Capítulo 116: Gehenna - The Divine Fear
A god is an true immortal being who could arise in two ways, ascension and birth, but they all have pretty much the same essence that makes them something special with unimaginable powers.
The requirement for a mortal to become a god was never the same for two individuals. Some faced tribulations and others just abandoned worldly desires, but all had to have a power that could crush.
The ascended gods didn't have a concrete purpose in their existence, after becoming gods they would still have to find a concrete purpose to maintain their existence, otherwise they soon ceased to exist.
As for those who were born gods, coming from other gods or simply emerging as a god, they were born with a purpose and lived for that.
However, despite differences in origin and obligations, the ascended and the born gods had a similarity which made them equal. Both the ascended and the born were imperfect and incomplete.
Usually those who were born as divine beings, as gods, were born in pairs so that they become complete. No one knew why they were born that way, divided, incomplete, but that was no different for mortals who became gods.
Things were more difficult for the ascended gods. Because if they didn't ascend along with another individual, it was much more likely that they would spend eternity incomplete, never creating anything.
The perfect existence was called "primordial god", a powerful being who used the power of two gods to have the power to create world, life and even dimensions from zero.
A primordial god was an existence close to what was the beginning of everything, the beginnings of all existence, something that could only exist for a brief moment with the union of two gods.
Its greatness was so unimaginable that not even those who became or had become a primordial one day could not measure the amount of power these existences had.
The primordial gods were unlike anything else. They were more than anything one could imagine in a god, an existence perfect in every respect, but finite, temporary, ephemeral.
The reason for such a great being to have a brief existence was the very perfection that characterized their existence, nothing could be perfect for long.
For being the son of god, Michael knew the prerequisites to be a complete god as his parents, Yahweh and Asherah, were once part of a primordial god, which due to a long history starting with an accident and ending in a disaster, no longer existed.
Anyway, knowing what a primordial god was, Michael, who had in front of him something that could only be identified with strangeness, weirdness or abnormality, remembered a word his father had spoken to him in the distant past.
(Gehenna...)
Athena reminded him of the only existence that could kill a god other than a primordial god. A formless being whose sole purpose was to keep the gods in balance.
However, this being no longer existed, because after being deceived by Yahweh and Asherah, Gehenna lost its purpose and vanished without a trace.
The story behind it was the rise of two mortals to godhood, the birth of two gods and the betrayal of the least expected.
Jealous of Asherah with El and Elkunirsa, her other two husbands, and hungry for power, Yahweh convinced Asherah that everything would be better if they were just the two of them as gods in that dimension.
However, as gods could not kill each other, Yahweh went in search of the only existence that had the power to kill the two gods without wanting anything in return, Gehenna.
Yahweh told Gehenna that El and Elkunirsa were gods who were born a different way and that they should not exist.
Following his purpose, Gehenna killed El and Elkunirsa without listening to any explanation. After all, his victims always had an explanation to give and he was tired of listening to them.
However, contrary to what Yahweh had planned, after Gehenna killed El and Elkunirsa, there was nothing left of them.
That's because while dying, the gods made one last sacrifice and gave their essences to the child Asherah was carrying, this child was Uran.
As for Gehenna, for having unjustly taken the lives of two gods, when in fact he should have killed Yahweh and Asherah, his existence lost its meaning and faded away. Because even if he didn't know the truth, the truth was one of the foundations of his existence.
Yet, Yahweh knew that one day Gehenna would return to make amends for it's mistake. He felt a kind of fear that no god should know, the fear of dying.
Even with Asherah by your side, Yahweh could no longer be a primordial god, a complete god who could face Gehenna. So knowing that one day Gehenna would return to make amends, he looked for another source of power.
Yahweh spent thousands of years searching again and again, until one day, he looked at finite beings and to how they created figures of clay or iron and devoted their worship to it as if they were being heard. He realized that worship could be a source of power and began to act in the mortal world.
Howsoever, even after discovering a new source of power, Yahweh was still afraid and that fear was so strong that it even erased the love he had for Asherah.
So when he found the power source, instead of sharing it with his wife and children, he banished his wife along with the children of the dead gods to another dimension, thus keeping the new power source to himself.
Michael knew the whole story involving his parents, the dead gods and Gehenna, so seeing how Athena's true essence didn't have a concrete form, he was sure Athena was Gehenna's resurrection and he felt the same fear that his father felt.
However, his fear was unjustifiable, Michael didn't know that, but Athena had no intention of killing him, that would be a punishment too mild for what he did and Athena hated to punish someone sloppily.
Anyway, while Michael was absorbed in his thoughts and fears, Athena searched in her mind for a skill or magic that would allow her to do the same thing she did to Faena, steal Michael's powers without killing him.
At that point, the Akashic Records in Athena's mind presented themselves as an endless library. But in addition to spells and skills, now also appeared various random information which Athena did her best to ignore and keep looking for what she wanted.
Athena thought the Akashic Records were Uran's gift to her and she wasn't entirely wrong.
The "A.R" only came about because Uran injected her mana into Athena and when the two mana merged what arose were the Akashic Records which was now expanding into something bigger as Athena grew more powerful.
After some time locked in her mind, Athena finally moved again again, but now with a wicked smile on her face. What she'd found wasn't nearly as painless as it had been with Faena.
Athena would make Michael suffer every second she spent stealing his powers and she was very pleased with that.
Athena kicked Michael in the ribs, sending him rolling across the lawn, which was now just burned weeds, and kneeled one knee on the archangel's wingless back, pressing him hard into the ground.
Michael at the moment had his powers sealed by Athena, something he had no idea was possible, and even though he resisted, he had no more strength than Athena.
Athena said some unspeakable words, a purple force field glowed around them, and as if Michael were a skein and Athena a spool, the archangel's powers flew from him to Athena in the form of a thin, golden and glowing line of energy.
For Athena, that situation was a little less pleasant than a kiss from Mifa or Anemus. As her powers increased, she felt hot, her skin tingled, and her hearing was as far away as if she were in a hot tub.
As for Michael, it was like being scalped, as if they were peeling off his skin and pouring alcohol into the newly opened wound. It was as painful and cold as being submerged in frozen water where a shoal of piranha fish were devouring him from the inside.
Michael screamed every second and his screams were so loud and shrill, it were audible even outside the palace walls. But anyone who heard the screams, only smiled as thinking that Athena was torturing some nobleman brave and stupid enough to be corrupt.
Athena hadn't been aware of this or perhaps just ignored it, but the personality of the basilican people was getting as distorted as hers.
Anyway, as Michael felt more and more empty and helpless, he started to get more and more desperate to the point of twisting his neck to the limit just to look at the sky and beg. "Mom! Help me Mom! It's me, your son Michael, Mom! Save me, please!"
Athena smiled, in fact, she laughed like it was the funniest thing she had ever seen in her life and Lucifer watching the scene just shook her head in disdain for Michael's futile act.
Asherah would come neither for Michael nor for Raphael nor for any of the gods titled "angels".
"Idiot, why would she come to the rescue of any of us if when she asked for help we turned our backs?" Lucifer said in a voice full of disgust.
"Oh? No! Mom! Forgive me, Mom!" Michael cried.
Asherah, from the divine plane, watched everything that was happening with a cold gaze without even moving a finger. But that had nothing to do with Michael calling her, it had been some time since she'd started paying attention to everything Athena did.
Two years had passed since the goddess offered a power that would allow Athena to rule the world if she so desired.
This was supposed to interfere with Athena's future in a way that she didn't notice, but as if seeing behind the mask of that power, Athena shed the present, thus rejecting and preventing Asherah from intruding on her life.
Asherah was predicting what Athena was to become and wanted to divert Athena from such a future, but the goddess was completely ignored and Athena continued walking in a direction they would become enemies.
Athena's existence was becoming something dangerous in the goddess's view, but for some reason she couldn't interfere with Athena directly, not even with the powers she had stolen from Uran, and so she followed, no, the watch Athena's every step.
Asherah couldn't care less about someone who had betrayed her in the past and just kept watching how Athena would grow from it.
When Athena finished ripping Michael's powers out, all that was left was a soul in a miserable carcass he called a body and now, he was just a powerless mortal deity who would be Lucifer's toy for the rest of his miserable life.
"Lu-Lucifer…" Michael looked at his sister, hands clasped together as if in prayer and begged. "Please I'll do whatever you want, d-don't kill me-ugh!"
Hearing Michael beg to not be killed, reminded Lucifer again of when she had begged him to stop and Lucifer ground her teeth at the anger rising in her throat.
As for Athena, she remembered something and stepped on the former archangel's back with the thin heel of her boot. "I forgot something." Athena looked at Lucifer with a smile, calming the demon lord. "We don't want him to die, right?"
Lucifer looked at Athena and then at Michael. "No, we don't…" Lucifer smiled. "He has a lot to pay me before he dies."
"Well, then..." Athena turned her nails into claws and sank her hand into Michael's veiled flesh's back, spraying blood in all directions as she ripped out something that looked like a heart. "Done!"
"Athe-Eh???" Lucifer widened her eyes in disbelief. "You said you wouldn't kill him!"
"But I didn't." Athena said as she handed the beating heart to Lucifer. "I replaced his heart with a core of mana that will keep him alive no matter what happens to him."
Michael shivered and felt a lump in his throat as his mind spun and spun without focusing on anything. He was starting to crawl when suddenly Athena pulled him by the leg and stepped on his head.
It was all too fast, the pressure in his head against the floor, the pain that came with a cracking noise and then the buzz in his ear as his eye popped out of its socket and then he was okay again.
"Huh? What is this?" Lucifer asked with disbelief on her astonished faces.
Athena had crushed Michael's head, but as if it were a lie, his head was back in the place despite having brain mass and shattered skull bones on the ground around his head.
"It's the same curse that Uran placed on Gion, but I won't say what can kill him." Athena said looking at the heart in Lucifer's hand and then winked at the demon lord. "I'll have a cell set up in the dungeon for you to throw this thing, have fun."
***
It was time to leave and after spending hours in bed with Anemus and Mifa, Athena began to get dressed.
She wanted something simple that would allow her to move easily and opted for pants and a baggy shirt.
While Athena was getting dressed, Mifa woke up and watched her lover get into a pair of black leather pants.
The way Athena's ass moved was tempting, but Mifa looked away in fear. In a reluctant voice, while trying not to look at Athena's ass, Mifa asked as Athena buckled her belt. "You will come back… Right?"
Athena's hands stopped moving and with her head bowed, Athena pressed her lips together and for a brief second held her breath. All she knew was that she would do anything to get back to her lovers and loved ones, but she didn't know when and every time she said she would, the words were so heavy in her throat it seemed like if she were lying to her loved ones.
Athena was silent for a long time, but her silence didn't matter at all to Mifa who could hear Athena's heartbeat and thus feel the fear she was currently feeling.
Wrapped in a white silk sheet, Mifa got out of the house and walked over to Athena who had her back to her.
Mifa touched Athena's bare back with her fingertips and then hugged her. "It's okay, I don't want to lose you, but you don't want to lose anyone and I won't ask you to stay..." Mifa made Athena turn around and look her in the eye. "Yet, I want you to promise me that you'll do anything to come back to me..." Mifa's ears twitched slightly and then she looked back as she realized that Anemus had woken up but was pretending to be asleep. "For us..."
Athena looked into Mifa's reddish brown eyes, stroked her hair, then her face, her lips and without saying a word, Athena kissed her, causing Mifa to drop the sheet that was wearing her as she hugged Athena.
All Athena was about to do was for a promise she had made to Uran and she intended to keep that promise anyway, just as she intended to return to those she loved at all costs.
Athena pulled Mifa closer, their naked upper bodies touching, exchanging the heat of flesh and the kiss between them ended in a tight hug.
"I will come back." Athena finally said. "I love you. I love you and I will com back."
"Mm..." Mifa held back the sob that rose in her throat and buried her face in Athena's chest. "I…I know that. I love you too."
Anemus curled up on the bed, still reluctant to understand why Athena was going so far for someone she had only met once, not knowing that Athena had regretted many things after dying as Arthur.
One of those things was abandoning true friendships for blind love and false friendship. That's why Athena didn't want to leave her friends and even if it was for a little while, Uran was her friend to the point of even having a promise which she would fulfill even if it cost her all the power she had.
Mifa and Athena sat on the bed again and talked a little more, until Mifa calmed down and after that, Athena kissed them both and went to see Ytria to get an idea of how to open the portal to the other world, but....
"You still don't have enough power to open the portal." Ytria said monotonously without taking her eyes off the pages of the book she was reading.
"Eh? How not?" Athena asked, surprised by the news. "I've even said goodbye to my women!"
Athena had absorbed so much power, power that was enough to handle the strongest archangel easily. She couldn't accept that her power wasn't enough to open a small door between worlds.
Ytria sighed and closed the book she was reading. "The previous door was being held up by the world and the energy gathered from the players' souls, but it was still unstable and wouldn't pass a living person even if a miracle happened." Ytria got up from the couch and, still feeling weak, leaned against Athena's shoulder. "For you to get a sense of how difficult it is to cross a dimension, I had to..."
"You have to...?" Athena tilted her head at Ytria's unfinished sentence.
To seek Athena's soul in the void, Ytria used far more than just all her power to cross the dimensions.
She sacrificed a part of her soul, destroying part of what she was in the past. Thinking Athena would feel indebted and guilty if she knew that, Ytria chose not to say anything about it.
She even imagined this would be an opportunity to have Athena in her arms, but she didn't.
Ytria loved Arthur or Athena, the name didn't matter to her, and wanted to be with her, but not like that and she hid the truth by saying that what she had done had only cost her mana, what was something that would return with time.
"Yeah... Anyway..." Ytria stared at Athena with a crooked smile. "What you have now is not enough. Now I have to go..."
"Huh? Go where?" Athena asked, but Ytria just kept walking. "Helena!"
***
In the divine plan, Asherah was angry, no, she was furious that she didn't have the power that Athena had, the power to absorb and transform whatever she wanted into power.
Also, she was concerned that Athena was become like Gehenna, a formless god who was capable of killing other gods.
Plus, she had something that wouldn't leave her mind. (Why can't I do anything with that mortal from here? Why can't I reach her soul?)
Before Athena was as she was now, the gods could do whatever they wanted to her, just as Naph and Asherah had done by granting her unwanted powers, but not anymore.
One day, after a certain level of growth, Athena became untouchable and after Ytria took away Athena's Death powers, no god could divinely interfere with Athena or those who had the slightest soul connection with her.
Right now there are seven people like that, Fotiá, Mifa, Anemus, Ella, Lucifer, Theikós and Ytria.
In the case of Fotiá it was because she was Athena's nymph and because of the {Eternal Bond}. Their souls were united for eternity and had the same destiny. Mifa was on because of the "Seed" that Athena had "planted" in her, thus placing a small fragment of herself in her beloved.
With Anemus, Ella, Lucifer, Theikós and Ytria the case was a little more special.
Anemus had been born from Hades and somehow had received some of the energy from Athena's soul, in the case, from Arthur at the time. She was a nymph of Athena and wasn't at the same time, allowing her to be affected by the gods at such minimal levels as having whispers whistled in her ear and making she think it was the wind talking to her.
Ella, Lucifer, Theikós had helped Athena in the process of reaching the level of power similar to a god, making her a mortal goddess and soon after had their powers restored by Athena, making them a type of vassal. They were like Anemus, could be affected by gods at minimal levels.
Finally, the most special case of all was Ytria. She had sacrificed part of her existence and was the stone that established Athena's existence in this world.
Ytria's connection with Athena was not something as powerful as the one Fotiá had, but the bond was strong enough to protect Ytria from the madness that Uran's powers caused in her.
Anyway, Asherah wasn't happy about it and took a drastic step that she would come to regret. "I will lift the banishment of the gods in the mortal world. Destroy that petulant mortal!"
PENSAMENTOS DOS CRIADORES 
All_J
All_J Why when I think it's getting to the end of the story, does it linger?
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