Chapter 2: Child of Mystery
Hestia stared down at the girl on her bed. The girl's chest rose and fell, proof she was alive. Beyond that, however… there wasn't much else.
When Bell had kicked down the church's door, she had been surprised to find him carrying an adventurer princess style. Before her jealousy could flare, Hestia had seen the state she was in, and immediately got her squared away, laying her onto the only bed in the building.
Her beloved Familia member had then rushed off to find Miach and Naaza, the only two people either of them knew who could possibly save her.
While that had been happening, Hestia had stripped the girl in order to clean and bind her wounds, and the goddess had choked back a sob at the sight underneath her odd garment. No child should have had to suffer like she had done. The wounds were terrible, and she was too pale and skinny to be healthy.
Worse, Hestia could feel the girl's love, or rather, the lack of it. This child had had her relationships utterly ruined, lost so many people she cared about, and been forced to do terrible things for the sake of her family.
Hestia's divine authority revolved around the concepts of Hearth and Home. She was the goddess of family itself, and even with her powers mostly sealed, Hestia's Arcanum couldn't help but pick up the psychic screams of pain this young mortal was constantly radiating, even while unconscious.
The unknown girl had woken up around the time Bell had returned with Miach, thankfully distracting Hestia from the pain the poor girl was feeling. The goddess had then tried to speak with her. To communicate. She never responded. She was mute. Or perhaps addlepated? She just sat there, staring at nothing, even as Miach gently poked and prodded her.
After checking her over, Miach had given her a potion to help ease her pain and to get her back to sleep. Then, he had told Hestia and Bell his diagnosis. Needless to say, neither of them had been happy with it.
"Are you absolutely sure there is nothing you can do?" she asked, glancing over at her fellow god. Miach shook his head apologetically.
"The mind is a delicate thing," he replied softly. "She has suffered a brain injury, and while it doesn't seem bad, I cannot say how it has affected her. Given the… vacant stare she has, I fear her mind was scrambled by whatever did… that to her."
He gestured at the two scars that sat on her head, and Hestia grimaced. She'd never seen wounds like that before, and neither had Miach. The only good thing was that whatever had hit her head had passed clean through at an angle, so there was no worry of something staying in the wound and festering or causing complications and the brain itself was mostly undamaged, as far as they could tell.
"There has to be a way to heal her,"
"Her mind is broken," Miach said with a shake of his head. "It will have to recover on its own… assuming it ever does."
"Miach, please!" Hestia begged, and he grimaced.
"I… I suppose there might be one way," He admitted. Hestia and Bell leaned in, eager to hear it.
"You know how, when a god interacts with a mortal's Falna, they are able to get glimpses of said mortal's memory?" Miach inquired.
"Of course," Hestia nodded, while Bell stared at the two in shock.
"W-wait, you've read my mind?!" Bell gasped.
"It's nothing like that," Hestia assured him. He looked so cute when flustered. Was he afraid she had seen some naughty dream? She wanted to tease him, but now wasn't the time for it, however!
"A god will merely see parts of the mortal's past. Moments that defined the mortal. Shaped them into what they are today," Miach explained. "However…"
The God of Medicine trailed off. Upon seeing the eager gazes of the two, he sighed and continued.
"A god's Arcanum is only unsealed for a brief moment during the application and updating of a Falna. Now, in theory, it should be possible for a god or goddess to intentionally look deeper into their child's mind, to seek out specific memories. Most do not because the past rarely matters to a god, only the present and the future. However, I must stress that this is purely hypothetical, but a god could… rearrange things in their child's mind through the Falna during this brief moment of interaction," Miach revealed.
Bell gasped, and Hestia frowned. "I didn't know that," she admitted.
"It is not something often talked about. I only know of it because Mnemosyne mentioned it one time while we were out drinking," Miach said.
"A goddess of memory would know something about that," Hestia supposed in a low mutter. Louder, she asked, "Would that work, though? To use that method to heal a mind that had been… damaged?"
"It is possible. Again, I have never heard of a god who has done this, because meddling with a mortal's memory could fundamentally alter their very personality and outlook on life. It would erase who they used to be. And a god would not want to do that to one of their children," Miach claimed, tone solemn.
"I see," Hestia murmured, looking down at the sleeping girl. "I will ask her when she next wakes up if this is something she might want."
Miach said nothing, merely bowing his head, before departing, his work done. Bell escorted him out of the church, before coming back to stand next to her.
"Lady Hestia?" he asked softly. "Would you really try something like that?"
"I… I don't know," she admitted. "She's crying out for help, Bell. I can hear it. She's so sad and lonely… she just wants a family!"
Wiping a tear from her eyes, Hestia frowned. "But I won't do it without permission. She has to make the choice herself."
Bell nodded, and Hestia pretended not to notice the look of relief on his face when she said that. Part of her wanted to be insulted her child would ever think she would just force herself onto somebody's mind and soul like that. A larger part of her knew that there were a couple gods who wouldn't have hesitated or even asked for permission in the first place.
"It's getting late," Hestia murmured. "Why don't you go get us some food? And maybe pick up something for her as well?"
He nodded, and was gone in a flash. And while Bell was gone, Hestia quietly looked over the items she had removed from the mysterious girl.
The outfit's material felt like silk, save for the golden metal. She had a feeling it wasn't actually gold, though. Next was the mask. It was also metal, but at the same time wasn't. The tinted lens were made of glass, though. Did they help her see? Like those eyeglasses some mortals wore?
Her belt had plenty of pouches, some of which contained tiny pieces of scrap metal she couldn't identify a purpose for, but had a lot of tiny wires and fiddly bits included. And last but not least was the knife. It also seemed broken, but it was like no other knife Hestia had ever seen.
Picking it up, Hestia wondered if Hephestus would be able to repair it. 'Perhaps the novelty of doing so will convince her to agree to my request for making a weapon for Bell?'
She put it down, sighing a bit, and glanced over to the sleeping girl, only to jolt in shock when she saw she had woken up and was now staring at the twin-tailed goddess.
"Oh, hello," Hestia said nervously as the girl stared at her. "I guess you're awake. Um, can you hear me?"
The girl said nothing, and just kept staring. Hestia coughed awkwardly. "Didn't think you'd wake up so soon. Miach's potion must not have been all that effective."
More silent staring. "D-do you need to go to the bathroom?"
The girl stayed quiet. Hestia sighed. "Hey… I-I might have a way to help you. Do… do you want to listen?"
When she and did nothing, Hestia continued to talk. "I could try and fix your mind, you know? It would mean… well, see, do you know about gods and Falna? What am I saying, of course you do!"
She felt she was babbling, but thankfully the girl didn't seem to be judging her. Or was she? Hestia kept going, rambling about gods, Familias, the Dungeon, and Orario, and then happily talked about Bell for a bit, before coughing awkwardly and finally getting to the salient part.
"So anyways! I might be able to heal your mind and fix your head if you accept my Falna," Hestia said. "It would mean I'd have to, uh, go into your head. And kinda-sorta read your mind? But I promise not to do anything bad! I just want to help!"
Groaning a bit to herself when she saw her speech didn't seem to have gotten through to her, Hestia eventually decided to try again later.
When Bell returned, she helped the girl eat and drink. And, later, use the bathroom. When it was time to go to sleep, Hestia stayed in the room, sitting in the chair at the girl's side.
Hestia found herself unable to sleep, however. And not just because she wasn't in her bed! She couldn't stop thinking about the mysterious girl.
"What happened to you?" Hestia whispered, running her hand through her dark, curly hair, which was beautiful, but sadly tangled and dirty. She would have to wash it in the morning. A girl needed to look her best, after all.
But as Hestia was stroking her head, a powerful sense of longing seeped out of the girl, and tears began to fall. Seeing this, Hestia whimpered as the feeling of loss hammered her own heart.
"I want to help you," the goddess of Hearth and Home whispered. "I promise."
When the girl's hand suddenly reached up and grabbed her own, Hestia's breath hitched, and she found herself once more staring into her dark, empty eyes.
Yet this time, there seemed to be something more, hiding deep with. She squeezed Hestia's hand, and the goddess gasped as her feelings were transmitted to her through the contact.
"Y-you mean it?" she asked eagerly. There was no nod, but Hestia could feel it!
And so, ever so gently, Hestia rolled the girl over so her back was facing her way, and she quietly sat up so she could get to work. With a prick of her thumb, a tiny drop of divine ichor fell onto her skin.
Instead of just going through the motions like she'd done before with Bell, Hestia intently focused on the connection her blood had made with the soul of the child, and tried to reach out and 'see' her memories like Miach had claimed she could do.
And what she saw horrified her.
A locker. Enclosed and rank with filth and vermin. Trapped within the darkness and screaming for help that would not come until it was too late. The pain of loss and betrayal.
A man who could become a dragon, but was laid low by the unlikeliest of methods. A man in gleaming metal but drenched in hypocrisy stealing her glorious victory.
A trio of monsters wrought from crystal who slaughtered entire cities and left the world reeling in horror. Behemoth. Leviathan. Simurgh. Cities burned and drowned while others screamed as they were driven to madness.
Then, nine wandering killers, worse than even the most depraved souls she'd ever seen. A madman who just wanted to see the world burn and led the band of degenerates. An innocent child twisted by the words of the madman who crafted abominations. A striped creature that was invincible. A man who had torn out his heart and trapped himself in a suit of armor. A girl whose mind and body had been seared by flames. A beast who became stronger the more he was hurt. A killer whose very presence erased the powers of others. A girl who was fleeing a chorus of pain but spread her own harmony of suffering. And a woman whose screams heralded the slaughter with a storm of broken glass.
There was more. Why was there more?! Hestia beheld a broken soul, one whose body birthed an unending tide of twist copies of its victims.
There were flickers of light and hope here and there. Friends who had stood at her side. A dog-whisperer, a shadow-maker, a mischievous imp, a boy who was empty inside, and a young woman who didn't know when to shut her mouth. But then they were threatened, and the mysterious girl drowned an invincible woman in a tide of death.
So much chaos. A world that was dying, day after day. Apathy and disdain, all manipulated by a shadowy cabal who meddled in things they didn't understand. All because in the distance, there was a golden god whose rampage burned entire worlds to cinders. This was what the girl had been forced to fight.
And she had won. Through strength of will, trickery, and a legion of enslaved beings who could put the mightiest of adventurers to shame, the girl had killed a god and saved countless worlds and trillions of souls.
Hestia wept as she saw the girl win, and then be condemned for the very victory she had achieved where no one else had done a thing. She watched as she died… only to be saved at the last moment by… by…
Suddenly, Hestia was dragged out of the girl's memories. But instead of returning to the waking world, the goddess found herself gazing upon crystalline mountains that writhed and pulsed with rainbow light.
It was a fragment of a dead god. It was a Queen of Administration whose tendrils reached across time and space and continued to protect that which it claimed for its own. And it was not happy to see Hestia.
MINE
Hestia winced as the word that was not a word slammed into her head. Were she mortal, she was certain her mind would have ruptured from trying to have something so alien interact with her.
"I just want to help!" Hestia desperately cried out. "Please! Let me help!"
MINE
It screamed at her. Hestia screamed back, and opened her soul to the creature that clung to the mind of the girl. She let it see her in her entirely.
HOME
FAMILY
Hestia retorted, flexing a minute ember of her divinity to show that she would fight for this child who had suffered far too much.
SHARE
The entity replied after a moment that had lasted an eternity. And then Hestia was thrown back into her body. With a gasp, Hestia tumbled off of the girl, panting heavily.
"What in Tenkai's Grace was that?" she whispered, staring at the Falna that had been imprinted onto the girl's bare back. Cautiously, she crawled over to stare at her stats.
TAYLOR HEBERT
LEVEL 1
POWER – I 0
ENDURANCE – I 0
DEXTERITY – I 0
AGILITY – I 0
MAGIC – I 0
SKILL
Queen of Escalation: Grants dominion over all invertebrates. Gain Excelia through dominated beings. Immunity to foreign mental effects, charms, and illusions. Limit Breaker.
God Slayer: wHaT iS A gOd To A nOnBeLieVeR? Consume the Essence of a god and usurp their Arcanum. Surpass all mortal limits. Bestow Shards onto the worthy.
Hestia swallowed nervously. Two skills was ridiculous for a brand-new Level 1 adventurer! And both of them were as insane as Bell's Liaris Freese! Worse, even, for the implications they carried!
'I cannot allow anyone to discover this,' Hestia realized. If anyone found out that this girl – Taylor, her status claimed – could kill a god without consequences then there would be absolute chaos!
'And that's not even taking into account she's from another world!' Hestia thought with a shake of her head. Not to mention bestowing powers onto other people like a pseudo-Falna! Or that these 'powers' were actually an extension of some sort of murderous, multi-dimensional entity that made the gods of Tenkai look like mortals!
'Plus, that thing about 'consuming' and 'usurping' sounds a lot like the Dungeon,' Hestia thought to herself. Though she couldn't say why that was, although it had some very worrisome connotations about the true nature of the Dungeon if true. Not to mention, there was that alien god watching the girl – Taylor – at all times.
Trying not to think about world-shattering revelations, Hestia drew upon a half-remembered fact Hephestus had told her upon descending. Using it, Hestia locked her latest child's Falna, protecting it from prying eyes.
When that was done, she let out a heavy sigh. She was too tired for this. And she still had work in the morning! So without another thought, Hestia crawled into the bed next to her newest Familia member and went to sleep. She'd deal with everything later.
Author's Note: Just a reminder that this story will update slower than the others. But early chapters can be found on Patty-Ron at Akashicrecordstrue.