It was the best work environment he could have hoped for, since Lord Azrael assigned his wife to be his tutor. As he heard, this was very much the usual practice \u2013 the spouses usually wanted to work together so that they would spend more time with each other, as that was a life priority, and since one was usually more experienced than the other, they would tutor them until they got the hang of it, which was usually very quickly, as everybody on the required level of competence was exceptionally smart. Carol wasn\u2019t sure if that applied to him, but Azrael and Lakshmi told him not to worry.<\/p>\n
He wasn\u2019t sure why he kept his Wallachian name. That incarnation was very much an exception in his rather stellar career of an architect, engineer and a scientist. Even his less known incarnations were quite remarkable \u2013 his works on astronomy in Egypt and Babylon contributed significantly to the later achievements. As he found out only now, almost all of it was factually wrong, as it assumed that the relative observations from his standpoint on Earth were indicative of the actual reality of things. One more reason not to believe what you see, he reminded himself. What you see is usually the most deceptive part of what you think you know. That\u2019s why I kept that name, instead of Vitruvius, or Nab\u00fb-n\u0101\u1e63ir, chief architect under Nab\u00fb-kudurri-u\u1e63ur. It was the most fatal one, where all my flaws came to bear fruit. I kept it as a warning, to never again believe the supposed facts more than I believe the feeling in my heart. Had I listened to my heart, and not the facts and evidence, I wouldn\u2019t have doomed myself and killed the most wonderful woman in the whole world.<\/p>\n
To his great fortune, God was much smarter than he himself was stupid, and that really says a lot.<\/p>\n
It was an equation with two solutions \u2013 when God gave Grace her husband, it could have ended either well or poorly, depending on what he did. If it ended poorly, and God didn\u2019t provide for a solution that would compensate for it, he would literally have been at fault for her death \u2013 it would have been a trap akin to those Satan cooks up for his victims, only worse, because this one would be meant for an innocent person who did nothing but put her confidence in God. So, God had a very complex and roundabout way of solving that second wing of the equation in advance. And Grace, who trusted God with her life, is now someone God trusts with his Will, beside being his own Person. And she is his wife.<\/p>\n
Father was right, he thought. I really do have more luck than brains.<\/p>\n
\u201cReady?\u201d, his wife whispered. \u201cWe have incoming\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cMy name is Casimir Liszinski. Where am I and who are you?\u201d, the man wondered.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy name is Grace, and this is my husband Carol. We are Judges appointed by God to evaluate your life\u201d, she curtsied.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs there any place where I would be free from the accursed sheep of God and their judgments? First I am burned on a slow fire by them, and they follow me even in this damn place\u201d, he fumed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou seem to be under multiple misapprehensions\u201d, Grace smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, that\u2019s what they always say. I\u2019m under a misapprehension for believing the Earth is round, that it revolves around the Sun, and that there\u2019s no God. And you\u2019ll teach me otherwise, or if I refuse, you\u2019ll burn me on a stake while piously praying to your fucking bastard of a God that doesn\u2019t even exist, evil morons and whoresons that you all are\u201d.<\/p>\n
Grace and Carol looked at each other in shock, and then Carol gave her a mischievous wink. \u201cI think we should exchange our roles. Please, my Lady, stand aside and learn how it\u2019s done\u201d, and pushed her behind him as she giggled.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, my dear sir, you seem to be a man of reason, evidence and science, yes?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIndeed I am, but what would you know about those? You church rats keep persecuting scientists and science from the very beginnings. And you also subjugate women \u2013 just look at you, how you pushed your wife aside. You are all evil and I will resist you with all my power!\u201d, he was working himself to a rage.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy all means, please tell me more. For instance, how science was suppressed by the Church, and how I\u2019m against it\u201d, Carol said with the most serious face, while Grace worked to suppress her giggles.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou and your fucking faith. Faith this, faith that. I\u2019ll tell you what I have faith in: I have faith in evidence, measurements and my own mind. Before your faith, just look at what the people used to make. The Pyramids of Egypt, Colossus of Rhodes, the Hanging Gardens of Semiramis, the aqueducts of Rome. And after you rats and sheep came to power, we had nought but plague and superstition. You invented ways to torture and burn heretics, instead of doing something useful!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Hanging Gardens of Semiramis and the aqueducts of Rome, you say?\u201d, Carol said most seriously, as Grace looked like someone who wished for a pillow she could release her laughter into. \u201cI think I heard something about those\u201d, Carol scratched his head, as if trying to remember.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you hadn\u2019t spent all your time memorising your stupid Bible, you might have actually read something of meaning\u201d, the man sneered.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you have any recommendations?\u201d, Carol asked innocently. \u201cMaybe \u2018De architectura\u2019 by Vitruvius? Or some other classics that I might be unaware of?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou flatter yourself, sheep\u201d, Casimir snorted with contempt. \u201cIf you had the ability to understand such works, you wouldn\u2019t be where you are now\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd where is that, if I may ask?\u201d, Carol feigned interest.<\/p>\n
\u201cPersecuting free thought, science and freedom of religious thought!\u201d, barked the demon, because that was the best description Carol could think of, for a black and godless astral being of hatred and malice.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I\u2019m also oppressing my wife, you say?\u201d, Carol smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne day women will be liberated and emancipated, and then bastards such as yourself better watch out\u201d, Casimir growled. \u201cIt\u2019s easy for you now to treat women as inferiors, since they are ignorant and uneducated, but once we teach them to read, write and have power in society, your entire Church will be overthrown, because you exist only in the atmosphere of ignorance and repression!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI will now bow out and give word back to my inferior, ignorant and oppressed wife, for I think I am done here\u201d, Carol turned to Grace, who managed to assume her formal dignity.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat would be your judgment?\u201d, she asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cHell for the godless souls\u201d, he shrugged. \u201cI mean, my initial impulse would have been to educate, but this one doesn\u2019t have any desire to learn; he just growls his dogmatic nonsense. He looks as if he had been drinking from that satanic attractor I was used to power, and he is drunk with its madness, and thinks the reality of that world gives him power over God\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, everything that is not of your disgusting made up \u2018God\u2019 must be satanic, you accursed uneducated sheep\u201d, the man yelled. \u201cYes, throw me to hell because then you won\u2019t have to face the power of my arguments!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo wonder they tore his tongue out down there. This is really unpleasant to listen to\u201d, Carol mused.<\/p>\n
\u201cI agree\u201d, she nodded, waved her hand and the man was gone. \u201cSome things are supposed to be repressed and persecuted\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you for letting me have my fun with him\u201d, he kissed her hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you kidding? I haven\u2019t had this much fun in a while. I was almost tempted to tell him who you are, but it would be pointless\u201d, she laughed freely now.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knows everything\u201d, Carol agreed and lifted her up as she squealed in delight. \u201cMy poor oppressed and poorly educated wife\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow you mistreat me\u201d, she snickered and kissed him.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs it wrong of me to think that this was so much fun? He\u2019s obviously a terrible fool of Satan, but isn\u2019t his fate supposed to be sad?\u201d, he mused.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is sad when those people roam freely and spread their idiocy around, trying to seduce others away from the truth\u201d, she shrugged. \u201cIt\u2019s sad that some souls are actually making a choice to become thus. But it\u2019s not sad that he\u2019s made fun of and disposed of safely. It would be sad if we couldn\u2019t do it\u201d, she smiled again.<\/p>\n
\u201cNext?\u201d, he raised an eyebrow.<\/p>\n
\u201cNext\u201d, she nodded.<\/p>\n
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It was the best work environment he could have hoped for, since Lord Azrael assigned his wife to be his tutor. As he heard, this was very much the usual practice \u2013 the spouses usually wanted to work together so … Continue reading