6 Gods II

Later that evening I let myself fall exhausted on the fur.

Which kind of maniac pushes a five year old kid run the whole day? They can´t be sane right?

But sadly they are not. My mom pushed me to run because she knows that stamina is really important in a fight. Most people don´t know this, but a fight shouldn´t last long. Even just two minutes in a fight can be very exhausting let alone fighting on a battlefield. Stamina and awareness are as important as skills and armor.

Enjoying the soft feeling of the fur I looked at my mom. No signs of exhaustion just a bit of sweat on her face. She sat down next to a small fireplace and started to rekindle the fire.

"Don´t sleep yet, Arn."

She warned me with a slight amused smile.

"You wanted to hear about the gods, didn´t you? Come and sit here. I will tell you about our gods."

I gave a wry smile and a big jawn, then sat next to my giant of a mom.

"First I want to tell you about the Ceremony of Choosing."

She began and looked at my reaction.

"I know, that people who are choosen by a god recieve their blessing. But what that blessing is or why people get choosen is still unclear to me..."

I tried to look focused and confident. But by the look on my mom´s face I could see that I failed.

"To be exact everybody gets choosen."

"What?"

Gods choosen one shouldn´t that mean, that only a few people get choosen? At most ten, right?

"As I said I have never seen anyone who didn´t get a blessing from one of our gods. Domhain the god of earth, Doite the god of fire, Uisce the god of water and Aer the god of air those four will choose to give us one blessing. But you can get only one blessing, so sometimes we can choose which blessing to accept, if two gods are ready to bless a person."

She looked me straight in the eye and smiled knowingly.

"I have never heard of someone, who didn´t get a blessing."

The information slowly sunk in and I didn´t know should I feel relieved or concerned?

Why you ask? The first of the commandments... I think it was the first... You shall have no other gods before me! If I accept that blessing... will I have accepted another god instead of mine?

As I pondered that question my mother interrupted, clearly concerned with my lack of response.

"I got my blessing from Domhain the god of earth as do the most of our people. His blessing gives me additional strenght and I can take more punches then before."

She smiled and showed of her well defined muscles.

"With those no matter what stands in my way I can trample all. I heard, that the god of fire allows the user to create flames and most use it to create metals, but we don´t have one in our tribe. The god of water allows for healing and to create water, but healing is useless if you don´t get seriously hurt. One of our elders has the blessing of Uisce and he collects stories about the gods and the use of the blessing."

Okay... fire seems really strong... earth... yeah fits with those people; punch and punch problem solved... water seems desireable... the power of healing and creation of water... Hmmm.... wait a moment...

"Mom? What about Aer?"

"Aer the goddess of air isn´t exactly concerned with what we do..."

Mom smiled wryly.

"She is a bit fickle... I have never heard of anyone blessed by her and it is said, that her blessing is the weakest. Domhain said so in one of the stories about him, so it seems true."

Air is useless? Hmm... Okay it seems like I should hope for water or fire blessing, but praying to them seems wrong to me.

"Mom, how do I gain one of those blessings."

She looked confused at me

"The ceremony..."

"I mean what can I do to achieve one of those blessings?"

"Ah I got it... Ähm.... I don´t know. I never thought about it, if you take part in the ceremony you will gain a blessing and that´s it... perhaps praying?"

So there is no way to influence the outcome?

"Did you pray?"

My mom looked at me and her gaze wandered to one of the corners of the small hut.

"No."

Her voice lacked her explosive temparament and seemed to lack all confidence as if she was ashamed because of her answer.

So it is possible without praying! One problem solved! Great! So there is nothing left to do, right? Wrong! Just because nobody knows a way to influence the outcome it doesn´t mean, that there aren´t any! AND! I need to decide if I should accepts the blessing of someone, who gained the title of god... Ahrgh! What a headache! See that´s why someone like a pope is nice... He says "Yes" or "No" to some questions and if some negative repercussions occur we have the sinner ready to be blamed! Nice and easy! OK! Let´s postpone that problem, which probably isn´t really a problem...

I mean if you were in my shoes would you accept a power from some might be gods? I can imagine what happens to people who don´t get blessed among people who all got a blessing... It could become a witchhunt... or at least a banishment and I´m sure of one thing: I am not ready to survive on my own. I need that blessing to secure my social position within the tribe of mine. If and only if that doesn´t work there is also the possibility to try my luck with the small people, altough I think that would be a very bad idea considering they are at war with my tribe. Only if I´m ready to betray my tribe and my mother would this path be possible. Or if they manage to make peace with one another.

No! First I will do what I can to become a full member of my tribe and only if that doesn´t work will I consider other options.

Having made my resolution I continued to listen to my mothers tales of the gods deep into the night.

Telling tales, singing songs sitting around the fireplace. Nostalgic memories keep flooding my mind. Ahh...! If only those times never ended. A glass of wine, a few snacks and a happy family singing, talking long past midnight.

But as all good things, it came to an end...