Chapter 213: Long-Lasting Guilt

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- Skuld (The Goddess of Oracles) ~

Sitting on the roof of one of my many old abandoned temples, I looked over the mountainous forest and endless ocean at the stunning sunrise. 

-Being isolated in an empty space for so long.. really makes you appreciate the simple things.. doesn't it...- I almost wanted to cry from the beauty of it, but I was too anxious to actually enjoy it. "Haah..."

Following my sigh, I glanced behind myself at the familiar noise that had yet to happen. *Vwomp*

Suddenly appearing with the expected noise, I met eyes with a mature avian woman wearing a long white robe. "It's been a while, Eir..."

Her name was Eir, the Goddess of Balance, and she was someone akin to my older sister, even before we became gods. "So you were here..." Her voice carried a motherly warmth with it, but she sounded worried. "How are you adjusting?"

I turned back toward the sunrise with a slightly bothered look. "Terribly..."

Her worry quickly worsened. "Do you want to talk about it.. or-"

"No... Please don't remind me..." I pulled my legs up and hugged my knees, doing my best not to remind myself of the vision I had when we were first released from The Runes. 

"B..but if we talk about it, maybe we can find a way to avoid-"

"Stop... The future I saw was our fate.. it was the result of our karma... Nothing we can do will stop it..."

"Karma? Do you still feel guilty for what happened?" She slowly walked over before sitting down next to me.

"Of course I do... I still regret not being able to do anything but sit and watch from the sidelines, and still despise everyone for their actions..." I glanced at her for a moment before turning away. "Including you..."

Her face darkened with guilt and sadness immediately. "You know there was nothing I could do... No matter how unhappy I was with the plan, I couldn't stop Odin alone, let alone all four of them together..."

"But you could have abstained! Nothing forced you to help them!" I turned to her with anger written all over my face. 

"But Odin would have forced-"

"No, he wouldn't have!" I stood up and turned away in a fit of anger. "He isn't omnipotent, Eir! If he was, he would have never even considered that f*cking plan! I don't know what he did to brainwash you all, but he is simply a man who lost his mind to envy and jealousy."

She stared at me with a look of guilt before looking back out to the horizon on the verge of tears. "I'm.. sorry-"

Her voice was cut short, and we both froze in place in an instant. -W..what...- Whipping back around, I looked toward the sunrise in a daze.

"W..where did it go..." Eir was staring at the horizon with wide eyes as well. "W..where did Magni's presence go?!"

After only giving each other a momentary glance, we disappeared from where we were and darted over the endless ocean in front of us, continuing until the sun fell beneath the horizon behind us. *Vwoom*

It was only an instant before we came up to a large tree we were both quite familiar with, but unlike its normal state, the tree wasn't totally enshrouded in the dense fog that even we gods couldn't see through.

But that sudden visibility only helped reveal a sight neither of us could have ever been prepared for.

"What.. the..."

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- Vasilias ~

*VwwWwWwoommMm* Huddling over Ilios, I leaned down and coated my wings in cubane so I could react to anything, no matter how fast, but when I looked around beneath the ever-descending fog, I saw the two remaining apostles still standing in the same places they had been in the whole time.

-But their expressions...- One of them had fallen over and was shaking from fear, while the other, being the woman I darted past when I came up the tree, just stood there and stared at me in a trance.

It was quite obvious that both reactions were normal and genuine, but I couldn't help but be curious about the enchanted woman. -Even after I displayed such overwhelming strength.. she stands tall without intimidation...-

But as if she knew what I was thinking, when she finally seemed to notice my gaze, she threw herself into a grovel. "Leif Vilulf humbly greets Lord Nott!" Her voice was quite distant, but I could hear her it clearly.

-So, just like Magni, she thinks I'm one of the original Ancient Fenrir...- The only difference was that her having that fallacy was convenient for me. -Maybe I should call her over...-

But before I could even consider doing it, a familiar woman's voice resonated through the air. "~You really are a horrifying creature, aren't you...~"

Immediately pinching a nerve, I rose my guard again and gave her a threatening glare.

But instead of shying away or even just reacting like I expected, she just smiled and came closer. "~You can relax. Even the strongest of gods couldn't survive that.~"

Her attempt at comforting words only made me more uneasy though. "How would you know that?"

Her smile slowly grew wider. "~You just shredded his soul and scattered the pieces in a different dimension, Vasilias. The only way for anything, including gods, to survive that kind of attack is to dodge it, but he was still trying to detach his tether from that unfortunate elf's body when it hit him.~"

-His tether?- Although her reasoning did make sense, and mostly lined up with what I believed as well, I couldn't calm my nerves so quickly. "But, even if he is dead, how do I know some other god won't try and kill me when I let my guard down..." I squinted my eyes as I looked at her cloud-like face, vividly remembering Magni mentioning that multiple gods shared his views.

"~Huhu, I like your caution, but they wouldn't dare wander here. The gods that want your downfall are afraid of that fog above you.~" She calmly pointed above herself.

-What?- It caught me a little off guard. "Why would the gods fear such a simple thing?"

"~Pfft-hahaha!~" The genuineness of her laugh helped ease my nerves slightly, but that only lasted a moment. "~Simple?! Is a conglomeration of tens, if not hundreds, of billions of souls simple to you? No wonder the others envied your kind so much.~" Her smile was washed with greedy confidence.

But it only made me tense up more. "Wait... The fog is made up of.. souls?" I nervously glanced up at the swirling fog as a slew of emotions and thoughts raced through my mind.

But the woman continued before I could think much about it. "~Indeed it is. But more accurately, they are lost souls trying to absorb enough energy from mana to reincarnate but have been caught in an endless maze with no exit.~"

"W..what do you mean..." I gave a quick glance at the two apostles again to make sure nothing had changed before finally starting to ease up my tense body. -She has only helped me so far, so.. maybe.. I can trust her a little...-

As if knowing I was deep in thought, the cloud-like woman waited till I turned back to her to continue. "~Just understand that only you, Ilios, and souls strong enough to maintain a 'conscious mortal tether' can exist and function normally in it. Even the souls of gods can get lost if they aren't careful.~"

-That's not what I was asking about, but...- Before I knew it, my curiosity started replacing my anxiety. -How fascinating...- Hastily turning back to the woman with a gleam in my eye, a smile came to my face. "Then this rune.. what does it do?"

Her smile turned warmer the longer we talked. "~Hmm, I guess you could think of it as giving the souls an escape route.~"

-So, the rune isn't for divinity but instead to help souls reincarnate? Is the beam of divinity really just a convenient byproduct of the process?- But before I could fall deeper into thought, the woman interrupted again. 

"~In any case, I'm running out of time with that scary fog descending again, so I will take my leave.~"

-What? She should have several minutes left before it descends enough to be problematic...- But instead of questioning her, I figured she had her reasons and stayed quiet.

"~Let me give you one last piece of advice before I go though...~" She appeared next to me as if she teleported before continuing in an out-of-place, warm voice. "Be wary of the Holy Kingdom, okay? After this, I'm sure they will try to make countermeasures against you... Just.. don't die on me...~" And without even giving me time to think about her words, she gently rubbed the top of my head and disappeared without a trace.

I stood there, not sure how to react for several seconds after that. -What the...- My brain was simply stuttering as it struggled to make sense of what happened, but the instant I finally reorganized myself, I noticed that something about her felt familiar. -But what is it?-

But that was when several fuzzy memories from my previous dragon sleeps suddenly surfaced in my mind. -Wait a minute... She couldn't be her, could she?-