This is the 100th chapter of this book and marks a personal goal for me. I have written two full paperback novels at this point intending to write a third with these characters. To all the readers who get this far in the book, THANK YOU!
Erust, Ashra, and Rennish had packed up and left town headed north before word could make it into town. If someone found out who they were they would have been delayed by everyone who wanted to hear stories or thank them for their services. They were local heroes as they traveled. Real heroes didn't come often enough and people always look for someone to build up in their minds.
Their cart headed north out of town the day after the incident with the box. Ashra had taken a slightly rosy glow about her face and smiled more often. She didn't know why, she just assumed that she was enjoying life more now that she had her husband and friend with her.
Somewhere along the way, they had formed a kind of family unit. They spent so much time with each other that it was expected that they would form at least some kind of bond. The three of them drove along headed north through the countryside. Creeks and rivers flowed through the landscape giving them the occasional distraction while the rest of the countryside consisted of trees, rocks, and the occasional wild animal.
It was absolutely picturesque. And Rennish knew why bards and artists through the ages wrote songs about people traveling the world. The sheer amazing beauty of it was something that most people simply would never get to enjoy.
They had been on the road for 2 days headed in the direction that the finder was giving them. It was leading them north towards the border. They were debating on going back into the northern lands or staying in the southern lands.
The argument for crossing the border was that the finder was leading them there. Whatever they were supposed to do was headed that way. It moved occasionally, but not by much.
The argument against crossing back into the human lands had a few points. First and foremost was that Ashra was certain to face backlash. There was an unfortunate predisposition against demi-humans. Erust and Rennish saw her as she was. Just another girl who lived with them and provided them with guidance. She interacted with the towns and villages. She knew the customs and was well versed in a little bit of everything when it came to the southern lands.
In the north, she would be a stranger. And that led to a bigger problem. Erust and Rennish had no idea what Erusts reputation was in the northern lands. When they left, the explosion at the church and mass exorcism had created a ruckus. The church had been nearly destroyed when the rats over-ran the whole thing.
The divines had hidden them away for nearly five years as a way to let the dust settle. They had spent the better part of a year in the southern lands at this point. The weather in the south was going from summery warm towards winter, which meant that in the north it would be going from winter into summer.
Over the course of the many days together traveling they had spirited debates about what to do going north.
Today was one such day. Ashra was pushing the idea that since he was the prophet she should be fine.
Ed had pushed back with his own argument that he wasn't as popular in the north as he was in the south.
Rennish piped in that he would be if he went north. They both looked at him with surprise. Rennish normally stayed neutral in these debates. They tended to be a married couples debates more often.
This time they were eating lunch while traveling between towns. They had been avoiding the smaller hamlets due to the constraints of time. And the smaller towns had bigger demands of the prophet usually. They had very little support from local leadership so they couldn't help but ask for help with things like sick kids and bad crops.
Today the sun was bright on the roadway and the lloras were moving at a slow peaceful trot. This led to perfect conditions to eat.
Everyone had bread and preserved meats. Leather cups of magically cooled water were tucked in spare holes to keep them from tipping over. Erust commented on missing the sandwich bag from their earlier traveling days.
Rennish had laughed at this because he had almost forgotten about the bag. While he was thinking about the delightful ham sandwiches they had enjoyed a memory of a place suddenly popped into his head. "Why don't we stop at the Oasis?"
"Then where?" Erust's face changed while he tried to figure out where he meant.
Ashra smiled at the suggestion. "That's not a bad idea. It's close to the border but still safe. We can stop and see what the north is like before we cross over."
Erust blinked. "You mean the house we stopped at when he first crossed over? Where we met Ashra?"
Rennish sighed but dismissed his hard time remembering. Things like this from before The Oracle were hard to remember at times. Rennish noticed it but dismissed them.
"Yeah, that place. It's central and will give us a nice place to stop and check things." Rennish put a reassuring smile on his face.
"I love the idea! And it had a real bath..." Ashra stared off into the distance thinking about a warm bath.
Erust was about to say something when his face changed. Rennish suddenly turned a pale color. His food was halfway to his mouth when his eyes rolled back into his head. The last thing Rennish saw was a white blur forming around the edge of his eyes.
"Well, at least I died as a human. No reincarnation this time." He thought with some peace.
Erust and Ashra forgot their lunches and lunged across the cart to grab him. They were a few seconds too late though and Rennish tipped backward off his perch and fell to the ground below. He barely missed the cartwheels and assured death.
Rennish never felt the hit on the ground. He couldn't hear Erust and Ashra screaming at him to wake up or them putting his body flat on the ground and trying to wake him up. Erust was trying to put magic into his body to heal whatever was wrong.
Rennish was floating on the soft river of peace and calm inside his mind. His life as a human before being a deity was many hundreds of years ago. He had forgotten the peaceful calm of death.
His body was caressed with peace and warmth. He chuckled to himself when he realized it was his soul being comforted. He no longer had a body. He hoped he would skip the whole collection and just go back into the area where souls would wait before reincarnation.
Erust and Ashra lifted him back into the cart and put a blanket under his head. His pulse was fading and he was taking shallow breaths. Ashra was holding back tears while Erust did his best to keep his friend alive.
After what felt like a small eternity Rennish felt his body come to a standstill. The pleasant feeling of motion stopped and his soul suddenly felt weight again. He basked in the dulled lights and colors and enjoyed the quiet.
His peace was broken by the sound of a voice. "You really are the laziest person I know."
Rennish was annoyed by the voice. He tried to calm his mind again and enjoy the release of death.
His peace was broken again by the feeling of a hand on his shoulder. "Wake up lazy bones." This time the voice was feminine. He approved of the female voice. Maybe his own heaven would include women. He approved of this idea.
"Get up damn it. We don't have time for this Rennish." The male voice was more forceful this time. Rennish recognized it and had his peace broken.
"Golliad is that you?" Rennish asked, he kept his eyes closed. He wanted this to be a death dream. He was still hoping for some peace.
His peace was broken with the reply though. "Bingo, you need to need to get up. We need to talk."
"Can't you just talk to me in my sleep or something? Messenger Pidgeon? Letter written in the sand like a regular miracle or something?" Rennish opened his eyes and looked around the room. He recognized two of the faces but there were several others that he didn't know.
"No time for that. We forced you to die so that this meeting would look normal. If I pulled your soul at night the divine power would have been seen. This required subterfuge. Now wake up before your body really does give your soul up."
Rennish sat up from his position and saw chairs. There was one open chair just to his left. The other chairs were placed in a circle, facing towards the one empty chair. The body of the female voice held out a hand to help him up. Rennish recognized the face. "Or'Ain?"
She nodded. "Hurry up lazy bones. Time to get up and face the music."
Rennish got up and dusted himself off before sitting on the chair. "Okay, so what's so important you'd kill me to tell me?"
Golliad leaned forward in his chair. Rennish looked at him and then started to recognize the faces of other gods. "You need to be brought into the circle. I want to tell you something. But knowing it will mean that Ysennia will absolutely torture and kill you when she finds out. Do you want it?"
Rennish weighed the option. He wanted to be trusted but he also wanted to avoid more of Ysennias' fun and games. "Got any second options? Can we each swear a pinky bond and you send me home?"
"We can send you home but you will have suffered a stroke and we will cripple your mind and body. Amazing what a stroke does to the human form." Said a scrawny man with thin wisps of hair.
Golliad looked at the man. "Damn Foester, I thought we agreed just a memory wipe?"
Foester shrugged. "Strokes sound more fun. And it lets us take him out of the equation. Your boy can finish this without him."
"We can do better with his help." Golliad sounded annoyed.
Wait did he say Foester? The god of knowledge? Rennish studied them and then recognized everyone in the room. Golliad was in the middle and Or'Ain was standing behind the ring of chairs now. Foester the god of knowledge was seated at Golliads right hand.
The other three faces were harder to make out at first but when he focused they came into view perfectly. He was able to see past their magics. He recognized the face of Linist, well honestly he recognized her abnormally large bust first but then he saw her face.
Next to her was the small dwarvish looking god Mornis. His features were weathered from nights working by candlelight. He was the god of mechanisms. The other face he recognized was Zandor. He was a tall well-built man who looked at home with animals. He wore faded leathers and had disheveled brown hair.
One more person was standing in the back of the room but Rennish couldn't see them clearly no matter what he did. "Why are there so many gods here?" He looked at Golliad while he asked.
"Swear first." Golliad simply replied.
Rennish knew in his heart that the coward in him wanted to go back to his peaceful home. The other part of him, the bard in him, wanted the story. Stories are what made the world better and this had to be part of a major story.
Rennish sighed and nodded. "Fine, I swear. This better be good though."
Or'Aid leaned forward. "You should have figured this out by now. You've had all the hints in the world."
Golliad waved a hand. "Erust isn't who you think he is."
Rennish nodded. "Yeah, so what? The oracle split him and Ysennia saved him. I've told you before he isn't the same old Ed."
"He isn't Ed," Golliad said and leaned back rubbing his temples under his golden hair.
"That's right, he's Erust now." Rennish nodded trying to understand why this needed absolute secrecy. The other gods sighed loudly in disgust.
Foester spoke up next. "Look here you blunt minded imbecile. Ed is still alive and well. And the man you are traveling with is an imposter put in place by Ysennia."
Rennish blinked once as the thought went through his head. Suddenly pieces fell into place. But the possibility of this being true was slim in his mind. "That's not..."
Golliad interrupted him. "Yes, it is. Ed is currently in the south, facing pirates and collecting the codex coins for The Oracle."
Rennish smiled and leaned forward. "Great! Then kill me and send me to help him."
Linist shook her head. "Sorry, you are needed here. You need to get Erust to do more miracles. You need to send him across the border slowly and have him perform as many miracles as possible. Slow him down so that Ed has the time to make it across the border first."
"You want me to do what?" Rennish stared in disbelief.
"The baby needs to grow and Ed needs time to collect the codex from the rest of the souls."
"You mean Ed's baby right? With Ashra?"
Plixam nodded and spoke for the first time. "The golem helped him along. But that will be known as Erusts child. Sadly we can't let them be together. Ed needs to focus on collecting the coins."
"What happens? Why are you all so bent on this?" Rennish was suddenly distrustful of all of them. This looked like more infighting and scheming.
"The coins will reset the divines. There is too much corruption." Golliad spoke first.
Linist spoke as soon as he stopped. "For things to grow, other things must die. When a crop is planted, dead plants are put in as fertilizer. This world needs to grow but it won't as long as the old gods are in the way."
The voice in the back of the room spoke, the voice was female and had the sound of bells across a breeze. It was magnificent. "The status quo must change."
"You mean you are all for your own destruction?" Rennish was surprised that they weren't all scheming for ways to stay alive.
Or'Ain spoke this time. "You know our story right? We were all alive at one point. No soul is meant to live this long without suffering. We know it is time for new people to step up and take the mantle of gods."
"I knew you were alive once..." He knew the tales. He was a bard. Bards always knew the tales. But the thought that they wanted release was new to him.
"Okay, and what happens when my boy Ed collects the coins?" Rennish leaned forward, suddenly intrigued as he put the pieces together.
"We all pass away. New divine beings are created and the world gets a chance to change. The gods that are here understand that we can't be eternal. The ones who are missing do think they should live forever. They have forgotten their humanity, we want to go before we lose ours." Or'Ain leaned against the wall when she was done.
"And Ed's codex, or coins, or whatever you call them will bring this about?"
"Yes, he will unify the world in a new way. It will not be smooth but in the end, the world will grow. We were meant to have changed long before now. Ysennia has fought the natural order of things. Only the Lord God stays the same. We are just his friends and the keepers of his world while he is gone. He is coming back and we should have been gone long ago." Golliad looked Rennish in the eye. He was measuring his reaction.
Rennish lowered his shoulders. "What about divine beings like me?"
"Stay, leave, reincarnated, the choice is yours. We are the only ones who must go. We have the real power in the world. New gods must come forth. We are sorry we can't send you back to Ed but we do need you to help give him a chance to succeed. He has made new friends but I assure you he needs you now." Golliad smiled with all the sincerity he could give.
"And that means slow down Erust and Ashra to let him collect the souls? What happens when Ysennia finds out he is alive. I mean if she doesn't know already she will soon enough."
Plixam spoke up, "We hope to be able to delay her until the last possible minute. If you can keep spreading the miracles and increasing the believers she will hopefully ignore the warning signs. She feels the believers and her ego makes her believe that she is infallible."
Rennish knew he was right. Her ego was her downfall. She believed she was right no matter what. She believes this like the average person believed the sun would come up every morning. It was just a fact in her mind.
Rennish shook his head. He knew that death was going to come eventually. He really wanted to see Ed. Taking down all the gods was something Rennish believed in. He hated the divines. He despised them. He considered them vane and self glorious up unit this very moment. He realized they wanted to go too. And he saw their infighting for the first time.
What the gods wanted more than anything was to pass power on peacefully. They just wanted a say in how and when.
"I'm in. I will push him to delay and spread the miracles around. What else do you need?" He stood up and stretched his back as he looked around the room.
"I will keep in contact with you," Or'Ain said with a smile. "For now just get him making stops and spreading the word. You can do that right?"
Rennish smiled. "Oh yeah, I think I can make that happen. I mean who wouldn't take the wish of a man who just came back from the dead?"
Golliad was suddenly concerned. He was sending this guy back into the world with knowledge. How much info was too much knowledge?