by Sky Corbelli
Chapter 45
In the Beginning
Ernest's face drained of color. “Val,” he whispered hoarsely. “Val's coming here?”
“We have to call this off, Erny.” Bert was pacing back and forth. “We're in way over our heads. Against some other kissed, sure, but... Val's a monster.”
Ernest held up his hand for silence as he visibly worked to calm himself down. The two men who had trailed Mat and Sarah came skulking back, looking disturbed. “We didn't get em,” one of them growled. “They vanished into thin air. Like some kinda thundering magic trick.” He spat on the floor.
“You didn't tell us we was chasing blighted spirits, Bert,” the other man man said, looking back over his shoulder, clearly spooked. “Right in the middle of the old square, middle of the strucking day. Right where we originally planned it all. It's a bad omen, I tell you. We should just–”
Ernest silenced them all with a glare. “Too many people around here. Get the struck back inside, you two.” The surly men looked at each other and nodded, heading back to the house, scowling around the square. Ernest turned to Bert. “Everything proceeds as planned.” His tone brooked no dissent. “Your men had better find those two blighted 'merchants', and you tell 'em to do it quick and dirty. No funny business.”
“Y-yes sir,” Bert stuttered out, then turned and fled the tavern.
“I want to know if Valerie Estavon so much as sneezes funny on her way here, you got that?” He fixed his gaze on the wilting scout, who threw him a hasty salute and left out the back door. “We're too close to screw up now,” he muttered ominously to no-one in particular.
Ezra sat back from the railgun. “Well,” Mat started philosophically, “I'd say that there's something going on here.”
“I'd say it's something we don't have any business getting involved in,” Sarah shot back.
“I don't know...” Mat scratched his chin stubble. “I might be catching whatever it is that makes Ezra crazy, but I think we should stick around and see what happens.”
“Are you out of your strucking mind!?” Sarah took a deep breath, lowering her voice. “If Valerie thundering Estavon is showing up in Helena, I want to be on the opposite side of the planet. This whole thing is going to blow up in our faces, and you know it.”
“Come on, Sarah. These people are trying to help themselves, to get out from under the thumb of the Besmirched. The least we can do is see how it all goes down. Plus, if Val gets offed in an ambush out here, Blair's going to want to know.”
“Um... who's Valerie Estavon?” Ezra asked politely. “Is this the same Val that Arn the Fist was talking about?”
Sarah glared at Ezra for a few seconds, then sighed and said, “Valerie Estavon is the leader of the Besmirched in North America, possibly the world. She is one of the five or six most personally powerful fire-kissed that we know of.”
“Would she be capable of starting that fire?” Ezra's tone was quiet, still polite and reserved.
“I... I don't know,” Sarah admitted. “Maybe. We don't have any way of finding out though...” Her voice trailed off as she stared out into the distance. “And yes Mat, you're right,” she continued, sounding defeated. “We need to see what happens here. If by some miracle these people manage to take out Val, we would need to know about it.” Her hand shot out and grabbed Ezra by the collar, pulling him up to eye level. “I don't know what thundering god of misfortune you pissed off, Hawkins, but I would take it as a personal favor if you would keep your blighted bad luck to yourself in the future. I am tired of the interesting missions you seem to find.” He fell to the floor as Sarah let go and slumped down next to the railgun. “I'll keep watch, you two amuse yourselves or something.” The steady stream of outside sound abruptly cut off as the scope was switched from public back to private listening. Mat shrugged, removing a small bolt thrower from behind his neck and beginning to dismantle and clean it.
Ezra looked around, then spotted his copy of The Will of the Elements. Picking it up, he flipped to the first verse of the first chapter, sat down and started reading.
In the beginning, there was the Mother.
She looked out through the heavens and longed for companionship. And so She brought forth Her children. They loved Her and danced together at the beginning of all things, and this was good.
The Mother looked upon Her children and smiled, for they were of Her and filled with the purity and goodness that was known only to them. And She said to them, “My children, I am going to sleep now. Keep watch and wake Me when the time is right.” And so She slept, while Her children danced across the world.
Then there came the Father god. And He looked down upon the sleeping Mother, and called unto Her children. “You are shapeless and without form!” He cried to them, and they knew it to be true. “I shall name you the Elements, and thus increase that which you are. Come, and let Me show you the beauty of things that could be, so that when your Mother wakes, She shall be glad.” And the children loved their Mother, so they did this thing.
The Father god turned to stalwart Earth, most steady of the Elements. “To you I shall give the bones of the world, that you may solidly support the beauty which is to come.” And thus Earth was bound, shaping the deep places and holding the world.
Next the Father turned to gentle Water, most soothing of the Elements. “Yours shall be the domain of life, nurturing the beauty which is to come.” And thus Water was bound, flowing and shifting in a slow dance with Earth.
Next the Father turned to clever wind, swiftest of the Elements. “Yours shall be the air and all that is within it, giving hope to the beauty which is to come.” And thus Wind was bound, and joined Water and Earth in their dance, touching lightly upon each to be held by neither.
Next the Father turned to passionate Fire, most beautiful of the Elements. “Yours shall be the blood of all things, giving warmth to the beauty which is to come.” And thus Fire was bound at the heart of all things, licking forth to dance with Water, Earth, and Wind, lovely to behold.
Next the Father turned to mighty Lightning, greatest and eldest of the Elements. And Lightning looked upon his brothers and sisters and despaired. “What shall You give me, Father?” he asked. “Shall You bind me as well, shackling my feet and stilling my tongue, so that I may neither dance nor sing nor wake the Mother when the time is right?” And the Father god was wroth with anger, for bold Lightning had seen the truth of all things. “I shall take my own place in the heavens, to watch over my siblings and wake them when the time is right.” And thus Lightning did leap to the heavens, unbound and free, dancing through all things and sounding his voice to those who would hear.
Then did the other Elements too despair, for it was as clear-sighted Lightning had said.
“Now shall you see the beauty which is to come!” the Father god declared, and from each of them He took a piece, and breathed into it, until He had made all manner of living things upon the world.
And the Elements saw this, and though they were bound and mute, their dance slowed and their voices dimmed, they loved the beauty that had come. Then the Father god reached into each of them, and though the world was full of beauty He did create one last thing, a creature in His own image. And when He had breathed life into man and woman, He spoke to them, saying, “See this world of beauty I have created for you! All of this is yours, from the birds of the air to the fish of the sea, to all manner of beasts upon the ground. The Elements themselves bow to you, for you, My children, are the greatest of all.”
And the Elements saw that they had been tricked and enslaved, and their fury was great.
Ezra stopped. This all seemed suspiciously like... propaganda. He flipped to the end of the thick tome, finger tracing to the last line.
...thus have these words been passed down to the Voice of Thunder from the lips of Lightning Himself, that we may know of them and rejoice.
Ezra smiled wryly. Funny that the religious text of a fanatical cult of people with the power to
control electricity would have nothing but good things to say about their element. One thing still bothered him though...
“Hey Mat,” Ezra said softly, trying not to disturb Sarah. “You remember when I was talking to Gaav about his religion on the walk home?”
“Yeah, a little,” Mat responded absently, focusing on the trigger mechanism in his hand. “Why?”
“Remember when I asked him about other religions? He said that he had only ever heard of one, the Sons and Daughters of Lightning, and that The Will of the Elements was their holy book.”
“Yeah, so?”
“Well, how many religions are there in Sanctuary, if you had to guess?”
Mat frowned. “Dozens, I guess. Maybe hundreds. Everybody brought something with them at Founding.”
“Don't you find it a little odd that in our little city of maybe a million people we have at least dozens of religions, and yet out here, with billions upon billions of people, there's only one that anyone's even heard of?”
“Not that surprising, Hawkins,” Sarah murmured, “when you consider that the people pushing the religion can literally smite you with lightning if you don't convert.”
Ezra inclined his head in acknowledgment of Sarah's point. “But the stuff he was saying about his god, or whatever, protecting and nurturing people...” He brandished the tome in his hands. “That's not the kind of stuff that's written in this book.”
“Maybe you haven't gotten to the good parts yet,” Sarah said with a snort.
“Gaav seemed pretty level-headed to me,” Mat said, considering. “I don't know, man. Religion's supposed to show people how to be good, right? Maybe some people don't need that. Maybe some people are just good people, regardless of what they believe.”
