Game of the Gods

At the beginning of time, there were gods. They created Humans, but they all had different ways of living and different strengths and weaknesses. One god for each type of person. There were the Undonights, known for their wisdom and search for knowledge, governed by the god Undodon. To Ghetians, kindness and love were always a priority to their goddess Ghetia. Zulgights always made sure everyone was living life to the fullest, never letting anyone rule them or tell them what to do, thanks to the ancient writings left to them by their god Zulgi. Idris, the goddess of honour always keeps her followers, the Idri, in check, making sure every interaction is just and right. Fulldians are always coming up with new systems of government as their economy grows and evolves, their god Fulldir giving them new insights into the ways of mortal governments. 

And then there are the Molians. They are a different story. Their goddess Molene, is known for her tricks and unfortunately, her humans picked up that unbecoming trait, leading them towards trouble and war. It is with these people our problem begins, only, some time after the creation of the world and everything in it.

Iriel, Idris’s favourite mortal was going about her daily duties as an Idri when she realised she had forgotten to insert her details into the register. She quickly rushed to the front of the building she worked in and put her name and age in, her time of arrival and what mode of transport she used to get there. Her card beeped and a red light showed up, warning her there was suspicious activity and she would be interviewed by a Fulldian after her workday finished.

Iriel sighed, hating the invasive government system in place at the moment. She knew things would probably change in a couple of months, some Fulldian always claimed to have heard something from their god and then changed everything up for everyone. The Zulgights had left many years ago, tired of the ever-evolving systems and policies, saying they preferred chaos to the tight and restricting governments the Fulldians were ‘forcing’ upon us. 

Iriel didn’t believe that, but she sometimes wondered what it would feel like to live completely free and do what you wanted with whomever you wanted to. But she kept on with what she knew, trying to conform the the latest system and get her job done. She had to file every incorrect trade and she was never done, meaning she couldn’t afford to forget her check-in in the mornings. 

She hurried to her little office desk, in her small, cramped cubical, sitting down in her uncomfortable chair and turning her computer on. A flurry of notifications filled her screen and she pushed them all to the side, looking at the oldest ones. Her job required her to check trade rates constantly and make sure the monetary system was keeping up with the demand for different items. Then, she had to message the traders, alerting them to the changes and asking them to try to even the incorrect trade they made, either asking more next time or requesting for some of their wears back from the trade they had made incorrectly.

Iriel was in the middle of a particularly complicated debate via text when she was interrupted by her boss. 

“Iriel, I would like to offer you a new position. Our previous Personal Adresser seems to have disappeared to the anarchists and we need a new one stat. I know you had originally put your name down for the position but were assigned here instead. Would you like to continue in your current position or do you want this new position?” Adam said, offering her a folder with probably an assignment the PA had to fulfil. This was the moment she had been waiting for.

“Yes! I would love to!” She said, taking the folder gratefully off of Adam and following him to her new workspace. It was a spacious office with a huge desk and lots of drawers for folders and files. Iriel loved it immediately. 

She sat down and got to work, opening the file, composing messages and arranging meetings. She was in her element.

Idris walked over to Molene, who was sitting by her viewing pool, gazing at her favourite mortals and gently stirring the water whenever she wanted one of them to do something.

“Molene,” Idris said, putting a gentle hand on Molene’s shoulder, “I need to talk to you. I was discussing some of the mortals’ comings and goings with Fulldir when he mentioned that he and you had been trying something new. When I asked him more about it, the more he shared the less sure I was of it being a good idea. He said originally it was your idea. Can you please explain?” Molene looked up at Idris, a sly smile on her face.

“My dear, it was only a little game Fulldir and I were playing with the mortals, there’s no harm in that, is there?” She gave Idris a dismissive look and turned back to her pool.

“Well, yes, there is some harm if my mortals are getting caught in the middle of it. Fulldir’s mortals are making my mortals do ridiculous stuff and they’re being monitored front, left and centre and I don’t think it’s moral or right. I have no idea where your mortals come into it, but I haven’t seen any of them recently. I’m beginning to think something is going on and you’re not telling me the whole story.” Idris put her hand on her hip, waiting for Molene’s answer. Molene sighed.

“Look, I have no idea what you’re getting at, but if you’re accusing me of foul play, you can think again. Now, leave me alone, this is my favourite part of the day.” Molene waved Idris away, leaving her no choice. Idris needed to talk to Zulgi.

Iriel was on her newly extended lunch break when a strange man approached her. There wasn’t anything particularly wrong with the man, the strange part was that he came up to her.

“Excuse me, but I was wondering, is your name Iriel?” He said with a strange accent. Iriel frowned but answered politely.

“Yes, I’m Iriel. Who are you?” She took a bite of her sandwich. Her break wasn’t all that long and she had already wasted some time standing in line to get said sandwich.

“I’m Zach, and I was sent to talk to you. Can I sit?” He said, gesturing to the empty bit of bench beside Iriel. She nodded, still chewing and held up a finger to stop Zach from continuing. She swallowed.

“Who sent you? How do they know me?” Iriel said, only slightly irritably. She sometimes got hangry, but the sandwich was helping.

“Um, well, I had a dream last night and Zulgi talked to me in it. He said I needed to talk to a girl, whose name was Iriel about the newest system the Fulldians had in place. Apparently, you didn’t sleep very well last night and Idris couldn’t get through to you personally, so she asked Zulgi and me to help a bit. You see, apparently, the gods have had something resembling an argument and it was about us mortals and the way the Fulldians are running everyone’s lives. Obviously not mine, seeing as I’m a Zulgight, but everyone else’s.” He looked at Iriel, sincerity in his eyes. His dark skin attested to the fact he was Zulgight, but Iriel couldn’t quite believe the dream thing. He was right about her not sleeping well, but that was surely just a coincidence?

“Wha ‘bou rha syem?” Iriel swallowed her rather large bite and tried again. “What about the system? It’s working fine for most people. No one minds it, we all know it’s just another phase. And why would I listen to you? You don’t know anything about government You just live in the wild and fight with your neighbours like an animal.” Maybe Iriel was more hungry than she realised. Zach let out a little huffy laugh, half-smiling and shaking his head in disbelief.

“Ok, first of all, we don’t live like animals, we have our own version of government, but it’s WAY less intrusive. Everyone just gets on and if there’s an argument we all come together and solve it. No animals are involved. Second, just because things are ‘going fine’ doesn’t mean they’re going right. Surely you should know the difference between that? Where do you think all your taxes are going?”

“Uh, to the government so they can fix the roads, build better parks and found medical research.” Zach didn’t look impressed. He pointed to the road next to them.

“Do you call that fixed?” That particular spot had a very deep pothole and a couple of cracks running the width of the road.

“Well, no, but there’s a road by my house they just fixed recently.” Zach nodded and ran his fingers through his short, curly hair.

“Right, but how many people are living in this city? A million? I mean, it’s a pretty darn big city. If all those people are paying the same amount of money, that must be more than enough to fix ALL the roads and put in comfier benches than this.” He shifted for effect, and Iriel had to admit it was a bit of a weird shape.

“Well, I don’t know, I mean, it must cost a lot to do EVERYTHING. You have to trust the Fulldians, they know what they’re doing.” Iriel said, taking another bite of her sandwich, mostly getting crust as the sandwich was coming to an end.

“Yeah, but they’re NOT doing everything if this road and this bench aren’t right. Just think about this, how many Molians have you seen walking around recently?” Iriel considered this, cocking her head and thinking about it.

“Not that many, but how does this have to do with anything? What are you suggesting?”

“Well, apparently they have a lot to do with this. You see, Zulgi told me last night that they’re actually pulling the strings, telling the Fulldians what to do. Molene and Fulldir had this little joke/bet thing that us mortals wouldn’t realise who was running the government unless someone had their name all over it. So apparently the Molians are living in these manours and castles while the rest of us have to pay for them to do it. Well, not me obviously but-”

“...Everyone else, got it. How do I know you’re telling the truth though? How do I know this isn’t some sort of complicated practical joke? Idris hasn’t contacted me and I’ve never met you and I have no idea who you are or if you’re the kind of guy to pull pranks on innocent women.” Iriel said, frowning at Zach and raising one of her eyebrows.

“Fine, I can see you’re a bit of a sceptic, so all I want you to do is go home tonight and have a nice long rest, hopefully getting more sleep than last night. Ok? Can you do that and humour me?” Zach said getting up from the bench and rubbing his back.

“Fine, but I don’t expect anything will change.” Zach chuckled.

“You’d be surprised. Meet me here, at this uncomfortable bench the same time tomorrow, even if nothing’s changed, ok? I promise this isn’t a joke.” Zach walked away after Iriel gave him a slightly annoyed but mostly agreeing look. Iriel threw her sandwich wrapper away in the very full bin next to the bench and hurried back to work. She didn’t want to be late for her second day in the new position.

Idris was trying to find Zulgi again. He was proving to be elusive, but she was determined to speak with him. This could not wait any longer.

“Zulgi! There you are! We need to talk again. My mortal didn’t believe yours, and there’s not much more time until Molene’s mortals put their plan into action. We need help.” Zulgi looked at Idris in surprise.

“O-ok, sure. Who do you suppose would help us?” He sat back from his viewing pool where he was watching Zach walk towards his workplace.

“I was thinking Ghetia first and then we can see if we could get any help from Undodon. He might want his mortals to know about some of this for their records.” Zulgi thought about it for a second and then nodded.

“I know the right angle to play this, let me do the talking, ok?” Idris rolled her eyes at the mortal term he used but agreed. They looked for Ghetia and they found her talking with Undodon.

“... Well, I don’t know who would do that, I have no half-breeds in my brood. Why don’t you ask Molene? I bet one of hers is messing about again.” Ghetia turned from Undodon huffing. She saw the two approaching and smiled brightly at them.

“Greetings, fellow Divine, how may I help? Or is it the ignorant accuser over there that you seek?” Zulgi smiled at her floral way of speaking.

“No, it is you, Ghetia that we, er, seek. We need to talk to you about Molene and Fulldir. They’ve teamed up to enslave the rest of our mortals, and Idris doesn’t think it’s fair. On us or the mortals. So, are you in?” Ghetia had a thoughtful look on her face and she was tapping a grateful finger on her chin.

“You have not said what is to be ‘in’ with. I will need more details than conspiracy theories.” Zach took another step forward but Idris put a hand out to stop him.

“I’ll explain.”

The next morning Iriel woke with a start. She’d had the weirdest dream and now she knew Zach was telling the truth. When her lunch break came along she sat on the bench she and Zach had met at yesterday. She bit into her sandwich, thinking this one was much better than the one she tried yesterday. When she looked up, she could see Zach coming across the road with three others next to him. 

When they arrived at the bench, Zach introduced them.

“Hey, Iriel! I see you got the message. These guys also got it. They’re here to help. This is Gavin, Grace, and Gerald. They all had dreams that told them to find me and I had a dream that told me to find you and tell you this: the Udonights are in the same boat as the Molians and Fullians. And, the gods have given me a plan to defeat them. Do you want to hear it?” Iriel nodded, smiling at the new arrivals.

“Ok, well, it all starts with the banks.”