Chapter 11- “The Goddess”

For a whole minute, Shinju couldn't help starting at the Goddess with a dumbfounded look on her face. Could anyone blame her? In all of her experience, in both lives, she never once thought that she would meet a God or Goddess in real life. Even though the people in the Empire pray and worship Gods, there has never been a sighting of them in over one thousand years. According to legend, the only sighting of a God was when Ares and Hephaestus both blessed her ancestor. That ancestor went on the establish the kingdom of Khalkis, which was the origin of the Empire. In over one thousand years, people have not seen a God in person. Sometimes particularly gifted people could be known to be blessed by a certain God or Goddess but, it is extremely rare. They are known as one of the Blessed and are seen as practically Demi-Gods.

There was no indication that the old Shinju was a Blessed one because she had never received any magical power from a God or any indication that a God answered any of her prayers. "Shinju wasn't one of my Blessed children, my dear. But, then again, the soul in this body isn't exactly Shinju, is it?" Asked the Goddess with a soft tilt to her voice. "But Nemesis' soul, yes, you are my dearest and most beautiful child." The Goddess reached out to the stunned form of Shinju and caressed her face gently.

"How?" asked Shinju, with a trembling voice she continued, "How did you know?" "Well Dear, how did you think you came to be in this body, in this world…" She replied, "Who do you think led you to the hideout cave with the flowing Holy Water? These are not things a mere mortal can accomplish, of course it required a little divine intervention!" Her tinkling laugh echoed throughout the endless span of stars. "Well," the Goddess continued, "let me get to the point since we do not have much time. The curse that you placed on Shinju will of course take effect and now that I have gifted you my powers, you will not have to worry about supplying the curse with mana. It will only fade away with the use of Holy Water, which you have plenty of. Just remember to always hide your eyes in front of others, never let anyone know that Shinju possesses those eyes instead of black eyes. At least until you are confident that you are strong enough to protect yourself from everyone, especially royalty and the other nobles." "But why?! What is so special about my real eyes? Why are they so dangerous?" She asked.

"I am sorry that I can not go into detail for now, my child." Replied the Goddess, "Just know that those are the Old Shinju's real eyes from birth and her mother hid them to protect her precious daughter. The Old Shinju's mother knew that it meant sacrificing her life to supply mana for the curse, but she did it so that her daughter may live peacefully. Truly a noble sacrifice…"

"Oh wow, time flies by so quickly when you're having fun! Our little chat will have to come to an end soon. But just know that if you ever need anything I'm just a pray and sacrifice away. And I will always be watching over you." The Goddess said, "make the most of the new life you've earned! I have high expectations of you and I'm sure you will exceed them! Farewell, little love." Said the Goddess before blowing an air kiss towards Shinju. Once the weirdly floating kiss mark hit her cheek, she suddenly started to fall at a rapid pace.

And back in her physical body, Shinju hurriedly sat up with a gasp and started to rapidly check her body for any abnormalities. Finding none she looked towards the sky and exclaimed "You couldn't be a little gentler next time!" Only to here that tinkling laugh echo into her ears once again. "Haaa." Was the only reply from an exasperated Shinju as a she took her palm to her forehead.