Vishnu, whose teachings were misinterpreted by some
of his more zealous followers. You, personally, contin-
ued to exist only in the form of self-perpetuating wave-
lengths, which I succeeded in capturing."
Sam closed his eyes.
LORD OF LIGHT 19
"And you dared to bring me back?"
"That is correct."
"I was aware of my condition the entire time."
"I suspected as much."
His eyes opened, blazing. "Yet you dared recall me
from that?"
"Yes."
Sam bowed his head. "Rightly are you called
deathgod, Yama-Dharma. You have snatched away
from me the ultimate experience. You have broken
upon the dark stone of your will that which is beyond
all comprehension and mortal splendor. Why could you
not have left me as I was, in the sea of being?"
"Because a world has need of your humility, your
piety, your great teaching and your Machiavellian
scheming."
"Yama, Fm old," he said. "I'm as old as man upon
this world. I was one of the First, you know. One of the
very first to come here, to build, to settle. All of (he
others are dead now, or are godsчdel ex machini....
The chance was mine also, but I let it go by. Many
times. I never wanted to be a god, Yama. Not really. It
was only later, only when I saw what they were doing,
that I began to gather what power I could to me. It was
too late, though. They were too strong. Now I just want
to sleep the sleep of ages, to know again the Great
Rest, the perpetual bliss, to hear the songs the stars sing
on the shores of the great sea."
Ratri leaned forward and looked into his eyes. "We
need you, Sam," she said.
"I know, I know," he told her. "It's the eternal
recurrence of the anecdote. You've a willing horse, so
