As the messenger of the gods, and the chosen oracle of Müllenkamp, Sydney has been known to do and say many remarkable things. I've seen him summon the elements, and read the hearts of the people who gather round to hear his words, delving into the secret parts of their souls and divining the truth, that they might believe. More frighteningly, I've seen him touched by the gods, breathing revelations of the past and future as if they were no more than an ordinary tale to be told.
The gods' touch transfigures him into something more and something less than even he normally is, laying their spirit upon him and making him their vessel. Always he seems to become larger, stronger than his physical body would suggest, and immense power radiates from him while he grows as distant and serene as they, but I've learned to identify each of the gods now, just from the nuances each lends him. When it is Marduk, god of the storm, his eyes grow dark, and seem to flash with an inner lightning as he speaks. Talia, maiden goddess of the water, causes his movements to become even more graceful as he gestures, painting his prophecies in motion as well as speech. Palolo, the mother earth goddess, lends him a soft smile and a whisper to reassure, even while he speaks the unspeakable; and then there is the look of all-consuming hunger when he is being spoken through by Tamulis, god of fire. Kadesh, the goddess of light, love, and fertility, never seems to come through quite properly, and that is perhaps no surprise. His soul is saturated with the Dark, the natural bane of her Light, and doubtless she finds him an uncomfortable host.
It cannot be helped; the Dark has no god to govern it aside from the Keeper, which originated in Müllenkamp after the destruction of the great devil Balam, who became maddened by the Dark's void. The task of Keeper now has fallen to him. In a sense, Sydney has become that missing god, completing the circle and holding the balance. But though he is the closest equivalent, sometimes too I see him filled with the Dark - for it has a will all its own, and it fights against the authority of someone who was once born of a mortal woman. When it fills him, there is none of the peace and poise the gods lend him, but only a sense of overwhelming, frightening power, and a look of madness in his eyes as he rants and raves of things unseen. I've wondered if that madness is of the Dark itself or his own soul slowly corrupted, just as Balam's was, but thankfully it has always passed, though he is left ill and exhausted afterwards. The hand of any of the gods causes this to some degree, so it is not so frightening; it is something I can understand.
One thing I do not understand. When filled with the spirit of any of the gods, he never fails to have a look of distant serenity. Yet each time he turns to me in the midst of their visions, looking down upon me with the eyes of the gods, such sorrow fills his face that it could break a man's heart. What revelation he might be seeing then has never been explained. I suppose revelations and prophecies are for those whose faith is still unformed, not for those who have already pledged service no matter what may come... but even those of us with faith still have our questions.