O, God of Knowledge, bless me and give me the insight to understand Your words. Open my eyes to see the truth, open my heart to hear Your voice. – Old Gar’shan prayer before reading the scriptures.

Words bombarded my mind again, and this time there was extraordinarily little pain. I could see the words- they were in the Gar’shan alphabet as they scrolled past my vision. But even more importantly my mind seemed to process the image quickly. I didn’t understand the meaning of many of the words and numbers, but I knew them. I winced a little as the chart seemed to flash out from nowhere and back into nowhere just as quickly.

As the words left my sight, I looked around me to see my father, Sal, Joel, and Teacher Grimshaw huddled around my bed in a room I had never seen before. It was late at night since I could hear nothing but night sounds- the neighing of stabled horses, the periodical vigiles making their nightly rounds, crickets chirping. It was a silence that told me it was night as there were no windows and the door to the room was shut.

As they realized I was awake, they jumped into action. Sal brought me water to drink and I could hear Joel rustling about to get me what I later smelled was bread. They all looked tired and dirty, everyone except Teacher Grimshaw. He looked at me with a sense of excitement and pity. I thought of what I had gone through in the past month, and understood why he hoped no one passed the Test. It was a Hell unto itself.

My brothers and father must have worked all day and into the early hours of the evening. Father was a farmer in Master Palion’s fields outside the city. He could have slept in the fields or in the small cabin on the property, but he made sure to walk the twenty minutes back to the city at night to spend time with us. Families were a rarity for my people, due to The Torment.

Joel was a porter. He carried heavy things throughout the city, was a messenger at times, and did odd jobs. It was an especially hard job and accounted for some of his bitterness that seemed to weight him down.

Sal was one of many millers in Master Palion’s service. Master Palion made a good deal of his money selling the finest of flour and grains. Sal has little seniority, so he was stuck transporting the bags of flour everywhere. He seemed to like his job and had a much sunnier disposition.

I took the water and bread they offered and drank a little- I tried to drink more and Teacher Grimshaw stopped me. ‘Ingest only a little at a time, to reacclimate your body to food and water. Give it time, Calvin.’

I ripped off a small chunk of bread and dipped it in the water as it was stale and ate it slowly. I could feel the water I drank make its way through my body, and my stomach already started to cramp a bit.

‘What is a chara-‘ I started to say after clearing my throat.

‘Don’t say it again, don’t even think those words unless you want to see the information again.’ Father Grimshaw smiled, but his tone held a warning. I stopped and nodded. I did not need to go through that again.

‘Tell me what is happening,’ I pleaded. I needed to know. What had caused the mind-breaking painful torture that had occurred to me. Father Grimshaw looked at me, and then at my family. All three stood up.

‘We must get home, and this conversation Is best had alone with Teacher Grimshaw.’ My father looked sad as he said it, and I could see Sal’s face show pity. Joel, however, seemed to seethe in anger. Whether it was anger at me or God or the world I did not know. They quietly left the room, gently shutting the door.

‘Teacher Palion, what I am about to say is awfully hard to understand. Much of what I say forces us to look at the scriptures in a different way, the way an adult would look at them. This discussion will sadden you, frighten you, or maybe even anger you. But what we talk about is why and how we are God’s Chosen People.’

I looked at Teacher Grimshaw and tried to unpack what I was hearing. Though I was tired and hungry and thirsty, my mind was alert. Did he call me Teacher Palion? Palion was the name of my Master, all his slaves adopted his last name. My people did not have last names, though we were called by our mother’s name as well. In Gar’shan I was Calvin, Son of Marta. In fact my full name was longer. It was the whole lineage of mother’s all the way back to Brita, who is mentioned in The Histories. That was nothing, though- he had called me ‘Teacher!’

‘I am not a Teacher, Teacher Grimshaw.’

‘Oh, but you are. You have passed the Test. I am sorry son. But your life is no longer yours, it is but in service to our people. But I will explain that later. Do you remember Chapter 12, Verse 29 of The Creations?’

I only had to think for a moment, I knew The Creations scripture by heart- almost every child does. The Creations were filled with fun stories that all contained lessons and talked about the beginnings of the Gar’shan.

‘Remember, people of the scriptures, that we are nothing but God’s dream. Outside the dream is another one, no less important or more important than His dream,’ I said, monotonously.

‘What did you think that passage meant?’ Teacher Grimshaw seemed to fall in his old patterns of educating, walking a well-worn path in his personality.

‘I don’t know- I suppose I thought that it was that we are here because God wants us to be, and that when we die there might be a heaven or a hell.’ I was unsure, as I never had thought about it much. Taurons believed in Heavens and Hells. But the scriptures never mentioned them.

‘You read that as a child. You must read it as an adult now- look at the words and the meanings behind them. There are no heavens or hells. That is a selfish Tauron’s wish.’

“If there are no heavens or hells, why be good?’ I pondered.

‘Stop being a child. You are an adult. Must you behave in a good manner so that you get a sweet from your father or Master Palion? Is that why you do good and avoid evil? Or do you behave in a good manner because that is what is expected of you.’

I chafed a little at him calling me a child. As a child I would only behave well to get a reward or avoid a punishment, but as I grew up and matured. I did what was right because it was right. I nodded, reluctantly.

‘Anyway, a proper look at that verse. It says there are two dreams. God’s and another one. There is a secret knowledge here- just like much of the scriptures. It is saying that our world, everything we know, is nothing but a passing fancy of God. And that God is but part of another, bigger world.’

I opened my mouth and closed it again. If this was just a figment of God’s mind… God was not an all powerful being in the bigger world. He was one of… many gods. My stomach started to ache. Everything I had been told was that there was only One God. I started to feel small, insignificant. All the stories I have heard in The Creations, the lives I read about in The Histories, the pain and misery I have read and lived in The Torment. I lived my life according to the scriptures. All Gar’shan did. And this meant I did not need to live it that way.

‘So God is only… a god?’ I asked in a small voice.

“No he is our God. He is the God of this world- of this dream. There is no other god, though the many nationalities and people swear that the Travelers are gods or the Old Pantheons are gods, or even a tree or a rock is god.’ He scoffed at this idea. I listened to his words to try to grab onto something safe and stationary before what he told me had me lost totally.

‘But what about… I mean, is there a greater god. A God of God?’

‘Stop this. You are asking questions that not even the greatest of our scholars knows. What we do know is that we are in this world, yet this world is but a figment of imagination. It matters not. God tells us what is good and right and proper, and we follow His teachings.’ Teacher Grimshaw’s rough countermand suddenly softened as he looked at me.

‘Do not despair, for God is everything in His dream. And knowing about God and that our world is a dream means that, well, we have more power in this dream than you could ever imagine. We have Faith and that can literally move mountains.’

‘What do you mean? I mean if we, as God’s Chosen People, have power why are we slaves? Why have we lived The Torment. If our faith can move mountains, as you say, why are we put down so hard?’

‘Here you go, asking about being good and wanting a cookie again. We are God’s people, and we will live through whatever God wants us to live through. The Torment teaches that there is a reason we must go through this, just as a Tauron child must go through an education that she might not want or like. It is for a greater, future good. And not all of us has the power to move mountains. It is us, the Teachers that have such power. And we cannot yield that power in such a way as to shield all Gar’shan from the wrath of the Tauron government. But God works in curious ways. The other religions have nothing but parlor tricks, we have the power of God. And as you must remember, in this world no god is Greater than God.’

I was instantly reminded of the start of The Torment. The Tauron nation sent emissaries to the Solom government. They asked us how our Priests were so powerful, as their Priests were weak. But even as they asked us for our knowledge, they were also haughty and proud of what they could do. They showed us how their weapons could become alive and dance without someone to hold it. They had us sit and watch as they turned water into blood and blood into Iron. Then they asked us to prove our power. Our Priests did the exact same as theirs but instead of a weapon, they turned tools into doves and transformed one loaf of bread into a hundred to feed the whole palace. Then they did one final miracle. They called upon God and He showed His face to the Tauron Priests, who started to blubber and cry. Then they ran from Solom and instead of learning from us, they sent armies to subjugate us.

‘Are you saying I am a Priest of the old times, I can wield magic?’ I asked, seeing some sense of hope despite being told I was but a figment of imagination, nothing solid and real.

‘Well, do you remember what you Class was called?’ teacher Grimshaw could barely contain his interest.

I thought about it again and sighed as I said ‘Character Sheet’ to see what I was, since I already had forgotten. I winced as the information flashed through my mind and vision again.

‘I am a Nomenclaturist. Specifically, a Deific Nomenclaturist.’ I was unsure if this was good or not and could not tell by the change in Teacher Grimshaw’s demeanor. His mouth dropped open and he gasped.

‘God of Gods. You have shown us Your mercy. Teacher Palion, we have not had a Deific Nomenclaturist for a thousand years!’