The King's Gamma (#Wattys2024)

Fifty Five

Present day

"You're saying that you have no idea what happened to Marcenia?" Sebastián King asked. "And that Anubis exists?"

"Well, the realm of souls is not particularly accessable by certain individuals..." Gem gave another smirk as he eyed the male sitting beside him. "Especially to those who have already stolen a soul before."

"Stole a soul?"

"As we've explained... Marcenia was never meant to be mortal, and you were never supposed to have any offspring survive beyond the womb."

"Then what was she supposed to be if she was never supposed to exist?" Asked an exasperated Dragon General in the crowd.

"A Goddess." The fox's smile brightened slightly. The slyness leaving him for a mere moment. "The Goddess."

"The Goddess?"

"The Goddess." He confirmed. "The one who reigns. The one who controls all. The Ultimate."

Sebastián King scoffed, not appreciating their insinuation. "How do you expect us to believe that you put some sort of ultimate being in our unborn child?"

"The better question is why?" Lavina interfered. "WHY would you do that to a godly being? Why would the others allow it?"

"Allow it?" The fox cackled. "The other gods instigated it. Marcenia's true parentage is the god of gods, the father of all. He is getting old, it is nearly time for him to rejoin the cosmos and be replaced, as they have all been replaced every million years or so. And who better to replace him than the being who most closely resembles him and his power? One who is the closest related to him? A part of his very being. The soul placed in your child was crafted from the cosmos itself, mixed with half of his own soul and all the godly love and fondness he had ever received. She would have made the strongest god tremble in his shoes at the mere sight of her. How could they allow such an existence? How would they easily get rid of her? How would they be able to kill her and usurp the throne so meticulously kept? Simple. Make the soul mortal. Then kill it. Only, the soul would have rejected a weak body and once it entered a body strong enough to keep it... It became undead. Immortal and undead all at once... how do you kill something unkillable?"

"What are you getting at, Fox?"

"The Anubis taking her was another plot. The only way to strip a soul from all it has built up to be is to reincarnate it until it is stripped down to the core. Until nothing is left to reincarnate."

He let out another smile that sent a chill down many spines. "But, of course, things rarely work that way where Marcenia is involved."

**************************

It had been months since that day. The king, named Korain, had insisted that we stay at his palace to care for his meals and so forth. And he was concerned for good reason. I had detected poison in his meals several times, and even more so other incenses and similar instances. Someone really wanted the idiot dead.

And today was particularly a day of concern. Every five years the God's chosen came together in celebration at the Holy Temple of Illuminance. It was exactly what it sounded like, a Temple that had stones embedded in the walls that had their own light. So the entire area seemed like it was forever trapped in daytime. It was an eyesore.

Each Chosen could bring with them five people, two of which may go inside the Temple with them. Out of the five, I was chosen. And as many of the others apparently always laughed at him for not having a spouse yet, King Korain had begged me to go with him as his 'wife'. Moon was to be my handmaiden. She was an extra that was allowed due to her being with his wife, not with him.