Chapter twelve : The Fourth Age and The Woe of Carason

At last, my dear reader, we traverse well-known ground. My history of the Fourth Epoch is almost precisely the same as the history we have believed in for a thousand years. We all know of the Compact, and the last great conflict of the gods. Please forgive me as I repeat the material, but I must present it for a complete history

The end of the Third Epoch was a golden time of peace and heroism. But peace could not last, for Morwyn’s laws could not foresee the new conflicts among the gods. Those gods who were more chaotic in spirit wanted the mortals to fight, have adventures, and be free to wreak havoc or do great deeds as their spirits dictated. For in doing these things, they paid homage to these gods, making them more powerful. Those gods who preferred an ordered world wanted mortals to be peaceful, build nations ruled by law, and create societies to last through the centuries. And so, both groups of gods traveled among mortals to manipulate and command them. Many of the gods began to sire children with mortals, so their progeny could act as their earthly agents.
On top of these difficulties, Terak and Tinel, the patriarchs of the two great households of the gods, continued to pursue their ancient grudge, manipulating of the races of the tree to fight on their behalf.
These machinations nearly destroyed the order of the gods. As Tinel and Terak had feuded for ages, so Morwyn and Zheenkeef had come to struggle. But the two sisters never fought in person. Instead, Morwyn’s followers built great nations, and cast the worshippers of Zheenkeef out. Nations obeisant to Zheenkeef raided the homelands of Morwyn’s followers. These struggles took place across the world, except in a select few nations, where all the gods were worshipped equally. In one such nation’s capital, the city of Carason, two of Morwyn’s priestesses were loved by the people. The sisters Menara and Tora were known to walk among the impoverished and the infirm, offering succor. The nine apostles of Zheenkeef grew jealous of the love Carason’s people bore for Morwyn’s priestesses.
They devised a plan, independent of Zheenkeef, to ruin the sisters. It is important to note that the evil that followed was the work of mortal hearts and human design, for there has never been any indication that Zheenkeef commanded this disgrace. Tricking Menara and Tora into leaving Carason, two of Zheenkeef’s apostles disguised themselves as the sisters. They then invited the elders and dignitaries of Carason to the healing halls of Morwyn for a great feast. When the feast was complete, the Zhenkefan apostles revealed that they dined on the sisters’ husbands and children. “So great is our love for you and this city, that we served you our own flesh and blood, that you might prosper and know our love,” the disguised apostles told them.
The elders of the city were so outraged that they burned the healing hall of Morwyn to the ground, pulled out the foundation, stone by stone, and salted the earth upon which it had been built. They even destroyed other shrines to Morwyn, and smashed her likenesses. The apostles of Zheenkeef who had masqueraded as Menara and Tora fled, returned to their true identities, and upon their return, urged on the destruction.
When the real sisters returned to the city, they were almost killed on sight. They were arrested, and discovered what had befallen their families and their temple. Menara died of sorrow on the spot. Tora broke her bonds in rage, and plucked out her own eyes to spare them from profanity. Despite her pain, she did not die. Morwyn sent an angel to Tora, which transported her bodily into Heaven. Morwyn was moved to a rage unlike any had ever witnessed. Upon the nine apostles of Zheenkeef she called down the most horrid of curses, that they should wander the earth forever, eternally hungry and festering with painful disease. Should anyone feed them, the apostles would erupt with sores and their skin would break open with terrible wounds. Should anyone try to heal their wounds or cure their diseases, the apostles’ eyes would erupt in flame and from their mouths would burst clouds of blood and stinging black nettles.
The apostles of Zheenkeef wander the world still, terrified of any who are good of heart, and might offer them the succor that Menara and Tora once offered the poor of Carason. Morwyn’s wrath extended also to the elders of Carason, and to the city itself, for they should have known this trick for what it was. How could they imagine the gentle servants of Morwyn capable of such an atrocity?
As she prepared to destroy the city for its sins, its leaders pleaded with her in tearful prayer to spare the innocent of Carason and punish only them, for it was the elders who ordered these crimes against Morwyn’s temples and shrines. To prove their faith in the matter, they burnt down the temple of Zheenkeef as they had the temple of Morwyn. It too they razed stone by stone, salting the earth beneath its foundation.
And when they were done, Morwyn forgave Carason its crimes against her, and punished the elders of the city only by turning them into dogs, for dogs are forever loyal, and do not question their masters. For her part, Zheenkeef was prepared to let the curse laid upon her apostles go without remark. They had committed grave atrocities, after all. But when Morwyn all but forgave the elders, who destroyed her temple and ate the flesh of her priestesses’ children, it was more hypocrisy than Zheenkeef was prepared to stomach.
One night, when the gods were feasting, Korak was not among them. Zheenkeef said aloud, “I suppose you’ve fed me your son Korak as revenge for Carason, sister?” This erupted into a terrible row, luring almost every god into supporting one side or the other, more to renew old grudges than out of the logic of it. Terak and Tinel exchanged dark words, threatening violence, as each supported his own wife, but also wished to settle other arguments.
Only Aymara and Mormekar remained neutral during this struggle, and when they saw Terak and Tinel preparing to duel, they stepped in their midst. “What madness possesses you? Father! Uncle! Stand back!” Aymara said. “Will you defy Morwyn’s laws?” Mormekar demanded, staring with his unblinking black eyes. “Did she not revive you from death? Did she not lead you against Kador? Will you sunder what even Kador could not: the order of the gods?” Tinel and Terak relented, but the conflict between the gods of law and chaos could not be so easily calmed. The gods decided they needed to allow the mortals to choose their own paths. After all, mortals had free will, and should be allowed to use it. The gods agreed to meet in fifty years at the foot of Eliwyn, each with their own proposal to resolve the conflict, and free mortals to do as they desired.