Within the inky blackness of this void there was no distance. No marks to tell where it began or ended in any direction. Standing on nothingness itself. I didn't have my sword on my hip, and Eris stood nearly seven feet tall. His white overcoat draped down his shoulders and legs, with a black button up fit perfectly to his lean, nearly thin body. The white within the blackness stood out like a massive white dot on black paper. The only thing to contrast this place had.
"Calm yourself, human. This is your mind. Never have I met a human who could so easily block everything from my vision. Besides, if I wished you dead you would be dead," Eris said as he slowly walked circles around me, maybe fifteen feet away.
"How about you explain yourself then, and whatever you are." I was trying to stay calm, but I couldn't tell if I felt fear or anger at this person. No, being. Whatever he was, he was none of the known races.
"Me? Boy, your True Bloods make churches for me, and others. I have existed so long I seen the ancients, before the Solar Gods came and caused war to me and my kind." He said as he came to a full stop, turning only his head to me.
The True Bloods built churches for him? And others? No, he could not be serious. The True Bloods controlled the churches. They were the churches. He was saying that he was the Eris. God of Tricks and Destruction.
Not the kind of destruction like bombs or explosions. He was the kind of the friend who stabbed you in your self. The chalice poisoned before you drank. And yet also the one who tricked other gods into letting some people live. Into showing the lies of the false ones and the truth of the accused.
"You expect me to believe your the Eris? As in the God?" I ask. Normally ones eyes drifted to anything else when talking most times. In a space that was blank of existence there was nowhere to look but at him.
"Believe, boy. Who else could do this? Now a little story. After all mistakes must be not repeated, and I learned long ago even my kind cannot always win without a few pawns on the board." He said with a wide smile, and I felt a rush of wind as he raised his hand.
One second in the darkness. Next in an open grass field. Trees nearby were of golden leaves, and a small creek went by of liquid gold. Whatever this place was, it was not normal.
"You see there was once gods. My kind that is. There were the heavenly ones above us some say. Others disagree. But that does not matter here. The heavenly ones were Angels. And there was Hell, with demons. Ruled by one of the fallen who defeated Hades, taking the throne of hell for himself."
As he spoke the scenery changes like water colors running over each other, seeping into each other. Showing figures I could not make out, and places with no real names.
"Now one day humans found a race of people deep within their world. War raged. And well, when war comes so does the need for faith in life after death. Science expanded. Genetics were messed with. And as we watched we realized something we all feared. It is faith that creates us."
People started thinking the suns were gods that had gone to rest. We realized too late their faith shaped new beings. Not divine. Monsters not from hell. Some could talk. Even be regal. But war came. Billions of them, roaring and running in hordes. We fell. Defeated.
A scene of him falling from a cliff came, and as he fell hundreds of human looking beings made of gold followed him down upon each other without care for their lives. Teeth and claws, and their eyes glowed of fire right from the core of a sun that ran through their veins making them glow.
Then it changed to one who sat upon a massive throne that shifted, made of fire. The figure was draped in gold and flames that clung like clothes to it. Wearing a crown that seemed to move with many parts. Orbs within. Miniature suns shifted within.
I did not know how I knew every detail as I looked, but it was as if a needle within my mind forced them in.
"Now some of us still live. The heavenly ones and Hell showed no support for us. And these beings we lost to were the Solar Gods. It is said humans captured one and took its blood to make your kind. The Solrein. But at that time I was in need of rest, so I cannot know for certain."
"Okay, and why are you telling me this?" I eyed him as the colors faded to blank black.
"Because we lost. Lost because we did not try to gain favor and show them as false early on. We are finding Solrein. Your kind who would fight against the Solar Gods and their faiths. To show humans and others of your kind we exist. And you. Well, you're an interesting one."
"Interesting how?" I muttered, wishing I had my sword. Useless against him sure. Nice way to comfort me. Very.
"Because so few can hide their minds from us so easily like you. This void we stand within is your mind." He said, spreading his arms to the darkness. "And that means only one thing. Somewhere in a very distant bloodline you hold the blood of a god. One of our own. Weaker due to divergents within you yes, but it is the only way to explain."
"So let's say I have not lost my mind. What now?" I asked, not sure if I could end this or not.
"I want you to leave your home. To search for the Solar Gods and any competition you may face. And fight in my name. In return I, yes me, Eris, will offer you information on how to cure Spellblood Crystallization. The cure your kind seeks but cannot find."
Should I think this through? Yes. But a reason to leave home. A cure to my kind's worst illness. My mom's illness even. How could I say no.