Zon knew he was alone as he stepped through the golden arched portal leading back to his capital of Deep Drop Mine in the farthest reaches of the continent's youngest mountain range. It was a good home, and the earth had truly brought up some treasures from the magical furnaces of its depths in this age. His people were glad and happy, and so would he be as he guided them through this next age that was surely to be filled with war and strife. He would see the Dwarves through this next coming challenge.
Zon was a near almighty being made of gold, he had been an elemental once, but even that was almost forgotten to his divine and ancient mind. Now he was the ruler, leader, and praised as the God of a nation by the very same dwarven people who once brought him from the earth and used him to create craft and beautiful things.
He remembered the name of his first master, and the way the young lad had treasured him so as a creature not unlike a mages more typical familiar. Yet Zon had been no long dead cat with a talent for magic eager to be conjured to life again. Zon had been an elemental, and his first master someone truly skilled and passionate. He wished he could have seen that young dwarf through to the end of his days, but this world was an unruly and chaotic place filled with magic and change that could violently and subtly in the dark. Magic plagues could ruin a people overnight. Wars could shatter the face of the known world. Knowledge could open gateways to realms of unimaginable power and mystery drawing people in to never be seen again. Desire, envy, and paranoia could bring a well liked and stable God and his empire crashing down as his allies grew to fear him from his rash actions.
The hall was lit, but for all its grandeur it seemed empty with only Zon and his retinue of powerful bodyguards. It was a glorious place that Theadus had made for the sole purpose of bringing the Gods of the world together. A place to discuss peace, trade, and war at will. It was contained within the great mighty capital of his empire now, but once, long, long ago it had been the heart of a city that cast a light of hope against a world gone mad. Theadus had shone gloriously then too. Zon remembered his smile. He had seemed so bright and innocent for all the constant war with the savage world around him as a last bastion of civilization here on his far side of the continent. His spirit had been filled with the will of his people, the human tribes who had come together to produce a king like no other, one who had ascended all bounds and become something more than just a magically potent man with the most advanced jobs and skills in the little nation. He had become divine. Just as Zon had ages before.
Zon slowed in his pace and finally stopped as he looked over the remaining and unopened portal arches around the Divine Circle. It was a magnificent work of art. There was gold, ivory, and finely crafted magic items from every nation on display. That display continued down into the Grand Hall, the meeting place where gods, kings, and all powerful forces of the lands had, for the last age, found it safe to meet, dine, and talk. Zon had taken it as a sign of a more civilized world to come.
Halspus, another human deity, had been so excited when Theadus rose back then. She had long since found a way for her people to travel to Zon's realm long before then and her people learn from the dwarves he looked after. Without her eager presence Zon might not have paid any heed to Theadus as he had seen little promise in humans that did not follow the Goddess dedicated to art, writing, and learning. But the God of Light had taken up her ways. Halspus had shown him how his people were taking to the letters and numbers she taught, and how some of them even showed talent in what they could make for trade with other cultures. Istania had of course been there too. She had come to the aid of the human tribes, always kind hearted as she was, and helped them master some magics of their own. All while she fought off sickness and disease, and more. So much more. She taught them to cure their ills using the magic and to harvest the bounty of the world around them. She should have been the last Theadus thought to betray.
Zon had been the first to meet with them, the two young Halspus had found, and his kingdoms had always been eager to find new trade partners. Treaties had been made, and the world as large as it was seemed a little closer; less hostile. There were friends to be had.
The humans spread and grew at an incredible rate under the guidance of not one, but three Gods. They learned metal craft from the dwarves, and made paper for books and learning. They learned healing and how to turn the land, and to fill it with a bountiful crop. They cast light over the dangerous dark of the night and kept all but the most determined of predators at bay. Jobs and Skills were defined and understood by the masses for the first time in ages. Ancient complex rituals and wild magic became tame and easy things to be used by everyone. The world as Zon knew it had begun to take a new shape, and there seemed to be such hope even against the challenge of the untamed Dungeons, even less understood than as they were to Zon now. They were sealed one by one, and the land made safe enough perhaps to be called tame even outside of dwarves' deep holds and mines where monsters dare not reach. The people walked the surface of their world without a care at least along its marked routes. True trade began as any with the correct mercantile skill could walk the roads without a thought but to their food and water. The world had become that much richer to Zon's eyes who had always been able to tell the value of things. What he saw then could have only led to good things.
It hadn't. Wars had come and gone, but they had gotten through them all. At least they had. The one thing changed now that was different from the past was that crisis after crisis they of the Pantheon had always worked together. Even when that enemy would later become an ally, it had always been just that. Never before had one of the many nations broken away, or betrayed another once the treaties had been set. Arguments surely had. They always bickered. But it was always better for their people to stick together against the harsh world they all still remembered. They had all learned from each other taking on and teaching the aspects of each new god to spread them among all their people in spite of their arguments.
What had changed Theadus's mind? What had caused him to snap and choose to betray and assassinate Istania? She should have been his bride, his wife, and partner, to stand together and lead humanity together with Halspus into a new age of peace and prosperity such as Zon could never dream of on his own. The two had always balanced each other. His own people were all too set in their ways and tradition, much as he was, to ever advance as the humans had. Perhaps his people would have seen the humans and been inspired to change, and become more. Maybe there would be one among them determined enough, driven enough, to mount the hard fought road to the Divine to join him at his side so that they might not be left behind as the humans stretched their hands on and into the stars of Heaven above. In his mind Zon saw the future that now seemed abandoned fading into his memory as dreams would upon waking. He too had been so hopeful.
“My lord?” Darshaval asked at his side. Zon remembered when the dwarf's kin had needed darkened glass eye shielding to enter the Divine Circle. Now even in Zon's throne room everything was so well lit that the dwarves hardly blinked when coming through the ancient magical portal after him. “Where are the others?” He asked. The others of the guard, all sharp and potent as could be had among dwarven kind, were alert and thumbing their weapons with their stone scaled fingers. They were flesh and blood, but also living earth and stone. Zon remembered finding that curious even back to his first moments.
“They will not come. Theadus has made them afraid to. Trust Darshaval. That intangible, but so precious resource… He has broken their trust.” Zon told his followers. He remembered Darshaval's father, Denshaval, and his father before him, Ashaval, and on and on, to the first days when Zon had found dwarves that still lived in the northern mountains he now called his home and sanctuary. He would not lose his people again. No matter what came of Theadus's foolishness.
“Come. Take your usual places in the Grand Hall. I will ascend and speak with the Lord of Light at the Grand Table. Remember this place. Depending on what he says we may not come again.” Zon told Darshaval.
The stout dwarf gulped.
“My Lord?” The dwarf asked. He was clearly shaken. It seemed he thought his small voice was too loud in such a great open space.
Darshaval had grown into a world that had been secure. He was as proud in his faith of Zon as he was the unspoken faith he had in all the other gods of the pantheon. Darshaval had seen each of the leaders of the civilized world and had faith in all of them whether he showed it with his actions or not. Zon remembered fondly the first time Darshaval had followed behind his father in the formation he led now, and when he had first seen Gram, the once hated enemy and God of Dragons. It must have been like seeing a legend come to life for young Darshaval. Zon remembered the awe Darshaval had felt in first witnessing their greatest enemy of a time that had become friend and ally for more than an age.
He remembered Denshaval using the haft of his poleaxe to close his son’s gaping mouth for that matter. The memory brought Zon much needed happiness and reminded him of his purpose. He loved his people. Istania had shown him that. They weren’t just valuable. They had a worth all their own made in moments and memories. He remembered her words then, when she finally won him over, and cast his doubts aside.
“An adopted child is no less precious or part of the family than the other children Zon. Sometimes it is more like the parent is adopted, but it's all the same. You love them even though in truth they are not your own, and they love you in return. They know this and trust you to defend them, give them guidance, and watch over their own children. What are you to them, but family when your shrines are built in every house and tidy underground village square?” She had said that, smiling and with both hands on her hips until the very end. Then she reached up and poked his golden chest to drive the point home.
“There will be another place, one made new, that we might meet with Halspus, Rahammod, Gram, and the others yet again, but this place...I fear we may not come to this place again. Not while there is not peace. Come along now. There is yet time that we might use to mend what we can. We cannot dally even if we are left alone to this task.” Zon told the dwarf, moderating his tone so that the young Darshaval might see that things were far from lost. There was simply a bumpy road ahead.
The young warrior seemed heartened. He saluted and stood proud before the others mimicked his gesture.
Zon crossed through the great open doors into a glorious marble hall filled with golden light and magnificent works. Zon himself was not small and more than three times the height of the tallest human, but the door he strode through was meant to house Gram, and more to pass without stepping on one another's toes.
The Grand Hall was a marvel of stone work, magic, and engineering. It's great height towered up into the clouds such that magic was needed to keep the air thick enough for all to breathe within. He looked upon the great pillars bearing the symbols of the Pantheon upon the greatest banners ever made. And he frowned as all but Istania's waving proudly in unseen currents of air.
A sudden realization struck him as he remembered the grand floors of the greatest dungeons they, the Gods together, had tamed inside their own dimensionally sealed magical realms and found his thoughts in the past mirrored in the somber reflection of his mind now. Their final floors were often grand open places such as this. What deeds had been wrought in the past to cast such glorious and once magnificent places down into the dark? Their halls filled with magical mayhem, and dangerous creatures with no mind and no place in the natural world? Was this how a Dungeon was made? Was it the fall or the vast emptiness of such places that drew in such terrible creatures to fill them? If this place were simply abandoned with its myriad halls, countless rooms, and halls below would it become a dank and dangerous place? How long would it take?
Zon smiled to himself and reflected how ruling alongside Halspus may have affected his mind. He had never in the ancient past had his mind and thoughts been filled with so many questions before. It gave him both despair and happiness to think that. There was hope still perhaps; even if all his efforts right here and now failed.
He passed through the lonely Grand Hall and on to the stairs to the floor above. The Table of the Gods was a simple but descriptive name for the next room. Its high vaulted ceilings and arching banners were like the room below, but all situated behind massive throne-like chairs. Each was made to sit upon the same level, each was sized to comfortably house the given forms of the God who sat upon them, and as there had always been there were open seats yet unclaimed. But now all were empty.
The great shining light in the center of the table that was really a vastly enchanted magic item lay dim and dormant. The room felt cold and sad in spite of the bright golden lights of Theadus's signature. Zon stepped forward now without his retinue as he entered the room meant for the Gods and they took their positions below his banner. His glittering golden hands touched each of the thrones as he passed them and he moved on and around the table. He even passed his own chair and went to the doors that lead to the highest vantage one could have over the realm.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Here out just below the clouds he finally found the God of Light. He shone weakly compared to his usual magnificence. Was he drained from the battle with Istania? Or had he realized what he had done and the uncertain future he had created for all of his empire?
“You came. There's that at least. Whatever direction I take now I still see only ruin.” Theadus muttered. “Are you here for that? Here as their ambassador? Here to declare war?” Theadus asked without turning his head.
Zon frowned.
“I am not here for war, old friend. No one but you has done such things in the last one hundred years. The others do not come because they are frightened, all but Gram who would call you a fool I think. I have come because I see what is to be lost if nothing is done. I come for the people who flee to my realm and into others because you, and your followers hunt them down. At worst I come to call you down for your rash and sudden actions. Words have always been enough for us. If you truly saw threat in Istania arrangements could have been made, and peace in the realm upheld. Whatever personal desires we have as Gods we must first think of our people and what our actions will display to them. That was always something Istania was good at reminding you of.” Zon said, his voice was a rumbling thing as deep as the mountains and refined as the golden surface of his body.
“I am not a child Zon.” Theadus snapped, in what might have been the most childish response Zon would have thought to make at such a question if it were directed at him.
“Then why? If you are not a child striking out then why have struck down and betrayed one with no ambition other than to serve the people?” Zon asked.
Theadus stirred, his shoulders going stiff in the glorious golden armor Zon himself had made for the Lord of Light. Theadus shook his head, still looking out over his realm. The great City of Light lay below, looming far and wide like the foot of the mountain to the great castle of wonders in its center.
“No ambition?” Theadus said softly and hung his head. “No ambition you say, but I know better. She meant to replace me. To uproot and push me aside. She meant to make little of my purpose and raise one of her own to her side to rule in my stead. Did you not know? I assumed you would. I assumed you all knew.”
Zon blinked. His glittering gemstone eyes scanned Theadus. There was no cursed object, or tainted talisman in his possession. That something had affected his mind was his first thought after hearing those words. Istania was truly not the ambitious kind. She had called out the Lord of Light many, many times, for his zeal in expanding his empire and for not seeing to the needs of his people. They argued because of that, but Theadus always saw the right of it in the end.
Theadus was ambitious, clever, and driven. All things that humankind needed in this place and to excel as they had for so long, but Istania was also right. Care needed to be taken, prosperity needed to be upheld, even if she thought of such things in a very different way to Zon. Where Zon saw that his people were healthy and well in mind to do their best work to mine treasures and make arts of great value; Istania saw the value in warmth of the people's relationships, and the simple joy that filled their lives. Zon had learned much from her, and her practices had cured many small maladies, even increased birth rates, all things leading to more and more prosperity. A healthy, happy, and well paid nation was a productive nation. On that, Zon and Istania had always agreed.
All Istania had ever done was care for the people Theadus wanted to bring into his empire, and to keep the world from experiencing greater harm. Zon knew many of her practices were quite vital, and was glad that the dwarven people had practiced and developed their own methods outside of her faith to cure disease and other ills. Istania always helped no matter the method. Her ingenuity always amazed Zon.
Most of her rituals, especially the simplest ones, could be used by anyone even if they had never knelt at her altar and offered her fealty. Only Halspus shared her gifts in the same manner. Neither of the Goddesses had ever wanted more than to see humanity well kept, learned, and prosperous. It was why they needed Theadus. He had the ambition to unite the spread out human tribes and gather them together under one banner. He had even done so with the Gods themselves. He had brought nations together in peace to secure humanity's future by surrounding himself and his lands with friends instead of enemies.
If what Theadus had said was true then he should rejoice. If Istania was to raise a new God from one of her followers to aid their cause it would have been all to the better. There would have been another hand to tend their shared empire as it grew larger with each passing year. There would be another cause for the people to rally to and an idol to be inspired by. Zon himself would have rejoiced at the news were he to have heard the same of his people.
“Istania would never have cast you aside. No matter how secure the walls one does not cast out the light because nothing has happened during the past few nights of the watch. Your lights, the lamps, the most basic symbol of your power against the darkness will always be held at hand by your people and likely my own. Such as you will always be a force against those who stand to threaten human prosperity. We all know this, or thought we did. Theadus your rule as a God would never be set aside, your practices, and vigil against the deadly night never forgotten. What could make you think this?” Zon asked, doing his best to make his voice gentle and caring.
Theadus hung his head while he listened and when Zon finished he turned his head toward the towering and wide shouldered form Zon had taken to. Zon looked as though he were a dwarf cast in molten gold, rough, and worn with time, but with crisp detail here and there that drew the eye. He hoped his form told of a craft made long ago, and hoped to inspire those who saw him into making new glorious works. Theadus did not look at him as though he wanted to make a glorious work however, but to break such things apart.
His handsome face was twisted with anger, and paranoid fear.
“That's what you think. That's always what you would think. You've always been this way. Slow and plodding. Just like people you look after. You're not even one of them. What could they care for you?” Theadus hissed. “How can you trust them? How can you know what they'll do or what they think in the darkness of their hearts?”
Zon was shocked. So much so that he didn't know how to respond. Theadus could surely not mean his words, but even so they struck against Zon's mind like hammers against his flesh. He had never wanted more than to see the dwarven people who had been so kind to him in his former life to succeed. He wanted to guide them to make glorious things, shining things, and beautiful works as Zon had long ago with his long dead master. Zon had once thought that meant gold and gems such as Gram hoarded, but now Zon knew as Istania had shown the value in family, and in an empire that worked each day to bring itself to a higher and higher state of prosperity. Health was valuable. Happiness was valuable. Family and security of mind was valuable. With those things his people could and had produced many works! -Such glorious works! How could Theadus not see? Zon knew he must show him his error.
“I do not need to know their thoughts to lead them. Only their ambitions. I inspire my people. I lead them to create and advance and to live well. What more is there?” Zon asked.
“And when they raise another to take your place Zon? When they want you to step aside from your position and retire like their elders well past their time? What then?” Theadus asked though it was clear his mind had twisted itself into knots. Zon did not understand at first, but then in the moment he took to consider he began to understand. Zon made his face and voice grow stern.
“Then I would rest. I would be happy that my people no longer needed me if they had all truly learned what lessons I have to teach. I would be glad to spend decades instead of months making such things as to awe each new generation and be happy to watch them grow in new directions.” Zon said firmly.
Theadus was practically hissing by the time Zon finished speaking.
“I. AM. KING.” He roared. “There is no replacing me. No setting me aside! I am the Lord of Light, and ruler of my nation. The human population follows where I lead them. I am the one who leads them from the darkness! I cannot be replaced! My rule cannot be set aside! I. AM. KING!”
Zon held himself steady against the tirade of the furious Lord of Light as he flared with his anger and jealousy. Like a child. As it went on something hot and molten grew inside Zon. It was a sensation that until just then had only been in the deepest and darkest memories Zon held in his mind.
“YOU ARE A FOOL AND A CHILD THEADUS BEING GREEDY WITH WHAT HE THINKS ARE HIS TOYS!” Zon roared in response as the Lord of Light faced him down. His voice cracked like the back of the mountains breaking, each word made the clap of thunder seem like the sound of a pin dropping.
Theadus showed fear for the smallest moment as Zon's form melted and began to grow into an even greater mass of molten metal, but Zon controlled himself. He cooled his core and let his temperature fall to normal levels so that his hands weren't glowing red hot. He restored himself over several moments with Theadus appearing quite thoroughly chastised.
“Who told you of this....this thing you heard. What thought has twisted your mind so that you might turn against she who had always been a boon to you?” Zon asked calmly, his voice a mockery of the smoothness it had once had, and now more akin to the grinding of the world's bones.
Theadus regained his composure quickly, but turned away as if nothing had happened.
“It is the truth. I know it to be so. Istania harbored one who would cast me down.” Theadus answered. Zon thought him a guilty child not wanting to admit he had eaten all of his mother’s freshly baked cookies.
“Who has told you this thing. What have you seen of this to make it truth?” Zon asked.
“It is the truth.” Theadus persisted.
“What has given you this truth? Tell me Theadus. There is still time to turn this from catastrophe. The people will never look at you the same after what you've already done, but what has happened cannot be changed. We must look forward and seek to mend this mistake. The others will help. You will swear upon your power that such a thing as this will never happen again.” Zon told Theadus.
Theadus glared up at him. The Lord of Light's handsome face just wasn't the same with that expression. It was much better when he was smiling. Zon leaned down and put a misshapen and lumpen golden hand upon the Lord of Lights shoulder.
Theadus barely hesitated to brush it aside.
“You would bind me then? Restrict me?” He asked.
“Arrangements can be made. Trust renewed. And with great time the shackles removed, but as it is when the mortals kill another there must be punishment. If you cannot tell me of this truth you have learned, or if you will not this is the only path we can take, and keep things the way they are. All the best for our peoples and nations.” Zon explained.
“The past cannot be changed. You were right Zon. But the future can be seen, and wisdom taken from its lessons before they come to pass. I was to be replaced. I know this is true.” Theadus said, finally returning to something of his old self as the tension left him.
“You cannot truly see the future. None of us can. We can only guess.” Zon answered almost immediately.
Theadus smiled wryly.
“I have found a minor deity. One in the Isles of Storm. The Archipelagos to the south were her small little kingdom. She used her talents to see when the storms would come and how to build against them, and when to move the people away. I've thought of a better use for her however.” Theadus said and strode from the terrace.
Zon followed after him quickly.
“You have found a fate?” Zon asked, shock and surprise clear in the rock slide that was still his voice after losing his own temper.
“Yes and she has told me that one who now lives among Istania's followers will be my downfall.” Theadus answered as he strode ahead. Zon caught up with him quickly being rather larger than the other God and moderated his pace to keep with him.
“You cannot trust the words of the Fates. Truth in the future is not the truth of reality. For her to speak on what is to come is to have an effect on it. It is why using magic to look into the strands of time is foolish, and its practice banned in all of our nations. Knowing what will come will either cause what you try to avoid or worse create something that was never meant to happen. The Fates who speak are the ones that mean to twist the universe to what they see as their best outcome not your own. Even then the ones who do not speak must be watched and kept in check. You should know this.” Zon explained almost frantically as Theadus led them past the Table of the Gods and into a side chamber.
There was a door there and inside past the magically sealed doors Zon could feel the power of the Fate as she bent her mind into the future. Theadus put a hand to the door and looked up at Zon.
“She will tell you of it. You hear and see with your own eyes.” Theadus said.
“She has lied to you!” Zon urged. “She has seen what it would take to get you to betray your purpose! She has played you for a fool!”
“You will see.” Theadus said confidently.
Zon tried to take Theadus's hand from the door, but he pushed his way inside leaving Zon reaching after the other god. Theadus stopped dead, however less than two steps through the door.
Cackling rose from the room that in a palace of white stone and golden lights had become a gray and dank space. There was a creature there, a bird like and human shaped thing in roughly treated silken robes that left her arms and legs bare to show their feathers. Tendrils of ethereal blue lightning like magic danced about the stone and to the fate as she spread her harpy arms wide in welcome. She laughed and cackled in renewed effort at Theadus and Zon.
“You've done it my Lord! You really have!” She laughed. “Nothing I could have could have stopped you from waging war on my people. Nothing you would have done would have stopped Istania from purging them and the practices I led them to once she found them, but now she's dead! Dead! You've done it! You've made it all possible Theadus, Lord of Light! Oh how the world bends at your step my gracious lord! Oh how you've changed the streams of fate running through this world with your arrogance!” She cried, practically unable to speak as she laughed so hard she was throwing a fit against the chains that held her tight in the center of the room. “May your reign last forever dear lord! All praise the merciful Lord of Light!” She finished in a dreadful mocking crow of laughter.
Theadus's hand rose in a glowing ray of light, enough power there to vaporize the fate, but in the next moment she was gone with a clap of magical thunder. Her voice echoed in the room, haunting, and coming from all around them.
Theadus's hand fell from its ready position as they both sensed the fate leave beyond the vast breath of their senses. Every word she had said had been a lie. Even her capture and surrender was a thing arranged to make Theadus take the steps he had.
Zon slapped the Lord of Light over the back of the head so hard it made him stagger into the room where the Fate had been held.