This story happens in a place that is neither here nor there. A land, one of many, but unlike the other lands in these parts, this land had two god kings. They were the twin gods, Ity and Ado. They ruled over the people of this land from their palace, which sat on the mountain high above the capital.
The twins ruled separately, each holding the throne for a millennium. While Ity ruled Ado slept, and while Ado ruled Ity slept. Their divine forms appeared as great stone statues, sitting on marble thrones on opposite sides of the palace. Between them was another throne, on which they sat in human like form.
The people of this land had respected and worshipped Ity and Ado. This was done in the early days, after the days they had risen up and thwarted the great evil that threatened the people. But the gods' lives are long and human lives are short. The people soon forgot why they worshipped Ity and Ado and turned to fearing them.
Innocent girls were sacrificed to them on altars built before their divine forms. Once every hundred years, the most beautiful virgins would be chosen from among the people. They were put through a series of tests to determine whether they were fit to serve the gods. The girl that made it to the end would then be locked in the hall with the reigning god's divine form for a night, then sacrificed to him at sunrise.
Ity and Ado cared not for the peoples' rituals. Ado less so than Ity, he rarely sat on the throne, preferring instead to stay at the banquet of the gods or roam the other realms. Ity sat on the throne most years of his reign, travelling occasionally across the land, checking the seals between this realm and the realm of evil.
Now our story takes place during Ity's reign. It was the mark of another hundred years, and the priests gathered the most beautiful virgins of the land. For 45 days, the tests went on until only one girl remained. She was from the edge of the land, from a village in the shade of the Blood Tree. Her family was poor and sent her to be sacrificed because they could not afford a dowry.
The girl was angry with her family but loathed the gods even more. Their demands for a sacrifice killed so many girls through the tests; now she was going to be the next 'offering'. The priests had locked her in the hall of Ity and said she should not approach his divine body. She didn't care for their rules, and approached the body, kicking his toe in frustration.
The girl walked around the divine hall looking for a place to rest for the night. The hall was sealed, but it was so cold, frost began to form on the ground. Legend says that Ity's body held the fire of the universe, and anything that came near him burned to ashes. Ado's body held the cold that stopped the fire, but Ado's cold would freeze everything to stone. They had built each other's halls, the stones they worked holding some of their power to seal the other's.
Now that the hall was sealed and the cold began to accumulate, the girl's breath made little puffs of clouds as she breathed. The hall was growing colder, but Ity's body was radiating heat. She noticed the frost stopped a few feet before Ity's throne. If she was going to stay alive through the night, she'd have to stay near Ity's throne, not that being alive tomorrow meant much. The girl climbed her way up Ity's divine form, and made herself comfortable in his lap to sleep.
The next morning, when the priests opened the hall, they were horrified to find the girl sleeping comfortably on Ity's divine form. Afraid to approach his divine body themselves, they decided to approach the god's avatar on the throne. The heads of the priest order all lay flat on the ground before Ity's avatar, begging his mercy and his intervention to remove the girl from the hall.
"Let her sleep."
The priests were elated; they had heard the voice of the god king, but they were also confused. He said to let her sleep as she was; none of the records spoke of the gods tolerating anyone touching their divine forms. Quite the opposite, the gods themselves were recorded to have slain any that touched their divine bodies.
The girl slept until mid morning; when she awoke, the priests were in the hall looking at her. They motioned and called to her.
"It is time for your ceremony."
But the girl realised staying near the god's body meant she could live, if only a while longer. So she refused to leave. She stayed in Ity's lap for a day before the priests became restless and threatened to sacrifice her family to wash away the insult of her actions.
"These gods...do we exist only as sacrifices for them? It would be better to kill them while they sleep." She whispered.
Just then, Ity's avatar appeared in front of her, surprising the girl and the priests yet again.
"Little wife, you amuse me."
He grabbed her hand and turned to the priests.
"She is my wife and can do as she sees fit."
The girl fought to remove her hand from his grip, to no avail. He then moved them to the throne room, placing a bowl of grapes in her hands and ordering her to feed him.
"No."
"Then your life is forfeit." He wrapped his hand around her throat.
"You said I could do what I want."
"Yes in their presence. You will obey me in mine."
"No."
"I am your god king." He pressed his fingers tight against her throat, stopping her breathing. "You will obey me."
"Go ahead, kill me."
Ity released his hold on her. "You amuse me, little wife. You do not fear or revere me. Perhaps you will entertain me."
He sat on the throne and watched her. But the girl did not move. She stood her ground, staring back at him. Two hours passed between them, neither one moving. Ity had closed his eyes while he waited on her. The girl took the opportunity and attempted to run, but she could not leave the throne room. An invisible wall prevented her from leaving.
The girl looked around the room, but she could not leave through the other doorways. She took a knife from the table with his food offerings and approached him quietly. He looked deep in sleep. If she could kill him, she might be able to escape. She snuck behind the throne and ran the knife across his throat from ear to ear, but the skin didn't break; the knife grated like she had run it across stone.
Ity grabbed her hand and floated her over the throne and onto his lap, holding her tight as she struggled to break free.
"Not entertaining enough. I grow tired of this land and your people."
"Then go and leave us alone."
"We made a promise to your ancestors. You may have forgotten, but we will remember."
Ity closed his eyes again. The girl continued struggling to get out of his hold in vain. Another two hours passed, and Ity opened his eyes again. The girl had fainted, and she was sweating profusely. While his avatar did not carry much of his god power, the heat from his body was too much for her.
He laid her on the bed in one of the adjoining rooms and watched her as she slept. When the girl awoke, she found Ity standing in the doorway of the room, his eyes closed. He was sleeping standing up. She walked over to him and kicked his shin. Ity's eyes flew open, scaring her back.
"Why are you always sleeping?"
"It is a way to pass the time."
"But you sleep for a millennium when Ado is awake."
"That is a different sleep."
"Do we bore you that much? You don't have to keep a promise you made to dead people. We no longer need you."
"Your lives are insignificant repetitions, repeating every generation. Having watched you for many millennia, I grow tired of it. But you will need us again."
"Why don't you go to the banquet of the gods? They can entertain you there."
"You ask too many questions. Entertain me."
"I'm hungry."
They walked back to the throne room, and Ity waved a hand at the offerings. The bowl of grapes from before floated to her.
"Eat and feed me."
The girl watched him prop himself on the throne again. He leaned against one of the arms with his head turned up and his mouth open. The girl ate a few of the grapes as she approached the throne. She then leaned over him, opened her mouth over his, and let the crushed grapes fall into his mouth. Ity watched her as she moved away.
"This is how you feed your god?"
"You have arms of your own and the power to move things with the wave of your hand. Since you are incapable of feeding yourself, I should treat you as mother birds feed their young."
Ity pulled the girl onto his lap again. "Little wife, you amuse me. It was right of me to save you. Entertain me more."
The girls kissed him. Over the following days, Ity kept the girl trapped in the palace. Her pranks continued as she hoped he would get angry or tired of her. He didn't, even when she hung a sword over the throne that fell on his head, failing to impale him.
A year passed, they had spent time learning more about each other. The girl taught him the things children did for fun and how the simple folk lived. Ity told her the true history of the world and of the evil they once fought.
The girl's family heard she had been spared and demanded the priests return her. They had become rich over the year she was gone. A cat that delivered gold to them every morning had taken up residence on their roof.
At first the priests refused, saying she had become the god king's consort. But her family with their wealth, pressured the priests, who approached Ity, begging him to release the girl.
"Let me return to them for a short while. I will let them know that I am safe here with you."
Ity allowed the girl to return to her family. She returned with gifts and servants from the gods' palace. But the girl's family only intended to use her to build a bond between them and another wealthy family. The girl resisted, but she was forced into the wedding. On the day of the wedding, before her family and all who had gathered, she threw herself onto a sword, ending her life.
Her death woke Ity who was taking a nap to pass the time in her absence. He appeared before all the people and took her body with him. The girl was with child when she died, Ity removed the child and placed it in the womb of a female tiger guarding the tomb of the great evil he once fought.
Ity wrapped the girl's body in burial cloth soaked in herbs, spices, and oils and placed her in the palm of his divine body. It is said his body wept tears of liquid fire that ran out of his hall and flowed through the capital. Ity's tears became known as the 'River of Fire' and can still be seen today all over this land.
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