Chapter Seven – The Trinity of AvatarsRynn gave Gray an astonished look.

  He was just as surprised. “Rynn? Is it the Dan Ess transtion?”

  “Yes,” she said, as she turned from one page to another.

  Midj grimaced. “I’m not much for history. I know I should be, given I’m a descendant of Mimolette Walthamstow, but I just can’t care about that old stuff. And do we even know it happened it all?”

  Tomi’s mouth dropped open. “What? Of course it all happened. During the First God War, the gods of sin and the gods of virtue fought each other but then kind of fell in love and they created Midmere. But then the Troublemaker—we don’t say his name—found out about it. You know, because he was the archduke of hell, not a king, right? Because the king and queens were the gods. Anyway, the Archduke gets all pissy that there’s love in the world and decides to destroy Midmere, and the angels didn’t care—sorry, Rynn—because they were in heaven, and well, everyone on Midmere would’ve been killed if Zaccai of the Fire hadn’t figured out his mana. I mean, for real. He figured out all the modern techniques. He had all seven resonances, and he knew how to use them. Sorry, Gray.”

  Rynn sighed. “You have nothing to apologize for, Tomi. I have nothing to do with the angels. Like nothing. I’m an elf, not a Nephilim.”

  Tomi waved that away. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s the blonde hair. Remember, I’m from the north. I know how it is. But yeah, Zaccai passed on what he learned to his students after he defeated the Troublemaker, which ended the First God War because when all fourteen of the divine instincts saw how heroic Zaccai was, they realized how special the humans were. I mean, humans were the creation of all the love and sex between the sins and virtues, but still, kids are just kids. They are kind of easy to ignore. I mean, I was.”

  The cat girl blinked, clearly shocked by what she said. “So, yeah, Zaccai. Does that talk about the brands?”

  Rynn was clearly confused. “What are the brands?”

  “The jana,” Tomi said. “Come on, Rynn. It’s all about the trayah jana. The trinity of brands—it was Zaccai’s idea, but that was before we really understood the mana marks. He did this with his students. It was kind of brutal, I mean, being branded isn’t fun. Trust me. Burns suck. They might eventually heal but it takes forever.”

  Midj stood up on her chair. “Tomika Ka, you can’t be this much into history. You can’t be.”

  Tomi titled her head. “Why not?”

  Midj grinned. “Because it doesn’t involve sleeping. You don’t find this boring?”

  “No!” Tomi growled. “This is important, the most important thing there is. Don’t you get it? Without the three holy avatars, there wouldn’t be a Midmere. There wouldn’t be an us.”

  “Who are the three avatars?” Gray asked.

  Tomi leapt on that question like a kitten on a ball of string. “Zaccai of the Fire ended the First God War by defeating the Troublemaker. Then, during the Second God War, when the gods were murdering each other—that created the seven blood races—and the angels were fighting the demons, that Strong Simon, the Second Avatar, killed the Goddess of Wrath. Yeah, he was such a powerful Divine Core Magus that he was able to kill a god. No joke there. But there was the goddess of cruelty—”

  “Kindness,” Ames said. “It was the goddess of kindness that Malchutt killed, and he used her blood to keep the Weeping Well open, just a crack, biding his time.

  Tomi raised a cwed finger. “She was the goddess of kindness, but she got twisted all up in the Second God War and became the goddess of cruelty. That’s the history. Do I need to look it up? It’s all expined by Dan Ess.”

  “Kindness can be a cruelty, and cruelty can be a kindness.” The Quelling gnced at Rynn before looking down at the table.

  Gray was worried about her.

  Tomi didn’t pause. “So yes, anyway, The Troublemaker—we don’t say his name—killed the st of the gods before fleeing back to hell, waiting and scheming. It was good times for eons until the Third God War.”

  “Let me guess,” Gray said. “It was the Troublemaker that caused it?”

  Tomi ughed. “No, silly. It was an archangel named Ishal, who decided that heaven was just too small and came down to Midmere through the Joyful Threshold to purge the world of what he considered the lesser races. But you’re not wrong. The Troublemaker flung open the Weeping Well and to fight both the angels and the eight races, humans and the blood races. The Third God War was the worst of them all. For a while, the angels and the demons actually worked together to murder everyone on Midmere. Corpses were stacked as tall as the seven towers…only there weren’t the towers here at the bottom of the world. Those came ter, thanks to the Third Avatar.”

  Gray had to ugh. “You really do love this stuff.”

  “Love it?” Tomi snorted. “It’s why there’s a world. It’s the avatars that saved us all.”

  “And their wives,” Rynn said. “The Third Avatar, Akazel the Bound, couldn’t have done it without his wives.”

  “How many wives?” Gray asked.

  “Seven,” Tomi said. “That’s why they call him the Bound. He had this massive core, perfect mana control, and he could bind multiple women to him. They all loved each other so much. It was their love that helped them seal closed both the Weeping Well and the Joyful Threshold. It was perfect love.”

  “Among the eight?” Gray asked.

  The cat girl nodded. “Among the eight.”

  Gray had a question. “But all the gods were dead by then. How can you call it the Third God War without there being any gods.”

  Tomi ughed. “It sounds better than the angelic war, which is what it was. And let me tell you, the way I heard it, the archangels and archdukes of hell had god-like powers. And—”

  Ames cut her off with a whisper. “No. You’re mistaken.”

  Tomi didn’t seem at all upset. “Okay, Ames, tell me where I missed the mark.”

  “It wasn’t Akazel and his eight wives. I can’t say how happy they were, but I do know it wasn’t them.” Ames was frowning, her brow furrowed.

  Tomi ughed. “Thanks, Ames. I think that about clears it all up. I’m gd we were all here for this momentous occasion.”

  Midj sighed. “I don’t know what they’re talking about.”

  Gray thought he did. “Ames is saying that Akazel didn’t build the towers that sealed the Weeping Well. Is that right, Ames?”

  “Yes, she murmured. “Akazel didn’t build the tower or the seven pylons that closed the Joyful Threshold. The seven pylons, floating there in the air, which must be very beautiful. Are they beautiful, Rynn? Are they?”

  “They are,” the elf girl said softly. “You can stand under them during a snowstorm and be kept dry. And then, when the snow melts, the icicles that hang off their bottoms are so pretty in the sunlight. We have magi who go and melt them, so they don’t fall all at once and hurt anyone.”

  Tomi sat in total disdain of Ames and her theory. “Okay. I’ll py your little game. Who built the towers?”

  “It was the Quelling magi who lived in ancient Ossareth on the Mal’Mireth Peninsu. They were part of the Cambrosia League, and while it was the magic from the Quelling magi that they perfected with their dealings with the Troublemaker, it was all the Cambrosians who came together to build the towers. Akazel might’ve helped, but he couldn’t do it alone.”

  Midj looked like she might die of boredom. “Okay, I’m officially done. This isn’t going to help Grayson get his meridians all juicy, and I don’t like to talk about this stuff anyway. I know, I know, I’m giving Mimolette Walthamstow a bad name, but I can’t care.”

  “We’re almost done, I think,” Gray said. “Tell me about the Cambrosia League, Ames.”

  Tomi had her sarcasm dripping from every word. “Yes, Ames, tell us about how the cambion elves and cambion orcs and the cambion fae all saved the world. I’m all ears.” She twitched her cat ears a bit.

  Ames smiled. “You don’t believe me. That’s fine. History shouldn’t be agreed upon because even the events of this day can’t be agreed upon. The Cambrosia League was a collection of city states on the isnds and along the coast of the Belly where the half-demonic peoples traded with both the demon lords and the rest of Midmere. There were the elves in the Mal’Mireth Peninsu, the fae from the Ankleblister Isnds, and the orcs from Pubis Port, though they didn’t call it that in the past. They called it Hotcrotch. There was a lot of sex there.”

  Gray gnced over at Tomi. “Was it called Hotcrotch?”

  “Yeah,” the cat girl said. “But that doesn’t mean the Cambrosia League helped build the towers.”

  “Not just build.” Ames’s voice was even. “The Cambrosians helped Akazel fight his way from Hotcrotch to Shuddertown—that was the demonic name for the city around the Weeping Well. Then, working together, the Cambrosians and Akazel crafted the towers. Akazel then left and went to the Crown where he sealed shut the Joyful Threshold. I know nothing of that. I only know of the destruction of the Shuddertown.”

  Midj threw her head back and grunted. “Just call it the Belly! Demons or anyone else lived here, and to have like three names for everything just hurts my head. Please! And let’s move on, or I swear, I’ll go raid Mrs. Quillwrath’s for treats. Akazel and whoever built the towers, both the gates to hell and heaven were closed, and the rivers of mana were cut off. The demons and angels lost power and all the races of Midmere defeated them, Akazel killed the Troublemaker, and things were so rosy that the dragons moved to the Null Breaks, had their own continent, and brought in goblins to cook for them.”

  “Was there mana there?” Gray asked.

  “In the dragon kingdom of Astria? I don’t know!” Midj yelled. “I wasn’t there because it was a zillion years ago! That’s it. I’m going to Quillwrath and see if she has anything. Don’t try and stop me, Rynny. I know this is your special pce, and I don’t want to ruin it, but I have to keep snacking to avoid dying of boredom.”

  Midj then hopped off her chair and went into the next room. They heard a knock and then murmurs.

  Ames ughed a little. “She really does not like history. I do. It reminds me that many, many have lived, suffered, and died, and that I am not alone in my pain. Never alone.”

  “You’re right,” Gray said. “You’re not alone. Yes, people lived, suffered, and died throughout history. They also knew joy, and had babies, and feasted and danced and sang a bunch of happy songs. Remember…”

  Ames smiled at him. “Life is more than pain.”

  “That’s right.” Gray turned to Tomi. “So did the dragons in Astria not have magic then?”

  “They had magic,” the cat girl said. “There was a whole war of demons versus dragons. We don’t call it the fourth God War but it kind of was. Kind of. And Ames was wrong. Akazel didn’t kill the Troublemaker. He escaped and basically caused the fall of Astria. There’s a whole book on it. It has some dark stuff.”

  “Yes,” Rynn said. “The dragon princess Cassandra and her doomed love always made me so sad. She really did try to do the best she could. Oh, to lose her parents like that. It’s so sad.”

  Ames’s smile was soft and fragile. “But we have to remember that while there’s sadness, there is also joy.”

  “Life is more than pain,” Rynn agreed.

  Gray was gd to see the two women getting along. He’d been a little worried. They couldn’t be unstoppable if they weren’t inseparable.

  Midj came back carrying a silver tray, which she gently set on the table. She was so short she had to lift it over her head to set it down. She climbed onto her chair. “Mrs. Quillswrath had tea and cookies! Wait until you taste it. It’s redtree fruit and spicescrape. Wait, that’s what the goblins would call it. I think you’d say apples and cinnamon. Now, can we get out of the past and into the present? Gray needs some meridian love. Who can give it to him?”

  Midj was pouring tea, so she was busy, but both Ames and Tomi ended up looking at Rynn.

  The elf girl blushed. “I don’t know why you’re looking at me. If that worked, Gray wouldn’t have any trouble with his meridians. I think we should go to Captain Sevanya and ask her about the trayah jana.”

  “Maybe,” Gray said.

  He didn’t say it, but he was curious to see what the Widow Stone would say. However, there was an issue there. He’d have to go without Settie knowing. The two did not like each other. And he didn’t want any of his friends involved.

  He wanted to work on his little problem alone.

  As they chatted, drank tea, and ate cookies, he thought about the vast history of the world. His world had been so small in Cradleport. Yes, there had been various kings and sea princes and pirates who fought and died for the isnd, and yes, there had been a religion that worshiped the gods of the sea and sky, but nothing like what he’d experienced in the Belly.

  He was surprised to find he didn’t feel small and insignificant. No, he felt like he was a part of the history. He would live, find happiness, and die in these strange nds.

  Two weeks ter, in a dream, he dreamed of the pce of water and stars.

  Oma was there, but someone else was there as well…two someones.

  And both eventually burst into fmes.