The story of the Goddess

Walking into the church was interesting for Mina. There were lots of people standing around and talking practically shoulder to shoulder. Seeing how many people were there around, Mina couldn’t help but eel a bit self conscious. No one in Anaktités really seemed to care about her darker skin, but that didn’t mean no one would. On the streets no one was paying attention to her, but in a place like this? She stuck out like a sore thumb, and people were also a lot more likely to take notice of her. If she didn’t think it would draw even more attention to her, Mina probably would have flipped up her cape and used it to cover her face.

“Come on Mina, lets get into the main hall quickly so we can get some good spots.”

And then there was Nik, pulling her through the place with no regard for her nerves, something she wasn’t sure if she was thankful for or not. Nik pulled her through the crowd of people over to the entrance to the main hall. To her horror though, he didn’t actually go inside yet. Instead, he pulled her right to the priest who was standing beside the door.

“Excuse me, can we get some sky badges so we can go in?” Nik asked the priest.

“Ah, of course young man.” The priest replied, and he pulled out said sky badges and began putting them on them. “Here you are. one for you, and one for…”

As Mina feared, the priest was visibly taken aback by the sight of her, and she couldn’t help but shuffle slightly behind Nik in response to his gaze. The priest stared at her in confusion for what felt like far too long before he spoke again.

“Excuse me Miss, but might I ask where you’re from?” He asked. Mina had no idea how to respond, so luckily Nik responded for her.

“Does it matter where she’s from?” He asked, though it was hard to tell if he was being accusing or genuinely asking. Though, from the priest’s reaction, the priest clearly thought it was the former.

“No, I suppose it does not. Uraina welcomes all, for we are all under her sky.” The priest said, pinning the badge to her. “Go on in, and may Uraina’s blessing be with you.”

Nik didn’t bother responding to the man, simply just walking into the hall without another word, forcing Mina to follow him. The inside of the hall was interesting. If one looked straight, it would appear to be just a wide empty hall with a large lift at the end. But this was Chamiloran, a place quite literally religiously obsessed with verticality. As such, one only had to look up to see the truth. The celling was lined with what were essentially swings, with the seats all around 7 meters off the ground. Naturally the stage of the hall was raised to meet that height, meaning what from the ground looked to be the end of the hall, was actually just the front of the stage. And of course, the entire place was covered in all sorts of sun, cloud, star and moon imagery, and almost everything was painted sky blue.

‘Well, that explains the sky badges I guess.’ Mina mentally remarked as she looked at the swing seats.

“Come on, we can sit over here.” Nik said, leading Mina over to a set of empty seats on the left by the window, a few rows back from the front of the hall.

The pair then hopped up to the seats and waited for the service to start. Fortunately, they didn’t have to wait too long as after just a few minutes everyone began filtering in and grabbing seats. When about half the seats were taken, a priest floated up above everyone, his feet glowing teal, and began to speak.

“Greetings, welcome everyone to our church.” The priest said over everyone. “In this hour we have come together to worship our great goddess Uraina. Those of you still in the entryway, I would ask you to please grab a sky badge and enter the hall as we are starting right away. Now let us sing in worship of Uraina.”

And so, they did. The priest literally flew away from the stage, and allowed the band that had set up on the stage to begin leading the congregation in song.

‘Huh, this isn’t all that bad. It’s a lot like that one church service Sandra invited me too, if you don’t count the sitting on swings high off the ground part.’ Mina thought to herself as she did her best to follow along with the singing. After the second song Nik grabbed her a hymn book so she could follow along easier. Though, even with the words right in front of her, she still had some trouble keeping up, nor could she really make sense of what they were singing.

After about half a dozen songs or so, the band quieted down and allowed the priest to return to the stage.

“I swear, our worship team sings better and better every service. Let’s have a hand for them.” The preist said, and everyone gave a quick clap before quieting down to let the priest speak once again. “Now then, as good as our music is, I know that you all probably want me to get on with the sermon, so lets just get to in now shall we? To start off with today, I shall be going back to the beginning, to the birth of Uraina.”

This was what Mina was here for. This was the big thing she was interested in. She’d heard bits and pieces about Uraina, but now she’d finally get to hear more about the goddess that chose her. So, she got comfortable in her seat, opened her ears, and focused on the story about to be told.

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Our story begins not with Uraina herself, but her mother, Oloi. Oloi was an ancient and powerful being, more a creature of pure power, a titan of an existence, rather than a true goddess. She existed alongside the first living beings of this world, ruling over them cruelly with an iron fist. However, her power was unstable.

Every few years, a portion of Oloi’s power would split off from her against her will, becoming it’s own being and stripping her of that particular part of her powers. These were the first gods and goddesses, the children of Oloi. However, Oloi was a selfish beast, and knowing that her children were the only things that had a chance of challenging her, she created a special prison that could contain them while also granting her access to their power. Over the years, Oloi had 5 children in total before Uraina, all powerful in their own right, but all instantly being captured by Oloi and thrown in her prison. It wasn’t until Uraina was born did things change.

When Uraina was born, Oloi attempted to seal her away just like all others, but before she could, the wind took Uraina away. For Uraina wasn’t just an ordinary child of Oloi, she was chosen by the sky itself to be its champion. The one who would save the world from Oloi’s iron fist. Uraina grew quickly, gaining strength, and was guided by the sky itself, and soon enough she returned to challenge her mother.

It was a glorious battle. While Oloi may have had greater power than Uraina, Uraina’s wisdom and cunning allowed her to overcome Oloi’s every move. Eventually, Oloi turned desperate, and went to her prison to try and absorb her other children directly, rather than just wield a portion of their power, but that choice sealed her fate. Uraina knew her mother would try such a horrid act and prepared accordingly, turning the cage she used to oppress into the very thing that would seal her fate.

Once Oloi entered the cage to try and strip her children of their power, the cage instead took hers and transferred it into Uraina. Uraina then let her brothers and sisters out, and together the 6 of them dealt the final blow to their mother, ending her reign for good. This act also caused Oloi’s power to transfer completely into Uraina, along with the instability.

However, Uraina didn’t want to become the same as her mother, and with the help of her brothers and sisters, she created other gods and goddesses that she spread this power to, until the only power she had left was the blessings of the sky which saved her. And this is the story of how the gods and goddesses of our world came to be.

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“Now, with the story now fresh in all your minds, why don’t we talk about what it means for us.” The priest declared. He then went on to continue his sermon, but Mina wasn’t listening anymore. No, she was staring wide eyed at nothing, comparing the story to everything she knew, and processing just what it might mean for her.