Goddess Vreta and the Realm of Dreams

The jackal god can feel the stares of the couple beside him as if it is piercing to his hoodie. He should better answer Ryuji. "Ryuji-san, you are still alive." Yubis awkwardly smiled.

"I am? Then where is this?" Ryuji breathed a sigh of relief. He pondered if this is not the divine realm with its dazzling white place, then why is he seeing the gods again? At this point, he could not think any rational reason.

"This is the realm of dreams." The lady with the crown of flowers sweetly spoke. "I am the goddess of fertility and harvest, Sefie." Then she continued introducing the other gods. "This is my husband, Hades, the god of Land in Zariya." She made a small gesture to the man who looked like a domineering cold CEO. "And Vreta, the goddess of dreams." And she made another gesture to that European girl.

Ryuji quickly gathered his thoughts and bowed politely. "Pardon for my unsightly behavior, I am Takeda Ryuji."

"Ryuji-san, we have to talk to you about what happened for the past few days." Yubis quickly engaged Ryuji to a seat that appeared out of thin air. Same thing appeared to the gods as if they chair were there in the first place. They were just standing a minute ago then he saw them taking seats then the chairs appeared in a blink of an eye. When he settled down to his chair, a round table appeared out of nowhere. Ryuji was astounded but he was able to recover quickly, he had been in the divine realm after all, and its possible same principle applies here.

"Oh, so polite…" The girl mumbled bashfully at the side. Her drooping eyes gazed at the man who bowed before them. Ryuji noticed she mumbled something to the other goddess, but he shrugged it off. It may be impolite to ask about a woman's conversation, more so a goddess, so he left them alone and did not pursue the matter.

"Do you like to join us Sister Vreta?" Sefie tilted her head to whispered to the girl. Though Ryuji was within their sight. Sefie asked in concern. Vreta is also a goddess from Earth before. She still bears her same aspect before. Vreta was also known as Breksta and was initially a goddess of dreams and twilight in a small community in Europe. She is a protector of people in their sleep from that small community back then. That started the dream realm. It was vibrant and full of life and like a small world.

Dream deities are very reliant on their aspects. Dreams are being sustained by a living entity, whether its human, animal or spirit. The more people believe in the benevolence of a dream deity, they are better to sustain the Realm of dreams. Each deity holds a door to Realm of Dreams which has two levels. The Meadow of Twilight and the Nightmare abyss. Since she was the protector of dreams, she guides the souls to dreamers to the Meadows of Twilight. She grew very fond of the community. She welcomed oracles, soothsayers, nobles and peasants without discrimination. It was after all like her family.

However, like Yubis, Sefie and Hades, Vreta was not spared by the change that went through the ages. People back in the black ages were slowly converting to christianity. When christianity spread through Europe, worshiping pagan Gods were banned. A lot of gods and goddesses were displaced. Like her fellow gods, she was forced back as less and less souls go to her doors. This brought gloom to the young goddess and retreated to seclude herself in exile in this psychedelic realm. The people she used to see are now gone as they converted to Christianity. There were only oracles, seers, superstitious people remained passing through her door. After generations, she was almost lost. She visits the previous souls who had not gone to reincarnation but even those were gone as well. She felt abandoned by everyone she knew. She can only rely on animals and less than a hundred people that passes through her doors. Slowly her domain deteriorated.

Hades and Sefie were managing Zariya when a request from a supreme being came to take in this lone goddess of dreams. Since there are lots of intelligent beings not only humans, Sefie stirred up the interest of this Lithuanian goddess to manage the dream aspect for Zariya. She was able to restore some of the Meadow of Twilight again but some parts like her home right now is still on a psychedelic state. She is busy with handling the new influx of souls but being abandoned by the small community she guarded herself with Zariya so that if they changed devotions to replace the gods they worship. She will not be hurt anymore.

As of the moment, the Sandman is a deity that holds the door of Earth, but he is a lazy person and could not care if the souls went in to dream was led to the Nightmare Abyss. He just wants to cramp up as many souls of humans on the realm as much as possible.

Sefie had been observing Vreta from afar ever since she had come to the new domain of Zatiya and fulfilling her role as the Goddess of Dreams for Zariya. She noticed how she mingles with the souls, but she knows that Vreta is guarding herself to her devotees as no one had successful been granted a major blessing from the goddess of dreams. Her current blessing is considered minor, even Takehiko, Hades and Sefie's adopted son, Vreta just bestowed a common blessing. For Vreta to show interest to a soul like Ryuji, Sefie knew she would need this guy's help.

"I'll just watch Sister Sefie. "Vreta whispered. Her cheeks blushed when she was asked. She was shy. She often hides behind Sefie whenever they meet Takehiko. She heard that this man is the older brother. "...maybe later" she continued. Her tone had a hint of hesitation.

Sefie gave a meaningful glance to Ryuji.

Ryuji sensed Sefie's glance, and he involuntarily got flushed. A goddess smiling toward you is quite overwhelming to the soul. Hades on the other hand, sensed it and gave a cold glare to Ryuji. He shivered as if he will be dragged down to the underworld any minute.

Yubis was explaining himself earlier about what happened during the transfer and profusely apologized to Ryuji. He mentioned about the snake incident for the past few days but got cut off with the cold feeling from his right side. "Hades-san! I am sorry." Yubis sweat buckets as he thought that Hades was mad at him with his transfer blunder.

Sefie made a light squeeze to her husband's hand, the cold aura went away as Sefie then whispered something to Hades. The rigid ice got melted instantly with a warm smile from like it was the sun during spring. She then turned to Ryuji. "… Ryuji-san, sorry about that." She innocently smiled.

"Yubis-sama, why am I here?" Ryuji regained his composure.

"Ah that… we need to do some additional plug-ins to your body." Yubis said in straight face. Because of the mishap last time, instead of being an elf, Ryuji turned into a goblin and landed on the opposite side of the forest. Hades and Sefie wanted to help Ryuji and reunite the brothers. He would also be answerable to Takehiko if something happens to his family. However, since the current body could not be changed with its race, Hades and Yubis devised a way to do the power up. They will be providing some modifications to the current body.

"Uhhhhhhh…." Ryuji was dumbfounded. 'Am I a computer or something?' He could not fathom how Yubis portrayed this power up.

"More like a DLC content to your body." Yubis explained further.

Ryuji does not know whether he will laugh or cry with the jackal god's explanation. Earlier it was a computer now he is compared to a game. It's weird that somehow his body is compared to a base game and this upgrade that they are talking about is similar to a downloadable content. Perhaps in a way, he should be thankful. "Uhm, can I request something?"

"What is it?" Yubis spoke. The gods were astounded with the request.

"Can you give me some combat skills?" Ryuji asked. He continued. "I want to live tomorrow." Ryuji looked intently to the group of gods. The looked stoic at the moment. Was it too much to ask to survive in a monster filled forest alone?