Lynefra looked at Veorful curiously.  Something about the woman called to her but she couldn't quite place why that was so.  I'm sorry, I don't remember. Lynefra's mental tone was neither warm no cold.  She was weary of the person in front of her.  It's not every day you wake up to a stranger watching you sleep.

Veorful thought for a moment before speaking, "So it's true you honestly don't remember.  Am I correct in assuming someone informed you of how special you are?"

The Gods told me I'm a reincarnation of a god but that my original soul was so damaged when I died that there wasn't enough of it left to actually reincarnate.  Lynefra replied cooly. They also told me I shouldn't tell anyone, she added as if the warning of several gods was merely an afterthought.

Veorful smiled, "If they told you not to tell, then why tell me? Did they tell you how you died?"

There's no point in lying about it.  You wouldn't have brought it up if you didn't have some degree of certainty and I feel like lying to you would be pointless anyways. Also, No.  They didn't tell me how I died but since I don't remember I don't see how it's of much importance.

"You only think it's not important because no one has told you what happens when you fuse two souls together and seal one up.  Before you were Lynefra, you were the first god.  You were also the only god with enough good karma to actually reincarnate, though there's at least one more god who has died since you have that will probably reincarnate...unless he can rule the first level of hell as a ghost."

Lynefra just looked at Veorful, waiting for her to continue speaking.  Veorful didn't elaborate on either of the points she had just made so Lynefra spoke out loud, "So if it's important, will you tell me why?"

Veorful looked at Lynefra in shock, "Did you do that on purpose?" Her eyes narrowed.

"Do what on purpose?"

"That! What you're doing right now!" Veorful was sounding slightly irritated.  She didn't know of Lynefra had intentionally tried to "compell" her to do something and was just being a smart-assed teenager in her reponses or not.  Her personality had changed since her past life.  If Lynefra wasn't deliberately trying to "compell" Veorful, then why did Lynefra communicate directly to her mind before?

Lynefra, on the other hand, was completely lost.  "What am I doing? Talking?  If that's what you're asking about then yes, I am talking on purpose." Lynefra tilted her head in thought.  The woman in front of her must be crazy, what's so shocking about talking?  'Maybe if my past self is like the current me...that would explain her shock I guess," Lynefra thought to herself.

Streaks of light started to run down Veorful's hair, as if signalling her irritation giving way to anger.  "Trying to 'compell' a god isn't the wisest of decisions."  Veorful wanted to say "girl" but talking to the female reincarnation of her husband was already enough of a headache.

"Compell?" Lynefra asked, bewildered.  "Explain."  She had meant to ask for an explanation but her drowsiness got the better of her and it came out more like a command.

Veorful's eyes watered from an internal struggle with the compulsion command and didn't speak for a moment before gritting her teeth.  "It's a power inherent to any goddess of love.  Sometimes they favor a mortal child and bless them with a few of their divine gifts.  In your face it's charm, beauty, and compulsion." Veorful lost her fight to the compulsion.  "Charm and beauty affect both impulses upon sight and through the hearing of the beholder's voice.  Comulsion is a purely vocal gift.  If you didn't know this why were you communication through telepathy for the first part of our little chat?"

Lynefra's eyes widened.  She'd been told she was favored by Aphrodite but no one told her she could compell people to comply to her wishes by merely talking.  She silently cursed the gods for the apparent oversight in information.  Now she had even more reason to actually not speak. I didn't talk out loud because I don't like my voice, Lynefra pouted.

"Heheh," Veorful's anger disappeared and was replaced by a chuckle. 

What? Lynefra's mental tone was now that of annoyance.

"Nothing, you sound like a teenage girl, that's all."

I am a teenage girl? Even though it was communicated via telepathy, Veorful could still hear the sarcasm in the response.

Veorful's laughter stopped.  'That's right,' she thought sadly.  'All that's left of HIM is her.' Her heart ached.  Veorful and Lynefra's previous self  had been married (she was a male god guys, no les stuff....yet? >Very Happy [https://forum.royalroadl.com/images/smilies/biggrin.png]) and had a fight and in her anger she tried to destroy the Sol System in the Milky Way to get back at her husband.  He had been caught off guard and reached out with his soul in order to defend the 8 billion lives on the only inhabited planet in the system.  In that moment of selflessness he had gained enough good karma to reincarnate and his soul had deflected the world destroying slap (yes, a slap).  Unfortunate the attack destroyed the Andromeda Galaxy, most of the Milky way, and shattered his soul. 

She had been standing right in front of him when he sent his soul to defend the Sol System and consequently lost his life.  His expression had stiffened from pain and she smiled smugly to herself but his following actions first confused her, then broke her heart.

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

It had happened in less than a second.  Right after the pain in his face disappeared, she smiled at her.  It wasn't a smile of self satisfaction that he usually had when he had thoroughly annoyed her.  It was a smile of forgiveness and it confused her.  In that moment, she didn't think she needed to be forgiven for anything, but she quickly realized she did.  After he smiled, his body started to disolve.  The last part of him to drift away into nothingness were his blue eyes.

In that moment, she felt her heart shatter and felt the same pain he felt in his final moments.  The two of them were linked together.  After the first billion years together, he had shaved off part of his soul and given it to her.  She had merged it with her own soul so she would always know he was safe.  The act was extremely romantic for gods.  There was no gift more precious than a peice of your own soul.  It would diminish your own power and make you vulnerable to the person you had given it to. 

Nothing else in the Universe could have killed him but her.  He had a hand in the creation of most of the other gods in the universe and almost all the planets and stars.  It didn't go unnoticed when he died and everyone knew it had been her who killed him.  They had hoped it was her anyways.  The Universe was finite and he was always defending the borders of it against outside forces.  Anti-gods who weilded powers of pure annihilation, Gods like him who had created their own Universes and wanted more territory in the hyperverse. He was egotistical and wasn't exactly friendly, but he was just.  He was harsh to those who deserved punishment and he would help those who tried to help themselves.  He had taken it upon himself to protect the Universe, HIS Universe, against anything that would try and destroy it. 

The hardest part of the whole thing for Veorful wasn't that she had killed him, and it wasn't that he had died.  It wasn't that he passed too quickly for her to say goodbye.  The hardest part was that he didn't completely die.  His soul didn't splinter evenly, most of it was absolutely shredded and the whisps had solidified into stone, signalling true death.  Out of all the fragments large enough to carry on for a period of time, there were only two that were relatively pure.  The rest of the large fragments sped off in different directions, seeking ways to extend their own existence.  One of the pure pieces was fused to Veorful's soul, it had been his gift to her.  The only other remaining pure soul fragment had floated about for a short period of time before a ghastly looking skeletal-like creature had appeared to collect it and take it to one or more of the gods of the afterlife to judge and await reincarnation. 

Perhaps if his true body hadn't been materialized in the physical plane at the time, he would have persisted, but it required a huge amount of energy and power for a god to keep their form in the physical plane.  The surviving soul fragments represented various aspects of his personality and went together like water and oil so they couldn't reform and try to maintain function long enough for him to retreat beyond the physical plane.  Even if the fragments did, they still wouldn't have had the power to maintain his true form. 

A deep sorrow enveloped Veorful's countenance as she sat in front of the drowsy Lynefra and the sleeping Altresca (how freaked would ALtresca be if she woke up and saw her sister sitting there being a smart-ass to a god?). "I'll tell you why the death of your previous self was so important, "Veorful spoke in a tone of absolute desolation, "but the main reason I'm here is to actually hear you say 'I forgive you,' as unlikely as that might be.  I've also come to return something to you."

Lynefra noticed Veorful's mood swing. As she prepared to say something two figures appeared in the room on either side of Veorful, a female elf and a fox with nine tails.  "Run Lynefra!" Lystall yelled frantically as she moved to grab Lynefra's hand.

Before anyone had time to react little blue fireballs had been generated at the tips of each of the fox's tails and fired towards Veorful.

"AHHHH!" Altresca screamed and rolled over on top of Lynefra.  Lystall's yell had jerked her out of her sleep and her "big sister" instinct kicked in as she tried to shielf Lynefra from she didn't know what.

Quickly following Altresca's scream, the window at the far side of the room was smashed open as a blond-haired, blue-eyed man with wings flew in slashing a large broadsword towards Veorful.

"STOP!" Lynefra yelled in confusion.  Strangely enough, everyone stopped.  'This compulsion thing really works, huh?' Lynefra thought to herself.

"Lynefra, we need to go and I'm burning power like you wouldn't believe just by being here," Lystall said anxiously. 

"Quickly take her away, we can only hold Veorful for a short time," The winged man said with urgency.

The fox only growled.

"WINGS?!" Altresca exclaimed.  It was the only thing in the current situation that her mind could currently handle. 

"Lystall, would you please explain to me what in the world is going on?" Lynefra demanded.

"Lystall?!" Altresca exclaimed again, she looked at Lystall, then to Lynefra, and back to Lystall, "THE HOLY ELVEN GODDESS LYSTALL?!"

"uh, that's not the only deity in the room sister," Lynefra said, somewhat sheepishly.  Her voice caused Altresca to squeeze her tighter and rub her cheek against Lynefra's face. "What the- stop!" Lynefra complained.  The compulsion failed to work on Altresca as the body contact coupled with Lynefra's innate "charm" overpowered the compulsion.

Veorful smiled in amusement and waved her hand.  Altresca fell back asleep. "Don't worry, she's only asleep and her memories of this will be a dream," she explained before Lynefra could question her.  "How about we go someplace else." All of them arrived in the white void-world that Lynefra was all too familiar with.

Lynefra got the jump on the 3 people and the 9-tailed-fox in the white void-world, "start by explaining what in the world is going on!" She was both irritated and amused.

Lynefra, the fox spoke, Veorful has killed two gods in search of you since you were born.  She's been looking for you an- the fox was interupted.

She maimed two gods and seriously injured Syble on her way here, Lystall said hastily.

The winged man spoke next, Mother, place stop with this violence! Also...hello um..father? He looked at Lynefra before continuing. It's been a while.

Lynefra tried to sort out what she had just heard.  'A talking lavender colored fox..Kuzu? What gods got maimed and she beat up Syble? Also...father? I'll need to address the most important question first..' Lynefra stood in place for a moment before walking up to the winged man.  "Did you just call me father?" The winged man was as tall as Syble.

Yes! you remember? The winged man excidedly replied.

Nuts, this is nuts! She's going to die in a moment and she's more concerned with him? Lystall was beside herself.

Michael. It was Veorful's turn to speak, Lynefra has no memories of her life before.  Veorful was smirking.  'They think I'm going to kill her and she's more concerned with Michael addressing her as father.  Some of him is still alive in there.' Veorful thought to herself, her chest pained for a moment.