Chapter 37

Once Cado had left, Avan just stood, unspeaking. It was so soon! They had had time to prepare, but finding useful people was difficult. They had a tendency to cause more harm to Garon than they were worth, and as a consequence, they tended to die. People were greedy for power. That was the problem.

He turned to the congregated priests again. He had decided it was easier to talk to them all together than to propose his intentions individually. He preferred the more personal touch, but he felt rushed. Now he understood why.

“I assume you heard all that?”

Nods from the room.

“Did you understand it all?”

One responded, “What was that thing? It looked evil.”

“It wasn't evil. It was, however, very different to what you experience here. That was a creature from another realm, whose species fills a similar niche as humans do here. Your old god, Tera, was a similar being but from a different world again.”

“What were you going to ask us to do?”

“Well, I need you to use the powers Tera gave you to stop this reality being devoured by another reality. In the cosmic battle, our world is one of many in a universe that is one of many, all working together to make up a being named Garon. Through frequent exposure to Tera, some of you have managed to reach into other realms and pull or push things across, manipulating it how you wished or even pulling entire creatures across. Those of you who can do this, I would like to join up with a cadre of similarly gifted people – called hazeshapers – and work to push back the predatious Cennon – another being of Garon's ilk. The others will need to play a supporting role, either through defending the pushers – that's the hazeshapers' title for this job – or by tending to those who are wounded in battle.”

The priests were suspicious.

“Why should we trust you?”

Avan had been expecting this, “I have demonstrated my power – I have even done for you that which Tera, your god was unwilling or unable to do. You know that the majority of what I say is true, because you have seen it.” Avan's gaze fell on the one who had spoken, he was quite young. “Perhaps you personally have not seen all that I claim, you can ask your seniors to verify it, but you are still needed! You can run messages, deliver supplies, take care of injuries. Every person is needed!” As he said this there was a murmur from some of the older priests, and one of them spoke up now.

“What he says is true. Those closest to Tera who had been here the longest were often capable of summoning demons of fire, sparks, and light. They were never easy to control, but we summoned them when circumstances grew dire. We summoned one when that blue-skinned warrior attacked us, but it turned on us and fled. We lost too many priests to that man.” Voices in the room rose in volume, the noise of that murmur rising like a solid thing, pushing on Avan's confidence. How would he break the news to them. Oh hell. He would have to rely on Garon's will sometimes. There was no easy way around this.

“I wasn't sure what was in here. I sent that man to ensure that Rain was protected when freeing Tera. From what I can understand, there was some misunderstanding and he attacked you. I apologies for this.”

“Misunderstanding! He killed Maran!”

“Would any of you have hesitated ensuring the Reliever was freed? Would you have done the same to protect her?”

No reply. They would not have hesitated. They would have done the same.

“Are you sure some of you didn't attack first?”

Shame. They may have attacked first. There had been so much confusion.

“This doesn't make it right, but it does remove your right to object.”Avan didn't actually care about right at wrong at this point in time. He was under too much pressure.

“If I can, I am going to get him, and Rain, who you call the reliever, to assist you in your endeavours.” Without realising it, they had signed up. He had assumed their help and they would follow. Garon was desperate, and their objections were being smoothed over, thousands of small things coming together to prevent conflict. A moth landing on the nose of someone about to voice complaint. A breeze cooling the air to calm people. Something falling outside causing people who had lost attention to snap alert. Perhaps they had a chance after all. Who was he kidding? Of course he had a chance. He had fought off this predator before. He could do it again!

“You will stand beside those legends whose names have percolated down through history. Tarim Brade, Ellen Samon, Terevin Nanako, Emeb Norsen, Sharok Tasliem. These are real people and they had been sleeping, waiting for this moment. Watching for Cennon. Your names will be added to theirs. Are you with us?”

There was a heartfelt cry of agreement, particularly from the older members of the crowd. Avan had been expecting it to be the other way around, but this made more sense as he thought about it. The elders had had more exposure to Tera, had seen more things. Was this good or bad? Would he rather have the elders leading in their wisdom and stronger concentrations of haze shaping, or have the youths leading with their vibrant energy and lust for glory? They would mostly be split along age lines anyway, and the youths would believe soon enough. He thought for a second it was perhaps too soon for them to see a battle like that to come, but reminded himself that these were a people who had endured great pain and suffering. It had, in practice, been a requirement for entry into the religion. What pain-free person would worship a god whose sole promise was the relief of pain?

Avan sighed at that thought. He didn't know if there were true gods, or just powerful beings such as himself. Or was that all that a god was? He had heard of, but never encountered, beings that came into existence as the result of the cumulative consciousness of a world. Perhaps they were gods. That he had never encountered one did not bode well for that theory; there weren't many parts of Garon that he was unfamiliar with. Sometimes someone created another realm within Garon, a Tahis. If a god was a creator of a universe, perhaps they were real. But then he would be a god, and he didn't consider himself such. There were certainly some strange things in Neron Alarast. Beings worshipped under many names, or many worshipped under one, but were they gods purely by virtue of being worshipped? Worship could be performed in so many ways. There were those who worshipped money, or another person. There were those who pursued some ideal, devoting themselves to it. Some were so selfish they gave glory to themselves, but did any of that make the object of worship a god? What was godhood? It was something he had pondered on many occasions, and he expected to continue to do so indefinitely, or until he reached a satisfactory conclusion.

Anyway, he could pass for a god when necessary. Now was not the time for such philosophising.

“Please separate yourselves into three groups. Those who can perform some level of hazeshaping and are willing to use it to save their lives, those who are willing to fight, and those who are unwilling or incapable of either.”

“What about those who can use haze and want to fight?”

“That's a good point. I don't expect there to be many of those; you'll mostly be too old to fight or too young to draw on haze. If there is anyone who falls into both categories, hop into a fourth group.”

He waited while they assembled, noticing no-one joined the fourth group. The made little noise in the process; a sombre atmosphere had descended on them as they realised the importance of what they were to do. The rustle of clothing and clonking of feet seemed overly loud in the otherwise silent room. Once they had organised themselves, he spoke again.

“Take a look at those around you. It's important you remember their faces, what they sound like, and as much about them as you can. I don't know what we'll come up against this time, but they may try to pass themselves off as people you know. Those of you who will fight, go and find a weapon and armour, if you can. If you can't find anything, that's okay. Everyone else collect whatever supplies you can. You'll primarily need food, water and clothing. Oh, and we'll also need medical supplies! They are very important. We'll travel to a place in another realm called Rift Valley. It's also called Image Valley, depending on who you ask. Now, I need to go. I'll be back in a few hours. Gather what you can!”

He opened a tunnel. He needed to contact the other Nul.