The 5000 Year Old Goddess's Resolve

Asa gathered her thoughts stoically.

“Tell me about the ritual,” she eventually said.

Sigil on the floor. Family. Joe. Not enough blood and mediums. Voice demanded compensation. I summed it all up to her.

“You lost your physical bodies as compensation,” Asa said. “Your spiritual body is what is here currently. I’m sure you remember flowing through the forgotten remanence and being consumed by the transient gods’ companion, the carnal keeper, in your sleep. That is the spiritual entrance to the divine realm.”

So I was right about being in a beast’s stomach. I pumped my fist in the air.

“What about the others?” I asked.

“If they didn’t have enough spiritual energy, they would have died in the water,” Asa said. “Otherwise, they must have fallen randomly and haphazardly into the divine realm.”

My family and my killer might be alive.

“Is there any way back to Earth?” I asked.

“There is no way since reincarnation or reinstation to the physical realm is a fantasy.” She said.

I wallowed. I didn’t miss my life, but so far, this dark world hadn’t been very hospitable besides Asa. I would like to leave if I had the option. Alas, I would have to deal with the cards I was and wasn’t dealt.

It changed my world to know that gods were real. Cults, worship centers, and secret societies were a sensational subject of mystery, which I occasionally saw on the news and the internet. In recent times, these groups have had routine controversies around the world as they unraveled with bizarre and illicit practices.

“Asa, does any of the worship on Earth match the gods you know of?” I asked.

“Across the world, the many concepts and beings praised are aligned into a single deity here based on the god’s core essence, like fire or water. Nowadays, there is broad ineffective worship and archaic ritualistic worship in secret societies that give gods spiritual energy and, in extreme cases, potential mediums, which are humans who have assumed the power of a god. I only receive scarce worship.” She stated.

“If you do not obtain mediums from murder rituals, then that is the reason you are keen on needing me?”

She nodded. “Having more mediums is superior. I don’t have any currently. At a glance, my powers seem…regrettable to prospective humans,” she said. “When it comes to humans, the transient gods enable your kind to bypass the encompassing law of conservation. You can accomplish feats of magic disproportionate to the magic I can give to you. It even allows us gods to create food and water for negligible costs. New clothes, books, and some weapons can be made, although I am unable to use the last feature.”

“What exactly is special about your power compared to others?” I asked.

“It is all healing, and there is only a basic attack in the seventh and last rank of the emblem,” Asa said.

I stared blankly. “That means you and I can’t fight to win this battle, doesn’t it?”

“That doesn’t have to be the assumption,” she said. “I’ve relinquished my years meditating for small-scale energy in order to recover from a devastating defeat from the war god, where I almost expended all my spirit energy and perished. I’ve bided my time hiding from the other gods and have formulated a secret attack.”

“Great news! How do we use it?” I said.

She brought two fingers to her lips. More silence. “The effectiveness is foregone even if my allies know. I’ll say that it requires trust, dear Astrid.”

Damn. What could it be? Magic or a weapon?

Her expression grew serious once more.

“Astrid, in the end, years were inconsequential, and I needed millennia of meditation to accumulate spirit energy, a downside of not accepting notable worship,” She said.

Millennia? I stumbled over my words and thoughts. My surface-level assumption was stamped out. Her apparent age looked to be early twenties to my eye. I brimmed with curiosity about her age, yet if I asked, I could be pushing an unseemly matter.

As if she sensed my expression, Asa put a finger to her face. “Hmmm–she started pouting her tanned cheeks–hmmmm. The number of millennia I’ve lived here is at least five, and each millennium only translates to a year passed on Earth. Forgive me, there isn’t much reason to count. I never expected to be held to the number.”

“No, no, thanks, I’m happy that you tried to remember and tell me,” I said.

Didn’t that come off a tad embarrassing? Ehh? Ehh.

Math was boring. I failed the subject and many others. Still, five thousand was greater than eighteen. She truly was of a caliber I can’t compare to or comprehend as a mortal.

Asa brought her right hand over the table, and the green orbiting transcript and its golden exterior drifted above it as if it were light as a feather.

“This is my emblem, the one I’ve been speaking of,” Asa said. “It prevents me from speaking untruthfully. As evidence, I’ll say a bald-faced lie. I hate you.”

The emblem shattered and disoriented into whispers of smoke in the air, and her body flickered as if it were going dark. It was frightening, yet I still blushed to no end. Aww. She doesn’t despise me! I was happy. And bubbly. And. I should calm myself.

She regained her composure and the emblem reappeared. “That was my spirit energy draining as punishment. Now, I’ll say a true statement like always. My name is Asa.” The emblem suffered no irregularities. “I’m sure you’ve seen me keep this emblem active for this whole conversation. It is another limitation or mild benefit of being the goddess of goodwill.”

I verified my memory. Yes, the emblem was always in the corner of my vision since we spoke.

“Now, I’ll say my final truth,” she said. “If you don’t hurry up and consummate with me, I guarantee in one way or another you will die. Most gods choose to kill humans they think might be associated with other gods.”

“That’s ridiculously evil and irrational,” I said.

“Irrational? Hardly,” she explained. “In this ritual, gods can’t openly attack; it is costly. If you win, you may well die soon to a waiting god when they join the fight or ambush. A similar implementation of game theory is assumed when a god meets a new human of unknown allegiances. 95% of humans will be a hostile medium or a deceitful medium. 5% of the time, it’ll be a suitable human to patronize. The correct move is to kill or plot to end any unknown human for a god.”

What the hell. Was my family dead? This was a lot to think about. Scairly, the emblem stayed green.

“Why didn’t you kill me then?” I ask.

“A god can do otherwise if they so please, she said. “I had three reasons. Many mediums have physical changes from their emblem–I noticed none on you. I was desperate, and lastly, you weren’t aggressive or blood thirsty on sight. It was a risk I had to take.”

Her expression hardened as if she had made up her mind, and she cast her right arm out. “Now match my recklessness and cast your fate with me!” Asa proclaimed. “A medium can have as many emblems as they please, and most emblems can't be detected by any means by another god.

You are unburdened by my emblem’s requirement of truth; that is my sole responsibility. The gods here are unjust and fanatic. Act as my divine trickster thief! Deceive them all into having sex with you and pilfer their spirit energy. Hoard their emblems so that our party that cannot fight can prevail in the final battle over all our enemies! I swear that if I ascend to a morphic god, I will terminate this pointless ritual, therefore abolishing the unjust slaughter of humans taking place in this realm!”

In her palm, the dark green emblem spun serenely as if this were a normal day in this world. Another day on the job, if you will. The inanimate symbols mocked my disbelief.