There in the pews of the forgotten temple sat more than a dozen people, their backs to Seth and Sara. All eyes and ears in the room were fixed on the monstrosity of a priest at the head of the room.
Sara shrieked, the small scream escaping her lips, horrified by the transformation that had terribly deformed the priest's features. All in the pews turned, and Borrik too raised his yellowed eyes to meet those of the newcomers. Recognition and devotion showing plainly in his face. He smiled a gruesome smile, giant canines gleaming.
"Behold, the goddess Ishanya’s champion," Borrik declared, gesturing to Seth.
Seth had not anticipated this. The story of his test earlier in the day and his many feats of magical skill had spread through the city like wildfire. Already people had come to the temple to learn of this goddess who gave immense blessings more powerful than anything anyone had ever heard of. Seth, uncertain what to do, simply bowed his head slightly to Borrik in acknowledgement, then began to walk between the pews towards the disfigured priest. All eyes in the small temple watched as Seth approached Borrik and the two clasped each others’ wrists, shaking hands as comrades did.
"Borrik, I must speak to you," Seth whispered, urgency in his voice.
Borrik responded with a nod and turned to address the small crowd, just as three more people traipsed down the stairs to see what the temple was all about.
"Good people, I must confer with Lord Seth in private. If you would please be patient a few moments, I promise I shall return. Ishanya protect you," Borrik said simply.
Turning abruptly Borrik lead Seth and Sara to the back chamber where they could sit in private, behind closed doors, where none would hear them. Stepping into the room, Borrik motioned for them to make themselves comfortable, and waiting for Seth and Sara to be seated, Borrik closed and barred the door behind them.
"Whatever happened to you?" Sara gasped, plainly distraught over the priest’s new visage.
"It is my doing," Seth admitted in resignation, his shoulders slumping, regret in his voice.
"Regret not, master," Borrik said before elaborating. "I feel better than I have ever felt. My joints no longer ache. I have more strength and energy than I have ever had. Gone are my pains, and once again I feel youthful. You have given me nothing that I did not desire, and no less than what Ishanya had promised you would bestow upon me." Borrik beamed.
Discovering that Borrik thought his curse a blessing, Seth was astonished the man not only did not fear or hate Seth, but had become that much more devoted to him, and not only to him, but to Ishanya as well. This in mind, Seth spoke hastily to Borrik about the impending war in the south and how he and Sara intended to leave in the morning to march for battle. He asked Borrik to join them. Borrik agreed without hesitation, vowing he would do whatever Seth commanded. His only regret was having no one capable to leave behind at the temple to teach of the goddess in order to gather new followers. Knowing it was the man’s life mission, one he had even upheld over decades with no followers, Seth felt loath to not try and find a solution.
"Could you not leave one of those people in attendance, one amongst the pews, to keep up the temple? Could you teach enough in a night that you would feel comfortable leaving?" Seth asked the priest.
"I believe that none of them has enough faith yet to align themselves with the goddess. They only flock to the temple on hearing rumors of your own great abilities, though if it is your command that I come to battle with you, I will do so with or without someone to take my place," Borrik answered.
Having no immediate solution, Seth told Borrik to prepare to leave at first light, feeling he would have great need of the man in the days to come. The three of them rose, Sara finally calming enough to not stare in open horror at Borrik's face, realizing that though he was physically altered, he was the same man. They left the small chamber to re-enter the temple proper, and found that now even more people sat in the pews speaking quietly to one another so as to not disturb the sanctity and tranquility of the place.
As Borrik, Seth and Sara approached the small dais where Borrik had been standing earlier to speak to the crowd, a young woman rushed towards them and dropped herself upon the stone floor, prostrating herself at their feet. The woman faced the floor, sobbing loudly, kneeling so low that her long brown hair fell in a tangled mess over her shoulders onto the floor itself. There she huddled a moment, her body wracked by uncontrollable sobs, before gathering her courage and rising to her knees she looked up to the trio before her. She first looked to Borrik with a slightly frightened, slightly horrified look, before then turning her gaze to both Seth then Sara. Unknowing who to address she raised her hands to the three of them, revealing a bundle they had not before noticed.
Wrapped in layers of cloth the body of a small infant lay limp in the woman's hands, its face the only portion of its body not covered by the rags wrapped around it. The babe made no sound, no movement, and its eyes stared blankly at nothing, unblinking.
"Please," the woman pleaded. "Save my child," she choked out between sobs.
Borrik simply turned to look at Seth as if there was something he could do. Seth, however, shook his head and shrugged.
"I am no healer, I am sorry," Seth said. It was the only response he could muster for the woman.
"I've been to the healers, m'lord," the woman said defeated. "They say there is nothing physically wrong with him. They said it was in the hands of the gods to decide if he lived. I’ve been to every single temple in the city and none of the priests will help him." The woman replied constantly gasping for breath.
Seth pondered the scenario a moment, then using his sight of the gods looked into the child. Indeed the babe lived, though it probably only had moments left. The baby's inner aura was nearly gone, so faint it was that Seth nearly overlooked it. If the healers deemed the baby healthy, then the only thing wrong was that the child had not been blessed with enough life force to live the span of a normal human life. Seth assumed that this was probably the reason for most still born babes, but saw an opportunity.
"What would you be willing to give if I were able to save your child?" Seth asked.
The woman looked up again to meet his gaze, a spark of hope daring to enter her eyes.
"Anything, m’lord," was her only reply.
"Would you be willing to give your life in servitude to the goddess Ishanya? Would you be willing to give a portion of your own life so that the child may live, knowing that in doing so your own life would be shortened and your child may not live to be any older than you are now?" Seth questioned, an unusual sternness in his voice. The woman simply nodded her head vigorously in reply.
"So be it." Seth reached out with a mental tendril and siphoned away half of the woman's life force. He held it for a moment, reveling in the ecstasy, then poured it into the babe in the woman’s arms. Immediately the child began wailing from hunger, its eyes becoming more focused and its eyelids fluttering in an attempt to relieve the dryness that hours of not blinking had left. Seth ignored the baby.
"Bless you, my lord!" the woman nearly shouted, becoming once again wracked by sobs, this time of joy. As she again prostrated herself before Seth, mumbling beneath her breath between sobs, Seth watched as the rainbow hue of her life force drained of all color, proof of her fealty to Ishanya. As Seth looked around at all the faces behind the many pews, all staring at him in wonder, he watched as two more souls blackened as they joined Ishanya’s followers.
"I am not finished," Seth stated, looking to the crowd, and then the woman still on her knees at his feet, gauging their reactions. "You swore to spend your life serving Ishanya, and I already know that you spoke truly, thus I give you a new responsibility. In service to Ishanya you shall swear to give up whatever previous life you had, and in exchange you shall train as a priestess of Ishanya and guide and teach others into her cause. Do you so swear?" Seth asked the woman, his stern voice returning.
"I do, my lord, I do." The woman replied, willing to give anything to the
man who restored her child's life.
"Look to my priest, woman," Seth ordered the young mother at his feet, gesturing to Borrik beside him. Seth watched as a mix of fear and pity played across the woman's face. "Do you fear my priest?" Seth asked in a demanding tone.
The woman hesitated as if to work out her answer. "No, my lord, though he looks fearful enough I admit, he serves Ishanya whom I know to be both compassionate and powerful. So I feel that though your priest looks menacing and powerful, so too must he be compassionate," the woman replied. Seth and Borrik both appreciated the woman’s answer.
"I find myself in a hard place, woman," Seth said looking down to her at his feet. She still clutched her babe to her chest, trying to soothe it whilst speaking to the man who saved its life.
"I feel I have done three disservices tonight," Seth admitted. He then looked around the room to be sure all listened, and was happy to find that everyone was riveted to their seats, hanging on his every word. "I have shortened your life thus doing you a disservice, I have given your child the portion of life that I took from you, allowing it to live, but not a full life, thus doing your child a disservice. And worst of all, I have sworn you to become a priestess to serve the goddess Ishanya herself, but with your diminished lifespan I fear I too have done Ishanya a disservice. Do you understand?" Seth asked.
Around the room heads nodded, and the woman at Seth’s feet also nodded her head in understanding.
"I can return you those years now. Not only to you, but also to your child. I can assure you both long lives indeed. In restoring those years to you, I do you both another great service, as well as making amends to Ishanya. But with such a service also comes a price for extending your lives. Like the priest Borrik here, I must strip you of some of your humanity. Would you wish this boon upon yourself and your child, to better serve the goddess who spared your child's life?" Seth asked the woman his stern voice turning calmer, more questioning. Heads around the room bobbled in agreement, not only from their belief that this was the right thing to do, but also because many wanted to witness the spectacle for themselves.
The small woman thought for many moments, trying to mentally weigh the pros and cons of the offer before her. She finally decided that in giving some of her humanity, as well as that of her child's, she would, through greater service to Ishanya, allow them both to have longer, more fulfilling lives, allowing not only her child to live a complete life, but also allowing herself the years to spend with her child well into adulthood. It was a greedy decision, she knew, but she wanted it for both her and her babe with her whole heart.
"Yes, m'lord, I am willing," she finally responded.
Seth nodded his acknowledgement, and kneeling himself, placed his hands on the foreheads of both the woman and her child. This time at least he knew what to expect, and seeing how Borrik had responded to the action earlier in the day, he anticipated how the woman would react. What had disgusted Seth to near sickness just hours ago gave him little hesitation now, as he knew that physically these people would be altered for their entire lives, but mentally and emotionally they would remain much the same.
Unlocking the remaining power of the blessed orc he had siphoned during his test earlier in the day, Seth released it. Bending it to his will he focused it out through his body into the woman and the small babe. This time Seth was able to witness the deed as it happened, whereas earlier Borrik's cowl had impeded his vision. Seth, Sara and Borrik watched, as well as all the other onlookers in the room, as the woman and her infant child began to alter, unseen alien energy mingling with their own human life forces. At first it appeared as if small things crawled beneath the skin of the two subjects, lumps forming and moving, then dissolving once again, leaving behind altered features. The foreheads flattened slightly, noses smoothed to almost nothing, jaws and lips widened, and from the mother large canine teeth sprouted, pushing up through her lips from her jaw below. Her eyes rolled back and eyelids fluttered as moans of pleasure escaped her lips, becoming slightly deeper in tone as she altered. Her long brown hair seemed to melt back into her darkening flesh as reddish-purple coarse hair sprouted simultaneously from the same follicles that had just devoured her former hair. Her lighter human-toned skin became more transparent, showing through it the many larger blood vessels that criss-crossed her body, and the flesh beneath the topmost layers took on an oily, darkened tone almost akin to purple. Her limbs stretched slightly, and her joints seemed to bulge a little, protruding more and showing more definition through her skin.
The baby at first simply cooed with the pleasure it felt coursing through it, instantly stopping its wailing. Being so small and not yet matured its change took place nearly instantly. Its flesh darkened as its young eyes yellowed and the pupils turned silver. Its nose heaved inward nearly disappearing completely, its young jawbone jutted outward slightly and stretched to each side, and the rest of the infant’s change was hidden from the bundle it was wrapped within.
Seth watched as the woman and her child’s auras grew quickly, then shutting away what precious little energy he had left, he allowed the woman and her infant several moments to recover. His task complete, he looked around the room, once again seeing with his vision of the gods, and stood in awe at the mass of swirling blackened auras in the room. Everyone here, save one, had now given themselves to Ishanya. Sara alone remained unchanged, her understanding of the gods above those of the common people was not so easy to sway, and Seth loved her all the more for it. Not knowing what else to do, and feeling as if he had already done all he could, Seth bid Borrik to meet him and Sara at the mages’ tower before first light. Grabbing Sara’s hand he began to lead her from the temple, leaving behind them the astonished faces of Ishanya’s newest followers.
Sara accompanied Seth back through the darkening streets of Valdadore, her mind reliving the transformation of the woman and her child again and again through her mind’s eye. Feeling a mix of horror and wonder, she could not help but ponder if Seth had done the right thing by making monstrosities of the woman and her infant. She realized that he had saved the life of the baby, but wondered if that would matter now, since the child would live a life of torment, being an outsider to the very people it had been born to. People could be wicked things, and the poor child would not be able to live a normal life among its peers. Though all of the simple people in the temple believed they had witnessed a great blessing, Sara had seen the curse that it may one day become to be realized.
Sara slowed her pace, lost in thought causing Seth, still leading her by the hand, to slow as well. He turned to see what had brought the change in speed and witnessed upon Sara’s face a great look of concern. Knowing the look, Seth stopped and was nearly barreled over by Sara, so lost to her own musing she hadn’t noticed his abrupt halt. Giving her a moment to recover herself, Seth stood with a questioning look on his face. Within seconds, Sara gathering her thoughts, related all her worries concerning the woman and her child.
"She willingly made the sacrifice for herself and her child, Sara," Seth said. "You were there. I didn’t force it upon them, I merely asked. True I did not contemplate the full consequences of my actions, but what else was I to do?"
"I don't know, my love, I just fear for what that poor child will endure. And you are right, all you did was ask, but the poor woman was so desperate that you could have asked her to slit her own throat and she would have done it to save her baby," Sara responded.
Seth didn't know what to do or say to Sara’s concerns. Maybe he had done the wrong thing by saving the child, but it felt right. Also, Seth had seen in the woman the means to placate Borrik's fears of leaving the temple unattended. Seth knew not now if he had actually done the deed for the woman, for her child, for himself, or for Borrik. The whole conversation left him confused and worried, though at present there was little to do about it. So he remained silent. Seth felt as if he were being pulled in so many directions there may never again be a solution in his life that would meet the needs of all
those he held allegiance to. There were so many things to consider now with his newfound power, his position at the king's court, his oath to protect Sara, his oath to help bring peace back to his kingdom, his oath to serve Ishanya, and even Borrik's oath to serve him. All this, and the only person Seth felt could help him sort it all out was lost in his own new responsibilities as a knight serving the king. Seth missed his brother terribly, and knew Garret could lend him some insight into his dilemma. But things were moving so fast, even seeing his brother today they had barely had time to catch up at all, let along speak of anything of real importance.
Not knowing what else to do, Seth grabbed Sara’s hand once again and they walked together towards the castle and their home in the mage’s tower, both of them all the while sorting through the "what ifs" of the past, present and future. Before they climbed the stairs and arrived at Seth’s chamber, Seth had come to one conclusion. Every decision he made from here on out would have to be made with much reflection as to its future consequences. With so much riding on him, he dared not let anyone down, least of all Sara.
Ishanya’s followers were few indeed, but in the span of a mortal day they had gone from two to over ten times that number. Hiding in the deepest, darkest hole in the heavens, Ishanya smiled as the first few ripples of a changing tide could be seen on the horizon of time. She was weak beyond measure in comparison to the other gods, but she was gaining a following among men once again, and though that helped her little now, as soon as they began to die she would once again become infused with the great power that was her right. Her plan was working perfectly, and Seth had played his role well thus far. So long as he continued on the path Ishanya herself had laid for him, she would gain new followers at an astonishing rate, and change the world and the heavens forever. All Ishanya needed to do was wait, and make sure Seth continued to sway men to her cause and continue to give him reasons to do so.
Age of the Gods: The Complete, twelve novel, fantasy series (The Blood and Brotherhood Saga) Page 48
