A thing is put in a place for it to stay in that place. A few hundred years go by and you expect it to be there when you go back. But it isn’t.
Their lives are meaningless without goals. I provide those goals and the tools to complete them and yet they fail. The task was simplistic; keep the idol safe until my return. Barely two centuries have passed and they have lost my idol. I have stayed their immediate execution at the request of their leader so that I may hear a pathetic plea for salvation. It will do no good, but I do so love to hear them grovel for their meager lives. As if they meant something in the larger scheme of things. This shall be forgotten.
The priest I gave the idol to is aging now, having lost its power to sustain his weak mortal form. I have considered allowing him to live to old age, after compelling him to destroy his companions before him, but I will not make this final judgement until I have heard his feeble argument. If it is as I suspect, I will be bored within moments of him uttering his first words.
Alas, I have larger issues to deal with. Best if I get this over with.
* * * * *
“Bring him in.”
My servants jump as my voice echos throughout my audience chamber and rush to open the doors. In comes a middle-aged man in the red robes signifying one of my priests. The claw mark across his chest is still visible under the torn robes, albeit healed a bit since I gave it to him.
I move towards him, prompting the guards to drop him and retreat, my huge form towering over the priests limp form. I become a shadow, eclipsing him as he lay there, a broken man. He lifts his head to look at me and actually meets my gaze. The insolence!
“What is your plea, Mortal. Why should I spare you and your feeble band of pigs.”
He stares into my eyes awhile longer, unfazed by my power. Who does he think he is, challenging me in this way? After a moment, I raise my right claw, in a gesture that will shortly mean his demise, when his soft voice reaches my ears.
“Please, Master, spare my order, and I will bring you this idol. I know where it has gone.”
My voice became a terrifying thunder and the man’s body was pulled towards me as I stood on my hind legs, the wake of my outstretched wings dragging him in.
“You have already failed me. What reason do I have to give you a second chance? I can send another.”
My claw began to descend as he spoke again.
“Because I tied my living soul to the idol fifty years ago. If I die, the idol will dissolve. When I learned what it was and what you are, I decided to take steps should this day ever come. Kill me at your own peril.”
I stayed my claw a foot above him, and he never flinched. He just kept my gaze and waited. He knew he had me. He knew what the idol meant to me. And, he knew I had no choice but to give him this chance. I whirled about and headed back to my throne, the wind behind me knocking most of those in the room down. I bellowed loudly to no one in particular as I seated myself and stared back at the man lying helpless on the floor before me. As he righted himself to stare at me again, I spoke one last time.
“Agreed, Mortal. Find my idol and bring it here and your pigs will be spared. Fail me, see my idol destroyed, and you can count it as a guarantee that you will have my wrath in a way you cannot imagine. Now, leave me!”
That last word carried force behind it, hurling him back across the room, and into the doorway. He stood, dusted himself off, and bowed to me in allegiance. It was a mockery, to be certain, but I stared him down anyway. After a moment, he feebly turned away from the room and left. My guards ran hurriedly out of the room behind him, leaving me alone. I pondered this new development, and sighed heavily.
One day, I shall have to kill that one. But not before he suffered and not before he returned what was mine. It was a simple matter to unravel his soul from it, but I needed it first to complete the ritual. And have it I shall.
For now, I shall wait with the patience of an immortal.
Fucking Mortals.
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Aaaaaaand Scene. I hope it worked for you. It was interesting to write.