The Many-Eyed God

One of the Myths of Ixonia

Dec 20, 2023

Part 1 – The Climb

Ulthan's breath condensed on his stubbled cheeks and froze from the bite of the wind. Tugging his scarf tighter around his neck he glanced back, another climber had left. Of the eleven who had set out now only seven remained. Kaspar, the one-eyed guide, didn't seem to mind. He trudged on ahead, carving the knee high snow with a staff and never once looking back. If a prospective initiate fell behind, that was that.

'How much further do you reckon?' the boy behind Ulthan called, his words muffled by snow and ice. 'Can't be far now. We've been climbing for days. Do you have any food left?'

Ulthan squinted through frosted eyelashes, 'I don't know.' His shout was lost to a sudden gust of icy wind. 'And there's no way you're having some of my food, I don't even know your name,' he said quieter stealing a glance towards the horizon. From that vantage he would have been able to see the whole world, if not for the blizzard. Perpetual if the villagers at the base of the mountain were to be believed. Sharp vicious rock rose on the trail's left and somewhere above them was the Monastery of the Visionaries, hidden by the storm. Ulthan peered down and saw the snow climbing up to his waist. With a shudder he planted his walking stick a step ahead and dragged himself free of the drift. Kaspar had been swallowed by the blizzard.

Keeping his eyes to the snow and the fissure made by Kaspar's staff Ulthan followed the trail up and round, careful to keep the sheer rock wall close to his left for there was no telling how close the edge was, or how far the fall. The swirl of wind and ice deafened him to all things. He climbed and climbed until the world became silent. Ulthan flinched to attention. A shimmering wall of light rose behind him that convulsed against the barrage of snow. In front of him was Kaspar, leaning hard on his staff as he itched the scar over his missing eye. Behind him was the Iron Passage. Two other hopefuls shivered under the one-eyed man's gaze. Ulthan joined them. Kaspar glared at him, the wrinkles of the old man's face more crated than the Seraphine Mountains. Ulthan looked away.

An hour passed while the other four arrived, shivering and terrified. Kaspar waited another hour but no more arrived and he deemed the climb over. The guide took his staff and knocked three times against the Iron Passage, the dense metal ringing out like a giant's gong.

Ulthan's stomach growled. He'd been too focussed on walking to consider eating but now, protected from the blizzard, his mind wandered. The boy who'd pestered him for food stood beside him nibbling on a stale hunk of bread. The crumbs cascaded down his scarf and furs to land in the compacted snow, Ulthan's stomach growled. He wondered where the boy had found the food, or who had given it to him. The others who'd reached the top were young, mostly. One had flecks of grey in his hair but the boy with the bread barely had whiskers on his chin. Ulthan had seen more than twenty summers yet it was known the Temple did not reject because of age.

The Iron Passage glided open, the hinges a whisper, and a man dressed in the habit of his order stepped out. His hood was up, hiding his face, and he halted at the edge of the Monastery floor. The wind breathed and a cluster of snowflakes skipped across the threshold, each melting instantaneously. 'Name?' the monk pointed to the boy eating.

'Cain,' he said with a mouthful of bread.

'Leave.'

Cain dropped his bread and gawped at the monk. 'Huh? Why?'

The monk ignored Cain. 'You, name?' he pointed to Ulthan.

'Ulthan, sir.'

'Enter.'

Ulthan hesitated, glancing to Cain and to the girl to the other side, then to Kaspar who raised a scarred eyebrow. He hurried in, mindful of keeping his head raised and standing straight. As he passed the man deciding he tried to steal a look beneath his hood but the monk looked away before Ulthan could see. 'You, name?' his voice trailed off as Ulthan entered the monastery.

The Iron Passage led to a hexagonal room with shimmering midnight walls, floor, and ceiling, as if the stars themselves had been plucked and used for decoration. The room was empty save for a narrow hole in the middle that was no wider than his hand. The longer he stared at the wall the more he thought the specks of white pulsed and moved, the more he felt drawn towards the stars.

'Hello,' a girl said.

Ulthan's attention snapped and the starry wall ceased to pulse, 'Oh, hello. I'm Ulthan.'

'My name is Yuni,' her voice was nasally. She stood no taller than Ulthan's chest with neck length black hair, her cheeks and nose reddened, the skin cracked.

'Yuni... that's an odd name.'

'I could say the same about yours, where are you from?'

'Corhil. You?'

'Gör Murun, near the desert to the west. I've never been so cold,' Yuni rubbed her hands together. Her eyes flicked up to Ulthan's then down. Other initiates entered and on the third time of glancing up at Ulthan she said, 'Did you see a boy behind you? My height with hair cropped to his scalp?'

Ulthan remembered the boy down in the town before the hike, 'I don't remember seeing him for days. Who was he?'

'Brai, my brother. I thought he was slow but now I think he went home,' Yuni's expression drooped. 'It's funny, he wanted to serve the Many-Eyed God more than I did but he didn't make it past the first test.'

Ulthan counted five, including himself. He couldn't imagine having to hike back down the mountain now, he prayed Kaspar would go with the leavers. Though how useful the scowling guide would be was questionable.

The hooded figure stepped away from the Iron Passage and the two halves slid closed in silence. He lowered his hood revealing himself to be portly around the cheeks and missing an eye like Kaspar. 'Welcome to the Monastery of the Visionaries, Temple to the Many-Eyed God, I am Master Ludwig. You will call me Sir or Master while you're here. I ask that you all purge your stomachs down that hole before we continue.'

The five gossiped in disbelief. Yuni said, 'I haven't eaten anything since we last slept.'

'Master, may we have salted water?' a boy with a wide bridged nose asked.

'No.'

Ulthan watched the others fret and, instead, approached the hole. He knelt down, stuck two fingers to the back of his throat and reached till he thought he could feel lung. He wretched as bile climbed up. He slammed his wet hand to the starry floor and a lump of half digested bread tumbled out of him with a string of bile. He coughed and spluttered. Another helping of bile burned his tongue and nose. He spat. Fur had gathered on his teeth. Wiping his mouth with his scarf he rose and approached Master Ludwig. 'Done, sir.'

The monk nodded, the scar over his eyelid twitching and twisted. 'Very good, go onto the next chamber,' Ludwig clapped once. The part of the hexagonal wall behind him slid back and vanished into the floor.

Ulthan stepped past the Master and into an pentagonal room of the same starry dark blue stone, but this time a fire roared in the centre.

Part 2 – Renunciation

Another man joined Ulthan, a dribble of vomit on his chin. He was taller than Ulthan but his face was younger, his eyes clear as if he'd never even seen a bandit or been roughed up in a drunken brawl. Perhaps he was his town's best fighter. 'Hey,' Ulthan's throat stung.

'Name's Tilhind,' he said with stony voice.

'Ulthan.'

'I heard. What was the girl's name?'

'Yuni.'

'What I would have given for a pretty thing like her back home. Well if I were that lucky I wouldn't be here, let's leave it at that.'

'I wasn't aware celibacy was required here.'

'It isn't but you don't hear of children in these halls do you? Whatever happens – '

The other three trailed in, Yuni pale as snow.

'You all brought seven items dear to you?' Master Ludwig barked. He strode towards the fire and spun behind it so the flames concealed his face and flickered with his breath.

The five nodded.

'Set them in that corner,' he pointed towards the wall to his left, a breeze whispered through a crack in the wall. He remained silent until the five prospective initiates returned to the flames. 'Here you renounce your past life,' he waved his hand through the tallest flame. 'Burn your clothing.'

Ulthan gulped and looked to the others. The man with flecks of grey in his hair rolled his eyes and began undressing. In seconds he stood stark naked before the flame and threw his clothes into the brazier.

'Very good. Continue through to the next chamber. Return once you're are done,' Ludwig clapped his hands once and the stone wall behind the Master shuddered open. A trickle of dust sank through the air. Steam billowed out of the room and other adherents of the Many-Eyed God chatted beyond.

Yuni and the other girl arched their necks and leaned out of the glare of the flames to see what was beyond. 'A bath?' the other girl's accent was similar to Ludwig's. Dropping to the floor she tugged off her boots and hurriedly stripped her layers of furs and wools off. She covered between her legs with one hand and held her bundle to her chest with the other while manoeuvring around the flame on her tip toes. Flinging her clothes into the fire she ran into the next room. The flames were quashed for a moment and a gush of smoke obscured the naked girl as she disappeared into the room of steam.

Ludwig stood dispassionately, never once glancing down at the naked woman nor even congratulating her on passing. He didn't need to, they all knew what to do now.

Tilhind stood with folded arms staring into the fire as if his clothes would magic themselves into the brazier. His eyes twitched to Yuni, back to the flames, then to Yuni.

Ulthan turned to see her slowly removing her clothing. The strange coat she wore that covered her neck to ankle was the only thing she wore. With a handful of buttons and a clasp she was nude. Ulthan averted his eyes and unwound the scarf from his neck. It was either that or go home and he refused to descend the mountain.

Ulthan entered the next room. The chill of the stone crawled up his ankles and burrowed into his knees. He covered himself and struggled to make out anything but distant fires through the steam.

'Follow me,' a soft woman's voice called out. A hand followed and grasped his pulling him off to one side. He couldn't make out her face. 'Here,' she tapped on the side of a bath tub. Ulthan climbed in and hissed. His skin pimpled from the immense heat yet he sank into the water all the same hoping it would warm his core. The woman returned and hung a basket of soap on the edge of the bath. Ulthan washed and lay in the water to absorb the heat. A pair of scissors clicked and a chunk of hair flitted by. 'Fret not for this too must be burned.' She guided his head back so the hair fell to the floor but he could still not make out her face. He didn't know when she'd finished but was left bald and alone.

An hour passed before the woman returned. The water had lost none of its heat and the steam remained thick as ice. 'If you would step out of the bath we will apply the oils,' the woman's voice lifted Ulthan back to reality. He clambered out of the tub and six hands began rubbing him down with linen cloths. Once dry the hands returned applying oils with scents Ulthan had never experienced. Sweet, musky, and one that cloyed his throat when first applied. He squinted into the steam but the owners of the hands remained mere shadows. Then as quick as it had started it was over, the hands retreated, their owners vanished, and Ulthan was alone. The steam cleared to reveal the doorway back to the previous chamber close by.

Ulthan was the last to return, and the only one still naked. Master Ludwig stood before the brazier, a folded habit in hand. 'This is for you,' he extended his arms, one hand beneath the clothing and one on top of it. Ulthan tried to accept the gift with one hand but the Master would not let go, only when Ulthan accepted with both hands did Ludwig relinquish the habit.

'Thank you, sir.' Ulthan was thankful for the deep warmth the bath had provided. He dressed quickly, the long tunic similar to what Yuni had been wearing prior. There was a separate hood with a wide collar that draped over his shoulders along with a pair of supple leather shoes.

'Tomorrow you will return to this room and burn one of your belongings. The rest of the day will be spent in meditation. This cycle will continue for seven days. Rest well,' Master Ludwig clapped twice and a second wall slid open to reveal a dormitory.

Part 3 – Meditation

Burning Week, as Ulthan and the others called it, was the most boring period of his life. Each morning he would wake, choose a belonging, contemplate it, feel sad, and burn it. Then he'd wander the five-sided chamber and dormitory for the day. He couldn't go anywhere else and sitting down with his eyes closed only made him angry as he relived memory after memory, pondered on all his regrets, things he didn't say, things he shouldn't have, and things he forgot to. The mistakes multiplied the more Ulthan attempted to distance himself from his past life. The burning of a doll, of a bracelet made from old seeds, a dried flower, it all became easy as the constant gnawing of his past overshadowed everything else.

Yuni had taken to meditation easily, she sat, placed her hands on her knees, closed her eyes and was away. Ulthan thought she was sleeping half the time but no one could sleep that much, it would have made a cat jealous.

Rosa cried every day. A perpetual silent weep even as she meditated under instruction from Master Ludwig. Those were the only times Ulthan tried to meditate, or pray because to him they seemed the same, and Ludwig didn't push them to try outside the lessons. Tilhind and the other man, Hatham, mostly played games with their remaining belongings. The game changed everyday and by the end they had borrowed everyone's stuff to recreate some gambling game but without money and with rules so slim it was barely a game.

On the sixth day Hatham was gone. Ludwig never spoke of him and Tilhind claimed he didn't know why he'd left. Ulthan assumed he couldn't burn his last belongings. One was a ring, the other a child's mitten.

On the seventh day Ulthan approached the brazier before the others were awake. He held the horse his father had carved him when he was still in swaddling. The body was indented and worn from where he'd rubbed his thumb against it for years, the patina glistened in the flames. He swallowed his sorrow and tossed it into the fire. Sparks flared and the horse was no more. A weight released from his heart and the sorrow retreated, the regret and anger fled too.

Master Ludwig entered from the bathing chamber, though there were no longer any baths and the steam had long since dissipated. 'Well done, Ulthan. Tomorrow you will begin to learn of the world.'

Part 4 – The Patterns of the World

Ulthan, Yuni, Tilhind, and Rosa followed Master Ludwig through the four-sided chamber that had been the bathhouse and into a three-sided room twice as high as the previous. Shelves lined the walls packed with codices, engraved copper plates, books, and a multitude of clouded glass orbs. A plain mahogany lectern stood in the centre of the room with nine cushions around it. Three ladders reached the height of the room attached the shelves and rolled on brass wheels, atop one was a woman around the age of Ulthan's mother.

'Ahh, the initiates,' she wedged a book in her belt and slid down the ladder to greet them. 'I'm Cyrewyn but you will call me Master or Preceptor. Thank you, Ludwig. I hope we shall all see you in seven days time.'

Master Ludwig grunted and retreated from the three-sided chamber.

'You're going to teach us all about the world in a week, Preceptor?' Tilhind gawped.

'I can't even read,' Rosa said.

'Don't be ridiculous. I'm going to make sure you're all on the same page, the same starting point. For Rosa that will be learning to read and write, though in truth that will also take longer than a week. Takes a whole lifetime to be frank. New words appear all the time with esoteric meanings, but that's part of the fun,' Cyrewyn smiled and dimples appeared in her cheeks, she had crow's feet around her bright eyes.

'It's a test of patience,' Tilhind folded his arms.

'And ability,' Cyrewyn scowled at him. 'Cynicism is utterly misplaced here.' She took the book from her belt, a svelte tome with gold filigree on the spine. 'First you will all read this. Each of you will take turns to read sections out loud from the lectern. You are free to discuss and ask questions as we go or you can simply listen. Up to you. I will be in here with you.'

Ulthan stared up following the wealth of written works, 'Is this all the books in Ixonia, Master?'

Cyrewyn laughed. 'Not even close but we must begin. Plenty to read and precious little time to do it. You go first,' she handed the book to Ulthan. He clung on to it, the gold spine the largest fortune he'd ever held. He stiffened and clasped the book tight in case he dropped it. When he reached the lectern he set the tome down so softly it failed to make a sound. 'It's a book not a babe,' Cyrewyn admonished. 'You three, sit down.'

Ulthan cracked the book and was stunned at an engraving on the first page. A depiction of a bearded man, naked, striding the Seraphine Mountains and leaning down to plant or, perhaps, pluck a tree. The Far Northern skies were clear, 'Master, when is this from?'

'Long before the Corua Airship Disaster, it's a marvellous frontispiece and you will uncover its mysteries by reading the book,' Cyrewyn lowered her hood to scratch her scalp. Her hair was shorn short and she too was missing an eye though the scar was small and clean sealing shut her eyelids.

Ulthan began to read.

The week progressed in a rhythmic fashion. The four read in turn in the morning and rarely asked questions. The afternoons were spent in silent reading for Ulthan, Yuni, and Tilhind while Master Cyrewyn taught Rosa her letters. Except eating, sleeping, and bathing, the whole week was spent in the triangular chamber and by the end of it Ulthan's head span with thousands of years of history. Of demonic invasions on the west coast, the frelokath fleeing the known world and sailing across the Kysal Sea, and of flying cities powered by mystical stones to the south-west. He learned Ixonia was merely a continent of a realm called Aeo but that was too much and caused him nausea to think of the size and time-scales involved.

Rosa had left by the fifth day. She'd struggled for the first three days and refused reading lessons on the fourth. She blamed Cyrewyn's gruelling pace, and Ulthan agreed, but Yuni knew otherwise yet stayed mum on the subject like Rosa asked her too.

Part 5 – All Things Have a Cost

On the morning of the eighth day there was nothing to break their fast. Ulthan, Yuni, and Tilhind entered the library to find Masters Cyrewyn and Ludwig waiting for them. Ludwig raised an eyebrow in surprise at Tilhind. 'Is there anything to eat, Sir?' Tilhind asked.

'You don't want to eat right now,' Ludwig said. 'Follow me.' He spun on his heel and a shelf opened like a door. Cyrewyn followed him through then the three initiates.

Ulthan went first and felt his eyes become warm, then his head. The corridor through the shelf was pitch black yet the burning in his head grew with each step. Sweat ran down his forehead. Light shimmered ahead and they emerged in an enormous tower and at its centre was the Many-Eyed God, a pillar of eyes and flesh hanging from the rafters lost to darkness above. A thousand thousand eyes twisted and focussed on the three initiates, some were human sized but others were gargantuan and made up of multiple irises and pupils. There was a fire behind Ulthan's eyes but he did not feel weak. Shocked into breathlessness he scanned the god up and down, eyes upon eyes upon eyes watched him.

Ludwig guided the trio up spiral staircase after staircase, with Cyrewyn behind, until they reached the balcony overlooking the god. Ulthan leaned over the edge of the balcony. His vision span and he was glad he had not eaten, there was no floor that he could see. The tower seemed to burrow into the mountain itself.

'Ulthan,' Cyrewyn grazed his shoulder and gently guided him to a ladder the others had already climbed.

At the peak of the tower was a platform that lead out into the middle looking over the Many-Eyed God. The tangle of crimson flesh and bloodshot eyes, some bigger than Ulthan's entire house back in Corhil, churned his stomach.

Master Ludwig reached into his sleeve and produced a knife, a curved knife.

'No. I won't do it. I won't. You can't make me,' Tilhind stumbled backwards barging into Ulthan and Cyrewyn. 'I'm leaving.'

'That is your choice,' Master Ludwig said flatly.

Tilhind scurried down the ladder and vanished into the bowels of the Monastery. Neither of the Masters were phased by his outburst, nor where they interested in chasing him.

'This is the final sacrifice. The Many-Eyed God was born of sacrifice and we receive wisdom in return, by the look of your face, Ulthan, something is trying to reveal itself to you.' Ludwig held the blade out to him. Yuni stepped aside, mouth agape, watching the knife as if it would leap up and slash her.

Ulthan was feverish, his skin burning to the touch and his mind had begun to throb, yet still it did not hurt. He reached for the curved blade, so concave it was almost like a ladle but with an edge to cut bone. He instinctively brought the knife to his left eye and pinned his eyelids open with his left hand. Cyrewyn stood behind him, hands gripping the rails of the platform. Master Ludwig offered a subtle one-sided smile. A beam of light curled along the super-fine edge as Ulthan brought it closer to his eye. He couldn't wait any longer. Sweat poured down his back, round his ears, and bubbled up from his palm. The world went silent and something pounded to get out. He plunged the knife above his eye and twisted. The world went red, then dark. Ulthan fell to his knees and his eye stared up at him in a pool of blood. His mouth was wide open but the scream was silent, the pain overwhelming yet the throbbing ceased, the pounding at his mind stopped, and a myriad sights dazzled him. Vast deserts, unknown constellations, thousands of horsemen charging across an open plain, ships heading east over the endless Kysal Sea, and a gateway deep beneath the ground in the Everdark threatening to burst open.

Ulthan gasped and arched backwards.

'Give your eye to your god, Ulthan!' Ludwig shouted.

He swayed on his knees, light-headed and weak, but he managed to force himself to crawl forward. His eye waited for him, oozing something horrid and wide in terror. Hard and wet to the touch he threw it into the hanging god. The eye landed amidst a fleshy rolling landscape and quickly merged with it. Ulthan closed his remaining eye and saw through the one he sacrificed.

Ludwig produced a second knife from his sleeve, 'Yuni?'

The woman removed her hood, her hair short to the scalp but growing quickly, and snatched the knife with an eagerness that surprised them all.

Ulthan used the rail to help him stand but each time he blinked made him dizzy as a different world appeared in his mind. At first he saw himself from below but then he saw Tilhind, then Kaspar and Cain, and then a town he didn't know with a massive tree at its centre.

Yuni wasted no time and scooped out her left eye. She screamed and screamed but caught her eye in her fist and dropped it over the edge standing. Panting she staggered backwards into Master Ludwig and fainted in his arms, a thick trail of blood running down her cheek and habit.

'Now you see how we see and your next lesson begins.'

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this One Shot please consider leaving a like, a comment, and sharing with others.