Gods Aren't Perfect - OFFICIAL

Chapter Seventeen: And Now, An Intermission

"I'm back." As Amelia closed in on the gates, the guards moved to let her in. "Any updates on Uran behaviour?"

"Nothing so far," Nerin responded. "They retreated. Thankfully, while we had many injuries, nobody is dead. We should be all right within a week. You got the artifact back?"

"Yes. Mind if I go on ahead? I need some time." The blonde entered the tower, silently marching up the stairs. Once reaching the top, she very carefully set her bow and quiver on the floor, curled up on the raised edge, tilted a little too far, and promptly fell off the tower screaming.

One hike back up again later - and getting chastised by the dark-skinned Flaura guard for sitting in dangerous places- she arrived back at her spot and curled up on the floor next to the edge. Holding the cup in both hands, she stared into its now-empty depths, questions bouncing around in her head, and inwardly ranting. Mostly the ranting.

A few minutes later, footsteps came up behind her. The Elder, Rose Briscone, stood there with her brother.

"Ame, you alive?" James spoke up first. "I mean, if you aren't a ghost..." He got kicked in the shins in response. "Okay, I get it, you're alive."

"Damn right I'm alive," the Flaura replied, but her tone was flat as she handed the cup to the Elder.

Rose took the cup and shook her head. "What happened back there?"

"Absolutely nothing."

"If you don't tell me, I will push you off the edge again."

"Elder-"

"You cannot stop me, James Magnoli."

"ELDER!"

"JUST SHUT UP!" screeched the blonde. "I got to Uran HQ with the team. We knocked out around fifteen of the fish. The ice boy fainted but froze everyone. Nature Goddess dueled with the Uran King and I knocked it out. Bam. Happy?!."

"That's not it. I know there's something else on your mind." Rose sat down besides her, as did the other tree spirit. "It's about the Goddess, isn't it?"

"She didn't kill the King. Didn't have the heart to. And that's fine, if it weren't for... you know."

"Sis, you have been going nuts over that one 'prophet of crimson' showing up once-"

"And revealing that all this time, we're subservient to a bunch of strangers who are somehow going to show up and save us all."

"Amelia-"

"Can you not see how crazy this is?!" The Flaura stood up with a sudden fire in her eyes. "Out of nowhere, somehow, some guy says we're all going to be saved by some random deity. Then the next thing you know, the goddess of Nature shows up, and she doesn't kill the Uran King. Leaves the damn fish unconscious on the floor. So we're going to be stuck with this problem while the rest of our village is going to go into some kind of mad phase when the fish show up again, because they're not supposed to. All because nobody listened when I told them the 'Prophet of Crimson' was probably-"

"Sis-"

"The Uran hasn't ever had a king before! And do you think it's just a slight coincidence that it shows up the day mister Edgy Prophet does as well?"

"That's enough." Both teenagers fell silent as Rose spoke up. "Whether or not the prophecy has provided our village with false hope or not, it doesn't matter now. We survived this attack and we can survive a hundred more. Now back to your posts, you two."

"Right, Elder." Although she left as directed, Amelia's worries never left her mind.

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