The Fire and The Storm - The Nexus of Kellaran #2
Chapter 119

Part 18

Mark reappeared on the dais, grinning at them with pride across the thirty-two meters that separated them.

"Our kids. The Governors of Hiliani. Aren't they something?" he casually asked the immense room, and the vast crowd gave a huge cheer.

His demeanor became more serious. "All right, I'm casting the spell to detect those with divine potential. Mind you, I don't know if I'll find the same people that the gods would call Candidates for Divinity, I'm jus finding people who have the potential for my process to work for them. Okay, here goes."

He cast with a slight motion of his hand, which was the only detectable sign of it. Then he took a deep breath, let it out, and gave a rueful smile. "Thank you. We..."

He was interrupted by the appearance of Quewanak.

"Mark, please wait here with me until your spell has finished making its selections."

"Ah, all right." Mark responded in surprise with a raised eyebrow.

Almost immediately a voice cried out from the crowd in Elvish; "I've been selected!" and a giant jumped up with his arms raised and declared in Common; "I was chosen!"

"As I suspected." Quewanak nodded. "Your spell propagates outward from you. You learn of the closest chosen first, and in three minutes you'll know those on the far side of the world." "Two and a half, now." Mark nodded.

"Yes. Please inform me when the process is finished."

Mark nodded, and they waited. A buzz of conversation arose in the room as people filled the time with talk.

The rest of Mark's party sensed that Quewanak meant to do something important, and almost all of them knew they'd been chosen by the spell. They patiently waited in silence.

Then Mark nodded to Quewanak, and told him; "Okay, I know them all, and they know they've been selected."

"Excellent. Now, if you'd be so kind, please take a quick Reading of them to answer these questions; How many of them want to wait another seven weeks to achieve divinity? How many of them want it right now, how many of them want it eagerly, how many of them want it desperately?"

Mark gave a rueful chuckle and a shake of his head before he answered. "A lot of them are pretty eager to have it done. As I'm sure you knew."

"I did." Quewanak nodded. "And I want you to know something.

"In my last moments of mortality, after I was fully Healed by Amirgath and just before I became Draconian God of Dreaming and the one hundred sixty-fourth god of my race, I was the most advanced Candidate there had ever been. I had already lived far longer than most of the gods, and was the eldest mortal who had ever lived, of any race. My forty million year slumber forced me to concentrate on and develop my mental abilities to a greater extent than any mortal had ever done. And my newly restored physical health and vitality only increased my abilities."

A bit of a buzz rose among the gathering as the public at large learned that he was now a god, but he ignored them and continued speaking with Mark with a friendly intensity.

"Yet despite all that, and despite having had more than seven years of subjective time to get used to being a god, I have still only begun to explore my new capabilities. Most new gods don't feel fully comfortable with their new state of being and their new abilities for two thousand years or more.

"The Nexus and the war with the demons will be upon us in less than two years. Every single second that these new gods have to train and learn and explore their new capabilities could be crucial.

"I know that you fear the loss of your humanity, but you must trust me on this; the Ascension is a wonderful thing, and if you do it now, you'll be glad you did. If you wait the seven weeks, you'll regret the lost time and the joy you denied yourself, and either way, you'll laugh at your childish fears.

"Mark, I ask this as your friend. Almost all of The Pantheon of Kellaran ask this of you most fervently, as do most of the Assembly of The Just Alliance. If you do this now, it will vastly increase our ability to defeat the demons over waiting the seven weeks, which may save many lives, and much destruction.

"Please, make the Ascension now, and give your gift to the other candidates you've identified. Here, tonight."

Mark scowled and scratched his chin, and thought about it. "I'm gonna have to ask my wife. Wives. And my family, and a few others. Give us a few minutes."

And with that, they disappeared.

He and his closest family and friends appeared on the private beach on Hilia. It was a beautiful and comfortable night, with a slight breeze and a few clouds, and the moon Blenda was shining almost directly overhead.

Talia and Alilia were in his arms almost immediately.

"We support you, whatever you decide." Alilia told him, and Talia nodded.

There was silence for a moment, and they only needed their natural empathy to feel him struggling with his decision.

"Father, may I know the results?" Six asked.

"Sure." Mark nodded, and psionicly passed him the identities that the selection spell had given him, as well as the shallow Reading he'd taken of them.

"Ah. One hundred and forty-six potential gods." Six mused. "A hundred and forty-seven counting you, Father. Half as many as there are gods right now, of Kellaran that is. That seems like a lot, until you consider there are only that many out of about twelve billion thinking mortals on Kellaran."

"And over half of them are waiting for us in The Hall of the Assembly." Fire noted. "Most of whom have already attended the Assembly before as rulers or senior wizards or generals or whatever. It seems the cream really does rise to the top."

"Ah, but notice some of those who are not at The Hall, some of whom are very obscure people from very obscure places!" Karzog pointed out. "Especially this one, Dieb Selzeamtik! She is a four-year old dwarf from a clan of ordinary shepherds, with no apparent unusual abilities, and no unusual training or influences at all! There is no wizardry in her family for their entire recorded history!"

"Wow. How will she and her family deal with her becoming a god?" Val wondered, and there was silence for a moment as they all considered that.

Mark took out the warlock's power stone that contained his results from the brainstorming session. He considered it a moment, then glanced around at those with him on the beach. His wives and children, Kragorram, Povon, Karzog, Yazadril, Nemia, Hilsith, Silaran and Equemev. The people he felt closest to.

"I'm just not ready." he told them, sounding a little choked with emotion. "I still live in a state of being half mind-boggled from all the changes in my life in the last few years. And the changes in me. I need a little time to enjoy it all for a last little while and get my courage up. I'm just not ready to give up my mortality and become a god. I feel a huge reluctance. I need the seven weeks. I'm pretty sure I'll be ready then. "On the other hand, Quewanak made some really good points. It might save a lot of lives if I do it now.

"But the fact is, the last time Amirgath tested us for our Candidacy for Divinity he couldn't find any dependencies. Maybe that's because there aren't any now. Your candidacies used to be dependent on me, but now I've figured out how to do it and put the spell for it in this stone. Maybe now I can just cast it on someone, and not need to cast it on me first to do so."

He gave them a quick, sheepish grin, and asked; "Any volunteers?"

After a second Yazadril stepped forward a pace. "I'm ready, and filled with a powerful curiosity as to what it'll be like. Go ahead."

"Can you do it while we hug him?" Nemia asked as she and Hilsith embraced him from either side, and he held them close.

"Sure, I don't see why not." Mark said with a nod as he concentrated on the stone.

They all held their breath as he held still and silent for fifteen seconds.☐☐☐☐☐

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