CH301 Gods and Believers part two

Since he’d first become the priest of Quox, he’d never once been told there was an emergency to gather them all at once. Even when the wise one had escaped, he alone had been contacted to deal with it due to being the only one in the village with his skill advancing beyond its limits, and when he stretched his memories to his youth before he’d taken over the role he couldn’t say it had happened before either.

The fact spoke of an emergency of unprecedented levels as all five priests went not to the public statues where they’d usually speak, letting the other believers experience half of the conversation between the gods and their mortal voices, but instead to a private area away from stray ears as they looked nervously amongst themselves, wondering just what they were going to have to deal with.

It was the god he represented, Quox who spoke first, even if they could feel the presence of the other four within their minds, and the news he brought was a nightmare.

<It’s time you all fulfill your roles.> He told them firmly. <The strange ones are coming. Send off the low ones and from there you all must be prepared for the sacrifices that are to come.>

“Of course my lord, we’ll happily lay down our lives to protect the others,” Toltho said confidently, noises of agreement coming from the others before they were all quickly silenced.

<Don’t be mad.> The god spat out. <Do you know how valuable you all are? Empa and Pleht, you’ll both have the most important role. There isn’t time to pack everything up and move. Use your fire magic to burn everything and destroy the bodies as you all escape. Things may be difficult for a while, but just keep giving your faith and it will all work out in the end.>

He was stunned. In a situation like that chaos would ensue. There were a few hundred of them that made up the village, moving them all so quickly wouldn’t be an easy feat no matter the situation, and to release all of the lesser ones without even keeping a breeding pair was unprecedented.

It wasn’t him who picked up on the most important part though, but Empa as she asked for clarification, more than ready to follow any order given.

“Bodies my lord?”

If they weren’t fighting to protect the others and weren’t confronting the enemy head-on, then what bodies could there be? It was only Toltho, the sole member of the priests to harbor a hint of doubt in the gods he served so devotedly that felt a pit form in his stomach as he got the answer as the god Haro spoke up.

<Elderly, children, the injured, really anyone who might slow you down or otherwise resist our orders. They’ll all need to be put down. Hopefully voluntarily, but if they resist you’ll all need to deal with them. The best among you surviving is more important than anything else, even if your numbers drop to a quarter we’ll manage. You may need to handle more along the way, but that’s a later concern.>

The other gods spoke up, agreeing with the order as the other four priests were ready to get to it, seemingly indifferent to the idea that they’d be slaughtering their own kind so long as they could fulfill the will of the beings they loved so much, but Toltho only felt empty. The village was everyone he’d ever known, everyone he loved. He spent each day talking to them, helping them and growing with them, and he was being told to put them down like any other animal.

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