By: Concerned Record Keeper

We came to understand the power that we had when we were pushed to the wall. A deadline had been set for us to pay up the sacrifice the gods claimed we owed them. As though, being on this land and using it was not a human right.We were neither discouraged nor did we despair. We gathered at their altar and let our voices known, shaking the lands and the seas with our collective power, blocking off their channels in our outrage. And they acquiesced, dropping the seven commandments that detailed what they would give us in exchange for our docility. We were happy. We had not only gotten an extension on the ultimatum but they had promised to discuss it at the meeting of the gods, the Si-Net. An extension of the day of our death, a delay in our expulsion from the world, it was.

We cannot pay the sacrifices that they demand of us, neither because we were lazy nor because we did not toil the soil with all our might, but because the higher gods have cursed our lands. They have made it hard to pull from our lands, the blessings in it. The gods of Yoo-Hi in their “infinite wisdom and empathy”, decided to increase the sacrifice we had to pay, under the auspices of maintaining the lands and its inhabitants thereof.

We rejoiced and ran to our homes and hovels, joyous at the seven commandments we had received, believing that they would keep to their words.

Unfortunately, what the gods give with one hand, they take with the other. While we thought we had prevailed, the gods ascended into their heavenly tower and plotted against the lowly mortals. They would not ask for their holy recompense directly. They would make use of their lesser gods, the lesser authorities they had brought under their wing to lecture the lowly mortals on the ways of the world.

“Let the people come and collect their lessons and their blessings as is required for the prosperity of the lands. But to get them, they must bring the Nectar of the Gods. Only then will we provide these benefits. And if they are not here to receive lessons or blessings, then it is only right that you leave these lands.”

Ah! There it is! The Nectar of the Gods could only be obtained after our sacrifice was given. It was a blatant use of force. Manhandling us using their power unbridledly and cunningly. We ran to the gods to lay our complaints but they raised their hand in ignorance.

“We do not know about any such deals or arrangements. We have kept to our word, and though it often seems otherwise, we are not all-powerful. We have no control over the actions of these lesser gods. Deal with them as you can.”

We were done for. Our numbers would be slashed by a great number. Not all of us could afford to make the sacrifice in the time they had given us. We turned to our leaders, the chiefs in charge of us, chosen to guide us on this wearying road, collectively called Es-Yoo, they offered us mere platitudes.

“What should we do in the face of this attack? How do we stand against this concerted effort to take us down?” We cried to them.

“Don’t sacrifice!” the spokesman chief replied. “Don’t sacrifice, hold out. We will climb to the top of the heavenly tower and we will discuss, and fight and bring you an answer.”

We believed and we held off the sacrifice, not like we had any choice. The hard lands were not giving up enough to even feed ourselves, talk more of giving sacrifice. But we got no response from the Es-Yoo. They sat in their huts and pushed off our meetings, stopping us from gathering to exercise our power.

“Let us gather”, some of us cried out. “Let us gather and discuss. There is more we can do even after making use of our awesome power.”

They called on the Es-Yoo to officially call the meeting, to pull us all together, to allow us to achieve what had caused us to utilise our power in the first place. But they only brushed us off.

And when we tried to hold them to the reason they had been made to do, they only gave us more words as if they were magical spells that would automatically solve our issues. But they only fall flat, No magic, no solution, no actions.

And so, we remain trapped between a rock and a hard place. The gods at the top claimed to be keeping to their promise, the lesser gods asking for the Nectar of the gods which was held squarely in the iron fist of the greater gods and locked behind the sacrifices we could not afford to give, and chiefs who seemed content to have a title only and reluctant to do what the title demanded of them.