“Why no,” Max sounded horrified at the very suggestion. “It’s because of her
blessings that the fields are always fertile. Her visions make for a better tomorrow. She is a gentle and beautiful ruler.”
Michael blinked in confusion.
“So you have a paradise ruled over by a caring goddess— false goddess—for a thousand years, and you turn against her just because someone says she’s false? How do you know that Cain is the true god? Why not the one that you can see, and whose works you know are true? Can’t there be two gods? Does she have to be destroyed just because she’s not Cain? Can’t she keep her life and continue to bless you as she has? I’m sorry, this just doesn’t make any sense to me.”
“When you put it like that we sound like ungrateful bastards, but it’s not like that.”
“Then tell us so we can understand,” Kari suggested.
“I was skeptical at first. I saw the good deeds of the goddess, and knew she could not be false. Then I heard the words of Cain. And they made so much sense to me. I prayed to Cain, as they teach, and asked him if it was true. And then I felt the Rapture,”
Max shuddered with remembered ecstasy. “I could feel him in my heart. I knew him, and he knew me. I knew that he cared about me, and wanted nothing more than to be able to return, just for me. As clear as day I could see that he was the true god and the Empress Oracle was false. And as the Apostle teaches, all false gods must be destroyed or Cain can never return.”
Sharing uneasy looks with the twins, Kari had never heard of any power like that, and by their confused expressions, neither had they. Free will was god’s greatest gift, and not even his infinite power could take it away again. She didn’t know if this Cain was the same one that their father defeated long before they were born. Either way, something very out of the ordinary was happening on this world. Whoever this Cain was, she was reasonably sure that he was not as benevolent as Max seemed to believe.
“We can find this Apostle at the World Tower,” Kari asked.
“Oh yes indeed,” Max said. “As soon as enough disciples have gathered they will storm the tower and the Empress Oracle will fall.”
“Well then,” Michael said. “Let’s go have us a chat with this Apostle person.”
“And the Empress Oracle too,” Jonathan added.
Nodding, Kari wanted to get to the bottom of things as soon as possible. If this was the same Cain that her father had sealed away, then more than this one world was in danger.
Chapter 7: The World Tower
“Our first adventure,” Michael said, “only seventeen seconds after setting foot on our first world.”
“Max said the tower was days away by foot,” Jonathan said, looking at the pillar of gleaming metal in the distance.
“For a human maybe,” Kari grinned.
“It doesn’t look that far away,” Jonathan muttered. “Must be massive up close.”
“There’s something very disturbing about the story Max told us,” Kari said.
“Seriously,” Michael agreed. “How can they just turn on someone that has
treated them so well like that.”
“That isn’t the disturbing part,” Jonathan said sorrowfully. “How could they be planning to deprive the world of a beautiful goddess before I ever had a chance to rescue her from her accursed virginity.”
Kari rolled her eyes in disgust.
“No, weren’t you listening when he talked about praying. Somethin g got inside his head and influenced his thoughts and emotions. What kind of being could influence someone like that? If this is a different Cain he must be just as powerful as the original, and if he’s set on killing the Empress Oracle, who has done no wrong, he can’t be up to any good. We need to find some way to get a message back to father about this.”
“Or,” Michael said, raising a finger, “we just kill this Apostle. Problem solved.”
“Bad idea,” Jonathan warned.
“Nuh-uh!”
“It really is,” Kari sighed. “If everyone in this world is as passionate about the Apostle as Max was, killing him in the middle of his army would be as good as killing ourselves. The people would turn on us, and when we’re dead they’ll turn on their goddess just the same. It won’t do any good to just kill the Apostle.”
“Oh, right,” Michael nodded. “I knew that.”
“Do you really think this is the same Cain that dad fought,” Jonathan asked.
“That was like ten billion years ago, wasn’t it? How could he still be alive?”
“Father is,” Kari pointed out. “Cain is immortal. There is no way for him to die.
He thinks the only way to end his existence is to destroy the entire universe so that nothing exists anymore. Imagine if every world was converted to the Gospel of Cain.
Then the people on every world rose up and killed anyone with power enough to do anything to stop him. And then Cain somehow breaks free of his prison. There would be no one willing or able to raise a hand against him in the entire universe.”
“We don’t even know if it’s the same Cain,” Jonathan said. “It’s only been ten billion years, people are bound to have forgotten anything bad attached to that name.”
“Right you are,” Michael agreed. “Let’s have a chat with this Apostle and find out what’s he’s not telling these people. And I’d really like to meet the goddess too.
Poor beautiful goddess, in dire need of being rescued from her accursed virginity.”
Kari shook her head. “Is that all you two ever think about!”
As they looked at each other, telepathic communication seemed to pass between
the twins before they turned back to her.
“Of course,” they answered in unison. “We’re young men. What else would we
be thinking about?”
“Young men, my tails,” Kari snapped. “You’re nearly two hundred years old!”
“We’re young at heart,” Michael said.
“We need to get going,” Kari cut off any further comment from the twins on the matter. “We’ll need every shred of speed to get there before the Apostle attacks.”
“We could get there a lot faster if we transform,” Jonathan suggested.
“I think a giant fox and two giant wolves running down the road would cause just a little too much commotion,” Kari rolled her eyes, “don’t you? Most worlds call us Werewolves and try to kill us on sight in case you weren’t aware of the fact!”
“I’ll have you know that we’re dogs,” Michael sniffed in indignation.
“Loyal companions, dogs,” Jonathan agreed.
“Oh shut up already,” Kari hissed. Someday she was going slam their hollow
heads together until she beat all of the stupid out of them.
*****
Up close, the World Tower was more than massive. It had to be the largest
manmade structure in the entire universe. Kari estimated that they’d traveled nearly two hundred miles over two days, the metallic gray shaft growing on the horizon with every step until it dominated the sky. The shadow moved with the sun like the entire landscape was part of a gigantic sundial.
“It sure is big,” Kari muttered.
“The tower or the army,” Michael asked.
“Both, I guess,” Kari admitted, looking to the large mass of people milling about the bottom of the tower.
“How are we going to do this,” Michael asked. “There have to be at least a
thousand people over there.”
Kari shrugged.
“Who will notice a few extras in a group that big?”