Jeremy Laszlo
The Choosing
Prologue
Many gods there were who gathered to create the world. Each of them lent an equal gift of their own power, of their own life force, to create all things living upon Thurr. This method of creation allowed them all to remain equally powerful, working together to create perfection. Through eons they watched their world grow and prosper. Civilizations arose and their creations learned and thrived upon the land that had been made for them. With expanding civilizations came discovery of neighbors. With that discovery came borders. With borders came disputes and ultimately wars erupted from time to time upon the world that the gods had made. Among all of their creations upon Thurr, the many races of man held the gods enthralled. The creatures were but a speck in the shadow of the gods who had breathed life into them, yet the many races of man never failed to surprise their makers. So it was that the races of men were to teach the gods who made them many lessons.
All gods were equal, and being so, many concepts had never occurred to them. The races of man however were not all equal. Some of the races had higher intellect, yet others had more brawn and larger physical prowess, but these differences occurred between different races and thus the gods expected different cultures to arise to fit the needs of different peoples. What they had not suspected came in not a physical form, but from within individuals of individual races. As time progressed the gods stood in the heavens watching man, awed by the spectrum of concepts they had never before postulated. Honor, trust, courage, fear, hope, loss, excitement, vanity, greed, lust, and ambition were just a few of the lessons gleaned by the gods from their own creations. Above all however, jealousy was learned by the gods.
Though none of the gods would outwardly show it, each had become jealous of the races of man. Wanting to experience these things for themselves the gods took council with their brethren and it was unanimously decided that each of them would take the form of a mortal, walk among man, and learn firsthand all that they could from their mortal kin. They decided to reconvene later to share all that they had learned. One lifetime each of them was given among the many species of men, and thus they set their ethereal bodies aside, wrapping themselves in the flesh of whatever race most inspired them. Leaving the plane of immortals vacant, the gods came to roam Thurr living among mankind.
Decades passed, merely seconds to an immortal, but among mankind the gods felt as their creations felt, learned as their creations learned, experienced what their creations experienced. One among them however found it hard to cope with mortal flesh and mortal worries. She was lost to the concepts of honor, hope, happiness, or excitement, though she had learned of them from watching mortal life from the heavens. The life she had chosen however was abundant in none of them. Loss, pain, betrayal, fear, and hatred ruled the mortal life she was born into and she would not be allowed another life among mankind. Being all powerful, she decided that in order to experience the other concepts of life upon Thurr she would simply change the circumstances she was born into and make a better life for herself and those around her.
First she repaired the misshapen body she had been born to, creating a beauty unseen among her people. The people considered her physical mending a miracle and so vied her for more miracles and she happily complied. She healed the sick, strengthened the weak, and gave vigor to the weary. The lowly people she had been born to began to thrive like never before and as they spread tales of her miracles, her name was shouted in the streets, and before another decade had passed they had built a temple for her to abide. The people came to her temple and offered her gifts and praise and some among the people began to worship her as their deity. That is when she learned the greatest lesson of her lifetime among men.
Every living thing upon the world was made of equal parts of each of the gods, thus when a life ended and the power returned to the gods it left them all as equals. When a new life began it was also created with equality from the gods thus leaving them as equals. But the Goddess who lived among the humans, hailed as a deity, learned a secret. It was a secret of import, and many of the lessons she learned among mankind would now be put to use.
So it was, that with her greed and cunning she made sure words of her miraculous deeds spread, and throngs of people came to see this Goddess upon Thurr asking for her favor. Thousands upon thousands came from many races and bent knee to her upon her dais in the temple devoted to her. As each man, woman, or child gave themselves wholly to her, worshipping her as their god, they changed. To a mere mortal the change was unperceivable, but to a god, a glorious change took place indeed. Within each living thing on the world was a spark of life created by the gods themselves. Each of those sparks was like a rainbow with a myriad of sparkling twisting colors, each color representing the individual god who lent the power of life to the receiver. As each person prostrated themselves before her however, the Goddess watched as their life sparks changed to the deepest of purples, barely distinguishable from the blackest night.
The Goddess had a few decades left upon the mortal world and thus converted multitudes of peoples from many races to her cause. As her worshippers expired all of their life force now returned to her instead of being equally split among the gods, yet each new birth still took a toll on all of them. Thus it was in the span of a single lifetime in human years that Ishanya rose among her peers, becoming more powerful than half of all of them together. Mankind had taught her well.
Eventually all the gods returned to their realm, and though only moments in the time of gods had passed it became evident quickly that something had went amiss. Ishanya came among them and with a new abundance of power, laid rule to them all. Each of them had learned many lessons among the world's inhabitants however, and in secret councils the other gods plotted to bring Ishanya’s rule to a quick end. They went about their normal routines dutifully as if nothing had changed, each of them, one at a time, sneaking off to the world of man to make miracles, earn followers, lend their powers to champions and returned to the realm of the gods, their individual absences going unnoticed.
Thus the first great war of mankind had begun, known to all the gods but one as the purge. A battle erupted over all of Thurr, each gods' followers seeking to destroy Ishanya’s loyal subjects. Destroy them they did, nearly to a man. Man, woman, nor child was spared. If service to Ishanya was even suspected the life was forfeit, the body dismembered and burned. The event took nearly a century measured in mortal time, but was just a fraction of a blink of an eye to the gods, and realization struck Ishanya too late. With the wholesale slaughter of her followers her power swelled almost instantly making her more powerful still. Even then however she was not more powerful than the sum of her foes, and though they did not have the power to destroy her, they didn't need to. Instead they held her captive for only a moment allowing time to pass, and as they held her generations were spawned and died on Thurr. These new generations of people were those who still worshipped all the gods but Ishanya, for now all feared to worship her. As new generations came and went all the gods became more and more powerful as Ishanya shriveled to near nothingness. Her peers had thought to teach her humility, however backed into a corner, feeling afraid of death, mourning the loss of her power, hatred brewed in the soul of a Goddess and she swore to herself to have vengeance. Thus Ishanya fled into the deepest darkest pit of the realm of the gods and hid, plotting a way to return to power, a way to redeem her name upon the world, a way to destroy her peers. Her power was all but gone so she planned and waited until the opportune time. Her few remaining followers on the world dwindled over the many centuries she waited. Her temples nearly all lay destroyed or in ruins or completely forgotten. But word of mouth kept her alive throughout the ages. She was considered an evil Goddess now, thus a very few who thought no other god would accept their service still prayed to her. Ishanya continued to wait until only one last faithful subject remained. Nearly twelve hundred years had passed on the mortal world, and weak beyond belief Ishanya crept to the mortal world for one quick deed, nearly expelling the little power she had left. Returning to the plane of the gods to hide once again, Ishanya waited in exile biding her time. Her plan already in motion, she need not wait long to receive all that she wanted. Last time she tried to gain power by showing mankind love and compassion, and in return the people were forced to fear worshipping her. This time however she would hear their prayers even if she had to wring it from their necks. This time Ishanya would make them afraid NOT to worship her.
