Chapter 9

The battle between Anthuina and Jacilis was attended by only a few deities. No one was that concerned with whatever the battle was going to be. Yes, they might have been part of the important circle, but even with that their roles were often seen as insignificant that often people forgot about them.

Even I myself, didn’t want to go, the battle of a few days was still fresh in my head.

The gods were truly all powerful, to think that we were so sure that one side would win, prevail from the onset, only for the tides to turn and behold it was the other. Also, I was scared. Not only scared but petrified. I couldn’t imagine going against such a god like Kiluaroth and to think that he might not even be the god I would face at the end, terrified me even more. They were too powerful, no wonder they were known as powerhouses. I was ready to throw in the towel and beg for mercy because if my people thought I had a chance because I was chosen by another god, they were sniffing some high-quality smoke. I had no chance at winning, I was going to the lion’s den to get skinned alive and hung like a cape. I was doomed even before I began.

It was because of this sourly mood, I resisted strongly against Arthy’s advice. I didn’t want to see another god throw it down and make me feel even worse but with the strength of a bull, I was dragged to the podium to watch. From the onset, I realised that it wasn’t going to be like the other one.

For one, it was a plain field, nothing in site and the women weren’t dressed like people going to war or fighting. In fact, Jac looked like she had just woken up and was furiously scratching her underbelly. Anthuina looked like she always did in the stories. Long white flowing gown, with flowers in her hair and twisted as a crown. Everything about her gave off an angelic glow of which many envied and some could look in adoration. I gave Arthy a side eye, which he replied with a glare.

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‘I’m so tired, can I just go to sleep and you’ll kill me? Or should I kill you? Either one is perfect for me as long as I don’t have to spend energy.’ Jacilis was actually serious. To be honest she was angry with what happened to Anthuina but at the same time she wasn’t as invested as the others. Call her selfish but the truth was, she was lazy. She was angry for a few days and after that was ready to continue being a god to the humans but everyone. Everyone seemed hellbent on hating and wanting to start over. Now it is because of a human they are fighting and doing all this. She was glad for one thing, her fight was at the beginning and win or loose this round, she was still going to die.

Fighting against ‘her’ was a death warrant and anything to not see her on the battlefield was easy for Jac. ‘But… but I…don’t want to kill you. You’re my friend and I love you. Please do we have to do this?’ Gosh, her whining was so irritating. Did she think anyone was buying into the façade of her being so kind and not wanting any fight?

‘Babe, please. Shut your mouth and decide which one of us is going to die. Don’t even dare interrupt me. Claiming that you’re all loving and everything. If you were all loving and didn’t want to kill anyone, shouldn’t you have stopped what your brothers and friends did all those years? Torturing innocent humans, people who have nothing to do with what happened to you. But, where were you? Crying, nope. You were right there, in the middle of it all, cheering for their destruction, hiding your smile behind your hand. So, don’t you ever claim to not want to fight, just accept it.’

Man, that was a lot of words coming from my mouth. I think it’s time to sleep. Being lazy is a lot of work and I… I don’t remember, what? What was I saying before? Wait!!! Why are my legs disappearing from my body? What? What is going on now??? As Jacilis could only look in horror, as her body slowly disintegrated from her very eyes. The last thing she ever saw was Anthuina’s smirk before she walked away.

I couldn’t believe it, nobody could actually. We were all frozen as we stared at the goddess of fertility wipe off the blood of her friend and lick the edge of the sword. Her face was screwed shut in what looked like ecstasy and the gleam in her eyes, she enjoyed it. I was sure of it. The truth was to me, Jacilis didn’t deserve what happened to her. No one deserved to be betrayed like that and I doubted she cared so much about the consequences of what she did. Even Arthy could not fathom what happened and was quite the whole work back home.

GOD’S REALM

Everything was in chaos and everyone was behaving like their heads were cut off and in their hands. No one could get what Jac said out of their minds. She wasn’t known to lie, rather she wasn’t born with the gift and ability to lie. She had always been truthful. She would rather keep quiet than lie. For her to say Anthuina was lying, deceiving all of us, was unbelievable and no one could see her doing it. After all, she was the one begging for us to be fair, to partake in this foolish tournament. There’s no way she played us for fools, right?

Nobody wanted to accept it, not even her brother, because it meant that we had been played. Our feelings had been warped into a need of vengeance and it had been her plan from the beginning…