Briga noticed before Orn had left the senate building, he instructed the defenders to move to the top of the steps. It was a wise decision because it enabled them to close ranks and maintain the high ground, keeping the baying, demented crowd from entering. Gereld also spilled buckets of water that they both froze, causing the mob great difficulty maintaining their footing. She turned her thoughts to her beloved, wondering if he was alright. Deep within her mind, she heard, ‘Biga, I’m sorry.’
Tears burst forth from her eyes like waterfalls as panic gripped her heart. The anguish built up inside her, and she stretched out her mind and found him. He was in danger of being enthralled. With outstretched arms, she pushed out with all of her will. The resulting wave shunted the universe out of alignment by a fraction. All the stars and galaxies became stationary. All things in its wake would remain in stasis until it reflected upon itself, knocking the universe back onto its track, where time would continue as before.
She searched for him with her mind, but he was no longer there. She expanded her search beyond his plane of existence, and then she found him. He was in the grove. Clutching her breast, she almost collapsed to the floor in relief. She gazed at all the people, her time displacement suspended in a single moment. As she sent her thoughts out, she searched for any anomalies, and then she found that which she sought. A tiny pinprick of emptiness, a void within the space of existence. ‘There you are,’ she thought and began making her way over.
ᚲᚺᚱᛟᚾᛁᚲᛚᛖᛊᚱᛁᚾᚾ×ᛟᚱ×ᛟᚱᚾ
The grove was beautiful beyond measure. Never had Orn seen such lush grass and magnificent trees. Hanging from the branches were yellow fruits he had never seen before. Insects buzzed and a wonderful musical cacophony of birdsong flowed amongst the branches. A bubbling brook nearby gave the wondrous sounds of an undertone that brought peace to anyone who could hear it. His first thought was I must be dead. Huh, I thought there would be a hall of some kind.
Then a smooth, deep man’s voice, with a rich timbre, sounded within his mind. “You are not dead, dear child.”
With his eyes wide, he glanced about, wondering from whom this voice came. Moving past a tree, he came into a clearing, and there he saw a group of unlikely beings. They looked like people, yet their countenance was surreal.
One, in particular, appeared hale and yet ancient. He had long silvery hair and beard, a cloth wrap covering his right eye and he wore a flowing white robe and leaned on a pale wooden staff topped with what looked like miniature branches, giving the staff the appearance of a dead tree with a long thin trunk. The figure looked straight at him and deep into his soul. Orn’s mind followed that thread, tracing it back into the being’s mind. In that mind, he saw boundless knowledge accumulated over an inconceivable amount of time. The sheer volume of information flooding back into him caused a sensory overload. His steps faltered, and he collapsed.
The figure reached out, concern on his ancient face. Orn felt himself lifted and carried to the centre of the strange group. The man carrying him had red hair that appeared to undulate as though afire. His ruddy face smiled, although he could read genuine concern could in the cast of his red brows. The being was naked from the waist up, wearing furs and boots on his lower half. He felt himself lowered and sat upon the grass. “Easy there, young fellow. Peering into the mind of Everrin is not a light undertaking.”
The gentle touch of easily the most beautiful being Orn had ever seen brought him back to himself. Tears came unbidden as he gazed into her deep brown eyes and upon her bronze skin that had an ever so slight greenish hue. Her black curly hair had upon it a wreath of green brambles with strange white berries and she wore a shimmering light green robe. A voice, as smooth as silk, sounded within his mind. “Be easy, child. You are safe here. You surprise us, your mind is… unusual. I can see why my daughter is so taken with you. She knew of you even before you had come to be.”
There was one more figure in the clearing. He had not spoken. As he looked over, he merely smiled at Orn. He wore a leather vest and cloth trousers with fur boots. His skin appeared to be almost porcelain white, with a distinct blueish hue. His glossy blue-black hair appeared blown by a wind that affected nothing else.
“You are the Gods? Where is Briga? What is happening? I have to get back…”
“Easy, child,” said the beautiful woman, a magnificent smile lighting up her face. “She is with your family, holding time for us. It warms me that your first thought is of my beloved daughter. But in this stretched moment, we wanted the chance to complete that which was always meant to be.”
“I am being attacked by a demon. It is trying to…”
“We know,” said the old God. “But time is not moving while we are here. I could not attend your birth, so I cannot add to your soul, which is something that must happen at the very moment of birth, and something I have added to my brief list of regrets. But my daughter will be with you. She will attend to what you lack from me. At that moment in time, I went to our old world, hoping to convince the rest of my family to come with me and also to retrieve some artefacts. Speaking of which, I have this for you. It was fortunate, as I can only find things when my daughter stretches time and I am outside of your plane. If I am in your plane and she is not thinking of me, I am held at that moment like everyone else, which is to say...”
“You are rambling, beloved.” The way the ancient Goddess spoke reminded Orn of his mother so much that he felt a twinge in his chest. To his surprise, although it was merely a brief flash, Everrin actually looked embarrassed by her chiding.
The old God cleared his throat, reached into a rip in space, and withdrew a magnificent sword. Its blade was two and a half inches wide and forty inches long, with black runes that Orn had never seen before along the length that read- ᛊ ᚲ ᛟ ᚠ ᚾ ᚢ ᛜ
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It had a one-handed grip, an oval-shaped guard and a three-bulbed pommel. The grip, made from bone, had black leather in a cross wrap designed to reduce slippage. It was a positively beautiful piece of craftsmanship. He accepted it with reverence. “This is a named sword. He is called Skofnung. May he serve you well.”
The red-haired God said, “I made that blade long ago. I thought it lost to time.”
“It was, my son, it was. I had to travel back and retrieve it from an ancient battlefield at the end of our age. Orn, Myin consecrated this blade. He forged it using his own divine flame. It can slay all manner of beings, including these demons, without the need to use fire. I must say when you created plasma by condensing fire…” The God tilted his head back and laughed long and heartily. “Those demons never saw that coming. A fire dense and hot enough to scourge the very essence of a soul.”
“What do you mean, your ‘old world’? What old world?”
“What is a star in the night sky for you is a sun in another world’s daytime, and your sun is a star in someone else’s night. Our old world set us aside for a single God, and so we moved on to bestow our gifts and knowledge unto other worlds. The Goddess who was my wife went to other places with most of our children. She never forgave me for giving our world over, for she had such a deep love for our people. She never could understand that our people chose to turn away from us. They had the free will to do so. Freidig here chose to come with me. In our old world, the people worshipped her not as a Goddess, but as nature itself. Myim was the only child of mine who followed. He has another name, but he is happy with Myim, the name your people gave to him. Briga and Durrin are twins, born of Freidig by me after we arrived here.”
“What will happen when I return? The demon…”
“The sword in your hand will break her hold on you.”
“You said her? This is a demoness?”
“Demons are beings of another realm. Like us, they can be man, woman, both or neither. And like us, they were supposed to be creators, stewards and guides for the peoples of their worlds. Instead, they grew greedy and resentful of all they had created and consumed everything they had wrought into existence. This orgy of gluttony changed them irrevocably and made their once-living universe into a lifeless void. With nothing to feed on, for a time, they turned to consuming each other. When they had reduced their number to fewer than fifty, they called a truce. Realising they were heading to their own self destruction, they began seeking sustenance outside of their universe. Now, they are slaves to an unending drive to consume the spark of divinity that resides within all life.”
“So I can destroy her with this?”
“You can. Merely by holding it, her hold over you will break.”
“All right. While I am here, I have some questions.”
Myim stepped forward and opened his arms in an inviting gesture. “Ask, brother. If we can, we will answer.”
“I have accepted Briga, I mean, how could I not? But I am going to die, and I am not a God. How can we be together? How will we…”
Freidig smiled and placed one hand on his shoulder and gently gripped his chin with the other. “You don’t think you are enough, child?” Orn nodded. “You don’t need to worry about that. She chose you. You are more than enough. You need to believe that.”
“But I will grow old, and she will not. She will watch my life fade, and that will be painful. When our priest died, it broke my mother’s heart, and they weren’t even married.” Tears began forming in his eyes at the memory of losing Gelder, and his mother’s pain from it.
“All you need to worry about is that she loves you. She will spend your life with you. That is all that matters.” She then pulled him into her arms and held him for a few moments. “I am touched that your concern is for sparing my beloved the pain of man’s fleeting existence. But worry not. Time moves differently for her. You are enough, and you will be enough.”
She then let him go. Orn paused a few moments to gather himself before continuing. “How many more of these things are involved? How much of a presence do they have in my world? How many…”
Everrin held his hand up. “These are things we cannot answer. What I can tell you is to seek others in the world like you. Do for them what my disciple Gereld did for you. They will aid you in the war to come.”
“Are there other Gods in our world, or only the five?”
“There were Gods here before us. But they are aloof. They didn’t object to our arrival. In fact, they were quite accommodating.” The old God stroked his beard before he appeared to disappear somewhere within the recesses of his own mind.
Freidig rolled her eyes and then cleared her throat, which shocked the God out of his reverie. “Oh right, where was I? Ah yes, many eons ago, we brought some great souls from our old world with us and established our people by placing them into humans of this world at the point of conception. As our hands had already touched them, they were the first elemental people. This altered their descendants to be receptive to our touch, and so through your history, we sought these special souls. You are one of those souls. As a matter of fact, your lineage traces back to an original, which was why you were receptive to all of us.”
“Why were Erik and my parents not able to do what I can do?”
“Your father and Erik have altered souls brought about by the bears of Bruderman. Within the bear’s saliva is a component that alters a person, and so their descendants have the strength and characteristics of a bear. Their spirits are wild and, as such, susceptible to bloodlust and rage. The souls become part animal. As such, regardless of their soul’s possibility of being inclined, it is no longer receptive to our gifts. In fact, a God did bless them, in a way. A God of this world blessed the animal that bit your distant ancestor. Your mother, on the other hand, is a fire wielder. It is from her that your soul’s lineage is connected to us. She refuses to use her gift, though. That is something you will have to ask her, for I cannot answer on her behalf as to why that is.”
“I see. That actually clarifies a few things… But it also opens some more questions. Why can’t you just make us not kill each other anymore? Is it not for you to turn us away from evil deeds?”
“People make war upon each other, be it for land, resources, or ambition. We do not interfere with the way you mortals interact, as you have free will. We do not turn you away from evil for that same reason. To be counted worthy, you must choose to be worthy. We only guide you to adopt ethics and morality. What is done with that guidance is for your people to decide.”
“People make war upon each other, be it for land, resources, or ambition. We do not interfere with the way you mortals interact, as you have free will. We do not turn you away from evil for that same reason. To be counted worthy, you must choose to be worthy. We only guide you to adopt ethics and morality. What is done with that guidance is for your people to decide.”
He was about to ask another question when Myim cut him off. “Orn, I think we should put this on hold for now. Holding time is not a thing to be done lightly, and Briga can only do so rarely, and temporarily. You need to get back to your body. The sword is part of you now, so it will be with you when you awaken. Worry not.” Myim smiled a toothy smile. “You can ask us more questions at the wedding.”
The grove faded, replaced by Malliphina’s out-of-focus face, a mere inch away from his own, with an ecstatic expression of perverse desire and triumph painted across her features.