The Path of the Gods, Chapter 9

Julie L.
York

 ***With Ebbe and Emme trying to enter where the Laws are located, and Donal and the Guardian having discovered that Yana may know more and be doing more than anyone knows, her journey to become the Leveler continues, amidst ongoing attacks and pain.***

“So Emme’s holding the location of the Laws, but it’s flickering. The Guardian and the tall guy,”
“Donal,” Yana said, not pausing in gathering together what was needed for tomorrow, the beginning of the work days.
“Yeah, him, they’re in your…” Kit paused, head tilted, listening, “...fine yours and his library. Apparently you’ve been adding stuff lately...”
“I probably have,” Yana admitted.
“What? How? And why didn’t you say anything?” Kit asked. Glancing to her right, where the Guardian’s... shadow... stood, speaking to her.
“I can’t see or hear anything, so how am I supposed to know if it’s real? And besides, it was just a bunch of thoughts, random ones I put together, like a game board until they made sense, and I kind of –” Yana made a flicking motion with her fingers. “When I get ideas or thoughts, my hands tingle or get heavy, and I discovered that doing that makes it go away. It’s distracting to have weight or tingles in my hands, especially if I have to get work done, or try to sleep, or go shopping, drive...”
“Instinctively knowing where to send them, but not consciously knowing,” the Guardian’s shadow murmured. Kit repeated it to Yana.
“Well, yeah, I guess so, but... is that something wrong?” Yana asked.
“It is not wrong, it’s just simply not done. What you mean to do, your intention, has little to do with anything in the Hereafter. You must have knowledge, an elemental shelf, learn the sigils, and be at the correct god level,” the Guardian’s shadow explained, with Kit having to repeat.
Having to wait for Kit to “hear and repeat” was driving Yana insane, but her inability to hear anyone in the Hereafter herself made it necessary, so she bit down a retort and sighed, “No, you don’t have to learn any of that. Intention is all that matters.”
“Incorrect.”
“No, you’re incorrect because intention is how it’s supposed to be. Yes, you need knowledge and understanding of elements and how they work, mixing them and such, but it’s not like you need to memorize a book of recipes, or carry everything on you at all times. I mean, really, look around,” she waved an arm absentmindedly, “elements are all around. Everything is made of elements. Everything. Why memorize anything? We’re literally made of elements, thoughts themselves are probably elements...” Yana paused, “let me rephrase, thought itself is an element. As are things like knowledge, light, all our emotions... anyway...
“Somewhere along the way, the Hereafter got all kinds of backwards. Somewhere, someone did something, and the way things were got lost and turned into the way things are,” Yana explained with a shrug. “And don’t have the next question be “How do you know?” because you ask that all the time and I keep telling you the same thing, and it’s not going to change. I just know.”
Kit paused. “Just me and my opinion, but you’d think by now they’d stop asking that because it always comes back that you were right and there was something hidden they didn’t know about, or, yeah...”
“What I find more irritating than always being questioned, is how unknowing the supposed all-knowing Hereafter actually are,” Yana said.
“Oh, that hit a nerve,” Kit muttered through an almost closed mouth. “He does have a point, though.”
“Which is?”
“If just a simple fact, like the location of the Laws of Progression was hidden from everyone, wouldn’t it follow that they’re kinda flying blind about a lot of other things too?” Kit said, not quite repeating it exactly how the shadow had said it, but close enough.
“Valid point,” Yana said, “and not untrue. That does explain a lot, but not everything.”
Turning to face empty space, according to what Yana saw, Kit continued, “By the way, I keep hearing a name, or title of someone, and I think you’re talking about Yana.”
“Me?”
“Yeah, I think so. They don’t use your name, but I swear everything I’m hearing seems to have to do with you and what you... flick or toss or whatever it is you do, which I know you don’t actually know...”
“Kit...”
“Oh, sorry, yeah. Leveler.” Kit said.
“What?”
“Leveler.”
“Like the tool used to keep housing and building angles straight?”
“Yes. Wait. No.”
“Which is it?” Yana asked, exasperated, slamming the last item needed for work onto the counter, a bit harder than needed.
Kit tilted her head, eyes closed and nodding. After a few clicks, she said, “Both is correct, because you are a tool...”
“Fabulous.”
“...but it’s also a really super important title,” Kit said ignoring Yana’s sarcasm, pausing again before continuing. “From before time was ticked and marked as time, there’s been a Prophecy about a Leveler, a being of unlimited power who will come forth and put everything straight.”
“Straight. As in the god and goddess of our planet don’t seem to know what I know, but when they search, they find I’m right?” Yana questioned.
“Or the fact that what you do, you do without knowing how you’re doing it; you just know it’s right, and you just have the right thoughts about it, like what it needs to do...” Kit paused. “Yeah, he says that’s what he means by intention. Your Spirit had to have learned an awful lot...”
“But because Mortals don’t remember their Spirit life,” Yana continued.
“What you’re doing is what you studied and planned for as a Spirit and now you’re just doing it by instinct,” Kit finished.
“It’s like I know what to do, but don’t know how, and it just... happens,” Yana finished, the thought of the knowledge and responsibility rocked heavy on her body. All she could do was sit and stare at the floor.
“Because you are the Leveler, how you were created way back, at Essence, makes you able to do what you do...” Kit paused, “...do what is necessary.”
Yana rubbed her face, and massaged her head, trying to relieve the mounting internal pressure. “I am a nobody and no one. How in cold ochu could I possibly be... this?” she waved toward Kit, and where Kit had been looking during this whole conversation.
Kit sat next to her on the settee. “You have been hurt so many times, and even though you can’t see it, you can feel it. You feel the weight and tingles and pinches and thumps, the pain and wounds. That zing thing you talk about, in your head... you said you’ve always had that, and yet, you always just keep going. You never stop. Yeah, you say you have a job and responsibilities, but I’ve seen others crack, curl up, and cry for less than you get put through from one rise to another. I mean, maybe you don’t see it, but I do.”
Dropping her head down, fingers laced around her neck, Yana contemplated Kit’s words. Maybe they were the Guardian’s, or his shadow since he said he wasn’t exactly able to be here in person. Whatever. Leveler or not, what had been going on for several moon cycles now had become... overwhelming.
Taking a long inhale to clear her mind, Yana stood, walked over to the shades and yanked them open, glaring up at the moons. She took a step back, closed her eyes, and held her arms out to the sides, bent, fingers curved, as if about to extend claws.
“Uh, what are you doing?” Kit asked nervously. Clear as the mid-rise hour, she saw purest white sparks flowing from... nowhere... gathering and swirling around Yana’s form. Some were going through her, some around; some in circles, some in geometric patterns.
Stepping through the portal Yana had opened, with perfect precision... a normally functioning portal... the Guardian and Donal looked on in awe, and not a small amount of fear. Planet and moon elements, ones of the Hereafter, Ancient ones, merged and joined the dance around Yana. Sigils wrote themselves in the air around her, known colors, and many unknown ones, hidden planes and dimensions twisting through them, pulled from times and realities long forgotten, all expanding with every deep inhale she did.
Pulling her arms in close, Yana moved her hands in front of her, fingers still bent. The elements, and more, began to coalesce, whirling in tighter formations, creating solid where there was once wispy.
The Guardian and Donal stared in wonderment, Donal with no small amount of admiration. “That’s my girl,” he whispered. “Do you recognize any of this?” At his nod, Donal smiled. “She’s pretty amazing, isn’t she?”
“Only you would not be terrified of her while the literal elements of massive destruction swirl around a Mortal who has no understanding of what she is commanding,” the Guardian said, his voice laced with dark humor, his visage never changing. Nor did his eyes miss one particle in the mass. He knew them all, or at least knew of them all.
“Her Mortal self may not know, but her Spirit self that’s housed within is in absolute control,” Donal said. “Did you ever pause to think that whatever it... they, she, he... was that deemed it necessary for someone like Yana to eventually exist, would not take into account that her Mortal body may need to be... exceptional? The entirety of the Hereafter may not have thought it possible for the Leveler to be Mortal, but what if... it... knew?”
“This is a far cry from the protection-covered Incorrupt who panicked as she tossed mixes at the moons,” the Guardian said, a small smile playing at his lips.
“I didn’t show you what she has been doing lately while at our library. I realized, even in this un-remembering form, she is still who she was, completely, thoroughly, with no taint of Mortality, like the rest. It’s as if she has all her knowledge available, but no memories,” Donal said. He saw the whirls of the elements reflected in the black eyed gaze of the Guardian. “She knows. She is there, all of her, in all the power she had, all she learned, accumulated as a Spirit. Her Divide keeps her safe, but allows a flow through, as she needs it.”
“This is information Ebbe and Emme must know...”
A piercing shriek stopped the Guardian’s words. Donal couldn’t help laughing at Kit, curled up, hiding in the corner as a voice, louder than Yana’s elements were bright, reverberated through the room. Yana had kept her hands still, but she’d turned a worried face to Kit’s huddled form. He knew the bombastic voice.
“WHY HAS A MORTAL DARED SUMMON ME?!” the voice yelled. Kit whimpered.
The Guardian yanked a particular strand from Yana’s whirling mass. Walking over to Kit, he spoke gently. “I have… unplugged… the volume. He can’t be that loud anymore. Lift your head, child. It is safe.”
Raising her head just enough to show one eye, she mumbled into her arm, “What is that?” Her eyes grew large at the deep, sonorous cursing coming through the line the Guardian held.
“Not a what, a who. Though in your understanding, he is a what,” the Guardian answered. Handing the thread to Kit, he continued, “Hold it tightly. He does need to be reined in from time to time. He is the star for Ebbe and Emme. All gods have stars, equal partners, a symbiotic relationship necessary for all to ascend on the Path. There are more beings than those of us; the Path is for all. His name is Olbok.”
Kit eyed the glowing, pulsing thread warily. “He doesn’t bite Mortals, does he?
The bark of a laugh escaped the Guardian’s mouth  before he could hold it back, leading Donal on a humorous, though ignored soliloquy about this being the sign of the end of all things.
“No, though he has been known to squash Demons and Incorrupt solely for amusement,” the Guardian said, his composure resumed.
“Kit? Are you OK? Why is your hand like that?” Yana asked. She was looking at Kit, hands moving in time to the pulsing whirl, rotating the solid mass.
“I... um... you called a star to show, and, he’s, speaking like we do,” Kit began.
“Wait, there’s a star in my living area?” Yana asked, looking around. The darkness of night was falling, the two moons in their slivered phase. She saw no extra light.
“No, I don’t see him, I heard him. He’s really loud. I’m holding a thread to him,” Kit answered. Looking at the Guardian, she continued. “I think you’re supposed to do something with him. Or tell him something. All the sparkly, colorful stuff you have floating around you summoned him. His name is Olbok.”
A sarcastic comment about living, sentient stars started, but Yana closed her mouth. A zing hit the back of her head.
“Olbok, you need to go to Ebbe and Emme. Now. Do you have pockets?” Yana asked.
Kit shook as the sputtering rage quivered through the thread. “I can’t understand all the words, but I think he’s cursing at you. The Guardian says the answer is yes.” She paused. “The dead Oracle, Donal?”
“Yes?” Yana asked, moving her hands closer together.
“He’s on the floor laughing, like rolling around,” Kit answered. “I don’t get what’s so funny.”
Yana shrugged. She didn’t understand either, though being told what to do by a Mortal was likely a little insulting. “You need to find Ebbe and Emme, and put them in a pocket. Hide,” Yana said, studying the weight in her hands. It was heavy, her arms hurt, and it was bouncing from one hand to the other. “This is almost ready. I think.”
A frightened curse from Olbok drew Donal’s attention to Yana. Taking a deep breath and holding it, the Guardian spoke what he was thinking. “I certainly hope she knows where to aim that.”