Game in the Brain

The older gods would eat the lesser gods when they thought they were weak. 

When my king called I answered. He summoned us for a quest, we were to kill grandfather a very old and powerful god who has fallen far and almost forgotten. How such immortal beings come to fall, the King said that it was their acceptance of weakness, of change, and of things they cannot change. A riddle or a lie, I could not tell. I’m sure the secret was also of his own weakness and he would not share it to his mortal thralls.

We ventured far and rode the rivers and seas in crafts of scuplted earth, against the tide and currents. The wind and life seemed to flow against us, and slowly we progressed ever forward to the source of all things. 

When we fought other gods, and our king showed us the way. When we slew them, we feasted on their bodies and that of their thralls. Every feast we grew in spirit and strength; and we came into legend. Time passed through and under us, we built great cities and nations where we conquered. We even passed the heavens, into the desolated void… Still we pressed on and followed our king. We followed him to darkness and hollow of the universe where his grandfather slept and saw how his robes was the sky and the stars, and at his center the god that slept. 

He was weak, as our king has forseen but this old god would not bow down or go silently. When his eyes open, it was like the night sky awoke and the secrets of all the shadows surrendered its terrifying dreams onto us. He consumed so many of us, before our king could come close to strike. I was his Archer and from the distance I smote the elder thralls as I lay my fingers on the image so far away. I tore them to pieces with my arrows, and my king began to drink of their blood and the wounds of the elder god… soon he was consuming them all while they struggled under his embrace. 

I could not avert my eyes to the sight, it was so terrifying that It froze me where I stood watching. It was some serpent or leech eating swallowing a great bull struggling desperately to be. His hungry eyes stared at me and his remaining thralls. When his grandfather stopped struggling, our King’s belly smoothed and he took his closest and most loved thrall and ate him. 

He wore the darkness and looked upon us, his remaining loyal thralls and began eating us alive. I screamed and ran, as fast as I can out of the void. I could see him so hungry over my shoulder, and so many comrades taken by his madness. I ran to its edge and drew my bow to let out a rain of fire arrows inflamed by my panic and hope, it lit up the sky and it seemed a new universe was born. 

The arrows are still flying, and time have moved barely a moment forward. The mad king will not be killed. 

A small old man smiled, and slid the shot glass down the bar to half build old man. The light played tricks on the small old man shade as it danced across the room like a web.

“You don’t have to defend yourself to me, I hated him too”.

“I dreamed of it again, brother. My arrows will not stay him, its light will fade. He will come… “

“…and no one is to stop him? Are you telling me there are no more heroes?” he took his own shot, while little spiders crawled from beneath him, dancing drunkenly.

“… you are quite mistaken. ” said the small old man.