The Fire and The Storm - The Nexus of Kellaran #2
Chapter 118

Part 18

"My approach was different; earlier today the goddess Neela had given my father the list of abilities known as The Prerequisites for Divinity. Rather than try to achieve a new state of being that allowed me to do all of those things, we took the list piecemeal; and one by one we figured out how to do everything on the list except one. And like most of the gods, and my father, we have other abilities that might be considered divine in magnitude that some or all of the gods don't have, and aren't on the list of Prerequisites.

"But we're definitely not gods. We're just four young mortals with the same abilities and power as the gods. Now we of Kellaran are in the same situation as the Triax; some of our most powerful mortals are more powerful and more influential than the weakest of our gods, and so the hierarchy of power and influence isn't as straightforward as it used to be.

"Now I want to discuss the matter of trust. Without trust we are nothing, we can't be friends or even allies if we don't trust one another.

"You think that all of us who are following this meeting are either sworn to justice on a powerful artifact, or confined like the Sylvan on Hiliani. And so we can be trusted. But there's one who's watching tonight who's not sworn, someone who faked having sworn on The Truthstone of Falgaroth at the great gathering to celebrate the end of The War of The Founding. Someone who's been manipulating everyone for longer than any of our ancestors have lived, someone who has even changed the development of the characteristics of many of the races alive today. Someone who is not even fully sane, by his own standards or anyone else's.

"Of course there's only one person that could be. We became suspicious of him from historical facts we learned on Hiliani, and since we've been out in the world and had our big breakthrough session today, we were able to confirm most of our suspicions.

"And because we're warlocks, we can do something about it.

"We Call and Compel Glup of The Zurb to account for his actions."

The four of them released a mighty set of pre-cast compound spells, and forced the First God of Kellaran to appear in physical form upon The Truthstone of Falgaroth. His double row of antennae writhed in violent and seemingly random patterns, and the rest of his shiny black carapace was held almost immobile, though he seemed to struggle in futility against magic bonds.

"Don't fight it, Glup, you know you deserve it." Fire told him with a snarl of concentration as they held the god. "And besides, you know that if you fight us about it, there'll be big consequences for everyone here.

"Thank you."

The four of them visibly relaxed as Glup ceased resisting them.

"Glup's intentions are honorable and simple; he seeks the continuation of intelligent life on Kellaran." Fire continued as she turned to the audience. "This is understandable, since he spent tens of millions of years as the only thinking being in the world after his people died, and intelligent mortal life was absent from the world.

"But his methods have displayed a complete disregard for the races and individuals that he's manipulated.

"He gave intelligence and magic to the first nine true dragons who ever existed, and that is how the race of dragons began.

"He did the same for the first generation of unicorns, the gargoyles, and most of the other races whose individuals are all inherently magic, including the trolls, the Swarm, and most of the races of The Hidden Nation. The races whose members lack magic for the most part developed naturally, including the selkies, the humans, and their descendent races. Including the elves; though they are a highly magical race, they developed naturally from humans. And of course the Sylvan were initiated by the demons.

"He affected the gestation of my father and a few others throughout history to make them warlocks, to deal with various crises that came up, but for the most part, he's kept the secret of the use of the second Source to himself. But he didn't count on Father being able to pass on the gift to his offspring. Glup didn't count on us three, and he's never bothered to build very good defenses against warlocks, since he made sure that there were usually none of them around almost all the time, and never more than one.

"He has manipulated the selection of the gods, and he makes sure that any Candidates who aren't accepted by him don't achieve true immortality, and that they fade from history, usually in less than a million years.

"And by the way, his biggest lie may have been that only a few gods could understand him, and only then after many years of study, and that he could only make himself understood to them. He understands every language we have, and can converse physically or psionicly in all of them.

"But worst of all, during long periods of relative peace and tranquility, he has occasionally instigated wars, simply to 'cull the herd', so to speak.

"Isn't that right, Glup? Of course The Truthstone doesn't affect you, which is how you faked having been bound by it, so we're going to Compel you.

"Tell the truth, and answer physically in Trade Common." she instructed as the four of them cast on him again.

"All right, dammit!" Glup groused in a raspy voice that sounded very strange coming from his crustacean mouth. His antennae were held absolutely rigid as he spoke. "It's all true! What are you going to do about it?!"

"That's not for us to decide." Fire firmly stated. "Our purpose with you here today is merely to reveal the truth. I'm sure The Assembly and the rest of The Pantheon will have things to say to you about it after this meeting, though they might want to wait until my father and the other new gods have ascended before they make any decisions. If they want our help with enforcing their decision on you, they'll have it. "Until then, you can go."

Glup disappeared.

Fire graced the gathering with her intense gaze for a few moments more. Then she returned the great Revealing to a view of the entire dais again, relinquished control of it, and stepped back.

There was complete silence. Everyone, gods and mortal both, were thunderstruck by what they'd seen.

Karzog struck a proud pose, and spoke. "All Kellarani are facing great and rapid changes, and a great challenge ahead.

"Do we have the best possible leadership in place to guide us in these momentous times? Perhaps we do, but how can we know?

"We can have a great tournament, mediated by the gods! This we proposed today, and the gods have agreed to organize and operate the tournament. They said they will call it The Tournament of Governors, since we proposed the event and we're the only currently serving governors. We are honored by their choice.

"The tournament will allow the entrants the chance to prove themselves to be the most capable candidate to lead Kellaran in war against the demons.

"Anyone who honestly believes you have the capability to lead us against the demons will have a chance to form a team under your command. The gods will decide if you and your team really are qualified to take part in the tournament. You can have anyone you want on your command team to provide you with creativity and advice, and you can delegate command of parts of our forces to them, if they agree to help you. If you want to lead a team and you've also been invited to serve on another's command team, you can do both. Before the tournament you can use the training and advice of anyone who will help you, including the gods."

Karzog settled back on his haunches again, and Six stepped forward once more.

"Quewanak, Draconian God of Dreaming, has generously agreed to give us four the few more hours of training that we think we'll need." he stated with supreme confidence. "And we fully intend to win this tournament, and to lead Kellaran against the demons. But even if we don't, we'll know who deserves to lead us, so we can have our most effective leadership in place when the time comes. We think even the gods should compete, because for now, beating the demons is all that really matters.

"We thank you for your time and attention."

With that the four of them bowed deeply to the assembly, and Translocated back to their places.¶¶¶¶¶¶

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