17th February 2013
16:58 GMT
As the only full human on the shore, I should probably field that.
"When we first found you, oh glorious one, your heart was missing from your chest! You attacked us quite vigorously!
"
"What do you mean, my heart was missing?!"
"Looked like someone cut it out, magnificence!
" I start walking closer as she stares down at me.
"We could see your lungs!
"
"My heart is in my chest."
"No, that's a new heart I made! I've got no idea where your original one is!
"
Her unusual facial structure makes it a little hard to decipher her mood, and she's clearly having a nasty shock. But she isn't smashing me for my lies, so I'm going to assume that she's at least accepting it as plausible. I could ask her what made the wound in her chest, as that would help with the sheeda and the creatures assailing Themyscira. But that's probably a bit confrontational.
"Might I ask your name!?
"
"Do you think I am some minor goddess, whose name can just slip your memory?!"
"I worship the gods of Olympus, divinity. I am far from my homeland, and their place of power. I probably never learned it.
"
"Then know that I am Tlaltecuhtli! Goddess of Earth and all the life that springs from it!"
I roll my eyes at that-. And Kon catches them and shakes his head. Yes, I had realised that now isn't the time for comparative theology. This blood-fuelled earth goddess might be the Aztec version of Demeter but she certainly isn't Gaea. I just realise that calling her out on her creative advertising wouldn't help the situation.
She crouches slightly, her right arm dropping down to tear rocks from the ground, a load that she pushes into the hole in her chest. The rock then spreads across the injury, merging with her flesh to create a patch. It's not the same colour as the rest of her skin, but it appears to be functional.
I wonder. If we accept that the Olympian mythos survives so well because they're drawing power from the chained titans, who are too fundamental to the human part of the Dream to ever fully fade, that makes them more powerful and more coherent than the gods of other dead or dying religions. As for the rest… I don't know. I remember reading in Hellblazer that the gods of dead religions don't get weaker, but Bast herself said that her realm was in decay without humans at least thinking of them. Maybe it's the realm? Or the human-comprehensible parts of the god rather than the core self?
Or maybe Hellblazer was wrong, or John was dishonest?
No, can't be.
"Do you require our assistance any further, oh Goddess of Earth?
"
Might not have been wise to draw attention to the fact that she needed mortal help, but unless she feels like sharing what happened to her there isn't anything she can do to help us solve the case.
I
think she's thinking about it, but then she spots Themyscira on the horizon.
"Why is that here?"
"Don't know. We were about to find out. They're being attacked by humans who have had their hearts torn out-.
"
"I will deal with them."
She stamps towards the misty sea, the stone causeway which Kon obliterated reforming to take her huge footfall and weight.
Kon ambles over, careful to keep Tlaltecuhtli in view.
"It worked."
"Good work with the heart massage.
"
He snorts. "Good work with the
heart."
"That wasn't the hard bit.
" I look around.
"Cernunnos? Are you around?
"
There's a faint shimmer at the tree line and Cernunnos stalks out, keeping an eye on Tlaltecuhtli.
"You may have saved her from enchantment, but she still eats hearts."
"I haven't forgotten, but we're in the land of the Aztec gods. They all do it, and we're going to have to deal with them. Would you mind flying to Themyscira and letting them know we're here?
"
"What's wrong with you?"
"Ring's dead. Kon, what's
your damage?
"
Kon pulls the melted remains of his kinetic belt off his suit. The suit is thin enough to be protected by his organic force field, but the belt extends outside of that.
"Fine, apart from the belt. Are you having trouble recharging?"
I raise my left fist and tap it against a personal lantern that isn't there.
"Yes. I'll need a moment. Please keep watch.
"
He nods, doing a quick check of our perimeter.
"Oh, and in case you missed it, her chest could absorb the orange light, so there's probably another-.
"
"One of your clones-" He nods. "-with its heart cut out."
"Just so. Okay.
"
This
should be doable. I recreated Larfleeze's ring from pure avarice because it had existed for so long that it imprinted on it. My personal lantern has only been orange for a couple of years, but the orange light fountain has existed about as long as his ring. Not sure if Hinon dismantled it as part of building the Orange Central Power Battery, but the
imprint should still be there.
I make a fist with my right hand and raise it slightly, contemplating the ring.
And it should be tied to this ring.
Just outside the-. Ooooh. It's actually a little easier to see things here without straining. No, no, not the desires of individual people. I want to see the distortion left by an object, things not tied to a particular person or mindset. A device that used to cage the Ophidian. There are Kon's desires and Cernunnos's desires and Tlaltecuhtli's desires and pull out pull out pull all the way out. There's the whole of the orange but it doesn't all flow from the desires of individuals. Behind that, there's the desires of groups, species, things existing beyond the individual. But aside from that, there are structures which emerge from the thing itself…
I reach out with my right hand and touch my ring to the structure.
This is my cause, this is my fight,
Shine through the void with orange light,
I've claimed all within my sight,
To keep what is mine, that is my right.
Something moves, and the previously empty ring becomes full again as I return to the realm of the gods and toss Kon a replacement kinetic barrier.
"Is it lava proof?"
"Try swallowing it.
"
He snorts, then we both rise into the air and head after Tlaltecuhtli.
