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World Devotion Project is a mythology audio fiction following the emergence of a pantheon of Gods, and the prophets, knight, and saints that follow.
NARRATOR
Angus' heartbeat is broadcast all night, until someone's morning alarm goes off. He hears the silence before he hears his own alarm, knowing that it's his to fill.
The Gods have an order in which they plan to introduce themselves, and the first one plans to come in kicking and screaming. They are as unique from one another as you or I are from others, and while some Gods are more passive and exist to simple be what they are, this one has an agenda.
Not that you are to know this yet, but most of the gods come alone. They will introduce themselves and their causes, their prophets will come to light later. But not this one.
Harris MacGuffin is the second prophet.
[THEME SONG]
HARRIS
[narrating]
I live in Alphon. I moved here for work after studying in Hearpick and growing up in Rubik. It wasn't my plan. Not that I had one; I just kind of followed what seemed to be the natural order of everyone around me. I'd go out for drinks with fellow students and they'd be all, "so, how's next year lookin' for ya MacGuffin? You lookin' at places in Alphon?" and I'd be all "Haha yeah, that's the plan!" And then that was it. Most of the biggest decisions in my life happened because someone asked if I was going the same way as everyone else, and that set everything in stone for me much more than any application or signup ever did.
NARRATOR
Harris is not one for hobbies or leisure. He has a routine that keeps him well and warm and clean and fed. And that's it. A life spent to stop himself dying. He works on a high floor of a glistening, teal skyscraper in the business district of Alphon, in a small, grey cubicle opposite a laptop. There's a water cooler in the hallway, and a different department through the white door in the corner.
HARRIS
[narrating]
I'm going to lose my job today. I don't want to. My boss doesn't want me to. But something inside me is loud and vengeful, and as I'm sitting at my desk, I know it's time to go.
AOIFETH
Get up.
HARRIS
Just a minute longer.
AOIFETH
No, get up.
HARRIS
I'll make a scene.
AOIFETH
I sure hope so.
HARRIS
It doesn't feel like the right time.
AOIFETH
It never will. You have to make it the right time
[PAUSE]
Get up Harris.
NARRATOR
Harris' vision blurs as he looks down at his keyboard, his hands turning white. Pale blue lace creeps out from under the cuffs of his shirt.
AOIFETH
Get up!
NARRATOR
With shaking legs, Harris gets to his feet and stands as straight as he can, looking out over the sea of desks as he wrings his hands.
HARRIS
I quit!
NARRATOR
Before he has the time to see anyone react, Harris runs out into the hall, the door swinging behind him as he hears the office jeer and applaud all at once, before people start to get up to follow him. Harris stumbles over his own feet as he runs down the hall, met by an almost smug refusal for refuge by the elevator. He passes you in the hall, knocking into you where you had been filling a cup of water. You both land on the floor, but Harris is quick to get to his feet and you see that where you spilled your drink on him, instead of his shirt turning darker and see-through, the fabric starts to glitter, turning a vibrant shade of pink.
HARRIS
I'm so sorry!
NARRATOR
Harris flings himself down the stairs as his shirt untucks itself, an olive green satin with black lace trimming starting to spill out. He travels down ten flights of stairs as he struggles to keep his suit on, baby pink chiffon spilling out of his pockets. Running down the stairs gets harder as Harris' shoes turn to floral pointed toe boots with an inch high heel that flares at the base.
HARRIS
Shit-
NARRATOR
By the time he reaches the fifteenth floor, Harris is being followed by a crowd of other staff, snapping pictures of him tripping over his own feet, the way his clothes become more and more dishevelled. He finds some mercy as he hears the elevator doors ping open on the fifteenth floor, quickly scrambling inside.
HARRIS
[CATCHING HIS BREATH]
Very Funny.
AOIFETH
Is it?
HARRIS
What?
AOIFETH
Do you really think it's funny?
HARRIS
No!
AOIFETH
Then act like it! They don't know what's going on, but you do. Get them to take you seriously.
HARRIS
I'm trying my best.
AOIFETH
That's all I need.
NARRATOR
The elevator doors open to reveal the lobby of the building filled with people. A hundred or more ironed cotton shirts fill the space, and Harris pushes past them. A trail of maroon silk with bright green lace trim starts to pour out from one of his trouser legs. Harris stumbles out of the building into the street, pedestrians nearby stopping to watch from across the road. as the crowd follows Harris out, someone steps on the silk trail and Harris trips and falls, hitting the wet pavement with a sickening crack, his hands landing in the puddle beside the curb.
The laughing dies down as Harris slowly pushes himself up with shaking arms, hunched over and dripping, all of him trembling. His grazed and bloodied hands grip the curb for a moment before flexing out his shaking fingers. Long, brightly coloured stiletto nails scratch the concrete, before coming up to push back Harris' mop of brown hair. It's starting to turn auburn at the temples, and the crowd around him finally gets a good look at his face. Harris' once sunken brown eyes have an unsettling sharpness to them, now green and striking as they looks around. Blood pours from their nose, and a pearly white hand wipes it away, smearing it across suddenly ruby red lips. The brown tangle of hair starts to turn a fiery orange as Harris kneels on the pavement and catches his breath. He wipes his teary eyes messily, and the piercing green is suddenly adorned with fantastic makeup, dark purple shadow and bright teal shimmer. A huge black wing tapers parallel to striking amber brows. They stay kneeling as the white shirt unravels and cascades into skirts and peticoats of all different colours, and the bright red hair spirals itself into a great big beehive, with curls cascading down the back of the neck. The bright amber reflects on her pearly white skin, making it seem as though a fiery hearth burns within her.
As they stand, the brown blazer slips off her porcelain white shoulders as the whole suit unfurls into an impossible gown. The hem of it settles down in the puddle, changing colour as it soaks up the water. She reaches into her unruly hair and pulls a diamond tiara out from the tangles, before unveiling a glistening, blue greatsword from somewhere behind her back. Standing at seven feet tall, Aoifeth, God of Redemption and Revenge, is the first god to walk among people.
AOIFETH
[NARRATING]
Second chances, understanding of the self, reinvention, perseveirance, retribution. Taking your life into your own hands, writing your own story, wielding free will life a fucking greatsword. What a better way to start all this than being reintroduced to your life as your very own?
NARRATOR
You all recognise her. Of course you do. She stands with the fresh faced yet confident countenance of a second chance, and her presence feels like stepping back to look at all the paths ahead of you. She stands with her greatsword in both hands, the blade pointed down and the tip of it balanced against the floor. To the small crowd standing around her, everything feels possible, and as she looks down at each of them, they realise that it's always been that way.
AOIFETH
Oh yeah, get a good look. Ah! No touching. Your first impression is with me. Yeah- yeah you know what I am; behave accordingly would you? Have some fuckin' self respect. Now move aside!
NARRATOR
Aoifeth lifts her sword, using the flat side of it to nudge people out of the way, free hand hitching up her skirts as she crosses over the road. She's only halfway across when a window squishes open and Harris' boss leans out.
BOSS
Harris MacGuffin where the fuck do you think you're going?!
AOIFETH
[SHOUTING UP FROM DOWN ON THE STREET]
We're going for a walk! Which doesn't concern you because you're not his employer anymore!
BOSS
You don't know what's good for you!
AOIFETH
Well we're gonna find out! You sure as shit haven't been!
BOSS
That's life, Macguffin! Nobody is gonna treat you better than I have!
AOIFETH
Then we'll do it ourselves!
BOSS
You'll regret this!
AOIFETH
Who knows!
NARRATOR
Whatever the boss tries to say next is muffled by an explosion of confetti right in front of his face, that rains down onto the watching crowd and settles like Vathic leaves on the wet pavement, dissolving into glitter.
HARRIS
[NARRATING]
My heart is beating so fast that I can't help but to laugh to keep up with it. Everything looks so much smaller, from a foot higher. So much more manageable. I've never felt so right. There's a surge of confidence in me that I dont recognise, but it's not unwelcome. And the emptiness ahead doesn't feel like a gaping void. It feels like a canvas. I have so many new friends, and I know so many things that I didn't know before. I can step back and see every path. Not even that, really. It's a field. And I can just run through it. Or walk. I mean, fuck, I could just lay down in it if I wanted to.
AOIFETH
So…
HARRIS
[NARRATING]
Maybe look at the clouds for a while
[PAUSE]
While I just take some time to… choose. For once.
AOIFETH
What should we do?
HARRISUh… I don't really know.
AOIFETHYou hungry?
HARRISMy lunch break isn't unt- oh.
AOIFETHYeah.
HARRISCan we just walk for a while?
AOIFETHYeah.
HARRISI never had a five year plan, y'know. Not even a one year plan.
AOIFETHThat's okay. You don't have to have one.
HARRISFeels like I should have had one. I-... I don't know how I got this far.
AOIFETHWhat do you mean?
HARRISIt's not like… I expected or planned to be gone by a certain age, I just… I was so sure the world would have got me by now. Like- when I was in school, if struggling with an assignment felt like the end of the world, impossible, unconquerable- then… surely the real end was so much closer?
[SILENCE]
AOIFETH
Which assignment?
HARRIS
Sorry?
AOIFETH
The end of the world. Which assignment was it?
HARRIS
Oh boy, uh- a lot of them honestly. I couldn't name a specific one.
AOIFETH
No?
HARRIS
Not really.
AOIFETH
Your phone's buzzing.
HARRIS
It's probably the others, I'll check it later.
AOIFETH
Yeah?
HARRIS
Yeah. I'm enjoying this walk.
AOIFETH
And the world didn't end.
HARRIS
It didn't.
AOIFETH
So long as you're living, there's more.
HARRIS
I know.
AOIFETH
All it took was a light jog down some stairs to flip everything on its head.
HARRIS
[LAUGHING HALF HEARTEDLY]
Sure.
AOIFETH
It only takes a firm handshake and a step onto the train to join the circus!
HARRIS
[LAUGHING]
What?
AOIFETH
You can do anything.
HARRIS
You're right.
[PAUSE]
There's so many people filming.
AOIFETH
Smile. You know who's watching.
HARRIS
[NARRATING]
I do know who's watching. I can't see or hear them but I can feel it in the air, the shuffling behind me of what's to come.
We stop walking as a blimp passes overhead and casts a huge shadow over the road. Our gown glitters in the gentle darkness, as though it were under the glimmer of a disco ball in a Wetleaf masquerade.
I feel awake for the first time.
AOIFETH
We're hot shit.
HARRIS
You reckon?
AOIFETH
I do. You're the knight of redemption and change. That's hot.
HARRIS
Ah- I guess so.
AOIFETH
You're gonna have to have more faith in me than that to keep that knighthood of yours.
HARRIS
I'm trying my best, isn't that what matters most?
AOIFETH
It is.
AOIFETH
[NARRATING]
I'm everywhere, pouring down the streets as people recognise me from their windows, as they walk past us and go past on carriages and buses. I have been everywhere. And now everyone knows they have met me somehow.
HARRIS
[NARRATING]
No one has seen her face until now. No one besides myself, at least. But recognition comes out from the crowd in waves, and I can feel it as we stand at a crossing, carriages and bikes and pedestrians all stopping to look. They know her. Those who've forgiven and moved on, those who've lost their temper after mistreatment from others or even themselves. Those of you who have changed. Those of us who plan to. There's a moment of recognition, as they see her standing there, and know that it's who was with them as their lives cracked and crumbled to make space for something new. The terrifying, brilliant glow of change. I can feel how everyone loves her and whispers about her, but most are afraid to approach and say something. I get it. She's beautiful and impossible and more than you believed could have ever been real.
I can feel one of the Sprites watching from down a nearby alleyway, cautious pride spilling out from between the two buildings. A mainecoon with a tortoiseshell coat comes out from between the legs of nearby people, and it leaps up onto our shoulder.
HARRIS
Hi
PTHENNRYN
Congratulations.
HARRIS
Thank you
PTHENNRYN
You deserve this.
HARRIS
[MORE HEARTFELT]
Thank you.
AOIFETH
Pthennryn is one of the two Wandering Sprites. Guide to stray animals and courier of justice, hence why he works so closely with myself and… someone else.
The sprites don't work with people, don't have an interest in interacting with them on any level more personal than seeing them get what they deserve, in Pthennryn's case. That's my thing. I work with you on a deeply personal level. I'm the harsh clap that tells you to get up after crying on the ground. And now you know my face.
NARRATOR
More photos and videos are taken, and though Harris feels miles out of his depth, he knows this is how he's going to learn to swim. And how he's going to open the gates for what's next to come.
13 Gods remain.
Hi, it's Kit, narrator, writer, director, and illustrator of World Devotion Project. Um, this episode featured the voices of Kit Paterson as The Narrator, Mike Castoro as Harris MacGuffin, Florence Wilder as Aoifeth, Diego Herrera as Harris' Boss, and Kestrel Bell as Pthennryn. World Devotion Project is distributed by Stygian Catalyst. You can find us on BlueSky @devotionproject.bsky.social and @worlddevotion project on uh, Tumblr, TikTok, and Instagram. Thank you so much for listening.