A new perspective.

I think it's time for them to go to school." I continue to polish my nails while I wait for Angrod's answer. 

"Do you really think that's necessary? They already know everything that's important. And if they regain the rest of their memories...." Angrod answers me with a complicated face. 

"You are too soft on them. It will be good for them to be together with others of their age. And the teachers there are doing nothing else than helping children with too much knowledge." I smile at my husband. Yes. They will go there and learn a little lesson. 

"KYAAA!" 

"That sounds like you bribed the teachers there." Angrod scratches his cheek. 

"I did nothing of the sort. I just met some old faces and gave them detailed instructions on how to handle the situation." I smile a heart warming smile while I think about the future. 

"You totally told them to be as strict as possible! Who is working there!?" -Angrod 

"Oh... people like Samarin, Jeniva and most important Tongrod!" I answer cheerfully 

"AAARRGH!" 

"The raccoon geezer is still working as a teacher? ....Celes, don't you think you are going a little overboard with this punishment?" -Angrod 

"NYAAA!" 

I bathe in another of Seria's screams. They are a little muffled because she is in a soundproof room. But they are clearly audible. "No?" 

"Those screams are disturbing! What did you do to her?" Angrod has a few pearls of sweat on his forehead and looks a little jumpy. 

"If you go and help her, you will be next! And by pulling that stunt on me, Seria volunteered to test a new drug of mine." -Me 

"MYAHAHAAAAAA!" 

"That sounds like it was a failure....." -Angrod

I think about it and answer. "No. I tried to find something to stop the pain during the metamorphosis-process. I didn't find anything. But I found a drug which induces the phantom pains alone. I used it on Seria while monitoring her brain waves. Maybe I will get a hint on how to stop the pain." 

"You are using our daughter as a lab rat?!" Angrod looks shocked at me. 

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" 

"Seria lost all her advantages with me by pulling that stunt. From now on she is on the short leash! And by assisting in this project, she has at least a little value for the future of our society." I glare at Angrod, but he looks away. 

"And why are you punishing Aengus too?" -Angrod 

"It's a lesson to prevent future mistakes. If they both know that I will punish them both for the mistakes of one, they will try to stop each other from causing mischief." I nod at my words and give my fingernails the last touch. 

"MAAAMAAA!" 

Yes! Perfect! 

"I see the logic behind that." Angrod stands up to leave the laboratory. 

"Where are you going dear?" -Me 

"Back to work. Those screams are disturbing." Angrod turns around and vanishes. 

I shrug my shoulders while I listen to the music of my educational methods. If that won't teach them respect. Nothing will. 

"NyaHAAAAAA!" 

Maybe I should cover my hairpins with the drug? It seems to work fine on gods... 

***Somewhere else on a nameless planet*** 

"Hihihihi." Mortals are surely stupid! You can play so many tricks on them as a god. 

"Oh great Eris! Goddess! Tell us how to deal with these demons!" The knight bows down in front of my statue. 

"Dance the Hokey Pokey! Stand up, wiggle your butt, raise your hands above your head, and shake them wildly as you rotate 360 degrees. If you do this before each fight, no harm shall befall you!" 

The knight gives the statue a dumbfounded look. Obviously he didn't expect an answer. "Yes! My Goddess! Thank you for answering my prayers!" 

The knight stands up and rushes out of the cathedral. I go to my knees while i laugh and crawl out from behind the big statue. Just imaging him doing something like that makes me to hyperventilate. 

Although the demons become a real bother as of late. I already heard about the new powers trying to control the outbreaks. 

Seriously! Lada was right in betraying the Council. I always knew that the others had some serious mental issues which became worse and worse over time. 

I always had the Sphere in suspicion. Amaru, El Shaddai, Enyo and Elohim were the ones who invested the most time in using the cursed thing. 

Spying on my fellow Council members was one of the few things I did to kill time. I soon realized that the Sphere made the users addicted somehow. So I refrained from using it. 

If the information provided by the new powers is true, then the Sphere was really at fault for the change in their behaviour. 

My friends with whom I founded the Council were dead for a long time without my knowledge. It's disturbing me a little that I never found out. 

I guess I have no right to call them friends if I didn't manage to sense the change in them. I was always a loner anyway. I like it much more to cause mischief and create trouble for others. So I am not really liked by others. 

I am the puppeteer behind the curtain. Never would I take up arms myself. So I ran away when the rebels turned up. 

Or Chimerans. I guess they aren't rebels any more. 

While skipping happily towards the exit of the cathedral I warble a little melody. It was a very fruitful day for me. I stirred up a war between two kingdoms. I made a young couple of a prince and a princess break up and I played that trick on the knight. 

All in all you can say that I accomplished much today. I think I fulfilled my duty as a goddess of strife and discord. Maybe I will use the rest of the day to help someone, who is really hard working. 

But it's hard to find people like that. It's much easier to break bonds than to create them. As I leave the cathedral, I become aware of fleeing people. They are all fleeing out of town in the same direction. 

"What's wrong? Why are you running?" I stop an elderly guy and he looks at me like I would be from the moon. 

"Haven't you heard? The demons are coming to the town! You better run for your life too!" He walks onward and leaves me behind. 

Then I feel an aura of panic from behind me and I see smoke rising from the city. A step through a pathway takes me towards the area and I reappear on a battlefield. 

No, battlefield is a too nice word for it. It's a one sided massacre as spiked monsters are killing the city's guards and civilians alike. I get an ominous feeling about this creatures. Did I end up at a world which is attacked by the Council? 

Then I become aware of the knight from earlier. He is dancing the hokey pokey in front of a demon, which is looking at him with a dumbfounded reaction. Obviously the demon has no idea how to deal with a maniac. 

Just when the demons starts to raise a claw in order to strike the knight down I teleport and step in, sending the monster flying with a flip of my hand. It's harder than expected. 

"The goddess appeared! You will save us from these creatures!" The knight falls to his knees behind me. 

Just as I turn to the idiot a huge crystal fortress appears above the city. It's beautiful and I look up in awe. I would have never imagined to see one up close any time soon.

The Chimerans do have style. I doubt that any of the other powers can represent themselves like that. 

But suddenly a red maelstrom of energy leaves the fortress and I realize that those guys mean business! A feeling of dread and impending doom emanates from that red energy and I grab the knight's collar and jump on a pathway with him in tow. 

I already believe myself safe, when the pathway suddenly distorts and falls to pieces. A sickening feeling befalls me and I erect a barrier around the mortal, whose life would be likely lost otherwise. 

Everything starts to turn upside down and I try to adjust myself. It's in vain and I lose control. I enter reality again and fall hard into the dirt. 

Everything is still turning and the unconscious knight is lying beside me. I get to my knees and see that I managed to get us out of the city in the nick of time. 

The city is a ravaged and a burning inferno. What's wrong with the Chimerans? I thought they were the good guys! Doing something like that to the mortals? Are the demons really such a threat? 

I collapse back to the ground as a group of people appears around us. 

"It's true. There really was a god inside the city." 

"She looks like someone from the wanted posters!" 

"You are right! We will earn a big reward for this!" 

"What's with the mortal?" 

"Let him be. The area is safe now." 

I get picked up by the strangers while I lose consciousness..... 

*** 

A few hours later Sir Edward, the third from the family of Thornwind awoke and looked at the ravaged city before him. Believing in the goddess divine intervention, he became a firm believer in the goddess Eris. 

He started to travel the lands in order to spread the true faith. Unnoticed by others, he was a powerful knight and didn't really need the help of a god for his travels. 

A few years later he should be known from close to far as the "Knight of the Hokey Pokey!"...