Mighty Hammer Down (34 page)

"Death is much the same way. If we
forget everything at death and everything goes black, then our
memories would have to start from that point, not from our birth.
Of course that idea is preposterous. We cannot begin our memories
at the point where all of our functions fail. The fact is that we
must be able to function and remember after death because if we
cannot, then we would not be able to remember our fifth birthday
right now."

Rommus put a foot in a stirrup and
mounted his horse. "I am impressed with your knowledge Vohl. You
are probably the most intelligent man I have ever met, and I have
only heard you speak a few words. There is, however, one flaw in
your reasoning."

"And what is that, Master
Rommus?"

"You claim to be immortal, and yet you
speak of death as if you know it intimately. While it is possible
for you to be right about death, your beliefs do not make it truth.
By using your own logic you should realize that we are unable to
experience the world directly, and that world includes death. We
cannot base our knowledge on something that we cannot directly
experience; it must fall into the categories of faith or theory.
None of us have died, so we cannot truly know that death even
exists. And just because we cannot directly experience the world
does not mean that there is not a world beyond our mind. It’s
entirely possible that what we see is real, and not some elaborate
dream in our soul. The only thing we can be sure of is that we
can’t be sure of anything."

Vohl climbed onto his steed as Rommus
helped Alana up on his own. "Very interesting observation, Master
Rommus. I cannot tell you that you are wrong. I can see that we
will have many interesting conversations. I am amazed that a man
can see a point that I have not seen when I am probably 100 times
older than he is. Wisdom is must fall like rain and wet some more
than others."

"I don’t think wisdom has anything to
do with age. I know that older men speak of wisdom coming with age
and having to learn from their experiences, but I believe you can
make wise choices without having to fail first. A wise man learns
from others, not just from his own success and failure." He paused
and ran his hand through his hair. "Of course, I can’t really speak
when it comes to actually succeeding, so perhaps I am not as wise
as I think I am."

Vohl laughed. "The words of a truly
wise man."

"Just how old are you supposed to be
Vohl?" Alana asked as Rommus brought their horse to a comfortable
walking speed.

"I was born 3031 years ago," Vohl
answered over the clopping of hooves on the cobblestone
road.

"Your explanation for our immortality
does not explain how you are unable to die. How did you become
truly immortal?" Rommus asked.

"It is a complicated story. In the
first age of man, when man was created by the gods, and the gods
were created by man, there was a harmony…"

"Wait what did you say?" Alana asked.
"Who created who?"

"The gods created mankind, but man
created the gods as well. It was not until the gods and the humans
existed in the same world that the history of time was written. The
humans that came before us lived and repeated their lives an
infinite number of times, and in fact, they are still living and
repeating their cycle as we speak. Things are everlasting in more
ways than you know."

Rommus stared over at the man riding
next to him. "You seem to make a habit of making statements that
contradict themselves."

Alana squeezed him from behind. "Kind
of like how you say the moon stays up in the sky because it’s
falling?" Rommus laughed.

"I assure you they only seem to be
contradictions because you are unfamiliar with the stories behind
them. The people from the times before us needed a creator, or else
their existence had no meaning or purpose. They could not
understand the world around them, so they imagined a being greater
than themselves who made things happen. Through the will of the
people, a soul was created, a god. He was a part of the people,
residing inside their hearts and minds. His existence became woven
into reality through the minds of the entire world. Like I said
earlier, we can only be sure of our own personal reality; the
reality of our own minds. Since we are the architects of that
reality, the god became real. That god is Oderion, the
creator.

"At first Oderion could not handle the
paradoxes his existence presented. He decided to create other gods,
and he created the other six you are familiar with. Each has his
purpose, and allowed Oderion to rule in a more effective manner. He
created Tachion, the god of time specifically to travel back to
where time did not exist, when all things from here to the stars
were one, and no being could survive. He traveled there and rewrote
the history of time by creating the world as we know it, along with
every living being in it. It was this event that started the first
age of man."

"That’s a hard thing to comprehend,
let alone actually believe," Rommus said.

"Well that is how it happened. If you
consider it a while, I think you will come to understand it. The
Dirujen come from a time when the people knew these things to be
true. The truth has since been hidden from the world, but it is
there if you look for it.

"It is the god Inshae who is to blame
for our immortality. You see, the gods required bloodlines
connected to them in this world in order to exist in their own.
Each god resides now not in the minds of mankind, but in a world
parallel to our own. They also had items of great power that
existed on both plains in order to be able to use them in their
world to manipulate ours. You carry one at your hip, Master
Rommus.

"In order to protect himself from ever
being destroyed, Inshae granted the Dirujen immortality. If we
could live forever, no one would be able to manipulate events to
kill Inshae through killing us."

"Vohl, I have already told you, this
is just an ordinary sword. And what do you mean by killing Inshae?
You’re saying a god can be killed? How?"

"I don’t know the way to kill a god.
It was not something the gods told us about. For obvious reasons
the gods meant to keep it a secret, but when we were made immortal
it became obvious what Inshae was trying to accomplish. But I know
I have seen that sword at the hip of Arius himself. You must be
careful with it, for anyone you touch with that blade will be sent
into the void for eternity. The void is a place where there is
nothing but blackness and you must suffer the horrible emptiness
alone forever. Even I fear to be near that blade, for I do not know
if it would kill me or not."

"You saw a god?" Alana asked with her
jaw hanging open in shock.

"I have seen all the gods, Alana. The
last one I saw was Inshae when he sealed us away from our loved
ones."

"Why did he do it though? Why send you
away? Wasn’t making you immortal enough?"

"No my lady. The gods could not live
among the humans with humans having true knowledge of them any
longer. They sealed us away because they could not kill us, and
they hid all of the items of power as well. The world they created
was becoming too difficult to manage in the state it was in, so
they changed it so that any actual knowledge of them was erased.
There was still faith in them, but the knowledge was gone. Our
existence was proof of their existence, so we needed to be
separated from mankind. "

"You mean that the knowledge was
erased on this side of the seal," Rommus said. "Your people still
had knowledge."

"Yes Master Rommus, but we are just a
few souls. It was easy enough for the gods just to cut us off from
the majority of the world."

"I have knowledge of the gods," Alana
stated with confidence.

"No, my lady, I’m sorry but you do
not."

"How can you say that? Look at the
sky, the trees, and the animals. Look at us and how complex we are.
Isn’t that enough to prove that the gods exist? You can’t tell me I
am wrong."

"I don’t mean to sound rude Alana, but
you are wrong. While it is true that Oderion created those things,
you do not have a true knowledge of it. No matter how strong your
faith, you cannot know things that you have not encountered. Those
who claim they know things about a god are the most dangerous of
people."

"But you claim to know about the
gods," Alana said.

"Yes, but I really do have knowledge,
not faith. Once you have seen a god, all faith is gone and it is
replaced forever with knowledge. I have never known faith because I
have walked next to the gods when I was very young. The difference
between me and the dangerous people I speak of is that they would
have you follow them. They would base their actions on belief alone
and call it knowledge. They would have you believe they know the
will of the gods, and that is not possible. They are dangerous
because they become fanatics. I do not ask you to follow me or even
to believe me. I would not have even mentioned these things if you
had not asked me about them."

They remained quiet for a while as
they inched their way closer to the horizon. Rommus took the time
to consider Vohl’s words and weigh them against his own beliefs. If
it was true that the man was more than 3000 years old, he obviously
had a considerable amount of time to ponder his own existence. It
was difficult for him to believe, however, because if he accepted
Vohl’s story, he would have to accept the fact that the gods were
real. While it didn’t make much sense that everything simply
existed without being created, he found it equally illogical to
believe that some secretive beings were responsible for
it.

Rommus decided to put the subject in
the back of his mind and consider it later. He turned his head
around some so that he could see Alana behind him. She had given
into her fatigue and was resting her head on his back.

"That man I killed back there; who was
he?"

She lifted her head up but did not
answer right away. "Just someone I knew when I was younger. He had
a thing for me, when I was really too young for that sort of thing.
He tried to make me do things I didn’t want to do." She seemed to
stumble over her words a little. "He’s just a jerk. He deserved
what he got, believe me."

"If Vohl is right about this sword,
then he was sent to the void. Do you still think he deserves
that?"

"All I know is that he is no longer
alive and that suits me fine. I’ll let the gods decide what his
punishment will be."

Rommus touched the sword at his hip.
"I’m sorry if he hurt you Alana. I would have sent him to the void
on purpose if I could have."

"Thank you Rommus," she said quietly
as she rested her head on his back again.

"I don’t understand what happened
though. I just barely touched him with the blade. I don’t see how
that could kill anyone. Maybe something else killed him and we just
didn’t catch it."

Alana positioned herself so that he
could hear her whisper. "Or perhaps Vohl saw the odd way he died
and then made up a story about the sword having magical
powers."

Rommus nodded slightly. It was
perfectly possible that Vohl was indeed inclined to fabricate
stories. He was certainly a man who was comfortable thinking that
reality was only in his head; and he wasn’t shy about telling that
to strangers either. Still, as odd as the man seemed, there was no
way to know if he was right or wrong, and regardless of his ideas,
he had earned their respect and gratitude.

"Vohl, are your people experienced in
magic?" Rommus asked.

Vohl cleared his throat. "Well, yes
and no. Some would call our power over animals and people magic,
but I don’t believe it is. The ones who ended up becoming our
rulers have some knowledge of magic, but I cannot say how powerful
they are. Their spells would not kill us, and they had to resort to
actual physical violence to get us into the stone caskets and then
drop us into the water. Maybe they used magic in some cases to seal
the casket or to drop them from the ships, but I have no way of
knowing."

"So you cannot use magic?"

"I have never tried to use it before.
I have not studied any spell books or the like. Our rulers kept
things secret long before they ever became our rulers. I can use
items of magic though, and I have before. I have already mentioned
my cape and the rings we used to communicate with our loved ones
here in these lands."

"Do you have any knowledge of how
magic works?"

"Yes, some. I know that it is a force
that permeates all the different worlds. It is leftover energy from
when Oderion created this world. It cannot be destroyed, only
manipulated by those who have the talent for it. It hides in all
things, but it can be forced into items or even people. What you
may have seen is but a small trickle of the energy available to the
gods. In a way the people who can use magic are stealing it from
the different worlds; but the gods permit them to do so. I am not
sure that the gods can even stop people from using magic. It is as
basic and natural as the air we breathe or water we
drink."

"Do you have any other items of magic
with you now?"