The mourner and the mad

One day during an uneventful morning, the god of creation came to visit one of his kin in the mortal realm. He had a gloomy look on his face, so Jes knew that this was going to be a rough one.

Teko sat down on a chair and Jes brought a drink for him and sat down opposite of him. Jes made a duplicate of himself to run the business while he was chatting with Teko. He also made it so that he and Teko wouldn't be noticed by casting a small bubble around them that helped him achieve this.

Teko took a sip of the drink. It wasn't alcohol since Teko didn't like to drink. After he put the mug down, he said with a small and defeated voice "Tell me. The thing you told me about having a brother, is it true?" Jes said "I think you've learned your lesson by now, so I'll tell you the truth. There was a man named Tuho once who was your dear brother."

Teko's face didn't change at all as he heard the news. He took another sip and then asked "Why did you make him disappear?" Jes told him "It was by your orders."

Teko then fell silent for a moment. Then he asked Jes "Why did I give the order?" Jes answers with "He went mad and started destroying the whole world."

Teko took another sip and then asked "What caused him to go mad?" Jes answered "I don't know when it exactly happened, but it probably was during those times when you ordered him to kill his four sons during separate occasions. But if you ask me when he became truly mad, that was when he ate his fourth son while crying his heart out."

Teko fell silent again. He thought for a moment. Then he asked "Is Polemos his daughter by any chance?" Jes answered "He was once." Teko then fell silent again.

After a while of silence, Jes said to Teko "His fate was sealed the moment he was born. With the personality of a neutral good and a nature of a chaotic evil it was inevitable to end like that."

Teko asks "How could his personality and nature be that different?" Jes thought for a moment and then said "If it makes any more sense, his mind was neutral good and his body was chaotic evil. In all honesty, it is hard to explain with words. You would have had to know the guy to understand what I'm talking about. And to tell you the truth, those were the words you once described him as."

Teko said "Is that so" and fell silent again. He pondered for a while until he would make noise again. Eventually he asked "Tell me. Did he ever have happy moments?" Jes said reluctantly "Most of his life was pure agony as he tried to hold everything in. But I could tell that he enjoyed the company of others. It was just that his nature was to destroy everything he had in one way or another. If you ask me, the moment you stopped viewing him as a brother was the moment he became truly sad."

Teko said "Did I really do that?" Jes said "It was a complicated decision as far as I know. You didn't make that decision lightly and it caused you deep pain as far as I could tell." Teko gave a slight smile and said "At least I still felt bad about it." Jes says "I don't think he ever blamed you for that decision. Then again, I can't say for certain."

A while passed in that silence. Then Jes said "Speak of the devil." Teko was confused and looked at the door that just opened. The one who came in was the primal devil of madness Galen. He had a golden left eye and a violet right eye. His left ear was long and pointy while his right ear was human-like. On the left side of his head there grew a horn that covered some of his left side. His right hand had seven fingers and left hand had six. Each fingernail was a different color to some extent. He wore almost a permanent smile on his face that almost never showed frown. He also had a long slim tail that split into two in the middle.

Galen noticed the bubble that Jes and Teko were in, so he snapped his finger and then said "Hello Jes and Teko." The other customers were confused by this, so to make things more simple, Jes teleported the table they were in to another location together with Galen.

Galen said "Rude much. Anyways, how is my favorite god and a… how do I say… his head honcho doing?" Jes said "I'm doing fine. Just making sure the customers don't panic after what is basically a calamity comes to the place and speaks the name of the leader of the gods. Care to join us?" Galen says "Fair fair. I think I will take you up on your offer."

Galen sits on a chair that is on one of the sides that is empty on the table. He then asks "Do I get a drink also?" Jes asked "What kind?" Galen just says "Something toxic." Jes just grabs a bottle of toxic liquid from a portal and a glass along with it. Then he poured the toxin into the glass and handed it to Galen. Galen drinks it in one shot, pauses and slams his head to the table.

After a moment, Galen raises his head and says "Good drink. Another." Jes pours more to Galen's glass and Galen drinks it in one shot again and repeats the process. This happens four times in a row and when Galen asks for a fifth, Jes says "Ran out. Sorry." Galen says "A shame. Anyways, what were you talking about?"

Jes says "About Tuho." Galen says cheerfully "Oh! You mean daddy?! That takes me back!" Teko asks "How do you know about Tuho?" I though ***** erased the memory from all people." Jes explained "He figured out that I did something about his past and he came and asked me. I was in a good mood, so I told him."

Teko then asks "So does this make him Teho's fifth son?" Galen laughs and says "You have a funny guess. No, there were only four of his sons and I'm the fourth." Teko says "But wasn't the fourth one the one that got eaten?" Galen says "Exactly." Teko says "How?"

Jes explains "Madmen are the ones who defy the impossible no matter what. He came back after being eaten by defying the laws of this world. I hope you haven't forgotten that Galen is the closest one to be an outer god in this world. He is known to be the primal devil of madness precisely because he tries to defy the rules of this world."

Teko says "Still. I think that coming back from being eaten is something that shouldn't happen." Galen says "Didn't you hear the man? I defy the impossible and I will become an outer god one day."

Jes then asks Galen "By the way, why did you come to my inn in the first place? I would ask you also how, but you already visited me once and your power is bullshit anyways." Galen answers "I noticed while walking by that the head was in your inn so I decided to say hello." Jes says "Is that it?" Galen says "Yes." Jes then responds "Fuck it, you're Galen. Why would I bother?"

Galen then asks Teko "So head honcho, how does it feel to have forgotten you had a brother?" Teko is silent for a moment until he says "I'm… Processing it." Galen says "What is there to process? You just accept the fact that there once was a person and hupdido. Problem solved." Teko says "It's not that simple." Galen responds "Isn't it? Isn't it really?"

Teko says "I can't even remember his face even though I know that he cared about me." Galen says "So what if you don't remember his face? He is gone now and that won't change. Isn't that right Jes?" Jes responds "That is true. You can't do anything about it now."

Then Teko had an idea "How about you show me the forgotten memories that you have of Tuho?" Jes says "Yeah, I'm not doing that." Teko asks "Why not?" Jes says "You are already in pain of knowing a thing that you made yourself forget for a reason. The more you know, the more the pain will grow."

Teko says "But what about the disrespect you talked about before?" Jes answered "It is disrespectful to completely make people forget someone existed. But that was your decision to forget Tuho. I remember that I asked you if you were really sure that you wanted to forget and your answer was that you have made your choice. I will respect your past decision to forget and not know more."

Teko says "But you opened up this wound. Why are you stopping now?" Jes says "Because I wanted you to learn a lesson that had a long way coming. And now you have learned. End of story." Then Galen claps his hands as he says "So ends the pursuit of Tuho. The man that never existed."

Then Teko says "Your ability isn't to erase someone from ever existing. Your ability is to make people forget. So that means that he still existed once." Jes says "Correction. That is my main power. I have learned in my long journey how to erase someone so that they never existed." Teko asks "But did you do that to Tuho?" To which Jes responded "You wanted to erase him back then so I obliged to do so."

Teko asks "But if you erased him from existence, what about Galen and Polemos?" Jes says "You have already accepted that Gnosi became pregnant with Polemos just like that. The world can exist after an erasure of someone. It will still work. The births of Polemos and her four brothers still exist in this world without a father in the creation process. The connection that the siblings once had isn't really a connection that exists in this world anymore."

Teko says "I… See." Then he fell silent. Galen then said "Want to have a fight, head honcho?" Teko says "If you don't cause trouble then I don't have to."

Galen then says "Then I'm about to destroy this whole place." Jes said "Don't do that. You know that Teko can't beat you in combat. You are a winner by default." Galen then says "You make sense, but I'm bored." Jes says "Then go back to hell and torment the neverending landscape. There are plenty of things there to destroy."

Galen says "It gets boring there sometimes." Jes says "Just… torment the souls with twists and turns like always." Galen says "You really don't want us to fight, do you?" Jes says "I just think that it isn't something neither of you need right now." Galen then says "And you would know that how?" Jes says "From experience."

Jes and Galen stare at each other for a while. Then eventually Galen stops and says "Fine. I won't cause trouble now. I play nice and go torment all of the things in hell. Perhaps I should go to the neverending landscape to really have fun sometimes." Then Galen leaves and Jes breathes a sigh of relief.

Teko says "Thank you for convincing Galen. I don't know if I would have the energy to deal with him now." Jes says "You are the leader of the gods so you are expected to do something if the need arises. But in all honesty, I think that Galen was only trying to get you to exercise to get your mind off things."

Teko says "And you said that you didn't think it was something I needed right now?" Jes says "I just think that it wasn't necessary for this moment. Even if you two would have fought, Galen's boredom wouldn't have subsided for long in any case. That child needs something to constantly entertain himself."

Teko chuckles and says "You even call him a child." Jes says "He is immature like Iloton. Bright, but immature."

Teko then says "I once thought if I wanted to be an outer god." Jes asked "What was your conclusion?" Teko says "I… just think that I should focus on the present and not the future that is outside this world." Jes says "Focus on a present. A leader of the gods really said that. Now I have seen something new."

Teko asks "Have people in my position said something different?" Jes just says "It's just that most tend to focus on the longevity of their respective worlds. Not that you aren't, but… how do I say this… they tend to… think far ahead instead of the present."

Teko says "I see. So that's what they thought." Then he drinks the rest of his drink and rises from his chair. He then says "I think I'm good for now. Thank you… and sorry." Then he goes to the realm of the gods and Jes is left thinking "Now that I teleported a whole table and some chairs away from the inn, how am I going to put them back without causing a commotion?"