The Scared God [ManXManXMan]

Chapter Thirty-one: Проще́ние - Proščénije ~ Part Two

~Chapter Thirty-one: Проще́ние - Proščénije~ 

Twenty minutes later, I am back at the table, though I now have a too-big shirt that smells like Hors, and Hors is in the kitchen while he waits for the kettle to heat up water for tea when the front door opens. I glance at Hors, as he had not shown any obvious signs that Perun had returned, but it seems like that was on purpose, as he does not even glance up when Perun enters the room. I cannot tell if he is angry with Perun, though, or if he is just giving us space to work.

Either way, Perun does not seem fazed and drops five old, leather-bound books on the table that appear to be in perfect condition, unlike the books I read from Hermes, which Perun had set out in a special guest room for Hermes to collect at some point tonight. "I couldn't remember the exact year, so these are the record journals from the approximate time of your first death. The one we are looking for will have a mention of what happened, so if it is not in that one, it won't be anywhere."

I frown a little, as it would not be good if there is no record of what Perun was looking into, but I suppose it is lucky enough that he even kept records from that long ago. While wisdom gods never burn records, not many king gods keep them for more than a few centuries, as record rooms tend to get a bit cluttered otherwise.

Without further hesitation, I pick up the book closest to me and start flipping through the entries. One third of the journal later, three mugs of tea land on the table. Hors slides one of them over to me before sitting down across from me and picking up one of the books to help out. I barely make it three more pages before Perun asks, "Veles?"

I glance up at him, waiting for him to continue, but when he just looks at me, I return my attention down to the book since he clearly did not get my attention to tell me he found the entry we are looking for. "What?"

"When I heard about that war you started less than a decade ago, I had originally thought it was part of a plot to eventually overthrow me, as the demons were old allies of mine, but...if that wasn't the case, what was your intent?"

After a moment of frowning at the pages, I look at Perun, who is still watching me, and Hors, who seems focused on the journal in his hands and is looking at neither of us, though I have no doubt he is also listening. "I needed more power. I didn't have enough on my own, and the only way I could think to get more was through certain magic-generating artifacts. But the only artifacts I know of either belong to other pantheons, which puts them out of reach, or people that will not give them up."

I pause to take a shaky breath, remembering all the things I went through - the plans I made and failures I had – in my attempts to find ways to get around the safeguards put up to keep such artifacts safe from beings like me. "Nothing was working, and I realized I couldn't do it on my own, so I enlisted help. Only, they didn't really want to start another war just for me, so I gave them incentive. Revenge. I have nothing against the demons for being your former allies, but the witches were still angry after that war the demons had with the Fae that took place in the mortal realm.

"A war likely would have broken out eventually without my help – there was too much resentment for it not to – so I...hurried it along and used their anger and need for blood to create distractions, even if they didn't know it. Things started to get a little out of hand, though, when the army started to grow without my knowledge," I continue. Perun, as the god of warriors, probably knows all about the difficulties that arise from leading an army, but I am the god of farmers; spearheading a war was new and frightening territory for me. I honestly should have known better, but by the time I realized I had no idea what I was doing, backing out or disappearing would have just made things worse.