Chapter Four

Rehur

"Gods of the most high, we call upon you today…" the priest said, bowing to the Hork-Bajir.

The Great Priest himself turned to a large and unique Hork-Bajir, saying that he was the leader of the Gods. We all bowed low to him, and he smiled, a wily smile. Then he said something and pointed at our group.

"Come forward, devout followers," the Great Priest told us. Timidly, we walked forward. "You have been chosen to join us on the first pilgrimage. You will return changed men."

I looked around. These creatures…these gods…they were real. They weren't pictures on a temple wall.

I decided to follow, with the others. We were all nervous about what was happening. The gods had chosen us?

They took us on board their sky-boat, walked us through their metallic hallways, shiny and beautiful. They took us to a room that was filled with all sorts of creatures: clumsy things that were much like the Boarak To of Shimela, hairy things like the Bezirut of the plains, among other things.

In the middle was a pool of grayish sludge, and there were creatures swimming in it. They appeared to be slugs. There was a pier, where a bellowing Hork-Bajir had its legs kicked out from under it by three more, and its head sank beneath the water. Its head was withdrawn, and I could see one of those green slugs wriggling into an ear opening. Then the Hork-Bajir was released, and it walked away as if nothing had happened.

"D-did you see that, Rehur?" someone whispered in my ear. I turned. Beimit. He must have been there to visit the Yeerks. He was trembling, scared. Just like me.

"Be strong, Beimit," I said. "These are the gods. We mustn't question their ways."

"Those don't look like gods to me," he said, pointing to the sludgy water. "They look like slugs."

"They're disgusting. But maybe they're servants of the gods. Or coexist with them. Or something."

"Welcome, welcome!" Great Priest Atemus yelled. "Gather, gather round!" He was standing with that large, spiked Hork-Bajir. "This is your god, Indar! He comes down from the heavens to bless and nourish you!" He bowed before the one called Indar, and the others followed suite.

Indar spoke, in his odd foreign language. I believe it was called Galard. His tone was authoritative, and powerful. All eyes turned to him, standing there, towering over us, his red eyes beaming, the corners of his beak mouth turned up in a smile.

"Greetings, followers," Atemus translated. "You are most certainly about to witness a change. A transformation like no other! You are the best and brightest of your kind, the strongest and the healthiest. And one of you will serve as Indar's mouthpiece. Which of you? Hmm…"

Indar scanned the crowd, as I remained silent. I was not deserving of him. I was not deserving of this. I was a simple farmer, nothing else.

The others were loud and ecstatic. But Indar's red eyes passed them and focused themselves on me. Me. Of all people.

"You!" one of the Hork-Bajir, a dark green band rimmed with silver upon his shoulder, shouted at me in a crude version of our own. "Tell name!"

"Erudet End Rehur Yiaggi," I said slowly and nervously.

"Rehur!" yelled the Great Priest. "You shall now serve as the spokesperson of the great god Indar! You shall be his incarnation. His Perit Hur form, as a God of the People."

The Hork-Bajir urged me forward through a crowd of roughly three-hundred fellow Perit Hur. Beimit himself smiled at me. "Lucky Rehur."

Indar and Atemus, followed by an entourage of large, green banded Hork-Bajir, accompanied me to an empty room. Indar snapped his fingers, and these monstrosities grappled his arms legs.

"What are you doing to the great God?" I asked.

"Do not worry, Rehur," assured Atemus. "It is what is necessary."

I felt a blow to my back. "HEY!"

"You are doing the people a great honor."

"SHUT UP!"

Indar's head was placed on top of me. I could smell his breath. It smelled of the Erisha Tar tree, common to the Dolam forest. And his skin was rough and leathery.

At this time, I believed him to be no god, but a slimy, filthy, disgusting reptilian monster. But soon, I would view him as worse.

Something slimy slithered from his earhole to mine. I didn't know what it was, but I suspected a parasite of sorts.

I writhed and squirmed. And so did Indar. But he was dragged away, and soon, I was paralyzed. I couldn't move a single part of my body.

I tried to speak. I couldn't. And I could sense another presence in my head. Someone else.

(Hello, Rehur.)

Voice! In my head! But who?

I stirred. But it was not me moving my body. It was moving on its own! I rose to my feet, and watched the Hork-Bajir dragging Indar away.

(Vek Notur. A most spectacular specimen of a host. Wouldn't you say, Rehur?)

(Who are you?) I asked, expecting no answer. (What is going on?)

(I am your god, Indar.)

(You are no god.)

(Oh, I've read that in your mind. You don't believe that a creature such as that Hork-Bajir was a god. But he's just an outer shell for me. As you are at this moment.)

(What-) Then it dawned on me. (Oh. Gods. You are one of those slimy things.)

(Smart, smart Rehur. I knew you'd figure it out sometime. Yes, those are Yeerks in their natural state. Slugs. Helpless, swimming blind and deaf in the pools.) He started moving my body toward the door. He stumbled.

(Get out of me, Indar,) I told him. (Now.)

(You'll have your freedom. In an alloy cage.) He laughed in my head, turning around. Then he did a most stunning thing. He spoke, with my mouth. "The transference has been successful." (Stop giving me reasons to torture you…I ought to just tell you the truth.)

(Which is…?)

He sent me a mental image of a group of thirteen creatures. Some were Hork-Bajir. Some were Taxxons. Some I couldn't recognize. But they looked powerful. Commanding. Evil.

(The Yeerk Council of Thirteen. Rulers of my people.) The scene changed to a dismal scene where there were creatures hunched over with big faces and uneven arms. They slumped over. Lightning coursed through a sky of grey clouds. The soil on the planet was dark and rich, but there was little plant growth. And in the water…

Slugs. Grey-green in color. Slimy. Filthy. Blind. Deaf.

Suddenly, I was one of them, swimming in that sea. I couldn't hear, I couldn't see; I could feel, but just a bit. I was as helpless as the rest of them.

Then I took my first host. A head was shoved under the water. I secreted a numbing fluid and entered its ear. I folded myself into its brain. I took complete, absolute control of the creature. I experienced sight through the creature's eyes.

I returned to my own body. My stolen body. I began to head for the pool room, where some three-hundred or so Perit Hur awaited me. No, it was Indar who did this. It was he who was manipulating my very body.

When he stepped up to the dais, a roar erupted from the crowd. They were applauding the monster. The monster in my head. Worshipping him.