She Who Loves Silence (part one)
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The In-Between that holds the Multiverse together echoes with the essence of archetypal Gods possessing varying origin, power and intent. They struggle among themselves constantly. They die and are reborn again and again to renew their struggles.
from Reality and God Theory, by Enky Goxo
When a Chaos Storm rages against the changing landscape of Bridgeworld, dreams break free, and possibilities abound. The last storm I was in I found a keg of Smoothlager’s Finest. I love this world!
from Life at the Bifrost Bar, Observations of a Minor Poet, by George P. Burdell
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Meretseger appeared on her knees in the road of a small town, coughing blood upon the ground. She lifted her head in panic and scanned her surroundings. She was in the Eye of a Chaos Storm and that reminded her of past struggles, as she knelt there in the exact center of its deadly deceptive calm. She stood up slowly, contorted in pain as she healed herself from the damage she had taken in her fight with Wadjet. People were putting out fires and pulling others out of wreckage. She had no idea where she was. She knew she wasn’t in the world she currently called home anymore instantly from her surroundings.
She moved off to the side of the road and hid in an alley putting her hands to her ears. Noise! Too much Noise! She needed time to process, to collect her thoughts and assess the situation. Drawing upon her will, she forced herself to relax, then realized she could understand the language. No. Languages that she heard. So Many! Cacophony! Relax!
Meretseger was an ancient minor goddess in the pantheon she belonged to. She had been with them for thousands of years as they traveled from side-verse to side-verse. But where was she now?
She had been fighting off an attempt by her rival Wadjet to annex the area Meretseger had lay claim to since the moment they had made the last planet a home. Meretseger may have been a minor goddess in the pantheon, but she was a major player in her own territory. She had been winning the fight when the storm interrupted her.
And now she was here, but where was Here?
She breathed deeply and slowly, and the calm of the Storm became her calm. A peaceful center, an engaged exterior. The calm of the essence of who she was. The leader she had always been. She closed her eyes, then opened them as she felt someone enter her space. From the deep shadows came a deeper voice, "Are you injured?"
She looked in the voice’s direction and saw a man dressed in a military uniform similar in style to many she had seen in her travels. She glanced around at the streets and saw several other people also dressed in uniforms but not in as ornate a style as the man she deemed their superior.
"I am fine, but new here. That Storm. Where am I?"
"I see. You are in Bridgeworld now. As for what brought you, we call them Chaos Storms. They are rare, but they always bring people like you.
"How is it that I can understand you? How is that possible?"
"It's called the Babel effect. My name is Averus by the way." and he bowed.
She smiled, rapidly adjusting to the situation with the quickness of a goddess who had caretaken her people for more years than she cared to remember, but Caretaker no longer since Wadjet had usurped her authority by now. They had still been fighting when the storm had stolen her away. What an odd fate.
"And you may call me Meretseger. But the noise. How do you stand it?"
“The noise?”
Meretseger held her head clasping her ears. "The Babble of the Babel," she said, and grimaced.
"The Babble of the Babel? That’s a good way to put it. This is one of those very rare planets where words are translated from one language to another. It may be a spell, a shift in reality, or a tinkering with our minds. Nobody really knows. It just is and really is quite useful, but new arrivals take time to adjust. Bridgewalkers are especially sensitive, but we do have items to relieve that.”
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“Bridgewalkers? What are Bridgewalkers?”
“That can be a long discussion in itself, and I have duties to attend to. It isn’t over with yet. Come join me while we see what the storm has been doing."
So they wandered the town, helping out where needed while Meretseger reflected on her surroundings, taking it all in. She felt overwhelming power running through the area from a large ley line beneath them which reached out towards the direction of the huge city she saw in the far distance. She smiled a bit inwardly. It was exciting to see new wonders and things she had never seen before, and this place had more than its share.
She paid attention to Averus also as he interacted with the individuals who turned out to be men of a squad he commanded. As she had predicted. Mostly he had them on fire and rescue but from time to time he would send one to take care of the individuals walking through the area obliviously. These were more new arrivals like herself. She wanted to talk to them, but each time Averus hurried on. Twice she saw newly arrived struggling against his men’s grip, and she frowned to herself. Once she saw a panicked young woman being knocked unconscious and restrained. Averus didn’t really seem to notice or care. When she asked he told her that not all who came through a Chaos Storm were affected in the same way. Some were considered a threat and treated accordingly. Meretseger wondered what he considered a threat when he didn’t expand his explanation.
As they walked Averus talked about the civil infrastructure that kept Bridgeworld from anarchy. “I am one of the three local Bridgekeepers in Dakari Province tasked with the protection of the residents.”
“You have a large number of men working under you,” she said.
“Not all of them are mine,” he replied. Some are under the other two Bridgekeepers.”
Meretseger nodded. It appeared that Bridgekeepers were the local authority. Interesting but a more immediate need was coming over her as she considered Averus’s actions.
“Here we are,” he said as he led Meretseger into an elegantly styled building. “My office is this way.”
They entered a large room with a very high ceiling that had an air of wealth, numerous paintings and deep thick blue carpet. He went to a safe in the corner, and opened it, rummaging around before pulling out a gold bracelet covered with intricate arcane designs. He handed it to her, "This will block the noise until you acclimate to it.”
Meretseger frowned to herself as she put it on. She felt Averus’s intent but dismissed him as being truly dangerous to her. It had a nice sparkle to it.
Averus picked up what looked like a writing board covered with glass and tapped it. He laughed and said, "Too easy."
"Too Easy?"
“The moment you put that bracelet on you became bound to my will. You won’t be missed.”
"And? So you are a slaver?”
“Slaver is such a limited word. I prefer Harvester. People like you have so many uses. Now sit and tell me about yourself before I send you off to be inspected.”
Meretseger remained standing, staring at him, “Inspected? People like me Averus? People are who I live for. Those of honor and goodwill. I don’t sense that from you. You who are bound by office to serve and protect those people.”
“I said sit!” Averus started to press different sequences on the tablet that controlled the bracelet he had given her.
Meretseger laughed at him, “I am not a dog Averus. You call yourself a harvester, but I don’t see the mark of the harvest upon you. You name yourself Bridgekeeper, Protector of Dakari Province and all I have seen from you is corruption. Now tell me where your men are taking the new arrivals.”
Averus looked at her with a frightened expression, “Why won’t you obey me?”
“You can’t bind the Gods Averus. There is only One God that has the power or duty for that, and you have gone too far.” Meretseger's stomach growled as she began to morph into her feeding aspect. Her face and body changed quickly, and she scowled at him all the way through her fast transformation into a massive Queen Cobra, her royal hood flaring and sparks showering down her sinuous form.
Averus quit pressing keys on his tablet and in panic went for a weapon he had holstered at his side. And then he froze as Meretseger swayed from side to side, her eyes glowing hypnotically gold.
“And now your will is bound to mine,” she whispered. “So tell me more about what you do with people like me.”
His hands went slack as he stared up at her. The weapon he had grabbed dropped to the floor clattering loudly.
Meretseger launched herself at him. "Too much noise! "
Meretseger came out of the building looking up. The Eye of the Storm was passing and the brief calm that had descended earlier had transitioned back into an unnatural fury. She had to locate where Averus’s slavers were taking the new arrivals. Averus had been amazingly stubborn in the fight against her will, and she had eaten too soon. But her rage had been awakened. Foolish mortal trying to tether her to his will. Foolish, Cowardly and Corrupted. How had such a man risen to power?
Meretseger peered deeper into the chaotic skies, seeing eldritch shapes flying in the wind and wondered again about this place called Bridgeworld, about its rulers. Still, as she had told Averus before she had given in to her hunger, she was the avatar of the harvest, the protector of artisans, the protector of the land. It was sewn into her by the needles of Fate, Creation and Ra. She had decided she would take Averus’s place as Bridgekeeper and become that which he should have been to the people here. She didn’t demand or aspire to be worshipped but simply to be allowed to do that which she had been born for. She laughed at herself. “Meretseger. She who keeps Bridges.”
Changing her aspect back to her human form, she hurried down the street.