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“It has no name.”
“How long have your gods been dead?”
“They died, by your calendar, on April 29th, 323,304 BCE.”
“That’s super specific.”
“Indeed.”
“And your creation myths? Pantheon?”
“No creation myth I can recall. I can’t even recall the names of the gods. The trickster god, the broken god, the weaver, the goddess of shattering, the secret-keeper…”
“Broken god?” my sister asked.
“The god who was broken,” Keon said. “One who nearly lost their godhood, and now is seen as both mercy and judge and understands the plights of mortals better than any other. Our trickster god is not atrickster, but a god of cunning and temptation and ruthless resolve. There is the secret-keeper, who knows all that happens in the shadows. We do not have analogs to religions you have heard of.”
Since when had Keon been authorized to tell humans this much of anything?
“Do you have a goddess of life? A mother goddess?” Emily pressed. Becka sighed.
“No. To us, birth and death are secular matters.Marriageis highly sacred. The most sacred thing we have.”
“How are birth and death not sacred, butmarriageis?”
“Birth and death are not unique. They are as predictable as the sun rising or the tides changing. Everyone is born. Everyone will die.” Keon shrugged. “Butmarriageis something you choose, and they are vows you choose to undertake. It is our most sacred union.”
“Even over parenthood. Or the mother/child bond.”
“Children come from that union, and while it is something you have some control over, not always. Sometimes the cosmos has other plans.”
Emily picked at her lower lip. “There aren’t many religions that don’t have at least a mother or father figure, or an origin myth, or a regard for birth or semen.”
“Emily…” Becka sighed.
“I wasn’t talking abouthissemen,” Emily snapped, waving her hands at Keon. “He’s withHelena. I’m sure he hearswayworse.”
“Well, she rides that dick and probably slurps down that—” Becka shut up. “Oh, fuck both of you. How does this always happen.”
“It’s genetic,” I told Keon with a grin.
Emily shook herself. “So. Um. Your religion—”
“Mythos.”
“So your mythos believesmarriageto be the most sacred thing.”
“Are you sure you should be telling her this?” I asked Keon.
“Hekon said I could. In the interest of fostering family bonds. Emily, to your question, we believe when you die, we move on to the next life. Which isn’t an afterlife or reincarnation. It’s simply another plane of existence and we do not speculate on what form it takes. But your next life may not be the same as mine—”
“She has a degree in physics,” I told Keon. “You can skip right ahead to multiverse and string theory.”
“We’re smart. That’s also genetic.” Becka added.
Keon grinned at my little sister. “We believe that at the moment of death, a singularity is formed and we traverse to another existence. We believe love is a constant that traverses all realities and states. Your children, siblings, everyone else in your life will spread outwards, and perhaps you will cross paths again one day, perhaps not. But the one you have chosen to be with is the one who will be with you forever. It’s the reason Auryn left. He believed he had fallen in love with Helena without her understanding our ways, and by leaving her he intended to free her from a grip she had not consented to be part of, and that if he remained with her, she would be trapped with him for eternity.”
“Like youbelievethat,” Emily said while Becka gawked. “Likeliterally.”
