“Yes, that happens a lot. However, that is just the most obvious sign of this dilemma. There is a reason that mortal memory gets hazy with time. For the sake of sanity, it has to be purged/submerged so that we can continue to exist in the present and not be lost in the past. For mortal creatures, sleep plays a big role in this sifting, storing and offloading of memories. Now imagine living forever, without sleeping, without truly forgetting,” Tamarin said.
Tom shook his head a bit. This had all crossed his mind in his old cave as he sat there, bored for hours on end. “Yes, that could be a problem.”
“According to what I’ve read, Orcus, in addition to needing the mana generated in Doom for Doom itself, which creates competition with the D’Orcs, wanted D’Orcs to get tired and have to sleep,” Tamarin said.
“So you are saying that sleeping, which I thought just let us collect mana more efficiently vs. Doom, also serves as a way of offloading memories and history?”
“Exactly. That is, at least, the theory we have in Djinnistan, based on the conversations of the many djinn that served Orcus have reported,” Tamarin said. “He indicated that it would help his troops withstand the stress of eternity. To have a chance to clear their mental decks, to get a daily respite from consciousness and reality.”
“That’s pretty heavy,” Tom said shaking his head. It was, however, exactly the sort of respite that Tom increasingly found himself longing for. He thought for a moment. “It also explains why, once Doom shut down and the D’Orcs no longer got tired, and many stopped sleeping, so many of them gave up the will to live. It was this immortal existential dread!” Tom smiled. This made so much more sense now.
“Excellent point!” Tamarin agreed. “And when it comes to how long an immortal can cope with existence before they need a respite, or a respite greater than even sleep can provide; well, that explains the Phoenix Cycle,” Tamarin said.
“You mean the bird that dies and is reborn in flames?” Tom asked.
“Exactly. Almost every culture in the multiverse, every god and pantheon has a concept of a cycle of birth and death, of re-creation.” Tamarin said. “There are tales in almost all religions of the death and rebirth of gods.”
Tom was starting to lose track. “So you are saying that even gods are mortal?”
“By choice,” Tamarin said excitedly. “Current djinn thinking says that gods and immortals eventually get overwhelmed by immortal existentialism and need to stop and start over, even as their followers do in many cases.”
Tom stopped to think of that for a minute before responding. “So you are saying that there probably are not many million-plus-year-old gods? That eventually they have to reboot?”
“Reboot?” Tamarin gave him a puzzled expression.
“Start over, shut down and restart themselves,” Tom explained.
“Yes, like the Phoenix story,” Tamarin agreed. “Just as with mortals, at some point all gods either give up and cease to exist, or engineer a rebirth. They just accumulate too much memory, too much history and need to clear the books, so to speak.”
“And if they never did this?” Tom wondered aloud. Not so much a question as a thought.
“I would think they would break down, perhaps go insane.” Tamarin shrugged. “This is all very speculative. It’s the sort of thing we djinn love to argue about for stimulation and pleasure.”
“Lord Tommus?” A voice from Tom’s left caused him to turn. Approaching them was — Tom had to stop and dig deep, touching briefly at their link — Erestofanes, one of the relatively few demons living in Mount Doom prior to his acquisition of Lilith’s army.
“Erestofanes, did we wake you?” Tom asked the demon, who was, he now recalled, the Chief Librarian of Doom. “I fear we were speaking way too loudly for a library!” He smiled bashfully.
Erestofanes chuckled. “My lord, do you have any idea how long it has been since there have been any voices in the library? Let alone a booming one.” He shook his head, grinning. “I am just happy to have anyone in the library, other than my assistants. I typically only see Völund or Phaestus every decade or so. We have not had that many patrons since the Incident.”
“Expect to find me here fairly frequently. Both for research, but also for the comfort of being surrounded by so much wisdom,” Tom told the librarian.
Erestofanes smiled brightly, revealing his razor-sharp fangs below his nose and two sets of eyes. The demon was literally four-eyed, as well as four-armed. Tom assumed he was pretty good at researching multiple books at the same time. “Excellent,” the demon said. “That will be most welcome. And should your lordship have the opportunity, I would like to discuss restarting our acquisition program at some point.”
“Certainly! Have Zelda schedule a meeting of all involved parties,” Tom said cheerfully. He would love to restart accumulating knowledge for Doom. “I am sure much was missed in four thousand years.”
