Chapter Forty-Two
Coran was waiting at the far end of the Paragon Hall, with many of the old gang already in tow by the time Devona, Aidan, and Yue arrived.
"Ah, I see you found them." Coran stated the obvious, dropping a loving hand onto Devona's hip and giving her a swift kiss on the cheek. In response, Yue made a sound that sounded suspiciously like a gag, but waved off concern; embarrassed when she realized it had been quite so audible.
"Cynn, I am sorry for your loss." Aidan said. "I do apologize that I had secluded myself to the point that I had to learn secondhand."
Cynn shrugged. "I guess it happens. The doctor here estimates that the baby was effectively lost a month ago from the final tests he or she, I can't remember which… they all look the same to me… anyway, so my trauma within the Seer's Cavern likely didn't do anything more than possibly accelerating the purging."
"I doubt that's any condolence." The ranger answered. In some ways, Cynn had become the little sister he never had, and sense from Devona's interaction with the elementalist that the warrior had similar sentiments.
"No, not really… but it is what it is." She responded, then cracked a rare, good-intentioned smile. "But I have my friends, and my family. And we still have much greater concerns to deal with."
"Which brings us to where we are now." Coran interrupted, hands on the massive stone doors at the end of the Paragon Hall. "I ask that you behave with the same reverence within the shrine as you would any other house of the gods. It will be a rather tight fit, and perhaps not terribly comfortable."
He shoved open the door with the sound of grinding stone, and into what was indeed a rather cramped space; a shrine intended for two, maybe three people. Pyre didn't even try to enter, instead taking a spot just outside the door and leaning his head in over Gwen.
"I swear to Lyssa, if you drool on me, I'm taking your tongue." The mesmer threatened.
"Enough." Coran reprimanded, and lit the candles that provided illumination in the otherwise darkened space.
"That's a statue of Kormir!" Mhenlo exclaimed when the light provided a clearer view of the shrine as a whole.
"She came to us presumably shortly after her ascension." Coran related as he finished lighting the candles around the statue. "Aresssh near immediately recognized her power and station, and declared that the paragons here would accept her as their patron goddess. This shrine was built shortly after. I suspect if anyone would have the answers we seek, it would be the Goddess of Knowledge."
"Calling on me will be unnecessary, headmaster." The goddess's voice declared. "I am already here."
Coran had began to drop to his knees in meditative prayer, and joined his fellows as they looked up to see that the statue had literally come to life in the blindfolded form they recognized quite well… with alterations that many of them also knew very well.
The blindfold that Kormir had worn to cover her damaged eyes up through her ascension and beyond only covered the top two… four others, gleaming gold, running down to the top of her cheek were unclad, unblinking, very reminiscent of the vile god she replaced.
"Before you ask; this is not the taint of Abaddon." Kormir said. "But I am changing… due to the taint of the same power that desecrated and corrupted my predecessor. Unlike the other gods, Abbadon, and now myself, know the true nature of the nightmare that spawned us. We have knowledge of the… thing… that birthed the gods you know. That knowledge… is a curse… a nightmarish, sanity gnawing curse." At this point, the normally unflappable being choked, "I… I have no doubt, even as staunch as I am… that if nothing is done, I will follow the path of Abaddon… I will succumb to the madness. I will submit to the dark beast that… I guess the closest description I can make is that he is the father of the gods themselves."
"The father of the gods?" Mhenlo gasped. "So the creators have a creator?"
"There is much disinformation to dispel… much inconvenient truths that must be made light before I can continue." Kormir sighed. "I understand the necessity that my new brethren felt…" There was a moment's silence as if Kormir had been interrupted by an invisible beckon, but her focus turned back towards the gathering and her voice returned. "My apologies… my fellows do not wish for me to speak of this." She then smiled. "I told them quite earnestly just where they could stick their concerns. It is time for knowledge to rule the day."
A series of new lights appeared behind the animated statue of Kormir, five in total… the avatars of the other gods had materialized, overlapping each other at some points within the close confines.
"Since our newest sister will be undaunted from her current actions…" The Avatar of Dwayna said warily, "… we have supposed it would be best to be present to fill in any gaps that might occur in her recitation of events."
The Goddess of Air shifted slightly, and Mhenlo could sense her gaze upon him. In a mental voice meant only for him, she offered an apology. I… extend remorse for my actions within the den of insanity. I was afraid… afraid of what you would find… and how it would reflect upon me. I am ashamed that I did not live up to the very standards I set.
Mhenlo found he couldn't easily accept the apology, but as the presence of the goddess left him, he didn't sense any anger from being rebuffed. Perhaps Dwayna was truly regretful; but it would take time for the monk to fully trust in her like he had in the past… and she seemed to understand that and accept it at least.
"So then… do tell… what is within that cavern? How is it the 'father of the gods'?"
"Contrary to what we have spread over the millennia, we are not the creators of this world." Kormir said almost candidly. "There is actually very little we created. We had our hand in the creation of the Ssleth, and some of the younger dragons, but not much else. Dragonkind predates us… the races of Tyria predate us… even the humans that revere us."
"We… were once human ourselves." Grenth spoke, his disgust at such a notion evident. "As much as we may be loathe to acknowledge that."
This was rather much for most of the assembly to absorb, but the gods seemed unwilling to let them catch up. "Almost three thousand years ago, in the region of the world known as Elona, the old gods as you know them, and many you don't know or only know of in passing, were one tribe of humans, scratching out a living under the shadow of many greater beasts. That changed… with the coming of the Seers, the Mursaat that fought them, and the great god among gods, the void beast…" She paused, as if pondering. "The human tongue is not capable of producing the repulsive sounds that comprise its name, I fear."
"The closest approximation we made was 'Bhu'khahuh'." Melandru related grimly.
"It came from the great expanse of the void, beyond this world." Kormir continued. "There is no way to describe the distance it traveled, or even where it came. That knowledge is even beyond myself. It crashed to Tyria in a ball of fire… its corrupting tendrils weaving into the world itself. Its arrival stirred the ancient giant beasts of the world, a war of evils that nearly destroyed everything… but in the end, the ancient lords of the world lost, and were cast down in either death or a great torpor from which they still haven't awakened."
"We were the tribe closest to where Bhu'khahuh arrived." Lyssa added. "Over the years after the war of the ancient ones, we noticed we were changing."
"We believe it was the proximity to the great void god that changed us." Balthazar then interjected. "Even as it sought to feed on the world, we were also gaining its power. In time, we were no longer human, we had become something more."
"Soon, came the Mursaat, and another great war against the might of Bhu'khahuh." Kormir resumed. "But this one, with our new powers, we were able to contend. "Finding momentary alliance with the Mursaat, we did what the ancient beasts could not… we thwarted the Great Old One, and sent him into the same deep sleep that he punished upon his earlier foes."
"Why not kill this Buh… Buk… Bah-thing, and be done with it?" Devona queried.
"For the same reason we couldn't kill the gods that turned on us." Dwayna answered. "The same reason why Dhuum and Menzies still live, despite in weakened states, to give us trouble. The same reason why we could not be the ones to destroy Abaddon once and for all… why we had to ask some of you present to take on that task."
"We discovered that our fates are tied… our powers are linked in such a way that they cannot be used against one another to such great extremes." Balthezar elaborated, "If I were to kill Menzies, for example… it would kill me in the process."
"We were only spared great harm with the death of Abaddon by Kormir assuming our brother's power before it back lashed against us." Melandru continued.
"You're afraid that if Bhu'khahuh is slain… it will mean the end of all of you." Coran deduced.
"It is the likely scenario, yes." Kormir admitted. "The void god's power cannot possibly be assumed by anything, even one or all of us. Bhu'khahuh's death would unleash all its great and frightening and insane power… even protected in the barrier of the Mists… there is no guarantee any of us would survive."
"That is why we sought to keep you from discovering our 'father's' lair. We were afraid of what his corrupting insanity would do to you… and were afraid of what it meant for us." Dwayna said regretfully.
"But now there is no helping it." Kormir declared. "We sensed Bhu'khahuh is starting to shrug off the sleep that was forced upon him. The alliance between the Mursaat and the gods was broken long ago, and even if it weren't, our power would not be enough to thwart the Great Old One again."
There was reluctance… but the other gods echoed their agreement. "No matter what it may do to us or mean for us… it is our duty to stand aside and ask you to again fight in our stead."
"Wait a minute…" Aidan protested. "It was one thing to ask us to do the near impossible and fight one of your fallen kin. This is entirely another. You expect us to confront, defeat, and destroy a force that you yourself acknowledge you cannot!"
"He will not be at his full might, especially right now while he is still fighting to awaken. Even if he does manage to fully rouse himself, he would not be at his whole all-consuming strength." Kormir assured. "Humans have the knowledge and the power needed to destroy Bhu'khahuh. You merely need to be encouraged to use it."
Coran found himself locking eyes with the Goddess of Truth and Knowledge. "You can't possibly know what you speak of."
"I do, son of Adelbern. I know all the alchemy that governs this universe." Kormir noted.
"It's too dangerous for humans, or any mortal race, to possess." He insisted.
"Then the whole of the world is doomed." Kormir retorted. "There is no other choice, I fear. You know of the hand of the gods… you must use it before all is lost."
"Again, we all apologize for the burden we must place upon you." Dwayna addressed in closing. "We can promise you nothing but the greatest of blessings another fold over within the Hall of Heroes should you succeed."
With that parting, the avatars dispersed into the air, and Kormir's statue resumed its lifeless state and posture.
Devona instantly turned on the one person who seemed to have a better grasp on what had been said than anyone else still present. "Coran… what were you both talking about? What do they mean by 'the hand of the gods'?"
Coran was still staring at Kormir's statue, locked in deep thought. "It was a discovery I made two years ago… a discovery I quickly realized could not be allowed to ever be applied by any mortal agency. I destroyed all records of my findings, and pretended like I was as lost as any of my contemporaries among the Asura."
Vekk's jaw dropped. "No… you can't possibly mean…"
"What?" Devona pressed.
Coran reached into his dress shirt, and emerged with pad and stencil. "I never thought I'd be issuing these calculations in any material capacity ever again." He muttered glumly as he scribbled, and forlornly handed it to his betrothed.
The odd symbols and Tyrian letters might as well have been a foreign language to her, and she quickly handed it over to Vekk, who had started reaching for it insistently the moment the pad touched the warrior's fingers.
Vekk's eyes scanned the surprisingly short equation, breathlessly translating in awe. "The potential energy of any object is equivalent to its full mass multiplied by the square of the speed of light… gods be damned… this is it!"
"Is what?" Cynn asked, annoyed by all the talking recently that didn't seem to really answer anything.
Vekk remained awestruck by what he was reading, and thus his response came out more as a whisper. "This… is the Eternal Alchemy…"