godhood

Chapter 2: rise of Knowledge

Many years later there was unrest with there being murmurs of a new god in the making, with the oceans that were once just water filling with animals and plants but not under Rowan's control, none of the gods wanted to go into the unfamiliar territory, the humans were getting smarter as well and it seemed like they were retaining the teachings of the scriptures and readings, all of the gods at the time rushed to Rhunar who was already preparing for a new prophecy so they searched through the prophecies and found that there was a temple under the water and a new god, the soon to be the god of knowledge the ocean and greed, would be formed soon.

The gods knew they needed to send one of them to help the new god through the process of becoming a god, it isn’t a painless experience after all, after much arguing they decided that Rowan should go and help the new deity through the process, but each of them grabbed their best objects for gifts to the new god, or at least things that they thought they would like.

From Ziya, she made a staff for the new god. It had liquid starlight coursing through the handle and it came with a basket of string to customize the staff how they pleased.

From Azrael, he made a large coat made with feathers that could withstand the pressure of the water and would allow the wearer to take flight if needed. 

The gift from Priti was a simple flute made of bone, it makes the sweetest melodies if played correctly.

The gift from Thalani is a bottle of moon dust from each of the moons. 

From Rhunar a pair of enchanted glasses, all they said was the glasses would be useful to the god.

So with these gifts and a chain of gemstones from themselves, Rowan ventured to the temple by boat then when above it swam down to the entrance and as soon as they entered they found it was a huge air pocket in the temple so they walked in recognizing the layout as similar to a mortal library just much bigger, in the middle of the temple sat a newly formed god shivering on the ground, they had very long deep blue hair that seemed soaked with water and glowing yellow eyes that seemed unfocused like how a mortal with poor vision would look.

Rowan stepped closer and spoke in the mortal tongue in an attempt to reassure them “Hey… I am here to help.”.

The newly formed god whirled their head in Rowan’s direction, their eyes searching but only finding blurriness,” Who are you?” they hissed. 

”Rowan.” Rowan answered ’what is your name?” he asked.

The new god seemed to calm down a little ”Quinn, why can’t I see my surroundings?” they answered and queried.

 Rowan grabbed the gift from Rhunar, a little annoyed at how they just seemed to know what to get them, they placed the glasses on Quinn’s face and their eyes seemed to focus. 

“You're not human,” Quinn observed.

“Neither are you,” Rowan responded with a smile as they sat next to them.

“What am I?” Quinn questioned, “What are you?”

“Gods” Rowan stated matter-of-factly and grabbed one of Quinn’s long wet locks of hair and tried to dry it with very little success. 

“We’re gods?... Why me?”Quinn questioned turning to face Rowan

Rowan froze a little, a little confused since they thought that Quinn was made deity in response to the rise in intelligence” Were you something beforehand?”

Quinn nods "I used to be an elf… I was just swimming by the beach when a tide brought me below the waves, and it felt like I was drowning. Then I passed out and woke up here” They then looked up at the skylight at the fish swimming above the temple ” What is this place?” 

The two gods talked sharing what they knew and Rowan handed each of the gifts to Quinn they seemed to love them all, they put on the cloak and tied the ropes around the staff creating a comfortable grip, Quinn placed the jar on a shelf to study later, and tried the flute out making a half decent melody.

Quinn queried about meeting the other gods, Rowan said as soon as they got settled in the temple and understood how to control their abilities. 

“Wait hold up, abilities? What are my abilities?” Quinn questioned 

Rowan started off in space for a second trying to figure out what abilities the god of knowledge, the ocean, and greed might have.

“Maybe you can control water and the aquatic life down here like I can control the life above the water,” Rowan suggested 

And so Quinn tried to walk toward the entrance even if a little wobbly they still tried to walk. 

When Quinn got to the entrance they reached their hand out the water parting to make a bubble around them as they stepped Rowan actually studied how Quinn's hair moved, it seemed to be covered in saltwater, completely drenched. 

“Your hair kinda acts like it's in water even in the dry air” Rowan commented. 

Quinn smiled, a mixture of curiosity and understanding in their eyes. "I suppose it's the ocean's way of reminding me where I belong," they replied.

After many day cycles, Rowan had to leave and return to their duties.

Quinn sat in the temple, reading when moonlight streamed in from the moon Tsuki. From the light, an invitation floated down, seemingly ignoring the hundreds of meters of salt water between the surface of the water and the temple’s floor.

Quinn got up and opened the invitation. It was an invitation to have tea with Thalani, the god of the moons and the oldest god in the pantheon.

Of course, they accepted. It would be dumb not to. As Quinn gathered the items they needed to leave, including the key to their temple, they heard about the garden of the Mother of the Moons. It was said to be a tranquil place filled with flowers from every season. As Quinn walked to the temple’s door, tracing their hand on some of the bricks on the side of the entrance, a door with six moon shapes on it, like the six moons of the world, appeared with its archway right outside the door.

As quinn walked towards it the ocean made sure to not get them soaked even more than they already were, as they entered the door they walked into this courtyard with a starlight filled sky above it, as quinn walked in farther into the garden, quinn found Thalani sitting at this glass top table watching the sky, quinn walked over and took a seat looking up at her very tall figure, she looked down at them and spoke” why hello, it seems like you got my invite for tea.” 

She giggled then continued” it is an honor for you to join me here” she poured them a cup of tea and handed them it

Quinn sipped the tea as Thalani explained the moons and the magic contained in each of them and quinn asked questions