Silver Lining

Side Story

Birdsong filled the forest.

The sun washes the green land with a golden glow.

Wind whistling around disturbing the leaves.

Earthy scents on the wind from damp land after the rain are strong that could almost taste the earthy air.

Deers roaming around, woodpeckers pecking the tree, ants crawling and making their own nests.

In the middle of the forest, there is a big pond and there is a beautiful lady sleeping under the shade of a large tree close by the pond.

The soft sunlight reflects off of her long black hair to the beautiful dark blue. 

The lady has a young face around 17 to 18 years old.

As she lost a lot of her divine powers after breaking the rules by interfering in another god's affair, she looked younger than her usual appearance and sleep for a longer time to replenish her power back as soon as possible.

It was a tranquil situation as she is in the land of nod.

However, it was just a moment.

 Out of a sudden, the temperature of her realm dropped significantly that making her long eyelashes flutter and revealing her deep green eyes.

Even before she could focus her sight, a hand grabbed her neck.

"Ugh!"

Her body falls backward to the ground.

She tried to get herself up but was rendered immobile by the force on her neck.

Beads of sweat were forming on her forehead.

She shifted her emerald eyes to the owner of the hand and opened her mouth.

"Heok! O-orabeoni—!"

"That's right. I adore you like my own little sister as you and I are similar."

The lady failed to see the man in front of her as her tears accumulated in the corner of her eyes.

Despite that, she recognizes the aura and voice of the only existence who could enter and exit her realm whenever he wants.

Then the noble but indifferent voice of the man was heard.

"But, this time, I am disappointed in you, Ausra."

Ausra, God of Beginnings' mortal name. 

Her real name that no one knows except the existence in front of her who she deemed as her brother.

The goddess gritted her teeth and shouted at the god who dared to utter that name.

"Kughh! Do not call me by that name!"

It's the name that reminds her of her mortal days. 

Her end of life is not a beautiful one, hence she accepts her new beginning as a goddess more easily than any other god.

Even though hundreds of centuries have passed, the memories of her mortal days couldn't be erased forever.

"Ausra. You know your duty. You only deal with life, not death."

Then, the goddess curl her body as she twisted in pain when she felt the force not only on her neck but from all directions.

"Regarding the God of Death, I closed my eyes until the God of Despair was sealed. Except that, I don't need to spell for you, right? Not just that immature brat, the other gods also started act like him."

"Still not you too, my dear little sister. You are not just letting that brat do whatever he wants with reincarnation and transmigration of the mortals, you also did something foolish like him."