Ki was silent for a long while after saying Isaiah’s name, clearly lost in retrospection. Grant didn’t mind overly, as it gave him more time to process everything he had heard so far. They were still seated at his childhood dining table, their feast, made of the memories of his favourite meals, lay forgotten on its surface, bits of food fading away to wisps of smoke as Grant and Ki stopped focusing on its existence.
Interestingly, he was immensely reassured by the knowledge that while ‘gods’ existed in a certain way, they were not actual gods in the typical usage of the word. Interdimensional aliens with reality-warping powers stumbling across Earth? That, he could deal with. The idea that humanity and the universe had been created by omnipotent deities and that all science and history was nonsense would have been too much for him to handle. The knowledge that Ki, the being currently residing in his mind, was once a callous and careless being that tried to gather as many worshippers as he could, that was harder to deal with. But by the sound of it, Ki had come to realise the error of his ways thousands of years prior, and if that wasn’t long enough to count as reformation, what was.
After a few minutes, Grant’s attention was drawn back to Ki as the other man shifted slightly, his gaze refocusing on Grant.
“Apologies,” he said quietly. “It has been a long time since I forced myself to recall the details of our arrival in this universe. The memories of my first years on this planet in particular are… far from pleasant.”
Grant could see shame and guilt on Ki’s face, and he felt a pang of sympathy. “But,” he said hesitatingly, “you didn’t take a new body, right? You said ‘they’ started changing hosts. So meeting this Isaiah helped you stop? He was your first host, you said? So he must not have thought you were that bad a guy, if he agreed to let you in.”
“Ah, you seem to have misunderstood slightly. We did not ‘meet’ as such. Isaiah was my first and only host. He was the original human that I was drawn to when we discovered this planet. As I said, we discovered after several decades that our original hosts were not killed as we believed, but stuck within the void of their minds. They continued existing, but they had no feeling, no senses, no distractions or interactions, just drifting along helplessly.” Ki smiled fondly. “Isaiah was a stubborn piece of work. By the time I first spoke to him upon discovering he was still alive, I had been in his body for longer than he had been alive, and he had been stuck within his mind, unable to touch or feel anything. But, for whatever reason, his sanity survived. So, when I discovered his presence, I spoke to him. He was angry at me, of course, but he was also remarkably sharp and sympathetic given the situation. A truly compassionate individual - but not weak or naive, not at all. We spent countless hours conversing at first. I told him my history, and while he could not grasp the existence of other universes or alien civilisations, he understood that before we came across his tribe, we had shared an existence much like his new one. Mere minds, prevented from physical feelings or sensations. As I said, he showed remarkable compassion and sympathy, despite my having unknowingly inflicted the same fate upon him. It is hard to describe exactly how it felt in those initial encounters - while I viewed his situation as unfortunate, I was still too driven by experiments, too fascinated with my power, to feel guilt or sorrow. But, as we continued our discussions, and I grew to appreciate the depth of his character, something… changed. His understanding… warmed me. To borrow a trite phrase, it was as if a cloud suddenly shifted one day, or as if waking from a dream. Despite knowing that humanity was a fully sapient, intelligent species, until that point I had not viewed the humans I interacted with as worthy of my consideration or care, but the more days I spent learning of Isaiah’s life, his family, his ambitions and dreams, the more I grew to regret my actions. He was a hunter, of course - most people in that time and area had to hunt to survive. But he was more than that. He had an artist’s soul, and loved to experiment with new creations and tools. Unfortunately, his drive and talents were not matched well by the technology of the time - if he had been born a few millennia later, he would have been revered. His favourite habit was collecting these smooth, rainbow-coloured pebbles from a nearby stream, and polishing them and chipping away at them until he could place them in such a way that the colours flowed perfectly from one stone into the next, creating a river of colour and beauty. He was truly proud of that creation, and the first time I laid eyes upon it, I was deeply moved, and saddened that I had taken his life and body before he could finish the work. Though, I did eventually help finish it for him, but that is another matter.
“Isaiah and I connected deeply, and I grew truly disgusted by and remorseful for my actions, and a few weeks after we had first spoken, I resolved to fix my mistakes. Isaiah and I spent days together experimenting with our situation, learning how to share our minds, how to give him control of his body back. After many months, we were able to swap control of his body between our minds, much to our relief. You may think that he would have simply taken control and tried to lock me away, but by this point, we were closer than I had ever been to anyone before. In a way, we were soulmates - not romantically, but after the first year we were closer than brothers, and perhaps more importantly, we knew that there were others suffering Isaiah’s fate. Through experimentation, we discovered that even when he was the driving mind, he had access to my abilities, and could do everything I could. So we resolved to set out, to talk to my former friends, and convince them to do as we were doing, to share bodies and minds instead of subjugating and controlling. After all, we had proved that not only was it possible, but also rewarding. Though I had the powers of a god, the connection I forged with Isaiah was something that I would have traded all my power for, and I had hope that I could open my friend’s eyes.
“Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful. My fellow explorers had grown too addicted to power, too obsessed with their projects, their experiments, to consider it. As I said before, by this point, they had learned that they could possess multiple people at the same time, and by doing so they could increase their power. In their minds, humanity was more than a missing piece of our power; you were the catalyst, the medium through which our will had to flow, and the more minds they controlled, the more they could control their surroundings. There was a limit, luckily, otherwise all of humanity would have been possessed - each of us could only have access to seven bodies at once, but that was more than enough for their powers to multiply beyond control, beyond reason. They were truly gods, at that point.
“Soon enough, many Numen were experimenting on humans with their powers. Where before we had combined animals together to make new life forms, now they threw humans into the mix. They mutilated and mutated hundreds, thousands, indulging their desire to create with whomever they pleased, willing or unwilling. They exacted horrific punishments on those that crossed them, just because they could. Their barbarity and lack of conscience was appalling, and Isaiah and I soon decided we had to stop them. Or, at the very least, mitigate the damage.”
Grant shook his head. “I mean, I know old legends and myths are full of gods raping and killing and fucking people over just for the heck of it, but… they’re just stories. Or rather, I thought they were just stories. To think they actually happened…”
Ki nodded somberly. “Many of the stories you have heard are watered down, and many of their worst acts left no survivors alive to tell their stories. But yes, however bad you imagine it could have been… it was worse.”
“But… how could you do anything to stop them?” Grant asked, puzzled. “Surely if they were controlling the maximum number of avatars and you weren’t, they would have been able to just kill you any time they wanted?”
“Yes and no,” Ki said, smiling. “I, personally, was not as strong as them, but where one is weak, many may be strong. So we sought help. Or, at first it was we. Soon enough, Isaiah passed, and only I remained.”
“Wait, what? I assumed from how old Ed and Suriya are that you taking us as hosts made us immortal? Or is it just like extra long lived?”
“No, immortality is yours as long as I remain. However, just because you can live forever, that does not mean that everyone desires to.” Ki sighed. “To my sorrow, immortality is not for everyone. Some beings cannot handle it as well as others. Isaiah, though he was a wonderful person and a deep character, was ultimately a simple man. After more than a century of sharing his body, of trying to save as many lives as we could, he bade me kill him. He was tired, he said, and desired the peace of death. I was loath to grant his request at first, but I realised that I was being selfish, forcing him to continue this existence. Everyone else he had known growing up was dead, his family had passed - though we returned to his village soon after becoming friends, it had been ravaged by a swarm of monsters shortly before. It took a few years to work out how to separate his consciousness and allow him to pass without killing or removing me from his body, but we worked it out. So I granted his wish, and continued alone in my quest to stop my fellow Numen from abusing their power.”
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“I was thinking about that,” Grant mused. “About how you stopped them, and how I’m here, and Sanctuary, and all that. I’m guessing that when you say you stopped them, you didn’t kill them. Hell, you probably couldn’t, given that they were controlling multiple avatars and presumably all very much on the same page when it came to being against you. So, drawing on my in-depth knowledge of sci-fi and fantasy stories, I’m gonna guess that you trapped them. Trapped them here, specifically. That’s what this place is, isn’t it? It’s a goddamn prison world for gods, but they can still… possess people?”
Ki smiled. “You are clever, aren’t you? You’re correct. We banished the Numen, and all their magical experiments and manipulations, to this world, preventing them from damaging humanity any more than they already had. However, it took a long time before we were able to do so. Several thousand years, in fact.”
Grant frowned. “But, if it took that long, and they were as evil as you describe, how did we - humanity, I mean - survive at all? How could civilization even progress under those conditions?”
“You forget, your species’ overall survival was a key focus. Not only did they require bodies to use their powers to their full extent, remember what I told you about the knowledge that people worshipped you. To be seen as a god, to be able to command those around you, not with magic, but with mere words, is endlessly appealing. Also, occupying the same body for decades or centuries on end is… boring, frankly. Many Numen would throw away their hosts and take a new one at a whim, because they liked the way the new one looked, because they were born different, or for no reason other than boredom. Eventually they even convinced the people that it was an honour, that they should be clamouring to be chosen as the god’s new host. They made it a celebration, a noble gesture.” Ki shook his head in disgust. “Of course, they had no idea what fate awaited them. They didn’t know they would spend centuries trapped in an endless abyss, driven mad by the solitude.
“That said, you are not wrong to wonder. And it is true that over the centuries, their excesses lessened. They grew bored with dreaming up new life, with killing for the sake of it, and decided to guide their own sects and cities instead. They ruled, not kindly, not fairly, but they did rule, and they did provide. Their punishments were cruel, their whims capricious, but humanity did finally begin to grow around them. We came from an advanced society, after all - ruling over cavemen did not appeal nearly as much as ruling over a grand, beautiful city, filled with people who either adored you or quaked with fear at your approach. So humanity was allowed to bloom, to learn maths, writing, basic science. But they were careful, for despite our power, they knew well that if humanity progressed too far they may develop technology that could challenge us. We were powerful, but not omnipotent.
“Anyway, during this time, I was working. You see, due largely to my different worldview, looking to the future, protecting humanity, I soon developed a unique power. When first arriving, when we were still grouped up and experimenting with our powers, we, despite our many efforts, failed utterly at ever being able to manipulate the flow of time. We did not know why this was the case, given that in our previous universe we had flown through time as easily as we now moved through space, but that power remained beyond our reach. And not just beyond our reach, but it was… blocked, somehow. Any time any of us tried to reach for that power, we found a wall, and the backlash caused immense pain. So we gave up, and settled for our already reality-defining powers. However, one day, a few years after bonding with Isaiah, I broke through a barrier. To this day, I do not know what exactly I did, but somehow, something shifted, and a wall was broken. Visions assailed me, and I could see… not the future, exactly, but potentials. Paths. Glimpses of what might be, and more importantly, what I could change. A useful ability, but terrifying. As you have experienced yourself,” he added.
“Hang on,” Grant said, staring at Ki in shock. “Are you… are you saying… that vision I saw, of Ed’s house on fire...”
Ki nodded. “Yes. That was a glimpse of the future. Or, more specifically, it is a glimpse of a future. The flow of time is more nebulous and complex than you can yet imagine. But, it is true that there is a path, a road, that leads to that outcome. But please, do not put too much stock in that. In the future, when you have practised your abilities, I will attempt to show you how to control the visions, and you will see countless alternate outcomes of that time. That future is merely a remote possibility, one that your untrained mind latched onto when you first reached for my power.”
Grant reeled back, Ki’s platitudes failing to lessen his horror as the image flashed through his mind again. The burning house, the dead bodies reaching to the roof, the smell of burning flesh…
The house around them shuddered. The walls began to change, to blend into the golden house he had seen. Fire flicked along the floor, transparent and warm, but growing sharper and stronger with every moment, as Grant sunk deeper and deeper into his memory. Bodies began to appear, burnt and blackened, and to his horror Grant saw that here, within his subconscious, he could see their faces. Kyra, Fyodor, Ed, and others he didn’t recognise lay before him, dead, arms outstretched as if they had been begging while they burned alive.
“Grant!” said Ki sharply, reaching across the table, grabbing his arms and shaking him. “Calm yourself. Focus. Our purpose is to prevent such an outcome. That future will not come to pass. Focus on the present, on the here and now.”
Grant tried to calm his mind, closing his eyes and taking deep, slow breaths. He focused on Ki’s words, trying to ignore the vision, to think of the present. As he did, the spectral flickers of fire and carnage faded away, receding into his mind.
“Good,” said Ki, “good.” He exhaled, relaxing back into his seat as the environment reverted back to the bright cream walls of Grant’s childhood house.
Grant opened his eyes, also relaxing as he saw the familiar surroundings. “Sorry,” he said, wincing. “I… don’t know what that was.”
Ki waved a hand, dismissing his apology. “No need to apologise. It was not your fault. The visions we receive are more… powerful, than mere memories. They have their own essence associated with them, and they can overwhelm your mind unless you are prepared for them. A skill we will work on, I assure you.”
Grant nodded in thanks. “I appreciate that. Would definitely be nice to be able to see the future without going mad.”
Ki smiled. “Luckily for the both of us, I am experienced at teaching a human mind to withstand the swells of prophecy. Isaiah was still with me when I developed this power, and it was actually through the visions that we discovered the method to allow him to die without affecting me. And, not to mention, my other students.”
Seeing Grant had calmed sufficiently, Ki continued his story.
“After developing this power and helping Isaiah to move on, I had an advantage. I did not know exactly how we could stop my fellow gods, but every reading of the future I made confirmed that there was, at least, a chance. How small it was, or how fragile, I could not tell, but I began to follow certain visions, hoping to find whatever it was that would help me put an end to the cruelty of the gods. Eventually, a few decades after Isaiah’s final death, I met another remarkable man. Imhotep, a priest of Ra. Coincidentally enough, Ra was the Source of Jorgen, the man who died shortly before your arrival here, and it is him that we will be disguising ourselves as - but I digress. I met Imhotep during one of my many journeys, when I was trying to infiltrate various sects to see if I could incite a rebellion of some kind. Or, at least, that was what I thought the visions I saw meant for me to accomplish - as I said, the visions and hints are incredibly vague and tenuous. I only knew that being where I was when we met was a key part of my quest. Imhotep struck me as an exceptionally clever, kind individual - he was only a teenager at the time, but he had the wisdom of an elder. But, more than that, I saw something in him. Something that I believe my fellow gods had overlooked, looking down on humanity from on high, viewing them as little more than fodder for their desires. I saw that this boy, this human, possessed some power of his own.
“It was only a flicker, a spark, almost nothing compared to the powers at my disposal, but as soon as I saw it, I knew what I must do. So I took him under my wing. He was my first apprentice. The first of the Magi.”