CHAPTER 76

  THE OVERBEARING GODDESS

  Hans remained baffled as those big ruby eyes kept piercing him. He was nervous, and it was for good reasons. She spoke in the same exact voice as he had heard when he dared to trespass in Parvian forbidden grounds—Frostspire.

  The memory of his countless deaths and reconstruction haunted him. “Who… no. What are you?” he mumbled.

  “Me?” She pointed herself, as she caught on his silent mumbling. A smile as innocent as a baby, but when she spoke, her tone turned wise. “I’m the result of your struggle, your end, and the beginning.” She said, “I’m Aadya, the bearer of power, the last daughter of OSIRIS, and protector of your bloodline.”

  Looking at the baffled faces, she smirked, “It has been like this for centuries, but I’m quite fed up with saving your Parvian asses, right and left.” She squealed a little as if something had pricked her soft cheeks. “Hmm… what’s this? The causality of this world has gone haywire…what happened when I slept for a while?” She muttered, and her tone shifted again. She demanded from Hans, “Why are so many dead in Clandor?”

  Hans knew he had to answer, but he couldn’t help his thoughts, “For a god, you —”

  “For a god, I know too little— that is what you’re thinking.” She completed his thought and said out loud.

  “What the he—”

  “What the heck, can she read my mind?” She again put words before his thoughts.

  At one moment, she looked innocent as a child, and the next, she looked like she could chew right through his bones.

  Hans looked perplexed, and seeing him silent, the moody goddess elaborated, “You do not need some godly powers to understand what you are thinking; it’s written all over your face… I pity the Parvians who will be ruled under you.” She shook her head, disappointed. “Now, tell me, what are you doing in Clandor, and what these jokers of Ancients are fucking with?”

  “Woah, she really—”

  “Yes, I really look down on these parasites. Now, hush and tell me. What the hell are you doing in Clandor, and why is there so much death here?”

  Hans couldn’t refute this time and explained the whole civil war quickly, and as he spoke more and more, the mood of the goddess raged like a tsunami.

  “This totally rewrote what Samson had done.” Her whispered words echoed, changing the world. “I really hate when things don’t go according to my will. How foolish these mortals are to defy my plan.”

  Her temper took the whole southern Clandor on a wild ride. To quaking lands, malfunctioning of mana devices, and mountains disappearing and reappearing somewhere else.

  She rose and expanded her circlet even further; soon it turned into something Hans and people recognised quite well: the Ring of Chaos.

  A blinding light flashed upon their eyes, and when they opened them, they all found themselves surrounded by familiar faces. The faces that should have been thousands of kilometres apart were together in the central plains of Clandor.

  But they weren’t the only ones forced summoned there; their enemies, the council, were also darting at them, sharing the baffled sentiment of what the hell had happened.

  Some of them were fighting, some getting treatment, while some were relieving themselves in their privy, but were summoned here in their exact condition.

  Someone pointed at the sky, and all eyes met the enchanting figure that was levitating in the sky. But for Parvians and elves, it was the myth of their legends, a black-haired elf for elves, while for the Parvians, it was their goddess of power.

  There were many mixed emotions in the onlookers, but they all shared an awe and fear.

  She, however, arrogantly flicked her locks back and darted her gaze to the audience below. A twitch followed her eye when she saw a naked man covering his private parts.

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  “Hmm… a damned war is happening, and look at this…Ooh, that’s a nice thing you’ve got in between. It would be a shame if someone took it away.” She pointed at the youthful elven man, and his genitals turned into those of a child. It was the day when the sole knight family of Clandor lost their bloodline.

  However, it was nothing in the eyes of her. She infuriatingly pointed, “How dare you show up horny in front of me?”

  “Dear goddess, you summoned us here out of nowhere. It’s not his fault he was busy with his fetishes,” Hans couldn’t speak. He even turned his head back so he might get spared from her tricky face, mind, or whatever she read.

  “Now. The pressing issue.” Her ruby eyes lit, a crimson glare, “KNEEL.FIRST.”

  Her command fell, and with it, fell the knees of everyone. “This war ends here. I won’t tolerate you idiots to play with causality. East belongs to the council, while the Clandor family may rule the west. Divide the nation and live in harmony, or incur my wrath, and I’ll erase you all.”

  She wasn’t suggesting, and every living soul knew it very well. But someone from the Clandor royal family was courageous. “Why are you interfering? These lands are ours since the old times. The council is the usurper here. So why would we have to give up the east?”

  “I’d be disappointed if some random son of a bitch wouldn’t erect like a dick in the nonsense. Your good name, sir?” She asked politely, but none thought of it as polite.

  “I’m Martys, the first son of Clando—”

  “Shut up, Martys.” Reina, enraged, interrupted. “You don’t know what you are dealing with. Shut up.” She was angry to the point of no return herself. The half of the elven land was demanded, and she had no power to refuse.

  “Can I ask. Why are you doing this?” Reina asked with utmost respect, “This is neither your nation nor your lands—”

  “Clandorian blood still flows through me, or did you forget?” She chuckled, “But you are a reasonable person, so I should at least reason with you to make you understand—reappear, you parasites.”

  She flicked her hand, and three people, two men that no one knew and one elf whom many knew, summoned beside her, but it was like someone had sucked their souls out of them.

  “Aerandir?” The council tactician muttered aloud.

  “Yes, Aerandir. I erased everyone who shares his blood, above and below.” The moody goddess said it like it was nothing grand and turned to Reina. “Forget this, Aerandir, he will live in guilt all his life. Look at the two parasites beside him.” She pointed and everyone with Reina turned to two individuals.

  “Took a good look? These two are what you people call ancients and half-gods. Your dear enemy somehow convinced them to join their side. This battle, they have already won from the start. Be grateful that I’m allowing you to rule the west at least… well, if that’d happened, I’d have erased the council side to balance the shit. There would be no elf left in these lands.” She halted and a grin curled her lips, “Now, be a good girl and thank me for my grace.”

  Her late words threw the audience in more turmoil than her earlier revelations that ancients were on the Council’s side. Hans was not the exception, “What the fuck is her deal—” If it weren’t for Delimira’s hand covering his blatant mouth, she could have heard it.

  “Deli, how can you move?” Hans muttered.

  “I don’t know. Let’s get the hell out of here. I’m getting a real bad feeling from her.”

  “It’s not possible, Deli—”

  “Shhh… silent children,” Aadya shifted her gaze towards the whispering Hans. “Didn’t your parents teach you not to talk when a god is speaking… oh wait, they are dead aren't they… No, one is alive though.”

  She quickly turned towards Reina and asked, “I don’t hear any words of gratitude, queen of ashes. Or do you want another blessing?” Her grin turned evil in an instant.

  “No, forgive me. I.M. CONTENT.” Reina reluctantly said those words.

  “O! I thought you’d resist a little like last time. That’s disappointing. You were quite the brave when you sought me in the past. What happened?”

  “I grew up.” Reina said, defeated.

  “Hmm… a privilege I was robbed of when I became a god. Are you rubbing it on me?” Her gaze intensified.

  “She is a nutjob—” This time, Hans had to cover Delimira’s mouth.

  “Deli, are you out of your fucking mind?” He whispered.

  “Children. I thought I asked you to shut up for a while. Can’t you follow two fucking words?” She turned furious towards Hans and Delimira. “Since you are so disobedient.” She pointed at Bernard and Reina. “I’ll give you a blessing like I gave these fools.”

  “So, let me see, who you cherish the most.” Her ruby eyes gazed at Hans’s, like she was looking through him. “Pft…” she broke into a chuckle, “You are quite the selfish one indeed. The most you care about is yourself. Others would be so disappointed hearing this. So, I’ll recite to you what’s to come in your—”

  Bernard apologetically jumped in, interjecting,“Please forgive me for interrupting—”

  “You are forgiven now, shut up, Bernard.” The moody goddess literally muted him; his lips were moving but his voice was as silent as a graveyard. “Now, Hans of Parv. You’ll not live past twenty, you never had and never will. So, follow my decree and live your remainder of life without worries. You only live once, right?”

  “So,” Hans was almost happy. “I won’t die before turning twenty—”

  “Keep yapping and I’ll fast-forward the date.”