ACT VTHE FINAL YEAR

  CHAPTER 78 MOTHER?Hans looked irritated, his eyes staring holes in Aadya. He didn’t like her breaching the promise she had Parvian attached to her name.

  The goddess didn’t like him eyeing her like that, so she quipped, “Have you ever seen a god keeping his words?”

  “Never met one. But you set some good precedents.” Hans didn’t know where he got the courage to argue with her, but he was standing his ground.

  “Oh! Sarcasm. Quite bold, aren’t you?” She leered, and the courage that suddenly rose to him vanished as well. Hans took a step back. Many had said to him that someday he’d die because of running his mouth too much, and he understood that it could very well be that time.

  He covered his mouth before something more could come out. And seeing him panicking, the goddess said mischievously, “Welcome to my humble abode, Prince Hans Parv.”

  Hans looked left and right, but by no means was this pce humble. He found himself in a vast corridor lined with smooth, silvery walls that glowed with a soft, ambient light. Gss and screens flickered with alien symbols and diagrams, raising curiosity in his know-it-all mind.

  He unconsciously touched something, and the entire pce bathed in an otherworldly glow. “This is not from here.” He mumbled, moving cautiously, his footsteps echoing softly on the polished floor. The air inside was artificially warm and crisp; he could hear the faint hum of machinery, much more sophisticated than his dwarven friends’ abode.

  “Just where am I?” He looked confused; everything was unfamiliar.

  The Goddess didn’t respond and let him decide where to wander off, and as he went deeper, he passed by strange, translucent doors that slid open soundlessly to reveal a huge hall filled with flickering devices and instruments beyond his wildest imagination.

  He hushed forward as he saw a view of outside. A panoramic window stretched across the wall, revealing a view of the snowy forest far below and the expanse of the sky beyond. He reached out, his fingers brushing against the cool surface of the window, leaving faint smudges. He turned, absorbing every detail. “Frostspire?” His eyes searched for confirmation.

  “Yes. The very Forbidden nds you wanted to trespass.” The Parvian god finally responded. “This pce is what we call Terminal.” She pointed at her head, “The mainframe of the command centre. This is what grants you to use OSIRIS commands.”

  “So, it’s the temple?”

  “Temp… yeah, it’s the fuckin’ temple.”

  “Can I ask you something—”

  “Why am I a foul-mouthed bitch?”

  “Bitch… I never thought that. It’s all you.” Hans stepped back, reasoning.

  “Do you know the definition of insanity, Prince of Parv? A foreign alchemist known for his genius defined it—it’s to do the same thing over and over again, expecting different results. When you live long like me, alone, repeating the life again and again, and none to understand you. You will become frustrated too, Hans of Parv.”

  Hans didn’t understand her, neither did he try to. This overpowered goddess came, popped Ancients, the untouchable existence like balloons, ended the civil war, and no one dared question her. He recalled Hera’s words, and she was an undeniable proof of what an overwhelming strength could do.

  Diverting his attention, his eyes finally fell on the centrepiece, adorned with an array of glowing buttons and levers, some pulsating with a gentle light. A rge, central chair, upholstered in a material that shimmered like liquid metal, faced the window, looking out over the controls.

  “This seems more like a control room of a warship?”

  “Bingo, now you understand this isn’t a temple but a warship, a marvel of alien engineering.” Aadya responded as she touched the centrepiece, and it glowed in ethereal light, spreading throughout the whole room completely.

  Several alien words ran on the screens as if something was waking up. Hans panicked and took guard. His eyes searched for anything that could harm him.

  “Oh! Quit it. Scaredy cat.”

  “You are our god, right? What do you want from me?” Hans came straight to the point, his tone demanding, “Who wanted me here?”

  “Is that how you talk to the one who made you?”

  “Are you my mother?” Hans was confused.

  “Pft….” Clenching her stomach, Aadya chuckled loudly, “Just check yourself in the mirror? Do you think we are reted?” She ridiculed, “When you mix and cook ingredients to bake bread, does that automatically make you their father?”

  “No, it’s for eating?” Hans quickly responded.

  “Exactly.” Her eyes stared at him.

  “I’m not that tasty.”

  “Lucky for you.” She grinned. “I haven’t touched human meat since a century or two.”

  “Damn!” Hans took a few steps back.

  “How gullible you are. Do you think I eat young children for breakfast?”

  “Who knows?” Hans shrugged off, continuing, “After seeing what you did, if you said you came from the moons, I’d believe you.”

  “Oh! On that particur note. You are not all wrong. I do not belong to this world and you,” she stressed, “ You keep stopping me from going back.”

  “What the—”

  “I miss my family, my people. You all are fucking fragile, a thought is enough to decimate you. I want to go home, Hans of Parv. So I need you to survive the bloody— please survive and live beyond twenty I beg you.”

  “What the sudden change of tone. Didn’t you prophesy I’d die.”

  “Yeah, and then, I’ll be forced to reset the world once again. This is truly insane, I want to quit and go home. Please.… so live and set me free from my obligation. You are the st one I’m bound to.”

  “Dijkstra said, the st descendants of Parv are protected by a god. It was true?”

  “Only from threats like ancients and devourers.” Aadya broke the terms and conditions that came attached with the contract. “Armin, the tyrant king, formed a contract with me to protect his lineage from demise, and I promised him his ten generations would live past twenty. You are the tenth.”

  “Bullshit, what exactly do you want from me?” Hans questioned; he was not buying her expnation.

  “You don’t have to believe me. But you are not a fan of dying, right?” She asked.

  “Obviously.”

  “Then come here.” She once again raised her hand, jolting Hans.

  He was powerless against the goddess’s whims, and she continued, “For starters, I need the divine mana within you. It’s what helps me remain in this world. An essence of Yudwin—”

  “Lady, I’d die without it. Didn’t you just say you want me to live past twenty?”

  “Didn’t you say I was bullshiting?”

  “Fine! Fine! I take that back.” Hans pleaded, but it was of no use.

  “No, you ruined my mood. I’m a nasty bitch. Come here.” She magically pulled his helpless body, aimed at his forehead, her index finger moved, and she grinned, “Don’t worry, you’ll reincarnate just fine. There was a record in this warship. They believed you get reborn in one of 8.4 million species; serpents are a good choice… but I personally like fish. Yes, choose a fish for your next life… no, they’ll probably erase your memory… Fine, I’ll let you keep your memory.”

  She mumbled a lot, but the gist was, her unstable mind had decided it was over for Hans. He sweated bullets in an instant that made her explode in ughter.

  “Pft! You are adorable. But she is right, you know?” The goddess’s mind wandered to a few moments back, and she pointed, “That foreign god. I’m restricted in many ways to not kill anyone I wish; I can’t bear the causality of telling you the truth. The moment you hear those words from my mouth, the event would be set in stone.”

  “Then, I’ll survive?” Hans confirmed. “Even without the divine mana inside me—”

  “Yes. Who do you think I am? We are connected; the moment you die, my life will end with you. It is the penalty I have to pay. That is why, whenever I see the chances of your death happening, I reset the world.”

  “That’s abuse of power… wait…So I have an upper hand in this—”

  “Hell no.” Aadya flinched, “I’m just responsible for your life. Being alive and living is a different thing; I could just make you a vegetable till you turn twenty. Breed some descendant out of you, and then off you go to the reincarnation cycle.”

  “So I don’t even have a hand,” Hans mumbled and thought, “I’m fucked anyway. She is a loose cannon with world-destroying damage output. Think, Hans, think.”

  “Lady…” He tried to converse with her, “Dear goddess… shouldn’t you consult with the person who ordered you to bring me here?” He drew his st straw; in his eyes, Aadya clearly was bipor, so he sought the person behind her.

  “Ah! About that.” Aadya showed an embarrassed face, “There is no one.”

  Hans was fbbergasted, “I think my ears went bad—”

  “No, it’s not. I made that up so I don’t get cursed for the shit storm I cause every time. A bad reputation is not good for godly business.”

  “So, there is really no one?” Hans lost his colour. “What after you suck my divinity off—”

  “Eew! That sounded so sexual. I'm not into kids, especially those who are several thousand years younger than me. But I’ll spare your life for your word—”

  “What?”

  “Among the things I said, the living past twenty is definitely true. If you survive, I’d get to return home. That’s all I wanted for past sixteen cycles. You and your father broke this promise sixteen times. Yet, I still hope you’d fulfil that this time.”

  “Sixteen?”

  “Yeah, dumbass. You and your father’s death caused me to rewind the time sixteen fucking times.”

  “TIME!” Hans was puzzled.

  “Yes,” she glowed with several colours mixed hues and decred in a majestic way, “didn’t I mention it, I’m the one who has overwhelming authority over time.”