YM778.TV Chapter 51: The first free god.
[Challenge rejected!]
The popup appeared before the goddess of Beasts; similar in stature to Dr\'ul, but she had small antlers growing from her head, and short fur growing along her exposed back which ended in a bushy tail resembling that of a tiger\'s.
[He rejected it] She looked at Dr\'ul confused.
[Hahaha!] Dr\'ul burst out laughing at the goddess of Beasts depressed expression. [I never expected that he would accept, it would be quite silly had he done so.] She admitted.
[Sol is not ready to face us, or any of the others, I assume.] She stated with surety. [Imagine for a moment Ashera, that the most precious thing to you, nay; the most precious person, imagine if that person was plotted against and taken away from you by someone you believed to be honourable, and then the people affiliated with that person continued to casually converse and approach you.]
[But we righted Diablos\'s wrong, though,] Ashera raised a brow as her gold slitted eyes focused on Dr\'ul on her throne while she was standing casually next to her. [And I have nobody whom I could do the unthinkable and declare death to the pantheon if they were wronged-]
[There!] Dr\'ul exclaimed. [Pracisely, that!] She looked at Ashera with burning crimson for hair and eyes glazed over in both envy and fascination. [You were busy preparing for your challenge, but you should have been there; Sol Vestic treats her like a fragile and delicate flower-]
[But she is an unfathomable god!] Ashera shook her head, unable to understand Dr\'ul\'s point.
[Aargh!] Dr\'ul stood and swung her arm around Ashera\'s shoulders pulling her cheek to her breastplate and opening a window before her, showing her Ikaris and Sol chatting idly as they walked down the isle of the castle toward their room.
[The Goddess Ikaris regards Sol Vestic not as a subject, but as her mate, an irreplaceable mate capable of conquering every universe and every dimension; she worships him, in her own words, and with even more love than I have seen from the goddess of love herself, Sol is perfection!]
[But that is...] Ashera stared at Ikaris in disbelief.
[And Sol, the tarnished whom you wanted to fight so eagerly, he regards her not as a goddess or as the goddess, but as his goddess, the only being of true importance, he has acknowledged her personally to be his own, she is his slave and maiden, and he her master and protector, they are only compatible with each other, they only serve each other, they only see each other, imagine if your entire existence was on the brink of collapse and someone gave you freedom!]
[Freedom?] Ashera asked when Dr\'ul released her. [What are you even saying, the gods are... we have always been free...]
[A god without a subject loses their purpose, and a god without purpose will in theory cease to exist, but I came to this conclusion after two months of observation, and then their interaction earlier,] Dr\'ul held a serious frown all of a sudden, sobering up her sister as she reclaimed her seat and folded her arms in her lap.
[Sol Vestic was Ikaris\'s last surviving subject before they came to Arkadia, and a god without praise or purpose will slowly fade, I can only speculate and theorise why it is like this, but I do not believe that the other heroes are aware of her true existence, and if such is the case then there is a high chance that Ikaris was either an evil god who was written out of all records, or she is a foreign god to their realm, otherwise, there is no way a being of her magnitude and power would be unknown.]
[How do you come to such a conclusion?]
[I observed the summons, and many of their interactions after that, they never speak of where they come from, but I do remember Sol telling her to get along with everyone else, to prevent them from growing suspicious, and I remember her telling vague tales of things the others have never even heard of, to them she is an enigma, and she often mentions creatures and races I have never heard of as well, and there is the matter of the gods of the heroes\' home-dimension]
[They have said multiple times that the god of their dimension is passive, and that there are many pantheons from other cultures, and I now know that Ikaris looks down on pantheons, meaning she is a sole ruling god, but she is by no means passive, she is arrogant, and rightfully so; she holds the universe in her palm, all of this points to her being from another dimension than theirs, an imposter, how her and Sol could have met might be something similar to our current situation-]
[True Goddess Ikaris is staring at you intently] they saw the message and perked up with sweat on their foreheads when the throne room began quaking. [There is slight hostility]
[It seems I may have hit the mark, after all.] Dr\'ul refused to back down as her eyes glowed brightly and her attention fell on Ikaris.
"Are you okay?" Sol asked, sitting on their bed and staring up at the roof after sensing Ikaris\'s unrest.
"Master, it seems Dr\'ul has figured out a bit of my origins," Ikaris stated turning around to him.
"Huh, she did?" Sol asked with nonchalance evident in his eyes.
"Are you unbothered?"
"We have done a sloppy job of hiding it, I mean honestly, it would only take one observant entity to discover some kind of hole, I had expected it to be Renia after she spent some time with us, but Dr\'ul is so interested in that fight I promised that she has been paying keen attention." Sol smiled and patted the bed next to himself as he laid down.
"I know as much, but I am uncomfortable with her constantly staring like that, and she revealed it to the goddess of Beasts whom you rejected some hours ago." She flopped next to him.
"It\'s okay, Ikaris," Sol hugged her and pulled her into a spooning position, resting his cheek against her head and kissing her.
"So, you are unbothered?" She asked again.
"I am, it\'s going to matter less and less the longer we stay here, instead of focusing on that, let\'s have pleasant dreams about some house in the far reaches away from everyone else~" Sol yawned and hugged her tighter causing a blush to grace her smiling face.
"Your dream from back on earth," Ikaris stated, closing her eyes and envisioning such a quiet place where she could spend every moment undisturbed with him. "Small feet running around, and a belly full of new life and happiness, the laughter of our beloved... children..."
"Yeah, that one, I\'m thinking it\'s a beautiful idea, if we could some day make that dream a reality I feel like this lifting burden on my heart would be completely removed, if it\'s with you."
Ikaris slightly shook in Sol\'s grasp, and he smiled against her and locked fingers with her idle hand. "Ikaris?"
"Yes, master?"
"Why do you weep?"
"Because," Ikaris shook again as more tears fell from her eyes onto his hand. "I am happy, Master, I am the happiest I have ever been, I am overwhelmed with joy at your existence..." She started sobbing, and Sol opened his eyes when her divinity started pouring out against him, unchecked.
"Ikaris-"
"Thank you, Sol," Ikaris sniffled.
"Thank you so much for existing, I could never be happier; millennia, eons, a timeless existence, a god exists in perpetual solitude for all of eternity, and yet you, my last subject whom I was indebted to and was promised to send away said \'choose\', and granted me free will, I remember the shackles breaking when you said it, the feeling of my loneliness evaporating, I promise to never forsake you, I swear it on my magic and existence, never."
"Just go to sleep," Sol kissed her head again. "We start making preparations in the morning, remember?"
"Yes." Ikaris smiled against his hand and closed her eyes. "Yes, Master."