The God's Game

Chapter 12 - Tryant King's adventure

"About three months ago," Raven started. "God ordered me to get on a ship alone and sail from Capital Sandgill to Saltsand."

"He told me I was to retrieve a 'treasure'. For future reference, that's all he fucking said."

Aithan looked askance at his brother. By that look alone, River felt like he was not going to like the rest of the story.

"So I hopped on a ship and departed from Sandgill, fucking clueless about where the fuck to look or what the fuck to look for." Raven dramatically rolled his eyes.

River found himself empathizing with the king on this. The gods really did have a way of talking in riddles and ambiguity and then going silent for a prolonged period of time. There was more than one instance in history where mortals would misinterpret God's words and bring ruin to themselves and others. There was no way to double check telepathic memorandums from heavens,after all.

But God made no flaws. If they did not reveal something, it was always for the greater good.

Mortals did not have the foresight of the heavens anyway.

"I kept sailing for two days. Then surprise! Surprise bitch! I got caught in a fucking storm!"

Raven waved his hands around as if to show River how violent the tempest was. "For a moment, I thought God actually wanted to do me in!"

That wouldn't be too surprising.

"Next thing I know, I'm washed up on a deserted island, in the middle of fucking nowhere! No food, no water, and no way to go back."

River found himself wandering what this island could be. There were no islands on the sea route Raven was advised to take. How far had he been dragged along by the storm?

"The island was small; in the center there was a thick forest patch," Raven continued. "I trekked three full circles around it but couldn't find a trace of anyone. So I decided to camp close to the shore in case a ship goes by."

He paused to scoop up the last few remaining berries from the bowl.

"The entire place was fucking weird," I'm telling you. There were no animals, not even insects. Fish wouldn't come near it either. The whole place looked fucking cursed."

River felt a chill down his spine.

"So seven days later, no water, Im eating grass and going a little bit crazy, ok? I thought, 'Well, fuck it, since Im going to die here anyway, why not go deeper into the forest and see? '

Things are a bit hazy here because I was delirious, but I found ruins of some kind of structure. I don't know what the fuck it was, but the way I remember it, it looked like it was destroyed by lightning."

"So God struck it down?"" River asked thoughtfully.

"Could be. He does feel like a piece of shit who goes around striking down random buildings for fun and sending random people into storms."

River grimaced at how this man seemed to have no respect or regard for his God. Royal families and even regular citizens are brought up to regard deities with the utmost respect and not speak ill of them.

Some had faith in divine forces. Others respected them.

But all feared the gods. One must not defy heaven after all.

Apparently not Raven Alistair because he speaks like he had fought Southern God in a dark alley on a regular Friday night.

And won.

Mireya Huxley would drop dead if she were to hear how this man speaks. She was so devoted to her gods that she wouldn't step a toe out of line. River often wondered what her near-crazy obsession over God really was.
devotion? Or fear?