Chapter 4 - Luna and Selene (1)

Before Ivar could respond, the white-haired woman, presumably Luna, said calmly, somewhat serenely, "You are not dead, child; we moved you here moments before such a fate would befall you."

This unexpected voice caused Aurora to jump out of Ivar's arms as she pointed her sword, which was still in her hands, at the two women in front of her. 

Before she could say or do anything more, however, she felt a terrifying gaze on her, much like that of an apex predator looking at its prey, with Aurora being the prey. She turned her head slowly towards the origin of that gaze and saw a woman in red.

She heard a female voice, one different from the one earlier, more dangerous, primal, and… excited? "Sister, I do believe she just threatened us."

The white-haired woman shook her head and said as calmly and serenely as earlier, "Calm down, Sister. She did not threaten us; she is simply in an unknown situation and still a little tense from earlier."

She then turned her gaze towards Aurora, "Please be mindful of your actions and drop the sword. My sister can be a little unpredictable, and while she cannot directly harm a mortal like yourself, she can still do many other unpleasant things."

After feeling the previous gaze had retracted, Aurora immediately dropped the sword. She was no less intelligent than Ivar and quickly realised who the two beings in front of her were. Or at least pretended to be.

She quickly retreated to stand next to Ivar, who had been looking at these actions with some interest. He didn't think Aurora was in any danger; after all, they surely didn't bring them here to kill them, so he saw no reason to interfere, not that he thought there was anything he could do.

Aurora looked at Ivar, "What's going on?"

Ivar shrugged, "How should I know? Did you think I arrived here before you?"

Ivar then changed back to human form before putting on his most charming smile, "But I'm sure the lovely ladies in front of us will explain our current situation."

Although Luna seemed to ignore Ivar's attempt at charming them, Selene clearly enjoyed it quite a bit as she chuckled, "Hehehe, I knew I was going to like you."

Luna rolled her eyes, "If you are all quite finished, I would like to get to the reason we brought these two here. I am certain you two have already figured out who we are, so-"

Before she could continue, she was interrupted by Aurora, "Hold on! If the two of you really are the goddesses, Luna and Selene, then quickly do something about that battle down there! My father and mother are still there!"

Ivar wasn't overly concerned with whether or not they interfered, as he only really cared about two people, Aurora and his father. But his father was an emperor-level being, and they were notoriously hard to kill, so he wasn't really worried about him. Meanwhile, Aurora was right here.

As for the other people? He wasn't a good enough person to worry about them; not even the women he had regular sex with received his worry, as that was all they were to him. 

Most of them started off with just wanting to use his position anyway, and while he always managed to turn them into good little sluts in the end, that didn't mean they were suddenly worth more than they were.

It was Selene who answered her with a snort, "Hmpf, don't you think we would have already killed those bugs for ransacking our world if we could interfere in any way?" 

She seemed particularly annoyed by her inability to rip these bugs apart with her own hands; whether out of anger for 'ransacking her world' or out of a desire to rip things apart was uncertain. Perhaps both?

Aurora seemed unconvinced, however, "So what's stopping you?"

It was Luna who responded with a dismissive wave of her hand, "Nothing that you would understand; suffice it to say that all of creation is bound to specific rules and deities are no different.

But have no fear; it seems that your death really was the qhanrid's goal, as they seem to be retreating with your disappearance. Whether they know what actually happened to you or why exactly they wanted you dead are different questions, though, but regardless, both your loved ones are fine."

While Aurora seemed relieved, Seleen said, "Yeah, yeah! Let's get to the important part; I'm eager to get out there!"

Luna sighed, "Calm down, Sister. Let me make sure they understand the situation first." Turning her attention back to Ivar and Aurora, she said, "While we are unable to harm the qhanrid directly, such is not the case for those portals they use to get here.

Unfortunately, all our attempts to interfere with them have met with failure; it seems they are created and maintained by beings more powerful than us."

This statement caused Ivar to look surprised, "Aren't the two of you deities? What is more powerful than that?"

Selene shrugged, "Even among deities, there is a difference in power; some are born more powerful, while others manage to advance their power in other ways. 

Whatever the case may be for this qhanrid god, he is powerful enough to stop us from messing with that portal even while they stay on their own side."

Aurora, still suspicious, said, "Alright, I guess that explains why you didn't interfere directly, but surely there are still things you could have done to help us indirectly?"

This time, it was Luna who responded, "You are right; we could have, but it wouldn't have mattered enough to make a difference. 

When we first tried to mess with the portals, we were able to see a glimpse of the other side, and it looked less like a planet and more like a sea of qhanrid. There were billions, if not trillions, of them.

They can only move through the portal slowly, but they won't stop, not until all the original inhabitants of Máni are dead."

Ivar and Aurora looked worried when they heard that news. All the therian and vampyrs together made up maybe two billion people, and while the third Máni race was more numerous, they were weak slaves that could not even free themselves despite their numbers advantage.

Had it not been for the funnelling effect created by the portals, the world of Máni would have already been overrun.

Even Ivar looked somewhat distressed; although he may be an asshole, the possibility of his entire race being slaughtered still gave him pause. Besides, he still had to live on that planet!

Still, these goddesses wouldn't have brought them here without reason, so he said, "Alright, enough with the doom and gloom; you clearly brought us here for a reason, presumably some way to stop the qhanrid, so out with it."

Luna seemed annoyed at his attitude but decided to continue anyway. However, when she was about to, her sister seemed unhappy simply to turn the other cheek.

She suddenly appeared before Ivar, seemingly seething with anger as the crimson moons in her eyes started rotating, "You should treat your goddesses with some more respect, boy."

Ivar was not impressed, however. Maybe he would have been a little more concerned if he had not just found out she could not directly harm him, but, in general, he simply didn't like listening to others.

So he snorted, "Hmpf, you are a goddess, not my goddess. And respect is earned, either through fear or admiration, and you have instilled neither in me."

After saying that, Selene and Ivar got stuck in a staring contest, but while Ivar was just staring, Selene seemed to be searching for something.

It was impressive how Selene could still seem like a serious and authoritative contender in this staring contest despite being quite a bit shorter than Ivar and having to look up to stare into his eyes.

In the meantime, Luna simply sighed and waited for the two barbarians to finish up while Aurora looked nervously between Selene and Ivar and prodded her fiance's side in an effort to have him back down a little, even though she knew it was useless.

She was a little surprised that Ivar didn't seem to feel the same terrifying feeling she had felt earlier, however.

While they were still staring, Selene broke the silence by raising an eyebrow and asking, "You really feel nothing, huh?"

Still not breaking the stare, Ivar answered, "Feel what?"

After another minute of staring, Selene seemed to come to a conclusion and said, "Never mind," before she started grinning widely; she then broke the stare while laughing wildly and walking back to her previous positions, saying, "Hahahaha, I like him, Luna! I chose well!"

Luna rolled her eyes at her sister's shenanigans, "You barely chose anything; you know why we picked them."

She decided to continue her explanation, "Anyway, moving on. When we realised that no direct or indirect interference from us would make a difference, we came up with a different plan."