Chapter 673 - Finale
Two star-crossed souls ascended together, destined to be each other’s spark, destined to be each other’s doom. The cycle broken.
I felt so powerful at the moment of ascension. Like I could do anything. Like I could see everything.
I was the Goddess of Medicine, and I was a Goddess, with all that implied. My reach on Pallos was diminished, but in so many other ways, I was more. I was everything I could be.
I saw Iona ascending with me, and we immediately grabbed onto each other. Hand in hand we spun up into the skies, our wedding tattoos inking themselves across our skin once again.
“For eternity.” I vowed.
“For eternity.” She affirmed.
I could see Auri and Fenrir spinning around each other as they ascended, but that wasn’t all.
I could see everything. For a brief moment, I knew everything, was everywhere.
I saw my parents being taken by White Dove in their old age. They hadn’t known what had happened to me, but in their moment of death, in my moment of ascension, the bird had one final mercy.
She showed me to my parents.
“Oh. OH!” My mom exclaimed as she saw me.
“Oh.” My dad said.
But as White Dove led them away to Samsara, to begin again, they were happy and content. They knew what happened to me, and were at peace.
They knew my life, all of it, and were proud of me.
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I saw Artemis at the School of Sorcery and Spellcraft. She was in the middle of class, collecting homework - perfect. There was really only one thing to do, one thing to say.
“Yoink.”I stole Artemis over to the divine realm. She looked at me in disgust, and put one hand on her hip.
“Really Healy-bug? In the middle of class? You couldn’t have waited?”
I gave my oldest friend a shit-eating grin.
“Nope!” I told her.
Several of the students started furiously praying to me, thanking me for my timely intervention.
But my mind was elsewhere. A puzzle finally solved, a chance to fix broken lives.
For a brief moment I could see all the realms, all the dimensions - including Earth. Earth was trapped like a bug in amber, stuck moving as slowly as possible through time. It was how Jake had seemed to be from the same time, the same era I was. Every realm moved at different speeds. Some were faster than Pallos, others slower. Earth barely moved, while the rest of the realms zipped by.
I reached out to Earth, and sent my parents and brother there a dream of myself.
“Hey mom! Dad! Sorry about that. I know you’re not going to believe me, but I ended up as a goddess! Alright, this is going to be a bit of a story, let me explain…”
I told them the entire story, start to finish.
“... I don’t know if I’ll be able to get ahold of you again, but I wanted you all to know. I’m happy. I’m sorry for all the grief I caused. I love you.”
From there, my senses went to the hospital. To the intensive care unit.
In this moment, I knew how I’d died.
My friend was driving me in her pickup truck, and skidded on a patch of ice. It was a dumb accident, and her survival was still in question.
I was a new goddess, reaching far across space and dimensions.
But I was the Goddess of Medicine. It only took a light touch, and she went from a lifespan measured in hours, to one measured in decades. Even the lingering risk of breast cancer had been entirely removed!
Existence itself seemed to nudge me back, prompting the words for me to speak to everyone. All deities got a single chance to talk to Pallos. A single message, either to try and explain their actions, or to communicate their domain and desire. I had but a moment to decide, an eternity with my powers. A way to secure what I wanted.
“Sacrifice a mango to be healed.”
Ciriel blew a raspberry in the back of my mind, then spoke to me.
Excellent choice! Now there’s half the workload. Enjoy!
I nodded in self-satisfaction as we started to construct our domain. Groves of trees and waterfalls stretching to the sky, forests of endless game and fields of wildflowers. Perfect sunlight and eternal moons, the world was our paradise, and our word was law here. Anything we wanted to have, anything we wanted to do, anything we wanted to see, we could have here.
I did a double-take at Titania, already laying out some dishes, and decided not to think too hard about our [Housekeeper], nor the fact that she still had a System up here.
Auri and Fenrir rapidly joined us, and the four of us built our own heaven, our own slice of paradise. Artemis was here, and I happily dropped a harp and a songbook on the twitchy [Mage]. She would find peace here.
We were just about finishing up when I spotted something out of the corner of my eye. I reached out, both physically and existentially, and cupped a small soul floating through space. I brought it closer to us.
“Hello there.” I said. “You look lost. Can I help you?”
~And we lived happily ever after.~
The End