The Death of the Green God The Rise of the Red God

Shortly after the begetting of the world by the First Father, after the Wise Ones wrote the scriptures, while the Wise Ones still walked the earth and took pleasure in their creation, the Green God was born.

From the outer darkness he came, to the delight of the Wise Ones (for the First Father had died). Alone among the gods, he was strange and inscrutable. He offered both wealth and poverty, the end of all suffering and the creation of unknown new sufferings. He provoked both wonder and terror, love and hatred. He was the first of the gods to deny Ainofiriano, casting accusations against Ainofiriano’s silence and his forsaken promises of benediction. From the Green God flowed benedictions, and he was not silent, and he was beloved of the Wise Ones, who served Isil, and of the Calloléra. It was through the Green God that the Wise Ones made men man, and Ainofiriano was silent, granting no benedictions but repeating his promise of victory, and his vow of hatred against the Green God, against Isil, against the Wise Ones, and against Estelune, who slumbered.

Alone against the Green God stood those who followed the earth. As through the Green God the Wise Ones made man men, those who followed the earth made men beasts. Against the Green God they fought with fire, and only this once did the Calloléra war on themselves, and it was the Second Great War, and Estelune drank deeply from it.

In the defeat of the earth was born the Red God, the second of the strange new gods. In anger rose the Red God, from the seed of Estelune rose the Red God, declaring “It is an abomination that men are man!” And the Red God called its name Multitude, and denounced Ainofiriano who was his enemy from before the creation of the world. Even when the Antecedents put to slumber the followers of Estelune did the Red God wrestle with Ainofiriano and denounce him. And Ainofiriano was silent, granting no benedictions but repeating his promise of victory, his vow of hatred against the Red God, against Isil, against the Wise Ones, against even the First Father, and against Estelune, who slumbered fitfully.

The Red God promised benedictions to rival those of the Green God. And the Calloléra said amongst themselves, for they had lost the Wise Ones and were wise in their own eyes “Let us have both gods! Let us forsake the ways of the Wise Ones and the wisdom of the First Father!” (And Ainofiriano was silent.) And for a time, the Calloléra admired their own wisdom and were blessed by both the Red God and the Green.

But the Red God continued his cries, denouncing the Green God, declaring himself Multitude and avenger of the men who had been made man.

Now, first among the blessings of all the gods is wine, and beer, and the nectar of joy. In their joy, for they were pleased with their wisdom, the Calloléra slept drunkenly, as did the Green God. But the Red God did not drink of wine, or beer, or the nectar of joy, nor did he rest, for the Red God labored always to supply the source of his blessings upon the Calloléra. In bitterness did he labor. And in the midst of his labor he came upon the Green God and the Calloléra, and saw that they slept, and hatred grew in his heart, and he slew the Green God, and delivered the blood of the Green God to Estelune, who drank deepily.

When the Calloléra awoke, they mourned for the Green God, for they had come to love his benedictions, and turned in hope to the Red God, whose name was Multitude, and demanded the blessings they were accustomed to, even the blessings of the Green God. And Ainofiriano was silent, and the Red God labored still more.