Mark of the Fool

Chapter 774: The Meeting of Old Friends and the Beginnings of Thameland

At the mention of the fae lord, Alex and Theresa looked at each other. Neither said a word: not wanting to interrupt what Uldar said next.

The god looked wistful. One of my greatest regrets is that I did not record the passing of my years in those early days. Now all I can do is wish I could remember how old I was when I first met my dear friend, for I no longer recall the exactyear. I do know that my journey with my people continued for some time: but by then, both my father and mother had been dead for many seasons. Those who had been children when I was a young man, had long since passed from the world, and it was their grandchildren who served me by that point.

He paused, then, frowning. Already my memory betrays me somewhat: serve is not the right word. Worship would be the right word. I do not know exactly when my people had stopped simply looking upon me as a prophet, and had instead began to see me as a god, but I do know that by the time I met Aenflynn, they already viewed me as divine.

His frown deepened. That is where one of the great mysteries of my life lies. I truly think that by this point, I was indeed at least a demigod. I had come to divine power, my body had become stronger, more enduring and swifter than ever, and I had stopped ageing. At first, I had simply attributed those changes to my study of life enforcement, but when I began to work miracles by my own will, without any need for prayer to a higher power, I knew that my strength came from within. The great mystery I often ponder is when exactly I had made this transition. I've studied myself, poured over my own memorieswhen they were much clearer

A look of pain crossed his face. but even then, I could not find the exact point in my life when I became deified. In the end, I suppose, it matters little now. And back then, it mattered little to Aenflynn.

The gods face took on a wistful smile. This was before he became a fae lord, and was only a princeling of Och Tir Nog. A rebellious one at that: he did not simply wile away his time in courtgetting involved with the great, venomous politics of his realminstead, he explored the material world, expressing a deep curiosity for mortals and beasts. This often got him into trouble: he had not come into the full strength of his magic then, and often relied on trickery and opportunity to feed and clothe himself. Under such circumstances, we met. He was attempting to trick one of my shepherds into giving him several of his sheep. I, of course, caught him, but found myself impressed by his quick tongue and wit. He offered to make recompense for his attempt to steal from my people, which I gladly took, andin returnhe showed me around the lands that we'd come to.

That wistful smile grew into something as warm as a noonday sun. As much as Alex had contempt for the god, he couldnt deny the sheer joy and fatherly warmth radiating from his face. That is how I came to love Thameland. I had been so focused on my own journey of enlightenment, that I had not paid attention to my surroundings in quite some time. Aenflynn showed me the beauty of the lands around me, he showed me the happiness of my people in this location. He showed me the bounty of this land. That is when I knew we would settle here. For too long had I turned my people into vagabonds just to nourish my own growth: they had benefited from my learning and protection, but the world had changed. More and more, people were building villages, towns and cities; the time of simply wandering from place to place, following herds of game, was coming to a close for many civilizations. The Irtyshenans

Uldars face turned sour, and Alex wondered what the god's relationship with that old empire was. had already begun their Empire building. The Rhineans were harvesting the elements. I knew that I could not allow my people to fall behind, and an island kingdom, firmly under my protection, seemed to be the perfect cradle in which to raise them to their full potential. Just as they had allowed me to grow into my full strength, I would aid them in achieving theirs. I think this is where I will end entry one. The work in my laboratory calls to me.

With that, the windows went dark.

No mention of the Ravener yet, Alex said. But since he seems to be only covering the earliest days of his story right now, he probably mentions that later.

I want to know what this poisoning thing was about, and if that's why his memories were fading, Theresa said.

Maybe something happened to his mind. Birger pointed out. I remember when you first told us that he was dead, and that hed made the Ravener. I could hardly believe it. Doesn't make sense to me that he made a monster to kill his people when he seemed to care so much about them.

I don't know if he cared, Bjorgrund wondered. He talked about helping them out, but he made them wander the earth for generations while he learned more about the world. Sounds like his people made a lot of sacrifices for him. And did you notice how he talked about getting into power? He didn't outright say it, but it sounded like he almost looked down on them. All that talk about object-whatever-it-was and children thinking their parents were magic.

I remember when you thought I was magic, Birger sighed wistfully.

Father, you are magic, Bjorgrund said. Anyway, the point is that he was looking down on them, so I'm not sure how much he really cared about them.

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Youll understand when you're a parent, Birger said. What he said was a little condescending, but I got the impression he really loved them.

If what hes done to us is love, then we don't need it, Theresa said.

Im inclined to agree, Alex said. I would never talk about Claygon so disrespectfully. Anyway, let's continue. Entry two should be

He activated a control in the chair.

Uldars image returned, it was obvious that this was a different time: hed adjusted his robes and clipped his hair somewhat.

Living journal, entry two. It occurs to me that I skipped part of my story when I began my narration, Uldar said. Entry one is incomplete. I will go into more detail about my peoples wanderings before we reached Thameland. The knowledge that I accumulated in those years must be placed in this record in the event that my mind declines and my memories are lost.

How many entries are there, Alex? Theresa asked.

Judging by what I'm feeling in the chaira lot. Hundreds. Maybe thousands. Alex grimaced. I'll need to skip a lot of them to find whats relevant. There's going to be a lot of interesting history here, but we aren't historians and dont have time for all those extra details: thatll be for another time. What we need now is information on the Ravener, the Marks, and why all this is happening. I think maybe I should start skipping ahead.

Alex began skimming the entries, starting the recordings at the beginninggetting an idea of what they were aboutthen skipping to the end, if they werent relevant.

In the process, they learned a number of things, though.

How Uldar had helped the people in their early days. They learned how he'd guided them to transition from a nomadic life, to building towns and cities of their own.

They also learned of his troubles.

No matter what I did, Uldar said in entry twenty-three. I could not force the development of more ambient mana in Thameland. Experiments to try and create mana vents repeatedly proved to be a failure: I should have known better, truly. Other pantheons from around the world rule lands that vary in mana: if it was so easy to force a realm to become rich in ambient mana, then most deities would've done so for their own kingdoms. I was left with a grim decision: would I lead my people to a new home? Or would I adjust how I was developing them? In the end, I decided to have them stay where they were. What this realm lacked in mana, it more than made up for in plenty of natural resources and its strong connection with the fae wild. Instead of having my people develop into wizards, I decided to simply share my power with them freely, and teach my priesthood to channel it in varied ways. There were some who were resistant to this: communities of witches and barbarians around the islesome native to these lands, here before my people arrived, and some who splintered from my followersthat simply chose to engage in their old ways.

His face took on a grim expression. But I am not an intolerant or jealous god. As long as they did not quarrel with my people, this land would provide for them just as it does for us. At this point, my next task was to begin erecting standing stones at different points for

Tolerance and ease, eh? Birger frowned. Doesn't seem like the type to make a Ravener.

We're only getting his word for things, Alex pointed out.

True, Birger said.

Alright, it seems he's going into a bunch of detail on stonemasonry, time to move on.

They continued watching and listening for quite some time, until Theresa pointed out something when they reached entry eighty-four.

He keeps changing, she said. Sometimes he looks thin, sometimes he looks muscular. Sometimes he's really pale, other times his complexion looks much healthier.

You're right, Alex said. I thought I'd noticed that too, but I wasn't sure if I was imagining things.

I've seen something like it in folk fighting a long-term sickness, Birger said. At times, they look healthier than at others. Therell be seasons when the illness is kind to them, or is even fading away. But theres also those times when it comes back in full force, and steals their strength. Thats the way he looks, like whatevers going on with him is waxing and waning.

Yeah, Alex said. Good point. There's some entries, where he seems to be struggling with his thoughts more than others, too. Probably that poison and whatever else hes fightingit seems he makes progress with it, then it gets worse again. Oh, hold on now, this looks interesting!

Uldar was talking about Aenflynn again. For several entries, hed detailed his battles against various beasts, monsters, and demons that had repeatedly invaded Thameland again and again.

He'd also talked about troubles in Och Tir Nog.

Aenflynn had the throne for quite some time at that point, and wed both struggled with war. While I dealt with different monsters and beasts to protect my people, he had to battle the incursions of other fae lords, looking to take his realm. My friend is very good at performancehe conveys strengthand it took me some time to understand that his realm was not a strong one among the fae. It was invaded often, and his armies would take many casualties. Unfortunately, my people had suffered casualties as well while I defended them from the dangers of the world.

His eyes twinkled. Aenflynn had too many mouths to feed, and my people had too many orphans. So he and I spoke of the old fae practice of changelings, except more formalised between him and I. We would switch our peoples. My people would take in some of Och Tir Nogs elderly fae, while I would provide Aenflynn with mortal orphans. Mere orphans who would be destined to either die, or languish unwanted in some poorhouse until they were grown: firmly on the path to banditry, criminality or worse. If anything, he was doing me a service. Of course, my people would likely never understand this: the kidnapping of children had been a problem of the old daysand remained quite common in some parts of the worldso our arrangement would be kept secret between him and I. A secret that would benefit both my kingdom and his. It was good work between us. His armies grew strong again, while my people had less mouths to feed. As an interesting side effect, the disappearance of some children caused superstitious fears to grow among my people. That fear meant more prayers, more faith, and thus more power for me. Yet, I still protected them well

He ground his teeth, then touched the wound on his side. and I still would be doing sopersonallywere it not for that damned demon lord.