Chapter 17

Tracer is taken down to the dungeons and left there for many days. The cold gray stone give no warmth or encouragement at all. Not a soul comes down to question him. He thinks that is very strange. On what he judges to be his third day in the dungeons the guards come and get him. The dungeons are three floors down. They now take him two floors up.

They usher Tracer into a huge hall. There are nearly a hundred priests chanting and bowing towards an altar at the back of the far wall. Two priests come and lead Tracer up to the front of the altar and make him get on his knees. Tracer is wondering what they are doing when a horrible apparition appears just behind the altar. Tracer is glad he is already on his knees or he would have fallen. Apparently he has found the god.

Tracer can't get a good look at it because it keeps fading in and out. All he can tell is it is an awesome power with malice emanating from it. It is not friendly at all. When it speaks Tracer does not hear the words come from the apparition, they come from inside his head. It is a horrible hollow sound that sets his teeth and nerves on edge. The worst thing of all is, it speaks to him with his own distorted voice and manner. Against his best efforts, Tracer begins to shake.

"So you are the insolent one that set the witch free?" That doesn't sound good.

Tracer doesn't know where the strength comes from, but he steels his nerves and answers, "Yes."

"And you are the one of both dark and light, good and evil, torment and happiness?"

"That's what they say."

"Then today is your lucky day." Huh?

"How so?"

"You have the power to save your world as you know it. All you have to do is answer a riddle. If you get it right you banish me. If you don't, you set me free to ravage your world."

This is sounding ridiculous. "How can solving a riddle be making a choice?"

"The riddle has two answers. You get to choose the one that you think will banish me from this plane."

"I was told to beware that the answers may not be what they seem."

"I never said it was going to be easy." is this god sharing a joke at Tracer's expense?

"And if I choose not to answer the riddle at all?"

"Then you lose."

"If I choose not to answer it I may lose, but you won't win."

"Not true. The prophecy demands an answer. If one is not given, that is the same as a wrong answer."

"I don't believe you."

"It does not matter if you believe me or not. The rules were written before man was born. Like you, I had two choices. I could use you or the whore witch. You chose you for me."

"She's not just a whore, you son of a..." Tracer's throat constricts and he can't finish his sentence.

"Do you choose to play? Yes or no?"

Tracer gets his voice back. "Can I have time to think it over?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because if you make me wait any longer, I will torture you far beyond your worst nightmares. You have no conception of how long I have awaited this time. I've been waiting since before this world was born."

"And once I hear the riddle, how long do I have then?"

"You have all eternity. For once the riddle is asked, both sides become deadlocked and neither side can win. The longer you wait the longer the people of this world suffer. If you set me free, I promise they won't suffer much longer." Tracer doesn't like the sound of that.

"Okay, Mister God, ask me your riddle."

"What is the simplicity of complexity?"

"What kind of stupid ass riddle is that?"

"The answer is the meaning of existence."

"I didn't know there was one."

"Is that your answer?"

"Nice try."

"Take as long as you like. You are free to wander the temple. Come back before me here when you have an answer."

"What is the simplicity of complexity?"

"What is the simplicity of complexity?"

"What the hell is the simplicity of complexity?"

Tracer said the wild mountains are simple in their complexity, but he doubts if this riddle is anything like that.

"Alright, Tracer, let's get that little hamster in our head on the wheel and get it going. Well, let's break it down. What is simplicity? Simplicity is things or ideas that are simple or easy to understand, or things like single celled organisms. What is complexity? Complexity is things or ideas that are harder to grasp, or things that are made up of many intricate parts. Complexity is made up of an infinite number of simple answers. If you break complex things down to many simple pieces, they become easier to understand. The questions are the hard things to see.

"Lies are simple. It is usually the truth that is complex. Of course lies can be complex too, but usually people get caught in those. I guess the truth can be simple if you know where to look for the proof. Once again, it is the questions that are the complex things to see. Knowing what question to ask is the first step of the pursuit of knowledge.

"Life is complex. Mere existence, you would think, is simple, but it's not always. It takes hard work to make a life to be proud of. If you only wish to breathe in and out until death comes and takes you, that is not as easy as it sounds. Is life defined as just this plane of existence, or is it the life force that's in us that's supposed to be eternal? In that case, wouldn't it be easier to be evil. To be divine is a hard goal to obtain with all the temptations in the world.

"Love is a hard thing to find, and even more complex to understand. As I well know. Hate or torment is simple, because people make it so easy. Then again, love really isn't meant to be understood. It is meant to be felt and enjoyed. Hate, though easy, does complex things to your heart and mind. So in that instance, the simplicity of complexity would be changing and varying for each individual. Wouldn't it?" Tracer's brain is starting to hurt.

"Let's go over what I do know. If my answer to this riddle is going to affect everyone, then the answer must be universal. Encompassing all and none. Why do I get the feeling that I'm making this much more difficult than it needs to be? Does that mean I'm making something simple more complex than it needs to be? Does that some how tie into the answer? Maybe it's the search for the answer that is the answer, and not the answer itself that is important? Often in life that is true, but I don't think in this instance.

"A flower is simple in its beauty, but complex in its structure. But of course that is only if you don't understand mitosis and its purpose in cellular division of growth and reproduction. A botanist might say that it is simple in its structure, but complex in its endless beauty. In that case, the solution is not universal, and therefore has no importance to my ramblings. So why am I tormenting myself with frivolous ideas? Probably because the desire to understand something is not a waste of time, it is a divine gift. It is just better left for another day."

Tracer knows to learn simple ideas can be complex at first, and complex ideas can be simple if you have the patience to break it down. Learning is just the memorizing of what you hear, see, smell, touch, taste and read and study. It is the ability to go beyond that which you have learned that is the true sign of intelligence. You can spend your life in school and never learn your true potential. You can have spent your life on a distant farm and have never learned to read or write, and still be a very intelligent person. Cool.

"What is the simplicity of complexity? What is the simplicity of complexity? Let's forget the question for a moment and go back over all of my conversation with the god. He said once the riddle was asked, both sides would be deadlocked and neither side could win. That isn't bad. Then he said if I didn't give an answer, then that would be the same as giving the wrong answer. But the wrong answer for whom. Am I supposed to believe that an evil god would tell me all of the truth?

"He said the riddle was written before the birth of man, and in fact before the birth of the world. Yet the hand of man wrote the prophecy. Of course, if I believed in the divine and that they directed the hand of man, then it would be easier to see. Of course, I have just spoken to a god not more than an hour ago. Are only good gods divine, or are all gods divine? I think I'm getting off the subject.

"He said that if I didn't give an answer, that my people would continue to suffer, but isn't it our sufferings and victories that define who we are? He said the prophecy demands an answer, but does it have to be the answer to the riddle.

"He said if I choose not to play, then he would torture me. Then if my decision was in part a selfish one, didn't that make it evil? Is the choice I am supposed to make between light and dark, good and evil? And if so, is this the evil decision that can have a double meaning, and in choosing evil I actually choose goodness. Now my head is really hurting.