There were days that you felt little and you knew you were little, today was one of those days, when a being a hundred no; thousand times more powerful than you was right in front of you, a little girl if you just glanced at her but the look in her eyes said differently

"Aranara"

she had introduced herself, but without a title leila noticed, she was staring wide eyed till Milan bowed and she realized she hadn't introduced herself

"I-i'm Leila, goddess of truth a-and this is Milan, my first archangel" she tried to keep her voice level but it was hard especially when you had seen the little girl cull a demon, she was practically trembling in fear and awe

"Calm down child" the goddess stared at the godling disdainfully

"I-i..." Leila inhaled deeply and exhaled

"What's this about titles? Do godlings really have nothing to do other than add unnecessary drama to their lives" Aranara had a dissaproving air about her, the kind that made you want to impress her

"It's-" Leila started before being interrupted

"Aren't you going to show me around? What happened to manners?" The goddess huffed and Leila's heart almost stopped "This way, your most esteemed" luckily Milan had come to the rescue "At least your creation has a bit of manners" The goddess scoffed and turned on her heels following Milan

Leila's first plan of action 1. Send for Eskion, if he was here that is... That wasn't going to work so then 1. Try and impress the goddess till she left or 1. Find out what she was doing here, she was lost and her mind was swirling like some kind of spell had been used on her but gods didn't need spells right? So it couldn't be her unwanted visitor, she shook her head annoyed and turned, leaving to find Milan and Aranara

"And lesk which was created about 1 millennium ago, inhabited by hundreds thousands of species of wild exotic creatures" Milan gestures at the huge planet which lay in space, it's two suns orbiting around it

"Interesting, why two suns?" She asked as Leila approached

"Long ago, two godlings created lesk, cementing their bonds as friends" leila said

"Hmm" Aranara looked at leila then back at the suns

"That's new" she said

"I couldn't help but notice your arrival here in my corner of the void, why might I ask?" Leila asked slightly cringing

"Hmm that's much bolder than before" Aranara turned to her wistfully

"I had to ask, I imagine it's not everyday you pay visit to godlings" Leila arched her eyebrows, she had decided to adopt the game plan she used to deal with her deities

* If they notice your fear, they'll exploit it * However little your authority means, use it * You were a godling, keep your voice steady and speak as calmly as you can * Intimidation sometimes work

Aranara smiles " How right you are, I'm looking for a hell spawn"

"A hell what?" Leila asked uncertainty unsure the answer she'd get

"A Hellspawn; at first I had thought simply scourge the lands; it cannot hide from that and then I actually saw this place in all of it's glory, I am disappointed… But you've come farther than the others" Aranara said

"What's a Hellspawn?" Leila asked this time clearly "Usually a mix of demon and other species but in this case this one is different, a mix of god AND demon" Aranara explained

"Wait what? But that's impossible!! Gods and demons almost don't mix!" Leila yelled in shock forgetting in that moment her fear

"Yes common concept, light and darkness, good and evil, they usually stay in different spectrums, with each one trying to destroy the other but … Have you ever heard of the Demon of the void?" Aranara turned away from her

"The demon of the void?" Leila asked confused

"Come child" Aranara offered Leila a hand and Leila slowly reached out to grab it, the irony of the situation clear to her, as soon as she touched it she was transported, almost whirled across the void, she came to a stop and gasped as air flooded her lungs again, she didn't need it but the rush almost tore her from her body, was this the power of a god? "

Once, there was a man, a humble farmer that lived in a colonial planet, back them the god's ruled together in harmony under Velac the god of all; he had united us all under one crown, no; crowns are for kings and queens, we were united under one grace for we were his creations, Velac ruled with his sons, Atryen god of chaos and Dalos god of peace; They were mirrors of themselves however opposite, Atryen believed in chaos and war and death and Dalos in peace and love and all that was good, Atryen wanted the planets to be ravaged by war and Dalos the opposite, he decide that a man should convince his brother as he would never be listened to so the farmer was chosen, then the god's walked among men and all else, Atryen met this farmer and talked with him"

Leila couldn't feel her body, she felt spectral, floating in between world's, she could see everything, it played out as Aranaras voice narrated "Still he was not convinced, he could not see the good in what he had created and he had decided to prove it, he catapulted the farmer by the name of Aldred to the status of king and yet his beliefs held, Atryen was draught, he would be made a fool so he turned to Aldreds first son, Ruben and manipulating him turned him against his father who left the throne for his younger brother Rufelt, Ruben in a rage killed his only brother and led a war against those that opposed him, gaining power through his connection to Altryen, Valec took notice, Ruben had become powerful enough that even the lesser gods were left incapacitated or dead after contact, he instructed Altryen to take care of his mess which he reluctantly did, he cut the thread that connect Ruben to the Aether, In his death bed Ruben had realized it, he had been tricked by the gods, used and was about to be disposed, he was now by right a God or he was supposed to after all he had been connected to one of the Ancients, he begged Qrul, brother of Valec and Lord of death to give him strength to oppose the god, Qrul loved to oppose his brother and legend was Qrul was by far more powerful than his little brother, he was a malevolent spirit but he refused and instead offered Ruben a second chance at life to be reborn as a zana in service to him"

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"A nature spirit" Leila muttered, zana were unstable and shrill yet loyal to a fault

"Ruben agreed overjoyed to be given a second chance, he lived again in service to Qrul, Lord of death… Valec was furious about his brother's interference but as the less powerful of the two there was not much he could do, he attempted more than once to demand for Rubens soul and Qrul was happy to see his brother so irritated by his slave, he named Ruben next in line to inherit all of his power much to the other god's distraught and in the seventh eqeunox decide he was fed up with his brother's inability to see his creations for what they were and the first great war started, a battle to be remembered forever, In the end good always triumphs, Qrul was bound but Valec was gravely injured, he went into eternal sleep charging Dalos with protecting what he had created, Altryen was jealous, he believed he could be able ruler and argued that the colonial planet be divided, Dalos agreed not wanting a repeat of the war that had forced his father into eternal sleep, he agreed and split the planets in two, creating the void and the Ethereal plane, the void belonged to his brother, who of course could not hold together a colony and it broke into countless peices, millions of gods left to struggle to create their own universe, Ruben ofcourse had taken advantage of the split and freed Qrul from his prison, Qrul was wrath with his brother but with him in eternal sleep there was not much he could do, he gave instructions to Ruben to inherit all he had and forced himself into eternal sleep to return when his brother does, Ruben was banished to the void which had become a no man's land, Altryen had gone into hiding, every god in the void cursing him and the council formed, The council of gods, Ruben joined the council still with the hidden agenda to destroy gods and started his experiments, having inherited the power Qrul had left , he was by far the most powerful god among us; and reminded us of it, he destroyed worlds at a whim, granting power to whoever wished it, he created a powerful race of demons, Hellspawn, his experiments failed, not lasting centuries, he was fustrated, out of a handful only one would survive, the council had heard of the threat of Hellspawn and banished Ruben from their midst causing the second great war, our numbers were depleted during the war but as I said before good always triumphs, Ruben had lost the battle but had succeeded in depleting our numbers, he obtained the name demon of the void during the war, now we are only a few hundred thousand left, hence this project, to create gods, but still Ruben and his servants have managed to get a few Hellspawn into the project"

Leila is yanked backed into her body and she collapses to her knees shuddering,she had seen those things… Hellspawn, they had been able to destroy gods, and they were here with the godlings, she was trying hard not to panic

"Oh pull yourself together" Aranara narrowed her eyes at the godling

"B-but those things-"

"Then you understand now just how important this task is" she grits her teeth Leila nods twice still not trusting herself to ask the question she was dreading

"There's one here, isn't there?" Milan asked, his Ruby eyes scrutinizing the goddess

"Why else would I be here? For a tour?" Aranara hissed obviously annoyed

"But I would have sensed their energy, they should be at my level, there's only one person who…" Leila started the paused

"I believe you mentioned something about another godling?" Aranara asked calmly

"Eskion wouldn't… he couldn't be one of those things" Leila's brows furrowed in concentration

"If you would just tell me the last place you sensed him"

"No" Leila shook her head

"What?" Aranara narrowed her eyes

"I-i…"Leila paused realizing now she was talking to a god who could just go down to lesk and find him herself but even then

"What would you do to him?" She asked as she struggled to her feet

"He would be… destroyed" Aranara said

"Then you know that I can't give him up… even if I wanted to, I didn't know where he was" Leila grit her teeth

"You would lie to me even about something that could ruin everything, for this Eskion, why?" Aranara asked

"He's my friend" Leila retorted

"Friend... *sigh* why does it have to come to this?" As Aranara spoke the torches in the hall went out and darkness swept a across the sky, Milan summoned his rapier and lunged at Aranara who just chuckled,a few inches from her he was dust, Leila gasped in shock

"Have you not been told, to never mess with a god" Aranara smirked as Leila turned and ran down the corridor, the next right and Aranara was right in front of her, she turned again and again saw her pursuer

"Leave me alone" Leila hissed and her aura activated filling the corridor, Aranaras smile widened as she spoke

"I'm dissapionted" she activated her aura and Leila was sent flying backwards into the wall, her head rang as she tried to struggle to her feet, in the blink of an eye, Aranara was upon her, a hand grasped at her throat and raising her to her feet then higher, Leila felt her neck breaking, she felt her conciousness slipping away, she was tossed through a wall and she groaned as she hit the floor, weren't little girls supposed to be friendly?, she gasped as the little girl appeared beside her, Leila tried to back away and was stomped, she went through the fiftht floor then the fourth landing anything but gracefully on her back in the third floor, maybe she should have just agreed? She didn't have time to speculate, again the little girl was there, gripping her hair and pulling, tossing her into an artifact she had created with quite a lot of essence, she hacked as blood spewed from her mouth and again the little girl was there, this time though she just grabbed Leila's cheeks and put her forehead to Leila's and muttered something, Leila tried to block her but it was pointless, Aranara pushed past her defense easily browsing through her memories, she pulled away annoyed

"On lesk huh?" Aranara furrowed her brows then continued "even you don't know where, oh well anytime you do figure it out" she made a symbol with her mid air and Leila felt her mind link to Aranaras as she was about to pass out

"Now your mind belongs to me… that sounds peverse as hell" she kicked Leila across the room and sighed why were godlings so… so disrespectful, she regarded Leila once more, she had potiental even she could see it but the girl was ignorant, calling a Hellspawn a friend, she would be dissapionted too…sooner than she knew, and then Aranara was gone