Chapter 18: Chapter 15.2: The Goddess. (Part II)

Echoes of Fire and Shadows

Chapter 15.2: The Goddess (Part II)

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"Phew! It really feels good to vent to someone whenever you're stressed, doesn't it?" The emotional Lia asked her other half while looking quite satisfied.

"Indeed. I feel much more relaxed." The emotionless Lia nodded while having a blank expression on her face.

“Alright! Time for a heartwarming hug now that we have made up with each other!” Lia immediately hugged her emotionless counterpart.

“Fine…” The other Lia reluctantly returned the hug.

"..." I could only look at the pair with confusion. 

After yelling at each other for what seemed to be an eternity, these two suddenly got super friendly as if they never had an argument in the first place… 

Gods are weird, man...

"But as much as I would like to enjoy this temporary break from our work, we still have things to do." The emotionless Lia suddenly looked at me. She seemed somewhat embarrassed.

"I can't say that you're wrong about that. I'll let you handle the complicated parts then!" The emotional Lia smiled. "However…" She suddenly disappeared from view…

The back of my neck was suddenly caressed by a pair of soft hands… I ended up shivering due to being touched without warning…

“I get to sit with him while you’re at it!” The emotional Lia was hugging me tightly from behind.

“I was expecting that from the beginning.” The emotionless Lia said before teleporting herself. She instantly appeared sitting by my left side. “Now, let’s begin.” She suddenly snapped her fingers and the world around us started to change.

The endless blue sky was suddenly erased out of existence... Soon, a familiar white void filled with nothing surrounded us.

“Wait a minute… Why are we in Melius’ Divine Realm?” I asked the two Lias while looking for him in the infinite empty void.

“You won’t be able to find the real Melius in this place.” The emotionless Lia replied with her usual cold tone.

“This is still our Divine Realm. This is the same thing that I showed you before. We are just projecting one of our memories in this place.” The emotional Lia gave me a more detailed answer before starting playing with my hair…

Before I was even able to reply, I suddenly discovered an unknown humanoid figure which was standing several meters away from us…

“That figure… Is that…?” I looked at both Lias with confusion.

“Just watch.” The emotionless Lia said to me with a deadpan tone.

The figure was surrounded by a thick black smoke which was slowly making its way towards us…

But just as the smoke was about to actually reach us, the black smoke went back towards its origin with incredible speed… It was like the clouds of smoke were being absorbed by something…

"In the beginning, there was nothing but darkness... That is how some of the cultures in your former world describe the origin of your world, correct?" The emotionless Lia suddenly looked straight into my eyes. "In our world, however, it was the opposite. In the beginning, there was only pure and overwhelming light." Lia then looked back towards the humanoid figure and the source of the black smoke.

I followed her gaze, only to find that the black smoke had completely disappeared…

A young girl with long pitch-black hair that reached the ground was standing in the place where the smoke had originated from…  The girl was wearing what seemed to be a black colored sundress and no shoes at all. The girl seemed to be no older than ten years of age... 

Her right hand was extended above her head while the girl looked at it with a blank expression.

"But, the seemingly everlasting dominance of light wouldn't last for long… Because the birth of darkness would come with my own birth." The emotionless Lia explained.

"Wait… You mean, that the young girl over there is…-" I looked at the emotionless Lia with a dumbfounded expression.

Besides black hair, the young girl in front of us does not look like Lia at all… But the atmosphere around her seems to be the same...

"That is no one other than myself." The emotionless Lia confirmed what I was already suspecting. "This is my first memory... The memory of the day I came to be, as well as the memory of the day I met my dearest friend, Melius." I could feel a lot of nostalgia in her voice...

As soon as she mentioned Melius, the appearance of the humanoid figure which was standing in front of the young girl suddenly became clearer to me…

A tall young man who appeared to be in his early twenties with short white hair and a pair of silver eyes was looking at the young girl and smiling with relief. He appeared to be overjoyed and relieved due to the presence of Lia.

The appearance of the god who had reincarnated me just a few weeks ago was still fresh in my mind. So I had no doubts that it was actually him…

"Let's move closer to the action!" The emotional Lia quickly snapped her fingers, teleporting us right in front of the young Lia and Melius.

The young Lia suddenly looked at Melius with confusion...

"Who are you? What is this place? What am I doing here?" She asked him with a deadpan expression although her tone of voice displayed clear confusion.

Melius smiled from ear to ear before answering her question…

"You're pretty lively considering that you were born just a few moments ago." He continued to smile at her.

"I was just born?" The young Lia tilted her head.

"That's right! You were just born! I saw something out of the ordinary which happened to be the column of black smoke that you were born from and I decided to check it out!" Melius nodded while smiling warmly. He really seemed overjoyed to see Lia.

"I was just born… I see…" The young Lia just nodded to herself.

"As for what this place is… Well, as you can see, there's not much I can explain about this place, but I simply call it: The Void. A place where only you and I exist." Melius smiled bitterly.

"Only the two of us in this empty place?" The young Lia seemed perplexed by what Melius had told her.

"I haven't found anyone else but you so far, so yeah… There's only the two of us here." Melius shook his head. "As for who I am… My name is Melius. I have been wandering in this place for as long as I can remember." Melius smiled innocently as he introduced himself to the young Lia.

“All alone…? How long have you been here?” The young Lia looked at Melius with curiosity.

“How long? That’s hard to tell since this place doesn’t really have a defined flow of time. But if I had to say… Years, maybe? Several hundred… No… A few thousand, most definitely.” Melius started counting with his fingers and rubbing his chin with his free hand.

Thousands of years in this place…

I couldn’t help but look at the infinite white void that was engulfing all of us… An eternal prison with nothing inside…

This kind of place would quickly drive anyone towards insanity…

I now understand why Melius looked so overjoyed about meeting Lia…

I don't know if I could remain calm or even keep my sanity if I was in his shoes...

"But let's not focus too much on that for now... Have you decided on a name yet?" Melius asked with a gentle smile.

"A name…?" The young Lia tilted her head.

"That's right! A name! I would feel awkward if someone was calling me 'You' all the time! Don't you feel the same?" Melius smiled bitterly.

"Certainly… It does feel awkward that you have a name and I don't…" The young Lia nodded in agreement. "Hmmm…" The young Lia then fell deep into thought.

"Don't rush something as important as deciding your name, okay?" Melius said to the young goddess.

The young Lia simply nodded, agreeing with Melius.

After a few moments, the young goddess looked at Melius having made up her mind.

"Lia. That's the name I'll go by." She nodded to herself.

"Well, it is a pleasure to meet you, Lia." Melius showed her a warm smile and offered his hand to her for a handshake.

"Likewise, Melius." Lia nodded in agreement and shook Melius' hand.

Both Melius and the young Lia suddenly disappeared after their handshake…

"Ehh? Why did they disappear?" I asked the two Lias while tilting my head.

"We are running short on time, I'm afraid." The emotionless Lia answered my question.

"So we'll have to speedrun through our memories! Only the important ones, of course!" The emotional Lia replied with excitement while still playing with my hair...

Suddenly, an enormous column of fire appeared right in front of us…

"After I was born, Melius and I spent most of our time trying to fill this white void with anything that came to our minds." The emotionless Lia explained while pointing at the column of fire.

Then two enormous boulders appeared right beside the hot column of fire. Water started streaming from the insides of the boulders towards the white floor of the void.

"Wait… Is this how [The Six Primordial Elements] came to be?" I asked with a lot of interest.

"You get ten points for realizing that! Good job!" The Emotional Lia started to ruffle my hair vigorously…

At the same time, a massive sphere of light appeared above us, making the boulders and the column of flames produce shadows behind them.

A gentle gust was traveling around the boulders, making a strangely calming sound as it passed near us and making the column of fire much more powerful.

"It took us a long time, but we managed to fill the entire void with all the things that came to our minds." The emotionless Lia said with a somewhat nostalgic tone.

Just as she said that the floor of the white void had turned green… There was grass and soil with trees and flowers blooming everywhere...

But not only that had changed…

Above us, the massive sphere of light was surrounded by an infinite blue sky filled with clouds.

It was an awe-inspiring sight…

As if it was an empty canvas, Lia and Melius had completely transformed the endless white void into a rich and wonderful paradise.

"That's how you two made the world… I see…" I couldn't hide my admiration towards the two deities.

"It is not like we intended to do it, but that is how this world came to be." The emotionless Lia said with a somewhat warm and friendly tone.

So this world was made unintentionally… That's actually quite shocking… I wonder if more people know about this...

"Let's move on to [The Dawn of the Gods]!" The emotional Lia raised her fist into the air with excitement.

[The Dawn of the Gods]?

Suddenly eight pillars of smoke appeared around us… The figures of the young Lia and Melius had reappeared as well.

The young Lia and Melius were looking at the pillars of smoke with interest.

"[The Dawn of the Gods] is how Melius and I baptized the era when Gods were born more frequently." The emotionless Lia explained. "The Goddess of Life and Death, Riva was the first to be born." The emotionless Lia pointed at a pillar of light green smoke.

From there, the distorted figure of a woman appeared from the pillar of green smoke.

Wait… Wasn't Skell the Goddess of Death?

"She is the current Goddess of Death! This is just how she was before she split into the God of Life, Ydum, and the Goddess of Death, Skell!" The emotional Lia explained with enthusiasm after reading my mind.

"I see…" I nodded while looking at the distorted figure.

So gods can split like cells huh… I think I'm a bit interested in the science behind that.

"Moving on. The second to be born was The God of Magic, Basalto. He was followed shortly after by the God of Time, Rudra." The emotionless Lia pointed at two more pillars.

Two masculine blurry figures appeared out of a pillar of dark blue smoke and a pillar of red smoke.

"After them, the God of Crafts, Telno, the Goddess of Love, Catris and…-" The emotionless Lia was talking and pointing at more smoke pillars when she was suddenly interrupted.

"And me! All three of us were born at the same time!" The emotional Lia shouted with increasing excitement while repeatedly shaking me and pointing towards a purple-colored pillar of smoke.

Two more blurry figures appeared from the other pillars that Lia was pointing at before, one belonging to a man and the other to a woman.

From the pillar of purple-colored smoke, another clone of the emotional Lia appeared with a warm smile on her face...

"Indeed… Thiasis, the Goddess of Emotions was born at that moment." The emotionless Lia had a blank expression on her face. I could feel that she was a bit annoyed because she was interrupted.

"Hehehe! That would be me!" The emotional Lia said happily.

Wait a minute… 

"So you two were not initially the same person, but two people merged into one?" I asked the two Lias while looking at their clone that had just appeared.

"That is correct." The emotionless Lia nodded in response. "But it seems that I will have to handle explaining things from now on since my other half couldn't do it properly." She looked at the emotional Lia, or rather, Thiasis with an unamused expression.

"Ugh... I thought it was clear from the start, okay!?" Thiasis suddenly started pouting.

So gods can also absorb or fuse with other gods to make a new form of life… 

This reminds me of that anime that Claire liked so much about martial arts where two guys wear a set of earrings in order to fuse to become the ultimate warrior...

"As a result of merging into one being, our body adopted the appearance of Thiasis and our minds became entangled. Honestly, It was a mess and it took us quite a while to adapt to our new body…" Lia seemed like she really didn't want to remember what they went through. "After a few years, we were able to discover a way to temporarily separate the emotional and logical part of me into two separate bodies." Lia explained with a serious tone.

"Which results in the two beautiful goddesses you have by your side~!" Thiasis gave me a loving hug.

"I see… This is a bit complicated, to be honest, but I hope you don't mind if I call you Thiasis then." I looked at Thiasis and smiled at her.

"Of course! Nothing would make me happier!" Thiasis hugged me even tighter than ever before… She was delighted that I had decided to call her by that name.

I'm glad that I can call each of them by their name instead of having to put the label of "emotionless" or "emotional" on them since it felt quite bothersome and weird… 

"If it makes things more simple for you then go ahead. It would work either way since we are both Lia and Thiasis." Lia also gave her approval. "Anyway, let's continue." Lia pointed at the final two pillars of smoke.

A female and masculine figure emerged from the last pillars of smoke.

Unlike most other gods here, their figures were not blurry at all…

The male god had a humanoid shape, but most of his body was covered in dozens of eyes and small mouths who appeared to be laughing. The deity was quite thin and small, barely reaching 1.60 meters in height. His facial features were downright creepy, having two mouths on the sides of his head beside the normal one and a single enormous eye in the middle of his face. The fact that he was bald and had even more eyes and mouths all over his bald head made him look even more horrifying to the human eye... All of the mouths in his body had terrifying smiles which immediately sent shivers down my spine…

Contrary to the strange and creepy appearance of the male god, the female one was unexpectedly common-looking.

She was 1.68 meters tall, had short dark brown hair and black-colored eyes. Her facial features were quite common… She looked like the kind of person you could easily miss in a crowded area. But despite her common appearance, there was something driving me to keep my eyes on her alluring smile…

"The next two who were born were Agmos, the God of Deceit, and Ezra, the Goddess of Lust." Lia pointed at the two deities with a severe expression on her face.

As soon as she mentioned their names, my mind could only focus on the male deity.

"So this is the face of my killer…" I muttered with disgust.

The mere thought of that horrifying being manipulating my family disgusted me beyond words…

"As well as the face of the one who sealed Melius away..." Thiasis spoke with indignation.

"We'll get to that part soon enough." Lia’s usual cold tone became even colder...

I kept looking at the bizarre appearance of Agmos despite the amount of disgust and anger it was producing me… I wanted to engrave in my mind the face of the individual who had stolen my life from me…

Both Lia and Thiasis made me quickly snap out of it by touching my shoulders.

"We'll continue with the hate party later! Please focus, okay~. Thiasis spoke to me with a gentle tone.

Thiasis then nodded at Lia who nodded back at her before continuing with her story.

“Five gods and five goddesses... All ten of us came together and eventually formed a group which we would eventually name as [The Assembly].” Lia explained while all the gods gathered around Melius and the young Lia. “Melius was chosen as our leader due to him being the most powerful as well as the most compassionate among us.” Lia was looking very intently at her own younger self and Melius.

“After that things were pretty peaceful while we were under Melius’ guidance.” Thiasis added while patting my back. “That was until we decided to add something new to our world… Living beings.” She suddenly stopped.

All the gods in front of us including Lia and Melius were now sitting on the ground looking extremely bored. 

“All ten of us felt that something was missing in our world… We weren’t satisfied despite having filled the world with such marvelous creations…” Lia admitted. “The God of Magic, Basalto, suggested  that each of us should give something of importance to us in order to create something completely new.” Lia spoke with a gentle tone.

The gods were making a circle and looking at something with awe and curiosity.

“Humans?” I asked.

Judging by how most myths go, I think it should be pretty obvious.

Both Lia and Thiasis immediately shook their heads.

"Angels." They said in unison.

Oh… 

Nevermind then…

A man and woman, each with a pair of pure white wings were standing in the middle of the group of gods. Lia, Thiasis, and Melius were looking at them with interest.

"Angels were submissive servants who did what they were told. Their whole purpose was to execute our will… They really didn't have any will of their own…" Thiasis then explained with annoyance.

"Some gods like Agmos and Ezra were perfectly fine with that but the majority of us weren't. That was something which would lead us to our current situation…" Lia sighed heavily. "It was an issue about control and intervention…"  Lia ended up looking at the horizon before letting out another heavy sigh.

You are reading story Echoes of Fire and Shadows at novel35.com

"Despite the protests of Agmos and those who had the same opinion of him, we moved on from Angels and created more intelligent species like Dragons, Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Fairies and the Beastfolk!" Thiasis said proudly.

"Due to the creation of these races, we were eventually able to give the newer generations of angels a free will of their own. We couldn't fully erase their submissiveness, though…" Lia lamented while shaking her head.

A large group of angels was presenting to the gods a group composed of a pair of members of each race…

Agmos, Ezra, and two other male gods didn't seem too pleased by the addition of these new races…

"But the creation of all these races who had a will of their own slowly turned the small disagreement we had with Agmos and those who followed him into the current problem we have today…" Thiasis proud expression from before was nowhere to be found. She had a look of guilt on her face.

"Agmos and his allies want to control. They thought that angels and any new races were supposed to become our eternal servants. While Melius, myself, and the others who agreed with us only wanted to see how they would develop. As time passed the difference in our ideologies created an enormous rift in [The Assembly]..." Lia spoke with a serious tone before closing her eyes.

Everything around us turned dark and the memories of the gods had disappeared as well…

As soon as Lia opened her eyes again, the scenery around us changed…

The three of us were now in the middle of a battlefield… 

There were dozens upon dozens of corpses of members of all races lying in the mud while their blood was being washed away by the rain…

I could hear multiple people shouting, growling, and wailing as well as the sound of metal clashing coming from all around us...

"Us gods started to argue more and more, something which was picked up by mortals and eventually led them to fight in our names…" Lia seemed regretful. "Several more gods were also born during the conflict, many who immediately chose a side right after their birth… The Goddess of War, the God of Justice, the God of Greed, the Goddess of Virtue, The Goddess of Victory… We were all fighting over the fact that we couldn't agree on how much free will should mortals have and how much should gods intervene…" Lia spoke with increasing annoyance.

Lia suddenly snapped her fingers… The three of us were quickly teleported again.

This time, the three of us were now in the middle of space… A pair of familiar gigantic moons were right in front of us.

For a moment, I was left breathless thanks to the unusual yet extremely beautiful sight...

"I baptized those events as [The Schism of the Assembly]." Lia leaned her head against me and decided to rest her head against my shoulder. "Things just kept getting worse and worse… Mortals kept dying for naught… All of that eventually led to the imprisonment of Melius and finally, the creation of Demons and the Dark Races…" Lia spoke with a tired tone.

I see… I think I understand everything so far…

"We are approaching the end of the story! So please endure for a little longer, okay~?" Thiasis suddenly gave both Lia and me a loving hug…

"Okay…" I nodded.

"Moving on…" Lia said with annoyance. "We can leave the talk about Demons and the Dark Races for another day since they happened a long time after Melius' imprisonment." Lia spoke with a somewhat distant tone.

"How did it happen? Was Agmos so strong that he could actually win against Melius and seal him away?" I asked Lia.

"That coward? Don't make me laugh!" Thiasis snickered.

"Melius was sealed by the combined effort of Agmos and other 23 deities." Lia clenched her fists while looking at the horizon with frustration. "Agmos and the others were able to catch Melius off guard when he was alone and sealed him away in his Divine Realm…" Lia explained with anger.

She then looked towards the twin moons in front of us.

"With the help of the God of Time who also rules over space itself, they severed Melius' connection with this world and then applied a second seal in order to make sure he couldn't be liberated, this time the target was his Divine Realm… They sealed it in the shadow that these moons produce during a certain eclipse, once every 114 years." Lia finally revealed the location of Melius' prison.

Oh…

Aren't I fucked then...? 

That's longer than the common lifespan of a human… I mean I could try to make it there, but...

"Lia… When is the eclipse going to happen again?" I asked while gulping loudly. I even started sweating due to the tension…

Lia suddenly closed her eyes and remained silent for a moment…

That made me even more nervous than before...

"Thirteen years from now." Lia opened her eyes and nodded to herself.

(Oh thank goodness…) I let out an internal sigh of relief.

It wouldn't have been fun at all if the eclipse happened after I died of old age…

But now, that leads me towards a more important question.

"How can I release Melius from his prison?" I asked Lia with a serious tone.

"I will tell you how to do it, but that is not the purpose of this meeting, Julius..." Lia suddenly looked straight into my eyes with those crimson eyes of hers. " The purpose of this meeting is for me to confirm that you are determined to walk this path… Are you sure you're willing to join a battle that might be lost?" Lia asked with an incredibly serious expression without breaking eye contact with me…

"What do you mean by might be lost? Weren't there more gods who disagreed with Agmos and shared views with you and Melius?" I asked while thinking of the memories I had just witnessed.

"Well… That's…" Thiasis suddenly started twiddling with her thumbs… "Due to the creation of Demons and the Dark Races, a fragment of the God of Magic died and our other allies distanced themselves from us and adopted a more neutral position after we became the protectors of the Demons and the Dark Races…" Thiasis explained while averting her gaze.

Huh…?

I couldn't help but look at her with complete befuddlement...

A god died…? Is she serious…?

"And that is a long story for another day. We don't have much time to spare to tell you that story..." Lia grabbed my cheeks and forced me to look into her eyes. 

Oh… She WAS serious… Damn...

"Julius, are you willing to throw your second chance at life for a battle that we might not win?" Lia asked again while maintaining eye contact with me.

I couldn't reply straight away… My mind was burdened with all the information I had just received...

But…

All it took to clear my mind was a simple deep breath.

…

…

…

"I'll do it." I straight into Lia's deep crimson eyes and replied without hesitation.

So what if we don't have other allies! I'm still making Agmos pay for what he did to me! That bastard is gonna pay!

And also…

"I can't simply let you fight alone." I smiled at her.

I don't have all my memories of when I was Crux, but by simply looking at how Thiasis has been treating me so far, it is clear that we had a deep bond. That is enough for me to want to fight by her side.

Also, I cannot let my benefactor struggle on her own... I must thank her for preventing me from being reincarnated as a rat!

"..." Lia continued to look at me with a serious expression for a moment… "Thank you. I knew I could count on you." Lia suddenly smiled at me.

That genuine smile left a deep impression on me… I couldn't take my eyes off her…

"Of course we can count on him! I've always had faith in him!" Thiasis immediately hugged both Lia and myself once again… "Let's kick some asses!' Thiasis spoke with increasing excitement.

I couldn't help but smile due to her confidence and excited attitude.

A battle that we might lose… I might lose my life again…

I guess I have no choice but to live a second life free of any kind of regret.

"So? What's the plan? Let's go beat the crap out of Agmos and release Melius!" I said to Thiasis.

"Ah… The plan?" Thiasis then looked at Lia who simply nodded in response. "You're too young. Until you grow up a little, we won't be making any moves!" Thiasis shook her head repeatedly with disapproval.

"Ehh? Then why did you ask me if I was willing to throw my life away?" I asked the two with a disappointed look.

"Julius, as I said before, the purpose of this visit was to confirm your determination and also to give you some information. You're still extremely weak and a kid on top of that." Lia also shook her head with disapproval. The smile from before was no longer there…

Ah… That's right… I forgot about those small little details…

"We'll wait for a few years until you grow up a bit. Until then, make sure to train as much as you can. But also you must make sure to live a fulfilling life. So, do as you wish until you have become strong enough." Lia caressed my cheek. "Unfortunately, our time together has come to an end. For now, at least." Lia said with a somewhat sad expression.

As soon as she said that, a bright white light suddenly stole my ability to see...

"Boohoo! I wanted to spend some more time with him! I don't wanna get back to work!" I could hear Thiasis complaining.

"Not this again… Sigh…" Lia sighed heavily. "We'll meet again sooner than you think, Julius."

As soon as she said those words, I felt how my body and my consciousness were being taken somewhere else...

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-----Lia's POV-----

"Ugh… I spent too much time divided… Keeping that skill active is soo tiring…" I sat on a wooden chair after sending Julius back to the entrance of the temple. "Yaaaaaawn…" I couldn't help but yawn due to how tired I was...

Sigh… Making a summary of the last 150,000 years that mortals can understand was rough… I'm fortunate that Julius is really smart, otherwise, things would have been much more annoying and slow...

…

"Even though I have taken so much from you and the fact that I have done a terrible job taking care of you, you're still willing to take my side… I'm really blessed to have met you…" I muttered while I thought of the child I had just sent away.

Yeah… I'm really fortunate to have him… 

"I wish we could spend more time at the beach like we used to do with your mother and your cousin…" I lamented myself while looking at the emptiness in my Divine Realm. "I wish you hadn't been dragged into this, but… I can't help but be glad that I met you." I muttered with a lot of guilt...

This time… This time I will not leave him alone… I cannot make the same mistake twice…

“I will do everything in my power to support him!” I raised my fist to the air with determination.

I need to prepare everything for our next meeting… There’s a lot I didn’t manage to tell him, after all. He will surely have thousands of things that he might want to ask me, so I should prepare for that as well!

"How unusual it is to see you being this motivated, Lia." A masculine voice spoke to me from behind. "I suppose it has to do with the former inhabitant from my world.” The masculine voice spoke with a somewhat cocky attitude.

“Hermes…” I said with annoyance as I turned around to face the not-so-welcomed visitor.

In front of me, there was a moderately attractive olive-skinned man. He was 1.68 meters tall. He has long light brown hair that goes a bit past his shoulders and a pair of yellow-colored eyes. He was wearing an open Hawaiian shirt, so his abs were on full display. He was also wearing some shorts, a hat and a pair of sandals. The hat and the sandals had wings on them as decoration.

“What do you want?” I asked him with annoyance.

“Lia… There’s no need to talk to me with such an annoyed tone! We’re allies, remember?” He smiled bitterly.

“Cut the crap, Hermes. What are you doing here? Just because we’re allies now doesn’t mean that you can come to my Divine Realm whenever you please.” I looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

“Sheesh… You have really gotten so unfriendly these days huh…” Hermes shrugged. “I was just here to check how that former inhabitant of our world was doing.” Hermes smiled at me.

“As you can see, he’s healthy and happy.” I said with a deadpan expression. “If that’s what you came here for, then please fuck off.” I was really annoyed due to Hermes' presence.

“Woah! So hostile!” Hermes raised his arms in an overly theatrical manner. “Lia, I have been here since the beginning. Why didn’t you tell him anything about what’s going to happen if you two fail?” Hermes suddenly spoke to me with a serious tone.

“Son of a bitch… Seriously, why the hell do you think you can spy my private conversations in my own Divine Realm?” I said with increasing annoyance.

“Don’t dodge my question. Why haven’t you told him about the possible war between our worlds? In fact, why didn’t you tell him about what happened to his family after his death?” Hermes looked at me with an inquisitive look.

…

…

…

Sigh… This guy really knows how to annoy me...

“You should already know the answers to those questions since you have a fucking brain, so don’t play dumb Hermes.” I spoke to him with an indifferent tone.

“Please, illuminate me!” He bowed while grinning at me.

“Fine! Do you want to know why I didn’t tell him that his adoptive parents and best friend are currently locked up in a psychiatric ward!? Do you want to know why I didn’t tell him that his girlfriend DIDN’T actually participate in his murder but it is now on the verge of a mental breakdown due to all the crap she has to deal with while taking care of his traumatized sisters!? Do you really want to know!?” I yelled at him.

“Of course! That’s why I came here!” He kept grinning while looking at me.

Ugh… I seriously want to punch the shit out of this bastard… I swear that one of his days, I’m gonna hit him with a fucking baseball bat and I’m gonna laugh after that...

“How do you suggest I tell him all that? It has barely been a day on Earth since he died… Of course, I can’t fucking tell him what’s happening there when the situation hasn’t been resolved! Now I have a much better question for you!” I looked at him with contempt. “What are you guys doing to help his family with their current predicament? Are you gonna leave them to rot in that psychiatric ward!?” I clenched both of my fists due to the annoyance and anger I was feeling… I was reaching the end of my patience.

Hermes simply smiled in response… That single act was enough for me to make me lose my temper…

I quickly stood up from my chair and walked towards him. I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and raised him in order to look him in the eyes…

“How do you propose I tell Julius that his death was the final straw that might provoke a second war between our worlds?” I asked him with a calm expression despite being internally consumed by fury…

There are many things I didn’t have the time to tell him, but there are also many things I choose not to tell…

One of those things was the fact that Earth and my own world have gone to war before... A war that almost extinguished humanity from the face of the Earth. A single battle that plunged that world into the dark ages at the end of the age of bronze and almost ended the life of our young world as well...

There’s no way I can burden him with the knowledge that a second disaster like that might happen due to what happened to him.

Agmos is one hundred percent to blame for this situation, but still, I don’t want Julius feeling responsible for such a potential disaster...

And of course, I cannot tell him what is happening with his family at the moment. It is simply way too soon… What good would bring him to know that they are not in a good place and he can’t do anything to help them?

“You’re a caring person as always, eh Lia? No matter how much profanities come from your mouth, I’ll always admire that kindness of yours!” Hermes gave a compassionate look while patting my arm repeatedly. He wanted me to put him on the ground...

“Fuck off, you asshole!” I screamed at him and tried to throw him as far away as I could.

“Whoops! That was a nice try!” He said while he was floating in front of me... He barely flew a few centimeters away from me…

“...” I looked at him with even more contempt than before.

“His family will be fine. We already have all the valkyries we had available on the move. We’ll have to tamper a bit with their memories, but everything will be taken care of.” He smiled confidently. “And since you know that Claire was not involved in the murder, I’m guessing that you decided to take a look at the evidence I sent you.” He sent me another inquisitive look.

“I might have…” I muttered.

Julius’ girlfriend, Claire, was not even at the scene of the crime when Julius was murdered. She was pleasantly sleeping in her apartment during the incident.

Agmos used his divinity to trick Julius into thinking that Claire was one of his murderers. In reality, Agmos was simply using her appearance to make Julius’ murder more impactful.

Can you imagine how Claire or his sisters felt when they discovered the scene of the crime?

Pure despair and hopelessness… That’s what they felt.

As for his parents and best friend… They were unfortunately involved in Julius’ murder. They were easily manipulated by Agmos and now they are paying the consequences…

If it wasn’t for the gods of Earth intervening, they would have had to live with the knowledge that they killed their son and friend for the rest of their lives.

That is what Agmos does. He’s a hedonist who loves the look of despair on the faces of those he tortures... He is a monster who feeds on the pain and suffering of mortals...

Unfortunately, Julius has not been the first to suffer this kind of fate and if we don’t take care of Agmos for good, he will not be the last...

“I had to use a lot of favors in order to get that video. I’m really glad that something as convenient as the Akashic Records exists…” Hermes spoke with a feeble tone.

“Hermes, be honest... Did you really come here to tell me a bunch of stuff I already know? Or was it simply that you were bored and decided to come here to piss me off?” I asked with a tired expression.

I want him gone… Dealing with him just tires me so much, seriously…

“Nothing of the sort!” He smiled innocently. “I came here because of Zeus and Odin. As you might have noticed, I was on my vacation when they suddenly asked me to meet you in order to deliver a message! Hehehe!” He scratched the back of his head while chuckling.

Oh... Fucking dammit… Not fucking Zeus...

“If he’s trying to get into my pants, you can tell him that I will nuke Mount Olympus until there’s nothing but rubble if he dares to show his face here.” I was completely serious about my threat.

“Fortunately, it is not about that since it is also a request from Odin!” Hermes spoke with relief.

Odin… He’s one of the few gods of Earth that still has my respect...

“What is the message?” I looked at him with interest.

“We want to meet the boy.” Hermes smiled warmly at me as he delivered the message.

---

Chapter 15.2: The Goddess (Part II)

END

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