“I guess we can start with the scrolls.” Seth stated noting it was the biggest pile.
Sara nodded in response and she took up the first scroll within her reach and unraveled it quickly to begin reading. Seth followed her lead and he too picked up a scroll and revealed its contents. They read each scroll entirely, pausing between scrolls to exchange details of the Goddess or her followers they had deciphered from the ink. After they had completed the unprotected scrolls they moved on to those in cases. After each document they would share details of its contents and compare those details to others they had previously read. They finished the scrolls contained within the cases in quick order and moved on to the books. Most of the books were small consisting of fewer than fifty pages. Only two of the books were larger volumes each containing several hundred pages. They started with the smaller books and found immediately that the tomes were divided into small sections, each dealing with a specific subject. This allowed them to skip portions they did not need and go directly to the pages they sought. The small books were finished very quickly after this discovery and all that remained unread were the two largest of the books. They each selected one and opened it upon their laps. Flipping through the first few pages they were each surprised to find the books were indexed in a similar fashion to the smaller tomes. The book Seth held was a collection of short histories of the gods. Each god it seemed had its own section within the book and Seth was able to quickly locate the pages pertaining to Ishanya and he began to read them. Sara’s book was not divided as such and she found references to Ishanya in several places in the index of her tome. She flipped to one section, and after she finished it she would return to the index to locate another section. She followed this process until she had gleaned every ounce of information contained in the book about Ishanya. Seeing that Seth had not yet finished she decided to once again scan through the index for anything else that might be useful. Running her fingers across the page she found a heading that caught her attention. The words read “The Heavenly war” and noting the page number Sara flipped the pages until she found it. She read through the passage quickly fore it was not lengthy, and as she finished, Seth too had completed his task. They each closed their books and placed them back on the floor. It had taken several hours but finally their task was completed. They each took a moment to organize their thoughts before sharing the information they had learned. It was Seth who spoke first.
“Ok so up to this point we have read that Ishanya is at best an unpredictable Goddess. She generally has few followers throughout history. Those she did have however were very loyal to her and many of them in the past were blessed by her. Her blessings were for the most part blessings of physical strength, speed or agility. Sometimes the blessing was a combination of the three. Each of those was a physical blessing bestowed upon a worshipper without the gift to control magic. Instead they were given abilities to enhance them in battle. Though I think none of those qualities are what the Goddess has in store for me.” Seth narrated his last sentence barely a whisper.
“Why is that love?” Sara asked, compelling him to explain.
“Borrik said that Ishanya told him that one day I would reward him with strength and a long life. If I am to be able to reward him with such then I see it unlikely she will bless me with a physical trait if I choose to serve her. Besides I also apparently have the gift, and being such I think I am better suited to one of her other blessings. From what we read she has only blessed a few of her followers in the past with gifts of magical power. I think this is due to most people with the gift choosing to serve the more popular gods of magic. But what we do know is that those she did bless with the gift were very powerful, but if I interpret what I have read correctly it is almost as if their powers were unreliable. It is almost as if she chooses to channel her power to her followers as she sees fit, not as they require it. Those she had blessed with her power were also intended for battle however, and their various blessings were more powerful than those of other gods. So it would appear that though she has not blessed anyone in several hundred years, as far as these records show that is, that her blessings are very powerful. I wish we had more information to go on.” Seth said finishing his narration.
“I think I found something that puts it in better perspective.” Sara said a small glimmer in her eyes.
“What is it angel?” Seth asked.
“In this book it tells of a war in the heavens. It is a war in which the gods fight for dominion over our world. But they do not fight one another openly, instead they use their powers to bless those of their followers to wage war here. It also mentions several theories as to why the gods’ gifts vary so much and why some gods no longer have many followers. Let me see if I can summarize it without losing the details.” Sara paused for a moment gathering her thoughts and recalling the passages she had just previously read before starting anew. “The gods’ power, the book states, is determined by how many worshippers the god has. Each of the gods worked together to create our world giving all living things a portion of their power bringing life to the world. Each god seeks to regain the power that each living creature contains. They gain claim of the power through worship. The more followers they have the more powerful the god becomes. The god then chooses to bless some of its followers with that power which in turn usually brings more followers. However a god can choose to retain his power instead of giving blessings. I guess they would do this to bide time while the other gods struggle with one another, wasting their strength so to speak. I think this is what Ishanya has been doing. As the more prevalent gods have been warring silently expending their power she has been waiting for an opportunity. I think that maybe Seth you are that opportunity. Maybe the gods that are in power now have spread themselves too thin, and though they have many followers feeding them power they are siphoning that power back down into those they have blessed. It is all just theory and speculation, but it makes sense to me. Does it seem likely to you? Sara asked Seth hoping she had been able to find the piece of the puzzle that had been eluding him.
Seth thought it over for long moments. He mulled over all they had learned in his mind. Piecing details together within his head he began to create a bigger picture. He now added what Sara speculated and finally the situation appeared more clearly. Seth looked it over inside his mind. The Goddess had been biding her time for hundreds of years. She had waited patiently as the other gods waged war thinking her already defeated. Their arrogance had led them to spread themselves too thin, at least those that battled here in Valdadore. Seth could recall fourteen magnificent temples lining the square. Each of them equal in grandeur, each of them worshipped openly and freely by many. He also could recall one temple hidden amongst the others. A temple only visited recently by three people. Ishanya was the underdog so to speak. She was outdated and outnumbered. Few now lived who even knew her name, yet she had chosen to return to the world, she had chosen Seth to be her champion. Of this much Seth was nearly certain. It was odd however thinking that the gods had given life to the world, giving each life upon it a small portion of themselves. Now however and perhaps since the beginning of time they wanted those small pieces back. They used the races of men and even perhaps beasts as pawns to wage wars and kill each other’s followers to gain strength. It was sickening, yet in some way it all made perfect sense. Seth again retuned his focus to the world beyond his mind. He nodded as he smiled to the small woman he loved.