Eldritch

"I-Iori?" (A)

"Yeah, you basically only have to read it backwards. Not too elaborate." (I)

Why am I even telling her this?
Well, probably, because I've had enough of all these convoluted misunderstandings.

"No. But... That would mean... You... Can it truly be?" (A)

"Look, as much as you now want to freak out, I don't quite have the nerve for this. This right here is a very good example of 'never meet your heroes'. While I don't completely agree with Eryna, I need to admit that her interpretation of me is probably much closer to the truth than yours. I now only want to ask that you promise me not to start some kind of uprising with your cult, and then I'll be on my way, without destroying your worldview. Otherwise, I'm sure I'm not only gonna disappoint you, but will also make you question why you ever put so much time into worshipping me. Something that I neither require nor am asking for." (I)

That had to be said.
I can't stand it when people make baseless assumptions about me and even start to form expectations.
If I can hopelessly disappoint the leaders now, then maybe this whole cult business can be called off right here.

"Whom"

Or she throws herself with full force on the ground.
Urgh, that's gonna leave a bruise on the forehead.

"Did anything I just said even get to you? I tried to tell you that all this reverence in me is completely misplaced! So, would you mind standing up again?!" (I)

"You're the primal fear! The great opposition! The end for a new beginning!" (A)

"And I'm telling you that you got this totally wrong!" (I)

Just why are fanatic cultists so unreasonable if you tell them that everything they believe in is wrong?

"But you are! I could see it in your eyes! The nothingness, the end of all things!" (A)

"Oh damn, again?!" (I)

A snap with my finger and a subsequently opening eye tell me that indeed, my eyes are void of black.

"Just why can't I get this under control?" (I)

Maybe because I focus a lot of mental resources on preventing any outward effects in this realm.

"Your powers... That came from nothing! You truly are the one! The one to shatter this rigid balance towards a new beginning! Just as my great-grandmother foretold!" (A)

Was that seriously the impression Eryna had of me?
Well, based on our interactions, I can't blame her.
It stings a bit that she supposedly died in the meantime, but given the fact that she got to know her great granddaughter, she couldn't have had too bad of a life.

Even if said granddaughter is a nutjob.

"Well, except I'm not? I feel like you are misinterpreting me on purpose." (I)

"But you are the great destroyer! The enemy of the gods! The one to bring the new era by ending the old!" (A)

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

"Do you seriously intend to argue with me on my nature and what I'm supposed to do?" (I)

That sounds like the pinnacle of being conceited if you make this kind of demand to the very god you claim to worship.

"You've got a totally convoluted impression of me. There is nothing more to me than some special powers. I got no agenda or deeper insight. All I can do is this!" (I)

"Snap"

At once, I reconvert the matter of the room to take my telltale hue of purple and grow a bunch of tentacles.
Can't hurt to exert at least a bit of authority here.

"N-no, no. Forgive me! But, how did you manage to return after your banishment? Did, did our prayers manage to bring you forth?" (A)

"Oh god, where do I start? Let's just assume that everything you believe to know about me is just another misconception of yours. I was never 'banished' or something like that. I own this place, after all." (I)

"You, you what?" (A)

Should I go this far with disclosure?
Yet she's a cultist.
A cultist who assumed they worship a dark goddess who ends worlds.
Bearing the truth should be like the absolute minimum one could expect of her.

"Yep. I accidentally created this realm. All the little things and intricacies. But mind you, I never accounted for having you People here." (I)

"You, you didn't?" (A)

"Of course not! I'm ridiculously new to this god business, and you have no idea how complicated these powers are to wield. A single stray thought of mine, and stuff happens. You and your folks being one of these." (I)

"A stray thought? How do you mean this?" (A)

"Just the way I said it! Oh damn, you really are related to her. You have the exact same expression as Eryna back then. I, look, I didn't plan on populating this dimension, and once I noticed, you already had a whole civilization going here." (I)

"So what? Are you going to scrap this world? End it for good?" (A)

"Who do you take me for? A monster? I'm certainly not going to end you all. That's all just your baseless assumptions about me!" (I)

Otherwise, I'd already have done so.

Sure, I could feel my dark, and quite annoyed side, welling up for quite some time now.

Just makes sense that it's influencing this interaction.

"I don't understand! The scriptures clearly detail how you were banished. What would be necessary to keep your presence at bay. The great fight that marked Aureas' reckoning! How can all of this be wrong? Why didn't you claim your world if you could?!" (A)

"Because I frickin don't want to be responsible as your goddess! I got my own stuff to deal with at home! I seriously cannot administrate a whole damn realm of existence in my pastime! Why the hell do you believe did I appoint not one but two deities to do this for me?!" (I)

"A-appoint?" (A)

"Sure. Aureas was another unaccounted accident, I hope you're seeing the pattern here. Soraja was more of a freebee. I'm rather confident she tries in the way she deems it best. While quite self-conceited, she revels a lot in being the one who does a proper job, after all. But sure as there are nightmare dimensions, you don't want me to personally take care of this place. In fact, it would probably be best were I to push this place into the farthest corner of my mind, or otherwise I might involuntarily lay it to waste again." (I)

"Lay it to waste? Again? ...The Calamity." (A)

While I don't want to think about what happened there, it's something I need to take responsibility for.
It's not like the denizens of this world could truly punish me, but at least formally, I want to admit to my deeds.

"Yeah, another one of my not-so-proud moments. I had to deal with quite some heavy stuff back then. Also, I didn't even notice what happened here until it was a long time over already. But all that is not supposed to be an excuse. I'm just that inept as a being of unimaginable power. So, I apologize for what happened there. I'll give it my all to make sure it won't repeat." (I)

"You didn't notice? How couldn't you notice years of ruin?!" (A)

"Yeah, that's another problematic part. While I'm still connected to this world, it all happened while I was in a similarly ruinous state, and it stretched for so long because mine and your time were running differently. Like here, everything was much faster than on my side. I recently remedied this issue, as..." (I)

"... it was an accident." (A)

See?
We're learning stuff.

"I reckon you start to see how I am. So yes, all I wish for are two particular things that contradict each other as much as they align." (I)

"Which are?" (A)

"Alright. I guess it won't make sense at this point to withhold anything. Fine. What I want is to ditch any responsibility I may have incurred by creating this world along with your people. I want to be free from all this trouble. Live my life as I want to without having a bunch of religious lunatics making up for themselves that I have to be some certain way or even start to get the idea that I owe them." (I)

I look very intently at Alyssa while saying this.
The one who called a frickin cult in my name into existence.
That kind of stuff can get annoying really fast if you have to deal with the resulting lunatics.
In my opinion, only one step away from 'fans' who start stalking their stars because they obviously only exist for them.

"A-and the second?" (A)

Yeah, the second.
The second is my one big problem.

"I... I don't want to feel bad about abandoning this whole world. I want to know that it's a somewhat good place, so nobody can blame me for having created everything. I don't know how to make it happen, but I hope I can set up a system that will allow me not to be overly involved while nobody can complain about said lack of involvement." (I)

That had to be said.
All my struggles, all this anxiety, it's basically coming from this one contradiction.
I don't want to deal with troublesome stuff, but at the same time, I want everything to be okay.
It might be impossible to get both, but hey, we're talking here about me, or not?
And what else would I be?