Sacrifice for the God (1)
Putting off the touching mother-daughter reunion for now, hearing the story came first.
“How on earth could mere mortals create a god? I just can’t wrap my head around it!!”
Maybel still couldn’t believe that beastkin were making a god. Well, it was only natural to think that way.
“If it was just creating some special being or something, I might not fully buy it, but I could understand! But a god? That’s blasphemy!!”
Creating a god. It meant spreading biased information to guide thoughts, inciting and directing group consciousness to forge new faith. Through that, either birthing a god that never existed before or overwriting an existing one with new information to transform it.
Were the rat beastkin trying to do something like that? And more importantly, where did they even learn about such a method? No one but me and Baal should know about it properly.
Burying those questions deep in my chest, I focused on Ella’s words.
“It’s natural not to believe it easily. But it’s happening right now.”
Ella stroked Maybel’s head as she continued.
“After the original god of the beastkin, the First Beast, became the guardian god of the Pantheon under the name Sirius, a huge rift formed in beastkin society.”
Hmm?
“The First Beast, who had united all the diverse beastkin tribes as their spiritual pillar, was gone. Even though they were different species, the belief that they were all beastkin together started to fracture, leading to conflicts among them.”
“There’s one error in what you said.”
“Pardon?”
I cut in as I listened, and Ella tilted her head.
“An error? What error…”
“You said the beastkin split after the First Beast took the name Sirius and became the Pantheon’s guardian god, but it was the opposite.”
I recalled the decaying temple where Sirius… the First Beast had lived. After all, the revival of Arcadia had the First Beast, Sirius, in the background.
Arcadia’s state religion could be called the First Beast, but as time passed, the number of non-beastkin residents grew, leading more to worship gods other than the tribal god of the beastkin. That’s how Arcadia became diverse in faith.
As faiths diversified, even the beastkin who once believed in the First Beast leaned toward gods that benefited them, splintering their devotion in multiple directions.
Through that process… it wasn’t that the First Beast became Sirius and turned its back on the beastkin; it was that the beastkin turned their backs first, leading the First Beast to receive the name Sirius.
Just a reversal of cause and effect, really.
“I-is that so? But the scholars’ research…”
“They couldn’t record that the beastkin abandoned their tribal god first, so they distorted it, right?”
Otherwise, it wouldn’t make sense. The lonely figure of Sirius, left alone in that dreary temple, was still vivid in my mind.
Humans really do record history to suit themselves.
“But…”
“Let’s set aside verifying the truth for now. That’s not what matters right now.”
At my words, Ella nodded slightly, cleared her throat softly, and composed herself.
“After the beastkin split by tribe, rat beastkin like me fell into great danger. We were already shunned among the other beastkin… and with the protective fence of the First Beast gone, it was obvious what would happen to us.”
Hmm. Yeah, beastkin species were far too diverse. Even among beastkin, different tribes were treated like entirely different races.
“We weren’t physically superior like other beastkin, and our animal affinity was just with small rats. We rat beastkin had almost no advantages. Our tribe’s future looked bleak.”
With Sirius binding all beastkin as their tribal god, interspecies discrimination hadn’t surfaced. But discrimination never truly vanishes, does it?
“Desperate rat beastkin sought ways to secure our future. Some tried finding value through with other tribes, while others, like me, wanted to show the world that rat beastkin weren’t weak by demonstrating personal strength.”
Hmm. Come to think of it, Ella had said she was an adventurer in her youth. So there was that background to it. Not just kicked out on her stepmother’s whim.
“While searching for a way for rat beastkin, one ascetic heard a voice.”
“A voice?”
“Yes. I heard he was a seeker meditating deep underground, searching for his path. He said a voice came from deep within the earth.”
A voice… a voice, huh…
“That voice told him to create a new god. If the absence of a god was the problem, creating one would solve it. And if it was a god just for rat beastkin, our standing would rise endlessly.”
Suspicious voice. And from underground, no less… Was it that guy again?
“The voice knew knowledge even old rat beastkin scholars didn’t. The method to create a god came from that voice too.”
“And? Did they follow its instructions?”
“Yes. Rat beastkin had no choice. To create the god, they prepared many things.”
Ella stroked Maybel’s head, wrapped around her waist, and Maybel, pleased by the touch, soon fell asleep with steady breaths.
She falls asleep so fast. Amazing.
“Just like when she was little, stroking her head puts her right to sleep. I had to tell a story she couldn’t hear, so it’s a relief.”
Ella kept stroking the sleeping Maybel’s head as she continued.
“After that, rat beastkin scraped together money however they could and gathered materials for the god-creation ritual. The most important among those preparations… was the sacrifice that would become the new god’s body.”
A body? A sacrifice? You don’t need that to make a god, do you? What’s this?
Are they making a god in a way different from what I know?
“Pairing selected individuals and producing an exceptional child to become the new god’s body… that was part of the plan too.”
“Selected individuals?”
“Yes.”
Ella stroked Maybel’s head again, and Maybel twitched slightly, as if it tickled. Ella gave her a small smile.
“This child was the most promising candidate to become the god’s body in that ritual. But sacrificing her to create a new god… I couldn’t allow it, so I left her in a safe place.”
“Wouldn’t that be betraying your tribe?”
Ella nodded faintly.
“Yes, betraying the tribe. But I wanted to protect her. From the moment she was born and grasped my finger with her tiny hand, my life became for her. Even if the tribe revives, if she’s sacrificed, it’s all meaningless.”
Indeed. A mother’s love for her child outweighed her loyalty to the tribe. Motherhood… is truly powerful.
“Of course, the whole plan was kept strictly secret from those involved, like me. I knew nothing, so if my husband hadn’t found out, she would have been handed over completely.”
“Husband?”
“Daddy?”
The sleeping Maybel woke instantly at the mention of Ella’s husband, clearly hooked by talk of the father she didn’t know.
“Your father… was a truly smart man. The smartest among young rat beastkin, I’d say. If not for this foolish ritual… he might have led the rat beastkin.”
“D-Daddy’s now…”
Ella shook her head slightly at Maybel’s words.
“To help us escape… he’s gone.”
At Ella’s words, Maybel’s mood sank, her tail drooping. A bit tragic.
“But the place he told us about really was safe. Our daughter grew up unharmed like this.”
“A safe place? The rural village I was in?”
“Yes. Your father… said you had to go there to be protected. I didn’t know an old adventurer companion was a priest there… but thanks to that, I could trust him and leave you. A fortunate thing.”
Hmm. It’s almost like Maybel’s father foresaw the future and prepared. As if he knew I was sleeping there.