Godhood | ONC 2024

Chapter Three

It turned out that getting into Natngilaka, the realm of the gods, was more complicated than simply passing through a portal.

After Palya bound her power to Iloyu's soul with Goddess Magulana's help, the deity explained that they had to first acclimate their bodies to the magic saturating their new home. Since Palya's domain was in the deepest part of Natngilaka, they had to spend several days in the other gods' residences. This didn't excite her at all.

Luckily, Palya didn't have to mingle with the other gods alone. Iloyu had gone back to his lodgings after the taming ritual to write to his parents and pack his things. He'd met up with her the next morning, and together, they'd returned to the same alley from the day before.

A portal had been waiting for them when they arrived.

"This must be the crystal garden, God Ugut's domain," Palya murmured as soon as the portal closed behind her. Stories about the gods' dwellings in Natngilaka had been circulating in her village for years, but none of them gave the actual place justice.

Small waterfalls, serene ponds, and bubbling brooks dotted the water-god's domain. Watercress, hyacinths, lotus flowers, and lilies grew in abundance on their banks. Guava and cherry tree branches hung low over a narrow stream, one so clear that anybody could see the white pebbles and colorful fish below its surface.

Iloyu whistled as he approached the stream.

"The whole place sparkles like a brass pot's bottom," he said as he lowered the wickerwork bag he'd been wearing on his back. The heavy pack thumped on the ground, startling a grasshopper that immediately jumped away.

Palya made sure not to step on it as she came to Iloyu's side.

"Are you not afraid that the god might hear your words and punish you for the insult?" she asked once she stood abreast of him. She didn't remove her bag, afraid that it might squish some small creature hiding in the grass.

"What insult?" Iloyu turned to her, his face perplexed. "I was only stating a fact."

"I'm sorry," she said after repeating his words in her head. It did seem like he hadn't intended to slight the garden's owner. "I thought you were saying something unkind."

"How was that unkind?"

"I'm not sure." Palya ducked her head and stared at an orange fish that was swimming in circles. It must have found something to eat wedged beneath a particularly large stone on the stream bed. "I just know that my father would have said so. He would have punished me."

"With all due respect, Goddess Palya," the man replied, "your father is an arse."

His words got her to turn away from the fish. When Palya looked up, she noticed that his lips had flattened into a thin, dissatisfied line. That feature alone let her know how much Iloyu pitied her.

"He's not all bad," she said, coming to her father's defense out of habit. "He treasures me in his own way."

Palya had never allowed herself to lament her relationship with her father because the man was always strict and oftentimes vain. Asking him to consider her ideas or accept her opinions had always resulted in long, harsh lectures about being grateful for what she already had. And if she caught him on a bad day, she'd feel the sting of his slap.

Her father had made it clear early on that she was to obey him for her own good. Without his help, she would be suffering from poverty and ostracism like the lowlier residents of their village. Without him, she'd be like her mother, who had to entertain well-off customers every night to get by.

Who had to relinquish her client's daughter so that the child might survive.

"If you say so, goddess," Iloyu said, breaking her away from her thoughts.