Bronze Post

The god finally found its voice, and not to my surprise, there was a quaver to it. "What are you?" it asked. "You are less than expected, yet more than you seem. The power you hold does not compare even to the simplest Alderman, and yet you are fluent in a language of divinity far above -- and far older -- then even that of the Aldergods."

I allowed myself a smile then, but there was no joy in it, only sadness. "I'm afraid you wouldn't understand. Your mind is not vast enough, nor is that of even the eldest of the gods."

I turned again and lightly struck the golden post with the tip of my blade, directly in the center of the pattern I had just drawn. For a moment nothing happened and then the metal of the golden post dimmed, and a layer of tarnish crept down from the top of the post, covering the length of it all the way to the root of the thing buried in the ground.

I blew lightly on the post then, and the tarnish peeled away in great flakes of rusty metal, revealing a post now cast entirely of bronze.