Irene gasped as she snapped her eyes open. She bolted up, her chest was heaving.
She looked down and saw herself in a body. In heroriginal body.
"What..."
Her eyes wandered around, her hair flailing as she took in her surroundings.
"I thought Selene—"
The last thing she remembered was her conversation with the moon god dragon with the latter promising to transfer her soul to the other dimension where magic is nonexistent, where she will be normal again, where she can no longer harm others with her power, where she will not hurt her daughter anymore and ruin her smile.
But why?
Why does it seem like she's still on the same earth, in the same dimension?
Did the spell didn't work?
No, that's impossible. Selene is a powerful being.
Did she lie to me?
No. I don't think Selene is that type of person.
Then why? Why is she still here? What happened? What—
The redheaded's eyes widened when she remembered something. She remembered that in the course of the transfer, she could feel herself being pulled into another dimension, but she felt a tug, and the next thing she knew she found herself here in the middle of the mountain of Ankhseramknow where.
And what puzzles her more is that she was in her body. She could tell that this was her body as she could still sense the dragon in her.
She gradually got to her feet. She looked around and her eyes stopped at the bonfire not far from her. Her eyes narrowed as she walked slowly, step by step as apparently her soul was still adjusting from having a body once again.
She stared at the fire as she sat down on a fallen tree in front of it.Fire.It only means something, someone was with her a while ago.
The former Queen senses a presence coming from the forest. Irene looked upher face was expressionless, but her eyes were gleaming dangerously. She spoke in a low tone, "Who are you and what have you done?"
Irene was surprised when a child who looked around eight to ten years old came into view. But the moment their eyes met, the redhead knew the child was everything but ordinary.
The child may have a youthful appearance but her silver eyes were telling something else.
Irene saw the girl lowered the rabbits in her hand to the ground. The girl let out a smile and bowed towards her.
"Please to meet you, your Majesty, the name is Zayah, goddess of hope and moon."
Then the child lifted her head once again to look at her and the Dragon Queen knew that the girl saw the surprise and confusion written on her face.
What's with the'Your Majesty' title?
And a goddess? Impossible. The deities will not show themselves in the mortal world. They will not reveal their selves to lowly beings— well according to the books she had read.
"And I need your help,Irene Belserion."
Irene stared into the girl's eyes. She observed her and looked for something that would tell her that the girl was lying, which she didn't find.
The girl named Zayah raised her eyebrow as she saw her observing pick the rabbits and walk closer, " It appears you are skeptical of me."
Irene watched as Zayah prepared the rabbit, "Well I think anyone would be if a child appeared before them and proclaimed that she's a goddess. And isn't immortals don't go down here on Earth? They don't like for the mortals to see them."
The girl chuckled, "Well that's true," Zayah put the rabbits at the top of the fire and sat down on a log, "But also a false, not all of the immortals don't like to go down here. Some of them like to disguise themselves and interact with mortals," she picked a long stick and poked the woods in the fire, "I even knew a few who fell in love with a mortal and had an off-spring with them. You are familiar with Dimaria Yesta, yes?"
The former Springgan nodded, "Yes, she was a former colleague of mine. What's with her?"
"What do you know about her?" the girl asked as she turned the stick holding the rabbit.
Irene didn't know where this conversation would go but she still answered, "She's an orphan but a descendant of the people of Mildian then became a vessel of Chronos."
Zayah nodded, "Do you know why Chronos chose her?"
"Because she has Mildian blood?"
"You're correct that he chose her because of the blood coursing through her veins but it is not because of her Mildian blood," Zayah glanced at her before she turned her attention once again at the rabbit, turning it once again, "But it's because of the divine blood in her."
The former queen's eyes widened as she realized what was the girl implying.
"Yes, Dimeria is a demigod, a daughter of Ares, the god of war," the girl revealed as she raised the rabbit to check if it was already cooked once she was satisfied she offered it to Irene.
Irene accepts it absently, her mind in turmoil.Dimeria is a demigod?
"How sure you are Dimeria is a demigod?"
The girl raised her eyebrow, "I thought you knew things about us?" she shook her head, "A deity can't fuse with a mortal as its body would not survive under the divinity of the immortal unless the mortal is a part divine themself," then she rolled her eyes, "And Ares boast all the time how his daughter can destroy weaklings. Gods, it's so irritating."
"Does Dimeria know about this? If so why she didn't tell us?" Irene mumbled to herself.
"Oh, I'm sure she knew about it," she waved her hand off, "Chronos needs to reveal Dimeria's origin first cause she knew about the rule about a divine entity fusing with a mortal," Zayah glanced at the untouched cooked rabbit, "Eat. Your body needs it."
The redheaded looked down at the cooked rabbit in her hands. She frowned, "No, thank you. I can manage and survive without eating."
The girl tsked as she looked at her with brows furrowed, "Eat."
Irene felt a shiver run down her spine. She remembered the way her mother would look at her when she was still a child and she did an unroyal manner. The redheaded looked down and glared at the innocent cooked rabbit.
"Nothing will happen if you just stare at it."
Irene shivered at the tone of Zayah. This is the moment she would never imagine that would happen to her life. For her, a more than 400 years old, to be scolded like a child by someone who looks very much younger than her.
"You are maybe centuries old but you are nothing to the likes of me who already living in more than four millenials."
The former queen's eyes widened and looked at the child. The girl raised her eyebrows, "Don't judge the book by its cover, sweetheart. This is not my true form," she pointed down at the food, "And how many times will I tell you? Eat."
Irene looked down and though she was hesitating, she still did what the child (?) said. She closed her eyes as she took a bite and waited at the bland flavor that would attack her tasteless bud but her eyes snapped open when she was instead greeted by a forgotten but familiar taste.
"Salty and a little bit bitter? How? Am I a human aga—"
"Now, I may revive you with a new construct body but it is still the same body you had before, so no. You are still a dragon," the girl stopped her train of thought, "But I enchant it for you to be able to taste it like a human will do."
Irene's hand shook as she looked up at her and then down at the rabbit again. She took another bite and the flavor attacked her tongue. Then she took another bite and another bite and another bite.
Then she felt something wet on her cheeks but she ignored it and continued to eat the food. But then a sob came out of her mouth but she still didn't stop. She couldn't. She will not—
"Damn it," she looked up and stared at the starry sky chuckling, "How pathetic, crying just because she could taste the food?"
"Trust me, it's not pathetic."
Irene could feel the food was taken away from her. She looked down and saw that the now-finished roasted rabbit had been replaced with a new one. Her eyes went to Zayah who was now smiling towards her.
"Don't stop. Just eat until you get tired of the rabbit's taste."
For the first time in so many years, Irene let out a grin. A grin out of happiness.
