"There, there, little one, it's alright." I tell the scared human soul as they scramble and panic, their back up against the wall. Holding out a gentle hand, I wait for them to understand that I mean him no harm. Atarifuge, one of my hounds eagerly swings its tail as he waits with me, a song of happy pants escaping over a drooping tongue. Appearing in and out of the shadows that make up his body in this limbo beyond mortal life.
I glance around briefly as I recall that my brother, Waionr, might end up passing through here.
"WHO ARE YOU!? WHERE IN THE GODS NAMES AM I!?" the soul screams as they finally realise there's a path away from us. Watching them fall down, confusion overwhelms them as my powers start to cycle their age backwards. All those decades of life he has endured are no more, he is back to being a small child with none of the scars he accrued before death. This terrified screaming of his changes in meaning, now, he wants his mother.
A sweet, sweet mother that may or may not have already been visited by me.
"Shhh, shhh." I coo as I pick the small mortal up, holding them close to my divine heart. Bouncing them up and down with well-practised care, I gesture for my hound to follow us out of this cave. With this one in my hands, the last of the humans phases up to the surface with me. Keeping him protected in my soft palm, we appear on the foggy surface and my excited hound leaps for the base of my rocking chair. Eyeing the misty replica land as we approach it, I check on the child one more time.
Making sure they see my smile, I go down onto my chair with a satisfied moan. Joints crack and pop as I secure the soul on my left leg, gently vibrating him as I find a good rhythm. His little expression softens as he gets used to the new circumstances. But, his grip on my unbuttoned vest remains as tight as it can be.
Lowering my right hand, I rub its index and middle fingers against the thumb and a wet tongue meets them. Rubbing his furry head, this fine pelt of shadow brimming with loving warmth moves against my palm. My hound moves away, his nose suddenly active as a serious demeanour takes over his canine features. Waving him off, he chases after the mortal in need of my care and my focus returns to the one currently in my arms.
I wonder who will come back to me first, him or one of the other six?
"Now, would you like to tell me your name?" I ask with a sweet and soft tone as my powers subtly work into his mind. If it was possible to do my job without, I would prefer to do it. But, unfortunately, it is not possible, I need them to be as honest as they can be with me before I recycle the power clinging to their spirit. Forcing them to be honest is better than letting them suffer because they cannot let go of what happened in life.
"I'm... I'm Enl Veh!" the child answers, blinking a few times as they catch on to the presence of my power. Their confusion will not be alleviated, but I know what is bothering him, having done this for so long and forever more. They feel like they are speaking as if they are still an adult, but it's all coming out with the voice of a child. All of the mannerisms too.
"Nice to meet you, Enl, I am Undwote. I am here to talk to you." I greet as their eyes widen as far as possible. Awe at first, after all, they're talking to a god, how can you not be amazed at speaking to something like me? Yet, they also know what my name means and it brings them to tears. They fold in on themself and hide their eyes.
"Am... Am I dead?" he dreads to ask finally.
"I'm afraid so, Sweetheart." I tell them as I place my flat cap on their head. Ruffling their hair through it as I firmly fit it on.
He whimpers.
"It is okay, I will be here for as long as you need me to be." I say as I pull them in for a gentle hug as the mists around us start to change colour and morph into a recently very familiar sight. The human city of Tobaballe, quite a few recent souls I have had to save from the corruption of the osibindah are from here.
"H-Huh? Why are we now here...?" Enl asks as I lean the chair back as we glance up towards the highest point in this impressive city. Once an old fort built back when my eldest brother, the God of Creation wandered the world through his chosen one. A mortal man then named Thunder. Since that time, though, this land has seen very little, almost no magic come near.
That has not stopped the people of this city from dominating the land beyond, though. From their ring of mountain-peak-reaching towers, the people of Tobaballe have come to lord over a chunk of the Civil Mountains. Trapping them within the bountiful river lands filling out the space between the ancient, stone constructs. Not that it really matters, since my brother Iderim-Ovi went missing, the lands around the Civil Mountains have been still wastes.
"Look on at the mirages around us, do you recognise what is going on?" I ask of Enl as our position in the city changes from the ground floor to what is known as the Family Floor. The part of the city set aside for all of the children in the city so that their parents are not burdened further in this hard-work-obsessed metropolis. And, once they came of age, they join their elders at the bottom, spending the rest of their working life climbing the ladder of physical and social merit.
"It's when..." he starts to say as he reaches out for the memory, "I was a child, just before me and a friend, Gil Gaesh was his name, left for the lower floors."
I glance towards the pair of hazy figures messing around in the distance. Egging each other on, enjoying the company of one another, ignorant of their life ahead but welcoming it anyway. I cannot hear a thing these memories speak, but the soul on my leg can hear it all as clearly as the day it happened. He looks down and his eyes linger on the floor, a long sigh leaves.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
"We made a promise that we would help each other out and get as high a floor as we could get each other too. Not straying too far from each other to ensure we could still help each other out..."
"And what happened from there, Enl?"
"We kept our promise for about the first ten floors, but then we started growing more distant... We were going up slower than the others from our age group and even started falling behind those who were younger! We got more selfish, we didn't help each other out as much and then I guess that is when it just ended between us... We were going up the floors quicker on our own and then when I started to lag behind due to my own limits I didn't know what to do..."
A hand moves to rub his back as he tries his hardest not to let it get to him. Gently nodding as we rock back and forth. Even without my divine powers, I understand what he means. So much guides the decision-making of mortals that one could almost call it gambling with life. Enl's friend would have to be an incredibly rare, almost fictional man to stay so loyal to him in a city that pushes you to be the best -you- can be.
Why keep going on with someone else when you can find new equals who can help you better?
"Did you try reaching out to your friend in an attempt to make things better?"
It looks like Enl wants to shake his head and deny it all, but, with my powers forcing the truth out of him... He can't help but nod with all the vigour in his body as his eye spill without end.
"Yeah... Yeah... But it was too late by that point, he was just more focused on the new friends he had made and his new circumstances, so all I got was a meaningless 'good luck' and was left at that!" he explains as more and more anger comes to the forefront, with outright malice taking over as he lashes out at the blurry figure. I wait for him to get it out of his system before carrying on.
"Do you blame him for how your life turned out?"
He turns quiet and looks down, "No... No... It was clear why he left me behind, we both knew. I was just hoping that maybe my friend, the one I had known for so long would at least lend me his hand one more time... And it hurt, it hurt seeing them not extend that hand that he and I had held out so many times before."
Nodding, the world starts to change around once again. Now, we are in a small room with an unhealthy-looking figure resting in it. The tired, jaded individual is clearly Enl and his eyes are facing a small barred window. As is typical for the architectural style of this city.
"What about now, can you tell me what is going on?"
"I'm just sitting down in my room, my... Home." Enl tells me, ashamed of where he clearly was at this point in his life. A blurry noise suddenly bursts into existence and Enl's old self rushes up to his feet, fury in his eyes. Our view changes to him out in a hallway, with a small figure in his arms as he roars with all he has. But, he doesn't attack the one he's holding, he carefully watches as the rest of the group abandon the one who was caught.
"Your experiences with your lost friend made you tender to see the same happen to others?" I guess as Enl keeps his eyes focused on me and not the brutal attack happening before my immortal eyes.
"I don't know... Those fresh grounders just kept annoying me and pestering me at my home and one day I just snapped and chased after them. It's too hard to explain properly, but this isn't me being petty, it's not! I had enough of their behaviour, I had enough! But, no one was ever willing to help me... So, slamming that one unconscious against a wall... I lost it when I saw the rest run away, not one of them showed concern for the one I had just hurt." they tell me with a dry, flat voice as their eyes simply blink at nothing.
"And what happened from here?" I ask as the mists start to change around again, bringing us to a new chamber.
"I got arrested." Enl answers just as it becomes clear that this is a courtroom.
It's nothing too special as the accused man was of one of the lower floors. But, like all places like this, it is dominated by an eye-like symbol blocked out by what looks like a shield. The calling card of one of my younger brothers whose calling is to reach a conclusion of truth and justice. Even with his eyes blinded, all lies will be pierced and no attempt to block him will persist.
One of the most still active deities in the mortal world with the men of the courts serving as his priests. The same symbol is plastered all over the courtroom, each one of them crafted to perfectly focus on the man under trial. A shrine dedicated to the God of Law is right before the figure of the mortal now on my lap. Something maybe to talk about, the next time I see my lawful brother.
A hazy figure paces about the holy courtroom as he and some others discuss the committed crime. Ensuring that the documentation he is holding was properly inscribed with the events with testimonies from both parties. Whatever is happening, the pace starts to pick up to an unnatural blur. Enl lashes out at regular intervals throughout, possibly giving insight into the attacked individuals lying or Enl being unable to accept what he did.
The memory slows down and a peculiar figure walks into the courtroom. Clearly a she, with a figure that still holds true even in this hazy place. Interestingly, many of the souls I have spoken to recently know this figure and she is very clear compared to everything else. A woman called Iishar Ho.
The room changes once again and we arrive in a place I have seen many times. The personal quarters of the Spire-Lord Iishar Ho, a place layered by a subtle strangeness. Magic is quite involved here, even with the distinct lack of a guardian-mountain guiding its power to this land.
"What about now?" I ask the soul of Enl as we watch his former superior propose to him the same deal I have had communicated to me a few dozen times now.
"What I thought was my chance to finally get out of my misery..." he admits with a sigh.
"And you took it," I say, to which he nods, "A chance to maybe get back on equal terms with your old friend, or, maybe to spite them?"
A small, short-lived noise comes from his throat as he opens his mouth again, "She said she had a way I could sort my life out... And I guess I just really wanted to get back with my old friend, I had been so lonely since we last spoke and everything had just been getting worse... So, I took her up on it..."
I rub his back as he slowly slips into a depressive tone, one not fit for a child. Even if he is an adult turned into one by the grace of my divine might. Sitting back into my chair, getting back into the rhythm of its rocking, more of his life flashes before me. Stroking my chin as I take it in, Enl cosies up to my gently heaving chest and I continue to comfort him.
A sudden blackout occurs as some armed hazy figures appear. The familiar, evil presence of the osibindah comes back as we reach the last of Enl's living memories. I start to frown as one of the greatest difficulties in my unending, conceptual life makes itself clear. Stealing away his body, their strange form latches onto his soul so that it may take away the power it contains.
An oddly clear figure appears in the last moments of the osibindah's stolen life. A human wearing the armour of someone dedicated to the God of War. A small little insect in his hand, a product of the mythical machine named after the hound I sent away recently. That human put this poor soul out of its misery.
"Interesting." I remark as I start to think over all that I have seen so far.