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Chapter 192 - For the Record
🕑 Added 2024-09-17 12:24:44 +0000 UTC“Isn’t Hope great?”
“Uh. S-sure.”
That’s right, Izzy decided to name our horror ‘child’ Hope. Probably because she’s hoping to see her old friend again someday, but we’ll see. I’m just happy enough that she’s optimistic about it all.
Eris, on the other hand, has no idea whatsoever how to process the slobbering, snarling, giggling horror half-crawling, half-rolling around the tea table in her personal quarters.
I mean, where else would I be meeting her? She was already in here!
I nod. “Yes, so I’m a parent now apparently.”
My unwilling host sighs.
“At least it’s something you created and not something you… well. Don’t take it the wrong way, but the real doesn’t really need more like you.”
“So… about that,” I trail off.
And her eyes get slowly wider before she changes the subject.
“The, um. The pantheon still views you as an eternal foe and calamity, you know. I do wish you would warn me before you visit, if nothing else so I can ensure that I don’t already have company who would… Well. Report me to my peers, of course. The last thing I need now is for my own people to think I’m hosting one of their foes.”
I shrug. “I married Artemis of all gods, and despite her being in the light pantheon – even now – it hasn’t been an issue. Also, Arty absolutely adores Hope.”
“I’m sure she does,” the goddess of strife deflects.
…
Ah, I’d missed this peaceful quiet. Just enjoying some tea with a friend…
Just like Astraea always enjoyed, and I never understood. But that’s neither here nor there.
What is here is my ‘child’, who appears to have discovered the drapes and how they taste, while the smile on Eris’ face slowly gets more and more strained.
***
“…I have reason to believe that the calamity breeds. We’re likely to see more of them soon.”
My peers’ eyes widen almost as much as mine had on hearing the news.
“Are you sure?”
I nod hesitantly. “Yes, Ares. Yes, I’m quite sure, as it told me itself.”
More heads sharply turn toward me, followed by a rumble of voices disjointedly expressing horror, asking for more information, and any number of other things.
But there’s something far more important I need to say first; not saying it would be far too risky.
“Before I continue, it should be noted that I have never once invited it to my plane following its loss of sanity; rather it has repeatedly invaded it, apparently just to talk? I don’t know, who in all the hells understands how it thinks? Either way, it’s apparently artificially creating horrors as well as actual living offspring now. Don’t ask me how, I neither want to know nor to think about it.”
“Then we should move to destroy it now, should we not?” the hot blooded god of war rumbles in his usual baritone. “Waiting for it to amass a host of its kind would be nothing but a threat. We should wipe them out while we can.”
“And how do you propose that?” Achlys interjects. “It’s not as though any of us is strong enough to stop it now. Do you want to just politely ask it to stop? I doubt that would have any effect at all.”
How exactly did I wind up on the moderate faction’s leadership council with these two? I don’t even know.
Either way, it would seem we’re at our usual impasse.
But there’s one more thing I need to add, for the safety and longevity of all of these gods, as well as the faction, my plane, and my people.
“We absolutely must not fight it.”
The murmur surrounding us intensifies as I continue.
“Do hear me out, yes? I speak with reason. We’re all aware of just how deadly the thing is, and how none of us is equipped to do real battle with it. And so instead I would propose we reestablish relations with it, neutral if not good. It can clearly be reasoned with once again, considering not once has it invaded my home to do any more than sit and drink tea as though I’d invited it.”
They… really don’t seem to like that idea, from the looks and sudden discourse about the periphery.
Until Ares cuts in with, “Some may consider me a coward for it, but I agree. It’s far too strong a foe, and only a fool rushes toward sure death. Besides, a strong foe can be a strong ally, and with a strong ally one can face a stronger foe yet.”
“Surely,” our third asks in disbelief, “you don’t mean…”
“I absolutely do.”
A dark grin slowly spreads across the war god’s face.
“We use it to hunt Lamashtu.”
***
“I’m… I’m pregnant.”
I nod. “Yes, I know.”
Was this really what she’d taken so much time to build up courage for? To tell me something I already knew?
(How was she supposed to know that you already knew? You didn’t tell her, you didn’t tell her anything of the sort. Or that you were taking your kid to another plane, or that… well, much of anything, really.)
…
Oh.
(Yeah, ‘oh’. Idiot. Some things never change, no matter how many ancient gods get stuffed in that tiny mind of yours.)
It used to be your mind, you know. So aren’t you just insulting yourself?
“What are you talking to her about now? This is important!”
I blink. “Oh, sorry.”
…
“You didn’t answer the question.”
And now she looks unhappy for some reason.
“Uh. Well, she was berating me for not telling you that I already knew…?”
My wife furrows her brow. “How long?”
“How long what?”
“How long have you known?”
“Well… since I Appraised you, maybe a week ago? When we’d first talked about it.”
…
“Oh.”
“It didn’t show in your Status back then?”
“I DIDN’T LOOK!” Izzy snaps back. “Why would I look!? I didn’t want to know yet! I wasn’t prepared for it! I mean, who would be? I have no idea how to raise a child! And what is our child even going to be? I’m literally the personification of death itself, and you’re… you!”
I nod sagely. “Yes, it’s going to be something strong, so we’ll definitely need to teach it how to-”
“No,” she cuts me off, “we’re not going to start with teaching our child to fight, hunt, and kill.”
“Why not?” I ask with a shrug. It really makes no sense to me, if it’s that strong why wouldn’t we teach it from a young age…
Oh.
That’s the problem.
“You know, Izzy. The odds of it being anything like a human are very small. If it’s born as a monster, it’s going to be ready to fight and kill straight from the womb, complete with innate Skills. If it’s missing anything it’ll be a System, assuming it’s sentient at all. Although if it’s not I could always make it sentient and make a spirit to put in as a… a… oh.”
“No, you need to finish that thought. Make a spirit to put in what?”
Whoops.
“I mean, I could make a spirit to put in as a System Assistant so it’d be an ascendant from the beginning? That doesn’t seem like a bad idea, does it?”
Izzy gives me a thoughtful look before asking, “Why does it sound like you’ve done this before?”
“Well, I um. I kind of, made a radiant spirit… to make into a System Assistant for Hope when I first remade it? But don’t worry! It wasn’t against anyone’s will!” I blurt before saying quietly, “At least I don’t think it was?”
“You don’t think it was? What did you actually do?”
A moment of gathering my thoughts later I say, “Pretty much exactly what I said? I made a radiant spirit since Pearl was a healer, and then I made an Ascendant pact between it and Hope. So the kiddo is an Ascendant now regardless.”
A massive sigh leaves her, before she unexpectedly leans into me. Why? No idea. I guess humans will always be confusing to me.
“Why are you like this?” Izzy asks quietly, her face buried in my chest. “I’m begging you to make everything worth it. I need you to act like you deserve my love, when I don’t have any choice but to give it. Do you have any idea how much I need you right now? Especially since we’re going to have a child. Please? Can you please do better?”
I can’t help but furrow my brow. “I messed up again then? This was supposed to be a good thing… it was supposed to help Hope become Pearl later, sort of… it was supposed to be a gift. And I’d want to give that gift to our own child too… but if that’s so bad, what am I supposed to do instead?”
“Please just let them choose, okay? Wait until they’re old enough to choose, and then let them. Find a spirit that will willingly join with them. Or I guess make one that can choose, and let it choose? I’ve heard too much both from you and Nyx herself about how awful the experience of being forced in your circumstances was, and I can imagine how frustrating a compulsion to help would be as well, especially when you can’t even sleep to escape the situation. It sounds like a waking nightmare to me. Do you understand what I’m trying to say?”
…
“I think so… So you want me to just wait for now. Right?”
My wife lightly nods against me.
And I take that as everything else that needs to be said for now.
…
…
“You know,” she quietly breaks the silence, “we haven’t even discussed names. And we really should.”
Comments
Herohog
Thanks for the chapter!
