CHAPTER 7

ASTREA

Sitting in the deepest corner of the heavenly realm, I didn't notice the amount of time passed by since that night, when The Almighty abandoned me in this Garden of Captive…. Yes, it's me the Goddess of Purity, Love, and justice, Astrea…. An isolated Goddess…. A thrown away prisoner for committing the so-called crime of stealing my spiritual daughter's diamond core…. I've been repenting for my deeds for a long period while meditating to get back hold over my powers…. Arin, why did you threw away the bowl of the diamond core? You said you trusted me…. Then, where did that trust disappear at the moment of crisis? Yes, I was going to be crowned as The mightiest goddess in this whole universe after drinking that core liquid…. And so what if I become the almightiest? It was for the betterment of humankind, wasn't it? Why would you even think that I was about to kick down Adrestia into hell…when the hell is her realm…that's where she gains her power from… Arin, you've disappointed me. Not once, but twice…Arisa fell into the trap of Adrestia's temptation and Arin falling for her past selves, Arisa's foolish words… I should've known since the beginning of Arin's birth….that even though their bodies have changed, the soul remains the same…

My eyes were closed for the past six months, but my vision was continuously tracing Arin's soul on the Earth realm. Her hardships had increased ten folds more at this point….She had no idea what was being written in her fate with Iseul… The only thing to be relieved about was, Hongseok… Descendent of Yang empire…. Arin has tied a knot with him for generations; Arisa failed to do that, she failed to recognize her true soulmate and mistook Adrestia as her soulmate… Right now, I can sense the arrival of human presence in the Heavenly realm. Arin has arrived at the gates of the realm, but she couldn't pass the gates in the absence of diamond core. I will have to leave the Garden of captive….But…how? I've been punished for going against my duties and keeping my real motives to obtain a diamond core a secret. Unless, Arin…my spiritual child would forgive me for my deeds wholeheartedly, Almighty Highness will never free me from this garden…

"Your highness, let me meet my child who is standing on the doors of Heavenly realm! I beg your pardon, please set me free from these clutches of sumac tree…. My poor child is standing on the door of heaven unconsciously…. Set me free from this state of meditation…let my eyes open for once…your highness I beg your kindness…" I pleaded with the Jade emperor to show some mercy upon me.

Arin cannot persist in heaven for more than twenty-four hours according to earth time, her ordinary soul cannot handle the spirituality of heaven, also as there is no concept of time in this realm she could get trapped inside the same time zone on earth which could lead to more serious issues…. Emperor has to free me before an innocent soul meets death on the doors of heaven…

My golden enlightened skin was trapped inside twisted sumac leaves, I tried moving my arms, opening my eyes but the strong spell from the talisman stopped me from using my God spirit. On the other hand, my senses were getting tensed up with the diminishing of Arin's soul every next moment.

"My lord, my highness, Great emperor of all the realms, Please shower your mercy upon me. I'm all down to sacrifice myself, but Great King Jade cannot let an innocent human soul perish on the gates of Heaven. It would bring an immense strain on the pure reputation of heaven! God of Death Yanluo would find a cruel opportunity to disgrace the heavenly realm!! Please, set me free!!!"

As soon as I mentioned the King Yanlou, ruler of Hell…. An intense thunder crashed on the sumac tree and finally, I was emancipated from the clutches of the Garden of captive. A sudden rush of divine powers through my veins permitted me to teleport myself to the gates of heaven. It felt really good to experience this unlimited power through my glistening body and it was all because of Arin.

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"Arin! Open your eyes, you're safe now." I placed my palm over her eyes.

She twinkled her eyes and opened them slowly. Arin was completely clueless, she looked at me with confused eyes.

"Astrea….where have you brought me? Did I just experience death crawling over me? I feel so weak…" She said while resting her head on my pillow with her eyes fixed upwards at the golden roof.

"So, is this where you live? Heaven… nice house…." She said while observing my suite.

"Hmm… It's my first time in the past six months to see my house again… Truly speaking, this suite belongs to Goddess of Purity, HuoShu Dome… But I was being restricted from my duties for six months.." I said in ecstasy.

"Because of me, right? Yet again here you are, saving my life once again… I'm quite sure, even if you were in the state of deep meditation, you were still eyeing me and my regular life with Hongseok. So I'm already assuming you to be completely aware of the situation of Park Iseul. I need to bring her back from Underworld and you are going to help me." She spoke rapidly in one single breathe lying down my silk bed.

"Listen to me Arin, listen to me very carefully. You need to understand this really important thing, that you are my spiritual daughter, the diamond core created by King Jade was gifted to you through my powers. That diamond core made you a spiritual being, the purest form of the human species. Now that you've broken the core, you've turned back to be a normal person. But still, your soul has a presence of my spirituality, and that's the reason why you could travel through different realms…no normal human being is capable of doing this thing."

"I know all this stuff already…tell me something new…" Arin grumbled in my sheets.

"So, the new stuff you need to know is that Iseul was born to spread powers from Hell. Her soul is already tainted with the black ink made with the hands' of Demon lord Yanlou! She has to ultimately do her work for which she was created! So please stop meddling with other lives and live YOUR life peacefully in Yang's family!" I shouted over her and pulled her up from the bed.

"She is a god damn Human!!! Why do supernatural spirits like you love messing up with human lives??? Let her live like a human being, she has a bright career! She's a scholar, why would whoever that demon lord is, needs a tiny human being to spread his powers on earth?" Arin in return screamed over me.

"Career? Scholar? What rubbish are you talking about? Park Iseul was made to propagate dark culture, black magic on earth! Heaven and Hell realms don't meddle with each other's business! They do their thing of messing around, and we do our work of cleaning up their mess, punish them! Iseul is belongs to them!! She belongs to the underworld!!!" I stood up and said while showing her the rule manuscripts of three realms.

"You are speaking shit! She was being given birth from the womb of her mother, she was born as a human!"

"But she was fertilized into that womb with the blessing of Dragon King, God of Ocean! Her parents prayed to God of Ocean, to bless them with a girl child; but as soon as that girl infant took her first breathe into this world, Demon Lord Yanlou found a great opportunity to implant his black ink on her heart and marked her as his servant to spread black magic in the earthly realm. Iseul's father was completely aware of this thing, as Yanlou appeared in his dream and demanded him to hand over Iseul the day she turns eighteen years old. Iseul's father was so scared that he kept his daughter hidden from the world beyond Modo island. But how much ever you try running away from destiny, it will follow and grab your life in any way possible. That's what happened with Iseul, the moment she stepped inside the ocean, her tainted heart by Demon lord was contrasted with her spiritual fragment from Dragon King and thus leading to the destruction of the ocean. Adrestia was sent by demon lord to save Iseul from drowning, but that foolish brat….instead of herself reaching out to Iseul, she sent you to pick her up! She used her powers to prevent Iseul from drowning, thus leading to filling up her nervous system with a purple liquid of temptation! So, right now…. Iseul has an influence of three supernatural powers upon her, Her soul which has spirit fragment from Dragon king. Her heart is tainted with black ink from Demon lord Yanlou. And her veins which is replacing blood with Purple liquid from Adrestia!!! Can you understand Arin? It is next to impossible, bringing that messed up soul back to human self, is impossible!!!"

Arin looked at me with utter silence and shock filled eyes, "I don't even know, what to say anymore…" She said while leaving out a deep sigh.

"Just don't say anything now…. Return back to your world and live your life peacefully…."

Arin started walking out of HuoShu dome. I followed her towards the gates of heaven and after reaching the beginning point directed her to sleep back in the same position in which she was at the moment she entered heaven.

But suddenly Arin turned around towards me and held my hands tightly, "Astrea….you said I'm your spiritual daughter…. Can't you help your daughter one last time? I want to bring back Iseul to the earthly realm…. I can understand that you're concerned about my life, but trust me I will not put myself in danger! I've fucked up last time… I blamed you for keeping your real motives a secret…. I thought just like Adrestia, even you took the advantage of my innocence, for your own benefits. Which you did take, you have to accept that! In order to be crowned as Almighty Goddess next to King Jade! So, it means you have that power to change Iseul's destiny! Both of us together, we can bring back Iseul to the human self!!! Astrea, please… Please come down to Earth realm with me…. Let's find some way….some solution to escape Iseul from the depths of Underworld… She deserves a human life, she's a human!!!" Arin teared up while begging me to help her find Iseul from hell.

I stared at her innocent but brave, confident face. When did she change so much? Lost, confused Arin who was extremely scared of Adrestia's dark spirit….. Arin which was standing in front of me was a person who had walked through the burning forest and let herself fall from the heights of the sky…. Now, when she was witnessing a similar fate of Iseul, she is all down for helping her bring back to the human world… No doubt, she is my spiritual daughter…pure, affectionate, the epitome of justice…. I couldn't let her leave empty-handed from Heaven. I sent her back with a promise of meeting her in the earthly realm and help find Iseul from the underworld. After all, I will always be a great Goddess…The Goddess of purity who again has to face the Goddess of temptation; this time not for the diamond core, but to bring her back in the right sense of what being a Goddess actually meant and return my young sister Adrestia to this heavenly realm.