“Or perhaps it is too much to call you Ea,” she paused as she looked at him through the fire. “Allow me to explain where you came from, and who you actually are.” Dan sat there stock still, completely consumed by her voice. “There was once a God, he went by many names, Enki, Eu and many more, he was the lord of the Abzu, the ocean under the earth that provided life to the lands of mesopotamia, and was a god of fresh water, intelligence, trickery and mischief, crafts, magic, exorcism, healing, creation, virility, fertility, and art.” she looked over at both Abyzou and Apate, “It seems at least you were able to inherit some of his abilities.” she laughed a deep laugh. “Virility indeed!” her left milky white eye winked at the two of them. Both Abyzou and Apate looked away with a blush on there cheeks.

The fire crackled as the words sunk in, it felt like each was a slug to his very soul. Like he was being torn apart. “Though as I said, that was Ea, not you, you see for three sins he was ripped apart by other gods, and his soul shards were scattered to the furthest reaches of the dimensions, in hopes to keep him from ever returning to finish his plan.” she looked at Dan’s face, and smiled. “I doubt they would have thought that each of the thirteen shards of his soul would develop a personality of its own, fate is a strange thing, after creating man Ea fell into mortality, his soul fragments eventually becoming men themselves, and here you are, on your ascension to godhood, proof of the circular nature of the worlds and of fate itself.”

“I'm not a full soul?” Dan asked, there was a tightening of his stomach, like a knot was forming in his gut.

“That is one for the philosophers is it not?” she laughed at his confusion. “You started as a simple fragment, one of many, and over time you came into an awareness, a self, was that the founding of your own independent soul? Who is to say? All I know is it is very fitting for a god of creation to also be the creator of himself, or rather for his pieces to continue to create even after he has left. I also find it ironic that you have become one of your sins, a fate so fitting could not even been woven by Nabu the god of fate, and consequently also Ea’s grandson, that is to say your grandson.”

Dan rubbed his face, this was all hard to take, it was all too much, he was some fragment of an ancient god? He was not himself, but simply a part of someone larger? No, he was Daniel Rhodri, a man born and raised by his parents, the owner of a small antique store. “Not my grandson,” he said with effort, raising his eyes to meet hers, “I have no children, I simply have my wives, I am Daniel Rhodri, not Ea, not Enki, or whatever names he has had.”

“Is that so?” she asked looking at him with a strange look on her face. “I would be inclined to agree, you are a unique case here, you formed from a shard of a soul, and then even that shard was shattered, the current you houses not one but two souls, the one that formed from Ea’s shard and the other created by your Damgulanna, and each is melded together, creating one creature.”

“Two souls?” he asked.

“Indeed, it would seem as though she ripped her own soul into pieces simply to use as a glue to keep your shattered shard together.” Dan remembered the conversation he had with Asherah…

***

“Hello Dan,” a voice said. As he once again found himself in the middle of a gazebo of some sort with exquisite tapestries and carpeting all over gave it a lavished feel. Like the get away retreat of a princess or someone of important note.

In that water casually dipping her toes was that woman. her skin was an unearthly golden brown to perfect to be anything conceived on earth. And her form was fittingly sophisticated, even when she was clothed in only light coverings that hid next to nothing.

“How are you Dan?” she asked, arching her shoulders ever so slightly and looking back over them at Dan. Her eyes were gold, with not one but four pupils in each eye. They were disconcerting and unbelievably pretty at the same time.

“Well, I think I just died, so not too well.” he said, she made a patting motion next to her and Dan having no reason to refuse walked over and sat down.

“Do you know how hard it was to keep enough of your soul out of the flame to even have this conversation?” she asked, leaning her head slightly to the side and using his shoulder as a pillow.

“Can't say that I do.”

“Really really hard. I haven't worked that hard in the last millennium!Unfortunately I was only able to save part of your soul, around 75 percent I would say.” she said closing those golden eyes of hers.

“Well I guess 75 percent is a passing grade, so good?” he joked, looking out over the grass covered hill a rolling sea of green.

“The soul is a really complex thing. You see when it is broken it can be repaired, but when it is ripped up and burned like yours...” she sighed “There is no going back Dan. Your soul can't take anymore.” she looked over at him, “Any regrets?”

“I was hoping to raise a family, make Abyzou and Amani happy, and honestly, yes there are a lot of regrets.” he sighed. “There is no way back to them?” he asked, he had to ask.

“Well, if you can get someone to prolong the end like I am doing now you might be able to live for the next 1,000 or so years, but there is only so much that can be done, and prolonging the shattering of your soul like this… it is hard.”

He smiled, “So what would it take for me to get you to prolong my untimely demise?”

“You want me to do it?” she asked, a smirk playing across her lips. “You don't even know my name, yet you want to make a deal with me? Didn't your parents ever teach you about trusting strangers?”

“I may not know your name but I can guess who and what you are.”

“Oh? Humor me, who and what am I?”

“You are Amani’s mother.”

“Djinn have no parents. They are forces of nature that have gained consciousness.” she said with a small laugh. “So if they are forces of nature without mothers or fathers how then would I be her mother?”

“You are right, she is a force of nature which would make you mother nature correct?”

She smiled, her lips parting to reveal perfect white teeth. “I refuse to answer that,” she chuckled. “You can call me Asherah however.”

“Asherah huh?”

“I have gone by many names, Ashratum, Ashratu, Asherdu, Ashertu, Aṯirat yammi, Ninhursag, I have been called a hundred names and will be called a thousand more before the world goes dim and cold.” She kicked her feet in the water softly creating ripples on the surface breaking the mirrored sheen.

“I was once even called Damgulanna, but that was long ago, in a different time and world.”

***

“Damgulanna?” Abyzou asked, she looked at Dan and back at Ereshkigal, “That translates as faithful wife, or great wife of the heavens,” she looked at Ereshkigal with wide eyes as the revelation dawned on her, “Asherah?!” she cried out in shock, “Amani’s mother?”

“She is not Amani’s mother!” Ereshkigal laughed, and then she stopped when she noticed the looks of confusion on both Dan’s and Abyzou’s faces. “She has not said? Then neither will I, it is not for me to say, her life is her own.”she looked solemnly at Dan, “If I were you I would ask her quickly, I doubt she has much time left.”

“What?” Dan asked, shooting forward through the fire. He grabbed her by the shoulders, “What is wrong with Asherah?” he asked his golden eyes blazing.

“I will not say,” she said, and with a soft hand she gently pushed him back to his side of the fire.”Now, to the issue at hand, I know not how to judge you, in you resides two souls, and one of them is a fragment of another soul, and the other is a fragment from a different soul, so there are three possibilities for me to judge, If we judge you by Ea’s soul then you are charged with three great sins, first the creation of man, which corrupted divinity. ”

“Corrupted divinity?”

“Indeed, before that there was only the gods and their servants, eternal, but you saw fit to create a creature that had all the capabilities of a god, and no tether to them, no way to control them directly.” she looked at him and waved her finger, the book opened to a page, light spilling out flooding the dark hall with images of light. He saw a man that looked alot like himself, standing next to a woman, the woman was unmistakably Asherah. “They have the free will of gods, and the spark of inspiration, it has lead them to do many great things, and many terrible things, surely there are tales of men fighting against the gods?” she laughed, “Much like you are doing now, and with their creation you created something else, you committed the second sin, you made life, and as such also death, bringing it to heaven, making it possible for even the gods to die, and giving me a job,” she laughed, “The third sin is ironic in this situation, you as a god of virility took one of these creations as your wife, and created a bastardization, a demigod,” she looked at him and laughed. “And thus created a life that is an insult to god's. If we judge by this soul then I am forced to allow you to dissipate, forever fading from this existence.”

She looked at Dan,”Then there is the soul of your Damgulanna, she defied the laws the gods put in place to prevent anyone helping Ea when she used her own soul to keep yours together. I would also be forced to let you fade.” she sighed, “The last soul also has a sin that you well know that weighs it down so heavily, that is three for three.”

“If you take him I wish to go as well.” Abyzou said, wrapping herself around Dan, “I do not wish to exist without him.”

“Perhaps you should also be called Damgulanna,” Ereshkigal laughed, “But fear not, I cannot judge him, as I am unsure of how to proceed he has been granted a reprieve,” she narrowed her eyes at Dan, the white shining, “But know this, it is only a reprieve, I will judge you when I have found a way to do so fairly, pray you can redeem yourself before then, for I am coming for you.”

He attempted to hand the book back to her, but she waved him off, “Keep it, it is as I said your book, should you ever choose to look,” she paused and laughed, “let us just say it is an interesting read.” and with that the world faded, and the third trial was over.

For the time being that was.