The Fairness of the Gods

One, of many things that particularly bothered Baj about the Gods and Goddesses, was the seeming unfairness of it all. Why had those, like Elyria, the Goddess who had tricked him into servitude, been given so much power, and mortals like him, so little. It was somewhat debatable if sleeping with a Goddess of your own volition qualified as being 'tricked', but it was no doubt true that it was that act which had bound him to her as one of her many mortal servants. She had used her God-given powers to take his soul and makes it hers to control at the exact moment when he was at his weakest. The moment of completion of their union as man and woman. What Baj called the completion of their union as man and woman, most called orgasm and ejaculation, but he had been raised in the land of Cleves where the use of such crude language was simply not acceptable, and his embarrassment whenever Elyria would speak in such crass terms never failed to amuse her. She could sense his thoughts through their bond and thus always knew exactly what he felt, and exactly about what he was thinking, even as he slept. Of course, there were some gaps which Baj had learned to exploit to his advantage over the years, but they were minimal, and he had been forced to deal with the fact of another person, a woman no less, crawling around in his head at all times. Constantly judging and evaluating him, and finding him lacking in almost all respects, as she never failed to remind him. In fact however, it was quite the opposite. Elyria found the human fascinating for reasons she could never explain. She derived a secret thrill whenever she did probe his mind, a thing which she only did on very rare occasions, and only when, in her judgement, the need was great. There were ample reasons to question the wisdom of her judgement, nevertheless, this was a secret that she kept from Baj, along with her true feelings. She hid those behind a veneer of verbal humiliations, put downs, and an attitude of latent superiority which never ceased to irritate the fire out of him. Somehow he had managed to keep a few secrets locked away in his mind just out of her reach, and he knew she knew it too, and this fact drove the Goddess to the brink or fury on several occasions resulting in severe mental punishments for him. She could make him feel pain, great pain when she so desired, but also immense pleasure. And she used both to manipulate him and all her servants to great effect. But of all her manservants, Baj was her most favored, most cursed he would say, to any of the others that would listen.

One day Baj had made the mistake of asking the Goddess about the seeming lack of fairness in the world. She replied with a snort and a look of derision "And, why should the world be fair, mortal?" Baj took a moment to compose his thoughts then replied. "Because I believe the world should be a just place. And fairness is justice as has been proven to my satisfaction by our greatest philosopher of justice, Rawlsoni head master at schola Cornellium. Therefore the world should be fair." Elyria looked at Baj and laughed. "Oh mortal, you amuse me with your silly philosophical rantings. Who are you to say what the world should or should not be. That is a thing even the Gods are powerless to control." This answer shocked Baj and immediately the Goddess smiled. She loved to surprise him, though of course she would never admit this, but she found the look of surprise quite suited the man. It made his eyebrows raise and his eyes light up in a way that caused her heart to race. Of course the smile of the Goddess had a similar effect on Baj. Despite himself he took much pleasure in seeing her smile, and that fact also angered him to no end. Quickly he pushed away his feelings and pressed "But the Gods could change the world. They could make the world a just world, if they were inclined to do so." "You sound like that fool of a demi-God Justinias. He is always going on and on about the duty of the Gods to this world and the many others. With great power comes great responsibility is a thing he says far too often. I think he stole that pithy saying from a movie about a man spider on a world in some far distant dimension, but he says it with the air of a God supreme." Baj had no clue what Elyria was talking about. Movies and man spiders were not things of which he was at all acquainted, but he was used to non-sensical things constantly pouring from the ever open mouth of the Goddess. One thing she exceled at was talking, or as he preferred to call it, lecturing. And lecturing him on the superiority and/or failings of the various Gods and Goddesses of the pantheon was her specialty. "We cannot make this world or any world just, because none but the great Creator can ever know what justice is, despite what your philosopher Rawlsonia may believe." With that her head bowed slightly and she became more circumspect, lowering her voice before adding "There is a balance in the universe that must be maintained mortal. To upset that balance would bring disorder to all creation. If the Gods were to choose sides, as you mortals would put it crudely, we might change that balance in ways that cannot be repaired, and that could bring the end of all things." Baj thought she was done, but she lowered her voice even more and said barely audibly. "There is one creature that believes the balance should be broken. One being that desires to bring on that disorder. It's name is DisKourd. It lives in a great black pit at the center of all dimensions. It loathes all structure, it hates all life, both Gods and mortals. It seeks the end of all things, including time itself. Pray it does not succeed in its mad quest Baj of the Cleves. I fear it is coming. It has awoken from its slumber and all creation trembles. All worlds stand at the edge of a precipice, exactly as your world currently does. The time may come when mortals and Gods must band together to stop it, but that time is not now." She trembled and bit her lower lip gently, clearly afraid, as she spoke her last words. "It is unfortunate, but it seems you and I will have a role to play when it does." She turned from him then and strode slowly away, head bowed, deep in thought. An angry Goddess was a thing to be feared, a Goddess afraid was a thing of which to be terrified. That night Baj slept fitfully and awoke from a nightmare he could not recall. The Goddess however had seen his nightmare and she did remember it. It had filled her with a fear the likes of which the Goddess had never experienced over the several millennia of her, theoretically at least, immortal lifespan. In it she had seen a blackness coming. A blackness dark and infinite, a dark that was not just the absence of light, but instead was an active agent, destroying all light. Erasing it from existence like it had never been. She knew that if that darkness was loosed it was the end of all things, eternal night, eternal death for Gods and mortals alike. What she and Baj might be able to do about it was a question for which she had no answer. She did know however, that they had a role to play, and a critical one at that, for she had been told such by the great Zeus himself. Worse yet was that she knew it knew this, and and it would do everything in its power to stop her. Her own powers paled in comparison to the nearly omnipotent DisKourd. "Damn you to the seven hells Zeus" she said aloud to no one in particular. "Why must I be involved in your dealings, you silly old fool. And why must this irritating mortal be ever tied to my fate." From the hill above the God Loki looked down and laughed. "Why indeed Elyria? Why indeed?"