The Chosen Goddess

Chapter#4

Alecia’s POV

“Oh, it’s Altair.”

I hear a familiar voice.

“I’m back, Lord Izra.”

“Alecia! Welcome!” Izra greets me.

“Good evening…”

“Slade hates to be kept waiting. You’d better hurry and see him. Or… Would you prefer to do something FUN? You know, just you and me…?” Izra reaches out and touches my cheek.

“Stop right there, Izra.”

“Looks like someone is coming between us…” Izra pouts.

A door to an interior room opens, and the other gods of the Ministry of Discipline are standing in the doorway. It was Percival who called Izra out. The polite god, with soft, silky brown hair and brown eyes, named Dion, and Kazimir stand beside Percival.

“Do you all live here together?”

“Technically, no. But we visit here often to keep an eye on Slade for now. The rest of us weren’t cast out of the Heavens like he was.” Dion explains.

“More importantly, Zyair heard about how Slade can still use his powers when he touches you, so he’s been ordered to continue working here on Earth, even through his exile. We’re here to make sure he does just that.” Kazimir adds with narrowed eyes.

“Bullshit. Quit running your mouth. She doesn’t need to know all the details.”

I turn toward the voice and see Slade standing atop a large staircase. He looks so prestigious and majestic from all the way down here. Too bad he’s an asshole.

“Took you long enough.” Slade looks at Altair.

“I’m sorry! You said to bring her when she finished work, so…”

I look to Slade.

“Really?” I stammer.

I’m shocked he cared enough to let me finish work,

“Whaaat… How sweet.” Izra says in a feminine tone, making him and Percy chuckle.

“I couldn’t care less about ‘sweet’.” Slade glares at Izra, then turns back to Altair. “Stupid kid, if you don’t learn to watch your mouth…”

“I-I-I’m s-sorry!” Altair quivers in terror as he looks at Slade.

I knew it, the gods MUST be evil… Especially Slade and Kazimir.

“You’ve got a one-track mind, as always. What’s going to come of rushing things so much?” Kazimir addresses Slade.

His footsteps echo as he walks right up to Kazimir. Slade, looking like he could explode at any moment, glares at him.

“This woman is mine.”

As he says that to Kazimir, Hannah’s words about the ‘special someone’ run through my mind. My hearts starts to pound.

“No way! I can’t believe my ears, Scorpy!” Izra stands there shocked.

Scorpy? Is he referring to Slade? Like, a scorpion?

“First you run away with her and now you think you can monopolize her?” Kazimir talks back to Slade. “She could be useful to all of us as a reborn goddess, not just to you.”

“Tch…” Slade clicks his tongue angrily.

Izra steps in between the two scowling gods to break them up.

“That was a pretty bold declaration, Slade. What exactly did you mean by that?”

“What’s wrong with me saying that my own tool belongs to me? Her power is mine. That’s an undisputable fact.”

A tool… Seriously? I should have known that’s what he meant.

“She’s a goddess. You stepped over the line with that tool comment.” Dion defends me.

“If she doesn’t know how to erase my sin, she’s nothing more than a tool.”

How disrespectful… This is even worse than being called a ‘bug’.

“Alecia, I’m sorry…” Dion apologizes to me. “This probably isn’t how he really feels.”

“’Probably’ being the key word, right?” Izra asks Dion.

“Izra, that’s enough joking around.” Percival silences him.

Izra just chuckles to himself and returns to the living room.

“Geez.” No longer in the mood to argue, Kazimir leaves.

Slade then turns to me.

“I changed my mind. I don’t need you today. Go home.”

“No! Lord Slade!” Altair pleads.

Slade scowls at Altair.

“I was told everyone needs to do their jobs, even here on Earth.” Altair explains.

“Get off my back.”

“I can’t! Lord Zyair gave me orders!”

Slade’s resolve seems to weaken the instant he hears that name. Zyair… I wonder who that is? Kazimir mentioned his name earlier too.

“Tch, I’ve got no choice… Come, woman. I have work.”

I glance back down at Altair one more time.

“What’s your problem? Hurry.” Slade snaps.

“Lady Alecia…”

When Altair looks at me like that, I can’t bear to turn Slade down.

“Coming.” I say quickly.

I’m forced to comply, for Altair’s sake. I begrudgingly walk after Slade downstairs, followed by Altair. I’m led to a dimly lit room. A beautiful fountain sparkles in the middle of the room.

“What’s that?”

“It’s the reflecting pool. Lord Slade uses the reflecting pool to observe humans. His job is to punish evil at its very root.” Altair explains.

Punishment…? Sounds kind of scary. With his cold eyes focused on the water, he calls me to his side.

“Come.”

I walk up beside him and gaze into the reflecting pool. When I look down at the water, it’s like a TV screen. A politician is trying to force his way across a car-filled street.

“Is this… Are we actually watching something happen in real time?!” I ask.

Unable to tear my eyes away, I stare in disbelief at the scene playing out on the surface of the water. I recognize the politician. There’s been a lot of talk about his connections to the financial world.

“Even looking at the list, there’s no doubt about this man.” Altair says in an irritable tone.

“Mhmm…” Slade mumbles.

He grabs me roughly by the arm, then snaps his fingers once. At Slade’s snap, the politician grabs his chest and doubles over in pain, dropping his briefcase. The briefcase opens in the road. Cash falls out and blows away on the wind as the man lies unconscious on the pavement. I see a car, its driver swerving to avoid being blinded by the storm of cash, on a collision course for the man’s collapsed body.

“Watch out! You’re going to hit him!” I yell.

When I quickly avert my eyes and step away from Slade, the images disappear from the surface of the water.

“This is unbelievable… Did you do that…? What did you do…?” I gasp and ask, completely shocked by what I had just witnessed.

“Just my job.”

The words ‘punish’ and ‘discipline’ pop into my mind. Is this the job the gods are supposed to be doing?

“That piece of s**t’s misappropriate funds, embezzlement… and money laundering led numerous people to commit suicide. Don’t you think he deserves to be punished?”

“Even if all that’s true, there must be some way he could have turned over a new leaf…”

“Turned over a new leaf? Pfft… Don’t make me laugh. He’s probably in the street now, frantically trying to pick up that money.”

“Lady Alecia…” Altair, looking worried, comes to my side.

“Humans are filth. Every last one of them. They would all do terrible things for money, fame, or power.”

“That’s not true…” I try to protest.

“To be perfectly clear, I hate all humans… and that includes you.”

Slade grabs me by the arm again and points at the reflecting pool. I’m hesitant to look in it again. The surface of the water changes to show the scene from before. The politician is yelling like crazy and picking up cash, just like Slade said he would. Beside him, lots of people run into the street to pick up the scattered money.

“Disgusting. What do you have to say now, stupid woman? See how cruel, greedy, and selfish humans are.” Slade spits his words at me I immediately rush out of the room.

Even if he’s right about these people, not all humans are bad.

“That’s so messed up… What kind of god hates humans?” I say aloud as I head for the front door.

Slade’s hurtful words echo in my mind. There was no reason to say that he hated me. And no reason I should care. But still… For some reason, I can’t help but feel sad. Something in my heart is bothered by his words…

Slade’s POV

After realizing the true nature of our work in the Ministry of Discipline, the woman, looking troubled, leaves the room.

“Humans are nothing but selfish scum.” I mutter to myself.

So… why did she get upset and try to protect that criminal? I’ve never been this irritated after a job before. I’m just doing my job. I don’t have any obligation to that stupid woman.

“Damn it…” I groan and rake my hand through my hair.

“Uh… Are you finished with work for the day, Lord Slade?”

“Yeah.”

Even Altair seems down.

“Nothing happens the way I want it to when that woman’s around…” I mutter again.

Left alone in the silent room, I look down at the peaceful surface of the reflecting pool. I sit on the edge of the pool and recall the words I spat at that woman. The second I put my perfectly justified thoughts into words, the expression on the woman’s face turned sad.

“Tch… Why does she always have to make faces like that when she’s with me?”

I shouldn’t care about how she feels, but for some reason, it bothers me. She always looks so frightened of me. I wonder what she thinks of me… A memory of her piercing blue eyes pops into my head. It’s not an unpleasant image, but I force myself to frown.

“Damn it… Why am I thinking about her?”

The reaction and thoughts of a human like that shouldn’t mean anything to me. Why does my heart feel so ill at ease? I hear the door open with a squeak, and the problem child, Izra sticks his head into the room.

“Finished with work, Slade?”

“Yeah…”

“What is it? You don’t seem like your usual self…”

“What’re you talking about?”

“You usually march out of this room all proud, like, ‘mission accomplished’! I’m just sayin it’s not like you to sit here by yourself, staring off into space.”

Not like me? Izra, looking worried, sits down next to me.

“Um… Alecia looked pretty sad too. She looked like she was going to cry when she left. Did something happen during today’s job?”

Should I tell him…? Well, it’s not like I did anything wrong. Unusually interested in hearing another person’s opinion, I decide to ask Izra what he thinks of his duties.

“What do you think of our work in the Ministry of Discipline?”

“Huh…? That came out of left field. What’s wrong?”

“I just wanted to ask. I don’t mean anything by it. If you don’t want to answer, just forget I said anything.”

“Ok, wait. Wait, I’m thinking.” Izra looks uncharacteristically serious.

After pausing for a moment, he smiles and looks back up at me.

“I guess I think… I’m well suited to this kind of work. Being able to punish evildoers like I’m a champion of justice is pretty cool.”

“I see… What an Izra thing to say.”

“Haha, you think so?” His innocent grin is contagious, I smile slightly too. “Besides, I know the Prayers dudes call what we do ‘dirty work’, but ‘dirty work’ or not, if we don’t do it, it’s not going to get done, ya know? Whether you’re talking about the heavens or the Earth, somebody’s gottta do what’s necessary to preserve balance in the world. So, no matter what anyone says, I’m proud of the work I do.”

For a kid who usually pours all of his energy into pulling pranks, his answer makes a surprising amount of sense.

“You feel the same way, right Slade?”

His question surprises me. He believes in me completely. I guess he’s not that bad.

“Pfft… You sound pretty f*ckin full of yourself, considering you’re the problem child of the ministry.” I smirk.

“What?! You were the one who asked what I thought! Maaan, I gave you a serious answer and everything! That was embarrassing!”

“Did you just say you were serious? I must be hearing things.”

“Haha, looks like you’re back to your old self. My bad. I shouldn’t have been worried.” Izra laughs and leaves the room.

I’ve lived this long by using sadness and hate as fuel. There have been times when I’ve cursed my fate, but the idea of being helpless before fate disgusts me. When I was made into a god, I made a promise to myself. I swore that I would find something that gave my existence meaning, so that I could live my life honestly and authentically. This world has never made sense. It’s always been unfair. So, in order to keep myself from becoming a victim in this world… I’ve got to believe in my own convictions… If I don’t, I’m not worthy of godhood. I can’t allow the balance I’ve achieved to be destroyed. I am a god.

Alecia’s POV

The next morning, it’s my day off. But I’m in a bad mood from the moment I open my eyes. I couldn’t stop thinking about what happened yesterday. I couldn’t sleep at all. I’m usually in such a good mood on mornings when I don’t have to work. I force myself to get out of bed. I lounge around the kitchen in my pajamas and make myself some coffee, so I don’t feel too groggy. I go to the living room, and I casually turn on the TV. When I do, it’s a news program about the politician Slade ‘punished’ yesterday. The ticker at the bottom of the screen says, ‘Corrupt politician’s embezzled money revealed in accident!’

“I never thought what he had been up to would be revealed like that.” Says the reporter.

“I bet he can’t believe it either.” Says the anchor. “This must be what people mean when they talk about ‘karma’.”

All that stuff Slade said was true. Just then, the news runs footage of the politician being arrested. All the gravitas he had as a political figure is gone. He just looks like a sad old man. But I bet even a guy like him does good things every once in a while. For him to lose everything… For him to look this pitiful on TV… I know it’s his own fault, but this whole idea of ‘discipline’ and ‘karma’… it seems unfair to allow a god who hates humans to dole out punishments. I remember what Slade looked like as he manipulated the reflecting pool. None of us have even been anything more than nameless goldfish to the gods. I realize now the gods don’t understand the values humans hold dear. So, those are the kinds of gods I’ve been praying to all this time…? That’s kind of scary to think about. While I’m thinking, the news story ends. Pleasant music plays, and the weather forecast comes on.

“Next up is the weather.” The anchor announces.

“With tonight’s clear skies, even Chicago residents should be able to view the meteor shower. Events like this only happen once a year. Keep your eyes on the stars and don’t forget to make a wish!” Says the weather person.

“Lady Alecia!”

“Whoa!” I jump and almost scream.

Altair surprises me when he suddenly appears on my balcony.

“What are you doing out there?! It’s dangerous; get inside!”

“It isn’t dangerous at all. We can fly!”

When Altair explains with a smile, I can’t help but smile myself. What an adorable mini-god. Maybe I’m getting too worked up about everything that’s happened. The second I start feeling more positive, Altair says something to ruin my mood.

“Lady Alecia! Slade wants to see you!”

I swallow my irritability and ask Altair to give me a few minutes to put some real clothes on. Before I know it, I’m back at the gods’ mansion. Dragging my feet still, I walk into the foyer. It seems I needed two cups of coffee this morning.