Servant of the Gods
I set fire to the hostel. Did so because I now found that I enjoyed watching things burn. And then I stood on my outcrop, and watched it burn to the ground.
As the flames licked at the last vestiges, I heard footsteps approaching from behind me. Yet they were non-threatening footsteps, strange though that seemed. And so, I turned around carefully, instead of claws first.
It was the desert-wanderer, from my time of madness. I narrowed my gaze and studied him. The grit in his clothing and skin, not to mention his smell, made him seem quite real just then. And I grinned savagely. “So. You were not a figment.”
He pursed his lips thoughtfully. “Or I still am.”
I ignored that, and turned back to the flames. “I have even less desire to talk to you now than when you were a figment.”
He didn’t move, just stood there gazing at me. “…So, are you one of the Servants of the Gods now?”
I immediately spun around. “I serve no one!”
There was a trace of grim amusement on the desert-wanderer’s face. And he gave a nod at the fire. “But you did just do what they wanted, did you not?”
“This?” I waved a hand at the burning ruin. “This is my doing.”
“Oh? Are you sure?” He turned away, looking into the desert. “Naiste, the judge, was headed to Sar Vanados, you know.”
“Yes, I did know.”
“And there, he was to have performed a trial. The trial of a man that some call The Prophet. A trial that will now be postponed. Which will give The Prophet’s friends time enough to free him. …Which is the exact thing that the Gods wanted.”
I snorted. “And what do you, a weak human, know of the Gods, wanderer?”
He started walking away. “And who ever said I was human?”
I howled at the sky. “…Damn you! Damn you all!”
Then I rounded on him. But he had already disappeared into the desert and the night.
*
Manipulation.
I started to remember why I had come to hate the Gods, and had actively moved against them so long ago. And why I had promised myself that never again would anyone control me.
But, here they were, trying again.
Well, let them try. This time, I was ready for them.