Verka opened her eyes in an unfamiliar but richly ornamented room. The air was warm and had a fresh, light pine scent that she liked. She was lying in a comfortable bed and was covered by the soft duvet and the soothing warmness was pleasantly warming her body. Realising that she was not dreaming, she started screaming as she looked at her hands, legs, and body. She touched her face and blinked a few times just to be sure, but she somehow had been healed.

"Calm down, Verka. You are safe now."

The calming voice of a woman called her name, and she turned quickly toward it, full of fear. But once she saw the two women sitting near the bed, she calmed significantly.

"Goddess Hera! Goddess Hestia!" she screamed, and while crying her eyes out, she tried to crawl towards them. However, she entangled herself in the duvet and bounced a few times helplessly in the fluffy bed.

"It's all right now." Hestia hugged her and patted her head, combing Verka's long, auburn hair with her fingers. "You are safe."

"Where are we?" Verka asked through her tears, looking around warily.

"You are in my home, Verka. You are in Avalon." Hestia's voice was soothing. "You don't have to be worried anymore."

She wept in Hestia's arms, powerless and relieved that this nightmare was finally over. Verka was breathing heavily as she tried to tell them about the horror she endured, but it took her a long time to finally put the words together.

"They betrayed me... They ravaged my body... They tortured me and cut off my limbs... They..." Verka was trembling in fear, but after she swallowed, she found the courage to continue. "Frid, the man I loved betrayed me and then... They sacrificed me. Frid, Jilai, Kneht, Luia and Korkas. They sold their souls to the Void!"

"And for that, they will die."

A cold and ruthless voice, full of primordial wrath and the promise of bloody vengeance, stirred something in Verka's heart. She looked at the tall, dark-haired, handsome man in astonishment mixed with awe. He leaned over the wall near the doors to the room, emanating the aura of unflinching resolve and authority so majestic that even mountains must have felt the urge to bow in front of him. But despite his noble appearance and unquestionable power, there was darkness inside his soul that no one should ever dare to provoke. She looked in fear at the Goddesses, but they just smiled kindly at the stranger. She tried to cover herself under the soft duvet, but then she noticed she was wearing proper clothes that covered her body.

"Verka, meet my husband, King Theon Avalon." Hestia approached the man who politely bowed to her.

"Welcome to Avalon, Eternal Verka." Verka looked at Hestia in shock, but the latter just smiled warmly back.

"Thank you for saving me, God Theon. I beg your pardon, but I am not familiar with your domain or which pantheon you belong to." She bowed her head stiffly.

"I'm not a god." He smiled, but seeing her growing fear and even hatred, he sighed. "I am King Theon Avalon, The Righteous Dungeon, The Champion of Eriar, The Chosen of Archangel, The Bringer of Equilibrium, The Friend of the Eternals, and The Protector of the Weak."

"Champion of Eriar?!" she hissed with fury. "You claim to be a Hero of that God?!"

"I am not a Hero, Miss Verka." He replied, amused, taking her off guard.

"I once met a person who claimed to be a Hero of the Silent God."

"What?" He was not only surprised, but even angry.

"Korkas claimed to be a Hero of Eriar..." Verka replied, slowly observing each move of the man. "It was one of the reasons why I trusted him... them. Do you think I will be so stupid again?!"

"There is nothing I can say to make you believe. I will accept your reservations. However, the truth is going to remain that I am Champion of Eriar." He looked at her indifferently, and afterwards, he sighed. "I suppose the list of Korkas' offences is getting longer than it's comfortable to remember, and really, the number of times I can kill him is awfully limited." He shrugged after a while. "It's exactly something I should expect from a Void Born, after all. Now if you will excuse me, I have someone to kill approaching my castle and it would be impolite to make them wait. Korkas managed to run away last time, so I killed his friend. I do not want to allow him to run again..."

Verka used her powers and trembled in fury and fear when she sensed Korkas, Jilai, and Kneht half a day away from the place she was in. She screamed in shock when she sensed something unexpected. The anger and fear on her face changed to excitement and delight when she got out of her bed. As she slowly approached the tall man, she curtsied in the most polite way she knew and beamed a smile towards him.

"I must beg for your forgiveness and thank you, noble King." After that, she straightened and, with burning amusement in her eyes, climbed on her toes and let out a quick laugh, kissing him squarely on the lips.

•••

I was stunned by her sudden change, and I had no idea what the hell was going on. She had to lift herself up to my neck to kiss me, but with her strength and powers returning rapidly, she defied all known post-healing process logic. When she let me go, for a brief moment, I saw a tall man in Viking armour and a woman as tall as Verka standing behind her.

"You killed Luia and Frid! But not only that. You buried them in the soil of this dungeon. Hahahaha!" She started laughing with delight and excitement. "Oh, I can hear them screaming and begging for forgiveness and mercy that will never come. Hahahaha! Oh, how delightful is that... Frid... Frid... I wanted you to burn in hell, but this?! Ahahahaha! This is far, far better! I can hear your screams and savour them forever! Thank you, mighty King Theon, for this pleasant gift."

"Verka!" Hestia frowned in shock.

"You're welcome, I guess. However, I think you should rest a bit more, Miss Verka." I sighed and allowed her to realise what she had done, which made her fluster a bit.

"I'm sorry... But this is very personal vengeance, Goddess Hestia, King Theon, and while I hoped to kill them with my own hands, it will take me far too long to gather the required strength." She fixed her bathrobe and pyjamas. "So killing them as fast as possible is more important than doing that myself. Especially when someone who burns with the flame of vengeance stands right in front of me..."

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

I looked at her, sighed, and then came a realisation. She was a daughter of the god and goddess of vengeance. What exactly I should expect of her? Mercy and compassion? Looking for excuses why those bastards acted like they did? Forgiveness? Of course not. She was going to murder them, sooner or later, once we had released her from that cursed tomb. The fact that I wanted Korkas to be a very dead man as well simply meant I was her angel or prophet of vengeance. With that kiss, she bestowed something upon me, but I had no clue what was it and the World System was silent. I guess I was going to learn what that was later, and hopefully, it was something useful.

"Hestia, would you kindly explain to Verka what transpired during her rescue?" I looked at my wife, who sadly smiled.

"Of course."

"Then I will excuse myself. I have unfinished business to attend to." I bowed to Hera and Verka, while Hestia tugged me by my arm to lower my head so she could kiss my cheek.

"Be careful, my Beloved," she whispered into my ear after she kissed me.

"I promise."

I left them in the room and took a deep breath after I closed the doors. Luna was waiting for me, leaning over the wall as she played with her long, platinum hair. She looked at me with a mysterious smile and chuckled. "She is something else, isn't she? Her powers are growing far quicker than even Zeus or Hestia's."

"Indeed... I'm not sure if she is not going to spell some trouble for us." I sighed, a bit resigned. "Even here, I can sense her bloodlust."

"Don't worry. I asked Hestia and Hera about her before she awakened. They agree that she is a bit unpredictable right now, but once you slay the Void servants, she is going to calm down." Luna explained calmly, but at the end of her speech she was not only uncertain, but she ran away with her gaze.

I sighed. "What are you not telling me?"

"Well... She might be using her powers to torment the souls of her torturers for the next few hundred years..." Luna lay her ears flat, expressing her mixed feelings. "We are just not sure. Anyway, Hera and Hestia claimed that after Verka recovers and learns more about Avalon, she will most likely stay here. The mental scars of betrayal and, most importantly, her betrayed love are far too much of a burden for her. Hestia and Hera still consider her a teenager, maybe sixteen or seventeen years old, despite physically appearing in her twenties. While Irene managed to heal Verka's mind as well, the deepest wounds and scars carved upon her soul need more work and our help to heal. It's... Complicated."

"What's not complicated when you start thinking about it?" I asked a rhetorical question as we slowly headed towards the war room. "We must find her some less violent hobbies for later... Maybe painting? Or collecting rocks?"

"Maybe board games?" She giggled and wagged her tail in amusement. She looked carefully at me for a moment. "You seem quite collected and calm given the recent events."

"Oh, that's only thanks to my five beauties who spare no effort to make things bearable." I winked at her and we both laughed.

She snuggled herself to my side, and we walked like this for a while in silence. The warm, bright magical light illuminated the corridor and our footsteps echoed softly. The corridors hadn't changed much since the day I carelessly created this monument of my vanity, which then Amber helped to change into Avalon. The various armours from my old world adorned the halls like silent sentries; they kept guard along the always vigilant Praetorians, who stood motionless, silently guarding the Palace and its inhabitants. Not long after, we entered the War Room, where Zeus and Zephyr were already waiting. This time, we were going to be prepared.

"With the Hilgvarians and the Sixth Legion already transported to Westwood and on their way to reclaim their home, we can solely focus on the Cridians." I looked at them as they nodded in confirmation.

•••

Korkas was furious. His bloodshot eyes were scanning the vicinity in search of anyone he could kill. His powers were crumbling like a castle made of sand and he couldn't hear the voices and orders of his Gods. His powers had dwindled so much, he wasn't even sure if he could be called a Void Born anymore. The uncertainty and even fear were visible on Kneht and Jilai's faces as they yelled at their soldiers and urged them to move faster. He looked at the army he gathered this time and he exhaled, moderately content with the sight in front of him. Fifty thousand, most of them grizzled veterans and murderers alongside the monsters of the Mountain Dungeon, should be enough to kill that cursed hero and finish all this nonsense once and for all.

"We should be there tomorrow morning..." Kneht spat on the ground. "Good thing you gathered all the boys and gals. Maybe if we had done that earlier, Frid and Luia would still be alive."

"Nah... I would have told you to fuck yourself, Kneht." Jilai laughed. "I would have never believed that you can have problems with pacifying a single dirty hole, so you want everyone."

"Shut up. I am not in the mood. We took real soldiers this time and those ceremonial mobs that Josla proudly calls the 'Cridian Army' can stay wherever they fucking want and play with sticks. Stupid bitch..." Korkas grumbled.

They walked for a bit in silence, and Korkas wondered if he should order a night rest or just push them under that castle. No matter how angry he was, he needed all the advantages to break those walls and successfully assault that fortress. Even if his soldiers could march for days without rest, the battle would be hard.

"Night rest." He ordered angrily, and his officers started yelling orders at the rest of the soldiers. "Where are those fucking wolves?!"

"I don't know. Maybe we sent them all to hell?" Kneht split a dry wooden log in half using only his hands. "These fuckers were annoying."

Jilai prepared the campfire and, using his flame magic, he set it ablaze. "Maybe that brat dungeon doesn't have enough mana to respawn them? He must have realised we are coming."

"I have a strange feeling I have already had such a conversation." Korkas ran his fingers through his hair angrily and dropped to the ground. "Where is my food?!" he yelled as one of the big Lizardmen came running to him with a large plate of meat.

"Give it to me," Korkas took the plate and looked at the waiting Lizardman angrily. "Now fuck off!"

"You investigated what that hero was doing in the Temple of Void?" Jilai picked a large piece of meat and stabbed it on a pole to roast it over the fire.

"Eventually..." Korkas admitted. "No one from the first group I sent to stop them returned. The second group entered the temple, but it was destroyed right behind the hidden doors. Even the illusion entrance was damaged. So I guess that fucker blew up everything and the Gods are angry with us."

"Fuck him..." Jilai whistled. "It's not easy to destroy something built by them. This hero must be a very particular piece of shit."

"Maybe. But I fought him once. While he is tough, he won only because Zeus and Zephyr were helping him. With both of you stalling those two, I will kill the hero, then we will kill both Godlings." Korkas shrugged.

"Are you sure he is not Eriar's Hero?" Jilai inquired, still angry at his old friend.

"No. But if Zeus and Zephyr are helping him, he can't possibly be Eriar's hero. However, I considered it for a moment in the early days of winter. I even told Josla about it." Korkas sighed.

"Wait... You haven’t told her that you are Eriar's Hero?" Jilai was confused.

"Nah... I told that lie to Verka."

"Cursed bitch... Fortunately, she stopped haunting me lately." Kneht took a bite of fatty meat. Korkas and Jilai looked at him in silence, because after ten years, she had finally stopped haunting them as well. Knecht pointed at soldiers who were indulging themselves in eating and resting. "What about our squalid circus?"

"They will play with the dungeon and those traitors that defected to the hero's side," Korkas replied and took a long sip of weak ale.

Korkas wasn't so sure if that was going to be as easy as he described, but they were going to succeed and offer new sacrifices to their Gods, or they were done for, anyway. He just hoped that no other Gods of Order were helping that cursed brat.