An Eventful Chat

Aether waked through the main street of his city with one assistant fallowing behind. He paid no mind to the vendors trying to sell their wares in extravagant stalls. Or the well dressed customers haggling with them over the price. But all the individuals saw him and made a path for him on the street. They knew not to disturb him while he was deep in thought.

Aether knew that he was in unprecedented times. Communication with the metal blight was with in reach. A new god was formed and his brother Erebus stood on the radiant moon with out devouring it. Just one of these would be historical in their own right. All of it happening at once was overwhelming him.

He saw a tavern with out door seating and turned to his assistant. "Might as well have some refreshments. I'll sit there, go get us something to drink and snack on."

"Yes your holiness." The assistant bowed and quickly entered the tavern.

Aether sat at a table by the entrance with his back to the tavern. He tried to sit back, relax, close his eyes and just listen to his surroundings to clear his head. The sounds of the busy street was doing the trick.

"Do you mind if I join you?" A voice startled Aether as his eyes bolted open and landed on who spoke glaring at them. Erebus just stood there standing beside the table. The cloths of the All Knower showing sines of fading and decay.

"Are you sure those cloths will last another day?"

"Has our brother ever lied to us?"

"Do riddles instead of straight answers count as lies?"

Erebus sat in the chair facing Aether. "Discussions on semantics was never my intention. Do you mind if I change the subject?"

Aethers assistant came out with two mugs of ale and a bowl of mixed nuts. He froze in place as he realized Erebus was sitting across from Aether. "What would you like to talk about?"

The assistant placed down both mugs and the bowl at the table and quietly walked away. They sat at a table with the assistant assigned to watching over Erebus.

"How about the two metal ones you have been tracking?"

"What do you want to know?" Aether picked up a mug and took a sip.

"Why was there a goat in the desert? They only exist in small numbers along the edge of the mountains of madness."

"I don't know or care about trade between nations. I don't care much about the two metal men either."

"I know that's not true. You would not have sent down Victoria and Dolos if it was that simple."

"You want me to tell you my secrets as we sit outside of a busy tavern during the day?"

"I can quickly clear the area if you wish."

Aether glared at Erebus. "Watch what you say about my domain."

Erebus sighed. "I guess I must do as brother said."

"What did that All Knowing bastard tell you?"

"He said that tomorrow we will have a conversation. We will only talk about the two metal men. And at the end you will request two things of me."

"Did he happen to mention the cost of the requests?"

"He said we would both benefit from the requests."

"Why don't you hate how he manipulates us?"

"We have been through four world changing wars in five thousand years. He has never betrayed his brothers and sisters in all that time."

"So, you have faith in him?"

"I always did like your mother."

"I wish I could have that type of faith again. I just can't trust manipulators. Not ever again."

"We have been observing mortals for thousands of years. One of many thing I have learned from them is that everyone is manipulated to some extent. There is no truly free mortal among them."

"I understand that."

"Then why do you hate our brother so much? He did not chose to be the All Knower. He did not want all that knowledge in his head. He didn't have a choice."

"And this argument goes for you as well? You might be projecting your feelings on to him. And he may be manipulating those feelings to get what he wants."

Erebus sighed "Like always. You find a way to make him the villain."

"Even the best of intentions can become corrupted in to evil. Something I observed from watching mortals for thousands of years."

"Are you implying he may become corrupt? Or that we will?"

"I am saying we may benefit from his actions today, but whose to say it's not all a setup? He is someone that sees all of time and space. Thousands of years mean nothing to him."

"Again. Are you really afraid of his corrupted actions? Or of him stopping yours? If he is corrupted by the power he represents, then so are all the gods including us. No one is pure and no one is free of corruption from that power."

Aether downed his mug and threw it aside. "I am getting tired of this lecture. I know you want me to love our brother and my ale is gone. I'll be on my way."

Aether stood up and started to walk past the table. Erebus sighed. "I don't understand why you trust Dolos over our brother? He was one of the false gods that imprisoned you."

Aether stopped dead in his tracks. "How dare you compare Dolos to our brother."

Aether started to glow brightly. The light had weight and pushed everything with in a body length from him away. Everything but Erebus as he sat and caught the other mug before it fell over with the table. As everyone else tried to get away from an enraged Aether.

Erebus turned his heat to face Aether. "I mean no disrespect, Dolos is a great man."

Aether's light started to fade as he composed himself. "He is the only false god that accepted that he was such. And fought against the other false gods when they claimed they were the real gods."

"I understand how he earned his place as a god. I am even jellos to an extent. He earned his place while we just received it. But why forgive him and not our brother?"

"Did our brother ever tell you of his actions while I was imprisoned by the false gods? He visited me several times in that four hundred year period. But never once did he help me. I would beg him for freedom and he would just turn and walk away."

Erebus looked away from Aether and brought the mug in close to his chest. Aether wished he could have seen Erebus' face at that moment.

Aether patted Erebus on the shoulder. "Let's leave our conversation at that."

Aether started to walk away from the tavern. Erebus turned to his brother. "I will be looking forward to tomorrows conversation."