Chapter 59 – Unintended Alignment
The light had caught her off guard.
It hadn’t felt dangerous. There had been no pressure behind it. No harmful intent. Just brightness—brief, controlled, and oddly… precise. And considering where they were, the source was obvious as well.
The question was why; what was its purpose?
Orestis was reacting as though it meant something. Maxim was reacting as though it shouldn’t have happened at all.
Eirene watched them both, and waited. The answer came from Eleuthera, delivered between her bouts of laughter: Orestis had been made Chosen.
That was when Eirene understood what had just happened. She hadn’t been able to connect the dots initially because it had been very different when she had received Eleuthera’s Blessings. There had been no light or fanfare; just a quiet removal of constraints that one only understood in retrospect.
On reflection, the fact that Lyse had Blessed Orestis was not as shocking as it probably should have been. In the brief time Eirene had observed the goddess, she’d gotten a basic understanding of Lyse’s personality. The preference for precision, consistency, and the somewhat obsessive nature—these were all quite similar to Orestis’s own personality.
Although, Eirene had a feeling Orestis would disagree with the assessment. He would likely point out the specific areas where they differed, with careful attention to detail—which, Eirene was certain, would be another point of similarity.
At this point, Maxim finally voiced his grievance. “My Goddess! You can’t make him your Chosen! You have no idea what kind of person this is!”
And then Orestis agreed with him. “Exactly. This is a terrible idea. You should take back your blessings.”
Eirene found that amusing. From what she’d seen, Orestis would have normally disagreed with everything Maxim said, just based on principle.
“See that?” Maxim pointed an accusatory finger at Orestis. “He does not even value your blessings. Such blatant disrespect!”
Orestis looked at him, unimpressed. “Setting aside the contradiction in his argument, he does have a point. I don’t even follow your doctrine, let alone worship you.”
Lyse, who had been patiently watching the two of them go back and forth, finally responded.
“I disagree,” she said, smiling at Orestis. “You were sincere when you said I was the only god worthy of respect.”
“She’s right! I was there; I am a witness,” Eleuthera said gleefully. She was enjoying this far too much. Eirene also noticed the bag of popcorn that had appeared in her hand at some point.
Orestis opened his mouth. Then closed it with a frown. Finally, he said, “That was not what I meant.”
“My Goddess, you saw his soul,” Maxim said. “He was Chosen of both Marakthos and So—” he cut himself off, then continued, “—the Demon God. It would be difficult to find a worse endorsement.”
Eirene noticed the correction—the way he’d stopped himself from saying the name and using a title instead. Someone like Maxim would not refuse to say a name without a good reason.
She had never heard of the Demon God before—and that was probably a good thing. She understood that some things were better left unknown. However, she had already seen the name—it might be better, in this case, to know rather than risk a mistake due to ignorance.
She sent a message to Eleuthera through their link: Is there a reason he stopped himself from saying the name of the Demon God?
Eleuthera’s response came immediately: Oh, that? Sobekhar always hears it whenever his name is spoken out loud. He can be really annoying. No—actually, he is dangerous. Avoid saying his name at all costs, alright?
Eirene nodded, making a mental note of it. If merely speaking this god’s name drew his direct attention, it did explain a few things—like why he was virtually unknown on the human continent. She had at least heard of Marakthos before. A dark god, also known as the God of Vengeance and Slaughter.
Her gaze moved to Orestis again. She wondered if his bond with Marakthos had something to do with his parents dying, before he regressed.
Back then, Orestis would not have had the knowledge and experience he did now. He would have been just another victim—a single, untrained teenager with no connections—trying to go against a colossal organisation with ties to the Crown.
It would have been a hopeless task. Would he have made a contract with Marakthos in order to seek revenge against the temple back then? It seemed more than likely—it was exactly the kind of cold calculation he would make.
There’s no need to overthink these things, Eleuthera said through the link. Then handed her a bag of popcorn.
Eirene agreed with the sentiment. Orestis’s mysteries were slowly surfacing over time—either through circumstance, or because he chose to reveal them. As for what those revelations meant—and what they implied—she would evaluate each on its own merits.
She took a piece of popcorn, then sent via the link: I think I prefer it without the salt.
The goddess switched the contents, and they both settled into their chairs to watch the spectacle.
***
“He was Chosen of both Marakthos and So—the Demon God. It would be difficult to find a worse endorsement,” Maxim said.
Orestis glared at the idiot for nearly slipping up. He called that being careful?
“He’s not Chosen of either right now,” Lyse said.
“He’s probably killed more people than either of those gods,” Maxim said, pointing at Orestis.
Orestis scoffed. As if any human could rival Sobekhar in number of lives taken. He had a habit of taking offense at everything, and his go-to reaction—especially against those he deemed lesser—was to kill. Orestis was half convinced Sobekhar had set up his divinity to hear his name just so that he could find excuses to be offended.
“Honestly, the more accurate approximation might be closer to half of Marakthos’s number,” Orestis said.
Ironically for a god of slaughter, he took surprisingly few lives by his own hand. Vengeance had always been his primary domain—with the slaughter usually being an optional afterthought.
Before Maxim could add anything, Lyse calmly said, “However, you haven’t done any of that yet, have you?”
“My Goddess, just because he regressed and the events haven’t happened yet, doesn’t mean that he didn’t do those things.”
“He has a point,” Orestis said. He could not believe he was agreeing with the idiot—again. “Although, most of those deaths were unintentional.”
Maxim turned on him. “You once released a plague on the continent. An actual plague.”
“I was working on a necrotic poison for myself. It got away from me.”
Who would have thought the liquid was potent enough that its fumes would mutate airborne bacteria?
He did relocate afterwards, to an island in the middle of the sea to do his research. And started warding his labs properly—for all possibilities.
“And the time you flooded an entire mountain range with lava?” Maxim asked.
Ah, yes. That one was very early in my life.
“I jumped into a volcano carrying a phoenix heart to increase the temperature.” He paused. “The eruption was not expected.”
The heart—and the spells he’d woven around it—had stimulated the fires to make them burn hotter. But his cursed body had also reacted with the heart to provide it with even more energy, resulting in an unforeseen chain reaction.
The phoenix itself had been quite pleased with the energy it received for its rebirth. So much so that it even forgave Orestis for killing it in the first place. Turns out cursed immortal bodies were quite nourishing.
But more importantly, Orestis noted that Lyse’s expression did not change regardless of what they had been saying.
She’s not even considering our arguments.
Orestis turned to Eleuthera, giving her a glare. She was eating popcorn with Eirene.
“Why aren’t you trying to stop her?” he asked. “Talk some sense into your friend.”
Eleuthera smiled. Shrugged. “It’s her freedom to choose. And I’ve already scolded her for not asking you first.”
Orestis rolled his eyes.
I should have known better than to ask.
Maxim tried another angle. “My Goddess, why do you even need to choose him when you already have me?”
“Indeed. Why choose me at all?” Orestis added.
Lyse looked at both of them. “Are you done?” She did not wait for an answer. “And what is wrong with having two Chosen? It is actually much more balanced. One on the left, one on the right.”
Maxim immediately said, “Which one is on the right?”
Orestis stared at him. “Is that even important?”
“Of course it is,” Maxim and Lyse both said, at the exact same time.
He sighed. These two deserved each other.
It was also quite clear that she had no intention of taking back her blessings. That was fine; he could just ignore the whole thing. But there was one thing he could not ignore at the moment.
One of the blessings he’d received from Lyse was the telepathic link. Orestis utilised it to send a silent message to her: Tell the idiot he’s on the right or he won’t stop bothering me about it.
Neither one of you can be on the right; you’re not balanced yet. For now, the formation will have to be one in front of the other, Lyse replied. He’ll be in front since he’s stronger than you and has more of my blessings for the time being.
Orestis did not like the sound of the last part. Please don’t give me anything more. This body won’t be able to handle the strain of more blessings. And no, do not make me stronger either; you know I don’t want that.
Yes, we’ll have to find a work-around for that problem. You both need to have the exact same blessings—preferably mirrored, Lyse replied, completely focusing on the wrong thing.
Then her attention shifted to Maxim. “And you. Do you believe you deserve to be on the right?”
Maxim puffed up confidently. “Of course. My Goddess, let me tell you about—”
“I don’t want to hear it,” she interrupted, the temperature of her gaze dropping by several degrees. “The first thing you did after appearing in this era was to pursue a woman. The very first thing! As if that wasn’t bad enough, you went and made a habit of it. Three hundred and twelve encounters. Two hundred and eighty-one unique individuals—in sixty-seven cities across all three continents. Have you no shame!?”
“There’s a good reason for—”
“There is no good reason for such behaviour!” Lyse cut him off, wagging a finger at him. “Did you even consider what might have happened in case of an accident? How would you take responsibility for the consequences? Especially with those demon women?”
Even Orestis could see the concern beneath her scolding. Half-demon, half-human children had always been something of a tragedy. Due to the alignment conflict—sacred and profane developing in the same body—their souls were never stable. Most children died during pregnancy, and those that survived often lost their minds as they matured.
As the Goddess of Proper Passage, she would have seen the state of those souls as they passed through the Threshold. She would definitely be unhappy about her own Chosen risking something like that.
“My Goddess, I’ve always taken precautions,” Maxim said, seriously.
No doubt because he didn’t want to take responsibility for the consequences. Not that he needed to worry about that now.
“With the immortality curse, procreation isn’t possible anyway,” Orestis said. The curse had decided that the body had no need to pass on its genetic information since it would exist forever.
“Really?” Maxim asked, looking suspiciously happy.
Lyse redirected her glare toward Orestis. “You are supposed to be helping me set this philanderer straight. Not giving him reasons to continue.”
“Technically, I’m giving him a reason why he shouldn’t bother. As long as he has the curse, his actions serve no purpose.”
“You don’t know that,” Maxim said. “What if the solution to the curse lies on this path? You spent a thousand years pursuing death. Did you ever consider that the answer might be found in creating life instead?”
Orestis frowned. Now that he mentioned it… all of his avenues of research had ultimately led in the same direction—towards death. He had never even considered the opposite.
Such a huge oversight on my part… Still—not my problem anymore.
Let the idiot deal with the tedium of endless failures.
“You still intend to continue?” Lyse demanded. “How is that appropriate as my Chosen? Do I look like a goddess of lust to you?”
Lyse continued to scold him about his behaviour, while Maxim tried to offer justifications. It was clear that she wanted him to correct his ways.
Wait, is that what she’s trying to do with me?
“You’re not planning on trying to ‘fix’ me, are you?” Orestis asked the goddess. “I’ll tell you now, that’s a terrible idea.”
Lyse blinked, halting mid-scolding, then turned to him. “What? Yes, I suppose there are some things you can fix as well. But we can work on your problems later; Maxim is the priority right now.”
Why is she making it sound like I’m the one requesting it?
“You hear that? I’m the priority,” Maxim gloated.
Orestis ignored the idiot. From her words, it was clear that she had different goals where he was concerned.
“Are you really going through all this trouble to study my soul?” Orestis had noted the soul tether being one of the blessings.
“Hm? Oh, yes. That too,” Lyse replied distractedly and went back to scolding Maxim again.
“You should forget it for now,” Eleuthera said munching on her popcorn. “Once she’s focused on something, it’s almost impossible to get her attention again. Let’s just leave them to it and come back later. Unless there’s something else?”
I suppose I can leave that topic for later.
And there was one other thing.
“Since I’m your chosen now, can I gate into your temple?”
After getting a distracted nod from Lyse, he got up. Eleuthera and Eirene also followed him out of the room. Behind them, Lyse’s voice carried on—calm, precise, and entirely unwilling to stop.
Orestis wondered if Maxim would have preferred it if she had continued to ignore him.
Knowing him, probably not.
If you’d like to read more, I’m 6 chapters ahead on Patreon, along with side chapters, author notes, and extra lore.