Chapter 21:

Old man Carson sat comfortably on top of a smooth stone. “Long long ago, when origin was yet untapped and free-roaming, our primitive ancestors lived lives of constant struggle. They strove not for luxury but rather survival. And though we were weaker than almost all others, we still had our wit, with which we made do. Though perhaps that is wrong. After all, how could a race as seemingly fragile as ours give birth to Gods?”

Cort lifted an eyebrow as Rine stopped eating.

“Oh, you heard me true young ones.” He said, relishing their shocked expressions. “At first all were equal, all was right. But soon, distinguished ones started to appear. They were faster, stronger, and smarter than the average folk. Naturally most took positions of leadership in their small tribes, while some chose to venture the lands alone. Whichever way a distinguished one chose to live there was no mistaking their might, and thus humanity was divided. The strong and the weak. The special and the ordinary. And this division did not lessen with time, rather it deepened. Now, I can feel your curious gazes on me. What did this have to do with the Gods they ask? There will always be people stronger than others. That is how life works, the weak get weeded out while the strong prosper. Well, my dear disciples, instead of answering your questions, I will ask one instead. What makes humans...human?”

The two young men stared at the spirit with perplexed eyes. What did he mean? The question was far too open-ended to be realistically answered. It was akin to asking why water was wet or fire hot, how was one supposed to answer that?

Feeling the timing was right, Carson continued. “It is, rather morbidly, death. We, humans, are like beautiful flowers, we bloom suddenly and whither even faster. This is why the distinguished ones found it odd when, a hundred years after their births, they were still alive; rather, stronger than ever before. In fact, with each passing year, they grew more alive. In short, it took a hundred years for them to suspect they were different and two hundred more for them to call each other Gods. During which time they began to amass followers. Soon, all throughout the world dozens of gods with hundreds of followers built small cities with shrines in them.”

The old man paused for dramatic emphasis. “And thus began The Age of The Many Gods.”

Cort took in the information he was just fed. In short, the Gods of this world were beings with great might, but they were not omnipotent or omniscient. If a parallel had to be drawn, they seemed to resemble the gods belonging to the Greek pantheon of earth or perhaps the Norse. Not God per se but godly indeed.

Rine on the other hand raised his hand up as if to ask a question.

“Yes Rine-boyo”

“I thought there were only six gods and they were all dead?”

“Aha, so you have been told the story. Yes, what you said is true to some extent, allow me to continue.”

“Perhaps it was innate to them or perhaps it was brought about by the continuous death of their loved ones, but gods tended to treat ordinary people as mere cattle or tools. Yet despite how indifferent they may seem, the Gods were still part human and this was made clear through their treatment of fellow gods. For you see, all the petty squabbles and vain traits apparent in humans were shown in full display when gods interacted with one another. Most competed in contests of strengths, while some of the more vainglorious competed in looks. On a different scale, though they may be, they still bickered. And oh did they fight. One most notable was the first physical altercation that occurred when one God’s territory was encroached upon by another. The collision of fists and divinity that occurred on that day shook the world and made the heavens weep. So severe was the damage that the other Gods feared for Himmel’s safety and intervened. From then on, rules were set in place. For instance, one such rule stated that fights were to be done through followers and direct interference was prohibited. any god who did not follow these rules would be punished.

But here’s the funny thing about rules, they are almost always broken. And when a particularly strong God lost his umpteenth match against a newer, weaker one…. Well, let's just say he wasn't too thrilled. In his anger, he accidentally killed the poor God and thus the Age of The Many Gods came to an end. The Warring Period had begun.

In the short hundred years that followed a divine bloodbath took place; once the gods knew that they could actually kill and be killed, all hell broke loose. By the end of it, humanity’s numbers had dwindled and so did the gods'. Finally ending the madness, the final six Gods made another agreement and this would be the first and final time all of Himmel’s gods met.”

Cort couldn't help but suppress a chuckle. Rather than divine beings, they seemed to him more like petulant children.

“So that was why there were only six gods who made their wishes?” Rine said with amazement.

“Wishes?” Cort asked.

“Ah yes, I was getting to that.” The old man cleared his throat and began once again.

“[For the sake of prosperity, the Gods shall not fight. For the sake of prosperity, Humans shall not fight. For the sake of prosperity, we shall work together.] So said the six Gods in unison as they were enshrouded in holy light. These six Gods would go on to represent the six paths of Godhood, but that is a story for later. With the help of the gods, humanity’s numbers soon began to rise, and we advanced at an unprecedented rate. However, an oddity had occurred. No new gods appeared.

Yet that was fine, for the six that were present only grew stronger, mightier, and perhaps most important: wiser. Finally, on the 2598th year since mankind’s first unsure step onto Himmel, we had peaked. Food was abundant, fights were rare and people were actually happy. The Gods themselves were merry. Himmel was at peace."

"But you see I did say [peaked].” The old man began to feel tired from all his prattling. “Alright, I’ll make the rest short. It took 402 years for the Beast Wars to end in favor of mankind. After the final inhuman God died, the beasts returned to their natural states; almost. But the victory was not earned lightly, Our Gods suffered damage untold, and humanity was brought to the very brink of destruction once more. But hope was not lost for they still had the gods. No, that hope was instead lost when one of the Gods broke the ancient treaty and slew another God. The dying Goddesses’ name was Aria the Goddess of magic, the killer Maria the Goddess of war.”

“And for what reason was it this time?” Cort asked.

“Here’s the thing kid, no one knows for sure.”

“But I heard that she had to do it so that the wish could take place.” Rine chimed in.

“Again, what wish?”

“The six divine blessings.” Continued Carson. “It is said that with each death, the Gods bestowed humanity with power, or rather a path. First was Aria who gave humanity the power to wield origin. It is for this reason that almost every spell’s chant has her name in it. And every mental model to date is endowed with her symbol” The old man pointed towards the campfire. The fire’s flames wriggled about until it suddenly spat out a symbol made of flame. A circle encompassing a sideways eight. “This symbolizes the infinite potential Origin Manipulation has.”

“How did the other Gods respond?” Cort asked.

“I will now tell you the official story. A story circulated by the Verlau empire. Supposedly the world of Himmel has a set amount of Divinity. This was one of the reasons why the Gods began to kill themselves so long ago, leaving behind six who could truly benefit from the excess divinity. But when the Beasts arrived and the inhuman Gods began to appear, the remaining divinity was squandered away, leaving none left for the Human Gods. Unsatisfied with this, the Gods began to cull their numbers once more. It is said that the gods were divided into two camps, and Aria was just the first, unfortunate victim. The Gods fought to their last breath, each bestowing mankind with power at their death. Until finally two gods remained Adam the god of death and Eve the goddess of life. The former gave mankind the power to affect the dead, while the latter gave mankind the ability to affect life. That book our friend William used was a form of Death magic; albeit a very limited one. Death magic has been lost to the sands of time, supposedly suppressed by Verlau and deemed too dangerous for use. As for life magic, well, one only has to look towards our friends over at Natur. Druid magic, in short.”

“And the other two?” Cort seemed interested.

“Maria gave us the path of warriors and bestowed us with the power of Aura and Skills. As for Merc the God of self-improvement, he gave us the Body refinement Arts and Runes.”

“Runes?” Rine asked.

“Think inscription magic but for the Human body instead.”

The two young men sat in silence as they digested all of what they had just learned.

“So that’s the story huh…” Rine said with a pondering look.

“You said that the story was the official version of what happened. Are there other versions?”

“Of course, but anything that strays from the original version would be counted as hearsay and would do you no good to hear. Hell, I haven’t even told you about the Champions each God had. Rest assured I will tell you everything when the time is right, everything I say now has a purpose.”

“That being?” Cort grew wary.

The old man smiled his toothy smile. “Well, Cort-boyo I think it’s about time for you to choose.”

“Choose what?”

“Which path to Godhood will you walk?” The old man once more pointed towards the flame and four more symbols appeared. “Unfortunately Adam’s symbol is lost, and I am not tactless enough to use a skull in lieu; besides I wouldn't know how to teach you death magic anyway.”

Cort’s eyes grew sharp at the sight of these symbols. This was in-fact important. For once the old man was not spouting bullshit. “Well, first thing’s first I guess. Are we sure I can even use any of these?”

The old man was startled. “Oh you’re right, we haven’t even tested whether you are able to do so.”

“Hey, why can’t I choose?” Rine said as he raised his hand.

“What do you mean? You’re a magician! Haven’t you already chosen?” The old man retorted.

“Oh yeah…” Rine said. He seemed rather disappointed.

‘The sensible thing would be to choose the Warrior’s Path.’ Cort thought as he ignored the two-man act. ‘But I must admit the prospect of using magic is quite enticing.’

“Well before you choose, I guess it would be better for us to test whether you can even sense Origin.”

“Why wouldn’t he be able to sense Origin? Anybody can if they try hard enough.”

“Well, he might be an exception,” Carson said to Rine as he winked at Cort. “Now then, it’s decided. Tomorrow we’ll test whether Cort is able to sense Origin. After that, you will both spend some time to fully heal, which should take another week. During this week, Rine will head back to his village and assure his grandfather of his safety. After all is said and done we will finally take the first step towards saving the world.”

“Which is by doing what?” Rine asked.

The old man said smilingly “By joining a guild of course.”

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