us tonight and Davonathan can take her tomorrow.”

“Mother—”

Before he could protest further, Puddles stood and walked to a basin of water. She shrugged and stepped into it

“Very well. I’ll go send a message to Ocean now. It will take a few hours to hear back from her.”

Without further word, her physical form collapsed into water.

“I… love her,” Charlie whispered, “Is every god like that?”

“No,” Navara grinned, “Most are more formal and would have killed you for your disrespectful behavior.”

“I bet she likes me,” She smiled as she ignored the lioness’s obvious warming, “I am going to be her friend. I’ve decided.”

Side quest: Obtain a blessing from a water god!

She chuckled at the notification.

He shook his head and his mane fluffed out, “Miss Charlie, that not how—”

“Davon, you got to drop the miss,” She tilted her head, “We’re probably the same age? Or you’re considered a bit younger than me.”

His sneer looked ferocious, but Charlie was learning how to determine what would be considered normal facial expressions for them. She looked to the lioness to see his mother shrug.

“Also, this is the tamest interrogation room I’ve seen,” Charlie looked around.

“Oh, we don’t really have one. I just assumed our goddess wanted to have a private conversation and intimidate you.”

“She’s far too cute to be intimidating.”

“If you can’t feel her aura, then probably,” Davon grunted, “Most can’t even stand by themselves. That’s why it’s better to kneel when you meet a god.”

“Oh shit. Do you think I’ll meet more than her?” Charlie’s eyes widened, “How many are there?”

“Did you not have gods where you are from?” He asked.

“That’s… debatable. None that we could see or communicate with,” She paused, “Well, communicate with reliably or tell if someone else was lying. It’s hard to explain.”

“Fascinating,” Navara leaned against the table, “I want to ask so many questions, but I feel we should keep our conversations of your origin to a minimum.”

“Why?”

“Well, we might be ordered to kill you,” She placed a furry hand against her face and sighed, “I would hate to grow too attached.”

Charlie laughed nervously, “You’re kidding, right?”

When neither of them answered and instead stood from the table, her face fell.

“Wait, right?”

“Davon, you should keep an eye on her I’ve got to do some work around here to cover up what happened earlier.”

“You could just lie and say her attunements made her too comfortable with Puddles,” The lion shrugged, “Or that she has a water affinity that isn’t shown.”

“That’s a wonderful idea!” His mother smiled, “You’re going to make a great leader one day.”

“Yeah… sure,” He rolled his eyes as he turned to Charlie, “Come on. We’ve got to find the cubs.”

“I’ll be home for dinner!” Navara grinned as she left the room.