Numenera Short Story: The Convert

Long ago, when I was young and idealistic, I served false gods. I was taught what I was told was their teachings. Philosophical treatises and folk wisdom’s to guide me and my peers on the proper path towards enlightenment. Writings I consumed with a manic energy and righteous zeal. Making it a life goal to use such knowledge for the betterment of my old city.

Later, when I discovered the gods I served were not worthy of my worship, I changed my mission. I decided that if the gods did not truly guide the people of my city, I would. I would be the light in the darkness. A driving force to make its citizens the great power I knew they could be.

I continued with this mission until those who I had tried to crush fought back against me in the chamber of the false gods. Destroying my careful plans in what I can only describe as a combination of stubbornness and pure dumb luck.

It was in that chamber, as they congratulated themselves on their victory and turned everything I had ever done to naught, that reality itself seemed to split. A crack in the universe forming that even the false gods were unable to stop.

From it appeared a being beyond words. A being whose very presence seemed to alter reality around it. In a burst of energy, it pushed back the gods I once served. Its intentions on the mortals in the chamber clear.

The false gods, knowing they could not face this power, used their remaining energies to send the mortals that served them away. Hoping to keep them from the beings grasp.

And it was in that moment that I felt the power of a true god. In its rage, the being poured its energy into the false gods and pushed them back into their realm. And with another burst of energy, it sealed their portal shut. It was only later that I realized it had done more then close a gate between universes. It had sealed their entire realm. Preventing them and any of their brethren from ever entering the ninth world ever again.

And as its eye turned towards me, I felt my knees buckle and my face awash with tears. But those involuntary actions weren’t from fear. They were from joy.

This was a true god I saw before me. A god I could serve. Something denied to me when I discovered the truth of the false gods of Glavis. Every part of my being wished to serve this creature. To finally bow before a being worthy of such worship.

Perhaps it sensed this in me, for it grasped me with its power and led me to its realm between universes. A place of such terrible beauty that I felt my mind almost shatter.

In this realm, I was remade in my gods image. For it had found within me something it rarely encounters. A true believer. Not one of the weaker vessels it has to break and rebuild,  but a willing and strong mind eager to serve. Eager to be its agent in the ninth world.

Once, I was Tepin. High mother of a sham religion and master of her small and pathetic domain. Now, I am something more. A mortal graced with the touch of the divine. A mortal who will bring about her gods reign in this universe and the next.


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About the Author
Jesus “Arvandus” Rodriguez is the founder and website tweaker of the Fandible podcast. When he isn't out creating imaginary worlds for his players, he also runs a youtube channel where he writes short fiction in various fictional worlds. https://www.youtube.com/c/ArvandusTheStoryteller

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