The Light of All That Falls (The Licanius Trilogy, #3)

by James Islington

“So what is the question that needs answering, then?” “The one that got me sent here? The one which the Venerate don’t want asked?” Raeleth leaned forward. “Simply put—do you believe that mankind should have no authority higher than itself?” “Surely… surely that’s not what the Venerate are suggesting.” “It is—and they would tell you the same. It is exactly what their version of El is offering. A world where all possibilities are promised is, by necessity, a world in which God cannot take part. Cannot choose to affect the world in any way. If He exerts His will even a fraction, He is by definition changing how things could have been. He is removing possible outcomes.” Raeleth held Davian’s gaze, calm certainty in his eyes. “They are trying to convince everyone that our creator wished to create a world in which He could not take part. Could not help, guide, or save. In which He was functionally irrelevant.” Davian was quiet for a long few moments. He’d never thought of it in those terms, but… Raeleth was right. That was the world the Venerate wanted. “So their El really is nothing like the one I was taught about as a child,” Davian said eventually. Somehow he had always pictured the god the Venerate spoke about as being the same as the one he had grown up with, but simply… trapped. His role in the stories reversed with Shammaeloth’s. “If we are talking about the same one? Then yes, he is very different,” said Raeleth quietly. “The El I believe in is not just the creator of t...

fact, be his greatest act of love. That we were meant to make our own mistakes, hopefully recognize and potentially right them—and yes, potentially fail, too. But that it would be our path, either way. Our own choices that led to whatever outcome came.” Raeleth shook his head. “But it never sounded right to me. What kind of god would create us and then leave us with no guiding hand, no plan, to the mercies of chance alone? Is a lack of discipline caring? Is absence somehow love? Should a father take his newborn and cast it out into the wild, helpless and alone, all because he does not want to unduly influence its life?” Raeleth’s eyes were hard. “So no—I do not believe the Venerate. The very idea of their El sickens me to my stomach. And even if what they say is somehow true, I would never follow a god that would abandon us to ourselves.”