The Telling of a Story

Part Four

Once Azonos reached the ruins of the old wall, he saw his old friend perched on the shore in the form of a Mateix. To anyone else who might pass, he would look like a normal person, but after spending his long life at Maructus' side, he knew how to spot him. Maructus turned and smiled when he saw Azonos and stood to greet him. Azonos smiled as he embraced his oldest friend. After they hugged for a while, Maructus stepped away and sat down on the beach. He looked up at Azonos with a broad smile on his fake head and patted the sand next to him. Azonos smiled and sat down next to his friend.

"Are you alright? You look almost as nervous as you did the first day we met." Maructus said as he studied Azonos's face. The man stared out to the water and stayed silent. For a long time, they both sat in silence; Maructus waiting on what Azonos had to say and Azonos figuring out what exactly he had to say. With a deep breath and furrowed brows, Azonos began to speak.

"I don't have something new for you today," Azonos glanced sideways at Maructus to see his reaction, but his face remained calm so he continued. "What I have for you instead is something a tad bit unorthodox. Would you like to know what happened to Iogam and Hepria?" Azonos smiled when he said his son's name and when he closed his eyes, he could see his face from when he was a boy until his last moments on Serling.

"I would like that very much. How long has it been?" Maructus never forgot about Iogam and Hepria, but after the binding ceremony, he never got to see them again. He had always assumed that Azonos had decided to follow the original binding ceremony rules, but it seemed that Azonos was just waiting for the right time.

"A long, long time." Azonos could feel the tears begin to rise in his eyes.

Maructus put his hand on his friend's shoulder. "Tell me about them."

Azonos wiped at his eyes and sniffled like a child. "Well, Iogam and Hepria moved back to the rainforest so they could be near her father since her mother had recently fallen sick. Within a few weeks, she passed painlessly, so they stayed behind for her father. They three of them lived together in a small home cramped next to their neighbors due to overpopulation. A few weeks after Hepria's mother passed, her father died. In his last moments he claimed it was due to a broken heart." Azonos stopped and thought back to Iogam's mother. He lost Vare when Iogam was very young so he understood Hepria's father's pain.

Maructus watched his friend sit in silence alone with his thoughts, but Maructus was terribly impatient. According to him, it was his only flaw. "Well what happened after he was gone?"

Azonos was surprised at himself for being so rude as to stop in the middle of his story. He looked back at the Great Sea God and smiled. "They came back to the forest," Azonos watched the smile grow on Maructus' face "but not with me. No, they lived on the border between the rainforest and the forest."

"Did you visit them?"

"I knew that Iogam wanted me to, but I couldn't. Not every day. A grown man needs his space." Azonos' shoulders drooped as he thought about all the times had had wanted to see his son.

"You're a lot stronger than I am Azonos. And I mean it," Maructus looked at his friend and waited for him to look him in the eyes. Finally Azonos looked up and Maructus could see the tears in his eyes. "I know what it's like to leave your children behind. Pluviara, Lignatus, Altisibus, and Turum. I left them all behind so they could grow on their own. And they all have. They have done incredible things with their lives and have each helped the people I made." Maructus smiled as he thought about his children and made a mental note to himself to visit them. He had not seen them in thousands of years, and a lot can happen in that short amount of time to a God.

Azonos' eyes widened at his friend's story. He had heard before that the other Gods were Maructus' children, but to hear it from his mouth meant that it had to be true. He decided now would not be the time to tell Maructus about his youngest son turning against his brothers and sisters. That would be a story for a different time. With a deep breath, he mustered up all the courage he could and said what he needed to say.