Where The Dead Ones Go Book 3 -Emirate-

Chapter 14

"The oh-so-famous demiurge of the "mythical" goddess of hope, Elpis. Vivet Vivier herself in the flesh!" the sultry goddess of discord said in a clear and obvious hint of sarcasm and contempt in her voice as she looked down on me with her glowing golden eyes full of uncertainty, unadulterated mayhem and curiously, pure fun just for the sake of it, "And now that Khronos has released our sealed memories, the Empress of the Empire of Plurinational Alliance Xenocracy. Not to mention the foster daughter of a child of Iris and the richest mortal alive or ever lived in that regard. You can't get all high and mighty like that, eh, Achlys?"

The sad and pitiful goddess of misery looked at me with the utmost disdain and nodded, "Absolutely annoying, Eris. Why aren't you doing your job, Nemesis? Tyche surely is playing favoritism on this one. Would you let that blind fool get away with just lumping every blessing on one mortal without compensation? So much for balance, huh?"

The three deities in front of me are of the same level as my mother in the very existence terms of sway in mortals, even immortals'.

But amongst them, I am more afraid of the one standing on the left and the unforgiving mother of Ramnus.

Unlike Achlys and Eris, she is not exuding an oppressive aura.

In actuality, she is just looking down on me like a judge contemplating a criminal's verdict before handing down her punishment.

In terms of facial features, she reminds me of my mother a lot and in a way that her powers are for everyone regardless of what you do.

Hope is always there as long as you want to live. You will hope unconsciously.

Retribution is the same, in my opinion. In everything you do in life, good or bad, she will always be there to look at the scales and see if the balance is disrupted or not before giving great action.

Both have bland or, let's say, forgettable features as they are meant to represent the equality of their domains. All is fair before hope and retribution.

"She long paid her due in spades, sisters," the goddess of retribution said in a cold, absolute voice before inclining her head and raising an eyebrow, "No changes required. The scales are even long before we even meet her."

Erina's mother blinks at me, and to my surprise, she and Achly's mother gave me a smile I never thought I can see on their faces.

"When you say it that way, I am inclined to agree, Nemesis," Eris said before sighing sadly, "To be fair, I don't think we can add more chaos and misery in her life. Even I am not "that" bad."

Mireus' mother looked at me with utmost pity as if she finds my situation even more pitiable than even her very existence, "It is a good thing that our children pledged their lives to her. She surely needs all the help she can get to at least try and balance the scales."

"I doubt even balance as we know it applies on that monster, Achlys," Nemesis said before finally offering her hand at me albeit cordially, "We may be at odds eternally with everything your mother stands for, we cannot and will not forget what you did for our children, to Ramnus. That might be the only time I appreciated Elpis for everything she stands for all along."

I accepted it gratefully and proceed to do the same with Eris and Achlys, who now looks more amicable than earlier.

"Besides, Erina really took a shine on you, Vivet. I guess unlike me and Elpis, she will have more success shaping you into someone more pleasing to our eyes."

The goddess of misery giggled uncharacteristically as they prepared to proceed inside the palace the moment they saw the goddess of day emerging from the gates, "I will never forget what Mireus told me that day. He never expected to taste hope when he knows he is born from misery. I felt that. We will be going now and don't worry. We will try our best to contain our great mother's "enthusiasm" at least until the wedding celebration is over but don't take our word on it."

And with that, they started walking towards their children, who are happily waiting for them at the doorway.

"That went better than expected," the dazzling goddess whispered jovially that made me smile a little, "Before I keep you to myself, let me get the introductions over with. I am Hemera, goddess of day and like Thanatos, your mother's closest sibling."

I nodded and let myself be hugged by her calming and warm presence, "I have a feeling that great mother agreed to be here because you helped, right?"

"Well, I threatened not to leave her palace eternally if she refused my sister's once in an existence request," she said after winking at me meaningfully, "If there is one thing she really can't stand aside from Elpis' presence is my bright persona."

"But of course, you are as different as, well, night and day," I said casually that made her laugh out loud as she unconsciously let out a burst of daylight that illuminated everything around her.

"Exactly, Vivet. Anyways, color me surprised, you manage to tame even Nemesis, Eris and Achlys. Knowing full well you are the goddess of hope's child, I am quite sure they will be antagonistic towards you at the very least."

I sighed as I let her lead me towards the central fountain located in the garden where several immortals are chatting the day away with other deities they haven't met for ages.

"Truth be told, I find them oddly similar to my mother," I said that made her look at me curiously, "I mean, when it all comes down to it, she will never be appreciated as much, consciously or not, if not for misery, discord and retribution. They might not be that different at all."

Hemera nodded as we sat down at the edge of the fountain and watch it flow fresh water from the newly activated aquifer, "When you put it that way, I guess you are right, Vivet. Different as we all are, we are all from the very same being. Darkness. At the end of the day, we are one and the same. Personifications of aspects of every living beings' existence. You could say that they most of our siblings may hate your mother, when they saw her begging at the foot of our great mother's throne, they felt that even with our differences, we are still family, siblings and honor-bound to assist one another in times of desperation and dire needs."

"Just like a regular mortal family," I said simply that made her nod in agreement quickly, "They may bicker and fight one another, at the end of the day, if one needed help, they will put aside their differences and come to aid no questions ask."

"So that we can peacefully go back to hating each other once the problem has passed," the bright goddess said as we saw Nyx walking towards Zeus all alone and without care nor respect, "I suddenly remembered an incident a long, long time ago, when Hypnos put the king of the gods to sleep at the request of Hera and when Zeus found out, he chased my brother to destroy him for his meddling but at the very moment he asked for sanctuary from our great mother, she quickly faced the angry lightning god unflinchingly and dared him to hurt her son."

I think I don't need her to tell me what happened next because right at this very moment, we saw Zenith's father cautiously regale the animated chat the goddess of darkness has initiated that looks very uncomfortable as if she is loudly recounting embarrassing instances of his life.

"She might talk and look cold, uncaring and dismissive, but her very presence right here and now in your wedding preparations speaks volumes of just how much she cares for Elpis as one of her children whose plight she can never ignore no matter how much she wanted to say and show otherwise," Hemera told me kindly, and I heard fondness in her voice that I really felt, "Goddess of the nothingness and darkness she may be. Brutal, fearsome and formidable, at the end of the day, she is just like any regular mother out there who cannot turn a blind eye on the problems of her children."

I nodded and smiled at her, knowingly, "And that is why for all her cold bravado, her children are absolutely and unequivocally loyal to her. Moreso than other family of deities I wouldn't dare name, Aunt Hemera."

"Indeed, Vivet. We are not showy or like to keep up the appearance that we are your respectable and model family. Far from it. As you said earlier, we are just like any regular mortal families. Will never end a single day without finding something to argue about but if any of us is in a bind, you can be sure that we will help each other out just as how much we are sure that our great mother will assist us."

I nodded as we saw Morris walking towards our direction, looking absolutely relieved and happy that his work is now done.

"Now I know why father always say how hard it is to keep his siblings in check," he said wearily as he sat beside the goddess of the day who gave him a kiss on the head fondly, "They are already planning on holding a game on which cause of death will be the highest after the celebration."

Hemera chuckled and pinched his cheek, "Don't mind them. They are just teasing you, Morris. My siblings know full well that killing off potential mortal allies this late in the war is counterproductive in the long run."

"You don't say, Aunt Hemera," he replied as he looked at me happily, "This is really going better than what we expected. Not a single deity is getting in a fight with one another. Even if they are mortal enemies."

I closed my eyes and heaved a worried sigh, "Indeed but I wouldn't just chalk this to our advance preparation. The goddesses of peace and armistice respectively are exhausting every bit of their powers as I heard from Lady Athena earlier. That, and I guess they know full well that this is not exactly the perfect time to fight amongst ourselves when we have a bigger fish to fry."

"Too true, Vivet. For the sake of peacefully getting back to our old arguments and disagreements, we must, for now, stand as one, or we wouldn't have someone to argue with if we fail."

My cousin and I look at the goddess sitting at our center, who suddenly looked pensively as our great mother suddenly appeared in front of us.

"Do you think we even have a chance, great mother?" Hemera asked the goddess of darkness, who surprisingly looked worried and stressed.

"Another thing to be thankful for being my spawns. We will continue to exist one way or another even if Typhon defeated and destroyed our physical forms," Nyx answered ominously as if that is even a remote possibility, "I have seen countless rises and falls of immortals long before mortals dominated Gearth as we know it and if there is one thing I am sure, you cannot eradicate us completely who are born from the very fabric of reality itself."

"Very fabric of reality itself..."

"That is right, son of death. As long as there is darkness, I will exist. As long as there are death and deathlessness, Thanatos will. As long as there is a hope for a bright day, a need for balance, chaos and something to be miserable about, Elpis, Hemera, Nemesis, Eris, and Achlys will exist, one way or another," Nyx answered my cousin, who looked surprised, "When I say one way or another, we can just be silent, unseen beings that exist and not have any means of interacting with the physical world. I couldn't say that that will be the same case for Zeus and his spawns as I reminded him carefully earlier. Once they are done, they are done."

I bowed my head respectfully before asking a question, "Great mother, please educate me, how is that so?"

"Unlike us, the Olympians and the younger generation of gods and goddesses are not the personifications of their powers like your detestable mother," she answered simply before spreading her slender arms and summoning the very darkness itself from within her very being as an example, "I am the darkness. From my powers came many personifications of existence to reality. As long as darkness exists, so will my spawns. The king of immortals and those he lords upon are not like that. They "control" the power they hold dominion over. They are not it at all. If they somehow ceased to exist, that's it. Do you even know why Zeus is the god of the heavens in the first place, Vivet?"

I quickly nodded in response as I remembered the story of how Zeus became the king of mortals and immortals alike, "Yes, great mother. He inherited, or rather, took by force the powers he has from his father, Cronus, the Titan, and the previous king of all there is. And he, in turn, got that very same power from Uranus, the very personification of skies above us when he defeated him and destroyed his very existence."

"Correct, spawn of mine. I don't want to be reduced to something like Uranus, thank you very much. That is a rather boring existence. Always watching, never doing anything. His powers are passed upon from one immortal to another and will never be his ever again," the goddess of darkness said matter of factly as she ordered my cousin to stand up so she can sit beside her daughter, "That is the reason why I chose to side with Zeus this time around. Typhon wanted to destroy everything but himself and I wouldn't have any of that nonsense. During the war between him and the Titans, I and my children have stayed neutral since nothing will change for us no matter who wins or lose."

Hemera faked a cough and chuckled at her mother, "But you've got to admit, great mother. When Lord Zeus has taken the throne, Gearth as a whole became a lot more interesting compared to when his father has called the shots."

"I will have to admit that that is correct, begrudgingly," Nyx answered curtly, "Back when the Titans are the lords of everything, they are just complete bore. They don't care for the existence of mankind, well most of them beside Prometheus, that is. When I heard that young Zeus has overthrown them, I was pleasantly surprised that he ushered a new age of immortals when everything, and when I say everything, I mean "everything," just got a lot more interesting. Mortals and immortals interacting regularly and casually with one another, my children producing odd mortal offsprings holding a fraction of their powers that keeps me entertained. Yes, I can agree with the fact that I will take Zeus' reign over Cronus and Typhon on that matter any day."

"Why not take it for yourself to begin with, great mother?"

We all looked at the demiurge of Thanatos, who is standing in front of us and looking reverently at the goddess of darkness as if he just realized how infinitely powerful she is.

"With your powers, you could have become the queen of all there is..."

To our surprise, Nyx just touched the face of Morris as if he made her remember a fond memory of her.

"You truly are a son of my Thanatos, Morris. He also asked me the very same question when he is around your age..."