In a flash of golden light I appeared back at the city of Jalopely. Because I was now at human size the entrance went all but unnoticed in the darkness of the night. The process of dragging that other goddess all the way up the mountain into that cave had taken literally all day and most of the night after all. It was around one in the morning right now and most of the city was fast asleep. So by summoning a cloak around myself I slipped into a nearby alleyway, the only human to have seen my arrival, one of the city guards, rubbing his eyes wondering if he had hallucinated.

All of the aftermath of the battle had been cleared up by the humans in my absence. Of course even though my mind had been preoccupied with survival I still had been keeping tabs on the battle at the city, though barely. It hadn't been until after I had completely subdued my opponent that I had got to focus on the human side of things properly. That was when my worries were sent away. None of the invading army had pressed the attack after their goddess vanished into the distance with not even the mages being brave enough to stick around. Though as expected some amount of the human attackers on the Pheoa army had been captured by the Celeduun side. These prisoners were what I was here to check in on at the moment.

Finding the prisoners was not a simple matter for me unfortunately. It wasn't like I could just scan the city with my goddess vision and find them as only my worshipers showed up on my map as shining lights. All humans of course did show up but much more faded and as there were plenty of people in the city that didn't worship me it muddled the waters for me. There were also several prisons and dungeons around the city and who knows where the actual prisoners of war were. This is why I utilized some of my other goddess powers to find them.

It was as simple as finding one of the soldiers stationed at this city's garrison and reading their mind. So after turning invisible this is exactly what I did. With a quick dash through the city that would have rendered me unseen regardless I arrived at the barracks that housed a large majority of the soldiers. Then after stopping in front of the entryway I became visible in front of the two guards posted there. Even though it was the middle of the night the many torches around lit up the stone cobbled street quite well so they noticed me instantly.

After the initial jump of surprise one of the guards, a strong looking man, called out to me.

“Who goes there? And how did you sneak up on us?”

With a straightening of my shoulders I lifted the hood of my cloak back to reveal myself fully. My eyes and hair were only slightly glowing, though it appeared quite bright in contrast to the sky and dark streets behind me.

Both guards immediately fell to their knees and bowed in respect, their hands still grasping their weapons to brace themselves. They were nothing if not dutiful.

“Oh goddess!” The one of the men said, this one quite short. “S-So sorry for not recognizing you! After what happened today we feared-” He stopped short.

It was obvious what he was thinking. There had been many prayers from people living in this city about my potential demise. After all to their perspective I had vanished for a full day and half a night directly after fighting with another goddess. Because neither of us had reappeared at the city it was probably assumed both goddesses had died.

I huffed and crossed my arms over my chest, my pose shifting into a more annoyed body language.

“Clearly I made it out alive. Honestly I'm a bit disappointed you had such little faith in me.”

The men started stammering their apologies and were about to ask another question. I cut them off and lifted my left hand to silence them.

“The other goddess has been dealt with. Obviously I defeated them with brilliance as was to be expected.”

Even though I had barely gotten out of that fight with my life that was not something my worshipers needed to know. For my image of a goddess it was much better to slightly exaggerate the events to further cement not only their faith in me but also their feelings of safety. It was very important for my worshipers to fully trust in my power so they could be secure in their lives. This was the first time that power and faith had been actually tested in any real degree and thank my Father that it had all worked out alright.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

I put my hand down and continued.

“Who's in charge of the garrison here?”

The bigger of the men lifted his head to answer me.

“T-That would be Captain Lunker my goddess. Zare Lunker.”

I nodded my head.

“Very good. Have him meet me here outside in the morning.”

The guard gulped and looked very concerned.

“A-Are you sure goddess? I could go and fetch him now and-”

I shook my head and waved my left hand in the air.

“In the morning. At first light.”

The man bowed his head again.

“Yes goddess.”

With this direction given out I slid up the hood over my head again and turned around. Then without another word I strolled quickly away into the darkness of the night leaving the two men confused about what exactly had happened.

Let them have their confusion for now. They would still arrange the meeting between me and this city's captain which is all that mattered. I slipped into a nearby alley and wedged myself into the furthest back dark corner behind several boxes, slouching to the ground to think about what would happen next.

With the existence of other goddesses now fully revealed I had no idea how terrible my life was going to get, or how much better if you took the positive outlook. That goddess controlling human sacrifice ritual was also a real pain in the ass. Either this Aldaney couldn't resist it or wouldn't. Being the goddess of war might have given her a particular weakness to it for all I knew. It was only by the skin of my teeth that I was able to defeat her and the fact I could have actually died still made my heart race when I thought about it. Only a goddess can kill another goddess huh?

Clearly this goddess prisoner was an amazing boon as well. Finally there was something on an equal level with me, someone who had been alive during the age of goddesses, whom I could collect information from. That was at least if she cooperated. Heck with her being on the younger side maybe she could even be befriended. This was a long shot to be sure but that was both my hope and plan. My skeletal friend Barthenor would have to be brought in for consultation on this Aldaney matter. Add that to my to do list.

On the human side thankfully the situation back here at the city had gone well with the enemy army neutralized. Whatever mages had been with the army had fled back to their own kingdom and they would surely assume their goddess was dead as well. So if they did have any further human sacrifice rituals planned they would likely not go through him them. At least hopefully they wouldn't. I'm not sure if there were ways to bring back dead goddesses but as far as I remember from Barthenor's books there wasn't. Goddesses could be captured or sleep for basically forever but once they were “dead” they were gone for good.

It all reminded me of some quote that stuck out in my memories: “It is not dead which could eternally lie but in strange aeons past even death could die.” Something like that. What exactly are goddesses?

Getting into the more nitty gritty of the military victory there were of course the prisoners to deal with that had been captured from the Pheoa side. Treatment of prisoners of war had always been somewhat brutal in human history and I wanted to actually prevent that kind of inhumanity. Sure they would still be dealt with by human law. I wouldn't interfere with that. But whether they were ransomed back to their home kingdom or executed I wanted them to be treated fairly.

So the first step in finding out how they were being treated was contacting the one in charge of the military here. That being this Captain Lunker. Despite his funny sounding name he had been put in charge here for a reason so he was clearly capable. I would also want to meet with the minor lord of this city, though his name escaped me at the moment. Sometimes prisoners would be transferred to bigger cities or specific camps. So to prevent them being shipped off somewhere to suffer miserably or die I would need to explain my demands to the one in charge of the city. Widespread better treatment of war prisoners would be a long ways away, but this would be an important first step. This was the first time there had been any since I had become goddess after all.

These are the sorts of things I thought about as I slid into a dormant state, for while I didn't need sleep I still had moments of rest. Perhaps the battle from today had taken more of a toll on me than I had originally thought. So here I huddled up in a little ball in the back of the dark alley like some homeless orphan. As a goddess who was formally human I perhaps felt no shame in this situation like a proud goddess or human might. It was peaceful to me to rest like this in the midst of my people.

The power of my worshipers prayer had already refilled the mana I had spent and that mana had healed the wounds I had suffered. But the memories of those wounds, of the pain I had felt, were a stark reminder to me that even as an immortal goddess I was still somehow mortal. How that exactly worked I still had no idea and it honestly did scare me, at least a little. I had already died before and trusted my father in heaven enough that another go at it would be bearable. Though I really really didn't want to die in this world. If not for any other reason than due to the responsibilities I had shouldered to protect my worshipers.

Prayers and hopes flowed through my mind as I went still. My own thoughts lost in the haze as I imagined what might be awaiting in my future. In the immediate it would be a meeting with the captain and minor lord. Back to dealing with tiny humans who feared me. Honestly relieving.