"But how can a deity just abandon their world? How is that fair to the humans under their care?" Scarlet couldn’t understand it.
Even if the humans are bad, the deities should stay and be responsible for what they started.
She frowned heavily. This sounded like a case of incompetence to her. If deities had all the power then they should step in when things go wrong, snap your fingers and re-start or make everything better. Don’t just up and leave in the middle of the night as if you are escaping a bad marriage.
"Humans have free will, the deities don’t owe them anything."
The response did not even take Lythia a second to craft. This was a conversation she had engaged in many tis before, the subject of humans and free will. Whenever deities sat down in their councils to see how far humanity had co, free will was a vital issue to discuss. Did humans need it and did they deserve it? How had they used it? She was a big believer in humans having free will. There were so like the god of death who believed otherwise. In his opinion, they should just be born, live dictated lives and die, no fuss no muss.
Lythia expanded on her aning for Scarlet to understand the origin of this tragedy. "What humans do with their ability to decide for themselves is up to them. If that leads them to condemnation then so be it.
It’s the case on Xeno. The first empress had this brilliant idea to pray to the opposite deity, not justice but injustice. While others were praying for a way to turn things around, she was praying for a way to get even.
Nara heard her and the prayer was answered in the form of a human soul feeder. It fed off the soul energy of the emperor, the strongest of all the n.
She started controlling him behind the scenes like a puppet. Dissatisfied, she prayed for more strength and power to weaken the generals, and more to weaken all the soldiers and n. Human soul feeders grew in number, attaching to all the n of Xeno, weakening them so much and giving the won an opportunity to break the shackles and finally get on top."
Scarlet looked down and shook her head. "Look where that led them," she muttered.
Lythia heard her and the goddess smiled. "Like I said, free will. The empress was of sound mind when she made that choice. And now, the tradition of treating the n as less than human on Xeno has grown so much that it cannot be changed. The soul feeders have infected everything and almost everyone. That world is headed for destruction." she looked at Scarlet as said, ’Who knows, maybe soday you will be among the reapers chosen to go and wipe out everything, humans and soul feeders alike."
It was strange having this knowledge, Scarlet thought. The knowledge that soday soon, the entire planet would be wiped out and Xeno would be left an empty piece of land, or maybe it would disappear completely and everyone would assu that it had been swallowed by a blackhole.
"You can’t warn them." Lythia told her.
"I had no plans to do such a thing." Scarlet told her.
"Good, because we don’t need anymore deities siding against us. I am so glad that you did the sensible thing and turned away from there when you did. If you had gone on so crazy reaping spree, Nara would stand with Apo and right now, she is with us."
Scarlet wasn’t sure how to feel about the goddess of injustice standing on her side. That would put justice on the opposite side, She also wasn’t sure how to feel about that.
Sowhat, it seed as if that made Scarlet the bad one in this scenario.
"What about hate?" she asked. Love was standing on her side, that much she knew.
"On our side too." Lythia answered.
"Huh!" a surprised Scarlet said, in a high pitched sound that ca from her nose. "I was under the impression that two opposing deities never stand on the sa side."
Lythia giggled. "Now where did you hear that nonsense? Not everybody hates each other just because they are opposing forces. Tridon is on our side and he doesn’t get along well with Carnelia too. Even the gods of the sun, moon and ice, are standing with us."
Again, Scarlet made the sa noise. "Huh!"
Tridon had said that he would stand with her if she erased Ramslin and she didn’t. Why was he standing on her side then?
"Can they change their minds later and betray us?" she asked.
"No, a god is bound by his or her word. Once given, it cannot be taken back." Lythia said.
"I...." Scarlet was just beginning to say sothing when Lythia vanished. She didn’t even say goodbye or anything, just up and left the sa way she had co.
It was probably urgent, Scarlet assud. Unbothered, she looked at her now sleeping hound whose head was partially stuck in the large jar of parfait. He was snoring loudly, exhausted probably just as she had had been before she slept for a few good hours earlier.
Justin too was sleeping, his head was on her shoulders and one of his hands on her stomach.
Scarlet teleported them all to her bedroom and the three ended up on her bed. She covered the hound and smiled gratefully at him.
"Thank you Severus," she pinched one of his ears and whispered.
He had risked everything to follow her without a question. He didn’t advise or stop her but he supported her fully. Did anyone have a more faithful companion than her?
After covering him, she covered Justin as well. He was a good baby too, for sticking with her through her this journey. He must have seen through the phantom puppets but said nothing. Every little lie that she had told this entire ti, he had said nothing to the others to cover up for her.
She gently pushed back the few silver strands of his hair that were falling across his face. She was filled with so much love for him, the kind which would drive her to wipe out anyone that touched or looked at him the wrong way.
It’s was another reason why she rushed away from Xeno. she didn’t want him to ever be touched by evil. Justin probably had a pure soul, he was a good baby really. But, he was growing like a weed.
Her mind travelled to that scene of the day of his entrance interview at Bartholow with him standing legs apart and hands behind his back.
Another image was conjured up in her mind. It was him, in this sa position but taller and more grown up. A carbon copy of his father from head to toe.
She sighed and kissed his head lightly and whispered. "When did you grow up so much baby? Please slow down, mommy is not ready to see you grow up so fast."
But even she knew that it was useless. There was no way to stop him from growing up just as she couldn’t stop the ones in her belly from coming out.
She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep as well. The last thought on her mind was an image of Esong, and a minor tremor in her heart, right over the spot where the bond was. But she didn’t feel it, because it was so weak.
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