Eternal Flame

They did not know me as...

We’ve all read the reports. I’m not sure what to think of any of it. Not sure. They… This is what is expected, no? What else do they have? We have them in chains, their backs lined with streaks from our whips and look at their hands… Look at those hands callused by tools they are forced to wield.

This — this god is all they have.

But-but why do I feel this way? So-something isn’t right. We have known a defeated people. Even we — long in our history — have known defeat. This, I assure you, is not how the defeated react.

I mustn’t be the only that is circling these notions. It’s unbelievable. The guards… These reports…. Someone might think them fabricated but… No one has reason to do so, do they?

Listen to this:
they will not abandon their god, the report reads.

They will not abandon their god?!

Has their god not abandoned them? Isn’t this obvious by the stench coming from those quarters? Isn’t the starvation and death of their young enough proof of being left forlorn by their god?

Hah! It could be that what they thought was a god of war was nothing but a god of slaves… I jest but what else could explain this?

Could there be such a thing?
A god of slaves.

And even to speak of slaves… Our honorable emperor wants nothing to do with slaves. How vile. How archaic. The marble was crafted by skilled hands. Hands nurtured on this land. Not slaves. Our warriors share the blood that runs through the emperor himself. We do not need slaves here.

Disgusting.

We do not… The whips, they are… You understand, don’t you? What we want is…

Our gods are pleased, are they not?

You say, how can they know? Their ankles have been shackled for a reason… It is not to oppress but to teach. To keep them in place as we show them the…

We do not want sullen slavish face to disgrace our city. What we want is…

Aaargh! What word did Ariaramnes bring back from the oracle? And what did the scholars interpret from her divine tongue?

Barren lands will give birth
to an eternal flame.

Riddles, riddles is all she has for us. Why did she say nothing of these people? Of their god?

Barren lands?! Barren?! Dying earth, empty wombs, unmet promises and now a defeated people who mock us with their god.

What insult they bring upon us. To be in our land and offer sacrifices to a god that has been defeated in battle. What… Why…

Get me a whip and fashion a noose for the thin necks of their worm-eating priests.

Did you hear that they cast incantations in the night?! Did you hear what the guards had to say? That instead of sleep they rise and speak to their slave god?

And did you… Did you read further down the reports? Did you see what they say of their god and our great emperor?

This is… I find myself unable to comprehend the rationale of these people. Have they no shame? No honor? To speak, even of their own god, in such a manner.

They say that their sojourn here is merely a-a punishment. Their god, they say, had us enslave them as punish… What madness is this?

And the madness continues. Please, please keep me away from my blade as I fear that I might…

They call our emperor
a servant of their god…

A servant of their god.

Are they… Is this a plot to incite rebellion? I don’t understand.

Listen here. Just listen.

You know that we want nothing to do with slaves or slave rebellions. We desire nothing but... This must be obvious to you. Our cities have reached the zenith... Anyone can see that we… We… Our temples, our libraries… WE DO NOT ENSLAVE. We want peace. Just peace and…

What we want…
is a people.

The price for greatness has been paid in full.

Our sons. You see the shame they bring us. Even I have only the military as hope for my son… That or the decadence of brothels and gambling dens. What is our future? Census edicts imply we have none…

What has become of our great empire?

But these people whom we today call slaves… No. No. Unwilling guests. Yes. Yes. These guests are our future. Haven’t the gods deemed this to be so?

But still they chant to this slave god. I don’t understand. We have gods. Superior gods. Warrior gods and gods of the earth who have blessed us with… Listen. Listen. Why don’t you introduce them to our… If only they could…

One guard told me, personally, that come nightfall, the slaves all get on their knees as their priest recites some incantations. That they ask their god for the strength to accept their lot.

This I do not accept. That man — the priest — must be nothing short of a sorcerer trained by the foul magi. We cannot have magi return here. If nothing else, we must kill that man.

As for the slaves and their prayer. Something must be done in haste. If they do not submit and eventually assimilate, then the future of our empire is at risk. This god… This…

What do they call their god? Eternal fla…

No. No.

It does not matter. In fact, that god must remain forever unnamed lest his ways infect the minds of our… NO. NO.

A slave god cannot contaminate a cultured people.

DEATH.

Death to any priest that prays to a slave god.
Death to any man who bows his head to a slave god.
Death to the slave god.

Death.