Simon Ikari looked out the window at the colossus in the city square.

It hadn't been long since he first assumed the mantle of King of Ikari City, and to be honest, it wasn't quite what he'd hoped for. The people weren't too hard to govern, it wasn't that... it was more that he had expected that he, himself, would feel... something. He didn't know what exactly, but he was expecting a qualitative change of some sort, appropriate to his new divinity. Or rather, the awakening of his latent divinity. As scion of the holy Ikari Family, he was fully aware of his own status, intrinsically, as well as how he was meant to act as a bridge between the Gods and the people.

His divine ancestors, The-Most-Gracious-Salvation-of-Shinji-no-kami and She-Who-Burns-in-Heaven-Asuka-no-kami, were counting on him.

How could he do it? How could he unlock his potential? How could he pilot the Eva?

Akira Aida walked in the heat of the summer sun. He wiped the sweat from his brow by rubbing his head against his arm. He couldn't do it with his arm directly, because... that's right! He was carrying the Central Pole. He had almost forgotten about that. It was so hot. And his body was almost dripping with sweat. Honestly, he felt like he would faint any second...

He turned his head to the other side to drink from the straw connected to a jug of water on his back. Really, it was amazing how simple such a device could be. It didn't even require any electricity to function. Unlike the Statue.

The Statue consisted of several tons of pure gold, covered with robes of the finest linen, interwoven with gems of all sorts from the top of its head to its sandal-shod feet. It had been commissioned by the Royal House to the master craftsmen of the Hyuuga family over 100 years ago, who since prehistoric times were charged with all duties involving the Temple's construction, maintenance, and furnishing.

All the Temple's duties were divided into three parts, each managed by a particular priestly clan: The Aoba clan, of the semi-divine blood of Shigeru Aoba, were devoted to the musical services extolling the praise, thanksgiving, and prayers to the Divine Ones who resided within the Temple. They were organized into 24 watches, each of which was consisted of a branch of that ever-fertile family, each of which in turn had descended from one of Shigeru's 24 wives. The first week of the 49-week year, the men of the first watch sang, played their guitars, and led the people in prayer. The next week, the second watch did the same, while the first one remained home to hone their musical skills, as well as assist their wives with child-rearing. The next week, the third watch took over, and so on, until 24 weeks had passed, after which the cycle began again with the first watch.

There was also a special 25th watch descended from Shigeru's chief wife, Shizuka. Unlike their musical brethren, they bore the unique duty of education of the people. It was they who managed and taught at the schoolhouses of the city, which were located in an annex of the Temple complex, and it was they who preached the Word of the Divine Ones to the masses every month at the sacred festival of the Full Moon, when traditionally the Demon, Lilith, was at the climax of her power. It was then that it was most important that the citizenry follow the Divine Laws so that her reawakening would be prevented, and the world would avoid the cataclysmic battle of Good and Evil, God and Demon, that they had only been saved from by the intervention of the Most Ancient Divine Ones: Ikari and Sohryuu, who bravely took the Spears of Longinus to do battle with the Demon and her bird-daughters, in the battle known as the Great Impact. Even so, there had been massive loss of life, and so all that could be done to prevent it occurring again would have to be done. This 25th watch would give mandatory public lectures all day, from sunrise to sunset, every day of the 49th week of the year, during which ordinary communal prayers would be suspended. At the end of the lectures, the head of the entire Aoba clan (who was perforce head of its chief branch, the Shizuka branch) would join hands with the heads of the other two priestly clans and oversee the great ritual of Year's End, which would call down the spiritual energies of the Most Ancient Divine Ones by re-enacting their cosmic union at the end of the Great Impact. The current head of the Aoba clan was Hikaru Aoba, whose mother was Hikari.

The second clan was the Hyuuga clan. This was the aforementioned clan of Temple craftsmen, whose hands maintained the Temple, the House of the Divine Ones. Their work was therefore most important, as by their hands the Gods were honored by the majesty of the structures surrounding them. It was a sort of passive honor that they rendered to the Gods, and they took a quiet pride in their work. They bore a respect for the Aoba clan, as the Aoba clan was officially holier than the other two, but there was still a feeling of resentment for the greater honor paid those who did not have to destroy their bodies in their Temple service. It was not rare for a member of the Hyuuga to die of unexplained causes. No one knew why the mortality rate among the adult male members of the clan was several times higher than in the general population, but it was speculated that it was due to the substances they used to remove ritual impurity from their tools. Because of the way in which the priestly clans (excepting the Aoba) rarely socialized with each other, let alone with the common people, these deaths were neither reported nor known to anyone outside the clan.

The Hyuuga clan was descended from Makoto Hyuuga, who married only one woman, Ruiko. As a result, there was only one branch of the clan. Additionally, the degree of expertise necessary to maximum efficiency of production required that all members of the clan be trained in only one of these jobs, to the exclusion of all others. Therefore, rather than assign everyone in a branch to the same trade, it was necessary to use a different approach. So, every generation, there were quotas of stoneworkers, goldsmiths, blacksmiths, potters, weavers, etc., all of which had to be filled. Membership of an individual clan member in one of these professions was determined by lot, though in special circumstances (such as if the individual very much disliked the work to which he was assigned) the clan elders did occasionally reassign people. Each nuclear family had members of several different professions within it, so it was ensured that inter-vocational conflict would be kept to a minimum (especially because the elders of the clan strongly advocated the virtues of the nuclear family, for this very reason). The current head of the Hyuuga clan was Mikiya Hyuuga, whose mother was Touko.

The third and final clan was the Ibuki clan. The Ibuki were devoted to direct service of the Gods: performing most rituals, killing and processing animal sacrifices, burning incense, temple prostitution, various forms of divination, and educating priestesses in training. Unlike the other two clans, whose workforces were primarily (if not totally) comprised of men, the Ibuki priestesses were all female. All daughters of the clan were inducted into the priesthood at puberty (specifically, menarche: first flow of menstrual blood, as noted by their mothers). The initiation process was as follows:

The girl would be brought by her mother (who was also a priestess) to the head of the clan, along with their hakufuku (a certain type of white undergarment worn by all daughters of the clan after reaching nine years of age, in order that the blood be clearly visible) in a linen bag. The head of the clan would take the hakufuku out of the bag, present it to the girl, and ask her to confirm that it was indeed hers, swearing it. The girl would then make a formal declaration that it was indeed menstrual blood and not any other blood (or similarly colored liquid), and that it was her own and not another's. The head of the clan would then hand the hakufuku to the girl, and go with her alone (leaving the mother behind) to a dark room in the basement of the temple, which was lit only by candles arranged in two rows leading from the door. She would bid the girl go forward, following the path formed by the candles, as she followed behind at a distance of ten paces. When the girl reached the end of the candle path, she would find another door of red copper. She would then open the door, and revealing a large bonfire on the other side. After entering the room, and leaving behind her escort, she would recited a formula relinquishing that most sacred part of her womanhood, the Blood of Creation, to the Gods as a sacrifice, before throwing her hakufuku into the fire. As it burned, she would prostrate herself with her limbs fully spread out on the ground before it. After this, she would return to the head of the clan, who would extinguish the great fire. She would then divine the girl's chosen position in the priesthood by the ashes of the hakufuku. After this, the girl's family would celebrate for seven days with food and drink, and each of these seven nights the girl would drink of the Blessed Waters before sleeping, in order to awaken her own divine nature, and connect her to the Most High Mother Goddess, Ayanami, whose menstrual fluids sparked the formation of life on Earth in the Age of Gestation.

The Ibuki clan was descended from Maya Ibuki, who never married. All children of the clan were adopted girls, who were selected yearly by letters notifying parents of girls under 7 years of age that their daughter had been selected to join the Priesthood. This was mandatory, enforced by governmental decree, and considered a great honor to the girl and her parents, who received a sum as payment for their daughter. The girl would then be adopted by a married priestess, chosen by lot, who would take her into her home to be raised by her husband. Priestesses were not required to be celibate (in fact they were encouraged to marry), but they were not allowed to become pregnant, due to the constancy of their labor, which required heavy physical exertion. Contraception, rather than abstinence, was the norm, and all members of the clan were instructed in its use. The current head of the Ibuki clan was Shiki Ibuki, whose mother was Azaka.

In addition to these three priestly families, the Temple employed thousands of others. There were twelve minor families devoted solely to taking care of the material needs of the priests, such as food, and the cleaning and maintenance of their residences within the outer part of the Temple complex. There was also a family of accountants who kept track of all the Temple's income and expenditures, checked for dishonesty on the part of those handling the money, and advised the Throne regarding any necessary changes in taxation if they felt the Temple had a surplus or deficiency of funds. This family, the Horaki clan, also acted as intermediaries between the Throne and the Temple in all of their dealings, which generally consisted of smoothing over arguments regarding the Shin Evangelion Units, which both Throne and Temple had vested interests in. The current head of the Horaki clan was Keita Horaki, whose mother was Fujino.

Akira Aida had felt lucky to have been selected for the honor of carrying the Central Pole for the New Year's Festival. He had prayed every night, and saved money from his allowance to purchase a sacrificial chicken to increase his chances.

Ever since childhood, he had desired something greater than his older brothers had. His own family, the Aida, were involved in research and development in the Royal Military, but at the tender age of 16, he was not yet allowed to join his brothers. Of his two older brothers, the younger one was involved in AT Field research for the Great Wall around Ikari City, and the older brother was one of the lead researchers in the Shin Evangelion project. No one really knew what the Shin Eva's (as they were called) were exactly, but he knew it definitely sounded amazing, and he was jealous that neither of his brothers would ever tell him anything about what was going on at their work, just that he'll "learn it for himself when he's twenty," which was great and all, but he knew he was destined for greater things, and it was intensely frustrating to spend his days twiddling his thumbs in class when he had already studied his brothers' old metaphysical biology textbooks. He knew them, knew them well. He definitely understood the theory better than his brothers did, and the only reason he was inexperienced in it practically was because no one would let him get any experience!

In order to combat this feeling of frustration, and tide himself over until he was old enough to pursue his real dreams, he would do anything he could for a bit of recognition. Sometimes he would quietly steal parts from his brothers' private workshops, and use them to build small AT Field generators, AT Field detectors, even an Anti AT Field laser. The laser was found by his parents and confiscated, but it didn't matter to him. He had, merely by having built it, proven to himself (as well as his parents) that he was a highly gifted engineer. This only further cemented in him belief in his skills.

He wasn't very religious, or at least, no more than anyone else, but when the Temple put out a notice that there would be a lottery this year to determine who would carry the Central Pole of the Ikari Statue, he smelled an opportunity. The Central Polebearer was the most important person - excepting the priestesses, of course - in the New Year's festival, and it was usually given to the one who performed best on the Temple Law exams. This meant it usually ended up being a priest, generally of the Shizuka branch of the Aoba, since they had to study Temple Law in order to fulfill their role as educators. It hadn't been Akira's strong suit, and he never really thought he could win, so he didn't bother trying. He preferred to focus on his strengths. However, when he heard it would be chosen by lot this year, he realized he had a chance.

The reason many things were chosen by lot in Ikari City was that it was widely known that the Gods controlled probability, and so any time someone wished to ask for divine guidance on a decision - whether it be financial in nature, like buying real estate; personal, like choosing which man to marry; or any other decision - they knew to decide it by lot. And Akira, though not particularly religious, was by no means godless enough to doubt that. He knew that if the Gods favored him, he could win any lottery, so he decided to make sure they favored him. He prayed every day, five times per day - two more than the required three -, donated whatever free time he would ordinarily have spent on tinkering with machinery on volunteering at the Temple, pulling ropes attached to huge cow carcasses in teams of three or four people to the Main Altar for sacrifice. It was backbreaking work, but at least it had allowed him to develop some musculature on his admittedly thin frame, which could only come in handy for carrying the Pole; the thought of which kept him going in the work. It also had a side benefit, of impressing his parents with his apparent religiosity. They increased his allowance, so he was able to buy small chickens to donate as sacrifices to curry even more divine favor. In fact, he was fairly certain that if his parents should catch him working with pilfered AT Field-rich substances again, they would be willing to look the other way in light of his newfound devotion.

Not that he had any time anymore. He had an immediate goal in mind - the New Year was only a few months away - and he was fairly certain the expertise he had earned in engineering and metaphysical biology wouldn't disappear if he took a brief vacation. Not as if the stuff he was building would matter much anyway. He could only look forward to a job alongside - or even above? - his older brother at the Royal Shin Evangelion Research Center, and he knew that whatever it is they did there, it would make even his Anti AT Field laser look like child's play in comparison. In fact, he wondered if the fame and respect afforded by a role as Central Polebearer might not make the powers that be who decided such appointments, look at him, ask who he was, and find about his brother's position and his own aptitude in the relevant fields... The thought often filled his dreams, that he would carry the Central Pole all the way to the Temple gates, and amid whispers of "Who is that boy?", be ushered into the Council Room in the Temple complex to be interviewed by the City Elders - only briefly, of course, as a formality - before being announced as the newest appointment to the Research Center. The youngest ever to hold such a position in all the years of its existence!

Or so his fantasies went. He of course knew that the process would likely be somewhat more lengthy, as paperwork had to be filed, official prophecies from the Gods would have to approve him, and so on, and all that could take weeks. Still, he felt fairly justified in his belief that he could indeed end up with his dream job. After all, not only did the Gods prize devotion to their service, but They also loved those who worked hard to fulfill their destinies, and he knew he was doing a better job of that than anyone he knew. All the priests he saw, who might ordinarily be more worthy of divine favor, seeing as they spent all their lives in the Temple, were quite satisfied with the positions they already held. It was widely known that there was no possibility of "upward mobility" within the strict caste systems the priestly clans operated by, so nobody tried to ascend above where they were naturally placed. Sure, if a priest happened to die, his successor in his position could conceivably come from someone of a different destined position - if, for example, there were no one else with the necessary expertise, an acolyte who was intended for something else, but showed significant promise, might be retrained to take over -, but priests dying was such a rare occurrence that it barely counted. For all intents and purposes, if you were a priest, you were stuck where you were.

Which was an interesting existence to ponder all on its own, but it was fortunately not to be his lot. Akira wasn't the sort of boy who desired anything so fancy as "immortality", or "infinity", or anything so grandiose. He was perfectly happy to pursue the curves of his research throughout the journey's length – and if it should leave him bleeding on the side of the road, or emaciated due to bodily neglect, well, isn't that the price of research? It's so much better, and greater, to attain perfection of what one can do in a single lifetime, than to take the easy way out and taste enough of the Fruit of Life to push one's life into the divine aeons.

It's cheap.

He believed every human's life had a finite value to it, and that that value was distributed among each of its moments in a roughly uniform fashion. Sure, there were moments of boredom and insignificance, and there were moments of sublime beauty or hellish pain, but overall, the average value of a moment was fixed, and identical for all people. So, if you stretched that lifetime, you'd expect those averages to precipitously fall.

And Akira liked excitement, especially the slow build-up he hoped to attain through years – or decades – of research into the divine fabric of this very world. Long ago, when he had been a child, he had heard tell of an apocryphal myth of the founding of this world order – when the gods still walked the earth as men and women, there had been a mentor deity: Mother-of-all, Misato-no-omikami. His older brother had kept a figure of her for worship; he was a fan of odd things, in general, though he had the habit of hiding these predilections from others. Not that that stopped Akira. He found the figure – adorned with a lovely white dress, in the prehistoric Greco-Roman style, and tresses of preternaturally purple hair drawing his eyes to her curved breasts – and stole it away for himself.

As days went by, his prayers to the figure brought a level of inspiration that he had not expected. Divine communion was generally, in its truest, prophetic form, reserved for full-fledged priests. Not someone like him, who barely qualified as a mere acolyte. And yet, when the holy words left his mouth – "Dearest Goddess, bestow upon me, thy slave and worm in thy presence, the grace of your holy Womb. I wish to find myself therein, and I shall serve and service thee for all time, that I might attain salvation between thy thighs. And let me suckle at thy teats of Wisdom, Eternal Matrix, for mine heart cries out for thee. I shall offer my body and soul, in the names of Shinji the Knife, and Asuka the Spear." - he could swear he felt a communion from within, and for days afterwards his mind would be filled with diagrams, photgraphs, and formulas, describing secrets of metaphysical biology and solenoid physics that he had never heard of in any books, or lectures, or even obscure rumours of secret government research. At first, he was frightened by these invasions of his soul, and dared not disclose them even to himself – let alone any others – for fear they were merely the ramblings of an insane mind. But, as he began to apply them – little by little, just enough to give him a slight edge without giving anything away – he found they were nearly always correct. And whenever they were slightly off, it turned out it was only his applications which were in error, but the principles themselves were entirely sound.

And then when he re-examined his methods, they worked.

So, every day, after returning home from school, he found himself retreating to his workshop and just transcribing the everpowerful flow of ideas that never stopped, and on the weekends he would take the time to try to build whatever he could, when he could make sense of his hastily scribbled notes.

It was like a change had come over him, and he felt blessed by this secret Goddess, and he felt even a little giddy that only he, to his knowledge, had ever been granted this boon by Her.

He was even unsure if any full-fledged priests had ever devoted themselves to her service. He knew she had no official temples, and any priest that wished to worship a Deity to whom he was not assigned risked discovery and brutal punishment for the transgression.

He carried these thoughts with him as he carried the Pole of the Juggernaut, lightening his steps with joy.

I am the one chosen! I shall discover the secrets Divine, and all shall respect me!

Thank you, Great Goddess! Thank you so!

I would give myself all to you!

He felt his head growing light too, along with his steps.

Suddenly, the burden of the Juggernaut was as nothing compared to the Goddess' Grace.

In fact, this whole world was nothing. For he felt his soul being drawn to the Heavens to live in everlasting Peace in the Goddess' Womb, as he had always wished.

Maybe he wasn't quite as godless as he had always thought – maybe all he had needed was true communion with the Divine, instead of mere formal service.

As he faded away, it occurred to him that this was perhaps Her greatest blessing. For, would it not be best for him to be apotheosized, spirited away in his youth, while his life was still at its peak? Rather than suffer the inevitable Thanatic degradation into dust and wormfood? This is Misato-no-omikami's favour!

He laughed, and his shoulders slackened.

And he was happy.

Simon Ikari looked down at the procession, and the fallen colossus. Isn't it curious, he mused, how the rabble fall over themselved to erect it again?

When it is a mere hunk of rock.

And how they kill themselves to save – what a silly term for mortals to apply to themselves – the man pinned beneath it?

When he is a mere hunk of flesh.

He looked about himself at the Divine Weapons set aside from the beginning of this World for him and his Bloodline to wield, to merge with, to insert themselves in the holy Wombs of the Evas – Gods' powers tamed by men, perfected Heavens by the hands of the Earth.

And he was reminded of the one thing that separated him from those weak masses. Even more so than his Divine Authority, or the years of secret worship to the Holy Matrix of Misato-no-omikami, the hidden deity beyond all mortal ken – they were to be satisfied worshipping only the Pilot Gods, his own ancestors, but how silly it would be for him to worship his progenitors when he was but their incarnation in this age! - no, it was something even greater, yet smaller. Something essential that cannot be learned, nor lost:

Perspective.

And now he knew how he could pilot the Eva, and risk self-dissolution. Because his people were below him, and he above, and it was the natural role of those above to achieve greatness.

And his anxieties – that still cried out at him, clawed at the walls of his psyche to be let out and manifest in cries, tears, hair-tearing, and self-mutilation – were mere obstacles on his path to greatness, as King.

He reclined in his throne, and called out to his slaves for some wine.

He received it without a word from a flushed youth – what, had he never seen a Divine One in the nude? - and sipped it slowly, idly wondering what that youth would taste like.

No matter.

The time for action would soon come, and the Divine tutelage he had absorbed, the Memories he had received in his flesh – carved with irons and needles – would bring his reign to its greatest challenge.

And the sacrifices of the chosen, like the man under the colossus, were necessary for that, and he whispered a silent prayer of thanks to the man, for it was the only way to silence the voices tormenting his soul.

O fallen man, I shall take thy soul ascended with mine into mine Evangelion. Know that thy sacrifice shall be reconstituted into the Divine Corpus, and I shall be thy Saviour and Life.

And as he drank the wine, he felt the souls of the dead within flowing into his own, through his internal Gates of Guf.

And he smiled at the pleasant sensation, for sometimes he thought he loved one thing above all others, even if it was only a preparatory experience for greater heights of glory.

After all, wasn't it the prerogative of a God to experience this sacred sensation?

So he reclined, and the pleasure coursed through his veins, while his mind exploded with prophetic insight.

And the souls in the cup…

Ah-ah-ah!

Soft moans escaped his throat. But how could they not?

He loved being filled.

First, many thanks to the venerable Reichu, of Evageeks Forums, with whom this setting was developed long ago. Couldn't've done it without her.

I'm hoping to expand this story in the future - I actually have a fairly detailed outline already written, from several years ago, and it merely requires some editing, and filling in - so we shall see how that goes.