Walking into a large domed room, I had to calm myself and unwind muscles that had gone taught and tight. I had grown slightly apprehensive as we had reached the end of the stairs.

The room was bright. I hadn’t looked up yet, but I could feel the warmth of a real sun on my skin so didn’t need to. I knew up above me would not be a roof, but instead a sky. A real one, with clouds and weather. A sun and more. Maybe even moons.

I didn’t look to verify it because I couldn’t take my eyes off my goal.

Standing in the center of the room, dead center, was a woman. One half submerged in glowing blue water, wearing a blue dress. One that looked as if it was as dry as can be, even though half submerged in water.

Nectar kept walking beside me as we approached the pool of water. There were dozens of those little gaps in the floor, acting like little aqueducts, which the pool water flowed out from, heading off into random directions. I stepped over one as I neared the pool, and glanced away from the god for a moment to look around.

Near the walls, which had massive blue and red curtains covering them, were monarchs. There was a giant ape, a blue bear, and a myriad of different other creatures. Most if not all of them were as big as Miss Beak. Their presence was not intimidating, but it was confirmation to just how powerful this god was. It took a lot of energy to summon a powerful monarch, and a lot of time and resources to do so properly. For her to have so many, plus all the minor ones I’d seen scattered around the nation… was rather telling of just how deep her reserves of power were.

This was not going to be an easy battle.

Stopping before the pool of glowing water, I breathed in a little as I sized up the Blue One.

She wasn’t very blue at all, other than her dress and the water she was in. She had blonde hair, which glimmered, and had red eyes. She had a faint brown tint to her skin, but the way it glimmered not from wetness but something else told me she had modified her skin’s tone with her power. It wasn’t her natural one. It almost looked as if she had gold streaks all over her, though knowing gods such things weren’t paint or gold flakes glued to her but actual gold in her skin.

“Lord Vim… I present you to The Blue One, our Goddess and Queen,” Nectar said, her voice now back to normal. I said nothing, and neither did the god as Nectar then coughed and gestured at me. “Goddess… this is…” she started to say, but the god smiled and raised a hand.

“I know him well, Nectar. I was there for his birth.”

My eyes narrowed at the woman, and I found myself questioning more than I had already.

She had been…? But I didn’t recognize her. At all.

“Welcome, Vim Vitae. You likely don’t remember me, but I was your mother’s friend. My name is Lapis.”

Lapis. Of course it was. “Mother had mentioned you,” I said. I should have made the connection.

The Blue One smiled at me. “Had she…? That’s lovely to hear.”

“Depends on what she had said, don’t you think?” I suggested.

“Your mother would not have said anything cruel about me. That was one of her good points.”

My stomach twisted in disgust to hear a god speak so knowingly about my mother, and be right while doing so. But I kept the disgust in as I took a deep breath and glanced around.

None of the monarchs had moved. At least, from their positions. A few looked to have lifted their heads, or shifted their weight, but not a one had moved from where they were stationed. Their eyes of utter worry and fear reminded me of that snake. They were looking at me as if I was about to take something precious from them.

“Speaking of your mother… before we go any further I’d like to let you know how terribly wrong it was for them to do what they had done. No matter what you may think of me, or what may happen here, know that I deeply regret not doing more to stop it. It was… what I consider to be my greatest failure in life,” Lapis then said.

My eyes twitched, but I knew better than to let her words bother me.

“I’ve heard such words before,” I said simply.

Lapis simply nodded, but didn’t try to say anything further.

Taking a deep breath, I sighed it out and again noticed the sweet smell… what was that? There was an aroma in the air, and the source of it could only be one thing.

Looking down to the pool of glowing blue water, or rather what I assumed was fashioned and colored after her namesake: lapis lazuli, or lazurite, I went ahead and stepped into it.

“Pretty, isn’t it…? I made it by combining lapis gemstones with the snails from nearby. Like so,” she said as she lifted a hand, and with a snap of a finger a creature appeared. Floating in a big bubble was a snail, one with a familiar shell.

“Hexaplex Trunculus,” I said. I recognized the pigment now that she brought it up. It had a tiny bit of a shade of purple in it. That was likely where the smell came from.

“Of course. Your mother’s scholar,” Lapis said happily as she snapped her finger again and the bubble popped out of existence, as did the snail within it. I stepped into the warm pool of water, and shivered at the feel of pure divinity. The waters were thick of it.

The water only came up to my waist, which made me feel a little awkward. It was far above her stomach, nearly to her breasts. Was she that short, or did the pool have different depths? It didn’t look like it did.

“What does it do?” I asked her as I waded towards her. I could sense a heart near her feet, and it wasn’t her own. Was there some kind of hard to see monarch in the water with us…? The water was clear enough I could see her feet, and the little pieces of jewelry attached to them. Yet I didn’t see anything down there with her.

“They ended up calling it lifeblood. As I’m sure you know, having done so yourself, it’s exceptionally difficult to feed millions of people. Especially now that such a large portion of them are non-humans…! I don’t know how you did it, Vim, because it took me to create this to accomplish it. And you of course did it without any divinity!” Lapis said as she reached down to gently splash at the water.

“Right…” I found that to be rather understandable. Even a god would find it difficult to make excess amounts of food, I guess.

“Not to mention the non-humans are so much more picky than the humans. They all have things they can and can’t eat, and no matter how thin blooded they are they still eat twice as much as their human equivalent! I have thousands of hectares of food growing for mere hundreds of people. It’s kind of annoying to be honest,” Lapis spoke calmly, as if we were friends telling each other our woes.

I got where she was coming from though. That was why I had made the train-network, because it had taken that level of industry to support millions of non-human residents. Without it we had been incapable of feeding everyone, and in fact had gone through several famines before… and after, the trains had been ransacked and stolen.

Stepping up to Lapis, I considered for a half a moment just ending it here. She was in reach, and seemingly undefended. I could feel her divinity, all over the place but I didn’t see nor feel any spells that would impede me from ending her life.

Instead though I simply knelt down, and plunged my hand into the water.

Lapis didn’t even shift as I grabbed at the heart I felt, but couldn’t really see. I found my fingers latching onto it, and surprisingly… as I lifted my hand and arm out of the water, I frowned at a heart. One pouring the glowing water from within. It was hard to keep hold of. It was expunging torrents of water from every inch of its surface, and the way it did so made it nearly impossible to grip it. Like an inverse of one of those giant boulder water fountain decorations, that floated on water.

The source of the glowing water. It hadn’t been from her, not directly, but this heart.

“Neat isn’t it…? I got the idea from your mother, if you can believe it,” she said as she watched me study the thing.

Hearing such a thing made me want to throw it at her, so instead I just tossed it away. It plunked back into the pool, sinking back to the floor.

I could believe it.

A strange heart pouring out divine water was of no importance to me. Not when the source of it, the creator of it, was standing before me.

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I studied her a little better now that I was up close. She did indeed have gold streaks all over her body, and it wasn’t paint or fake. I wonder if having gold in your skin itched?

“You look well, Vim. You don’t look like your father much, but I can see your mother in you,” she said.

“You knew them well?” I asked. It was funny that I’d heard the opposite before.

She nodded. “I had in fact helped them prepare for your birth. I had known your mother, from before; though we had not been the same… we had respected one another’s work.”

“Then… why am I only meeting you now?” I asked.

Lapis smiled, and in doing so revealed imperfect teeth. That was interesting, usually gods had perfect teeth. It was especially more so intriguing since she had obviously modified her body in other ways, what with her gold streaks in her skin. So it wasn’t as if she was some kind of purist. “You know why, Vim. All associated with them became targets… and then… well,” she didn’t finish explaining as she gestured at me.

I scoffed at her. “Going to claim my actions are unjustified?” I asked.

“Hardly!” Lapis quickly shook her head. “I don’t fault you at all, Vim! I can’t say I agree to the lengths you have dared to accomplish your vengeance, but I don’t fault you at all… no.”

“You’re not the first to say so, but I’ll dare to say you’re the first I believe,” I said.

She chuckled a little, causing the water around us to ripple with light. The light emerged from her, floating along with the ripples and hit me. I tensed up a bit, expecting a spell, but none came. The ripples came and went, and with them the light. “I bet…! I can only imagine what others have said and done before you… hm… I must say you’re quite a bit more imposing than I had expected. Are you as big as I see you as, or am I just seeing what my fear amplifies?” she asked me as she studied me.

I shrugged, not caring who or what she saw. It didn’t matter. My fingers kept twitching, wanting to dart forward and grab at her.

“You’re dying to take my life, aren’t you…?” Lapis then asked.

I blinked and nodded. “Yes.”

“Hm… tell me… you had arrived with two monarchs. Friends? Allies? Servants…? I had thought you didn’t allow even them to survive your sight,” she asked.

Shifting a little, I glared at the god and remained silent.

“I see… are they like your kingdoms? Your armies…? Just tools to be used? Like all the weapons you’ve forged to hunt us? Or are they more? From what I can tell, from listening to your conversation with adorable Nectar here, you seem to genuinely care for them. Tell me… why can you forgive them, and stay your hand, but can’t do so for me…?” Lapis asked.

“You think you deserve to be spared?” I asked.

Her eyes slowly blinked, and she gave me a look of utter surety. “What have I done to justify your wrath, Vim?”

“If my scars could speak,” I said.

The god’s eyes narrowed a little, and I heard a monarch step forward. They didn’t come closer, nor say anything, but their heavy footfall was unmistakable.

“When we first arrived on this world… we fought, you know?” Lapis then said.

I nodded. “I know.”

“Hundreds had died. Fighting over blame. Over who was responsible,” she continued.

I knew all about that too. They had lost a whole quarter of their population before I had even been born.

“Eventually we found peace, choosing to work together instead. Honestly I had thought it had been going well, all things considered,” she said.

Although I knew about that, I only knew about it to a point. They had ceased their hostilities in hopes of finding a way back to whatever realm they had come from. Fearing the fact they needed the numbers to accomplish it. “Your own undoing,” I said simply.

Lapis slowly nodded. “Yes. I agree. Once your mother figured out how much mana it’d take to open the gate, the shame everyone felt was… indescribable. I had watched people who had done terrible acts of cruelty, abandoning their humanity, fall to their knees and beg for forgiveness. Some even ended their own lives, from the utter despair. It was quite a moment,” she said.

“For all the good it did you,” I said.

She smirked. Lapis then gently pointed at me, with a finger wrapped in gold streaks. “And then you came along.”

I nodded. “Then so I was.”

Her finger twitched… and I half expected something to shoot out from it. A beam of light that sliced me in ways no knife could. Or a blackness that engulfed me, sending me to places unbelievable. Instead though… the finger simply lowered, going limp at her side.

“I don’t blame you, Vim. Or your parents. I’d have done the same,” she then said.

“You said that already.”

She nodded. “And I should say it again. And again. I’m… sorry,” she whispered.

I slowly shook my head. “This won’t save you,” I whispered back.

“I know.”

“Wait…!” Nectar shouted, and I heard her wings snap open. To take flight. But I ignored her.

There was no point waiting anymore, was there…?

I admitted I felt she was being honest. For as much as a god could, at least.

But who cared?

So what if she was sorry. So what if she felt my vengeance was justified.

Did that give her the right to undo her wrongs…? Did that negate what had happened…?

No. It didn’t.

A criminal’s crime was not forgiven just because they were sorry. It did not fix what they had done. It did not right the wrongs upon the aggrieved.

Even if she’s done nothing but good all this time… this nation, these people, even if she has kept these millions of people alive and healthy, it had no bearing on what was to happen. On what needed to happen.

One’s future did not excuse one’s past.

Stepping forward, I got within arm’s reach of her… and realized she hadn’t moved. And seemingly wasn’t planning to.

“You’re not going to try and stop me at all…?” I asked, almost not believing it.

Just by standing near her I could feel how powerful she was. Her divinity was not an ocean; it was an ocean with unending depth.

There was no reason for her not to at least try to survive. To at least try and escape me.

All the others had. Even the ones who had begged me, and apologized as she just had. Even the ones who had pleaded on their knees had attempted it.

Lapis gave me a gentle, knowing smile, as she shook her head. “All of my energy is constantly being used to support this nation. The barrier to keep outsiders from invading, or knowing we’re here. The weather, to keep the crops healthy. The flow of lifeblood,” she said as she gestured to the pool we stood in. “And so much more. To fight you would be to doom the two and a half million people who rely on me and my spells.”

“If you stopped those spells, you could fight me,” I said.

“Could I, Vim…?”

I nodded.

Her gentle smile turned into a soft smirk. “I dare say you underestimate yourself. You may not know what I am capable of, Vim, but don’t forget. I had been there on your birth. I know exactly what you are, and are capable of doing.”

“And I say it is you who does so. If you do not stop those spells, you will die. And with your death, so too will your citizens perish if they are that reliant upon you,” I said. Surely she was smart enough to realize that…?

“Ah, but there is the cold truth.”

“Hm?”

She pointed at herself. At her left breast, where I felt was her heart. “If I end my spells… my people die. And in that moment, I am the one who killed them,” she explained. Then she pointed at me, at my heart. “If you end my life, and thus end theirs… then is it not you who killed those two and a half million people, Vim?”

I smirked at that. “Semantics.”

“Is it though…? Are you saying I’m wrong?”

Slowly shaking my head, I sighed and agreed with her. “You’re not. Those souls would be on my hands, not yours, in this context.”

Lapis gave me a happy smile as she nodded. “I’d much rather die knowing that, than dying while hearing their cries echo throughout my soul.”

“Lofty ideals. Yet all I hear is a woman’s wiles. A god’s malevolent schemes. If you think such a threat as two million souls will be enough to stay my hand, then you didn’t know my mother at all as you claim to have,” I said.

She breathed in, as to say something, but hadn’t gotten a chance to.

“Lord Vim…!”

For a moment I ignored Nectar, but then decided to turn and glance at her. She had taken a step into the pool, a single one, and her wings were open and wide. She was looking at me with huge eyes of stressful worry. “Please… please…!”

I glared at her for a moment, and the desperate plea written all over her.

I’d never seen her like this. Ever.

But did it change anything…?

“I don’t hate the sword.”

Nectar went quiet as I turned to look back at Lapis.

“I don’t hate the metal. Or the fires that forge it. Or the oils which cool it. I don’t hate the one who hammers it into shape, or sharpens it long after it’s been finished,” I said.

Lapis glared at me for a moment. “You just hate the one who swings it,” she said, understanding.

I nodded.

“But Vim… in this case it would be you who swings it!” Nectar shouted.

Possibly.

But that was the life they all had chosen. The life she, this god, had chosen.

I may be swinging the sword, but I did so because she had done so first. Because they had done so first.

And although mother and father had so desperately begged me to be the one to end that cycle of suffering…

“You’re right… I will be the one to end their stories. Two and a half million souls, and I’ll be the one to write their final chapter. With my own hands,” I admitted. If she dying ended this nation’s lifeblood as she called it, dooming them to starvation and the outside elements… Then yes. Many would die. But so too would man live, having grown stronger in doing so. Learning to live on their own devices, and not the crutch of a god’s whims.

Lapis’s eyes softened, and I knew it was because she knew. She had heard it. Seen it. Felt it.

Shifting as I stepped forward, I ignored the monarchs that howled. I ignored the sounds of heavy feet, claws and wings, as they rushed towards me. To stop me from what I was about to do. I ignored Nectar who screamed out in agony, rushing into the pool of water towards us.

“But you’re the one who wrote the first page of that story,” I said… and then stabbed my fist into Lapis’s chest, and grabbed her heart.

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