Godhood | ONC 2024

Chapter Five

Their stay at the sacred garden drastically differed from their experience at Ugut's residence. The water-god had been mostly absent, whereas Magulana preferred to stick around whenever she had the chance. The sky-goddess made use of her presence, though, for distributing the human offerings among her companions and sorting the thoughtful prayers from the selfish ones.

She'd also taken to coaching Palya on her new power. The void-goddess now spent half her mornings and an hour of her afternoon taking lessons from Magulana and learning about what being a deity entailed. While helpful, this wasn't exactly the easiest or most painless routine.

Palya wiped the sweat off of her brow after yet another failed round of her training regimen. Of the four candles in front of her, she'd only managed to keep one of the two yellow sticks from going out. She sighed loudly enough for Magulana to notice.

"Again," the sky-goddess instructed from the comfortable stone bench she was sitting on. Magulana had chosen to train her in a shaded courtyard of the sacred garden, one with high walls that kept the wind from interfering.

"It's no use, Goddess Magulana," Palya explained. She'd been doing this same exercise for three days now, but she wasn't getting any better. "I don't think we can keep this up."

"You'll have to keep training. It's the only way to fully master your ability as a void-goddess." The sky-goddess plucked a rice cake—part of a food offering from the human realm—and bit into its soft edge.

"What if I just never use this power forever?" Palya asked, frustrated with her progress.

"You can't deny your power, Palya." Magulana's face fell. The sky-goddess stopped snacking on her cake and faced Palya instead. "When humans pray to us for help, it's our duty to answer them. To deny their request is to deny our will and our nature. It's considered a betrayal against those who keep us alive."

Palya gulped upon hearing the sky-goddess' warning. A betrayal could only lead to her eternal slumber, a fate that she was vehemently against. It was also a decision that the other god, she now realized, wasn't too keen on carrying out.

Regardless, Magulana would have no choice but to put her to sleep if she failed. This wasn't the only thing Palya had to consider. Her former betrothed's life was on the line as well.

"But what about Iloyu?" Palya asked, her eyes darting to the side. The man was leaning against one of the columns and breathing somewhat heavily.

Magulana's gaze went to Iloyu as well. At that moment, the man noticed their attention and pushed himself away from the column. He kept one hand on its cool, smooth surface as he raised an eyebrow and waited for the sky-goddess to say something.

"How much more of a beating can you take?" Magulana set her rice cake aside and clasped her hands over her lap. Palya couldn't help but notice how carefully the sky-goddess maintained her stoic facade.

Instead of answering the deity, though, Iloyu looked Palya's way and nodded.

"You haven't knocked me out. Keep going," he said. His words caused the void-goddess to blink.

"Are you sure?" Palya couldn't believe that he wasn't asking her to stop yet. Guilt gnawed at her as she took in his miserable condition.

They'd repeated this task nearly twenty times now, and his breathing had been slowly getting worse within that duration. The man's brow was just as soaked in sweat as hers, and his cheeks had gone pale from trying to hold in the sting of her mistakes. He was still standing on both legs, but they were starting to tremble from the strain.

"Keep practicing." Iloyu raised his hand and gestured for her to continue the training. He tipped his chin towards the four candles. "You have a job to do. The sooner you can control your power to carry it out, the better."