Another reason that divine energy was so scarce, was because it wasn’t a resource that flowed out of a natural source. People sufficiently knowledgeable could at best compare its flow to the course of a river, in which anyone fulfilling the requirements could fetch a bottle anytime they desired. However, science proved that the hypothesis was very wrong.

Divine energy followed its own chart of rules. You could even say that it refused to listen to the physical laws that everything was bound to in this world. A peculiar, boring and cruel way to teach the pioneers that their ground-breaking discovery was still way beyond their reach. For todays, the only globally known way to gather and stock divine energy was through the generous trading with gods.

Food, entertainments, agreements, annual sacrifices, everything was done to please those transcendent beings, just to earn a bit of their favour. It was entirely up to the god to choose if he should or not bestow upon those mortals his glorifying energy, as it was more than once proved that a country’s worth of military prowess was still not a challenge against those skilled, wise and mighty opponents. The more fortunate part was that they weren’t openly hostile.

And now, the main subject of Friture’s research was joyfully, almost way too naively, sitting next to him as if everything in the world was fine. No, of course it wasn’t fine! After the information finally managed to cross his mind, the young man jumped on his feet, shocked by this revelation, this unexpected and unexpectable encounter with a living member of the people qualified as deities.

“What? What is it?”

“You’re a goddess?!”

“Yeah? Sure. What, you mean I don’t look like one?”

Trellia examined herself, looking for any abnormalities, scratch or dirt on her cloth and skin. Despite living in such an uncivilized environment, it appeared that her shape could never be tainted by the soil of the forest. She looked for any spot on herself that could have been even slightly dirtied, however found nothing strange or out-of-place.

In the end, she couldn’t find even a speck of anything that could have disturbed her-Not even the half-exposed breasts of her-, leaving her in a perplexed state of confusion.

“Now that’s bizarre. I never changed my outfit since then, I still should be in the norm…”

Norm? What norm? Nevermind, Friture was still preoccupied with his inner thoughts, concerning the chance he had to meet a god in his lifetime. And what’s more, to be saved by one! He felt… Joy… No, doubts, heavy doubts about her identity. Again, it could just be this secluded person’s delusion about herself. Maybe she called herself “goddess” because of some simple reasons, that’s all.

“Well, ehm…”

The words underlining the lack of proof about her divine trait were suddenly halted half-way inside his throat. Why was he suddenly acting all familiar with this stranger? Maybe he wasn’t feeling reality anymore, when exposed to such a dream-like scene.

“Stay focused, Friture. Stay focused…”

The young miss noticed the mutism of her guest, and tried to restart the conversation with him in a kind and teasing manner.

“You never saw a god, am I right?”

She was all smile when asking this, seeing that Friture was avoiding eye-contact, perhaps thinking he could evade any sort of lie-detecting trick if he did. She was all smile, because she already knew the answer without even him speaking a word.

“No… I…”

“Ah ah! I knew it! Seriously, what does they teach their children nowadays?”

She was teasing him. Nothing more, nothing else. Yet, it still felt unnerving, having to suffer through the given lesson about things that didn’t, and probably never concerned the other party.

“Look at me then. See? I’m not so unordinary.”

Her arms were warmly opened, showing the entirety of her being to the young researcher. Friture had already looked at her, but defined her as a member of the opposite sex, not as a member of the divine people. And now… Despite learning of her hidden identity, he felt nothing more out of it. Was she only pretending to be one? She had to.

Not receiving any form of admiration from Friture drew a sigh from Trellia, pondering how much she had to show in order to make him believe this fact. Actually, he already had enough evidence to make connections, yet, internally, he had difficulties accepting it. Then she remembered something.

“Right! You said you were part of something institute, right? Then that means you’re a doctor or I don’t know. Then it’s fine! You can just analyse me like I’m some new toy and figure it out and…!”

“What?! Butbutbut! No, wait! Wait!”

The feeling of having a beautiful girl desperately clinging to you was more hurtful than what he expected. On a side note, her grip truly was formidable, shaking Friture like anyone could with a frail new-born.

“It’s okay! Just scan me! You’ll definitely see that I’m a veritable goddess! Just don’t dissect me or… You know what? It’s fine! Do whatever you need to verify my words!”

“Alright… Al… I don’t feel well…”

Finally released, Friture breathed in a fresh bowl of air, calming his alarmed heart and mind, recollecting his thoughts before moving on. Why was she so desperate about such a thing? There was a very easy method to demonstrate one’s deity’s inheritance.

“Just… Just show me that you can use divine energy. That’s all.”

“Divine energy? That’s how you call it?”

Friture’s ears tilted at her question, stirring his curiosity and personality’s trait to learn as much as he could.

“Sure. How would you call it otherwise?”

Trellia didn’t answer his question, only leaving a small vague answer to perpetuate the unknown.

“Then take a look at this.”

Showing her index finger next to her, they didn’t have to wait for any delay than a sudden and miraculous occurrence flashed before the scientist’s eyes who first got flustered by her action. He was expecting either another unthoughtful behaviour or a dangerous introduction to her power, yet what he got was a very calm situation. A small ball of light appeared at the edge of her finger, giving off a shy, yellowish brightness. Particles of light emanated from the little orb, bestowing a fairy-like feeling to the surrounding atmosphere that slowly flew away before evaporating in the air.

It was as easy as this act, a petite sphere that could slightly lighten one’s room, nothing harmful at all nor supposed to have any kind of impact. Simply by looking at this unsophisticated, but genuine result of divine energy manipulation, Friture was mesmerized. Despite his knowledgeable lifestyle, his eyes were, just like a moth attracted by the fire, trying to grasp the mechanics behind this apparition.

The little orb, emanating some fray light, slowly ascended upright, growing both in size and in brightness, grinding bit by bit the surrounding area until everything went white. Friture, blinded and spooked by the phenomenon, reflexively defended his face with his arms, closing as strongly as he could his eyes to prevent them from drying while exposed to such radiance.

This amount of energy was way more than what they usually put in their prototype of small throwable bombs. It wouldn’t be strange to, later, find an immense crater replacing this portion of the forest. Being this close to the epicentre, his spirit already gave up on the certainty of living for another day.

Then, in a reversed sound, everything went back to normal, and the ball of divine energy flickered between her fingers before disappearing in thin particles. The place became noiseless, only bearing the haughty laughter of Trellia.

“Well, tell me? How was I?”

There was so much to say, so much to ask, but the young scientific could only muster enough willpower to express his astonishment. His gapping mouth wasn’t available to help him pronounce anything intelligible, while his brain was way too much focused on calculating, comparing results and, at last, finding his words.

“WHAT WAS THAT?! WHY DID YOU DO THIS?! THIS AMOUNT OF ENERGY, IT WAS… IT WAS…”

At least a tenfold of what we use in our entire army... But the words were stuck deep in his throat.

Declaring this sentence would be the equivalent of accepting the fact that a living being, be it a god or not, held the power to outclass any kind of military development they struggled to achieve this century. Such a thing… Could it really exist, inside the realm of reality?

The universe was set as such that nothing was equal, while everything tended to be equal. The natural laws that every existence of the world obeyed were conceived in a way to make sure nothing would suddenly go astray, or at least without a valid and plausible reason. This motto basically meant that everything happening under one’s nose could be understood and explained, that nothing was abnormal, and that nothing was out of the norm.

Divine energy was a scarce resource, because the only way to gather a few was through the benevolence of the gods. And yet, this girl… This girl… She wasted a tenfold of what the Kingdom of Biscotti possessed for military uses just for a show!

“It was splendid, wasn’t it? Don’t hesitate to praise me more.”

Splendid. It sure fitted the ceremony Friture spectated just now. Just now, this innocent girl proved that she was a pure-bred goddess. And what else? What if she was one of a kind? An above-the-average goddess? Maybe she even scrapped the top of the list? No, there was no way to know the truth only by watching once. On an additional note, Friture had zero numbers about gods’ capacity, making it hard to tell if she was standing out, or barely existing under the shadows the giants.

But still, it was an opportunity. A rare, one in a century kind of opportunity for Friture to try something new. He needed to do this. He needed to ask her about it, at least once.

He was left speechless, slowly gathering his courage, doing his best to steel his determination.

Finally, he breathed in, and…

“Trellia!”

“Yes, that’s me?”

The goddess was pleased to be called by her name, joyfully waiting for her present client to shower her with good words.

“How would you… How much you’d scale your amount of divine energy?”

“Mmh… You mean to ask how much of this power I possess?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Friture wasn’t certain how to ask this without using a technical vocabulary. That was one backlash of working so hard in the laboratory.

Meanwhile, Trellia was seriously pondering on the question. Being asked how much energy she could stock in her reserve was equivalent to ask how much gas she could inhale with both her lungs. However, this swirling emotion kept her motivated, excited to the point of neglecting the absurd and the obvious. That was why… Why not being modest about it?

“When using this little trick for comparison… I’d say I could probably brighten the whole castle over there from here in the same way… For an hour or two, maybe?”

Hearing this, something suddenly felt stuck in Friture’s mind. The piece of information was prevented from accessing his brain, as it seemed so big he unconsciously labelled it as fake news. He gulped once, reorganized his breath, and then repressed his sigh.

He hadn’t the guts to tell her she was lying about it, because, somewhere inside his spirit, he sensed that she was capable of such a feat.

“Why are you looking at me this way? Am I that scary for you, mortal?”

She accompanied her little taunt with a childish giggle, satisfying herself with the face Friture was showing while digesting her words.

But that wasn’t it. That wasn’t only it. Those newly-learnt facts, this god-sent coincidence, the meeting between him and her, all of this wasn’t mere luck. If he could… If only he could do it.

If only he could find the determination to ask for her help. With her almighty potential, and his knowledge on divine essence’s properties, maybe he could achieve something greater than simply fabricating a machine? A grander project, more inclined toward a peaceful approach of this scientific domain?

He looked down, disturbed by his lack of courage while his fists where slightly shaking of frustration. Why was he so weak-minded? Was he always so weak-minded? What did he do during his whole life to arrive to such conclusion?

Oh, right. He did nothing but give his all to science. A shut-in like himself, trying to grab this golden opportunity to change everything? What a joke.

“Are you alright, Friture?”

Noticing a sort of distress in his guest’s behaviour, Trellia tried to be nicer to him, inquiring for his feelings. However…

“Yes… Yes, I’m fine. I’m just amazed by you, Trellia.”

He said with a smile that came out of nowhere.