2 Chapter 48: Goddess

Kneeling on the ground with the twin black blades laying across her lap. Her eyes were closed while her hands rested atop the blades, evenly spaced apart. If someone were to walk in on her at this moment their first thought would be that she had taken up meditation. She faced her window, the rain lightly hitting it in a calming rhythmic pattern, with the moon peeking through the clouds above.

Anastasia has help Lucilla sleep every night for the past four days. With her mind clearer and her stress no longer overwhelming her, Lucilla had started praying to Ovana in this exact position every night. She felt this, urge, to hold her swords close and to basically meditate when praying. She didn't know what caused it, but she didn't fight the feeling. It was almost natural.

She had also noticed the blood that once covered her hands were now barley hanging on to her fingertips. Every day she woke up feeling better. Which racked her with guilt. 'I shouldn't be feeling this.' She thought. 'This isn't fair to Morella. How can I start feeling better when she's dead and unavenged.'

She still felt devastated about Morella's death, but the fact she even felt anything other than sadness was unacceptable to her. She wanted to at least kill the Hero first. What right did she have to move on when one of the people responsible for her death was still living? So, Lucilla prayed. She prayed like she did every night. For the safety of her mother and sister.

Tonight, however, felt off. A tingle at the back of her mind, like an ich. There was a thought forming, pushing her to do something. She wasn't sure what that something was, however. Opening her crimson eyes, Lucilla stared at the moon peaking behind the clouds. Its silver light reflecting of her hair. The moon filled her vision as a tiny voice in the back of her mind continued urging her towards something. She could see nothing else other than the moon. She stared at it unblinking, almost as if she were in a trance.

Her eyes couldn't stay open forever however and eventually she blinked. It happened in an instant, less than a second. Lucilla went from staring at the moon, to staring at a planet. It's blue and green surface filling her view and a grand display. Shocked Lucilla stumbled backwards, tripping over her own feet and falling onto the ground.

"What the...?"

Despite the surface being dusty her landing didn't stir any of it up. On closer inspection she didn't seem to be disturbing the surface of wherever she was at all. The next thing she notice was that if she looked slightly passed the planet in front of her, or even just to the side, the large expanse of space opened up before her. She didn't know why, but Lucilla knew she was on the moon somehow.

"How did I get here?" She wondered out loud.

"Well, you're not here." A woman said behind her. "You're still on Zelviea. The planet right there in front of you."

Turning around the silver haired woman was greeted with a large, beautiful figure standing a little over seven and a half meters tall. She had long flowing turquoise colored hair with wings of the same color that turned into fire the closer you got to their tips. Her golden irises that looked down at her kindly, without a hint of superiority held within them. The woman had a very lean figure, with a very clear muscle frame, yet she wore a dark grey maxi dress with light blue accents that glowed dimly that complemented her. Lucilla's eyes trailed down the piece of clothing, noticing that it seemed to fade away, like falling sand.

By her side, being held in her right hand however was a Halberd made from a metal the same color as her hair. It seemed completely out of place when compared to the woman's outfit. It didn't help that the woman was looking down at Lucilla with a kind smile. It was so sincere that the monster woman was unsure on how to react and momentarily forgot she was on the moon.

"Wait no, what's happening right now?" Lucilla asked coming back to reality. "Who are you?"

"You called me young lady." The woman answered. "Well, if you must know, I am the Goddess of Souls Ovana, and current Goddess of the Moon."

"... What?"

"Well, what can I do for you?"

"Wait, back up." Lucilla was reeling, her mind unable to keep up. "How am I here? Why am I here?"

"To answer you're first question I guess it's easier to just say that your mind is here. Both your soul and body are back on the planet below." Ovana answered patiently. "The reason you're here is because you called me. Since you're like one of a handful of people that regularly pray to me... and isn't insane, I decided I could spare the time in my schedule to talk."

"So, what can I do for you?" Ovana asked once again.

Lucilla was speechless. The last thing she expected to happen to her was seeing an actual Celestial. Yet she also knew that she had something she wanted to say. A request. She just had to ask. She didn't know why she wanted to request something from a Celestial, but the question was forming in her head. The small tingle that was in the back of her mind was growing and turning into a full-on thought. She just needed to voice it.

"Will you grant me power?" She asked the Goddess.

"You want power? Why would I give you something like that?" Ovana Questioned tilting her head.

"Oh uh...." Lucilla didn't have an answer. She didn't even know why she asked that. Looking back up at the Goddess she noticed her eyes were concentrated on her side, a faint golden glow emanating from them. Trying to see what the Goddess was staring at she looked down and saw that her twin blades were attached to her side.

"I see." She spoke, narrowing her eyes. "You got an interesting weapon there. There's a lot of miasma leaking from it."

"You can see that? Isn't my consciousness the only thing here though?"

"Yes, well I just peaked at the actual blades themselves." Ovana paused before speaking again. "I can grant you power but there are some conditions."

"Yes, anything!"

"First, why do you want my power?"

Lucilla thought about lying for a second before thinking better of it. She didn't feel the same pressure she felt when talking with Nielia, but Ovana was still a Goddess. She was most definitely more powerful than a mere Archangel and Lucilla wasn't tempted to try and defy her. She decided to play it safe and tell the truth.

"I need it to kill the Hero." She started. "If I don't kill him, he'll kill me or...."

"Or kill someone like Morella?" She finished for her.

"Ho-?!"

"You pray to me about her every day remember?"

"You listen to those?" Lucilla asked, shocked.

The Goddess just smiled as she continued speaking, ignoring her question. "If you want my power you're going have to become my proxy, you understand that correct?"

"You mean like an Apostle, right?"

"Yes that. Do you understand the responsibilities that come with such a roll?"

"Umm...." Lucilla did not, in fact, know what that meant.

"It's different for everyone depending on the Celestial." She started. "For me I'll mainly be asking you to help me in with things related to my tittle of soul Goddess."

There were a plethora of task Celestials weren't able to do themselves. Unable to interact with the mortal world directly unless permitted to by them, they would make a contract with a mortal to do the task. They could forcibly bypass these restrictions, but that usually resulted in a punishment. Angelica for example is unable to keep herself together for long periods of time and is on the verge of unraveling from this existence. They won't let her stabilize her form for an indeterminant amount of time. She received this punishment after gifting mankind with the Hero summoning circle Ovana explained.

For her part Ovana didn't really need someone in the mortal realm that often. She did however need help in the afterlife. There were countless mortal souls arriving every second. She had messed with how time worked in the soul realm, but she and her army of True Demons still had a lot of work on their shoulders to get through them all.

"What do you want me to do exactly?"

"Two things actually. First, I want you to help sort the souls who enter the afterlife," Ovana started," second, I want you to grow experience using my power. Otherwise, your body will just burn right up before you can even start."

"...." Lucilla took an unconscious step backwards in fear. "How long would this take exactly?"

"Hmm." Ovana tapped her finger against her chin in thought. She then raised up seven fingers.

"Seven years? I don't like how long that is, but I guess that's... fine." Lucilla would prefer to kill the Hero in less than a year, but seven years to control power given to her by a Goddess was honestly short.

However, Ovana shook her head no, before speaking again. "I meant seven hundred years. Sorry for the confusion."

Confusion then anger flashed across her face. "Seven Hundred years?! that's far too long, everyone I know would be dead by then!"

Lucilla couldn't believe Ovana would expect anyone to take this offer. On top of that most people aren't even capable of living that long, including her. Were the Celestils of her world so far out of touch they don't even realize how short their lifespans are? Before she could continue voicing her colorful opinions, the Goddess before her started laughing.

"Hahaha!" Unable to control her own laughter Ovana used her weapon as a crutch to keep herself standing. Lucilla just stared at her.

"Ehm, ah, don't worry about that." The Goddess eventually said once she calmed herself. "Time works... well time doesn't really work like it does in the mortal realm. I can make it so seven hundred years for you is nothing more than a week there."

Lucilla still had misgiving about this prospect. "That's still too long, by time I get back I would've already forgotten my current feelings, would I not?"

Lucilla didn't want to let go of this sadness and hatred she felt. She wanted to still feel the sting of Morella's death in her heart, and the seething heat of hatred towards the Hero and herself in her gut. There was a new budding emotion that felt sweet deep within her that she didn't wish to forget as well.

"Is there no way to keep these feeling of mine for that duration?"

For the first time since they've started talking Ovana looked concerned. "I could, but I don't recommend it. That's not good for anyone's mental state."

"Pleas." Lucilla begged holding her chest. "I need this."

"... I'll do it until you kill the Hero I suppose. After that I'm releasing those emotions." Ovana relented with a sigh.

'That felt too easy.' Lucilla thought watching the Goddess in front of her.

"I have another one more question." The crimson eyed woman said narrowing her eyes.

"What would you like to know?"

"Why are you doing this? Why make me an Apostle?"

"Because I felt like it." Ovana simply said, as if she were commenting on the weather.

"What does that even mean? Can you really be so brazen about such a thing!?" Exclaimed Lucilla.

"Not a lot of people lining up to be my Apostle, and the ones that are, are insane." Explained the Goddess. "Plus, you might be normal, but you have a large potential in you...."

Ovana paused for a few seconds, seemingly debating with herself. After a few seconds she came to a conclusion and said, "Also I' m going have you sort every single soul you send down there yourself. So be careful on who you kill."

"Wait, what?"

"Well, that's all I guess, I'll give you one hour to say your goodbye's."

"Wait what was that last part!" Lucilla yelled into the empty room. She looked around in confusion before realizing she was back in her body. The transition was so abnormally fast that she couldn't even tell when it happened.

Frustrated, Lucilla stood up knowing she didn't have time to think about what just happened. She only had two hours before being spirited away. "These damned immortals." She complained, leaving her room.

-- -- --

After waking everyone up she had them gather in the large dining room, which took about thirty minutes in total. Sitting down at the head of table, where Anastasia usually sat, Lucilla started explaining what she just went through. The other listened intently, after she finished Judieth spoke first.

"What do we do about the Fay and other creatures leaving the forest." Judieth asked. "We have to meet them at the border in a week."

"Stall them?" Lucilla suggested. "I'll ask Miss Ovana about that later."

"I know, da girl here is technically n'charge, but we all know that aint completely true." Cristina spoke. "They need ta see ya and da girl if you want 'em to continue following ya"

"I'll be there." Lucilla stated. "I know I need them to kill the Hero."

"What will you be doing down there?" Sara asked with a hint of worry.

Looking at her, Lucilla gave her a small smile. "I'm not entirely sure. Something about sorting souls.

Just then a ring of pale blue fire appeared under her. Frowning Lucilla looked back at Sara then Anastasia, who stayed silent during the whole discussion. With one final wave, the fire consumed her before disappearing just as suddenly as it appeared, leaving the others little time to even react.

"What just happened?" Sara asked, breaking the silence that descended upon the room.

"That was hell fire." Judieth said with mild disbelief. "I think she was just dragged to the afterlife, mind, body and soul."

"So, she's just gone?" Cristina asked bewildered. Even with her long life, she's never seen anything like this before.

"Will she be, okay?" Anastasia asked with a concerned look. "She just started sleeping well."

"Thats true." Judieth agreed. "Without you there she might struggle to sleep."

Everyone looked at the chair the silver haired woman was sitting just moments before. Nothing indicated that a person was just swallowed up by hell fire and dragged to the real of souls. With no other choice the others disperse, preparing for their trip to the border.

Anastasia was the only one to stay behind as she caressed the chair Lucilla was sitting in. "Stay safe."