Chapter 27

Avan had not found Hammer. He had ventured down to the depths of the cavern, seen the gaping doorway. It was now a perfect mirror of the outer room, a mirror through which it was impossible to venture; the area inside the internal chamber no longer existed. He'd seen the hordes of sinistrals, whose almost random wandering created an almost uniform density of them the further down he went. Somehow they knew not to come near him. There were no supplies at the bottom of the passage. Either the priests had taken them all or the sinistrals had eaten them. Most likely the latter; everything organic had been eaten. It was unlikely the priests would have taken whole beds, tables, linen, and all their food. Not to mention whatever else they had down here. Disappointed, he had returned to the surface to see if the priests had found Hammer, and if they would accept his offer.

He arrived on the surface again shortly after dawn. The priest he had spoken to earlier was waiting near the door, unofficial spokesperson for the fifty or so priests waiting impatiently. As they saw him, conversations halted and started up again in excited whispers. Scanning the crowd, he could see the dark-skinned man was not present, but he thought to check nonetheless.

“You couldn't find Hammer?” He queried the priest.

“Hammer? The blue-skinned giant?”

“Yes”

“No, we couldn't find him. We searched the whole temple. We killed a lot of sinistrals. Not all here were willing to do so; I hope you understand that we have all lost out faith in the willingness of the gods to help us.”

“That's understandable. Though,you should know that Tera was no god.”

“Oh. What was he?”

“Just someone who got too big for his boots. He tried to kill me, so I chained him up.” Occasionally Avan liked to be a little flippant about these things. He wasn't sure why. The priest looked rather unbelieving. Avan didn't care.

“What is your name priest? You know mine.”

“Torpor. I didn't tell the others that you sent Hammer, just that you wanted to find him. There is not much we could do about him anyway; none of us have the physicality to overcome someone like him.”

“Thank you. I'd like to talk to everyone now. Would you gather them up?”

Once they were assembled, array in front of him, he raised himself on stilts of haze once again. Coruscating lines of powers holding him off the ground, his feet metres above being level with the heads of his audience. Awed, a hush fell over them.

“Ex-priests of Tera, you were lied to by your god. He promised you relief from your pain in exchange for servitude. I will heal those of you that I can, in exchange I would like you to help me.”

Snickers and groans from the crowd.

“That's what Tera said!” Someone called out.

“I know. I will heal you first, and let you decide what you want to do.”

Some of them decided to help him as he had asked. He was a god that did what he promised. Most of the time. He just had to remember not to promise too much.

And so Avan's new priesthood began. It had been a long time since he had had worshippers, and he was many times more powerful now than he was then. But still he worried that, just like last time, he would not be enough.