Chapter 7

Ishar lay still on the forest floor and observed the God Ovek. Ishar had no doubt that Ovek was a God, the man could change his skin pigmentation, hair and eye colour. Not to mention the obvious fact that the wolves had herded him to the exact spot he now lay, it had all been a sequence of events set into motion from the missing sheep to the chase by the wolves all so that he would find himself in the presence of a deity. But why? Ishar wondered, what would a God want with him?

Ovek stood up and walked back to the wood Ishar had dropped, he picked it up and returned to the fire, feeding the wood to the flame. Ovek then sat beside the fire and stared into it, giving no note of Ishar's presence. Ishar sat up from the position he lay on the ground. He observed the God enjoying the warmth of the flame and took note of the weird shadow cast by Ovek, it seemed as if two long horns protruded from the head of the God's shadow.

"What do you want with me?" Ishar asked.

Ovek's amber eyes turned to face him, studying him. Ishar felt as if Ovek's eyes saw more than just the surface, he felt the eyes upon his mind and within his soul, he felt naked before them. "Who is Niada?" Ovek asked.

Ishar felt a cold chill spread over his body at the mention of her name, he squinted his eyes at Ovek and his fingers trembled under the failed effort to conceal how unnerved he was by the mention of a single name. Ishar pursed his lips, he wasn't going to say a word. He felt that more than his life depended on his silence, he was certain that Niada was as of the time in as much danger as himself.

Ovek scoffed. "I'm not going to hurt her. Though her existence would be better off if she were to perish now." Said the God. "In seven days time the kingdom of Talisi won't be able to meet the annual quota given to the kingdom of Binoria during their gift giving ceremony, they will compromise by offering ten daughters from every village in their Kingdom. Niada will be among those offered. She will spend the rest of her life in a whore house in Binoria and one day she will meet her end in the hands of an overexcited client who takes pleasure from causing pain."

Ishar stood up and clenched his fists to his side. "YOU LIAR!" Bellowed the shepherd boy. Confidence he never knew he had surged within him, fueled by the words uttered by Ovek concerning Niada. "You're nothing but a liar!" He continued, throwing caution to the wind. "Oh? You think I'm going to sit here and listen to you spout nonsense just because you can change your skin color and can control a bunch of wild dogs?" The wolves around the edges of the clearing growled in unison but they didn't deter Ishar's rage.

"You call yourself a God, where were you? huh? Where were you when Meena blessed the Binorians and set in motion the greatest massacre ever witnessed within the realm? Hmmm? Where were you when my people were massacred and every nation bordering Binoria enslaved? You're a God of nothing!" Ishar spat at Ovek but the God seemed unmoved by his outburst. "Nobody even knows your name!"

Ovek stood up abruptly and rushed towards him, Ishar stood his ground and raised his fists as if to defend himself but the God slapped away the boy's arms and then placed his palm on Ishar's bare chest, right on his beating heart. Ishar gasped and closed his eyes. When he opened them he was no longer in the woods under the full moon instead he found himself beneath the scorching sun with a sword in hand.

He observed his body and found he was adorned in blue armor and the ground beneath his feet was stained with blood. He looked in front of him and saw a man dressed in gleaming red armor riding a giant beast, a Telinete rhino with bulging muscles and red carapace sprouting along its limbs and shoulders. The beast had three long horns lined upon the bridge of its snout that were all stained with blood and it was charging right at Ishar.

Ishar trembled and the sword in his hand shook with him. You ask where I was? Asked a deep rumbling voice, Ishar wanted to turn to see where the voice was coming from but he couldn't draw his eyes from the charging Telinete beast. Right as the longest of the rhino's horns pierced his armour he closed his eyes and when he opened them them he was laying in a pull of blood, a sword was dug deep into his side.

He observed his body and found it to be plump and female. He was a woman with dark skin and white hair stuck to his sweating face, he tried to move but the gaping wound in his side made him cry out in pain. He observed around him and saw that it was night but an orange glow spread out across the village as houses made of mud and stone burned, a young Talisi girl was being dragged away from him by soldiers dressed in red armour. The girl was reaching out with her hands towards him and crying while yelling "Mamaaaaa!" The emotional pain he felt trumped the physical pain. You ask where I was? Said the voice once more.

Ishar closed his eyes again and when he opened them he was a child of not more than eight years of age. He had copper skin and long sandy hair that fell over his forehead and partly down his eyes. Tears were streaming down his face as he watched men dressed in red armour pour oil on an old man who lay on the ground with skin and hair like his own dressed in purple robes with a crown of silver upon his head. The man was saying something to him but he couldn't hear as there were screams all around him. One of the men took a torch engulfed in flame and tossed it over the oil drenched man and the man went up in flames, screaming.

Ishar screamed in anguish, mirroring the old man and closed his eyes. When he opened them again he was back in the Talisi forest with the full moon above him. He was back next to the fire with the wolves encroached around him. He lay on the ground as tears trickled endlessly from his eyes. He felt so much pain but he couldn't exactly pin point where it was coming for. He sobbed like a child and curled into a ball on the ground. Ovek's bare feet were visible before the blur of tears that stained his eyes. "I was there." said the God.

Ishar lay sobbing for a while and Ovek stood over him, silently observing him until he finally stopped crying and mastered the strength to raise his head off the ground and meet the amber eyes of Ovek. "Why didn't you do something? Why didn't you stop Meena or the Binorians?"

"I was waiting." Answered Ovek.

"What were you waiting for?" Asked Ishar a little coldly.

Overk paused and stared down at Ishar, he took in a breath and replied. "For you."

"What? But I'm a nobody, I'm not a king, I'm just a shepherd and I don't even know who my parents are."

"Your father was a cobbler who went to war as the Kolotians took their last stand against the Kingdom of Binoria. He suffered an injury in the first five minutes of battle once an arrow went through his arse, he crawled around the battle field with an arrow sticking out of his behind and was trampled to death during a charge. Your mother was a Kolotian seamstress whose head got cut off by a Binorian blade. Now you know your parents." Ovek said. .

Ishar sat up and just stared at the God before him. He wanted to say something, he wanted to call the being before him a liar and throw a tantrum but the visions that had been forced onto him and the feelings that came with them prevented him from doing so. A part of him knew that Ovek wasn't lying.

"Did you know that a Kolotian infant's dismembered hands are worth one gold vigon each but the hands of a Kolotian adult are worth ten vigons? One gold vigon for each adult blue tipped finger." Ovek said and walked back to the fire, he took a stick and stirred the logs feeding the flame. "Your hands are going to fetch quite a hefty price in a few years or so." Ovek turned to meet Ishar's gaze, "I guess that's why the old man keeps you around huh, you're an investment."

Ishar couldn't help himself, fresh tears started flowing from his eyes. He felt like a weakling, unable to face facts without breaking down. Part of him had always wondered why his Cheke had raised him but never really showed him any form of paternal affection. He only knew abuse from the old man and deep seated hatred. Now he knew why and the reason hurt more than all the abuse he had endured.

"Why are you telling me these things?" Ishar wondered between sobs.

"I want you to know that in the entire realm you're the least of them all. Nobody cares for you or loves you, you have no history to rely on as your entire line is dead, your ancestors were neither powerful nor valiant. You are destined to die within half a decade and you'll leave nothing to be remembered by." Ovek said.

"WHY ARE YOU TELLING ME THIS?" Ishar screamed.

"Meena chose a powerful man as her champion, a man whose history is known, a man who would sire children with her gift and would build a Kingdom that will transcend into an empire throughout time and will ensure the worship of Meena spreads far and wide, giving her power, ensuring she is never forgotten and is always worshipped, she made her gamble and it has paid off. The Gods have been forgotten and only her name remains." Ovek said.

He stood up and departed from the flames. Walking towards Ishar, he crouched before the boy until they were face to face. "Nobody remembers my name anymore but you now know it, for as your father crawled around a battle field bleeding from his arse he said a prayer to me asking me to be with you, and as your mother watched the edge of a blade fall towards her neck she laid your life in my hands, asking me to guide you." Ovek smiled and his silver tooth shone.

"You want me to worship you so that you'd be powerful enough to stop Meena?" Ishar asked. .

"You're but only one person, your worship won't help me create balance neither will it give me enough strength to face Meena, to face her we must destroy what she's built. Crumble her power structure."

"Then why do you need me?"

"You called Meena the Goddess of order, what do you think I'm the God of?" Ovek asked. .

"Uhmm." Ishar hesitated. "I don't know, the God of wolves maybe?"

Ovek glowered at him and Ishar felt incredibly stupid. "Meena is order, she is sanity. She is the steady flow of knowledge, wisdom and understanding and she bestowed upon the Kings of Binoria an incredible sense of intuition concerning all that she is. They are able to spot her presence as she exists in everything just as I do." said Ovek.

Ishar's brows furrowed, "If she is sanity then you're insanity, right? And foolishness and disorder?"

"Close," said Ovek. "Very close. Meena blessed the Kings of Binoria by giving them great understanding hence eradicating their fear for they cannot fear what they understand and they understand everything. In order to restore balance I must take something from the lowest of peasants just as Meena gave to the highest of nobles."

"What do you want from me?" Ishar asked in a shakey voice.

"Your sanity." Ovek replied

Ishar took a moment to ponder Ovek's words. He remembered the pain and the suffering he'd witnessed through the visions Ovek had shown him. He remembered the men in red armor, the color of Binoria, he felt hatred towards them, hatred for the inhumanity he'd witnessed and pain over the fact that he was indeed the lowest of the low. According to Ovek who seemed to know things past and future, he apparently had no future beyond half a decade and Niada was destined to die in a whore house probably without ever knowing his name.

"Take it," Ishar said. "TAKE MY SANITY." He screamed at the God. Ovek smiled in reply and the fire suddenly went out, the wolves howled and a gust of wind swept over Ishar together with a blanket of something that looked like smoke. Everything went dark and the last feeling he had was of his head hitting the ground.

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