Demi-gods are not birthed, they are chosen. It is forbidden amongst the gods to have children, mostly because they would get too powerful. Around 200 years ago the world was filled with godspawn, the children of the gods and the demi-gods, empowered by the gods that didn't want children. They were everywhere, some became heroes while others became evil and got drunk with power. Destroying countries and whole races just because they had the power to. The mortals did what they could to survive but it wasn't easy, being surrounded by such powerful beings.

It didn't take long for some of the godspawn to start antagonizing some of the lesser deities. Wanting to be full gods they stole the thrones of some of the lesser ones. They killed every one of their followers they could find and defiled their temples. Trying their best to erase the name of the one whose throne they wanted, weakening them and killing them for their power. Deities and Gods can be killed only if they are cut off from their worshippers. They gain immortality through their followers, every prayer to them converts a small amount of Mana into divinity. Which is the source of their divine powers and their lifespan. Every temple or shrine boosts the conversion rate, changing massive amounts of Mana into divinity with every prayer.

The lesser deities appealed to the gods, begging them to do something about their children before they wiped out their followers and destroyed their temples. Some of the gods agreed to help, stopping their children from attacking the lesser deities. But others saw the deities as weak and inferior and didnt care about their source of prayers being destroyed. This created a huge rift between most of the major gods and the minor deities. A rift that gave rise to a war that spread from the gods realm into the mortal realm. Almost all of the godspawn and demi-gods fought each other, causing massive damage to the mortal realm. Kingdoms disappeared overnight, towns were encased in ice and shattered. Many mortals lost faith in the gods, the war destroying all they had held dear. Causing the gods to lose their main income of divinity. Most beleive this is the only reason the war stopped, well that and the fact the godspawn population dropped to a 10th of what it had been. Since then the gods all agreed to a pact to not have anymore children, demi-gods were still allowed as they were not as powerful as godspawn and could be easily controlled. But as demi-gods were simply mortals that had a power up, they were not very appealing to the major gods.

So meeting a demi-gods is very rare, especially one with the same name as the goddess she was chosen by. As that could be very bad for a lesser god, given the fact that their name is the source of their power. If the demi-gods with their name gained an unfavorable reputation that could hinder their followers belief in them.

Why did a goddess of evil chose a monster girl as a demi-god? It didn't make sense to me. She had way more intelligence than normal minotaurs, and she was female which was always thought to be impossible. Whatever, none of these thoughts are going to get me any coin.

Dusting myself off, I get off the floor. Malady got out of the chair she had pulled next to me and started to walk towards the door.

I couldn't let her just leave after dropping that on me. I needed to get some answers.

"Wait? Why are you here? Did the godess send you with a quest or something? Is a calamity coming?"

Malady, who was halfway out the door stopped and turned her head to me.

"She chose to make me a demi-god, to save my life. I have no goal other than to live."

Leaving the door open behind her as she left, I wondered what she meant by that. Realizing I was still holding that accursed book I bound it with a leather strap tightly and packed it at the bottom of the merchants pack. Checking to see if I had packed everything I closed the bag and headed back to Vylet and malady.

Vylet had chosn to wear a pair of pants she had found with a hole In the back that she cut for her tail. She was also wearing leather boots and a shirt that had been sown from many bits of random cloth. Somehow she had found a pair of expensive gloves that no one in this village should have been able to afford and had cut them into fingerless gloves.

Damn kids, those gloves could have been worth a handful of silver if she didn't ruin them.

Other than the green dress she was wearing, malady had found a cap and was wearing it over her horns. She looked like a young noble, as long as you didn't see the hooves under her dress. They both had crude sacks stuffed to the brim with things they had found in the empty houses. A small pile of books were behind them, without saying a word to them I muttered a spell while walking straight past them. Feeling the Mana gather in my palm, I willed it into a fireball and tossed it onto the pile of books. I'm not dealing with more than one of these.

"Where in the hells did you find these books?"

Vylet was the one to answer first.

"Every house had one hidden in it somewhere. Under the floors, behind paintings or hidden behind false walls."

This whole damn village is part of the cult!

"We need to get out of here"

The girls simply nodded and grabbed their bags.

We left the cultist village and started heading to the next town. It was a couple days from here but we had tents and I knew some wards to keep animals away so I think we will be alright. Keeping to the road we travelled farther south, deeper into the kingdom. The road was not very well kept. At times it simply became a path of cleared trees. Can't really be helped seeing as we are on the edge of the kingdom. After only a couple hours of walking the sun had start to sink below the horizon and we stopped to set up camp. We stopped right before the beginning of a large forest. It would be two days through this forest to the town of mest on the other side.

Vylet was in charge of finding dry wood for the fire. Malady wanted to try and set up the tents, so I let her and started getting the place ready for the fire. I cut the grass around the area and put some rocks in a circle to prevent the fire from spreading. I look at malady to see how she was doing.

*SNAP!*

She had fell on the tent snapping the supports. Her hat had fell off of her head and her horn caught the cloth and ripped it. Sighing, I set up the other tent and told her I'd sleep outside. This was going to be a long trip. Vylet returned and noticed the wreck of a tent next to the sad looking malady and guessed what happened. She gave the dry wood she found to me and went to console malady.

She doesn't act like a demi-god I thought and chuckled to myself. Placing the wood in area I prepared, i gathered a small spark of Mana. Sent it to the tip of my finger, I lightly poke my finger into the base of the sticks and simply imagine a fire. A small flame pops out of my finger and spreads to the wood around it. Malady and vylet seem to be getting along great, they are sitting in the grass talking to each other.

Then Vylet jumped to her feet, ears twitching she stared at the forest. She heard it seconds before I did.

*BOOM*

I pull out my sword and summon some Mana into my left hand to use at any moment. My and vylet were staring at the forest, malady didn't seem to know what was going on. Looking thouroughly confused and a little worried she sat behind Vylet, clutching a small knife in her hand.

I heard something coming toward us. It sounded like a strong wind. Realization dawned on me. I sheath my sword and dash towards Vylet and malady. Molding the Mana in my hand as I go, muttering in the forbidden language to strengthen it. I spread the Mana into a shield as soon as I was close to Vylet and malady. The light blue force in a dome shape around us.

Vylet looked at me

"What the hell are you doing?!"

I said nothing and just prepared myself for what was coming.

In the distance, what looked like a wall of flying trees, boulders and debree were heading straight for us.

"That" I said while pointing.

She and malady's jaws dropped at the sight. The fear clearly visible in their eyes.

I poured my Mana into the shield, willing it to get stronger and stronger till the wall was upon us.