Prayers

“Yeah, right. Is this another one of your stupid tricks?” Dragomir reached for his battle-axe, only to realize it wasn’t there.

“When have I ever tricked you? I deal in truth.”

Veles tossed a crystal orb into the air and caught it in one hand.

“Maybe I should just kill you right now. Would Prav stop rejecting me then?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never died before, so…”

Jarilo’s warm dusha was sucked into the orb, filling it with a red glow. Veles placed it on the altar and hopped down.

Ten candles stood atop the altar. Five still burned, each exactly the same height. The other five had burned down completely, leaving behind blackened wicks in hardened wax.

“Everybody knows I’m the weakest god in the entire pantheon. So why do you think nobody’s killed me?”

“Because everybody pities you?” Dragomir picked up an orb from one of the benches.

“That might be part of it. But generally, there are two kinds of bohatiers. The first refuse to kill someone defenseless. The others need me.” Veles grinned. “Like your friend Levo.”

Dragomir inspected the orb, but there was nothing to see.

“So which one are you, Drago? Do you need me? Or would killing me feel too much like killing a child?”

“Are these orbs the things you bought from people?”

“Indeed. And before you ask, yes. One of them contains other people’s memories of you.”

“But I can’t simply take it. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have told me about it.” He put the orb back.

“Hah! You actually picked up some brains from Milena.” Veles clapped twice. “So, what else do you have for me?”

Dragomir lowered his gaze. His thumb drifted over Lada’s ring. “I’ll give you this.”

“Are you sure you want to give up your protection?”

“Once some of you grow even stronger, it’ll be useless anyway. Zduhach could bypass it as a half-god. Who’s to say a full god couldn’t?”

“Ugh.” Veles recoiled slightly. “I’d still rather not have that thing anywhere near me.”

“Are you really that afraid of another god’s relic?”

Veles leaned against the altar. “What else can you offer?”

Dragomir sighed. “We’re close to rewriting the rules of this world. Whatever I sell you, you won’t get to enjoy it for long.”

“Don’t be so sure about that.”

“How long until Prav sends me back?”

“While our negotiation is ongoing, Prav has no reason to reject you.”

“Alright. Before I decide what to give you for reentry into Prav… I want the whole story.”

“Why would I give you anything for free?”

“A deal should always be fair, right? You know everything about me. How am I supposed to make a deal with someone I know nothing about?”

“Hah! Hahahah!” Veles covered his eyes with one hand. “Nobody’s ever thought of that! That’s why I like you so much, Drago!”

“I know you used to be human.”

Veles’ smile disappeared.

“You used to feel love.” Dragomir slowly approached him. “You belonged somewhere. You were just another victim of the spirits’ rule.”

Dragomir lowered his voice.

“Tell me… what exactly happened seven hundred and forty-one years ago?”

Veles stared past him, his eyes fixed on something that wasn’t there.

“We…” His lips barely moved. “We didn’t know any better…”

***

The first nine bohatiers wandered through the wastelands of Prav.

The sky was colorless.

There was no wind.

“What are we even looking for?” Mokosh asked.

“The better question is… does it even exist?” Svarog coughed.

“It’s been two freaking months!” Stribog clutched his growling stomach.

Morena pressed a hand against her own. “And yet we haven’t starved to death.”

“Let’s give up.” Triglav fell to his knees. “I can’t take this anymore…”

“We already tried to go back, darling. Simply put, we’re lost.” Lada played with her braid.

“I wish we’d never listened to you!” Radegast grabbed Veles by the collar. “This is all because of your grand idea to fight!”

Veles lowered his gaze.

“Let him go, Radegast.” Perun grabbed his wrist. “We all came here of our own accord.”

Radegast released him.

A duck the size of a wild boar pecked at his boot.

“It’s that stupid duck again!” He tried to kick it, but it hopped aside.

“We should just grill this cutie!” Lada suggested.

“And how?” Svarog crouched beside the duck. “We haven’t been able to make a fire.”

“Then we eat it raw,” Morena said coldly. “Twist its neck.”

“You’re disgusting, you know that?” Triglav grimaced.

“Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you…” Svarog reached for the duck again.

His hand brushed through empty air.

It was gone.

“Forget the food. We still have our strength, and none of us have died yet.” Perun started walking. “Let’s keep moving.”

Nothing but scattered stones surrounded them.

Years passed.

The duck occasionally returned.

“Just… how much longer?” Triglav lay sprawled across the rocky ground, staring at the empty sky.

“Where are we again?” Mokosh asked.

“I’m not sure anymore…” Stribog answered.

Perun sighed. “If God really exists, we should all beat him up.”

“No. We should kill him and take his place,” Morena said.

For once, the wastelands filled with laughter.

Then Veles stopped.

“What’s… that?”

Something flashed in the distance.

“Huh? What’s what?” Radegast squinted. “Oh! I see it!”

Another flash.

Red.

Blue.

Yellow.

Veles broke into a run.

The others followed.

At last, they found something.

A glowing stone.

Alatyr.

Veles was about to place his hand on it. “It’s… beautiful.”

“Do not touch that.”

A voice echoed around them.

The bohatiers spun around, searching the empty wasteland. But no one was there.

“That is a sacred stone I created to maintain the balance between the three worlds.”

“No way…” Radegast slowly looked up.

The duck stood atop Alatyr.

“What are you looking for in my realm?”

“You can… talk?” Svarog asked.

“I am Rohd. People have been calling me God. Or the Only One.”

The duck moved its beak, yet its voice seemed to shake the wastelands.

“Are you a good guy?” Triglav asked. “Or… a bad guy?”

“I am neither. Neither good nor bad. Nor a guy.”

“It has a sense of humor.” Lada giggled.

“I take the form of an oversized duck. I have to cope somehow.”

“So you’re telling me that all this time…” Radegast gritted his teeth. “We’ve been looking for a fat duck?!”

“Who are you calling fat? Have you seen yourself?”

Radegast flinched.

“After all those decades, it does feel rather anticlimactic.” Morena approached Alatyr and placed her hand against its surface.

The duck stomped its foot. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Testing.”

“Nothing happened,” Perun observed. “Still, we should leave it alone.”

“I’ll ask you humans again. Why have you come here?”

Veles clenched his fists.

“I have questions!”

“Then ask.”

“Why do you allow disasters to happen? Why do you let spirits rule over humans? Why don’t you ever answer our prayers?!”

The duck stared at him, then spread its wings and flew away.

The bohatiers chased after it.

Another year passed.

At last, the duck landed.

“This is far enough.”

They had reached another empty wasteland, with a towering rocky cliff above them.

“I have existed for as long as humankind has believed. I was born from that faith. Humans believed there had to be some system of rules governing the universe.”

The duck looked up at the colorless sky.

“But there wasn’t. The only law of the universe is the law of nature.”

“I don’t think he asked about that, cutie,” Lada interrupted.

“Will you shut up for a moment?”

Lada blinked as the duck continued.

“I eventually realized that I was almost almighty. So I created Prav from the nothingness that surrounded me. But I didn’t want it completely isolated from the other worlds.”

“So you created Alatyr to regulate travel between the worlds,” Perun said.

“Look at the know-it-all. Not entirely correct. Alatyr connects the three worlds. Without it, there would be no paths between them at all. I wanted to keep humans from wandering freely between realms. But not cut them off completely.”

“So the world…” Stribog hesitated. “…is the way it is simply because of nature? And spirits are part of that nature?”

“Yes.”

“Then what about our prayers?” Svarog stepped forward.

“For hundreds of thousands of years, I didn’t even understand what they were. Only after humans learned to speak properly, built shrines or whatever those things are, did I realize they were asking me for help.”

“Then why didn’t you help?!” Radegast shouted.

The duck blinked.

“And who decided that prayer was a way to communicate with me?”

The bohatiers froze.

“If you have something to tell me, come here and tell me face-to-face. I didn’t seal the gates completely, did I?”

A vein bulged on Veles’ forehead. His hands began to shake.

“So you’re saying…”

The others looked at him.

“…that we suffered…”

His voice grew louder.

“…because of…”

His throat tightened.

“…miscommunication?!”

Chapter 42: END