Chapter Six
One moment, Carmaz, Saia, and Tinkar stood in the now-empty village of the crustaceans. The next, all three of them stood in the center of Carmaz and Saia's hometown, which was called Conewood. Not only that, but a cursory look at his body showed Carmaz that Tinkar had somehow also managed to heal him during the teleportation. Saia looked much better as well, so much so that he was able to stand on his own without any trouble.
But Carmaz's stomach immediately rebelled, causing him to grab it with both hands and moan involuntarily. He had no idea where this sudden sickness came from because he hadn't been feeling sick at all earlier. He hadn't even had much to eat today, so what was his stomach trying to get rid of?
“Teleportation can often have unintended side effects on humans who are not used to it,” Tinkar said. “I assume you have never teleported before, Carmaz?”
Carmaz looked up at Tinkar with annoyance. “Yes, though I thought you'd know that, seeing as you gods know everything, don't you?”
“Not everything,” said Tinkar. “But most things.”
Saia, unfortunately, must have had a much weaker disposition than Carmaz, because he actually threw up. It was mostly liquid, but the sight of his friend throwing up made Carmaz's stomach retch, forcing him to look away to avoid joining his friend in illness.
That was when Carmaz noticed that they were standing in the village square of Conewood. It was a village of about three dozen or so huts, with an old well set in the center of town where anyone could gather water (even though the well was dry half the time). Tall jungle stood on the outskirts, surrounding the village on all sides, but Carmaz was so used to seeing the jungle that he didn't have any strong emotional reaction to it except to note that he felt happy and safe being back home, even though Conewood was hardly much safer than the rest of the island.
Right now, Carmaz did not see anyone else in the village out and about. He at first found it odd before remembering that it was in the middle of the afternoon, which was usually the time that the entire village of Conewood napped inside their huts. That was because it was usually too hot at this time of day to do anything else. And indeed, with the sun's rays beating down on him, he wished he could be inside his own hut taking a nap right now.
“Allow me to wake up the people,” said Tinkar, raising his hand.
Carmaz was about to ask Tinkar what he meant when the god waved his hand. Not a second later, the doors of the huts opened and all of the villagers streamed out, heading toward the village square as quickly as they could, like they had been summoned by a mysterious force that they could not deny.
In less than five minutes, the entire tiny village of Conewood was gathered in the village square. This was the quickest that Carmaz had ever seen everyone gather like this. It was rare indeed for the villagers of Conewood to gather here. In fact, Carmaz could name only two other times that this type of village-wide gathering had occurred, and both had been several years ago when Carmaz was much younger than he was now.
The villagers were a sorry lot in appearance. Most were quite thin due to a lack of food to eat and very dirty due to a lack of soap and water in which to bathe. One man, who Carmaz knew as Wood-foot, was missing a foot, which had been replaced with a block of wood that was held on by rope. And, although some of the villagers were descended from the old Ruwan Royal Family, none of them looked rich in the slightest.
Yet none of the villagers dared to speak or move toward Carmaz or Saia, even though Carmaz could tell that everyone was both surprised and happy to see that the two of them had returned to the village safely and in one piece. All eyes were on Tinkar, as if everyone knew who this god was but were too afraid to actually talk to him.
The silence was broken when a young girl shouted, “Carmy!” and dashed out from behind the adults. She slammed into Carmaz's legs, almost knocking him over despite her small size, and hugged his legs fiercely as she said, “Carmy, I missed you! I thought you weren't ever going to return.”
Despite the serious situation, Carmaz had to smile as he looked down at the young girl clinging to his legs like she thought that she could keep Carmaz from leaving through her childish strength alone. He swept the girl up into his arms, hugged her tightly (much to her delight), and then rested her back on the ground, saying, “I'm glad to see you as well, Frissa. And see, I even brought Saia back with me, too.”
The young girl, Frissa, looked up at Saia with her dark, innocent eyes. Saia spread his arms as if he expected a hug from her as well, but then Frissa said, in a rather monotonic voice than before, “I'm glad to see you are alive, too, Mr. Saia.”
Saia's smile vanished as quickly as if Tinkar had teleported it away and his arms fell to his sides. “Hey, I was the one who was going to be eaten by the crustaceans. Isn't anyone happy to see me?”
Saia looked at the other villagers, but unlike Frissa, none of them came forward to greet them. Even Hazur, the village elder, stood with the others, her old, aged eyes looking at Tinkar with much suspicion and distrust.
Tinkar, meanwhile, was looking at Frissa, though the young girl seemed to hardly notice the god. “Is she your daughter?”
Frissa finally noticed Tinkar when he spoke, but rather than cheerfully greet the stranger, she just hid behind Carmaz. Carmaz wished he could hide somewhere, too, but he knew that it was impossible to hide from the gods.
So he said to Tinkar, “No. Frissa's parents were murdered by some pirates when she was only a year old and so doesn't really have any parents, so to speak. She technically is raised by everyone in Conewood, including me. But you knew that already, didn't you?”
“I know the fates of all mortals,” said Tinkar. “I simply asked the question to appear less alien to you, though I doubt I succeeded.”
Carmaz found it hard to believe that Tinkar—or any god, for that matter—would bother trying to understand him and the others. He suspected that Tinkar was playing with him, which, considering how the gods in general treated mortals, was not an unheard of thing for a god to do.
Then Carmaz looked back at the villagers. They still didn't seem likely to break the ice, so he decided to explain to the others what was going on and why Tinkar was here.
So Carmaz stepped forward and gestured at Tinkar. “This is Tinkar, the God of Fate and Time himself. He—”
Carmaz didn't even get to finish his sentence before the villagers started to hurl dirt clods, rocks, and even precious shoes at Tinkar. Carmaz, Saia, and Frissa ducked, therefore avoiding most of it, but Tinkar didn't even try to dodge. The clods, rocks, and shoes rapidly disintegrated ten feet from his body. Tinkar's facial expression didn't even change as the projectiles disintegrated, as if he was unimpressed by the villagers' actions.
Once it became clear that throwing things at Tinkar was not working, the villagers stopped doing it, but they still viewed Tinkar with the same distrust from before.
“I will give you mortals credit for being willing to assault a god that is a thousand times more powerful than all of you put together,” Tinkar said. “But if this had not been on the north side of the Dividing Line, I would have killed you all for the severe lack of respect you showed toward me.”
“Go fuck yourself!” one of the villagers shouted. “We don't want you stupid gods on our island!”
Tinkar didn't even look offended by that. He yawned and said, “Obscenities. Is that the best you mortals can come up with? Wait. Do not answer that question. The future tells me that that is indeed the best that you are able to come up with.”
“Are you going to restore Ruwa to its former glory?” another village shouted.
“No,” said Tinkar. “I did not come here to help a bunch of heathens.”
“Then why did you come here at all?” a third villager shouted. He took off his shoe like he was going to throw it at Tinkar. “Get out of here! No one wants you around.”
The villager threw his shoe at Tinkar. His aim, unfortunately, was severely off, because his shoe instead hit S
aia directly in the face.
“Ow!” Saia said, rubbing his nose where the shoe had hit. “Barc, what the hell was that for?”
“Sorry,” said Barc, the villager who had thrown the shoe, sheepishly. “My bad.”
Carmaz again rose to his full height and said, “Please, I understand how angry everyone here is at Tinkar and the gods, but you must understand that Tinkar rescued Saia and me from the crustaceans and has offered us hope for Ruwa.”
“Hope for Ruwa?” Frissa repeated, looking up at Carmaz with her large eyes. “What do you mean, Carmy?”
Smiling, Carmaz scooped Frissa into his arms again and then addressed the villagers once more, saying, “According to Tinkar, there is an event starting next month on World's End known as the Tournament of the Gods. It is an event that will pit one hundred mortals against one another to determine who will ascend to godhood to replace the gods that died in Uron's attack on Martir two months ago.”
“I have never heard of this 'Tournament of the Gods' before,” said Hazur, her old voice full of suspicion.
“That is because, elder, it is the first of its kind,” said Tinkar. “The Powers themselves created the idea as an efficient way of replacing the deities lost by Uron's hand. It is no lie.”
“What's so great about this stupid Tournament?” Barc said, folding his arms over his chest. “Sounds like a glorified game to me.”
“It's great because I have been chosen to participate,” said Carmaz, gesturing at himself. “That means I have a shot at becoming the God of Martir. And if I become the God of Martir, I can use that power to help Ruwa.”
“Really?” said Frissa. She hugged Carmaz's head in excitement. “Yay! You can help Ruwa. Can I help?”
“Sorry, Frissa, but you have to stay here,” said Carmaz, pushing her hands off of his head. “Saia and I are going to World's End alone. We only came back here to explain the situation and say good bye to everyone.”
“But don't you worry, Frissa,” said Saia, giving her the thumbs up. “I'll make sure to keep Carmaz here out of trouble for you while we're away.”
Frissa giggled, but Carmaz paid her no more attention. He was now looking at the other villagers, waiting to see what their reactions would be. He saw no reason for any of them to be against it. After all, everyone here knew him well enough to understand that he really would use the power given to him as God of Martir to help fix Ruwa if he won the Tournament. He expected complete support from everyone.
But the longer he waited for a reaction, the less likely it seemed he would get one. Or at least, the less likely it seemed that he would get a positive reaction. The general facial expression he saw was a mixture of disappointment and betrayal. Barc even looked away and made a noise of disgust.
Carmaz's smile fell. “What is the matter with you all? Aren't you happy for this rare opportunity I could use to actually improve the lives of us all?”
Still no smiles.
Then Hazur looked Carmaz straight in the eye. Her gaze was one of betrayal and sadness, which actually hurt Carmaz more than he thought it would.
“Why should we be happy that you have a chance to join those who have ignored us?” said Hazur. Though she spoke softly, her words were impossible not to hear. “We remember the last God of Martir, Skimif, who did not improve our lives in any way. I recall when he first ascended thirty years ago. I was a much younger and more hopeful woman then than I am now.”
“But I'm not an aquarian like Skimif was,” said Carmaz. “I'm one of you. I would never forget you, no matter how big and powerful I may get.”
“Skimif did nothing for us,” said Hazur, as if Carmaz hadn't said a word. “He only ever seemed preoccupied with higher things. Or perhaps it was his aquarian bias against humans that prevented him from helping us. In any case, we have learned not to rely on any higher powers to help us, because the higher powers have shown that they do not want to help us, even when they are able.”
“I understand your distrust and hatred of the gods,” said Carmaz. He tried to keep his voice calm, but it was hard, even with Frissa in his arms. “But you have to realize what a grand opportunity this is. I am not asking you to trust Tinkar or any of the other gods. I am asking you to trust me, which I know that everyone here already does.”
“We trust you only because you are one of us,” said Hazur. “But one thing I have learned in my life is that power changes people, often in bad ways. And I can think of no position with more power than that of the God of Martir.”
“Are you saying that I will go mad with power?” said Carmaz. “Elder, you have to know me better than that.”
“I did not say that you would go mad,” said Hazur. “But I believe you will forget. You will stop thinking of us as your equals. You will come to view us much like the rest of the gods, as minor annoyances who you are under no obligation to aid or protect.”
Carmaz did not know what to say to that. He looked at the other villagers, searching for any who might disagree with Hazur, but none did. Even Frissa was quiet, though that may have been more due to her lack of understanding of what they were talking about more than anything. Saia looked as uncomfortable as Carmaz, but like everyone else, he kept his mouth shut.
Then Hazur turned and walked back toward her hut. The rest of the villagers did as well, until soon the entire village square was empty once more, save for Carmaz, Saia, Frissa, and Tinkar.
Carmaz lowered Frissa back onto the ground. She looked up at him with worry and confusion on her childish features.
“Carmy, are you really going to forget us if you go away?” asked Frissa. She sounded close to tears.
Carmaz smiled, though it felt fake, and mussed her hair. “Of course not, Frissa.”
“But Hazur said—”
“Elders can be wrong sometimes, despite their immense wisdom and experience,” said Carmaz. “Just know that, whether I win or lose the Tournament, I will come back. I will not forget anyone here, even the people who refuse to support me. You can count on that.”
“Okay,” said Frissa in a much happier voice. “But I want you to take this with you before you leave.”
Frissa jammed her hands into the pockets of dress and then pulled out a shiny, solid gold coin that Carmaz had never seen before. She then held it out for him to take, which he did. Turning the coin over, Carmaz saw that it was one of the old Ruwan coins that had been the primary currency of the island nation before its downfall centuries ago.
Carmaz looked down at Frissa again. “Where did you find this?”
“In the jungle when I was out gathering wood for the fire,” said Frissa. “It was shiny and pretty, so I took it. But you can have it. I think you need it more than me.”
Carmaz did not have the heart to tell Frissa that the gold coin was completely worthless, so he simply closed his hand around the coin and said, “I will treasure it always, Frissa. Thank you.”
Frissa gave a great, big smile when he said that. “That makes me happy.”
“Now I think you should go,” said Carmaz, gesturing at the rest of the village. “It's time for Saia and I to leave now. But we will definitely return, no matter what.”
“Okay,” said Frissa. She waved at him and Saia. “Bye Carmy, bye Saia. I hope you both become gods!”
With that, Frissa turned and ran off into the village. Carmaz watched her go, feeling a little better about himself now, knowing that he had at least one supporter here who cared about his success.
“Well …” said Saia, causing Carmaz to look at him. Saia had his hands in his pockets, looking rather uncomfortable. “That was not how I expected the announcement to go. At all.”
“Think nothing of it, mortals,” said Tinkar, shaking his head. “Few mortals are intelligent enough to see when they will benefit from something like this. Most are so caught up in jealousy and the trivialities of day-to-day life that any possibility of improvement becomes a myth to them that must be shot down at all costs.”
“You knew they would
react this way, didn't you?” said Carmaz, looking at Tinkar with disgust. “Why didn't you tell me?”
“As the God of Fate and Time, I have made a point of not interfering with either,” said Tinkar. “I am not like the other gods, who regularly interfere with their domains as they see fit. Fate and time are too fragile to alter without causing devastating consequences for everyone, including the gods.”
“What about the things that my people said to you?” said Carmaz. “When they accused you and the other gods of not caring about us? What did you think about that? Didn't it bother you?”
“You act like I hadn't already known they would say that,” said Tinkar. “Besides, why should I be angry at the truth? Skimif really did fail to improve Ruwa's condition while he reigned. And the rest of us have not done much, either.”
Carmaz's fists shook. “Is that all, then? No apologies for ignoring us? No justifications for your lack of action?”
“Justify? To whom and why?” said Tinkar. “It is not the gods' job to make everything comfortable for you humans. Our job is to watch over the domains that the Powers assigned to us, and to defend Martir when necessary.”
Carmaz didn't say anything to that. He just looked down at Frissa's coin, which was cold in his hand.
“I imagine, then, that your village's rejection of you has caused you to rethink your previous plan for helping Ruwa if you win the Tournament,” said Tinkar.
Carmaz looked up at Tinkar in surprise. “'I imagine'? I thought you knew the actions of every mortal before even they do.”
“Not if you are a godling like yourself,” said Tinkar. “Most of your actions come as a surprise to me. It makes you godlings annoying to deal with, but even gods like myself have our limitations.”
“Well, to answer your question, no,” said Carmaz. He held Frissa's coin up to his chest. “If I win this Tournament, I am still going to use my power to help Ruwa.”
“Despite their obvious lack of support toward you?” said Tinkar, now sounding genuinely surprised. “Why?”
“Because they are still my people and my friends,” said Carmaz. “And I know that if I don't help them, then no one will.”
For once, Tinkar looked at a loss for words. Then he shrugged and said, “I guess you humans still have a few surprises up your sleeve. Anyway, let us leave right away. There is not much time before the Tournament begins and there are still many other godlings to gather before the fateful day.”
“Then take us there, Tinkar,” said Carmaz, gesturing at himself and Saia. “We're both ready to go right away.”
Tinkar nodded. He then snapped his fingers and Ruwa faded away around Carmaz, until he and Saia found themselves standing in the largest city he had ever seen in his life.
***