On the other side of things, Tyr wasn't sure what was happening to him. The voice, or rather the presence that invited him to this place had felt strong, far stronger than the reflections of the gods themselves. Comparing the two was like comparing a hobby garden to a forest.
This was just one of six, the land of fire. Raw power, universe shattering in its intensity, world swallowing, billowing eddies of stark contradiction. The gods were merely a product of the prism of this place broken down into tangible constructs, reflecting the laws defined by the elements onto the world. Just a spark. From another, more relevant standpoint, this was the land of infinite dao, where it all came from.
Where it had all started, and where it'd one day all end.
Seemingly everything that was anything that could influence or exist in the natural world was dao, and those combined and found balance with other things to become more of these universal concepts. Some were small, and some were titanic, but all were universal. Things defined by the one language, simple logic, and yet so vast in its complexity.
They'd exist even when the universe did not, and would be the template by which it started again, and more would be made, added to the book of everything. He'd have figured that he'd have ended up in some magma floe, a volcano at least, maybe a glassy field of fire and destruction, but it was most pleasant here.
This 'world', a collection of parcels of land akin to upside-down mountains flattened at the base, orbited in languid elipses around suns beyond counting. It should be blinding from any standpoint of common sense, but it wasn't. There was a lesson here about the nature of fire, and it wasn't much of a mystery at all. Fire composed the suns that gave life to worlds, that was its purpose. It nurtured life, destroyed it, defined its growth and its limits.
Whether it be the necessary molten core of a planet, the sun that kissed its surface, or the hearth that warmed a man's hands back from a hunt, surrounded by his chubby faced children...
Tyr saw it all in the starry mass of void beyond the multitudinous isles.
It was necessary for existence, as all the elements were. After all, there was air here, and water, he stood on earth. It was just one piece of the balance. Pieces prised from the tyrannical claws of light by the equally necessary force of darkness – the gray between where a thing could achieve a state.
All separated by the two universal floes of energy that sat above all things. Order and chaos, creation and destruction, the prime concepts of duality. His entire life had come to that point where it was the only choice left to him, and while he had yearned so passionately to join the light – his pride wouldn't allow him to do so. And fire... It was the element of pride and passion, it felt appropriate.
He felt a great kinship with it, the flame that burned.
“Is this some kind of game?” Tyr asked the tall figure standing in this small corner of the massive plane. He wasn't so shocked about these things anymore. If not for the hood, the 'man' would've appeared just that, but the white linen wrappings that covered his body were not all encompassing. Through them, Tyr could see a roiling humanoid mass of crimson. It was an elemental, an intelligent one watching in calm interest as a raft of ducklings splashed about in a shallow pool, under the watchful eyes of what must've been their mother. Turtles basked pleasantly in the calm light, stretching their limbs out on the stone lined shore of the water feature, small bipedal reptiles licking the algae from their coarse shells. “You have a challenge for me, and if I take it, you'll give me some sort of reward?”
“A challenge?” The figure finally perked up, turning to reveal his face, not a face at all, just a mask of violent combustion. No shape to it. “That is a silly concept, what need do the elements have of a challenge? They do not know, they are, they called to you and you came. That is all. What reward you glean from this experience could be seen as a challenge, surely, but to expect structure from concepts beyond omnipotence and omnipresence is a very human way of looking at things – isn't it? Gods might judge your worthiness for their amusement, but the primordial forces are all encompassing. They do not know, and yet they already do. Have always known and will know all inevitably.”
“Now that you mention it...” Tyr nodded, finding it all quite ridiculous. A celebration of sentience is all well and good but surely the most powerful entities in this world already knew the answers to the questions they asked. They existed outside of time, so they could see it all, and the threads of fate may branch but much of it was a constant. It made religion look rather silly. If they knew in their way how everything would turn out – what point was there in making a show of it? The drama? If they didn't have the capability to measure based on something as small and easily observable as the past, at least, how could they call themselves gods?
“The illusion of free will, some might say.” The figure answered, though Tyr had not spoken the words. “I do not ponder these things, but for the sake of conversation, it's up for debate whether or not His gift exists at all. Or curse. Everything is in constant contradiction, that's what it means to exist. Contradictions are healthy. Everything is a lie, all things are true. That's reality for you, we pity those who experience it. If your current self hails from a lower plane, does said plane even exist once you raise yourself higher? Even I do not know the answer to this question.”
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
“And what are you?” Tyr asked, approaching calmly. He felt no threat from the elemental and was caught in a moment where he was well aware that it was so insanely powerful that had it wanted to – he'd simply cease to exist. Its confidence, passion, and love for all things was virulent, worming its way into his heart and calming him on an existential level. This was a god, no... Beyond anything anyone had ever called a god, possibly even beyond the 'high ones' that were supposed to be above all. The high ones wielded the elements, but nothing was their master, this wasn't mana born in nature – mana didn't even exist on this plane. “Excuse me, let me rephrase, who are you? Are you a god, one of those they call the high ones?”
“We do not have names.” The elemental said. “We do not have miens, I simply am. A spark of the fire, the origin of the element by the consideration of your race. I am what I am because you are here, part of a larger whole, and you carry our gift. You may call me Fire, if a name need be spoken, for I am fire – and the fire is me.”
“It feels a bit odd to be speaking to an element.” Tyr chuckled, he hadn't expected the very elements themselves to be personified – but this entity was not divine. It just... Well, it was, as it had said. A man looks at the sea, he sees a sea, a sea is all he sees for the sea is the sea and there's nothing else to see in the sea but the sea. It was common sense that Fire existed. An entity that was... Beyond universal, he was very sure that this thing in front of him was many times more powerful than all of their gods combined, even as a 'spark' as he'd said. A personified shard of the elemental sphere. Something that would exist forever, whether subjected to time or not. As long as energy existed in the universe, so would this being. Without it, nothing was capable of existing, and it went beyond the primal aspect of 'fire', it was more appropriate to call it Energy than anything else. And it wasn't so distinctly apart from the other elements either, despite being unique in its own way. “Why did you bring me here?”
“Fire doesn't do anything, it just is.” Fire said, as if that explained anything, but Tyr only nodded – again because it was common sense. He could peer into the depths and never find a riddle in any of 'his' words, genderless though 'he' was. Perhaps a bit of self reflection would allow him to see that passively gendering things as 'him' and 'her' was ignorant, but one of many and far more significant flaws in his character. “I am a construct filtered through your consciousness, what you see is what you either need to, want to, or... Well, I'm not sure. Fire did not call to you, let us say 'we', though I am but one thing. You did, and now you are here with us. There is no 'why' or 'how', it just is as all things are. You are you, because you are. We are.”
“Are you talking about acceptance?” Tyr asked unsteadily, that was a little too ambiguous for his liking. 'Little'.
“Reality does not require acceptance. The truth is called as such because it is.” Fire replied. “One of individual intelligence might interpret it the way they wish to, but it does not change a fact. You are the one who holds the reins. Responsible for everything around you.”
There was wisdom in how he felt, and what he'd already seen, but it was – as everything here – common sense. It was akin to staring at a nail fixing a piece of parchment that said 'this parchment is stuck to the wall behind it via the nail piercing its surface'. It was just... Obvious. A thing was a thing. And though the 'sense' might be common, on second observation, to 'exist' and to 'be', anything, was incredibly profound. The simpler things became, the more complex they were in observation, more elusive in understanding. It was easy to say 'water is wet', because it was common sense, but not so easy to explain why exactly, or refute the claim. Every layer of truth one looked upon it became harder to see, the mechanisms running all the way down to the state of matter. Energy. The relation between dimensions. Physics and arithmetic even in the most insignificant things.
“What do you want me to do?” Tyr questioned the entity, trying to draw some kind of point out of this fever dream of an experience.
“To be.” Fire replied, and that was all he had to say at the moment.
By any other explanation, it was so simple that it was too complex for him to understand. Reality was contradiction, Fire certainly hadn't been wrong about that. Even gods were lost when presented with questions of how it all worked. If someone could truly explain the mechanics of existence, they could formulate a way to control it, and that might very well be impossible. Even unburdened and able to look back at some of his past lives, Tyr couldn't hope to. But there was power in understanding that far outstripped the power of something so mundane as 'knowledge', and he wanted to understand. Knowing was irrelevant, understanding was everything and independent of the former. This single element explained everything, because they all related to one another in the harmony that defined the cosmos. Wrapping his mind around it was impossible, and always would be, but he could try. It wasn't about petty concerns like 'heroism', 'friendship', not even about 'being a good person'. Tyr could be the most evil being on his planet and the elements could care less. They were, he was, everything is.
What was important was that he existed. That's what he was made to do.
“How long can I stay?” Tyr asked.
“Long? Ah... Time, you mean. Stay for all eternity, should you wish. Leave now, go yesterday, I do not know time. Where, when, how, and why only have one answer here. Who? You. They are, everything is, and that's the way it is, there is no past, present, or future. There is no where, we are nowhere, and there is no why. Only the who matters – and that who is you.”
“I see.” Tyr snorted, seating himself in the soft grass warmed by those gentle suns. He'd been presented with infinity, offered a glimpse into something so far beyond his reality that the place forced itself to conform to a shape and dimension that his mind could process. But if anything, it'd give him a glimpse into how to burn hotter, or perhaps nurture as the fire did. And that could only serve to aid him, like an old friend he hadn't seen in eons. Together again.