BT IV - Epilogue

“I would say this is a surprise,” Mursa said cheerfully, “but I am the Goddess of truth after all.”

Micah blinked.  He was everywhere and everywhen simultaneously.  It should have been disorienting, but it wasn’t.  Like putting on an old and comfortable shoe for the first time in months.

“I’m surprised,” Luxos growled.  “Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy that the boy managed to defeat the daemon, but all of this feels like you managed to plan it out Sister.”

Micah looked around himself.  He wasn’t in the small parlor where he normally met the other gods.  He had always known that it was a fabrication.  A magical construct meant to prevent his mind from shattering as he contemplated beings beyond his ken.

Instead he was sitting on a throne in the formless void.  Embedded in the armrests of the chair were a pair of hourglasses, eternally passing sand through their narrow apertures.  When he looked closely enough, Micah could barely make out a thin webwork of cracks in the translucent material that replaced their glass.  Every now and then a single grain of sand would leak out, escaping to Karell below and powering the natural laws that governed the mortal world.

He blinked again.  He wasn’t sure how he knew all of that, but it was absolutely true.  A fact more solid and real than anything he had experienced in his mortal life.

“Who cares,” Ankros chuckled.  “It took a bit for us to create a new brother, but he is here now.  Today is a day for rejoicing rather than petty squabbles and gossip.”

The three greater gods were sitting beside him, formless beings of smoke and green fire tinged with yellow.  Daemons.

They had always been daemons.

“I see you’ve noticed,” Mursa said playfully.  “3 princes of Elsewhere and 13 dukes grew bored of killing and hunting.  We had existed for an eternity, and gained nothing but power and hunger for all of our trouble, so we decided to try our hands at creation rather than destruction.”

“The process changed us,” she continued.  “God might not have been the right title for us when we first crafted the world from the chaos of Elsewhere, but I think it suits us now.  Still, you are something new Micah.  Something unknown.  A peer to us, as great as a prince, but forged from creation rather than instinct and survival.”

He looked out past the greater gods for the first time.  The other 13 gods were before him in the empty space.  Intermediate deities sitting in ornate chairs facing the greater gods while the lesser deities were resting respectfully on one knee.

“I can’t wait to see what you will show us.”

Mursa’s words jolted Micah from his moment of shock.  He held a hand up in front of his face.  Like the other gods, it was made from mist, but unlike their green and yellow, the flames that burned within him were entirely made from brilliant gold.

“So I’ve ascended.” It felt strange talking without a mouth or throat.  Still, it was as natural as breathing or beating his heart had been back on Karell.  “What about my friends and family?  Did they survive the battle?  How are they fairing?”

Luxos snorted, somehow managing to give the impression of rolling his eyes without having any.

“You’re a god now you fool, you check up on them.”

Micah frowned, reaching out with his mind to Karell and-

It was different.  The Third Prince had never breached the barrier and the Durgh had never attacked Basil’s Cove.  His parents only had 2 children, Esther and Trevor.

More importantly, there were 17 gods now, including a god of time.  There had always been 17 gods.

A tentacle of mist reached across the intervening space and slapped Micah gently on what passed for his shoulder.

“Come on,” Ankros said gently.  “It’s a lot to take in.  Let’s head to Elsewhere and hunt some lesser daemons to pass the time.  You’ll feel better after you’ve had some dinner.”