The Greatest Sin

Admittedly, I am not in the inner circle yet and admittedly I have only known the deities I am referencing for only a short while. Could it all be a farce? Could it be a simple act of manipulation in some attempt to gain my trust? I suppose so yet I have to acknowledge that supposing as one of bitter paranoia. I suppose so, and yet I know it is not the case. A Helenna of the past would have come to the same conclusion, save for the fact she would have stated that they are not lying for they have no reason to lie. I am useful to them true, but am I so useful as to make them pretend to be different people?

Yet the Helenna of today does not even bother considering such things. That is how they have infected me with their shared bonds of family. It is not even that I cannot understand them, I can perfectly. The relationship they have, the ability to cast shade upon each other as they stand in each other's shadows may seem fantastical to beings such as Maisara or Allasaria but not to me. I have seen it in mortals thousands of times and I have had it explained to me even more.

It makes me feel stupid that I could not give myself to Arascus back then. But I could not because I was a different Helenna. Arascus had approached Allasaria, he had approach Fortia and Maisara and Irinika. That latter one, he had taken on as a daughter. When he approached me, I cursed him out of my sight. I remember to this day chasing him out of my temple and daring him to explain how dare he not pick the Goddess of Love first? How dare he insult my honour and pride like that? Was I not lovely enough?

I did not see the scale of the project back then. Now, I can only look in through the window at the inside of the house Arascus built brick-by-brick. Back then, the entry price had been trust. Now, I have no clue what it is. I don't know if the house is finished or not and seeing how things are, it is obvious that if anyone manages to find an entrance to that house first, it will be Kavaa rather than me.

Still though, there is something grand in how things have turned out. If I had been on Arascus' side in the Great War, Arascus would have most likely still lost against the combined powers of White Pantheon Arda, Tartarus and Paraideisius. I would have never been there on the Divine Mountain to propose the plan to free Kassandora. How would have things turned out then?

Sometimes, the thought does cross my mind. Is there space for a Helenna-shaped brick somewhere in that house?

- Excerpt from "To Talk Of Divine Bonding", written by Goddess Helenna, of Love, unpublished.

Arascus took a deep, sighing breath of the fresh air of his own presence. He saw the sun come out in the blue sky above them, a gentle breeze fell across him and blew his clothes to the side. His garden expanded outwards as this huge, almost demonic, library around him collapsed. Untouched bookshelves filled with countless scraps of knowledge fell down as fountains and statues took their place. Cold stone tiles flipped to reveal paving of marble. Walls and glass shattered as trees which never needed to be pruned for they grew to perfection burst out from their foundations. The dust from that destruction combusted into cleansing flames of gold.

And as Arascus looked around at that crumbling library, he felt his shoulders grow heavy and the fresh air began to taste bitter. That bitterness grew hot and sour until it almost twisted his mouth with both sadness and rage. Not at the destruction of the place, an untouched library like that, which only swallowed and devoured, but at the fact it had not been destroyed yet. Arascus turned around and saw the four Goddesses that had accidently been dragged into Baalka's soul.

Elassa, half-stood up, looking up at Arascus with awe. Those wide blue eyes had obviously been crying, her hands were shaking, her blue dress was dirty with dust and mud and sand and not a single one of the multitudes of rings or other jewellery over her were glowing. Neneria had collapsed to her knees, the Goddess of Death should have been taller than the other three and now, she was the shortest. Whereas the former was recovering from the storm of tears, the latter was in the full throes of it. Neneria was shaking as unrecognizable sounds that were obviously pleading for mercy and redemption and forgiveness spilled from her mouth.

Between the two that were stood up, there may as well have been a barrier separating them. Kavaa and Kassandora were either side of Neneria. Kavaa's grey eyes were clad in awe and relief, Kassandora's crimson one's were dull and hard. Kavaa looked at if she wanted to burst out and thank Arascus for coming, Kassandora looked as if she was wishing that she never needed to see Arascus again. Kavaa actually stepped forward, her mouth wide, Kassandora remained still. "Arascus!" Kavaa shouted. "You've come!"

Arascus nodded silently as he looked around the world. Neneria's library had been swallowing the bitter, poisoned and cursed swamp that was Baalka's demesne. Arascus had never seen either but the library obviously fit his eldest daughter, whereas he had to ask himself just how heavy the curse that the Jungle had cast upon Baalka truly was to make her like this. In the distance, bookshelves knocked one another over as if they were dominoes and walls cracked as if lightning was running along them and reducing them down to dust before flames of Arascus' own presence consumed that dust. From how far the ruins of the library stretched, Arascus could guess what was happening. The sweat and fatigue on Kavaa's relieved face completed the rest of the picture. They could not withstand Baalka's soul with just Kavaa's healing, so no doubt Kassandora said for Neneria to kill her. "I have." Arascus acknowledged Kavaa's reply but that was all he did. "You were going to kill her?"

Kavaa's smile immediately dropped and she took a step back. Back further than even the original spot, back behind Neneria. Kassandora closed her eyes and made a small nod of her head. "I was." She whispered quietly, that cracked the dam and the words came spilling out rapidly. "It was mine, not Nene's, my idea. I'm to blame for it, trust me, she didn't…" Arascus shut her up by putting his hand on her shoulder.

"You're not in trouble." Arascus said politely. "I trust it was the only way." Frankly, he didn't want to know the details. It was easier to just not question his daughter.

"Neneria is overwhelming." Kassandora quickly spilled more information. "That's how we were going to do it. Her presence would consume Baalka. That's…" She looked around. "I'm sorry dad."

"You were stuck in here." Arascus said. "There's nothing to apologize for."

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Kassandora nodded and closed the distance. She laid her head into Arascus' chest and hugged him tight. Arascus hugged her back as he gently stroked that red hair of crimson. Her black uniform was cut in odd places, she must have donned her armour then. He looked to Neneria, the Goddess of Death, was still shaking her head. "I'm sorry dad." Kassandora whispered again.

"Come here Neneria." Arascus said as the final traces of her demesne were wiped away by his picturesque and perfect garden. The Goddess Death slowly extended an arm out that Arascus leaned down, grabbed, and yanked up. Neneria let out a yelp as she was dragged to her feet and then embraced again. "I'm here." Neneria was tall enough that he only had to crane his neck a little to whisper into her ear.

"No dad." Kassandora wept. Arascus had thought he would be able to see the floodgates hold out until they at least got out of here. "I'm sorry because we couldn't do it."

"There was nothing you could do." Arascus said to comfort them.

"But…" Kassandora wept and spoke quietly into Arascus shirt. "I don't want you to do it."

"Do what?"

"Kill her."

Arascus gently stroked Kassandora's red hair once again. What a lovely daughter. He could not wish for one better. "Do you think I would ever harm you?" He asked.

Neneria shook her head silently and Kassandora answered verbally. "No."

"Then why would I ever harm Baalka?" He finally pulled away from the two daughters and turned around. "Now stay." Arascus took a step forward as Neneria's storm of tears was wiped away by the sunshine of smile. Kavaa burst out in laughter and Elassa kept looking at the God in awe. He took a step away from them, even as he heard Kassandora fall flat to her knees. Her arms swung loose by the sides of her torn uniform. She shook her head as Arascus proclaimed loudly for all to hear. For the four behind him and for Baalka. "I do not care for the rules of this world Baalka! I have come to get you!"

What he did to let Baalka's diseases break through his garden, he did not know. Disease began to tear at flowers, plant pots were ripped apart by bulbous growths of cancerous cells that sprouted on dirt. Infected mycelium devoured stone. The blue sky was made sickly once again. Arascus cared not. Now that he was here, he would not let one daughter harm another with the simple reasoning that she was not allowed. Maybe if this was Arda, were material laws applied things would be different but when it came to dimensions that operated on willpower and nothing else, then there was no none who had the will of him. Of that, he was certain. He would swear it on his Pride.

"Come out Baalka!" Arascus yelled into the air once again with all the command of a parent searching for their child. She was his daughter, he loved his daughter, she would be allowed to walk wherever she wanted and do whatever she whimmed. Almost on cue to his shout, a trail of disease, a huge snake like the great worms that once plagued deserts before they were hunted down, formed in the horizon. It fell from the sky like a river of illness and disappeared into the ground. Arascus took a step towards it. That was her.

And if it was not her, then Arascus was sure it would be her by the time he got to it.

That great snake burst out from the ground an entire pile closer. Arascus took a step forward. It soared into the sky and disappeared behind clouds of filthy yellow pus. Arascus took a step forward. The God's eyes tracked that massive tendril of disease as it reappeared and fell back down to bury into the ground. Arascus took a step forward. It burst out from the ground again, fetid swamp water and consisting entirely of infected cartilage were thrown into the air. Arascus took a step forward. The worm roared as it came down once again. The sky opened up.

Arascus took a step forward.

"FATHER!" Kassandora screamed from behind him as Kavaa echoed the woman.

"NOO!!" The Goddess of Health screamed as Neneria's crying reached his ears. Another apology. What for? Arascus did not know. They should have more trust in him.

Arascus spread his arms to either side and looked up at all Disease coming down upon him. A smiting pillar of malaise sent from the skies. All the shifting colours of sickness, from the crimson of swelling blood to the dark green of gangrene to the black of rot and the blue of bruising roared as a maw opened within them. But it was Baalka, and Baalka would not hurt him. Time would run out before Arascus' faith in the family he forged would shatter.

Arascus took up a step forward and Arascus was swallowed.

A torrent of disease, of every parasite to have existed in history, of every plague that had ever felled man, of every illness that kept a child up at night and of every malaise that sent one into a sleep eternal fell upon Arascus. It washed onto him, it tore at his clothes, it fell into the ground below him. And yet it did not touch him. Arascus simply stood, arms outstretched, eyes opened, as what should have been the searing, devouring heat of all Disease tried to annihilate him. The material was a mere blur, a cascading waterfall of sickly colours that joined together into a colourless mass.

Was that it?

Arascus took a deep breath of fresh air.

That is what he thought of this world. "Come out Baalka!" He shouted. "I'm here Baalka! I'm here! I've come for you! BAALKA!" His voice boomed from not just down the pillar of disease around him, but across the entire world. He screamed his daughter's name out into the sky and across the entire world. "BAALKA! I AM HERE FOR YOU!" Arascus used his powers to rise into the air, whether it should work or not was not a matter to him. It would work because it was him, that was as far as the logic went. And he rose higher through that pillar as he shouted. "BAALKA! COME NOW!"

He felt a warmth from above him. He saw a breaking the colours rushing past him. A single hint of pale skin that tried to hide amongst the noxious greens and the poisonous browns like a precious rainbow hiding behind a storm cloud. "BAALKA!" Arascus screamed out as he lunged forwards. In that moment, all the armies of the world would have needed to stand between him and his daughter to stop him. It was still a coin toss whether all the armies in the world would have succeeded.

He fingers wrapped around a delicate wrist. The force of his lunge dragged them both upwards further but Arascus did not care. He wrapped his arms around Baalka and nuzzled her small figure into his chest. "Shh." She whispered, stroking her dark hair. "Shh. You're safe now." He had caught her. It was over. It was over because he said it was. "Baalka. Come back now. We're waiting for you back home."

For the briefest of moments, Arascus fell through nonexistence. An infinite darkness that stretched in all directions forever. And then Arascus stopped falling.

Arascus opened his eyes. He was in a wooden room. In the same wooden room that the operation had been started in. There was a green mist in the air. Black blood was splattered across the bark, it burned like acid what it touched.

It was almost disappointing that Elassa was the first sound Arascus heard. The Goddess of Magic was in front of him hurling up blood. Kassandora coughed from by Arascus' side, and then suddenly she collapsed towards Baalka. Neneria, holding her breathing walked with Kavaa to the two Goddesses on the ground and Arascus realised that the room around them was poisoned from the amount of black blood on the ground. He saw grey Kavaa grab one finger of Neneria, one finger of Kass and one finger of Elassa in one swipe and proceed to heal them. Anassa hovered in the corner hidden behind a thin barrier of sorcery to shield herself. Arascus tasted the sour air although he didn't care. It was just Baalka, she would not hurt him.

He shifted to check up on the table on which his daughter had been left and then realised there was a weight in his lap. Arascus looked down. He saw the most beautiful creature imaginable: Baalka stared up at him, covered in her own black blood which had spilled out of her own mouth. That didn't matter though.

Those lips slowly formed into a smile.

Dark green eyes, absolutely brimming with vitality, stared up him.

Another daughter had returned.

- - - End of Arc 15: All The Health In The World - - -