Freedom

Ren slowly descended the corpse covered mountain with a troubled heart. The mere thought of a really mad Twilight Silver gave him goosebumps and sent shivers down his spine.

"Let's hope she won't be too mad... and besides, I got her a present."

Ren chuckled lightly while clutching the severed head of Helios, erstwhile god of sunlight and Twi's runaway father. If anyone could be said to loathe the deities, then that person would be Twi. Being a half blood goddess, naturally she faced some severe stigma and chose to remain as a mortal instead of transcending. The gods watched everything, and everyone every time. There wasn't even a second of privacy. Though some deities despised the others for it, the rest of the gods enjoyed toying with the lives of humans. Everyone was subject to fate, the weapon the gods had used to fetter humanity, but now that he had broken free, what next?

"What happens now?"

He had no idea. Maybe, just maybe, he was no longer on the sages' radar and he would be free to act as his heart pleased.

Ren's face contoured into a half grin.

"Tch, fat chance."

The chances of such happening was simply astronomical.

Anyways, having been riding on sun wukong's nimbus at breakneck pace could not help feeling that climbing down Mt. Transcendent was too slow. At this pace, he'd be on the ground by night time.

Luckily, he managed to spy a little bit faster means of transport... The black haired youth leaped over to an unstable boulder and set it rolling down the mountain with expertise precision at an alarming speed. His glossy hair waved about behind him like an onyx cape, and the snow split apart as if to make a path for him to pass through.

'Still so slow... '

It would take quite a while before he would get used to ordinary mortal speed. Wait a minute, what the hell was he saying?

Ren shook his head with a dark expression on his face.

"I am mortal."

He had swam naked across the Stygian river of the underworld just to drive a dagger through Hades' heart, crawled inside of a volcano to conquer Sol, and literally swallowed lightening while battling Thor. These he did without a trace of fear in his eyes, only cold, indomitable will and a leviathan load of killing intent. Bit the only thing he feared more than dying as a marionette for the gods, was not dying at all.

"I... I'm still mortal."

There were three ways to achieve godhood, number one was absorbing the life essence of billions of creatures in order to naturally transcend, number two had to do with coitus, and the third was simply absorbing ichor.

And to his consternation, he had actually done all three;

He had slain multitudes on his way up the mountain, he had had sex with Twi - who, technically, was divinity, and he had gotten some pretty bad injuries during his battles where his blood might have mixed with blood from some of the slain gods. Like literally, he was bathed in ichor even till now!

Soon enough, he could see the bottom of the mountain.

Ren jumped off the boulder and let it hurl to the cities below. Scratching the back of his head with an 'I kinda fucked up' smile on his face, Ren turned to face Twilight Silver.

"Hey Twi..."

The ivory hair shifted slightly to reveal a pair of dazzling blue eyes.

"Um... Hello? Have we met before?"

Ren raised a brow in slight confusion.

"Huh?"

Was she really going to do this? Twilight could be so childish sometimes.

"Look, I know you're mad and all, but I got you a gift. I couldn't bring you along cos I didn't want you to get hurt."

Twi's face twisted into confusion once again.

"Yeah, I think you're a bit mistaken there. I... don't know you. In fact, I have no idea what I'm even doing here."

Ren frowned slightly and let out a long groan while pulling at his long hair.

"Are you really gonna keep doing this? I'm sorry, alright!"

"Sorry for what? We literally just met a few minutes ago."

Ren sighed and decided to let it go, Twi was an extremely stubborn person. Heck, as a kid, she had burned down their nursery school just because she didn't want to take a nap.

"Alright let's see how long you can keep this up. Hello stranger, I'm Ren Styx, your soul bound fatemate?"

Ren chose to play along, offering his hand out for a handshake.

Twi however had a distant look on her face the moment he had uttered his name, and then she cocked her head a bit.

"Um... Hello? Have we met before?"

Cold dread filled Ren's heart as he came to a sudden realization. If fate linked everyone alive together, and the gods being able to use fate to spy and control the mortals who are bound to it, then he cut himself out of the tapestry, wouldn't that mean that he was now... alienated?

"No, no, it can't be. Twi, sweetheart, you... you remember me, right?"

Twilight Silver simply stared at him with a strange expression and slowly shook her head.

"Uh, don't call me sweetheart, and I can swear that I have never met you before in my entire life."

Those words literally shattered something in Ren. Ever since his family had been taken by the Mages for not bowing to the Hundred and executed, she had been his last tether to this life... and now that she couldn't recall him, well he didn't know what he would do.

A sinister chuckle escaped his lips as the realization of what he had done befell him. He was now really truly alone. Nobody knew about his existence, and there was nobody to go back to. But that did not mean that he regretted the things he had done. The memory of sending a dagger through a god's heart, and then beheading them before it could heal was something that he would forever remember.

"I'm alone. I'm fucking freaking... alone. I CAN DO WHATEVER I FUCKING WANT, AND NO ONE CAN STOP ME!!!!"