The Adventures of Rose Hood

“You may enter.”

I entered the hall and saw my brother, Onyx on the throne.

“Hello.”

“Rose.”

Upon hearing that name all of the guards drew their weapons.

“At ease men. I can handle her.”

He looked at me and stood up.

“So, have you come to kill me?”

“No, I actually came to ask for aid.”

“A shard of the evil god asking for aid. That’s almost laughable how obvious of a lie that it is.”

“I am not a shard of the evil god.”

“I know what you are, Rose. You can’t deny it.”

“I don’t mean I never was, but I was purified.”

“If you were you’d be dead. Pure evil can’t be purified like that.”

I smiled.

“I am not pure evil.”

“Oh, please, I’ve done research, Innocence. I’m not falling for any of your tricks.”

“My name isn’t Innocence.”

“Do you really believe I should call you by that name the foolish wolf gave you.”

“Not what I mean. I’m no longer the Core Lie, Innocence.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“I am the Core Truth, Purity.”

“I won’t fall for your lies like Gerard. Besides he is helping you, that is betraying me, so I brought him in.”

Gerard was dragged in by the same catkin that attempted to collar me yesterday.

“While I am thankful that you did not kill my guard captain, I will still have to kill you.”

“I do not wish to fight.”

“I don’t care.”

He struck at me, but I dodged. He continued to strike, but his attacks only cut air.

“ASPECT OF THE EARTH DRAGON!!!”

He powered up and charged me. He was still too slow.

‘Can I fight him?’

‘No, I will handle him.’

‘Alright.’

I dodged, then he got an idea. He caused an earthquake and grabbed me while I was off balance.

“Got you.”

“Smart, but I’m done with this.”

He leapt back, expecting an attack, but what I did instead caused him to drop his weapon.

My aura was unleased at full power. The rightness of it caused all of his guards to drop their weapons. Vines grew on the walls and my presence exhibited royalty. Gerard looked in awe at the raw nature that I only showed a small, diluted piece of to him.

Onyx fell back and looked at me in awe.

“What is this?”

“As I said, I am not the Core Lie, nor am I the evil god. I am the shard of the good god. Core Truth, Purity, and I have come to ask for aid against the last 5 shards of evil attempting to destroy Selethon. Now I ask you, not as a god-”

I smothered the overwhelming aura and looked at him with a soft smile.

“-but as a sister. Please help me protect the nation I call home.”

I bowed deeply, showing respect as I could.

He looked at me, but this time it was with respect.

“I see the error of my attitude, I will consider sending aid, please forgive me for my transgression.”

“You made no mistake, under normal circumstances I would be a threat, you had no way of knowing this development.”

“Thank you, Gerard I must apologize for doubting you, your intuition was always better than mine.”

“You are fine, your majesty. I understand your concern and know that I should communicate with you better on what I find.”

“Thank you for understanding. Rose, Gerard, you are dismissed.”

We both bowed and went to leave.

“And Rose, I suppose I should stop the wanted dead posters.”

“Thank you, Onyx.”

“No problem.”

As Dalis thought, even someone wholly devoted to killing me would give in upon seeing my nature. Each of my siblings were told to kill me before I could mature, so now that I am matured, they will hunt me, and if the other gods join them, there could be a massive war.

I left the palace and wandered the streets when I felt a presence following me.

‘Gerard.’

‘Rose? What-’

‘No time, could you give me a request that would have me leave the town for a bit.’

‘Sure?’

“Hey Rose, before you go, could you please go check up on a goblin camp outside of town. I know that normally an S rank wouldn’t, but it’s been causing a lot of trouble.”

“Sure, I can.”

_

I wandered out of town and the presence of whatever it was didn’t leave, so I could confirm that it was following me. As I wandered, I found the camp and stood out of sight.

“I know you are here.”

A man walked out, but it was no human.

“Celios, god of the sky.”

“You do remember, Kala.”

“It’s Rose, not Kala.”

“Right, that foolish wolf named a god.”

“He isn’t foolish.”

“He most certainly is, naming a dragon is foolish enough, but a god is another matter, especially a fallen one.”

“What do you want?”

“So hostile, I thought you’d love to see your family after this long.”

“I have not forgotten.”

“Well, then you know I cannot let you remerge.”

“You can’t do anything.”

“Perhaps, and I’m not dumb enough to take you on so close to a city. At least, one that will last to the next month.”

That got me mad.

“Listen here-”

He was already gone.

I took out my anger on the goblin camp.

I came back to town, emanating an angry aura. I entered the guild hall and Gerard went up to me.

“What was that about?”

“Someone strong enough to defeat me issued a death threat.”

“I see...”

Everyone had learnt that I was the same Rose that they were supposed to keep an eye out for, and everyone in this nation knew my nature, so having me say that someone stronger than me wanted me dead was a terrifying idea.

“Was it one of the other shards?”

A random adventurer asked.

“It was someone far stronger than a mere shard.”

They blanched. Only gods were stronger than shards. There was great concern if one was willing to kill me.

“Why would a god come after you?”

“Because I’m telling people of their sin.”

The nation heard of it from my brother after I explained it to him. As Lust used to run a major cult around here, having her appear as Piety helped my case.

He agreed to send a sizeable force to aid in the battle.

After saying my goodbyes and my brother releasing word that no one outside of the nation should know my identity, I flew off, heading to the next nation.