The Ascension

14: Haunted idols

 Aela was a short country to cross if you were determined to cross it. It was mostly a narrow strip of land, connecting Stemale to Renen with Ae-en in between, but it was possible to avoid the mountains and walk right through the valleys and onto the other side.

Doing so was exhausting for Wren and Senya, and included avoiding every town for the sake of speed. They had little food left- just some rolls they had bought back in Haven- and took conservative bites for their empty stomachs.

"We don't need to run over there, you know." Wren complained. He had been holding back his complaints best he could for the majority of the day, but he really needed to rest.

Aster's restless energy was amplified by her new inability to feel tired. She shifted her weight from leg to leg when she stood still to speak. "Yeah. I know."

"I don't see anything wrong with hurrying over. But I would like to see if I can't hunt something down." Senya said.

"You're a terrible hunter."

"He's a good fisher though. And Aster, seriously, we're starving. Let's sit down for an hour."

Aster did not sit down, but leaned back against a tree. "Fine."

Senya was quiet when he spoke, and his words were nearly missed. "I'm going to look for food."

"...I guess you've lost the ability to feel hunger too."

"More like 'gained the power to no longer need to consume calories for my cells to function'. Eug! How does this even work? I shouldn't be able to just feel so fine all the time. The science isn't there."

"I don't think you should be concerned about science right now. This was a gift from the gods. They have magic."

"Except I've never really believed in magic. And this was just a shot to my arm! I saw what did it to me and everything, just a clear tube thing that went right into my arm..."

"So maybe it contained magic, or contained something that instigated magic within you. It's the only explanation I can think of. Either that, or, well, you know. Science neither of us understands. The kind of thing you complained about."

Aster sighed. "What I really mean, like, what's really getting to me is- I've never believed in the gods, so I'm handling this okay. But. You know what I learned, up in space like that? There are no gods. Artemis was the god of his world, a king feared, but he told me he was just a human given a couple extra powers. Lailana and Silanah are both creations of Ikina. There are billions and trillions of other humans out there, and so many other gods to match that. It's sort of... pointless."

"What is?"

"Don't you get it? The gods are just artificial."

"So...?" Wren drew the vowel out. "They're still... gods. They still have undeniable power, and they've still influenced every culture to some unmeasurable degree. Even if they didn't- what, spawn out of some heavenly vortex?- they're still best classified as holy."

"Yeah. The problem is that I get that. I just think I ought to be having more of a crisis from it." Aster sighed, standing up straight and looking behind her. "How long does it take Senya to find fish, anyways?"

"It's only been like five minutes."

"Right. My perception of time seems to be off, and I wouldn't be surprised if that's another gi- Wait!"

"Huh?"

Aster had said 'wait' on trained reflex, otherwise she might have substituted in a much stronger exclamation. Past Wren, standing- or floating?- just a few yards behind him, were two creatures. Except there were no creatures on Daliis, only gods.