Page 82 of Secrets & Curses of Fate

“This will sound crazy.”

“Sometimes, knowledge is crazy.” He leaned forward and took a pastry for himself.

“I’m trying to figure out what sort of creature can bind a seer’s tongue and see so far into their own future that they can see their next life.”

Avesh stared at me oddly.

“Anything else?”

“They can summon even a seer to them without the seer knowing they did.”

Avesh looked confused.

“There is no creature that can do that.”

“Yes, there is,” I challenged.

“Is it elite magic?” he asked.

I gave him a pointed look and ate my pastry.

“We both know that this is not elite magic.” I paused. “What about being reborn? After someone dies, have the stars ever brought them back in the exact same form? Everything about their appearance is identical.”

“Are you describing a god?” he asked. "And it is the heavens that send them back, not the stars."

“Gods can’t die.” I raised my eyebrow. Avesh gave me a grim look.

“Yes, they can.”

I glanced up at him and wondered if I heard him wrong.

“I have been dying to tell someone about this.” Avesh smiled as he sat up straighter. He leaned forward, and the gleam in his eyes made me lean forward too. “A god can die when they no longer possess their soul.”

“How does a god lose their soul?”

“Another god takes it.” He looked at me. “As of right now, you are the only god I know of that can take a soul from another god. But in the other realms, the God of Death in Valynth can as well.”

I looked at him oddly.

“How do you know a god can die, though? I have not ripped any souls from any of my fellow gods, and I don’t plan on it.”

“Once upon a time, you weren’t the only god with such a power over the souls of other beings. Hold on.” Avesh lifted his hand and muttered something softly. I heard a whooshing sound as a book flew from somewhere in the library and landed right in his hand. Its cover was made of weathered leather, and it was worn on the spine, like it had been read so many times. Something about seeing the book made me lean forward with curiosity. He opened it to a page with a beautiful picture drawn inside of it,showing what I could only guess was a soul being taken from one god by another god. I had trouble wrapping my head around this fact.

The illustration was that of a goddess kneeling in front of a god. Her left arm was raised toward him in what looked like supplication. I looked closer and frowned at the stars drawn on her arm. They were black with a slight glowing effect around the edges.

The text was not in a language I knew. Avesh pointed to the god who was taking the soul.

“This god is Malamay; he was once the God of Life.” I couldn't see his face that much, as he was turned to the side.

I looked up at him, and he nodded.

“Who is the goddess he is taking the soul from?”

“That would be Diath, the Goddess of Mischief.

I sat up and looked over the picture. Something about it was so intriguing.

“Why did he take her soul?”

---