Cursed Queen: Battle Against Gods

Homecoming

"The curse has manifested already?" Alwina asked.

She arrived today after we informed her about it. Drake also wanted to come with us, but he couldn't since he has a lot of duties as the leader of The Zodiacs.

"Yes."

She raised a brow. "Then, what are we waiting for? We should go back to the camp now."

Karis sighed and looked at me, so I looked down. I'm not regretting what I did, but they seem to be inconvenienced because of the promise that I made to Snow. Alwina also seemed stressed when we told her about the whole story, which made me feel guilty.

"Flare already promised, so there's no way we can just abandon them."

"Karis is right. We should go to the forest now and finish this quickly."

Alwina sighed. "Fine. Let's go now."

We were all silent on our way to the forest. When we arrived, we were surprised when two big creatures jumped in front of us. They appear to be wolves that are very big and have red eyes. They were pure white like the tree that emerged from Snow's body. Ah, they must be her parents. Who else could they be?

I got off the horse and slowly approached them. They two weren't hostile, so I figured that they wouldn't try to attack me. I'm not sure if I can free them since I don't know how to disable a curse, but I'll try anyway. I'm a goddess for a reason.

They bowed down to me when I was finally in front of me. I looked back at the three behind me who are ready to protect me in case something bad happens.

"You two are Snow's parents, right?" I asked them through telepathy, hoping that they'd be able to answer me if I ask them through it.

"Yes, we are. We would like to humbly ask you to leave the forest right now..." they replied.

Ah, they're probably going to be stubborn about this. I'm certain that they're not just going to leave if I tell them to. I'm not going to give up, though. Maybe I should just tell them what Snow wanted to tell them.

"Snow can't bear to watch you two anymore. She wants you to follow her now and leave the tree behind."

"You...talked to her?"

"Yes, and that's what she told me. If you're still worried about the tree, we'll put a barrier around it."

"We understand. However, the only way for us to ascend is to be killed by a god, which is you..."

My jaw fell while trying to comprehend what they just said. I thought they'll be able to leave once we form an agreement. I didn't think that I would have to draw my sword to help them out.

I looked back at the three to discuss things with them. "They said that I need to kill them..." I said with a dismayed look on my face.

Karis sighed and pointed at my katanas. "Go ahead. That's the only way and you promised, so you'll have to do it that way."

I pursed my lips and took my katanas out. The wolves bent down, waiting for me to strike them down. I felt bad and it seems like Karis noticed that I was shaking. He held my arm and guided me so that I won't feel bad. Ah, I'm glad that he's here.

"Don't feel bad, okay? They asked for this, and they're trusting you to do this for them," he whispered.

I heaved a sigh and closed my eyes as I struck the two wolves down with my katanas. Their pure white fur was now covered in red blood as they fell. My mouth went agape when I saw two souls, one was a man and the other was a woman.

"Thank you..." They smiled at me as they disappeared into the bright sky.

Oh, they were Snow's parents? I smiled to myself, happy that I was able to help a family. I'm not only doing this as a form of atonement for everything I've done during the past, but I really wanted to help them out. I mean, Snow really talked to me from the land of the dead to ask for help. Why would I even think of declining?

Didn't I just accept my responsibilities? What kind of queen would put herself first before her people? I refuse to be that sort of person.

"I'm really grateful to you, Your Majesty..." a familiar voice said in my mind.

That seems to be Snow. To hear the people I've helped thanking me for something I've done to help them makes me feel fulfilled. Ah, so this is what being able to help feels like.

I will no longer compare this to what happened to me in the past because there's no point in doing so. I found that habit of mine...somewhat annoying. Actually, it was really annoying that I kept on thinking of the past even after shifting into a new world.

We placed a barrier on the tree to make sure that nothing can destroy it. Anyone who has the intention of destroying the tree or taking anything from it won't be able to get past the barrier. We made it that way so that the people who just want to get a good look at the tree would be able to see it. However, once they think of doing something bad to it, they will be repelled.

I'll probably come back someday just to see if the tree is still alive. It lived throughout the century so I'm sure that it's going to be fine. Snow might have said that she doesn't care about it anymore, but she must have felt attached to it at some point. Of course, I might be wrong. If she wasn't, I would understand since it was the fruit of her curse.

"Okay, let's go back to the camp now," I said and turned to the three who are watching me like a hawk. Damn, they looked scary when I turned around.

They nodded and rode their horses. I did the same and we silently made our way home. Our things are here, so we can't just leave. They were oddly quiet while we were preparing our things, so I felt awkward.

This is probably about Aiyana. If it was possible, I would take her back to the city. But she doesn't want to because she thinks she'll ruin the balance if she did. According to her, two goddesses can't come to the city together because chaos would prevail, which we don't want to happen.

"Do you want to go to the hot spring one last time?" Aiyana asked in a small voice.

I smiled and held her hand. "Of course. Let's go."

The two also agreed, so we went to the hot springs to dip for a while. We had small talks, mostly about places they want to take me to. I asked them about places that they like and they started talking about places they think I would like.

"There's a place where my herd usually comes to. I want to take you there," Karis told me. "It's a pretty place, don't worry."

"Hmm, in my case, I want to take you to the island across the port. That place is known to be really magical. There are also pixies living there, so I'm sure that you'll like it," Alwina said while smiling at me.

I looked at Aiyana, but she seems to be frowning. We have finally reached the hot springs, but she hasn't spoken yet. I'm getting worried that she might be upset that she can't go to those places so I figured that I have to talk to her.

"Aiyana-"

"I only stayed here the whole time, so I have no idea where the places that you would like are at," she said as if she was about to cry.

I chuckled and pulled her in for a hug. "You don't have to take me anywhere. You already showed me a lot of pretty places around here and I'm really grateful for that."

It's true. Aiyana knew that I really liked places that look magical and showed me around the place. She never failed to take care of me, too, so I don't think I'd want to ask her for anything else besides staying by my side.

To be honest, I would like to take her to a lot of different places. That's why I'll try to find a way to make her come with me to the city and explore certain places with her. She deserves to see the world, after all.

She went silent, so we just bathed on the hot springs quietly. Both Aiyana and Alwina seem to be thinking of something deep, so I turned to Karis who was just staring at me. He immediately looked away when I caught him, so I couldn't help but laugh. That was quite cute, I must admit.

"What were you looking at, huh?" I asked as I plastered a mocking grin on my face just so I can tease him. I saw him frowning, but he refused to answer. Pfft.

I'm naked right now, so I decided to look at the symbol once again. It wasn't that big, probably just a radius of five centimeters, the arrows included. It started below my collarbone and is quite big and creepy-looking. Or maybe it's just me who found it creepy.

Despite that, I don't feel uncomfortable about it. The only thing that makes me uncomfortable is Chaos, itself. I hope I don't get those dreams anymore. Although, that seems to be impossible. It's trying to take over me, after all.

When we finished bathing, we immediately got dressed and went back home to take our things and leave. It was originally the plan. Once the curse manifests and is no longer dangerous as long as I remain focused, we ought to leave and go back to the camp. We just wanted to prolong the time that we could spend with each other.

We called Koryu and he immediately came, so we placed our things on his back. Only Karis and I would ride him because Alwina would teleport even though it drains her mana.

"Shouldn't we spend the night here?" I asked hesitantly.

"No, we have to go back to the camp and discuss the plan with them," Karis replied sternly.

I pursed my lips and nodded. He's right. I shouldn't let my personal feelings rule me and delay our schedule just because I want to. We already postponed it for a while because we wanted to be considerate of Aiyana's feelings, but I don't think we should keep it up.

"I've been thinking..." Alwina trailed off. We stared at her and waited for whatever she wants to say, so she became a little conscious. "I found a way to suppress the gods' and goddesses' extreme power. I can guarantee that this would work, so we can bring Aiyana to the camp."

"What?" I asked, surprised by what she just said.

So, we can bring Aiyana there? A smile slowly formed on my lips as I waited for her to continue explaining the rest. I looked at Aiyana who looked like she just got her hopes up. Karis doesn't seem to mind as long as we don't destroy anything, so it looks like we'll be able to pull it off.

Alwina cleared her throat. "Yes, what I just said is correct. We can take Aiyana to the camp and even to the city as long as we suppress her powers."

"Thank you for your consideration, but why are you doing this for me?" Aiyana asked while smirking.

I pursed my lips when Alwina panicked after hearing Aiyana's tone. Karis wanted to laugh so he hid behind me, trying to cover his shaking shoulders.

"Shh," I scolded him while smiling.

"I'm not doing anything," he whispered while holding my arm.

I looked back at him only to see him trying his best to stifle the laugh. I slowly shook my head in dismay as I looked at the two who seems to be getting along well. I'm glad.

"I...I'm only doing this because I was hoping that you could teach me and my fellow mages to use the mana restoration technique," Alwina replied while stuttering.

Oh-ho? The Great Archmage is stuttering because of the Goddess of Time, huh? I smirked upon hearing their conversation. Despite the teasing, they are actually very fond of each other. Although, I didn't think that Alwina would go through the trouble of finding a way to help Aiyana.

The two seems to enjoy their moment so we stepped back. And besides, I also wanted to talk to Karis. Hmm, I don't know what to talk about, but I just want to spend some alone time with him.

"Why do I feel like you've been avoiding me recently?" I asked.

He's usually affectionate, but he doesn't seem to be that clingy anymore. Or maybe I'm just imagining it? I stared at him and waited for his explanation. His constipated expression made me want to laugh, but I had to suppress it.

He lovingly looked at me. "I wasn't. Hmm, maybe you felt that I was distant because I'm always sleeping? And besides, I've been really worried about you."

The way he said it gave me butterflies and I couldn't stifle a smile. He really has a way with words and it's making me feel some sort of weird feeling. When he saw me smiling, the both of us started laughing.

"Why did we laugh again?" I asked when we finished.

He shrugged. "I'm not sure either," he replied while smiling like a kid.

"Your Majesty, I think you should depart now. I'm still stacking my mana up, but we'll leave as soon as I'm ready to open the portal," Alwina said after a few minutes.

We nodded and rode Koryu. "See you!"

Since it's almost night, we had the poor dragon fly at full speed so that we can stop by the small part of the mountain that's safe. We'll spend the night here since we can't make a portal. It'll be a hassle for Alwina to bring all of us back, after all. The two of them will arrive at the camp before us.

When we arrived at that place, it looked the same. We had some food prepared so we ate it first. Koryu hunted magical beasts for dinner and went to sleep immediately, probably to prepare for tomorrow's journey.

Meanwhile, we cleaned up first before going to sleep. Cyrus was on my shoulder the whole time, waiting for us to finally sleep so he can do the same. He never sleeps when we're awake, probably worried that we'd want to suddenly need to communicate with Drake.

I raised a brow when Drake suddenly spoke through him. We were still busy cleaning, but we paid attention to him. This must be some sort of emergency. He often checks upon us, but we just talked to him yesterday.

"Some of us have been deployed all around Plaisiria. You might meet any of us tomorrow, so please exercise caution. We cannot guarantee that their spell would break after meeting you, so don't expect that you will be able to get away with it immediately."

I sighed and massaged my temple while looking at Cyrus. "Okay. Thank you for the warning. None of them has approached the forest recently, right?"

"No, Milady. The forest and the camp are safe."

"Hildus wouldn't try to burn the forest, right?"

"Preposterous. No one would ever try to burn it. Karma would immediately strike down anyone who tries to harm it. Don't worry. And besides, I'm here. I would know if he's planning something like that."

I smiled. "Thank you, Drake. I promise I'll repay you once this is over."

"Uh-huh. How do you plan to do that?" he asked teasingly.

Karis cleared his throat. "Are you two done talking?"

"No. Don't butt in," Drake replied stubbornly. "I'll be waiting for the day you repay me, Milady. But I have to leave for now. You know, I'm a busy man."

I chuckled while shaking my head. "Alright, then. It's a promise."

We said goodbye to him after that, even though Karis was a little grumpy. Cyrus still waited for us until we finished cleaning up. How cute.

"We're done. We can sleep now," I told him when we finished.

Karis sighed and looked around. "You two can go ahead and sleep. I'll keep watch."

I shook my head and pulled him towards Koryu. "I can sense danger. You don't have to overdo it. If I sense something strange, I'll wake you up."

He was hesitant, but he finally agreed. We cuddled in our sleep because it was very cold on this mountain.

"Are you sure you're okay with cuddling?" he asked hesitantly.

I nodded. "Yes."

When the sun rose, we cooked breakfast first before going on our way. Koryu didn't go at full speed this time since it's still early. We were being careful since there might be any of The Zodiacs around. I don't want unnecessary fighting, so it's better to avoid them or try to escape.

"It'll be troublesome if we meet Kath. She's a really sly one," Karis said while checking our routes.

Indeed. We're still not sure if she has broken free from the curse and she's quite a formidable opponent. She can paralyze her enemies and I don't want to go through that again. I also meditated so that I can detect anything that enters the 200-meter radius around me. After getting the hang of it, I decided to use it to help us whenever we go out.

Although I want all of them to finally break out of the spell, I don't want to risk fighting them out in the open. Hmm, I have seen their fighting styles but that doesn't change the fact that they might have learned something new. After all, what I saw happened more than a century ago. They might have changed a lot. I noticed that Karis has grown stronger compared to his old self, so I'm sure that it's the same for the others.

"I'm curious as to how The Zodiacs reacted when you suddenly betrayed them," I said out of the blue. "Oh, was that insensitive? I'm sorry..."

He shook his head. "It's fine. Of course, they got mad at me and chased me out of the castle. It was really chaotic."

"Did you carefully plan the act with Drake?"

"Yes. We had to make it look like he didn't know anything about me breaking out of the spell. Ah, just remembering makes my head hurt."

I chuckled and stared at him while he kept on talking. He seems to be enjoying small talks, so I decided to just listen to whatever he has to say. He doesn't like it when he's being interrupted while talking and would often get sulky. Hmm, let's just say that he's quite simple. I don't mind, though.

"Oh, wait! We're almost there," he said after quite some time. The sun is already setting, so it's good that we can arrive at the camp before night falls.

I looked down and noticed that we're already at the fields. My forehead creased when I noticed that the path towards the cave where I came from was already closed off. There were rocks in front of it, making it impossible for anyone to pass through. Huh, that's weird. Who could have done such a thing?

"What are you looking at?" Karis asked when he noticed me staring at something.

"The cave. It seems to be closed off now," I replied.

"It's either Bythos or Hildus, but why would they do it?"

I shrugged. "Who knows? Perhaps the humans from your old world found the portal and are trying to reach this place?"

My body stiffened at his hypothesis. What? Why would they try to enter a place they've never seen or heard of? I no longer want to see any of them...

"If I'm right, I will never let them come near you..." Karis whispered with an assuring smile.

He held my hand and squeezed it, so I smiled at him. I love how he understands me and my past and he never said something bad about it. He never fails to make me feel that I'm not alone and I'm grateful to him for that...

"I can see the forest now," I told him when we got past the field without any issues.

He nodded. "We'll be seeing home in a few minutes."

Home, huh? To think that I would have a place that I can truly call home. The camp may not look like a decent house, but the people there make me feel like I have a family. Isn't that what a home is?

When we entered the forest, I felt my heart pounding in excitement. Ah, are they waiting?

"Welcome home!" they shouted as soon as they saw us landing.

I smiled at them. "We're home..."