The Fire and The Storm - The Nexus of Kellaran #2 novel Chapter 120

Part 18

“Damn. When I put the spell in the stone, I assumed that I’d cast it on me first, and I knew I’d be able to cast it on anyone else after that. It’s set up so I can take it step by step without having to be in the big overpowered brainstorming Link to do it. But unless my brain is that charged up and I’m in a Link that big and that good, I can’t modify the spell to be able to cast it on someone else first.”

“May I Father?” Val asked as she floated over and held her hand out for the stone. “We have the brain-charging spell now, and with four of us in our Link, I might be able to figure it out.”

“Sure. It’s the big one marked ‘God Spell’.” he told her as he handed it to her.

She concentrated on it for a moment, then frowned. “There are now two spells that I’ve found that are so weird that I just can’t get it, they’re obviously closely related, and if I didn’t know better, I’d judge them to have been designed by The Triax. They’re that weird. The first was the blessing you made from Alilia’s curse, that can re-integrate you after you’ve been blasted to dust. And there’s this. Okay, now add the other thirteen spells in here that you did in the big Link after you separated from us.

“I mean wow, you really got stuff done after we separated the Link, Father! This is beyond brilliant! I mean really, I can’t even get what some of this stuff does!”

“Me neither.” Mark shrugged. “I knew I’d understand them after I cast The God Spell, so I didn’t bother making them as easily usable when I’m not charged up. It just goes to show that all the intelligence I got from the charge and the Link didn’t give me any extra wisdom. I made a few short-sighted mistakes. When I was that smart, it was too easy to forget how stupid I’d be normally, and I never anticipated changing my mind about how I was going to do this.”

“Well there’s one thing we can do for you that might solve this, and we couldn’t do it for many.” Val assured him with a smile. “But I’m pretty sure we’ve got a good enough feel for you to do it for you, and you have the capability to use it. We can give you the brain-charging spell. It’s pretty safe, and it only works when you need it.”

“Hold on. There’s some important issues that will need to be addressed.” Six briskly stated. “The gods have a very longstanding policy that no god will exercise direct political rule or military command over mortals. I don’t think any of them have ever done that, not even when their religions were powerful and influential. No god was ever a king, or an empress. Or even a prince.

“Yet many of your potential gods are presently rulers or senior members of ruling councils, including you, Mother, Alilia, Povon, Kragorram, Yazadril, Emeroth, Osbald, Senchak, Tithian, Somonik, and Empress Honey.

“So either gods must be allowed to be rulers, or we are about to experience the most sudden and complete political upheaval that this world has ever experienced.

“Now, it hasn’t been decided by the Assembly yet whether the winners of The Governors’ Tournament will actually get to rule, and if they do, we may have to deal with a political upheaval anyway. And most of the best contestants are also on the potential gods list.

“One way or the other, unless gods are allowed to rule, Kellaran is about to lose most of it’s most capable and powerful leaders.

“And if it’s decided that gods are allowed to rule, then most of the existing gods should join the tournament, as I’ve said. Though that would be changing a policy that’s been in place for hundreds of millions of years, as long as there’s been gods on Kellaran. If it’s decided that gods will still not be allowed to rule mortal nations, then all your presently ruling candidates will have to abdicate in favor of their heirs or regents, and it’ll take a while to get all the transitions done and get things running smoothly again. At the worst possible time.

“Furthermore, there are a lot a fairly important people in the time-bubbles right now, and they should have a chance for their voices to be heard on this.

“Besides, as you say, the new gods can have more time in more time-bubbles to get used to their new state. If we all work together, old gods and new and us, I’m sure we can find practical ways to increase the ratio of extra time in the bubbles, and increase them in size, and do it with less of the gods’ resources.