Gathering of the Chosen (5 page)

“No need,” said the woman. “The Powers
gave me complete knowledge of the gods of Martir when they created
me. I know the names, domains, and abilities of each and every
deity in this room. I also know of the Godly War that divided the
gods between the Northern and Southern Pantheons eons ago,
including the Treaty that the Powers wrote up to govern relations
between the two Pantheons.”

“Yeah, yeah, so what?” said the Loner God
with a sneer. “That's common knowledge by now. Are you just going
to keep stating the obvious or is there a point buried somewhere in
your blather?”

“I was simply going to say that the Powers
had neglected to mention to me how rude you gods can be,” said the
woman. “Your attitudes and jokes are not very godly, if you ask
me.”

“We gods are the ones who define what is
'godly' and what isn't,” said the Loner God, jerking a thumb at his
bare chest. “I don't think you're even a god, anyway, so where do
you
get off telling
us
what is 'godly' and what
isn't?”

“It is true that I am not a god or goddess
of any sort,” the woman said. “But that doesn't mean I can't judge
for myself what kind of behaviors should be expected from the
deities that rule this world. Gods should be held to much higher
standards than mortals … and I am sad to say that all of you gods
must have been held to very low standards for a long time now, if
this attitude of your is any indication of your general
behavior.”

To say that all of the gods, northern and
southern alike, appeared offended by her words was an
understatement. Half of the gods looked ready to jump out of their
thrones and smite her for her blatant disrespect, while the other
half muttered among themselves about how disrespectful this woman
was. But none tried to attack her, probably because the Mysterious
One—who was stronger than any of the other gods in the room—stood
next to her.

The woman did not seem to notice the gods'
reaction to her words, because she continued to speak like the gods
had not reacted at all. “But that is all the more reason for me to
raise the low standards to the level at which they need to be. By
doing so, I can perhaps make it so that the gods of Martir earn the
respect that they claim to deserve.”

“Is that the Powers' answer to the deaths
of our brothers and sisters?” said the Loner God. “Just raise the
standards and that will somehow restore balance among the
gods?”

“No,” said the woman, shaking her head.
She patted the book she held against her chest. “This is what will
help us.”

“A book?” said the Loner God. “That's even
worse.”

“It isn't just any book,” said the woman.
“It is a book written by the Powers themselves. It is the key to
bringing new gods into existence in Martir.”

“What does the book say?” said the Loner
God. “And, forgive me for my 'rudeness,' but you haven't even given
us your name yet, woman.”

“My name is Alira,” said the woman. She
then raised the book above her head, though it was still too far
for Braim to read its title. “And this book is the Rulebook for the
Tournament of the Gods.”

***

U
p until this point, Raya had been
quite bored. She had been bored of World's End—which, despite being
the Throne of the Gods, was not really as exciting or interesting
as the name suggested—bored of the rude katabans who had greeted
her and her parents when they arrived here, bored of the other
mortals that had also been invited to World's End and who she
didn't really care about, and bored of the Temple of the Gods.
Mostly, it had been because Raya didn't like traveling and didn't
like talking to strangers, especially to strangers who weren't
royalty like her.

The only stranger who interested her was
the mage named Braim Kotogs, who had allegedly come back from the
dead not too long ago. Yet even he seemed boring, not to mention
there was something definitely off about him that made Raya want to
avoid him.

The view from the balcony is sort of
nice, I guess,
Raya thought.
But the view from my room's
balcony back in Carnag Hall is even nicer.

But when the severe-looking woman on
Skimif's Throne below—the one who reminded Raya far too much of
Teacher—had mentioned a 'Tournament of the Gods,' well, Raya perked
up. She liked tournaments. In fact, Carnag's Fifth Annual Airship
Tournament had just ended recently and the winner, as per contest
rules, had given Raya a free ride in his airship, which had been
the most fun Raya had had in a while.

As a result, Raya decided to pay more
attention to the announcement. She leaned forward a little bit
more, watching the woman named Alira hug the thick Rulebook book to
her chest.

“The Tournament of the Gods?” repeated the
Loner God. His mocking tone had vanished, which was sad, because
Raya had found him to be the most amusing thing about this whole
trip. “I've never heard of that.”

“That's no mystery,” said Alira, “because
there has never been anything quite like this in the entire history
of Martir.”

The Loner God glanced at the strange,
green octopus-like god sitting next to him. “Hey, historian, is
that true?”

The god—who Raya recognized as the
Historic God, the God of History, as he matched the description her
father had once given her of him—rolled his eyes, but nodded. “It
is, brother. History does not have any records of any Tournament of
the Gods being held anywhere in the world before today.”

“I guess history doesn't repeat itself
after all,” said the Loner God with a smirk, earning another eye
roll from the Historic God.

“But that still doesn't explain what the
Tournament of the Gods
is
,” said another god, who Raya
immediately recognized as Grinf, mostly because his powerfully
built body, square jaw, and large gavel closely resembled the
statues of him back in Carnag Hall. “Is it some tournament in which
we gods will have to compete?”

“You gods will not need to do a thing,”
said Alira. “It is in fact a tournament for the mortals. The humans
and aquarians, that is. To put it simply, one hundred mortals from
all over Martir will be competing for one of the five positions for
godhood that are currently vacant.”

That caught Raya's interest. She leaned
forward even more, ignoring the mutterings between Yorak and Jenur
beside her, and the puzzled look on Father's face.

“Hold on,” said the Loner God, raising one
of his short arms. “You mean that, rather than create new gods out
of nothing, we're going to ascend five chosen mortals instead?”

“Precisely,” said Alira. “The Tournament
is going to have five different brackets for the different gods:
One for Skimif, one for Hollech, one for the Human God, one for the
Spider Goddess, and one for the Avian Goddess. Each bracket will
have twenty mortals competing for the title of each god. For
example, the Skimif bracket will have twenty mortals competing for
the chance to become the new God of Martir.”

Raya's eyes widened. She glanced at Father
and Mother. Father stared at Alira with a stunned expression, while
Mother looked like she grasped the implications of the Tournament
as quickly as Raya did.

I always thought I'd be the Queen of
Carnag when Mother passed,
Raya thought. Her grip around the
railing tightened.
But what if I could become the Goddess of
Martir instead?

“Why didn't the Powers just create a bunch
of new gods and send them here?” said the Loner God. “A huge
tournament like this sounds like a big waste of time, if you ask
me.”

“The Powers disagree, Longer God,” said
Alira. “The Powers believe that creating new gods is less efficient
than making mortals who already live here into gods. Newly-created
gods would need to be trained by you deities, in addition to
learning how to integrate with all of you. They will need to learn
the complex social understandings that you gods have created among
yourselves, which doesn't even factor in the time learning how to
interact with the mortals and understanding Martir itself. Ascended
mortals, on the other hand, already have a basic understanding and
knowledge of Martir and the gods. Therefore, they will take less
time to teach than brand new gods would.”

Raya listened to every word that came from
Alira's mouth as if it her life depended on it. She kept imagining
herself sitting in that throne where the Mysterious One and Alira
stood, presiding over the gods as they all bowed down to her.

If I become the Goddess of Martir, it
won't just be the gods bowing down to me, but the whole
world
,
Raya thought, unable to hide the smile on her face.
That would be amazing.

“And finding the mortals who are destined
to become gods—who you refer to as 'godlings,' if I understand the
term correctly—will not be difficult,” said Alira. “If I am not
mistaken, Tinkar, the God of Fate and Time, knows which mortals are
destined to become gods and which are not.”

She was looking at a god as she said that,
an old, bald-headed man with a large staff topped with a clock.
Raya recalled from her lessons that that was the form that Tinkar
typically took whenever he needed a physical form, which meant that
the man was indeed Tinkar himself.

Tinkar, however, hardly looked happy about
Alira's plan. Nonetheless, he nodded and said, “That is correct,
Alira. I know the fates of all mortals on this world. I can help
locate the one hundred mortals who are destined to become godlings,
as unlike their fellow mortals, the fates of godlings are hidden
from me, which makes them stand out quite a bit. It shouldn't take
long, especially if some of my siblings help me.”

“Yeah, yeah, that's nice,” said the Loner
God, waving off Tinkar's words like they were irrelevant. “But what
are the
details
of the Tournament? I'm normally not the kind
of god to worry about the small details, but this seems way too
important to gloss over. Like, what are the rules and structure of
the tournament?”

“All will be revealed in due time, Loner
God,” said Alira. She patted the cover of her Rulebook. “We must
first decide on a location for the Tournament, as well as gather
all of the mortals who are destined to become gods. All of Martir
must be informed of the Tournament as well, from the lowest mortal
to the highest god.”

“Where should the Tournament be held,
then?” said the Loner God. “Answer me that, lady.”

“I believe World's End would be an
excellent spot to host the Tournament,” said Alira, “seeing as it
is the Throne of the Gods after all—unless anyone here can think of
a better place to host the Tournament, that is.”

Not a single god objected to that
suggestion. Raya had hoped that Grinf would suggest that they host
it on Carnag, but Carnag's patron was as silent as the rest of
them.

“Okay, but why a Tournament?” said the
Loner God. “If we can find one hundred godlings, why not just pick
five from among them and ascend them? Surely that would waste less
time than setting up a whole Tournament.”

“The Tournament is how we will weed out
the worthy from the unworthy,” said Alira. “Not every mortal with
the potential for godhood will attain it. And of those who do, not
every one will use their power for good. By completing the
Tournament's trials, the new gods will show that they are indeed
worthy of that lofty title and the immense power associated with
it.”

The Loner God said nothing in response to
that, although he was clearly grumbling under his breath. He was
too far away for Raya to hear him, however.

“If there are no more objections or
questions,” said Alira, after looking around at the rest of the
gods, “Tinkar will lead a team of half a dozen other gods to locate
the one hundred godlings who will be competing in the Tournament.
Meanwhile, I will inform the rest of the gods about the rules and
structure of the Tournament, which will take place exactly one
month from now. That should give us plenty of time to find the
godlings and organize the Tournament itself.”

Alira spoke in a very matter-of-fact
voice, which reminded Raya too much of Teacher back home on Carnag.
Still, Alira's annoying voice didn't put off Raya from the idea of
becoming the Goddess of Martir at all.

I bet that its my destiny to become a
goddess,
, Raya thought.
I mean, of course I am a godling.
I'm the Princess of Carnag. If anyone should be given godhood, it
should obviously be royalty like myself.

“With that, I dismiss this meeting,” said
Alira. “I will reveal more of the details regarding the Tournament
over the next four weeks as we begin the preparations. For now, you
gods may leave and do as you wish for the rest of the day.”

With that, both Alira and the Mysterious
One vanished. As soon as they did, the gods began to leave. Some
flew out of an opening in the glass dome above, while others
teleported, and still others left through doors behind the thrones
that led outside. Raya noticed Tinkar gathering half a dozen other
gods around him as he spoke to them, but they were too far away for
her to hear anything he was saying to them.

“Wow,” said Darek, who Raya was displeased
to notice was standing closer to her than she liked. He looked at
the other people on the balcony. “A Tournament of the Gods. I have
never heard of that before. Has anyone else?”

“No,” said Yorak, shaking her head. “In
all of my years as the Archmage of the Undersea Institute, I have
never heard of such a process of deciding who should become a
god.”

“What's the
normal
process for
ascending a mortal, then?” asked Braim, pushing away from the
balcony and turning to look at Jenur and Yorak.

“The actual process is a mystery to us
mortals,” Yorak said. “It is one of the few mysteries of magic that
we mages know very little about. The gods have kept the process a
secret from mortals ever since the creation of Martir itself.”