The God of Destructions Solicitude

 

Far from any humans line of sight lies the realm of the gods. A world inhabited by gods from different cultures, eras, worlds and universes, created for the sole purpose of having a single place to meet up with each other. Many of them even devoted most of their time in this realm. Some even used the chance to peacefully work without being disturbed, others used this world to relax and have some fun.

 

One of the gods, a god of destruction named Valderas, just appeared seemingly out of nothingness, into this realm and stepped foot onto one of the main streets of a huge “city“. He intended to visit this place to discuss his troubles with his best friend Amantis, a god of storms from a different world than the one he was in charge of. Previously they appointed to meet at their favourite tavern, so he went with a fast pace towards their meeting point.

While he was walking, he passed the colorful and cheerful atmosphere without taking any notice about his surroundings. His mind was fully focused on the topic which caused him great anxiety. Only when he arrived at the tavern, did he notice, that he was fully distracted. Wondering how he even managed to come here, without taking any care of his direction, he moved in. With a sigh showing his fatigue that was caused by this issue, he stepped into the tavern and looked for his dear friend. By looking around, he found Amantis sitting near a window calmly sipping some tea.

 

Just by looking at this scene Valderas finally felt a tiny bit more relaxed and headed right away towards the desk his friend was sitting at. When he drew closer, Amantis finally noticed him and with a friendly wave greeted his friend. In response to this gesture, Valderas promptly gave a weak nod. Valderas eventually reached the desk and slid onto the chair with an effort that seemingly expended his last bit of life-force. Noticing his friend’s lack of energy Amantis looked at him with worry and filled another cup with tea, which he passed over.

 

“Here, drink some tea. It should help you to relax a bit. You look really tired. If we gods could age, I fear that you would have lost a lot of your life span.“

Valderas gratefully accepted the cup of tea and took a sip himself before starting to talk.

“That’s indeed the case. I don’t know what to do anymore.“

He was near to tearing up at this stage so the god of storms helplessly patted his back as an attempt to make his friend feel a bit better.

 

“Please tell me everything, I’ll listen and help you as good as I can.“

“You’re such a nice guy, Amantis. I wouldn’t know what I would do without you.“

Amantis smiled assuringly and waited for his friend to start telling him his worries.

“Actually… it’s the humans again!“

 

As Amantis already feared it was the humans fault – again! In 90% of all cases of a god lamenting over his life, regretting, worrying and other emotions, the cause was always the existence called human or another similar intelligent species. It was really strange that even in different worlds this was an unchangeable fact. A fact which bordered as being one of the “laws of creation“ which every god had to face at least once in their eternal – except if they had enough and self-destructed midway – existence. He himself could understand his friend’s feelings all too well from past experiences and his previous smile stiffened a bit while remembering the past.

 

“What did they do this time? Are the followers of the God of Creation causing you grief again?“

Valderas shook his head before he slammed his fist on the desk and flopped his head onto it. With an angry voice he continued to speak.

“No! It’s my own followers this time!“

 

Now Amantis was puzzled. It was the first time that his friend ever mentioned any troubles with the humans who believed in Valderas, the great God of Destruction. Wondering what could have happened he kept on listening.

“I really don’t even know why they founded a cult and started worshipping me in the first place but in the beginning I didn’t mind it. Never was I a very caring type of god in regards of humans so I plainly ignored them and let them do what they wanted.“

 

Amantis could only nod to this because he knew that humans sure had strange views on gods. Many humans avoided the gods with negative origins, like that of darkness, destruction, chaos, and followed the gods with positive origins instead. But there were always some humans who had strange tendencies, like the followers of his friend. Usually humans in their “right mind set“, from what Amantis at least understood from the way human thinking originated, wouldn’t worship a god who existed to bring destruction upon themselves. Despite this, there were always humans who somehow were some kind of “oddballs“ in his eyes and thinking too deeply would just be a waste of time. Humans were too strange to fully comprehend even from a god’s point of view, so he gave up on this long ago.

 

“But it was a huge mistake! They…“

It looked like now the important part of his friends story was starting so he fully concentrated on the topic and tried to keep his thoughts from straying away.

“ …had to start building some kind of temple!“

 

Now Amantis blanked out. He couldn’t understand what was bad about this. Wasn’t it something other gods would actually like and be pleased about? He himself was actually happy to see a wonderful building created in his name.

 

“Isn’t this actually something nice?“

Amantis asked this carefully but Valderas just sat up again and looked at him with a pained expression, shaking his head.

“They… how shall I word it nicely? Have a very strange way of expressing themselves?“

After Valderas drank a bit more of his tea, he started to explain the problem further.

 

“They first started wearing strange black leather clothes and whips… very strange ones. I prefer not going into detail about this but I do question their fashion sense. Then they started to build the temple… out of black stone. You know I don’t like black, it always makes me feel so depressed.“

 

Amantis nodded and pitied his friend. Humans often had the misconception that gods prefer a specific color schemes similar to their origin, like a sun god loving golden and white colors. There is a classical misconception of a fixed belief that the God of Darkness only wears black, instead of actually giving it a deeper thought to think if the god even likes said color, or simply asking him to confirm it.

Valderas actually liked the color green the most which was also the reason why he prefered green and earth colored clothes. He was in no way a god wearing only black. Where the leather concept originated from, that would probably stay a mystery because he wore mostly robes.

 

“Not only that. They even made the whole design very gloomy and eerie. I not only get depressed, I also get the chills by looking at it. You know I don’t like scary things right? This temple looks just terrifying! I don’t want a temple like this!“

Poor Valderas eyes were starting to tear up once more which made Amantis start rubbing his friends back again to make him calm down.

“And just when I thought they were done and they had no further ideas of torturing me…they…“

 

For his friend the whole situation far passed the worshipping state and was now bordering at bullying him. He was actually a really nice guy who doesn’t like any scary things or destroying, despite his position as a god of destruction. Just holding this position didn’t mean he would exert his powers non stop and destroy everything in his way. But humans were a species which couldn’t grab the deep feelings of an existence they couldn’t even fully understand.

 

“ …came up with the thing I despise the most! They started to do strange rituals of sacrificing other humans! They kill their own kind just like this, shouting stuff like ‘in the name of our great god’. I was just casually passing by and then I witnessed such a scene in front of my eyes…“

 

Just by remembering Amantis could see his friends agony of witnessing such a brutal and cruel scene. Valderas was kind and always had problems seeing other beings suffer, even more watch them die an unreasonable death. Instead of worshipping him the humans had literally tortured him by showing a precious life extinguished in front of his own eyes. Furthermore it was a sacrifice in Valderas’ name….

 

“I can’t calm down since then! I can still remember the screams and facial expressions of these poor people. These fanatics just kill their own kin in my name without even asking if I’m fine with it. Because of that, it felt like I was more or less the one killing these people. They even sacrificed children!“

At this point his friend started to cry and Amantis could just continue to rub his back affectionately and try to sooth him.

 

“I can understand your agony. This sure is a matter which went out of hand. Humans can be saints sometimes but can also be devils. You were very unlucky for attracting such corrupted beings, my friend.“

Amantis continued to try to ease his worries and after a few minutes his friend recovered again and stopped crying.

“I’m sorry, that I suddenly started to cry.“

“Nono, it’s alright. You must have suffered a lot. I know how nice and compassionate you are. Unlike that God of Creation in that world, right? And you can’t be blamed for coming into existence as a god of destruction either. It’s not your fault.“

 

Valderas nodded weakly and then stared helplessly at his best friend.

“But what shall I do now? This is a first, I don’t have experience with this kind of situation.“

Indeed, Valderas was a god who came into existence long after Amantis and was relatively new with the interaction with humans too.

 

“I don’t think they will stop, even if you tell them directly. As best they probably would only see it as you not being content with the amount of sacrifices or their quality…

Humans are…ehm… very simple minded creatures in this regard and easily interpret our actions wrongly. Moreover even if you tell them your name and show yourself to them, as long as they believe you ‘should’ behave differently, they won’t believe that you are their god and probably think you’re an imposter instead.“

 

After hearing such devastating words Valderas started to feel more anxious again but his friend already had a good idea how to solve the problem.

“There is one way which should make it clear to them that you don’t approve of their behaviour though.“

“Which would that be?“

“Next time they start their strange ritual, just before they intend to sacrifice a person again, you have to leave a great impression!“

Now it was Valderas who looked puzzled towards his friend who smiled after noticing Valderas being slow in the catch up.

 

“Anything making you look terrifying should be fine. Just use some simple tricks like making the sky darken and lightning appearing, maybe a short earthquake would also strengthen the effect. Luckily everyone is able to use this much regardless of our origins. Then make sure to yell at them with a loud voice to stop… ah no that would be probably not good because they have their strange misconceptions. Don’t tell them to stop but instead tell them something along the lines of “How dare you… For the likes of your kind to even think about calling yourself the followers of the great me? You’re a bunch of damn incompetent vermin. Feel my wrath and don’t you ever dare associate yourself with the great me in your pitiful life time!“ and you should be fine. To underline your words, make that temple you despise so much crumble in front of their very eyes! After all you’re the god of destruction so show them your powers~“

 

“Ooh!! That is a brilliant idea! I must write down that speech instantly. I’m not good with this kind of stuff after all.“

With his eyes shining, he returned to being his usual cheerful self. The God of Destruction hastily made some notes which made Amantis smile again. It seemed like his friend’s worries would soon end and he then took another sip from his cup in satisfaction.

“With that they should disperse and all your worries should be gone! I doubt they will continue to worship you after this. At least until other humans appear in their stead, that is. Just make sure that you keep a close eye on their actions and make it clear how you want to get worshipped from the beginning next time. That way you can keep the damage as low as possible.“

Valderas hastily nodded while he happily continued to take notes. He finally saw an end of his misery. It was the right choice to ask his best friend who had collected experience over a much longer time and who usually kept a calm mind no matter the situation while giving good suggestions.

 

This was just one random day of a god’s story in a realm far away from any other existences. As countless as their numbers are, as numerous are their stories and the complexibility of their problems. They were an existence other species refer to as “gods“ with their very own problems, lifes, dreams, feelings and destinies.

 

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Translator: Estoriel

Proofreader: ATK-49

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