The Fire and The Storm - The Nexus of Kellaran #2
Chapter 190

Part 26

He closed his eyes and concentrated, and activated the spell sequence. First it released a vast amount of raw power he'd stored in the stone. He held the power without casting it, feeling its improving effect on his intellect. He began gathering more and more power, and used every technique they'd come up with to prevent it from cooking his brain or otherwise harming him. As he followed the instructions and automated steps in the stone, every increase in power gave him new understanding and new ideas on how to continue the process.

Then he was finished all the steps in the stone and relying on the new ones he was inventing as he went along. In a moment of sudden inspiration he walked to his left and stood on the top of the great Truthstone of Falgaroth itself that shallowly protruded through the stage, and began to draw power from it, both through his feet and through the small extension stone in his hand.

He cast a vast collection field, nearer the sun than any they'd cast before, and had it send him its power through the Translocation medium in a novel new way, then began expanding the field even as he cast completely new ones with different frequencies that collected new kinds of power.

Then it ceased being something he was doing, and it became something that was happening to him faster than he could control it, whether he wanted it to or not.

A bright light was shining from his body with increasing energy until he was barely visible within it, and he began a long, low growl that rose in pitch and volume with the intensity of the process until he was roaring at the top of his lungs. The tension in his muscles increased, along with the tightness of his grip on the small Truthstone.

Suddenly reality itself shifted within the volume of his body, and at the same moment the small Truthstone was shattered and crushed in his grip, and a pulse of arcane energy was released that everyone there felt as it passed through them in an almost instantaneous wave.

They cried out with the wonder of the sensation, their voices joining his amidst the otherwise silent transformation, but it seemed to have no other discernable effect.

He fell silent. The light he was producing gradually faded. All was still for a moment as he stood on the Truthstone with a handful of blue gemstone gravel. He appeared to be the same as he had been before he began.

The gods who had left the stage when he began returned, along with Glup of The Zurb, and they examined him.

"You are almost completely unlike any of us of The Pantheon of Kellaran." Amirgath eventually pronounced. "You are unlike Glup of The Zurb. You are unlike the gods of The Triax. But there is no doubt whatsoever that you are a god, or at least a new kind of being with equivalent capabilities."

"All hail Mark, first of The New Gods Of Kellaran!" Visinniria proudly proclaimed as she drew her sword, saluted him with it, and held it high.

This brought a huge roaring cheer from everyone there. They let it go on for a few seconds, then Amirgath raised his hand for silence, and got it.

"What say you, Mark?" he asked.

"It's very strange." Mark stated in wonder. "It's very beautiful, and awesome, and amazing, but it's still very strange. As far as I can tell, in all the important ways, I'm still me."

He looked to his mortal self at the edge of the audience and asked; "What do you think?"

"You're still me." mortal Mark declared with a grin, then closed his eyes for a second. "But I can't reintegrate us with the spell. Can you do it?"

"I think I can, but give me a moment to consider it. Hmm. I'm definitely a lot more intelligent than I was, and my awareness is so much better that there's no comparison. But I think it's my subconscious mind that's improved the most. I need a moment to try to take stock of the differences and explore my new abilities.

"Our speculations were right; once you get to the end of the Ascension, divinity almost seems to take on a life of its own. I can do everything I did with magic with god-power instead, and a lot more, without consciously casting any spells, just by wanting it to happen. I want an apple and I've got an apple," he said as one appeared in his hand, "And I couldn't say how it got there, or where it came from, or what it's made out of. If I want it gone, it's gone, and that's all there is to it. It's a completely intuitive process. And I have no idea where the power for it comes from.

"I can sure see why the gods couldn't express the process to mortals, because I can't either. The part of the Ascension I had in the stone was about a third of it, and it was already too complex to even remember myself, let alone communicate it to anyone else. Then I came up with another third of it that would be even harder to explain, and the last third of it happened on it's own without my conscious contro or understanding.

"Now... Yes, if I want to, I can still access the warlocks' source and cast conventional spells." he said as he cast Restore on the small crushed Truthstone. "And, I can now fully access regular wizards' power as well, or access the Source directly as unicorns and gargoyles do. And, I can access three... No four other kinds of power that come from the sun, including transducing regular heat and light into magic. "And, I can not be." he said as he disappeared, but his voice continued speaking anyway. "I can completely do without any physical manifestation at all. I can have no body or a thousand bodies, it's completely irrelevant to anything else I might want to do, and it doesn't affect my capabilities at all.

He reappeared and grinned. "I guess that proves that I really am a god now.

"I still love my wives and kids, and I still have the same attitudes and feelings about every issue, but I'm definitely not the same.

"I do feel a new responsibility towards every mortal on Kellaran, as the gods said I would. And I do now share their feeling that gods should never directly rule over mortals. It's just not fair, somehow. "And so, I swear on the Truthstone of Falgaroth that as soon as the war with the demons is over, I'll give up my rule of Hilia and Serminak, and my role as Key to The Just Alliance. But until then, things will remain as they are in that respect, to help insure our victory over the demons.

"For the same reason, I will take part in The Tournament of Governors for the rule of Kellaran. To be honest, I don't think that being a god will make much difference in how high I'll place. Before today, I could already have duplicated most of my new divine abilities by other means, including the increased intelligence and awareness. And as it's been said before, being a god doesn't really give me any new intellectua creativity or wisdom, which are crucial qualities for a leader.

"One thing that hasn't changed is the slightly disconcerting feeling of incompleteness that comes with being separated into more than one manifestation, so I'm going to reintegrate. I don't know how I'm going to do it, but I'm pretty sure I can anyway, just by wanting to."

With that the Mark at the edge of the audience disappeared, and the one on the stage grinned. "And thus it is so." he pronounced.

Then there were three of him standing there, then only one again. "Actually, you don't get that disconcerting feeling when you multiple manifest with god power. Good to know.

"Now, I suppose I should get on with the Ascension of the other Candidates to be New Gods. Now that I've Ascended, I can tell there's more Candidates than I previously thought, almost twice as many actually including the ones that were in the time-bubbles.

"But I can also see that some of the Candidates are going to refuse divinity for now, having had some time to think about it. In most cases, it's because their wives and children aren't Candidates, and they don't want there to be such a huge gulf between them. I understand that, and it's fine. You don't have to accept divinity until you're ready, though I expect that many of you will change your minds once warfare with the demons begins. Protecting your families with every available advantage will become more important than relating to them as equals.

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