Chapter 7: The Reason

Ishtar sat lazily as she twirled a small piece in her fingers, the red and cracked queen piece swinging back and forth as a small smile lit her features.

It had been 7 years since the day Eric had given Ishtar his Queen piece. Unlike back when it was first given over, the queen piece in her hands that was cracked was whole once more. Though the cracks were still visible the clean cut between the top and bottom halves had been closed and reattached.

The cracks themselves and the clean break that signified a broken piece broken from the red aesthetic, having turned a dull gold. The smile continued to grow on Ishtar's face as she swung the piece back and forth, her mind wandering to all she would do when she escaped before finally stopping her motion and placing the piece to the side as she sensed Eric waking up.

Her presence was intricately woven throughout the temple, not by her own design mind you, but all the time she had spent in the temple had led her to monitoring everything at all times. Now that Eric was awake, she just had to await his arrival and final inspection.

'He should be strong enough now to survive.'

That thought filtered through Ishtar's mind as her freedom grew closer and closer, her glee rising each day.

Ishtar hadn't been this excited in the last few millennia and for good reason.

She was finally going to escape this godforsaken temple.

You see Ishtar was not living in this temple by choice., rather she was imprisoned... trapped here in her old palace of worship.

Millennia ago, when her people still prospered, but were in a decline, Ishtar was powerful. Newer god's and pantheons had appeared around the world, but her pantheon was one if not the oldest. The newer pantheons were a challenge to be sure, but not a dire situation that worried her and her elk at the time.

But that was when a new problem began to arise, one that Ishtar was the first to see, and the only one to escape.

As new faiths continued to rise, and their own followers began to faulter in number it became patently obvious that the method of a god's very being was flawed. You see, faith is what brings a god into being, it is this faith that gives them physical form, grants them their domains and ultimately provides them their power.... their mana... their very being.

But when faith begins to dwindle, when you bevcome forgotten, only a myth that they dissapears where does a god's being go?

It goes no where.

It fades.

It was possible that many gods before Ishtar and her own pantheon had faded in time, with no way of keeping teachings or a follower base, it was only a matter of time before a god disappeared forever.

Colored by her own past and coming to this revelation Ishtar made a decision, one that lead her to become 'The Queen of Heavens', 'The Creator Goddess' of her religion and finally, the leader of her pantheon before they too faded.

Though she embodied war early on, it was not her first option when it came to her decisions. First, she tried to explain to the others, her brothers and sisters, her progenitors, but they couldn't see... didn't want to see the fallacy in their being.

They were perfect.

That had lead her to dethroning her previouse ruler and brother and taking charge, but by that point Ishtar had come to the hardest decision in her long life.

She wouldn't save her pantheon... they didn't want to be saved.

Becoming the ruler of her pantheon wasn't enough. Even if she spread her teachings, made the humans believe in her rath and made them conquer new lands to gather more people, it would never be enough. Text of their deeds were always lost, the other pantheons would fight back, retention of their tales would never stand the test of time.

Could she live for 1000 years, 10,000? There would always be a limit.

No Ishtar had to find a way to survive without faith.

Seeing the trend for what it was, Ishtar set about growing stronger, so strong that she would not require the power of faith, consolidating it to a state that she could make herself perpetual, never fading.

It was tough and took many years, but in the end, Ishtar found a way, something only a handful of beings have ever done.

As her own pantheon began to fail, as it crumbled with the death of her people and its religion, she was the only one that survived and with their fall she continued to grow stronger, taking their domains, learning from them.... making them her own untill... She was as she said, 'The creator Goddess, Queen of the heavens, eternal and all powerful.'

The all-powerful aspect was a bit of a non-sequitur as there were still 2 beings that were stronger than her, them being Great red and Ophis the dragon gods themselves. They had existed for untold amounts of time and like herself transcended the need for faith to become power.

No, they had become concepts that define reality, even more powerful.

Things were good then for Ishtar, she had no more worries. None of the newer gods could challenge her might, she wasn't warlike in nature, she did not seek out conflict but if it found her, she would finish it.

It was at that time she started to travel, to truly start to interact with the gods that had appeared. Most did not like her sudden appearance and some even tried to subdue her, to steal her power... her secrets.

But she was too strong.

Ishtar was told much later by 'he' who had imprisoned her that after her imprisonment a tier system had been devised to classify all godly beings, one she found rather accurate.

There are 8 known classifications of beings in the modern world, even the strongest of gods can only be classed as 6thtier, the heavenly dragons touching and slightly entering the 7thtier.

But Ishtar, Ishtar was of the 7thtier, not only that she was in its upper echelons when she was imprisoned, stronger than any that truly wanted to content for her power and knowledge. Given enough time Ishtar was sure that she could have made it to the 8thtier.

The only beings in that tier being the dragon gods.

Back then, in her all-powerful state, it is no wonder that she grew arrogant with time, thinking only a select few could challenge her. Others from multiple pantheons that had realized what she had.

But that was when 'he' appeared.

'He' was like no other god, his religion not made of a pantheon like the others. His follower's faith all channeled into his being. Though he wasn't that strong when he first appeared it didn't take long for him to reach the 7th level and truly reach the next level.

Ishtar was happy the day she felt him die facing that 7th tier beast, not that it changed her situation.

But not just 'he' alone could have imprisoned Ishtar, no; 'he' worked with 'Solomon' a 6th tier magician that held great power and a brilliant mind, one of the only magicians in history that had reached the power of the gods.

Through 'his' machinations Ishtar had been led back to the land of her conception, to the first temple that was dedicated in her name. Though her people had died by that point it was still an important place in her heart, one that she did not want to see desecrated by another god.

When she had felt such a strong presence in her birthplace, she had returned; and that was when the trap was sprung.

Solomon and his genius mind had created a runic design, much like the ones he used to enslave the demons in the underworld. Taking from multiple pantheons as inspiration for its design Solomon carved this runic design into a sealing barrier in and around Ishtar's first temple. By placing it in on her land of conception and engraving it in her first dedication temple said sealing barrier was intrinsically linked to Ishtar.

All it needed was a jump start of power that connected to its origin and it would operate.

In her anger at those who had trespassed on her birthplace, Ishtar had flared her power as she came into being inside the temple and by then it was too late.

Connecting to her flared aura the runic design started to operate. Even if Ishtar wanted to escape, and even though she tried to as well, 'he' appeared to stop her. Locking her in place long enough so that the barrier formed.

The runic barrier connected to Ishtar's mana... her very being and once it was connected the barrier was designed not to stop until said mana was exhausted.

Through her own arrogance, that no one could stop her...

Through her lapse in judgment and anger...

Ishtar had found herself trapped. The only way out ironically enough to use all her mana.... her very being until it was exhausted... faded.

What she had spent so many years trying to avoid.

What she had sacrificed all to achieve.

The runic barrier strength was proportional to the mana that was supplied, locked onto the signature that originally made it up. Anything and everything could enter, but nothing with that signature could leave.

Ishtar had found these facts out that hard way, though 'he' had told her about it later, when she rampaged at being attacked. When she truly understood what the barrier was and how to get rid of it... Well, her rampage did not stop for many years.

It was only hundreds of years later that she finally calmed down and started to assess her options. But even after millennia she was still trapped.

Ishtar was still not entirely sure why 'he' had wanted to attack her, 'he' had never talked about his true motives, even when he came back and started to talk to his prisoner.

At that time, it had been a few hundred years and she had wanted to talk, though mostly it consisted of screaming at him for such a trick.

By that time, he had also become a powerful 7th tier being, though still not as powerful as Ishtar had been at her prime.

That was all in the past though....

Her situation had finally changed....

After over 2 millennia of being trapped, Ishtar had found an escape!

The smile on her face grew wider as she took up the piece to the side and slowly lowered it into the case before her.

The silver case laid gently before Ishtar, it's silver gleam reflecting the gold around as she placed the queen piece back. Eric's evil pieces' laid gently on the satin interior, the same dull gold showing through the cracks of the rest of her pieces.

In a day Ishtar would finally be free again.

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Notes:

A little bit of an exposition, but one I thinking needed to establish a little bit of a power dynamic with gods. Also at the same time change a little bit of Sumerian history for Ishtar. I mean DxD So not everything is historically accurate etc. Anyways hope you enjoyed.