The Fire and the Storm - Metric Pro Edition: Fiction, Dragons, Elves, Unicorns, Magic (111 page)

“But Mark is still conducting the Ascension of Candidates, and given what’s happened here so far, I think we would be wise to give it our undivided attention until he’s finished.  Who knows what else will happen here today?”

“That is serious truth.” Heklivmalgiso agreed.  “But do try to memorize what you experienced as you Ascended, each of you.  The knowledge could be of incalculable value in the future.”

“We have done so to the extent that we are capable, and stored the memories securely.” Yazadril assured him.

“Excellent.” Heklivmalgiso nodded.  “We will soon take time to examine the information in detail.  Until then…”

He turned to the stage, and bowed.  “Mark, I apologize for the interruption.  Please continue.”

Mark did so.  Dalia and Bezedil were next.

Then came Somonik, Grakonexikaldoron, Empress Emeroth, and Emperor Osbald, who all announced that they would give up their rule or membership in ruling councils as soon as the war was over.

Next was Overlord Senchak.  He stood still on the stage with Mark for nearly a minute after his Ascension, and everyone silently waited with him.  Suddenly he announced; “I am abdicating.  It just doesn’t sit right with me to continue to rule as Overlord, not even for so much as another day.

“Immediately after this meeting, the Lords of the Clans of Kletiuk will meet in The Arena of Government of Overclan Beijur.  A new Lord of Clan Beijur will be chosen, and a new Overlord of Kletiuk.  I will nominate my son Senchasi for both positions.  He is only twenty years younger than I am at the age of one hundred and ninety-two, and he is very experienced.  Since I became Overlord of Kletiuk, he has acted as Lord of Clan Beijur.  I believe he is the most capable and well-trained leader that Kletiuk has.

“But there are many fine Kleti who could lead our people and do it well.  Even if another Clan becomes Overclan, the transition will happen quickly and cleanly, with little disruption in our operations or our war preparations.  Kletiuk will continue to do her duty to The Just Alliance, and to the Kellaran-Triax Alliance.”

With that he left the stage, and Mark moved on to the his next Candidate.  In general, he worked with the Candidates who were national leaders first, then councilors and military commanders, then civilian senior wizards or sorcerers, then other citizens.

A few other leaders abdicated, including Princess Pimall of The Warm People.  Like Senchak had done, she assured the world that the transition of power among the polar elves wouldn’t be lengthy or disruptive.  The rest stated that they’d abdicate after the war.

None chose to use Multiple Manifestations.

None of the leaders refused divinity, and only one of the senior magic users did so.  But as Mark worked his way down the ranks of his Candidates, a few more refused it, and the lower they were in rank in society, the greater the likelihood that they would refuse.  In all, twenty-six refused.  He disallowed none after examining them.

After the first hour only seventeen Candidates had Ascended, and thirty-one more after the second hour.  But by then almost everyone there began to get a bit bored with the proceedings.  The Candidates formed a queue at the edge of the stage and Mark began to take much less time with them.  Near the end, one was ascending every few seconds then clearing the way for the next, and they were all done before he’d been at it for three and a half hours.

The last Candidate in the line was one Dieb Selzeamtik.  As Karz had pointed out when they’d originally checked Mark’s first list of Candidates and their shallow Readings, she was a four-year-old dwarf from a clan of ordinary shepherds, with no apparent unusual abilities, no unusual training or influences, and no wizardry in her family for their entire recorded history.

Mark smiled at her as she stepped up and said in Kleti; “Dieb, there’s never been a god who was a child, and I don’t intend to change that now.  You’re not the only child who’s a Candidate, though you are the youngest one, but none of you will become gods today.  If you did you’d be a god, but I don’t think you’d keep growing.  God or no, in many ways you’d be stuck as a four-year-old child for the rest of eternity, and I don’t think that would be right.  You only have to wait a few years before you’re grown, and compared to the many eons that you’ll be a god, that’s not very long to wait.”

“Or maybe I’ll be killed by the demons next year, and lose my chance at it.” Dieb quietly stated with a peculiar intensity, and shook her head.  “No.  You will Read me, all the way, and keep it private.  Then you’ll make me the Kleti Goddess of Serenity.  Anyone can see that we need one.

“Besides, if you think about it, you’ll see that you can be a child anytime you want, even though you’re grown, because you’re a god.  When I’m a goddess I’ll be able to be grown-up in
every
way, any time I want, just by wanting to.  And you know it.”

Mark raised an eyebrow and Read her, then raised both eyebrows in amazement and Read her again as thoroughly as he possibly could with his new divine abilities.  Then he took her hands and attended to her Ascension without another word.

When it was done she smiled at him, then calmly walked back to her seat.  Like Mark, she spoke not another word, and he watched her go with a bemused smile until she reached her chair.

“Well, that’s it for today, I guess.” he told the gathering.  “We’ll see you soon.”

“Wait.” Pakdag said as he appeared on the stage beside Mark.  “Before you go, know this;”  The human war god turned to the assembly and announced;  “The Tournament of Governors will be held one week from today, and it will be held here; in The Hall of The Just Alliance.  We will call for the registration of teams in three days.  We wish all of the participants the best of fortune.

“Immediately after the outcome of the tournament has been announced, The Assembly of The Just Alliance will convene here to consider the results, and to decide whether the winners of the tournament will be given the power to rule Kellaran until the war is over.”

“Thank you, Pakdag.” Mark told him.  He bowed to the assembly, then took his immediate family home to the Royal Beach on Hilia.

“That is as weird as it gets.” Val stated with a shiver.  “No Translocation, no Gate, no detectable spell cast or energy expended at all.  We were there, then suddenly we’re here, and that’s it.

“I feel like you must have felt when you encountered magic for the very first time, Father.”

“It’s pretty strange all right.” Mark chuckled as he sat on the sand against a log and relaxed.  “Everything feels so vibrant and new.  Every sensation is so bright and sharp.”

“It’s amazing.” Talia grinned as she spun pirouettes in the air.  “I wonder if we’ll still get hungry, or want to sleep, or use the privacy?”

“We will if we want to, and we won’t if we don’t.” Alilia laughed as she lay down on her side on the warm sand, pillowed her head on Mark’s leg, and closed her eyes.  “It’s good that I swore to justice on The Truthstone, or I’d be violating all of your privacies right now.  The awareness of everyone and everything is so exquisite, and without the vow I might have Read everyone in the world by now, just because I wondered what they were thinking.”

“Hmm.” Mark went as he looked around at his huge family around him.  “I realize now that the only reason it felt uncomfortable to multiple manifest before was because of the safety features the Governors put into their spell to ensure that our copies would always want to get back together.  For mortals, it might be a sensible precaution.  Without it, once two copies have been separated for a while their survival instincts might make each of them want to survive on their own.

“But there’s no risk of it now for us, that’s for sure, and our loves need some hugs.”

Suddenly there were dozens of him hugging all his still-mortal wives, husbands and children.

“I know it’s not fair that you aren’t Candidates.” he murmured to each of the Volunteers and The Forty-Four.  “But there’s a good chance that you will be in the future, and we’ll do our best to help you reach it sooner, if that’s what you want.

“I know you fear that this new difference between us will harm our love and our relationship somehow, and I swear that it won’t.

“We have changed a lot, and it’s sudden, but it’s actually less change than I went through in the first week after I met and married Talia, when I discovered my magic and learned to use it and became Prince and Key.  We’re different, but we’re still the same in all the ways that matter, and we still love you just as much.”

“They’re Candidates, aren’t they?” Meechla asked, indicating The Governors with a head movement.

“Yes they are, but they’ve chosen to wait for divinity until they grow up.” Mark told her, and made sure the rest heard it.  “They recognize the value of the mortal state of being.  Believe me, as wonderful as this is, I still wish I hadn’t had to do it yet.  I sure didn’t feel finished with enjoying life as a mortal yet, and now I can’t go back.  I can decide to have a mortal body and ignore all my new characteristics, but there’s no fooling yourself about not being the same.”

“We think they’re so much better than us because they shared your minds completely for seven years.” Kimran stated.   “If we hadn’t been so stupid and we’d shared with you completely when we first developed psionics, we’d have shared your minds for seven years by now too, and we’d be just as good as they are.

“They said we should wait until we’re better before we shared ourselves with you completely, but none of us want to wait.  We know we haven’t been very nice, but you already know that, and I don’t think we’re really any worse inside than we showed you we were with our behavior.”

“All of us want to share ourselves with all of our parents.” Meechla told him.  “And we want to do it from now on, as much as we can.

“And I want to say this again, all of us do, to all of you;  I’m really sorry I’ve been so stupid and bad.”

“That’s okay, we forgive you.” Mark smiled.  “We won’t share with you completely; there were a few things we never shared with them either, and it’s not safe to share the new aspects of us that we just got.  But we’ll share as much with you as we shared with them, and that’s almost all of it.

Then he, Talia, and Alilia built a deep Link between themselves and the Volunteers and their children, establishing it slowly so it was comfortable for everyone.

There were many tears shed over the next few minutes due to the profound sharing of selves and love and pain and regret.

The Mark that was still sitting with the Governors waved them over and into his arms.  “You lied to them.” he chuckled, a bit sadly.  “You didn’t want them to share with us right away because you didn’t want us to realize how badly we messed up when we were raising them.  Thanks for trying to protect us from that, but we deserve to know.”

“You were just way too nice for your own good, and theirs.” Fire shrugged, cuddled into the crook of his left arm.  “Sometimes the ends really do justify the means.  Sometimes a kid deserves a spanking, and sometimes you have to violate your dependent children’s privacy in order to know what you have to do to help them.”

“You’re a god now.” Val smiled as she brushed away a tear that was trickling down his cheek.  “You don’t have to cry if you don’t want to.”

“True.” he smiled.  “But I still want to be the kind of person that cries when I feel emotions that would trigger it.  If we suppress our emotions, or our natural expression of them, pretty soon we won’t even think like people anymore.”

“I think crying is still a healthy expression of emotion for us.” Talia quietly stated.  “But I can see myself suppressing some of the horror of battle.  At least in the heat of the moment, if not afterward.”

“How much ability do you think you’ve gained in terms of your combat effectiveness score?” Six asked, a bit uncomfortable with the conversation and ready to change the subject.

“A lot.” Mark told him with a smile and a cuddle.  “I can still do everything I did before with magic, and a lot more.  Plus everything I can do with god power, plus the ability to do a lot more at once due to better awareness and multitasking ability.  At a guess, I’d say my score should be at least triple what it was.  I’m kind of looking forward to the next exercise just to test it.

“Sitting here now, it seems like I could do absolutely anything, just by wanting it to happen.” Povon mused.  “But obviously there are limits to both our power and our mental abilities to use it.  And since we have no idea how it works, we really have no idea yet what our limits are.  We could be equal to the other gods, or far less, or far more.

“As you say, it will be good to test it.”

“I have one test for it right now.” Mark stated with a sudden frown.  “Join me in this; I want to make sure it works right the first time.”

He shared a thought with the other new gods present as he manifested another of himself to stand alone on the beach.  Talia, Alilia, Povon, Kragorram, Equemev and Silaran joined their will with his.  He considered asking Yazadril, Nemia, Hilsith, Dalia and Bezedil to assist as well, and realized that they were busy with their own affairs in First Valley.  Somonik and Grakonexikaldoron were occupied in Xervia.  He decided that if those present couldn’t do what he wanted, adding more was unlikely to make a difference.

He mentally asked Falgaroth and Visinniria what had been done by the pantheon to apprehend and hold The Sylvan God of Stealth, and they told him.  They considered the information carefully.

Then he and those assisting him searched for Quewanak, found him, and forced him to appear before them.

The small green dragon god was unperturbed by this.  “Congratulations on your Ascensions.  I hope that we can put aside our differences and resume the great friendship we shared before.”

“Oh, we can put aside our differences, all right.” Mark sternly told him.  “But first we deal with your crime.

“As you predicted, I have absolutely no regrets about having these forty-four children, and neither do their mothers, but that is absolutely irrelevant.  I enjoy making love with my wives more than anything else in life, but if you held a knife to my throat and forced me to do it at your whim, it would still be a crime against me.