Lying in his bed he’d closed his eyes and done his best to fall asleep, counting the seconds as they passed until his mind slipped away from him. He felt himself fall, fall deeper and deeper into a void he didn’t know existed. As he opened his eyes could feel his mind and body drifting somewhere, before the world around him lit up from its empty state and was filled with color.

Blinking once, he had arrived back in the garden, with the trees swaying above him gently. Rising to his feet again he looked around, mostly everything was the same, save for the sky being filled with clouds.

Looking up at the covered sky he couldn’t help the small shiver that spread through him. He did his best before trying to shove the anxiety he was feeling away. Looking back down at the familiar path, he began following it again.

“Hopefully she isn’t too angry, or is willing to forgive me if she is.” He muttered as he traveled through the small forest. Everything was notably calmer than before. He didn’t feel the pull as strongly, nor did everything seem to shine out at him. Whether this was because he was more used to it now, or due to Virasuta’s anger he didn’t know.

Luckily this time he was also wearing clothes, the same set he had been wearing when he’d fallen asleep. Looking down at the clean set of clothes he sniffed himself before the smell of cheap soap and deodorant hit him. “Good thing I showered, I guess.”

As he exited the forest and entered the gardens he could make out Virasuta’s figure in the small clearing she was before, except this time she was sitting next to a small table with an assortment of chairs surrounding it. With cups in hand and a small kettle in the middle of the table you’d almost assume they were just two people having a small tea party in a garden. The most surprising thing however, was the second person with her.

With pale skin contrasted by her black clothes and short black hair, if her face wasn’t wasn’t so drastically different from Virasuta’s he would have assumed they were siblings. Where Virasuta’s eyes were a glow hers were pitch black, with small lights seemingly glittering her pupils. Her form, slender as it was, was nearly entirely covered by a cape. Leathery black with a large eye down the middle, which he could practically feel tracking him. Leather capes with eyes, five points for being terrifying I guess.

They both turned to look at him as he approached. Virasuta still held the small smile she had when they first met, but the other woman was hardly pleased at having to be here. Gazing at them as he approached he could practically taste her anger, like someone had kicked her puppy over a fence then shot it for good measure. Whether this anger was directed at him or not he was uncertain, as she refused to look him in the eyes. Hopefully she isn’t angry at me, sorry little pup.

As he arrived before them he stood beside one of the chairs, waiting for permission. Even if she didn’t take offense to him sitting without permission, he’d already crossed the line recently and didn’t need any more black marks on his record. I’d honestly rather risk another pit fight against two wolves than piss her off, who knows what she is capable of when she’s angry.

As he stood beside the table the woman to the side of Virasuta shifted, before placing her tea back onto the small glass coaster. As she did so Virasuta gestured with her hand towards the open chair, and he sat down as she gave him permission. This chair feels like it’s two sizes too small for me. Correcting his posture as best he could he kept his hands in his lap as he waited for Virasuta to speak.

She looked at him for a moment, the red glow having replaced the deep void and stars from before. He couldn’t feel the terror he felt before, however he’d be lying if he said the glow wasn’t anxiety inducing on its own. The issue was made worse by the fact that hypnosis that he’d suffered on his first visit was mostly gone, meaning he could feel his true emotions as freely as when he was awake. This was better in some ways, as he wasn’t going to try and do something stupid like last time, but worse in others, because he now knew he would be responsible for any stupid shit he did.

Just gotta avoid making a pass at a Goddess, easy enough right?

He looked at the two of them, the new one was focused mostly on Virasuta, while Virasuta was more focused on her tea and the surroundings around her. After a moment of enjoying her tea and the view of the gardens she turned towards him and spoke for the first time since his arrival.

“You’ve returned.”

Her voice was less captivating, but still beautiful in a way that forced him to concentrate on not being pulled along with it. Like listening to an angel.

Clearing his throat a little to remove the rock that had seemingly set itself inside, he replied back to her. “Of course I did, was there ever any doubt my -” Realizing that he didn’t know how to properly refer to her he panicked for a split second over ‘Lord’ or ‘Lady’, or wondering whether ‘My Goddess’ was the proper term. She was a Goddess so was referring to her as something less, to her face especially, insulting?

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

While Virasuta was seemingly uncaring over his predicament, her guest was more than willing to help him. He turned his head towards her as she looked towards him annoyed.

“Merely refer to her majesty as Virasuta, or Vira if that is too complicated for you, most of her followers do.” The help was appreciated, the scorn wasn’t.

“Yes, thank you.” Turning his head back towards Vira he spoke again, slightly worried over the obvious annoyance the guest had towards him. Hopefully she lightens up, or leaves early.

“There is no doubt in my heart about accepting your offer Virasuta, there isn’t a reason to reject becoming the guardian of my world besides being a coward.” Or the fact I still don’t know for sure whether or not you’re an Invader in disguise, the chance of which I doubt the longer this goes on.

Mark wasn’t a very ‘eloquent’ person by any means, so he’d hoped the lines he’d rehearsed in the shower were acceptable, even if they seemed a bit small compared to his true feelings on the matter. To reject being the guardian means he’d most likely doom his world to a second invasion, either by more outsiders or Virasuta herself. She said herself she couldn’t leave the world unguarded without risk of outsiders invading again, meaning it was either fight for the person asking the world to let her protect them, or deal with both her and others as both fought over his world, with the people of his world stuck in the middle.

Both options weren’t ideal, but at least one had a Human as the guardian, instead of some tentacle beast slave master that abused their world into the ground.

Vira looked at him for a moment, her eyes seeming to rotate clockwise as she gazed at him.

“I doubted you less than you doubted yourself child.” She smiled a bit more as she spoke. “Albeit, I could have done without the… what is the term your people use, ‘Heart Attack’? When I learned you had nearly fallen in battle a few hours after our initial meeting.” Heard about? She wasn’t watching me? Turning his gaze slightly to the woman to his side he began to put the pieces together. She had someone watch me while she was gone, which makes sense. Also explains why the other woman isn’t happy with me, if she knows how I almost died to a starved wolf, angelic pride or whatever.

The embarrassment didn’t stop at that however as he felt his face heat up. “Yes, Virasuta, I… made a mistake. I was so ecstatic at being healed that I fell back to my old habits. It won't happen again, I promise.”

Giving a small laugh she waved her hand in front of her face. “I have no doubt about that, from what I understand you were in a rather sorry state after your altercation. It only makes sense that such a close brush with death would cause you to rethink your principles, even if it took going through two of them for it to finally stick.”

She leaned even more forward, her face crossing halfway across the small table.

“It’s a sad truth of this universe, and the next, that the only true way for a warrior to grow is through suffering, whether this is through years of training or surviving by the thinnest margins.” Leaning back she continued, “Those born of suffering tend to grow further than those who weren’t, after all how can you truly break your limits without testing them first? You can swing a sword a thousand times, a million times, a billion times, but in the end you will never know how powerful you are until you are faced against another of equal or greater power intent on destroying you.”

Her smile turned downcast for a moment as she spoke.

“You know this, at least I’d hope you do after your fight. You faced an enemy you would normally have no hope in beating, and even with assistance you were pushed to your limits, and you emerged victorious. Placed against another enemy of similar strength, faced against someone even stronger than your enemy, you would now have a higher chance of success… even if the chance of success was minimal to begin with.”

“But we are not here to talk about meager strengths, you will surpass all of your world in time as long as you are willing to protect it, and suffer for the consequences if you fail to do so, whether those consequences come from me or from your own soul will entirely depend on your failures. I will not punish you for something outside your control, however I will not stand for you abusing your position. I have enough things to worry about in my Kingdom without worrying about some minor Champion starting genocides within it.”

The anger near the end of her speech was obvious, and even more obvious was the fact that he wasn’t going to be given any second chances if he was caught deliberately causing issues. This wasn’t a surprise, the idea of being able to pull one over on someone much more powerful was stupid, let alone the fact she was most likely far, far older than him and more experienced at things like this.

Shaking her head a bit she breathed the garden air in deeply. The garden seemed to calm her, or at the very least she enjoyed the scenery enough that her eyes kept looking around at the flower beds.

“As you have accepted the offer given, you will be declared one of my Champions. The process is a time consuming one for the Lord or Lady involved, and will require you to swear your allegiance to me to truly take effect.”

Looking him directly in the eyes she continued,

“A Champion is more than just a title, or a position, it’s an honor, and practically a different species from the original stock they hail from. Your form will change to your will, and sometimes those changes will not be pleasant, or wanted. I have seen wolves grow wings, dragons morph into pure slime, and the more egregious the transformation the more painful it is to undergo the process.”

Painful processes, figured there would be some drawbacks. At least she’s telling me this now instead of during or after the transformation.

“There will be times during the transformations that you would rather die, you may even request someone put you out of your misery, it’s not as rare as most think.

She straightened her back out and placed her hands in her lap, leaning back against the chair.

“However pain is temporary, while your strength will be eternal.”

Thinking over the massive amount of information she’d dumped in his lap, he made his choice. Not that there was much of a choice for him to begin with.

“I would be honored if you would have me, Virasuta.”

His answer caused her to smile, far wider than humans were capable of.

“Then, my dear Champion, welcome to my Congregation.”

Her already impossibly wide smile opened, revealing rows of teeth going deeper into a void he couldn’t understand, before his consciousness was taken from him along with words that would follow him forever.

“Welcome to the Miko’nahi family, my child.”