Death, And Therefore Rebirth

Gods, And Therefore Answers

“Yes! Now I’m finally satisfied
with the answers to my questions!”

               While the souls of the Ìræ burned, Vitar ran to Croth and told him about “that red giant” that set the Ìræ on fire and wanted two things above all else: Ernalda and the death of law and order. Both stupefied and incensed by this twist of fate, Croth called a family meeting and, due to the urgency of the situation, recalled a widowed Ferune from exile, an action that pardoned her and welcomed her back into the family circle.

               It was good for Ferune that at that point in time, Croth had no idea who Devel really was. He still considered Anret to be a traitor whose blood would taint the next generation--and Anret had done nothing but speak his mind. His attitude bothered Ferune as well as Jurine for different reasons: Ferune was pregnant and Jurine was one out of two people who knew Devel’s true identity, the other being Murn. If Anret’s mere opinion was considered to be treasonous, she wondered, what would he think of all of Devel’s atrocities if he knew the truth? What would that mean for Ferune?

        Alas, Croth was a man, and masculinity is more than mere strength, dominance and virility. It has a more gentle incarnation: chivalry, an innate drive to protect, to defend the women and children that spring forth into the next generation. Ferune’s condition and the fact that Croth was his family’s patriarch ensured that he had chivalry and mercy in spades. He could not turn his back on her, not when a strange new enemy threatened the very fabric of Ernalda.

           At the meeting, Croth officially declared war on Devel, vowing that he would attain absolute dominion over his inheritance or die trying. All that were present swore allegiance to him, even Ferune and the four Personæ--Intelle, Frat, Anise and Bètina. They, too, realised that they had to stick with their family and patriarch in times of crisis, even if the latter made it clear that he would do nothing short of genocide if it meant that he could be Iren of Ernalda instead of Devel or a random Peru.

            Indeed, Croth took drastic measures. He instructed his siblings to raise their children as spies and extensions of himself from birth to the age of seventy-five, when they would be left behind at random but strategic locations so that they could spy on human activity. Human massacres were on his agenda as well. Devel was not, as he had unsuccessfully crashed the meeting (Ferune managed to trap the tainted spirit in an indestructible jar that could only be opened with a secret password. Only she and Murn knew the password, and he remained there for several centuries afterwards.) However, Devel was still on his mind, as was the last Ìra.

          Croth began to see Jurine not only as a woman, but as a symbol. The fair-haired, petite goddess of Justice looked fragile enough to appeal to his chivalric drive, but she was a talented sorceress as well. She, with her æthereal beauty and the significance of her name (“Jurine” is an anglicised spelling of the Ætani word ìurin, meaning “justice,”) was seen as the polar opposite of Devel, despite the fact that her sisters had died for Devel’s cause. The two had a sexual relationship from 900 to 1264, and in 1067, they had a son named Rynt. In 905, it was Jurine who told Croth about the judgment that had gone awry. Upon learning that Devel used to be his late brother, Croth banned all talk of Anret among the family, and referred to him as a “Deva,” or a maker of martyrs. He called the rest of his family Ìuræ, or sisters of justice, in Jurine’s honour to further alienate the dead.

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          Humans were, in Croth’s eyes, desirous of a thing that they did not deserve. Haughty due to the fact that he was the god of Time as well as the first child to be born since Priara’s death, he saw them as thieves, and tried to kill as many as he could in the early years of the war.

         However, as Croth grew older, more tired and more weary due to the seemingly everlasting war for kingship, he was eventually made humble by his defeats, which were many. He spent many a bloodied, sleepless night brooding on them and wondering why they held far more territory than him. The phrase “safety in numbers” may have had some merit, but so did having supernatural abilities, which the Peri, excepting those descended from Murn, did not possess.

            The truth was that aside from the obvious differences between the Turi and the Peri, which I have covered extensively in the previous chapters, gods and humans were virtually identical. Cosme had created the latter race in her mental and emotional likeness, giving them their habit to sin, their capability to desire, empathy, kindness, curiosity and a heart that could be harder than a diamond but as mushy as wet clay. Even Murn, who represented man’s spiritual and unworldly side, was sensual by nature. In Ernalda, to be a god was to be irony incarnate--and not just because the humans had been based off of them….

        Note: Despite the fact that the humans’ war for Ernalda started way sooner than 714, the æra in which the Ìuræ fought (Year 714 - Year 1278) is the official time period that is used by historians.