The Holy City of Elesta, Third Realm
The jewelled eyes of the ornate gold statue opened and the Elder God looked out, surveying his richly adorned High Temple.
The god rose amorphously, stretching to fill the temple like an invisible mist. He briefly admired the twelve-foot high statue created in his image, before focusing his attention on the hundreds of worshippers kneeling around his High Altar. He shivered with pleasure as he felt the warm hum of their prayers. Below him, a slight golden glow emanated from his congregation.
This was the Elder Mass, a weekly ritual to honour the Elder God. Similar scenes were currently being performed at his temples throughout the Third Realm. Life was good. He couldn’t imagine any god feeling more powerful than he did now, basking in the concentrated faith of his followers.
Silvana, his High Priestess, stood at the temple’s High Altar. Dressed in pale blue robes, she smoothed her long silver hair away from her face, before beginning a ritual of blessing. A light formed around her hands as she spoke the holy words.
The glow from the worshippers trickled upward into the air above their heads. It formed a rippling wave that filled the god, before it fell and settled back on the congregation again. He gasped, savouring the resulting momentary sensation of power and bliss.
The worshippers also felt a sense of euphoria and looked up from their prayers in wonder.
The High Priestess smiled and raised her arms theatrically as she spoke.
‘Praise be to El, Lord of the two rivers and Elder of the gods.’
‘Praise be,’ the congregation murmured in reply.
El allowed his form to rise through the high-vaulted ceiling and out into the world. The bright sunlight warmed him as he stretched and expanded again, floating above his prosperous domain. He felt the prayers of worshippers at a dozen temples and many more private shrines.
The god smiled contentedly and was about to move on when he began to feel a sensation he had almost forgotten existed.
An insistent gravity surrounded him, plucking at him unpleasantly. He resisted on instinct and was successful in doing so for a moment, before the force increased in magnitude. The world faded and he felt his form unravel, before collecting again somewhere else.
‘Spirit of El, I summon you to do my bidding. The living command the dead. You will obey.’
El formed his consciousness into a blinding pillar of light, outraged to find himself within the boundaries of a summoning circle. He looked with disdain at the arrogant dark-robed woman who had summoned him. When he spoke, his voice had an ethereal echo and an unquestionable authority.
‘We are El of the two rivers, Elder God of Third Realm. Explain yourself quickly, mage or you will not live to command anything.’
‘Spirit of El, the order of Aurele now commands you. You will serve the one true god or suffer banishment from this world.’
El laughed out loud. ‘Dark Mages are not famed for their sense of humour. You may be the first exception. However, you would be wise not to test our patience further. Bow down now and we may suffer you to live.’
The Dark Mage did not respond, but stood watching the god with a self-assured air. The pillar of light slowly expanded until it reached and dissolved the boundaries of the summoning circle. The woman stepped backwards quickly, while trying to cover her eyes.
In an angry burst of light the god destroyed the mage completely and had moved swiftly back into the world before the ashes of the disintegrated corpse had even settled.
‘Unbelievable!’ El muttered to himself. He felt the prayers of his worshippers again, but his heart was no longer in it.
He closed his eyes before muttering:
‘Game interaction; save and quit, full exit.’
‘Game interaction confirmed,’ a female voice replied.
The world around him faded and El opened his eyes to reality. He checked the time on the large digital clock he kept by his computer and grimaced. As always, time had flown by far too quickly.
He left the Alternate Reality interface on the computer folding up and shutting down, as he stood and tried to shake some feeling back into his limbs. His hand gravitated to the back of his head where he interface had rubbed against his balding head uncomfortably. Not for the first time, he vowed to do something about it.
He stumbled downstairs into his kitchen and started to make some toast and coffee. He was exhausted and hungry after working all night on a marketing campaign for a new client. The visit to Third Realm was supposed to be a pick-me-up before another day at the office. Instead he was frustrated and pissed off.
Just as the water in the kettle started to boil, a bell rang. He sighed, before going to see who was bothering him at such an early hour. He glanced at the small view screen by the door and saw two soberly dressed men with fixed cheerful smiles. ‘Godbotherers,’ he muttered, smiling at the irony of his prejudice.
One of the smartly dressed-men smoothed his long black cashmere trench coat as El opened the door.
‘Mr Ellis Jecks?’ the man asked.
Ellis nodded.
‘Mr Jecks, we represent the order of Aurele. We were most disappointed you turned down our offer. We were hoping you would reconsider letting Aurele into your life.’
Ellis had a sinking-feeling of nausea. It was one of the last feelings he ever had.