Lukas hated being afraid. He hated it more than anything else in the world.

The way his body trembled, helpless upon seeing his grandfather on his deathbed. The raw panic clawing up his throat when he lost his way in the forest. The dread that twisted in his gut every time he worked on Emma’s tabloid, that perhaps it was all he’d amount to—

He shuddered.

And now, it was this woman. This… goddess made him feel submerged in his own helplessness, not unlike those moments in his past. Moments of fear.

And all because of a god-damned bargain he made.

“A god-damned bargain?” The woman in front of him mirthfully chuckled. “You have an unusual sense of humor, mortal.”

Lukas swallowed. He had almost forgotten that all of this was happening within his mind. That the goddess was in his mind, aware of his every thought.

“And your fears.”

Inanna smiled. It was a beautiful thing. Beautiful and irksome.

She had access to his thoughts. She could sense his emotions. He was bound to her and this... this was all just a callous mind game, created by her to bully him.

Unsolvable problems are like pages of a book, his departed grandfather used to say. Sometimes, to see past them, all you need is to turn the page.

He looked around at the chairs, at the couch, at the rickety stairs just outside. Everywhere but her. They were no longer inside that celestial palace surrounded by stars, skies, and falling meteors. Instead, she idly sat inside his family home.

In his grandfather’s room.

On his old wooden chair.

Sipping from the coffee mug he remembered molding for his 73rd birthday.

Lukas almost felt amused that it still wasn’t the most surreal thing he’d seen today.

“So... you’re a goddess,” he said at last.

The woman cocked an eyebrow at him, her green eyes shining in amusement as she spread her arms in an inviting gesture. “Do I not look the part?”

“Uh…”

He really wanted to say no. Moments ago, he had seen her demonstrate her staggering power, and now to see her sitting in a chair— drinking coffee of all things —created a juxtaposition so strange that he was having trouble wrapping his head around it.

“Goddess, Tyrant Queen, Butcher… I personally like the last one.” Lukas shuddered at the wave of ecstasy that flowed down his spine. An eerie reminder that he was able to feel her emotions.

“But that was the old me. These days, I am simply Inanna.”

“Goddess,” Lukas repeated. “The goddess Inanna.”

“Well, who else would I be?”

A figment of my imagination?

Lukas composed himself. “And you’ve been… residing in my—” his fingers reached into his shirt and brought out the pendant. The artefact shone brightly, as if a tiny fire raged inside the bluish crystal. “You’ve been inside my pendant, all this time?”

“My pendant, mortal. I assume you’ve descended from a long line of my worshippers?”

…Worshippers?

In all honesty, he had never even heard of her before taking up the prophecy assignment. Nor had he ever heard his family talk about religion.

Well, that wasn’t completely true. His grandfather had been a self-proclaimed pagan, so perhaps...

Lukas shook his head.

I’m such an idiot.

“To my knowledge, the Babylonian Empire ended at least twenty-five hundred years ago. So even if one of my ancestors... worshipped you, I wouldn’t know.”

“I see.” Inanna had an indecipherable expression on her face. “And your gods?”

“Gods?”

“Yes, gods. Surely there is some demented god with whom your pathetic species holds favor.”

“Well, it depends on who you ask. We’ve got Christianity, Hinduism—”

Inanna sighed. “No, mortal. What god grants boons upon your species? To whom do you pray?”

“I… well... actually I’m an atheist.”

“...”

“...”

“You do not believe in your gods? In Sumer, we tortured such people until they believed in our existence, before killing them. Surely you have seen gods exert their influence upon your realm?”

Lukas had the strangest suspicion that she was not going to like his response. “No human has ever actually seen a god. Not where I come from.”

“What do you mean?” For the first time since their conversation began, Lukas felt an emotion other than arrogance bleed off the goddess.

Discomfort.

“There are no gods on Earth.”

“No gods,” Inanna looked at him like she had just swallowed a bitter pill. “Are you certain?”

It’s not like there are any listed in the yellow pages…. “To my knowledge, yes."

The goddess stared at him with an inscrutable expression. Finally, she snorted. “I suppose the joke is on me. I shouldn’t have expected any better.”

“I can always try to get more information when I get back.”

“Get back? To where?”

“My home, where else? I mean this place should have an exit, right? All I’ve gotta do is figure a way out and then go home.”

Inanna snorted. Again.

It irked him greatly.

“Why are you laughing?”

“At myself, for not keeping track.” She flipped her hair, letting it fall down in twin-tails, eerily reminiscent of waterfalls, on either side of her gorgeous face. “And the answer to your question is yes. I was in my pendant for quite some time now.”

Lukas marvelled at the way she had evaded answering his previous question. It was almost like being back at university again.

“Why?”

At Inanna’s curious gaze, he clarified. “Why were you in the pendant?”

“If you really must know, I was harnessing faith in an attempt to regain my strength. Before I first went to sleep,” her eyes were affixed to the pendant, “the world was different. Young. And now you are telling me that the old gods are gone.”

“And how long ago was that?”

“Four thousand years, give or take a century.”

Lukas stared at her, half of him ready to throw his head up and laugh, to simply call it all a farce. Fortunately, the rational part of him prevailed— the part that made him think through everything he’d recently learned.

Four thousand years ago, gods existed on Earth. And then something happened, something that caused them to… die? Could gods be killed? Or had they left for Heaven or its equivalent? Asgard, Nirvana, Akash, and a few more heaven-variants came to mind.

Lukas rolled his eyes. What was next? Was Santa real? Would he end up in hell if he dug deep enough?

He looked at Inanna. The goddess was content to simply observe him as she sipped tiny amounts of whatever drink lay inside the coffee mug.

“Why am I here?”

“Where?”

“Here.” He gestured at the entire place around him. “This isn’t— this isn’t real. I was fighting the monster.”

“You mean running for your life.”

“...Yes,” Lukas ground out. “And you saved my life, for which I’m absolutely grateful—”

“I have no use for your gratitude.” Inanna’s tone turned frigid. “Sit.”

She gestured to his left, towards a couch that he could swear wasn’t there a moment ago. Slowly, he lifted the glass towards his lips and tasted the—

Wait. Glass?

He suddenly found himself sitting on the couch, right across from the goddess, with a fancy glass table between them. On the table were two glasses filled with amber liquid that resembled beer, with a tint of iron in it. A third glass rested at his lips, the drink within it ready to be savored.

“Have a drink, mortal.”

It took all of Lukas’s willpower not to simply chuck the glass onto the floor.

“Go on,” she pressed. “It is traditional to drink after a bargain is struck.”

Lukas suspiciously sniffed at the glass. “What is this?”

“That?” the goddess replied. “That is tenemu, wine brewed in Sumer. Drink of heroes. Drink of gods.”

Lukas glanced at the glass in hand, before his gaze shifted to Inanna.

Her expression remained unchanged as her eyes bored into him, the command clear in those green pupils.

Drink.

He did. It felt sweet, terribly so, and yet, it was smooth on the tongue and burned his insides. Everything began to feel livelier, more vivid. Like his senses had been dialed all the way to eleven. For what felt like the first time, he could truly see her. See the pale skin on her cheekbones all the way to her neck, hear the soft sounds of her heart beating, carrying a melody that could drive all honest men to sin and—

He shook his head, breaking out of whatever trance he had been in.

It hurt.

What was that?

Inanna’s lips quirked up.

“Are you reading my mind again?”

“I have no need for it, mortal. Your face is just that transparent.”

So sue me. I was never good at poker faces.

He refocused on the issue. “This is my grandfather’s room. How are we here?”

The goddess shrugged. “This is your mind. Your subconscious. It put you in your place of power.” She observed him, a feline expression on her face. “Perhaps it overestimates you?”

Alright, it was official. She was a bully.

Lukas composed himself once more. Place of power or not, he needed to get to the bottom of this. And the way he’d been treating this conversation was not going to be enough.

“What do you want from me?” he asked, reverting to his lawyer persona.

Inanna tilted her head.

“We have a bargain,” Lukas continued. “I am obligated to perform a single task for you before I leave this place. Monster-den, anomaly, whatever. What is it?”

“What’s the hurry, mortal? This is hardly the last of our bargains.”

“It is,” Lukas immediately denied, not meeting her eyes and instead focusing on her chin. “You’ve caught me off guard once before, and I won’t let that happen again.”

“No.”

“...No?”

“No,” Inanna repeated. “This will not be our last.”

Lukas took a deep breath, biting back the scathing retort dangling from his lips.

It was happening again. For all his talk about becoming a lawyer and staying level-headed, fear always changed him. It made him angry, rebellious, jumping into a situation irrationally instead of thinking things through.

He knew it would get him into trouble one day. Kind of like now.

“It will be the last under my own volition.”

Inanna arched both eyebrows. “You are as weak as before. What makes you think my assistance is no longer required? Though, I suppose it is exactly such foolishness that flavors a mortal life. Every moment is a challenge to survive past one’s own limitations.”

Lukas began to stand up, only to be pushed back down to the couch. Something invisible and unbending forced him to stay seated.

A tendril of fear coiled around his heart. Was she going to—

“It seems we’re at an impasse, mortal.” The goddess’s words severed his unfinished thoughts. “You wish to survive this den of monsters, and I am in need of a pet. I can aid you. Teach you things. Show you how to survive.”

Lukas bared his teeth. “You’d keep me as your dog? Bark when you ask and piss when you want?”

Inanna’s lips curled. “And would that be such a terrible fate? You mortals are frail creatures. Being a divine dog is an upliftment, no?”

“I’ll pass,” Lukas snorted. “Find yourself another lackey.”

Tension draped the room as a cold, invisible hand gripped Lukas’s heart. Across from him, Inanna stared at him with an inscrutable expression, completely silent. An unsettling darkness lurked behind her sensual features. It was so completely alien, so not human, that he simply did not know how to deal with it.

With her.

Lukas’s throat tightened. For a moment, he wondered if he had bitten off more than he could chew.

And then she smiled. A slow, cruel smile, edged like a barbed knife.

“How strange. After such an affront, I’d not take you as a dog even if you were the last mortal standing.” Her expression turned even more feral, like a starving wolf gazing at a rabbit. “Yet that wild, independent streak of yours is exquisite. It beckons me to come forward... and crush it. I find this dilemma utterly vexing.”

“You’ll get over it.”

“Yet I have spoken. We made an accord, and I kept my word. Now it is time for you to keep yours.”

“And I haven’t heard any requests, only unreasonable demands.”

Inanna’s expression turned shark-like. “So be it. This is what I want. What you must do is find me a suitable pet. Someone to claim my pendant here in this realm, before you perish. Do that, and I shall free you from your bond.”

That was it? Find someone to take over the pendant and then poof? He was free? This— this vainglorious goddess was letting him off the hook just that easily?

No, there had to be a catch. He was obviously missing something here.

...But what?

“When you say pet, what exactly are you referring to?”

The goddess looked at him with a fascinated expression, like a bug-catcher standing in front of her capture. “Someone with a schema like yours.”

“Schema?”

“The manifestation of your own soul. Your soulscape. The object you keep referring to as ‘the screen.’”

That was it? Just give it to some stranger who was also hounded by that bloody interface and let him keep it? And he’d be free?

That was just too easy, too—

Unfair.

Doing so would secure his freedom, yet it would see him hanging this literal Sword of Damocles over someone else’s neck. He would make someone else suffer, just like he was suffering.

It was so easy, but was it the right thing to do? Was it something he could do?

“It should be an easy decision, mortal. You get to be free. Let someone else suffer my whims.”

Let someone else suffer… Lukas clenched the pendant in his palm. Did ethics even matter when his life hung in the balance? He was an unknown here. He had killed monsters. What was tricking a random stranger in comparison to that?

He could see her lips pressed together, as if undecided about what expression to settle on.

Inwardly, his mind was racing. Could he do that? Could he sacrifice an unsuspecting stranger in this new land? What then? Would he keep on sacrificing and deceiving more people in his quest to return home? The pendant was his property. It belonged to him, goddess’s trinket or not. His grandfather had entrusted him with it, and now—

He shook his head.

No, this was no solution. This was stomping upon his self-respect in exchange for possible survival. He was in a new world, and for all he knew, this egotistical goddess had been the one to bring him here. What were the odds that she wasn’t just going to kill him or let him die when he had fulfilled his part of the bargain?

It was very possible that she would kill the poor, unsuspecting victim he passed the pendant onto. It wasn’t worth losing his humanity over something like this. The goddess was a bully, and bullies made him angry and—

Lukas sighed.

He was prone to doing stupid things when angry.

“Fuck it.” He looked up, returning the goddess’s judgemental gaze. “No deal. Blast me to kingdom come and be done with it. It's not like I’ve got anything left to lose.”

“Are you certain, mortal? It is but a simple choice, one that will free you of all obligations.”

“Save it, I’m not interested.”

“This anomaly is host to hundreds of murderous beasts. You will need to be alive to fulfill your end of the bargain. Accept, and I will guarantee your safety until you pass on my pendant.”

Lukas was past caring now. “That’s your attempt at persuasion? Don’t quit your day job.”

The feral look on Inanna’s face was terrifying beyond measure.

He took a step back, ready to run at a moment’s notice.

Run from what? he asked himself. This place is an illusion. Just my mind playing tricks on me.

She spoke again, but sounded completely different this time. Gone was the rich, seductive undertone that laced her voice. It was now hollow, quiet, and haunting.

“Such anger. Such resolve. Yes, you will do.”

“...What do you mean?”

“Few mortals have crossed me like you have, and none have survived. Had I been in my truest form, the same fate would have befell you. Then again, you’d have never faced me had that been the case.”

“I— I don’t understand.”

“Impertinent. Undaunted. That is the strength I can respect. That is the strength I need.”

“I thought you hated my guts,” Lukas babbled, caught off-guard by the sudden change in demeanor.

“You should not presume, mortal. It is not your place to know a goddess’s mind. Pay attention to what I offer, and choose wisely.”

“Okay,” he exhaled. The knot of fear in his chest finally started to untangle. He finally felt like a part of the conversation again. “I’m listening.”

“For reasons beyond your comprehension, I am limited to this pendant. I wish to reclaim what I’ve lost, but I require a... vessel. One strong enough to survive what lies beyond. One skilled enough to claim victory over stronger foes. You can be that vessel.”

“...Me?” Lukas’s head spun. “I’m neither strong nor skilled. We wouldn’t be having this conversation if I was.”

“For now, yes.”

Lukas caught the underlying implication. “Not forever?”

“I am many things, mortal, but the power to transcend and look past the sands of Time is beyond even me. But with my blessings and your... impertinence, I believe there is a chance that you won’t simply keel over and die.”

That was it? She’d help him grow strong, and in exchange all he had to do was stay alive and be her vessel?

“Just to confirm,” he exhaled again, “all I need to do is grow stronger and stay alive?”

“For now, yes. There is always the prospect of a second bargain for you to lose everything.”

“And what happens till then?”

“Till then...” Inanna seemed to consider the question. “All you have to do is survive. You cannot fulfill your duty if you are dead. Is that not correct, my castellan?”

“And what if I somehow die before that? You’d own my soul or something?”

“That would imply that I’d be interested in your soul.”

Lukas stared at her, his gaze unwavering from her misty green eyes. It was an intoxicating feeling, as if he would lose a part of him if he dared look away.

Inanna smiled again. “A word of warning, mortal. Do not casually gaze into the eyes of another. They say eyes are the window to the soul, and it is for good reason.”

With those enigmatic words, the gaze broke.

The illusion flickered.

The world changed.