Chapter 96: The Goddess of Life and the Goddess of Procreation
The moment his hand closed around the hilt, a dazzling silver light burst from the scabbard. The elves had to shield their eyes, and even the Dwarven King had to squint.
"How can this be?" the Elven King murmured.
He had just seen Athos, in the hands of Rhodes, shine with a brilliance he hadn't seen in a thousand years, a brilliance he had only ever read about in books. The holy sword, Athos, had acknowledged a human. It has to be an illusion, he thought. He was only acknowledged by the vines. He can't possibly draw the sword. He tried desperately to console himself with that thought, but then Rhodes did something that shattered all of his composure.
Without any resistance, just as he had with Org, he slowly drew Athos from its scabbard. The silver blade emerged, radiating a soft, gentle light.
It was the first time in thousands of years that the Elven King had seen Athos drawn, and he was filled with a mixture of joy and helplessness. Why would the holy sword of the elves acknowledge a human? It was a question to which he would never find an answer.
At the center of their attention, a stream of information flowed into Rhodes's mind. He didn't know if the elves who had drawn it before had received the same information. "Your Majesty," he said, "I'd like to ask about the origin of the Holy Right Sword, Athos."
"Its true origin has long since been lost to time," the king said, shaking his head. "It is ancient. The only thing we know for sure is that it was once blessed by a god."
"Is that so?" Rhodes said, looking down at the sword and processing the information he had just received. It seemed the other elves hadn't received it. Was it because they hadn't touched Org, hadn't touched upon the authority of a god?
The moment he had drawn Athos, he had known. There was one thing they had all been wrong about when it came to the gods.
Whether true or false, they were both real gods. Just as Athos and Org were connected. Athos, in a sense, was the sword that had once been wielded and blessed by the usurper god. And the dwarves' record of the gods splitting due to a difference in faith... that was also true. The two gods were one and the same. Or rather, they were both gods of the same authority.
That was the story Athos had told him. The story of the Goddess of Procreation, Eges, and the Goddess of Life, Alis.
The two goddesses had once shared the authority over life, and the faith of the elven race. But one day, one of them had separated the creation of life from its procreation and had created the unnatural race of the Sky-Winged. And with their faith, she had become the undisputed Goddess of Life.
This, of course, had angered the other goddess, and a civil war over the same authority had begun. But in the end, the one with the faith of the Sky-Winged had been stronger. She had not only killed the Goddess of Procreation but had also claimed the faith of the entire elven race for herself.
And the place where the Goddess of Procreation had fallen... was the Godfall Land.
But how had she returned? And how had she usurped the Goddess of Life's own body? That was not mentioned in the information he had received. It seemed that even Athos did not have all the answers. The full story could only be found in the Godfall Land.
And the power of Athos... it had two aspects. One was a barrier, the most powerful of all defensive spells. And the other... was a powerful regenerative ability, a part of the authority over life. So powerful that if he were to cut off his own arm now, he could easily regrow it with Athos's power.
As if sensing the power of Athos, Org, which Serie was holding, began to glow with a golden light. The gold and silver light intertwined, separate yet harmonious.
"The two legendary holy swords!" the Dwarven King's voice trembled with excitement. "They're resonating in the hands of a human!"
Resonating? Rhodes couldn't help but chuckle. As the one who had been acknowledged by both, he could feel it clearly: the enmity and the connection between the two swords.
Athos had been wielded and blessed by the Goddess of Procreation. And Org contained the power of the Goddess of Life. The two swords were, in a sense, the legacy of the two goddesses' conflict.
And the reason he had been acknowledged by Athos... was simple. Its true master was dead and gone, now just a parasite, living in the body of another. The connection between them was broken. And besides, after thousands, even tens of thousands of years of being worshipped by the elves, the sword probably had no connection left to the Goddess of Procreation anyway, only a sense for the aura of the authority over life. And he, having gained that authority through Org, had naturally been acknowledged.
This is a real coup, he thought. He had not only stolen the chosen ones and the authority of the Goddess of Life, but also the sword of the Goddess of Procreation. If they were still in their prime, they would have probably already come after him. He was grateful that they were both otherwise occupied.
Now that I know all this, he thought, I should probably discuss it with the others.
But for now, he turned to the still-disbelieving Elven King. "And now, do you still doubt me?"
The Elven King's expression shifted from shock to belief. "The elves," he said with an elegant bow, "are at your command."
It was a legend among the dwarves that whoever drew Org would become the Dwarven King. But since no dwarf had ever been able to do it, it had remained just a legend. The elves had a similar, but more tangible, legend. The one who could draw Athos, the Saint, would lead the elves to a brighter future. And it had happened before. Though the one who had drawn the sword now was a human, the Elven King had no intention of going against the ancient legend. Besides, a human who had been acknowledged by so many holy swords... he was sure to be able to change their current predicament. He had faith. He believed.
(End of Chapter)
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