Chapter 34 Goddess Embrace
Chapter 34 Goddess Embrace
Deep within her private quarters inside the luxurious estate of Smaragdus, Saint Solenne knelt on the cold polished marble. Her hands were tightly clasped against her chest, her fingers trembling slightly as her long silver robes spilled around her like molten moonlight.
Her eyes were closed, her long lashes wet with unshed tears. Before her stood a small altar adorned with silver candelabras and burning white incense, casting dim, flickering shadows against the stone walls.
For hours, Solenne had been praying in complete silence. Yet, beneath her devout exterior, her heart was aching with a hollow, suffocating sorrow.
Oh my Goddess... where are you? Solenne wept silently in her mind, a drop of warm sorrow slipping down her pale cheek. Have you truly abandoned me? Have I committed an unforgivable sin in your eyes? Or have I disappointed you by becoming entangled in the petty politics and gambles of mortals? Please... my Goddess... grant your faithful servant even the smallest sign...
Around this time she only feel terrifying silence. To a Saint whose entire existence was built upon her absolute devotion, that divine silence felt far worse than death. It felt like being cast out into a frozen void.
Then... the universe answered.
Without warning, the soft breeze inside the sealed room completely froze. The air grew impossibly thick and heavy, vibrating with a primordial, suffocating energy that made the stone floor hum beneath Solenne’s knees.
The calm, slender flames of the tallow candles on the altar suddenly flared upward, burning with erratic, brilliant bursts of pure golden and sapphire light. The scent of sweet, celestial flowers filled the room, completely overpowering the burning incense.
Solenne’s heart leaped into her throat. Her breath caught, her eyes opening wide as a tear spilled over her lashes.
She knew this feeling. It wasn't a mere holy spell or a passing blessing. It was a true Divine Manifestation. A luminous, radiant smile spread across her tear-stained face as her prayers were finally heard.
Before her physical eyes could fully process the light, the physical reality of her room dissolved entirely.
In a fraction of a second, the stone walls, the velvet curtains, and the wooden furniture vanished, replaced by an infinite, boundless sanctuary of liquid light. Endless white mist drifted across a floor of shimmering crystal, reflecting a sky filled with gentle, swirling auroras of gold, silver, and pale blue.
And standing in the center of that boundless celestial plane was her Goddess.
Solenne’s breath was completely stolen away. In the long, ancient history of the Church of Light, divine revelations were always delivered through disembodied voices, holy scriptures, or faint, blurred illusions. Never had a Goddess manifested her true, physical form before a mortal Saint not even to the grand founders of old.
The Goddess before her was a masterpiece of divine perfection. Her radiant skin was smooth and white as freshly poured milk, glowing with an inner luminescence that lit up the vast space. She was draped in a single, flowing garment of pure white silk that clung gracefully to her ethereal figure a silhouette so flawless, so ideally proportioned, that no mortal woman could ever hope to rival her grace.
Her long, silky hair cascaded down her back like a waterfall of spun gold, framing a face of divine, indescribable beauty. Her eyebrows were delicate golden arcs, and when she turned her gaze toward Solenne, two dazzling, sapphire-gemstone eyes locked onto the Saint, sparkling with the light of a thousand stars.
"O-Oh... my Goddess..." Solenne choked out, tears bursting from her eyes as she collapsed entirely onto her knees, bowing her face into the glowing crystal floor.
Her body trembled violently with a mixture of overwhelming happiness, profound relief, and absolute reverence.
"You... you have not abandoned me!" Solenne sobbed, her voice trembling with raw emotion. "Forgive this low, worthless servant who dared to doubt your divine mercy! I thought... I truly thought I had failed your expectations, that you had turned your gaze away from my unworthiness forever...!"
Soft, soundless footsteps echoed across the crystal floor.
The Goddess moved with impossible, floating grace, coming to a halt directly before the kneeling Saint. Slowly, the divine entity leaned down, extending a delicate, porcelain hand to gently cradle Solenne’s trembling cheek. Her touch was warm, comforting, and filled with a divine energy that instantly washed away every ounce of fatigue and sorrow from Solenne’s soul.
"Oh, my sweet child..." the Goddess spoke.
Her voice was an intoxicating, celestial melody a harmonious blend of whispered winds and golden bells that resonated deep within Solenne’s soul.
"I have never abandoned you," the Goddess murmured softly, a tender, motherly smile gracing her perfect lips. "How could I ever turn my back on my most faithful, lovely child?"
The Goddess reached down, gathering Solenne into a warm, gentle embrace. Solenne sat frozen for a beat, completely stunned, before sinking into the divine embrace like a small child seeking shelter in her mother's arms. The scent of holy starlight enveloped her, melting away every doubt she had carried.
"It is alright, child. You have done so very well," the Goddess whispered, gently stroking Solenne’s silver hair.
Solenne sniffled softly, burying her face into the soft silk of the Goddess’s shoulder before looking up with wide, tearful eyes. "B-But... my Goddess... if I have not angered you... why did you remain silent for so long? Why did you hide your presence from me?"
The Goddess paused. A faint, surprisingly human blush swept across her porcelain cheeks as she looked away slightly, a small, embarrassed pout touching her lips.
"Well..." the Goddess hummed softly, clearing her throat. "The truth is... I was simply far too shy to show myself around them."
Solenne blinked, her crying instantly coming to a halt. "S... Shy?"
The Goddess turned her gaze upward, staring into the swirling auroras above as if peering across countless millennia of forgotten history. A soft, deeply affectionate, and nostalgic look softened her brilliant sapphire eyes.
"Aaah..." the Goddess sighed wistfully, her voice dropping into a gentle, longing murmur. "It has been so very, very long... Master..."
Solenne’s mind came to a screeching halt. She stared at her Goddess in absolute, utter bewilderment.
"M-Master...?" Solenne stammered, completely unable to process the word coming from the mouth of the supreme creator of her faith.
The Goddess turned her head back toward Solenne, giggling softly at the Saint's utter confusion.
"Ah, my poor child... you must be terribly confused," the Goddess said gently, taking Solenne’s hands into her own. "Before I granted you that divine premonition weeks ago... I felt a sudden, familiar resonance tearing through the boundary of worlds. It was an aura I knew better than my own soul. I tasked you to seek it out merely to confirm it... to ensure that his arrival would not cause an accidental disaster for this fragile world."
The Goddess smiled warmly, her sapphire eyes sparkling with pure, unadulterated joy.
"You do not need to feel afraid or anxious around your current companions, Solenne," the Goddess explained softly. "One of them... is an ancient acquaintance of mine. He is the grand, magnificent being who created me, who raised me, and whom I love more than life itself."
Solenne’s jaw dropped slightly. The one who... raised her?! The one she loves?! Solenne’s mind instantly flashed to the quiet, dark-haired young man who casually sat in her convoy, Rael and vhal’zhar...?!
Before Solenne could recover from that mind-numbing revelation, the atmosphere inside the divine realm violently shattered.
The warm, motherly warmth radiating from the Goddess vanished in a single microsecond. Her divine face twisted into an icy, terrifying scowl of pure, unadulterated disdain.
RUMBLE!
The infinite space shivered violently! The liquid light turned into a turbulent sea of dark, stormy shadows, and the air pressure spiked so drastically that Solenne felt as if a physical mountain had been dropped onto her shoulders. It was the terrifying, apocalyptic reality of a true Goddess's wrath a force capable of unmaking realm foundations.
"HOWEVER..." the Goddess hissed, her voice echoing like roaring thunder, her eyes narrowing into cold slits of pure venom. "...The OTHER one in your party is the most annoying, unbearable, obnoxious pest in the entire universe! Just thinking about his stupid, arrogant face makes my skin crawl!"
Solenne trembled, her breath completely catching in her throat as she cowered under the terrifying divine pressure. She didn’t know which one that anger her.
Just as quickly as the terrifying storm had erupted, the suffocating pressure vanished into thin air.
The dark shadows dissolved, the gold-and-sapphire auroras returned, and the Goddess’s face instantly melted back into a sweet, gentle, angelic warmth. She let out a small, dramatic sigh, placing a delicate hand over her cheek.
"But... well... I suppose he is technically my brother," the Goddess giggled softly, shaking her head with affectionate annoyance. "So... I suppose I must forgive his existence."
Solenne sat completely paralyzed on the crystal floor. Her knee felt utterly weak, her brain short-circuiting under the sheer weight of this sacred, top-tier cosmic information.
Her supreme Goddess... had a creator? A Master who raised her? And a brother?! And those two incomprehensible, cosmic entities were currently sitting in her guest suite down at the inn, casually eating dinner and playing with ancient cursed katanas?!
What in the world is this figures that has been with me all this time...? Solenne thought, her head spinning wildly.
The Goddess clapped her hands together with a crisp, cheerful snap, breaking Solenne out of her existential shock.
"Now then, my dear child!" the Goddess smiled radiantly, leaning in closer with a mischievous, sparkling glint in her blue gemstone eyes. "I have a tiny, very important favor to ask of you."
Solenne blinked, forcing her trembling voice to function. "A... a favor, my Goddess?"
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