Almighty Me

II

"G-Goddess?"

Is this what the voice meant by all the power in the universe? Becoming a goddess? Sierra didn't flinch and looked around her. She had to act quick. Those men kneeling in front of her believed she was a goddess, right after she was granted all the power of the universe. It somehow made sense but no matter how Sierra thought about it, it was ridiculous. She became a goddess in a blink of an eye, just like that. There was something more important than understanding what happened, she had to do something. Not more than 2 minutes passed but it felt like these men were kneeling before her for an eternity. "What would a goddess say in such a situation?" she thought while making sure her uncertainty didn't show on her face, even though they didn't dare looking at her. Sierra was described as more haughty than average by her friends and way too often referred to herself as 'Queen Sierra'. It would have been great if she became a queen, she would know how to act in front of her subjects. But the current situation was totally different. She read a ton of books with queens and kings, empresses and princesses but if a god or a goddess was mentioned it was never really important. Another minute had passed. Damn it, she thought.

"Rejoice and receive the blessing of the goddess, my children."

Sierra was better than anyone at controlling her facial expressions. She learnt how to do it quite early, to hide embarrassment or sadness when she was bullied, back in junior high school. She also had to control what was commonly called a resting bitch face. She looked mean most of the time even though she wasn't particularly mean compared to her peers. If someone looked at her right now they would say she was born to become a goddess and knew exactly what she was doing. No one would have been able to tell she wanted to cry. Sierra had a fierce yet gentle look on her face and had spread her arms as if she was welcoming her children in her arms while the sun shined brightly on her white gown, contrasting with her deep skin.

"If I ever make it back, I should wear more white clothes. It looks so good on me." she thought after glancing at her reflection on the glass door. She was interrupted by the old man, who stood up, putting his frail body right between Sierra and the glass door.

"My name is Cernan, humble and faithful apostle of her Holiness, head priest of this place."

"Raise your head my child and have the others wait outside."

He didn't even have to say a word that they were already outside and she knew that. She just couldn't find a more gentle yet firm way to tell them to go out. She wanted to know as much as she could about the place she landed in and considering Cernan's age he knew probably better than anyone else.

Sierra looked around her and analyzed the room for the first time since she woke up there. It looked like a chapel. There was a bench on each side of the door, eight glass columns, a glass table right behind her and tapestries with an unknown language written on it. Sierra thought that she needed to find a way to secretly learn the language when she realized that she could read it. The alphabet and the pronunciation was nothing close to her native language but she could read and understand it effortlessly. She was a goddess, it made sense. But she didn't know anything about the world she ended up being in or that's what she thought. Her mind was suddenly filled with information about this world. From the kingdom and its ruler to the unsaid rules in the society, she knew everything as if she was the one who created it.

"It would have been nice if a throne had been prepared."

"My apologies your Holiness. We rushed here as soon as we received the vision of your arrival. I will order the best craftsman to make it"

"Nevermind. Is there something I can't do ?" she said while staring at the perfect location for a throne. She wanted the most luxurious glass throne and it was here, right it front of her and Cernan, as if it fell right from the skies. Sierra sat down in the most graceful way possible and nonchalantly supported her head with her hand. She was now the Goddess Neira, respected and feared across this world and Cernan was here to serve her. Anyone would have thought about it as a pleasant situation but she couldn't forget why she was summoned there. She had all the power that could exist to solve all the existing issues and it didn't look like an easy task that could be carried out by anyone, no matter how much power they had in their hands.

"I have heard and seen from the celestial place, my child. I have seen your struggles and your pain. I shall no longer remain silent. My children will live a peaceful and delightful life."

Cernan kneeled without saying a word. Sierra knew she didn't have time to waste since she didn't know if she would be able to go back before successfully finishing her mission so she decided to start fixing this world as soon as possible.

"Speak, my child. Let me know what have been the cause of your sorrow. I shall be the cause of your happiness."

Before Cernan even raised his head Sierra knew what he was about to complain about. The lack of funding for the cult. Most of the holy places dedicated to the cult of the Goddess Neira were in a pitiful state.

"I will be forever thankful for letting me speak in front of your Holiness. Your Holiness has always been blessing her believers but the king had never been kind to us. Despite their strong faith, the lack of funds is strongly affecting your Holiness believers."

"This damn king" Sierra muttered. Elfred III, the current king of the northern kingdom had been embezzling money for a while now and her believers were not the only one suffering from it. It looked like Sierra's first step to clean this world was taking care of the corrupted politicians.

"-rra"

"Uh" Sierra said while holding her head. The headache was back and someone else than Cernan was calling her name, in her head

"Sierra ? Sierra?"

She started to feel dizzy but she could recognize her mother's voice, making her realize that she was maybe about to go back to her original world.

"Spread the word throughout the kingdom that I have come to take care of my children. I shall come back when the time is right for me to intervene."

Sierra suddenly opened her eyes and was heavily breathing, as if she had been holding her breath for the longest time ever.

"Sierra ? Are you okay ? I've been trying to wake you up for a few minute now."

Sierra's mother was sitting next to her on her bed, with a worried look on her face. Sierra looked at the time. It was already late when she decided to take a nap and it seemed like only a few minutes passed since she passed out.

Without saying a word to her worried mother, Sierra rushed out of her bed and grabbed one of the notebooks she had been buying for no reason and started to write faster than anyone else.

"Sorry mom. I gotta study." She said so she didn't have to explain why she suddenly acted like that.

Fortunately, Sierra remembered everything she just experienced and knew she had to write it down before she forgot anything.

The world she landed in was divided in 4 kingdoms. The northern kingdom, ruled by Elfred Godredson and the eastern kingdom ruled by Telerig Segi served the Goddess Neira while the southern kingdom ruled by Phelles Botaneaites and the western kingdom ruled by Belu ap Gruffydd served the God Suxorr. Neira's believers were reputed to be much more cheerful than Suxorr's, which gave her the nickname "the joyful Goddess". The relationship between the 4 kingdoms had never been great but a war had yet to break. None of the current ruler had picked their successor and each royal family was on the verge of collapsing due of internal conflicts. The economy was awful. The rich were rich, the poor were poor. The middle-class was not a thing. The clergy was an exception, like in Sierra' world and was right below the royalty in the hierarchy. It was the typical medieval society that was described in any history book.

"So a headache means I'm either going there or going back here. But I can't commend my headaches. Which means I can be summoned there at any time of the day ?"

Sierra suddenly got worried. Today was convenient because nobody was home and it was sunday afternoon but what about weekdays . What about the rare afternoons she spent with her friends ? She would have headaches too during those times.

"Is this person summoning me whenever they feel doing so ? Is it because I had a particular thought ?"

Rather than finding a way to never go back, she wanted to find a way to control her travels to this mysterious world.