A Better World (Record of Ragnarok x Reader)

Chapter 31 - Land of Beauty and Wonder

Lost. She had lost. To a human of all creatures.

The verdict of their first mission hit Athena hard, making her nails coil into her bare skin and her ears ring to the drum of her heartbeat. And for the first time in her immortal life, she suffered from lethologica. And no matter how many times she wrecked her brilliant and omniscient brain she could not put into words why her chest felt so full and empty at the same time.

Her face remained indifferent.

Athena inhaled deeply, feeling the oxygen slowly but steadily fill her lungs and puff out her chest. She then held her breath. Waiting. Waiting for what? She couldn't say.

Her face remained indifferent.

Exhaling, she took her first step through the portal, her foot feeling nothing beneath it before she was whisked away at lightning speed by what felt like a comfortable blanket wrapping around her entire form, a pleasant shift from the cold sweat previously grazing her brow.

Her face remained indifferent

And as she and her two companions were travelling past various realms of sandy dunes and snowcapped mountains, she would occasionally glance over her shoulder to look at the fae male following the same current as them. Is he also part of her game? the goddess pondered, that unpleasant feeling once again befalling her chest.

However, a blinding light soon forced her to close her eyes, and the sensation of air roughly hitting her skin stopped as her once-floating body lowered onto the soil beneath her. She could feel the soft grass tickling her feet through her sandals, but she paid it no heed and instead turned her head to look at the two males.

Fenrys was leaning against the purple trunk of a thick tree. The colour would have been impossible to see if not for the glistering strands of... silk? Hanging off its twisted branches in pastel colours of blue, pink, and yellow. Athena's scanned her surroundings. The entire forest was glowing – whether it be as small as the dense and tangled bushes that only stretched to her calves, or the ancient and gnarled trees that extended past hills and mountains.

However, what had truly caught her eye, was the narrow road just beside where her right-hand man had landed. It was straight, and plain despite the glowing white stones that decorated its surface. Not saying a word, her feet crunched the grass and neared the path. She heard clothes shuffling and soon treads following her.

"Do you know of our whereabouts?" Her voice was a low rumble, like distant thunder, carrying an underlying threat. "Fae."

Deimos shifted his eyes to the male in question. A smile tugging his lips at the mere thought of seeing him nervously fiddle with the sleeve of his shirt or stare elsewhere to soothe his drumming heart. But to the god's great annoyance, the fae simply looked to be bored.

Fenrys rolled his shoulders and stretched his arms, leaving himself fully open for any direct attacks. Deimos flared his nostrils at his comfortability. Fenrys, however, simply cracked his knuckles and then his neck before finally addressing the goddess. "Sorry, what did you say?"

Athena stopped in her tracks, acting like a steady wall between them and their path ahead. Her black, morbid eyes met his, and to her utter frustration, he did not so much as flinch. Instead, his head tilted slightly to the side. "Is there a reason we stopped?"

Deimos snorted in disbelief as he beheld the male. "Of course, you wouldn't have the brain to understand why." Fenrys eyes narrowed, and he seriously contemplated hitting that smug smile off the god's face. But, he had promised his queen to behave. Unfortunately.