Meeting of the Gods

It wasn't too often the gods would come to visit the ground. The last time I'd seen a god walk the ground, I was left with a little girl. That was some time ago, but not even much of a nap for the gods. I'd been on quite a few missions by this time, most of them with my daughter. Our skills being honed together. My five friends also joined us on most of these missions.

That wasn't all of us. We'd also picked up a couple mages that would travel with us pretty much all the time. And a couple thieves. None of these people were Leyan or Elysha. We didn't revisit Elysha's tavern. Or his town for that matter. It certainly wasn't intentional, just how time goes.

What else had changed? A few things. You'll read about those later than this post, but possibly before if you waited long enough.

Now for this particular meeting. I was summoned to my mother's western temple. This was unusual. The last time I had spent any real time there was during its cleansing. Not a memory that I was quick to relive. The temple had changed quite a bit since I'd been there. It looked very new and bright. My memory shows something similar to marble for the entire building and the spires. There were also several wooden buildings in the area. Most were quite large.

As I approached, I went toward the large wooden building closest to the temple. It was where the priests lived. Maybe three or four hundred in all. The building looked deserted. The floors were near perfect mirrors, as were most of the trim pieces. The walls were less reflective, but you could tell they were well tended. Even with the decorations celebrating my mother.

When I turned around, I noticed only my daughter and I had entered. The others went into the temple. In the back of this building stood a large statue of my mother. Or at least the form she usually used when walking the ground. Behind the statue was a large moon statue hanging on the wall. It glowed with the same intensity of the real moon. The priests were starting to gather at the base of the statue.

If you have to ask how large the statue was, you may have forgotten something about gods. If you stood at the base, you may be able to look at the ankle without looking up. Most likely, you'd have to look up a little to see her ankle. And the moon itself looked massive behind her. Now you get an idea of what I mean when I say the building was large. And not alone. Nor was it really comparable to the temple.

I think most of the priests had gathered at the statue. Then, I saw something much more remarkable. My mother was standing on her own foot. Next to my daughter's mother. The goddess of the ocean was also there. The sun, stars, sand, dirt, hills, trees, and many others had also gathered. It started to make sense why my friends were compelled to stay outside. See so many gods would be almost too much for a mortal. Even my head was spinning.

Seeing a single god in your lifetime would be considered exceptionally lucky. Maybe as lucky as winning a lottery. But, to see a few dozen? Either there was a big celebration, or something was very bad. Considering my current location, you can guess we weren't going to be sipping champagne.

My daughter and I walked toward the rear area of the priests. My armor changed from a bright, reflective surface to something similar to black chrome. Still pretty, but also dark. My daughter didn't have any magical armor yet, so her steel-trimmed leather armor didn't change. My mace was vibrating with excitement, and even my shield was sitting still. Sitting on the center of my chest, providing a nice contrast to my now darkened armor.

As I approached the front of the group of priests, I could see the looks of despair on the god's faces. This wasn't going to be cheerful.

My mother and the goddess of the rain stepped down towards my daughter and I. My mother held a cloak in her hands. The rain goddess held a much heavier looking cloak. As they approached, I could see the cloak for my daughter was actually a full set of armor, but much lighter than my own. I'd learn more about this special armor later. So, you also get to wait.

I held up my cloak as my daughter changed from mortal armor to her new set. We all wore clothes under our armor, but it was still respectful to change out of armor in private. I set my cloak around my shoulders. And, another voice entered my head. Just what I needed. The cloak closed in around my torso, hugging my armor closely, while allowing my mace and shield to be in the open.

My daughter's armor hung loose around her body. It would change later, but for now it was staying loose. By the look in her eyes, she was talking to a voice in her head. Or ten. Her skills were more magical, but she was also adept with a bow, which this armor could produce any time, along with a nearly endless supply of arrows. Her magical skill made these arrows able to do just about anything magic could do.

When I looked into the magical realm, I could primarily see health, fire, and ice. A fairly basic set of magic threads. She could see several others, and had learned to weave multiple types together. But, she wasn't a mage, and certainly not a wizard. All wizards are ugly, she was the opposite. Almost god-like.

By the time we had adjusted our armor, the gods had formed a single line facing out. My mother and the rain goddess were in the middle. If you wonder why I don't use names for the gods, it's because they really didn't have them. Well, they did, but my mother would just be called Moon, the rain goddess would be Rain. And so on. Nothing fancy, just the realm they controlled. And, I really didn't know each god very well, only the overall number of gods and what realms were controlled.

What was the meeting about? Drak-bar was waking up. Definitely not good.

Good Morning?

A picture was recently highlighted on my computer screen. It's of a pair of merging galaxies that have been given the name Angel Wing. At first glance, it looks like the head a Salarian who managed to grow a mustache. Based on what I've seen, this isn't possible, so it adds to the humor. If you know what a Salarian is. There is a particular Salarian that comes to mind, as the upper head is not symmetrical, which matches that particular Salarian, who has a name I don't remember at this time.

By now, you may have searched for the Angel Wing image, and quite possibly tried to find out what a Salarian is. But, you may also be slightly confused. Why am I talking about merging galaxies and Salarians, when just above a dragon is waking up. And, why is it a big deal that a dragon is waking up.

Statements, not questions. The merging galaxies also have other imagery embedded. Obviously, it reminded someone of an angel. But, I see two eyes. And a nose. God or dragon? Neither or both.

As for Drak-bar, it isn't often dragons wake up. Speaking from a mortal realm. The gods have seen dragons wake up, do what they do, fall asleep, wake up, do things, fall asleep, and so on. I would presume this has been cycled several times. By several dragons. How many dragons are in each galaxy? In the picture I referred to, I can count twenty light features that would definitely be galaxies. But, more likely, every point of light in that picture is a galaxy. That's well over a hundred. Your scientists currently believe there are around two hundred billion galaxies. It's easy to say that for every star in your galaxy, there is a galaxy in the universe. Big numbers.

One thing to clear up, Drak-bar wasn't the only dragon in my world. Or at least, the only one that looked like a dragon. There were others, but they weren't more than shadows of a real dragon. It was believed the smaller dragons we would sometimes see were parts of Drak-bar himself. Watching over and telling him when to wake up. Parts of his consciousness, you might say. I had asked my mother a few times, but all I was told was to conquer the aggressive dragons and leave the others as they are. There's a lot you can read into this, especially if the dragons we saw were parts of Drak-bar's mind.

But, that's of little importance. There were very few of these types flying around. There were some birds that tried to look like dragons, but they were much smaller. And the feathers weren't quite right, they were usually too fluffy. Dragon feathers were more organized and laid straight back. They almost looked like scales, but you could see the difference when you got close enough. And, yes, much like your dinosaurs, dragons were feathered. It's easy to make the mistake. From a distance, they feathers are very neat. You can recreate this illusion with a goose. From far enough away, they just look like they have skin of that color. When you get close, you see the feathers. Unless they're flying, then it's too easy. But, I'm sure you haven't gotten too close to a dinosaur have you? You've probably eaten one in all reality. Unless you don't enjoy your height on the food chain and prefer to eat grass.

Back to Drak-bar. I think I've mentioned that isn't his real name. Just the name that's in my memory. Even during that life, I wouldn't have used his real name. It isn't because it would wake him up, make him give me money, or any of the other ideas popular in written fiction. It's simply because he didn't communicate his name with mortals. Or gods, really. He knew they were different, but really had a hard time telling the difference. You may be starting to grasp the issues.

Dragons are world creators. Gods aren't. Dragons can ingest a world and create a new one from its material. Gods don't like this. So, for Drak-bar to wake up, it was imperative to know why. Was he angry or happy? Hungry? At this point, no one knew for sure. But, it certainly had something to do with my existence. All eyes were on my mother.

Jumping ahead into a different hole, you will find out why Drak-bar was waking up at some time. And you will learn a bit more about him. But, that's the future as seen from this point.

If I hadn't been a bit dizzy from the congregation of gods, I may have seen some discomfort in my mother's stance. The other gods had all turned her way. Rain was standing next to her, and it was easy to see her discomfort.

First came the normal questions. Why did my mother create me with Drak-bar and how. Why did Rain decide to create a child with me. The same one standing next to me. Quietly. I did manage to break my eyes from the gods to see her from time to time, but she was simply looking straight ahead. It was the first time she'd seen her mother. Even being mostly a god herself, it was still mesmerizing to see a god.

If you've ever been in a meeting with a few dozen people, you know how chaotic it can get when a heated topic comes up. Gods are no better behaved. A few dozen booming voices filled the air. So many at one time, there was no real way for anyone to speak. So, I decided to test my own voice. And fate. Facing most enemies of my world, I didn't really have to fear someone getting the best of me. Even if they did, I had a god looking over my shoulder that would bring life back into my body.

I knew I didn't have that luxury here. But, my mind had some point of information. Was it important information? It turns out, no. It was basically the equivalent of interrupting your college professor by stating you need to use the restroom. If you haven't been there, I will simply state that they really don't care.

The gods did stop bombarding questions and accusations, for a short time. But, that's all that was needed to restore order. What was my tidbit? The magic weave wasn't reliable or consistent. It was fluctuating, and fading in and out. My daughter, being more in tune, stated she also noticed the same thing. Threads would disappear when being tied, or worse, change their element.

It was about this time I realized the gods used a completely different magic matrix, and much different threading. The magic for those like me was fed from the god's magic threads. If there was a disruption, it was due to a god. My daughter quickly asked if a dragon could control the threads. Her voice calmed to a whisper as the question came out. I think she realized there wasn't going to be an answer.

Our mothers regained control of the meeting, and even walked toward us. It was about this time I realized we weren't in a temple. Only a house for the priests. The gods had to be real. There was no other creature that could capture our senses so adeptly.

My horse nudged my back. My arm instinctively slapped my daughter. Even my armor and weapons came back alive. Gods or not, this wasn't the temple.

To the Temple

How do you imitate a god? You don't, really. Not very well anyway. The priests at this temple were using an illusion, that much became clear. What wasn't clear was why. Well, it wasn't clear in the moment. And, how'd they manage my daughter's armor, which was real. And friendly.

It was the only friendly thing in this dormitory. Luckily, my friends and companions had wondered into the statue room of the actual temple. Probably about the same time I started getting to my senses. You'd have thought with all my training, I wouldn't stumble into such traps, but some of us never learn.

The main doors to the dorm burst open, thanks to my real horse. The fake one next to me dropped into dust as the priests diverted their attention my way. More sand. The vision of the gods and statue dropped into a pile of sand, as did a few of the priests. The ones that remained were stone and shadow.

Ferocity is a word that adequately describes my mace when encountering shadows. That would have been much too benign for his feelings at this moment. Normally, my arm provides the surge that my mace uses to induce some damage to an unfortunate target. Simply amplifying what I provide. Now, my arm was struggling to remain attached to the rest of my body. My shield was unleashing a furious rain of what's best called a moon grenade. Usually, some rest was required after a couple of these explosive devices were unleashed. They are pure magic, after all. I didn't have a good name in my mind at this time, but spending time on Earth allows me to better explain. Think of the speed of a machine gun, but the explosive of an anti-tank missile. That's what my shield was sending toward the golems.

My daughter was standing back, weaving her hands. My horse and friends were approaching quickly. But slower with each step. By the time I noticed them and how close they were, I was no longer in control of my own body. This is what happens when a god is angered. They find a way to unleash their anger and turn you to dust. Which, by the way, is all that was left of the priests in a short order. I felt like I'd lifted a building with one arm.

So, what happened? The dorm was a trap, that much was obvious. But, who would set such a trap? Welcome to my mission. There are very few who would tempt a god's anger, even fewer who could withstand that anger. No, it wasn't Drak-bar. That much I know. Another god? Maybe. You'll have to read along to find out. Or at least find out as much as I did. You can decide if I've left any foreshadowing hints laying around.

Back to the sand dorm. My friends helped me up as the air began to clear of dust and smoke. Then, they helped me onto the back of my horse. Some time later, my daughter arrived on his back as well. Exhausted. I had a feeling she was also not in control. My shield laid motionless on my chest. Quiet. As was my mace. My armor was saying something at a pace unrecognizable. I know there were words, but none that I recognized.

After we left the dorm, the entire building fell into a pile of sand. All of it. The pile was at least ten times my own height, and it would have taken some time to walk to the other end. But, the rain started before I could really assess the size of the pile. And the wind. The gods were definitely watching.

To the temple we went.

This time, Rain met us at the door. A streak of tears ran down both cheeks. This was normal when the rain fell as it was. We let her be. Wind was nearby. His flowing hair covering his face. He typically chose a body that would win any bodybuilding show on Earth. Sand was also in the atrium alongside Hill. They didn't seem too interested in the events outside. Or in me. I think Hill was still a little sore at me.

Other gods were scattered about the temple. That part of the vision was true. The temple held many gods. Not only was the number unusual, but also the location. The gods may have all been on the ground at one time, but they typically preferred their own temples.

My mother sat at base of her statue, looking it over. She didn't turn as I approached. Again, it was just my daughter, my horse, and myself. The others peeled off in hopes of gaining favor of their favorite god. This was one of the rare times she asked if I was all right and not injured. I was mainly tired. Soreness would come after a good sleep. She looked back at me, then down to the ground, and back to her statue.

She diverted the topic towards her statue. How many people would actually see this statue? Would they like it or think it's too much? Her phrases and questions were spoken slowly, with just a short pause between each. After listening for some time, I mentioned my father's name. Quickly. She became quiet. I could feel the other gods approach.

Drak-bar was indeed waking up. But, it would take some time before he was fully awake. That was the last of the good news. The gods knew Drak-bar would not be happy with the state of his lands. There was too much war, too many bandits, too much greed, too much division. Wars that were supposed to be sport were turning into killing fields. I had personally seen the change. Leaders were no longer happy winning a sport, they aspire more. Greed.

The paths between cities weren't safe, people couldn't travel without fear. This limited the transfer of knowledge, and goods. Some lands were starving, while others were throwing extra food to the wilds. Politicians were gaining more and more power and wealth. Instead of serving when needed, they were serving themselves. All the time.

No, Drak-bar was not going to like what he sees when he did wake up. My mission was to fix that.

You already know this, but I failed.

Does She Stay

If you're curious, most people in my world kept multiple sets of armor. Myself included. I don't think I could remember all the sets my daughter acquired. I don't remember most of mine. The sentience of an armor could move if you allowed it. And, by allowing it, I mean if you had access to the right kind of magic.

The first set of armor that my horse tried to burn off did last some time, especially since it was crafted by a god, or at least a god's armorer. But, eventually even it became too damaged to continue to wear. The next set was better, and so was the next. I kept an armor room in my castle. It held mine and my daughter's armor through time. I have a brief hint there was something else in there, but I don't recall at the moment.

Now, how does true socialism work with me having a castle and so many items? Easily. All were welcome into the castle at any time. Anyone could live there, as long as a room was available. As for things, most were in what you'd call a museum. We called it storage. Everyone had extra items, some would send them off to a new owner, some were kept in trying to establish a history. Something we didn't have. It kinda goes along with not tracking time.

On top of all the other things I mentioned, that was another that we thought would be key to my mission. And keeping Drak-bar from eating the place. When I first started traveling, there were taverns, general stores, smiths, and usually a magic shop of sorts. Sometimes, you'd see a shop selling special plants, but they were less common. By this time, maybe a hundred seasons later, that had already started to change. And, by the time my castle was built, there were several museums popping up, along with entertainment venues that weren't associated with taverns. Did all this help with Drak-bar? Maybe.

After the mess at the western temple, I decided to take a small group to what was supposed to be Drak-bar's cave. We all knew he truly wouldn't fit inside a cave, but we also had to admit we knew nothing about how big he really was. Did he eat an entire planet like a Tic-Tac, or did he simply chew on pieces of it until it was completely different? I know now, but you don't.

We thought it best to keep our team small, instead of the hundred or so that would normally travel with me. This time, it was closer to ten. My five friends, my daughter, a couple mages, and a couple priests. As for my map, it was blank. The two priests weren't for either my mother or my daughter's mother, they said they were just priests and not tied to any one god. But, they were good with healing arts and other priest-y things, so they were invited. The hundred or so people we left behind weren't entirely disheartened. Most went back to their own towns, some went off to find bandits. And I'm sure there were some that became bandits. You can't have a large gathering without some of the more negative element.

Finding Drak-bar's cave was another task entirely. I knew the stories that Elysha told about my mother and where she liked to travel. My horse had a few ideas as well. It would have been nice to have a map. But, lucky for us, that was a priest-y thing and they started keeping track of streams, rivers, paths, and other nice features to know about. I know in their minds they were thinking how rich they'd be if they created a map of our world. There were two problems with that. The primary one being they weren't the first, but it's likely they were the last.

We spent some time in and around Elysha's town. Listening to stories and trying to find old paths from a thief's den. Elysha still refused adventure and Leyan still refused to leave Elysha. They had no bond aside from friendship, but sometimes that bond is better than blood.

Eventually, we headed north toward the boundary mountains. It was said there were some that could be scaled to get a better look over the land, and this would be the type of place Drak-bar would take for himself. There was a more popular theory. One that most wouldn't argue against. They said Drak-bar lived outside the boundary and would create larger mountains in his slumber. So, there was no cave that anyone could find Drak-bar sleeping in. This went along with the theory that he would eat those mountains when he woke up, spilling the ocean out onto the rest of the planet. Some even thought the mountains were all in the same place on a spherical planet. If you could scale the northern mountains, you'd wind up in the south. You'll learn the truth later.

This may be a good time to address the title for today's section. The she is my daughter, and she does stay with me for this part of the mission. But, like my other friends, she will come and go as my mission progresses. Yes, it's that boring of an answer.

But, for this mission, she was as my side the entire time. She took enjoyment from taunting the young men in taverns. By the time one got the courage to ask her for a dance, she'd challenge them to a test of strength. Most bowed away, but some would actually agree and get a dance. None would stick around. Dance in this case is as it sounds. We did have some music, and young people seem to want to bounce around to some beat in their head. It wasn't too dissimilar to what you see on Earth.

By the time we reached the northern mountains, we were in the middle of the winter season. I'm sure we looked like ten, or so, little dots on the white plain. The forest had ended some distance behind us, so finding a good shelter was difficult. I still had the tent, but it didn't like the cold. This was just one of the problems with sentient thread. We could see where the scalable part of the mountain was, but none of us were going to get that close to the mountain face with all the snow.

We built a few igloos and decided to wait for the snow to melt. One of the priests mentioned that we should contact Rain as her waters would melt the snow. I'm not sure he thought that through very well.

The Cave

The snow did eventually melt, but not with Rain's help. Only time. I like that song.

I wouldn't say the snow melted predictably, as my biggest memory was from receiving a face-full of snow in the middle of a sleep. More towards the beginning of the sleep, the right time to really destroy that night's restfulness. I resorted to sleeping in a tree the rest of the night. At least I had feathers for the snow to flow off.

I wasn't the only one that didn't get a good rest. The grumpiness of the party hinted that progress would be slow. It wasn't a good hint. We were all anxious to move out of the snow plain and up the mountain. It was also a good thing we had a bit of experience in traveling in streams. The snow melt turned the path up into a stream. A fast moving stream.

Shoes were modified, or just changed. I had quite a collection by now, and sentience does help as well. Help being the operative word. I had a sense that I had been here before. It all seemed familiar. My map was still blank, but my leather bag seemed eager. It wasn't sentient, but it did seem to have some familiarity with locations.

My mace and armor were mostly quiet. But, I can't say the same for my shield. I'm sure it was entertaining to watch a shield dance over my back and around my torso, but that is also a bit distracting. It also jumped down from time to time to travel on the water as well. I would say it looked like a boat at times, powering up the path. But, it would always float back down. Then power back up. Anyone with a youngster would understand. Maybe not the coasting part, they don't seem to coast very much.

But, my daughter was fully grown by now. I can't really remember the maturity part, but I'm sure her mind was sharp. Although she was mostly interested in the realm of magic, she was also very good with a sword and a bow. Not so much with a shield, but a pair of swords can be an effective shield as well.

About those swords. They looked like rain drops were dancing on their surface at all times. It was quite mesmerizing, and menacing at the same time. Not that the raindrops themselves were dangerous, but they accumulated rather quickly into a spray of water when the sword was swung freely. And, from the reaction of those receiving those baths, the water wasn't in the comfortable temperature range.

As for her current armor, it still looked like leather. But, it wasn't. It was made by the armorer as the swords. The water didn't flow quite as freely, but it could when it felt it was necessary. In the hot deserts of my world, it was sometimes necessary.

I had alluded to some things that you don't know about Drak-Bar and his world in the prior memory. I will let you in on one item. Water was plentiful. There was never a drought, and there were seldom floods. It was always enough at the right time. Sometimes it was too plentiful, but not dangerously so. Unless Rain was upset, of course. Snow was also a god. Maybe a goddess. I don't remember, but most likely a god. Snow and Rain at one time were quite good friends, possibly more. But, I would guess they had a little too much in common for any long-term relation. And, no, my daughter was no part Snow.

Snow was a less active god. Yes, his namesake was quite bountiful in the northern reaches, but he was seldom around to have any additional affect. I can also say quite confidently that I had never met Snow. The people of middle part of my world could attest. The winters seemed to be less intense as time wore on. The snow was less, uh, snow-y.

After a couple days on the mountain trail, and camping on narrow ledges, we finally arrived at a clearing. We were all quite tired from the lack of sleep and the constant slogging in the stream. The clearing meant we could take a break. For a few restful nights.

Or minutes. My shield was always on point, and really never slept. Sentient items rarely needed sleep. The tent had agreed to come out and stretch over us. So it could watch the stars dance in the night. Since the tent didn't like the cold, it would come down over us almost like a blanket, but never close enough that we couldn't sit up. It was also quick enough that standing up quickly wouldn't create much of an issue either. Thankfully.

It didn't take long for everyone to stand when my shield started making noise. Everyone being operative, as usually my shield would only speak to me. Somehow, it was able to break that barrier. Moving mountains is a figure of speech on Earth. It was a somewhat normal thing in my world. At least in my experience.

Before you ask, this type of moving wasn't similar to an earthquake. More similar to the motion you experience when a horse stands up underneath you. It didn't feel like the mountain wanted us gone, but it did feel like it didn't know we were there.

The tent quickly collapsed itself and ran into my bag, presumably to the mystery chamber that housed all my goods at this time. My shield came running and almost beat my armor. That would have hurt. Only my daughter had the same advantage with her armor. But, we wouldn't need armor for this surprise.

As quickly as the mountain moved, it stopped. Judging by the surroundings, we had moved a day's walk along the ground. We still had a couple more days of going up to find the cave. Hopefully, we had some idea of where we would land when we finally went down.

Getting Lost with a Map

Capitalization is one of those funny things in the English language. With is a big word, and I want to capitalize it. But, I shouldn't. But, it's a big word.

How to set colors has changed a bit since I started this site. So, you're not seeing the same color set over and over. I'm split on that change. I like the consistency of the old way, but had intended for each section to have color changes to break it up. Otherwise, you'd likely been stuck with a black background with yellowish letters. Easier on the eyes, especially if you decide to read in a darker room. I've read that a certain yellow on a certain blue is best on the eyes overall. Those certain colors were characteristic of a word processor from the late twentieth century. Unfortunately, it was quite as perfect as its name stated.

There are some on Earth that have experienced earthquakes. I'm one of them. A very mild one, though. In fact, I didn't really know what had happened. Or, if it was just in my head. It wasn't. Just a quick jump. One plate sliding along another. We didn't have tectonic plates on my world that I recall. Nor did we have volcanoes. But, we did have large areas of land that liked to move. Sometimes, they wanted to eat you, sometimes, they just moved to find somewhere else to lay down. Were they sentient? Some were, and some were powered by a different sentience.

Whichever was the case for my current memory doesn't really matter. Nor did it at the time. We simply were looking for a cave that belonged to Drak-bar. Technically, all the caves on my world belonged to him, but this one was said to be different. It was a cave in which you could actually converse with the mighty dragon himself.

Since everyone in the first world on Earth seems to be overly concerned about gender right now, I'll make a short address.

As I've said, the gods were able to choose how they looked to mortals. They were typically consistent in either being a male or female figure. What was common was that those that chose to have children with mortals were typically goddesses. It isn't to say that a god wouldn't have a tryst with a mortal, but that isn't how gods reproduce. Any child borne after such a tryst would have likely been with the woman's mortal mate. It was just attention grabbing so say otherwise.

Dragons? Only males. Or, more simply, mono-gendered. As far as I know, they didn't bother reproducing. There are more dragons than there are stars in the sky. And, keep in mind that there are more galaxies than there are stars in your home galaxy. Many more. Aushlin will likely have more to say, but he did mention that if he dedicated the time to visiting each galaxy, the galaxy he started in wouldn't exist by the time he tried to return. And, his fleet didn't have the computer memory to catalog all of the galaxies with their maps. There are many more dragons than there are galaxies. And, they don't die. Just like gods. One god even mentioned that all gods were created by the dragons. House pets. Or maids.

As for Earth, you have three genders. If you're unaware of the third, you may need to revisit your elementary education. If you think of more, do the same. And maybe a psychiatrist.

So, moving mountains.

After my party calmed down a little and adjusted to our new situation, we went back to sleep. The tent wouldn't be seen for quite some time. It just couldn't be bothered.

We continued our march up the mountain toward the top, where the cave was said to be. This mountain didn't seem to have any passages. When the snow started flying again, we descended the mountain. The snow pack was starting to form, but was still barely enough to hinder walking. It was quite easy to see where the mountain had moved, as the surface was bare and very smooth. Almost like a road. Actually, better than most I'm familiar with. Which reminds me of a dream I recently had. That link won't take you directly, as I haven't written anything down yet. But, it gets you in the area. Just look for roads.

We decided to walk along the new section of cliff that the mountain exposed. It mostly looked like every other part of impassible mountains that surrounded my home world. Or home nation. Or maybe just continent. There were several nations on the continent, but you could also say we were all one nation as well.

After a few more days, and inches of snow, we found a cave entrance. The cliff wall in this area was much like the ground. Smoothed by the motion of the mountain. Since we knew the winter was coming, we decided to enter the cave. My daughter sent a couple sprites down the passages. This was a very large cave. So, it really made sense to explore it while the snow fell outside.

Besides. The mountain had decided to move back. We really had no other choice at this time. Yes, there was some panic when the ground moved again. And a bit more panic when the interior of the cave dimmed. For everyone else. And there may have been some digging at what was once an opening. But, after a few mage's flames were established, my small party settled in for a much needed rest. After all, we weren't getting out any time soon.

Let's Explore

Green. Never thought it'd wind up here, but let's see how it works.

We thought the same about the cave that turned into our temporary home. Yes, I'm sure there's been enough foreshadowing, and postshadowing, for you to know this isn't where I failed. Eventually, we'll make it out of this cave. But, we were there for some time.

If you were wondering who tried to dig into the mountain, I would say it was everyone. We did make some progress, but not much more than an extra room. A small room. The priests didn't help a lot, they kept saying something about having two offspring of the gods and no one being crazy enough to try and kill us this way. If they only knew.

And, they changed this editor again. I'd put in a frowny face if I was into using such things. Before, typing would automatically make the text box larger. Now, the box stays the same and the text scrolls. With no scroll bar. I still like this editor, and am impressed with the continuous improvement, but, maybe I should read more of the updates. I'll be right back. Hmm, may take more than a couple minutes of digging, but at least I know what I'm dealing with now.

We didn't know what we were dealing with in this cave. Really, we knew nothing about this cave. There were no bones, so that was a good start. But, there also didn't seem to be any animals. Normally, this could have been disastrous for the normal adventurer. My special room bag allowed me to carry a lot of food. And, it never went bad. I know my daughter had one as well, and maybe one of the priests. Although they weren't exactly rare, it usually took a few resources to get one. Having a god as a parent helped a lot as well.

Speaking of, I mention many times that we commonly ate tiger steaks, or cat steaks, or something along those lines. This isn't completely accurate. The steaks were more like your meat loaf than a nice ribeye steak. In fact, memory says it's pretty much the same as the meat loaf I make here on Earth. If you think you're getting another recipe, you'd be correct.

Meat loaf on it's own is pretty simple. I just add a bit. We'll just work with the pound of ground beef. Right now, that's about four dollars. On sale. I add to this about a cup and a half of mixed vegetables. Choose mixed, or just which you like. I use frozen to mix into the raw meat. This is where I start adding spices. Garlic, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and Worcestershire sauce. Mix this well, then we'll keep going. I also like to add about a cup and a half of hash browns. Dice or shredded, both work, but they should be lightly browned before mixing into the spiced beef and vegetable mixture. I brown mine in real butter. After I mix in the potatoes, I add either Manwich or barbeque sauce. This part depends on how I'm feeling. Then, it's just four eggs. Mix this all together, then toss it in the oven to bake at three fifty for about an hour. You can add a little barbeque sauce or some saved Manwich after about forty minutes if you'd like.

We spent a few meals just exploring the entrance area of the cave. It was that big. There were some tunnels leading to other places, but most didn't seem to interesting to my daughter's sprites. Just so you know what these sprites really were, they were semi-sentient magic energy. They had enough intelligence to remember what they saw when directed to go somewhere and report it to my daughter. After their report, they vanished. They looked like orbs to me, but she said they looked like people to her. Either way, they were quite useful in large caves. And other places.

One tunnel never did get a sprite returned. My daughter was perplexed, as they could only travel a certain distance before becoming lonely and returning. The sprites sent down this particular tunnel didn't seem to vanish, as she could hear some of their whispers. The group discussed whether we should go down the tunnel. There were three willing to go, the others wanted to wait for the mountain to move.

As the ten of us walked down the tunnel, we could start to hear a deep groaning sound. It was more felt than it was heard. This didn't help the group that preferred the entrance. The sound came and went. And came again, then went again. It was periodic, but not rhythmic. Someone thought we were in Drak-bar's nostril. And he was snoring. We kept going.

We ate maybe twenty meals in this tunnel. Maybe a few more or less, but that would equate to about five days. I wouldn't say we were walking quickly, but certainly not slow either. My daughter was convinced to routinely send sprites back to the entrance to make sure it was still there. It never changed. I'll give you that much of the end of this story.

Eventually, we found another large chamber. This one wasn't quite as big as the entrance, but it was still more than I could toss a stone. How far could I throw? I can't tell you in feet and inches, but it was several hundred paces. Not a thousand, but it was closer to a thousand than it was to zero. It'd been nice to have been able to transfer this strength to my Earth host, but that still wouldn't be the ability I'd wish to transfer. There was one more that would be most beneficial here. Someday, I may dive into that.

To ease the party's morale, we stayed in this chamber for about as long as we had walked. It wasn't very restful, but at least it was comforting to some. My shield was one of the votes against being here. My mace was only eager to find something to hit. My armor seemed to be bored. And very talkative.

The priests were still trying to contact a god. With no luck. My daughter and I had given up on that quite some time ago. The last message I had received was just as the mountain slid in front of the entrance. Someone said they'd talk to me later. It could have been my mother, but it also could have been one of the other gods. Or even Drak-bar himself.

Overall, this was a pretty boring cave exploration. There was nothing to battle, and the walls seemed benign. And, if you're curious, my map remained blank. There was some excitement that got us going out of this chamber, however. Time seemed to be working inside our bags, where it shouldn't be moving. Our steaks were changing taste, indicating they were starting to go rotten. Based on how long we'd been in here, we'd be out of food by the time we traveled back to the main entrance.

So, we went the other way. The mages volunteered to travel in two of our bags, casting ice on the food supply. The bags were also starting to get heavier. Almost like they were losing their magic altogether. We traveled for another twenty or so meals until we found another chamber. Our food was holding up, but the bags were getting ridiculously heavy. If you've ever tried to carry a house, you may get the idea. Fortunately for us, this last chamber had only the one tunnel leading out. Maybe that wasn't truly fortunate.

If you watch the right Earth movies, they tend to make you believe the center of the temple room was where you wanted to be when talking with a deity or finding their treasure. That didn't work in my world. We walked to the wall opposite the tunnel entrance.

Our bags did something curious. We were no longer carrying them, as it seemed they reached full weight shortly after entering this chamber. My leather bag felt the same, but not quite as heavy. For good reason. I'll get back to that at the end.

We heard the commotion as we reached near the center of the chamber. Looking back, there were three new caves. And a door. It was quite tempting to go back, but there had to be a reason we were here, and we hadn't found it yet.

We pressed on. Slowly. The ground was turning to a thick sand. It wasn't dangerous like quick sand, just like a deep beach sand. Solid, but it was still not as easy to walk on for any distance. After traveling about three quarters of the way, we decided it would be good to set up a small camp and eat. We had tried to go past our normal hunger pains, but our minds wouldn't let us. No matter how curious we were.

This does sound strange, especially as I recall this moment. But, you'll remember that meals were the only way we really could pace our lives. There is a reason for this, and this is also the reason we couldn't push off eating for very long. There was no fasting in my world.

But, this time also allowed our destination wall to transform for us. Instead of a wall, we were now traveling towards a large table. In the back of the wall, there appeared to be a series of images emerging. The table had ten seats, one for each of us. The seats faced the wall. As we each sat, the images became more clear, reaching full clarity when all ten of us sat down.

The mortals were now wondering why they'd left the safety of the entrance. Or, maybe, rethinking their decision to follow the god's children.

The Wall

The auto-growing text boxes have returned, which is quite nice. They'd actually returned some time ago, but I was reminded after reviewing the prior section. I also hope you enjoyed some steaks along the way.

Yes, this is intended to start where we are staring at a wall that grew images. But, I just remembered some paint work I should tend to. I'll be right back.

That took a little longer than I had anticipated, but I also made a cup of tea and grabbed a slice of banana bread. I don't have a custom recipe for banana bread, so nothing to share there, but I do add chocolate chips and no nuts. Both are for the same, three-year-old reason.

As you should know by now, the paint part was in reference to the eighth-scale model radio control cars. I wasn't sure I was going to like using a brush, three-year-old reason, but the effects are pretty nice. It isn't the uniform color, but that adds a certain flare to the final project when using multiple colors. Also, it's cleaner and the clear polycarbonate body still leaves a shiny result.

That matters for this memory.

I should also introduce you to the titans. Well, formally, anyway. This is also important.

You already know about the dragons. They are the world creators. And destroyers. And they don't like to be woken up. Usually when they wake up, they destroy the world they were resting on. If they were to wake up naturally, they may not. But, there are few witnesses around that aren't sleeping for what mortals would call an eternity.

And the gods. Basically, they are the caretakers of the worlds that the dragons create. Yes, they are as powerful as the Earth-based legends state. Just not as powerful as the dragons. Could they create a world? Likely. But they're usually too busy with their assigned world or too lazy to invest in that extra work.

You may be wondering if there are gods and dragons on Earth. Yes, but the latter is singular. There could be smaller dragons, as I've mentioned, but they are just workers serving the dragon. Or, maybe even just bits of the dragon watching his world for himself. Why you aren't seeing them is another discussion. But, I can summarize by assuming they are all sleeping. Hopefully sleeping. The gods being absent would descend the planet into chaos to a point where the dragon would awake and destroy the planet himself. It's unlikely he's left. That's also a terrible fate.

And then there are the titans. They are neither gods nor dragons, though they are the spawn of both. Yes, I would technically be one of those titans. I'm not sure if my daughter would be. Maybe. I'm not sure how much that would matter now. This may bring a question about my size. As I've stated, I was a bit taller than the average person of my world, but certainly not the size that's imagined on Earth.

That has the same reason as with the size of the gods. For the most part, when you interact with a god, you are interacting with their body that they've chosen to show you. And they will typically choose a body that's familiar. So, for a human, that would be another human. I didn't choose my body. I could choose my form, either a person or an eagle, but my size was determined by my parents. In order for me to have a chance at succeeding in my mission, I would have to blend in a little with the average person. Okay, in reality, this was my mother's choice. Drak-bar didn't have much opinion in my creation, nor was he likely very participatory. Much like my own participation in creating my daughter, the god simply used my genetics to help her in the creation.

So, are titans stronger than gods? Sometimes. It really does depend on age, and what was given. Certainly, that power doesn't always manifest. Just like a god, my power can be stripped by the dragons. Most of the time they really don't care, but it does make it difficult to fit in with a planet if you're the most powerful person on that planet. Just like a billionaire saying he understands the plight of people that work paycheck to paycheck. The realities are just too different.

So, you could be asking how all this matters to the picture unfolding before us on the wall. You shouldn't be by this point. The pictures showed the creation of our planet, the creation of the gods, the creation of the titans, and the destruction of the planet. In that order. One dragon, countless gods, two titans. I guess that answers that question, but it doesn't really answer if I was ever intended to succeed. Or, did I really succeed by failing? Sometimes, that latter question is more true than false.

About that Wall

This is an interesting color, we'll see how this works.

As we gathered in the image presented before us, one thing stood out. The picture was moving. Reshaping. It wasn't just a carved relief, it was a living tale. It was also quite disturbing. We ate a couple meals at the table, trying to gather in all the relief was trying to tell us. It was one of the priests that panicked first. No words, just grunts and finger pointing.

And, for good reason. The end of the relief that showed the destruction of the world was moving. To the left. Towards the now. It was quite clear that us sitting at this table wasn't helping much. But, to be fair, there was also a line from the present that showed Drak-bar going back to sleep. It wasn't nearly as prominent. Maybe it was a subtle hint we should leave. But, there was one thing on one of the titans that kept my eye's attention. Aside from it looking at me. Eyes following my every movement.

Both titans were wearing cloaks that seemed to flutter in the breeze. I checked multiple times, there was no breeze in this cave. So, my daughter and I approached the relief. As we approached, the titans removed their cloaks and handed them to us.

The end graph moved even closer. The reliefs returned back toward their own future, pushing the end away. Slowly. Their mouths began mouthing something. The kind words were something like it was time to move, but there were no kind words.

As for the cloaks, I just slung mine around my armored shoulders. My daughter wasn't quite so brazen and stuffed hers through a loop on her belt. Like an over-sized scarf. As if to accent the words from the relief, the floor began to vibrate. Dust fell from the ceiling. Just imagine your favorite action movie when they take something and have to escape. But, with less drama.

The priests were already at the entrance to this room, gathering the food that had spilled out of our bags and putting it back into our bags. And, you may have guessed, but our bags had returned to normal and were once again massive, weightless rooms. Filled with priests. It was only my daughter and I remaining on the outside, no one else wanted to see why the cave decided to move.

When the hallway was useful again, we began jogging out of the cave system. Unlike your favorite movie, there was no fast escape. It took several meals to get here, we weren't leaving much faster. Not without help.

No, we didn't get help. But, thankfully, we were able to run at a pace unmatchable by mortals. But, it still took a few meals to get back to the first entrance. Which was still being guarded by the rest of our crew. They looked a little less fresh, but at least well-fed.

Now, you need to remember that we ultimately spent quite a long time in this cave system. Maybe a season. Caves are dark. Even with magic lighting. Which, by the way, had been cast dimmer and dimmer as the days passed by. By the time we were leaving, it was about the same as having a few candles anchored on the walls. We could see just fine in that low light. Keep this in mind.

We walked up to the cave entrance that had trapped us here originally. And, it opened. No drama.

Except for one little detail. It was high noon in the middle of summer. Let that sink in.

Pain doesn't quite describe the feeling. Even the light shining through our hands was blindingly injecting pain into the back of our skulls. Not between our fingers that I think we had, but through our hands. Do you think pity is in the vocabulary of the gods? Sorry.

I finally got the idea to use my cloak to shield my eyes. And, that worked. My daughter followed suit and we were finally able to guide the others into the tree line. Well, the tree line kinda came towards us as well. Rivers and rocks usually separated that cliff wall from the trees, but trees really do like water. But not really rocks.

We finally let the priests out of our bags as the sun set. I had some kindness that I must have gotten from my father. Or, maybe I just forgot they were there until I needed some food. We can go with the former.

You may be curious about the cloak. And, it would be a good question to have. But, that won't be on this background.