He expectantly looked at me. What was I supposed to say? None of this made any sense.
“The Gods are dead, I read it myself and my heka is totally insignificant. Please don’t tell anyone about it.”
He uncrossed his arms, sitting down on the table behind him.
“I am not going to alert the authorities, Maelis. And your heka is anything but insignificant. As for the Gods, I’m afraid your books are lying to you. The Gods are very much alive, they left the mortal realm a long time ago,” he said patiently.
“So you’re saying that the Gods are alive and this particular God wants me to do… what exactly?” I was getting quite irritated with the way this conversation was going because none of this made any sense to me.
“Let me start at the beginning, Maelis. My name is Caelan, and I am indeed a priest as you rightly guessed by my attire.” He gestured with his hands. “I belong to the order of the Sanctuary Temple and I am an advisor to the Lord of the temple, the God of Wisdom and Cunning. The man you met yesterday in front of the tavern was me speaking through a vessel, I tried to get your attention without revealing myself.”
I slumped back a fraction, letting the tightness in my shoulders slip away.
“But I don’t understand why you are doing all of this. Is the God angry with me for using my heka? I can barely help my mother and myself, how am I supposed to help a God?”
Caelan reached inside the bag he carried on his shoulder and took out a glass bottle with water, handing it to me and gesturing for me to drink.
I eyed the bottle wearily.
“You can drink, Maelis. I am not going to poison you. If I wanted you dead, you’d be dead already.”
Well, that wasn’t comforting at all. I opted not to drink, but politely accepted the bottle anyway.
“A very long time ago, there were only a handful of Primals in the world, sharing the power over life and death between them. Magical creatures and humans had always lived peacefully with each other, but some of the Primals got bored and wanted more out of their eternal life. A war came and the Primals started fighting each other, some trying to gain more power, others wanting to protect the mortals and Faeries alike, some of them fighting for gold and riches.
“When the dust of the last battle had settled, the remaining Primals decided that all the power in the universe should be divided up to ensure that no creature could ever hold toomuch power again. Each time a child was born of the love of one or two Primals, the baby was bestowed with a unique gift, an area of expertise so to say. These babies became the Gods you may have heard about, the Lords and Ladies of Love, Hope, Wine, War and so on.”
I appreciated Caelan’s enthusiasm, though my mind was still trying to process everything he was saying. I shifted slightly, eager to get to the part that mattered.
“Could you give me the short version, shrine rag?” I asked, keeping my voice steady.
He smirked but continued in the same measured tone. I wasn’t worried he would harm me physically any more, but each word tugged at my sense of reality, disbelief clashing with everything I thought I knew.
“… so the peace was restored again, the Gods were slowly taking their places in the new world. The humans started building temples for the Gods to thank them for their protection. But the peace was an illusion, for the forces of the enemies were rebuilding again. That’s when an Oracle appeared and gave the priests a prophecy, saying that as the evil awakens again, a new God will be born. And he was, for that same day a woman gave birth to Auretheos, the God of Wisdom and Cunning, right on the steps of an ancient temple outside this town.”
When I didn’t say anything, Caelan continued.
“The oracle said that he would be the one to defeat the darkness, but only if he could find a counterpart to his powers, someone who can breathe magic into their words. A wordsmith, like you.” Caelan almost whispered those last words, so I wasn’t sure if I had heard him correctly.
“So… what are you saying? You believe that Iam the counterpart? This magical being that helps Aurelius to defeat the enemy?”
Caelan didn’t answer straight away, but his gaze was firm and his voice steady when he finally answered.
“I don’t only believe this to be true, Iknowthis to be true. We have been waiting and looking for you, Maelis. You hid your powers well, until a few days ago.”
“I wasn’t trying to hide my powers. I learned to never use my powers for myself, because it would corrupt me. This week I was feeling sick and I just couldn’t take it anymore, so I used the heka on me.”
Caelan’s forehead wrinkled and he scratched his head as he took in what I had said.
“It makes sense that we were only able to feel your heka when you were using it for your own gains because we are tied to you, not your powers. That explains why we weren’t able to trace you.” Caelan got up to take the bottle of water from me and took a big sip himself.
“What is going to happen now?” I asked.
He blew out a breath. “Well, ideally you would be totally fine with everything I told you and you would be willing to leave for Aetheria with me right this very moment. You would accept Auretheos’s invitation to join him at the Sanctum Temple and help him save the world. But judging from the look on your face, I will have to stay here a little longer to gain your trust.” He smiled at me. A genuine, open and encouraging smile.
“I am sorry, but this is a lot to take in. I will have to think about it, and I hope this Augustus guy will understand that I can’t just up and leave everything behind,” I responded.
Caelan nodded and with a low rumble, the door behindme opened by itself.
