“The king of the gods, El, once fought a powerful enemy who wielded human faith as a weapon. Fortunately, that enemy was defeated and sealed away long ago. Yet the gods continued fighting one another, bringing great sacrifice to both gods and mortals,”

  Ana explained.

  “Tired of so much bloodshed, the gods began seeking peace among themselves, and decided, almost unanimously, to stop using humans as farms of power.”

  Rodrigo began tuning her out, trying to convince himself that perhaps these girls were merely misguided. But Tania pinched him so he would pay attention.

  “Then, El experimented with a religion that did not worship any true deity, and introduced this faith to a small people in the land of Canaan. They are the Jewish people you know,”

  Ana continued.

  “Later, came attempts to give humanity a better life—teaching brotherhood and humility through Christianity and Islam, to unite humans and stop their wars, while at the same time bringing peace to the world of the gods.”

  By then, Rodrigo had stopped listening. He grew drowsy and was nearly asleep.

  “Of course, not all gods agreed. Some, like the Norse, and especially the gods of India, have placed great obstacles against our king’s peace project. And to make matters worse, even though those religions were created to seek human peace, humans found ways to divide themselves and carry out massacres and genocides in their name,”

  Ana added.

  “Christians killing Jews, Muslims killing Christians, and so on. Since we cannot intervene in their conflicts, we have been limited to merely watching as they turn their own existence into hell,”

  she concluded, sitting down again.

  Rodrigo was completely asleep. Tania pinched him awake.

  “Did I bore you, Rui?”

  Ana asked, somewhat annoyed, as Rodrigo jolted up from his seat.

  “No, no… not at all,”

  he replied nervously.

  Ana sighed deeply and continued.

  “Tania and I are goddesses tasked with watching over humanity. Our role is literally to prevent any foreign god from interfering in this world. That is why we were assigned to regions belonging to our former pantheons.”

  “I should be on the island of Ireland,” Ana added,

  “but… I don’t like staying long there, with the conflicts between my people and the Vikings. So I spend part of my time with Tania. It saddens me not to be able to defend them.”

  Her face showed a shadow of pain and grief.

  Rodrigo forced himself to listen, not wanting to anger her. After all, offending a lady—even if misguided—was hardly proper for a knight.

  “We also must watch over the progress of Christianity and Islam,” Tania interrupted,

  “since both religions are part of El’s peace project. We have some ‘flexibility,’ like influencing certain wars or inspiring people in dreams as angels. But that’s as far as we can go.”

  “Yes,” Ana agreed.

  “I can use some influence to help the Christians in Ireland against the Vikings. But behind those armies are monsters like Thor and Odin, and I have little strength to put up much of a defense. Still, my people are strong and have endured so far.”

  Rodrigo finally blurted out,

  “I’m sorry, but… I really don’t understand any of this.”

  “Falling asleep through half the conversation doesn’t help,”

  Tania scolded.

  “Don’t worry, Rui,” Ana said kindly.

  “I know this is a lot to take in. We’ll stop here so you can process it. But before we finish, I’d like to share one last thing—our classifications, so you can understand what you are.”

  Rodrigo watched as Ana moved her fingers, and suddenly a kind of chalkboard appeared, as if conjured by magic. The dark-haired goddess began to draw a table:

  I. El – King of the gods

  II. Elohim – Protector gods of El

  III. Anunnaki – Gods who lead their respective pantheons

  IV. Katteres – High gods of their pantheons

  V. Grigori – Higher gods assigned to watch over humans

  VI. Igigi – Intermediate and lower gods

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  VII. Nephilim – Demigods, children of gods and humans

  VIII. Malakim – Angelic messengers and soldiers

  IX. Behemoth – Beasts and monsters

  X. Ruah – Mischievous low-level spirits

  “We gods are ranked in these categories,” Ana continued.

  “Tania and I are Grigori, since we watch over humans. You, we believe, are a Nephil.”

  “Nef… nefi… what?” Rodrigo blushed.

  “I’m sorry, but I can’t read,” he admitted shamefully.

  “That’s understandable,” Tania said. “In this human world, very few people can read.”

  “Don’t worry—we’ll teach you,”

  Ana reassured him with a smile.

  Rodrigo had expected to be mocked, but instead they were kinder than he thought.

  “And one more very important thing,” Tania cut in, sitting on the table. “You must learn to fight, so you can defend yourself.”

  “Malakim aligned with Viking or Indian armies often roam these regions, trying to destabilize El’s monotheistic kingdoms. You need to face them, because we might not always be there to protect you. Besides, we’ll need to take you to Lel, where you’ll be assigned a role,”

  the red-haired goddess concluded.

  “Lel?” Rodrigo asked.

  “Yes, Lel. El’s royal palace,” Tania explained.

  “It is where our central government resides, and from there we receive our orders.”

  “Yes, from the voice of Whoranat,” Ana said sarcastically.

  “You mean Bitchanat,”

  Tania corrected.

  Both goddesses burst into laughter. Rodrigo had no idea what was going on; he supposed it was some kind of private code between them.

  “Don’t worry, you’ll meet her soon enough,” Ana said with amusement.

  “Anat is El’s right hand and serves as supreme commander, since the king of the gods rarely makes public appearances.”

  “And she’s a bitch,”

  Tania muttered.

  “And a whore. A big whore,”

  Ana added with a grin.

  Rodrigo noticed how the goddesses acted like mischievous teenagers, and it reminded him of the jokes he used to share with his friends.

  “Well, tomorrow we begin your training, Rui,” Ana said, rising and resting her hand on his shoulder.

  “If I left you with that lioness in heat over there, you wouldn’t last five minutes.”

  “I’m no war goddess like you, crow-head,”

  Tania shot back.

  The two continued hurling playful insults at each other, which Rodrigo found amusing. He could hardly believe such divine beings could behave so much like adolescents.

  Even so, he still struggled with their claims about Christianity. Deep inside, he thought that if what they said was true, perhaps El was YHWH, or Jesus Christ, or simply one of His angels. To him, these girls seemed more like angels such as Michael or Gabriel.

  That night they lit a bonfire outside the cavern. Ana entertained them with stories from her homeland, like the tale of Cú Chulainn, who had slain a king’s hound and been forced to serve as his personal dog. They drank, danced, laughed, and finally fell asleep by the firelight.

  Rodrigo awoke at four in the morning, as he always did, but was surprised to see Ana and Tania still fast asleep. Tania snored like a lioness. So the boy decided to take a walk and observe the local flora and fauna.

  At six thirty, the goddesses were still asleep. Rodrigo grew bored, unused to such idleness. He had always lived by a strict schedule as a caravan guard, and caravans always departed early to avoid bandits.

  At eight, they were still sleeping.

  “Up early to train—yeah, right,”

  Rodrigo muttered to himself.

  He wandered to the shore, watching the waves to relax, then returned around nine. By then, Tania was awake and preparing breakfast.

  “You didn’t actually believe that drunkard would wake up early, did you?”

  she teased as Rodrigo walked in.

  Finally, after ten in the morning, Ana stirred and sat up.

  “Oh, Rui, forgive me! I overslept!”

  she said.

  “Don’t worry, I just woke up myself,”

  Rodrigo lied.

  “Liar,” Tania said.

  “He’s been up since four, wandering about.”

  “Well, how about a short lesson after breakfast?”

  Ana suggested, still groggy.

  Tania had baked bread, which they ate with cheese and beer she had brewed herself. Rodrigo began to notice how incredibly beautiful the goddesses truly were—like women from royal palaces. Despite all the people he had met in his life, he had never seen women with such perfect figures and eyes of such striking color.

  Do they have suitors, or lovers? The question flickered in his mind.

  Ana was slightly shorter than Tania, with a slimmer frame, though her breasts were much smaller than the Berber goddess’s—who was quite generously endowed.