Chapter 21 #2
He observed the traditions and the customs of the people here, and realized that in order to be venerated, in order to be recognized, Chaos needed a physical manifestation.
Around that time, a vast number of people were worshiping the sun.
When Chaos looked at the sun, he realized that the sun was indeed a very good encapsulation of explosions, fissions, fire, energy, and raw possibility.
Perhaps Chaos could wear the guise of the sun, and therefore presented himself as Sol.
He began fulfilling the wishes and prayers of people who prayed at the altar of Sol, and suddenly interest really deepened in this god who was now being so benevolent on its followers.
And yet, Chaos did not want to share in his godhood with anyone else, not even the being who presided over this universe, Aeterna.
They never met. For two gods never meet, especially if they are antagonistic to one another.
But Chaos started to wage his war against Aeterna by affecting his followers with a single-minded madness to burn her books and to destroy her temples.
Soon enough, Chaos realized that this was not enough; that he needed more firm paradigms of religiosity in order to overtake Aeterna, and so he blessed the lineage of Solwyn and started to appear in their dreams, choosing them as champions.
It was very convenient for Chaos that a lot of the history of House Solaris and the family Solwyn aligned with the story that he had made up for himself.
Chaos hated the concept of resurrection.
For Chaos believed that out of nothingness we came, and into nothingness we went, and nothingness was nothing if not another synonym for Chaos.
After a life died, Chaos wanted to own it again, to take that soul and integrate it into its big vortex of nothingness.
But people were still following the old religion of Aeternum, and that was when he decided to create a champion, not in the image of the Solwyn family, but another entirely, and that is when he set his eyes upon a young, powerful wizard named Mortandagh, and nudged him with dreams, visions, and aspirations to become a follower of Aeterna.
For how could somebody suspect a follower of Aeterna of anything but true devotion to this old blood and old religion?
And the plan was perfect. Chaos, through his power, granted Mortandagh the power of necromancy, masking it as Aeternumancy.
Mortandagh realized at some point that his resurrections were not true, like the resurrections of old.
But so long had passed since the last of the resurrectionists and the Death Shepherds had died that now only he was a living practitioner of this art, and his art was not perfect.
What was worse was there was a movement against him, and so Chaos’s plan was perfect.
He had both used Aeterna, and he had weaponized the faith of the Solignity people, and had waged a war that would smite Aeterna and Aeternumancy from the face of Aladria.
Once it would be smote from the face of Aladria, it would also be destroyed from the rest of the world.
For Aladria was the heart of magic on Earth.
But then something happened that Chaos did not anticipate.
Aeterna awoke from her slumber and chose a Death Shepherd.
The first one in hundreds of years. Where is that Death Shepherd?
We know not. Who is that Death Shepherd?
That we also do not know, but so much hinges upon that prophet of Death, for they will not only bring balance to Aladria, but they will also single-handedly be responsible for shunning Chaos back into the outer realms where it came from, and restoring Aeterna’s name into the world.
Lesya put down the book, trying to understand everything that she had read.
It didn’t make a lot of sense to her, and yet some of it did.
Whoever had written this book had also included a prophecy that was well ahead of their time.
The prophecy spoke of her, so she continued reading, and as she read, she discovered that Chaos had a hold over Mortandagh, and that the reason Mortandagh hadn’t died was because Chaos was secretly granting him a false life.
Lesya wondered how Mortandagh would take it if she showed him all of this information—that he had been played like a puppet from the start.
She continued reading. She read other books, but none of them contained as vital information as did Ars Aeterna.
Another chapter spoke of the duties of the prophet.
The duties were that the prophet would not only bring balance to Aladria, but also teach people how to bring people back from the dead.
She would teach true resurrection, and that after that time, there shall be no gods but Death.
That was the strange note upon which the book ended, and Lesya was quite confused.
The next two days she spent in confusion, avoiding the people of the house, going on long walks along the shore on her own, until the following night Aeterna finally came to her in her dream.
The Mother of Death sat in the cosmic cemetery, larger than life, face pale as death, and looked at Lesya without any expression.
“So you’re finally here,” Lesya scoffed. “Where were you all this time?”
“Observing,” said Aeterna quietly. “Seeing what you could do, and I am disappointed, for you have done nothing.”
“I did not ask for this responsibility thrust upon my shoulders, so you might have taken into consideration that if you had asked for my consent and I had said no, you could have had another prophet, somebody who would have been far more productive and fruitful for your endeavors. I do not want to take part in this game between Chaos and you,” she said.
“So you know the story now. You know how Chaos wears the guise of a god and ridicules my name and tries to diminish who I am.”
“That sounds like a problem between you and Chaos. Have you ever considered talking to him yourself?” she asked, raising her voice.
“It is not for me to talk to somebody who is so beneath me. Chaos thinks he created the world. That is not true. The world created itself. The world itself, this universe, is a living, breathing entity. Chaos had no hand in it. Chaos lies. Chaos wants to control the world, or have you not noticed?”
“I couldn’t give two shits. My boyfriend is dead, and so is my best friend, and I have gone through such torture and heartbreak as I am sure few have.” Lesya’s voice began to break. “What do I have left to live for? Why does this cause interest me?”
“If you do not align yourself with this cause, the world will end. Chaos will win, and there will be nothing that you can do about it. Do you want to be lost in endlessness, or do you want some order to prevail in this world? For that to happen, there has to be a world. Will you not fight for your world?”
“If you’re so worried about the world,” Lesya said, weeping, “then you should fight for it yourself.”
“I am fighting for it myself,” Aeterna said. “Why do you think I have chosen you as my champion? Why do you think I have bestowed upon you powers that were long thought forgotten? You are my Death Shepherd.”
“No, I’m not,” Lesya said.
“Then perhaps I was wrong to choose you.”
“Perhaps you were,” said Lesya.
Aeterna sat quietly.
“You are hurt,” she said. “You have seen pain that you should not have seen.”
“And it has made me weaker, not stronger,” Lesya said. She walked amongst the tombstones toward Aeterna and said, “Take it back, this power. I do not want it. I have not been able to do anything good with it.”
“You have not lived long enough, Lesya Rosefield, to see what good you can do of it. But if you are so adamant, then I shall choose another Death Shepherd in another age, should the world live to see another age,” Aeterna said.
Lesya’s heart sank as she woke from her dream, feeling as though some great power had been lifted out of her, leaving her hollow.
There was a knock at the door. Lesya sat up in bed and saw Moira Knightley standing there, ready for battle.
“What’s wrong?” Lesya asked.
“The battle has started at Umbrveyl. The Deathless have attacked, and Mortandagh himself is there. He is calling for all of his followers. We are going there, me, Derleth, Elise, and Victoria. Who will you fight with?”
“It’s all lies. Nobody is better than the other one. This entire thing is just a power grab between two deities who cannot stand one another.”
“Be that as it may,” Moira said, “it is humans who get to fight the gods’ battles. I do not care about Aeterna, and I don’t give a fuck about Sol. But I love Umbrveyl, and I love this place and the people, and I do not think that Mortandagh is in the wrong.”
“Have you read this book? It literally says here that he is being controlled by Chaos,” Lesya said. “Chaos thinks he’s being clever, creating the hero, creating the villain, and setting the stage for a fight that will smear Aeterna’s name. It’s…”
“Be that as it may, he has made change in this country, and he is fighting the good fight. If what your book says is true, it doesn’t change the fact that Mortandagh is doing what’s right for this country. So will you fight for him, or will my son’s death be of no consequence?” Moira said.
“I will fight, but I am not fighting for Mortandagh, nor am I fighting for the Vanguard. I want revenge on Elias,” Lesya said, standing up. “For it was no one else but him who killed Cassian.”