Chapter 3

A moon has passed, and Arthy is still teaching me everything he knows about the gods. There were many them, more than the stars which dotted the night, but the ones that were of importance were only ten. The most powerful, the original gods, the ones from whom the rest were birthed, were the ones I had to be careful of and watch out for.

Thankfully no one had disturbed us, and we were left to our devices. It gave me a chance to think long and hard about the steps I wished to take to win the war and possibly bring peace to both sides. Killing a god was no easy feat which was why according to Arthy, no human had ever been successful since the dawn of time.

''The problem with humanity lies in his inability to trust his fellow. Killing a god is not easy even for fellow gods, so it has never been done. But we know it is possible. In a forbidden text lost to time, Kasali stated that since we are created from human's desires and prayers, by removing that, we would seize to exist.''

Arthy also said that it wasn't just about removing the god from the humans' minds but also severely wounding them.

So my destiny also included someone if I was to succeed. With no way to communicate with the outside world and relay this to them, we had no choice but to learn who I was up against and hopefully come up with a battle strategy to win despite never doing so.

''The first god is Laiithu. The god of rain, the rivers and oceans, the god of that which fuels life itself. He controls everything of the water bodies, whether it fell from the skies or it came from the grounds. All the storms and floods and typhoons come from his domain. He is a relatively peaceful god, but his anger knows no boundaries.

I remember when we used to roam both worlds freely; most humans would use Laiithu's name to scare others. The consequences of his rage. Ah, humans.

His female counterpart, the goddess of fire Malaiwu. Malaiwu's mood is forever changing, and no one could say how she would react to any news. It was always advised to steer clear of her. Humans only worshipped her because out of the other ods; she could never control her fires. She was a walking disaster... and...''

At this point, I was slowly drifting to sleep. I understood that all he was saying was important, but he wasn't telling me anything interesting, anything I could arm myself with during battle.

A kick, a jolt and I spring up from my comfortable position with a tick in my forehead. Turning to Arthy, I squeeze my eyes and mouth as I can't believe he would kick me awake. And instead of looking guilty, he's preening.

''Can you blame me? Everything you're saying is of no importance to me. Why do I need to know about her temperament? It's not going to help during the fight.'', Was I whining? Yes. Was I disappointed that I had been reduced to whining? No. There was no pride to be had when in a boring situation.

Once Arthy threatened to send me back to my world to await our distractions, I took up a kneeling position and looked up with sparkling eyes. Then, with a humph and a laugh, Arthy continues his story. It doesn't get any less boring, but I know not to speak up or fall asleep with the fear coursing through my veins.

''The god of the earth. Kiluaroth, for centuries, had been confused for a female for his rather peculiar features, but I can promise you that he is a male. He is the male Mother Nature. In charge of the seasons' changes, the earth and everything from it as well as the animals. All things which have life except humans are under his control. He is the ultimate one.

But unlike the other gods, Roth never saw a reason to show emotions. He prefers to have a balanced life. After all, Roth must ensure all things are in balance; for each birth, there's a death. He always had which good in people, and that was why he was devastated the most to hear of the humans' treachery. His festivals were colourful, and people would celebrate from sunrise to sundown.

Jacilis, the god of magic. Though she had magic powers, she was the only god to wield two powers at once. The god of magic and justice. She ruled over all gods and goddesses, settling problems and disputes. She helped a lot of us during domain disputes and people worshipping. If Jacilis were on your side, no god would ever go against your thoughts or rulings.

She was the only one born with a defect, cursed with blindness for a goddess of two powers. But, it is said that despite her being blind, she can see through a god or human's heart and know if they are deceitful. Furthermore, with her power of magic, she can replicate every god's powers to a certain degree. Sadly she suffers from copying our power, so she doesn't use it as often as she can.

''Anthuina, the god of fertility. Her power was mainly useful with humans as gods don't reproduce. Ninety per cent of the time, she was found living amongst humans and enjoying their customs. Her worshippers mainly were women and a few men. She was in charge of determining who got pregnant and whether the child was born with or without a defect if a man would put his wife to bed and all those things.

Because of this, she is depicted as someone soft and loving as well as understanding. I'm not saying that she is not; it's just that I will advise you to be careful when dealing with her.

Zadra was a crafty one, and he blamed it that he was the god of knowledge. We couldn't afford to have him destroyed because, without him, we wouldn't be able to form memories and have a way to remember things from centuries ago. So Zadra used his wisdom to make others feel useless and dumb. As a result, even the dumbest gods were made o feel even more hopeless.

He is known for causing trouble and making gods fall for his little tricks. He fights dirty and is always with a plan. He never sides with a human unless something that will benefit him and even then would still betray the human. That's just him.

Bathra is a force to be reckoned with. As a god of war, she is always caked in the blood of her victims. Forever on the battlefield, her home is the human's realm. Born with all tactics of war, physically and mentally, war was her forte. She was known to win all her battles which left the opposing side in blood and missing limbs. Humans who call for Bathra never want their enemies to be left alive. It was always for an all-out battle, with only one side left standing.

The last time I saw her, she was practically running mad from the lives she had killed. What a shame. She wouldn't be easy to defeat, but you may be able to run her mad if you remind her of the battlefield.

Lovina, the goddess of love and laziness. Unlike Anthuina, who got to play with people's fertility, she got to decide whether two people were meant for each other. Gender never bothered her, and she loved putting what humans would call abominations to test.

Mating a man with a lion was a trick she played a long time ago, which almost destroyed her. But, as powerful as she is with love, her laziness is one side of her that she can never escape.

Kasali, the god of time, controls when the sun would rise and set. It was always seen with an hourglass and forever tilting it up and down, watching the sand trickle back and forth. Unlike other gods with tall stature with authoritarian personalities, he was short and timid. Never spoke without looking at the floor; he's the only god who you wouldn't think to put on the council.

Still, he was invested like the others and so warranted a seat there. Unlike other gods who had previously loved the humans and found it a bit difficult to hate them initially, he was happy. Humans had always annoyed him with their constant whining about time and how they didn't have enough of it. He could never understand them.''

Arthy pauses here and looks to the opening of the cave. The sun had since gone down amid his talking but not once since he began did he look as sad as he does now. He sighs, gets up and starts pacing left to right in front of me. Soon, he is going faster than my eyes can keep track of, and I'm forced to shout his name.

''Gods all have one thing unique about them. This one thing could be huge and have particular branches, but it still falls under their one extraordinary power. While gods don't reproduce, we are born from people's wishes, and when I was formed, another goddess created with me: an oddity, a sign of calamity. I was bestowed the power of transformation, and she became the goddess of misfortune.

For the greatness of her power, I was forgotten while she got all the praise. She and Bathra were always on the field together, laying waste to mere mortals. She hates me because I remain weak, but she's my other half, so I am forced tolove—kind of how a child is forced to love those who bring him to the world.

It's okay. Don't cry for me. I'm happy with that. I have peace knowing that I don't have to be in the forefront of the madness happening around us.''

After telling me this, Arthy dives into the water to find some fishes to roast as food for us. The skies are black, and the stars dot the sky. No moon for now, but it's a blessing. However, Arthy said that for me to reach a peaceful way of life for my people's future, he did warn me that not all gods were involved in this fight.

The leading players are the ten he had mentioned, and the others follow their every decision. So I was to either fight or reason with all the gods and got to the bottom of all that went wrong.

I had asked Arthy a couple of times, what went wrong, what had forced their backs against us, but he turns his head and looks away each time. He never answers unless I ask him something different. Realising that it must be difficult for him to remember not talking to me, I keep quiet. The day is over. Knowledge has been gained. Tomorrow I try to figure out what my future would look like.

Either I die a hero or a failure. Sleep came like trouble.