Author's Note: Heyyyy, guys! It's been quite a while!
I had lost steam for this story for a while, and I've been trying to work on my new job, my drawings, and other stuff.
Anyways, I hope you like this chapter! It comes with some stuff explained from, "The Broken Flame" as well!
"Thank you, good miss," Steve spoke as he handed a few emeralds to the Wandering Trader he stood before.
The villager took the gemstones into her hands and put it into her pocket, before handing the man a few slime balls. "Thank you for your business, miner," she responded. "May Jeb bless you, and I hope you find many more good trades with my kind."
"Thank you, ma'am. I'll certainly try to do so." Steve nodded to the Trader, then turned on his heels and walked back towards the many stands and shops of the Creatoria kingdom. The town square and the shopping area were bustling with life as keepers and customers talked and traded. The chatter filling the air was quite nice for the sociable miner, and Steve smiled as he walked towards the large fountain in the middle of the district. He could see the queen and his Demi-Deity twin talking as they sat on the fountain's stone edge. He made his way towards them.
"And… well, I think I know why you can do that now," Brine murmured, looking to the queen with passive features.
Celina tilted her head and asked, "Why do you think I can do that?"
"Hey, guys!"
Celina and Brine raised their heads up as Steve called for them, and smiles crept onto both of their faces. The miner sat next to the royal with the Demi-Deity on her other side. "Did you guys find anything good?"
Celina nodded. "I found some pretty amethyst jewelry from the gemstone shop over there. I'm sure Stephanie will like the earrings I found."
"And I found a Trader who gave me a spyglass for some emeralds," Brine stated. "They were pretty nice, they had some reasonable prices."
The miner nodded. "Sounds nice." He noticed there seemed to be a tense posture about the Nether Prince, and he tilted his head. "Brine, you okay? You seem like you're worried about something."
Brine's smile fell, and he wrung his hands together. "I'm not worried, Steve. But… I was explaining something to Celina."
Steve blinked in question. "What is it? Are you okay with telling me too?"
Brine nodded, before letting out a soft sigh. "Steve, you are aware that Celina has been able to see into inventories for a while now, correct?"
Steve thought about what he said for a second, before nodding in realization. "Yeah, it's been like that for a while, since… since I got kidnapped by Glistenia, right?"
Celina shuddered at hearing that name. That name was one she knew and hoped she wouldn't have to speak again.
Four years ago, after Celina changed Brine and helped him become a better person, he was betrayed. When Brine had lost his place in human society, the first Ender ever made in their server, named Glistenia, offered her place as ruler of the mobs to him. Brine had kept his throne for some time, but after befriending Celina and Steve, Glistenia betrayed him. She kidnapped Steve in order to lure Brine and Celina to their deaths. By the luck of the Gods, Celina defeated Glistenia in battle, but she hadn't been able to make the killing blow before the queen had to save Brine's life.
Celina's thoughts had trailed to the Enderwoman, until Brine spoke again.
"Celina gained that ability not a moment after holding my swords to fight her." He clasped his hands together as he continued. "I never really thought about if that would affect Celina in any way, because my swords have some very powerful magic that only allows myself or someone I trust to wield them. But… I think it gave Celina some powers similar to mine."
Steve raised a brow. "But… how?"
Celina shrugged softly. "I was asking the same thing, Steve. Because that's not the only thing I can do ever since I held Brine's swords." She could feel the violet gaze of the miner turn to her. "When I experience strong emotions, I can feel these… strange pulses of energy within me, like something is trying to empower me. And when that happens, you've both described magenta smoke floating from my eyes."
Steve nodded for her to keep speaking, piqued curiosity on his face.
"I can also hear heartbeats now. I didn't realize it until I was bringing you boys home from the battle with Glistenia years ago. I only figured it out when I brought you guys into a cave and stayed up to make sure no mobs would come and hurt you. If I thought about you and your condition, it would let me hear your heartbeats from blocks away."
That made sense to Steve, he remembered that Celina could sometimes tell where her husband or anyone else in the castle was by listening for them, but Steve didn't realize it was because she could hear their hearts. "But… if you got those powers from holding Brine's swords, why did it give you those powers? Aren't Deities the only ones who can give powers to mortals or take them away?"
Brine nodded. "Normally, but I think I'm an exception."
"Why would that be, Brine?"
"Because… of us being made from power from… from Iraura."
The human man sat up in his place, posture alert. "You mean… our big sister? The ex-Queen of the Deities?"
The Nether Prince responded, "Yes. She made you and I from her powers, and I think that gave me some kind of ability to give Celina powers like that. We were both made from powerful energy possessed by only the highest Deities, so, I think that's why holding my blades gave her those powers."
Celina had listened with intent to every word and she put a hand to her chin in thought when he finished speaking. "That… makes a lot of sense to me. I mean, it's been proven by what happened, so I think it's true."
Brine nodded. "Even so, I'm glad it happened. I know that if you hadn't been given those powers, you would have never found the potion that saved mine and Steve's life in my inventory. I… I wouldn't be here without you, Celina. And I'm grateful for everything you've done for me."
The queen gently took one of the Demi-Deity's hands as he finished speaking, and when he looked at her, she placed a kiss on his knuckles. "Brine, you mean a lot to me, to Steve, to everyone here. We love you, we care about you, and I wasn't going to let you die back there. You're my best friend, and I love you more than I can say. Don't ever think otherwise."
The being blinked, then smiled and returned her hold.
"Hey, Steve, Celina, Brine!"
The trio turned their heads as a voice with a Russian accent called their names. They looked to see Sam making his way down the street, Alex by his side.
Steve beamed and moved to the road, embracing Sam when he reached the trio. "Hey, Sam, how are you?"
Sam chuckled and broke the hug. "I'm good, Steve. It's good to see you!"
Alex embraced Steve and when she pulled away, she looked to the queen and Demi-Deity sitting on the edge of the fountain. "Hello, Celina, Brine!"
Celina waved gently. "Hi, Alex! It's good to hear from you and Sam, I know it's been a few weeks since you last came into the kingdom from your village."
"Well, I guess that means Alex and I have a bigger presence here than we thought," Sam responded. "And how have you been, Brine?"
Brine smiled softly and clasped his hands together. Sam and Alex were Steve's best friends from their end of Forest's City, their village. Alex was a tomboyish, tough woman who proclaimed herself as an archer and protector. Sam, on the other hand, was a humble farmer with a family of his own. They were quite kind and very good to Brine, despite having great fear of the Nether Prince when they first met.
Brine looked up at Sam. "I've been well, thank you for asking. I've been helping Celina and Cenlar around the kingdom. Some parts of it are getting bigger and growing, so I've been working to help people when I'm not out patrolling here or your village."
"Well, that's good to hear," the farmer told him. "I'm mighty glad you're well! The kingdom looks great, by the way. You guys are doin' a great job."
Steve moved to stand beside Brine and Celina and asked, "I'm guessing you guys came to do some trading too?"
"Yeah, definitely!" Alex pulled a few blocks from her inventory. "I've got these brick blocks I crafted the other day, and Sam says he has some freshly picked crops to trade. We figured we'd come down this way to see what we can get."
Steve nodded and looked to see what gems he still had in his inventory. "Sounds like a plan to me. I was also going to stay for dinner here at the castle. Why don't you guys stay for a while and join us?"
"That sounds lovely, Steve," the archer responded. "I think we can do that tonight."
The Demi-Deity spoke up with, "Let's all split up then, see what we can find and who's got things we need. We can meet back up at the castle and see what we've got."
Celina gave him a smile and they all went their separate ways, the five making their way to various stands in the town square.
The next while was filled with bustle and chatter as Celina, Steve, Brine, Sam, and Alex talked to the traders and shop owners of the kingdom's town square. There was a sense of peace about the noise of the street, one that the five could call… normal and tranquil. It was perfect.
A dark sneer fell over the face of a being hiding within the shade of the trees on the outskirts of Creatoria's town square. There was no doubt in her mind that the Demi-Deity had some friends on his side. One of those humans even dressed in similar attire, and the Demi-Goddess found herself putting a hand to her chin in thought.
Even though she and the archer known as Alex dressed alike, she knew that the human could only ever dream of having her abilities and discipline. There was nothing that made them alike, and this made her anger rise. How dare the archer dress in the same manner as her!
The Demi-Goddess retreated a bit further into the shadows of the birches and oaks at the edge of the kingdom. She was going to have to watch the mortals for a little while longer before she could strike. The being had a plan in mind, she would just have to run it by her master.
With that thought in mind, she made her way back into the shadows, away from the town square, to make her way to the castle.