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Gilgamesh was young. He was so very, very young in the grand scheme of things and he was tired and lost and ignorant. He was nothing but a castaway on the shores of the World.
So he laid there and did not move until the voice of the wind rose about him again.
But this voice was not that of Enlil, the God of the Sky Between Heaven and Earth. He listened and it was the voice of Goddess of the Air that he heard.
“It has been quite some time, Gilgamesh, son of Lugalbanda and Ninsun, grandson of Heaven and Earth. God-Slayer, why do you now lie upon the shores of this World? One would think you would be happy, to have become like onto the gods and to live forever and fear not death.” She said.
Gilgamesh remembered the Goddess; it had been he who had rebuilt her temple in Nippur.
He stood slowly.
“I have a mother.” He recalled. “And a father. And a grandfather and grandmother. I am the grandson of Anu and Uras.”
He clinched his hands slowly into fists, frowning.
“But Enkidu is dead. As am I. But…that is not correct, is it?” He looked at her. “Am I a god, then?”
“You are not.” The Air whispered.
“Then…what have I become, then?”
“You are what you have always been: Gilgamesh, the King of Man, whose name will be forever legend.”
Gilgamesh closed his eyes and smirked, but there was little in the expression.
“I have tossed aside the chains of my Mortality.” He said, holding up the literal chain that had been left behind. “I do not understand what it is that has occurred, but I have grieved in both this life and the one before it. All that is left for me is action.”
“What will you do, then, King of Man?”
“…I met Enlil, who Enkidu cursed. It is, perhaps, due to the will of Enlil that I am yet alive. But it is, perhaps, due to the will of Enlil that Enkidu is dead. Lady of the Air, what should I do? For Enlil is Uncle to me as a son of Anu and he rules all between Heaven and Earth.”
“Care not about the blood you share, for it is not something for which you should feel pride. Let me tell you of Enlil, who thought and did shameful things and was cast from Dilmun. I shall reveal to you how he has grown more twisted yet, that you might harden your heart and cut away the wrongness from this world.”
The world around him melted away at the words of the wind, replaced quickly with images of the past.
The story of Enlil and his cruelty and plagues played out before his eyes, as if he had stood beside him, there in the past.
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When the tale was finished, the sun had left the sky and the world had grown dark.
“I have grown angry with Enlil, who rules between Heaven and Earth.” Gilgamesh said. “For what reason did he spread famine and drought? For what reason did he flood the Earth, until it was only by Enki’s grace that Atrahasis lived? He punishes men who have done no wrong and sends forth disasters to kill innocents, because he grew tired of their noise and then sits on his throne and asks as if he is just and has any right to lay claim to his crown?”
The King’s hands curled slowly into fists as the words fell from his mouth, but for a moment, he fell silent.
The wind trembled as he thought.
“I have killed gods before.” He said, finally, lifting his head.
“Then call upon your grandmother, who rules below the Earth, where Enlil holds no sway. She has become weak as she has been forgotten, but should you give her your protection, you will find she has no loyalty to Enlil.”
And so Gilgamesh agreed and called out to Uras and a cavern opened, barely large enough for a man. It closed behind him as he entered and he ventured deeper into the bowels of the Earth.
In a chamber beneath the Earth, he found Nanna, the Moon. He found Nergal and Ninazu of the underworld, and a river that ran beneath the earth, whose name was Enbilulu.
The Goddess of the Air spoke to her children.
“If you will obey me, we shall avenge the crimes of your father.”
The chamber immediately filled with fear.
“But to strike at our father is incorrect.” Nanna said.
The attention of the air focused completely on Nanna and looked into him.
“Have you fallen into your father’s sin, Nanna?” Ninlil asked.
“We cannot oppose him, mother.” Nanna said, fearfully. “For it is he who holds the Tablet of Destinies. Should we rise up against him, he would jerk tight the chains that bind us all and we would fall away into suffering and pain. We have no voice in the world of our father.”
“And even should we succeed,” Nergal began. “It is our Father who rules the empty spaces between Heaven and Earth and it is who holds them yet apart. If he should bring down the sky…”
“What then should we do, mother?”
“Forge his existence into a weapon. Cast him into the forge and pound his heart and blood and bones into a blade.” The air said, frighteningly calm. “What matters then, if the Heavens fall? Enlil once separated Heaven and Earth, from which he was born. A weapon made from him could do so again.”
Her logic was as sound as it was terrifying.
Ninazu, horrified, shook his head, but it was Enbilulu who spoke.
“It is not possible.”
“You fear this as well?” Ninlil asked.
“If it is not possible, then it will not happen.” Enbilulu said, remarkably stoic. “How can I be expected to do something that will not happen? I could toil every day and prepare every night, but this is a goal that is far beyond our reach. It is futile, mother.”
“We are, all of us, bound by the Tablet. In this world, there is only one that stands free, and it is not one of us.” Nanna said.
“He would cast us down and end us and take our glory away; we have no hope, mother.” Ninazu whispered.
Gilgamesh sneered in the darkness; are these the gods worshiped by men? These pitiful, broken creatures that could not even stand and fight?
He didn’t understand completely, but…
“Ninlil, do you ask for the impossible?” He asked, speaking for the first time and drawing the attention of all in the chamber.
The empty space beneath the earth was silent, but the attention of the air was focused solely on him.
For a moment, all was silent.
“I will do this deed.” The King said.
“King of Uruk, do not be a fool.” A new voice said as its owner entered. “You too are bound by the Tablet and you would share the same fate as any of us should you stand before your Uncle’s Throne.”
The Hero turned his gaze onto Ninurta, the God of Lagash.
He smiled, then, whether at the God or his words and strode passed him without even replying.
Ninurta watched the King go, a feeling growing within him that he did not understand; a deep and fathomless shame.
And when Ninlil spoke to her son, it did not change the feeling the King had inspired in him, for better or worse; it merely caste light upon its source.
“If Gilgamesh cannot overthrow Enlil, at least he delays not to assail him, and sits not idle in fear. And it may be that there has been set in his soul a fire greater than you know.”
There was a movement of air through the earth and then Ninlil was gone.
The children were left alone with their shame.
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Originally Posted by Servant Shiki
