Celestial Hymn 19 (Patreon)

Celestial Hymn
Chapter 19

-VB-

I waited for the Seven to speak, but honestly, I felt very nervous.

The Maiden giggled. [There’s no need to be nervous. We want to just talk. Father is being dramatic.]

The Father looked grumpy at the Maiden’s words. [I am being serious. We must talk, and there are serious discussions to be had.]

[Then stop dawdling and get to it!] the Crone snapped.

I blinked as I looked over them, and realized that the Seven are like a family. Though they were gods (I felt their powers from where I stood), they were also human enough that I understood all of their bodily tells and languages.

The odd one out was the Stranger.

[You noticed.]

It was the Stranger talking.

“Ah. Yes.”

No point denying it. It wasn’t as if I noticed something super critical.

[Indeed. I am the latest to join the Seven.] I blinked again, this time in shock. Join the Seven? [That is not what we are offering to you, but we nonetheless wish to reward you,] the Stranger added.

[Because you, even as you are now, are worthy enough,] the Warrior spoke up.

[You bring new ideas wherever you go,] the Smith added.

[But most importantly, you have not squandered your gifts on vain pleasures of life,] the Crone grinned. It made her look scary. [You could have used your wealth and power to buy yourselves young girls to bring to bed, but instead, you have spent your time and effort on a much more meaningful path of life.]

[More than that, your actions have begun to bring magic back into Westeros and to our people whether you knew it or not,] the Father harrumphed in approval. [Now, we can finally act more directly than we have before. For this alone, we wish to grant you a reward.]

I wasn’t sure, though.

This made little sense to me.

Sure, they are claiming that I have already helped them and have acted like they expect their followers to act, but why would I get a reward and not them?

Could I afford to act suspicious of them?

I clasped my hands together and held it in front of me like a Chinese bureaucrat bowing before his emperor. My action silenced the Seven for a moment.

“I humbly thank you for your consideration, but I do not believe that I am worthy of your reward,” I said while bowing so that they could not see my narrowed eyes and grimace. “I personally do not believe that I have done anything worthy of note. So must refuse this reward until at such a time that I have indeed accomplished a greater deed other than enriching myself!”

My words stunned and silenced the Seven for a while longer.

And then the Stranger laughed. Its hoarse and raspy voice layered with more than one voice rang in this hallowed hall with gleeful laughter.

[I am right,] the Stranger grinned. [I told you that you can’t lure him over with gifts and the like.]

… What were they talking about?

[Stranger…!] the Father warned with a growl.

[Never forget, Father,] the Stranger spoke up. [That I am one of the Seven, and hold equal authority. You may be the Leader, the Head, and the King, but I am the Diplomat, the End, and the Outsider. Alan Marris, an Outsider, raise your head.]

They were saying some things that were making my head hurt from all of their implications, but I raised my head as the Stranger bid me.

[I shall tell you what exactly what the Seven Who Are One wishes from you, and why you have been offered a boon.]

I stood stiffly and waited patiently.

The Stranger, dressed in his iconic hood like a grim reaper, leaned forward.

[We wish for a new and agreeable comrade.]

I blinked.

That … was not heinous or convoluted reason at all.

There was a swirl, and the giant Stranger was gone, replaced by a Stranger as tall as I was standing no more than two yards from me.

“Greetings, Alan Marris the Foreigner,” the god greeted me, and though most of his features were shrouded by his shroud, I could feel the mirth in his voice. “I am the Stranger, and I greet you personally to the Realm of the Seven.”

I gave him a light bow, an acknowledgement of his personal greeting.

“What do you know about us?” he asked me, and I pondered on it for a moment before I answered.

“You are the gods of the Andals, who come from Essos.”

“You are proved yourself far more knowledgeable than most mortals with just that. Good, good. Tell me more.”

“You … do not act through your worshippers like the rest of the gods of this world do.”

“That is also true. What else?”

“I do not know more.”

He nodded. “What you have told us are all correct. We do not act through our worshippers… but that is because our people have forgotten the correct way to invoke us.”

I blinked. I’m doing that a lot.

“You see, the Andals worship us, the Seven Who Are One, and did so for a long time. Far longer than the Wall in the North has stood. Our people, however, were never civilized as they have been now, and lived in small tribes and nomadic hordes much like the dothraki have. They lived, however, only in what is now known as the Axe in Essos. Their oral tradition kept by the first shamans sufficed for these small tribes, but when these shamans died when our people were driven from our lands… That is when we lost true contact with our people.”

“What happened…?”

For the first time, I saw a human feature underneath the hood, and it was a wide toothy grin full of wrath.

“It was the sacrifice of our last shaman that allowed us to appear before our people. We used that last vestige of our connection with our people to guide them to a place where they could settle down and leave behind a long legacy.”

“Westeros.”

“Yes. A place filled with tiny kingdoms and weak people.”

I tried to figure out what they wanted from me.

“What do you want from me, then?”

“The Father, the Maiden, the Crone, and the Smith wants to make you our shaman. Our voice in the mortal realm.”

“But you don’t…”

“No. I am the Stranger. I am the record of all things that have passed, and the time of our people depending on us wholly for guidance have passed. The Warrior, the Mother, and I wish for a the continuation of the current circumstances. However, what forced our hand is the rise of magic.”

“Why?”

“Because, boy, magic’s existence rouses back the White Walkers,” the Stranger huffed. “And we cannot allow our people to suffer unduely.”

“... What do you wish of me, then?”

The Stranger hummed. “Much, but I doubt that you will allow yourself to be a voice of ours. Though the others are adamant that it may be done, I am the Stranger. I am the Outsider just as you are.” He poked me in the chest. “I sense within you Other who is wholly above us.”

I gulped. I was surprised that the Stranger could sense my connection with the Celestial Forge. I also did not like being on the backfoot like this, but I kept a tight control over myself. Acting rashly here would only earn me enemies among the gods of the people that I ruled.

“So I wish for a compromise. What they have spoken before is not wrong. You do bring good change. Your imitation Valyrian steel, in particular, serves us, because though it is not the real dragonblood steel, it will still cut down the revenants of the True North like one. You have instituted improvements for the smallfolk, and the Mother appreciates that. You have exercised your power to remove the corrupt, and the Father approves of it.”

Then it grinned.

“You have killed. I approve of that.”

Holy shit, mate. You don’t have to sound so psychotic.

“You cannot - because you refuse to - be our voice, you still deserve to be rewarded, and we must protect our people,” the Stranger continued. “Yet we cannot act because no one else can connect to us like you. In fact, pulling your mind to speak with us in our realm itself has been exhausting on our part.”

“... You want me to spread the old ways of the Faith of the Seven.”

“Yes,” the Stranger nodded. “In return, I shall personally bless you with Protection from Death. Just once, what should kill you will not and return you to full health. Is this agreeable?”

-VB-

A/N: another miss. Lacked 100 P