For how long was I running? I didn't know, and honestly it didn't matter, as long as I was far enough from everyone.

A laugh echoed from above and around—mocking, impish, feminine. It rang in my ears, drowning the swish of the leaves and the rustle of their movements. The shadows, they were fast enough that they're just laughing at my futile attempt at outrunning them.

That's the thing though, I wasn't planning on outrunning people who can jump from one tree to another.

I had something in mind, though it's more of a hit-or-miss that would mean death or the other.

My leather sandals dug in to the ashen soil as I braked. It was far enough from everyone, the first phase was complete. I held my chest and calmed the violent storm inside.

Having caught my breath, I looked above, a forced grin on my haggard face.

“I have to say. I never thought the King was stupid enough to send his assassins to their deaths.” I shouted, aimed at the shadows on the treetops.

I hoped I sounded intimidating enough for them to run. Probably not, my fingers were ice cold.

A rustle among the treetops.

“My, my. The God of Darkness is quite the jester.” The feminine voice echoed.

A figure jumped down from the tree to my right. It landed close so I leapt sideway to keep a distance.

I couldn't see clearly from the hood, but it was a woman. Perhaps my chat partner not too long ago. She wore the hooded long coat of black luster and purple accent. She held a silver, serrated dagger in one hand, exactly like the one that nearly killed me.

“Tired of jumping around already?” I asked.

“Not really.” She shrugged. “It's just my custom to introduce myself to my victims.” A nasty giggle trailed her words.

“Isn't that kinda dangerous? I mean, your victim tonight is not going to die. Are you sure you wanna expose yourself?” I asked.

“Oh no... I'm so scared.” She faked a shiver.

Her snow hands that protruded out the black sleeves clutched the two sides of her hood. She pulled it back, peeling out the shadow that concealed her identity.

“I'm Anrietta Shadowforge.” She declared.

An oval face with angular cheekbones and slightly pointed chin. Anrietta's countenance exuded an aura of maturity with deep crimson full lips and long, curled eyelashes, while her dark, shoulder-length hair framed her face.

“And no one has ever managed to escape me yet. The Dark Lord of Asteria will not be an exception.” She put her index across her smiling lips.

“Oh no... I'm so scared.” I snorted.

The worst thing about it was that it's actually true.

“You better be. That was a bad call you know, leaving the protection of that knight... Alrod Darkscythe, Governor of Artrud, right?”

“Oh so you know Alrod... You two friends?”

“Not really. Everyone involved in politics just know him since he was your right hand during the war.” She heaved a sigh of uninterest. “And I can see that is still the case.”

“Yeah, I guess you could call us good friends.”

“Well in any case,” Her aquatic green eyes narrowed at me. “Leaving your right hand's side is probably the worst thing you have done today.”

“I'll say the same thing.” I glared back at her. “Leaving the cover of the shadows is probably the worst thing you have ever done in your life.”

“Oh...

Oh my!” She doubled over and exploded with laughter. “And... Why is that?”

“Because we're in Asteria... And as far as I know, I'm stronger here than anywhere else.”

“Hmmmm?” Anrietta tilted her head.

“Alrod is probably stronger than me, but he can't call down lightning from the sky to turn enemies into ashes.” I said and raised my hand.

“What's the use of such enormous power, if you can't hit your mark?”

I grinned. “I guess we'll just have to see...!”

I brought my arm down, like the hammer of judgement. The sky roared in a way that would've woken up every living soul in the planet. An ethereal stream of darkness crashed in front of me and swallowed Anrietta's figure whole. Or so I thought.

A second, two seconds, three. The jet pillar disappeared, leaving behind a black circle of scorched ground.

As everything settled, my gears stuck still, opposite of the violent pounding inside my ribcage. Anrietta's ashes weren't there.

A lady's cackle—eerie and resounding, echoed throughout the sea of livid trees, sending a cold snake down my spine.

Above were the other five assassins, standing on branches of different trees. I should've known that the reason they weren't moving was because they didn't have to.

Anrietta was more than enough for me.

The thought made me spin around looking for the invisible assassin. If I couldn't find her before she attacks,

I'm as good as dead.

And it seemed like I wasn't that far off the mark.

“I'm disappointed in you, God of Darkness.” A voice close behind. Drawled, derisive, mocking.

Death screamed inside my head. I deployed the dome, only at the slightest millisecond before the attack came.

It was a bolt of swirling black and purple flames, like what I had when I was strengthened. It hit the purple shield while I was in mid-turn.

The whole dome shattered and I, like a rag doll, was flung backward, my body shaped into a disorderly crescent.

I collided with a tree. The impact knocked the air out of my lungs, along with the crackle of a broken something inside, but I didn't have time to indulge in the pain of having my shoulder blade snap in half. Anrietta's unseen footsteps were all around me, crunching the blanched dead leaves littering the ashen ground under.

Without thinking twice I drew the shield again. Another bolt of dark Aster manifested in thin air in front of me.

Death was approaching. My teeth gritted as I braced myself and closed my eyes.

The sharp sound of glass violently shattering deafened my ears while cold heat gouged through my abdomen.

My ears ringing, my vision distorted, and crippling pain gnawed at my innards—there was a palm-sized black hole on my stomach.

The hole expanded itself each second passed, turning the surrounding pale skin into dark ashes that crumble. A progressing conflagration that kills cells one by one, a lethal poison spreading in one's system, it felt like a million needles puncturing one's fragile skin. The way it was progressing, my abdomen would go non-existent in no time at all.

Aster, what terrifying power it holds.

The empty scenery of trees and nature in front of me turned and twisted, giving birth to a woman's figure from the head down, like an intangible curtain that concealed reality was being taken down.

“Oh... Did I overdo it? I wasn't planning on killing you with that one...” Anrietta said with upturned eyes that feigned innocence. “Well whatever...”

She walked up to me with leisurely pace, twirling her dagger in hand.

Any time is a good time now, Deus ex Machina. I coughed out blood and littered the floor with black dots.

Anrietta stops an inch before me, a prismatic furtive gaze in her jade eyes. An endearing smile was curved on her red lips, while her index was pressed across mine that was parched.

She pressed the dagger's sleek tip lightly against my chest, cutting a tiny slit on the black cloth that served as my robe.

“Any...” She put a warm hand on my cheek. “Last words?”

“I...” A jagged cough interrupted me. “I wanna eat spaghetti.”

Her left brow flattened and her head tilted. Oh? No spaghetti in Asteria? She burst out laughing.

“A God's last word is about eating?” She asked as she wiped the tears escaping her eyes.

Come on mysterious voice, say something. You're the Deus ex Machina, do your job. I thought as I looked down at the gleaming dagger against my left chest.

[I'd rather not be called that. I have a proper name.] A voice rang inside. The soothing, genderless voice. Finally.

A slack grin formed on my face wrecked with pain and wet with exhaustion.

Took you long enough.

[Don't misunderstand, I'm not here to help you.]

Hey wait...

The voice didn't say anything more.

“Hmmmm...” Anrietta tapped her temple with a finger. “I really don't know anything about this ‘spaghetti’ so I can't give you some. So I'm sorry but, you'll have to die without it.”

She lead the jagged blade deep inside.

“Farewell.”

---

A world of pure darkness, where the cold of emptiness envelops one's existence. I felt like I was just floating about a vast void. Nothing existed. Not even my body. Completely like what you see when your eyes are closed, nothing.

I died. So this is how dying feels, nothing. That hell and heaven was crap. I don't see flames. Or light.

Amidst the endless black and the deafening silence, the androgynous voice echoed. [Do you know why you died?]

Let me see... It's because you let me, right?

[No. It's because you let yourself.]

So you're saying I wanted to die?

[No. I'm saying that you just didn't want to live enough.]

Really? I did everything, right? The enemy was just out of my league.

[The assassin was right. You wouldn't have died if you had not strayed away from Alrod.]

So what are you trying to say now?

[You died because you thought of your companions first. You realized that you were the only target so you lured the enemies away.]

But I had a plan. Dying for friendship was not included in it.

[A risky plan it turned out to be. It doesn't change the fact that you cared more about others than your own self. Such a notion, is not acceptable as the God of Darkness, Arenson Randall.]

Then what do you want me to do now? I'm already dead, teaching me how not to fucking care about others like a prick now is kinda stupid.

[I want you to choose, Arenson Randall. You can't be the God of Darkness and be a compassionate human at the same time. You have to choose.]

Choose...?

[Yes. On one hand, everything remains unchanged. You will die as a mortal, and when the time comes, you will be reincarnated as a mortal. A fleeting existence that repeats itself, that's what you'll be. But in exchange, your soul will remain pure, innocent and sane.]

And the other?

[On the other hand, you will live. Live for as long as this universe permits. You'll be a true God, not an incomplete existence like you are now. You will wield limitless power, destruction given form, Aster. But that power does not come without a cost.]

… What cost?

[Holding cosmic amounts of Aster erodes one's ego. The more lives you take, the stronger the Aster inside you becomes, and the stronger your mind has to become, lest you be a mindless beast.]

But aren't I dead already? Why are you giving me options...

[The human, Arenson Randall, is. But not the God of Darkness. Only Arkos can destroy me. That's why I didn't help you, because I was not in danger like the last time with the son of Nariod.]

Huh? Wait, I'm having troubles understanding.

[The time is ticking. We don't have time for exposition, your soul is already half inside the abyss. Choose, Arenson. The assassin is also on her way to your companions.]

Choose between death and insanity?!

[In shorter words. Now. Stay as Arenson? Or become me, become us, become... Alrion?]

Let's see... If I pick humanity, I will die, and who knows where I'll be going. But if I pick divinity... It will be the point of no return. I probably won't see my family ever again. And there's also this insanity... But if I don't pick the latter, Laianne, Alrod, and Jana will die.

Laianne will die.

I can't let that happen. Absolutely.

[It seems like you already made your mind, Alrion.]

Yeah. I'll just have to make sure I don't go crazy, right?

Sounds easy enough.

[That is so.]

Well then, bring me back to Asteria.

---

Air entered my lungs, life imbued my limbs, and strength propelled my eyelids upward. I was back. Back at the forest. But one thing was wrong. The sky wasn't dark.

It was a vast expanse of blue, with thin white clouds as decoration. It didn't have a sun, but it was bright enough even without it. Daytime. So this is Nariad's blessing.

I sat up with my hands as support.

Halfway I noticed that Anrietta's dagger was still stuck inside me. It didn't throb in pain... That's dangerous.

Please don't tell me I'm a zombie now... I prayed to the Gods. God of what, though?

“You can already remove that, you know.” A husky female voice made my heart, if I even have one, jump out my throat.

When I turned to the side, a face greeted me.

A woman. Straight milk hair, livid skin, purple eyes, full pink lips and defined cheekbones. She wore a goth blouse and skirt.

Her black blouse was that laced back type with no buttons, while her skirt was full-length, pleated and was decorated with layers of horizontal white frills until the hem. And no, she wasn't a goth loli, she was a full grown woman with a decent chest.

She was pretty, though on top of not knowing who she is, something about her face and appearance weirded me out.

“Excuse me, who are you?” I asked.

“What do you mean who am I? We were just talking a few moments ago.”

“Wait you're—”

“—Alrion? I guess you can call me that. But then we'll confuse each other, so how about hm... Asterielle? Call me that, it's a pretty name.”

She crawled forward.

“Hold still.” She said and wrapped her porcelain fingers around the carbon handle of the dagger sticking out of my robe.

Oy, oy, this isn't...

“Ready...!”

She pulled it out in one go. I looked up and also pulled out a girly scream in one go, by the way.

But the thing is, it didn't hurt. Not even a pinch. The thick nasty cut it left on my chest closed itself in less than a second.

“This weapon can't even kill an immortal... ” She said as she examined the dagger covered in black liquid substance. “The Asterian King really underestimates us.” Her purple eyes sharpened as she threw the bloodied weapon with little to no effort, pinning it on a nearby tree. Scary precision there.

She got off me and stood up. When she was done dusting her inconveniently-long skirt, she looked around the dim forest.

“The assassin couldn't have gone far, Alrion. Stand up.”

“Oh... Okay?” I lifted my ass off the black forest ground that was previously gray. “But how do I know which way I came from?”

I was kinda running without care earlier since I didn't have the mind space to do so... But now it's really going to be a pain. I don't watch Bear Grylls.

She looked at me, lips pursed and eyelids half-close. “You're a God, you can just fly.”

What?

“… Fly?”

“Yes, you don't know how to? And here I thought you at least get the rough idea since you've watched many fictional shows already.”

“What?”

“Get on with it.”