Amara glided through the air, skipping from one rock ledge to another until she landed on a plateau. Before her was a long stone stairway leading up to the temple. The temple itself appeared to be carved directly from the mountain. Its walls were decorated with carvings of dancing figures, mythical creatures, and intricate floral designs.

A strong gust of wind blew through the area. Amara closed her eyes and braced herself against the cloud of dust that stung her face and arms. After the dust cloud passed, she could hear the sound of cloth fluttering from above. Opening her eyes and directing her gaze to the top of the stairs, she saw the person that she had been seeking.

The wraithlike figure wore a long black flowing robe and a white mask. The eyes of the mask were hollow and dark as if the person underneath had no eyes at all.

She was Samarian, the Earth Priestess.

“I sensed your presence…Goddess of Fire…” said Samarian.

“Well met, Goddess of Earth…” replied Amara.

“I’m a bit surprised that you came here willingly, after being chased across regions for months.”

“Eh, running gets a bit tiring, and it’s just prolonging the inevitable…” Amara then grew solemn. “By the way, regarding that follower of yours that you sent after us, the one who seemed very devoted to you…”

Samarian titled her masked face quizzically.

“I’m sorry for your loss…” said Amara.

“…”

“He was trying to harm my companion Leiyu so I set my fire magic on him, but I didn’t realize until Leiyu told me afterward that his family had been killed years ago by my father’s armies when they invaded your region.” Amara took a deep breath. “I’m sorry that my parents’ decisions caused him so much pain, and that I just added to it…I just hope he can rest in peace now…”

Samarian regarded her in eerie silence before finally replying, “He didn’t die…”

“Oh?”

Many weeks ago…

After Amara dove into the river to rescue Leiyu, a badly burned and unconscious Astatine lay on the ground. As the smoke curled away, Samarian materialized from above and floated downward to his side. She picked him up gently and effortlessly as if he was once again the orphaned child that she had rescued from the ruins of the destroyed village twenty years before. Dark waves spiraled around and enveloped them before disintegrating, leaving nothing behind. She had teleported both of them back home to the temple in the Southern Region.

“I found him…” said Samarian. “He was on the last threads of life, but still hanging on tenaciously…I brought him back here to heal…”

Amara sighed in relief. “That’s good…I thought he had died. He threw Leiyu into the river and I had to go rescue him, so I didn’t get a chance to see if your follower survived. I’m glad he did. I wish I could apologize to him in person…”

Samarian stiffened. “You are not to go near him…”

“Of course…I understand…Well, maybe you could just tell him that I’m sorry for everything…”

“…” Samarian tilted her mask again. “Very well…however, don’t think that this lets you off the hook because he’s still alive. You still have the blood of thousands on your hands…”

“On my hands? Or the previous version of me? I don’t retain memories between avatars.”

“Heh, how convenient for you, Goddess of Fire…”

“You already cursed my mother to a slow death. Wasn’t that enough?”

“No…her death was merciful compared to what she subjected the people in my region to.” Samarian clenched her fists and her robe fluttered with a wrathful energy. “Why did you have to marry that man, Goddess of Fire? He tempted you away from your duties and corrupted you, leading to all this destruction!”

“Heh, there you go again, speaking as if my mother and I are the same person!” Amara retorted. “Also, you speak as if my mother was both a remorseless, destructive creature and a gullible young maiden who was just led astray by an evil man. It’s like you can’t make up your mind on whether to hate her or pity her.” She then lowered her voice. “My mother and father loved each other, I know that for sure.”

“Yes, but they were awful to everyone else,” Samarian said coldly.

Amara gritted her teeth. “That’s not true…And what about you? Are you so good, kind, and pure? You mourn the loss of innocent lives in your Southern Region. But what about the lives that were lost when your forces invaded the Western Region? Did you care about those lives?”

“I do not command the Southern Region’s forces. The decision to invade was made by the kings here.”

“But surely, you had some hand in it. I don’t think you’d merely sit in your temple, completely idle. They wouldn’t have been so successful in their invasion if you didn’t help them.”

“My only involvement is to lend spiritual support. If the soldiers pray for a victory, then I assist them by giving them the strength and confidence to fight on.” exclusive content.

“Ah, but it’s all self-serving, isn’t it? You give those soldiers the ‘confidence’ to fight, they win, they support you even more, your power grows, and then you feed that power back into them. Eventually, they become an unstoppable force of destruction burning their way through the Western Region. And you become ever more powerful as a goddess avatar.” Amara’s eyes flashed with anger. “How is that not interfering with worldly affairs? You’re just more sneaky about it. If you truly followed noninterference, you wouldn’t help them at all. You’re no better than the ones you condemn!”

There was a long eerie silence between them.

“I’ve heard that you may be immortal, and that’s why you never show your face, so no one knows how old you are,” Amara continued.

“How is that relevant?”

“Is that why you hold on to grievances, because you can never die? You don’t get to start fresh with a clean slate? All your memories just pile up over the centuries, millenia?”

“Be quiet, you insolent little girl!”

Amara laughed. “Ah, so now I’m a little girl! Before that, I was the eternal Fire Goddess of unending destruction!”

Samarian suddenly swiped her arm and emitted a blast of energy. The blast knocked Amara over and she slid back many feet, tearing a deep groove into the ground.

Leiyu, who was still trapped inside the protective barrier further down the mountain, gasped.

Amara began laughing maniacally while still lying on the ground. “Hahaha, there she is, the true Goddess of Earth! You’ve shown your true form! Just as vengeful and spiteful as anyone else!” Golden waves start to curl around her. She levitated to an upright position, hair blowing in the wind.

Leiyu saw her glowing from a distance. “Amara…”

“I will show you my true form as well!” Amara exclaimed gleefully to Samarian. The ruby on her forehead and her eyes began to glow. Golden threads curled around her body until she was completely enveloped in a shimmering cocoon. Blinding light radiated outward and smoke curled around her.

Leiyu had to close his eyes to protect them against the intense brightness. When he opened them again, he searched through the dissipating smoke to see where Amara had gone. When he spotted her, his heart nearly stopped.

Amara was now wearing golden armor and long boots. Her figure looked more feminine and her flowing hair was now nearly the length of her body. She was wearing elaborate hair decorations with thin gold threads that flowed downward. A long, translucent shimmering sash flowed from her shoulders. In her hand, she held a longer version of her dagger sword.

“Amara…” Leiyu murmured.

“Heh, so you’ve truly turned into the Goddess of Fire,” Samarian remarked.

“If you seek my complete destruction,” Amara replied in an unearthly voice, “if that’s what it will take to satisfy your need for vengeance, then let’s get on with it!”

“Very well then…”

Dark waves and smoke surrounded Samarian and enveloped her. They contracted inward, then shot out like lightning. When the smoke cleared, Samarian had also transformed. Her mask became more ornate and had a third eye on the forehead. Long ribbon-like strands dangled from her headgear. Her long black robe fluttered in the wind. She wore metallic gloves and wielded two long scimitars.

“We’ll fight,” Samarian said, “but away from this temple.” With a wave of her hand, she cast a protective barrier around the temple.

Amara and Samarian leapt off the plateau and jumped to adjacent peaks. Leiyu strained his eyes to see them. After they had moved a far enough distance away, each goddess avatar stood perched on a separate narrow rock formation.

Although it was still daytime, the sky darkened, and ominous clouds swirled above. Lightning streaked across the expanse of sharp jutting peaks.

Amara charged her sword with fire magic. Her eyes glowed and ribbons of flame surrounded her. Samarian held her scimitars up high and let the dark waves dance across the blades. With neither saying a word, they both jumped off their rocky platforms and flew towards each other. They met in the middle and their blades clashed, unleashing a huge explosion of energy that tore through the surrounding mountains. Entire peaks collapsed, raining down rocks and debris into the valleys below.

Leiyu trembled within the protective barrier. He had never seen anything like this. So, this is what a battle between two goddesses looks like.

The two avatars broke away from each other and flew backward in opposite directions until they landed on two opposing mountains. Samarian wrapped a veil of smoke around herself and disappeared into thin air, reappearing right before Amara, who held up her sword to block the two incoming scimitars. Amara then pushed her sword forward to make Samarian fall back and drove the tip of her blade into the ground, igniting the air and tearing up the ground with an expanding ball of flame. Samarian used her energy to avoid being swallowed up by the massive inferno. More mountains crumbled to debris around them.

“Please stop fighting!” Leiyu cried from within the barrier. He felt so helpless and small amidst all the chaos. “You’ll both destroy everything!”

The fighting continued for a while. The two avatars moved so fast that all their movements looked like a blur. Blades clashed, and robes and sashes fluttered. Amara glided through the air with the lightness and grace of a dancer while Samarian’s movements had a weightier ominousness.

Samarian dug the blades of her two scimitars into the ground, unleashing a wave of energy that snaked through the rocks and dirt, accompanied by a shrill, terrifying sound that resembled the screams of a thousand souls. Amara winced at the macabre sound and Leiyu covered his ears and curled up, shuddering. More mountains crumbled.

After the noises died down, the two avatars lunged toward each other again. They locked their blades once more. Lightning spiraled around them and thunder roared. Amara stared at Samarian intensely and Samarian “stared” back through her mask. Then, Amara said something to Samarian, which Leiyu could not hear because he was too far away.

Amara broke away from Samarian and leapt backward to perch on a higher jutting rock column that was still standing. Samarian remained where she was, standing still to catch her breath. Amara held her sword out and leapt in the air, ready to attack. She flew downwards toward Samarian. Samarian dodged and leapt away. Amara landed on the rock that Samarian leapt off of, causing it to crumble. While Samarian was still in midair, she swiped her scimitars through the air and sent a blast of energy toward Amara.

Amara made a motion to block the attack, but the impact was too strong. She was completely engulfed by the energy blast. The ruby on her forehead and her golden hair pieces shattered.

“Amara!” Leiyu screamed.

Amara closed her eyes and began to fall through the air. Her armor dissipated into golden threads and she returned to her normal form with ordinary clothes and waist-length hair.

The protective barrier around Leiyu flickered and shattered like glass. The shards disintegrated into the air.

Why did the barrier break? Leiyu thought. Is it because-

“This barrier will protect you as long as I am alive.” That was what Amara had told him earlier.

His eyes widened in realization. “NOOOOO!!!” He ran forward and leapt off the mountain. He could see her motionless body falling through the air. “AMARA!!!”

Leaping from rock to rock at lightning-fast speed, he jumped up and caught her in midair. He held her closely as they fell into the abyss below.