Story #65 - Only Moments Of The Gods

Only Moments Of The Gods

Only Moments Of The Gods

It was ten past twelve as the humans recorded time; it was apparent he wasn't coming.

I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised. He'd been getting cocky lately thanks to strong early successes, telling the rest of us just how we should run things in our own domains based solely on the fanatical devotion of his followers.

Frankly, I'd never cared for him, even when his people were a bunch of back-water louts with no idea how to build a working city plan let alone dig themselves out of the mud huts they were living in. That, and I couldn't stand the way he treated them. With his “no gods before me” insistence and all of his punishments, it just seemed like he was laying it on a bit thick.

Of course, it was hard to argue with his results. Apparently he'd gone and found the only people out there that wanted to be smacked around and call it love, and the formula had been working wonders for him while the rest of us were struggling just to bring in the numbers. We weren't exactly all nobility and light ourselves, but most of the others I'd talked to found that a whole bunch of honey – magic, medicine, maybe some technology – and a little bit of vinegar – the occasional sacrifice to prove undying loyalty – tended to make for an excellent worshiper overall and a produce a well-rounded people.

We'd never been too worried about migration, about our followers moving around freely as they saw fit. What I lost I'd find again from someone else when their policies became to onerous or they weren't able to deliver. But not him. Oh no. It was either him or nothing, a stricture we'd become increasingly concerned about as the centuries rolled by. He'd agreed to meet me here to at least discuss some sort of accommodation, but it looked like he was going to blow me off.

In a way, it was good to see. It meant I had a case to bring up with the others the next time we met. We were a conservative group despite out power – or maybe because of it – and most of us didn't want to act rashly. Together, we could probably crush him and send him running for the bosom of the Galactic Mother, but we'd rather not affect things so directly if we didn't have to. It would be better for all concerned – gods and their humans alike – if we could just settle this peacefully.

I sighed as I floated off and angled down toward the surface of the planet. A peace still might be possible, even with his breaking of his word, and so long as I couched it properly the more hot-headed of our group would likely listen to reason. We'd had different experiences on this planet, some of us having to deal with single-minded aggression from neighboring peoples and some able to remain neutral and aloof, building a cohesive theology on vast and barren plains.

A whiff of smoke caught my attention – a whiff to me, at any rate – something massive was burning. I skipped down quickly, no time passing between thought and descent. A large, walled city was under attack, followers of a god I didn't recognize holed up inside and desperately praying for salvation. I could see his shimmering form above the city; he was weak and transparent. His last followers were being extinguished, and he along with them.

Scanning the ranks of the attackers, I could easily make out their nationality and allegiance. He had chosen them in part because they looked different than the other tribes in the area, but even had they shared the same appearance as the ones trapped in the burning city, the looks of fanatical devotion on their faces would have been enough. Behind them, hovering some two hundred yards up a bloody slope, was the fool himself.

No moment passed and I was there.

- What do you think you're doing? - Our speech was not something the attackers or defenders could recognize or hear, but rather on an order of a magnitude so great it simply passed by the small planet on which we stood

- Doing? What does it look like? Eliminating the competition – There it was, that smug self-satisfaction I'd never liked about him. From the moment he came into existence, he'd always believed himself to be better than us, despite the methods he used.

- We had a meeting – or did you forget thanks to your amusements? - Several distant planets bent at the force of my sarcasm, but it brought no reaction from him.

- Hardly. I needed to keep you distracted, believing I would appear. Even now, my men march against your stronghold. -

My view shifted and I was present, bathed in the blood of my faithful as they were slaughtered by the devout and smiling faces of his men. I glanced down to see my own form losing consistency, thinning out to be re-proportioned among the universe.

I glanced up and he stood there, smiling broadly and glowing ever brighter. A part of my essence went to him with each death, with each man impaled in the name of his enemy's god.

- Why? - I couldn't keep the sorrow from my voice, and a sun light-years distant flamed out. - I had hoped to save you from them!-

- Save me? I appreciate your foolish attempt to protect my well-being, but I have no need of it. I've grown beyond you, beyond the need for control or consensus. You rule by partitioned power, by allowing those that serve you to partake in your own essence, and their deaths give me strength. - He pointed and a nearby mountain trembled and exploded, sluggish magma oozing out of its cracked top. - I keep what is mine and become stronger, as is right. These creatures you created were meant to serve and they do so admirably. -

The last of my strength was sapped, drifting outward and into the creature he'd become.

- You won't get away with this. They'll stop you. Time will judge you. -

He laughed, loud enough to rock the firmament itself.

- Time will name me liberator, mercy. Time will forget your name was ever spoken. -