Game of Insomnia | ✓

Chapter 21: The Astrals

|Your Point of View|

"Wake up, wake up!"

I breathed hard. The air was so dense. My eyes opened wide. It took a while before I realized, I had been surrounded by giant gods who were apparently watching me. They had their eyes fixed on me, as if I've done something wrong. "W-Where am I?"

"You are in the Astral realm, my dear," Shiva, the Glacian said.

Bahamut rolled his eyes, "Of course she is. Moreover she wouldn't be here if I weren't here to help."

"We've got no time for this, Bahamut," the Glacian chided. "War is now at its phase. Your decisions are quite rebuked, I say."

"Silence, Shiva," Titan demanded. The entire cosmos nearly shook. Leviathan groaned.

I watched mindlessly as the two deities argued, but eventually they were stopped by the Fulgurian's blast of lightning.

"Cut that, Ramuh," Leviathan hissed.

Ramuh took a deep breath and shook his head. "How long will we stay like this, my brothers and sisters?" He played a little with his long white beard. "But for once, I agree with Shiva. Time shouldn't be wasted."

There was a moment of silence. Then Bahamut was first to speak up. His dragon eyes darted on me.

"Child, we're in a short amount of time to discuss. The Astrals are getting impatient," he nearly jagged a whining Leviathan with one of his wings, then went back talking. "You must defeat the empire in the fastest way possible, or else. . ."

The god of light looked behind my shoulder. I then turned around, and of course, death will always have its own part. There stood Etro, the patron goddess of Insomnia.

The goddess of death.

She had the serene smile on her face. Her long, white hair flowed gently down to her feet. Sure enough, she wasn't fully in her godly form.

"Are you here to take me?" I suddenly asked. Part of me wanted to take that question back.

"I see that you recognize me immediately," Etro smiled weakly.

"How could I not?" I moved to face her completely. "You're the one who brought me back from the dead."

"Why, indeed, child. Your time has come. Your death eleven years ago— it had to be replaced by a new set of years of life. And so I revived you."

"But why did you. . ." I looked down. "You didn't have to bring me back at all."

"You don't understand. If you will only think of what will happen if  I didn't revive you," Etro looked into my eyes. "then the Game of Insomnia that has occured days ago has no meaning, and you are not there. There will not be any connection between Avalanche and the Crown Prince. Niflheim could have overtaken Lucis."

I couldn't respond. Etro sees the fate in every living thing. Now that I understand, I clearly have a purpose in Eos. To bring peace and ward off evil. I know, it's the type of cliche movie I'm into, but it's what's happening.