"Do you want to know what the gods are?" Inpu let out what sounded like a nervous laugh. "I knew dragons were arrogant, but I didn't think they were that much, much less that they were capable of such blasphemy. I hope for the sake of your kind that you are just an isolated lunatic and that your insanity can be cured. Do you, insolent mortal creature, dare really question the nature of the lords of this world?
"Yes, I dare. And what you call gods aren't the lords of this world. You can believe whatever bullshit they instruct you to repeat, but I don't let myself be fooled by religious dictates" Haku replied in a bitter voice. "For untold time my species ruled this world without any rival, and gods were never heard of. Then a new sun suddenly appeared in the sky and the world perished. And when finally the world seemed to have recovered in the slightest, here appeared beings that no one had ever heard of before who claim to be supreme and unrivaled entities. A bit strange that they appeared just when my species had already been decimated and had no chance to counter them, don't you think?"
"Or maybe you didn't have the possibility to counter them because they had already punished you for your arrogance with that second sun" Inpu opined in an irritated tone. He clearly wasn't liking the turn the conversation was taking.
"Oh, do you think so? Then why didn't they do it sooner? Dragons have reigned over this world for hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions of years, and if I know my species well, they're unlikely to have changed their behavior or character much, and surely they will never have shown the slightest sign of respect towards these so-called gods. So why didn't your gods act sooner? Why at that exactly moment in time, when they had so many opportunities in the past?" Haku asked, accompanying each sentence with a step that approached the spirit. "And if you really want to know, I've seen the power of a god before. A power that wasn't even able to kill my mother, so much so that I was the one who had to finish her off. Even putting together the powers of all the gods that exist in this world, I seriously doubt that they could generate something capable of lighting up the whole sky like a sun and killing all life as if it were death itself. No, this is just bullshit. And I'm tired of this bullshit. Something changed thousands of years ago when that damned second sun appeared in the sky, and I want to know what. So, now you're going to tell me everything you know about the gods, and you're going to tell me objective facts, not your own useless personal religious beliefs. And if you think this is blasphemous... do it, I don't actually care. I've never given a damn about the opinion of anyone that is not part of my family. Consider me the worst sinner to ever walk in this world if you want, but tell me what I want to know, and tell me it now! It's an order!"
Haku stopped a few inches from Inpu's face, looking him straight in the eyes. The spirit returned that look with determination and a lot of anger, but it couldn't hold a candle to the dragon's glacial one. Finally, he lowered his eyes. "I know all living creatures have souls, but I can't help but wonder if you're an exception. I see nothing inside you, only a infinite thirst for knowledge and control. Your eyes are emptier than the emptiness that exists between the divine realms" he said contemptuously. "I can't oppose your orders, so I'll tell you what I know, although I'm sure it won't satisfy your curiosities. But I hope for you that one day you regain some conscience and realize how awful you are. Pray to the gods, any god, to have mercy on what little is left of your soul and save you"
"I don't care about my soul, I gave up on it a few weeks after I was born. I don't give a damn about myself or my fate after death. I care about my family" Haku replied. "So stop stalling with your long useless sentences like an operatic theater actor and answer me now!"
Silence fell between the two for a very brief instant, which was immediately broken by laughter. "Ah! Operatic theater actor. Why didn't I think of it?" Corgorin exclaimed, only to receive a light punch on the shoulder from Serengal. "Ouch! Why?"
"Because you have a complete lack of sense of opportunity" her sister answered.
Inpu growled and wrinkled his nose as if he were a dog, then said, "Okay, as you wish... my master. I will only tell you the facts that I have been able to verify myself. I have met only one god in my entire long existence in the afterlife, and it was my goddess, the noble Heloisa. This is because the gods never enter the divine realm of another god even if they could, they always meet in the outer space of the transcendental plane. I don't know why, it is some kind of agreement between them. I know this because even the elder spirits in my goddess' divine realm have never seen another god enter there, and the greater spirits who have sometimes accompanied her outside have not never seen entering another divine realm. The gods always met halfway and there they set up a kind of... half-divine realm, an incomplete realm formed by the powers of all the gods present, in which they created seats and a table and they would discuss their business, and then when they left that realm ceased to exist as quickly as it was created"
Haku listened carefully to the spirit's words. His previous assumption that the divine realm was actually an extension of the god himself was strengthened by what he was hearing. Otherwise the gods could not have created new ones when they met. And that would also explain why they behaved the way they did: if the divine realm was… well, just a place, then it would be easier for the gods to rendezvous in one of them and then rotate among them each time. But if the divine realms were indeed extensions of the gods, then entering them would be no different than invading personal space or even entering a person's mind. Clearly no one was going to like that, so it was only natural that they would instead choose to meet outside of the divine realms.
"If you want to know what gods really are, and you want an objective answer, then I can't give it to you. I can only tell you that gods are purely metaphysical entities, with a body made of pure divine energy" Inpu continued to speak. "This doesn't bind them to a single form, but they can assume different ones. The one that is normally represented in the temples is only the one that the gods use the most. For them it is like changing clothes; they have a favorite one that they wear often, but they can put some others too. Even as regards their powers, their motivations, their intentions and so on, I can't tell you anything. My job has never been to ask questions, but only to obey. And certainly not someone in all the divine realm of the goddess Heloisa ever been so blasphemous and arrogant as to make such requests of her"
Haku let out a slight growl from his throat. "Yeah, that's understandable. If I were gods I wouldn't reveal such secrets to a minor spirit" he said. "But I'm sure the same isn't true of the major spirits. After all, if they have the chance to follow the goddess in her encounters with the other gods, they must know something"
Inpu narrowed his eyes, not because of the veiled insult, but because in fact Haku had hit the mark. "Probably. But major spirits don't go around talking about certain things for everyone to hear"
"Oh, I'm sure of it. But they must have talked about it among themselves, right? It's unlikely that each of them has always managed to keep everything inside. And maybe, from time to time, without their realizing it, someone could have listened some parts of that conversation. And maybe that someone told someone else. And that someone else told someone else again. And so on," Haku said. He knew that it was very likely that something had come out and was known even by minor spirits. It was the same in armies: only the generals were aware of all the plans, but often small parts of them circulated among the soldiers thanks to the fact that some of them had accidentally overheard a conversation. "So, with that factor in mind... can you tell me what the gods discuss in their meetings?"
Inpu didn't want to talk, it was evident that he didn't want to. But unfortunately for him, he couldn't help it. "That is indeed the case. Every once in a while something has come up. However, it's nothing that interests you. Most of the rumors that have come up were of the gods meeting to discuss among themselves the actions of their worshipers in the mortal world, or to protesting because a god intervened there shouldn't have been all speeches that often end in nothing, because the gods want to leave total freedom to mortals to choose their own destiny"
Of course, leaving mortals to choose their own destiny... what a pathetic excuse. Haku knew that whoever had power over something wouldn't hesitate to exercise it in all its forms. In his view, the gods did not intervene in the mortal world because they could not enter it, or could do so but only at a great price. Haku remembered how the god or goddess who had struck his mother only intervened when the fairy people were on the verge of total destruction and only appeared for a couple of seconds, just long enough to launch his attack, and then retreated. That was certainly not the behavior of someone who could move freely between the two planes of existence.
However, Inpu had said one thing exactly: Haku didn't care about the squabbles of the gods. If they really ended in nothing, then they were useless. Rather he was interested in something else. "You said almost all encounters are like this. So a small percentage aren't?"
Inpu narrowed his eyes, then nodded. "Only one" he declared. "As far as I know, in one meeting they didn't talk about that. Or at least, we minor spirits only know about one meeting, we don't know if there were any others. They discussed something else. They were talking about seeking the God of Knowledge"
Haku's eyes widened and his claws dug into the sand. The God of Knowledge! Him again! "Why are they looking for him? Wait... don't they know where he is? Not even the gods know?"
"No one knows where the God of Knowledge is. His divine realm has never been found. The gods know exactly where every other realm is, but that of the God of Knowledge seems... vanished" Inpu replied. "And no, I don't know why they're looking for him. Everything we lesser spirits have heard the greater spirits say has been a rather enigmatic phrase..."
Haku's eyes narrowed to two slits. "And that is?"
Inpu took a deep breath. "The great resurrection is coming, we don't have much time anymore" he answered. "That's what they said. I have no idea what that means"
Those words made Haku's blood run cold. He didn't know what they meant, but he was sure they weren't a good thing. Just hearing them made a lump in his throat. And just like Inpu, he too had no idea what they meant. What was coming? What was the great resurrection? And above all… how would this affect the mortal world?
Too many questions and no answers. Haku decided that he had had enough for that day. "I need to reflect on what you told me. Go back in the scroll"
Inpu nodded and transformed back into mist, returning into the scroll that Serengal was holding. His sister then placed it in her dimensional bag. "What do you think that means?" she asked immediately afterwards.
"Yes, brother! What do you think it means?" Corgorin repeated. It was clear that she didn't understand anything the spirit had said and she hoped that their smarter brother did instead.
But this time even Haku didn't have the answers. "I have to think about it, maybe I'll understand something" he said, and then he set off again towards the camp. "Come, let's go back. Zamor had asked me to stay there in case some patrol team were to get lost and someone was needed to go and retrieve them"
Serengal and Corgorin looked worried: it was rare to see Haku not understand something, and moreover they felt that what Inpu had told them was very important. However they could do nothing about it except reflect and hope to find a solution. So they followed their brother and returned to the camp.