Chapter 408: 408
Arran hid his unease as best he could, facing the Archon with an expression he hoped conveyed a confidence he did not feel . Bloodlines were a dangerous topic, and appearing to hide something might be just as dangerous as revealing too much .
"What I know of the bloodlines?" He paused in thought, choosing his words with the care of a clumsy man forced to juggle knives . "Truth be told, I don't know much . From what I've heard, the bloodlines were granted by the gods to help the Imperium resist the Blight . Other than that, I know little of either the gods or their bloodlines . "
Archon Roshan gazed at him with disapproving eyes . "You arrived in the Imperium well over a year ago . By now, you should now more than that . "
"I've been preoccupied with other things . " Arran managed an uneasy smile, as if embarrassed at his lack of knowledge . "I hoped to prove my gratitude to the Imperium by fighting against the Blight . "
The Archon sighed . "The folly of warriors . To believe that there is no question so great a sharp blade cannot answer it . "
"Perhaps you can teach me about the gods, then?" Arran did not let the opportunity go to waste . The more he got Roshan to speak, the better, because if the Archon was speaking, then Arran could hold his tongue .
Roshan hesitated for a moment, and he briefly seemed tempted to accept the offer . Yet after a moment, he shook his head . "To remedy your ignorance would be a matter of days, perhaps even weeks . I do not have that much time to spare . "
"I would be grateful for whatever wisdom you could impart," Arran replied, imitating the way he'd seen Kaleesh interact with the priests . It was a poor impression, but one he hoped would be sufficient .
To his relief, Roshan responded with a slow nod . "Very well," he said . "I suppose there's no harm in steering you toward the proper path . "
Though Arran was relieved to hear these words — if nothing else, they meant the Archon had no intention of killing him — he didn't fail to notice how easily the man was convinced . From the sound of it, the Archon had intended this all along — to not only steer Arran toward a path, but to make him ask for it, first .
It seemed a pointless thing, so petty as to be almost childish . Yet Arran understood what it really meant . The Archon wanted something from him .
As Arran pondered the Archon's true intentions, Roshan gestured toward the white marble statues that lined the walls of the circular chamber, a reverent look in his eyes as he gazed at each of them .
"Each of these statues represents one of the gods," the Archon said, "but there are many other gods, both known and unknown to us . And while it is true that the gods' power has allowed the Imperium to thrive even in the face of the Blight, that is not why we revere them . "
This caught Arran's attention . "Then what is the reason?"
"The reason," Roshan said, an affected tremble in his voice, "is that they represent a path to salvation — a path to divinity that even the least among us can walk . Their existence tells us of what lies beyond mortality, and of what we may become if we follow the divine path . "
The words sounded well-rehearsed, as if he'd spoken them thousands of times before . Still, Arran found himself intrigued by what he heard . "You mean to say that we can become gods?"
"We can," Roshan said, and this time, the fervor in his eyes appeared to be entirely real . "Do you know what makes a god?"
"Power?" Arran guessed .
"Indeed," the Archon confirmed . "It is power that separates us from the gods, and power alone . Should you — or I — become sufficiently powerful, we will become gods ourselves . But the power they wield is no mere strength . It is the power to change the world itself — to shape both the earth and oneself . "
A frown crossed Arran's face . "Shape the earth? The way Sacrifice was created?" The words had barely left his mouth when a thought occurred to him . "And the gods' bloodlines…"
"Exactly!" Roshan replied . "The gods created both the Desolation and Sacrifice, changing the very nature of the world in doing so . Yet that wasn't all they changed — they altered their own nature, as well, granting themselves abilities mere mortals can scarcely begin to imagine . Abilities that linger in their bloodlines even today . "
"Then by gaining the gods' bloodlines, we gain their powers?" Despite himself, Arran felt some enthusiasm at the man's words . While he had no interest in worshiping the gods, gaining their powers was another matter . That was something he was most interested in .
"Only the tiniest sliver of them," the Archon said . "Bloodlines are mere seeds . While they grant power, what they grant is only a shred of what the gods possessed . " He paused meaningfully, then continued, "Yet with time, a seed can grow into something more . And with endless toil and labor, even the smallest seed can grow to match the tree from which it came . "
Arran furrowed his brow . "Has anyone ever achieved that?"
"Of course," Roshan replied at once, as if he'd expected the question . "The gods themselves started life as mere mortals, men and beasts both . Yet they became more than that, and in so doing, they showed the rest of us the path to divinity . "
At this, Arran's frown deepened . The Archon's words did not answer his question in the slightest — the gods could hardly have followed in their own footsteps, after all . Yet from the Archon's fervent expression, he suspected that saying as much would be ill-advised .
"So the gods' bloodlines offer us a path to divinity," he said instead . "And by following the gods' example, we can become gods ourselves?"
The more he thought about it, the less sense it made . While there like was more to the church's teachings than what the Archon could tell in a few short minutes, what little he'd heard hardly inspired confidence .
Yet Roshan nodded as if he'd spoken an obvious truth . "Indeed," he said . "The gods' bloodlines offer a path, and greatness awaits those who walk that path . That holds true even for those who fall short of the destination . "
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