The next day was relatively calm. Treya walked to her classes, and Ethan had some time to just hang out at the new house. It was mid-day when Nobilis popped into his thoughts.

  I was able to secure the services of some other Imbued. Ones from the past. Who have experience with your power type.

  Ethan sat up from his spot on the comfy couch that he was lounging on, “Yeah? Who?”

  It’s going to be good. No gear, just come to your Sanctuary.

  “Heaven’s Gate,” Ethan stated as he opened the opaque portal through to his Sanctuary. Stepping onto the long road leading to the castle, he was already close to the door leading out to The Archive.

  Nobilis was standing there, with a clip board in one hand, a cup of tea in the other, and his cane resting off the crook of his elbow. “Come along.” He waved the clipboard, and the vault door opened as he led Ethan into The Archive.

  The deep, green glow continued as they descended several levels of the catwalks. Nobilis explained, “The deeper we go, the older the Imbued. We are going right to the bottom. The first-ever wave of Imbued from when civilizations started kicking around.”

  Ethan’s mind was racing with ideas about who it could be. A mythological hero, or deity from the past, teaching him about how to utilize his powers in new ways…it was surreal. He’d grown up in a Christian household, but he loved history. Especially mythology.

  They reached the bottom, where the catwalks ended and instead they strode on solid, black stone. Featureless, devoid of any means to discern distance traveled. They walked for some time – Ethan had no clue how long, as time seemed to have no meaning there. But they ended up at the far end of a hall where the wall ended.

  Nobilis pointed at the flat wall, “That marks the start of The Archive.” He pointed to the door to the left, “The first Imbued. Not the one we are going to be meeting.” He instead turned around and gestured to a massive, black door. “This one.” He reached over with his clip board and rapped a few times.

  The door spun and opened to reveal a gorgeous landscape that caused Ethan’s jaw to drop. A massive promenade of smooth, white marble with inlaid gold shot off into the far distance, leading to a massive temple that sat upon an enormous mountain that had been carved into a palace. Covered with white stone and with gold-tipped spires that arched gracefully into the sky. Canals filled with fresh, crystal-clear water ran through the streets.

  But more shocking was that there were people. Thousands – no, millions of people. Dressed in simple robes; people enjoying and living life. Fishing in the wide canals, swimming and playing. Sun bathing as the clear, blue skies cast down the shining, warm rays from an unseen source – no sun actually in the sky. Forests expanded out to the sides of the massive canals, and he could see buildings beyond the trees.

  “Welcome to Uruk,” Nobilis stated as he walked through.

  Ethan followed, and a few people looked at him, waved, and began speaking in a language he did not understand. Nobilis reached over and tapped his head with the clip board, and suddenly he could understand them.

  “Welcome, stranger!”

  “Interesting clothing.”

  “Oh! Come here and try this fish! It’s divine.”

  Ethan had stepped through history. Or rather, into a recreation of history. There’s no way it actually looked like this in the past, he thought. Or maybe it did? Am I going to be meeting Gilgamesh? Enkidu? Enki? He didn’t know a ton about the pantheon worshipped in ancient Mesopotamia – most of his interest as a kid and teen when it came to mythology was Greek and Norse.

  Nobilis cleared his throat, “Radiance is here to speak with your queen.”

  As soon as he heard that, Ethan felt a pit in his gut. There was only one queen of the gods in that mythology. And she was a bitch if the stories of Gilgamesh’s epic were anything to go by. He felt a bit of unease – but steeled his resolve.

  One of the citizens walked over, “This way, strangers.”

  They were led down to one of the boats along the canal, and after stepping on board the wood and gold-leafed vessel, it sped off to the massive palace upon the mountain. In a short time they had arrived at the large stairs leading up to the front gates, and Ethan walked up while Nobilis spoke.

  “Inanna, or Ishtar as you probably know her, is an Imbued who also has the Holy power source. She did not die – instead retiring to her Sanctuary after her religion died out.” He chuckled, and gestured around them, “Well, not died out – but rather she rescued them all from a localized cataclysm. Some asshole named Noah with weather as a Power source who flooded the region.”

  Ethan ignored the fact that the biblical flood was just confirmed, already knowing that his religious beliefs were far beyond dead since this whole Imbued situation began. “What can she teach me?”

  “I’m not sure,” Nobilis said as he finished his tea and tossed the cup to the side; it vanished into dust. He pulled a pen from behind his ear and began jotting notes on his clip board. “I sent inquiries to many Imbued. She is the first to respond. She’s just one of several who have offered to mentor you in a new way to utilize your power.”

  “What’s the time dilation here?” Ethan asked. “I don’t want to be gone for months or years or something.”

  “Well, here in Uruk, it is an eternal, single day. But time passes for you and I the same as in your Sanctuary – matched to the real world.” He looked back to Ethan as they stopped at the top of the stairs, before large, open, gold doors inscribed with images of bulls, lions, and warriors. “This is just one visit of many, I hope.”

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  A mammoth of a man strode out to greet them from the dim-lit hallway of white stone. His bare feet padded across the ground, and he was easily eight feet tall with a wide chest of well-defined, chiseled muscle. His face was scarred, and he had an eye patch over one eye. Only wearing a loose-fitting toga, he stopped in front of Ethan. “Nobilis,” he stated.

  “Gilgamesh, didn’t know you would be here when we visited!” Nobilis smiled and sounded quite enthused – which was a far cry from his more butler-y and serious modes before. He turned to Ethan and gestured, “I mentioned before that Ishtar, Gilgamesh, and Amaterasu were some of those whom I had helped in their path of being Imbued before.” He looked back to Gilgamesh, “Gil, you just visiting?”

  “In a way,” he stated as he leaned against one of the huge doors. He looked over at Ethan, his drawn smile vanishing into a grimace. “This your newest one?”

  “Indeed. Ethan, meet Gilgamesh – call him Gil.”

  Ethan held out a hand to shake, and Gil just raised a quizzical eyebrow before gesturing for the duo to follow him. “Come, she awaits.”

  Nobilis walked to catch up and walk alongside Gil, and Ethan just listened in as he followed the demigod from the oldest surviving epic. “How’s things in your version of Uruk?”

  “Good,” Gil replied. “Just here for my usual booty call. Ever since that bull situation, well, you know.”

  Nobilis chuckled and nodded, “I recall vividly. It was interesting.”

  “Wait,” Ethan began, “How were you Curator for both of them at the same time?”

  Nobilis’ face darkened slightly, “Ah…well…I’m just a Nobilis. I have…I guess duplicates, you could say? I’m…hmm…” he tapped his clip board. “Familiar with the idea of a fork? In the personality splitting sense, not the utensil.”

  Ethan was vaguely familiar with the idea. Where a consciousness was duplicated and ‘forked’ to make a new version of the original. “Yeah,” he said. “Faintly.”

  “Well…when an assigned Imbued dies, or chooses to permanently retire to their Sanctuary and seals their means of returning to Earth…a fork is made. The new fork is the most recent one.”

  Gil nodded, “My Nobilis is a teenage boy; one of my childhood friends in appearance, who died before I became Imbued.”

  “And if I recall,” Nobilis began, but he was cut off.

  A stern, female voice replied, “Yes. I’m also here.” A bronze-skinned, toga-covered woman walked out of a side corridor. Also bare footed, and she dipped her head slightly. “I am Nobilis as well. The first Nobilis. Call me Nobilis Prime, if you desire.”

  Ethan glanced between the woman and his Nobilis. “You’re the same person?”

  “I’m a fork,” his Nobilis stated. “Nobilis Prime is what I came from. Well, I’m a fork of a fork. I didn’t come from Nobilis Prime.”

  Ethan shook his head in confusion, “Right. No offense, I’m just calling that one Prime, and you Nobilis.”

  The two exchanged glances and Prime replied, “Works for me. Come. My Imbued awaits us in the throne room.”

  She kept leading the way as Gil and Nobilis chatted idly. Ethan took in the gorgeous environment around him; friezes and inscriptions that depicted ancient wars, acts of heroism, moments of sacrifice – all with grooves filled in with crushed glass that refracted the lines in a variety of glimmering channels.

  They reached another set of double doors which were open and led to a massive throne room. The throne itself was on a multi-tiered dais, and atop it Ethan saw the most gorgeous woman he had ever witnessed. Deep, auburn hair. Tanned skin that was perfectly sun-kissed and accented her deep, purple eyes with a striking contrast. She wore a robe that was open down the center to the waist, where a cord kept it shut and kept her somewhat modest.

  Gilgamesh glanced at Ethan, “Don’t let her get you into bed,” he said with a rueful smile. “You’ll never want to leave.” It was a quiet warning, but there was some laced, hidden pain behind the words. He then turned to leave, “Good chatting, Nobilis. See you, Ishy,” he said the last loudly, and waved as he left.

  Prime walked up to the dais and turned once she was a level below the ancient goddess. “All hail Ishtar.”

  Nobilis bowed at his waist, and Ethan followed suit.

  The woman atop the seat smiled a thin smile. But her eyes were filled with judgement. “You are the one calling himself Radiance?”

  Ethan stood upright, “Yes. Thank you for-”

  She interrupted him, her voice full of authority as she stood. “You think yourself worthy of wielding the power that I pioneered? Prove it.” She descended the dais, and her body crackled with holy, yellow and gold lightning that girded her in a shimmering bubble. “Strike me as hard as you can!”

  Ethan glanced up to the roof, “I need to see the sky to do that.”

  She snapped her fingers, and the ceiling fell away into dust, revealing the clear, blue sky. “Nobilis…and Nobilis Prime…step aside.” Ishtar walked just in front of Ethan, and he could feel the warmth radiating from her. A soothing, pulsing warmth that tugged on the edges of his consciousness and threatened to fill him with a longing and desire for her right then and there.

  The two Curators stepped aside to the edge of the room, and Ishtar spoke once more as Ethan felt on-edge. “Well,” she said as her voice dripped into his head, sweet like honey. “Show me what you can do.”

  Ethan swallowed the knot in his throat and nodded. He glanced up. Leap of Faith. He warped, and was at the “roof” of the Sanctuary – far into the sky. Immediately, he angled his body down at Ishtar below. Holding his hand out in front of him, he whispered, “Spear of Judgement.”

  The gold and white spear manifested in his hands, lengthening and shaping itself into a lance as he accelerated to Mach 10 in a split-second; a crashing bolt of holy wrath from the heavens that slammed into Ishtar. He saw the spear impact her shield, saw the shield crack and spiderweb – but ultimately, it held, and he felt very tired as the energy expenditure afflicted him, and he hopped down onto shaky feet.

  The golden shockwave of divine radiance shot out from the impact point as an explosive force that ricocheted around the room before falling silent. Ishtar waved her hand as the shield vanished.

  “Not bad. Not bad at all.” She walked around him, like a predator circling prey as he tried to recover his breath. Ending back in front of him, she stared him in the eyes and he could feel those purple orbs piercing into him, reading him like a book. “You find me alluring, yes?” she asked. “I must test your mental fortitude, you understand.”

  Ethan swallowed and nodded, “You are gorgeous…but I love Treya.”

  She frowned, “I see. Well, prove it.” She raised her hand, and a wave of gold blasted out over Ethan. It felt like a blow-dryer had been put onto his face and cranked to maximum power as he struggled to keep his eyes open and staggered back from the force of the wind. “Let us see you resist my divine charm. Prove your mental fortitude. And I will teach you!”

  Ethan…felt nothing. Ah, Fred. You magnificent bastard, he thought as he laughed. Fred’s Ability protected him from all mental manipulations.

  And Ishtar looked genuinely shocked if her aghast expression was anything to go by. “You…” her whole demeanor shifted. No longer this stern goddess, she almost became like a petulant young woman, seeking attention. “That is not fair. I am so beautiful that I caused gods to fight each other! There’s no way- no reaction at all- what?!”

  Nobilis walked over to Ethan and clapped him on the shoulder before looking at the now-frazzled Ishtar. “I believe he’s proven himself. May we get started?”

  Ishtar let out a frustrated groan, but ultimately nodded and resumed her composure. “Very well. Ethan, Radiance, whatever you want to call yourself…let’s begin.”