I'm backkkk!

So I've finally finished this chapter. I had a massive case of writer's block that lasted about three weeks and the second half of this chapter took forever.

So here is the next installment of the Aradia arc.

Enjoy and leave a review!

"Aradia?" A tentative hand waved over Aradia's face as her brain short-circuited. "Are you alright?"

Aradia was, in fact, not alright, and had her brain been in any condition to process the question, she would have responded as such. As it was, she barely got beyond the part where she was supposed to be the Devil's spawn. Holy Napoleone's misty face, the villagers that had chased her out of her childhood home had been right.

Did that mean she was technically the Antichrist? That would have been hilarious if the revelation wasn't so horrifying.

"Aradia." Her twelve year old mother was starting to sound concerned. Almost to herself, she muttered, "Did I break her?"

"I'm fine," Aradia said, finally remembering how her voice worked. It came out squeakier than usual. "Totally alright."

Diana didn't look convinced, but didn't push the issue. "At any rate, you are conceived due to a prophecy, which foretold the restoration of the power of our pantheon. The matter of your father's identity is left…open-ended, and the fact that it was Lucifer was the result of a…miscalculation, on my part. But nonetheless, you are the prophesied child, and the subject of this prophecy."

Ah, of course. Fifteen years of her life without so much as a word, and the one time her birth mother showed up was the time she needed help from her. Aradia wondered if that was going to set the bar for every Roman god she was going to come across.

"Just one question," she said, because she wasn't going to do what any teenaged goddess who randomly showed up in her home's bidding without good cause. "Why would I want to restore the power of a bunch of gods that I've barely heard of?"

The goddess had the nerve to look startled, like she'd never given this any serious thought. "It would save us from oblivion. And also, didn't you like causing chaos?"

"Generalized, harmless chaos is one thing. Chaos at the benefit of someone else is another. And at any rate, I'm not going to dedicate my life to someone who abandoned me for fifteen years just because you're my mother. Especially because you're my mother."

"I didn't abandon you. I watched over you-"

"So you were watching on the day they killed my adoptive mom and chased me out of the village?"

"…Yes."

Aradia felt her anger rising. "Oh, that's some parental skills right there. Did you enjoy watching my suffering?"

Diana winced. "I led you to Caroline-"

"No doubt so you can use me after she honed my magical skills-"

"Because I care about your well being and didn't want you to die!"

"Yeah, because you can't use me if I'm dead," Aradia was startled to hear that her voice was close to a snarl.

"Why do you twist my words?" Diana sounded almost upset.

"Why shouldn't I? I've never met you in my life, and apparently, the only reason I exist was because of some stupid prophecy that promised to restore the power of some long lost gods that were just a bygone memory in the minds of most normal people. Why should I do anything you tell me to do?"

There was a knock at the door.

"Aradia?" Her neighbor called. Aradia was startled to discover just how late it was. "Can you please keep your voice down…?"

Aradia took a deep breath and glared. "Sorry, my visitor is just leaving."

She glared at her mother, holding up a hand that crackled with magical energy. Her chances of fighting a goddess and winning were not great, but either way, one of them would be leaving that room.

The goddess sighed in resignation, understanding the unspoken challenge. "I will see you later."

"Let's hope not."

Aradia was gone by the morning, leaving behind an animated sketch of a rude hand gesture and a goddess who wondered exactly where she went wrong with her child.

"So you're my niece, huh?"

Aradia tensed. Why are those gods everywhere? "And evidently I can't even finish my drink without being interrupted by some random god. Who are you, anyway?"

Perhaps she should have foregone the tavern, after all.

The blonde teenager in front of her frowned. "You don't have a guess?"

Aradia stared blankly. "Not even a little bit."

The blonde teenager sighed. "I'm Apollo. Your uncle."

"Which one," Aradia took an aggressive swig of wine, because trying to keep track of her family tree called for the need for alcohol. "Actually, you know what, I don't care. Let me guess. You're here to convince me to 'fulfill my destiny' or whatever. And as I have already told Diana, you can take my destiny and shove it-"

"I'm here to give you a warning," Apollo cut across what probably would have been a very rude remark. "We gods are not the only ones invested in your destiny. There are those who would like to kill you before you can restore our power. Be on your guard."

"Eh," Aradia thought back to the monstrous dog she had befriended. For some reason, she seemed to have the power to tame them. "I'll probably be fine. Why do they want to kill me, anyway? If I fulfill my destiny or whatever and restore power to you goddy people, wouldn't they benefit too?"

"It's precisely because they would become stronger that they would want to stop you," said Apollo. "Do you know what happens to monsters when they die?"

"...They die?"

"They go to Tartarus, which, uh, you can think of as Hell. Over time, they gain the strength to crawl themselves out of the Pit and back here again. And thus the cycle continues. They want to be rid of that cycle, and linger in this mortal coil forever. At least, until they, too, fade away."

Aradia frowned. "And you guys want to trap them in a cycle of eternal torment? Seems excessively cruel of you."

Her uncle groaned. "Them being in this mortal realm is not a good thing, you know. They cause plagues, miasmas-"

"Bad things," she summed up. "Got it."

Apollo handed her a knife. It was a polished, shiny thing, made of what was probably pure gold. It was easily the most expensive thing Aradia had ever seen. She quickly hid it before any curious onlookers could notice and try to mug her, or something. "Demigods-that is, our half mortal children-need to constantly kill them to survive. Use this to defend yourself. Were you ever trained in knife play?"

"It's a stabby stab thing. How hard can it be?"

The whole thing seemed incredibly stupid. Why couldn't they just trap the monsters in Hell? Or just mutually agreed to not kill each other?

Apollo groaned again. "I'm starting to have doubts about you. Can you be a bit more serious about your situation? We're talking about your continued existence here."

"Would doing that actually help?"

"Probably not," he admitted. "Fine, I see your point. Well, I'd better get going. Places to be. People to see."

He winked at her. Aradia stared blankly at him until he started looking uncomfortable. "See you around, Aradia."

"Oh, and one more thing," he stopped short at the door. "If you see a giant with mechanical eyes around, turn and run away."

Tada!

Please do vote on what you want to see next, or just leave a review on what you think of this story. It gives me the motivation to keep writing. I read all the reviews and listen to suggestions, and getting one usually ends up with me grinning like an idiot at work in a way that makes most people question my sanity.

So yeah.

Your options for the next chapter are:

A. Aradia part 4

B. Iphigenia

C. A chapter with AI

D. Your own prompt!