Chapter 120: Goddess Thalyra
Elián;
"Open your eyes, Elián." Her voice speaks again, and I slowly open my eyes.
At first, all I see is white, and then colour comes to life in front of me like watercolour spreading on white fabric.
"I was the mother of harmony." Goddess Thalyra speaks as she lifts her hand and points at something in the distance.
I squint my eyes and see thousands of people... beastmen, women and children of all kinds, bowing before a massive statue of Goddess Thalyra.
She takes my hand, and suddenly it feels like I’m drifting through the air. Soon, we’re standing on one of the shoulders of the statue.
"Mothers came to me for children, fathers came to me for prosperity for their families, and children came to me for the littlest desires their little hearts weaved." She speaks again as she waves her hand, and like a slideshow, the scene before us changes to a child holding up her broken toy to the statue.
"Because I loved my children so much, I gave them everything they asked for." She continues, and right before my eyes, the child’s broken toy comes back together as if it was never broken.
She holds her hand out to me, and I look up at her in wonder. Her purple eyes twinkle as she smiles at me, and I cautiously take her hand.
To my horror, she leaps off the statue. I scream in fright, expecting to crash into the ground, but my scream is cut off when my feet land in something that feels like a soft bed, and when I look down, there are bushes and colourful flowers beneath my bare feet.
"Farmers asked for prosperity, and I granted." She says as she sways a hand in front of us for me to see the vast field of healthy crops and greenery.
"She snaps her fingers and suddenly we’re standing in a shallow stream. Through the clear water, I see fishes of different colours swim past our legs, and she takes a deep breath.
She naps her fingers again, and I gasp when I’m suddenly drawn into the air. I watch with wide, scared eyes as day suddenly changes to night. I shut my eyes as I feel myself get higher and higher.
I’m suddenly dropped on something fluffy, and when I open my eyes, my heart dies in my chest at the sight I see.
In the night sky is the Moon. Bright, beautiful, massive, and seeming like it’s just a few feet away.
I look down and find that I’ve been set down on a... cloud!??
I deep my hand into it in disbelief, and my hand indeed passes through.
I’m really on a cloud!?
"Beautiful, isn’t it?" I hear the woman’s gentle voice again, and I turn to my side.
She’s lying on her stomach and staring at something from the edge of the cloud.
I slowly lean towards the edge to see what she’s seeing, and goosebumps rise along my skin.
Hundreds of little lights. People walking in the streets, laughing and sharing pleasantries.
A peaceful night with many happy faces.
"Wow", I mutter, and she chuckles beside me.
"I know. I gave them everything they could ever want or need." She replies as she turns around and lies on her back with her blonde hair hanging off the edge of the cloud.
The sadness in the way she said those words is so poignant that I can not ignore it.
I sit up straight and fold my legs in front of me as I stare at her.
"So... what happened?" I question, and she turns to look at me.
She smiles at me, and despite her smile, I can see the sadness in her eyes.
"I got betrayed." She replies, and my heart skips a beat.
"Betrayed?? By... who?" I question, and she shrugs as she looks away from me, back up at the stars above.
"By the same people I devoted my life to protecting." She replies as she holds a hand out.
A little light travels from her fingertip up into the dark, and then it spreads into a medium-sized circular screen.
"It all started when I realised that as a mother... it wasn’t right to give them everything they wanted." She says, and I lie on my back beside her to stare at the screen.
I see a man limping over to her statue in heavy rain. He has tiger-like markings along his neck and cheeks, and canines that glisten under the moonlight. He looks miserable. Like he had cried for hours on end.
He’s clutching a massive flower bouquet in his arms as he moves closer to the statue.
He falls to his knees in front of the statue, and just watching him, I feel a certain heaviness press against my chest.
"She left me..." He whispers, and I gulp.
"She... she left me. After... everything." He croaks, and even though his face is wet with rain, I can still see his tears.
His broken, unmistakable tears.
"She was pregnant, too. I didn’t know she was pregnant." He adds, clutching the flowers tighter.
"She kept cheating on me with that bastard, even with my baby growing in her womb..." He cries harder as he goes down on all fours, grabbing fistfuls of the grass beneath him.
My heart aches as I can see and feel the pain exuding from his pores.
"She killed it!!" He suddenly screams, and my heart stops.
I quickly look back at Goddess Thalyra to be sure I heard wrong or am misunderstanding, but she’s watching with nothing but sorrow in her eyes.
"In order to be with that bastard, she killed my baby!! She killed my first and only child, goddess Thalyra!! She killed my hope! My further!! E only thing she knows I’ve ever wanted. She killed my baby to be with her extramarital affair!!" He wails bitterly, and I cup my hand over my mouth in disbelief.
"She killed my baby! She killed my baby!! She killed... she killed my baby..." he wails harder, and I can not stop the tears that escaped my eyes.
"And she’s left me. I... I have no one anymore... I can’t... I can’t let... this go. I can’t... I can’t bear this... Please... please give me justice goddess..." He cries like a broken child as he presses his head against the soaked ground, and more tears escape my eyes.
"If... if you care about me. If... if it’s true that you’re a goddess of love and unity... then kill her. Kill her for what she’s done to me!! Kill both of them for killing my baby!! For ruining the unity of my family!! For ruining me like this... kill them both... please... I beg of you..." He wails, and I turn back to the goddess.
"Did you... Did you grant his..." I begin, and she turns to look at me in disbelief.
"If you could, would you?" She questions, and I swallow as I look back at the screen.
"I... I wouldn’t." I reply, and she smiles and nods.
"Exactly." She replies, and I turn back to the screen.
"My inability to answer such desperate prayers... created a pool of bitterness that drowned some of the trust I once shared with my children." She says beside me, and the screen flicks.
It’s night now. It’s not raining, though. The night sounds quiet and peaceful, but this man... he looks worse than the last time. He looks skinnier. Unkept. Miserable...
And this time there’s no bouquet or garland in his hands. All I see is baggage of rage with him.
"They’re getting married." He says, and my heart skips a beat.
He chuckles bitterly, and I watch in worry.
"And she’s pregnant for him." He adds, and my jaw drops.
"I prayed to you. I begged you. I asked for justice. I asked you to step in for me. To show me just this once that you care for me, and you... You let her be happy after all she’s done to me!?" He screams, and I swallow hard.
"I have become an object of ridicule and pity, and she is busy flaunting that bastard about while you do nothing!? You will bless their union!?? How!? I have served you my whole life, how could you let this happen to me!?" He screams, and I look back at Goddess Thalyra.
There’s a streak of tears flowing down the side of her eyes, and that’s when I begin to realise the depth of her sorrow.
"I will never serve you again! I will never worship you again! You have failed me!! And I will spread the word! Till I die, I will spread the word that you are a sleeping mother! A failure who I will never again bow to!! You’re not a goddess of harmony. You are unjust and cruel. I spit at your throne!! You’re a dead god." He growls as he spits to the ground, and my jaw drops.
"That was the start... of my end." She says as light leaves her fingers again towards the screen again and I turn to her.
"What... happened next?"