MERCHANT ADVENTURER

The Power of Transformation

On the riverbank, Lord Crohn crossed his arms, as he smiled languidly. It seemed as though he was waiting for a good show to unfold.

As the warship drifted back out to the center of the river, strange gurgling sounds came from below deck. Soon, like drowned cats fleeing from a bath, those manning the oars suddenly emerged from within the hull of the ship.

"Water!" they all shouted in agitated voices.

Within moments, a chaotic scene erupted on the deck. Men frantically ran around, as though they had lost all their reasoning. Some, who knew how to swim, quickly jumped into the river. While the soldiers, who had been standing on deck remained standing in attention, awaiting orders from Lord Bromwell.

Lord Bromwell heard the commotion outside. Very calmly, he stood up and said through a grin, "Septimus!"

Perhaps, because Eris was the goddess of strife and conflict, she actually enjoyed this fiasco. She turned to Midas and with a wave of black miasma, flung Midas against the cabin wall before quickly heading over to me. She enveloped the both of us in the black fog, before saying, "Close your eyes."

Afraid, I did as I was told.

In a moment, I felt my head spinning. Nausea took over. I felt sick to the very core. Yet, I didn't dare to open my eyes. I waited and waited for a very long time until Eris said, "You can open your eyes now."

When I opened my eyes, I was greeted with a strange sight. It was like I was sitting upon clouds. The place we were in was airy and light.

"Where are we?" I asked Eris.

She laughed as she said, "Paradise."

Then she discarded Lord Bromwell's body and opening a portal, she threw the body into it. "When Septimus finds that corpse, he'll be furious."

Eris chuckled as if she could already picture Septimus' face in her mind.

Mustering up my courage, I took a gamble, by asking her, "What is the power of transformation?"

"You don't know?" she asked, but amusement was plastered all over her face.

She then belched out a deep roiling laugh. "You're a priceless treasure," she told me. "You can use your power of transformation to convert followers. Once you help me get followers, I can resume my previous power. I can return to being a goddess."

This power of transformation is one which easily persuades mortals. In other words, I could easily tell a group of people to worship any god or goddess, and the group of people will do as I say. What Eris needed were genuine devoted followers. Only by regaining a crowd of people, could Eris hope to regain her light.

I pitied her. I pitied the immortal being she had become.

Why do gods fight each other? The answer was simple, a follower could only devote themselves to one person, the same way a servant can only serve one master. Mortals will only truly devote themselves to one god. If they do pray to a secondary god, this was done without true devotion.

I remembered the stories of saints, those who devoted themselves to only one god. They would spend their lives worshipping and converting other followers to worship one god.