《The First Age: The Everything Omnibus》 Chapter 1: Genesis Chapter 1
Genesis In the beginning there was nothing; save for a formless void. In this darkness; a thought - a spark of consciousness - ignited. Something stirred; the first thing in an eternity of night. In the homogeneous emptiness something began to form, nay, someone. I awoke. Perhaps it would be better to say I came to in a sudden burst. The endless nothingness, which comprised my form, had been drifting slowly towards consciousness for some time now but in a flash of inspiration the disparate thoughts collided and I existed as a whole and sentient thing. I was the void, and I was awake. A million questions flashed through my mind in that instant, and were answered just as quickly: Q.) What was I? A.) A conglomeration of thoughts and ideas from before, held together by the remnants of one mind, solidified by the prayers of an entire universe. Q.) Before what? A.) The end of all things. Q.) Whose mind? A.) I didn¡¯t know, not enough of them remained beyond the end; though I felt they must have been powerful for a part of them to linger and form the foundation of my consciousness. Q.) Where was I? A.) At the end, where all matter decays to nothing, time unravels and no thing can - or ever will - exist again. Wait, that couldn¡¯t be right. The remnants of who I used to be believed that to be the answer to my question but there was something in this endless sea of nothing, one thing that hadn''t completely decayed, me. Since I had been born of this void and all of it was me - I could control its infinite expanse. Not that I could do much with it. Nothing was nothing, it couldn¡¯t do anything. Unless¡­ if I was the whole of this void, a void that was once everything that came before the end, then surely I could change it, control it. Nothing had once been something and I sought to help it be something again. Acting on instinct, I gathered the will power my new found sentience granted me and spoke: ¡°Let there be Light.¡± My words did not resound through the void. There is no sound without matter, but the infinite desolation responded to my command. The unending darkness broke. The light of a thousand suns bloomed without any warning. Everything that was once nothing became the most intense light that could possibly exist. It filled me, and it felt good. With another thought I separated the light and the darkness, creating contrast. I gathered the light into a single point, compressing it with my mind. The impossible radiance shrank into a space that was infinitely small. Then I let go. It exploded, birthing a new universe. Physics happened. Stars were born. Great clouds of gas spread out, faster than the speed of light. It had all been born of the void, and thus all of it was me. I was a universe, and I was tired. Before I knew it, the jubilation I felt at having created something so beautiful was swiftly drowned by a river of weariness and I fell back into unconsciousness. ? Q.) What does a universe dream of? A.) ¡°Master, it¡¯s time.¡± The voice of one of my followers broke my contemplations and I looked away from the starless night sky and towards my student. My old bones creaked as I turned. I rested my gaze on the young man before me and pity filled my heart. The end was upon us and he would never get the life he deserved. I had been looking at him too long and he was beginning to shift uncomfortably under my gaze. I smiled reassuringly, trying to comfort the lad. ¡°Come,¡± I said, my voice tired and decrepit. I helped my apprentice onto the top step of the tower of eternity to join me in prayer. We took a kneeling position and stared up into the great black hole which was about to swallow our remote planet whole. I began to sing the first verse of The Hymn of Remembrance, the funeral for the planet had begun. Over one hundred feet below, I felt, as much as heard, the solemn melody rising up from all those gathered - fear, hope and reluctance colouring the grave tune. Together, all prayed that: in whatever came after the end, they were remembered. I was the focus of the will of all the gathered people of the empire that lived on this backwater planet and, with the help of my apprentice, I projected the desires of the people into the coming void, through the medium of song. My voice was sonorous and resigned. ? I awoke, for the second time and again there were questions: Q.) Was that the person at the core of my consciousness? A.) No, he was just a part of me. As were the billions of other voices that joined his chorus. They had made me, though I didn¡¯t think that was their intention. I was a God, the only God. Made by the wishes of an untold number of people. I thought I should regret their deaths, but I couldn¡¯t bring myself to feel for them. They died long before I ever existed. I did, however, intend to fulfil their final wish and ensure they were remembered. With a goal in mind and feeling rested after my nap, I examined myself to see what could be done. I had expanded into a full and infinite universe stuffed with stuff. I felt giddy with my new form. Infinity had never seemed so large. Although I knew everything that happened inside me, I felt as though I could explore myself endlessly. The minds that comprised my consciousness could only focus on one thing at a time and some of that perspective had rubbed off. To help me comprehend all that I was, I likened the infinite expanse of everything to a planet. First there were the beaches, made from sand. Here the planets were round, gravity made sure it was so. The strong and weak nuclear force stopped things from turning into a particle soup and galaxies had begun to form. The beach was nice but boring. Next to it was an ocean, a place where matter scattered around in colourful ribbons and energy was everywhere. The laws of physics were far more fluid and magic was infinitely abundant. It was more fun to splash my mind around in but too unstable a place to enact my plan. A good spot would be the strip of damp sand; where water, or in this case energy/magic, saturated the area but there were still regular grains of silicon. This area alone could be measured at 10^26 light years at its narrowest. There were also rainforests, plains, deserts, farmland, and so much more. In each new area the laws that governed the way things worked were different. In some places celestial bodies were torus in shape, in others light was a liquid that floated through space. There were even other planets in my analogy which orbited my own. Some were made of imperceptible colours, some seemed to be growing tentacles and stung to look upon. There was even one disc, floating through space, on the backs of four impossibly large elephants which stood atop an even greater turtle. I decided to stop searching, as I was beginning to become overwhelmed. It felt as though a headache was starting to bloom, though simply willing it away proved successful. It was just a figment of my imagination. This was still too much for me to handle, going from being nothing to becoming everything was simply too impossible to think about. So, I didn¡¯t. Metaphorical damp sand was good enough for what I had in mind. I searched around the area to find the perfect spot to start. As anywhere was but a thought away, the hunt didn¡¯t take long. I found a giant blue star with enough of the chaotic energy, I would henceforth call mana, to last an eternity without having to grow or shrink in size. It was perfect. The bonds between the mortal plane, the fae, and the demonic planes were also thin here, making summonings far easier. ¨C The multitudinous planes were a strange thing, they laid themselves under the reality I was but were also a part of me. One could break through the layers of existence and find the magical creatures or they could travel the ridiculous distance into the sea of magic to find their layered havens. I knew this just as I knew the colour of every single star in existence. It was all a part of me, I needed only to think about something and I found I knew everything there was to know about it. Best not to think too much. With my will, I created a planet. It was thrice the size of Jupiter, a place I believe a part of me remembered. I flooded it with water but soon found, since it was a smooth ball, that the water just covered the whole thing. Deciding I had been premature, I forced the planet wide shallow sea up into the stratosphere and left it to orbit whilst I sculpted the solid stone surface with imaginary hands. I made mountains and valleys, crevasses and an entire underground network of caves. Five continents were formed, and deep areas between them were made for the sea to return to. Finally, I went into the middle of what would be the greatest ocean and formed an island - half the world away from anything else. On this tiny land mass I created a mountain far larger than any of the others, twice the height of the sky and flattened at its peak - this was where my work would begin. The core of the planet was brimming with mana, but life hadn¡¯t yet been introduced to its surface. I could have remade all those who prayed to be remembered but I felt that might either destroy me or dishonour their request so I was going to do something different - outsourcing. First of the five sentient races whose prayers created me were the humans. I pooled within myself everything that made a human a human, drawing from the essence of the trillions of humans that the void that was once me had eaten. The adaptability, the forgetfulness, the proliferousness, the stubbornness, all of it was condensed down into a single droplet - the soul of a quintessential human. A body formed from light to surround the newly born godling.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°I name you, Homos,¡± I said as the figure took form. The universe rippled with my words. To any inhabitants that had sprouted during my short nap, nothing would have noticeably changed. They wouldn¡¯t have heard anything, they couldn''t have seen anything, but all would have felt something intangible. All did feel it, I knew it to be so, just as I knew everything else. Although the partially evolved life forms which infested parts of me scrambled about, my project remained inert. His eyes were shut and he didn¡¯t breathe. That reminded me - air! I had forgotten the atmosphere. I summoned nitrogen, carbon dioxide, water vapour, and oxygen to cling to this giant barren rock. Not that it really mattered: Homos was a creature of my will, he couldn¡¯t die unless I wanted him to. That said, he wasn¡¯t yet fully alive. Next came a more difficult part. To make the god of humans, I had condensed a part of myself and holding him together was swiftly becoming mentally taxing. I wanted him to be autonomous so this was unsustainable. With some reluctance, I cut him off from the rest of the universe, physically severing us. Then there was the final step. With some hesitation, I took a metaphorical breath and breathed out a tiny, insignificant spark into the figure lying on the mountain top. A pale ball of ghostly light appeared above his body and slowly floated into him, right into his heart. His uncovered brown skin shifted. His unruly black hair stood on end and his almond eyes shot open. With a startled breath of his own, the newly born human god jumped to his feet and asked with ungodlylike fear: ¡°Where am I? What''s going on?¡± his eyeballs darted about and his hands raised defensively. Not wanting to deal with that, I froze time for this solar system and began working on creating a sibling for my first child. Next would be a deity for the dwarves. Much like my first one, they would have power over their race and could create a few dwarves whenever there were less than one hundred in the universe. Thankfully, the five sentient races I wished to honour didn¡¯t exist in this new universe so that wouldn¡¯t be a limit for some time. To create these lesser gods, a substantial investment of Divine Essence (the stuff I had used to start everything going) was required. Based on the amount I had spent in the creation of Homos, I would probably be able to make a dozen more gods before I¡¯d be forced back to sleep. I was able to recoup Divine Essence while I slept but, since I had no way of measuring time while unconscious, I might be stuck in an eternity of dreams if I overdid it with my little project. In the future, these gods would earn it from their people¡¯s faith in them, and some of their power would be sent back to me. To them, it would seem as though some Divine Essence was lost to the environment when their respective races were praying; that would be because that¡¯s exactly what will happen. Except, I am the environment. For some reason, I didn¡¯t feel it would be wise to let my creations know that the universe which birthed them was sentient - it would be preferable if they never knew I existed. I couldn¡¯t say why I felt this way but, as I was made of the wisdom of billions, I decided to trust my instincts. I thought it best to be the one with the most capacity for Divine Essence. Bad things might happen if any of my inhabitants ever became more powerful than the existence in which they resided. Anything could happen; they might fall out of reality, they might kill me, they might create their own universe, none of those hypotheticals felt like they would be comfortable for me. While the god of humans was young in appearance, the body that was forming around the quintessential dwarf, as I thought my way through these issues, was old. Grey hair frizzed out from her head in a mad fashion. Her eyes were a sharp blue and, although they weren¡¯t yet open, I knew they could be incredibly piercing. Peering through what appeared to be and straight into what was. The eyes of an artist. Ripping off a piece of my Divine Essence (what made me, me), I breathed it into my next godling. This time, a pale yellow light sank into her heart. Nothing happened. For a moment I was worried, before I remembered that I had stopped time so as not to be disturbed. These newborns wouldn¡¯t have any memories but they would have whatever was considered common knowledge by the remnants of their respective races which had been used to make them and the name I had branded onto their soul. When they woke up, I couldn¡¯t imagine it would be pretty. ¡°I name you Helka.¡± Another ripple went through the universe. As it was paused, my inhabitants couldn¡¯t feel it and there wouldn¡¯t be any more panic. I sighed, more of my mental energy spent than I would have expected. I wasn''t nearing tiredness however so I continued onto the next one. The quintessential elf was formed shortly there after. Tall, with snow white skin, long, silky blond hair, and commanding green eyes which seemed to somehow be naturally rimmed with eyeliner. He was regal, even just lying there, on the rocky ground, inanimate. This time the light that entered him was a light green. Again, I spoke: ¡°I name you Visok.¡± The fourth race I intended to make a god for was the khati. From the memory fragments that had been subsumed by the void, I gathered they were a bipedal feline race which had evolved from large cat-like mammals. I knew they could take a number of different forms as there were many subspecies but I wasn¡¯t surprised when I saw the form that was beginning to coalesce around the soul of a quintessential khati. He had golden brown fur, shiny but with volume. His teeth were large, sparkling, and sharp. His eyes seemed to hold wisdom and power. His mane spoke of his pride. He was the king of the jungle, the lord of the khati, and, as a deep blue light plunged into his chest, I said: ¡°I name you Makir*.¡± The final race I felt obliged to honour with the creation of a god was the most diverse of the five sentient races whose prayers had formed me. They didn¡¯t usually stand on two legs like all the others. In fact, they weren¡¯t always sentient but the more powerful ones usually were. The fifth race were elementals. When I condense the essence of the millions of elementals I didn¡¯t know what to expect. Unlike the khati, there wasn¡¯t an obvious type of elemental that would be created to represent the quintessential member of their race. I was mildly surprised when, instead of a body of air, water, earth or fire being formed, a creature of all four coagulated. The base of her lithe frame was stone. Rivulets of water trailed along her surface, giving the appearance of waterfalls which cascaded down from her head to her toes. Just under the surface I could see veins of magma radiating a dangerous red glow. Air coiled around her in serpentine patterns, whipping up the water droplets into clouds and pulling out tongues of flame from pore-sized volcanoes which made up her skin - so small as to be invisible to the naked eye. A glowing ball, split into four quarters - orange, green, blue, and brown - sunk into her core and I spoke once more: ¡°I name you Elementa.¡± It was done. My project was complete. I would be able to respect the wishes of these five races; they would be remembered. The gods I had created would be able to revive their people beyond the end of the universe, I wouldn¡¯t even have to do anything and the more of them there were, the stronger I would become and the greater the change to myself I could affect. And yet, I didn¡¯t want to stop now that I had started. But what should be my next goal? Although I was the universe, I couldn¡¯t actually control that much of myself and if I didn¡¯t do anything I would one day meet the same fate as my predecessor. I was still growing and expanding but the void comes for everything, I knew it in my empty spaces between atoms. My consciousness might be able to survive, if I was reverted to that previous state but I couldn¡¯t be sure. Besides, that was an incredibly boring place and I didn¡¯t wish to ever return. To ensure that would never happen I would have to be powerful enough to control my entire infinite self at once and stop it from decaying. That meant I¡¯d need more Divine Essence. I would get more, and expand my capacity, from the five gods I had already made but to create them I had to give up a part of myself, I would never be able to create any of the five races myself. It wasn¡¯t that big a deal as I was infinite and there were already infinite races growing inside me. Q.) Could I create a god for each of them? A.) No, I had already used a third of my Divine Essence. Q.) Is there another way to get people of any race praying? A.) Yes, I remember some of the people who prayed to natural phenomena. Q.) Could I create a god of, say, stars and syphon away any Divine Essence from anyone praying to them? A.) Yes, but I would then not be able to control or create stars as I would have separated that part of myself. That would go against my goal of controlling all of myself to prevent the second heat death of the me. Also, it would probably require far more Divine Essence to create a god of all the infinite stars than it did to make a god for a race that doesn¡¯t yet exist in my universe. Q.) What if I¡­ A.) Yes me, what is it? Q.) What if I only took a tiny piece of a concept like stars and imbued it into a godling, not enough to really do much, and then I limited them to the prayers of the five races for the sake of an experiment. They¡¯ll be able to grow as the five races do and if they start having more control over the only star in range of the five races than myself, I could always make it go supernova by launching another into it. A.) That¡¯s an interesting Idea, though I would be turning what was a monument to the dead into a test. Q.) What do they care, they''re dead. Besides, I can always start over and move these godlings somewhere else - they are made of a part of me and they can¡¯t die unless I reabsorb them. A.) I think it might work, if I¡¯m lucky their power over stars, in the example given, might just grow from a spark to a red giant with far less investment of Divine Essence. Q.) I should really stop talking to myself. And so I did, and with time still frozen for this little corner of space, I set about creating siblings for my first five gods; they would be their peers and would grow as they did. My first thought was that the five races probably wouldn¡¯t get along harmoniously so I separated, from myself, a tiny spark and made my first conceptual god, a goddess of war - born of a seed of violence. She formed with long red hair and fearsome eyes. An angry and spiky red ball of Divine Essence left me and entered her, giving her life. I spoke for the fifth time: ¡°I name you Ath?.¡± Nothing exploded so I figured I was good to try another. In short order, I made a number of other gods and goddesses: A tall lady with shining golden hair who seemed to be a match for Visok and who was created from the concept of life with complementary powers. Specifically life on this over large planet that had yet to be named. She would be able to grow beyond it as and when the five races did - provided any of them believed in her. ¡°I name you Le?.¡± A woman made from the night with power over the local space. She and her siblings would be able to grant blessings to members of the five races which should in turn increase their faith in her. Those with her blessing would likely be able to teleport around the planet. ¡°I name you Vasti.¡± A boy with silver hair and white eyes. Made from the local fabric of time. I regretted making him the second the silvery blue ball of Divine Essence left me and entered him. I could feel the little bugger struggling against my temporal lock. Thankfully, my assumptions proved correct. Since I had only granted power over time in this corner of space to him, and I retained a greater power over time, I was able to out muscle him with my will and time stayed still. I couldn¡¯t help but metaphorically smile at my victory before I realised that he was the only one of the gods that could be sure that I existed¡­ oh well, what¡¯s the worst that could happen. ¡°I name you Tempi.¡± An ?therial man with flaming eyebrows and a neat, if long, beard. Made of the currents of magic which occasionally lapped over his area of me. ¡°I name you Magus.¡± A woman grown from flowers, the counterpart of Ath?. She was made from the spark of love between the five races. ¡°I name you Volta.¡± By this time I was growing tired but was enjoying myself too much to stop - I pushed through, ignoring my mental fatigue. The next figure was that of a humanoid skeleton with a proportional crows skull. Black fog condensed around his form and became so thick that it made for him a cloak. He was created from the power I held over the death of the five races. ¡°I name you Dem.¡± My giddy excitement after creating yet another god was swiftly swept away in a tide of tiredness the second his creation was complete. The control I held over time began to slip as the last of my Divine Essence was expended. I saw the twelve new gods stand and look around at each other as one before, in unison, they burst into angry shouting and accusations. The last thing I saw before sleep claimed me was Dem, standing outside of the angry debate and waiting for it to calm down. My last thought, at least I made one of them right.
* Maki(ee)r, the ¡°i¡± makes the ee or i? sound, as in pizza or taxi. Chapter 2: The Story of the Gods Chapter 2
The Story of the Gods ¡°So it was that the Divines came to be, created by the very world itself to guide us of the four races. Immediately, each of them knew their purpose and they began working together to create a place for the mortals to live. Unlike us, they were unhindered by the racial prejudice which is so prevalent in our society today.¡± ¨C The Book of the Divines 1:2 ¡°What''s a Stinking Elf doing here?¡± the elderly Dwarf screeched, narrowing her eyes and pointing accusingly at the offending member of the group that had appeared in the same instant she had. She didn¡¯t even take the time to come to terms with what or where she was. ¡°I bet this is your fault,¡± she accused, before having anything to accuse it with. Her immediate racism was not heard however, as she was far from the only one to start their life shouting in anger. ¡°Eww, a Dwarf,¡± the lanky Elf sneered derisively, the second he caught sight of the wild, dirty, and naked thing. ¡°Where did you come from, what¡¯s going on?¡± Homos yelled, panic drove anger as he tried his best to shout over the cacophony of voices - following the age-old human custom, to be understood one need only be louder than everyone else. Unfortunately for the irate man, he was far from the noisiest of the bunch. Whilst Ath?¡¯s eyes burned with fury as she injected the perfect inflammatory remarks to spark a physical altercation, glee evident in her battle-ready posture, Volta spoke softly and the fragrance of her flowery form brought the gods back from the edge. Elementa crackled, sizzled, and steamed - nervous about all the blood sacks bickering around her. Le?, the goddess of life, fuelled Volta¡¯s calming flora with her innate power as she too tried to stop the senseless shouting but it wasn¡¯t enough to halt the group as they grew more and more intense. The young boy, Tempi, half the height of the others - save Helka, the dwarven goddess - darted around, frantically trying - and failing - to get their attention. One moment he would be buzzing about, speaking too fast to be heard, at others it was as if he was in slow motion. There were even a few seconds in which he spoke in reverse. On the whole, he was ignored, viewed as little more than a nuisance by his peers. Vasti, the goddess of space, with her striking form (that of a star filled night sky in the shape of a woman), might have been able to capture the attention of at least the mortal gods with her appearance alone had she been anywhere to be seen. Within the first few seconds of being created, she found all the noise and motion distressing and disappeared - teleporting out into space where it was quiet and far more comfortable. Magus was also shouting, though for a completely different reason than everyone else. ¡°Fascinating, absolutely wondrous!¡± the pale ghost of a man exclaimed, stroking his phantasmal beard, as he witnessed the growth of the magical flowers Volta had made. Despite the fact Magus was the god of magic (in this tiny solar system), he knew very little about it, because he was just a bundle of instincts that only related to his domain. He understood how to use magic innately but not the how nor why. As it turned out, the personality that he had been formed with was incredibly curious. He continued to poke and prod at the magical constructions, ignoring the others as their enraged motions just passed straight through him. He yipped in delight when the magic of Le?¡¯s power intertwined with Volta¡¯s creation and the two types of mana sang in unison - empowering the pacifying effect. He also noted the other¡¯s seemed to have some kind of natural resistance to the magic, as did he for that matter, and the argument continued, only slightly slowed. Where all the other gods - except Vasti - stepped in close to their siblings the second they were created, shouting and screaming - spittle and accusations flying - Dem (the god of death) stepped his boney arse back and observed. He was content to wait for the others to calm down and for the truth of his newfound existence to come to light, afterall death was nothing if not patient. Makir was the last to act. Unlike his siblings, he didn¡¯t follow the lead of the Elf and the Dwarf who sought to find answers through confrontation, nor did he immediately try to help and break apart these strangers as Volta and Le? did. Instead, he looked within himself. Makir had no memories to call his own, though it wasn¡¯t as though he was a helpless kitten. He knew he was a khati, a race evolved from cats, he knew what evolution was, he knew too much to concisely consider in this moment, so, instead, he searched for an explanation. Did he have amnesia? No, well maybe, but that wasn¡¯t enough of an explanation. Makir recognised the Dwarf, the Elf, and the Human for what they were but the other figures seemed impossible according to everything he knew. There was: No, all of this was too absurd for amnesia alone to explain. Was he dreaming? The Khati looked around. They were on a rocky plateau, roughly four hundred yards across. He stepped to the edge and looked out. Makir was high, very high, a few errant clouds drifted below, halfway to the ground. He stood atop a precipice with an otherwise unobstructed view. The land was uniform in its composition; entirely grey rock. No vegetation grew, no dust flew. It was as if the whole area was brand new, never having seen wear of any kind - not even from the air in the atmosphere. And looking up, there was clearly an atmosphere. The blue sun was high in the sky; a bright spot in the deep azure sea. At the bottom of the pillar-like mountain, atop which Makir stood, there was a rough splat of land, mostly of a level. This secondary plateau ringed the mountain''s base and extended for roughly ten to twenty miles in each direction. There were other mountains on this mass, though none anywhere near as large as the one on which he stood. Being so high, it was difficult to get a proper sense of scale. At the bottom of this secondary ring was another deep drop, though not sheer like the one directly beneath the khati man. The land sloped off at the border of this lower level, descending a further mile. The rest of the world beyond was flat. Too flat, given the irregularity of the land on the island below him. The planes continued in all directions, all the way to the horizon - which itself seemed too far away. Whatever planet Makir was on, it must be huge¡­ and empty. It looked as though someone had simply forgotten to add an ocean. No, this wasn¡¯t a dream, Makir was confident his mind wasn¡¯t so bland. He closed his eyes, shut out the growing shouting, and let the wind drifting up from the edge gently stroke his fur, the sun warming his skin as he dove deeper into himself. What was he? Makir, a khati¡­ no, The Khati. He realised that now. It seemed ridiculous, but the reason he had no memories was because he was no one Khati. He was a million people in one body. The strongest and most common traits in all those personalities held the tightest grasp on him, though their impulses could be ignored; he was also his own completely separate entity, newly born. Luckily for Makir, his people took their time to think things through. That and they were lazy, otherwise he might have ended up like the others who had appeared with him. Looking back at them, he felt they too were like him. Focusing, he could feel a connection - one that had been severed but still left traces to a newfound sense he knew khati didn¡¯t normally have. There was another attachment far above, somewhere in the sky, and a sense of belonging that came from everything around him. This new sense, which he had no experience with, also told him that he could do something. If he willed it to be so, he could create another khati, in fact he felt it was his purpose. Now that he had discovered the ability his body was itching to use it and it was a struggle to ignore the feeling. Except he had to, there was no way a khati could survive here, without any water for at least a hundred miles in any direction though Makir suspected this entire planet was barren. He had power, he knew that now, but Makir alone wouldn¡¯t be able to create a place where the khati he must create could live. He would need the help of the only other people/creatures that existed. The gods¡¯ divine nature had helped them swiftly build an immunity to Volta and Le?¡¯s magics, that combined with the pair tiring from the use of mana, meant a fight was imminent. Ath? had just told Visok that Helka said: ¡°An Elf''s ears are only good for cleaning out her own.¡± The jibe at his insecurity had caused him to snap and his composure broke. Instead of another snide and cutting comment, he was about to kick the fuzzy and saggy ball of naked flesh when a low, menacing sound froze him in place. He wasn¡¯t the only one, instinctual fear halted the rest of the people around Visok. ¡°Rrrrroooooarrrrrr!¡± The sound welled up from the deepest depths of Makir¡¯s belly, growing in veracity as it grew in momentum, speeding up and out of his oesophagus. Passing the vocal cords that vibrated slowly, adding a basso growl to the mix. The Khati¡¯s outburst had the intended effect; everyone had stopped bickering and was looking his way. Makir didn¡¯t have long before these people would fall back on their baser instincts. He chose to strike while the iron was hot so he cleared his throat and spoke in a authoritative manner: ¡°Elf, you can make Elves. Dwarf you can make dwarves. Human, you can make humans.¡± The three who were picked out looked affronted by the way that the Khati addressed them but the bluntness of the statement caught all of them short as they held back their angry retorts to think about what he had said - all, that was, except the Dwarf. ¡°Are you propositioning me?¡± The elderly woman asked, waggling her eyebrows. Makir, forced down a grimace as he ignored the dirty coot, he could see the far off look in the other¡¯s eyes as they found this power within themselves. Seeing there might be something to what the Khati said, Helka finally took a moment for introspection. He could see that the bronze skinned human was on the verge of doing something stupid so he placed a paw upon the man¡¯s shoulder, snapping him back to himself. ¡°Don¡¯t create anyone yet,¡± Makir warned, ¡°if you¡¯d take the time to look around - no one could live here. And to the rest of you, if you are looking for your purpose, look to the place in your mind in which your name resides, once you find it you¡¯ll know.¡± The others did as he said, having calmed down. There was one exception however, Ath? the goddess of war, after giving that final word of incitement to Visok she had stood back, her head raised to the sky and a look of sublime pleasure on her face. That had been wiped away as Makir spoke, her regular look of anger had returned, morphing into a mask of rage. ¡°Where is my blood?! Where is my violence?! Where is my war?!¡± Ath? shouted, looking around at the gathering accusingly; her eyes filled with angry red flames. But no one returned her glare, they were all absorbing what Makir had said, either peering over the edge of their sheer mountain top or looking inwards to find their reason for being. The lack of response only caused Ath?¡¯s temperature to rise even further. ¡°You were growing more powerful from their fighting.¡± Makir stated, not cowed by her full attention, the pride of his lioniod race forcing his back up straighter at the challenge in her approach. ¡°This is your fault!¡± Ath? growled, pointing at Makir as she walked menacingly toward him, the half out of it gods clearing her way subconsciously. ¡°Yes,¡± Makir responded simply, not giving an inch. She got within a handspan of his furry body, staring threateningly into his eyes. The first to blink would lose. They stood like that for minutes, the tension building more and more until the air seemed to distort with its weight. Makir strained not to blink, his eyes bloodshot and puffy. Ath? seemed the opposite; with each second that passed the flames in her eyes dimmed until a regular eye was visible beneath. Still, Makir held on as tears began to pour down his face. By this point, most of the gathered gods had found this ¡°purpose¡± that had been embedded into them and were looking on at the display, unwilling or unable to break apart the contest. After the flame of Ath?¡¯s anger died out completely, she appeared nothing more than a red haired lass and the fatigue began to kick in. Several minutes after Makir, the whites of her eyes began to fill with red lines. Then it was all over. Ath? twitched then spasmed shut. Makir nodded then turned away, desperately trying to blink the sandpaper out of his eyes. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Most thought that this would alight the flame anew in Ath?, based on the little they had seen of the woman, many assumed she might well be a sore loser, but to the surprise of all she bounded forward and hugged the Khati. ¡°That was fun! We should do it again,¡± she encouraged with the enthusiasm of a girl. Gone was the fierce warrior, replaced by an effervescent and bubbly woman who was incredibly attached to the man who had bested her in a simple staring contest. Makir had his eyes screwed tight shut and didn¡¯t see the tackling hug coming, he was nearly bowled over. When he opened his eyes, the skin beneath his furry cheeks blushed slightly as he extricated himself from her grasp, coughing slightly. ¡°Right, so,¡± Makir began when he was free and the attention of the gathered gods returned to him, ¡°From this sense of purpose I gained a new feeling - I can feel a link between all of us. Can you feel it too?¡± There was a chorus of agreements, some rather begrudging. ¡°I will speak plainly. My name is Makir. I am the Khati. My purpose is to create and guide other members of my race. To do that, I will need to make somewhere that is liveable, somewhere with food, shelter, and water. I can not do that alone. I need your help,¡± he implored, eyes still swollen as he looked at each of them in turn. ¡°How are we supposed to help?¡± The Dwarf asked grumpily, ¡°Sure I can make another Dwarf but what good¡¯ll that be. The Underground¡¯s as barren as the surface, I can feel it. There¡¯s metals and gems sure enough but no water or life. More mees ain''t gonna help with any of those you mentioned, part from shelter.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a good start actually,¡± Makir replied with enthusiasm. ¡°I didn¡¯t even consider the underground. And regarding your second point, I know dwarves are good at working with stone and there seems to be an abundance of that at least.¡± ¡°Aye, I suppose. Letting me know about something as important as this ¡°purpose¡± as you call it has put me in your debt. Besides, I feel I also have to create a safe place for my brethren, making a couple homes for khati isn¡¯t too far out of my way,¡± the Dwarf reasoned aloud. Once she was sure, she nodded firmly and held out a hand for Makir to shake. ¡°Name¡¯s Helka,¡± she introduced as their hands pumped up and down. A scoff came from one of the gathered gods. ¡°I had considered helping with your little project, but you¡¯re not worthy of my help if you¡¯d work with that thing,¡± the Elf remarked with a sneer. Makir smiled at Helka when a deal was struck but turned an annoyed look on the Elf when he spoke up. ¡°Seriously? I know you feel the same need as I do-¡± Makir began but was cut off. ¡°I most certainly do not!¡± the blond haired Elf spluttered, indignant. ¡°Really? Can you truly say, now that you¡¯ve found your Purpose, you don¡¯t have that itch in the back of your mind that tells you to fulfil it, an itch that grows more and more with every second you don¡¯t act on it?¡± Makir asked and when the Elf looked away and didn¡¯t answer, he turned the question to the crowd and received a series of nods from all save the skeleton man who, throughout the whole ordeal, had stood apart from the others and not engaged. Makir found him off putting but perhaps whatever race he created wouldn¡¯t be so bothered by the lack of food and water. ¡°I am more than capable of creating a sanctuary for my people without the help of a Dwarf!¡± the Elf spat, not even looking at the person in question. ¡°Are you?¡± Makir challenged. ¡°Elves are exceptional at working with nature, the natural world provides everything we need.¡± he declared with a huff. ¡°What ¡®natural world¡¯? Look around, there isn¡¯t any life here.¡± ¡°Elves are skilled with plant magic, we can grow it.¡± ¡°With what water? With what soil?¡± Makir questioned. ¡°There, she can make plants out of nothing, with her help I¡¯ll be done in no time.¡± Visok responded, pointing at the woman made of flowers who seemed flustered by the sudden spotlight. She looked like she was about to agree to help but the blue glowing ghost of a man interjected before she could. ¡°She can¡¯t.¡± he said, matter-of-factly. The flower woman looked affronted at this but before she could voice her own thoughts the Elf responded to the ?therial man. Raising an eyebrow towards the woman who hadn¡¯t managed to get a word in edgewise, the pointy eared elf spoke, ¡°Is that so? Do you truly wish to oppose me, the almighty Visok?¡± Finally done with being talked about rather than too, she spoke up angrily: ¡°Since the second I got here, I have been trying to stop you idiots from killing each other,¡± as she talked her body morphed from a womanly form made from delicate pink and purple flowers to a twisted mass of dangerous vines, ¡°Now I wonder if it was even worth it?¡± She was about to say more but was cut off by the red headed woman who had pounced on Makir, she jumped up and down and clapped. ¡°Yippee, more fighting!¡± she said with a razor sharp grin. Seeing the expression on the violent woman¡¯s face the plant lady unravelled into daisies. Exhaling, she spoke, ¡°Look, I want to help you, Visok, but I would like to be asked. Moreover, I think we should all try and work together.¡± The red-haired woman deflated but Visok seemed gratified and understanding of her desires after the first statement and annoyed after the second. ¡°If you are so willing,¡± Visok began, ¡°Then would you consider helping both myself and Makir separately?¡± he asked between clenched teeth. She seemed disappointed by the proposal but was about to resignedly accept when again the ghost interjected: ¡°She can¡¯t.¡± He spoke without inflection, as if saying the sky were blue. The petals of the of the woman sharpened slightly as she turned to the interrupter and said: ¡°Oh yeah, and why¡¯s that.¡± The man didn¡¯t seem to take note of the dangerous edge in her voice. ¡°I¡¯m Magus,¡± he introduced, shaking a confused stem with a hand that passed straight through it. ¡°Volta,¡± she responded, caught off guard by his action. ¡°And that¡¯s an excellent question,¡± he continued excitedly, ¡°You might think, by looking at her, or the flowers she produced earlier that she has summoned them or created them somehow but that¡¯s not actually the case-¡± ¡°Get to the point,¡± Visok cut in with an impatient scowl. ¡°Right,¡± Magus responded while he mentally truncated his lecture, ¡°Well, to put it simply, her flowers are nothing more than mana made manifest, magic. You¡¯ll notice that previously, while you were shouting at that little person, Volta here had grown plants that had a calming effect all around you but now there¡¯s nothing but bare stone.¡± Makir looked over at Helka, expecting some kind of angry retort for being called a ¡°little person¡± but thankfully she hadn¡¯t noticed as she was sketching designs for something in the rock with her finger.¡± ¡°What are you saying?¡± Visok pressed. ¡°Miss Volta doesn¡¯t create real plants and she won¡¯t be able to start an ecosystem.¡± Magus stated and Volta deflated slightly at the news. ¡°That¡¯s a problem we can come back to,¡± Makir said to break the sudden mood that had overcome the group. ¡°Before that we have the issue of water, any ideas?¡± At this the Elemental of four elements burbled and hissed. Despite the strangeness of her sounds it came across to everyone as words, ¡°My name¡¯s Elementa and I can create water Elementals who can make water, but they need some to start with.¡± As he heard the foreign noises form into words, Makir realised that none of his peers had been speaking the same language as him. Looking inside himself when Visok replied ¡°What use is that?¡± Makir realised that it was the connection they all shared that translated for them. Before another argument could break out, someone spoke up. The child who, until this point in the conversation, had become distracted and was looking up into the sky. ¡°I think I have a plan.¡± he said, and all eyes turned his way. ? As it turned out his plan was quite amenable, much to Visok¡¯s chagrin - that was an elf who never seemed to be happy. Makir heard the boy out as he explained that he also felt this connection they shared except there was someone with whom he shared a stronger link; someone, who felt to him, like a sibling. And, given his own ¡°Purpose¡±, he believed they would be able to help, the only problem - they were too far away, somewhere in the sky. Makir recalled that, when he had discovered a connection to the others, one link led off up somewhere. Through some testing with those present it was discovered that a message could be sent through their links but it came through as a jumble of emotions, still it should have been enough to get the point across. Come down here and lend a hand. After the boy, who was called Tempi, revealed his Purpose, it led to a discussion about their Purposes. Makir had assumed that, like him, each of them was meant to be the progenitor of a race that looked like them. That wasn¡¯t the case at all. Of those present, only five had such a Purpose. There was: And yet, after some soul searching, they each concluded: whilst they were all very much of their own race they were different to a normal member. None of them had felt hungry or thirsty nor tired or even cold - nor did any of them much care that they were naked. The idea that they were gods had been tossed out there, however none but Visok were comfortable with calling themselves that. Makir discovered that the other six beings present, although connected to him, had wildly different purposes. There was: Volta, the woman made from flowers, each part of her created from a different and changing plant that came together to form the perfect image of a woman - new flowers blooming and wilting with every breath, only to disappear behind ever more plants. Her Purpose was to maintain peace and create love. Tempi, a boy that came to just above Makir¡¯s waist with shiny silver, short-cut hair and completely white eyes who, although young in appearance, switched between seeming elderly and wise and young and naive whenever he said something. His purported Purpose was to maintain the continuity of time which was something Makir struggled to understand. Le?, a tall woman with golden hair and glowing golden eyes who hadn¡¯t joined the discussion until prompted, was a woman of few words, though everything she did say was well thought out. As it turned out her Purpose was to create and maintain life, though even she couldn¡¯t make something out of nothing. If there was water she would be able to ¡°create the building blocks for life¡± - whatever that meant. Magus, a man made completely out of glowing blue mana without a physical form. He had bushy eyebrows and a long beard which he had a tendency to stroke when in thought. When asked, he told Makir that his Purpose was to maintain and regulate the currents of mana, which was something his body did naturally. He then went on to theorise that, if they were all created, perhaps he was supposed to protect whatever civilisation the first four would create. After all, living people could be negatively affected by the waves of mana that came from their blue sun - literally anything could happen if the waves were strong enough. This led to a discussion about the hows and whys of their coming to be. Now that they weren¡¯t all on edge, it was more productive. But, as it turned out, none of them had any idea how they had got there, although Makir did note that Tempi seemed to be hiding something. Ath?, the perky woman with fiery red hair and eyes that seemed to grow into actual flames when her more violent urges were satisfied. She had become rather attached to Makir when he had beaten her in a staring contest. Her Purpose was conflict and it was from her that Makir learned what might happen when their Purpose was fulfilled. Although she still craved more conflict, apparently the urge was more manageable but more than that, she had gained power from it as evidenced by the flames which had come off her at the time. This got the others excited for the prospect of fulfilling their own Purpose. Dem, was the last of the bunch, he was a skeleton, clothed in a black cloak that emitted a dark mist and his skull was that of some kind of giant raven. The whole time he had kept his distance and not joined in their conversations. His Purpose turned out to be Death, to ensure things died and stayed dead which put a damper on the mood until Le? revealed that that was something she would need in order to speed up the process of creating more life. Soil was made from dead things after all. The group was more relaxed, discussing the prospect of building something on this Island when Tempi spoke up and informed us that his supposed sibling had gotten the message. Everyone looked up, expecting someone with the power to fly to descend from above so Makir was startled when someone appeared right behind him without any sound and tapped him tentatively on the shoulder. ¡°You wanted something?¡± a timid voice asked quietly. Makir turned around to find a figure made from darkness, filled with spots of light. The two brightest points, in the place where eyes should be, didn¡¯t focus directly on him as she spoke - her voice the sound of echoing emptiness - she rubbed the part that would be an elbow on a person with the part that would be a hand. He wasn¡¯t the only one to be startled at her sudden appearance and the shocked exclamations looked like they were about to scare her off until Tempi pulled her aside. Her face literally lit up when she saw him, there was definitely a connection between them. After the pair had taken a minute to talk with each other outside of earshot they returned, and the newcomer had shrunk. Where before her figure was sized and proportioned to match the silhouette of a woman, now she matched Tempi in height and apparent age. Tempi explained to us that she was very shy, her name was Vasti, and that her Purpose was to maintain the fabric of space and not let the planes collapse in on each other. This granted her the ability to teleport and to reside out in space, which Tempi had suspected and had figured into his plan which he had yet to explain. He told something to Vasti then she disappeared, right in front of the gathered gods. Tempi revealed that he had asked her to search the space above them for comets made from ice and Makir had to admit it was a good idea. She appeared a few seconds later with a handful of solidified water and explained, through Tempi, that there was a belt of the stuff beginning to form around the planet, slowly drawing closer and closer. It looked, to her, that we would be bombarded with millions of tons of frozen water in the next few weeks. Once a source of water was secured there came the debate of where to start building. If there was an oncoming flood, staying on their high plinth would be ideal but it was only four hundred yards in diameter, hardly enough for a village and the people would be stranded. It was thus decided to start this first settlement on the ring that surrounded the mountain''s base, as it was still a mile above the planet''s lowest level and far larger in size. With Vasti¡¯s power it was a matter of moments before the group of somewhat excited gods, led by Makir, were teleported to a flat spot in the bumpy stone hills that made up the second, lower plateau. Helka dug a hole, able to sculpt the stone with her bare hands, Vasti went and scavenged ice to fill it with, and Elementa used her control over fire to melt it. Then Le? and Dem began work on filling it with tiny forms of life, trying to create evolution in a fraction of the time. So it was that the twelve very different divine''s overcame their differences to fulfil their own Purposes and all the while I continued to sleep. Chapter 3: The Garden of Eden Chapter 3
The Garden of Eden ¡°Le?, the Goddess of Life and Light, sacrificed a part of herself to create the fountain of youth - a crystal clear pool of water brimming with the power of life. She gave of herself so that life could bloom, so that the trees, the grass, the animals, and the foul could grow and so that the five races could live in the first haven - the Garden of Eden - where they were loved and cherished by all the Gods.¡± ¨C The Book of the Divines 1:7 The pool Le? and Dem had been slaving over and focusing on constantly, looked like nothing more than a murky puddle. The others in the gathering had sat down on the bare stone and talked about what few things they knew as the pair worked. Makir, having made himself the leader, stayed apart from his peers and stood watching the water as it slowly filled with algae that died off and grew anew, over and over and over and over again. He asked what he could do to help and Dem requested he scrape off the dead scum. Apparently, it could be used as fertiliser when they evolved some plants that could grow on land. By the time any change occurred, three days had passed and enthusiasm fled the group completely. Even Makir, who tried to keep a confident facade, had become as miserable as a drowned cat from days wading into the pond and dragging out dead plant matter. They were all caught off guard therefore, when Dem, a mostly morose and standoffish person, let out a yelp of delight. Makir asked what had happened and Dem explained, loudly enough for everyone to hear, that he and Le? made their first life form that could live outside of the water. At first, everyone was excited, until they came over to see, on top of the massive pile of scum, a green mould growing. It didn¡¯t look like much, so the bored and evermore frustrated gods returned to their discussions. At some point, one of them suggested that they try going to sleep. All of them knew of the concept but none of them had felt the need. With nothing better to do, and the project to create life looking like it would be slow to achieve results, they all agreed. That was how Makir found himself lying on the flat stone-floor with his eyes closed trying to pass out. He was just about to give up and declare it a useless endeavour when all of a sudden, everything went blank. Makir was awoken by the sound of chirping. He rolled over, showing his belly to the warm sun as he scratched behind his own ear, completely content. Wait¡­ Chirping? He thought, his eyes shooting open. Above him, a small bird flew and his head followed it to the branch on which it landed. Makir got up, slowly and cautiously looking around. He hadn¡¯t moved. He was in the same spot as before, near the edge of the pond. Except, it looked completely different. The scum had been spread out and accompanied by a thin layer of leaves. Small tufts of marsh-grass were growing on the mixture in sporadic patterns. Interspersed every so often were stout trees with spider like roots that spread far through the inch thick nutritional layer. Makir looked for the others but couldn¡¯t see anyone. He listened but only heard the buzz of insects as they flew low over the water¡¯s surface, to be eaten by a fish or bird. He smelled the wet swampy air and was confused. Before he was able to jump to any conclusions his sharp ears finally caught the sound of conversation and he began walking over the slippery stone to its source. After a few minutes of travelling through more mangroves than could reasonably be expected to have grown overnight, Makir found himself at the entrance to a cave. Inside, he could make out the familiar sound of Visok arguing. The Khati sighed as he entered but the sound of exasperation was quickly replaced by an exhalation of wonder. From the outside, this place had just looked like a crack in the rock but the second he stepped in his breath was taken away. The walls were square, twenty feet apart and forty feet high. On them were engraved scenes, mostly of valent dwarves but there were alcoves in this entry chamber in which ten statues were lined up. One for each of their group, save two. Makir walked up to his own twenty foot tall image and found his ego swelling at the sight of the proud and noble Khati that loomed over him. It was obvious who had done this, that¡¯s why Makir wasn¡¯t surprised that the Elf was missing a statue but he did expect Helka to make one of herself. His confusion was short lived however as, when he walked to the end of the corridor and pushed open the perfectly balanced stone doors, he found a massive chamber. It was illuminated by bricks made of some glowing mineral, and in the centre of the atrium was a giant statue of the Dwarf - fifty feet in height. She was made from gold and silver as opposed to the plain stone of the other figures. Makir would have liked to take some time to admire the narcissistic work, art appreciation was in his blood after all, but his contemplations were cut short and his attention was drawn to the foot of the statue, where Visok was shouting. ¡°I don¡¯t care, it needs to happen faster!¡± he yelled. Makir had expected to find the target of his anger to be Helka, the Dwarf, given the history and the lack of any elven representation in this bastion, but that wasn¡¯t the case. ¡°We have been working as long as we can, if we push any further without giving the plants time to recover, they may mutate and likely die - then we would have to start over and it would be even longer before there is a stable ecosystem on this island,¡± Dem explained calmly to the irritated Elf. Makir stepped between them before Visok could find some issue with the skeleton¡¯s words and asked a question: ¡°How long was I asleep?¡± Visok seemed surprised to see the Khati; he clearly hadn¡¯t noticed Makir pushing open the giant doors. ¡°Oh, I didn¡¯t see you there Makir,¡± Visok said, greeting the man in question and reining in his anger. ¡°What was your question?¡± ¡°How long was I asleep,¡± Makir repeated, his attention once more drawn to the statue at the centre of the room. The Elf¡¯s eye twitched. ¡°Three days,¡± he replied. ¡°Three days?!¡± Makir asked in disbelief. His head snapping back to the pair. ¡°I¡¯m sorry Makir, I was too busy to wake you,¡± Dem added, his neutral voice revealing nothing of his emotions. ¡°How is that possible?¡± Makir asked, looking between the two - his own composure slipping. It took some explaining on Dem¡¯s part to elucidate the Khati. Apparently, life that could live out of water was a bigger milestone than he or the other gods had thought. It had quickly snowballed from mould to moss, from grass to garlic. According to the one with a power over death, each evolutionary branch was progressing at about the same pace but there were so many of them now that it looked like more work had been done than was representative of the truth. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Makir inquired about why he had been left asleep for so long to which Visok was the one to answer. As it turned out, only the five with the power to create sentient races could sleep and they all slept for a different length of time. Elementa was the first to wake, after only about an hour of sleep. With the others having found something to do, still asleep, or were actively working on the evolution of life (Le? and Dem), she decided to make herself useful. Elemeta created water sprites, however they were uncomfortable in the pool that was experiencing such a fast cycle of life and death so she moved some of the liquid into a new hole, dug by earth elementals. ¨C Elementals, in their infancy, are little more than extensions of the natural world and although Elementa can tell them to do things, they naturally do very little. It takes hundreds of years for an elemental to grow enough to be sentient. The baby water elementals will be content to purify and create more water from their current source. The earth elementals will move little bits of land around, very very slowly and sleep alot. The fire elementals, she made in a nearby volcano, will sit there and soak up the heat until disturbed. And the air elementals will circulate their element and prevent things from becoming stale. The next to wake was both Helka and Visok simultaneously, apparently the amount of sleep their races respectively required was about equal - four hours. Neither of them wanted to spend any time around each other so they both immediately went their separate ways. Helka came down into the caves and began building shelter and Visok went out into the fast growing shrubland and used his race¡¯s natural connection to nature to speed up Le? and Dem¡¯s efforts, now that life more closely resembled what he was used to - rather than a pool of green gunk. This was where the argument with Dem had its roots. Le? had said they should stop for a day to let things settle. This was only an hour ago and already Visok was trying to get Dem to agree to keep going since he had failed to convince Le?. When Makir expressed his shock at the speed they had already managed and asked why he was in such a hurry, Visok responded: ¡°How am I supposed to compete with this,¡± gesturing to the intricately carved room, ¡°if I don¡¯t have any proper trees to work with?¡± Makir set aside the potential future issue this attitude may cause if they were to continue living on the same island and asked Visok when Homos had awoken and what he was doing. The Human woke after about eight hours, when the first small animals had begun to grow. He had been working with Visok, Le?, and Dem training mammals and helping them develop in a manner that would be beneficial to humans. He had purportedly revealed that his goal was to evolve dogs; thus it might be concluded that what some say is true - dogs are a man¡¯s best friend. The reason Makir was the last to wake up was evident to him now, he had nothing more to thank than the innate laziness of his race. When he pressed Visok however and asked why no one had woken him up? He received a blush and a rather evasive answer about being busy only for Dem to correct him without a trace of a reaction. According to the dead one, the others had thought he looked too cute while he was sleeping which caused the Khati to blush in turn. Visok proposed that the khati, when they were created, should live on the surface - in the accommodations he would make. In return, he would be content waiting for it to be safe to continue their eugenics without pestering the others. Makir reluctantly agreed, despite how grand and opulent the Dwarf¡¯s structure appeared; he was prepared to make sacrifices to reduce the friction within the group. Three more days passed; Makir went from project to project, to see what his peers were doing. Le?, Dem, Visok, and Homos continued their work, creating life. Helka was digging deeper and deeper into the earth to find the metals and minerals she required for the construction of, what was fast becoming, an underground civilisation sans people. There were individual, spacious apartments filled with the same white glowing mineral as was used in the atrium. Winding hallways created a maze of living spaces with numerous routes to: open areas for markets, underground roads, smithies, mines, fungal farms, subterranean aquifers, and much more. All of it carved and meticulously decorated by nothing but Helka¡¯s own two hands. Elementa began optimising certain regions for her children to live in. She poured her Essence into: Tempi was bored of waiting for something to happen and had slowed time for both himself and Vesti - who had started following him around constantly. They stood atop The Mountain, overlooking the island without a sea as it grew, to them, at impossible speed. Magus, being a ghostly figure that could float about as he pleased, left to encapsulate the planet in a barrier that would prevent the harsh currents of mana the blue sun gave off from destroying the life the gods hoped to build. At first, Makir was unsure that Magus had been doing anything as there were no signs of his work. That was until the third night, when green lines - dancing far above - illuminated the edge of the barrier; the dispersal of a surge of mana which struck the protection. Volta was busy creating an area filled with her conjured plants, a small alcove halfway up the monolith of a mountain. She hoped it to be a soothing and calming rest stop for anyone climbing the impossible peak. None of the mortal gods chose to tell the enthusiastic woman that there was so little air even at that half way point that none but the elementals would be able to reach it. Ath? was an enigma to Makir. On the first of his wakefull days she didn¡¯t stop following him around, begging for another staring contest. Makir refused after seeing how competitive the fiery haired woman had gotten when engaged in a ¡°friendly¡± arm wrestle with the burly Dwarf. Neither chose to yield when the boulder they were using as a table split in two and the ground cracked beneath it; creating a ravine in an as yet unterraformed area of the island. They only stopped when the group working on creating life sent Homos over to complain that they were upsetting their efforts and it was called a draw - to be settled later. It was the best Makir could get the pair to agree to. This led to the twelve, who were swiftly coming to think of themselves as something approaching godhood, discovering how strong each of them were. Throughout the following days, changes to the landscape were made a number of times which most referred to as ¡°accidents¡±. Even Makir, who publicly discouraged such reckless experimentation, had tested his own strength when no one was looking. He threw a tree up into the air and it never came down. Over the next two days, Ath? was nowhere to be found. Each time Makir approached one of his peers, he would be told that she had just left but he was never able to catch sight of her and it made the Khati nervous. She had promised him that she wouldn¡¯t try and insite conflict again but it was what gave her power, her Purpose. He knew, first hand, how hard it was to deny one¡¯s nature. After a total of nine days without any khati for him to protect, his Purpose was itching painfully inside him and he was desperate to create just one of his kin to relieve the pressure. Each time the urge arose he pushed it down, knowing it wouldn¡¯t be right. On the tenth day, everything was ready. The environment on their little island had completely changed. There were forests, swamps, grassy fields, mountains, and lakes - all stuffed with life, from animals to insects. The twelve gathered together around the pond which was the start of it all. It had been filthy and filled with dead and decomposing organic matter but some of Elementa¡¯s infant water elementals had made it crystal clear. Even with their efforts however, there was nothing that could be done for the lingering Life and Death Essence which swam in unseeable patterns in the liquid. Unseeable, that was, to all but the Divine who saw the intermingling motes of gold and black that never joined; constantly dancing but never merging. After their job was done, the elementals had to leave for their own safety. Visok asked a day ago that this momentous event be delayed so that he could use these new forests to make a place rivalling the Dwarf¡¯s but even he couldn¡¯t hold out any longer by the time the dawn of the tenth day rolled around. The five sentient gods, save Elementa who was fine, looked ill. They had sunken eyes, sweaty pallid skin, and stooped postures. Even Makir looked unproud as he struggled to hold himself back from fulfilling his Purpose. So it was, with all the gods standing around that small pond in a now thriving woods, that the first of the elves, dwarfs, humans, and khati would be introduced to this universe. In my sleep, I smiled. Chapter 4: Fall from Grace Chapter 4
Fall from Grace ¡°And so it was, in the Garden of Eden - a location lost to time - the souls of the First People of the four races were created, whole and fully developed. Each member was the perfect example of their race; The Humans were cunning and had a strong sense of community, the Elves were all magically gifted and exceptionally agile, the Dwarves were masters of their prescribed crafts and as solid as stone, the Khati were keen of mind, well tempered yet capable of great wrath. Every one of the First People were far stronger, faster, and longer lived than those in the following generations.¡± ¨C The Book of the Divines 1:14 All at once, the four gods who had yet to fulfil their Purposes did so, none could hold back any longer. The divines believed there was a limit to how many people they could each create, one hundred. Elementa had already reached this point and described how she was unable to make any more elementals. The landlocked island had been filled with baby elementals that helped make the place feel just as alive as the flora and fauna that distinguished this plateau from the sea of barren rock around it. The gathered gods had agreed not to push themselves to this limit; they would only summon twelve of each race as a test. It was fortunate for them that they did, for in the flash of Divine light which accompanied the creation of fifty new life forms, a great cry could be heard. It was not the cry of a beast, declaring its anger to the world, nor the cry of pain that accompanies an injury to the body or mind, this was the cry of fifty pairs of tiny lungs taking in their first breaths and declaring to the world, to the universe that they were here - that they existed. The first souls were born. Why fifty and not fourty eight? Both Visok, progenitor of the elves and Helka, progenitor of the dwarves had sought to do one better than their counterpart. Now however, neither had the energy to complain about the other¡¯s unfaithfulness. After too many days ignoring their Purpose, the four gods were too tired and too ill to do much but stare at their offspring. Makir had assumed that his dozen newly created children would come into this world whole and fully developed, though he couldn¡¯t say why. Elementa, who had already begun to fulfil her Purpose, had made infant elements]als and never mature ones - why would khati be any different. He sighed, feeling a mixture of weariness and honest joy as he looked down onto the crying faces of his sons and daughters. Makir was lucky as his offspring would be able to hunt for themselves in just a few weeks, he knew the others would take far longer to develop. Still, the coming days would be exhausting. And so they were. For the first two weeks Helka accommodated the whole hoard in her complex and Visok didn¡¯t utter a word of complaint, he didn¡¯t have the time. All the gods, even those who did not create souls, helped pitch in. They found raspberries, apples, pares, salmon, venison, fungi and more to suit the varied diets of the four races¡¯ infants. Peaceful nights on an otherwise empty planet were replaced with the demanding cries of babies demanding food, comfort, or attention. Two weeks were as long as the Elf could manage before his prejudice overcame him. Helka and he fought over the food that should be the focus of the searching gods. Visok wanted more ¡°natural¡±produce, that which might be termed the bounty of the earth, plants and the like. Whereas, Helka demanded substances higher in mineral content - meats and such. It was soon rediscovered that the two could not live under the same roof when part of said roof was blown away in one altercation. Visok left to live amongst the trees and Makir, having previously agreed to it, took his progeny and left for the forest with much apologising and consoling to Helka. He promised this would not divide the group. For the following week the burden of providing for the young khati and elves fell to Makir as Visok shaped the woodland to his desires. With Le?¡¯s aid the task was done relatively quickly and the skyline of their little island was changed. A new forest had formed, the trees far more sturdy and nearly self aware. It felt comforting and homely to those it deemed friends yet unsettling and hostile to those it did not. At the heart of this elven sanctum was a tree that rivalled the smaller mountains in size, though it did not compare to the island¡¯s central monolith. This great oak was broader around than the entire dwarven hold and was grown to create a plethora of rooms. As Makir entered the gigantic living structure, decorated with a panoply of flowers - designed so that no matter the season there would always be a colourful display - he couldn¡¯t help but think it was every bit as beautiful as the murals and statues the Dwarf had created, though more natural. The Oaken palace was comparable in other regards as well. There were a number of rooms for any manner of profession and function, even a strong hold within the roots that Makir believed could survive a meteor strike. The khati had a wing to themselves with all the amenities they might need, but Makir only intended to use them for a week and then not again for another year. Elves and dwarves could take twenty years before they were self-reliant and nearly fifty before they were considered mature enough to set out on their own. Humans required half those numbers and khati half again. The length of each species'' lives were also somewhat commiserate. While both dwarves and elves, like elementals, were immortal they went about ageing in very different ways. Once elves reached adulthood they looked the same for all time whereas dwarves never stopped ageing, though they did it slowly. A dwarf might look as wrinkled and grey as a one hundred year old human on their two thousandth birthday but they could live far past that. A khati on the other hand was lucky to live to seventy, most would die in their fifties and sixties, based on the length of the years Makir had calculated his new home planet to have. Makir¡¯s children would grow up fast but it was important they grew up properly. Because of this, he had long intended to follow the traditional method of raising kits to ensure they were strong of mind and of body. One month after being born, a baby khati would be left alone in the wild for one year to learn to hunt and survive on their own. Makir felt hesitant about doing this but by all measures his children were exceptional: when they were newly created even the smallest of the litter could grip hard enough on his little finger to hurt a supernatural entity such as himself. He knew that the boar, wolves, and bears that now lived on this island wouldn¡¯t stand a chance against the claws of his kin. Still, Makir couldn¡¯t help but feel nervous. He debated back and forth with himself, whether or not to go through with his plan, until the morning of their first month on this earth rolled around. It was the right thing to do, he had known it throughout his internal debate but the softer parts of him disliked its necessity. They would grow up proud and strong or not at all, that was the khati way. By this point, the young cat folk could no longer be considered infants. If compared to a human they would be equivalent to a five year old; Makir¡¯s kits could speak and move without issue. Two clung to the stoic leonid''s arms, the others followed behind - distracted and playing with each new thing as they walked further into the forest. He had made sure to inform them as to what they were doing and the young khati were far more excited about the proposition than he. He left them in a clearing far from any predators and surrounded by fruit and prey. Brooding, Makir leapt back the dozen miles to the elven citadel to sit in his room and hope for the best. Nothing else was on his mind beside the fate of his children. He had told himself that he would not become attached to any of them until they had undergone this initiation - Makir had not even named any of them, unlike his peers. The Khati had thought he would be able to remain unattached but as he sat at the window near the top of the mountainous tree and looked across the miles of forest without any difficulty and spied on his children, playing with one another chasing butterflies and having fun, he realised it was already too late. Love had bloomed in his heart without his noticing. That was when it began. Weeks earlier, Vasti had told the gods that the planet was surrounded by a ring of ice chunks and indeed it was visible in the night sky. It was where she had obtained the water to start their life creating project. She had even warned Makir that it wouldn¡¯t be long before that water, that ice came down to the surface, but he had forgotten. It started with a light misting of rain as the smallest chunks were vaporised in the atmosphere. The Khati thought nothing of it, until he realised that this was the first rain he had seen on this barren planet. The rain grew heavier in a second and was filled with hail and before the god knew what was happening chunks of ice the size of his clenched fist were striking the earth at terminal velocity. Makir watched on in horror as his children scrambled for a nearby cave. The storm had arrived. ? ¡°It was in the great flood, when it did rain for forty days and nights, that the Garden of Eden collapsed, never to be seen again. The divine peace the gods created in that most holy of places was brought to an end by The Evil One, Lord Over all that is Dark, Fouler of all that is Right and Just, King of the Demons. No longer would the four races live in harmony. Where before, fellowship and camaraderie did bloom, the great demon did sow the roots of evil into the hearts of mortals, tempting them to damnation. He did plant greed, selfishness, and revenge - the signatures of a demon. The Human¡¯s were the first to fall. They stole a pair of priceless gems from the Dwarves, who then in turn stoll a precious fruit from the Elves believing them to be the culprits - thanks to the human¡¯s deceit. The gods tried to stop the ensuing conflict but they had granted the mortals freedom of choice and thought it an inviolable right so the four races were separated to the four continents of the world by the gods so that peace may once again return to the world.¡± ¨C The Book of the Divines 1:28 The Evil One, Lord Over all that is Dark, Fouler of all that is Right and Just, King of the Demons, sat on his throne and scratched his stubbly chin in thought. He had worked his way to the top of the harsh demonic plane not with brawn alone but with brains. Demons grew in power by absorbing that spark in all things; not mana, not life, but something ineffable that was present throughout the universe. Many names had been given to it but all the great demon knew was that it tasted divine. When a ripple passed through the universe carrying on it the scent of a great collection of this power, far more than The Fouler had ever seen, he needed to find its source and consume it. With that level of power, he would be untouchable, unkillable, undeniable.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Demons created portals to the other planes to conquer and consume. The Divine Essence which permeated all things conglomerated and congealed in life forms and the more intelligent the more power the creature could hold. Thus civilisations throughout the universe had long been ideal targets for the power hungry demons. To move between the planes a navigator, a demon with a natural ability with spatial magics, was required to create the portal. That was why the King of Demons called for Inanis, head of the Voidwalkers and one of his twelve apostles. The creature of whispering shadows that coiled into ever shifting tendreals burst into the throne-room seconds after being summoned. So eager was he not to incur his King¡¯s wrath that he cracked one of the skulls that comprised the throne-room door upon his entrance. His Majesty didn¡¯t so much as bat an eye. Ordinarily, such an offence would be repaid with at least a month in the torture chambers but the King needed to know more of this shift in the universe, and besides, there were always more enemies who¡¯s heads might be used to fix his door. Inanis had felt the ripple and rushed to his King without delay, no words needed to be spoken between the Master and his apostle. The Chief Voidwalker partitioned a part of his shadowed body off, creating an oval before his King, through which they could see the source of this disturbance. On a bald planet, without anything but stone, there was a mountain that reached far higher than any mountain naturally should. Atop its flattened peak, stood a number of beings of varied shapes and sizes talking loudly at one another. The King knew from a glance that these creatures were soft; any self respecting demon put in their position would fight tooth and claw until only one remained and then consumed the others to gain their Essence for himself. Soft though they were, these things were not weak. The Essence within even one of there number far eclipsed his own mighty pool of power. Seeing this for himself, the King of demons knew he must grow even stronger. At first, it didn¡¯t appear as if they would stay together. Whatever these things were, they didn¡¯t want to work with one another. That was until one of their number let out a roar that any demon would be proud of and united the others under some purpose - the demon knew not what. The King thought he might need to do something to separate these colossi of power, he got Inains to open a portal to the far side of that ball of rock except¡­ it didn¡¯t work. The mana was invested and the portal opened but only for a fraction of a second, not at all long enough to send through the scout The Lord of Darkness had intended. Twice more the leader of The Voidwalkers tried and twice more he failed. The whispering shadows pleaded for mercy from their King as they saw his annoyance rise with each failed cast of the spell. The King ignored his snivelling apostle and focused on the split second image he had seen on the other side of the last collapsing tear in reality. He had seen the outline of a girl filled with nothing but emptiness, broken up by balls of light that gave the appearance of far off stars. The Demon King recognised her as one of those Essence filled creatures¡­ but that was impossible. His subordinates'' scrying spell was still active and he could see her standing behind that silver haired boy, she hadn¡¯t moved an inch. It was as if she was in two places at once and on top of that, she had closed the rip in the fabric of space with seemingly no difficulty. This was going to be more difficult than he had at first surmised, but no matter. Any form of travel to the solar system appeared to be off the table but travelling through space was no obstacle for a demon. Fighting all of them would be impossible but given time they would separate and he could be patient, there was already one in there number set on tearing apart their little group. Until that happened the King needed to become stronger. On that day he began his campaign across the universe killing and consuming entire planets with the eventual goal of conquering that strangely large planet with a blue sun. He would achieve his ambition, of that he had never been more sure, though it would be many years before he could feel confident setting foot anywhere near that treasure trove of Essence. ? Ath? was excited. She had been bored ever since Makir, someone she had thought was fun, made her promise not to start any conflicts. He had not, however, forbidden her from getting the others to start one themselves. So, when the endless hail began she set to work. Makir¡¯s focus was entirely on his children, he shadowed them as they struggled to survive in the first storm the planet had ever seen, never wanting them to know that he was there to deflect a large lump of ice from landing on one of their heads or to drop a helpless rabbit near their cave. Volta had also left to follow the kittens and was helping them in secret. A calming flower might bloom nearby when tensions ran too hot, none of the khati would think anything of it. Both gods were so good at remaining undetected in their actions neither suspected the other of interfering. With both of Ath?¡¯s biggest obstacles otherwise occupied she could work uninterrupted. Over the last few weeks, she had been pushing both Visok and Helka closer to fighting and, while their animosity had gained her some small amount of Divine Essence, it was far from enough. The storm brought with it another blessing. Now that water was being spread across the planet and the oceans were starting to fill, Le? and Dem wanted to sow seeds of life across the continents. Vasti agreed to help them travel the great distances required and Tempi decided to tag along, having quickly grown tired of the sounds of babies crying. With the storm as cover, Ath? entered the underground dwarven complex, out of sight of the Elf. She made her way down through the outskirts where Homos and his ilk slept and into the deeper depths where the Dwarfs preferred to live. She found Helka sitting on a stone rocking chair in a long room, lined with cribs that were being swayed to and fro by a stone golem arm that the Dwarf had made in collaboration with Magus in order to help the baby dwarfs sleep. Helka¡¯s normally bedraggled and unkempt appearance was only exacerbated by having to take care of thirteen new dwarfs but being a god she was still conscious. ¡°Helka,¡± Ath? greeted with a warm smile. ¡°Ath??¡± the Dwarf asked, the tiredness of newfound motherhood showing through in her voice. After the pleasantries were over and done with, the goddess of war set about revealing what Visok had been up to. For the past two weeks, she had been acting as a double agent with each god thinking she was on their side. She told Helka of the project the Elf had been working on; a fruit, an apple imbued with much of his Divine Essence that he intended to gift to his most promising child. It would make him weaker but he would be able to brag that he had the strongest and greatest offspring. For a long moment there was silence after this revelation, filled only with the sound of a scurrying rat that had somehow made its way this deep into the tunnels. Eventually, Helka let out a breath and a wicked grin overtook her. Then an annoyed look fell upon her features like a shadow. ¡°I can hardly win against him if he¡¯s weakened¡­¡± she thought aloud, then she snapped her fingers as an idea came to her. With her hands she scooped two lumps of stone from the wall, one in each hand, and imbued them both with a portion of her own Divine Essence. In a flash, a change overcame the rock as it turned into two dazzling, clear gems which appeared to emit a soft, pale, yellow radiance. Ath? was shocked with how readily Helka gave up a part of herself but didn¡¯t say a thing as she followed the Dwarf through the complex and out towards the stormy surface. As they passed the massive statue of Helka, the woman herself melded the gems she had created into the breasts of the figure. It didn¡¯t take long to march through the heavy hail, ice bouncing off their godly hides even as it pockmarked the land. In no time they had made it to the garden Visok had constructed behind his main tree. There, on the branch of an isolated tree Ath? pointed to where there was an apple that had a corona of light green light. Or, where such a thing should have been. The goddess looked high and low but it wasn¡¯t there and with each passing second Helka grew more and more agitated. ¡°Thief!¡± Visok¡¯s voice called from an overlooking balcony as he came upon the scene. ¡°What?!¡± The Dwarf shot back, her temper bubbling up, ¡°What is this, a set up?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t try and deny it, I¡¯ve caught you in my garden. You have stolen my apple and given it to your kin. I should expect nothing less from a dwarf!¡± The Elf spat, nearly frothing at the mouth with anger and indignation. Ath? began to grin in anticipation of the Divine Essence that was about to come her way. She hadn¡¯t expected someone else to take the apple before she got here but a fight was about to break out all the same and she couldn¡¯t wait. This would be the first real battle she could witness. Or it would have been if from the curtain of rain and hail the god of humans didn¡¯t step forth. ¡°This is the course of your conflict?¡± he asked rhetorically as he held aloft the fruit and all eyes turned to him. ¡°Then I shall remove it from the equation!¡± he declared and before any could react Homos tossed the apple into the waiting mouth of his pet wolf. On that day, unbeknownst to any present, the first demy god was born. Visok stared down furiously at the Human who stared back defiantly but no one looked into the eyes of that wolf. If they had, they might have seen a new light taking root in there. Helka huffed, threw up her hands, and stomped off back towards her home. Visok on the other hand turned his anger onto Homos and an argument was birthed anew. Ath? was surprised by the turn of events but she couldn¡¯t say she was displeased. She wondered, as the shouting crescendoed and the coming blows were imminent, how Homos had discovered the presents of the fruit? Then she looked at the wolf shaped dog standing at his side, growling at the Elf, and remembered the Humans odd connection with animals and the sounds of rats she had heard when divulging information to the dwarf. Just as Visok raised a hand to strike, the Elf was blown off his feet by a forty foot gold and jewelled statue without any breasts followed by a screaming and cursing dwarf. Had anyone been able to see The Mountain through the storm they might have noticed a slight shiver as the earth elemental that had grown rapidly to fill its rocky innards after finding a delicious meal down in the earth, shook in fear upon seeing the wrath of the gods. And on that day was also born the second demigod. This was a fight that changed the world forever, it grew and grew in strength and scope. At some point, Makir and Volta returned and chose to rescue the children. They brought the baby khati, humans, elves, and dwarves to the cave the goddess of peace had created on the side of The Mountain. Oxygen was provided by Elementa¡¯s air elementals. Before long, The Mountain was all that remained and all that was built was destroyed. The tremors from the conflict were so great that the expedition of gods to the greater world returned, expecting some kind of meteor storm, only to find a crater around the base of the Mountain that was swiftly filling with water. Thus, it was decided that the gods could not live together in harmony. Even Makir, who had harboured some hope for unity could not overcome his anger at the other gods of mortals. Now that there were kits in his life, their safety was all that mattered. Even discovering that he and his peers were unkillable was no consolation. Le? relayed that the effort to create life across the planet was incredibly successful now that there was an abundance of water. So the five races, and the respective gods, spread to the five different continents with the aid of Vasti¡¯s teleportation. The next day the storm broke and Makir was able to look over his new lands as they grew rapidly with the influx of light. The continent he and his children chose had a mountain range that divided the land from east to west. In the south, thick and humid rainforests grew and to the north there was a great desert but even beyond that life grew. First a servana then wide and open planes of grass. Beyond, a beautiful and bountiful coast lay. The continent Elementa chose was unwanted by the others, it had very little arable land but plenty of volcanoes, swamps, and windswept islands which were perfect for her children. The human continent had mountains, though they were relatively small. It had planes, though they were not vast. It even had a few volcanoes, though not many. Most of the land was rolling grassy hills that were perfect for farming. Helka chose the most mountainous of the five continents as it was filled with precious metals just waiting to be mined. Visok chose a forested archipelago where each island, on any other planet, would have been a continent. And so, with a world separating the mortal bound gods, peace finally rained and for the next thousand years each of their respective civilisations expanded, unknown to one another. At first, Makir was as a father to his children but as more and more grew, and the generations passed, he became like a king. He directed the khati to build first a village then a town then several then a city. Before long, as he watched more and more of his children be born, grow old and die, he became evermore removed from them. After only a few hundred years he was a god that walked amongst them and helped as and when he could. After a thousand he was little more than a figure of religion that many prayed to but none expected to meet. The other mortal gods had followed a similar pattern and they left their children to their own devices whilst they followed other pursuits. Helka secluded herself deep in the earth, perfecting her smithing skills, only ever leaving to retrieve more supplies and to hide mythical grade artefacts where anyone might find them. Visok sought to merge his consciousness with the forest that protected his kin and, as such, his perception of time slowed dramatically. Homos liked to interact with his people, not as their god but as a regular man so he spent his days travelling the human lands as a merchant or a mercenary all the while with his dog by his side. Finally, Elementa was happy so long as she was surrounded by fire, air, earth, and water. All was peaceful in the world, that was until the day one couldn¡¯t die. Chapter 5: The Day Death Didn鈥檛 Work Chapter 5
The Day Death Didn¡¯t Work I awoke, for the third time, figuratively blinking away the memories of past lives as a bookkeeper, a baker, and a spit-taker. All of them ended the same, being consumed by the void. I shook my lack of a head to dismiss the phantom memories and turned my metaphorical attention back to the planet I had been creating, the one with a blue sun. Yet again, there were questions: Q.) How long was I asleep? A.) Two thousand and twenty four years, based on the calendar of Gaius - the name the people gave to the planet I created as both a memorial and a test. Q.) Why such a short sleep? The last time felt far longer. A.) There were enough mortals praying to my gods, and their subsequent lesser gods and demigods, that the Divine Essence I syphoned off filled me up much faster than simply sleeping. Q.) How many mortals are there on this planet they named Gaius? A.) 432,709,244 total sentient lifeforms spread across the planet. Most of them are humans and khati as the elves and dwarfs are far slower about these things and it is rare for an elemental to live long enough and gain enough experience to become sentient. Q.) What happened in regards to this planet whilst I have been sleeping? A.) This time I didn¡¯t answer myself with words but with images. I saw what could be done when my godlings worked together, the introduction of an ecosystem to the entire planet - something I¡¯d admittedly forgotten to do. I also saw the destruction they could wrought when they fought. The island I had created as a place for them to meet and confer was destroyed and all that remained was The Mountain the people subsequently named The Pillar of Heaven. Speaking of the peoples of this planet, they were completely separated by race. There were the occasional trade missions between some of the more amorous peoples but given the colossal size of this planet those were few and far between. The most successful merchants prayed heavily to Vasti in hopes of being blessed by The Goddess of Space and being able to teleport the vast distances between the continents, making tidy profits. Teleportation was otherwise possible by means of powerful magics but anyone with that level of ability wouldn¡¯t need what relatively little wealth it could provide when compared to other endeavours. Life had flourished on all five of the continents and had barely been scratched by the growth of these cities and kingdoms; most just clung to the coasts and very few ever ventured in land. A plethora of scenes of political intrigue, backstabbing, alliances, and revenge flooded my mind as I thought about what exactly the five peoples had been up to, so I stopped dwelling on it. Q.) Can I just have the latest headlines? A.) Yes: Q.) Wait, what was that? A.) Elfar Malcrow has, at the age of two thousand and twenty four, become the first Elf ever to choose to reside outside of the Visok archipelago only made possible now that the god of elves has slackened his control over his people and focused more on becoming the forest. Mr Malcrow was, in fact, one of the first people ever created on this planet and, although those created directly by the gods were stronger, faster, healthier, and more likely to have a talent for magic there are only seven that still live in the current year. Q.) You know that wasn¡¯t what I was questioning, of course you do, you¡¯re me. Why would I be so willfully obstinate? A.) I¨C Q.) That was a rhetorical question. I do this questioning thing because I prefer the idea of asking questions to just knowing everything, having the information streamed into my nonexistent brain¡­ Or do I just prefer it because the human minds whose wills created me would have preferred it¡­ Or would it have been the preference of that one figure who was at the centre of who I was? A.) ¡­ Q.) This attitude I am developing reminds me of a cat, perhaps I would do better to ask a feline than myself. And then I thought: why not? Next to me, in the great vastness of space, far above the planet that had named itself Gaius, there popped into existence a silky black cat. Unlike with the gods, where I separated a piece of myself, this was just a vessel that the part of me I wanted to ask questions could inhabit but our thoughts would still be shared. I looked into the cat¡¯s green eyes that seemed to know everything, which they did. I saw the cat from every angle simultaneously; both inside and out. I looked out of its eyes at the empty space he saw, since my main body was everything. It was rather odd, so I stopped paying attention to that part of my mind, just as I did most of the rest of it. Now I could have a conversation with myself without feeling quite so crazy. It was akin to talking to a sock puppet rather than speaking to oneself in a completely empty room. One is a perfectly normal thing to do whilst the other is quite mad. I made noise appear near the cat so I could ask my question: ¡°Now, what was this about the god of death being captured? By whom? Why? What for?¡± The cat hissed and pranced back through empty space, getting away from the voice that had been placed right next to its ear before speaking in the language of cats: ¡°I don¡¯t feel like answering. I think I should have a nap.¡± And with that the cat that was me breathed out a cloud of perpetually burning flame, circled around it twice, then curled up, shut his eyes, and began purring. Mayhaps I had made him too much like a cat. It was no matter, I knew everything he did. I knew who had done this and why and, to be honest with myself, I thought it best for the integrity of the test if the native gods dealt with this problem on their own. That said, I couldn¡¯t just let things stand as they were. People not dying - it could mess up the cycle of reincarnation. Although I had given up the power of death over the five races I still possessed a greater power over death. I would have to fill in until the gods freed their peer. ? Not wasting any time, I formed for myself another body. This one was tall, around seven feet in height, and had no flesh. The white skeleton was topped by a human sized raven¡¯s skull that moved and contorted as if it were still alive. A black mist started oozing out of the marrow of the figure''s bones and congealed into a thick cloak that covered him from head to toe. This body was an exact replica of Dem and even possessed the same powers and abilities he did but to a far greater extent. If he were to let his powers rage out of control it might kill anything within a hundred miles of him. If I lost command of this deadly vessel¡­ well suffice to say that a planet, even one as large as this, is but a grain of sand on the beach when the tide comes in. I instantly examined everything Dem did in the last two thousand years and felt more than ready to step into his shoes. So, I did. Contorting my perception, I squeezed my consciousness into the replica, took my first step¡­ and wobbled before drifting out into space. Perhaps I should have tried to walk on land before I tried it out in the emptiness. With a thought, I was laying on the ground rather than flailing around in space. It took an embarrassingly long time thrashing about on one of the grassy hills of the continent of Homos before I was able to stand let alone perambulate. Seeing everything from above was far easier than actually doing. Fractly, I was surprised at how difficult the mere act of walking was. More than an hour was spent taking tiny shuffling steps before I felt confident enough to get on with the work I had tasked myself with. ¡°Hmm, how was it that Dem got where he needed to be?¡± I asked aloud, finding it more difficult to access all my knowledge while contained in this miniscule vessel. ¡°He just walks, and ends up where he is needed,¡± a smooth voice replied, echoing my own thoughts exactly. I jumped slightly upon hearing the sound and ended up flailing about to find its source and once more fell onto the ground, the luscious grass breaking my fall. This resulted in a purring laughter from the mysterious voice who I could now see belonged to the part of myself I had contained within a cat. ¡°You know, you¡¯re just laughing at yourself?¡± I grumbled, unamused. ¡°I can¡¯t help it, it''s funny,¡± the cat chuckled as it turned its wickedly smiling whiskered face down at me where I lay, still in the grass. I sighed and untangled myself from the intangible cloak I had somehow become caught up in, before pushing myself back to my presently bony feet - while ignoring the part of my mind with paws that paced around me, looking me up and down. ¡°Say, how come your part of me can walk around just fine but this part of me is struggling so much?¡± I asked my feline self. ¡°That¡¯s simple,¡± I replied from fuzzy lips, as my languid body stretched in the warm sunlight, ¡°I¡¯m a cat.¡± And then I turned away from myself and started walking with feline grace only to turn back my head and cock it questioningly. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m coming,¡± I replied from a boney beak, answering the unasked question. I fumbled my way through the thick green blades grumbling about the need for walking but I knew if I wanted to keep things running smoothly on this planet I would need to do my best to get things to work as usual. Besides, perhaps I might learn something. The thought made me laugh, what could there possibly be for a universe that knows absolutely everything to learn? My steps became more fluid and more regular as I got the hang of walking, though I still couldn¡¯t compare to the cat, and he knew it too. As the grass lands blurred into forests the cat pranced about between the limbs of trees with a predator''s agility, darting back and forth across the path as he chased after rodents and squirrels. As the cat had said, I just seemed to walk and appear where I needed to be. There didn¡¯t seem to be anything wrong with my path, first through grasslands then a short frosted section and now into an elven village and, indeed, if I were mortal I would think nothing of it. But I wasn¡¯t merely mortal, or just a worldly god for that matter. I knew that each of the places that seemed to be right next to each other were, in fact, on different continents. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. I wasn¡¯t teleporting, or using any spatial magics for that matter. I had created this body to imitate Dem exactly and it was using the nature of death to be where it was supposed to be. Death was never late nor early, it was exactly where it needed to be when it needed to be. This level of comprehension over what was such a small aspect of death surprised and impressed me, I had underestimated the gods I had created. ¡°Looks like an elf shall be the first to be called upon,¡± the cat remarked after slurping up the tail I had seen between his teeth. I shuddered at the feeling of a mouse travelling down my throat before focusing back on my replica Dem body. Looking around nervously at the elves going about their lives in the village from the cover of the bushes, I asked my cat self: ¡°Won¡¯t they see me if I walk in there looking like this?¡± The cat scoffed, ¡°Who would want to see death?¡± I shrugged, stood straight and walked out into the village. Instantly I regretted it when I saw a little elf girl staring at me. ¡°She¡¯s looking right at me,¡± I whispered out of the side of my beak. ¡°Of course she¡¯s not,¡± the cat chuckled, ¡°She¡¯s looking at me,¡± he said with pride before walking over to the child and winding between her legs and sure enough she completely ignored me and started petting him. He let out a meow that I understood to be a self congratulatory, ¡°See.¡± I expelled a raven-like caw of exasperation before continuing throughout the village gate unbothered by the guards. The structure of the villages of the Visok archipelago were much the same. In their centre was a seedling of the great tree which Vicok himself had created in the centre of the capital. The original was an oak, fashioned after the great oak that he had created on that first island and which had been destroyed in the conflict with Helka. The seedlings, however, could be any type of tree and would grow differently based on their surroundings and would grow larger based on the number of elves that lived in the settlement. Since it was a village I found myself in and it was growing in a birch forest, the central silver birch tree was grown into a space large enough for a village hall. There were other trees which were grown into homes though they were smaller and less grand. The house trees created a ring around the central tree with their entrances facing the centre and thick brambles grown between them to create a fortified location. The only break in the thorny defences was the gate, whose posts were trees which grew into an arch. There were two guards stationed here though they were lax and people came and left freely. It appeared this was a mostly peaceful and safe village. My comforting and homely perception of the small collection of trees the elves called a village was swiftly shattered alongside a window on the second story of the village birch hall. Children who were playing out in the courtyard, this kind of settlement had by design, froze at the sudden sound. I looked over at the source of the disturbance. An adult male elf had been defenestrated and a rather burly looking elf was looking out of the window down upon the figure. This figure looked far worse for wear than simply being thrown through a second story window could explain. There were a number of burns, cuts and bruises covered by torn and tattered rags. The fallen figure was near death already but when a slender elf came to the window beside the larger one, looked out and saw that the man was still moving, if barely, he screamed something. The tromp of armoured boots could be heard in response to the lordly looking man¡¯s orders and in short order the door to the village hall was thrown open and three armed and armoured elfs bustled out. The equipment was ill fitting and poorly maintained, the only one who looked somewhat like a proper soldier was the larger man who I knew to be the one to throw the tortured man from the building and the noble elf who wore thickly dyed velvet robes and a sneer that seemed reminiscent of their god. By this point in time, all the children who had been playing were ushered inside to their tree houses by older folks - the look of fear and resignation, symptoms of people who knew something horrible was about to happen but couldn¡¯t do anything about it. These were the faces of elves stuck under a tyrant''s rule. Doors were barred shut and curtains closed as the community turned their back on the man who was soon to die. While the ruff looking elves surrounded the mostly incapacitated elf their leader approached, staring down at the man with contempt. I walked up next to him and peered down at the dying elf curiously. None present noticed me. ¡°Was it worth it?¡± the tyrannical elf asked his downed adversary, ¡°If only you hadn¡¯t tried to escape I might have let that daughter of yours live.¡± The injured man''s eyes, which had been staring death into his taunter, shifted to uncertainty and he spat out a mouth full of blood before speaking with a mixture of fury and fear: ¡°You¡¯re lying, your men killed my family. They all burned in that fire.¡± ¡°All but one.¡± The elf responded with poorly disguised glee. ¡°Your daughter, six years old, with brown hair, was found at the site of the burned out farm three days later having survived trapped in the roots.¡± The man''s words were so confident, so certain that the tortured man knew them to be true and horror covered his face. ¡°No..¡± he said, in a whisper of a voice, the colour having drained from his ruddy cheeks, ¡°Annabelle?¡± he questioned, closing his eyes and holding back all but a single tear. ¡°I had intended to bring her here and kill her in front of you as punishment for your defiance but alas, it doesn''t look like you¡¯ll last that long,¡± he said with genuine lament. The evil lord snapped his fingers before leaning in close to the incapacitated man who looked impossibly lost as he grew weaker and weaker. ¡°I know, I shall do the opposite. I¡¯ll preserve your body and tell that little girl I am taking her to see her father, only for her to come into town just as your head is struck from your shoulders. That shall be the start of the worst life imaginable and it is all. Your. Fault,¡± he finished, inches from the other elf man''s face with a wide grin plastered across his own. The plan was so terrible that even one of his own fighters shivered from the description and looked away from the dying elf. This vile and unnecessary remark caused a change to overcome the injured elf. Where before he seemed depressed and listless now he was full of righteous anger. He struggled to move his arm, his leg, or anything to strike this elf. The lord was at first stunned by the surge of life but when he saw his prey was unable to move he let out a laugh. That was all the distraction the dying elf needed. With the last of his strength, he lurched his head up, trying to bite off the head of this defiler. Although that seemed possible to his pain addled and adrenaline filled mind he still only had the mouth of an elf which was nowhere near large enough for such an act. Not that there was no effect. The elf¡¯s sharp teeth bit through the lord¡¯s nose and as he pulled away it was ripped clean off. ¡°Kill Him!¡± he screeched to his guards. The sudden violence came as a surprise to the two untrained thugs but the more professional of the three didn¡¯t hesitate. Although his face remained stony throughout I knew in his heart he hated the man he was forced to serve and now that he had the chance to end the suffering of one of his lord¡¯s victims he saw it as a mercy. The fine elven blade pierced straight through the dying man''s heart. Fury dripped out of the man drop by drop as his blood watered the soil. To the man, time seemed to slow as the life left him until it finally froze and he closed his tear filled eyes. If I were to do exactly as Dem would have, I¡¯d have stood on the sidelines in this monochrome and still world, where everything is precisely as it was when someone died, until he noticed me. Then there would usually be a moment of shock and panic upon seeing such an unnerving creature as Dem. He would proceed to stand still, say nothing and reach out a hand until they calmed down and took it - or grew tired of running in circles in the timeless bubble that surrounded someone at the moment of death - and then he would escort them to where they needed to be. I could do that, but I had a better idea. For a couple thousand years, until his capture, Dem had been doing a good job of fulfilling his Purpose - perhaps too good. There were myriad myths about deaths on Gaius, a hundred different ideas about what the god of death was like and even his image was highly disputed. This came about as Dem never appeared to anyone near death and no one ever managed to escape him so there were no first hand accounts of the god - save from very few situations but that person would always die soon after. He was so good at his job that this planet had never seen undeath - people had tried to raise the dead but Dem was always there stopping the attempt so it was considered an impossible feat. A world without necromancy, to me, seemed incomplete - it lacked balance. Because of this, I chose to interrupt this elf¡¯s silent sobs. ¡°I have a proposition for you,¡± I said in the eerily quiet, yet perfectly audible, voice that belonged to Dem. The words, spoken in the silence of death, were deafening. For a moment nothing happened, then he opened his sorry eyes. I saw fear in the pale grey depths, swiftly drowned in a sea of sorrow. Defeated, he turned his weary eyes on me and asked in a voice hoarse from crying: ¡°What?¡± I was about to reply but he cut me off, ¡°Just be gone, or take me to Uffern or whatever it is you are here to do just do it then leave me to my misery,¡± he sobbed. I decided not to beat around the bush, he was in no state for conversation. ¡°I offer justice,¡± I explained. This caught his attention. The elf jumped to his feet, not even noticing that he leapt right out of his physical form and stood as a grey and hollow spirit that held a finger out towards me accusingly. ¡°You lie. What are you, a demon? Some foul creature here to steal my soul?¡± ¡°Would it matter if I were?¡± I asked. A silence followed, in which I saw whatever argument he had formed collapsed under the weight of that simple question. He shrank back, his eyes wild and his state manic. I could see into his mind. It truly didn¡¯t matter to him if I were the devil himself. He hated the revelation, he had always thought himself a good and honest elf, yet, he would sell his soul for the slimmest chance that Annabell might be spared. ¡°No,¡± he finally answered meekly through shivering grey lips. ¡°Are you prepared to defy death to do what must be done?¡± I asked with ceremonial gravitas. ¡°I am,¡± he replied with some steel returning to him. ¡°Are you willing to give up all that makes you an elf?¡± ¡°I am,¡± he affirmed even more strongly. ¡°Will you consign yourself to an eternal and torturous existence, cursed to walk the planes for all time and never die? To be the antithesis of death, the bringer of unlife, and scourge to all that lives and dies in the natural cycle?¡± This time there was a moment¡¯s hesitation but the thought of his little girl, playing in the orchids. The image of him lifting her to pick her first apple. How happy she had been in the cold winter nights sitting on her mother¡¯s lap by the fire, watching the flames dance. The look of terror on her face when the ball of fire smashed through the window. All of it flashed through his mind in a second and hardened his resolve. ¡°I am!¡± he replied with no doubt. I took a step forward and layed a bony hand on each of his shoulders and lined my eye holes up with his own. Now that his heart was set he didn¡¯t even flinch. I spoke in a grand voice that moved the frozen earth with its presence - a voice that contained all that was, and all that ever will be, in its infinite frequencies. ¡°I name you Ori¡¯Vairion, God of Undeath,¡± and with my words the world of black and white shattered. The soul of the elf shot back into its ruined body as time resumed. To the officer who had killed my newest god, no time at all had passed. One moment he was plunging his sword into the heart of yet another of his master¡¯s victims, watching as the life fled from his eyes, the next he was being forced back by the body that was still being stuck through with his weapon. There was a moment of uncomprehending horror on both sides, then, they screamed. The hardened man¡¯s cry was that of cold, unadulterated fear - his deep voice forced out of him, taking his breath with it, and the professional killer¡¯s composure broke. He was the first and so far only to react, as the corpse slowly rose and pushed the blade out of its chest and shrugged off the attacks the officer was attempting. Punches, dagger strikes, and sword swings had their intended effect but still Ori¡¯Vairion pushed himself to his feet. The newly minted god was in just as much pain as before his death and that would never change but he could move. Compared to the breathy and panicked shout of the fighter, Ori¡¯Vairion¡¯s screech spoke of pain, loss, regret, and revenge. It stilled everyone for a moment as they were frozen in fear. The other two fighters had been tending to their leader¡¯s injury but upon hearing a cry that came from beyond death they were stunned and a stain began to form on their trousers. As for the lord of this village, he - surprisingly - didn¡¯t hesitate and fled into the village hall, slamming the door and abandoning his men outside. Thinking a calm and sunny day wasn¡¯t fit for this occasion, I decided to add a little drama. I summoned thick and heavy storm clouds and scattered them with purple lightning to match the purple glow behind the God of Undeath¡¯s eyes. Once Ori¡¯Vairion overcame the initial pain and shock of unlife, the goal that had driven him to accept this form reasserted itself and he began a limping march towards the giant birch this village used as its hall; ignoring the hyperventilating attacker as he pushed past. ¡°Masadir!¡± Ori¡¯Vairion shouted. Pointing at the tree, he instinctively used one of his powers as all the hundreds of dead insects in the area returned to the mortal world and began eating their way through the door so quickly it appeared to be melting. The God of Undeath shouldered his way through the remains of the door and pushed further into the living building, screaming in anger the entire time. Seeing this, the three armed men turned and fled, leaving through the open gate. Smiling at a job well done, I spun on my heel and began walking away, whistling a merry tune accompanied by the sounds of pleas for mercy. As I was leaving, the cat pranced through one of the tree house walls like a ghost and rubbed himself between my ankles before walking alongside me. ¡°Weren''t you supposed to make sure he was dead?¡± the cat asked without inflection. ¡°This was better,¡± I responded happily. ¡°Was it?¡± he asked, raising an eyebrow. ¡°Well, no, but now there is balance.¡± ¡°And there will be a lot more people praying,¡± the cat commented, knowing my thoughts. ¡°That too,¡± I responded unashamedly, ¡°tell me, where were you?¡± I asked, knowing the answer, ¡°The children were scared,¡± he replied simply.¡± ¡°Softy,¡± I accused. ¡°Balance,¡± he reminded. And, walking as companions, me and my cat-self continued on to the next person who was going to die. Chapter 6: Lessons to be Learned Chapter 6
Lessons to be Learned My jaunty walk took me through a thicket of trees and when I saw the great blue sky beyond, it was far wider than was right for the middle of a forest because, indeed, I was not in a forest anymore, it was a desert. When I turned around to see where I had come from, there was nothing but sand. Shrugging, I continued on. There was nothing visible from the top of a dune so I walked down the valley between a pair of the giant mounds of sand and up another. Sure enough, the scenery had changed. No longer were there barren sands in all directions. From the peak of this second dune I saw a mirage to the west, it appeared to be a great oasis but I knew there was none there. Still, I continued towards it. Down I went again, and once more I rose unto a third peak. From its heights I was able to determine that I had again been moved, without any feeling of disorientation, for when I now looked south the oasis, which had been an illusion of the heat, had become real. Palm trees swayed by the water¡¯s edge, the tallest in a long line of plants which rimmed the silvery pool. Beyond this bastion of life, in an otherwise deserted place, was a wall. A wall made from sand stone for what else might be found in such a desert as this. Beyond the defensive structure, towers rose - none beyond the height of a fifth or sixth floor. They too were constructed from the stone of the sand and were designed in square shapes, with wooden trusses poking out from just beneath flat roofs. For now, the city of khati was but a blip on the horizon, which my keen eyes defined for me, but upon lowering down once more into the dip between dunes and climbing up again, I was right at the gate - the space inbetween having seemed to have disappeared. I walked straight through the lightly guarded gates of the city, without so much as a glance from the khati stationed there, and entered a tributary of the road network. The desert side of the settlement was the poorest and most run down. Buildings were old and in disrepair. I thought, perhaps the next person to whom I was a caller might live here. Certainly, there were plenty who looked close to death, as if an errant wind might knock them over the edge. Dozens of such people lay haphazardly about the street but none could see me, so my feet carried me further into the more bustling parts of this sprawling metropolis. Before long, I had joined a stream of people headed towards the market. That stream then joined a river and I was swept along, out of my depth. People bumped into me from every direction; some felt a cold chill, others a bony elbow, but for each who unintentionally assaulted me, there was another near-enough-by to blame. Soon, I suspected something might be going on. From what I knew (which was everything), the streets of Dro¡¯Zira shouldn¡¯t have been so packed, not even on market day. Though we were headed to the market square, the mood of the crowd was not in line with what one might expect from happy shoppers. Khati were angry, shouting and jeering as they pushed closer to the heart of the city and, looking around, I noticed the thin and starving appearance wasn¡¯t limited to those in the slums of Dro¡¯Zira. Everyone here was malnourished and looked to be quite upset. If this was a rebellion, I would reap more than one life today. But no, none of the shouting khati were armed, save for their claws - but even they weren¡¯t out. It didn¡¯t take long for me to be swept along to the target of this anger and the reason for this gathering. We came to the market square and it was cleared, guards kept the rowdy crowdy back. In the centre of the square was a stage, hastily constructed out of wood. In the middle was a stump with a crescent shape carved out and dried bloodstains covering it. This was an execution. A well dressed leopard khati, adorned in the desert style with white linens covering him and gold jewellery decorating his long and softly furred fingers, stepped onto the stage. The crowd hushed as his predatory stare swept over the gathered commoners. ¡°Dro¡¯Zira is dying.¡± he stated and the hush that was about the gathered khati morphed into a complete silence. Everyone knew his words to be true but it was something talked about behind closed doors, no one wanted to acknowledge it publicly for fear it might be true. ¡°My name is Vassir Dro¡¯Zira,¡± he continued. At this, an angry susurration swept through the crowd. ¡°I know,¡± he said, lowering his paws in a calming motion, ¡°House Dro¡¯Zira, are not looked on kindly and for good reason. My brother, head of our house, has led this city to ruin. There is no food, the oasis is drying up, and what does he and his wife do?¡± By this point he had the khati hanging off his every word and to prove it he let the question stand in the silence for a moment; not a murmur was made as they waited for him to answer. ¡°They sit there, in their ivory towers, eating cake, playing, and laughing and I ask you, is that fair?¡± This time there was a chorus of shouting and calls of agreement. ¡°Exactly,¡± he said, quieting the crowd once more, ¡°This cannot stand, and though it pains me to do this - I cannot sit idly by any longer.¡± At his cue, a woman was marched out onto the stage by two expressionless soldiers. She walked with her head held high, dressed in simple, plain garments. ¡°This is Lady Shavari Dro¡¯Zira and it was her policies that brought about this famine.¡± This comment fueled the anger of the khati and insults were hurled her way indiscriminately. Still, she weathered it all without breaking. Someone in the crowd shouted out, ¡°What of the Lord, where is he?¡± and the sentiment was quickly latched on to. Cries of, ¡°Off with his head,¡± and, ¡°Death to the lord,¡± could be heard throughout the square. ¡°He fled,¡± Vassir Dro¡¯Zira revealed, ¡°He fled as soon as he heard of my intentions and realised that he was out of favour with the court; he left his wife behind.¡± This received even more angry remarks, ¡°So she shall pay in his stead!¡± He finished to the approval of the blood thirsty khati. There prosseeded a great drumming that once more hushed the crowd and with each beat the Lady Dro¡¯Zira was marched one step closer to the block, never wavering in her confident stride. It looked as though she was walking her escort to their deaths and not the other way around, that was until she reached the bloody stump and laid her own head upon it unprompted. Nothing but determination lay behind her eyes. The heavy drum beat stopped as Vassir placed his sword gently upon her neck, not so much as scratching her skin. There was a moment of infinite silence as he razed his blade. And then it fell, swift as lightning, and parted the Lady¡¯s head from her shoulders. There was a brief moment when the cheering began and then the world stood still and was drained of its colour. Unlike most, the Lady stood in her new spiritual form, reattached her head, and looked about without any delay. In seconds she spotted me, lurking in the crowd. ¡°Ah, there you are,¡± she said as if she were expecting to see me there. I stood, frozen for a moment, surprised. ¡°Well, get on with it then. I haven¡¯t got all day.¡± At her prompting, I moved through the crowd and up the steps to join her on the stage. ¡°This is a surprise,¡± I commented as I came close. ¡°It''s not a surprise to me, I¡¯ve been waiting for this for months.¡± ¡°Not that you would die,¡± I corrected. ¡°That you¡¯re fine with it, that you¡¯re not shocked upon seeing me - a creature not of this world - and that you seem to be in a hurry.¡± ¡°Huh, very well if you want to talk then fine. I am not okay with dying, I don¡¯t think anyone is, but I understand its necessity in my case, and as to your existence I am well aware. Most of the khati don¡¯t have access to the archives but I do. I have read the accounts of Makir from the First People and they spoke of a god of death matching your description exactly,¡± she responded primly. ¡°Well,¡± I said, still slightly taken aback by her attitude. ¡°Lady Dro¡¯Zira, shall we?¡± I asked, holding out a hand for her to take. Before she could, another voice spoke up, ¡°Lady Shavari Dro¡¯Zira, I know that name,¡± the cat said, appearing from nowhere and walking between us. The Lady, who had been frosty and aloof but respectful when dealing with my skeletal form, when she saw my feline one her demeanour shifted. She prostrated herself on the wooden floor and spoke with great reverence: ¡°Great ancestor, you honour me with your presence. I am delighted that my lowly name has reached your ears. This is an auspicious sign indeed.¡± The cat puffed up with the sudden praise and I saw as his ego swelled. ¡°Ahh, now I remember. Didn¡¯t you just give birth to a litter of kittens,¡± he went on in a warm and loving tone - as if speaking to one¡¯s favourite pet. ¡°I did, your holiness,¡± she replied. At the mode of address, his fur turned silkier and his steps more graceful. To wit, he preened. ¡°Then why, may I ask,¡± the cat went on, ¡°Are you so ready to die?¡± ¡°Reverend ancestor, my death was arranged so that my children might live,¡± she explained readily. ¡°Wait,¡± I interjected and she turned a cold glare upon me but I paid it no mind, ¡°This was your plan?¡± I asked, suppressing the answer from myself so I might hear it from her lips. For a moment, she didn¡¯t speak, but after my cat-self nodded she acquiesced. ¡°Yes,¡± she answered shortly. ¡°So, what? All of this, your execution, your husband being ousted and Vassir taking charge, all of it was your doing, Vassir himself was behind none of it?¡± ¡°Yes, he thought he was the one pulling the strings but the families of the city are just doing as I and my husband instructed. The original plan was to sacrifice both of us but when the kits were born I insisted he left with them,¡± she shared. ¡°And why must you die at all?¡± the cat pressed in a manner that suggested he knew the answer and was just testing her. ¡°The people are out for blood,¡± she replied, gesturing to the crowd, ¡°Talk of rebellion has even entered our own house - this situation was no fault of ours but it is our responsibility to bear. If the people came marching to the gates of our home, I do not trust that our guards would be willing to stop their brothers and wives, daughters and children. It is better that only I die and their bloodlust be sated than the people unwittingly throw themselves into ruin,¡± she reasoned. ¡°Hold on,¡± I said, and again she was displeased with my interruption though her Ladyship didn¡¯t say anything, ¡°If your brother-in-law, Vassir Dro¡¯Zira, believes this was his idea, he must have already been planning to oust you and your husband.¡± She nodded in response. ¡°Do you not hate him?¡± I asked, not understanding her lack of emotion on this matter. The Lady was genuinely surprised by my question and took a moment to answer. ¡°Why should I?¡± she asked in response, seeming genuinely confused. ¡°Because he is family, and he killed you,¡± I replied, also confused. ¡°And? If I were in his position I would also be using the unrest to my advantage, I can¡¯t say I would have acted as blatantly as he did but the people will listen to him now.¡± ¡°But he killed you, shouldn¡¯t you hate him?¡± I insisted. ¡°No, in fact I forgive him. He knew of my children, even though the population at large did not, and he still let my husband escape with them to safety and I secured his word that he would not lay a claw upon them.¡± ¡°Huh,¡± was my only response. Mortals were confusing. Not wanting to dwell on it any longer I offered a hand to the Lady. She looked to the cat and, at his approval, took it and disappeared - on to her next life. ? ¡°I don¡¯t understand,¡± I began, talking to the cat that accompanied me as my walk took me through a humid jungle. ¡°Why does the first mortal I come to despise his killer and the second forgive him?¡± ¡°If you don¡¯t know, why would I?¡± the cat asked in his rich voice. ¡°Because I created you to ask questions I already know the answers to¡­ and for exposition,¡± I exposited. ¡°There is no answer for this question. I could explain why each of them thought the way they did but that still wouldn¡¯t make sense to us - we cannot understand this,¡± the cat explained. I looked inside myself and found that what he said was true. Lady Dro¡¯Zira had forgiven her brother-in-law because he had let her children go. Ori¡¯Vairion had wanted nothing more than vengeance on the elf who had promised to hunt down and torture his. While I could understand these motivations in theory, the emotions that drove them were a mystery to me. ¡°Hmm,¡± I said, deeply introspective. I was unnerved by this gap in my abilities. Was it wise to have created gods with the potential to grow in power without understanding this fundamental thing they had and I lacked? Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. How might they react if they grew enough to hurt me and discovered I existed, hiding from them for years? Creating a thirteenth god, directly opposed to one of the existing twelve, definitely wouldn¡¯t endear me to them. What might they do, if they had the strength to crack the planet in half, rather than just a small island - as was presently the case? What would one of my gods do if one they considered family died? Would they destroy the world? I continued brooding as our journey went on through dark forests and arid farmland. Before too long, we arrived at my next destination, a week old battlefield. Dead humans lay everywhere, mixing with the mud to create a mound of blood and filth. What used to be grassland was now churned up earth which stank of offal. From beneath my feet there came a trembling. Distracted as I was, I didn¡¯t notice until it was too late. I was knocked from my feet and thrown on my side as the open grave was burst through by a figure. His armour was rusting and dented and missing in places. The knight, for clearly that was what he was, let out a cry of jubilation, happy to have finally surfaced from the gruesome depths. ¡°I Live!¡± he shouted, with tired delight. As soon as his declaration was made, the world dimmed and the clouds seemed to slow in their constant glide across the sky. The man slumped to the floor, the last of his life drained by his laborious escape from a mountain of corpses. ¡°And now you die,¡± I said as his soul left his body. The knight turned to me, looking me up and down, ¡°You are Death?¡± he asked with disappointment but no surprise. I nodded in affirmation and he dropped to his knees - his armour making the most awful sound as he did. Clasping his hands before him, the man of station begged: ¡°Please, just one hour, that is all I need. One measly hour compared to the entirety of my life, one hour and I shall give you anything that I can offer. One hour and¡­¡± he went on but I had stopped listening. It wasn¡¯t unusual for people to beg Dem for their life. He would usually ignore them and stand there - hand outstretched - until they came with him. But holding off death for but an hour was an interesting idea. What did this knight intend to do with that time? Perhaps I could learn more of these mortals if I were to watch him. I had intended to behave exactly as Dem would, so things would be upset as little as possible, but I had already fucked that with my first job. I shrugged and cut off the man¡¯s constant begging. ¡°Sure, why not?¡± I said, agreeing to the human man¡¯s request. ¡°...And, if I can live but for one more hour, I shall commit whatever life there might be after this one to you and I will¡­¡± the knight went on, listing more and more outrageous offers in return for his single hour. His eyes focused firmly on his feet, not having seemed to have noticed my agreement to his proposal. ¡°I think he might be deaf,¡± the cat commented, jumping out from a pile of bodies, chewing on an ear. I sighed as the man continued with his pleading litany. ¡°I think we can fix this with a little cure-all I¡¯ve invented,¡± I said to the cat as I picked about the bodies until I found the broken haft of a weapon, now just a long stick. ¡°Cure-all? We didn¡¯t invent anything like that. I know everything you do and¡­ oh I see,¡± the cat replied. Throughout our exchange, the knight hadn¡¯t ceased in his begging and was so focused on thinking of new excuses, he hadn¡¯t even noticed the arrival of a cat that talked. I pulled back my shaft, aiming for the somehow armoured head of his disembodied spirit, and let loose. The swing was large and exaggerated and, being a man of war, the knight saw it coming - though the shock of the sudden attack stopped him from reacting. My very much real stick struck his immaterial helmet and made a dreadfully painful sounding gong. The wooden weapon shattered and the armoured man flipped over three times from the impact before collapsing in a metallic heap. ¡°What was that for?¡± he complained with slurred words as he struggled to get back to his ghostly feet. ¡°Not shutting up,¡± I replied, picking him up by the back of his breastplate and, with two hands, threw his spirit back into his body. Colour returned to the world, the clouds continued their glacial sweep and what grass remained swayed gently in the wind. The knight laid his hands upon the ground and thanked me profusely. ¡°Get a move on,¡± I complained, ¡°The clock is ticking.¡± ¡°Yes, of course good sir, I shall move with as much haste as possible!¡± the knight exclaimed, springing to his feet with a surprising amount of grace for the age his voice suggested. He whistled an ear piercing note then stood, waiting for something. ¡°What was that?¡± I asked, rubbing my boney ear holes. ¡°Hmm, what?¡± he asked, turning his head to me, ¡°Ahh, the whistling. I was calling for my steed, snowdrop,¡± he explained. I looked out in front of me. Not a thing stirred. There was nothing but mounds of bodies and the remnants of war on an open field. I turned around and it was much the same for miles. ¡°I don¡¯t think there are any hors¨C Jesus-fucking-christ!¡± I exclaimed, cutting myself off. When I turned back around, a horse, seventeen hands tall, and snow white had appeared from nowhere.¡± ¡°What did you say?¡± the knight asked as he mounted his mount. ¡°Oh, sorry. That¡¯s not a thingy, whatsit, here, yet, when,¡± I let out in a mumbled jumble of words, startled by the animal''s sudden arrival. ¡°Geeya.¡± The knight encouraged his steed and the pair took off. Seeing how fast the horse was moving, I could now understand how it had seemingly appeared from nowhere. Without any apparent effort, the stallion tore across the open field at what must have been fifty or sixty miles an hour, splattering me with mud as it sped off. ¡°Sorry,¡± I could hear the knight say as he rode away, swiftly disappearing into the distance. Instead of suffering the indignity of wiping myself off, I snapped my finger bones and the filth was gone from me - leaving my creepy black cloak just as untouched as before. ¡°Do you think he¡¯s trying to escape?¡± I asked the cat, him having gracefully dodged the spray of wet dirt and so not in need of my magics to clean off. ¡°No, we know he is a man of his word,¡± the cat replied, stifling a yawn. ¡°Let''s follow,¡± I remarked, and so we did. Pressing through a grove of trees, on the other side of the field from where the knight left, we found ourselves face to face with a small castle in the middle of an insubstantial human settlement. Sir knight rode past, speeding through the gates before the guards had time to react. His steed was skidding to a stop, sparks flying from the cobbles in the castle¡¯s courtyard, when the portcullis slammed closed - far too late. Myself and the cat slipped in seconds before it was shut. ¡°Name, yourself intruder,¡± one of the men demanded with his spear pointed at the mounted man, ¡°This is the fortress of the late Sir Cavalier, who would be so brazen as to charge in uninvited?¡± ¡°Why, the late Sir Cavalier himself,¡± the knight replied with some joviality. The man pointing a weapon at him was unsure what to do. Just then, a rather portly, armoured man came jogging out of the keep. ¡°Spearman, lower your weapon,¡± he ordered, puffing and red. ¡°But sir, this man came riding in like a bat out of hell - this could be an attack,¡± the young guard insisted, keeping his spear raised. ¡°Stand down I said,¡± the larger man repeated as he reached the first man and pulled the weapon from his hand before bracing himself on his knees to catch his breath. ¡°This is Sir Cavalier,¡± he went on, ¡°I would recognize that armour anywhere, not to mention his lordship''s horse - he would allow no other to ride him. My lord,¡± the bolobus man said, standing up straight and gulping in air, ¡°I apologise for the new hand, he was taken on whilst his lordship was on campaign.¡± ¡°No harm done,¡± Sir Cavalier replied, ¡°And how many times must I tell you Rondus, I am not a lord - I am a knight. I earned my Title through my own feats and I had a name far before that.¡± ¡°But I thought Sir Cavalier was reported dead at the battle of Cleater planes?¡± the newly trained soldier asked his commander. ¡°And what a mess that must have caused,¡± the knight said, dismounting his horse who then trotted himself towards the stables. ¡°Yes my lord, quite the mess,¡± the older guard confirmed, walking with Sir Cavalier as he entered the keep. No one noticed the shadow of death which clung to the man as he walked into his castle. ¡°Since Sir had no heirs and has not written a will an Assessor has been sent by the crown to¡­ well¡­ assess what you have, to be taken by the king.¡± ¡°Yes, I know, it will all be given back to the crown as there is no one to inherit my title,¡± the knight added, knowing this all too well. ¡°Yes,¡± Rondus replied. The three walked down a corridor with some speed; myself and I followed along behind, unseen. The knight took a moment to look out of a window at the sun, ¡°thirty minutes,¡± he mumbled. ¡°What was that my lord?¡± his man asked. ¡°Right, Sergeant - I want you to get my squire and a dozen witnesses as well as the Royal Assessor and head to the courtyard. Everybody should be waiting there in ten minutes,¡± Sir Cavalier ordered. ¡°Yes my lord,¡± the panting Sergeant saluted, then turned to the spearman who had been following behind them, ¡°You heard him boy, hop to.¡± The younger man was confused for a moment but as soon as he realised that the sergeant had immediately, and blatantly passed on his duties in front of his lord, and said lord wasn''t saying anything, he sprinted off in search of the people listed. ¡°Now, Sergeant - I want you to go and prepare my horse for a long journey immediately.¡± ¡°Yes my lord,¡± the man agreed, looking around for someone to hoick the work off on, but finding no one, let out a sigh and began running. Since the castle was small, it didn¡¯t take long for the knight to reach his library - which consisted of a tiny room with a few bookshelves and a desk. The scribe was at the desk, thumbing through ledgers. As soon as he saw the poorly, but fully, armoured knight enter the room he stood with gusto - knocking over a pot of ink and covering the table. He looked down and grimaced. The weed thin bookworm was trying to save what he could but Sir Cavalier pushed him aside. ¡°There¡¯s no time for that,¡± the knight declared, kicking the table against a wall to the smaller man¡¯s dismay. ¡°My lord, I am delighted you are alive, but must you destroy my books?¡± the twig of a man asked, confounded. ¡°They are my books,¡± the knight corrected, tearing up a rug which was beneath the now destroyed table and started ripping up the floorboards with his hands, ¡°And they don¡¯t matter.¡± The other man just watched his lord rip apart the flooring, slack jawed. ¡°I intend for my squire to inherit my title,¡± Sir Cavalier began, prying from the remains of the wood, a small locked chest - about the length of his palm. ¡°But Sir, that¡¯s impossible. Charlie isn¡¯t your son, and he isn¡¯t of noble blood, he¡¯s an orphan,¡± the scribe rebuked, dumbfounded by his master¡¯s actions. ¡°An orphan same as me, same as you, and the same as most of our staff, let me worry about that,¡± the knight assured, ¡°Now, when my squire inherits my title and lands he will be taxed heavily by the crown and since there is a Royal Assessor already here, they won¡¯t miss a penny.¡± ¡°What do you mean, he¡¯ll be long gone by the time you''re dead, Sir.¡± The knight drew close and looked his man in the eye, through his ever closed visor, and said: ¡°Barnabas, you might be a snake¨C¡± the other man spluttered, ¡°you may be a snake, but I trust you.¡± ¡°My lord?¡± Barnabas questions, instinctively grabbing the heavy chest that was shoved into his chest. ¡°This chest is filled with silver that doesn¡¯t appear on your books, nevermind how. I need you to head to the capital and use these funds to found an orphanage; do you understand? Speak with the Lady Tuntil and she shall help you. Now, do you understand?¡± Sir Cavalier asked with gravity. ¡°No my lord, I don¡¯t understand at all,¡± Barnabas complained, overwhelmed by the suddenness of it all. The knight lay a hand on each of his scribe¡¯s shoulders - which sagged under the weight - and spoke with sincerity: ¡°Barnabas, there is no chance for those without a family in this world. Will you do this for me?¡± Finally picking up on the seriousness of the situation, Barnabas took a moment to calm himself before answering, ¡°I do not understand your kindness my lord, certainly I could never be so generous if I were in your position. But I shall do as you ask - even if it is against my better judgement to waste this much coin.¡± ¡°Good man,¡± the knight responded, clapping him on the back and pushing him out the door, ¡°Snowdrop is waiting for you in the stables, and before you say anything, he has agreed to take you to the capital but no further. You will only be able to ride him this once.¡± Sir Cavalier followed Barnabas out of the library and headed for the courtyard. When he made it back outside the people he had asked were gathered. A dozen servants, scullery maids, kitchen staff and the like stood round the edge of the square yard and waited. A neveros looking boy of thirteen years was on his own, apart from the group, dressed in practice armour. In the centre was a well dressed man in red velvet wearing a displeased look - the Royal Assessor. Sir Cavalier scanned the crowd then locked eyes with his squire and called to the lad. The boy trotted over, conscious of the curious eyes which followed him across the courtyard. ¡°Come here Charlie boy,¡± Sir Cavalier said with delight as he picked him up in a hug, only to drop him on his feet and crouch to be on a level with the lad. ¡°My lord.. Stop it.. That¡¯s embarrassing,¡± the teenager complained, to which his hair was ruffled. ¡°Now, listen to me Charlie,¡± the knight said, quiet enough that only the two of them and I could hear. ¡°What is it?¡± he asked, some of the former nervousness returning as he heard something in the voice of the man who had adopted him and trained him as a squire. ¡°I want you to inherit my title,¡± Sir Cavalier began and received a sceptical look from his surrogate son, ¡°I know, you have no legal standing but there is one way. By divine decree, it is possible to gain any title, if you are to challenge a member of nobility to a fight - with witnesses present - a fight must take place to determine the owner of the title.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a thing?¡± the boy asked, confused. ¡°It is. All I need you to do is beat me in a spar.¡± ¡°But I can¡¯t¨C¡± ¡°Yes you can, and you must. This will all be staged, you just have to declare your intention to fight me for my title and I will agree and set the place as here and now. Then we do the over lower thrust drill, I will let you score a hit and forfeit the match.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand, why are you doing this?¡± ¡°I have no time to explain, just¡­ Charlie,¡± he said, looking him straight in the eye, ¡°do you trust me?¡± The boy nodded without hesitation. ¡°Then please, just put on this show and you will be my successor.¡± Seeing this now as some kind of act, the kid was on board. Turning to the impatient onlookers he spoke aloud and overdramatically, ¡°Sir Cavalier, knight of the first order, slayer of the beast of Dunlin and other stuff, ¡°I challenge you to a duel for your title!¡± A gasp of shock went through the gathered servants and the otherwise unhappy looking Assessor¡¯s mouth twitched up in a grin. At least, he thought, there might be some entertainment on this otherwise unnecessary trip. ¡°I Sir Cavalier, first of my name, Knight of the First Order, Slayer of the Beast of Dunlin, and other stuff, do hereby accept the challenge of Charles the Squire in front of a dozen lay witnesses and a representative of the crown,¡± the knight responded, matching Charlie¡¯s level of acting with overloud statements and broad movements as he gestured to the Royal representative. ¡°I shall call the terms of the duel, we shall fight here and now,¡± the knight said, drawing his rusted and battered sword. ¡°On guard!¡± he exclaimed with an exaggerated rise of the sword. Seeing this as some kind of game, the squire ran in with his own sword low in an attack the pair had drilled a thousand times. Charlie expected to be blocked, or to make a glancing blow as planned. When compared to the knight, his swordsmanship was nothing - Sir Cavalier could have stopped any strike he might have thought of in his sleep. Sir Cavalier did not block the strike, in fact he jumped in - ensuring the blade went through a hole in his armour. He went even further, falling to his knees to guarantee the blade pierced his heart. There were screams from the servants and some tried to help their lord, but he held out a hand to stop them. Charlie was frozen, not knowing what had just happened. His master locked eyes with him, and there was not the anger or pain that he might have expected but an honest smile behind the pinholes of his visor. ¡°Listen to me, my son,¡± Sir Cavalier began, ¡°don¡¯t look down,¡± he said, holding his boy¡¯s head up so he couldn¡¯t see his father¡¯s injury. ¡°Know that this was my Plan,¡± he said in a voice that weakened by the second, ¡°and know, I¡­ love¡­ you¡­¡± The world slowed once more, leaving the boy in a perpetual state of shock, as the monochrome of death took over. The armoured figure¡¯s spirit stood from his body, still covered in plate. His head hung low as he turned to me, exhausted. ¡°Time¡¯s up,¡± I said, to fill the oppressive silence. ¡°That was¡­ not what I expected you to do with your hour. I thought I might learn something from watching you, but I¡¯m only more confused. I had concluded that if you hate someone, you want to kill them, and if you love someone, you want to protect them but you have shown that is not always the case.¡± ¡°Of course it is,¡± he snapped back churlishly. ¡°Then why did you make someone you claim to love kill you?¡± I asked with honest confusion. ¡°Homos forgive me but I had to!¡± Sir Cavalier shouted, self loathing fueling his outburst. ¡°Why?¡± I asked. The black cat, who had been napping in my hood poked his head up to answer: ¡°A duel for one¡¯s Title in the human lands, must be to the death.¡± Chapter 7: Wager Chapter 7
Wager ¡°It is said that the divines did proclaim unto the people the value of the four virtues. Forgiveness was the virtue best embodied by Le?, The Goddess of Life and Light. Makir, God of the Khati, patience. Kindness, Elementa, Goddess of the Elementals. And finally, Volta, Goddess of Peace and Love, best represents the last of the virtues, love. This said, all of the Gods have within them a great capacity for all four of the Divine Virtue and thus serve as a great example for the four mortal races. Demons, whose origin is that very deepest pits of hell, show us the way to ruin. Although these vile tormentors may hide among us, affeared of The Divine Light, they can always be recognised by the Three Infernal Sins which are characteristic of their kind. Greed, Selfishness, and Revenge. If any of this should take root in one¡¯s heart, one should seek the aid of The Holy Church, for there is surely a demon whose influence is to blame.¡± ¨C The Book of the Divines 2:13 ¡°I am more lost than ever,¡± I bemoaned to my cat-self, who had covered his ears in an attempt to mute my insistent prattle, ¡°These mortal emotions scatter all reason to the wind,¡± I reiterated for the umpteenth time as the cat hissed before prancing off and leaving me alone in the middle of a ravine. I let out a breath, then continued walking through my silent contemplations. Following the rocky gorge upriver, I came across a cave. I walked in, and found myself entering The Underneath. Dark passages of all shapes and sizes bloomed around me as, with each step, I ventured deeper into the great labyrinth which lay beneath all of Gaius. Dark creatures lurk in dark places. The Candlesweep gorged on its days-old dwarven meal - flickering and slurping noises marking the act. I walked past the gruesome scene, unseen by the creature as it did not wish to die. I had expected to keep walking and end up in some dwarven settlement, where I might find my next target, but that was not the case. A few feet down the tunnel, illuminated only by the small light on the back of the Candlesweep, I saw a foot - only after I had tripped over it and ended up smashing my face against the hard stone. Although this did annoy me, it had the effect of knocking me out of my own head, which was beginning to get a bit cramped as I filled it with ¡°what if¡±s. Following the foot which had shot away, I found a rather confused dwarf woman hidden behind a rock - peering out into the darkness and trying to see what had just tripped over her. Seeing nothing, she returned to what she had been doing. I expected that to be hiding from the magically empowered nightmare that was the Candlesweep or trying to use the distraction of its dinner to get away, but I was wrong. She poked her brown haired head, striped with grey, over the boulder every so often then ducked back down to scribble something. Curious, I quelled my annoyance at the tripping hazard and stalked up behind her. Looking over her shoulder, I could see what she was up to. A half finished drawing of the monster was being quickly added to with each new observation. Looking more closely, my eyes unhindered by the darkness, I could make out words preceding the diagram to which she was now writing the labels: She continued adding labels as my eyes moved up to see what she had been writing before. ¡°My assistant''s theory was correct! Despite seeing many mangled creatures in The Underground that can be attributed to the Candlesweep, he noticed the one common factor - there was always a dwarf there, or at least one had been in the area recently. Despite decades of trying to lure out the creature and having it strike out seemingly at random my assistance suggestion to use dwarven bate proved to be the only reliable method of attracting its attention. Too bad he could not be here to see it.¡± Rather an interesting woman, I thought to myself as I read through what appeared to be an entry in some kind of bestiary. She finished her drawing and slammed the book (as thick as the length of my forearm) shut, it squished down under the effects of an enchantment until it was no thicker than, and with the appearance of, an old and well used diary. She let out a contented sigh, an exhausted but exalted expression on her face. As she did, I was able to see the leather book cover which read: ¡°Tabitha¡¯s Monster Book The Big Book of Awesome Monsters Miss Shungite¡¯s Monster Anthology Creatures of The Deep The Monstiary By Tabitha Shungite¡± Each new iteration of the title was etched into the leather with a greater and greater degree of skill. The first two look to be the scratchings of a child. I had to admit, this level of dedication to things as rare and dangerous as Monsters was rather impressive, especially from such a young age as the first of the book''s names would suggest. ¨C Not long after Magus, the god of magic, created a barrier around the planet to deflect wild surges of manna from the sun which might do literally anything. He found that, although his barrier was capable of stopping these harmful waves of mana, it wasn¡¯t without cost. Each hit it blocked slowly corroded the shield as the barrier spread the wild mana across its surface - some of that mana would decay over time but the rest would linger, slowly eroding his protection. So, he had developed a solution - Monsters. Instead of wild motes of flame or sudden endless seas of illusionary fog, Magus changed this wild mana - forcing it into the form of a monster, solidifying and containing its power into nuggets that naturally formed monsters around them - Monster cores. Although I was impressed by this woman''s work, I was not impressed by her ability to stay quiet. After she had shut her book so loudly, and let out a great exhalation it was no wonder the Candlesweep heard her. The Monster, however, did impress me with its ability to move silently, it swept through the tunnel, quiet as a mouse. Just as Tabitha noticed the lack of any crunching noises and her eyes shot open, the world fell still. Warm, amber light from the candle turned a pale white and Miss Shungite died - a spike of darkness passing through her chest before she could so much as blink. ¡°What are you?¡± she asked with joyful exuberance when she opened her eyes, not to see a Candlesweep, but a seven foot tall skeleton figure with the head of a long-dead raven. She stepped forth, noticing that she was leaving her body as she did. Looking about, Tabitha found the course of her death, the Candlesweep, leaning over what was no question her corpse, not moving an inch. ¡°Huh,¡± was all she said. ¡°Huh?¡± I said, surprised to see yet another reaction to one¡¯s death. ¡°You¡¯re not scared, angry, proud?¡± I asked, trying to get a gauge on her emotions. ¡°Oh well,¡± the dwarf said with some small disappointment, ¡°It was bound to happen someday, at least it wasn¡¯t until after I finished by Monstiary,¡± she consoled herself. ¡°Say, what kind of monster are you? Now that I¡¯m dead is there a whole new world of Monsters for me to document?¡± she asked with a childish excitement that was unbecoming of her apparent age. Based on what I knew of dwarfs, which was everything, she appeared to be in her late one-thousands - looking much like a sixty year old human. With a mind to write about more monsters, she reached down to the book clenched in the hands of her body and tried to lift it. Her ghostly hands passed straight through the thing with no effect. ¡°I am afraid that won¡¯t work,¡± I interjected, brushing off the Monster comment - by the definition of a Monster in this world, I was not one. But, by a more brought interpretation of the word, it might apply. I didn¡¯t really want to think about that. ¡°But why?¡± she asked in a pleading voice as she pawed at her life¡¯s work, ¡°I have spent centuries on that, decades on the Candlesweep alone. There is no greater work on Monster species out there - none even come close. I had just written an entry for every Monster the dwarf people have ever heard of. It has required an impossible amount of courage, patience, and luck. And now what? It is to be left here in the depths to rot?¡± she questioned with more emotion than her own death had elicited. ¡°Calm down,¡± I calmed, ¡°You seem more protective of that book than I have seen others of their children.¡± ¡°This is my child!¡± she rebuked. ¡°Look,¡± I said, trying to appease her, ¡°I like what you have done, and am willing to make a deal with you.¡± ¡°What kind of deal?¡± she asked after a moment¡¯s thought. ¡°I will ensure that your patience is rewarded, that book will find its way into the hands of someone who understands its importance.¡± ¡°And it shall be published.¡± she added. ¡°And it shall be published,¡± I agreed, ¡°If you but take my hand and come with me,¡± I offered, holding out the hand in question. It didn¡¯t take the dwarf woman, Tabitha Shungite, long to agree. ¡°Deal,¡± she said, shaking my hand. The second she came in contact with my body, her spirit disappeared and time resumed. The Candlesweep dug into its new course with gusto and I plucked the book out from the now dead body''s grasp, before it could be covered in blood, and stepped back from the messy eater. I opened the Monstiary to have a quick flick through, and forgot about its expanding trick. Quickly, I had to lower the great tome to the ground so I didn¡¯t drop it. Looking at the insides, the delicate diagrams, drawings and piles upon piles of notes about every Monster under the mountains I felt¡­ inadequate. If I but thought of any of these creatures, I would know far more than was displayed in this book and yet, there was more that could be learned from reading it than simply the information. The way it was written gave an insight into the author''s mind, her way of thinking, that I simply couldn¡¯t find elsewhere. There was a passion behind it, a sense of heart, that I simply lacked. Closing the book, it once more shrank. I could have just willed it onto the desk of someone who would fulfil my agreement with Tabitha but that didn¡¯t feel right. Something with that much care and effort put in deserved to be hand delivered. That was the excuse I gave myself as I wanted to read it. To keep it safe in the meantime, I borrowed a trick used by this world''s Wizards, the soul space. The name was a misnomer, they believed the items were stored within one¡¯s soul but that was impossible. They simply, and unknowingly, used their thought signature - unique, like a fingerprint - as a key to a destination in the plane of desolation. ¨C The plane of desolation was, in fact, a sudovoid that was about 10^780 miles galactic north of this planet and simultaneously just below this area of space which made it easy to punch a hole through the fourth dimension to store and retrieve items. I placed the book inside where it would remain safe and started my walk once more. ? My feet led me further underground, to a dwarven city. Unlike before, since The Underneath was a dangerous place - I couldn¡¯t stroll through open gates. The entrance to their city was both hidden and well guarded but that didn¡¯t matter as there was presently a delivery of iron ore from one of the minds deeper down and the opening was left open. A couple of dwarfs shivered as the chill of death passed by but no alarm was raised. I soon found myself on the mostly empty streets of a dwarven city, hosted within a giant cavan. Barely anyone was about as it was the middle of the night and most were asleep. I strolled down a district that was well lit and filled with larger buildings until something caught my eye; down an alleyway, behind what looked to be a bank, was a door - left ajar. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Feeling inclined to enter, I pushed open the door. Inside, I found a trail of muddy footprints which I followed through the back end of the bank. It didn¡¯t take long until I found their source. Deep within the depths of the building was a vault, and the door was hanging wide open. The footsteps lead straight inside. ¡°It''s time to go!¡± A ginger haired dwarf insisted, holding a sack that clinked with the sound of gold. ¡°One minute!¡± another shot back, grabbing at a great pile of gold and shoving it into a tired bag. ¡°You can¡¯t carry all those. I¡¯m leaving before the rozzers show up,¡± the first relayed, strolling past me and out of the vault. The other thief only nodded absently as his eyes never left the shinies. I lent back against a wall, deciding to wait. A third sack, then a fourth, then a fifth was filled from the vault''s pile and still I waited. Despite the urgency of the other thief, six hours had passed as still the second filled bags with gold - he seemed to want to take the entire pile but there was more than three hundred bags worth and the other had struggled to take one. Eventually, the sound of tinkling coins was interrupted. ¡°Stop right there thief!¡± some kind of uniformed dwarf shouted, backed by two others that entered the vault with swords raised. The robber turned to them, his eyes now taken over with a golden sheen. ¡°You will not take my gold!¡± he hissed back at them. Slits formed in his eyes, he grew out fangs, and his ears became pointed. Before either of the officers said another word the now feral dwarf leaped at them like a beast and in seconds it was over. He landed on the blade of a shocked dwarf and died. The world faded to monochrome and I thought I had a chance to ask the guy what that was about but I did not. As soon as his spirit saw me, it attacked screaming something about gold. It only took a few attacks for him to realise he couldn¡¯t do anything against me, at which point he returned to the pile of gold, crouching over it. But when he found he could not touch the gold he started grasping at it and kept grasping. I thought to try Dem¡¯s approach for once, choosing to stand there with my hand outstretched. Twelve hours later he was still focused only on the precious metal. I tried to speak to him but it was as if no one was home. Eventually I got bored and gave up. I slapped the spirit on the back and it disappeared into the wheel of reincarnation. ? When the scene finally resumed, I was treated to the sight of three lawmen utterly baffled by the suicide charge of a gold thief who had been overcome by some kind of magical sickness and had quite a mess to clean up. I didn¡¯t much care for the bloody mess that was left by his passing and I was irritated by the lack of knowledge I had gained from what ended up being little more than an animal by the end. I strode out past the horrified men. As soon as I stepped back through the door to the bank I found myself in snow. Turning back, the door I had just walked through was now that of an outhouse. I stood on the side of a snow covered mountain, somewhere on the continent of Homos. A shovel trail led from the toilet to a squat, stone house with an aged, thatched roof. Directly behind and to each side were rising cliffs protecting it from the elements. In front, was a tremendous view of some river estuary, hundreds of feet below. Smoke puffed up from the house¡¯s chimney - the only clouds in an otherwise azure sky. Knowing this was where I was needed, I approached the oak front door. It opened as I drew near and a strong and sombre looking man exited. ¡°I¡¯ll get some more wood,¡± he called back into the house, shutting the door behind him. The man, dressed in common but well made woollens, then trudged over to the woodstore beside the house, filled his arms with logs, came back to the front door and realised his mistake. ¡°Honey,¡± he called into the house. Seconds later, a woman wearing much the same attire, with an equally grave expression, opened the door to let him back in. She cracked a smile when she saw his predicament and I used the moment''s pause to slip in the open door. The house was small. I entered straight into the living room/kitchen which had a crackling fireplace. The only other room was at the end of this one and it was closed by a hanging curtain rather than a door. In this fire room there were a goodly number of folk, most bearing some familial resemblance and all wearing a dier face. While most were adults who sat around in chairs with steaming mugs that warmed their hands, there were also three children sat right next to the fireplace, on the floor. Between them was a silky black creature that seemed to hold all their attention. The cat looked up from his petting just long enough to catch my eye before returning to the warmth of the fire and the affections of the children. A boy, no older than ten, walked out from behind the curtain, looking rather pale. He came up to one of the little girls who was playing with the cat and tapped her on the shoulder. She looked up and he pointed back the way he had come. I followed her as she stood and entered the only other room the house possessed. Or I tried to. Although I slipped in just as the little girl pulled back the curtain I was caught by the room''s occupant. ¡°Linder dear, come here,¡± a human woman, who looked as though she had been around since the dawn of time, said to her great, great, however many times, granddaughter. She then turned to me and said, ¡°You can wait outside with the others.¡± Though she was propped up on a number of cushions in a cosy looking bed, her will still seemed strong. Dumbly, I pointed a boney finger at my chest, as if to say - me? ¡°Yes you, just give me a minute - you shan¡¯t have to wait long, she is the last I have to speak to,¡± she said with a stern but not unkind tone. Her younger relative looked back, but saw nothing. Someone older might have dismissed it as the ramblings of a dying woman but being so young she continued to stare, willing whatever secrets were out of her sight to appear. She was about to give up but when the curtain moved aside to let an invisible figure pass she let out a little yelp of surprise. ¡°It¡¯s quite alright Linder, I shouldn¡¯t expect you to see him for a long time yet¡­¡± The elder continued but the curtain closed and I could hear no more. No one noticed as I reentered the room, they carried on with their quiet conversations. I felt rather stupid. I knew, of course, that if the conditions were right someone could see me but I hadn¡¯t expected it to happen. It hadn¡¯t happened to Dem in hundreds of years so I assumed, wrongly, that it wouldn¡¯t happen in the short time I would be filling in. For someone to see Dem, the god of death, they would have to first have a strong connection with one of the gods. Since most of them were rather secluded this limited it to those of the First People, of which, only seven still lived. Secondly, one would need to be both near death and willing to accept it to be able to see me - she was both. Lastly, no small amount of magical talent was necessary. Feeling rather awkward, I was left standing in a room with a bunch of strangers who didn¡¯t know I was there and, since I was forced to wait, I picked up a mug of something that steamed and smelled delicious. It had been left on a table with a number of others to be taken by any who pleased. It filled me with warmth as I sat a bit back from the fire, out of the way, and stared into it. The mixture of mesmerising flames and a soothing beverage had more of an effect on me than I might have thought. Time passed and, for the first time in my existence, I simply was - empty headed and relaxed. My attention was drawn by my cat-self who brushed against my leg. Snapping back to my boney-self, I looked around to find the little girl exiting the old woman¡¯s room. She turned her head from side to side, clearly looking for someone but not wanting to say anything. Seeing this, I stood up and headed over to her. I patted her on the head as I passed by and felt the shiver as it travelled down her spine. ¡°You would do well not to scare young girls,¡± the old woman chided gently. ¡°Sorry, I didn¡¯t think,¡± I apologised. ¡°You would do well to think and all,¡± she said with a wheezing laugh that broke down into a cough. ¡°Are you alright Granny Crone,¡± the man who had fetched the firewood asked, sticking his head through the curtain. Distracted as I was by his entrance, I didn¡¯t see it - and neither did he - until it was too late. A lit candle - no bigger than my thumb bone - flew across the room, striking the man on the head and bouncing off. Sill, it remained alight - its flame a definite yellow in colour. ¡°Jeffry, wait until that candle burns out and then bring everyone in here - do not disturb me until then,¡± she instructed, wagging a finger at the much larger man. ¡°Yes Granny,¡± he responded with a sad smile before ducking back out. ¡°What was that about?¡± I asked, confused by the whole situation. ¡°Oh, that was just so I can add some weight to my final words. I only have three minutes left but I don¡¯t want my last words to be ruined by an awkward silence or by ¡®can you pass my tea¡¯ or some other such mundanities, they only have their full effect if I say them, then die,¡± she explained. ¡°It¡¯s your death, you¡¯re in control,¡± I conceded. ¡°Yes, yes it is but you¡¯re not who I was expecting¡­¡± ¡°What do you mean, I am Dem - God of Death,¡± I proclaimed. ¡°You can cut that out at once, you may look right but you don¡¯t act at all like him.¡± At this, I reeled in surprise. ¡°Die often do you?¡± I asked, too taken aback to think to hide the fact that she was right in her assertion. She laughed, making me feel like a small child, ¡°I was one of the First People, I believe they call us now,¡± ¡°That¡¯s impossible, you¡¯re human. Even with the increased vitality being created by a god gave you - humans don¡¯t last that long,¡± I said before I could think. She leaned forward with a wrinkly smile and a sparkle in her cataract filled eyes, ¡°Witches do,¡± she cackled. And as soon as she said it, I knew her story was true - how else could she see me whilst still alive. ¡°Fine, fine,¡± I conceded. ¡°I had heard of Dem, the god of death from Homos¡¯ mouth. Back in the beginning, he was much freer with what he said. He raised us, don¡¯t you know, all on his own - he was like a father to us¡­ I had hoped to ask Dem if I could see him, just one last time¡­¡± ¡°You are right, I am not Dem, but even if I were, he cannot summon another god - Homos wouldn¡¯t be able to get here with the time you have left,¡± I consoled - having regained myself enough not to reveal that although Dem couldn¡¯t do that, I could. ¡°But you could,¡± she said, seeming to read my thoughts, ¡°But you won¡¯t,¡± she added with a somewhat curious tone. ¡°How did you¡­¡± ¡°Experience lad,¡± she replied to my unfinished question. ¡°When I first felt your presence, I thought you might have been one of the children of the god - a demigod or a lesser god with enough power to take Dem¡¯s place but now¡­¡± I stayed silent, not knowing what new insight this creepy old woman might gain if I said anything. She huffed, ¡°I don¡¯t have time for this, whoever you are you¡¯ll have work to do soon - but before I go, I would like to tell your fortune.¡± I was hesitant, there was something off with this woman, but I felt compelled to fulfil such a simple final wish. ¡°Okay,¡± I said, hesitantly. ¡°Just scoot over here and give me your hands,¡± she instructed. I placed my boney digits upon her palms and felt as a power left her and entered me. At first it swept through the body I was inhabiting, looking for something. When the magical energy failed to find what it wanted in my skull, chest, or pelvis, it pushed deeper, into what lay beyond - the place in which living things keep their soul. It found an entrance and was instantly sprayed infinitely thin, across the entire universe. The old lady gasped and her eyes, which had been screwed tight shut in concentration, shot open. I expected her to be shocked, having peered into my entirety. I expected her not to be able to comprehend whatever it was she saw, maybe even for her head to explode. I expected disbelief. I did not expect the words that came out of her mouth. ¡°You poor thing. You poor poor thing,¡± she said with genuine pity. ¡°What?¡± I asked, confused, ¡°Was there something in my future?¡± ¡°No. No, I couldn¡¯t make heads nor tails of that jumbled mess, but when I looked inside of you, I found no heart.¡± ¡°I am a skeleton?¡± I said questioningly. ¡°That is not what I mean. When I say heart I don¡¯t mean heart, I mean that thing within all of our souls - that lets us love, that lets us hate, that allows us to feel. I¡¯m afraid you don¡¯t have that. And if you were to live a hundred lives, you could never gain it.¡± I was quiet for a moment, taking in what she said. Was that true? It would explain why, whenever emotions were involved, mortals became completely unpredictable to me. I was made of only ideas swept out into the void - thoughts without souls. But I did feel stuff, surely. I felt annoyed, mostly by myself. I felt content when I had begun the universe and again when I had created the gods¡­ or was that just tiredness? No, no I was capable of emotions, she was wrong. ¡°I don¡¯t believe you,¡± I said defiantly. ¡°I have seen a lot of souls,¡± she rebutted. ¡°None like mine,¡± I shot back, ¡°I¡¯ll tell you what - I will make a wager. One hundred lives, I will live one hundred mortal lives and come back to you. When I have experienced everything from a hundred mortal perspectives then I believe I should have developed the heart you speak of,¡± I said, thinking as I spoke. ¡°And how could you do that, let alone in the time I have left? and what would I wager?¡± she questioned, clearly sure of her diagnosis. ¡°Bah, time is just a construct of moral perception, it''s a dimension like any other and just as easy to move through if you know how. As for what to wager¡­ if I¡¯m right, I shall have your soul for all eternity¨C¡± ¡°And what would you want with an old soul like mine,¡± ¡°Nothing, I just wanted to creep you out as much as you do me.¡± ¡­ ¡°Anyway, if you win I¡¯ll, let say, personally ensure that the next hundred generations of your family live long and content lives - you seem to like them.¡± There was a silence, then she spoke, ¡°I am not going to stop you from trying to develop a heart, even if I know it is not possible, I will not stand in your way. If you have to bet on it to try, then I accept,¡± she finished with a hand outstretched, ready to shake, ¡°Or wait, should I touch you?¡± she asked, clearly holding back on account of my deathly powers. ¡°It¡¯s fine so long as you aren''t already a disembodied spirit,¡± I reassured, taking her hand and shaking. I felt angry that she seemed to look down on me¡­ Or did I? I thought I should feel angry, and I thought I was, but the feeling didn¡¯t do anything. This ¡°anger¡± didn¡¯t change the way I thought or reasoned. Was something wrong with me? No, I had taken this bet, and now it was time to prove myself capable. As soon as a deal was struck I froze that whole area in the fabric of space and time in a little crystalline bubble. To do so, I had to leave the body I had been inhabiting behind and my perspective shifted back to being above the planet. ¡°This is going to be interesting?¡± the cat said, appearing next to the everburning flame he had created earlier - which floated in geocentric orbit over the north pole. I knew he was there before he spoke, no longer limited to the sight of a mere god. ¡°You think so?¡± I asked as I began to create a ball of concentrated soul stuff. ¡°We know so,¡± the cat said, yawning. ¡°You¡¯re in charge while I¡¯m gone,¡± I told the cat that was also me. ¡°Obviously,¡± he replied, as if there was no question. I then squished my consciousness down into this tiny mortal soul, which was surprisingly easy. I wove into its structure several rules. First, my soul would not leave the planet of Gaius - meaning I would only be reborn as one of the five races. Then, I made it so I would regain the memories of any past lives - once I reached adulthood for whatever race I was at the time. This way, I could actually learn from a hundred consecutive mortal lives but wouldn¡¯t have to relive the worst parts every time. Finally, I launched this new soul, containing my mind, down - into the planet of Gaius. Searching, like all new souls, for a body in need. Chapter 8: Eleven Cats Plus One Chapter 8
Eleven Cats Plus One ¡°And so it was that The First Age came to an end. A time of peace, where the four races lived separately, was over when the demons made their move. The long theorised God of Death was real and had been captured! It took the deities only a day to rescue their brother but it did mark the turning of the age. The sacking and pillaging of the demon armies soon became commonplace - as did the heroes who rose to fight them. Times were difficult and it was the gods who finally managed to get the peoples of this world to cooperate.¡± ¨C The Book of the Divines 2:34 Makir was having a nap on his little island paradise. The golden sun and beaches made it one of his favourite spots. A mosquito buzzed about his head. His ears tried to flick it away, but it kept coming back. A paw swatted against the wooden walls of his hut and that was that. ¡°Buzzzz,¡± it said, buzzing out from under his slap to float once more around his head. Finally roused from his decades long slumber, The Khati shot to his feet with determination. He tried to open his eyes to find this pest but they were wired shut by sleep. No matter, he could face this foe blindfolded¡­ or so he thought. There proceeded a scene in which Makir leapt and dove about his tiny abode, smashing into walls and furniture alike - desperate to stop this little critter. After some time, his eyes worked their way open and he saw what he had been missing. Makir was beginning to feel he had lost his edge - his instincts told him that the mosquito should have been dead a hundred times by now. When he saw one of his attacks land and squish the annoyance to paste, and blow out his wall, he saw the truth. The mosquito did die, or at least it looked like it did, blood and organs splattered everywhere. But not even a second passed and the thing was drawn back together. Makir tried feeling for his connection with Dem to ask him what was happening but there was no connection - it was as if the god of death, as his people had taken to calling him, had simply disappeared. Makirs skin, covered by fur, went white when he realised - this was bad, really bad. Within a matter of hours, all the gods were gathered at the mountain which people had taken to calling, The Pillar of Heaven. All the gods that was, save three. Both Visok and Helka had sent envoys in their place. Visok was represented by a raven which he could speak and see through and Helka used a stone golem that could do much the same. And of course Dem was absent. Almost immediately, an argument broke out between the pair, Homos tried to break it up but only seemed to make matters worse. Makir tried to roar to gain their attention but all of them had seen and experienced much in the past two thousand years and a simple loud sound was no longer enough to even phase them. The other gods chose to start the discussion without them. They each tried to find their connection with Dem and none succeeded - they couldn¡¯t even tell if he was dead or alive. That was until Le? spoke up. As it transpired, she had a closer connection to the god - a bond similar to Vasti and Tempi¡¯s - though she had never told any of them. Before, Makir had never cared what the other gods had been doing whilst he was on his own continent but seeing the blush on Le?¡¯s face he was beginning to get curious. She revealed that she was able to tell that he was still alive but couldn¡¯t gather any more information, save a general direction. Soon after, the other three gods managed to stop their fight long enough to chip in. Helka noted that this situation reminded her of an enchanted item she had made. A shackle that could suppress the powers of a god which she had misplaced some time ago. When asked why she made it her only reason was curiosity. Just as it looked like Homos and Visok¡¯s avatar would team up to make it a two vs one, Helka threw a shocked Magus under the bus and revealed he had been the one to actually enchant the item - evening the odds. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. After a short scrap, in which the width of the Pillar of Heaven was reduced significantly, they finally agreed to follow Le?¡¯s extra strong connection to Dem to try and find him. By this point, nearly a whole day and night had passed and they were all shocked to learn that people had started dying again, though it did not stop them - Tempi alone was sent to investigate. When it was revealed, by a wave of power that spread throughout the universe, that a new god had been created all hell broke loose. Whatever small amount of cohesion their group could have managed was dissolved, much to Ath?¡¯s joy. Makir just hoped that the mortals would be better able to face whatever this threat was than they were, as he tried in vain to unify the gods once more. ? In the void, nothing survives. This was well known throughout the old universe. Empires of a multitude of different people and things banded together to try and stop the end from coming, but all of them died. Matriarch Droconia knew this, as matronly mother to all Dragons she knew that this was the end. But she also knew something that none other in the universe did: With every end, there was a new beginning. Dragons grew with each year they lived, and since Draconia was as old as the very universe itself she was, perhaps the biggest life form in existence, taking up a galaxy all by herself. Because of this, it was easy for her to summon all the dragons throughout the universe with one word. While other races panicked, tried to fight, or merely prayed, the Dragons had a plan. Pooling their power together they began a chant, with their matriarch at the centre. Within her there formed a new egg - one unlike the millions of others she had created. The chant grew louder and louder and more and more power was required. The youngest and weakest of the dragons began to die but still they gave till their last. Some gave to their new queen, their knowledge of hunting, of fighting, of flying, of the different magics, and whatever they had to offer. Soon it wasn¡¯t just the smallest of the dragons but those the size of hills, then mountains, then entire planets died, until dragons dropped like flies. By the time the chant ended only the matriarch remained and she gave the last of her life to create the egg of the next matriarch. An egg that could travel through the end of time to the other side¡­ hopefully. With her final breath, Draconia ended the chant with the name of her newest and only remaining daughter. ¡°Draiga,¡± and with that last word, a hole was punched in reality and in fell the smallest dragon egg Draconia had ever seen - no bigger than a thimble - and with her last breath the matriarch gave unto her child, her love. Unbeknownst to any of the Dragons at the end of the old universe, their plan was successful, only, they over shot. They had expected a new universe to form naturally which would have taken billions of years but they did not expect what ended up happening. A tiny egg popped into existence in an existence that had been existing for quite some time. It appeared in the atmosphere of a giant planet with a great blue sun. Its appearance didn¡¯t go unnoticed. Not too far away, a cat sat upon empty space and watched the interesting pebble that had achieved the impossible. He watched as it began to fall to the planet''s surface like a meteor but only noted it as something to report later before curling up by a flame that somehow burned in space, with no fuel and no air, and soon after, he fell asleep. ? Although I had constructed a soul to house my consciousness in my best imitation of a fit of pride, I had ensured that all my ¡°t¡±s were crossed and all my ¡°i¡±s were dotted, so to speak. The soul would be robust enough to withstand any attacks directly to it, though that would count as a death. I ensured it had a decent aptitude for magic, in case I should ever live a life where that is an option. As soon as my soul found its first host, I would temporarily lose any knowledge I presently had until the end of the test, to ensure that this ¡°heart¡±, the old woman spoke of, wouldn''t stop from growing because I was too much like my present self. That just left my psyche, my consciousness, my personality to undergo this trial. If nothing else, I should better learn who I was - more than just the kludged together thought patterns of a billion, billion people crystalised around the remains of one person¡¯s mind. A person, who I might assume I am someone similar to. Whatever the case, the soul ball had found its first host and was zooming into a body, and I was who I had been no longer. A baby awoke, cried, and then there was blackness. You Died