The Second Carpenter

XLIX

XLIX_I_Alkol_Meanie_Confirmed

After marching north a certain distance and deciding that it was time for the armies to go on their separate ways, Alkol appeared in the middle of the camp shared by the soldiers accompanying Suakasai and Emerald and her orcs.

"Alkol! Oh, Alkol, I've not seen you in ages!" Emerald jumped to him held him tightly, which Alkol returned with a pat on her head and a faint but gentle smile.

"I missed you too, Satra. Can you fetch Suakasai for me? And don't take the orcs away just now."

"You got it! My babies, we'll stay a bit longer! I'll go call Suak now!"

Suakasai arrived without Emerald. Upon seeing Alkol, he felt and resisted a mysterious urge to kneel before him.

"Alkol."

"Suakasai. You've made it general."

"Still the same person."

"To me, of course. Human general, human thug, human. Listen, don't return to the capital. There is imminent threat to the west."

"I've made sure the Lords in charge of protecting the western borders are prepared."

"Have you, now? Well, I highly recommend that you see to it yourself. And take the orcs with you. There is something else. You have been instructed, advised, if you prefer, by various people to recompile the Mortal Tast."

"That I have."

"And you have accomplished this task partly. The other person in charge of the same task is already headed to the Gate. Needless to say, she wants to do it for the wrong reasons. I advise that you stop her after stopping the threats to the west."

"I . . . I believe you, Alkol. I must make sure of this newly revived civilization's security. Thank you for informing me."

"Good fortune." Alkol disappeared.

"Misfortune!" Emerald, having just arrived with three bottles of ale, frowned, "Alkol, you meanie! We were supposed to catch up after such a long time!"

XLIX_II_The_Willer_of_the_End

"A bit of comforting news, Norhan. Violet was wrong. We cannot save the world with reconciliation. There is no common ground. We cannot combine the two sides into unity. The only solution is for utter novelty to replace them both, inspired by neither."

"You think that would make me happy, Alkol? Why would something like that make me happy?"

Alkol looked at norhan with inanimate lips and smiling eyes that seemed to be pleased by affirming their master's suspicion. "You are definitely a human, Norhan Alkiyla." He then turned his gaze away. "But it would really be inaccurate to say he was wrong. I might have failed to find a solution based on his idealistic vision; but I have nonetheless found a solution to everything, without accepting defeat in any level. Tell me, Norhan, what do you think about this scheme?"

"I highly doubt you have told me all about it. Anyway, I don't understand it. And I see that you are disappointed by this fact, not happy. Such things don't make you happy either."

"Either. You still believe your own words. But tell me, how can I be disappointed at what I hear, if I know what it is before I hear it?"

"You tell me."

"I will not."

"God works in mysterious ways indeed."

"Do you believe in God, Norhan?"

"You know of the responsibilities I had as a kiyla instructor. God is a mere word. Meanings though, they vary. I don't believe in the god religions describe. But in my lectures, I have to address things as deities sometimes. Like Mother Nature. Or the Universe itself. Or Me. Generally, I admit it's possible that there is a transcendent spirit, which can in itself be Nature or the Universe. But it is a spirit that pulls strings together. This statement is hard to understand in the way it's intended but it's true. As a possibility, of course. To make it more vivid, our understanding of consciousness is based on our own consciousness. The supreme consciousness might be of a different form. I think you would be right to deny God in a way, for the god you'd be denying is the god that really doesn't exist. If you don't argue the other forms of deity, then that's another thing."