Age of the Dragon 2: The Thedas Rider

Chapter 15

It was many weeks later that Eragon came to see her again, with a thoughtful expression.

"How goes your training?" she questioned, waving for him to join her as she sat in the sun.

"Well enough, I think," he answered. "Fallyn, you are different from the elves here, right?"

"Yes."

"Do you worship a god?"

Fallyn tilted her head thoughtfully.

"Not I, but my people have their gods," she answered. "As I grew among these elves, their ways are more familiar to me. But I have lived among my people on occasion and learned their worship and the worship of other people there. My father fought and slew a supposed god."

"Truly?"

"Do you have the time? It's a long story and very dark," she said.

"I have completed my training with Oromis for today," Eragon assured.

"Hmm, well in that case."

She proceeded to provide him with a brief overview of the different religions within Thedas. The majority worshipped the human god, the Maker, and his mortal bride, Andraste. Some humans, mainly the Avvar tribes, worshipped a series of gods with the most universally worshipped being Korth the Mountain-Father, the Lady of the Skies, and Hakkon Wintersbreath.

The elves worshipped the Creators - unless they lived in the human cities, in which case they worshipped the Maker.

But there was one nation that once worshipped seven powerful spirits that took the shape of dragons in the waking world. These were the Old Gods, and they were responsible for powerful mages of the land attempting to enter the Golden City - the seat of the Maker's power - and claim godhood for themselves.

"However, this was a trick, and these men were cast back - either by the Maker or the Fade itself - and cursed," she explained. "This curse would be called the Blight, and these men - twisted monsters that hardly resembled men at all - became the first Darkspawn."

"How does this relate to your father killing a god?" Eragon pressed.

"To understand that, you need to know how the circumstances arose," she chuckled. "These Darkspawn were drawn to the old gods, who slumbered beneath the earth, and when they found one, they would corrupt it with their darkness. These corrupted gods would rise as Archdemons - and a new Blight would rage across the land."

"You make it sound like there's been a few," Eragon said.

"My father lived during the Fourth Blight," she explained. "He belonged to an Order that arose to battle the Blight, and only the Grey Wardens could slay an Archdemon."

"Why?"

"I was not made privy to Grey Warden secrets," she admitted. "I only know that if anyone other than a Grey Warden were able to kill the Archdemon, it would simply be reborn again in the body of another darkspawn."

"Sounds troublesome," Eragon grunted.

"Aye, and as I mentioned, there were four Blights," she said. "My father was the hero who brought down the Archdemon of the fourth Blight."

Eragon was quiet for quite some time, the two sitting in comfortable silence.

"So your people worship these... Creators?"

"Yes," she answered.

"You didn't mention dwarves," Eragon pointed out.

"They do not worship," she responded. "They venerate the Stone, believing to be Children of Her. They venerate Paragons, dwarves who contributed to their culture in such ways that they are seen as almost equal to any god. They invoke their ancestors. But they worship no gods."

"Then they are very different from the Dwarves here," Eragon noted.

"In more than just culture," Fallyn admitted. "They have ten toes and ten fingers, their women can be bearded as often as not, and they cannot dream or use magic. On the other hand, they have a natural resistance to magic."

"Magic has no effect on them?"

"I suspect if you were to cast fire or ice, it would still harm them," she chuckled. "But spells that induce sleep or manipulate their behaviour, they are able to resist."

They continued to chat in this vein, discussing the complex structures of different cultures across the two landmasses. Dalish stories of their gods, Avvar practices for burials, and even how worship of the Maker differed from country to country were what she spoke of, patiently answering all of Eragon's endless questions.

Then Eragon asked the question that truly troubled him.

"Fallyn, if there are no gods, would that make the people who worship them deluded?"

"That would seem to be the case," she shrugged. "Does it matter? If a man wishes to worship a god, does that make him a fool? Only to the one who chooses to define him by that trait."

"But you don't worship any gods?"

"Not I," she agreed. "But I am willing to allow others their comforts. The elves here are so eager to tear down religion for the sake of "progress" but forget that the simpler people created these myths and legends as a way to explain what could not be explained."

"But why do they continue to insist on it, even when that has been explained?"

"Why do you think the elves cannot comprehend the dwarven beliefs?" Fallyn questioned.

"Because they cannot find the life within the stones dwarves claim to know?"

Fallyn nodded. "I have not been able to sense it here, specifically, but while I was among the dwarves of Thedas, I was able to hear what they do."

She told him about how there, the dwarves could hear the Stone sing to them. It helped them find their way, and find veins of precious lyrium - a substance that was dangerous to all, though the dwarves were resistant to it. She compared how the dwarves of Alagaesia were able to do something similar, possessing a "stone-sense" that defied reason.

"Perhaps it is something that can one day be explained," she said. "But that doesn't make it any less important to those who believe it."

"You sound less opposed to the idea of a higher power than others here," Eragon commented.

"I find the idea of an afterlife comforting," she admitted. "I simply do not worship, because I haven't found anything that resonates with me - which gods are true? Until I find them, I shall remain as I am, and allow others their comforts."

Almost as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, Eragon looked less troubled when he left.