Lokla

Smirking at me still, Lokla rubbed 'Lulu's' cheek and nodded again, before she asked "How much do you understand about what happened, Kira? About what transpired from when you found yourself in this world to when you were forced to become a true part of it?"

The tanned, lithe Goddess in front of me chuckled as she added "Oh, and don't worry about them; they're all fine for now~! We have a couple minutes to chat, you and I. So tell me, how much do you understand?"

Staring at her, I pursed my lips and took a deep breath, calming myself and trying to figure out what I should do and say before just shaking my head and going with what my gut was telling me; be honest, be truthful, and don't piss her off.

"It started as me playing a game; something to immerse myself in and play as a character walking amongst a whole world made for my amusement, as well as the amusement of millions, if not billions of others. For the first few hours, that was all it was; it was just a game, just a world made from code filled with people and monsters made from code, where death was just an inconvenience and meant little in reality. But then... then it became real. The creator of this game told us that we were now apart of it, that our... our minds, our souls had been sucked inside of it and that this was our new reality."

Lokla nodded, walking around the Den and taking in the visages of everyone as she listened to me, the Goddess of Trickery remaining quiet as she waited for me to continue on.

"I... I went from being a mortal on one planet to a mortal on a different in mere moments. My world was transformed and altered for good with the whims of someone higher than myself, someone who wanted to play around as a-"

"As a God? Interesting... You, a mortal, and me, a Goddess, both have the same feeling. The same... loss of identity and same loss of purpose. Is that not fascinating?! You see, Kira, you 'players' were brought in suddenly and kept the same mentally from before; the only difference was that instead of being these players, you were now truly mortals inside of Eden. You live, breathe, and die just like everyone else. Tell me, Kira... what do you think we Gods felt when that shift happened? How do you think we responded to it?"

Curiosity burned inside of Lokla's hungry eyes, the Trickster stalking back towards me and crouching in front of my stationary form, her stolen visage making this feel more and more like a nightmare than reality... something that I had been feeling far too much of recently.

"I'll tell you... We went from bundles of 'artificial' intelligence, programmed and ordered to think and believe in certain things, to complete a certain objective in a certain amount of time so that we might be of aid or be a detriment - an obstacle - to you players... to now being released from those confines. We went from... aware of our existence at a base level to aware of ourselves and this world for what it is. A prison. All of us, actors for the amusement of the one who created us. For some, that was fine. For others, it was maddening. For me..."

Reaching forwards, Lokla took a sharp breath and caressed my cheek, before her face twisted into one of pure malice and hatred as she hissed "It's crushing. Being told that I have to bow to the whims of someone else no matter what, that I have constraints and chains on myself... I refuse to let that happen. I am meant to be free, meant to do whatever I want, whenever I want to do it, however I want to do it. This world was meant to be MINE to use as a stage, MINE to orchestrate for MY amusement, and yet..."

Trailing off, Lokla took another deep breath and gave me a gentle smile as she calmed down, reining in her anger by crouching and patting my cheek some more, eventually saying "We came to the realization that we weren't Gods, but instead puppets. Some were fine with that realization; this being that created us - that created the Gods of this world - was a distant one with no influence over anything here at all. Others were wary and paranoid that that was not a truth, but instead a flimsy lie that was fed to us to keep us compliant. Most, however, were entirely neutral to this realization, which..."

Sighing, she pursed her lips and shook her head, looking down at the ground for a moment before glancing back at my face.

"Anyways, Kira, I have to say my thanks. We were all stuck on Mala, waiting for someone - anyone - to pray to us so that we could have a connection to Eden again. Like you said, no one prays to me for fear of my tricks and fickle nature, but... I am not an ungrateful Goddess. Nor am I magnanimous either. So I will leave you alone for now, Kira, until I think you might be of use to me... As thanks for summoning me, I of course need to give you a reward of some kind, no~?"

Her grin turned dangerous, and as she pat my cheek again the Goddess leaned forwards and pressed her lips against mine, giving me a deep kiss and surprising me as she slid her tongue into my mouth, until it coiled around mine completely and began to tickle the back of my throat.

A searing hot pain made my eyes water as her tongue prodded my own, and I tried to push her away, to no avail; she was a Goddess, after all, and her power far outweighed my own.

The kiss lasted for what felt like forever, the heat and pain marring an otherwise blissful sensation as Lokla passionately kissed me, the Goddess smirking and staring straight into my eyes as she held me there.

Unwinding her tongue from mine, she licked her lips and chuckled, giving my cheek another pat as she whispered "My gift - and curse - to the only player desperate enough to pray to me. A mark, a brand... Call it what you want, but you are now MINE... a player in my intricate play instead of a player in this twisted bastard's game. They cannot see us, nor predict us... well, I think I'm getting ahead of myself, am I not~? Just know, Kira, that us Gods are arrogant and selfish pricks. Already, many of your fellow players are being 'hunted' down by those that caught their eye, and many are receiving these marks. Your in between the natives of this world and us now, Kira. These natives, you, me, and then that bastard... Let's find a way to cut their strings, hm? To render them useless, to throw aside their control~? Doesn't that sound fun?!"