A Change of Fates

Chapter 2: Dust and Rock

"She's still alive." A grey haired woman in a white dress with billowing sleeves sighed in relief when she feel a pulse from the unconscious girl's wrist.

She was taking a stroll around the plains in search of herbs for medicine, accompanied by her close associate and fellow god, but she hadn't expected to find a person just lying around here unconscious.

"She doesn't appear to be injured, though her breathing looks is a little unsteady." The aforementioned associate of the woman, a tall dark-brown haired man in a white coat with a hood over his head, said as he crossed his arms while looking down at the unconscious girl in his companion's arms.

The grey haired woman's brows furrowed in concern, before she turned her head to look at her tall companion. "Morax, we need to take her with us." She said, with seriousness.

"Guizhong, you can't seriously think of bringing her to the assembly." The man, the lord of Geo himself, Morax, said with his usual stony voice. There's no change on his expression whatsoever, aside from his amber eyes looking down at his close friend and ally with an unimpressed gaze. A typical look on the god of contract's face.

"She was unconscious, in the middle of nowhere, without anyone accompanying her." The goddess of dust retorted back, looking back at the man behind her with a firm yet soft and gentle gaze. "It's clear as day that she might be another victim of the Archon War. Our goal is to provide home and safety for the people who needs it, remember?"

"What if she's faking it?" Morax questioned with a raised eyebrow, causing the goddess to stiffen. "What if she's an underling to an opposing god, waiting for the opportunity to infiltrate the assembly, and destroy it from the inside. Or worse..."

Morax's amber eyes stared into the distance, specifically into the direction of where the territory of a certain overlord of the vortex and his faithful followers reside.

"What if she's another followers of him? He's been quiet for a while now, who knows what kind of hideous scheme he's planning." Morax said with a heavy sigh, remembering an unpleasant memory where his virtue to take pity on the weak and helpless had cost him with the lives of his people.

Guizhong contemplate what Morax just said. It's true, they did a similar thing before, finding a seemingly helpless person in the wilderness, taking them back to the assembly to take care of them, only to realize that it was a ploy for their enemy to infiltrate their base, weakening their defense long enough for their adversaries to strike in their moments of weakness.

The miscalculation on her part for that day will always haunt her. And she had sworn upon herself that such a mistake shall not be repeated again, that she'll be more careful and considerate onwards. But still... no matter how many times the goddess tried to refrain herself from helping a stranger on the streets, she can't. Her heart is too soft and gentle for her to abandon the weak and helpless humans, that is her duty as a god after all. Maybe it was a weakness on the eyes of the others, but maybe it was a strength of her own right, to compliment her genius talent and architecture and mechanism, as well as her cleverness in making battle strategies.

But now, staring down at this lone girl, every fiber of her being screamed at her to help this helpless child. The expression on her face looked sad, despite of being out cold, her eyebrows are furrowed, eyes closed and mouth slightly agape, and then her skin and her hair are drenched in water, making it seem like she just washed up ashore from the rivers nearby. That fact alone is an intriguing one, let's say that the reason of her current condition now is because she went to bathe in the river, why was she unconscious then? That question alone hwve strengthened the goddess' belief that the girl was possibly yet another of the many victims of the war. Perhaps a survivor from a clash between two factions.