Causality and its rules

Perhaps, I am overreacting. This is my new reality. I just can't accept my death. I am not some kind of hero, and I even did not believe that the Greek Pantheon was actually real.

Joseph did not say anything while I was suffering. He patiently waited for me to recompose. He went ahead and started to remove the empty plates.

"I understand that you might not be used to everything. I think that is why Master Hermes appointed me and Helena to be your guides. We were in your shoes when we arrived at Olympus."

"My shoes? What do you exactly mean by that?" I felt disrespected. I would rather not trivialize his experience, but I also do not desire that others do this to mine.

While I was aggressive in my tone, Joseph was failing to hold back tears. I just asked him a question. Was I too blunt?

"Sir Rufus, your arrival here gave us potential hope. Master Hermes is under a lot of pressure from some worlds. He can't even disclose the reasons to us. Nonetheless, this is a first. I have been here for almost two hundred years now. I never saw him so unrestless like now."

Joseph took a breath and cleaned up the tear that rolled down his right face.

"As soon as I met Master Hermes for the first time, I had been a victim of a war that had been started by psychos in my world. Several people had died from famine, including my family. But our god rescued all of them from Tartarus and settled us in Elysium."

"The price he asked me? To be reincarnated as an elf and prevent a great plague from erasing the race from a world."

My patience and interest were picked back by his words. He was recalling events from a long time ago. He was looking up and down while trying to remember everything.

"To sum up, I was successful. But my life there was very hard, elves worshiped nature itself, not specific gods. I came as an apostle of an unknown god, and my reception, and preaching, fell on dull ears. But ultimately, I had a joyful life and gained another family to hold dear."

I had not thought of that. With a new family, I will start something drastically different from my life on Earth.

"I assume living in Tartarus is akin to hell. Yet, why to start a new life?"

"Did you never feel a sense of mission yourself, Mr. Rufus? Do you think your last life had a greater purpose? I had a meaningless death. I may be overboard here, but you still have potential. A god looked upon you and saw a hero there. Do you know how many souls arrive every day here? Millions, all lower realms, there are an infinitude of them."

Reasons to keep going, huh? I can just relax eternally here. Or have a new purposeful life, so Hermes saw a hero in me. Funny, a mere pseudo-economist can be a hero elsewhere.

"Once again, I repeat, do not listen to me. This is my opinion. You judge yourself by your standards and limitations. Have you been truly stressed? I never had a speck of mana in me, even though I became a saint and prevented a plague."

While Joseph was admonishing and counseling me, he maintained his butler posture and finished grouping all the empty plates. He called over another servant to take away the remaining. I did want to eat a little more, but it was my gluttony speaking.

The way he spoke until now, I surmised, was an admonishment. I gave it a second thought. I felt he was being sincere, and I started to see that Hermes goal was to do some good. But, something was off; Hermes was not a god associated with medicine, and the similitude of Caduceus with the rod of Asclepius is a common mistake on Earth.

"You were assigned as a saint by Hermes. Is he not the god of commerce?"

The servant that was taking it away halted its steps, and I noticed that she was curious about my question too. Joseph was aware of it, but feinted ignorance.

"Yes, he is the great patron of commerce. The elves in that particular world played a great role in stabilizing the economy. I could start a thesis about how the prevention of mass extinction will lead to great benefits for everybody, but I guess that is obvious. I doubt that Hermes chose someone who did not meet minimal standards in economic systems." Joseph seemed annoyed now, as if I were treating his efforts as a whimsical act of an unrelated god. 

"That is a slippery slope argument. I could justify any action, either good or bad, by saying it affects the economy."

"I would normally agree with you. The plague was not natural, but a man-made calamity that went out of control. The god of medicine played a role too, but he lacked the power to intervene. Usually, Hermes holds several Advantages in almost all worlds."

"Advantages? What do you mean by that?" The way he phrased that picked up my interest, and if he was working with the god of medicine, it now made a little more sense, but it seemed too far-fetched still.

Joseph was starting to get mad; fortunately, I might have diffused his irritation with my question. He began to think about how to answer me.

"Advantages are the way we call the 'authorization' that a god has to directly intervene in a world without violating Causality."

"Causality?" A downward spiral is starting here, although I was going to receive some answers about the universe.

The servant was stopped listening to everything; Joseph forgot about her. But I think that what he was explaining was not a secret, and it was interesting to see other people taking note of this.

"Causality is what the gods call a universal rule of freedom for all beings. For instance, they cannot lie to mortal souls because they are too strong and almighty when compared to us. Violating this rule demands a proper compensation of divine power, thinking it as a special mana."

"I prefer to call causality the Rule of Efforts. Nothing can be created from absolutely nothing. If you want to have a house, you need to either build it yourself or hire someone to. Forcing the sudden creation of a home, without any kind of effort, will demand the expenditure of divine power."

"So divine power is some kind of fuel for miracles."

"Perfect!" Joseph was delighted by my analogy. I think I hit the main point here.

"However, greater the violation of causality, even greater is the divine power demanded. And in non-divine realms, such as the ones in which we were born, gods are overseers of events, but cannot affect our lives; otherwise, our freedom would be restricted."

"I understand this point. In the case of gods using their power directly in those worlds, the mortals would simply be terrified enough to never anger them, thus living in a way like cattle." I was starting to understand the reasons for how things work here.

"Good point. However, gods are not omnipotent, nor do they have a supreme responsibility to uphold Causality. Evil gods want twisted souls that trembled before them. Even some greedy gods only want to explore the poor souls that have arrived in the afterlife." While Joseph was explaining it, he made a signal to the servant to sit down and listen to his lesson.

"Zoe," he said, pointing to the servant that was sitting down, "was one of those exploited souls. Occasionally, our designations in the afterlife are to rescue people like her in the lower realms."

The maid simply nodded her head, acquiescing to the explanation provided by the butler. She seemed a bit moved by this last part.

"Let me make a wild guess here: the reason a newcomer soul should go on a mission in a mortal real is that I affect less the causality?"

"You are a clever one. I like you, we are bounded to be good allies, Mr. Rufus." Joseph was smug. I did not like the way he was saying that, but it did not come off as malicious. Then, he continued.

"Not because you are a simple newcomer, but because you do not know much. Think like that: if Zeus sent Hercules directly to avoid a world destruction, it would provoke a strong reaction of causality, as the ancient hero would be able to prevent almost anything. The evil gods will not remain silent while watching it. They will take the opportunity to enhance world destruction."

"So, if I went to a world to prevent its destruction, as I do not hold much power, the evil gods would not be able to react?"

"Wrong. Probably, they would send someone as powerful as you to compensate. They always react to any intervention the Olympian gods do."

"So, why send someone?" Something does not fit in this calculation.

"In general, Olympian gods avoid ruling over the mortal realms. They react to prayers and grant miracles whenever needed. Even though, other forces violate the causality, in this case, the Olympian gods shall react and prevent the unbalanced situation."

"Remember. The evil gods have been releasing untrustworthy individuals to cause mayhem or disrupt the peace. There is no guarantee that he would provoke, but they had the potential to. Likewise, the Olympian gods, they can enhance the power of an individual, but that person can be corrupted or change his mind. There is no guarantee that they are going to follow the god's will, even though the causality is affected."

"Gods are almighty, but not omnipotent to the point of foreseeing the future?"

"Again, you are correct, Mr. Rufus. And let me tell you something: You might take some interest in the proposal, I believe Master Hermes did not tell you that yet."

Joseph truly knows how to entice me, my curiosity will become a liability at this rate. He is taking me by the nose to a trap.

"Mortal souls that are assigned to missions can come over to divine realms from time to time. You are not going to be alone, Mr. Rufus. If I can foretell, I think we are going to see each other a lot."