As Simon tried to manipulate his thoughts into something coherent the large man just smiled leisurely at him while pouring himself a drink from the now half empty bottle of whiskey. Dozens of questions were floating around in his head, but he’d managed to assign some priority to them after realizing that, at least for the time being, he wasn’t in any danger. Stammering as he spoke, he asked “ Wh….”
“Who am I?” The man cut him off. “Well you see boy, that’s a difficult question to answer. I suppose I’m what you might consider to be the god of this place.” One couldn’t help but notice the expectant look on his face when he answered. After all it wasn’t everyday one met a deity.
“Alright then God,” Simon said with a clear indication of his lack of belief in his tone, “how….”
“How did I get in here?” The man laughed as he could see the annoyance clearly building on Simon’s face at being interrupted. “Sorry my boy, it’s not everyday I get to come down here, and mind reading is quite a good time!” Despite his playful character the figure suddenly put out quite an oppressive aura as his face warped to relay a more serious tone. “Do you truly believe a god cannot go where he pleases?”
Simon’s mind was reeling now. He sat down in the chair across from the large man and analyzed what he knew. There was only one way into his room and he clearly hadn’t come from there, then there was the bright flash and this presence that expressed a power clearly capable of erasing his existence if it wanted to. Coming to grips with the idea that this may actually be a deity, he really only had one question in his mind. “Why?”
“Why what?” The man asked. “Why am I here? Or maybe you want to know why your family died all those years ago? Perhaps you wish to know why I never answered any of those prayers you sent me?” He observed as Simon’s face changed from one of confusion into sadness, and finally he grinned as anger crept into those fierce eyes of the mortal in front him.
“Good you should be angry, and fortunately for you I intend to answer all of those questions as they are all related to one another.” Taking a sip of the whiskey and smiling at the pleasurable experience that flesh could bring with it, he looked back at Simon. “Introductions are in order first though, then I shant waste anymore of the limited time that we have.”
“I am the selected guardian of this planet, the one you call Earth. My name is long, complicated, and generally unnecessary. So unlike some of my brothers and sisters I’ve chosen to simply allow myself to be called by a nickname of sorts, Custos.”
Simon simply nodded while providing Custos with his utmost attention. He had taken in what the man had said about his family and was eagerly awaiting the explanation he’d sought for so long. He didn’t miss the the pensive look in his eyes when he’d mentioned his name however. Seeing an opportunity to improve his standing a bit, he asked “Something on your mind...wait...am I allowed to called him by his name?”
“Yes you are,” answered the jolly giant. “And yes, fond memories for the ones who first gave me that name. That is not important however. To the task at hand, why I am here…” Appreciating the eager look on Simon’s face he began his explanation…
“Your planet is one of many religions, and none that quite have it right. You call us gods and worship us as the creators of all that you know. That’s not entirely correct though; in fact, it would be more appropriate to call us administrators than gods. We did not create this planet nor any of the others for that much, in fact we don’t even quite know where we ourselves came from. What we do know is that we exist outside of the laws that govern the mortal planes and have therefore taken it upon ourselves to govern and guide planets with the potential for sentient life.”
Despite having him mind metaphorically blown, Simon was keeping up with this new information. In fact, curiosity was his primary emotion at the moment. “So based on what you’ve told me so far, you’re the administrator for this planet. How much influence do you have exactly? Did you come here to tell me that you were the one who killed my family? If so, then why bother?”
Mentally smiling at the calm and analytical mind in front of him, Custos responded “That is exactly what I was getting to. You see, we don’t really have the ability to influence anything directly. Well, it’s not that we can’t, but that we aren’t allowed to. We are in a binding contract with each other that forbids us from interfering directly with our wards. For example, if I were to strike you down right here I would most definitely be punished by the council that holds governance over me. We are allowed to use oracles or heralds as intermediaries, but that’s pretty much it.”
Simon stifled a small laugh, “so even gods aren’t omnipotent.”
“Indeed, although there are ways around those rules.” At this he noticed a change in the timid boy in front of him. “Good, it seems that I won’t have to explain it to you then. Yes, one of my brothers broke a rule and hid his tracks rather well I’m afraid. It’s something he’s become rather adept at in the last few thousand years, and it’s the reason he needed your kids.”
Simon visibly tensed at those words...why the hell would an administrator need my children…?!
“Well you see, the answer has to do with something that his world lacks. Or rather something I’ve prohibited. Magic…”
If Simon could see his own face he probably would have laughed at himself for how stunned he appeared. “Do you mean magic in the sense that I understand it in? As in spells and classes and the like?”
“That’s exactly right! Magic is intertwined with life in a way that makes them inseparable. Rather, every living creature in the universe requires mana, the lifeblood of magic, to stay alive. I have watched for tens of millions of years however, and what I’ve seen has led me to the belief that magic leads only to calamity. Every single civilized group of people that I’ve seen that rely purely on magic has inevitably torn itself apart in one way or another.”
Pausing for effect, he noted Simon’s eyes that pleaded for him to continue. “I have allowed your minds to be the biggest influencer in your lives, and quite honestly your progress is astounding. Science is truly an extraordinary alternative to the magic arts. However, despite the mana limiters I’ve placed on earth, some of you are still more mana sensitive and can sense that something is missing. I’ve been able to push a few of those people in past, and it’s them that you can thank for the games that you play in your free time.”
While Custos laughed jovially at his last comment, the mental dots started to connect for Simon. “So let me venture a guess, this...brother of yours...has allowed his planet to come to some sort of magical crossroads? And for some reason my children are supposed to be able to help with this?”
With a grim look on his face, Custos finally got to the gist of why he had spent so much of his power to materialize himself. “Yes, quite frankly he allowed his arrogance at the blistering rate of the advancement of his people’s magic to blind him to the dangers. Where magic is allowed to flourish there will always be an effect on the natural order of things. There are no animals like there are here on earth. Magicly affected planets all grow monsters that correspond to the general mana density of their homeworlds. Normally this isn’t an issue as the inhabitants maintain a slight edge in terms of fighting strength and can even kill the monsters to absorb their mana, growing stronger as a result.”
Pain evident on his face as though dreading the next part of his explanation, he pressed on, “Cuditas, my brother, used an oracle to show a group of very powerful mages how to perform a ritual to increase his planet’s mana density tenfold. Both the mortal races as well as monsters can absorb latent mana, but at horrifically different rates. Growth that would take a human five years takes a monster six months.”
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“Knowing that, why would they attempt such a thing?” Simon queried. “Clearly they would be outpaced and be put at risk of being overcome?”
“Indeed, they supposedly had a plan in place to actively hunt the major breeding grounds for the different monster species, but things quickly got out hand. His people are now at breaking point where it's becoming too dangerous to live further than fifty miles from major population centers. So they sought help outside of their available resources…”
Shuffling in his chair to a more comfortable pose, Simon asked “So how and why did they take Jack and Lily?” Pausing and considering the implications of all of this he suddenly realized something, “What of my wife?” he asked.
Finishing off the remainder of the whiskey before letting out a contented sigh, “Well it just so happens that the lack of magical dependency has led to much more developed critical thinking skills here. That’s a very valuable commodity to those who think with their magical muscles more often than not. So using a very powerful one time use scrying orb, those mages I mentioned earlier looked at this very planet to find someone who might help them achieve their salvation.”
“How the fuck did that lead them to my kids exactly?!” Simon was losing his patience and quite frankly the whole thing was becoming infuriating.
“Well I can’t imagine this’ll alleviate the anger you feel, but you raised a couple of spectacular specimens of human ingenuity. You don’t need me to tell you that your children were prodigies though. As for why them specifically, just so happens that amongst children ages eighteen and under with a specific level of mental acuity, they also had to most mana sensitivity.”
After a quick pause to allow Simon a chance to speak, he continued, “The reason they need children is pretty straight forward actually. The soul is the most powerful part of sentient beings, and mortals don’t have the ability to perform long range soul transfer while the target is still tethered to its host. So they prepared two vessels for your children's souls and performed the ritual after severing their connection to their bodies. Or to put it more simply, their souls were transplanted into infants”
Custos was in an awkward situation. It wasn’t exactly normal protocol to apologize to mortals, but that’s exactly what he intended to do. “For that you have me to blame. My brother hijacked one of my oracles and before I realized what had been transmitted your family had been killed. I am truly sorry.”
Clearing his throat, “one last thing, your wife is in my care.” he said with the utmost care in his voice. “I solemnly swear that you two will be reunited, it’s the least that I can do after my failures.”
The knowledge that his children were being used to protect some foolhardy otherworlders did nothing to assuage Simon’s pain. All of his suffering, as well as his family’s death were both because of some reckless god?! As his mind raced it eventually settled on one thing. “Why tell me all this now?”
For the first time since his explanation had started a smile crept back onto Custos’ face. “Quite honestly because I’m pissed off. He stole from me...actually they stole from me. Not only that but he is directly responsible for the deaths of three of my children. As for why I’m telling you now? The soul is a very fragile thing, and yours was...damaged. That’s putting it lightly, but the point is that you’ve had yourself something of a revival tonight. You have your friends to thank for that. This is the first time since their deaths that telling you wouldn’t have done irreparable damage to you.”
This was something of a revelation to Simon, who up until now hadn’t considered the idea that perhaps the lack of response to his pleas was due to concern rather than a lack thereof. “Ok, so what now? What’s the plan? I can’t imagine you’ve told me this without some plan for recourse.”
Noting the obviously maniacal grin on the deity’s face, Simon pondered at the possibilities in front of him. Is it really possible for me to do anything in this situation…
“The first option is quite literally for you to do nothing. You have people who care about you here, whether or not you reciprocate those feelings only you know.” Seeing the slight flush on Simon’s face caused a low rumbling laugh to come from the giant. “If that’s the path you choose then I certainly won’t hold it against you. And neither would Mary.”
Addressing the questioning look on the young man’s face, “I’ve already spoken at length with her about this, but she chose to let you make the decision without her influence.”
That’s just like her, Simon chuckled internally. Always the eternal optimist in regards to my decision making abilities.
“As for option number two...how would you like to go get your kids back?”
Simon’s eyes widened in shock. “How...how is that even possible?! You can’t even directly interfere with your own world let alone another…”
“You just let me worry about that for now, when the time comes I would happily explain it to you. You should know right now however that that path with be extraordinarily dangerous. You would be thrust into a world of magic with a body that would barely manage it. Spellwork would be out of the question for you. So your most potent weapon would be your mind. I should also tell you that the effect of magical immersion has affected the bodies of the sentient races there. Let’s just say that I’d be about average size for a young man on that planet. So I’d understand if you want to….”
“I'll do it! Simon cut him off. I don’t give a damn if it’s a world of giants and monsters, that’s what Mary would have wanted me to do. I have to go.”
“Good! That’s what we figured you would say.” Standing up to walk around the desk he placed his hand on the young man’s shoulder and looked him in the eye. “ Best not waste any time, I know that you would have wanted to say goodbye to your two friends, but seeing as I’ve already muddied my hands I’ll go about altering their memories a bit.”
Understanding the solemn look on his face he offered reassurance, “I assure you, if everything goes well then not only will you see them again, but they’ll never even have realized you left.”
Seeing Simon nod, Custos continued, “There are three things you need to know before you go. First is that while I can send you there in one piece, I’ll have zero control over where you arrive. All I can assure you is that you’ll get there in one piece. Second is that most of the world’s governed by my kind are run via an integrated system that interfaces with the magic inherent to those worlds. You’ll more than likely suffer a severe mental strain from simply trying to wrap your head around all of the information.” After clearly being in though for a few moments, “Actually you should be fine, you’re a smart guy and your intelligence should be high enough to prevent the strain. Either way you should be prepared for it.”
Checking to make sure that he was keeping up he said, he finished “Lastly and most importantly, you are not weak. Your mind is a tool that’s more powerful that than anything anyone there possesses. Use it to gain influence and mastery of whatever magic you can use there and you won’t just find those kids, you may be capable of much much more.”
While he definitely felt overwhelmed and apprehensive, Simon new that he was making the right decision. He thought back on his life and for the first time in a long time was a least a little bit glad that he had spent much of his youth playing games. Hopefully Custos was right about the synergy that might give him with this system that he was talking about. “Is there anything I can bring with me?” he asked.
“Unfortunately not, in fact I’m afraid that not even your clothes will survive the trip.”
“Well….shit,” Simon grumbled loud enough for the big guy to hear him.
Laughing loudly he patted Simon on the back and pulled him to the middle of the room. “Alright we’ve wasted enough time. Plus I can’t give you any direct guidance. I mean that, if the other administrators found out that I’d told you specific information they’d immediately pull the plug on this operation. Just remember what I’ve told you. Oh...and try not to die.”
“You’re a real bastard, you know that right?” Simon said begrudgingly.
Once again letting out a boisterous laugh Custos managed to collect himself and said, “I’ll be in touch eventually. It may take me awhile though, things are going to get pretty dicey for me after I send you. Every administrator within my grid will know.” Pausing to let that information sink in, he finished with “Anything you’d like for me to relay to Mary?”
Simon thought hard for a few seconds. There really wasn’t anything he could say that she didn’t already know. He was sorry? No, she would just tell him to stop being an idiot. That he loved her? She would just laugh and say she already knew that. So he settled on the thing that always made her smile. A promise they made often to each other, but hadn’t been able to keep that last night she was alive. “Tell her, I’ll see you soon.”
With his hands reached out in front of himself, Custos channeled the spell and with a large flash of light Simon disappeared with a big grin on his face. As he disappeared, Custos ignored the numerous mental pings meant to notify him that other administrators wished to speak with him. He looked down at his hands and whispered to himself, “Don’t you die, boy.” Then he vanished as well.