37  Interlude – A certain god's hot spring?

AAAaaaahhh.... There is nothing better than a bath inside a hot spring at the top of an inactive volcano. No other gods to disturb my peace. No Council, no worshippers, no stress.

I soak inside the water and relax. This is my favourite place, right after my own little world. I visit just about every few hundred years and it is fantastic.

The hot spring is located inside a cave near the peak. The water, heated by the slumbering volcano, is just about the right temperature.

It's a pool of about thirty square meters. On the walls of the cave are crystals. I enchanted them with a light spell, so the cave is always bathed in pleasant light of different colours.

There are even crystals on the ground of the pool, which are shimmering in different colours. It's a fantastic place!

"Unworthy! Don't desecrate the holy water with your body!" "Get out now!"

I look up and see two elves at the entrance. It's a woman and a man, the guy aims his bow at me, while the woman has readied a fireball.

I sigh. "Get out of my hot spring and I may be benevolent and let you live."

The guy shoots his arrow and the woman launches her fireball. Why are mortals so bad at judging someone else? I wave my hand and the projectiles disappear.

With another wave of my hand both elves are pinned to the wall. They struggle, but are held in place by an invisible force.

I step naked out of the pool and walk before them. "Ah. How to punish the foolish mortals, who enter my domain?"

Their eyes go wide.

"Maybe a hundred years of pain and suffering?" I muse to myself.

"Please. I don't know who you are, but this a sacred place for our people. We protected it for over four hundred years now." The woman speaks.

I try to remember when I was here the last time? Was it five hundred? "No, I am sure I checked this place about six hundred years ago."

"You can't just bath inside the holy water! You could destroy it's healing properties." The guy barks at me.

Holy water? Healing? Don't tell me....

"PFF! hahaha hHAHAHAAHAHAHA!" I fall to the floor and roll around. It has been an eternity since I had a good laugh.

"Let them go! That's not the proper way to treat mortals Seria!" Lada suddenly appeared above me, hovering in the air.

Both elves open their mouths and stare at me with a scared expression. "The goddess Seria?" "Goddess of life and death!"

Then both of them look shocked at Lada.

"PFAHAHAHAHAHAAHA!" I can't control myself any more and point at Lada, who is showing off her panties to the elves.

"Your skirt! Hahaha... too short...... your skirt …. and.... hover around up in the air like that! Hahaha! Your lingerie can be seen." I crawl to my knees and pound the ground. I can't breathe! Need air! Another laughing fit shakes me.

Lada immediately descents to the floor and corrects her outfit. "I don't want that to be told by someone, who is showing herself off naked!"

I get to my feet. "But by showing off, you can get much more followers! See? Even those stoic perverted elves are shaken by my godly self!" I run up to the guy and rub my body against him, which results in a completely natural reaction.

The woman's face gets red like a tomato. "We aren't perverts!"

"What? It's not perverted to drink someone else's bathing water? Well I suppose mortals have all kinds of strange fetishes.... tell me, how do you feel when you drink a god's bathing water." I change places and press myself against the female.

"It's … it's refreshing. And it heals all kinds of sicknesses. And when mixed with some herbs, it raises fertility or acts as a good poison for arrows." The guy admits in a low tone.

The elven woman is turning blue by now. It's seems she is almost dying of shame. Don't tell me they came here as a pair to...?

I move my fingertip around her navel and whisper into her ear. "I will help you out. Try again soon and I am sure you will be blessed with twins!"

The woman is now blue up to the tips of her ears.

"See Lada? They aren't perverts at all! They just use my bathing water to make all kinds of strange medicine! Oh mortals sure find a use for everything." -Me

Lada sighs and waves her hand. Both elves drop to the ground. "I think you had your fun now. And I am sure they will tell their people to not disturb the goddess, while she is using her hot spring. You don't use it very often anyway, so there is no harm in them being here."

Both elves look up at me with frightened faces. "Fine, but if you damage my hot spring, I will make the volcano erupt and flatten your village!"

Both run out of the cave without answering. Holy water...

I jump into the pool again. "So why do I have the honour of your presence Lada?"

Lada doesn't enter the hot spring and just walks above the water. "I heard some disturbing news about you during the last meeting of the Council. I hoped we could talk about it in private."

What's wrong this time? Lada is the only Council member, which isn't rotten to the core. If I have to deal with the Council, I prefer to talk with her. She is a goddess of harmony after all.

And maybe I would even call her a friend? At least I know that she cares for me. Otherwise she wouldn't come here to speak to me. She is obviously doing it without the knowledge of the other Council members.

I wave for her to go on.

"Tjenemit believes that you are planning something stupid. He wants to know where all the vanished gods are. He is investigating their whereabouts and he believes that you have a hand in it. He thinks that you are hiding much more than those two inside one of your void zones." Lada drops the whole bomb at me.

"Hmm. I don't have anyone else, beside those two inside my void zone. Why are you even worried? I took a magical oath to the Council. If I would ever raise my hand against you, I would loose my divinity and die." I answer with closed eyes, while drifting inside the water.

"They believe you found a way to bypass your oath. You don't know what's on the line here! I took a look at Tjenemit's research. It is very convincing. Whatever you are doing, you have to stop it! Such a stupid little plan won't work against the Council! They will find out and deal with you, I can't stop them! I can't stop them, they are too strong! Especially El Shaddai!" -Lada

I rise out of the water and hug Lada. "It's okay Lada. You are the only god among them, whose soul hasn't completely died yet. And it isn't a stupid little plan. Just trust me, everything will work out in the end. Maybe you will see it."

"Please don't tell me you are really planning something! You know why the Council was created. The gods have to be controlled somehow! You have no idea about the time before the Council! There is a reason for it's existence!" -Lada

"I know. Everyone strived for power and gods fought each other, dying and being born again. Fighting each other.... . It was an endless cycle of war and bloodshed. Very much like the fight of those two. Only that it happened in the whole multiverse. In the end most gods were slain by the Council and everyone, who didn't obey their rule was locked inside that black hole. You held the new status quo by absolute control and forced your ideals onto every new god, who emerged. And so it has been for an eternity till now." I answer.

"You know? But..... I never told you... . But if you know, you should support the Council!" -Lada

"I know because I was much longer inside that void zone than the Council thinks. I got lost in there before the Council won. I am not some little new god, who emerged unnoticed to godhood and made the wrong step, while walking on her first path through the river of souls."

" … "

"The Council is wrong Lada. Maybe it was created with good intentions. But those intentions are just a facade by now. If you are my friend, you will just lean back and remain silent. You wouldn't be able to stop it anyway." I explain in a gentle tone to my friend.

"What have you done Seria?"

"Hmmm. Nothing huge. I just gathered a lot of people and gave them a choice. I myself don't really know which side they will choose in the end." -Me

"But if the Council is no more then... " Lada starts speaking but I interrupt her. "I believe something better will take it's place! And I need you to shove them into the right direction."

"Me?" -Lada

"Yes. You need to pick up the good parts and help them to find the right path." I smile at Lada.

"You are playing a dangerous game Seria. But I see that I won't be able to change your mind." -Lada

"I know my friend." I answer and smile at her.

"Tjenemit is trying to enter your void zone with a summoning circle. I guess you want to stop him?" -Lada

I think about it for a second. "Maybe it's good if he enters it. He would be alone and cut off from the others. It will be the best chance to start everything."

"But you will be alone against him! He may be a god of creation, but that doesn't mean that he is weak!" -Lada

I hug Lada tighter. "I won't be alone there. I think I would never be alone again in that void zone."