“I know my power is returning. I can feel it. Many things are returning now. During the weeks we have dwelled here in Ratri’s palace I have meditated upon my past lives. They were not all failures, deathgod. I have decided this today. Though Heaven has beaten me at every turn, each victory has cost them much.”
“Yes, it would seem you are rather a man of destiny. They are actually weaker now than they were the day you challenged their power at Mahartha. They are also relatively weaker. This is because men are stronger. The gods broke Keenset, but they did not break Acceleration. Then they tried to bury Buddhism within the known teachings, but they could not. I cannot really say whether your religion helped with the plot of this tale you are writing, by encouraging Acceleration in any way whatsoever, but then none of the gods could say either. It served as a good fog, though—it diverted their attention from mischief they might have been doing, and since it did happen to take as a teaching, their efforts against it served to arouse some anti-Deicrat sentiment. You would seem inspired if you didn’t seem shrewd.”
“Thank you. Do you want my blessing?”
“No, do you want mine?”
“Perhaps, Death, later. But you did not answer my question. Please tell me what strengths lie with us.”
“Very well. Lord Kubera will arrive shortly. . .”
“Kubera? Where is he?”
“He has dwelled in hiding over the years, leaking scientific knowledge into the world.”
“Over so many years? His body must be ancient! How could he have managed?”
“Do you forget Narada?”
“My old physician from Kapil?”
“The same. When you dispersed your lancers after your battle in Mahartha, he retreated into the backlands with a service of retainers. He packed with him all the equipment you had taken from the Hall of Karma. I located him many years ago. Subsequent to Keenset, after my escape from Heaven by the Way of the Black Wheel, I brought Kubera out from his vault beneath that fallen city. He later allied himself with Narada, who now runs a bootleg body shop in the hills. They work together. We have set up several others in various places, also.”
“And Kubera comes? Good!”
“And Siddhartha is still Prince of Kapil. A call for troops from that principality would still be heard. We have sounded them out.”
“A handful, probably. But still good to know—yes.”
“And Lord Krishna.”
“Krishna? What is he doing on our side? Where is he?”
“He was here. I found him the day we arrived. He had just moved in with one of the girls. Quite pathetic.”
“How so?”
“Old. Pitifully old and weak, but still a drunken lecher. His Aspect served him still, however, periodically summoning up some of his ancient charisma and a fraction of his colossal vitality. He had been expelled from Heaven after Keenset, but because he would not fight against Kubera and myself, as did Agni. He has wandered the world for over half a century, drinking and loving and playing his pipes and growing older. Kubera and I have tried several times to locate him, but he did considerable traveling. This is generally a requirement for renegade fertility deities.”
“What good will he be to us?”
“I sent him to Narada for a new body on the day I found him. He will be riding in with Kubera. His powers always take to the transfer quickly, too.”
“But what good will he be to us?”
“Do not forget that it was he who broke the black demon Bana, whom even Indra feared to face. When he is sober he is one of the deadliest fighting men alive. Yama, Kubera, Krishna, and if you’re willing—Kalkin! We will be the new Lokapalas, and we will stand together.”
“I am willing.”
“So be it, then. Let them send a company of their trainee gods against us! I’ve been designing new weapons. It is a shame that there must be so many separate and exotic ones. It is quite a drain on my genius to make each a work of art, rather than to mass-produce a particular species of offense. But the plurality of the paranormal dictates it. Someone always has an Attribute to stand against any one weapon. Let them face, though, the Gehenna Gun and be fibrillated apart, or cross blades with the Electrosword, or stand before the Fountain Shield, with its spray of cyanide and dimethyl sulfoxide, and they will know that it is the Lokapalas they face!”