So, between Percy and myself, we gave Odysseus a quick rundown about what was going on. In between Fathom repeatedly fangirling out and trying to get his autograph, of course. Meanwhile, he gave Cerberus scritches and rubbings, seeming to already know exactly how to draw ambient magical energy from the air to make himself solid enough that he could do that. Which Cerberus absolutely loved. He was just like an excited puppy, who also made sure to introduce his newest friend by nudging Eurso forward with one of his heads. The armored raptor was still bashful, almost like a little kid hiding behind Cerberus and peeking out until his ‘big brother’ nudged him closer. Then he basically purred when the ghost-man scratched up under his chin. It was adorable, especially the way Eurso started rapidly tapping his foot and tail along with it.
Telling this guy the whole story about absolutely everything that had brought us to this point would obviously take entirely too long. We didn''t have a month to stand there and explain things. We hit the major beats of who I was, when I was from, what we were doing there, and why. At least, the part we knew. It wasn''t as though Ehn had exactly been very forthcoming with details. Which, judging from the look Odysseus gave the man when he was mentioned, he wasn''t all that surprised about. He definitely seemed to have had some sort of history with the guy. And he wasn''t much of a fan. Which--well, wasn’t all that surprising given who Ehn was.
In the end, the ghost stared at me for a long few seconds, currently trying to decide how to react to all this. Finally, he gave Ehn one last look before turning to walk away back across the water. Just as I was starting to worry that he wasn''t going to talk to us anymore at all, he called back. “If you''d like to discuss what you want with the girl and have her come talk to me about it, feel free. I’ll not listen to the words from your own mouth. Your voice isn’t something I ever wanted to hear in this afterlife of mine.” After a brief pause, he added just before moving out of earshot, “Bring Persephone and Cerberus too, the boy deserves to stretch his legs on some dry land.”
Watching him disappear back toward the island, I gave a low whistle. “Well, he really doesn''t like you very much. No wonder you wanted us to be here for this part.”
“Oddy has always been quite the judge of character,” Percy put in with an innocent smile while she patted Cerberus on one of his heads. “But it sounds as though the only way for you to get what you want out of him is to convince Felicity that what you want is for the best, so she can convince him.” Her own tone made it clear just how… upset she would be if Ehn tried any other way to force the issue. Which, granted, even both (or all four counting Cerberus and Eurso) of us together wouldn’t stand a chance against him. Still, turning this entire situation into a fight seemed to go pretty far against what the man was trying to do. Especially when we had the Roundabout.
We weren’t strong enough to beat him, but we had what he wanted and the only way he could benefit from that was to play nice. So, I straightened up a little before giving a nod of thanks toward Percy. “She’s right, if you want us to convince him to play along with whatever this plan is, you need to convince me that it’s the right thing to do. So why don’t you stop playing coy and explain exactly what you want him for. Then I’ll see if it’s something I should talk him into.” I tried to keep my voice as even as possible, ignoring the fact that the person I was making demands of could basically squish me like an ant if he wanted to. I wasn’t trying to be overtly rude about it, of course, but I wasn''t going to cower and plead either. If Ehn wanted my help, he was going to have to be open about it. I wasn’t going to go into this completely blind just on his say-so.
At least the man seemed willing to accept with little more than a slight nod as his eyes moved from Percy back over to me. He seemed to consider his next words carefully before starting with, “As I said before, this is about what he knows, what he''s seen. Odysseus traveled far and wide, witnessing a great many things in his life before coming here for his last living moments. His life was extended thanks to the woman known as Inanna. Or, somewhat more commonly, Calypso.”
“Okay, wait,” I put in, raising both hands. “You’re saying Calypso, as in the umm, Greek Titan, daughter of Atlas who was sent to live alone on an island and ended up keeping Odysseus for like ten years--”
Oy, it was seven years, Fathom corrected. At least get the Earth-based sea stories right.
“Seven years,” I amended. “Anyway, that same Calypso is also Inanna, of… hang on, I know this.” For obvious reasons I had been studying up on mythology over the past while. A lot of it ended up being useless, but some was bound to come in handy. “That was… uhh… Gilgamesh! That was the goddess lady from the Gilgamesh story.”
“Just so,” Ehn confirmed. “Well, she was in more than the Gilgamesh ‘story’ as you say. Inanna was known to be a goddess, worshiped by the people of what is referred to as Mesopotamia. Now known as Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Kuwait. That particular… area. Her influence began as far back as six thousand years ago, and she was eventually elevated by the Assyrians to become their primary deity, even over their personal god Ashur.”
“Well thanks for the history lesson,” I found myself replying slowly, “but what does that have to do with Odysseus and what you want us to convince him to help you do?”
Ehn gave a faint smile at that, gesturing with one hand for patience. “All in good time. Some background is needed for you to understand the situation. And you should never turn away from any opportunity to learn. We have plenty of time for such endeavors.” He took a breath then, gazing up at the sky for a moment before continuing. “Inanna is a very powerful being, a ahhh… Fae, like you, in fact. At one time, she was human, long, long ago. Long before we had any record of her, before she became seen as a goddess by those ancient people, Inanna was an ordinary human. Her tribe, a primitive group of nomads, were set upon by a pack of wild beasts similar to what you call Amaroks, the giant wolves. These were more akin to giant coyotes or hyenas. Most of her people were killed, save a few children and the witch-woman, a human of particular skill in magic from back long before our ability to use such was cut off by the Seosten memory curse. Inanna was one of those children. The witch-woman summoned the spirits of those slaughtered nomads, and sacrificed those who still lived for her magic. All save for Inanna. She alone was spared, and empowered to seek vengeance on behalf of her people.”
“This witch-woman killed the rest of their children just to empower Inanna to get revenge on a few giant coyotes?” I staggered at that, head shaking in disbelief. I knew the world was different back in those days, but still. That was… that was wrong. It didn’t matter how different the world was, ‘don’t kill children at all, let alone your own, on some revenge scheme’ shouldn’t have required modern sensibilities, damn it!
Ehn gave me a brief, inscrutable look before replying, “The ‘giant coyotes’ were sent by a rival tribe competing for the same hunting lands. Their shaman, for lack of a better word, tamed the creatures and whipped them into a blood frenzy before sending them after Inanna’s people. And, in the mind of the witch-woman who killed those children, she was saving them from either certain starvation for having no adults to hunt for them, or being enslaved and potentially cannibalized by that same rival tribe. The other nomads would not have adopted and taken care of the children, they saw them as unclean. They were different, not of their people. I won’t say that what she did was right, only that she truly believed it was the lesser of two evils.”
“And the whole revenge thing?” I asked pointedly. “Was that supposed to be the lesser of two evils too?”
His head shook. “No, I believe that was just plain revenge. She knew she was too old and frail to survive the changes she sought to make, but one of the children would do. Inanna was simply chosen at random. At that time, she was barely nine years old, and the ritual, giving the power drawn from the deaths of every member of their tribe at once… it changed her dramatically. Their spirits were erased, wiped out of existence. And in exchange, Inanna was granted a great deal of power.”
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“Enough power to still be alive in your time, Flick,” Percy put in while giving Cerberus some more firm rubbings under his chins, much to his delight.
“Wait, is it that easy to make people immortal?” I found myself blurting at the news that Inanna was still around. “I mean, not to say killing kids or using the ghosts of your slaughtered family is easy, but relatively speaking. It can’t be that simple to use some magic spell to turn someone immortal like that. I mean, granted, I know a fair number of practically immortal people at this point, but still. If it was that easy, the number would be even higher. That’s absurd.”
Audibly chuckling, Ehn gave a murmur of agreement before clarifying, “She was not rendered immortal at that time. In fact, she should not have lived much longer than what was required to gain her revenge. The spell used on her, to transform her so completely, was not one intended for long life. It was intended to draw massive amounts of energy, from living creatures, the surrounding air, any magic in the area, anything it could reach within her range. The plan was for Inanna to be captured by these rival tribesmen and taken back to their camp. They wouldn’t see one small girl as any threat. Once she was amongst them, her absorption ability would reach peak capacity and overload. When it did, the effect would cause a truly massive earthquake, great enough to create the equivalent of the Grand Canyon in what would one day be known as Syria.
Wincing, I managed a weak, “I guess it didn’t exactly work out that way.”
“Indeed not,” he confirmed. “Somehow, something unknown, a factor no one has been able to duplicate or explain, altered the spell the witch-woman intended to cast. Instead of gathering energy without limit before that energy is expelled in an earthquake, Inanna simply… stops gathering energy when she is full. Her body metabolizes that energy into itself, allowing her to regenerate from any wound or illness, no matter how severe, and her aging was first dramatically slowed, then eventually ceased entirely. As long as there is energy to absorb, she will heal. And even if there’s not, as soon as her body reaches an area there is, she will regenerate again. No matter how much time has passed.”
“So… she went and got herself captured and they couldn’t kill her?” I asked slowly. “Wait, if they tried to kill her and couldn’t do it no matter what they tried--”
Ehn smiled faintly. “Yes, they came to see her as a goddess, when all efforts to sacrifice her were made in vain. This small wandering tribe of vicious, bloodthirsty nomads began to worship the nine-year-old Inanna. And that is where it started. All attempts to kill her have failed, as she will simply return to life stronger than ever. When magic is involved, her power absorbs that before any spell can be turned against her.”
I processed that for a few seconds before slowly nodding. “And Odysseus, he became a Natural Heretic of her, didn’t he? She was a Fae, so humans can bond off her.”
“Precisely,” the man confirmed, turning to look out at the nearby island once more, in the direction Odysseus had gone. “He was an explorer before then, a man with a deep desire to see new things. He ended up shipwrecked on the island she had found herself magically bound to--”
“How could she be magically bound to a place if she absorbs magic?” I put in.
The man chuckled. “That is a very long story all on its own. Suffice to say, she cannot absorb the energy of a powerful-enough spell that is already in place, and that barrier was erected before she was fooled into setting foot on the island. But in any case, Odysseus found his way there and one thing led to another. They became intimate, and he gained a certain level of her own ability. His, however, was less efficient. The energy he absorbed could only slow his aging down considerably, not stop it entirely. Eventually, he grew old and came here to pass away.”
Percy raised a hand. “He did many things in between those two events! Including spending time with Cerberus, Andromeda, and me. He’s a very nice man. Also sometimes a very angry and violent man. And usually very smart. He’s a good person, we won’t hurt him. Or make him do anything he doesn’t want to.” Her voice was very firm on that point, punctuated by a chorus of little growls from Cerberus.
“We’re in agreement on that,” I put in with a look toward Ehn. “So we’ve got the background of who she is and who he is, but what do you want from him?”
I could tell the man wasn’t accustomed to giving straightforward answers, especially when it came to whatever this was. He was used to giving orders and having them followed, with his people only finding out what the point was when the time was right. But I wasn’t one of his people. And if this whole alliance was going to work out, he needed to start figuring out how to cope with actually telling me what I wanted to know.
In the end, he clearly came to the same conclusion, launching into the actual explanation without looking away from the island. “During the course of his very long life, Odysseus explored far and wide. He witnessed a great many things. One of those things was a rift in space and time, a gateway from this world to another very far away, both physically and chronologically. The rift only existed for a short period, and he was the only one we know of who actually saw it from this side. He wrote about the rift, but left key details out. Lacking those details, it is impossible to find precisely when and where the rift appeared. Given how long he has lived, and the fact that he wrote about the rift potentially many centuries after it happened, locating it would be like searching for a specific needle in a world of haystacks. He is the only one who can provide that information.”
Percy’s hand shot up. “Why didn’t you just find him while he was alive, Mr. Important Dragon-Man? You can time travel--you even time traveled to get this far. Why not go to a time when he was still breathing and talk to him? Or get someone he doesn’t hate to do it, like you are now.”
It was a good question, obviously. Why hadn’t Ehn just taken us to a time when Odysseus was alive? I could do this because I had Necromancy, but that was only necessary because the guy was dead now. With time travel, we could’ve gone to any point in his life. Unless--
“You did try that first, didn’t you?” I realized out loud. “You went and talked to him while he was alive already and for some reason it didn’t work. And you must’ve made a bad impression, given how he reacted to you being here. Not the worst impression you’ve ever made, or he wouldn’t even be willing to hear you out through me. But he definitely doesn’t like you very much.”
“Indeed,” Ehn admitted with a soft sigh. “Much earlier in my life, I attempted to gather this information from his living self. It turned out, very soon after he found the rift, Odysseus used ritual magic to bind himself to never tell anyone the details about it, where or when the rift appeared. The terms of the ritual were very clear. He could not give those details to anyone, for any purpose or in any fashion, for as long as he lived. Nothing would take that information from his mind. Not only was he incapable of sharing it willingly, it could not be pried out with any magic or other gift. Even a Seosten or other method of possession would not provide access to it. It was completely impossible to gain the information while he was still alive.”
“But you didn’t kill him and try to take the information that way,” I noted quietly. “I’m sure you know plenty of your own Necromancy magic when it comes down to it, enough to summon a ghost and probably even force them to do what you want if I wasn’t here. You waited for him to die naturally.”
“Whatever you may think of me and my methods, I am not a monster,” Ehn informed me in a flat voice. “As has already been pointed out, I am more than capable of using time travel when necessary. It cost me little to jump to a time after he had lived as long of a life as he was ever going to. And you have a rapport with the dead. I would prefer not to force the man to do what he doesn’t want to. I’m hoping you can convince him that giving us the information would be best for everyone.”
“Yeah, about that,” I started hesitantly. “You mentioned this whole rift in space and time thing. What’s so important about it? Where and when does this rift go?”
Finally, the man turned to face me. A slight smile found its way to his face as he gave me the straightforward answer I’d been looking for. “The rift led to the world of the original Fomorians, before they became what they are in our time.
“If we find that rift, we can learn every secret of the Fomorians.”