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Confrontation | Chapter 4 →
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I stood there in the trees, feeling the wind blow, and I wondered not for the first time what I was going to do with my life. I had devoted my youth to the study of temple magic and felt in my soul the strong desire to be a communicant. Unfortunately for me, ambition and drive was not sufficient. One by one, the temples had rejected me. I had never even gotten far enough to be tested. The last of the temples had at least given me a clue as to what they had found objectionable about me.
"Xilar," the old priest said softly, "you may have the talent, you may have the dedication, you may even have the calling, but you lack the commitment. Just the fact that you have been so willing to move from one temple to another seeking their approval is proof that you are not committed to a single deity...."
"But..." I had begun, but the priest continued heedless of my objections.
"We would hardly be doing a service to our lord if we allowed you to enter his priesthood, knowing as we do that he was not your first choice but your last hope of desperation. I am sorry, Xilar, we have no choice. You have no future in our Temple and indeed we question your future is in service to the Gods at all..."
He was wrong. I knew it with all my being and I would prove it. I thought these thoughts in the darkness, not realizing that, in fact, it was true, and I would prove it in a way that would change the world forever. I thought these thoughts not realizing that my service to my god, in fact, would tear the temple hierarchy apart. I knew none of these things as the voice pricked at the edges of my being, not so much heard as felt internally.
"Xilar... son of Xilan," the voice said simply. It was not a question but a statement, and though I heard it after the manner of my people's names, I had the sense that it was not spoken as the Kruath'ri speak but in fact was an utterance in some ancient language that identified my very being....
"Yes?" I asked, nervous, not knowing that this sensation of intimate knowledge, of sure communication, was the hallmark of a communicant communing with their deity.
"We have long waited your arrival here.... we had known you would come...."
"Who... who... are you....?" I was scared now... Scared because his voice spoke truth into my soul. The speaker had indeed waited in that very spot, knowing with certainty that I would come to this place. That this meeting was fated, not of my choosing but ordained from the beginnings of time...
"I am the Consort of Creation. I am The'Galin, truth-bringer, and I have come to change the world."
"The'Galin...." I uttered, dumbfounded. I remembered the Bard Sagas of old which told of a young man who sought to love the Gods. The'Galin, amazed by the wonder of creation, sought to gain the favor of Lorithia, the creator herself. Yet Lorithia had no communicancy. Of all the gods, she was the most silent, the most distant. The tales said that The'Galin had died in the attempt for her hand, but moved once in an aeon by his passion, she had taken him into her kingdom and granted him immortality. A children's story meant to encourage us to aim high and dream dreams, but no one had ever suggested that The'Galin would come to do Lorithia's business. That The'Galin should not be amongst the Gods but should, in fact, be a god himself. The thought was exciting and terrifying. If what this being said was true...
I entertained doubt for but a moment. I could not deny the presence in my soul. Indeed, this was The'Galin, but if I entertained thoughts that he came to create, they were foolishness. I would learn in time the truth... He came to destroy... He came to devour.
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