Kuon succumbed to his desire, killing Adam in the hopes of winning Eve. Yet he could not erase what had already been, and Eve never forgot her first love. She wailed over her lifelong companion, and no amount of divine passion could get her to smile toward the heavens. The first woman lived out her days, her heart still firmly seated with her lost husband and the children they’d made.
“I wanted to be loved,” Kuon cried. “That is all I ask.”
“I love you,” Lirenna said. “More than anyone else can possibly hope to.”
Yet no matter how many times the goddess put her devotion into words, the god would not cede.
“You are me. I am you. We are one. What point is there to be loved by you? I want Eve to choose me. Among the countless possibilities that dot our world, I want her to pick me as the best. I want to be chosen...and loved.”
Whether Kuon’s love was purely romantic or of a broader scope, none could say. Perhaps he’d developed the mortal emotion of obsession, as godly as he was.
Regardless, caught up in the god’s powerful emotion, Eve’s soul was burdened with the fate of infinite rebirth. She was born, raised, loved, and seen off again and again and again. Yet no matter how many times the cycle repeated, she never came to love the god.
At times, Eve fell for souls other than her original husband. Even so, Kuon alone remained unloved. Was it because he’d killed her first true counterpart? Was it because of his hubris? Was it because gods and humans simply couldn’t see eye to eye?
Kuon did not know, but after an eon of repetition, he resolved himself for something new.
“I will become mortal, and win her love as a human.”
The Father God steeled himself to end his existence as a divine entity. Yet as patient as Lirenna had been, she could no longer hold her tongue. To lose her counterpart—the one being that she shared equal footing with—was unacceptable.
Thus, the two fought. Born from a single consciousness to a fate of togetherness, the halves began to war in the name of what each called “love.”
“Thank you...for killing me.”
At long last, Kuon faded away with a smile. He had won, in a sense. One half of the original creator was wiped away from existence, leaving no trace, even in history. The other half wept in sadness and rage, sinking into the darkness.
I hate this. Don’t hate me.
I love you. Don’t look away.
I hate her. Don’t take my light away.
I love you. You’re mine.
I hate you.
I love you.
That’s why I can’t ever forgive or forgive or forgive or forgive or forgive or forgive or forgive or forgive or forgive or forgive you for abandoning me.
■■■■.
Without Kuon at her side, the ugly pain that Lirenna had long been able to suppress finally swallowed her whole. Once the embodiment of holy light, she fell to be the pitchest black, ready to destroy all that she had birthed.
Lirenna enacted her vengeance on the woman who had stolen Kuon’s heart, and on the people surrounding the woman, as if to assault the world with her distorted emotion. Her hatred rained down on the land as a curse.
Her blight gave birth to monsters that attacked humans, caused natural disasters, and toyed with the minds of mortals. Those who survived her trials came to know her as the Great Calamity or Malevolent Black.
Weakened by the long war between godly halves, Lirenna was pushed back by the concerted effort of humanity. Alas, she was the mother to all of existence; time and time again, she gathered or stole the powers of her creation to resurrect herself and once again throw the world into chaos.
Months became years, then decades, and history spoke of her legend as the terrible Witch of Yore.
────
“...And so, basically, Kuon and I had this huge lover’s quarrel. In the end, he managed to get what he wanted by erasing his existence as a god in this world, and I turned into the Witch of Yore because of it.”
After listening to the goddess’s tale, every single one of us stood at a loss for words. Hearing the history of our universe and the origin of our people straight from the source was an incredible privilege. It was, but...
“You tried to destroy our world because of jealousy...” Fiene’s quiet mumbling cut through the silence loud and clear. The atmosphere that followed was difficult to describe.
Fiene said what we’d all been thinking. The scale of the issue in question was massive, but the overall summary was just ridiculous.
“Yup, that’s about right,” Lirenna said. “My husband Kuon cheated on me and skipped out of town, so I lost my marbles and threw a huge fit. That’s all there is to me being the Witch of Yore.”
The Goddess Lirenna acknowledged Fiene’s accusation without hesitation, but I couldn’t do the same. I’m sure the others were just as lost. I looked around to see everyone present staring at their shoes with difficult expressions.
“Um, so, uh... Sorry.”
Noticing our discomfort, Lirenna planted her forehead back on the dirt. Not even Art bothered to help her up; he instead stared at the back of her head in a daze. Frankly, I think he made the right call.
“But, hey, um, a bunch of wonderful gods rose up to stop me! And I know Kuon’s a total mess, but I feel like the world we made together is a really nice place. The apple doesn’t always fall so close to the tree, and all that...” The goddess glanced up at me with expectation. “Right?!”
“Oh, speaking of which,” Art said, cocking his head, “who exactly are all the gods we worship outside of you, Lady Lirenna?”
I’d been wondering the same thing. Lirenna once again sat up, put on a contemplative face, and started thinking. We all waited without a word.
“Um, well... Where should I begin? Let me think... Oh, I know. What do you all think magic is?” After seeing us all tilt our heads, Lirenna continued. “Spellcasting is the art of directly meddling with the fabric of reality to bring about specific effects. Generally, it’s on a smaller scale than what I can do, but what you call ‘magic’ is the same thing as my divine powers. They’re the administrative tools that Kuon and I used to shape the world.”
The Creation Goddess’s groundbreaking news sent a wave of confusion throughout the yard, but she paid us no mind. Without any ado whatsoever, she went on.
“Kuon and I clashed until every bit of his heavenly power was chipped away. The remnants of his strength were scattered across the globe, and since you humans happen to be similar to us, it came to rest in your bodies. Originally, this kingdom was founded by a bunch of people like that, and they decided to give themselves authority by claiming to be nobility. After a whole bunch of generations of marriages between the bloodlines with Kuon’s power, it looks like you’ve naturally evolved to manipulate more magical energy. But to start, I think your forefathers just happened to be similar to us.”
The murmurs in our midst grew even stronger. Those around us desperately stared at me and Art in hopes of being led by a royal or by an educated priest.
“Among them, there were some with plenty of talent who worked extremely hard. They managed to accumulate so much magical power that they were able to defeat me—that is to say, they’d entered the realm of divinity. They sharpened their arcane skills, deepened their mystic understanding, and came to recognize the truth of the world. These enlightened souls went on to become moderators of the planet after death, and are who you worship as newer gods today. Even among the people present tonight, I count...more than one with the potential to join them.”
The First Goddess had come this far without pause, but she finally took a moment to sigh.
“At first, we created your kind just to have some company. I never imagined that you would grow up to inherit our powers and carry the burden of caring for our world as gods. Children truly do grow up quickly, don’t they?”
Lirenna smiled like a proud mother. However, her explanation had only raised further questions for a member of the royal family like myself.
“Then why,” I asked, “does my house have the power to hear the Voices of the Gods? If the divine are meant to be ascendants from our own people, then what about the records of otherworldly knowledge bestowed upon us through prophecy? What even is this power to begin with?”
“Uh, well, the whole Voices of the Gods system is...frankly, a tool to cheat. We modeled everything after Lord Endo and Lady Kobayashi’s world, so we figured it would be nice to have a way to help our people’s culture and technology catch up. But explaining intricate details was such a pain—uh, I mean... See, it was just kind of a hassle—er, um... Well, you know, I’m not an expert or anything, so it would be so hard to get the point across if I had to explain everything! Right?!”
The prophetic ear that put my family into power had been created to serve the Goddess Lirenna and her laziness. Everyone’s gazes shifted from expectation to pity. I soldiered through their painful stares with the fakest smile I could muster.
“So, um, anyway. We made this system where the brightest minds of Lord Endo and Lady Kobayashi’s world can leave messages for our planet after death. Once that was done, we picked a handful of families to inherit the ability to hear the messages, and the Fitzenhagen bloodline was one of them. Then we told them, ‘Make a country that can lead the world, and spread the word to your neighboring nations.’ For some reason, they got the idea that the tidbits of advice were from the gods. And, um...”
There’s more?! By this point, I was feeling rather down on myself. Still, I continued to listen to her explanation.
“The whole ‘prophecy’ thing isn’t my work, but something the newer generations of gods came up with. I’m not totally sure because this is someone else’s handiwork, but my best guess is that they were all, ‘Whoa, the mortal realm sure is in dire straits. Man, if only we could tell them they’re in for some steep trouble. Oh, I know! They have this Voices of the Gods thing, so I’m sure it’s fine for us to use it too. Let’s go team Fitzenhagen!’ Or something like that.”
“Hold it!” Lady Kobayashee exclaimed in a state of panic. “We’re not dead, and we definitely aren’t the ‘brightest minds’ or whatever. Plus, we’re not gods of your world, so what about us? How come we’re able to talk to everyone through Magikoi? While we’re at it, why were we able to bless people like real gods?”
“That’s, um...” Lirenna awkwardly looked around. “It’s probably my stalker husband’s fault.”