I barely see our surroundings as we leave the throne room, still utterly overawed by the god-king’s presence, though I do notice when the pair of soldiers flanking the room’s entrance make to follow us. As they do, even through the fog of wonder clouding my mind, I can't fail to realise that they're dressed differently from how they were when I first entered. Not seeming to care about their change of clothes, Gilgamesh waves a hand, wordlessly dismissing the pair. One of them looks for a moment like he might be about to object to leaving his king unguarded, but then decides better of it and they both fall back without complaint.
I walk behind and slightly to the left of the king, trying to avert my gaze, not wanting to be caught staring at him. I've seen a few pictures of him on the dataverse, of course, but no mere image could ever depict such a man accurately. He looks every inch the god his people proclaim him to be. I can almost feel the power radiating from him, as if his divinity is a physical force, somehow both attracting and repelling me at the same time; I feel a great desire to reach out and touch him, to discover if he can truly be a mere creature of flesh and blood, such as I am, or if Gilgamesh might not be something different—something more—entirely… yet at the same time, I know that actually daring to lay a hand upon him without permission would be a grievous insult to his person… no, not just an insult. It would be practically blasphemous, and I abhor the thought of disrespecting him in such a way. It's no wonder the people of Nippur have such an easy time accepting him as their god. Just meeting his eyes once has left my mind a mess, my thoughts a chaotic jumble.
We exit the palace, and I struggle to hold back a gasp as the sunlight first strikes his gleaming armour, sending a thousand scintillating rays of light cascading around him beautifully with every tiny movement he makes. There are two more guards in those new uniforms out here, though with the alternative being continuing to shamefully ogle King Gilgamesh, of course I barely spare them a glance. Still, even so, I’m able to admire their rigid, military discipline… to continue looking straight ahead and standing to attention, not even glancing across at their magnificent god-king when he walks by, must take an enormous effort of will.
As we pass through the streets, other citizens look up, hope-filled gazes turning upon him, and I try my best to stand tall, to hold my head high. I’d normally act a lot more casual than this, even if I was in the company of someone much more powerful and influential than I… I've never really cared all that much about propriety, but in the presence of King Gilgamesh, behaving respectfully seems to take on a much greater importance than normal. Still, though I do my utmost to maintain my posture, trying to mimic the professionalism of his guards, I find myself glancing across at him more and more frequently as our stroll goes on. He is the epitome of humanity, in every way… even his movements seem beautiful to my enraptured eyes. That golden armour must surely be heavy, yet he seems as light on his feet as the most graceful of dancers–
He stops suddenly. I blink in surprise, my breath catching as I quickly come to a halt as well, just a moment before I would have crashed into him. What a horrifying thought. I wonder for an instant why exactly it was that he stopped, then notice the giant—albeit crumbling—wall and gateway just a few paces before us, and realise that we’ve reached the edge of the city. Unless he intends to leave Nippur, this must be our destination.
I'm rather perplexed, though; it seems as if we barely left the palace but a moment ago… how are we here already? That's when I realise that I'm staring at him again. When did that happen? I can't possibly have been doing that, completely lost in thought, as we walked all the way across the entire city… can I?
I glance around, a blush colouring my cheeks as I pray that no one has noticed my lack of composure. Back home I was a soldier, then a ‘hero’... then, when Omni claimed me for His own, one of His chosen ones, His ‘Primes'... how the hell can someone as accomplished as I not even manage to muster up enough self-control to walk down a fucking street without ogling my king like a starry-eyed teenager with a stupid crush?
I see there are many citizens around this area who have ceased what they were doing to look upon him, and that there are many others who’ve wordlessly followed along behind us as we walked out here. Fortunately—though, I suppose, not really surprisingly—none of them seem to be paying the slightest bit of attention to me. I’ve never been an attention seeker, but it's possible that ordinarily I would have been a little miffed to be ignored entirely... beside our god-king, though, I can't say I blame anyone… I too would be perfectly content to simply sit and watch him all day, if given the chance.
“Ahana.” he speaks the word softly and I immediately step up to his side, dropping to one knee and bowing my head. My heart pounds against my ribcage as if desperate to break free of the confines of my chest, and I'm filled with a rush of pleasure at being singled out from the crowd, even though I know full well that it's only my status as a Prime that has afforded me this honour. I'm not bothered by that at all, though. I don't care if he sees me as nothing more than a tool to be used to further his goals… actually, no, I would be grateful to be his tool. If being just a piece on a chess board to him means getting the privilege to enjoy his company, if for only a little while, and perhaps even results in him remembering my name, then that is more than I could ever ask.
Even Omni, for all His omnipotence, seems to me like less of an awe-inspiring figure than Gilgamesh. Perhaps it is because Nippur’s king appears so human. I can't say for sure, but there's just some sort of… regality about him which Omni lacks. The hairs on the back of my neck stand up as Gilgamesh turns to look down on me.
“Not that you don't have the right attitude, but we are here to work, so let's not have you getting down on your knees every time I speak to you, okay?” I pick up a hint of amusement in his tone and hurriedly stand, blushing once again. The moment we make eye contact I freeze up, feeling as if the blood rushing through my veins has been replaced with ice. Just like in his throne room, his gaze seems to cut right through me; it's all I can do not to sink back onto me knees, “Good. That's better. Now, you and I are going to work on shoring up these walls… no matter how well Kanda manages to train my guards, with our walls in such poor shape, he can't possibly keep out all the mongrels who would dare harm my subjects. You and I will be remedying this situation today. Understood?”
“Of course, my king. Anything I can do for you, I will.” I force a smile onto my face, though I feel as if a vast chasm has opened in my stomach. I have no idea who this ‘Kanda' person is, but had Gilgamesh simply asked me to join him and the soldiers in slaughtering all these ‘mongrels' who would plague the city, I'd have been all too eager to comply, even taking into account my newfound fragility; even if such a task meant dying and being reborn hundreds of times over, I’d gladly throw myself into the fray time and time again to please the king…
But… construction work? It's not that I find such a menial task unworthy of my time; I'd spend my days cleaning out sewers if that was what the god-king wished of me… but the issue is, I can only imagine that he means to do this using Omnilium, since that will be much easier and faster than doing it manually. Given how new I am to the Omniverse, though, I still haven't been able to gather all that much… I’ll run out in no time. I'll do my best, absolutely. I'll use so much that I'm left with not even enough to feed myself… but in the end, I’ll still fail him.
He raises an eyebrow slightly, obviously having no trouble at all seeing through my facade and deducing that something is wrong. Rather than asking me what it is, though, and so forcing me to admit my weakness in front of all those gathered here, he turns to the crowd.
“Citizens of Nippur!” his voice booms out, resounding through the nearby streets, loudly enough to be easily audible to all, even if we were in the middle of a raging storm… not that it needs to be; as we’ve spoken up to this point, the crowd has remained completely silent, hanging on Gilgamesh’s every word, “We come today to bolster the defences of this great city, to return Nippur to the nigh-impenetrable bastion that it once was! Now behold, the power of your king!”
With a flourish of the fingers of one hand, he dramatically conjures an orb of Omnilium into existence, then casually tosses it at the yawning gateway before us. Though still standing, the stonework has clearly seen better days, and whatever gates must once have stood there are gone completely… the only defence the city has in this direction is a pair of guards stationed on the other side of the worn and cracked archway, out in the scorching dunes beyond. For all that they look professional and dignified in their dark, gold-trimmed coats, there are still only two of them; even a small band of raiders could overcome them through numbers alone, and doubtless kill many civilians before the rest of the soldiers could arrive to put an end to their butchery… though Nippur will not fall to foreign invaders now that it's king has returned, that by no means assures the safety of its entire populace.
The tiny sphere freezes in mid air once it reaches the gateway, then suddenly billows outwards, soon expanding to cover it in its entirety. I watch along with the rest of the crowd, though as the chromatic lightshow is entirely opaque, there is little to see, and my gaze is quickly drawn back to the god-king. Time seems to pass by much faster when I can rest my eyes on such a divine figure, and in what feels like no time at all, he is turning away from the gate and speaking once again, "Summoning something like this will require far less Omnilium than a complex building such as the hospital, of course, and the walls themselves will be cheaper still, as they’re just simple blocks of solid stone… but even so, due to their great sizes, the process will still take time… nevertheless, we shall endeavour to have this done as soon as possible, so that you, my people, can rest easy from now on, knowing that no more will you have to fear attack by the ignorant outlaws of the Dunes!”
A cheer erupts from those around him almost the instant he finishes speaking. At that moment, though, he throws his arms wide and the Omnilium bubble behind him vanishes, revealing his refurbished entranceway. The cheers are quashed abruptly, as his audience takes a collective gasp of awe.
“Oh.” I stand, slack-jawed in wonder, along with the rest of the crowd, drinking in the sight of our king’s masterpiece. The sandstone frame of the gates is completely repaired, no longer worn away in the slightest, and now includes a steel-chain, pulley-like mechanism on either side of the gates—built into the sandstone archway itself—to allow them to be opened and closed more easily. It's the gates themselves that take our breaths away, though; an enormous pair of double doors of dark mahogany now block the way out of the city, each one adorned with astonishingly detailed carvings and intricate golden inlay. The carved sections portray the death throes of all manner of foul beasts and monstrosities, as their bodies are pierced or torn apart, whilst the gilded portions are all images of the king and his vast arsenal, in the process of slaying the hideous fiends. This can only be a representation of all the many foes has overcome during his years in the Underverse, I'm sure; a display to remind any who look upon it that our god has vanquished the worst that hell has to offer and returned to his people more powerful than ever.
Gilgamesh smirks, clearly pleased that everyone appreciates his gift, “Okay. Now that that's done, I’ll head along this way, whilst you take the other side, Ahana. Let's work our way around the city from here and meet up opposite these gates, alright?”
He gestures to the part of the wall to the left of the gateway when indicating the direction he’ll be heading.
“Of course, King Gilgamesh.” I bow my head respectfully, managing not to kneel this time, whilst also trying my hardest to rid my voice of any trace of doubt, even though my fears are unabated. I must find some way to appear competent at this, so as to avoid him reconsidering my station from ‘tool’ to mere ‘junk', not worthy of being used by such a majestic king as he. I hunger for his approval, even though I feel undeserving of it… I can't even bear to consider the possibility of being discarded.
“Excellent.” the god-king announces, then turns to leave, with almost all of the people here following along in his wake. In moments, I can barely even spot him through the crowd. It isn't long before another curtain of rainbow-hued light flows up into the air, though, this time coating a vast section of the crumbling, shattered wall. I have gathered a little more Omnilium yesterday and this morning, simply by wandering about, since this strange stuff seems to accrue automatically in Primes, even without actively being extracted from objects… still, it's nowhere near enough. Even taking account for the fact that most of the wall is already here and so not that much new stone is really being added, if I am to cover such large areas of the wall as Gilgamesh is fixing now, I’ll likely be out of Omnilium entirely after repairing a mere couple sections… it speaks volumes about his unspeakable wealth that he could decide to do something so ambitious as this without even considering the cost.
Rather than immediately beginning work, after a few moments of uncertainty and hesitation, I rush over to one of the people still lingering in this area despite the god-king’s departure, and beg her to tell me of anything around here that I could take which wouldn't be missed, hurriedly explaining my need for more Omnilium if I am to meet Gilgamesh’s expectations. The person in question—an old woman so gaunt that she looks as if missing another meal might well be the end of her—smiles sympathetically and pats the back of my hand, but explains that she has nothing left to give away.
I ask several other people, but the generous ones just apologise for being poverty-stricken, whilst those less forgiving insult me for having the audacity to complain about anything despite being handed the amazing powers of a Prime upon entering the Omniverse. One man even spits in my face. My fingers twitch with barely suppressed rage, and it's all I can do not to summon a pair of javelins and stab the prick to death; a few flames even dance between my fingers before I manage to push my anger to the back of my mind and compose myself. I'm familiar with Nippur’s laws from the Dataverse, so I know that the king won't take kindly to me killing off an innocent man simply for being a little rude. And even if he was generous enough to overlook one teeny, tiny little murder, I know that I’d still be tormented by the guilt of having failed to live up to his expectations.
Despite the shame I feel for having to go around begging like this, and for being unable to even punish those who would offend me, I simply wipe that man’s saliva from my cheek and carry on. After a few more failed attempts, I come across a woman who’s middle-aged and tanned, with weathered, Caucasian skin and callused hands, clearly used to hard labour. Over a pair of ragged, light brown slacks and a tattered cream top, she wears a pair of worn, old, leather boots and a dull, faded, blue overcoat, and smokes a cigarette. Her brown hair is cut very short, and is greying around the edges. No one would call her pretty, but she's certainly striking. She smirks when I approach her where she sits, on a rickety wooden chair outside one of the small, slum-like stone huts that seem to dominate this part of the city. After hearing my plea she takes a long drag on her cigarette, stands up slowly, and promptly blows a cloud of smoke into my face.
Coughing repeatedly and waving a hand to try and clear the air, I back off, resigning myself to another failed attempt. A fair bit of time has passed by this point, and Gilgamesh has no doubt noticed my lack of progress… but I can't give up now, even though it seems hopeless. As I'm turning to leave, though, the woman speaks, “Stop. I can help you.”
I turn back, half-expecting her to laugh and mock me at the first hint that I might actually believe her words, “You can? How?”
She takes another drag on her cigarette before replying, “Not everything in this city was summoned by Primes; some of it was built through good, old fashioned labour… which means building materials were needed. There was a sandstone quarry not far from Nippur once, though that was back before the king was banished… it may well be completely buried under the dunes by now. It certainly hasn't seen any use since then. We still have plenty of the stone that was quarried there, though, and a good bit of it has been sitting in a warehouse a few streets from here for years.”
“Just sitting around? For years? Why?”
The woman shrugs, “After the invasion, then all the attacks by bandits, folks never really had the inclination for any more grand building projects. It was all we could do to keep our families alive…”
She frowns, looking past me for a moment, staring off into the distance, “and plenty of us never even managed that… so the warehouse was forgotten… along with plenty of other buildings. Hell, no one even bothered to clear the dead from Gilgamesh’s own palace, not even those fanatical loyalists of his, and you think anyone’s gonna remember a warehouse?”
“I suppose n-” I cut myself off, just now realising what she has just said, “Wait, you mean… you aren't a loyalist?”
She snorts dismissively, “Of course I'm not. Do I look like one of those blind fools over that way, following along after him to gawp like fish just ‘cause he can summon some stone? Maybe golden boy means well, or maybe he just wants to play at being king to stroke his own ego, I dunno… but you weren't with him the first time, girl. You're just a new recruit. You don't know a thing about that kid. He made powerful enemies, and we Secondaries were the ones who paid the price for his arrogance.”
“I may not have been here, but I know enough. He was sent to hell. I’d say he paid a much higher price than he deserved considering all he wanted was to make your lives better.” I glare at her. I've witnessed and committed plenty of atrocities of my own, back before coming to the Omniverse, so I'm not about to judge the soldiers of the god-king’s foes for harming his people… in fact, I honestly don't care about them at all, other than because they are his property, and so suppose I can't really approve of anyone slaying them without his say-so. On the other hand, having the audacity to banish a divine being such as Gilgamesh is an unspeakable act of blasphemy, something infinitely more horrendous than mere mass murder.
“Eh. He got out. Those people who died aren't coming back. You really don't understand ordinary folk at all, you know. It isn't just him; all you Primes are clueless. Even before coming to the Omniverse, you're generally some kinda mighty heroes in your own worlds… you don't have the slightest idea how it feels to be powerless. You can't imagine what it's like to cower in your home as raiders burst into houses at random, butchering your friends and loved ones… or worse, dragging them out into the streets to be raped before their throats are slit. Trust me, girl, those screams stay with you for the rest of your life. Gilgamesh brought that horror down on us once, and he’ll do it again.”
I'm not at all surprised to hear that this has happened after his banishment, and I frankly don't care; back home, our soldiers and those of our enemies alike would have their fun when sacking a city… what seems so terrible to this civilian is utterly unexceptional to me; just another fact of life. Despite that, I still don't like her bringing up the fact that he lost. I know that it was an unfair fight, with countless mighty Primes arrayed against him… but even so, I can't think of a single thing to say that doesn't just sound like an excuse to me. The sad truth is that no matter the reason, Gilgamesh did still fail once. He isn't—or rather, wasn't, back then—perfect. I want to argue that he has surely grown stronger since then, that there's no way such a thing will ever happen again… but that would mean confessing, out loud, that he was at one point not infallible… and I just can't bring myself to hear such words coming from my own lips. So, instead, I simply settle for shaking my head and glaring petulantly at her. My oratory skills could really use some work. She sighs.
“Come on then, follow me. I'll show you this warehouse, then we won't need to ever talk again, and you can happily get on with being just another of the king’s devoted little sheep.” she turns away and strides through a narrow gap between two hovels. I rush to keep up.
“I don't get it, if you hate our king this much then why help me at all?” I ask after a few moments of silence, bewildered that the first person able or willing to give me what I need should be someone so clearly unimpressed with the god-king.
“If you were wanting this Omnilium just to renovate his fucking palace then I wouldn't have mentioned anything, obviously… but repairing the walls might actually do some good for the people here… even if they won't be any more effective against Primes than they were the last time, at least you might manage to keep out the petty bandits. So it'll do more good in your hands than just sitting there, I suppose.” she falls silent, and I ask no more questions. It isn't much longer before we reach our destination.
“Well, here we are. Here it is. A big building stuffed with rocks. There ought to be more than enough Omnilium in there for you to fix up the walls… assuming you don't spend it all on ridiculous, golden decorations like those on the gaudy, self-aggrandising piece of trash which that fool calls a gate.” she's looking at the warehouse as she speaks, not me, but I can just hear the sneer in her voice.
“Watch yourself, citizen." I snap, my fists clenching involuntarily, “I know our king’s laws, but I won't stand for anyone calling him a fool, even if punishing them properly gets me thrown out of Nippur myself.”
Of course I'm aware that merely speaking badly of him is not at all the same as actually rebelling against the crown, and as such this woman technically is not breaking the law herself… but even so, I’m not about to just overlook insults to the god-king.
“Oh? Do I offend your delicate sensibilities by calling out that prancing pretty boy for what he is?” she turns her scorn on me now, looking my way, an ugly smirk on her face.
“I'm warning you.” I snarl, actually having to picture Gilgamesh in my mind—looking at me with an expression of revulsion, disgusted by my inability to follow even this simplest of rules—in order to resist the urge to lash out at her. I take a couple deep breaths to calm myself, then manage to speak to her in a more-or-less civil tone, “Thank you for showing me this place, I am incredibly grateful for your help… but can you please leave now…? Before you make me do something I’ll regret later.”
She snorts with laughter, then blows some more smoke in my face. Once again I back off, coughing and wafting it away, which only seems to further amuse her, “Sure, I’ll be on my way… though you should realise that I'm far from alone in holding a grudge against Gilgamesh. Unless you want to go around wearing ear plugs for the rest of your life, I’d suggest you learn to keep yourself from doing anything you'll regret.”
Without waiting for a response, she turns and strolls off, lifting a hand to wave goodbye, without turning back to look at me. I have to admit, she has a point… I've always been more of a ‘kill first, ask questions never’ sort of woman... but if I'm going to have to interact with others like her on a regular basis, that might need to change...
“No. I won't. I won't have to. Soon, everyone in Nippur will see the king for the saviour that he is. Soon, the only ones who insult him will be our enemies. I refuse to simply learn to put up with such things.” I speak these words with iron hard conviction, knowing without a doubt in my mind that she is wrong, and that she'll see that herself before long. Gilgamesh will prove his divinity to even the most sceptical of non-believers, and I can only hope that I can be a useful enough tool that he will keep me around long enough that I can witness his glorious ascension with my own two eyes.
The woman makes no response to my statement. Perhaps she didn't hear me, or perhaps I'm simply being ignored. It doesn't matter. I turn to the building and raise a hand towards it, just about to begin extracting the Omnilium from it when I realise that she may have been lying to me about what's inside. She clearly has no fondness for the king, so what if she hopes to make a fool of him by tricking me into destroying a whole bunch of valuable supplies? That could easily be her idea, so I walk up to the doors, made from rusted iron and held together with a just-as-corroded padlock. I absorb the Omnilium of the lock, which takes but a few minutes, then heave and haul at one of the immensely stiff doors until I can open a wide enough gap to squeeze my head through.
I look inside. Stone. Lots and lots of huge, stone blocks, piled one atop the other all the way across the interior of the wide structure, and right up to the rafters high above. Alright. She may be faithless, but it would seem that that woman isn't a liar, at least. I take a few steps back and then settle myself in a sitting position, cross-legged on the dusty ground, and focus my mind on deconstructing the building before me, taking its Omnilium into myself.
The minutes drag past like hours, as I fret about what Gilgamesh must think of me; it'll look like I never even started work on the task he appointed to me… he may well think I simply wandered off like a disobedient cur the moment I was out of his sight… I don't have a clue what I can even say to defend myself if he asks. The more I think on it, the more idiotic I feel for not simply coming clean and admitting to him that I have barely any Omnilium… yes, it would have hurt to see the disappointment in his eyes, but it's not like making him angry instead is in any way an improvement. My only hope is that something has kept him so distracted that he hasn't noticed I’ve not even started making any repairs yet, that no one ever mentions to him the sudden disappearance of an entire warehouse, and that he somehow gets massively delayed himself, so that he doesn't notice how much less of the wall I’ve been able to fix than he has, when we finally meet up on the other side of the city…
It's not too likely that I’ll get away with this, to put it mildly.
Eventually, after what is surely quite a bit over an hour, I'm done. The building and all of its contents have been fully converted into Omnilium. I barely register the vast increase in my fortunes as I jump to my feet and dash through the streets. When I make it back to the gates, Gilgamesh is nowhere in sight, presumably having moved further on, since as far as the eye can see, the wall he was working on is completely mended, as good as new, and undeniably sturdy. The part I was supposed to be fixing up is still a crumbling ruin, of course. I rush over and slap my hands against the stone. Rainbow light spills outwards from my palms almost immediately, soon growing to cover a wide section of the wall, as I visualise it becoming whole and unweathered. I’m sure the god-king will have some harsh words for me when we finally meet up again on the other edge of the city… but until then, I can only do my best and hope not to have proven such a disappointment that he’ll decide that he was too generous in allowing me to serve him...
I walk behind and slightly to the left of the king, trying to avert my gaze, not wanting to be caught staring at him. I've seen a few pictures of him on the dataverse, of course, but no mere image could ever depict such a man accurately. He looks every inch the god his people proclaim him to be. I can almost feel the power radiating from him, as if his divinity is a physical force, somehow both attracting and repelling me at the same time; I feel a great desire to reach out and touch him, to discover if he can truly be a mere creature of flesh and blood, such as I am, or if Gilgamesh might not be something different—something more—entirely… yet at the same time, I know that actually daring to lay a hand upon him without permission would be a grievous insult to his person… no, not just an insult. It would be practically blasphemous, and I abhor the thought of disrespecting him in such a way. It's no wonder the people of Nippur have such an easy time accepting him as their god. Just meeting his eyes once has left my mind a mess, my thoughts a chaotic jumble.
We exit the palace, and I struggle to hold back a gasp as the sunlight first strikes his gleaming armour, sending a thousand scintillating rays of light cascading around him beautifully with every tiny movement he makes. There are two more guards in those new uniforms out here, though with the alternative being continuing to shamefully ogle King Gilgamesh, of course I barely spare them a glance. Still, even so, I’m able to admire their rigid, military discipline… to continue looking straight ahead and standing to attention, not even glancing across at their magnificent god-king when he walks by, must take an enormous effort of will.
As we pass through the streets, other citizens look up, hope-filled gazes turning upon him, and I try my best to stand tall, to hold my head high. I’d normally act a lot more casual than this, even if I was in the company of someone much more powerful and influential than I… I've never really cared all that much about propriety, but in the presence of King Gilgamesh, behaving respectfully seems to take on a much greater importance than normal. Still, though I do my utmost to maintain my posture, trying to mimic the professionalism of his guards, I find myself glancing across at him more and more frequently as our stroll goes on. He is the epitome of humanity, in every way… even his movements seem beautiful to my enraptured eyes. That golden armour must surely be heavy, yet he seems as light on his feet as the most graceful of dancers–
He stops suddenly. I blink in surprise, my breath catching as I quickly come to a halt as well, just a moment before I would have crashed into him. What a horrifying thought. I wonder for an instant why exactly it was that he stopped, then notice the giant—albeit crumbling—wall and gateway just a few paces before us, and realise that we’ve reached the edge of the city. Unless he intends to leave Nippur, this must be our destination.
I'm rather perplexed, though; it seems as if we barely left the palace but a moment ago… how are we here already? That's when I realise that I'm staring at him again. When did that happen? I can't possibly have been doing that, completely lost in thought, as we walked all the way across the entire city… can I?
I glance around, a blush colouring my cheeks as I pray that no one has noticed my lack of composure. Back home I was a soldier, then a ‘hero’... then, when Omni claimed me for His own, one of His chosen ones, His ‘Primes'... how the hell can someone as accomplished as I not even manage to muster up enough self-control to walk down a fucking street without ogling my king like a starry-eyed teenager with a stupid crush?
I see there are many citizens around this area who have ceased what they were doing to look upon him, and that there are many others who’ve wordlessly followed along behind us as we walked out here. Fortunately—though, I suppose, not really surprisingly—none of them seem to be paying the slightest bit of attention to me. I’ve never been an attention seeker, but it's possible that ordinarily I would have been a little miffed to be ignored entirely... beside our god-king, though, I can't say I blame anyone… I too would be perfectly content to simply sit and watch him all day, if given the chance.
“Ahana.” he speaks the word softly and I immediately step up to his side, dropping to one knee and bowing my head. My heart pounds against my ribcage as if desperate to break free of the confines of my chest, and I'm filled with a rush of pleasure at being singled out from the crowd, even though I know full well that it's only my status as a Prime that has afforded me this honour. I'm not bothered by that at all, though. I don't care if he sees me as nothing more than a tool to be used to further his goals… actually, no, I would be grateful to be his tool. If being just a piece on a chess board to him means getting the privilege to enjoy his company, if for only a little while, and perhaps even results in him remembering my name, then that is more than I could ever ask.
Even Omni, for all His omnipotence, seems to me like less of an awe-inspiring figure than Gilgamesh. Perhaps it is because Nippur’s king appears so human. I can't say for sure, but there's just some sort of… regality about him which Omni lacks. The hairs on the back of my neck stand up as Gilgamesh turns to look down on me.
“Not that you don't have the right attitude, but we are here to work, so let's not have you getting down on your knees every time I speak to you, okay?” I pick up a hint of amusement in his tone and hurriedly stand, blushing once again. The moment we make eye contact I freeze up, feeling as if the blood rushing through my veins has been replaced with ice. Just like in his throne room, his gaze seems to cut right through me; it's all I can do not to sink back onto me knees, “Good. That's better. Now, you and I are going to work on shoring up these walls… no matter how well Kanda manages to train my guards, with our walls in such poor shape, he can't possibly keep out all the mongrels who would dare harm my subjects. You and I will be remedying this situation today. Understood?”
“Of course, my king. Anything I can do for you, I will.” I force a smile onto my face, though I feel as if a vast chasm has opened in my stomach. I have no idea who this ‘Kanda' person is, but had Gilgamesh simply asked me to join him and the soldiers in slaughtering all these ‘mongrels' who would plague the city, I'd have been all too eager to comply, even taking into account my newfound fragility; even if such a task meant dying and being reborn hundreds of times over, I’d gladly throw myself into the fray time and time again to please the king…
But… construction work? It's not that I find such a menial task unworthy of my time; I'd spend my days cleaning out sewers if that was what the god-king wished of me… but the issue is, I can only imagine that he means to do this using Omnilium, since that will be much easier and faster than doing it manually. Given how new I am to the Omniverse, though, I still haven't been able to gather all that much… I’ll run out in no time. I'll do my best, absolutely. I'll use so much that I'm left with not even enough to feed myself… but in the end, I’ll still fail him.
He raises an eyebrow slightly, obviously having no trouble at all seeing through my facade and deducing that something is wrong. Rather than asking me what it is, though, and so forcing me to admit my weakness in front of all those gathered here, he turns to the crowd.
“Citizens of Nippur!” his voice booms out, resounding through the nearby streets, loudly enough to be easily audible to all, even if we were in the middle of a raging storm… not that it needs to be; as we’ve spoken up to this point, the crowd has remained completely silent, hanging on Gilgamesh’s every word, “We come today to bolster the defences of this great city, to return Nippur to the nigh-impenetrable bastion that it once was! Now behold, the power of your king!”
With a flourish of the fingers of one hand, he dramatically conjures an orb of Omnilium into existence, then casually tosses it at the yawning gateway before us. Though still standing, the stonework has clearly seen better days, and whatever gates must once have stood there are gone completely… the only defence the city has in this direction is a pair of guards stationed on the other side of the worn and cracked archway, out in the scorching dunes beyond. For all that they look professional and dignified in their dark, gold-trimmed coats, there are still only two of them; even a small band of raiders could overcome them through numbers alone, and doubtless kill many civilians before the rest of the soldiers could arrive to put an end to their butchery… though Nippur will not fall to foreign invaders now that it's king has returned, that by no means assures the safety of its entire populace.
The tiny sphere freezes in mid air once it reaches the gateway, then suddenly billows outwards, soon expanding to cover it in its entirety. I watch along with the rest of the crowd, though as the chromatic lightshow is entirely opaque, there is little to see, and my gaze is quickly drawn back to the god-king. Time seems to pass by much faster when I can rest my eyes on such a divine figure, and in what feels like no time at all, he is turning away from the gate and speaking once again, "Summoning something like this will require far less Omnilium than a complex building such as the hospital, of course, and the walls themselves will be cheaper still, as they’re just simple blocks of solid stone… but even so, due to their great sizes, the process will still take time… nevertheless, we shall endeavour to have this done as soon as possible, so that you, my people, can rest easy from now on, knowing that no more will you have to fear attack by the ignorant outlaws of the Dunes!”
A cheer erupts from those around him almost the instant he finishes speaking. At that moment, though, he throws his arms wide and the Omnilium bubble behind him vanishes, revealing his refurbished entranceway. The cheers are quashed abruptly, as his audience takes a collective gasp of awe.
“Oh.” I stand, slack-jawed in wonder, along with the rest of the crowd, drinking in the sight of our king’s masterpiece. The sandstone frame of the gates is completely repaired, no longer worn away in the slightest, and now includes a steel-chain, pulley-like mechanism on either side of the gates—built into the sandstone archway itself—to allow them to be opened and closed more easily. It's the gates themselves that take our breaths away, though; an enormous pair of double doors of dark mahogany now block the way out of the city, each one adorned with astonishingly detailed carvings and intricate golden inlay. The carved sections portray the death throes of all manner of foul beasts and monstrosities, as their bodies are pierced or torn apart, whilst the gilded portions are all images of the king and his vast arsenal, in the process of slaying the hideous fiends. This can only be a representation of all the many foes has overcome during his years in the Underverse, I'm sure; a display to remind any who look upon it that our god has vanquished the worst that hell has to offer and returned to his people more powerful than ever.
Gilgamesh smirks, clearly pleased that everyone appreciates his gift, “Okay. Now that that's done, I’ll head along this way, whilst you take the other side, Ahana. Let's work our way around the city from here and meet up opposite these gates, alright?”
He gestures to the part of the wall to the left of the gateway when indicating the direction he’ll be heading.
“Of course, King Gilgamesh.” I bow my head respectfully, managing not to kneel this time, whilst also trying my hardest to rid my voice of any trace of doubt, even though my fears are unabated. I must find some way to appear competent at this, so as to avoid him reconsidering my station from ‘tool’ to mere ‘junk', not worthy of being used by such a majestic king as he. I hunger for his approval, even though I feel undeserving of it… I can't even bear to consider the possibility of being discarded.
“Excellent.” the god-king announces, then turns to leave, with almost all of the people here following along in his wake. In moments, I can barely even spot him through the crowd. It isn't long before another curtain of rainbow-hued light flows up into the air, though, this time coating a vast section of the crumbling, shattered wall. I have gathered a little more Omnilium yesterday and this morning, simply by wandering about, since this strange stuff seems to accrue automatically in Primes, even without actively being extracted from objects… still, it's nowhere near enough. Even taking account for the fact that most of the wall is already here and so not that much new stone is really being added, if I am to cover such large areas of the wall as Gilgamesh is fixing now, I’ll likely be out of Omnilium entirely after repairing a mere couple sections… it speaks volumes about his unspeakable wealth that he could decide to do something so ambitious as this without even considering the cost.
Rather than immediately beginning work, after a few moments of uncertainty and hesitation, I rush over to one of the people still lingering in this area despite the god-king’s departure, and beg her to tell me of anything around here that I could take which wouldn't be missed, hurriedly explaining my need for more Omnilium if I am to meet Gilgamesh’s expectations. The person in question—an old woman so gaunt that she looks as if missing another meal might well be the end of her—smiles sympathetically and pats the back of my hand, but explains that she has nothing left to give away.
I ask several other people, but the generous ones just apologise for being poverty-stricken, whilst those less forgiving insult me for having the audacity to complain about anything despite being handed the amazing powers of a Prime upon entering the Omniverse. One man even spits in my face. My fingers twitch with barely suppressed rage, and it's all I can do not to summon a pair of javelins and stab the prick to death; a few flames even dance between my fingers before I manage to push my anger to the back of my mind and compose myself. I'm familiar with Nippur’s laws from the Dataverse, so I know that the king won't take kindly to me killing off an innocent man simply for being a little rude. And even if he was generous enough to overlook one teeny, tiny little murder, I know that I’d still be tormented by the guilt of having failed to live up to his expectations.
Despite the shame I feel for having to go around begging like this, and for being unable to even punish those who would offend me, I simply wipe that man’s saliva from my cheek and carry on. After a few more failed attempts, I come across a woman who’s middle-aged and tanned, with weathered, Caucasian skin and callused hands, clearly used to hard labour. Over a pair of ragged, light brown slacks and a tattered cream top, she wears a pair of worn, old, leather boots and a dull, faded, blue overcoat, and smokes a cigarette. Her brown hair is cut very short, and is greying around the edges. No one would call her pretty, but she's certainly striking. She smirks when I approach her where she sits, on a rickety wooden chair outside one of the small, slum-like stone huts that seem to dominate this part of the city. After hearing my plea she takes a long drag on her cigarette, stands up slowly, and promptly blows a cloud of smoke into my face.
Coughing repeatedly and waving a hand to try and clear the air, I back off, resigning myself to another failed attempt. A fair bit of time has passed by this point, and Gilgamesh has no doubt noticed my lack of progress… but I can't give up now, even though it seems hopeless. As I'm turning to leave, though, the woman speaks, “Stop. I can help you.”
I turn back, half-expecting her to laugh and mock me at the first hint that I might actually believe her words, “You can? How?”
She takes another drag on her cigarette before replying, “Not everything in this city was summoned by Primes; some of it was built through good, old fashioned labour… which means building materials were needed. There was a sandstone quarry not far from Nippur once, though that was back before the king was banished… it may well be completely buried under the dunes by now. It certainly hasn't seen any use since then. We still have plenty of the stone that was quarried there, though, and a good bit of it has been sitting in a warehouse a few streets from here for years.”
“Just sitting around? For years? Why?”
The woman shrugs, “After the invasion, then all the attacks by bandits, folks never really had the inclination for any more grand building projects. It was all we could do to keep our families alive…”
She frowns, looking past me for a moment, staring off into the distance, “and plenty of us never even managed that… so the warehouse was forgotten… along with plenty of other buildings. Hell, no one even bothered to clear the dead from Gilgamesh’s own palace, not even those fanatical loyalists of his, and you think anyone’s gonna remember a warehouse?”
“I suppose n-” I cut myself off, just now realising what she has just said, “Wait, you mean… you aren't a loyalist?”
She snorts dismissively, “Of course I'm not. Do I look like one of those blind fools over that way, following along after him to gawp like fish just ‘cause he can summon some stone? Maybe golden boy means well, or maybe he just wants to play at being king to stroke his own ego, I dunno… but you weren't with him the first time, girl. You're just a new recruit. You don't know a thing about that kid. He made powerful enemies, and we Secondaries were the ones who paid the price for his arrogance.”
“I may not have been here, but I know enough. He was sent to hell. I’d say he paid a much higher price than he deserved considering all he wanted was to make your lives better.” I glare at her. I've witnessed and committed plenty of atrocities of my own, back before coming to the Omniverse, so I'm not about to judge the soldiers of the god-king’s foes for harming his people… in fact, I honestly don't care about them at all, other than because they are his property, and so suppose I can't really approve of anyone slaying them without his say-so. On the other hand, having the audacity to banish a divine being such as Gilgamesh is an unspeakable act of blasphemy, something infinitely more horrendous than mere mass murder.
“Eh. He got out. Those people who died aren't coming back. You really don't understand ordinary folk at all, you know. It isn't just him; all you Primes are clueless. Even before coming to the Omniverse, you're generally some kinda mighty heroes in your own worlds… you don't have the slightest idea how it feels to be powerless. You can't imagine what it's like to cower in your home as raiders burst into houses at random, butchering your friends and loved ones… or worse, dragging them out into the streets to be raped before their throats are slit. Trust me, girl, those screams stay with you for the rest of your life. Gilgamesh brought that horror down on us once, and he’ll do it again.”
I'm not at all surprised to hear that this has happened after his banishment, and I frankly don't care; back home, our soldiers and those of our enemies alike would have their fun when sacking a city… what seems so terrible to this civilian is utterly unexceptional to me; just another fact of life. Despite that, I still don't like her bringing up the fact that he lost. I know that it was an unfair fight, with countless mighty Primes arrayed against him… but even so, I can't think of a single thing to say that doesn't just sound like an excuse to me. The sad truth is that no matter the reason, Gilgamesh did still fail once. He isn't—or rather, wasn't, back then—perfect. I want to argue that he has surely grown stronger since then, that there's no way such a thing will ever happen again… but that would mean confessing, out loud, that he was at one point not infallible… and I just can't bring myself to hear such words coming from my own lips. So, instead, I simply settle for shaking my head and glaring petulantly at her. My oratory skills could really use some work. She sighs.
“Come on then, follow me. I'll show you this warehouse, then we won't need to ever talk again, and you can happily get on with being just another of the king’s devoted little sheep.” she turns away and strides through a narrow gap between two hovels. I rush to keep up.
“I don't get it, if you hate our king this much then why help me at all?” I ask after a few moments of silence, bewildered that the first person able or willing to give me what I need should be someone so clearly unimpressed with the god-king.
“If you were wanting this Omnilium just to renovate his fucking palace then I wouldn't have mentioned anything, obviously… but repairing the walls might actually do some good for the people here… even if they won't be any more effective against Primes than they were the last time, at least you might manage to keep out the petty bandits. So it'll do more good in your hands than just sitting there, I suppose.” she falls silent, and I ask no more questions. It isn't much longer before we reach our destination.
“Well, here we are. Here it is. A big building stuffed with rocks. There ought to be more than enough Omnilium in there for you to fix up the walls… assuming you don't spend it all on ridiculous, golden decorations like those on the gaudy, self-aggrandising piece of trash which that fool calls a gate.” she's looking at the warehouse as she speaks, not me, but I can just hear the sneer in her voice.
“Watch yourself, citizen." I snap, my fists clenching involuntarily, “I know our king’s laws, but I won't stand for anyone calling him a fool, even if punishing them properly gets me thrown out of Nippur myself.”
Of course I'm aware that merely speaking badly of him is not at all the same as actually rebelling against the crown, and as such this woman technically is not breaking the law herself… but even so, I’m not about to just overlook insults to the god-king.
“Oh? Do I offend your delicate sensibilities by calling out that prancing pretty boy for what he is?” she turns her scorn on me now, looking my way, an ugly smirk on her face.
“I'm warning you.” I snarl, actually having to picture Gilgamesh in my mind—looking at me with an expression of revulsion, disgusted by my inability to follow even this simplest of rules—in order to resist the urge to lash out at her. I take a couple deep breaths to calm myself, then manage to speak to her in a more-or-less civil tone, “Thank you for showing me this place, I am incredibly grateful for your help… but can you please leave now…? Before you make me do something I’ll regret later.”
She snorts with laughter, then blows some more smoke in my face. Once again I back off, coughing and wafting it away, which only seems to further amuse her, “Sure, I’ll be on my way… though you should realise that I'm far from alone in holding a grudge against Gilgamesh. Unless you want to go around wearing ear plugs for the rest of your life, I’d suggest you learn to keep yourself from doing anything you'll regret.”
Without waiting for a response, she turns and strolls off, lifting a hand to wave goodbye, without turning back to look at me. I have to admit, she has a point… I've always been more of a ‘kill first, ask questions never’ sort of woman... but if I'm going to have to interact with others like her on a regular basis, that might need to change...
“No. I won't. I won't have to. Soon, everyone in Nippur will see the king for the saviour that he is. Soon, the only ones who insult him will be our enemies. I refuse to simply learn to put up with such things.” I speak these words with iron hard conviction, knowing without a doubt in my mind that she is wrong, and that she'll see that herself before long. Gilgamesh will prove his divinity to even the most sceptical of non-believers, and I can only hope that I can be a useful enough tool that he will keep me around long enough that I can witness his glorious ascension with my own two eyes.
The woman makes no response to my statement. Perhaps she didn't hear me, or perhaps I'm simply being ignored. It doesn't matter. I turn to the building and raise a hand towards it, just about to begin extracting the Omnilium from it when I realise that she may have been lying to me about what's inside. She clearly has no fondness for the king, so what if she hopes to make a fool of him by tricking me into destroying a whole bunch of valuable supplies? That could easily be her idea, so I walk up to the doors, made from rusted iron and held together with a just-as-corroded padlock. I absorb the Omnilium of the lock, which takes but a few minutes, then heave and haul at one of the immensely stiff doors until I can open a wide enough gap to squeeze my head through.
I look inside. Stone. Lots and lots of huge, stone blocks, piled one atop the other all the way across the interior of the wide structure, and right up to the rafters high above. Alright. She may be faithless, but it would seem that that woman isn't a liar, at least. I take a few steps back and then settle myself in a sitting position, cross-legged on the dusty ground, and focus my mind on deconstructing the building before me, taking its Omnilium into myself.
The minutes drag past like hours, as I fret about what Gilgamesh must think of me; it'll look like I never even started work on the task he appointed to me… he may well think I simply wandered off like a disobedient cur the moment I was out of his sight… I don't have a clue what I can even say to defend myself if he asks. The more I think on it, the more idiotic I feel for not simply coming clean and admitting to him that I have barely any Omnilium… yes, it would have hurt to see the disappointment in his eyes, but it's not like making him angry instead is in any way an improvement. My only hope is that something has kept him so distracted that he hasn't noticed I’ve not even started making any repairs yet, that no one ever mentions to him the sudden disappearance of an entire warehouse, and that he somehow gets massively delayed himself, so that he doesn't notice how much less of the wall I’ve been able to fix than he has, when we finally meet up on the other side of the city…
It's not too likely that I’ll get away with this, to put it mildly.
Eventually, after what is surely quite a bit over an hour, I'm done. The building and all of its contents have been fully converted into Omnilium. I barely register the vast increase in my fortunes as I jump to my feet and dash through the streets. When I make it back to the gates, Gilgamesh is nowhere in sight, presumably having moved further on, since as far as the eye can see, the wall he was working on is completely mended, as good as new, and undeniably sturdy. The part I was supposed to be fixing up is still a crumbling ruin, of course. I rush over and slap my hands against the stone. Rainbow light spills outwards from my palms almost immediately, soon growing to cover a wide section of the wall, as I visualise it becoming whole and unweathered. I’m sure the god-king will have some harsh words for me when we finally meet up again on the other edge of the city… but until then, I can only do my best and hope not to have proven such a disappointment that he’ll decide that he was too generous in allowing me to serve him...
![[Image: Ahana_Sig_V3.png]](https://image.ibb.co/bAZXiJ/Ahana_Sig_V3.png)
![[Image: GilgameshDAsig_zpsecqjfngm.png]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v308/OBLCDiomedes/GilgameshDAsig_zpsecqjfngm.png)
![[Image: NB_BadgeRight.png]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v308/OBLCDiomedes/NB_BadgeRight.png)
![[Image: RhzfCY6.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/RhzfCY6.gif)
- Credit to Ezzy
![[Image: screen_shot_2018_02_16_at_4_33_57_pm_by_...c3dkog.png]](https://orig00.deviantart.net/883e/f/2018/047/1/d/screen_shot_2018_02_16_at_4_33_57_pm_by_tearen_and_zearen-dc3dkog.png)