Noah opened his eyes to a bright light. It was the kind of light he’d typically only ever experienced at the dentist, somewhere he’d only really been to once as a kid, where they had pointed a flashlight right in his face and then instructed him to stay still under that torture somehow.
Blinking, Noah looked as his vision began to clear, as a figure appeared in front of him. It was a woman with blonde hair, and golden eyes. Two dark black wings came forth out of her back. She was adorned with golden armor covering her body, a sharp and pristine sword in her hand. She stood tall, taller than him, or really, any other person he knew. It was not her physical size, that much even he could see, but rather just her presence that made her seem far larger than she physically was.
“Who are you?” Noah asked, looking around the empty white space, seemingly without end. “Am I actually dead this time?”
“I’m Hellion,” the woman replied, her voice oozing a sense of authority that made Noah feel like he should be on his knees and bowing. “And you’re not dead. Yet.”
“Oh…” Noah said, looking at the goddess of justice he’d heard so much about. He gave her a wave. “Hi. I’m Noah.”
“I know who you are, Noah,” Hellion replied. “A faithful of mine reached out to me, requesting I grant you life at the verge of death. This is your trial, where I judge whether you are worthy of such a boon or not.”
Noah looked at the goddess of Justice in silence, feeling a lot of emotions passing through him.
“This is a strange location to have a trial, isn’t it? Just endless nothingness?” Noah asked, glancing around.
Hellion, surprisingly, glanced around after him, before nodding. “You’re not wrong. It is a bit bland. Perhaps this will suit your preferences more,” she said, snapping her fingers.
Noah found himself sitting in a modern room on a sofa. Two cups of hot tea were present in front of him, as sunlight filtered in from the window in the room, tastefully decorated with a few potted plants.
Picking up the cup, Noah took a sip. “Yuck, green tea. Always hated it. Do you have coffee by any chance? I must admit, I’ve been dying for some coffee after coming to Erandir. It’s one of the few things that sometimes makes me want to go back to Earth.”
Hellion tapped Noah’s cup of tea, as it turned to coffee. Taking a sip, Noah sank into the sofa behind him. “Ah… bliss,” he said, before glancing at Hellion with a raised eyebrow. “Given that you can already tell a lot about me just by looking, I feel like you intentionally picked the tea knowing that I hated it.”
“I considered your preferences briefly, but my anticipation for your reaction outweighed any desire to please you. And I like green tea,” Hellion said, taking another sip from her cup.
“Fair enough. So, about that trial of judgement. How’s that going to happen?” Noah asked.
“It has already happened,” Hellion replied.
“It has?”
“Yes. It has. Otherwise you would be dead by now,” Hellion said, looking at him.
“So… I passed?” Noah asked.
“My aspect has deemed you just, had you been anyone else, you would’ve passed,” Hellion said. “But I could not let that happen. And so, I brought you here to judge you. Personally.”
“Hold on, back up a bit. I’m a bit confused. What do you mean your aspect judged me?”
“I don’t feel particularly inclined to teach you about how deities work,” Hellion said.
“I mean, you might be killing me after this, so for all I know this may be my last conversation ever. Can’t you indulge me at least a little?”
Hellion looked at Noah silently for a few moments.
“Very well. Each god has an aspect. Some have multiple. Us gods are not omnipresent. We are present in many places at once, but not everywhere. Our forms have limits, too. Greater than human limits, but limits nonetheless. I, as the goddess of Justice, inhabit the Aspects of Righteousness and Justice. And to be able to carry out justice, by providing every righteous individual the ability to pick my path, I cannot be there to personally judge it. Instead, my Aspect, my divinity’s core and the magic tied to my faith, judges people. Anytime someone picks an ability, a path, or calls upon my name, they’re calling upon my Aspect. Very few can directly summon me.”
Noah nodded. “That actually makes a lot of sense,” he said. “So if your Aspect judged me to be a good guy, what’s the problem?”
“The problem is that your existence is a threat. A non-insignificant one. I do not know who you are, or how you came to be on Erandir, but I can feel the pact you have with the Void itself, and it is a powerful one. That alone justifies keeping you here, instead of letting you return to Erandir.”
“Keeping me here?” Noah asked.
“Follow me,” Hellion said, standing up. Noah followed the goddess as she opened the door to another room. The gate led outwards to an open field. Flowers covered the expanse, animals playing happily across them. But most of all, what caught Noah’s eyes was the number of children. Hundreds of children played around the fields, dancing and giggling and chasing each other.
“Mother Hellion!” A girl with a flower crown on her head called out, rushing towards the goddess. Soon, many of the children followed, crowding her as they all tried to hug her. Hellion bent down, gently picking up one of the younger children in her arms.
“How have you been, my children?” Hellion asked, a gently motherly smile on her face.
“We’ve been good, mother!”
“The best! As always!”
“Mort took my toy, mother!” one of the girls complained, pointing at a boy who winced.
The boy jumped. “S-she’s lying!”
“Mort, I can tell when someone is lying. You know that, don’t you?” Hellion said, looking down at the boy.
“Y-yes mother,” the boy said.
“What do we say when we do something bad?”
“I’m sorry,” the boy said, looking at the girl.
“You’ll return her toy, won’t you?” Hellion asked, and the boy nodded. She smiled, satisfied, before gently patting the boy’s head. “Good boy.”
The boy smiled, before rushing away with a few of the other kids.
“Mother, who’s this?” a small child asked, pointing at Noah.
“Ah, this… this is my guest. I’ve brought him here to show him your home.”
“Will he be joining us?” one of the kids asked, looking at Noah. “He looks old though.”
“He is a bit old, isn’t he?” Hellion said with a slight smile, as the kids laughed.
Noah continued to watch the scene, not knowing what to make of it. He watched the goddess walk by the children, calling each of them one by one and caring for them, giving them lessons as she made her way through the fields.
Eventually, she reached a particular child, one of roughly around thirteen years of age. He stood with a spear, striking a practice dummy with loud exclamations.
“Pierce, what’re you doing?” Hellion asked the child.
“I’m practicing my spear mother Hellion. When I’m reborn, I want to be a powerful warrior who can beat the cultists,” the boy said, wiping the sweat off of his forehead.
Hellion smiled, patting his head gently. “I’m sure you will be.”
The boy then paused, turning towards Noah. “Is that my necklace?” he asked.
Noah looked down, clutching at the little talisman still hanging by his neck. Clutching it, he walked up to the boy and crouched down as he took it off and pressed it into the boy’s palm. “It is. Your mother gave it to me to bring it alongside me on my adventurers. But I think it should belong to you.”
“Mom?” Pierce asked, staring at him wide eyed before he looked down at the necklace. “You’re an adventurer?” he asked, in a quiet whisper, as if it was some sort of secret.
“I am,” Noah replied with a smile.
Pierce looked at Noah, his eyes glimmering with excitement. “You should keep it then! It’ll protect you on your adventures!”
Noah stared at the boy, before smiling as he gave a nod. “Alright,” he said, putting the necklace back on.
Hellion moved on, leaving Pierce behind as she met all the other kids. A few moments later, when she’d walked through all the children, she returned back through the gate she had come from, the children all waving goodbye as she did.
Noah stared at the garden, the gate closing behind him as a torrent of emotions filled his chest. “What… was that place?”
“It’s my Eden, if you may. I keep the children who I could not save there in my own eternal paradise. Children whose lives I ordered taken as they were forced into a path I could not bring them back from. Children who died to tragedies at the hands of cultists from whom I could not protect them. They all stay here, for as long as they wish to. And eventually, if they so choose, they can return back to Erandir to begin a brand new life,” Hellion said, looking at Noah. “It is where I wish for you to stay as well. You may not be from our world, but to have taken your life would be unjust. This would be my way to make up for it.”
Noah stared at the garden. A lifetime of blissful paradise. For a long moment, his heart wavered, tempting him. What else could he ever want? Here, he could have all the things he wanted, all the comforts he desired.
Noah looked down, clutching the necklace hanging at his neck.
“I can’t,” Noah said, shaking his head. “I have things left to do.”
Hellion frowned. “I can’t allow that, Noah. Your existence is far too dangerous to return to Erandir. You are tied to the void. The void which corrupts reality itself. It is vicious, unjust, it is cruel for it does not differentiate between right or wrong. And the Abyss feeds upon the strength of the void. The void strengthens the pits of the Abyss, like a plague spreading onto the world. A balance must be kept, to ensure my people can survive. In this eternal war, you are a piece that can cause tides to shift, and for one side to lose to the other. I cannot risk that.”
“Why? As you said yourself, what you will be doing will be unjust. Even if you make up for it, that does not correct the mistake. Not with me, or with any of these children. They may be happy here, and they may have had awful parents, but they deserved to live happy lives.”
“They are happy,” Hellion said, frowning.
“But they’re not alive, are they?” Noah replied.
Hellion looked down at Noah, golden light glimmering around the goddess.
“You said I was a piece that could tilt the axis of the war. I have no idea how, but if so, then use me. Use me in your war and bring an end to this suffering. Isn’t that what the just path is?”
“You do not know what you’re getting yourself into,” Hellion replied.
“Maybe not. But I know what I want. I swore to destroy the Abyssal cult, when I saw the cruelty it inflicted so easily upon others. And I swore once again to save those that have been pulled into the Paths of the Void. To bring them under me, under a new path, and free them from their doomed fates,” Noah said. “I’m an impulsive guy, I make rushed choices, and I’m not the smartest by any means, either. But when it comes down to it, I like to think that I choose the just path.”
Hellion stared down at Noah, as golden light gathered around her. The office room dissolved around them, the infinite whitespace returning.
“Very well. Then a piece in our war you shall be,” Hellion said, as she raised her sword and touched it on Noah’s shoulder. “May this burden now crush you under its weight.”
A brilliant light shone around the sword, flowing into Noah’s chest.
You’ve gained [Hellion’s Blessing]!
[Fate Touch] activated.
Luck A0 → A2.
Quest: Abyss Hunter updated!
You’ve seen the atrocities of the abyssal cult, and found fury boiling in your heart. Destroy the Abyssal cult, and hunt every member within it to satisfy your rage.
Difficulty: Impossible → Extremely Difficult.
Reward: Unknown.
Noah stared at the quest in wonder, before a smile blossomed upon his face. A moment later, the blinding light covered him, and his soul returned to Erandir.
“I look forward to seeing what you'll do, Noah.”