The Book of Black Justice
Chapter 3
…Synod of Arwinter…
"…Yet there have always been only six gods!" A priest seated high above Neia Baraja said firmly.
"NO!" Neia replied emphatically. "We know there was a time when there were no gods at all! Do your scriptures not state that the six great gods you worship 'descended' to the world? And that they did so six hundred years ago? Where were they then? Did they not come from another place with their impossible materials and overwhelming might? Did they not come to us, rather than always being among humanity? Had they been among humanity, would we have needed them to save us in the first place?!" Neia asked, pointing high up at the elderly figure as she asked her question. She did not wait for an answer, she whirled around and then began to pace the center stage around the tables laid out for her use.
"I tell you that wherever the ones you called gods came from, they are no longer here. They have left this world and have not descended to fight for humanity since that time. I tell you that now a new god has emerged, who is clearly far more powerful than any being ever to visit this world before. Can anyone here tell me which being showed the kind of power displayed on the Katze Plains?"
Silence greeted her, it was a silence Neia played to fervently as she allowed it to stretch out. "Can any of you tell me of a power displayed by the old gods that was equal to the destructive power of Jaldabaoth?" She probed further, her haunting, terrifying eyes catching people, demanding an answer, and receiving only a shrinking away and a thunderous silence.
"When the six great gods of old, as you call them, established the first human nation, did they do it in a day, or over the span of years?" She asked. She received no answer, so she pointed at an elderly woman, a priestess of the god of light, by her attire. "You, how long did it take?"
The woman stroked her chin thoughtfully, looking for some trick and finding none, she said, "The first human kingdom established by the gods was formed over a six year period of conquest, expansion, and the rescue of human slaves and other captives. The gods did a great work in that time, and saved us, their chosen people, from destruction." She smiled in satisfaction, her wrinkled face bore the marks of one who had spent many years smiling, so Neia was not pleased by having to take it from her now, yet the will of the Sorcerer King would be done, and so she took the old woman's smile away with her next words.
"The Sorcerer King established his own nation in one single day, and his liberation of my nation from a power vastly greater by the tacit admission of this esteemed body, took him a single year. Moreover, in a matter of a few weeks, he conquered the Abelion Hills, an area that was never captured by the six great gods and which spans the distance that the gods of old took three years to seize for humanity. What is more, the saving of my country was done against both demons and demihumans. You all know the power of the demon maids he claimed, each of them displayed power on par or nearly so, to the power of any of the demon gods that were sufficient to defeat Surshana. Yet not only did he fight a power vastly greater than anything the old gods ever revealed, he fought those four demons as well! If any of the gods you turn to had done this, you would call it the strongest of the gods! So why then…why do you not acknowledge the Sorcerer King for the god he very clearly is?! Neia asked to the synod's attendees, holding her arms out openly, as if to embrace them all.
Lakyus sat smirking down at Neia from her seat among the priests and priestesses of the god of water, she was thoroughly enjoying this. Neia had refused her private offer to script questions that would allow her to better account for her position, but that did not mean that Lakyus could not offer some measure of help regardless. In her heart of hearts, the figure who gave her sister peace, who perhaps saved her family…was on par with any deity. In quiet nights, in the darkness alone when Evileye was not with her, she wondered…had she not seen the changes wrought by the Sorcerer King…could she have struck down her precious little…older sister? Could she have killed Keeno? It tortured her sometimes and more than once, she'd woken up in the embrace of the little vampire, grateful to still find her still with her, fearing a terrible dream to be real. Acceptance of her sister had brought her guilt for her past failings, and her private apostasy was made more easily borne by contrast. Now, here, at the Synod of Arwinter, she could repay a debt to the Sorcerer King by proxy, by aiding Neia Baraja, and also create a world where Keeno did not need a mask to avoid scorn, hatred, and fear.
As a motive, it was a strong one, and so she stood and asked, "You say he is strongest of the gods, that he is wise and just, why you have even said that he IS justice, why then does he accept demihumans…heteromorphs…monsters, beings who are enemies of humanity, as his citizens?"
"Who here has been to E-Rantel or Carne?!" Neia answered with a shout. Many hands went up. "Keep your hands up if you saw demihumans, giants, dragons, heteromorphs, even vampires, living and working there!" Hands remained in the air. "Did anyone see a vampire consume a human? Did anyone see an ogre devour children? Did anyone see demihumans and humans fighting outside of the arena in safe contest? Tell me who saw any 'enemy of humanity' perpetrate a crime against any human! Keep your hand up if you did!" Hands went down.
"If they were our enemies, why were they not attacking us? Why were they working honestly and living well and doing justly? Is this what enemies do? Did you not see at Carne how the humans kept the walls with elves who traded night shifts with vampires and quagoa? Did you not see dwarves and ogres building great structures or the undead farming under human control? The enemies of humanity are not born! They are made by choice! Who lives beside me is my neighbor, who fights beside me is my brother or my sister, who dies for me is my example, who sweats and bleeds beside me is my hero, who lives to make tomorrow better is the true servant of my god!"
She paced around the room again, meeting every gaze and chilling everyone who heard her to the bone, "That is what my sacred scriptures say! That is the justice of my god! The one true god!" She said with adamantite conviction, "The old gods did not achieve this, the new god has, he has destroyed ALL the enemies of humanity!"
There were confused glances around as people struggled to puzzle out her words. "He has destroyed our enemies, by making us friends, brothers, sisters, comrades, neighbors! He has given us the greatest nation the world has ever seen or ever will see! He and he alone!" She pointed up as if to heaven, to the right light of the sun which shone through the open ceiling to illuminate her as if she were an angel, "I tell you now that the enemies of humanity are those who would tear us apart! Who would set elf against human, dwarf against quagoa, dragon against them all, and send vampires flying into the night instead of living peacefully in the light! In all the Sorcerous Empire, there has not been a single rogue vampire attack! Instead, people have given freely, and vampires protect us all, while at the same moment, we have also protected them! All who keep to the laws of our divine king, the supreme one, are accorded a place in our familial nation! Is that not just?! Is it not right that those who live in peace be left in peace?! These are the very words of my scriptures!"
"But he is undead!" a priest shouted.
"Yes…yes he is." Neia said, her voice descending into a whisper that echoed from wall to wall and carried from ear to ear, and yet for its quietness it had lost not an iota of its power, "He is undead, he is the undying king, he, fit to rule forever, he stands apart from us…in a distant way that no being, not even the six great gods of old ever did." She approached a priest sitting at ground level and removing her glove, she touched his face and met his eyes with an emotive gaze of her own. "He has given the greatest sacrifice that any being ever truly could." Her voice caught in her throat as she forced out the words, "You have all felt the warmth of the sun, the tender softness of the flesh of a loved one giving way beneath your touch, the warmth of good food in your belly, the taste of sweet wine on your tongue…all these things you know intimately, so well that you cannot fathom their absence…yet he has them not!" She swept her gaze around the room again. "He has lost them all! Even true companionship is denied him! I love him as a father, yet I can never be his peer, never be his equal, all those who called comrades are gone from him, he stands at the pinnacle of a great pyramid of power where no other being can ever reach again, he is left alone, bereft, neither living nor dead, having only power…power and a responsibility that he has adopted for himself as his noble obligation, to use his power for our world, to save us from our own destruction! Can any of you say you stand alone! Can any of you bear what he bears, to never embrace another as a true brother or sister, an equal, a friend? Even kings have peers among others who share their burden across borders, but he does not, and he bears this burden not for one lifetime, but forever as an immortal king over kings, the one king of one land of one world, who alone is capable of securing our future! How can I not call him god? How can you hesitate?!"
"Speak up! If you can bear the emptiness, he carries within him by his station!" Silence greeted her, "He bears a lonely duty, the very least we can do is to call him what he truly must be, to bear such a weight for all our sakes!" She said emphatically. "What does the form he takes matter, when we should first be looking at the duty he bears upon the shoulders of that form?!" She snapped back at the priest who seemed critical of the undead.
The sun crept across the sky as questions came and went to and from Neia Baraja, yet neither voice nor confidence faltered as the woman, the general, the first human worshiper of Ainz Ooal Gown, pressed her claims and her arguments onto an audience that was not easily convinced and more than a little hostile in a few cases. Finally the sun no longer shone on her, and it came time for the day to end, and she headed for the exit.
Though she was the first one out, she was in no rush to leave, instead she leaned against the wall next to the entrance with her arms folded over her chest, one foot flat against the wall behind her, and her trademark visor over her eyes. She was waiting for someone, and that someone was not long in coming. "Hello, Lakyus." Neia said smartly, but with a pleasant smile on her face.
Lakyus turned around and approached her, she came close, and embraced her as a comrade. "Neia, it's good to see you up close again. I hope you're well?"
"I am, thank you." Neia said as they stepped back from one another. "I honestly wasn't sure you were going to attend…"
Lakyus shook her head, "No, I had to be here, for Keeno."
Neia nodded in understanding, "I should have figured on that, still feeling guilty?"
Lakyus nodded, "She's forgiven me, but it'll be a long time before I forgive myself."
Neia gestured away from the wall, "I'm going to eat, join me?"
"Happily." Lakyus replied, and the two women walked down the street, they were an eye-catching pair. Lakyus wore a white garb meant for a priestess of the nobility, formal and beautiful…but also wore her legendary sword and her luxurious blonde hair fell freely down her back. Neia by contrast, wore the green armor of the grand king Busar, boots of black, and gloves of red, with a black cloak with a hood down, baring her youthful face save for that which was covered by a visor, her straw covered hair kept short and practical, a sword at her side and her legendary bow on her back. They were given a wide berth as they walked.
"Perhaps that is why it was so easy for her to forgive you?" Neia proposed.
"How do you mean?" Lakyus probed.
"Well, if you step on my toes, and offer an apology you don't mean, I may not take you at your word, I may get angry or resentful. But if you step on my toes, and apologize sincerely, showing by your body language that you did it by accident, well then because you obviously mean it, it is easy to let go of annoyance even if it hurt. Perhaps because she sees how sincerely bothered you are by your past behavior, she finds it easier to let go of any hard feelings she might have had over it. After all, when you knew, you accepted her, maybe it took some time to accept everything, but you did, so just let the guilt fade in its own time." Neia said as they browsed the various shops along the streets of the prosperous capital city.
"And your point is?" Lakyus asked, more curious than anything.
"Perhaps don't let your guilt bother you so much, think of it as the tool that let the rift between you heal. It served a purpose, and you're just slow at putting it down. I don't think she'll mind when you do, especially if you're helpful now. Which leads me to my question, if you don't mind?" Neia asked.
"Ask away." Lakyus replied.
"Do you actually accept that the Sorcerer King is the god I say he is…or is this just you settling a debt?" Neia asked with seriousness and curiosity in her voice.
"First thing first." Lakyus said, "Would you like to eat here?" She asked, gesturing to a place with the succulent smell of meat wafting through the open door.
"Actually, I've made reservations." Neia said.
"For two?" Lakyus asked.
"No, for four." Neia replied with a clever smile.
"Ahhh…four?" Lakyus asked.
"Yes, you, me, Skana, and CZ." Neia said, "You didn't think I'd leave my wife and best friend behind while I'm here, did you?"
"No, no I guess not." Lakyus said with an amused chuckle, "It'll be good to see them both again, I didn't really get much time after…the incident, it was such a whirlwind after Wenmark and meeting the Sorcerer King and…" Neia touched Lakyus's arm. "Relax. You're just going to have dinner with one of the maid demons of the most powerful god ever to exist in this world, a dragon riding pope, and her exceptionally deadly, scripture killing wife."
Lakyus laughed, "Even as an adamantite adventurer…that is equal parts not comforting and the strangest sentence I've ever heard, and I live with Gagaran."
Neia grinned, "It wasn't meant to comfort, I was just boasting." She cracked a smile and Lakyus laughed more deeply.
Lakyus shook her head, "I don't mean I'm nervous, even if I'd never met them, a friend of yours is a friend of mine, it's just, the last time I saw you all together, you were going…" She quieted.
Neia's face went somber, "To Illyana's funeral. Yeah. I'm…I'm going back after the Synod, when…Ainz…the Sorcerer King is declared to be the god he is, his edicts will sweep away any remnants of the system of ownership that abused so many elves, then I can go to her grave again and tell her I kept my promise." Neia said, her voice growing tight as she tried to force the words out, and Lakyus, the priestess of the god of water, the private apostate, the heretic, took the hands of the Pope of Black Justice into hers and said, "I'll go with you next time, I never knew her, but I think, wherever she is, she'd be glad to see so many there to support you in paying your respects."
"Thank you." Neia said softly, and then pointed to a nearby place, "This is it." It was a nice looking place, smooth wood lacquer and with a well dressed young man standing just inside the door at a waist high podium. Neia walked in and approached the worker, "Reservation for four, under Neia Baraja."
"And I'm the pope." He said flatly.
"No," Neia said with a grin that told Lakyus she was used to this, "I am the Pope, check the reservations please." She said politely. The man rolled his eyes, looked, and then his expression went awed.
"Ahhh…ohh…I'm, please forgive me Pope Neia! I…" Neia waved her hand dismissively.
"Think nothing of it, this sort of thing happens all the time." Neia said with a laugh and the embarrassed, now red faced employee, led her to a table.
When they were seated, Lakyus asked her, "Why is that?"
"Well, people think all legends are as tall as a giant…and I'm…a bit closer to a dwarf than a giant, so I'm never quite what they expect. I don't really mind, but that is why I always have my reservations booked with a description of what I look like up close, it makes things easier." She said with some patience in her voice as they checked the menu.
"Now, my question?" Neia asked.
"Oh…well…I honestly don't know." Lakyus answered, "I worshiped a god who never presented himself to me, not even once in a lifetime, now here is this being who shows more power than the most outlandish stories of the water god's life and I ask myself…what even is a god? It seems stupid that I never asked that before, and in the end, I realized this…it doesn't really matter if he's a god like the water god, greater, lesser, or if there were no gods and only supremely powerful beings. It's my job to side with whoever is making the world better, and I think he's doing that, and will continue to do that. So it is my job to back him, no matter what he really is. Does that answer your question?" Lakyus said as a server approached with wine, just as Skana and CZ appeared at the table.
"What question?" Skana asked curiously as she leaned over and kissed Neia on the cheek, before she and CZ seated themselves.
"Nothing of importance." Neia said with a smile, "So…who's hungry?"