4 CHAPTER -3 : AN ETERNAL VOW

CHAPTER -3

AN ETERNAL VOW

Most of them couldn't believe their eyes and what they were witnessing was beyond common sense for them.

A non-combat Goddess and a shut-in weak girl teaming up to save the world!

Don't make me laugh.

The more you think about it the more ridiculous it sounds. Yet again this controversy was going out of hand and Almighty World God was losing his patience. He made a threatening smile and concluded the meeting. Everyone could feel the life threatening pressure or force whatever you call it. I was suffocating under it, as if life was slowly zapped out through me.

"Since all the gods and goddesses had chosen their partner, they have to work well together and know each other better till the next week before the reincarnation ceremony to avoid future frictions between these sacred relations. I announce this meeting of General Assembly has come to its end. I hope you all will join the feast tonight in the pantheon."

At these words all the gods and goddesses as audience left in a blink of an eye by vanishing into thin air. Can I do it too? Maybe I will try it later.

Most of us were still talking to our god and goddess and introductions were in order first. Most of them had already become overfriendly with each other and were talking casually like old buddies. Some were pumped up to demonstrate their prowess in weapon wielding and martial arts.

But in our case things had gotten a little awkward. The touching union scene and that pure lustrous way of introducing ourselves were just out of our domain. Social interaction, talking to friends, etiquettes, manners and way of expressing ourselves while talking were just out of our league. We both knew of our limitations without saying a word and so were looking in opposite direction afraid to approach each other out of embarrassment. I didn't know what to do and my mind was ringing with Christmas jingle bell songs for some reason.

When all the other pairs had left the Assembly grounds, Lady Athena broke the silence and said," For now let's go to my room."

"Okay." But this trick did not work either, and we still stood standing like fools on display.

Lady Athena felt two ghastly gazes upon her and she started moving quickly towards the exit arch gate and I followed her. BUT THIS TIME I WON'T LOSE MY WAY BECAUSE ALL THIS TIME I HAD BEEN HOLDING THE HANDS OF MY GODDESS ATHENA.

The huge sacred hall where Gods assembled to make decisions to rule and govern the world was now completely empty except for the two supreme beings – the Almighty World God and Lady Gaea.

"Was that really a surge in soul power World God?"

"It seems so that way."

"But such tremendous amount of soul power how can a human even hold this tremendous power in one place. Could you identify the person who released this power?"

"Since I was caught by surprise I could not pin point the person, but it was certainly one of the children. Its unbelievable that someone possesses soul power equal to the upper echelon gods at such a young age. But this batch of children, almost all of them possesses incredible powers too."

"I agree. Though there could be some disappointment. For example the little girl who paired with Lady Athena had such weak soul power as if she could vanish into thin air anytime nowhere to be found. How she was able to live this long on earth is still a mystery to me. All her life force should have been drained at a much younger age. I am afraid that they do not sound much promising in this endeavour to save the world."

"Mysteries do intrigue this old man. But sometimes these mysteries may open door to possibilities which even the brightest minds cannot perceive. For now we will wait and observe the children. I hope the future we had been waiting for all this time will bloom itself in the most beautiful way."

The two of them then too disappeared in thin air. When will I get used to these stupid teleportation freaks, just install some lifts or escalators instead of stairs.

***

GODDESS ATHENA'S ROOM

I and Lady Athena directly teleported through the archway into Her room. It was five times the size of the room I was allotted with. The same source-less light as usual was hanging around in the room. I did not bother myself with it anymore. Sometimes maybe you should just give up on logic and start counting backwards in number system starting from the very end.

Sounds ridiculous, right. HAAAAAHHA, caught you. HAA...HA

While a family frame photo hung above a double-decker bed whose wood work was maxed out to its very details while the silk bed sheets were just so smooth that you wanted to rub your cheeks with it all day and never got bored. The other three sides of the wall were covered with gigantic bookshelves laid in with books, using every little corner of this equipment to its maximum.

I was just amazed to see these many books. A goddess of knowledge is sure to have her own personal library. Could she even be the librarian of the library in this divine realm?

As usual there was an awkward silence lurking all over the room now. Since Lady Athena was a goddess and she had to guide me towards saving a world, she thought to take the initiative and start a conversation.

"We gods had been given the task to select the children from the mortal realm from whichever place we saw fit. This week we had to monitor your class and select those whom we believed would fit perfectly for this job."

"What do you mean?" This piece of information came as a surprise to me.

"We had been keeping an eye on all of your activities at school."

'Isn't this privacy invasion?' I thought to myself. Maybe in this modern era people are always being watched, if not on earth then either from heaven or hell. Maybe the god's are not aware of laws and the personal rights of human beings or they just don't care.

"We had to keep an eye on your class for a whole week and select children who are capable of wielding unique powers. Now when I see you up close, I remember I saw you then in the girl's school washroom where three children splashed water all over you and ran away. At that time I got so confused about what to do after seeing that you were all wet. So I used my divine powers and being the goddess of knowledge, I efficiently placed an information command on the lady warden to carry a pair of sports uniform to the washroom at that point of time and give it to you after seeing your condition. Sorry, for telling you this and my inability to prevent that felony from happening. That was all I could do at that time. Please forgive me from my incompetence."

All of my brain cells were disrupted at these words and I brain-stormed to restore my previous memories. After she narrated me this incident, it did really happen in a strange way. Just at the end of recess the three delinquents splashed water from the other side of door all over me. I was reduced to a state where I could not go to class or even ask someone for help. I had to wait till dismissal or someone comes barging in. but in a very peculiar way I heard a knock.

"Yesss... What's the matter?"

"I am the school warden. Here is your physical education uniform."

Wait how did she know I was even here and what about my conditions. Did the delinquents tell her! I ruled out this possibility since they won't be so kind to me ever in my life. Maybe she saw them committing the deed and wanted to help me somehow.

But now I realized that the one who came to the rescue was my goddess Athena. My heart had started beating faster than ever because this was the first time ever, someone helped me out of my necessity and not made fun of my situation and instead took action.

"Um..U.. Thank you. My Lady. But it hurts me that you call yourself incompetent. What you did means a lot to me?"

"Why do you say so?"

"It's just as you described, while many gods and goddesses were monitoring us but out of all those you understood my situation, and helped me out by resolving the problem with the most delicate and proper way without hurting anyone. I will never forget your kindness."

"HAHAHAAAHAHHA. Listen Sachi you don't have to talk to me in such a formal manner. We are partners who are going to be reincarnated together. So we should treat each other as equals and be friends."

"Wait! What a god and human equal?"

'By looking at other Gods and angels it didn't appeared to be the case. So, why?'

At this Lady Athena with her left hand lifted the front part of my hair which covered my face and for some time after staring at my face, with her right hand she pinched my nose lightly.

"It's not fair. You are so beautiful and have such a pretty face. You even look more adorable than most of the goddesses I know. Even your skin is so white and soft like silk. Why do you even hide it in the first place? And yes from now onwards we will be friends."

This was totally a new experience for me. I did hear it quite a lot from stranger and from my classmates or far-off relative that I am quite pretty. But hearing from a goddess made me feel that she genuinely felt that way. The most important part was that she really wanted to become my FRIEND. I was really in heaven. It felt like a huge burden had been lifted from my chest.

"The reason I hide my face is because I think I look prettier than others and would stand out a lot. When the school had began and I was a transfer students, all the girls avoided talking to me in whatever way I tried. No one seems to have wanted to be my friend. Then I read somewhere that other classmates feel insecure when they are around someone who wanted to attract attention to only oneself. So out of desperation I considered concealing my face with my long hairs. But it had a totally adverse affect. My classmates started considering me a freak and even avoided me more as if I had never existed. As for your second question, I actually never had someone to call a friend before nor there is a family member who cared about me after my parent's death. So…so… I… will be your friend Lady Athena."

Tears were about to roll down through my eyes, but I stopped them from overflowing by looking upwards and also avoided facing Lady Athena for a while. But it was useless. The dam was already broken and the waves were set free.

At this point Lady Athena hugged me tightly near her chest and I could hear her heartbeat clearly. It felt so warm. I really wanted the time to stop there or flow continuously in that state. I was never alone, someone did really care about me in this world, and it doesn't matter if I meet them after dying.

"Don't worry Sachi; there is no need to hold back. Because I feel the same way. I too had been waiting for a friend for a very long time."

At the end of these words tiny droplets of water fell on my cheek. We remained in that position for quite a long time even though we had stopped crying a while ago. We broke from our everlasting hug when we heard a knock at our door. Lady Athena opened the door and found an angel who came here to remind us about tonight's banquet and feat.

"Sachi I think we should leave after getting ready for the banquet."

"Okay then. I will be taking my leave and go and get ready in my room."

"No, wait you can get ready here. I think I have a dress that will fit you well."

"But is it really okay, for me to…"

"It will be fine after all you are my beneficiary from now on."

I accepted her invitation and sat back.

For some reason we again ended in a peculiar situation because there was only one bathroom in that room to be used and if we took turns then we would be late for the feast.

We were taking a bath together. We sat across each other face to face at the ends of the bathtub but were just staring at its bottom. There was no tap in the washroom and neither a shower unlike my room which was missing the taps and knobs of the shower to control water. But just by thinking of taking a bath I could bring forth water from the shower. But here it was different Lady Athena could summon water out of thin air and also control its temperature and any amount of water could be summoned at any time.

But out of nowhere Lady Athena jumped at me and started poking at my abdomen and the ticklish feeling overtook my body and I couldn't stop laughing.

"Stop that. Please..anything but stop…"

"What are you talking about? The fun had just begun. After feeling your soft skin when I hugged you how could I stop myself now from touching you or snuggle you tightly in my arms."

I don't know whether she really felt that way or was just her way of teasing me. But I enjoyed it a lot. Maybe these are the things and moments you enjoy with your best friends.

After coming from the bath, Lady Athena moved her index finger in a circle and hot air started flowing around our body, in a helical locus which completely dried us unlike my non electric usage dryer which was damn too slow. I don't know whether I will be able to do the same thing as Lady Athena does. Maybe I will ask her to teach me next time or even try it myself.

When I wore the outfit Lady Athena gave me, she started staring at me.

"What's the matter?"

"I had no idea the dress will fit you this well. Also you look like a princess from a foreign land. It's a waste having such a beautiful face if you keep covering it with your hairs."

I started blushing and the only thing I could muster up to say was, "Thank you!"

But then I stopped and took a proper look at Lady Athena herself and made an attempt to compliment her.

"Lady Athena but you are quite a beauty yourself. I bet any God would be captivated by your alluring charm." I wasn't trying to deceive her or anything. I truly meant that what I said. But truthfully speaking I had used this line from a novel I read a long time back.

Goddess Athena was wearing a white gown with intricate fabric designs at several places. It was quite similar to my own gown which she had offered me to wear.

"Let's go."

Lady Athena took my left hand and started walking in the hallway leading the way to the banquet hall.

***

THE BANQUET HALL

Nineteen gods and their beneficiaries had already assembled in the banquet hall to enjoy the feast. Most of them had become close comrades and started making their own plan of action to save the world. Some combat gods with weapons were trying to draw a training plan while some wanted to goof off and enjoy their stay at heavens and indulge in all the luxuries it had to offer.

A long wooden table stood at the centre of hall, but it was shining as if it had been polished to its maximum lustrous state by the most skilled artisans. At the other end of the hall stood another table with lots of large golden utensils laden with lavish and mouth-watering dishes and plates were arranged in piles. It was a buffet system where one had to adhere to self service and choose whatever amount of food the person wanted to. The menu presented variety of dishes from sour wafers to spicy stew and sweet confectionaries.

But the special attraction of today's feast was the heavenly wild boar which Lady Artemis hunted in the Eleanora Woods on the other side of Mount Olympus. While she was the centre of attraction of all the present attendees, everyone also commended goddess Hestia who turned it into a delicacy.

All the nineteen gods and children present in the hall took their seats on the dining table everyone sitting in front of each of their gods in horizontal pairs.

Homura noticed something was wrong and asked his Goddess Freya, to clear his doubt.

"Lady Freya if you may, but why are there only 38 seats in the dining hall if 20 gods were selected for the reincarnation ceremony. Aren't the others going to attend the feast?"

"Haahahaha…. Its just as you suspect my child, you have quite the observation skill. But there has been no mistake. It's actually for entertainment purpose. A special surprise for our little goddess who will appear soon."

"I see Freya you have succumbed to your old tactics. But it will be quite fun to see the Black Sheep try to escape from this situation." Lady Artemis was pointing her fork in the sky and imagining the look on everyone's faces to see Athena' miserable state.

"I still don't get it. Why a non-combat goddess would try to challenge us. Just because of her families glorious past and because of her beautiful charms, doesn't mean that she can defy us."

"That's why we are going to teach her a lesson today!"

"Hermes you did well in making the arrangement of their late arrival."

"Never mind. But I feel sad for the human child who has to suffer humiliation due to her goddess. As far as I remember she had the weakest soul power in the whole class, almost none at all. How was she even alive, wouldn't her life force had extinguished at an early age. It's a quite a funny duo of weaklings." Lord Hermes looked in the direction of other children as if to extract information about that girl.

"The name of the girl is Sachi. My Grace." As usual Kenta was showing off his communication skills and playing the role of class leader.

"I don't remember a girl with that name in the class."

"Ah! She is the freak who never talks to anyone and cover her face with her hairs."

"Oh! You mean the girl who always got bullied."

"Sakura can you tell me more about this girl." Astarea the Goddess of justice made an unusual request as if she was taking a special interest in that girl.

"Lady Astarea. You have nothing to worry about. The girl in question is really weak and fragile." Sakura behaved as if she was presenting her statement in front of a judge in a court of justice.

"Lady Ova and Lady Astarea as a matter of fact even at the time of dying in the bus she was being bullied and beaten by us." Tama had already started making fun of me.

"She just keeps reading book all day and has a beautiful appearance. Except for that she is nothing in our eyes. I bet she would die on the first day she is born in Isleguard. Hahahaa." Saki had already started banging the dining table in front of her and laughing loudly while the other present in attendance couldn't hold themselves back seeing her explosive behavior and followed her example.

Goddess Aphrodite sensing the presence of two unwelcomed guests for whom everyone had been waiting for quite a while, were going to make an entry.

"Everyone get ready. The show is going to begin. Let's enjoy it to the fullest."

ALL ATTENTIONS AND ANTICIPATION WERE DIRECTED TOWARDS THE ENTRANCE.

But everyone's jaw dropped when two beautiful maidens in white gown made an entrance. Everyone had the same question 'Just who they were?'

'Wait! Is that girl really in our class?'

'I don't remember someone this beautiful in our class.'

'Was that the reason she always hid her face. Maybe I should have tried to talk to her after all.'

'I never expected Sachi was this beautiful.'

'Its not just her. Even her goddess is so beautiful. Should we go and talk to her.'

All the Gods and boys were making the same type of comments which brought frustration and angered all the Goddesses and girls.

'Her goddess is even more beautiful than Lady Aphrodite.'

Someone had just misspoke the taboo words by comparing the goddess of beauty and goddess of knowledge. Lady Aphrodite was totally riled up by that statement which totally challenged her own existence. The students present in the hall and all the other Gods could feel the divine power radiating from her body so strong that it could destroy the whole banquet hall in a blink of an eye.

Lady Freya took the hand of Aphrodite and comforted her.

"Tccch... I won't let it end like this. How dare she ruin my fun!"

***

SACHI KONDO

We were greeted by an angel at the outside perimeter of the banquet hall and he informed us that all the guests had already arrived. For some reason Lady Athena looked worried on receiving this piece of information. Was she afraid of something and if yes then what?

As soon as we entered the Hall the room fell in complete silence and small gossips could be heard but I couldn't make them out since we were too far. For me the only person that mattered was Lady Athena. All this time I just kept looking at her face and smiled all the time while we chatted among ourselves.

For some reason all the Gods and boys were confused and exasperated, while all the girls and Goddess had a look of dismay and rage. Jealousy was written all over their faces, after all Lady Athena looked so glamorous in her outfit and even the gods couldn't deny it. We started moving towards the part of the hall where the plates were kept.

Suddenly a goddess stood from her seat and asked, "Athena, why are you late? We were all missing you." It was the goddess of lust Freya.

At this lady Athena stopped her feet and her body started shaking, but she did not look back to reply and stayed silent. All this time I never saw her behave like this.

To me she looked like a cheerful person who took joy and gave her best in everything she tried. Even though she might have been isolated by others I never suspected that even gods get bullied if they are weak.

"Why don't you take a seat and have a talk first. We would really like to know about the new friend you made." This time it was goddess Astarea who too wanted to be a part of this drama.

I looked back and was furious to see that all the chairs had been occupied and two chairs were less than the number of guests. It was not an organizational mistake but was all planned. These Gods are trying to pick up on Lady Athena and no one is objecting.

But then I too was terrified at the thought that was it because of me. Were they trying to make fun of my goddess so that they could bully me? Was this done by the delinquents?

At this point all the goddesses and girls were smiling as there plan was in full action. The gods and the boys still for some reason were making some complex comments and promises.

"Let me add some fun too." Sakura stood from her seat and started walking towards me.

She came and stood in front of me and gave an evil smile. She grabbed my right hand and started squeezing it with her herculean strength.

"AAAhhhhahhah….." Something sharp just now pricked in the middle of my hand and blood started to flow from my hand and some drops of this red fluid started dripping on the floor. It was a major cut. She must have hid something sharp under her palm, maybe a small knife or blade.

"Do as the other Goddesses asked you to do, it would be in best of your interest not to make me angry."

Everyone started laughing in the hall.

'Athena you should take proper care of your partner and explain her how things work here.'

'Don't forget your place as a non-combat goddess or try to stand in our way.'

'Don't go all high and mighty or someone might get hurt.'

At these words Athena who was obviously still shaking with fear looked at me and was shocked to see the blood in my hand and another girl trying to twist and sprain my wrist.

All her emotions vanished from her face. She slapped Sakura on her face tightly and broke me free from her tight grasp. She held my hurt hand gently as if to stop the bleeding and started moving towards the gate through which we just entered.

"Sachi, we are leaving."

***

GODDESS ASTAREA

"How dare she hurt my child?"

Sakura stomped on the floor and came back and took her seat.

"That slap was really tight. I won't forget this Sachi just you wait." She still held her hand where she was slapped and searched for ice on the dining table.

"She really thinks that she can challenge us."

"Let's not let it end here."

"I do have a plan. Artemis get your beast ready by day after tomorrow. We might as well see some wandering girls getting hunted."

It was Lady Freya who spoke about such a devious tragedy, while Lady Artemis complimented it, "Wild game always sounds fun to me."

While some of the Goddesses and delinquents discussed about their plan, the others just eavesdropped. Some laughed, some made sad face to think about the looming tragedy, some still maintained their cool but no one objected to their devious plot.

No one questioned that how did those two girls anger them or why are they so fixated over them.

I wonder why no one ever questions the actions of the strongest. Why it is THE WEAKEST ONE has to only suffer?

***

SOMEWHERE IN MOUNT OLYMPUS

Both I and my goddess left the inner perimeter of the banquet and Lady Athena muttered [TELEPORT] and both of us vanished into thin air.

For some reason the blood in my brain had shifted to one side, but it was soon getting settled. While I still felt a bit nauseated I opened my eyes and saw that we were walking across a meadow. The grass was Eden-green and thigh-high to a thrush. A neon-blue ribbon of river ran through the centre of the meadow.

After taking a few steps along the stream we came across an inhumanly quiet and solitary dilapidated small wooden bridge. It was a graceful pedestrian with a medieval fifteenth century, old fashioned lattice metal plated architecture style. We crossed the bridge under a silent sky, which was to my surprise dark. At last, for the first time I was glad to see darkness because a source-less light just didn't add up.

The bridge landed us on a higher elevation than the surrounding and what stood before me was a tall ancestral, unfamiliar yet a majestic tall tree with mint green leaves and antler shaped branches. This was our final destination.

"Whenever I am sad or angry I come to this place. It is the only spot where I can feel like myself." For the first time I got to see this cheerless side of Lady Athena. She then lifted my hurt hand in which the bleeding had stopped.

"Does it hurt?"

Before I could speak anything, Lady Athena started speaking in a bit different tone as if she was chanting.

"OH GODDESS OF LIGHT, I BESEECH THEE, HEAL THY WOUNDS AND BESTOW UPON US YOUR DIVINE PROTECTION."

Lady Athena's body started shining brightly, surrounded by a golden mist, even in the dark the light it radiated was more than enough to even out-shadow a full moon. The light then siphoned through all her body and collected on our hands and just like that the wound closed up on itself and was healed to the extent that no mark was left. As if the cut had never existed. (Living in heavens has its own perks after all.)

Lady Athena clutched my hands more tightly, and yet the touch was gentle and warm. Tears fell on our curled up hands, but for some reason I felt as the happiest person alive on earth. For the first time someone had got angry for me and was worried about me getting hurt.

"Sorry, my classmates usually try to bully me and you got so worried because of me."

"Sorry the goddesses tried to hurt you in an attempt to humiliate me."

Both of our voices overlapped as we spoke at the same time. A complete silence followed these bizarre contradicting statements which were complimented by the wind which was shaking the trees with a whizzz sound.

We sprang into an outburst of laughter, laughing at our sealed and intertwined fate of being played out in the hands of strong up till now.

We both looked up in the sky while both of our long hairs fluttered in the cool breeze which had made us to forget the tiredness and stress of the recent events. According to the goddess this was the only place on the Mount Olympus where you could see stars.

A SHOOTING STAR SHOT DOWN IN THE SKY FOLLOWED BY A RAIN OF FALLING STARS LEAVING BEHIND A TRAIL OF GOLDEN DUST IN THEIR TRAIL, WHILE I AND MY GODDESS COULD JUST LOOK UP HIGH IN THE SKY AND CHISEL DOWN THIS EPIC VIEW IN OUR MEMORY.

'I PROMISE, I WILL PROTECT MY GODDESS WITH MY LIFE.'

'I PROMISE, I WILL PROTECT SACHI WITH MY LIFE.'

AND AN ETERNAL VOW WAS MADE WHICH WAS ACKNOWLEDGED BY THE DIVINE REALM ITSELF.

***

THE BALCONY OF THE HIGHEST BUILDING IN THE PANTHEON

The World God and Lady Gaea were taking a night stroll in the large balcony of the Pantheon. Creepers as tall as thirty meter were growing on the side walls of the balcony which continued to twirl around itself in the small bars of the balcony and grow further.

"Tomorrow is a big day after all."

"Yes my Lord, the TREE OF LIFE bears its fruit after every 10,000 year and that auspicious day is tomorrow."

"The fruit of the tree of life is an apple which has an extraordinarily high amount of life force stored in it. Even if a god of lower echelon eats it they might die by the sudden outburst of energy. Only the stronger Gods of upper echelons and gods with sub administrative rights are able to properly assimilate this fruit and control its power. So only very few gods knows about the existence of such a powerful fruit. It is also said that sometimes the fruit chooses the bearer itself by falling in front of the person it thinks is worthy of its power."

"I will be looking forward to tomorrow and will witness the glory of this divine tree myself."

After circling around the balcony once, World God turned towards Gaea to inquire about something.

"I heard the gods and goddesses caused quite a conundrum for Athena and her beneficiary." The Almighty World God spoke with a sour taste in his mouth.

"It's as you suspect, my lord. I was informed that the girl even got hurt in the banquet hall." Lady Gaea quickly responded to World God's enquiry to lift up his spirits in this unfortunate series of events. After all a goddess being harassed by other gods could destroy the order in the divine realm.

But now something special has caught World God's attention. Lady Gaea looked up in the sky in the direction which He was looking.

Her face totally went blank by the sight she was witnessing and unable to keep her curiosity hidden directly asked the World God.

"How could there be a star fall in divine realm?"

The World God lifted up his scepter and pointed towards the multitude of stars which were barely hanging and were about to become the part of the fall.

"In the 'Traditions of the Divine System', star falls is a sign that two people make secret promises which continues for a whole eternity. I wonder who those brave fellows are. We might as well be witnessing the beginning of a new legend."

***

OUTSIDE ATHENA'S ROOM

I spent a lot of time with Sachi near the 'Tree of Life'. Wait did I tell her that the tree under which we were watching the star fall is the tree of life. Next time when I take her there, I will make sure to tell her.

Wait what are Lady Hera and Sir Apollo doing outside my room. They are the gods of the upper echelon of the divine realm and were one of the strongest gods out there.

"Sir Apollo and Lady Hera, what bring you here this late at night?"

"Nothing dear, we were just worried to hear about what happened at the banquet hall."

"Are the both of you doing fine?"

"There is nothing to worry for you, Sachi is fine and I have already asked someone to properly escort her to her room."

For some time Lady Hera hesitated but finally she asked.

"Athena, you do realize that you are a non-combat goddess and so will be your beneficiary. The world you will be reincarnated will be ravaged in war by powerful beings. You might as well be throwing your life without gaining anything."

Apollo followed in the footsteps of Hera and interrupted.

"Remember you are not risking only your life but your beneficiary's life too. She later might blame you for her unfortunate conditions."

"Sachi is not like others. She would never blame anyone."

"Even so don't forget that your parents too died in a war in the same world."

"Will you be able to overcome the difficulties and hardships if you can't even punch someone, let alone defeat a monster? You will make a life of hell and fear for that girl if it still continues. Don't worry there will be more other opportunities to become powerful in divine realm."

"So let this one just slide. Don't worry you don't have to decide now. Think it out properly within three days and make a proper decision."

The two Gods then took their leave.

After my family died in the war two hundred years ago, they have been looking after me from time to time and giving me advice. They were one of the closest friends of my mother and father. Even still they were usually busy and couldn't always be there for me. If I want to make my own place among the god's then I have to take this risk.

But remembering the innocent face of Sachi, I can never dream in my life to hurt her feelings. What if I really make her life miserable? Does she really even want me to be her goddess? Will she still accept me as her partner if she knew I was weak and cannot provide her with a good unique skill? Will she blame me for her misfortune?

All these bad thoughts kept on popping in my mind, but I concluded to talk things out with Sachi and then let her make the decision.

The tiredness of all those uncanny events had exhausted her and she went to deep slumber free from all the worries of the world.

***

SACHI'S ROOM

A special angel who worked under Lady Athena accompanied me to the place where I was staying. I entered my room which was still dark and changed into my night clothes. I lied on my bed and started putting the events in order which happened from morning till now.

I tried to snuggle my pillow by hugging it close to me, thinking about Lady Athena and her actions really made her look cool and super awesome. She really cared about me and got angry on my behalf as well. I truly made a new wonderful best friend.

I tried to sleep but my eyes just couldn't stay silent. So I decided to stay awake whole night and read the books which I borrowed from Lady Athena and were delivered to my dorm in the evening.

I imagined the presence of light in my room and rays of thick light enlightened the whole room. For some reason I had an idea to try and learn magic after seeing the healing spell performed by Lady Athena!

The books I borrowed from her were all beginners' level, with titles such as –

'THE ORIGIN OF DIVINE REALM'

'THE EXISTENCE OF DIVINE SYSTEM AND ITS MECHANICS'

'LAWS THAT GOVERN THE DIVINE REALM'

'LEGENDS OF MOUNT OLYMPUS & THE GODS THAT LIVED IN IT'

'THE MONSTERS THAT ROAM THE PEAK OF MOUNT OLYMPUS AND THE FOREST OF ELEANORA'

'THE BLUEPRINT OF THE CARDELIA CITY AND THE WORLD MAPPING GRAPH'

(No matter what I will uncover the secret of existence of these stupid large amount of stairs and the reason for absence of lifts and escalators.)

'THE WORKING STRUCTURE OF THE TOWN HALL AND IT'S PEOPLE'

And the book I wanted to read the most was –

'THE USAGE OF MAGIC AND THE CHANTS TO BRING FORTH THE CHANGES IN NATURE'

It was midnight and I had 6 hours before morning and 6 books to read. There was no time to waste. I flipped the first book open and started reading. By 3:00 am I had already completed five books.

I sure am a book worm and also had a good memory so I remember everything whatever I read as my brain registered it like a computer data processor.

All the books were magically enchanted since they looked thin, light in weight and had standard book size. But when you start reading you find that the book should have been much thicker than it appeared.

The working of the Divine system were quite new to me, I never knew that heaven worked in such a way. One could even compare the 'divine system' to an ultra super computer with unlimited storage capacity.

The only viable reason I came up with the existence of stairs was that gods liked to walk even though they can use magic like teleportation.

Also the legends were quite fascinating and it seems that tomorrow was an important day of mount Olympus since the tree of life was going to bear its fruit after 10,000 years again.

Now the main event had come for me to - learn magic!

Will I be really able to do it? Well I think I have been using it in my room, I could make water come out from shower and control its temperature. I could also produce electricity and use dryer and turn the room light on and off at will. Well considering that just by imagining I could conjure water, electricity and light. I couldn't wait but flipped the first page open and began reading.

Even though the book was enchanted it was still quite thick and heavy. It had a fat brown cover and the book was quite old. According to Lady Athena the book was written by both her father and mother and was the longest book in her own personal library. Also the book was quite close to her heart. The fact that she lent me this book means that she trusted me with her whole heart and it really meant a lot for me. I had already pledged to devote my entire life to help Lady Athena in her endeavours and for that I needed to be strong. If not physically then I have to be mentally prepared for the worst possibilities.

It seems the noise which was coming from the room below till 2 o' clock had stopped; they were partying late at this hour. It seems that all of the students planned it this way after the banquet hall. Of course they did not invite me; maybe they were doing this just below my room full knowing that I would be listening their happy merry songs and cheers and would be jealous or storm in their party and get embarrassed.

During the briefing in the assembly hall we were told that one of our wishes would come true if we save the world. At that time the only greatest wish I could think of was a place which I could call home and a person who really cared about me. And that wish had only come true, now the only thing I could ask for was to stay by Lady Athena's side forever. It was a selfish wish but I couldn't think or want anything else in the world.

So I had no reason to worry about their stupid party and their cheap tricks. I had no longer time to be played by them in their hands or get worked up on their silly views about me. We had six days left to prepare for our reincarnation. I cannot waste a single moment on merry making and idle chit chat. I had to cover as much information about the world of Isleguard and be prepared for any situation. Learning magic and about the geographical and political situation and history of the world was one of the ways I could think of. Battle prowess at present in this weak body of mine was impossible. I could only make a guess, but if we are reborn and have my intact memory then maybe I do have a chance to train my body and learn swordsmanship and become physically strong too.

I started reading from the first page and found out about the meaning of MP and SP. Even one's life force could be used in magic. Magic can be invoked by using chants and they could be seen as a request petition from their respective gods. There are basically four attributes in magic – fire, water, wind and earth. Light and darkness (dark matter) are two other attributes yet considered as a separate and special branches of advanced magic. Any person can have affinity for one or more attributes.

But my eyes always looked for one missing piece and that was why chants were used in the first place. I did not use chants for bathing or turning off or on the light. It was just pure imagination and thinking. Perhaps the chants could be considered as a descriptive line of the affects of spell and create a strong and vivid picture of the spell function.

The longer the chant, the stronger the magic was and more difficult to visualize it in the first place.

After covering a major portion of the basics I thought to try it myself and learn my place. I was ready to fail in the first place if things did not go well as planned. What if I cannot use magic in the way I think?

But I cannot allow such thoughts to adulterate my desires and imagination.

As for getting a feel to how magic works I had already seen Lady Athena doing it and how this magic energy materializes in one's body and its warm feeling.

The first thing I wanted to try was to form water out of thin air. So as per the knowledge I have the air around us consisting of oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, water vapour and other gases in fixed proportions. Since we are humans so the divine realm would also have a similar composition of gases. First I had to try and separate water vapour from other gases. Also I should keep in mind the properties of other gases while I am separating them, since I cannot allow oxygen and hydrogen to mix so I needed to keep the oxygen covered in an envelope of nitrogen and same for other gases which are combustible. Water vapour is just water at a much higher temperature so to convert it in water I just needed to drop the temperature and had to keep in mind the various kinetic energies of the water molecule and also the laws of thermodynamics which governed these processes. And there it was I opened my eyes and globules of water floating in front of my eyes above my palm. Also by controlling the rotational kinetic energy and translational kinetic energy of water molecules I could control the movement and the speed of water flowing around my hand. Then just for fun I tried to launch the water in a glass kept on the table 5m away from where I was sitting. While half the water landed inside the glass, the other half spread all over the table and wetted the carpet. Also while launching some of the water leaked from the projectile leaving a trail in its mark.

I was still new at this and this innovative way of imagining things was too slow, the whole thing took one minute just to conjure water while Lady Athena could conjure water in large amount in no time at all.

I kept on practicing the same thing again and again and the whole time was reduced to 15 seconds in which I could conjure enough water to fill a bathtub. I was just too excited at the thought that when I take bath next time with Lady Athena then I would conjure water myself and surprise her.

But in all this practice, the whole room was drenched in water. So I just tried to control the temperature of water again and tried to evaporate it. For some reason it was taking a lot of time because the area in which I could control the temperature was still small. Also when I move to the next portion I had to start raising temperature from the beginning.

'This won't do? This way I will waste more time. It just started getting fun and now I had to clean the mess.' I started stretching my own hair and banging the back of my hand on my forehead.

I am sure no one saw me in this shameful act. Whenever I got frustrated or felt embarrassed I started banging my head. One could describe it as neither too hard nor to soft.

Just then I had an idea, why not use hot wind currents to increase the rate of evaporation in the whole room. I set up a convection current system in the whole room and the humidity in the room was raised to an extent where I was sweating all over but the idea worked and the room was restored to its usual dry state.

Now what to do about my body and my clothes. I needed to change quickly otherwise the sweat might affect my body. Taking a bath was a nice idea and it was already four in the morning and outside through the window it almost looked like it was dawn even though there was no sun. For some reason it felt peculiar and remarkable at the same time.

I put off my clothes and entered the bathtub and prepare a cold water bath to cool off. While I was in the bath the idea of evaporation and separation of gases at molecular level gave me an idea to conjure fire.

So while I was relaxing in the bath, I started separating air again in its different molecular form. I trapped each gas separately and enclosed them in an invisible sphere of nitrogen to keep them away from reacting separately and go kaboom.

Then I took the sphere of oxygen and dissipated the nitrogen covering and raised the temperature of the sphere which lit up a bright yellow flame. It was not as large as I wanted it to be but combusting a small amount of oxygen at regular intervals was much safer than combusting large amount of oxygen in one go and burn the entire room. Getting kicked out of your room on the first day by the landlord was a tragic fate I did not wish to suffer.

I later wanted to try it with hydrogen but it could be dangerous in a closed space. Maybe I can ask Lady Athena to assist me to an open and safe area.

I came out of the bath and felt refreshed more than ever, for some reason practicing all that magic was quite tiring. Maybe because it was my first time.

I then used a cool breeze to dry myself than a towel. Every time I did it, I always feel so happy and content. Let's do it once more. It tickles…

I turned back and looked at the bathtub in which there was still cold water. I had used fire and water. The question is can I use both at the same time to raise the temperature of cold water in front of me in one go.

I remember once reading about an experiment in which the box lid opened on itself when the steam pressure built inside the box was high enough. Also if we keep on pumping steam inside a closed box or there is a sudden high influx of steam or gas inside a closed container it might be reduced to bits and torn apart in an instant no matter the material used.

So to create such tremendous amount of steam in one blow I had a pretty good idea of achieving it with what I had just applied. Most of the people will consider fire and water elements are incompatible and mostly work against each other diminishing their effects, but this incompatibility just may give rise to a compatible power I am seeking for.

Its like this!

I conjured small amount of water in one hand and tried spinning it in only one direction forming a hollow sphere. For some time the shape would distort but I think I got the hang of it for now. In the other hand I conjured fire by combusting a small amount of oxygen I tried to spin it in other direction. In both of my hands were two basic non compatible attributes of magic but in hands of a genius science student they can open a lot of possibilities and variations. For some time it was quite difficult to maintain them in the spinning sphere state otherwise it just extinguished or dissipated.

After confirming that I won't lose focus and the spheres of fire and water are intact in both of my hands. I forced them together into one.

YES. You heard me I just shove them together into each other. One would say that the water would extinguish the fire. I will too agree but don't forget these are magic attributes spinning in opposite direction and the water sphere is a hollow one. The two spheres combined as I had predicted and formed a much larger sphere than before and were now spinning in one direction.

To keep the explosion small, I kept the fire attribute in check so the flames were less powerful than water. Hence the final energy ball was spinning in the direction of water and vice-versa. Also I think if I increase the fire attribute there will be more chances of a bigger explosion, maybe I will try it next time. For now I have to do with this.

I launched this orb of explosive magical power into the bathtub.

BOOM.

There it was, huge steam and white hot fog rise out at full force which can even make a hole in a metal plate. However the water was so hot and it splashed on my body due to the impact that I got minor burn injuries. For some time it did pain a lot but more than the pain it was the opportunity to try the healing spell. I was just too excited to cast a healing spell for which people would have considered me an angel on earth.

"OH GODDESS OF LIGHT, I BESEECH THEE, HEAL THY WOUNDS AND BESTOW UPON US YOUR DIVINE PROTECTION."

White light started surrounding my body and started siphoning all over the burned parts of my body.

"WOOW…OW...WOW"

What the heck, did the white light just dissipate? AArghhh! No I lost focus. Or maybe I wasn't imagining the wound being healed. Maybe for skin burns I must imagine the destruction of damaged and dead cells and siphon magical power to the nearby cells and try for cell division and repair the damaged parts. Also for some reason after myself saying that lengthy obsolete line I don't think I need that maybe just a simple word should be able to do it. After all a dying man can't be saved on battlefield if the healing spell takes too long to spell out and activate then. Here goes nothing!

[HEAL]

This time my complete focus was on the damaged portions and the nearby cells which will undergo cell division consecutively. White light started radiating through my body again. Unlike the previous time where this white light would cover my body as it appeared from the surrounding, this white light was radiating throughout my body and was responding to the core centre of my body. Also for some reason my long black hairs had turned white. I wonder how I look in white hairs.

But these abrupt changes did not make me lose focus. The toll of the burns and the pain was shearing through my body and I need to quickly apply healing magic otherwise it may leave a mark.

The burned spots started vanishing and new skin took its place. Just in case I walked to the mirror and scanned my whole body.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO."

"How did this happen. It's as if I have totally developed a new skin out of nowhere."

When I peeked into the mirror my fair skin was glowing more brightly than ever as if I just came out of a salon after taking a full body tone treatment. Even my face where there were some dark circles due to waking up till late nights had vanished. Well my hairs have restored to black colour at least. But there was still the problem that they had gotten lengthier, maybe even stronger and had a fine luster in my hair strands.

It was as if someone had casted a beautifying spell over me.

"Did I just heal my whole body unconsciously instead of only healing the burns? I need to be more cautious while using magic power. I can already feel a bit dizzy because I might have lost a lot of magical points. I should probably lie down for some time.

It was six in the morning when I woke up. I probably slept for an hour or so.

Last night we had decided that we will meet again tomorrow morning at the same spot where we went after the banquet hall. I prepared some sandwiches from the materials in the kitchen. The pantry was full of snacks and cold drinks. So there was no need to worry about food.

For those who don't know at my uncle's home I used to prepare my morning breakfast and school lunch on my own. Even in the evening when the whole family went out to have dinner I was asked to stay at home. My uncle and aunt would themselves make excuses of me by saying that there are a lot of recent neigbourhood burglaries so I need to keep a watch or I had to prepare for my exams. I always felt frustrated when things went this way. I too wanted to eat good food. So I had made up mind, to learn cooking by watching videos online. I would wake up whole night and try several dishes ranging from normal everyday to exquisite cuisines from Japanese to continental including sweets and other confectionaries.

In my eyes I was already a grand chef and I was able to come up with the perfect dish on my first attempts. Maybe I should have tried in the cooking club at school but even after sending several applications they rejected me without even trying me.

After having my breakfast I came out of the building and first time started walking on the road. As per the angel the roads will take you in the direction of the place I wanted to go. I kept the image of the tree in my mind, for some reason that and the shooting stars were the only thing I could remember about the place.

I walked on the grey-stone pavement and I could see a lot of angels unloading and transporting cargos from a huge cart drawn by horses with feathers, are they the heavenly beasts called Pegasus which I read in the book yesterday. There was hustle and bustle in every nook and corner of the streets, most of the gods were carrying some boxes while some walked in groups gossiping about different types of games, song and dance. Also there were many decorative items like huge plants laden with beautiful flowers of all colours I could think of. There were long red carpets, and huge logs were piled in the middle of street in a square formation one over the other maybe for a bonfire at night as a special event. One could possibly think of it as the preparation of a huge festival. Right I remember the tree of life after 10,000 years was going to bear its one fruit today. I wonder what it tastes like!

I would love to explore this festival with Lady Athena. I will make sure that I ask her about it when me meet.

***

INFORMATION BROCHURE

DIVINE SYSTEM

The divine realm, mortal realm (the universe), the hell or the realm of dead are all governed by a certain set of laws which are controlled maintained and observed by a single power entity called the Divine System. Over all these laws of nature the one who presides above all and have the power to twist these laws of nature is the Almighty World God. This position is also known as the 'Administrator'.

ADMINISTRATOR

The Almighty World God is the most powerful being, the Absolute. He is the controller and the governor of the Divine System. His job is to use the divine system to observe the world and take actions to maintain the stability among all the three realms.

SUB-ADMINISTRATORS

There are several other beings that are given certain limited access to the divine system. They generally include the strongest gods of the upper echelons who are the direct descendants of the Almighty World God in terms of blood and divinity. Others include Hades, the god of the underworld and the strongest apostle of hell. Usually even these rights can be scrutinized or denied as seen fit by the administrator. There are only two cases where a sub administrator uses the power of divine system when allowed by the administrator or when the command issued fails to be observed or is overlooked by the administrator.

ORIGIN

In the beginning there was nothingness which accumulated over time at one point giving birth to DESIRE and so the God's will was born to fulfill these desires.

On fulfillment of the first desire which was to remove nothingness, light was formed by the god's will. This God made a place called the Divine realm from where he would fulfill these desires.

For the first time something was created in this nothingness and then there was birth of matter, birth of consciousness, or birth of living creatures, birth of culture. The mortal races occupied the mortal realm. GOD made several other gods called his descendants and created the omnipotent power called Divine System. These descendants could siphon and wield this power to fulfill the desires of the mortal realm.

But these desires were an endless loop of criss-cross and most of them conflicted which gave rise to malice, hunger, hatred, jealousy, anger and evil.

The Malice then accumulated and took a separate life form that had their own desires. The GOD collected these new species and made a separate realm for them called hell.

DIVINE REALM & GODS

The land of gods flourished while the lower the god stood in lineage and as descendants the lower it could siphon the power of pure divinity. But divine power in itself was the strongest source of energy in existence. Only the body of god can handle the divine power.

The body of god's is special as it contains the blood of the World God called 'ICHOR' which serves as the medium to siphon divinity from divine system.

No mortal from mortal realm or denizen of hell can use divinity. This is an indisputable nature of the Divine system.

MORTAL REALM

The World God created a universe which keeps on expanding as the number of world's increases to fulfill the desire of the mortal beings. All these worlds contain different or almost similar species of living beings with humans, elves, beastmen and demons forming the major population in this realm. Different world has different magical densities in their structure and composition hence which decides the strength and mental capacity of the living beings living on that world.

WORLD

Each World in Mortal Realm was first but a small particle called 'core'. This core is the solidified form of god's blood Ichor which is in highly compressed and in its densest form. The denser is this core the stronger is the world in terms of magical culmination and nearer to the divine realm and more magical density is possessed by it. Around this core the landmasses are formed due to its infinite gravitational pull.

HELL OR REALM OF THE DEAD

The denizen of the hell consists of evil spirits, spirits with unfulfilled desires, zombies, necromancers, vampires. These are the living beings that claim hell as their turf. Guardians of the Hell Gate, Apostles are the rulers of the hell of each world. Hades the god of the underworld is the ruler of every hell and the only person who has sub administrative authorities over the divine system and a descendant of World God.

The source of energy that supports this realm is called 'miasma' which is the living concentration of malice leaked from the mortal realm. 'Black Miasma' or 'Dark Matter' is the purest form of miasma and the ultimate and densest form of malice.

RELATION BETWEEN DIVINITY AND BLACK MIASMA

DIVINITY and BLACK MIASMA are powers of equal strength but are made of different frequencies and wavelengths. Whenever these two powers will collide or come in contact it will result in destruction. No denizen of hell can set foot in divine realm and no god of divine realm can set foot in hell. Only World God and Hades are the only beings to whom these laws do not extend and they have full access to both heaven and hell. However the divinity of the World God and his descendants is far more superior and powerful than the Black Miasma.

TREE OF LIFE

The tree of life is a colossal tree which supports the heavens, thereby connecting the heavens, the mortal realm, and, through its roots, the underworld. One may even consider it a world tree.

The purpose of its existence is to collect all the excessive energy from heaven, hell and mortal realm. While it directly collects divinity from heavens, for the mortal realm it collects the energy that has scattered from various planets and collected together as mist in outer space which itself gets purified by revolving at very high speed in circular paths forming a special kind of energy called 'halo axal' which is at the same wavelength at divine energy. The tree of life absorbs this special energy, purifies it from unnecessary waves of energy and add the pure energy to its reserves.

As for the underworld, while the black miasma has totally different wavelength and frequency, the roots of the tree of life surrounds the gate of hell at its hinges and absorb all the dark matter. The roots then transfer all the negative emotions and malice to the bark and stems of the tree, which are broken down into simpler emotions and desires, which are then consumed as nourishments for the survival of tree. The leaves then convert this raw energy from underworld to pure divinity by purifying with the light which is omnipotent in the divine realm.

Finally after every 10,000 years all this surplus high density pure divinity is then collected at a single place and is stored in the form of a fruit that is a red apple. The consumption of this apple with its chaotic pure divine energy since its early stage of formation and its instability in its fruit form, can even kill the gods of the upper echelons as their bodies won't be able to handle the backlash. So after extracting the fruit from the tree of life it is kept in the chambers of the divine realm below the Pantheon till the chaotic energy subsides and the fruit is fit for consumption.

SELECTION OF THE CONSUMER

The apple is said to fall from the tree in the presence of the being it sees is fit for the consumption of its divine fruit. As per record no god has survived or escaped unscathed when the fruit is directly consumed just after the God's selection. As per observation, the reason for this hazard is not because the body can't handle the divinity, since by various means with the help of other god's this excessive divinity from his body can be extracted by and distributed among other gods. The real reason of this constitutional body failure is because of the fact that the assimilation of this apple causes a sudden high rise in the 'soul power' of the individual, and if the body cannot contain this vast amount of soul power collected over a span of ten thousand years the vessel ruptures, leading to the outburst of the spiritual veins which siphons soul power and is rooted deep inside bodies of everybody including gods, mortals and denizens of hell.