“Miss them?”
Kay sat at Lord Vishnu’s feet at the orchard, smiling timidly.
“Terribly”, replied the Lord. “I’m their guardian angel, so I know everything that’s going on and what they’re going through, but that somehow makes it worse. They were occasionally going through terrible things and I could only try to warn them. I feel almost as helpless as they do”, he sighed. “You?”
“Yeah”, Kay’s smile faded. “I was so used to them being here. I know they are out of the worst of it now, but the closer it is, the more nervous I am and the more I miss them. And the fact that you and others are here with me doesn’t help – I miss them specifically, and nothing else will fill the hole”, she sighed and hugged her knees. “Tell me stories about them, my Lord. You know them the best. I know you and Lord Shiva are different, and I know you both, but I’d like to hear it from you. How are you different, and where are you similar? I mean, you are both male Primordial Gods, but you are nothing alike.”
“Mahesh is the one who takes charge in emergencies and attacks the deep causes of the problem. Remember?”
“Yes. When the victims started arriving, we were all in complete shock and crying, and he just took action and handled it all”, Karuna smiled. “Also, when Hypatia reported what’s going on with the Germans”.
“Oh, he cried too”, Vishnu smiled back. “It’s just that his instinctual reaction to things that shock him and make him cry is extremely aggressive. He puts a shield around us, wields his most powerful assets, and just solves the problem. I think we have an implicit division of duties; he solves the root cause of the problem, I try to heal the victims and deal with the consequence side of the issue.”
“You hug and comfort the victims, he finds who’s responsible and someone gets to regret their choices”, she grinned. “It’s amazing how I never get scared when I saw him in action, and I intellectually know that he’s the scariest person in existence when he’s angry. In fact, I get goosebumps in the most positive way. He’s awesome”, she giggled. “I always wondered, did the two of you ever spar? To see who’s stronger?”, she winked.
“Never. Even the thought of fighting him, thinking how to hurt him, even in jest, feels like a terrible sin. I never did it, and I never will. Have you ever thought about sparring with Mandy? Think about how to kill her?”, he looked at her seriously.
“No!”, Karuna almost shouted in shock, and her eyes glistened with tears. “That would be terrible!”
“Exactly”, Vishnu nodded. “We Gods can never mock-fight, because our power is always to be used to protect the family, never to attack it. I would rather lose my powers altogether than direct them at Mahesh. The purpose of my power is to heal, protect, guard, anticipate problems, and figure out ways out of them. Thinking about fighting him, or fighting you, feels so wrong I can’t actually do it. I’m sorry I upset you, sweetheart. But I had to make that point”, he smiled at the Goddess.
“I know”, Kay smiled back. “It was just a shocking, terrible thought. But tell me about the Lady. You two know each other for eons. Tell me about her.”
“See that thing on your forehead?”, Vishnu pointed at the golden circle. “That’s what they actually are, in their deepest nature, or at least as deep as I can see. When they descend a step, they become two separate people, with separate personalities, energies and abilities.”
“Woah. You mean, they are the Throne of God in their actual true nature, and it splits into a male-female couple as it descends into manifestation?”, Karuna touched the golden light on her brow in amazement.
“Yes. How that works is the deepest mystery of Creation.”, the God’s eyes went soft.
“And if one of them died for real in that pit of Satan down there, or if Shiva got into trouble as usual as he tries to chew off more than he can swallow, and you couldn’t save him…?”
“No more world. No more Relative Creation. No more God. Worst ending of everything”, Vishnu shivered in terror. “They manifest the World, between them. Without them, there would be nothing. No meaning, no point, no world, no love, no light, no consciousness.”
“So, it’s not just me”, Kay nodded seriously. “When I look at either of them, I feel they are the most fundamental, most essential reality. I can’t imagine life without them, or the world without them, and now that they are temporarily absent it feels… as if everything is on pause. We’re just waiting for them to return before life can go back to normal”.
“No, it’s not just you”, Vishnu smiled and ruffled the girl’s hair. “It’s not just you”.
“So, that’s why they do their spells together”, she mused with a smile. “It takes two of them, and they remember their higher state where they are one, and that changes how the Throne of God manifests and what it is.”
“Smart cookie”, Vishnu grinned, and Kay glowed with his praise. “Let’s go have coffee and see how the others are doing”.
“Wait a minute”, Karuna stood still in shock. “They are down there. They are growing in power. They are manifesting something very similar to what they usually are. If that completes, the Throne of God manifests on Earth. Does that mean what I think it means?”
“Honestly, my daughter, if you didn’t already have the Title of Goddess of Wisdom, I’d give it to you now”, he smiled as he stood up and offerer her his hand. “Come, let’s walk”.