“It still surprised me. Even if they mostly live in relative peace and seclusion, would it not have been wiser to have some of their people with classes for fighting por si las moscas?” said Esperanza as she sat atop the branches of a tall tree near the perimeter of the village of Navef. The locals had a bad habit of prostrating before her despite her repeated recriminations against the practice, so eventually she adopted a tactic of observing them where they couldn’t see her instead.
“While it might surprise you, one of the core tenets that We preached to our people back in the ancient eras when we were more active was that of acceptance. They were taught to accept whatever cards the world dealt them, and simply make the most out of whatever situation they found themselves in. These people are not used to… how do your world say it? Fight against destiny, that’s it We think.”
“Yet you said there were wars in the past, which led to those pendejo heroes which are now puta gods getting summoned, wasn’t it? That doesn’t sound a lot like accepting what the world decides to give you to me, no te lo tomes a mal,” she replied. Wars definitely sounded like the opposite of what Oldies said they preached to their believers.
“Other than the earliest ages, when the people needed guidance, We had been mostly… hands-off. We believe that is the correct term. We merely observed, and allowed them to do what they wished to do. Their lives were the culmination of their own choices, while We simply remain as a watcher from above. By the time of the wars We mentioned, most of Us had already entered a deep slumber, barely aware of what took place in the world below.”
“And why is that?”
“Because the world was old by then, Esperanza. If this world was a human… it would be an old geriatric nearing their final years by that point of time. Its current state of existence… borrowing words from your memories, would be that of a dying patient forced to live on by life support when all they wished for was to die in peace. Even with the intervention of the new ‘gods’, this state of affair would not last too long either way. This world is already dying as we speak, and has been dying for a long time, merely suspended in its last moments by force.”
“By the system.”
“Yes. That is where most of the power from all the heroes that the gods had raised and harvested were funneled into. The rest were used to maintain the system’s function. We suspect that by this point the gods themselves had little direct control left over the system, and had likely become as dependent upon it as everyone else on this world. It was also the main reason why they kept this cycle going for so long.”
“They’re tied to the system themselves, so if this world ends and the system unravels, they would also cease to exist, yes?” said Esperanza as she pondered the situation some more. Although the current “Gods” were the reason for her current predicament – or was it more a second chance at life? – she found that she couldn’t really fault them either. “They’re trying to stay alive too, aren’t they?”
“While that might not have been their original intention when they deposed us and created the system, We believe that to be the case by now. They had toyed with forces beyond their comprehension, attempted to twist it to match their own desires, and now paid the price for their arrogance. We hold no hatred for them, nor do We wish them ill. All we wished for was the restoration of the natural cycle, the way it should be.”
“That’s pretty open-minded of you, Oldies, but I guess that’s how it is to be a real Dios, huh?” replied Esperanza with a bit of sympathy in her voice. “Do you even have any feelings of your own, for anything?”
“We do not share these feelings you mention. We simply were, and did what we were created to do.”
“Cada loco con su tema, I guess,” answered Esperanza with a shrug of her shoulders. Her attention was then turned once more to the village, where some of the younger children were playing under the sun, while the adults were busy with their respective jobs in the tight-knit society. “Anyway, back on the subject. These… people of yours. They’ve all been ostracized just because they refused to abandon their old faith in you?”
“That is so.”
“And the current… kingdoms, they’re descended from the ones that summoned the heroes that then became gods?” asked Esperanza for more clarification. The history of how things came to the mess she was currently embroiled in had interested her for rather obvious reasons. There was nothing to lose by knowing more about the enemy she would likely have to face, if not for Oldies’ sake, then for her own survival.
“That is correct. While our memories are fragmented and We are uncertain about many things in the past, We had enough memories of that time period to paint a clear picture of what happened at the time. Would you like for Us to explain it further?”
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“Por favor.”
“At the time of the incident, this world had mostly fallen under the rule of two major factions, or rather, one major faction and a coalition that was formed out of necessity to counter it. That major faction was the progenitor of the kingdom your other… friends got summoned into. They preached about the superiority of the human race, back at the time, and how all the other races were only fit to be their slaves.”
“Let me guess… The other races banded together to fight against them?”
“Precisely so. Not all humans even shared that viewpoint, and many even joined the coalition that was formed by several other countries of the time in order to resist the human kingdom. They fought many wars, over many generations, until one day, the leaders from both nations decided to break the taboo We had set. They chose to bring outsiders to fight their fight for them.”
“The hero summonings.”
“Indeed. Both sides had performed a far larger summoning ritual at that time, one that had drained the world down to its last dregs of lifeforce. Over thirty heroes were summoned between the warring sides, and made to fight for their summoner’s selfish purposes. Many of them perished in those battles, their lives needlessly spent to feed the greed and vanity of others.”
“Espérame, what about [Respawn]? Didn’t summoned heroes get that sort of protection back then?”
“You had forgotten that this was before the existence of any system, Esperanza. There were simply no such things at the time. The heroes had but one life, like everybody else. They died in droves at the frontlines of the battlefield. By the time the survivors realized their situation and banded together, there were less than half of them left.”
“And out of those only eight rose to become the current gods, right? What happened to the rest?”
“They perished in the fighting. Despite their great powers, they remained mortal back then. We believe at least a couple perished from their allies backstabbing them, but the rest perished during the battles they experienced to wrest the ultimate power over this world. In fact, if the new gods had shackled themselves to the system like we expected, they would likely be quite mortal as well, if well beyond the powers of the people of this world.”
“Right, and after that, they deposed you, used parts of you to anchor the system and created the current situation,” said Esperanza with a nod. The story Oldies told her this time cleared up a few doubts she had before, and while she was still unsure whether she could fully trust these deposed gods – or herself for that matter – it was not like she had any better choice at the moment. “You didn’t tell me this part back then.”
“We lacked the time to provide the full rundown, and honestly, would it have changed your mind if we had told you the full story back then? Would it have led you to choose another decision rather than the path you currently walked?”
“Probably not, I guess,” admitted Esperanza. “Everyone has the right to fight for their lives, and I get the feeling of being bored to death, but toying with other people’s lives isn’t the way to go about things. I’ve had enough of such Gillipolas back where I’m from. Definitely wouldn’t be against bringing them down if they’re that big a pendejo.”
“We cannot say that we expected that answer, but We are pleased to hear it nonetheless.”
“It’s mostly about people like them, you know?” said Esperanza as she pointed at the playing children in the village with one hand. “People who just wanted to be left alone to live their lives in peace. Far too often, someone else would just rudely barge into their lives and dictate what they should be doing instead. Letting them defend that way of life… is a sentiment I can get behind.”
“Speaking of which,” she added after some thought. “The people in this village seemed to be from all sorts of races, others seem to be of mixed blood, and I’m sure some of them are human, too. Is that a common thing? Or is that more just amongst your worshippers?”
“It used to be the norm amongst those who followed Our creed, though the great war had splintered that unity asunder. The human kingdom only counts humans amongst its populace these days, while the humans on the other side had their blood so thinned out that by now their descendants were more a different race than human altogether. That is what partly fueled the great divide between the two sides.”
“Easy to hate on others who are different from you, huh? I get that. Seen and experienced it myself, and all that really differed between me and them back then was merely where my parents were born. We were all humans and we still hate each other over the most trivial things,” muttered Esperanza as she inadvertently reminisced over some less pleasant things in her previous life. “Though not everyone was like that, the ones who hold that hatred tend to make themselves known loudly and prominently.”
“That, and the hatred built up over many generations of having lost family and loved ones to each other. The two sides had warred so often under the direction of the new gods that We doubted they would ever be able to reconcile, unless it involved children who were purposely kept ignorant of their histories. Not that any amount of warring would matter when the world comes to an end, but it still saddened Us somewhat to witness such pointless bloodshed.”
“Yeah, unraveling centuries of mutual hatred wouldn’t be an easy thing. Good thing we probably wouldn’t need to do it,” said Esperanza. Ever since her death and subsequent… revival in this new world, she felt somewhat lost. At the moment, she chose to work with Oldies just to have a direction to follow, and as they said, to see things and make decisions on her own. Push comes to shove, she would probably do as they asked and end the world if she decided they were telling the truth, though.
Of course, all that assumed that she was actually thinking for herself, and not just thought she was doing that while her mind was gradually being taken over by some sort of brain parasite or whatnot. Could something like what she currently was even have parasites? If anything, she looked more like the parasite, the sort that’d wrap around someone and turn them into a raving, slobbering monster.
Her spiral into depressive thoughts was fortunately interrupted in a timely manner, however, but a quiet whine as something soft and furry nuzzled against her side. Before she could react to the sudden presence, a larger, much fluffier form enveloped her other side, and a large, wet tongue lapped up against her cheek.
Dali and Gordy were suddenly beside her, atop the tree.
True, Esperanza had mostly ceased questioning things like how they got up there – their less than mundane origins likely explained that – but the way they seemed to know they were needed was something else. Was it due to the bond between them? Or was that just a canine instinct of sorts instead that brought them to her in such a timely manner?
“We see that you have good assistants these days. It pleases Us to see that you are in reliable hands, Esperanza.”
“Yeah… thanks, Oldies. Hasta Luego.”