‘It was he who warped Draken-Korin and who set the Valheru on their self-destructive path. What they did not realize was that the gods were no threat to them. I imagine this would have been nearly an impossible concept to them, but the gods would have been just as satisfied with Valheru worshipers as with humans, elves, goblins and the other intelligent races who live here now.’
Tomas smiled. ‘I think it safe to say you’re right. “Impossible concept” sums it up.’
‘Anyway,’ continued Nakor, ‘when the Valheru rose to challenge the gods, the Chaos Wars ensued.’ He looked at Tomas. ‘How long did they last?’
Tomas said, ‘Why . . . I don’t know.’ He closed his eyes as if attempting to remember, but at last opened them and said, ‘I have no idea.’
‘They dragged on for centuries,’ said Nakor. ‘The gods as we think of them are localized, specific to Midkemia, yet they reflect larger realities, ones which affect millions of worlds.’
‘I’m lost again,’ said Miranda. ‘Local, yet they stretch across a vast number of worlds?’
Nakor said, ‘It’s the same as if we’re all sitting around a mountain. Each of us sees it from a different perspective, but it’s the same mountain.
‘The goddess you and I call Sung the Pure represents certain aspects of reality, a sense of something profoundly basic, unsullied, without flaw, absolutely perfect, and that aspect of reality exists in a lot more places than just around the corner from here.’ He looked at Miranda. ‘Which is to say, if you tried to destroy Sung the White, you’d not only create havoc on Midkemia but create problems for a very large portion of reality.’
‘Everything’s connected,’ said Calis, intertwining his fingers. ‘You can’t disrupt one part of reality without doing harm to another.’
‘So, this Nameless One,’ said Nakor, ‘attempts to disrupt things, to steal an advantage, to create a disharmony in the order of things. He influenced Draken-Korin and the Valheru to do two things: they created the Lifestone and they rose to fight the gods.
‘As a result, a lot of the Lesser Gods were destroyed, or at least as destroyed as a god gets, which means they won’t be around for a long time; and others were . . . changed. Killian has sovereignty over the Oceans, where Eortis once ruled. It sort of makes sense, as she’s a goddess of nature, but it’s really not her job.’ Nakor shook his head. ‘You know, this Nameless One, he did some serious damage, all things considered, and we’re still dealing with it.’ He pointed in the general direction of Darkmoor, to the west, and said, ‘A big demon is coming this way, with an army, and he wants that thing.’ Nakor pointed at the Lifestone. ‘He probably doesn’t even know why he wants to come here, or even that this Lifestone is here. And once he gets here, he won’t know what he’s going to do with it. But he’ll do anything to get it. And once he has it . . .’
Calis said, ‘He’ll end life on this world as we know it.’ All eyes turned toward Calis. ‘It’s the nature of the lifestone that everything in this world is connected. If you disrupt it, everything dies.’
‘That’s the trap,’ said Nakor. ‘That’s what Draken-Korin didn’t understand when he thought he’d created the perfect weapon. He thought that if he unleashed the power of the Lifestone, the energy would blast away the gods, or something like that.’ He glanced at Tomas.
Tomas nodded.
‘But it doesn’t work like that,’ said Nakor. ‘What would have happened is the world would have died, save for the gods. The Lesser Gods would have been weakened, because there would have been no one around to worship them. But the Controller Gods, they would have been just as they always were.’
Miranda said, ‘I’m getting a headache. If nothing changed for the Controller Gods, what good does all this do to this Nameless One?’
‘Nothing,’ said Nakor. ‘That’s the irony. I think he imagined - if I may presume to think like a god - that the general disruption would somehow benefit his cause, would put the other Controller Gods at a disadvantage.’
‘Wouldn’t it?’ asked Pug.
‘No,’ said Dominic. ‘Each god is cast in a fixed role, and within that role they can act, but not outside their nature.’
Miranda stood up, obviously exasperated. ‘Then what is going on? Why is this god acting outside his nature?’
‘Because he’s mad,’ said Calis.
‘The Days of the Mad God’s Rage,’ said Tomas. ‘That’s the other name for the Chaos Wars.’
‘What drives a god to madness?’ asked Sho Pi.
The others looked at the student, heretofore silent. Nakor said, ‘You’re not as stupid as I think, sometimes, boy. That’s a wonderful question.’ He looked around the room. ‘Anyone have an answer?’
No one spoke.