Chương 67: Moonlit Blood

Etresa was an immense coastal city, the empire's most important port. It hugged the coastline in the shape of a crescent moon, its southern end climbing up a cliff until it became a promontory that, from below, seemed to touch the starry sky. At the tip of that promontory stood the temple of Selene, the goddess of the moon and the city's patron deity.

That the temple was dedicated to the goddess of the moon rather than the god of the sea had more to do with Selene's closeness to the god of death than with her control over the tides. But according to legend, it was an offense the god of the sea never forgot. That conflict, however, had little to nothing to do with the sacrifice of a lamb that night. Rather, it had to do with the ceremony held in honor of the full moon. The lamb itself had already been removed some time before.

What remained was its blood, held in a round golden vessel atop the altar, bathed in the light of the moon.

"Are you sure about this, Corenio?"

"Munia, if you're my twin sister, you should have inherited at least a little of my courage."

"I don't think courage has anything to do with what we're doing, Corenio... This is wrong..."

"Do you want to live on the streets your whole life? Old Tisalo said that just one sip of the blood blessed by the moon would be enough to make us immortal! Think of what we could do with that power!"

"Old Tisalo is always drunk, and you can barely make out what he's saying anymore... And the blood belongs to the goddess. The only thing we're going to get is divine punishment..."

"Didn't I say it was only one sip? No one will notice!"

"..." From the shadow of one of the temple's pillars stepped two small figures dressed in rags. The main chamber was lit by nothing but moonlight, so only their most noticeable features could be made out: hair as white as snow and deep blue eyes, the kind seen among the people of Etresa, who grew up with the sea always before their eyes. Both children approached the altar barefoot, trying to make as little noise as possible, and once they were close enough, Corenio wasted no time reaching for the vessel.

"To immortality and unimaginable powers!" the boy exclaimed, though he kept his voice low.

"Cheers!" His face twisted a moment later, doing nothing to hide how revolting that sip had been.

"Uegh... your turn..." Munia took the vessel with a mixture of disgust, fear, and nervousness, but following her brother's lead, she closed her eyes and drank from it.

"Ueeeegh..." Corenio took the vessel from his sister's hands, allowing her to wipe her mouth with her ragged sleeve.

"Now all that's left is to test our immortality! Let's jump off the cliff!" With that, Corenio turned around to return the vessel to its place. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it!! But at that moment, his blood ran cold. There, atop the altar, was a beautiful young woman whose golden hair reflected the moonlight perfectly. Her bright silver eyes looked first at Corenio and then at Munia. Both children began to feel as though it was hard to breathe.

"First, the offering of faith from my most important temple gets interrupted, and then I find a pair of children about to commit suicide..." A moment later, the terrifying aura surrounding the young woman vanished, and only her melodious voice remained, soft as a lullaby. Even so, the children looked at each other, still full of fear. Someone, or "something," had caught them committing an act that would normally be punished with death. But what the mysterious young woman asked next surprised them both.

"Tell me, do you truly want immortality and power?" Only the wind stirring the leaves outside the temple heard the last words the children would ever speak in Etresa.

In one of the sumptuous mansions of Empyrean Peaks, there was a luxurious room whose walls opened into a succession of arches supported by columns. Beyond the silk curtains that partially covered those arches, a spacious balcony could be seen, overlooking lush gardens. There, reclining on a cushioned sofa at the center of the balcony, was a tall young man with fiery hair, his head resting on the lap of a woman who was feeding grapes directly into his mouth.

Before long, however, delicate footsteps and the opening of the silk curtains interrupted the scene. The woman who appeared on the balcony had sky-blue hair like that of the visiare, though hers was adorned with flowing white locks, and her eyes were incredibly clear, almost transparent.

"Is it true you are still spying on the goddess of the moon, Helux?" The woman feeding the sun god set the bunch of grapes in a porcelain bowl atop a small table of gold and silver beside the sofa, then bowed her head in reverence to the newcomer before vanishing with the wind.

"Ugh! She didn't have to disappear so abruptly..." Helux complained as his head dropped onto the sofa cushions. At least the impact was rather soft.

"Vesca is the goddess of wind, after all. She likes making exits like that," the beautiful woman with clear eyes remarked.

"Was she the one you were using to spy this time? I'm not sure I appreciate you using the goddesses under me that way." Helux sat up, fixed his hair, and then rested both arms on the back of the sofa.

"Remember, my dear wife, that Vesca may be under you, since you are the goddess of the sky, but she is also my concubine. And both of you are part of my faction."

"That is exactly my point," the goddess of the sky complained, letting out a sigh.

"Not only do you have me, but you also made all my goddesses your concubines. Why such attachment to the goddess of the moon? Does one rejection bother you that much?" Helux let out a small laugh and rose from the sofa to place his hands on his main wife's bare shoulders.

"Don't act as though I'm the only one who chases after what he wants, not when you came to me seeking the influence of the Celestial Conclave... But no, that is not what this is about, my dear Zildia. My interest in her is purely as our rival."

"Rival?"

"Exactly. My main target is Nereziel, but as you know, sending spies into the Underworld is extremely difficult. The only ones who can enter freely are souls, and by then, they are already at the mercy of the god of death." The goddess of the sky pushed her husband's hands away and walked toward the edge of the balcony. Beyond the gardens of the sun god's mansion, the other four peaks of the city above the clouds could be seen.

"Shouldn't we focus on the goddess of life first?" she finally asked, turning around to meet Helux's eyes.

"I know you have a strong rivalry with her," Helux replied with a shrug.

"But aside from the elves and a few other minor races, Lirien's main bastion is still only the Blessed Kingdom. Compared to the god of death, who has an overwhelming lead over all of us, she simply isn't as urgent." Zildia walked back toward her husband, and after what looked like a double slap, his face ended up pressed between her hands.

"I'm not saying this because she's full of herself, or because she comes from a family of supreme gods and I think she should experience some hardship for once," Zildia said, bringing her face closer to Helux's.

"It is precisely because she is weaker than Nereziel that we should seize her domains first." Helux tried to pull Zildia's hands away, but just as the sky holds the sun, the goddess's strength was such that he could not escape her grip and ended up speaking with his mouth still shaped like a duck's.

"I undestand, but led's nod foget dat she is also an absolud goddess. We need do move cadefully..."

"Exactly," Zildia agreed, finally releasing the god of the sun, who was left rubbing his cheeks.

"For that same reason, you already know who you should really be spying on."