.The Child Of A Goddess.

-137-

Deus' pov:

I looked up at the mountain.

My eyes wondering across the volcano's sides and the top covered in clouds of smoke.

This was once my home.

Long ago I tried climbing back up so many times and failed just as many times and gave up.

But...

I need to try again...

I promised her I'd try.

I promised Aura I'd climb it again.

She always said to me that it wasn't impossible and one day I'd succeed.

But now she isn't here to witness the fulfillment of my promise to climb it.

But I must do it.

For her.

---------------------------------------

The walk up the mountain started at a light incline and the higher I got on the side the higher the inclination was.

I stumbled and tripped through the rocks at the bottom, feeling only numbness from the scratches and scrapes, the storm inside having numbed all the pain from the outside with the pain from inside.

I started to use my hands to brace myself and not slip and roll down the incline.

The journey up the mountain was a long and strenuous one.

And before you knew it.

I was climbing up sheer vertical walls, grabbing on every little ledge or crevice in the stone I could find, the climb progressing slowly.

One hand after the other.

One leg after the other.

One meter after the other.

Inching higher and higher.

My arms were starting to be terribly sore and I was tiring, having rarely eaten or slept while travelling was taking a toll on my body and the fact there were less and less to hold on.

"Come on." I whispered with frustrated tears in my eyes, trying to reach a really small ledge, just enough to hook my fingers on. "Come on!!"

The volcano shook and I slipped, grabbing the ledge but slipped, leaving me dangling by my fingers.

I burst into sobs right then and there, feeling so weak, I would never make it, I would fail, why did I even try, there is no way up further, it is a lost cause.

A cold breeze blew by me, reflecting the cold storm raging inside that numbed all but also raged as hot as the sun.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" I screamed in disrepair and punched the wall, my magic sparking on it own and blasting out in violent burst as my emotions weren't stable at all.

My fist rested in the dent for a while before I looked down at it and pulled my hand out.

With a small weak battle cry I punched the wall higher, leaving another indent.

I grabbed onto the new ledge I created, staring without a word before pulling myself up and blasting the rock higher, no melting it as it was such short bursts of violent explosions I could muster right now.

With this strategy my hands soon were throbbing with pain from my own magic, the debris, the sharp edges and the cold but I was making my own way up.

I was never desperate enough to get to the top to realize this, I was never so desperate as today to succeed, to hurt myself beyond use if it meant getting to the top of this mountain.

It was so lonely, here in the cold, only my magic bringing light into the deep dark night, no moon visible in the sky, as if the goddess was fleeing my sights for what she didn't prevent.

Anyone else would have given up, climbing when the sun was rising but I didn't, I had a promise to keep.

When finally my hand touched something else then sheer walls I couldn't feel anything, neither did I went I pulled myself up and sat on the ledge, neither did I when I glanced to the left to see in the distance the town's walls I always longed to return too.

I started sniffling while putting my head into my hands and cried, voice cracking from the strain of how much I cried but I didn't care.

I did it but at what cost?

Aura wasn't here to witness it.

The one person I wanted here wasn't and will never ever be.

I looked at the rising sun.

I did it.

I did what I set out to do.

So I turned around put my feet into the holes I made and slowly started to make my way down.

Home is not here anymore.

Home is where Aura was and she is no more, I did as promised but now I must get back to my business... Getting the ashes to her home...

The way down was faster but not less tiring, the second the incline was not dangerously steep anymore I just let myself slide down.

I glanced up at the tall volcano one last time before turning away and letting my legs carry me towards the capital, one promise completed... I hope you are proud of me Aura...