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Side Story 5: The Bickering of Gods. [Release Version]
🕑 Added 2020-02-09 17:48:36 +0000 UTCAurena, the Goddess of Light.
Marsven, the God of Darkness.
Danterno, the God of Fire.
Plesia, the Goddess of Water.
Crustacia, the Goddess of Earth.
Zephira, the Goddess of Wind.
These were the six Origin Gods of Peolynca. Beings who ruled over the world as the supervisors of the System and the primarchs of the six natural elements.
Each god managed one of the elements, maintaining the balance between them while helping their followers learn the art of magic casting. While receiving the ability to learn spells faster, with each spell cast, the corresponding Origin God would receive energy to sustain their divine form.
Besides using magic, followers of a god may also pray to them in the many churches or alters spread around in this world. As mighty as these gods seemed to be, their divine forms were bound to the mortal beings who walked, breathed, and lived in Peolynca. Their maximum power depended entirely on their follower count and how often their elements was being used.
“Zephira! Zephira! Image! We need an image!” A loud, powerful voice spewing smoke and ashes with every word suddenly appeared in the divine realm of the Goddess of Wind, Zephira.
“Oi, slow down ya muscle brain! What’cha tryin’ to do with entering her divine realm uninvited?!” A stern, rough female voice followed the energetic one from behind.
It could only be called a hysteria as a sudden rift was opened into this tranquil woodland, letting a small woman with stone hair and a being of pure inferno into this realm. Zephira’s faefolk angels and aides were screaming and running for their lives, afraid of the pressuring aura of these gods.
Clutching her head, the lime colored-haired goddess with four butterfly wings dismissed all her angels and aides, to spare them of any further harm. Seeing the two continue arguing despite everything happening was starting to give the goddess a headache.
“Shut up, midget!” shouted the God of Fire in fiery defiance. “I’m doing exactly what we both want. Zephira, we need your System window now!”
“Midget?! Ya want to call me that again, ya dum’ fool?!” Despite not being a Goddess of Fire, the Goddess of Earth, had enough of a hot temper to speak back against the insult. “Or ya wantin’ to fight? I can beat ya down if ya aren't in the mood to cry in ya sad excuse of a divine realm.”
“Your puny piece of dirt can’t defend yourselves from my inferno!” His blazing hair burst into action, transforming the divine realm they were in into a small sauna.
If their believers were to see this, most likely, they would have lost all respect for these two divine beings. Or it would lead to war between the two beliefs. Luckily for these two gods, they were quarreling in private, outside of the eyes of zealous mortals.
“CAN YOU TWO SHUT UP!” having enough of their usual disputes, Zephira, the Goddess of Winds, shouted. “Why are you both in my realm?! Can you at least have the decency to not fight in my home?”
Her serene voice, similar to a calm breeze, could switch to that of a storm if she shouted. The tornado extinguished the small fires forming around fiery being, settling the temperature and returning everything back to normalcy.
Noticing her good friend’s temper, the Goddess of Earth, Crustacia, cooled herself down and apologized, “Sorry Zephira, but this rude loudmouth forced me to enter without a warnin’.”
The God of Fire, Danterno, simply scoffed, “Yeah, put all the blame on me. Your pride can’t even accept the fact that you’re happy that I was the one to pull the trigger.”
“Well, my pride is the one thin’ that keeps me in check, compared to what’cha doin’.” Crustacia looked at Danterno with great annoyance, so much so that her brown stone twin-tails hardened into metal.
"See that, Zephira? The so-called ‘honorable’ goddess is already readying herself to fight. I'm holding myself back because it's your home, otherwise, I would melt this little rock into a liquid."
“Oi, and what…”
These two really can't get along. Guess I can't help it, thought Zephira, exasperated.
Using her powers, she created a wall of wind to obstruct the voices of the two gods. Although technically gods did not require air to speak, they were still in the presence of the ruler of this divine realm. These powerful gods had agreed among themselves to respect a visiting divine realm's rules. This, relatively, peaceful relationship among gods was important to maintain the status quo.
I like my surroundings to be active, but this is too loud even for me, Zephira let out a sigh before beginning speaking, demanding why the two have come to visit.
“Can you two calm down and tell me why you are here?”
Noticing they couldn’t speak, the gods’ attention was drawn to her question. With the two gods finally dropping their dispute, the wall of winds dispersed and their voices returned.
The God of Fire spoke first, “We need you to allow us access to your System window.”
Zephira’s eyes widened in surprise. “My admin window? Don’t you remember that we agreed on not allowing each other to mess with each other’s authority?”
Danterno nodded his head, remembering the pact he made with the other origin gods. “I know, but I am in dire need to see something through it.”
Crustacia looked up to her divine friend's eyes, urging her to grant their wish, “We’ve known each other lon’ enough, Zephira. We ain’t here like those subordinate gods to ask ya for random favors. Ya know ya can trust us.”
Subordinate gods were once mortals of Peolynca who have ascended to divinity after the appearance of the Origin Gods. While gods like Kagryxmor, the God of Dragons, and Edna, the Goddess of Monsters and Fertility, weren’t fully trusted by every Origin God, they were still granted apotheosis to help their leading Origin God in managing the world.
Still, at the end of the day, the six gods could only fully trust each other.
“It’s not like I don’t, but it still makes me feel uneasy to allow others to look at it.” Zephira nervously looked down at her tiny friend, unsure if she should consider her request. “Having a stronger being mess with your source of power is not comfortable. You should know this, Crustacia!”
“Yeah, of course, I do. Ya know I won’t betray ya.” The Goddess of Earth puffed up her generous chest and continued speaking with the charisma of an ancient goddess. “Ya don’t have to worry, Zephira. My pride won’t allow it and I swear on all my followers that I won’t abuse ya trust.”
Among the six origin gods, Crustacia’s influence and follower count was ranked as the third-highest, while Zephira was ranked fifth. The power gap between those two wasn’t anything impressive but it was noticeable enough for Zephira to feel nervous.
“If you don’t trust the dwarf, then give it to me,” from the side, the ruler of fire suggested. “You should know how my situation is. Can’t do much, even if I wanted to.”
Danterno, the God of Fire, was placed last in the power ranking between these gods. Compared to the two goddesses, the difference in power between the last and fifth place was massive. Despite looking the most imposing, he was ironically the weakest.
"I guess that's acceptable.” Despite feeling worried, Zephira also knew that Danterno couldn’t escape her divine realm and the consequences that would follow his deception. “So, what are you two searching for?"
“The race that you’re the patron goddess of — the faefolk. Specifically, a fairy.” Smiling, Danterno went right to the point.
“It’s a fairy who’s far away from their little village. South, and in one of those, what’cha call it, places Edna has taken an interest in,” Crustacia supported Danterno’s answer with more details.
Zephira materialized her System control window from thin air and began inspecting it, stating, “Hmm, let me check.”
Zephira opened the Administrator window and diligently checked through the millions of log files, data, and messages the System had to work through; making sure to hide her displeasure of working through this from her two acquaintances.
Her angels and aides would usually be the ones to take care of this sort of work, but she wasn’t shy of this strenuous bureaucratic work. An Origin God needed not like their duty, but it was essential for the world’s protection and also the balance within their religion.
“Hmm, I’ve found one fairy." Not releasing her eye from the white screen, she listed off further information on the person’s profile. “Tasianna Marina Silverpond. Wind and water… couldn’t you have asked your sister for help?”
Danterno groaned in pain when he heard Zephira speak the obvious. “…Don’t joke around. As if sis—”
However, Crustacia wasn’t interested in the God of Fire’s complaints. “Blah blah, forget this sorry excuse of a god. We need’cha to show us the mortal’s footage.”
“If that’s all, then so be it.” Zephira opened a video and enlarged it to the size of a cinema's screen.
What was shown in the footage, was the whole encounter between Hestia’s group and their fight against the trolls. All three gods were watching the fight from the start to the end, through Tasianna’s eyes. None of them talked, silently smiling while they experienced the fight’s event.
“Nooo, you should use more wind spells, little girl!” the Goddess of Wind pouted when she noticed Hestia barely used any wind spells in this fight.
“Hmm, strange, this fae doesn’t have much faith in you, Zephira. The footage is fuzzy as an unkempt dwarf’s beard.” Although Zephira’s connection with her patron race was deep, Tasianna’s situation was special. Her lack of faith made it harder for the Goddess of Winds to produce a crystal-clear video.
While the two goddesses were expressing their own opinions on the video, the God of Fire was cheering and merrymaking at the scene of the fight’s star. “Yes! Use my fire, dragon girl! Burn anything that dares to stand in your path, oh my fiery lass!”
Watching Hestia rain down fire from the sky into the canyon made Danterno yell in passion. The delight of watching a person using his element so freely gave him ideas of potentially turning her into one of his “blessed.”
What could be better for a magician but to earn the blessing and attention of one of their gods? What could be better than to reward a magician's efforts and training with a reward which matched their magical fury?
“Hmph, look at him.” While Danterno’s eyes were filled with sparkles, Crustacia’s eyes were filled with disgust at watching this sight. “His desperation is literally oozing out. We can’t leave this promising dragon in his hands now, don’tcha agree, Zephira?”
“Well, I personally wouldn’t mind having her as a Champion. Maybe a Saintess? Her [Wind Magic] is growing steadily.” Zephira was flying happily around, smiling softly and gently like a young girl.
“What?! No, NO!” Like a volcano, Danterno’s personality exploded from hearing his. “You two cannot have her! I literally need her to champion my cause, so she can spread the popularity of fire magic. Unlike the two of you, the number of blessed I have is pitiful!”
Danterno was desperate. His power was the weakest, so he couldn’t understand how his fellow Origin Gods were greedy enough to snatch away his only saving grace.
“Besides, did you not see how often she used [Inferno Magic]?! She barely used [Terra Magic] nor was she inclined towards [Lava Magic]. She’s mine!” The God of Fire’s possessiveness was showing.
“Oi, ya seem to forget how young she is. She got to taste how powerful ya spells are, but ya seem to forget how impactful mine are. She gonna forget all about you in no time,” Crustacia smirked, confident in her chance to win over a new follower.
“Guck, you…”
The two gods, once again, resumed their quarrel, while Zephira ignored them.
And there they go again. Oh, the video stopped…
"I think this is as far as I can play it. If we want more then we need to ask the one Tasianna seemed to be praying to,” Zephira said while closing her window, a small frown formed on her face as she mentioned the fairy’s name. A memory she had was slowly returning, before Danterno interrupted her thought.
“You don’t mean to say that…” The fire god stiffened up.
Not wanting to wait for him to say it, Zephira nonchalantly answered for him, “Yes, we will need help from your sister, Plesia.”
Among the six Origin Gods, two of them were siblings. Contrary to how fire and water were the complete opposites when it came to the elemental spectrum, Plesia and Danterno shared a deep familial bond. However, fitting for how different the two elements were, the personalities of these two siblings were almost completely different.
Danterno was a boisterous and rowdy god who preferred to break through obstacles, then to avoid them. It was hard for anybody, even his sister, to change this stubborn god’s mind on his ideology and personality, making him hard to work.
Plesia, on the other hand, was a calm and disciplined goddess. Per her godly domain, she valued the worth of formality and expected her believers to respect and abide by the rules set in place. Due to this reason, the trio of gods made sure to send a notice to Plesia’s divine realm, instead of visiting unannounced.
Surprisingly, Plesia agreed to their request immediately. Although they were baffled by it, they didn’t complain and simply accepted her generosity.
“So, my lovely brother and dear Goddesses. What is it that you wish to ask of me?” A calm, motherly voice came from the fish scaled woman, sitting on her coral bed.
Danterno looked into his sister’s octopus’ eyes and bluntly said, “Sis, you can drop the formality. You know exactly why we are here.”
Both the Goddess of Winds and Earth frowned at how boorish he was towards his elder sister. Plesia, however, kept her gentle smile as she was pleased to meet her younger brother in person in a long while.
She tapped her watery bed, inviting her brother to sit on it with a giggle. “Small talk never suited you, but it was worth the try. Straight to the point, it was hard not to detect the chaos you two have caused for dear Zephira, so I couldn’t help but investigate.”
Danterno and Crustacia stiffened upon hearing the Goddess of Water knew what transpired a while ago. Neither of these energetic gods were able to respond to this statement, lowering their head out of shame. They knew Plesia wasn’t very fond of rude behaviors, but it seemed none of them would be lectured today.
Seeing them like this, Plesia sighed in resignation. “I have already found what you needed. I invited all of you to watch how the battle ended.”
Zephira's footage of the fight ended when Tasianna was dragged back into the cave by the trolls. The amount of prayer she offered Zephira was also too little to keep a perfect connection with her race's patron goddess.
This was not the case for Tasianna. Her faith in Plesia and ability in water magic made her connection strong, strong enough for the footage to last long enough for everybody to watch the whole battle.
The trio’s eyes were immediately glued to the screen, paying very close attention to every bit of detail, just like a bunch of little children intensively watching their favorite show.
“She’s only six months or so, right? If she’s able to do this much in this short amount of time, then that makes her very desirable.” Zephira’s interest was reignited, understanding Hestia’s potential was high.
“Haha, step back, Zephira!” Danterno’s loud voice drowned the Goddess of Winds’s softer one. “This girl is mine and mine alone. I will drag myself out from this hole and into a golden age of fire with this girl’s powers, haha!”
“Ya mean a golden age for me and my believers?” Crustacia arrogantly swayed her hair around, once again challenging Danterno. “Who’tcha think she will choose once she learns how much she has to help you, huh? Plus, my patron race can accommodate her. Can yars? Oh wait, ya don’t have one, right?”
Anger fueled Danterno’s flames from this taunt. “You always seem to look for a fight, you midget! Accept the fact that your magic is nothing compared to mine and allow me to triumph!”
The Goddess of Earth chuckled, tapping her temple after she was done. “The girl has something on her shoulder. The last thing she needs is an incompetent, hot-headed god to guide her.”
There they go again, Zephira scoffed and Plesia watched the scene happily with a smile.
“Well, while they have their fight, I guess I could just get to work. [Storm Magic] should be strong enough to impress the dragon girl.” Zephira bid Plesia goodbye and began turning into wind, intending to leave the two gods to their squabbles.
““Zephira, you cannot have her!”” However, with roars, Crustacia and Danterno each grabbed one of Zephira’s arms, anchoring her to them with their divine aura.
“Oh, come on! I could really use a golden age, too.” Pouting at this clear show of disapproval, Zephira stayed put.
At that very moment, Plesia burst out in laughter, “Oh my, unfortunately, none of you may have her.”
“““Huh?!”””
Leaking a small sound of confusion at this blunt statement of Plesia, the trio couldn’t help but be dumbfounded, “Have none of you checked the rest of her profile?”
This prompted both Danterno and Crustacia to open the profile of Hestia. While Crustacia was dutifully inspecting all skills and spells, as a respectful goddess would do, Danterno was skimming most of the information, while making “ahh” and “uhh” sounds if something piqued his interest.
That was until he reached one specific part. “Huh? Let me check that… haha! It’s a new custom spell! I knew it! She’s good enough to construct a whole new fire spell at the age of six without even understanding any advance magic skills! Hmm, a bit blunt on the edges, but nothing I can’t help her with. This girl is mine!”
… It seemed Danterno was more impressed with the fact Hestia had a custom spell, instead of the more interesting part at the very bottom of our dragon girl’s profile.
Crustacia facepalmed herself, “Stop saying that she’s ‘yours,’ ya creep. Besides, that’s not the point ya sister was makin’.”
Now also looking through Hestia’s status board, Zephira reported what Plesia actually meant, “Danterno, your sister was talking about the titles. [Otherworldly Reincarnator], [The Light], and [Bearer of Kargryxmor’s Blood].”
Plesia confirmed the answer with a nod, “That is correct. It seems those two have done the same thing you did, Crustacia. They brought a reincarnator to our world.”
“Hahaha!” Crustacia suddenly burst in laughter, smiling widely at the stunt the Goddess of Light just performed before them. “Okay, gotta hand it to little Aurena. If they’re willin’ enough to do this, then I’ll let it go. My defeat.”
“What?! How can you give up?!” Danterno’s impulsive personality made him speak his mind. “That brat, Aurena. She… she has enough power already. It doesn’t matter that her power is waning just a bit. It happens to every god! She can recover this in a century or two. Even a millennium is nothing for us!”
I’ve been the weakest for so long. I will not let this chance slip by! were his true thoughts, driven by a small glimmer of hope his sister would agree with him.
As if his life was dependent on this, Danterno continued arguing, "Aurena can still do her duty perfectly even if she becomes weaker, but I have to work harder for…"
“… Danterno.”
The angels and aides have disappeared. The oceanic divine realm resounded with the intensity of the pressure emitted by its master. A pressure strong enough to shut down the dissatisfied God of Fire's complaints.
Great work, numbskull. Ya made her mad, Crustacia thought with a shiver.
I guess our angels will be having a lot to digest today. I should probably treat them to something later. Like a fairy, Zephira could only think of less tedious subjects when she was not involved in the discussion.
“…Sis, I really—” Danterno’s fire completely died, overwhelmed by his sister’s aura.
“End of the discussion.” Tentacles began growing from Plesia’s body, slowly creeping up to Danterno. “Do not forget your duty as a god, little brother. You and your followers are still able to perform, so you don’t require any ‘pity.’”
Or, are you, the God of Fire, requesting for help because you aren’t strong enough? Even without saying it, Danterno knew his sister enough to understand what she was implying.
Plesia loved doting on her little brother but she knew where to draw the line between business and family. If certain rules were ignored and broken, chaos would consume everybody, toppling the balance the Origin Gods have worked hard to achieve and maintain.
Aurena and Kargryxmor had marked Hestia as theirs, or at least they were intending for her to become their Champion. This was the true meaning behind giving her those titles, those divine blessings. Intending to usurp a blessed from another god could be interpreted as a sign of conflict, not between mortals, but between gods.
“Us gods must not fight between us. That is the rule and we have all agreed to this, for the sake of keeping our home safe and in peace.” Plesia redrew the encroaching tentacles, now that her brother was disciplined.
Knowing his elder sister was correct, Danterno gave up on his selfish wish, although reluctantly. A god like him could always await the coming of a new potentially useful mortal.
“However, it isn’t like we have a rule against multiple blessings, right?.” Plesia’s smile returned, not wanting to see her brother sad. “She hasn’t prayed to any of us yet, despite being marked by two gods. Who knows what she will do in the future, my dear fellow god and goddesses.”
A lifeboat. A chance for their ambitions to come true. However, they did not speak about this. They knew that it would be a rude gesture towards Aurena and Kargryxmor, and Plesia would not excuse it. The trio thanked the Goddess of Water for her help and then left her divine realm.
Back in her home, the Goddess of Winds let out a deep sigh. “What an eventful day.”
Two gods, one weaker and one stronger than her waltzed into her home and disturbed her attendants and angels. After that, she learned there was a mortal worthy of her blessing. A golden age for the Goddess of Winds was possible. In the end, she had to cease her plans before they even started after what Plesia mentioned.
“Still, Crustacia’s own golden age was still not enough to dethrone Aurena and Plesia. What chances would I have? Well, I guess my current situation is quite comfortable and fun.”
Getting in contact with her aura was enough to remind me why she is the strongest and undisputed number one.
My friend and colleague. The Ruler of the Oceans. The strongest God of Peolynca.
Plesia, the Goddess of Water.
