Page 92 of Possession

“Well, people argue back and forth, but no one knows. Some say Aris appeared out of nothing the first time something bad happened. Others argue that he's older than that and was just inspired by chaos and death. Did he make himself from the concept of evil, or is he why evil exists? I don't know."

"He used to call himself a god,” I say after a moment.

"I'm sure he's something similar." Simon grimaces. “I’m not great at theology, but I can find you books by people a hundred times smarter than me. Let’s head to the antiquities section.”

As we go around a narrow bend, I stumble at the sight before us: the library to end all libraries. A forest of shelves and bookcases, spanning from ceiling to floor, are covered in all kinds of tomes: books bound in leather, bound in paper, in leaves, books with no cover and are stacks of parchment. There are locked books, dusty books, books as large as a child and some as small as my hand.

If I thought I’d seen a library before, I’d seen nothing. This is a library.

“Most of these texts are centuries old,” Simon explains, “but they’re spelled not to age, so you don’t need to use special gloves or anything while handling them.”

“What language are they in?” I ask, scanning the shelves. The system of organization looks chaotic, to say the least. Maybe the Grand Mage filed it all. “I’m guessing Latin?”

“That and a dozen others, but don’t worry.” He gives me a grin. “They’re spelled to translate to the reader’s language.”

I can only grin back. Finally, something is going my way.

We stop in an area not unlike the rest, and I doubt Simon for a moment. Amidst such chaos, how can he even know where he’s going?

“Here’s all of our information on Aris, the formation of the mages, and stuff like that,” he says, gesturing around the large area. “I’ll leave you to it. I’ve got to head back and get some books before class.”

“Right. Thanks for your help.”

“No problem. I hope you get what you need.”

I nod while he walks off, but I don’t even know what I’m looking for. Something to get the upper hand? Something to stop Aris? I don’t think that’s even possible, but I’m so tired of not having any control.

But knowledge is power. For now, I’ll learn what I can. A plan will come later.

***

Over the course of several hours, I crane my neck in every direction while glancing over hundreds of titles. I end up sitting, leaning, and standing on a stool to make sure I don’t miss anything. Most of the books are in foreign languages, but, a second after reading the text, the letters blur and rearrange into common English. Unfortunately, none of them say anything like: How to Defeat a God 101. Some are historical accounts, and a few contain family trees of the members of the mage’s secret society—interestingly more like a family wreath in some places.

I have to thumb through most of the books to see if Aris is even mentioned. One by one. My fingers are starting to bleed by the time I finally find something.

By luck alone, I see it—not text, but a picture of the man from my dreams: Aris. He is sitting on a throne of skulls with a wicked grin. Through the drawing is an X painted in red and the words: DO NOT SUMMON!

I glance back at his smug face before finally beginning to read.

Aris is one of the great powers, his being the incitement of all things ill and dark. He is renowned for a temperament most would describe as “uncooperative,” and interaction with this entity is considered unwise, on the risk of catastrophe.

He has visited this dimension and inspired dozens of cultures. He is Apep, the chaos; Cronus, the greedy; Eris, the trickster; Melqart, the warmonger; Lucifer, the deceiver.

His only confirmed visit was to Babylon from the years 1263 B.C. to 1050 B.C., but is rumored to have visited Egypt around the year of 2000 B.C. The first depiction of the entity was on a clay tablet, etched between the Kurigalzu II and Nabu-munkin-zeri rulings, stolen in a 1012 raid perpetrated by worshippers of Aris. From accounts of those who saw the tablet, the art is described as “a large, male-appearing creature stuffing humans into its great mouth.”

The entity was first mentioned in writing in the year 1260 B.C., when a farmer wrote to his brother,

“Two suns [ago] we witnessed a blight across our crops; in an act of unnature, they wilted and disintegrated, destroying provisions. The river turned black, the sky darker, and a being emerged from both. It came to us as a man and spoke promises. When I attempt to recall his exact words, my nose bleeds black and my head aches.

I write to you now in warning of what I now understand as the end of life and creation. Farewell.”

The first mention of the entity’s name was in the year 1254 B.C. On a cuneiform tablet, a word which can be modernly translated to mean “Dark” was written in reference to the entity. In the year 1250 B.C., “Dark” was spelled out as the name “ARIS.”

Nothing has been found in reference to his first years (1263 B.C. to 1250 B.C.). It is by admission of the entity itself that he came to our planet in the year 1263 B.C. Curiously, he waited three years to reveal himself.

I start to skip around, the history giving me a bit of a headache. I’ll come back to it later, when I’m able to write a timeline down. Finding a random place on the next page, I begin again.

Aris, in his terrible and selfish wrath, destroyed the city. Then, he ordered a throne made of human bones in a month’s time. When the end of month arrived, Aris sat on his throne and “willed the essence away” of those who refused to bow and swear fealty to him [quoted from extract of Ninurta-kudurri-usur]. Hearing the thoughts of each person, he killed whomever made false promises and later gathered his followers to give them what is commonly referred to as “magic,” though initial translation is to be read as “creation.”

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