Lambda - Chapter 2

Chapter 2 - The Banishment of Gods

Location: Auroria

"You're a liar Krielis!" cried Aurelia Powerglade, standing alone in the middle of a great hall that had no details or ornaments whatsoever. The floor, walls and ceiling were made of polished black stones that would allow for an impermeable darkness. The room had no windows, and at first sight neither doors. The light was supplied by a floating glowing white ball, a perfect sphere that pulsated with a regular rhythm. At the beginning of each pulse, the middle of the ball stopped emitting light and it spread outwards, until the whole light was gone. And the next moment, the ball was there again, shining and binding the all-present darkness. This was the god Krielis.

Aurelia's high pitched scream echoed the long corridors of the fortress. It was a surreal scream gushing through the long halls and if someone stood there, it could hear the voice coming like a distant echo and if quick enough, cover its ears. No ordinary person would be heard outside the room Aurelia was in. Yet she was one of a kind, quite literally. In fact, Aurelia was the only female descendant in the matriarch Queendom called Telaria. When she was born, she had seven older brothers alongside. Five grew to love and protect her, while the two who opposed disappeared in mysterious circumstances. Her influence spread all over the civilized parts of Auroria and its inhabitants mockingly called her the princess of Auroria.

[Why are you screaming? You know it doesn't affect me. Still, you've grown quite insubordinate.]
the voice of Krielis didn't seem to have a precise origin in the room, it could be heard all around. And the sound of its voice was devoid of emotions, sounding almost artificial.

There was nobody else in the room, and when Krielis faded out, the room seemed infinite. Only when there was at least a glimpse of light emanating from the god, a person standing in the room could get a feeling of space and geometry.

"I refuse to believe that in 25 years Auroria will be gone!" she cried at the top of her lungs, without caring if she could be heard or not. Aurelia was usually a very pale girl to such extent that many of her servants would compare her to the likes of the moon. The emotions that could bring some color to her face were hate, shame, joy and happiness, and she rarely had any use for the latter two. And when the light was present, she looked even more pale than in the outside world. She wore a white dress, elegant, though adding very little towards her already bright appearance.  Her hair were of a fiery red tone, elegant and long. She wore them around her head, falling on the back of her neck, leaving her bright face and strikingly deep blue eyes in full view.

[I won't be discussing with you on such terms. Why are you still screaming?]

Aurelia tried to calm herself, shaking visibly when there was enough light to reach her. She took a deep breath and responded with a voice cold enough, to match the coldness in her eyes:"Emotions. I'm suffering and I enjoy knowing my servants throughout my fortress share the same fate. I feel powerless and they should too."

[Your mother's fortress. Princess. Tell your people what I prophesized instead.]

The god made sure to emphasize her place in the succession of power. On the planet Auroria, all the organization of the thinking creatures, mostly people, obeyed a simple unspoken and unwritten law. Food chain. Whoever's on top is the most powerful and dangerous, for reasons perhaps better let unknown.

With her seventeen years she was hardly in a position to oppose. And yet, she stood there and didn't as much as blink when she faced the supreme being in the middle of the room:"Before my family came to power, with my grandmother the first of the line of Powerglade to conquer the throne, you prophesized a thousand years of flourishing empire - perhaps one day to conquer the whole word, depending on the leadership." Aurelia gritted her teeth and continued with a very sharp tone:"You prophesized a thousand years and that's what I'm going to tell my people."

[You humans are annoying at certain stages of your lives. You're not even a grown up yet, so remember your place and obey.]

"You were never wrong with your prophecies. Never. Thousand years." Aurelia was shaking her head in denial.

[I'm going to punish you for your insolence.]

"Punish me? Why don't you tell me instead, what kind of a god delivers a false prophecy? Isn't it only human to make mistakes?"

[The future is complicated and can contain variables outside my reach and jurisdiction. If this were of any meaning to your ignorant species, I would say there's a margin for error from randomly induced causes.]

"Wait. Let me get this straight. You are telling me that you're useless." At the sound of her words, the sphere began pulsating faster, like a beating heart pumping blood through a human body during physical exercise. Aurelia suddenly felt weak and dizzy. She fell to her knees and barely managed to put her hands on the ground, to prevent her upper body to share the same fate as her legs. Krielis started to intimidate her by using its powers against her.

[Remember who you are Aurelia, soon to be queen of Telaria. You're nothing more than an ordinary human, same as every inhabitant of Telaria. I am your leader, you are merely pawns under my control.]

"I know! The pact! You gave our family magical powers and in turn we serve you."

[Will you?]

The increased feeling of pain, as if a heavier gravity pulled her towards the ground  reminded her she was literally under Krielis's control. And yet current words were meaningless to Aurelia. She could only remember what it previously said:"Auroria will fall and every inhabitant is doomed." She remembered asking it if there was a plan in motion, something to prevent or avoid the catastrophe. And the response she received from Krielis stuck to her like glue:"There is nothing you, nor anyone else on this planet can do. Not even myself or other gods. Nobody wields a power that could change the course of events."

She shook her head trying to clear it, but the words just kept returning to her. And in a moment of madness, she forgot about her trembling body and stood up, defying the god before her, drawing on the magical powers she wielded. Krielis started pulsating even faster, and Aurelia was on her hands and knees again.

[Why are you so stubborn? I like you for your cruelty, but you are truly nothing more than an asset for me. There will be others. Stay on your knees and ask me for forgiveness.]

Aurelia resisted the tears coming up to her eyes. In her mind, a battle was taking place, between her aggressive impulses and logical reasoning.  Her impulsive brain was saying:"What are gods truly made of? This is your chance, Krielis has shown a weakness!" And her logical part was quick to respond and keep her immobilized:"Krielis Is a god and therefore has powers beyond human imagination. Using your magic powers against the god who granted them in the first place, what do you think the outcome will be?"

[Ten.]

Aurelia responded with a confused:"What?"

[Nine seconds left until you do as I bid you and ask for forgiveness, or I will get rid of you. Four now.]

With an idea only half formed by her impulsive-self, she mustered all her strength and stood up. She felt an even greater surge of pain through her body, together with a

[Three]

Aurelia resisted the pull this time with powers of her own.

[Two] and the pain intensified even further.

She gritted her teeth some more, and all the pain was suddenly transformed into hatred, mixed together with an illusion of hope - or was it more than that? She dashed forward, jumped in the air and extended an open hand to Krielis, in an attempt to grab it.

[Zero]

The god skipped two beats and stopped pulsating. Soon after, black liquid-like blob formed inside Krielis, dancing wildly.

[B-]

Krielis didn't have the time to finish another word. Aurelia was too fast and resisted its deadly attack, while her hand disappeared in the glowing ball. Aurelia's hand went cold in an instant. An outside spectator could see her hand inside the glowing sphere, as if it was a shadow play.

And when the impulse from the jump made her stretch her hand enough to reach the inner part where the dark blob was, she gripped her fingers together in a fist and pulled outwards.

When Aurelia landed on her feet, she immediately opened her fist and realized there was nothing there:"I failed!" was her first thought, and she mentally surrendered to dying.

And then nothing happened.

Not only that. Aurelia didn't feel any pain whatsoever, nor hear the voice of Krielis ever again. She looked up to see the glowing ball that seemed perfectly intact. And yet there was something peculiar about it. It didn't pulsate anymore and the darkness in the middle was not shifting around, only standing there like a fluid in a bowl, completely still. After a few seconds the fluid started to shift to the borders of the sphere. Aurelia took a few careful steps backwards, ready to leave the room at any instant.

What happened next surprised her beyond her wildest dreams and hopes. A blood-like liquid started pouring out of the sphere. At first only a small stream which in time evolved in a full torrent. When Aurelia saw it falling on the floor and spreading all around, she gasped: "You bleed like a human too?"

Upon receiving no response, she started laughing. This was not a forced laugh however, it was a wholehearted joyful laugh. The end.

The blood continued to flow from the dead god more and more, filling the floor of the room. The sphere deflated a little and fell to the ground with a loud splash, smearing blood in all directions.

Aurelia started walking towards it, while hearing the sound of her shoes muffled in the liquid underneath. She approached the dead god and without any hesitation grabbed it. Now, Krielis was more like a dried out fruit, and Aurelia's fingers were wrapped around the wrinkly exterior. She held it at her eye's sight to examine it properly. She curiously flipped it around and all the while, the blood-like liquid was still pouring out, yet less intensely than before. "Krielis, where did you store all of this liquid, hm?" she thought.

Aurelia knew what should be done next and yet at this very moment, she was lost in amazement and perhaps awe:"Is this the accumulated blood of all the killing on Krielis's behalf? And what do we ultimately know about our leaders, about our gods? Mordagon told me once that not only positive effects link humans and their gods, but negative ones as well."

Dread started slowly creeping over her body as her thoughts progressed:"Until today this was a ridiculous thought! Gods don't have weaknesses! If Mordagon is to be believed, then how much blood will I spill, perhaps on a single scratch, since my magic knowledge derives from Krielis's powers? I could drown in my own blood whenever I'm harmed in a room too small to be fit for a princess! I don't even remember the last time I got hurt!"

She quickly brushed it off as paranoia and changed her attitude completely.  She also didn't want to remember how many lives she's destroyed, and didn't want to acknowledge a question forming somewhere in her subconscious: If the powers that Krielis gave to her had the downside of somehow storing the blood of all the victims, does this negative effect extend to the blood of Krielis itself? Will all of the blood she was standing in somehow become part of her?

She was already nearing the exit of the chamber before she realized that above the door there was another source of white light. Small, yet spreading enough light on the wall behind. There, written in blood letters was, undoubtedly  the last message from Krielis:

Bad move.

"We'll see," she said, and with new determination she pressed her hand to the wall, which slid away, allowing for a passage in a corridor lit by white circular stones. The floor, ceiling and walls were made of the same black stones than the room Aurelia just left. She continued walking and casually glancing at the sphere which was drying out yet still inesorably leaving a trace behind. She stopped in her tracks when a towering figure came to her sight. Aurelia blinked several times, as the light and shadow play of the room she barely left still messed with her eyesight.

As soon as she saw the majestic crimson-red cape trailing behind the person, she had no doubt it was none other than Mordagon Vonneghaut Junior, the leader of the neighboring realm of Demearia. "Why did you want to alert everyone in this fortress by screaming so loudly?" he asked in his deep and calm voice.

Aurelia smiled and readjusted her pose, trying to emphasize her  breasts knowing full well Mordagon would notice. She looked up to face him:"Perhaps I wanted to attract your attention?"

"Aurelia, you have no power over my charm," he winked at her, and then continued with a casual tone:"You're holding Krielis in your hand. Why?"

Aurelia started talking, wanting to explain it all. She was quite proud of her achievement:"Oh, well, I realized that I could perhaps defea-"

"Shush. I asked you why, not how or when or whatever. Why are you holding something that's spilling blood around?"

"I have a plan," Aurelia was surprised by the sudden question. She expected at least some kind of awe or amazement, yet Mordagon remained still, standing ready as a soldier prepared for war. She quickly added:"Why, does it bother you?"

"Me?" Mordagon laughed and his whole body resounded with laughter: "No, but you're going to leave a trail through the whole fortress. You are making a terrible mess out of this place."

Aurelia didn't understand what Mordagon was getting at, so she skipped straight to the point:"Krielis told me that this planet, Auroria, has 25 years left, and I'm not wasting any minute of it."

"When will you depart?"

"How did you know, are you psychic?"

Mordagon had a know-it-all smile accompanying his words:"It was actually a lucky guess based on what I just heard from you and well, knowing you in and out. It would seem all of the gods of the seven civilized realms of Auroria are sensing an impending doom. Krielis, the god of Telaria is," he looked down at what Aurelia was holding in her hands and corrected himself: "Perhaps I should say that Krielis WAS the only fortune teller in this world. I was planning to see it today to understand if at least your god had an answer. Since that doesn't seem to be the case, I think we both know what's the only region of this planet where we could hope to gain some valuable knowledge. When?"

"In four days time, early morning. Meeting place the port called Strentos, at the western end of Telaria. I'll have three ships waiting for us. See you soon," this time Aurelia winked and blew him a kiss, before striding right past him. Her spirits were higher than ever - with this powerful new ally, she could hope to survive the journey.

Mordagon brought his hand up to his chin, where he had a fully grown and neatly trimmed black beard. He inadvertently started stroking his beard whenever he was in deep thoughts:"Aurelia just started a course of events that cannot be changed. I wonder if perhaps she spent too much time with me. I didn't expect her to be acting of her own impulse this soon." Mordagon stopped his thoughts before he would be carried too far away with guesses as to what the princess might do next:" At any rate, there are more important matters to attend to, and only three full days to do it." With that thought, he began walking the fortress corridors towards the teleporter room, that would bring him to his land, Demearia, which was Telaria's only neighboring realm, further up North. Demearia and Telaria formed a continent that was surrounded by treacherous seas and oceans, that would have to be tamed in order to reach their destination.

Aurelia was nearing a hollow tower, that was without any stairs or other means for humans to travel on. She knew that the walls of the tower were impregnated with a magic field that contrasted gravity and powerful sorceress could harness this power in order to levitate up or down, reaching different levels of the fortress. While levitating upwards, she thought:"What a lucky coincidence to have stumbled upon Mordagon. That saved me the time of having to search for him and arrange a private meeting. That could have been troublesome. Or did luck have nothing to do with it, and he anticipated all of this?"

She arrived on an open triangular space on the top of the fortress. The dying afternoon light was fading out, yet it was still enough to see the fortress in its full glory, with a perfect symmetrical shape, the form of a 20-sided dice. She walked to the middle of the topmost surface, where there was seemingly nothing at all. Arriving at her destination, Aurelia stood upright, cleared her voice and began talking. As soon as she opened her mouth, a holographic image appeared several meters above her head, a perfect copy - except it was four times bigger - of herself holding Krielis, that could be seen for kilometers around. The whole fortress started to vibrate and amplify her voice to be heard throughout whole of Telaria.

"My people," she began saying and then raised Krielis above her head, just a little on the side to avoid getting her hair soaked in the blood. The image above her instantly repeated her movements:"Krielis died by my hand today. It promised us a thousand years of prosperity and that's a promise I intend to keep. As you can see, gods are not some supreme beings like we were led to believe." She shook her hand a little, shaking the ever-shrinking Krielis, which in turn made the blood fall down in erratic patterns:"I hereby declare that every god entering our queendom of Telaria must be immediately captured for interrogation. As of today, the era of gods has ended, and Telaria is governed solely by our line of the Powerglade."

She opened her fingers, and Krielis fell to the ground with a loud crashing noise. Suddenly, the liquid that was pouring out of Krielis changed its color to white, and started slowly advancing to the three corners of the surface. The hologram then changed to show the liquid spreading, and Aurelia was already on her way. She knew that her mother would be furious - she did just defy what her mother held as most sacred. And for that reason alone she didn't want to see her come home.

Now only the preparations for the journey remained. She already knew who to contact to arrange for the needed equipment, food and a small army for escort. And yet, with every step she made towards her chambers, which were two floors beneath Krielis's ex room, she felt more and more insecure. There were two thoughts in particular that scared her beyond reason.

The first fear was that Krielis was likely still bleeding, and should the same thing happen to her, she didn't have any means of stopping it.

And the second thought, that was even more worrying, was that the only place where she could hope to get some answers and perhaps even a solution for her beloved planet (she was constantly reminding herself that one day it will be hers completely), was a continent at the south-east of Telaria, separated by dangerous waters. And that continent was the realm of chaos and disorder. Raw magic that produced incredibly powerful creatures, at the cost of their minds and bodies. Uncontrolled gods were ravaging those lands and any attempt so far at conquering those lands resulted in complete and utter extermination of the conqueror's army.

What gave Aurelia some hope at least was that she didn't intend to capture those lands (not yet at least). Instead, she saw her role more as one of an ambassador. She planned to make as many deals as needed in order to see her plan succeed. She levitated downwards in the tower she had used before, yet this time she descended two levels lower, towards her chambers. All the architecture of the fortress was the same, so for a newly arrived person it would be easy to get lost. And in fact, that was probably the reason Aurelia didn't encounter anyone else until she arrived at her room.  She waved her hand and the door, which opened to reveal a magnificent room, with a triumphant double-bed in the middle. The room was, similarly to the outside corridors, in black marble, with white lights. The bed in the middle was of a white color so clean it almost seemed as a castle made out of clouds.

Apart from the bed, there was only a single object in the room: a mirror on the wall, with sharp white borders to counter the blackness of the surroundings. Aurelia went straight to the mirror, seeing her body all tainted with blood. This made her smile and grab her hair with a hand, to clear them at least a little. And then reality hit her.

The color of her hair changed several shades from her past fiery red one. Her hair was tainted with blood, and yet she could clearly see that even the untouched hair became dark-brown, with just a hint of red. She immediately understood that all of her fears were there for a reason. And her hair were very likely an indication of how much blood she already had on her hands. "What will happen to me the day my hair turn completely black? Like the inner parts of Krielis?"

Aurelia went to her bed and let her body fall on it. She pretended to be interested in the curtains above the bed, and yet in reality she only wanted to calm down. She wanted to have a second chance to think things through. Perhaps killing Krielis was a mistake, a bad move, as the last message she received from it said. She felt warm tears starting to form at the edge of her eyes and a great sadness overwhelmed her. She never felt more insecure in her life.

There was only one certainty on her mind: this will be the last time she spent in her room for quite some time.