6 Divine Boons and Divine Gifts! (1/2)
”Yes.” Answered Berg. ”Actually, all races have one divine boon and their king one divine power.”
”Eeeh... Really?” Chris was surprised. [So I get two cheats?!]
”Actually, it would be more accurate to say that every race backed by a god has them. For example, we humans were created by goddess Ariadne, so she granted ours. The Kunalls received theirs from their own god Trarios, the Dragons from their goddess Miesga, the Razor Hides from their god Arsates... ”
”What about the chea-... I mean boons and powers?” Asked Chris.
”Right.” Berg gathered his thoughts and continued.
”Let's see... All the details I know are from the Legend of Dawn.”
”Ahem.” Berg cleared his throat. ”This is roughly how it goes.”
”Powerful beings roamed the void long before the Aenides came into being.
Amongst those beings, a capricious one grew bored and pestered the others into playing with her.”
[A capricious one? Don't tell me...] Thought Chris.
”One of those being wanted to be left alone and quickly gave in to her demands and created a ball of earth for her. This ball of earth captivated the other beings, and each one added a little something until life was born. Thus were born the mountains, forests, seas, the stars and everything that makes our world. The capricious one made the last contribution and created a ball of light, the sun, as she wanted to see everything better to enjoy herself.”
[It's heeeer!] Shouted Chris in his mind.
”The capricious being was happy. Life appeared, and she could see tiny creatures walk around. However, this did not last long, after a few centuries, she grew bored and pestered the other beings into playing with her again.”
[...]
”After a while one of them offered: ”Wouldn't it be fun if we each created our own creatures?”
From there Berg stopped reciting the legend and explained. ”This is known as the 'Creation'. Each of those beings created one race and placed them on Aenides. The God of the dwarves put them in the mountains. The elven goddess planted the Mother Tree and placed her creations around it. And so did almost every god.”
”The second step was the ”Boon.” It happened hundreds, perhaps even thousands of years after Creation, it was said that each civilization grew and tribes became villages and villages became cities. The legends say that our people were the first to receive their boon.”
[Huh ho.] Worried Chris. ”What happened?”
”It seems that our Goddess granted it to us after a conflict with another god. And after that, every other gods followed up and did the same.”
”And finally, the third and most recent step the 'Divine King.' As cities eventually became Kingdoms, conflicts grew between the races. Sometimes it was over borders, sometimes resources or even technologies. Some races even had internal conflict over leadership. The gods grew worried for their children and gave them one last gift. The true ruler of each civilization would receive one gift from their god, thus ensuring a clear ruler and preventing civil strife.
And that is everything I can remember from the legend.”
[Her handprint is on everything! How capricious is she?] Chris sighed. [Well, she does seem to be worried about the humans. That's something, at least.]
”Do you know what the different boons and powers are?” Chris was actually quite curious about this.
”I only know of a few. Our kingdom wasn't doing well even before the Kunall's attack so we had limited outside contact.”
”Well, go on.” Said Chris
”The ones I am most familiar with are the Kunalls as we had direct conflict with them. They received 'Battle Strength' from Trarios, their God. He was the first one to grant a boon, after our Goddess. The Kunalls used to walk on four hooves, they were intelligent, but their bodies could not take advantage of their minds. Their development was stunted because of this.”
”So Trarios granted them 'Battle Strength', and as the boon took effect, they slowly started walking upright, their front hooves changed to be able to hold weapons and their bodies grew tougher and thicker.”
[One boon with multiple effects. Smart move.] Praised Chris.
Then their king received the gift 'Battle Rage' a very powerful ability. It temporarily strips away their intelligence and enrages the soldiers. This is what they used for their mad dash to our capital.” Sighed Berg. ”A very troublesome ability, they lose their fear and go all out.”
”Let's see... Oh right. I know a little about the Razor Hides as well. They are a special case. They are the only god created races that had no intelligence at first. So Arsates used his boon to grant them 'Intelligence'. They are one of the last to receive their boon, and it might not yet be fully activated. I remember our scholars arguing about it. Some said it was too early for the Razor Hides to talk, and others wanted to send diplomats to try.” Berg noticed Chris' enquiring look and explained quickly.