[Interludes Vol. 1.5] In which we finally meet Lumi, who f*cked around and was made to find out.(3/6)

"The Goddess Elara has always been the patron deity of my village." She said with a strained voice.

"I see. So that is how it was done! Marvelous!"

"What's marvelous, Great Protector?"

"The Creator has given the Bloodmaw a Saintess." It stated mirthfully. "I do believe this is the first time in history something like this has happened…"

"Do Bloodmaw not normally have them?" the male human questioned.

"What need have they for one? The strong live to become stronger, and the weak die as fodder for the strong. The Bloodmaw have no need for phony religions, or to worship any deity other than the Creator. Adherence to the ceremonies of blood is how the Bloodmaw show their worth in receiving the gifts the Creator has bestowed upon them, as the perpetual growth of the Bloodmaw is the only thing ever pleasing to the eyes of the Creator."

The words that the high abomination spoke were pure Evil's Doctrine!

"Does my daughter having some alignment with the Goddess Elara constitute a problem?"

"Who says she is aligned with Elara?" The Abomination said, which incensed me greatly.

"Well, you said there was a… taint."

"There is. But that's all it is. Did you not feel how pathetically weak her call to smite us just now was? It seems what blessings were given to her by Elara may have already been purged."

The human got up and walked over to me, squatting down and looking me in the eyes.

"Hello, Lumi. I'm your daddy. I'm sure coming into the world with so many people around you was probably scary, huh? It's okay if you don't know what I'm saying yet. All that you need to know is that you're my daughter, and I love you very much."

The existence of this human was a sacrilege. How dare a human cavort around with goblinkind and think he is clean enough to lay a hand on me, let alone call himself my father! Being filled with righteous anger, and not wanting to believe that Elara had forsaken me, feeling no more divine power in my body at the moment, I saw fit to bite him on the arm.

Ka-thump!

I screamed.

I screamed but couldn't remove my mouth from the arm of this despicable human male. The taste of his blood was like the ceremonial ambrosia given to me to drink at my baptism when I first became a Saintess. I felt my body burning up while my thoughts became muddy. In that moment, all I wanted to do was devour this man entirely…

~~** Interlude | Stella **~~

It's been three days since my daughter, Lumi, was born. What was thought to be a Blood Fury turned out to be something else entirely. Neither the Old One nor that thing—the Great Protector—knowledgeable as they were on the history of the Bloodmaw, had an exact explanation for what occurred. A discussion involving Ark and Glace came up with some excuse that it must have been Lumi's body undergoing some necessary change in order for her to be able to use divine magic as the Bloodmaw Creator's first Saintess, but not since that one time using it after she was born had she cast any other holy magic.

With exception to myself and Ark, Lumi is actively hostile to all the other Bloodmaw. When it comes to Ark, all she desires from him is a mouthful of his blood… for me, she is willing to nurse, if begrudgingly, to continue living. She never ate the placenta, and as twisted as it sounds, I wound up doing it while she took a nap. If there was anything magical or divine within it, I felt nothing.

I think the only reason she's even willing to interact with me was when I had told her that even though I was a goblin now, I was once human and still believed in the Goddess Elara, even after what had happened to me. I told her about my life as a village daughter, about the adventures I went on together with Ark and Kairos, and about how it was a goblin subjugation request of all things that landed us here as captives, and subsequently led to her being born.

So far, motherhood hasn't turned out to be anything like I thought it would.

There is no such thing as a goblin infant. The closest point to that is the eating of the placenta and their first nursing. After that, it's straight into being a toddler. Within a day or so they can pick up the goblin language and begin learning life skills, such as hunting. Their teeth are sharp enough by then to crunch the skull bones of a rabbit. By the end of the first week, if they are smart and strong enough, they are capable of hunting small prey on their own.

When Lumi finally decided to speak to me, it was to ask me for something.

"Elara."

She had drawn a picture in the dirt on the floor of our cave-hole. It was the symbol of the Goddess Elara.

"You want this?"

My daughter nodded.

What she was asking me for was some kind of necklace. The symbol of Elara, the five-pointed star which represented the five virtues of the Goddess. I only know it because there was a stone statue of Elara in my village, and carved into it was the symbol.

I suppose Ivory could make something like that, but at the same time, I wanted to be the one to make it for her. Negotiating with Ivory, I was given some bones and string in return for a few rabbits I had hunted with my bow.

Lumi had sat down with me and watched as I tried my best to craft it for her. It was by no means perfect, and Ivory could have probably done a much better job of it, but Lumi was satisfied enough when it adorned her neck. She had gotten down on her knees and clasped her hands together, praying, from the sight of it. I decided to join her, though I only knew the prayers for a good night's sleep and for a good harvest.