The Juggernaut and the Megalith

Once there was a God with human form, who took it upon himself to excavate and relocate particular slabs of rock, propping them up in strange formations. There were no other God men at that time so he did what he pleased upon the land; at first not interfering in the lives of normal men, preferring hermitage in the mountains, but years passed and he became curious.

 He travelled to a nearby peak, perched above a village of men, and gazed upon them in their public daily lives. These humans, he knew, worshipped his ethereal brethren. How would they react, he wondered, if he appeared before them now? Disguise would be impossible as he stood twice as high. He decided to write a letter.

 Greetings humans, it is I, Juggernaut, the God man. Prepare a feast for my arrival in a fortnight. I bring news of the other Gods. Be not afraid of my appearance.

 On the remainder of the page he drew a very small man standing next to a very large one.

Two villagers were traveling down the Eastern Path, returning from a hunt. Juggernaut, hidden in the forest just outside the village, whispered to them as they passed: "Ho, travelers. Tidings from the Gods. Look ye to the gnarled oak and find a letter there."

 This startled the huntsmen and they cried into the woods, demanding that the owner of the voice either show himself or be shot down, but Juggernaut had already left that place.

 The letter was brought to the village chief, and then brought to the priest. These two became fearful at the portent of the words and they worried about various lies they had spread regarding Gods. "We may have to kill this God man," they said, for they loved the power over others.

 

A fortnight passed and Juggernaut, dressed in a simple grey robe, made his way to the town gate, giving the watchmen time enough to relay that a God man indeed had left that letter. A crowd had formed about the gate itself and he was glad to see it consisted mainly of women and children. At first he heard their voices awed, then a chant that rose, proclaiming his arrival, thanking the heavens for their blessing. Then a messenger emerged, head bowed, running toward him with a banner flown upon a wooden staff.

 "All hail the Gods and their fair ambassador!" The messenger said, eyes turned upward onto Juggernaut's, a fear apparent in them.

 "Greetings to you, herald," said Juggernaut, "you will bring me to your village chief?"

 "He hath bid it, my lord."

 And so Juggernaut followed the messenger, towering over the crowd, into the village depths.

Their leaders lie, Juggernaut thought. Before him spread a feast made for kings, with sweet plums and meats, and drink enough to bring a Dionysus to his knees. The village chief and priest sat cross legged upon great pillows of red silk, both clothed in rare indigo finery.

 “Your holiness blesses us with his presence,” said the priest, “though I’m at odds to determine why? To be frank when I first saw that letter I thought it must have been some brand of joke.”

 “The Gods are without that kind of whimsy, I’m afraid,” Juggernaut said. “I merely endeavor to learn more about this village and its people. Long ages have I spent upon this land, mustering forth the will of Gods, but of late a curiosity’s been born. Ye humans live short lives of desperation, like candles in the storm, manifesting emotions such as love and fear and hate. The Gods are incapable of emotion, existing as they do on the time scale of infinity, without body or mind as we may know those things.”

 “Oh Great Juggernaut,” said the chief, “how could it be you know so little of our lot? Surely your brethren have foretold our sacred place in the universe entire? Of Man’s ultimate ascent to the ethereal realm and of his taking to its throne?” At this the Juggernaut chuckled softly.

 “Let me disabuse you of this notion, chief though you may be: the Gods speak naught of Man to me. You simply do not figure in the Grand Scheme; are but a novelty sprung up from ancient sea, both coming from dirt and returning to it.”

 “How is it then you stand before us now?” the priest said, uneasy at the confrontational atmosphere filling the royal room. “Are you not as we, a being of flesh and bone and blood? Won’t your body return to earth once spent?”

 “These things I’ve no insight into, small priest. There is the dimmest memory of an existence in the ethereal realm when the universe was young. Once fulfilled, my chosen task, I hope there to return.”

 “And what is it, this task of which you speak?”

 “To bring my strength to bear upon long buried and ancient rock. To arrange these in designs that only Gods may know good reasons for.”