Many thousands of years ago, as the gods of our aeon-cycle lay dying, they resolved to convene a meeting in the heavens.

  Since the first indications of their fading, the gods had languished in fear. Though death came for them slowly, even when reckoned by their own cosmic timescales, merely learning of their inevitable fate prompted most to fall into a permanent hollowing. They began to abandon their duties influencing the earthly plane, and with their retreat from such affairs, the world of corporeal creatures slipped out of its golden age of harmony, and strife was first known to humankind.

  But seeing the troubles of her children, the queen of heaven, She-Cuts-Sky, called for an assembly, in order to determine if anything could be done.

  Many gods sought to propose routes to truer immortality, or at least to search for methods to preserve their essences for as long as they might. She-Cuts-Sky dismissed these ideas, as unlike her more desperately hopeful children, she confronted her fate with bravery, and so understood the pointlessness of struggle. And she knew it was the inevitability of that fate which was the horror most afflicting the despondent, not the particular length of time any of them would remain.

  Finally, amid the tumult of the assembly, He-Who-Tends-Gardens, the consort of She-Cuts-Sky, began to cry. As the other gods continued their argument, She-Cuts-Sky took notice of her husband, and pulled him aside to tend to him. Wiping the tears from his face, she asked him of the cause for his weeping.

  “I despair not over my own end, but that of the realm below,” said He-Who-Tends-Gardens. “I would not have wished to form from clay the race of humans, if I had known that we would one day vanish, and so no longer remain able to protect our creations from the chaos of their realm. Even now, with the derelictions of many, the suffering of earthly creatures is immense, and it will only grow worse after we are truly gone.”

  She-Cuts-Sky thought on this for a moment, then returned to the rest of the gods, bringing her husband with her. There, with her voice of command, she bid silent the tumult.

  “I know what shall be done,” she said to them.

  At that, the gods listened.

  “Each of us shall fashion a gift for the beings of the realm below,” she said. “We did not create them to live beyond us, and yet, we shall soon be gone. It is our responsibility to help them learn to lessen their suffering, if we can not remain forever to do so ourselves – if we do not, we will have created the humans to suffer, and so we will have committed a great evil.”

  Some of the gods, those who had abandoned their duties more completely in their despair, felt ashamed, then, upon hearing the truth spoken by their queen, and hid their faces in their hands.

  “And with these gifts,” continued She-Cuts-Sky, “So too shall we live on, after we are gone.”

  “We know that we will soon fade,” she said. “And the beings of the realm below, are no less transient than ourselves. But indeed their race will be our survivors. If we bestow gifts upon them, and then those gifts are inherited through their lineages, and such a cycle persists – perhaps the echoes of our kindness shall be felt until the end of time.”

  Quickly, the gods of the assembly understood the prudence of her plan.

  One stepped forward quickly, his hand raised.

  “I will teach them the flick of flame, and how to grasp it,” said He-Gleaming-Sun. “Then, they will keep warm on cold nights, and bring light to dark places.”

  The other gods murmured their assent to the idea, knowing fire would be a great boon to the humans indeed.

  “I will teach them the spark of spirit, and how to wield it,” said She-Slays-Demons, “So that their great warriors may have power enough to defend their tribes from the beasts and evildoers of their realm.”

  Again, the other gods all agreed that such was a good idea. Many beasts and demons roamed the realm below, against which the marshaling of vis-power would give humans a proper chance.

  “I will give their most curious the gift of insight,” said She-Who-Looks-Upon-The-Stars. “When they seek the nature of their world, their great philosophers will feel my blessing, and for fleeting moments gaze upon the true shape of the universe. And through these glimpses they will be inspired to design new inventions of stone and steel, which might be employed to ease the burdens of their laborers, or empower their warriors against beasts, or aid them in some other way entirely.”

  And once more, the gods all agreed that such was a very clever idea, and a generous gift indeed. Their earthly realm could be shaped with the right tools, if only the right human minds were to discover them.

  But another god stepped forward then, thinking sagely for a few more moments before speaking.

  “These have been surely prudent gifts, for the dwellers of the realm below, that have been so far created” then spoke up She-Of-Oaken-Wisdom.

  “But they aid those who are already powerful among the humans. Perhaps the brave, strong, and clever do not need our assistance most of all, but rather the vulnerable, wounded, and lost.”

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  There was silence among the assembly, before the gods began to speak in her favor, acknowledging her vast wisdom indeed.

  “Even now in the realm below, humans war with Phraints, and with each other. Innocents are maimed and crippled. Children are left without mothers and without fathers. It is those vulnerable who will need our aid most,” continued she.

  The whole assembly of gods waited with bated breath to hear what gift She-Of-Oaken-Wisdom intended to bestow upon the realm below.

  “So I shall bestow upon the utmost vulnerable – those lost, and blinded children, without mothers and fathers – those children for whom their parents have been taken before adulthood, and as well, who have lost their most invaluable capacity for sight – I shall bestow upon these poor souls the gift of prophecy,” she said.

  “Dreams and visions will come to these children, fleeting indeed, as even I cannot know exactly what shall be the future of all things – but valued insights of times-to-come nonetheless. And so in this way, even those without sight of their eyes might still see the way forward, and even those without guidance of their guardians might still navigate the way ahead.”

  The chorus of gods elated, hearing that so wise and generous a gift would be her legacy across the universe long after She-Of-Oaken-Wisdom had vanished.

  “And in this way, across the villages of humankind, there will always be open arms for the orphan blind, otherwise the most burdensome charges for whom to feed and clothe. None shall forsake the sybils of my blessing, for all will know it was I who sought fit to bless them, and that they were sacred to me – but most of all, they will be cared for and housed, even in the poorest villages, because each human will wish to hear of the tales of prophecy their visions shall so provide.”

  A great cheer went up around the hall of the palace of She-Sky-Above, as each god in the assembly rejoiced in her wisdom, and the beauty of the gift. And each felt, then, such a measure less of their despair of before, as they knew then that so great a legacy would belong to She-Of-Oaken-Wisdom, and thus as well be theirs through her, and in such a way indeed they would truly never vanish until the end of time.

  All rejoiced in this way, except one.

  Amid the crowd, one voice attempted to speak up against the roar. Finally, she spoke loud enough to be heard, and the whole assembly again went silent.

  “Do not bestow this gift upon the earthly realm,” said She-Who-Stands-Before-The-Gate, She-Saffron-Cloaked.

  Most of the gods of the assembly were stunned at the insolence of She-Saffron-Cloaked, She-Who-Dances-Alone. She was the youngest, and well known as the most foolish of them all, and so the impertinence of her objection was almost unthinkable – not least to She-Of-Oaken-Wisdom, who spoke first to break the silence.

  “Who are you, to speak this way to me?” said She-Of-Oaken-Wisdom. “To myself, whose wisdom is known throughout the realms?”

  “Forgive me for my foolishness, and my arrogance, that I might only beg of you to choose for your gift to the earthly realm any other blessing you might deign to bestow, save for that one,” said She-Who-Stands-Before-The-Gate, She-Three-Formed.

  “And what is your objection to a gift ensuring that never will an orphan child, most pitifully blind, ever want for food or shelter? What protest do you make against a blessing such as mine that shall avert such vast suffering of our most vulnerable mortal children?”

  She-Saffron-Cloaked, She-Who-Stands-Before-The-Gate, with her eyes cast down in shame – even then, ashamed, seemed as though she meant to speak, to respond to the indignation of She-Of-Oaken-Wisdom.

  But the anger of the assembly burst, and before she could raise her objection, the other gods at once took her and carried her out of the hall. She-Cuts-Sky tried to stop them, but the anger of the mob had reached such a boil that even her command could not hold them.

  And so the other gods took out of the palace She-Saffron Cloaked, She-Who-Stands-Before-The-Gate, and thence to the edge of their realm, and then cast her down, and out of heaven.

  In time, indeed the gods faded and vanished from the universe, only their legacies remaining of their presence. Then bereft of the gods protection in whole, quite slowly – five thousand years or more – humans banded together to protect themselves from the worst excesses of strife, forming villages, then cities, then states spanning continents.

  And indeed, the gift of He-Gleaming-Sun, of the harnessing of fire, proved invaluable to this pursuit, as well as that of She-Slays-Demons, of the wielding of vis power by their warriors. And as well, too, the gift of She-Who-Looks-Upon-The-Stars, that of the will to glimpse the universe-shape bestowed upon their natural philosophers. Great nations formed, built in large part thanks to these blessings: empires and kingdoms and republics, and they multiplied the world across. And in light of this, understanding how far they had come since the first time of strife, it was so that nearly every human would have agreed that they had fashioned for themselves a world of great prosperity, even despite the absence of the gods.

  And, five thousand years after the death of the gods – five thousand years after the first humans settled in villages around fertile rivers – eighteen-hundred years after the founding conquests of Maxadin the Great, by Setetic human reckoning –

  Every single human state, each and every republic and kingdom and empire, without exception, maintained an extensive, systematic, and usually clandestine human trafficking regime of each and every blind orphan that might be accounted for within their borders. Secluded camps, underground dungeons, and sequestered towers all, where such pitiful creatures were kept and their future-visions recorded, analyzed, and acted upon.

  Never was the matter voluntary. And release was never an option, even long after they had grown into adults and their gift had dimmed – for then anyone might learn of the valuable secrets they had foreseen and memorized, foreign spies, internal dissidents, and business competitors alike.

  And the insights of the future gained by such oracles were so valuable, indeed, that there came a time when the natural supply of blind orphans became insufficient to meet demand.

  So it was soon realized thereafter that such sibylline children did not just need to be merely discovered. How rare it was indeed, to chance upon a child both with dead parents and without sight.

  It was then discovered quickly that children with parents could, in fact, be turned into blind orphans quite easily. And so many became such.

  And so in this way was unimaginable suffering inflicted upon at least one narrow corner of the world of humankind, a great evil left stained upon the earthly realm, a harm whose echoes could never be truly forgiven.

  Thus, was the legacy of the gods.

  We will return to 'Blades of the Grass' tomorrow. In the mean time, here's some art of Theodora and Aeto, by @killjo_q on twitter.