Chasing the Gods
“They’re almost here,” whispered Safirne, child-goddess of wisdom, while she hugged her fluffy cloud in the shape of a duck close to her chest.
“They might still get tired and give up,” comforted Tirleva, Safirne’s parent and the elected ruler of all the gods of Nerfia. However, even as xe was petting Safirne’s long, dark hair, xyr gaze didn’t move from the group of cyclists who were steadily climbing the mountain. The top reached all the way up to the gods’ palace in the clouds, and if these humans on their bicycles persisted, there was no gate or guardian to keep them from walking in and making unpredictable requests. Granting the wish of one human might have negative consequences for another, but would they react peacefully to being denied?
Against all expectations, the cyclists didn’t dismount their bikes until they effectively stood in the palace hall, panting and sweating but somehow cheerfully elbowing each other in the ribs.
As Tirleva majestically strode in with Safirne peeking out from behind xyr skirt, the humans froze and stared, and one of them gasped: “The gods!”
“Brave travellers, what is your request?” asked Tirleva.
“Oh,” said one of the cyclists, doffing their helmet respectfully, “we didn’t come to request anything, but merely to conquer the mountain—and we completed that challenge!”
After a festive meal, the cyclists started on their long descent, and Tirleva and Safirne found themselves watching them again—this time not with worry, but feeling proud of how their own creations still managed to baffle them.
—
[Image description: Under a blue sky with large grey-and-white clouds, a grey road winds through a green, uneven landscape. Down in the distance, there are many white houses, a beach, and the ocean.]
