Look upon my magnificent temple, and my glorious universe, crude and rustic Dahlaine of the North, and cringe before me, for I am the true god of what thou hast attempted to wrench from my grasp. Flee now from me, for soon I will send forth descendants by the millions to drive thee from my Domain, for I have fair wives by the hundreds who joyfully present me with child-gods beyond counting to carry out my will.

Flee now, barbaric Dahlaine, for surely art thou doomed.

And Behold, it came to pass on an autumn day that there came one who was not of our kind to Holy Palandor, and, as all creatures should, he knelt before me in my holy temple and besought me to listen unto him, and, because I am most kindly and gentle, as it befits a god such as me to be, I granted his wish, and he spake unto me, saying this: “We have heard of thee in our distant home at the center of the Land of Dhrall, Holy Azakan,” spake he, and a peculiar glottal sound came from his mouth as he said my name, but, gentle and kindly that I am, I did not chastise him for his error.

“We have indeed heard of thee,” continued this alien creature, “for truly, thy fame doth reach out far beyond this region which Dahlaine of the North hath usurped from thee, O Divine One.”

And much pleaséd was I that my fame had reached out even to they that were not of human kind. “Say on, devout one,” I said unto him.

“I have sought thee out, Most Holy,” he continued, “for it is vital to us that we know the designs of the foul usurper who says to one and all that he alone is divine in this part of the Land of Dhrall.”

“He is not my god, gentle creature,” I said unto my small visitor, “and I know nothing of his designs, for I have no part of them.”

“I do perceive that our purposes may well be much the same, Divinity, for we—even as thou—would thwart the unholy desires of he who falsely doth pretend to be divine.”

“I would hear more of what thou wouldst say unto me, friendly stranger,” I said unto him.

“It hath come to us that the usurper hath brought unto the Holy Land of Dhrall multitudes of heathen outlanders to do hurt to our people—as well as thine, Divinity. Might it not be wise of us to divide the heathens that we might more easily defeat them?”

And the words of my gentle visitor did trouble me much. “Gladly would my people come to thine aid, gentle stranger,” I said unto him, “for my people are most devout, but I do fear me that they are unskilled in the arts of war.”

“It hath been my purpose in coming here, Divine One, to offer unto thee a weapon which none living are able to meet.”

“And, pray tell me, what is this mighty weapon?”

“As thou hast surely seen, Divinity,” spake he, “we are not of thy species. Small are we, and we have not the strength to overwhelm the huge outlanders brought here to Holy Dhrall by the family of Dahlaine the usurper, but, to defend our species from these who come against us, we have within our bodies a weapon which no outlander is able to withstand. There are several ways by which we have been able to bring our weapon to bear upon our enemies, but we have most recently found a means which shows much promise. By reason of our peculiarities, we can send forth this weapon in the form of a mist, and should man or beast breathe in that mist, he will surely die. Yea, truly, should even Dahlaine the usurper himself breathe in our mist, he will surely die.”

And I answered my small friend, saying, “It is most appropriate that he should, my dearest friend, for the air which he doth breathe in is my creation, and it is not proper that he should steal it. Let him then die from thy mist, and all that serve him die as well.”

“Then must we lure him and his heathen supporters to the border of thine empire that we may more easily destroy him.” Then paused my new, dear friend. “It seemeth me,” spake he, “that they who serve thee and worship thee might well bring this to pass by going from here into the lands of the Matans, Dahlaine’s most slavish adherents, and when the Matans and the outlanders rush to repel your worshipers, will I and my brethren send forth our mist, and all that march against thee and thine will most surely die.”

And then was my heart filled with joy. “And thus, my dear, dear friend, shall die usurper Dahlaine, and, as it should, all of the Land of Dhrall shall surely and forever be mine!”

Great was my disappointment when they who guard my Divinity and require all who come before me to properly show their love and respect for me failed to perceive the brilliance of the plan of my new and beloved friend. And it came to me with sorrowful certainty that they who called themselves my “Guardians” were far more concerned with their own comfort and safety than they were with carrying out my commandments, and I hovered on the brink of destroying them one and all.

But then my most trusted servant, Lazakan, came forward to implore me to permit him to speak with his wayward friends.

“Much is my disappointment in thee, one and all, my timid companions,” spake Lazakan in sorrowful voice. “Know ye not that Divine Azakan can protect us with his might? I must tell ye now that our new friend and I did speak with each other at some length, and it was I who did advise him that Holy Azakan might look kindly upon this proposal whereby we might once and forever depose usurper Dahlaine with this alliance. I urge thee, one and all, to hear the words of our new and unexpected friend.” And then did clever Lazakan gesture to our new friend that he might explain how it might be that victory would most certainly be ours.

And as our dear new friend came forth to speak with the timid, I did catch a faint hint of a peculiar odor emanating from his body, and that odor did somehow make more intense my certainty that we would most surely emerge victorious from this war.

More peculiar still, I did observe that my timid “Guardians” grew less and less timid as our alien friend explained how the deadly mist would bring us victory unimaginable.

And it came to me unbidden that the odor which had so heightened my certainty was also heightening the certainty of my timid servants. And I considered a very interesting possibility. If I could but find the source of this odd fragrance within the body of our peculiar friend and extract it from him, all who came within my presence would—will he, nil he—accept me as the one and only true god in all the world. It saddened me to some degree that my extraction of this peculiarity from the body of my dear, dear friend might very well kill him, but my needs, of course, were much more important to the world than was his life. But, since I am brave beyond the understanding of all others, I was most certain that my grief would not be unbearable.