Today marks the thirteenth moon since I've opened my workshop. My den of deciet. My cradle of falseho--
"Welcome!" Hannah's loud, energetic voice broke my focus. "To Jerry's Magic Bakery." She jumped in the air and clapped and the crowd before her followed suit. Her smile widened further, something I thought impossible. "Today is our one year anniversiery and we have many many new, delicious, and powerful treats for you!"
Her enthusiasm rippled through the crowd like waves. I allowed myself the slightest smile. I would give them what they want and they would return the favor tenfold.
Quickly and efficiently, Hannah shuffled the unruly crowd of mercenaries, adevntureres, and other sword-for-hires into a neat orderly line. I was near-certain she was a witch, a powerful one at that. Or an arch-demon. No other power could command such a gathering with such ease. But she did her work and never complained, and the foolish customers adore her.
A quarter of the crowd entered my bakery, and the rest waited outside. The fifty inside split further into three more lines. The warriors and the warrior-like rushed to the butter cookies and hard candy, the mages and the robed beelined to the cake section, and the rest roamed aimlessly, their eyes taking in the goods and goodies.
I watched from behind the counters with an amused grin. It was ill-advised, of course, displaying such deciet but I couldn't help myself. They were like moths to a flame.
"Jerry."
My name was not Jerry. That was obviously a lie. My name is S--
"Hellooooo, Jerry," Hannah waved her hand before my face. "Can you hear meeee,"
A sigh escaped me. "Yes, Hannah. What do you need?"
"Nothing!" She beamed at me. "Everything is going so swell!"
"Indeed." I chuckled. "I wonder how much more powerful I'll grow."
As you would have likely guessed, I was no simple baker (though I was very, very good at it). I was more. An artist. Truth-Bender. I wove reality. Life was my instrument, words my strings, and I played them wonderfully.
"Of course, Jerry." She rolled her eyes.
Hannah was my greatest work beside the bakery. I could tell her the truth, the bare butt-naked truth, and she would think me lying.
"Do you see it, Hannah?" I waved at the unsuspecting customers. "Their belief. So strong, so nurished."
"Oh yes, great master Jerry!" Her tone was exageratted, playing along with my lie-truth. She did that often. "Our cakes are so delicious, our customers can't get enough, and are alchemically altered to strengthen and help common man and adverturer man." She hummed pleasently. "The world will bow before our feet."
I nodded, imagining the scene in my head. "The world runs on belief, Hannah, and these are our first followers. Oh what beautifully ignorant fools."
She frowned. She never liked me insulting our buyers. "But our sweets are really good. And they do what we say they do. The cherry hard candy makes you stronger and the blue-berry cake replenishes your mana."
"They work because they believe it!."
She titled her head in confusion. "But we do use magicked ingredients, so... we get magicked food."
"I don't think you're following what I say Hannah." I shook my head. "Let me start from the beginning. How did the gods become gods? They were not born as such, that is for certain, but they..."
Hannah tuned out her patron, though not completly. She liked hearing his voice. He was a nice man. He was fair, paid everyone more than enough and never raised his voice or made an injustice. She liked him well enough, even if he was a bit... imaginative. Her lips widened in a subtle smile as she watched the customers shuffling about and nodded every once in a while at Jerry's storytelling.