He was not alive. He was not dead.
“Have you ever heard of the tale of Mot and Baal?” the bright orange energy around him asked.
Carris had never seen a deity like this. He did not even know one could exist. “I haven’t..” the young man replied. This place of peace by the dome homes had been empty for years. Carris’s forced duties dragged him down, and when the endings were especially deserved he had found himself having too much fun with it. An insatiable, dark and gaping cavern of thrill in embracing this curse upon him had grown alongside his abilities to tear through realities.
The orange and gold energy danced around the man, changing forms into all kinds of creatures and persons, yet remaining just that- an illusion Carris could not affect. Its ever changing tones and rivers continued to speak, “I love collecting lore from the universe. I am the Mayor of this place you have been visiting. You cannot know me, but I know you. Anyhow, Baal was said to have a palace of over 10,000 acres..”
“Sounds like Ijin,” Carris replied, annoyed.
“His protector, Anat, slaughtered Mot,” the deity continued.
Carris narrowed his eyes at this cosmic being. He was less interested in the story and more at the energy that was beyond him. HE was the end all. What was this thing? He was unable to end it. If Anat represented Siasma, Siasma definitely facilitated his slaughter type experience. It was clear this cosmic being was making parallels.
“For years in this specific tale’s history, the greed of Baal was received by first worship, and then repulsion. Baal worship was later condemned as a competitive and false god. Never once did the people stop to speculate the battle of each of their lives directly, the whole time, had always meant facing Baal’s very enemy.. Mot.”
“And who is Mot?” Carris inquired sarcastically. The Mayor colored the air in a flush of gold and sun, swirling around him. This bright warmth was unaffected by his harsh attitude or his unmoved demeanor.
“Mot in this tale is the voracious deity of Death. I learned of this lore from watching one of the distant and evolving galaxies that spotted us through their telescopes. My friends and I sometimes troll them, and occasionally disarm their weapons to protect them from themselves,” the Mayor’s voice danced with amusement. “Carris, when you are in my galaxy, you will have no power over my people. Only yours.”
So he had been right those years ago. The angels were coming here.
“When you come across your tenants within my galaxy,” the Mayor continued, “they will not recognize you. I will disguise you to them. Your cover name will be Mot. You will experience some normalcy here while your duties are not activated.”
The Mayor had said the word outright. Normalcy. He hurried not to let any spark of hope soften him. His duties even by natural causes had hardened his emotions even more throughout the years.
“When your duties are activated, over demons or angels here-”
“Demons?” Carris asked incredulously. He thought only the angels would arrive.
“There will be more than the angels that enter my domain, yes.” At this, the Mayor’s wind chimes sounded measured, and a bit upset. That is when it dawned on Carris that avoiding X was not the best call. There were the regulars there, and then those who had been subservient to Ijin on the perimeter of the palace.. who probably followed the angels here. Carris rubbed his forehead in frustration. “If you are wondering why the parallels are there, with you and this tale of Mot.. it’s because history tends to repeat itself in different ways, until new lessons take form.” The swirling deity moved towards the sky, fading into a sparkling mist across the atmosphere as it said, “I will perhaps see you again sometime.. In one of my own forms.”
Carris watched with little curiosity. He had spent lots of time being the closest thing in his galaxy to ‘THE’ all knowing by now. “Oh and one word of caution..” a final whisper of the Mayor on the wind said, “If the greed of your constituents rises.. So might Ijin again.”
Carris’s entire body stiffened as he snarled, “WHAT??!” but his surroundings were already vacant.