With the morning having long since passed into daytime the cold rolling mists had since faded away. No birdsong could be heard and wild animals were rare to see in winter conditions. Even the sun up above in the sky was weak as if close to death. Here near the base of the Henjuk Mountains stood the village of Yuvoghen, the sister village of Doovlin that nestled itself away deep in the forest. Pine trees mixed with the skeletal frames of tree bearing trees to form a labyrinth of snow laden trials through their trunks

Yuvoghens humble residents maintained their livelihoods in the same way others living this far away from civilization did. They tended simple farms, hunted game in the forest, and went out into the wilderness to perform logging. This place had long protected by the Nimelly family, a group of mages all miraculously related by blood. Such protections were less as of late however, in no small part due to the daughter's death.

Yes it was the daughter I had learned that had been put in charge of the very ritual that saw Miya sacrificed on an alter and caused me to mentally break. The bloody rampage I had enacted while under the control of Sub-chan, while under my own control, had killed many people including Samel Nimelly. Why she had gone through with such an insane ritual I might never know, but the fact it failed to bind me was ultimately a good thing.

Since that day this family of mages had secluded themselves even further into their tower in the woods, completely shutting themselves off from the rest of the world. They were not the reason I had come to Yuvoghen however as their further plots, if any, held no sway over me now. No instead I was here due to request of my worshipers in the region. You see the undead had been seen in this area as well, though thankfully only in passing.

For whatever reason these shambling corpses hadn't bothered the village itself, likely due to some magical shenanigans put in place by the mage family. Doovlin as well had been strangely undead free, though that was easily ascribed to the overwhelming presence of my mana in the area. While neither village was in danger it was still troubling to hear of sightings at all, thus I had come here to investigate.

Right now it was the middle of the evening, which in winter meant only a couple more hours until darkness fell. I was full goddess size and stomping around through the wintry forest, the tallest trees still barely reaching my stomach. Though I didn't need it I was dressed in my adorable winter clothing complete with fuzzy hat and scarf. For whatever reason I just liked dressing up to fit the weather even if it was ultimately pointless. Maybe it was for the benefit of those around me.

My mitten-clad hands were stuffed into the pockets of my faux-fur coat while my eyes scanned the surrounding wilderness landscape for any signs of movement. While the material world was such observed my mental eye used the map inside the goddess zone to search for signs of unlife. As difficult as it was seeing the moving dead was technically possible.

Thankfully my survey of the landscape had come up empty so far, something that was a great relief to me. The last thing I wanted was this threat coming to the doorstep of the first places that welcomed me to this world. That vampire hadn't been sighted since her escape either, though that might just be because she was being more careful about her activities.

Unfortunately my focus was interrupted when a particularly critical prayer came in. It was from my paladin Jagger who was still out on his investigation to the south-west. Of course I had been keeping tabs on him and Markku from time to time, though according to what I'd seen they'd not come upon anything particularly dangerous. It seemed they finally had however as the prayers I were getting from them right now were more than a little desperate.

Using my map I closed my eyes and zoomed over to their location. They were up in the mountains in some kind of canyon, a large tower keep of some kind built straight into the mountains above them. Jagger had just used a very powerful magic I had gifted him in the form of turning undead, a bubble of sorts that caused things infused with negative energy to flee or be destroyed. Its basically a panic button and the fact he used it was troubling.

Upon closer inspection it appeared the two of them were standing up near a large boulder with what, if my eyes were truthful, seemed to be a giant wave of bones cresting over them. It was difficult to make out but the massive pile of bones would surely crush them if it landed on them. That simply wouldn't do! It was time for a goddess extraction as whatever they had run into was surely above their abilities.

With one quick movement I pulled my left hand out of both my coat pocket and mitten at the same time. Then I opened a portal in front of me at stomach level, my hand darting into it and grasping around the two tiny humans. Once this was one I pulled my hand back through the portal, the altogether chilling feeling of hundreds of bones cascading over my skin giving me the heebie jeebies.

The portal was quickly closed and I turned my hand so my palm faced upwards, my fingers opening up to reveal the two men altogether unharmed laying on my soft skin. Their faces were dominated by expressions of both relief and content as their lives had been saved so miraculously by their goddess. Surely they were about to start praising me.

Markku was the first to stand up, though he quickly bowed down on his knees upon my palm.

“Oh great goddess!” He cried up to me. “Thank you for saving your servant!”

Jagger pushed himself up to his knees and bowed to me like one would expect a knight to.

“I had no doubts in your great benevolence Goddess Jenna.” He said. “Thank you indeed for delivering us from certain death!”

Though this kind of praise was commonplace for me by now it still made me blush a little to hear it from people I cared about more than most. A somewhat smug smile appeared upon my face as I watched them give me their worship and I shifted my weight onto my left hip as I looked down on them in my hand.

“Yes you're quite welcome.” I replied. “Seems you really stirred the hornet's nest huh?”

Jagger nodded and bashfully kept his eyes trained on the soft floor beneath him.

“Y-Yes goddess!” He apologized. “I'm afraid we took on much more than we could handle. Please forgive us.” He paused for a moment. “If you wish it I shall give our full report immediately.”

In the seconds he had been speaking I had been going through their recent memories, my eyes closed to further facilitate my focus. At this point I didn't consider it a breach of privacy to filter through the minds of my worshipers and since they were in the palm of my hand I was already touching them. Maybe this attitude proved I was losing my humanity in response to my growing goddesshood.

“Not necessary.” I replied in an unintended firm tone. “I just finished going through your short term memory and I'll say your day seemed quite exciting.”

Jagger stood up, his feet finding difficulty on my skin.

“I'm not sure constant brushes with death itself is exciting my goddess.” He said still looking down.

Markku then stood up and crossed his arms over his chest.

“It's an honor to face death in the name of the goddess.” He remarked with a hint of frustration in his tone. “Only a fool would say otherwise.”

Looking at the two of them begin to bicker like bugs on my open hand made me smile with genuine happiness. They seemed so silly down there and yet so cute when they tried to please me.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Don't worry your little heads.” I said still smiling. “I appreciate you two risking your lives for me and thank you for your service in my name. Even though you didn't slay an army of monsters you still found a clear stronghold of the enemy. For that you've well earned some rest.”

Jagger now looked up towards my face above him, his own expression one of surprise and elation.

“Truly goddess?” He gasped. “I thought us failures!”

I shook my head and then lifted my hand up closer to my face, my huge eyes looking right down at them.

“No no! You two did plenty. I'll let you go now and then take care of this myself.” I started crouching down. “You wouldn't mind staying here in this village for a day while I go off and take care of that keep would you?”

The two men quickly absconded from my palm as I laid my hand down flat on the cold ground below. They then jogged a short distance away from me as even when I'm crouching my incredible size could make it painful to look up at my head in the air above. Once they were a comfortable distance away I stood up to my full height again and leaving them feeling like insects at my feet.

Jagger smiled and held his hands together in prayer.

“Of course we wouldn't mind goddess!” He replied smiling. “Though where are we?”

I slipped my hands back into my coat pockets and thus my left hand returned to its mitten. My left foot lifted up on the toes of my boot as I idly fidgeted, not even aware at how such movements could easily terrify someone so small on the ground.

“We're in the forest just outside the village of Yuvoghan. Its to the east of the Henjuk Mountains and probably twenty, twenty-five miles from where you just were?”

Markku looked around and tucked his own hands into his cloak. It was probably much colder than he was used to without his wolf fur.

“I've heard of this village I believe.” He commented. “Its home to a powerful mage family they say.”

A deep sigh escaped from my lips and thus the cloud of my breath filled the air above them and blocking off view of my face like a low hanging cloud. It quickly dispersed and I shook my head.

“Just forget about those guys ok?” I said. “Stay far away from their tower and just head into the village. After tomorrow morning comes you're free to head wherever you wish and if I have time I'll move you by portal alright?”

The two of them nodded and replied with a confirmation.

“Good!” I said with a nod. “Now if you excuse me I've a keep to cleanse.”

My face was then dominated by a grim expression of both determination and disgust as I opened a portal below my feet to the nearby village of Nova Bellumis. It was a pretty quick transition and I was soon standing with legs spread wide over the tiny model village. As soon as I fully appeared I started stepping away from the buildings and off in the direction of the mountains.

“Just passing though!” I said down to the surprised villagers. “Sorry for the intrusion!”

Their reaction wasn't really much of a concern for me at the moment as I was focused intently on what I was about to do. Of course due to the rescue I had just done there weren't actually any worshipers at the mountain keep's location, thus I'd have to travel there myself. Nova Bellumis was the closest place I had worshipers to the location and due to seeing it on my map it was a simple process of going there.

In order to speed up my travel I took to the air. There was no pretense of subtlety to my current methods and I leapt into the air with a ground shaking boom, my feet causing huge craters in the earth as I was propelled into the air. Then I let loose jets of flame from both my hands and feet, the air igniting with heat as my body flew into the sky. With my goddess size I was easily comparable to a commercial airplane seeing my airborne was likely both terrifying and awe inspiring.

With such a fast method of transportation it was only a matter of minutes before I reached the location of the keep. Down below me etched into the mountain's surface I could see both the canyon and clearing that it occupied. My flames directed me down to the earth once again and I landed with enough force to cause a small earthquake. The massive boots on my feet crushed the stone beneath my and rock slides began all around me on the cliffs.

Still with my hands in my pockets and without saying a word I casually walked up to the front of the keep. The walls were likely twenty feet tall. Imposing for humans but for me they barely reached my shins. Even the tower itself stood barely to my waist and I almost laughed aloud at the sheer absurdity of my size and power. It was like a kid playing with the model city of some museum display.

The walls were alive with activity like a nest of ants that had been disturbed. Skeletons and rotting zombies of all kinds were shuffling about and making ranged attacks against me to whatever ability they had. Stoking my curiosity however was the fact that some of the skeletons were clearly not human. Their various heights and builds made them appear to be like elves, dwarfs, or even trolls.

Not soon after my arrival I noticed the trench around the stone walls stirring with movement. It appeared the great monster that had almost killed my servants was making its appearance. Like a white sludge the great pile of bones slithered up and out of the moat. It looked like a dozen graveyards had suddenly expelled their contents and allowed them to merge together into an amoeba of death.

As it rose up it coalesced together into the form of what might be a dragon or perhaps dinosaur, the individual bones shifting to maintain its form. To me however it was no bigger than a large snake and its serpent's form lunged for my left boot like what sounded like a roar.

I smirked half in disgust and half out of disappointment. With one quick motion I lifted my left foot and brought it down with a earth shaking stomp right on top of this thing's front half. The sound crunching echoed through the small valley as I twisted my foot and ground the bones into dust underfoot. I then scraped my boot backwards across the stone leaving a trail of bone powder as proof of its destruction.

This wasn't the end of the undead monster however as the other half of the collected bones simply reformed into another smaller version of the creature. Another swift stomp from my left foot and twist of my boot reduced that half to bone meal as well. I had to remove my hands from my pockets in order to keep balance during this which heightened my annoyance at having to deal with this disgusting threat.

“Shitty skeletons.” I said with a sneer.

It was at this point that something moving on my map caught my attention. I had been ignoring the map up until now due to the fact undead didn't show up on it easily and this place was going to be filled with them. There was however one soul in the area it seemed and with a simple glance I could tell who it was immediately. Down there in the tower was that vampire woman Neske. She was fleeing up the stairs of the place and likely making for a window to make her escape. This I simply couldn't allow.

With an almost sadistic grin on my face I stepped over the wall of the tower and placed my left foot in its courtyard. I didn't want to destroy this ancient fortress, perhaps out of my sentimental attachment to history. Once I had firm footing I crouched down and prepared to grab the vampire as she fled the window. To my great surprise however she suddenly vanished from my map!

My eyes went wide and my mouth hung open as my mind started puzzling together what had just happened. Could she just do that? What had she done that removed her very soul from my perception? This had to be some kind of invisibility trick and as a goddess I should have true sight. Maybe I just had to cast some magic of my own to counteract this effect.

I lifted my left hand into the air and opened my palm.

“Illumination flare!”

The world was suddenly engulfed in brilliantly blinding light as my palm let loose a blast of pure radiance. Every skeleton or zombie still moving about on the fortress beneath me was eliminated as if by a powerful hurricane wind, their body bits and bones scattering all over the place in a hail of gore. Even the air itself was infused with positive energy as the light passed through it.

This goddess level blast thankfully had its intended effect in revealing the fleeing vampiress. Whatever magic had been hiding her was broken in an instant and she appeared in the air not a hundred feet away from the top of the tower. Some kind of cloak she was wearing had just finished burning away into ash and she was sent tumbling towards the ground with a screech.

My good nature kicked in and I quickly jolted forward with my left hand outstretched. She landed with a plop in the middle of me gigantic palm and I quickly closed my fingers into a fist around her. Even after being assaulted by my magic she still had quite the fight in her, though her efforts were nothing compared to my insurmountable fist.

Well I had thought so however. It seemed she was powerful enough to actually cause me some slight pain with her attacks, as if a beetle was pinching at my skin with its powerful jaws. Tightening my fist was enough to pin her in place however and her attacks instantly halted. I then lifted my hand up to my face and smiled quite proud of myself.

“Well what have we here?” I asked my closed fist. “A little insect fleeing from her destroyed nest?” I was being quite dismissive on propose to rile her up and hurt her ego. “Sorry little bug. Sometimes kids just play rough. Its not my fault your hive is so tiny and weak!”

Neske's voice was muffled but I could faintly hear here shouting insults and other profanity from her flesh prison. Her soul was fully visible once again so it was surely that cloak that had concealed her.

Ignoring her temper tantrum let out a small sigh of relief. Finally I had tracked her down again and I could stop worrying about it. Now that she was in my possession again I'd not make the same mistake as last time and allow her to escape. This time I was getting to bottom of this.

“At this point its quite obvious you're working with or for someone.” I said firmly to my captive. “And you're going to take me to see them whether you like it or not!”