Gods are more than their Estellian avatars. They have to be, otherwise they couldn't be as wise and strong as they need to be. The Gods are… well, I don't know exactly what the Gods are. Only temple clerics know what the Gods really are, no one else is allowed to know anything.
My family is in charge of managing Monsterland's temple, but no one is part of the clergy. Honestly, I think that's a good thing. As a monster I'm meant to bring chaos into human lives, but most of the time I find it too confusing to do properly. Mostly, I just make them feel a little scared or nervous, and then let them create chaos themselves. It's easy and I don't have to think too hard.
Most of our job consists of bringing offerings to the temple and taking care of the spirit monsters who live there. Since all power generated in Monsterland is drawn to the temple, there are a lot of spirit animals who live there. Unfortunately, since they don't have a soul they die if they get too far from a source of power, like a High Nightmare. So we have a rule, if you're able to make it to the temple and pray at the altar, you get a spirit animal. It's one less thing for us to worry about, and it's good practice for High Nightmares in training, so it's win-win.
Our family's important in another way, we're Monsterlands God bloodline. That means that the next avatar of the God of Monsters will be from my family.
I haven't told my family this, but I'm worried I might be the next one. Cassie seems certain that I'm a God, but I don't know why she thinks that, and no human should have the ability to tell a God from a normal Nightmare. Only Midnight Nightmares do.
I'm happy just being the Eldest daughter of Aubrey and Marcus Loreden, Head Nightmares of the Heartland and caretakers of all humans in Monsterland. Technically, only my mother is a Head Nightmare, but my father does errands for her often enough that in the eyes of most of us he might as well be one to. Caretaking is just making sure Humans don't take too much power for themselves.
Speaking of power, that's something that concerns me. Like all members of my family, I'm required to wear a charm that channels eighty percent of the power I'm granted to the temple. Despite this, at thirteen I'm almost stronger then mom, on paper at least. I'm not nearly as good at casting spells as she is. More and more people are saying that I'm stealing power from the temple, but I'm not. If anything, I try and channel as much power as I can towards the temple so that I don't awaken my demon by accident. It's getting harder and harder not to. The thing is, since I don't have any special gifts like my brother and sister, the towns people are convinced I must be stealing power from somewhere.
Another problem is Cassie's visits. She didn't used to come all that often, but recently she's started coming almost every night. I wish I could tell her to bug off, that's what my mom tells me I should do, but I like having someone who doesn't know what I actually am to talk to. Well, she's seen my demon, because it attacked her once when I was angry, but she doesn’t know that's not the full story. I'm scared that if she finds out, she'll demand I give her all the power she wants. I know she says she doesn't want any, but my parents taught me to never ever, trust a human who says that. They're probably lying, and if they aren't you run away and tell us immediately.
No comments:
Post a Comment