Stories of the Ancient Gods

The Birth of Datuleo

Gods that appear here:
Datuleo - god of thunderstorms and hurricanes
Exela - goddess of sex, love, and beauty
Aryam - god of lies, mischief, deception, and pleasure
Arimo - god of magic
Maligna - goddess of betrayal and revenge
Foreser - god of the hunt
Eseleno - god of music and poetry
Manera - goddess of purity

It was a calm day on the place the ancient gods called Blessed, what we know now as Earth, when Aryam, received a visit from Maligna.

"Maligna, what brings you here?" He asked as he stopped reading one of the books he got as gift from his twin sister, Manera.

"Nothing interesting." She said as she smiled deviously, something characteristic of her. "You see I was just walking around and about the training arena, when I saw something interesting." She sat down comfortably in one of the chairs Aryam had empty. "And your little twin, Manera, was getting rather... comfortable with Exela."

"What on the name of our king are you spouting about?" Aryam furrowed his eyebrows as he eyed her cautiously.

"Your sister and Exela are together, in a bond, as in, they like sleeping together." She went straight to the point.

"And why would I trust you, Maligna. Have you forgotten that, all you preach about is betrayal and revenge?"

"And you lies and discord, don't pretend you're so pure, that's your sister." She snapped at him with a cold expression, but then breathed deeply. "I have never liked Exela, not gotten along with her. We will never see eye to eye and since she's the favorite of our little queen, I will never forgive her for taking my place as advisor in the castle–"

"For her to take something of yours, it had to be in your grasp first." sassed Aryam, at what Maligna growled and rolled her eyes.

"I'm in a much better place with you, so do with this information as you please." She said, and left, leaving Aryam to his thoughts.

Aryam had never liked Exela either, the king and queen, his parents, always liked her the most, even though she wasn't even their daughter. He could get even with her in one way or another, and now he had an excuse.

He grabbed his spear, and that night, he snuck in Arimo's house as he slept, and stole a strong vial of poison, and laced the tip of it with it, and finally left.

He walked to Exela's house, where she lived with her sons, Foreser and Eseleno. He entered and was greeted by her sons (who, by being the direct sons of the goddess of beauty, were beautiful beyond words). Aryam had to stop himself from falling into pleasure and temptation so he could speak the next words.

"Foreser, Eseleno, I came to speak with Exela."

"And what for, Aryam? Let's just say that after you set a bunch of snakes in our house, I don't trust you setting a foot in here." Foreser crossed his arms.

Aryam chuckled fondly at the memory. "Listen, the past is in the past,"

"It was two days ago."

"Forgiveness is good! Don't follow Maligna's example! Listen my point is, this is extremely important, so as a son of your king and queen, I demand you let me enter." He said as he didn't wait for permission and walked past them.

Aryam walked up to the quarters of Exela, opening to reveal the redhead brushing her hair. She turned around and eyes him suspiciously.

"Aryam, dear prince, what brings you in my house." She asked as she stood up, her revealing clothes leaving too much for Aryam to see; did the house of Exela had no shame or just were oblivious to Aryam's desires?

He summoned his spear and it appeared in his hand. "I challenge you, Exela, preacher of beauty, love, and sex; to a spar in an hour."

"And... what for, may I ask?"

"Your rendezvous with my sister, Manera, preacher of purity and all things good." He said as he laid his spear down, before Exela could answer, in the door were standing Eseleno and Foreser, the latter with his bow in hand, arrow pointing at Aryam.

"You dare threaten our mother?" Asked Foreser, spitting his words out.

"Foreser, calm down." She then looked at Aryam, small smirk on her lips. "I accept your challenge, see you in the arena in an hour, Aryam." She said, and went back to sitting down in front of the mirror and braiding her hair.

Aryam disappeared in mid-hair, and appeared again in the arena, where he started training.

•••

An hour had passed, and Exela went alone to the arena, where she saw that Aryam was also alone; both of them not noticing Maligna in the shadows, watching them with the most devious, evil smile.

"Where you stand, I will struck you." Said Aryam, pointing at her with the spear.

"Drop the formalities and stand your ground." She said as she was already in her fighting stance, sword on her left hand.

Aryam struck the first blow, which Exela easily deflected. Aryam did not expect Exela to be skilled with hand on hand combat, which made him lose.

Exela won easily, but when she turned around, Aryam decided to strike her in the lower back; a dirty move, but he wasn't going to lose, he was going to strike her anyway. Before she could turn around and process what happened, Aryam disappeared in mid-air.

Exela, now in pain, managed to gather her more important stuff, and started walking. There was no blood, but she could feel herself getting weaker by the second, and that's when fear and panic started flooding in. She couldn't die, it wasn't possible, but an almost eternal coma didn't sound pleasing.

She managed to get to the house of the only one who could fix this. Arimo, keeper of magic.

Exela entered without knocking or asking permission, just pleading for help. "Arimo, I need your help." She winced in pain. "I can't hold on any longer, I've been poisoned– everything hurts." Her voice was as soft as a whisper.

Arimo said nothing and just led her to a bed. "Think." He said, his voice as low and soothing as ever. "Transfer your pain away from you." He sat besides her and placed something in her hands. "This container will keep everything you give it, emotions, memories, pain. Just focus only in it, and you'll find relieve."

"Stop talking in riddles and just tell me how to do it!" She hissed at him, glaring.

"I already told you. Focus only on the pain, going inside the jar."

And Exela did just that; she started focusing on ever single fiber of muscle that was twisting and aching, and thought it entering the jar, leaving her body.

The skies started darkening, something new in the planet of the Blessed beings, but Exela didn't notice, so she didn't stopped. Her body was finding relieve, the pain leaving her and entering the container in a red light and wisp of smoke.

Once it was over, the first thunder made its appearance. A sound so loud that Exela dropped the jar on the floor, startled and scared, not noticing that the jar broke.

The form of a man started creating itself with the light as the light and the winds grew stronger. And finally, abruptly, it all stopped, as it never happened.

Arimo touched Exela's shoulder, and pointed to the man in front of them.

"You must be, my mother." Said the man, smiling at Exela. His beauty already giving away the obvious answer.

"I must be." she said, smiling faintly at Datuleo. "Exela, preacher of beauty, sex, and love." She said as she reached to hold his hand. It wasn't weird the way he was born. Eseleno was born of the first time a harp was played by Exela, and Foreser from a tree. Datuleo was born from her pain.

"Datuleo, creator of thunderstorms and hurricanes." He said, saying the words as if they were natural for him.

"I guess my work here is done." Said Arimo, then looked at Exela. "Tell Eseleno I wait for his visit with anticipation."

He dismissed them, and finally Datuleo, the new god in the ancient era, walked back with his mother to his house.