Free The Guardian's Grimoire by Rain Oxford

Supposedly, whoever possessed the tablet ruled the universe.
    “The gods knew they couldn’t defeat Tiamat, so they
bribed Marduk, the storm god and son of Ea, to fight her army and destroy her,
with the promise that he will become their supreme ruler. He defeated Tiamat by
cutting her in half to make the sky and the earth. Out of Kingu’s blood he
created humans. He took the Tablet of Destiny, but gave it to Anu as a gift.”
    I understood the dead stare Edward gave me; it wasn’t
the first time I got that response. People usually couldn’t figure out if I was
a nerd or some history nut. Then, when they found out how prone I was to
accidents and natural disasters, they usually avoided me altogether.
    “You…”
    “I love psychology, philosophy, and mythology.” As
well as paleontology and ancient scripture.
    Edward thought for a moment. “I haven’t heard a
human’s version of this story in a few hundred years. The people of Duran, of
course, have a much better version, which is just as wrong. Supposedly, the
truth is as unpopular with the gods as the tales told.
    “Tiamat was no dragon, but they were some of her most
beautiful creatures. She wanted to protect them, but the humans insisted on
killing them off. Tiamat was creative, smart, and was very protective of her
dragons. To some, this is enough to call her chaotic. She was much like a
brilliant child. She would destroy species not because it was logical but
because they didn’t work.
    “The Tablet of Destiny was actually a set of five
books. As an all-knowing god, she didn’t like keeping her knowledge to herself;
she wanted to share it with her world. When humans had advanced enough to
learn, she went to Earth, divided up the knowledge, and gave each part to four
humans. There was too much for any one of them to know it all. They wrote this
knowledge in four books, given to them by her, and gave them all the language
of Enochian. These are the Tablet of Destiny.”
    “But you said there were five books.” He gave me a
deadpan stare until it dawned on me. “ The book. Tiamat’s book was the
fifth?”
    He nodded. “After they were given the knowledge,
though, the humans realized she never told them one thing; how the gods were
created. They asked her but she refused to tell them. She had made the humans
too curious, however, and they kept asking. Tiamat became frustrated, so she
took the Tablet of Destiny and left Earth. The humans started teaching the
knowledge to others and that angered the gods. Apsu, who was a demon, decided
to kill the humans. Apsu was no consort to Tiamat but a foe. She gave the four
humans incredible powers- even more power than a Guardian had. One of the
humans, the one you call Kingu, was the leader, and she gave him her own book.
With their knowledge and power, they destroyed Apsu.
    “Apsu’s companion was horrified, so she sent her son,
Murduk, after Tiamat and the humans. Tiamat didn’t want to fight Murduk because
the humans would then learn to kill, so she made a deal with him that if he
would forever leave the humans alone, she would take the four and leave to the
Land of the Gods.”
    “Angels!” I said.
    “That’s right. The four humans had children of their
own, though not many. Sometimes they would visit Earth and the humans began to
call them angels.
    “Murduk was afraid to fight Tiamat and her humans, so
he took her deal under the condition that he got the Tablet of Destiny. Tiamat
added that he must stay on Earth to protect the humans from the other gods. He
agreed and Tiamat left with the four humans.”
    “So she left a demon in charge of protecting humans?”
    “According to mythology, she had many unorthodox
allies. But Murduk was not a pleasant demon and he was jealous of Tiamat. He
told many tales of Tiamat being a terrible creature. Many years later, the
daughter of Kingu came to Earth and met Murduk, who quickly fell in love with
her. He gave her the Tablet of Destiny and she returned it to