Chapter done! Meet the deadlier form of the so-called yandere.
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INTERLUDE: THE MOIRAI
In a faraway place that no mortals could reach, three ladies were resting on a beautiful garden.
One looked like a 12-year old girl with a bright radiant face. The other one looked like in her early twenties, wearing eyeglasses. The last one looked sullen like a teenager in her rebellious phase.
They were called the
"Clotho!!!!"
The four-eyed girl said in a reprimanding voice.
"Its not that bad, Lacchi! Its just a little talk with Alter!"
Clotho tried to make a few reasons, but her sister Lachesis did not buy it.
"Why did you help him?! He's already marked as a threat!"
"He's a good guy! He's falsely accused!!"
"....And how could you tell?"
"Gut feeling."
Lachesis could only hold her head in pain. Her sister was very troublesome.
"Lacchi's a meanie. That's why no gods ever tried to woo you."
"They can't even reach this place!! That goes for you too!!"
"Well, now Clotho here has a soulmate, its Alter!!"
"Don't be ridiculous. What do you find in that boy interesting?"
"Everything!!!"
"You're hopeless....."
The two girls seemed like bickering, but this was just one of their games made to kill time. They had to invent a lot of pass time, or else they will go crazy at their endless jobs. On the other hand the black robed Atropos was staring blankly into space.
"Atro! What do you want to do? Lets play something before our break ends."
Clotho called for her sister, yet not expecting any response. Atropos was never interested in anything, and would just proceed with her job cutting the threads of those mortals who are already destined to die or fall. But, contrary to her sisters' expectations, Atropos responded.
"I want to cut his thread."
"".....................................Eh?"
"I want to cut the thread of that boy."
Clotho, and even Lachesis fell down their knees. For Atropos to be interested of something... clearly she was probably sick, they thought.
"A-Atropos? Do you feel sick? Is there anything wrong? Tell your sister!!"
"A-atro's gonna die........ wait.... could it be???!!!!!!"
Atropos ignored her overreacting sisters, and stared into the distance. Specifically, where the boy they just met before had disappeared. Clotho, being the busybody she always was, did not miss the slightest of these details. She drew closely to Lachesis.
"I-It seems that Atro found her 'soul mate'..."
"Sniff..... Our sister has grown"
"Is this what they call 'love at first sight"
"I don't know.... I never experience such things"
Atropos did not react, but deep inside she was denying her sisters' ranting. She only found a goal, no more like a desire. Endlessly cutting through the threads of mortals had bored her, and even the threads of gods that could be damaged, and be cut if they were nearing their deaths, did not give her any satisfaction at all.
It was the thread of that boy. Beautifully transparent, unlike any others. And she could not cut it, not with her magical scissors. She could not stop thinking about the thread of the boy. She knew her behavior was being out-of-character, but that did not stop her from wanting that thread for herself.
"I hope to see you soon, Alter"
A spine chilling aura radiated from the black robed girl.
Chapter 5: Decisions
Tishia had felt countless kinds of presences and the aura they emit. From elves, humans, monsters, and even gods, she had already felt a lot of them. But this was her first time feeling a unique one that gives off multiple auras. The aura that the boy gave off.
"You are...?"
She could not tell if it was the same person as before. Right in front of her was what she could only describe as an enigma. He was wearing tattered white cloak, his head covered by a hood. From the darkness under hood , two orbs of different colors shone, gold and white.
Under the white cloak he was wearing an elaborate sleek armor that was made of gold. And his weapon, with both in his hands, a black and a white sickle.
"This form is powerful indeed."
The entity spoke, as he himself seemed surprised at his own self. The enemy, that 'manifestation of golden aura', felt the threat that came from Alter, and immediately rushed towards his position. An arc of golden light slashed towards Alter, but it only passed through him, while he stood there in the same position. Then both the two were gone from Tishia's range.
"They disappeared?"
But the truth was that both Alter and the enemy produced a unique field that manipulated time. And inside that space where different time flowed, the two made their deathmatch. Twin sickles against a large scythe. Both of them were on par in speed, but the additional effect of the aspect of Justice had favored Alter. It was an aspect that makes you stronger if your desire is just.
And Alter's goal was to save both Gold and this girl that Clotho asked him to be associated with.
The black and white sickles relentlessly slashed at the humanoid aura, and with every cut, the shaved parts from the enemy returned back to Gold's body.
"haa!!!"
Ducking and sidestepping to avoid the scythe was easy enough for Alter, as he nullified the time magic with that of his own. With the advantage, she pushed back the enemy to a corner.
But the enemy did not back down. it also contained the aspect of the sky, and prepared to cast a large magic, with a magic array appearing under its body. Unfortunately, that was what Alter was waiting for.
"Magic Mod!"
One of the god Chaos' special move, the ability to alter magic structure. Since Gold had been Alter's main partner, he knew all her battle styles, moves and timing. He immediately knew that the doppelganger was going to use a high level magic 'Skyfall' that manipulates gravity to work against the opponent. Casting Magic Mod, he altered the 'target' of the spell.
After casting the magic, the enemy was surprised as its body sunk down due to Alter's modification of its spell. Using this chance while the enemy was incapacitated, Alter used time magic to accelerate towards it. In Tishia's point of view, he was in front of the enemy in a blink of an eye.
"Sorry, you did your best defending us two."
He positioned the two sickles at its throat and mercilessly beheaded it.
"Haa..... the energy consumed from this form is a real burden...."
Alter complained as he deactivated his divinity. The defeated enemy dissipated into particles that returned to Gold's sleeping form.
"Gold!!!"
He ran towards his partner. Tishia also drew near, limping. It seems her feet needs to be healed for a while before she can fully run.
As Alter drew near, the sight of Gold being fine made him breath in relief, or so he should have.
"I-is this Gold?!"
The girl in front of him was Gold, but not exactly her. Her face had turned cuter. Her height grew shorter. Her melons became oranges instead. Even her divine clothes had adjusted to her change. The blossoming young lady had turned into a 12-year old!!
"She became a child?!"
When Alter used his 'World Truth', there was no magic acting on her body, so it was biological in nature. He wondered if that was the effect of the spell that saved him. He really wished to have a break from all these things.
".....No use moping now. This is now my reality."
He took his bag that was beside the sleeping goddess and used it as a pillow for her. He yawned, tired from this ruckus, and he almost forgot the other girl that had drawn near.
He saw TIshia staring at him with translucent eyes. He immediately saw that she was blind.
"......umm is there a problem?"
"......problem huh?"
Tishia could cite countless problems if necessary. How he easily beat that 'thing'. How he transformed to that cloaked form. How he used two foreign auras so expertly, and how he kissed her.... how he stole her first kiss. And who was this girl, is she his girlfriend? Then why did he kissed her!
But she managed to kept that to herself for now. It was proper to give introductions when a god meets another.
"My name is Tishia. I am also the goddess Justitia."
She stiffly bowed, her injuries hurting just because of moving slightly. Alter did not fail to respond.
"I am Alter. Also known as Chaos. This girl beside me is Gold. She is the goddess Cronus."
"Why are two gods here in this dungeon."
"Its... a little bit complicated."
"Its alright. I need to know your circumstances."
"..... alright."
Alter narrated his story. That this was supposed to be a game from his world, but it transformed into reality. How Typhon that was defeated had revived, and was only up to the two of them to defeat. In the end, they could only seal it. But Gold's seal requires a sacrifice. Alter willing to be the sacrifice instead, had modified the spell. His life then became critical, but with some unknown magic that belonged to Gold, they were trapped in a stasis of time that allowed hi broken soul to recover. That he was visited by the three ladies that helped him assessed the situation.
"I see...."
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Tishia could more or less comprehend what Alter said. Her brows involuntarily perked up at some things like Typhon, Clotho and spell modification.
"How did you manage to use my aura."
"My aspect has 'nothingness'. That allows me to take in any aspect or power from a god. Think of it as an empty bucket that can be filled with the liquid known as power."
".... I get it... thats clearly cheating..."
"But there are prerequisites before I could use a gods power."
"Prerequisites?"
"I told you before that we don't have a connection right?"
"Yeah."
"A connection is the relation between me and a god. Since I'm closely related to Gold due to circumstances, I could tap into her power. I had read that the stronger the connection, the stronger the power i can use."
"So.... you kissed me to....."
At her words, Alter became ashamed and lower his head.
"Please forgive me. I didn't intend to force such a lady like you."
"Eh?"
Tishia was flustered as the presence of Alter wavered as if being very sorry. She wasn't really angry at the person, just at the situation that forced them to. And besides, it doesn't really feel that bad with him.
"Eh?! What am I thinking about!!!"
Tishia shouted and cleared her mind at her flow of thoughts that headed to a dangerous direction, making Alter jump in surprise.
"Is there something wrong?"
"No!!!!"
"O-ok......"
"........tell me. You lived through the Dark Ages??"
"Dark Ages? Well yeah, probably. The atmosphere during that period was indeed dark."
"....amazing. Its like you were a living fossil."
"I... don't know what to say."
Tishia admired the boy in front of her. He had such an epic background, A question had then popped in her head.
"Hey, Alter...."
"Yup"
"In the past, you also commanded most of the gods, right?"
"Of course. But in the final battle they were all positioned on Echidna's front."
"Then..... why did the gods forgot about your existence?"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"I came here, as a representative of the gods around the world. They believed that you were a threat that needed to be eliminated, so I'm here supposedly to kill you."
"....... Indeed, that's really troubling. Did they want to get back at me for making them target practices for my powers?"
He remembered that he used some NPCs as target practice for his god mode, but that couldn't be the real reason . Something had gone wrong somewhere, and he needed to investigate it. He also need to get clues on what made the monster Typhon revive.
" I want to get answers. Where do you plan to go?"
"....After this I was supposed to go to the Oracle of Delphi, but now I lost the means of entering it, since I cannot kill you at all."
"Oracle of Delphi, huh? Want to go there?"
"Huh? Go there?! Its not as simple as you think!"
"Really?"
"If you want to enter the Oracle, you need to have a certain token. Its so rare that I undertook the pain of exploring this dungeon just to get one."
"Umm..... could it be that you're talking about these?"
Gently rummaging his bag as to not wake up Gold, he took a pouch from the bag. Tishia did not miss the radiant aura that came from the pouch.
"That.... that.... that..."
She was dumbfounded. Within the pouch she could count the radiant auras.
"Three... seven... thirteen......... twenty?!!!"
"What are you shocked about?"
Tishia could only face the boy with her mouth agape. He was nonchalantly giving of the expression of 'What's the big deal?'
"HOW DID YOU GOT YOUR HANDS ON THAT?!!"
'This is clearly cheating!!!!', she screamed in her mind. Even gods had a hard time acquiring these Oracle tokens, but here he was holding the pouch full of treasures, and giving off a lax attitude.
"Is this really a rare item?"
"Listen to me when I'm talking!!!!"
"But these were just rewards for a Normal Ranked quest. Even my production-class friends had at least five of these at a time."
"..................."
Tishia remained silent. She decided to stop reacting to whatever this boy said. Even though his words were unbelievable, the proof he was holding in his hands are the real deal.
On the other hand, Alter was confused as to why these coins were important at all. During the time Mythologia was a death game, these coins have no particular use, and were often discarded if a player's inventory had reached the limit of what it could hold. Also, the Oracle of Delphi was made by the players just for fun, installing NPCs that tell off horoscopes and random facts. He could not believe that it evolved into a world class divination site, It was most likely the three ladies of fate were messing around for fun.
"You.... really are full of surprises."
Tishia commented at the boy who was her savior.
"Thanks again for saving me."
"No problem."
"OHO.... it seemed that during the time WHILE I'M ASLEEP, Master TOOK ADVANTAGE and LURED another WOMAN."
Emphasizing some words, a loud childish voice came from beside them. Her golden eyes seemed burning, while glaring at Tishia and giving off hostility.
"Gold! You're awake!!"
"L-l-lured another woman?! What are you talking about, brat!!"
The two in front of Gold made different reactions. One was showing a face of relief, while the other was giving off a flustered face. Gold stared and observed the girl that was with her master.
"You're a goddess. How come I haven't met you before?"
"..... I just got my divinity two years ago."
".... A mortal that turned into a goddess, huh. That's certainly the first time I heard of it."
"Yes. We both have missed something during the time we were asle--- Wha?!!"
Alter gave his speculations, but was surprised as Gold jumped and hugged him.
"MASTER!! I really thought you're gonna die back then... 'sniffle'... just thinking about it hurts..."
Alter could only pat her head. Gold smiled at his actions, but felt something wrong. Was her master really that tall.
"Master, you have grown taller haven't you?"
Alter stopped patting. He could not believe she hadn't noticed it yet.
"Gold, you don't know what happened to you?"
"Umm..... that is?"
"You body turned to that of a child. Its probably the effe-"
"EEEEEEEEHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
A loud childish scream reverberated along the darkness.
"A magic that even forcibly affected the body. How strong was that, really?"
Even Tishia became a bit interested at Gold.
"Don't worry. Its... its not like it will greatly affect your abilities."
Alter tried to console her, but Gold did not pay heed to his words.
"How.. how could I satisfy master at night with this body......."
""That's what you're worried about??!!"", both Alter and Tishia retorted.
"But some men do have such fetishes. Could this be a blessing in disguise?"
""That's a crime already!!!""
Doing such things lightened the mood around the three.
"You're coming with us, Tishia."
"Eh?"
"Don't 'eh?' master. His words are absolute."
"Stop that Gold. You're not helping"
"muuuu....."
"But I tried to kill you...."
"That's fine."
Alter made a carefree smile. Tishia could not believe that he was such a powerful god even if he looked so defenseless.
"Both of us need a guide to this world, since the geography could have changed. Also, fate told me that I would need your help. Be our companion."
Alter didn't have any underlying meaning, and was just stating the facts. But Tishia's cheeks turned a light shade of red at his words.
"Okay.... just for now."
"Our first goal is the Oracle. Where should we go first"
"After leaving the dungeon, we must go to the Port City of
"Hellenic League, huh? Is that a new empire?"
"Just formed recently, around 50 years ago. But their rapid advance in technology and prosperity had the Romanum Imperium worrying."
Even Romanum Imperium did not ring a bell. Alter wondered how long both of them were trapped inside this dungeon.
"Master! I'll just use time magic to hasten our travel by land."
"You're too weak right now to do that. I even defeated easily the doppelganger you used to guard us. And you lost control and it even attacked me."
".........tsk"
"Heh. Could it be, this brat is afraid of sea travel?"
"Don't get too cocky, blind girl. And who are you calling brat? Want me to accelerate your aging process, huh?"
"Why you?!"
"Stop it both of you."
Alter stopped the bickering girls. It seemed that the addition of a companion would only increase his headaches. But he was happy that things have been progressing well. To survive this world, solving any essential problems along the way, finding the clues that would help, and finding any ally that would give a hand, all while maintaining a grip on his sanity.
He set these now as his goals while living in Mythologia.
"Lets go!!"
"I'm still injured."
"Shall I carry you?"
".......oka-"
"I'll gently drag her master. GENTLY."
"....We'll use a Teleport Stone. That's less hassle for me."
"EH?!!! YOU ALSO HAVE THAT?!!"
Tishia screamed as the three of them turned to white particles of light, leaving the dark and quiet dungeon in solitude.
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-Chapter End-