NOVEL NEXT Chapter C Painful Revelation
The young girl approached the shrine with a bit of trepidation. It had been a long morning with the priestesses. She had practically been interrogated, but she was finally here at the shrine. Soon she would know what the goddess expected of her, but first, she had to offer a prayer. Being here though she hesitated. She did not really know much about the Dark Goddess Dewari. She was the Patron of Lust demons and embodied Fertility but beyond that, she knew little. Nothing that seemed important anyway. She had never really studied the other pantheons, and now she had a dark goddess for a patron.
She sunk before the shrine heavily and slumped for a moment. Again she found herself wishing she had listened and turned back when she had the chance. Maybe then she would not have ended up with a dark goddess for a patron. If she had just chosen a new light god patron none of this would have happened, but she had put it off. Thinking she had plenty of time, and that the quest was more important. Turned out she was wrong of course, and now here she was.
She sat there slumped for several more moments before she composed herself. Then with a force of will, she took up a proper posture, and began to pray. At first nothing happened. Then she felt a weird shiver run up her spine, moments before her surroundings seemed to shift. Startled she looked around, finding herself in a weird black space that seemed to go on forever. Standing before her was the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. The woman looked a lot like the statue at the shrine and was even nude, just like the shrine. However the statue did her no justice, it failed to capture her true beauty. Her skin was flawless, and smooth looking to be as soft as velvet with a creamy texture, yet smooth like porcelain. Her breasts were reasonably large without being too big, perfectly proportioned for her body. Her lack of body hair seemed so right on the woman.
She had never seen someone so perfect looking, and her mind just stopped for a moment. The young girl could not help but stare with a mixture of utter awe and appreciation for this perfect vision of the female form. A silence formed between them, until she remembered herself, “Your holiness, I did not think you would answer me personally or so quickly.”
The vision of perfection frowned, and even that sent shudders through her, “You have even more to learn than I thought. Did you not even study the other pantheons?”
She shook her head in the negative, and the divine beauty let out a sigh, “That term is favored by those perverted egomaniacs that make up the light pantheon of the human faction of gods. Although it was adopted by a few other light factions. For most pantheons including my own, the term ‘My Goddess’ is preferred. Anyway, that isn’t why you are here. You want to know what I expect of you, and are also hoping for a redemption quest.
“I am afraid it isn’t going to be that easy for you. You have a lot to learn, which is why you are going to be one of the first students for a school that the guild and dungeon will be founding soon. As we speak the dungeon is thinking up a proposal for her mate. As for you, you have more pressing concerns than to undertake a quest or join a school. I really think you should be finding yourself a caretaker.”
“I don’t need a caretaker, I am an...” she tried to protest, but was interrupted in a calm tone.
“An adult? My child, is that what you were going to say? I am going to have to break that illusion of yours. You were a HUMAN adult, but no you are a SUCCUBUS child. You have much to learn about succubi. I highly doubt you know anything about succubi.”
She looked away, feeling quite small before this vision of beauty. While she said nothing, it seemed the goddess could read her perfectly, or was reading her mind. As her next words were, “I thought so. You will find that succubi are not the same as human children. Find a caretaker, enroll in that school, and I will find you when I think you are ready.”
Feeling she was about to be dismissed, she panicked and cried out, “Wait! There is one more thing I wanted to ask.”
The goddess gave her a look, one that sent yet another shudder through her, “You may ask, but I make no guarantees that I will answer it.”
She felt relief that she would be allowed to ask. That is all she wanted. Maybe she would have a chance. The young girl took a moment to settle herself, and then began, “I got a weird quest recently. It told me nothing, but to find my brother before the gods do. It has me a little worried about him.”
The goddess was silent for a moment, and then said, “I see. I was not the one who issued that quest, but rather that was the work of an older god. One whose grandchild you had been trying to capture. I doubt she gave you that quest as a favor though, but more as a means to reach your brother. I am afraid your brother has committed some rather grievous crimes. Crimes involving forbidden magic, and the god that issued your quest has a particular hatred of those that would dare use forbidden magic.”
Her heart sank. Forbidden magic? By the gods what was her brother thinking? She knew he had a few loose screws, but she did not think him stupid. She was not sure she wanted to ask more, but she was never given a choice. The goddess Dewari elaborated on her earlier statement.
“Your brother was playing with a forbidden version of summoning magic, that rips the souls of the living, and turns them into bound puppets of the caster. Worse still, the soul he tried to rip was that of a young hero, the future champion of a god. Specifically the future champion of the Shadow goddess Systeria, so the very system is against your brother as well.”
That did it, her brother had officially screwed himself. There was no way she could help him. The last god you wanted to piss off was the goddess Systeria, that was a death sentence at best. There were things far worse than death, and she doubted even death would be a salvation for her brother.
The goddess suddenly interrupted her thoughts, and with a smile that made her melt while seeming ominous at the same time said, “anyway if you do find your brother, I want you to send me his soul.”
Internally she cursed, as the space dissolved, and a quest box popped up replacing her old one. Maybe sometimes it did hurt to ask, a question she found herself thinking. Without really looking at the shrine. She just sat there, not knowing what to really think about that encounter. Not even bothering to read the new quest box, nor did she try to figure out how the goddess expected her to fulfill it.
Ovi’ta watched the landscape disappear beneath her. She could scarcely believe how quickly the landscape was changing before it disappeared and was replaced by the ocean. Then again, she was flying with a goddess of all things. A crazy goddess, but she had heard that gods tend to be a little strange anyway. This one took the grand prize though.
Even as quick as they were going, their flight had taken some time, and already she was getting tired, and the sun seemed ready to set. Not that it seemed right for the sun to be setting now. It seemed too early for that, but she knew if you could fly fast enough in the right direction the sun would never set, and that in the opposite direction it would set early, fast enough it would set and rise in quick succession. It was a weird fact that most non-winged races had trouble believing. Something she found strange, given that with magic almost anything was possible. Assuming you could pay the cost. Still there were a few things that no mage or god had ever accomplished, turning back time being one of them.
It being early suited her just fine though, given she had not slept well the night before. There was a sudden shift in the ocean below, and it took her a moment to realize that they were slowing down. Curious she spoke up, “We don’t seem to be close to anything, why are we slowing down?”
Arlie looked back, and said, “You need to rest, and there is a nice spot just up ahead. I know you can’t see it, because there is a barrier hiding the island I speak of. A lovely little spit of land that the gods keep untouched as a vacation spot. This one being one of my favorites in this world.”
An island? A god’s vacation spot? One that this crazy god particularly liked? The comment about this world mostly going ignored in her mind. To her, she had always thought that to a god a world is like a work of art is to a mortal. No artist would make just one painting, no author would write just one book, no builder would build just one house. So why would a god stop with just one world? They would create many worlds, each one more fantastic than the last of course.
A place the gods went for a vacation though? That must be more fantastic than anywhere else. She was already picturing a breathtaking island with ancient trees, pristine beaches, towering cliffs and gorgeous waterfalls. Completely untouched by mortal hands, and maybe only a few buildings. Ones built by gods and not mortals. Where each building was more fantastic than the landscape.
So lost in fantasy was she, young Ovi’ta barely noticed when they landed on a beautiful beach. A beach not quite as empty as she would have expected, but she wasn’t really paying any attention to those on the beach. Instead, she was quietly led to a path up some cliffs to a fantastic building built right into the cliffs, with a lush rooftop garden that included a path up into the forest that was at the top. It was not until she was already inside that she realized her surroundings, and that the crazy god was talking with a strange elven man.