Courage by Angela B. Macala-Guajardo Page A

the warring all by himself, and without throwing a single blow, since no god can kill another. This god, Olod, set to what seemed to be an impossible task within an impossible task. The War of Creationism seemed it would never end. But Olod refused to give in to despair and the fighting, for the focus of the war gave him an idea: what if he created a mortal that could kill gods?
    “While the most willful gods clashed, Olod spent many a thousand years testing and tweaking his creations on his realm, each one growing more powerful than the last. He taught them individually, too, until the first generation was able to mentor the following generations. But as their power grew, he began to fear them, for he had created something that could kill him. As a measure of protection, he bound his will to them, robbing them of free will if he should command anything of them. In addition, he divided the god-slaying power in halves within them, making the first half, called Mana, unlock-able without a mentor, but only under strict emotional circumstances. The second half, called Frava, could be unlocked only by those who already knew how to find it. So right there is where Aerigo’s and Roxie’s problem is.”
    “Then why did you even bother to set them on this task?” Eve looked ready to cry.
    “Nexus cannot have his way. Simple as that. There’s got to be some sort of trick or riddle to unlocking Frava.”
    “You mean you don’t know how to teach them?”
    “Another one of Olod’s fail-safes. To the gods, he passed on the knowledge of what his Aigis were and what they could do, but kept the inner workings of their powers secret from us.”
    Eve looked at the table. “Then why bother teaching you only half of it?”
    Baku couldn’t help but let out a small laugh. “To complicate things. But that explanation can wait for another day. Let me continue the tale.”
    Eve nodded and popped a potato chip in her mouth.
    “Olod ended up calling his creations Aigis, which means ‘shield of the gods.’ He considered it a fitting term, since what he was doing was saving the gods from themselves.” Baku searchingly looked at Eve. “I know what you’re thinking. How could gods stoop so low as to war among themselves? We’re not infallible, unlike what you’ve been led to believe, and what some of us have tricked ourselves into believing. The war was more a battle of wills, yet they’d still walk away looking worse than what I do right now.”
    “But gods are supposed to be supremely intelligent, I thought.”
    “I don’t mean to sound self-absorbed, but we are. What happens is that we do so much thinking, planning, hypothesizing, etcetera before coming to a decision and taking action. Back then, a bunch of gods came to different conclusions and wanted to take deviating action. And when a bunch of people who consider themselves right butt heads, the War of Creationism is spawned. Mortals do the same thing, but the fighting is over mortal beliefs.” Baku let out a pitiable laugh. “We really did create you all in our own images.
    “Anyway, after millennia, Olod took his army of one hundred Aigis to where the gods still warred. He spoke up, trying to get them to stop without the use of his Aigis. The gods stopped fighting long enough to either scoff or try and persuade him to join a side and help fight. Olod refused, then commanded his Aigis to put an end to the War of Creationism. And that they did. Most of his Aigis were killed, but enough gods either died or had their wills shattered that the laws of creation that could finally be agreed upon unanimously.” Baku shifted in his seat and pushed around his handful of potato chips. “There’s a price for killing a Creator like myself. Thankfully Nexus isn’t a Creator, so we don’t have to worry about it this time around.”
    “Dare I ask what the price is?”
    “The creations pay the price. If I were killed, you and the rest wouldn’t die with me. You’d go on living,