Stand Watch
Kalza sat in his temple, watching as the sun rose. He snuffed out the glowing stones that illuminated his home distractedly.
There was a lot of questions he had. Why did information need to be so tightly controlled? What did they need him to do? He had spent the night staring out into the stars while contemplating everything, but hadn't figured out anything.
Zurok came through the door quietly, without announcement or flourish.
"Hello son. Today is a big day for you." Zurok did not sound as if he was excited or proud. Instead, he was wearily acknowledging an unwelcome outcome.
"Father." Kalza's voice was tight, but steady. He had spent a fair amount of time preparing for this moment. He was determined to face whatever was going to happen with the dignity befitting a god.
"So. Now you know of the greater universe. With this, you are ready to contribute to the pantheon. And there is much to do."
Kalza felt his surroundings shift around him. His father was taking him to some place he had never gone. He was surprised since he had never felt a spatial shift like this before. Though he was young by the standards of a god, he had thought he had reached the full potential of his abilities. He knew in this moment he was so very, very wrong.
"We control 12 mortal planes. Each of those planes of existence have stars, suns, moons, planets, and infinite space. Now, what lies beyond the known space of each plane, we don't know. But control over what we do know is enough. Generally, we are bounded within a galaxy in each plane, mostly because we lack gods to explore further. And it is a tiresome task."
The spacial shift ended, and Kalza and Zurok floated in space. Kalza could instinctively tell this was not the mortal plane he'd known, but perhaps a different one. Around him was empty space and the light of stars. There was no sense of direction, but Kalza was able to orient himself to the way his father was positioned.
"Your task is to watch this plane. Patrol around and take note of any strange occurrences. If you feel a strange energy, investigate it. If it's an emergency, contact the Pantheon. I will take you around once, just so you have an idea of what is normal. After that, you'll make your own rounds. Someone from the Pantheon will reach out to you regularly, to hear what you've seen. Any questions before we begin?"
Kalza pondered this briefly... If there was one god watching each of the twelve planes, that would be a huge portion of the god race! Just for watching mortal planes? What was the purpose, what need was there? There were only a hundred some gods in existence, and 12 of them at any time were watching mortals?
"How long will I stand watch?" Kalza realized there was much that was still withheld from him, and it would do no good to prod until he had proven himself. His father nodded with approval at the restraint shown, as he could see the unanswered questions on his son's face.
"20 years is the normal amount of time. You're starting in the middle of someone else's shift, and that person will be watching to make sure you're doing okay for a while, so this time it will take 26 years. Years in the heavenly plane that is, not the years of this particular mortal plane." Kalza was surprised when he was reminded that the years passed differently in this plane. Here, years would be measured by the orbit of something around a bigger something in the mortal plane. And in the heavenly plane, years were measured by the ebb and flow of aether. He wondered how he would be able to count the days in this place.
Kalza nodded his acknowledgment, and Zurok began to move, waving for Kalza to follow. Steeling himself, he embarked on his first patrol.
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Konja was never a patient God. He had always been able to have whatever he wanted with the snap of his fingers. Most gods were impatient as well, despite being immortal and unending. It had never seemed strange to Konja before, but now that his patience was tested daily, it was particularly noticeable.
His patience was especially tested now. He had begun trying to learn how to sense the subtleties of mana, and it was very very slow progress. Watching his own body, he would only be able to sense the faintest wisps of mana that he emitted. It was not much different to the grass on the ground around him. He could sense stronger sources of mana far away, in the magic forest, certainly. But those sources would be hazy and indistinct. He'd be able to guess the source of the mana if he looked at the form of something, like a magic tree or a large troll. But how the mana circulated within those beings, or even sensing the mana within the bounds of that mortal form was a wild guess at best.
However, he had time aplenty. Day by day, he worked on learning to recognize mana. He was quite diligent about this, but it wasn't a perfectly smooth journey. He'd be distracted with small tasks such as feeding the bird, or expending some of his accumulated energy to grow bigger as a tree. As the season changed firmly into spring, more birds started to roost on Konja's branches. Even more, he realized it was a silly to pick a fight with a bird.
His relationship with his captive had changed. He no longer held any grudge, so he let the black bird go. There was little point in keeping this bird around. It was just another bird like the others. The black bird jumped out of the cage at the first chance it had, but oddly, it returned at night to roost in its open cage again.
"Silly bird", Konja thought. "I have not been kind to you, yet you hold no grudge?"
The black bird just cawed happily as it hopped around Konja's branches. Konja had no way of communicating to the creature yet, but sometimes it felt like he had someone to talk to with the bird around.
"What should I call you?" Konja considered the bird more closely. It was large for the average bird, but still tiny compared to Konja. It was all black, excepting for its orange beak, the blue stripe down its forehead, and its green eyes. "That blue stripe is the colour of azurite... Perhaps I will call you Azura." With that, he had one less worry, and was able to focus more on sensing mana.
One day, strangely, he thought he started to sense mana that he'd never sensed before in a nearby pond. His divine sense could show that there wasn't anything new or remarkable in this pond however. It was just as empty as it was before, with a few fishes. But this cloud of mana was serene and unmoving, unlike most sources of mana in living creatures. Konja wondered, "Just what could this be?"
This mana felt... somewhat different from the mana he had felt before. He pondered and examined it closely all day.
By the next day, he could sense that mana better, and felt a small of achievement with his progress. Then, he realized what was happening! The mana wasn't in some living creature... it was the mana in the pond water! If he extended his senses further to another pond, he would faintly feel the same kind of mana!
Konja was having an epiphany, realizing there was different kinds of mana in this world! It was strange to think, since aether only had one form, but it made sense. Most mortal creatures were specialized or talented in a few things, but not all things like Gods were. Those mana within those mortal creatures must be good and bad at different things, and these different properties implied there were different kinds of mana! With this, his understanding of mana grew tremendously. He was able to learn how to sense mana much more quickly, as he learned the different sensations related to each type of mana.
After spending a lot of time thinking about mana, he started to categorize them into several major types: Wood mana, Anima mana, Water mana, Metal mana, Lightning mana, and Fire mana. He suspected there were even more types as well, though he hadn't encountered them yet. He had only been able to learn of the existence of lightning mana when a lightning storm came to his vicinity. What other kinds of mana were out there that he hadn't had the chance to experience?
Even these categories weren't perfect, as he could sense a slight, subtle difference between the Wood mana within him and the Wood mana from the grass below him.
However, he wasn't a perfectionist and was greatly pleased with his progress. The process of learning was more appealing than he had ever thought. He was starting to like this mortal existence, though he would never admit it.