One (The Godslayer Cycle Book 1) (8 page)

“
Why do you keep talking about this 'Avatar'?  You talked about that back at Bracken's, too...”

“
To answer that, you must recall what has been buried in your mind.  The seeds of knowledge were planted alongside those of power, only awaiting the proper time to be unlocked.  Given time, your dreams will bring them all from the recesses of your memory.  But I can give you a start here, with a memory that I believe will serve you.”

The stranger walked up to stand directly in front of Nathaniel.  “Close your eyes, Nathaniel Goodsmith, and remember.”  The stranger reached up suddenly and laid a finger upon Nathaniel's brow.  A spark touched him and he could not resist closing his eyes as he had been commanded.  He could not have kept them open even without the command, as the rest of the world seemed to spin and shift around him, becoming somehow less real.  “Remember,” the stranger's voice repeated.  And suddenly, he did.

* * *

For a brief moment, there was disorientation as his senses expanded, wrestling with the concept of identity.  Why had he thought he was a man, a mortal man?  Why had he thought his name was Nathaniel Goodsmith?  That was not who he was.  He was someone – no, some
thing
infinitely more.  No, still not right – he was more, but he was also something else, part of something else.  He was part of a greater group, each part of the whole yet separate and distinct.  And in recognition of who he really was, who he had been all along, the illusion of the man was cast away and he opened his mind to his true self, that man disappearing as though he had never been.

Airek, God and Goddess of Charity and Greed, Master and Mistress of Benevolence, holding dominion over kindness, mercy, lust and so many others, current consort to Sarla, God and Goddess of Land and Sky, Empress and Emperor of the Day, sighed.  And that simple gesture radiated ripples outward along the lines of essence that linked her to all her spheres of influence.  In a corner of her awareness, she knew that followers across the world, this sphere known to some as Na'Ril, felt a momentary pang of regret without knowing why.  “Malik, what is this all about?”  At the moment, Airek was in feminine form, and she brushed impulsively at the lock of hair she had unconsciously willed to fall across her brow.

The God and Goddess of War and Peace, Lord and Lady of Strife, presently masculine, stood defiant across the open theater.  The others Gods and Goddesses stood and reclined in various positions, as they each saw fit, taking in the tableau unfolding before them.  Charith, Goddess and God of Life and Death, Mistress and Master of Mortality, also in masculine form, alone stood at Malik's side.

The two currently shared their own intimacies, just as Airek and Sarla shared their own.  All of the Gods and Goddesses were fickle with their affections, each coupling for a time with one before moving on to one not presently engaged.  As there were nine of them, there would usually be one whose affections could be attracted when the old interest waned, save for the occasion when there were three or more engaged with each other for the time.  And yet, it was not a loyalty from rutting that made the Goddess and God of Death and Life stand in support of his mate; he had helped in the debacle that had assembled the Pantheon this day.

“Whatever do you mean, Sister?”  asked Malik with mock innocence.  All the Gods knew why they were here, at least as to what had been done.  Only the why of the deed was as yet unknown, which had been the reason for the assemblage.

“
No games, Malik,” spoke up Elgoth, God and Goddess of Knowledge and Mystery, Steward and Stewardess of Learning.  Presently in her feminine form, she stood elegantly to the side, her simple dress unable to make plain the beauty of her form.  “It is well known now that you have wrought the nine swords and Charith has aided in empowering them.  It only remains to be known how and why.”

A smirk came across Malik's features as he cast a glance at his co-conspirator, whose features chose that moment to shift to feminine.  Even through the transition, however, she kept her face clear of any emotion.  “You know of the nine, do you, but nothing of what they were designed for then?”  There was something hidden in these words, but Airek could not discern what.

“Enlighten us,” urged Elgoth.  “We can all see that you bristle with the desire to gloat.”

A passing darkness overcame Malik's features at the sting of the words, yet he quickly recovered.  “Very well.  I can do aught more with the Pantheon scrutinizing my movements now, at any rate.  In answer to the first, without meaning to sound too cryptic, they have no 'how'.  Which is to say, they are enchanted and empowered, but their individual purposes are not yet set.  They are, for all intents and purposes, blank slates of pure power.”

“What then is your purpose in
making
them at all?” asked Karmel, Goddess and God of Magic and Chance, Lady and Lord of Fortune, her face bending forward from her reclined position.  “As much as my very nature is intrigued by such undefined powers, I still would understand the purpose to which these artifices would be put.”

“
Oh, they
will
serve a purpose, Sister, individually and collectively.  But it will be mortals who shall set these, not I.”  Malik, in spite of himself, did feel the need to take pride in his scheme and, now begun, he intended for the true genius of his plot to redeem his actions.

“
You have all felt it these last two centuries.  Our powers, our influence, is ebbing, here and in the mortal realm.”

“
All things are greater and lesser in their own time, Malik,” spoke up Lendus, God and Goddess of Bounty and Famine, Guardian of the Grail.  Unlike many of his brothers and sisters, Lendus had chosen an almost androgynous appearance this day, as was his way from time to time, not so much by physical appearance as the clothing worn.  Simply put, Lendus' clothing suggested neither male nor female, and was loose enough to not clearly define which gender was presently dominant.  “We have seen this before as one of our influences increase as another declines.  It is the way of things.  What you speak of, too, shall pass.”

“
I think not,” said Malik.  “We are not seeing an ebb and flow amongst ourselves.  We are seeing a symptom of something greater.  It is the influence of the upstarts, as they move beyond their own realms and into our own.  They are stealing our faithful with holy wars and insurrections.  In certain parts of Na'Ril, it has become a
crime
to worship us!  And without faith, without the devotion of mortal souls, we lose power and dominion over the mortal world altogether!  Unchecked, we may soon be starved of all our divinity and locked out of the mortal realm forever!”

“
I think you exaggerate the risk, Malik,” responded Airek.

“
The mortals would never completely forsake us,” spoke up Ilaris, Goddess and God of Love and Hate, Maiden and Minstrel of the Heart, her breath coming forth in barely a whisper of sound.  “Their hearts may lose their way for a time, but their devotions will return.”

“
No,” spoke up Charith for the first time.  “This is not a small concern.  Malik sees it rightly.  Within my service of life and death, I am called to witness fewer and fewer births while called upon to herald in death an even greater number of faithful, though even that has begun to decline.

“
But the aspect of birth is the most disturbing.  If a child is not reared in faith, he will rarely turn to it in maturity, and then only through force, coercion or deception.  It has never been our way to force faith upon our fellowships, yet these newer Gods have no such scruples.  They command their faithful to slaughter those who do not 'repent' and take the new faith as their own.  Fewer children are christened to us out of fear of reprisal and though some are still raised to believe in us in secret, we do not receive the blessings of public devotion.

“
I say again, Malik has it aright.  If left unfettered, this so-called New Order will sweep us from the face of Na'Ril and not even our names will be remembered within a handful's span of generations.  It may not happen for a century or more, but it
will
happen.  Unless we take measures to stop it.”

“
And these swords of yours would somehow set this all to right again?”  This came from Dariel, God and Goddess of Truth and Deception, Baron of the Dark, his form slightly out of focus as ebon tendrils of ethereal smoke seemed to coalesce around his body.

“
In the end, yes,” answered Malik.

“
And how would nine enchanted swords make such an impact?” asked Sarla, rising from her seated position behind Aerik.  “Na'Ril is a grand place for only nine small tokens.”

“
It is often the smallest thing that can invade a body to cause the most harm, and stands the best chance of going unheeded  until the harm has already been done” said Charith.  “We would infect this New Order and cripple it afore it can deliver unto us a death blow.”

“
How?” asked Dariel, keenly intrigued now.

Malik took a moment to look each of his brethren in the eyes before answering, savoring the moment of revelation.  “The swords will remain unfocussed.  The enchantments imbued into each blade will seek its focus from the mind of the first mortal to draw it.  Nine swords for nine Gods, one each given to a faithful of our individual choosing.  A devout mortal is predictable – he will wish to manifest the power of his God and therefore the swords will become extensions of each of us.”

“Then why have mortals set the power,” asked Elgoth.  “Permit each of us to empower our own counterpart and avoid the risk of leaving their powers to be defined by mortals, who may not do as you predict.  Imagine a mortal craving a fruit pie upon taking up his sword and it being forever after only a baker's tool for creating pies!”

Humor rippled through the Pantheon at the imagery of one of Malik's great blades being used for aught but a pastry maker.  Malik himself stiffened visibly.

“
Because our duality would not compliment their purpose,” answered Charith.  “Each of us reigns over two spheres of influence, each diametrically opposed.  This creates balance in our natures.  It is how the mortals first set us to our tasks in their service, and it is how we each choose to exist in order to receive their devotions.

“
Mortals cannot handle duality so easily.  Mortal minds forced to be caught in duality are more often driven to madness as naught.  A mortal man cannot equally live between life and death as I do; he must choose between the two or go insane.  And though many mortal minds have drawn the connection between insanity being as close to divinity as a mortal mind could come to be, it nevertheless would not be an acceptable frame of mind for a mortal to have when wielding such an artifact as these will be.”

“
Can you imagine, Airek,” inserted Malik, “a mortal caught in a state of being equally kind and malicious to all around him?  You can divide your attentions to all of Na'Ril, split your awareness and your form between multiple tasks, so you
can
be equal to both tasks.  But a mortal has no divine presence to dilute the influence into.  And so he must be limited in his application of the power we would bestow upon him through our empowered weapon.  He would need, upon drawing forth the blade, choose to do both or neither, and either path would cripple his mind irretrievably.”

“
I see the point,” admitted Airek reluctantly.

“
And so it was decided that a mortal must make the choice between the two factions,” Charith said.  “In Malik's example, your faithful servant could choose to empower his sword with an aspect of either greed or charity, depending upon his need at the time he felt it prudent to draw the sword.”

“
And consider one thing more: This method will also insure that the weapons will remain unseen and unnoticed by the New Order until well after they are within the mortal realm.”  Malik scowled.  “With our blessings upon these blades, being tokens of power with each of our unique influences upon them, they would serve as lodestones for the New Order upon entering the mortal realm.  Though power can be bridled within these swords and in such form be moved into the mortal realm with little disturbance, for us to define them and provide an outlet for that power, it would by necessity require us to leave our presences attached to the swords.  The New Order would be able to sense both the swords and the threat they imposed before we could ever properly assign them to a chosen wielder.”

“
Your reasonings are sound so far,” agreed Elgoth.  “Yet you have not said how then such relics are supposed to preserve our influence within the mortal realm?”

Malik smiled wickedly.  “Surely, you of all of us would comprehend
that
answer, Sister.”

Elgoth reflected a moment, then clarity crossed her features.  “Knowledge.  You believe the younger Gods will be unable to banish all knowledge of our existence so long as physical evidence of our being still exists.”

“Knowledge can be subverted, evidence destroyed,” offered Dariel.

Malik turned upon the embodiment of deception.  “Which is why the swords have been enchanted to be unseen by divine power once in the mortal realm.  Even I would be unable to locate one once it has been passed out of my care.”