Session 59 – Parlay
"We got your message." Iridatha held up the piece of paper I had slipped into her pocket. "Very clever." Her eyes swept across me and landed on Hannah. "My champion. I see you found your way to where you needed to be." Her gaze slid over to Lily. "And then some."
Hannah's mouth fell open as she stared intently. "My light, you look and sound so different!"
"Do I? How peculiar." Iridatha seemed almost indifferent to such a revelation.
Lily rolled her eyes in an overly dramatic fashion. "Gods Above and Below, always so fucking cryptic." She looked to Hannah and gestured to Iridatha and Luna. "Your connection to Divinity has been strengthened. You're seeing them as they truly are, rather than as the concept they project."
"My connection to Divinity is... stronger? How?" Hannah's eyebrows pulled together in confusion.
The ginger's eyes slid over to me. "Yeah. Because your connection to Alexis has become deep enough. You're seeing them through her Precepts."
"So, you do have more than one now! How many do you have?" Luna's soft voice managed to draw everyone's attention as she finally spoke up.
I caught Lily's eye as I turned to the goddess of Truth. Trust was built on honesty; a lesson we had learned painfully.
"I have three now, including Love."
Luna's eyes went wide as she softly gasped. "How? The Divine Chain-"
"Luna!" Iridatha's sharp bark cut off her wife's train of thought.
The devil goddess huffed and flicked her tall wife on the arm. "Bebe! They're clearly very good friends or... more with Lap-"
"My name is Lily!" The fiery ginger cut her off with a fierce growl. "The monster Lapazulalei is... retired."
"Oh! I see. I... I really am quite sorry." Luna looked to me. "I'm sorry for standing by when Lothe hurt you." She turned back to Lily. "And we're sorry for Ninira. As well as everything that followed."
Iridatha grunted as her wife elbowed her in the side. "Yes. Ninira is one of my biggest regrets. That tragedy never should have happened. That, along with everything that followed was a poor reflection on Divinity and our responsibility to care for the Cosmos."
"Wow. I never thought I'd see the day when a god apologized." Lily actually looked a bit spooked.
"She's right, isn't she?" The words slipped out of me quietly as my mind wandered. They all turned to me. I forgot that everyone but me has dog-like hearing. "Malkiir said gods aren't supposed to be entwined. It's changing you. Truth influencing Life and Life inspiring truth."
"You may be right." Iridatha stared into the infinite distance as she too got lost in thought.
"So... how did you get the Precept of Love without the Celestial Chain?" Luna stamped her foot in frustration at how the conversation had been sidetracked.
I shrugged my shoulders. "We had a magical mishap. I landed us here and we found Pheidros's temple. There was an altar with runes on it. I touched it and we killed a golem. Then I got it."
"Fascinating. So then, you were drawn to it!" Luna pulled out a book and made notes.
"Love finds a way." The words slipped out and I laughed.
"This is all well and good, but I assume you didn't just risk your existence for a chat." Iridatha crossed her arms and challenged us.
I looked to Lily who nodded. "We really don't want a war with the gods. But... we're firmly of the belief that Lothe and Malkiir won't let this rest. We feel that I have no choice but to ascend, and we were hoping that Torr and Zikteiel wouldn't back a war if we could convince you."
The massive angelic goddess nodded in understanding. "No convincing necessary." She looked to her wife who nodded, before turning back to me. "We were already in agreement that the Cosmos could use a new goddess."
I sighed with relief. "Well, that was easy."
"Yeah. A bit too easy."
Fucking fuck, Lily. Have I taught you nothing? I flinched and looked around, but nothing happened.
Phew!
All around us, portals opened. I glimpsed what I suspected to be the Abyss before demons started pouring out of them. DM, you lazy bitch. Nothing can ever be easy.
Demon claws dragged across my exposed back and I fell to my knees, screaming with pain.
Status
Hit Points: 30/38
Condition: Bleeding
Iridatha roared, swinging her giant warhammer through an entire group of demons. "Mortals, to me!"
I scrambled up to my feet only to immediately get knocked back to the ground by two more as they collided with me. Lily bashed a demon in the face with her shield and looked over. "Alexis!"
Hannah waded through the demons that were quickly becoming waist deep, blood running from a dozen wounds across her body. My blonde angel ripped me out of a dozen pairs of claws and tossed me over her shoulder.
Status
Hit Points: 10/38
Condition: Bleeding
Luna bellowed, her roar of Divine fury nearly rattling the teeth out of my head as it evaporated a hundred demons. But still more flooded through the portals. The devil goddess picked up Lily and forced her way to her wife's side, arriving just as Hannah stumbled over with me in tow. The world vanished in a flurry of white feathers.
"FUCK. SHIT. MOTHERFUCKER!" Moira fell out of bed, swearing and windmilling her arms as she crashed to the floor.
Sterling screamed bloody murder and yanked the sheet up to her chin as the five of us crashed into a bloody pile on top of her.
I rolled off the bed with a groan, accidentally pulling Lily with me. She landed on top of me, forcing a pained grunt from my lips.
"You're heavy." I struggled for breath.
Her eyes narrowed, "Well, excuse my fat ass!" And rolled off me with an angry flop onto her back, but the twitch at the corner of her mouth took the sting out of her words.
"Everyone in one piece?" Iridatha sat up on the bed and looked around.
All the color drained from Hannah's face as she pointed a shaking hand at her patron goddess. "My light, you're bleeding!" We all looked at the weeping gashes on the goddess of Life Above's arm.
Well. Shit.