Chapter 104

EIGHT THOUSAND YEARS AGO

R ayse was here.

I, God, looked upon him—and hated him.

We had been rivals during mortality. It was worse now. Rayse had the air of a being who did what he could get away with—a man whose sole scripture was a request for a bribe.

Now he was a god.

I felt Rayse study the planets from afar, then move on to the first in the system. There were many, but three, as I’d seen, could accept life as it is commonly created: Roshar, the second planet. The third planet, which attracted souls. And that first one, which had humans on it created by my predecessor. I had intended to contact them, bringing them a divinity to worship. My efforts on Roshar with Kor had distracted me.

Now … now it would be too late. Another had set up as their god.

“Ignore him,” Kor whispered. “We aren’t to interact.”

“He will have sensed you here with me,” I declared. “He’ll know we’ve broken the agreement.”

“You think Rayse of all people cares about broken contracts ? ” Our creations flowed around her, made with my work and her encouragement. Fragments of power, mimicking the ones we’d found on Roshar—only more powerful, more interesting. More self-aware.

When deity found our place on a world, our power leaked. Here we were guiding that, forming new creatures that responded both to the songs of the planet and to the thoughts of the people there. I had shown myself to the people of the land, and taught them to sing to the stones—with the songs, and my power, they learned to sculpt it. They named themselves the singers, because they could use the songs of gods. They respected me. And I loved them.

Our grand work was fascinating, made more so by the way— with Kor’s vibrant touch—our spren creations adapted to Roshar. Became children of it, their songs resonating with those of the planet. They weren’t replacing Adonalsium’s work, but expanding upon it. Continuing the equations.

Nature could be equations.

Nature was equations.

So were oaths.

While we’d created smaller things earlier, we now moved on to create true beings. With passions, thoughts, ideas of their own. Creations of light and wind and dreams. They evolved not through genetics, as physical beings did, but through percep tion .

I loved them.

We decided to form ten varieties. Ten because my power loved the symmetry. Ten, because Kor loved me, and knew this made me happy. We started with the first seven, then one variety was born of Kor alone. In counterpoint, and at her urging, I created one variety almost entirely on my own. My angels of Honor.

They loved the wind, for reasons even I could not fully fathom.

We looked on the nine so far with pleasure—but I could feel slight disappointment from Kor.

“I love them,” she said. “But they are … so human. Is there a way to create something new ? Something not influenced by outside perceptions or thoughts ? ”

“If there is a way, beloved,” I said, “you could find it. We can follow your lead to make the tenth.”

But oh, my thoughts could no longer fixate completely upon this work. My once-mortal weakness showed, for I could not merely ignore Rayse.

Rayse would be plotting. Rayse was always plotting.

I could not stand his presence there. Like a disease upon an innocent flock. I left Kor, against her wishes, and diverted the bulk of my consciousness to the first planet. A planet which had its own people, its own tones, its own way of existing. Alaswha, it was called.

There, I found Rayse building an em pire.

War raged on this land. City-states, as had been common on our homeworld, were being conquered by a single nation. Rayse’s favored people had been imbued with power, far greater than the power of sculpting stone I had given the singers. This was a dreadful power, control over the very Surges that make up creation. It reminded me of the worst powers on our world. The ability to shear axon from axon. Microkinesis, in the language of gods. Here it took a different form, but caused me—even God—to tremble.

I, God, snaked tendrils of myself across the foreign landscape, with its curious air currents and floating stones, to a grand conference in one large city. I absorbed the conversations of a thousand people, which let me instantly ascertain the situation. The empire, backed by Rayse, had displayed its power, conquering a few small city-states. Now it promised a short-term reprieve to any others who sent emissaries for a conference. Wary, they had come. Delegates from across the central sea, joining to hear the dictates of the growing empire.

Why fuel such a war ? Rayse could enforce their devotion and compel every knee to bend in worship of him, could he not ? Why turn them against one another instead ?

It was an experiment. Rayse was playing with people as if they were toys, granting incredible abilities to one side and watching how humans used them. Or was it more ? With my great capacity, I investigated further, careful to make my touch light. Was this … to build and train an army ? Why would he—

Rayse saw me.

In an eyeblink, we both formed bodies. I, in my might, swathed in my robes of justice and bearing my crown of oaths. Rayse as a duplicitous, glorified version of himself. In golden robes, holding a scepter, his features perfected to imply wisdom and control. The man he’d always pretended to be.

“Ah …” the deceitful one said. “So you’ve finally decided to come visit, Tanner.”

“Tanavast.”

“Always Tanner to me,” Rayse said, grinning and gesturing to his belt. A copy of the one that my mortal self had made for him so long ago. “Such a utilitarian person to have around. I’m happy to be neighbors, but …” He clicked his tongue. “You violate our agreement.”

Again, my power writhed against this. But I was God, and it obeyed. We had to confront Rayse. He was the evil one. He was plotting, and my divine glory illuminated what Rayse did not want seen. My enemy was wounded . Not in the way of mortals, but in the way of gods, his power ripped, fragmented. He’d been in a fight.

“What have you done, Rayse ? ” I demanded.

“Eliminated a little competition.”

Oh … oh no. I had felt this, hadn’t I ? Centuries ago ?

“Don’t look at me like that, Tanner,” Rayse said. “You knew that Ambition was going to be a problem. We all knew it, right from the start.”

Ambition ? “You mean Uli Da ? ”

“I performed a service for us all. Praise me. Feel the gratitude, Tanner. Know it.”

“I know nothing but horror at this blasphemy ! ”

“ I will accept that,” Rayse said.

In my revulsion, I withdrew, leaving Rayse to his self-satisfaction and his playthings.

And yet.

And yet, I had to watch. I had to know.

Rayse turned his attention to the conference, where his favored empire gave an ultimatum: all who wished to join their union were welcome to do so. They claimed they’d allow those who didn’t wish it to remain free. They claimed they had only attacked, and destroyed, city-states in self-defense.

I knew there was more nuance than that—that the empire had moved against potential rivals, seeing their threats as attacks. The people probably knew the story was more complicated too, but it was not wise to name liar the bully with the largest club.

Disgusted, I began to withdraw fully. But then something caught my eye: a group of people with darker skin than the others, like my own. A group who were already leaving the city.

“What do we do, Uncle?” one of them asked, walking alongside an older man. “I don’t believe them for a moment. They’ll secure power, then crush the rest of us.”

“We must make our own alliance, Nale,” the older man said. “It is the only way. They cannot break us all …”

I considered. Their defiance, their pride, their honor in rejecting this obvious threat. It inspired me, and my power yearned to help them.

I should have returned to Kor to discuss it. But I was a god now. Should I not already know what was right ? What need was there to discuss ?

Later that night, I appeared to these men in their tent. There, I made them an offer. “I will give you,” I declared, “the power to resist our shared enemy, should you desire it.”