I sat quietly, waiting for Delios to summon Gennaia. On the table in front of me, snacks and drinks were laid out. I looked around at the vast emptiness of white space; it was unsettling in its endlessness.
I took a sip of the drink—a sweet, refreshing nectar—and nibbled on one of the snacks.
Suddenly, Gennaia appeared right in front of me, alongside Delios. I was mid-sip, but I didn't flinch.
They walked to the table. Each of them snapped their fingers.
Snap! Snap!
Two chairs materialized instantly. Each chair was distinct, bearing different patterns on the backrest. Delios's chair bore the symbol I had seen in her temple, while Gennaia's symbol was something unknown to me.
They sat down face to face.
"Is the drink and the snack quite good to you? Because it is from Delios," Gennaia asked me with a bright smile.
I glanced at Delios. She looked visibly irritated by Gennaia's comment. I simply nodded while chewing the cookie.
Gennaia turned to tease Delios. "Is that great, Delios? Finally, a mortal likes what you have made, unlike other mortals."
"Shut it!" Delios snapped.
"Right, right. I just like to tease Delios," Gennaia chuckled. She turned her attention back to me. "Therefore, I think I know why you are in here. But to ensure it, I want to hear the reason from your own mouth."
I set down my cup. "Your thing, 'Dianoia,' is quite horrible and made my day horrible. I don't understand which is real and fa–"
"Thanks for the compliments about it," Gennaia interrupted cheerfully.
"I am not trying to compliment you," I sighed. "I know the woman that you showed to me when we first met."
"You only know? Not remember?" Gennaia raised an eyebrow and snapped her fingers.
Snap!
The woman appeared instantly in front of the table.
"I know her. And her name."
"You even know her name? I didn't know Dianoia would be working that quiet fast…" Gennaia looked genuinely surprised.
"Ainur Nala. That is her name."
"How do you know her name?"
"I read the diary from the hallucination that was caused by your Dianoia."
Delios put down her cup with a clink. "Therefore, do you remember anything about her?"
I looked at her, confused. "What do you mean by remember?"
"You really don't remember a single thing from the hallucination you got?" Gennaia asked, leaning forward. "This is quite a problem…"
I saw Delios staring at Gennaia, a deep frown etching her face.
Suddenly, Delios slammed her cup onto the ground.
CRASH!
It shattered into pieces.
"You told me… that.. your thing will resolve HER. Why.. does it not resolve anything about her?" Delios demanded, her voice dripping with dissatisfaction.
"Shhhhshhhh!" Gennaia waved her hands frantically. "Why did you ask about it? She is still here."
"I don't care about it. I think I have found a way to resolve this…" Delios suddenly turned her fierce gaze to me. "HEI YOU! Mortal. That woman..." She pointed a sharp finger at the apparition of Ainur Nala. "Is YOU. Simple. That is where your essence should be."
After hearing that from Delios, I looked at Gennaia. She just face-palmed, covering her eyes with her hand.
"Am I mishearing this? Or does someone care to explain it to me?" I asked.
"WHAT! You still don't understand?" Delios shouted. "You… are… her… it's simple!"
I stared blankly. I was still completely confused.
"Let me explain it to her. You're just making her more confused," Gennaia sighed, trying to calm Delios down.
"Whatever," Delios huffed, crossing her arms. "But I hope Nona doesn't find out about it."
"Well, her own act is adequate for Nona to wake up… so in a short time or a long time, she will find out… and come to us," Gennaia mused. She turned her face to me. "What Delios is trying to say is that your real body is that woman."
I rubbed my own arms, looking down at myself. "This is my real body. Not that. If that is my real body, so whose is this body?"
"Someone's body," Gennaia explained patiently. "When Cordelia Aurelius was pregnant, the essence of the unborn baby suddenly changed to something unknown. This went unnoticed by us. We only noticed that something was wrong after the fate of those four children was altered. It was you. And we saw something wrong with you… the essence was different. We sought the real essence of it and found it. This woman was your real body."
"So if that woman is my real body, what are you going to do? Put my soul into that body?"
"That is impossible," Gennaia shook her head. "Because we can't reach the real body."
"And why do you two tell me about this? Because there is no merit for you two from it. You can just be silent and let me do everything that I want."
"That is the problem," Gennaia admitted. "Honestly, it is not my problem, but it is Delios's problem as the Overseer Goddess of your region."
"Therefore, what is the problem?"
….
Out of the blue, a scroll of paper appeared in front of Delios.
Delios unfurled it. "You have made some problems in my report. Your actions have altered fate to other directions, especially in your jurisdiction."
"Altered fate? Me?"
"Yes. For example, the four children you brought to your house. Like Gennaia said, when you brought them to your house, you altered the fate of those children—"
"Is that not great?" I interrupted. "They have shelter. They wanted more than to live in the streets. What is the problem about it?"
"That is not your fate to help these four children."
"So whose fate is it to help these four children??"
"Let me see..." Delios scanned the scroll. "It is the Paragon of Nona's fate to save those four children."
"And when will this 'Paragon' thing help the four children?"
"About three years from now."
I gaped at her. "You mean, these four children will live in the street for three years and wait for this Paragon to help them?"
"Yes," Delios stated coldly. "That is the fate of them. We can't modify or alter it."
"You Goddesses are crazy and cruel," I spat. "To let four children live in the streets for three years when you have the power to help them? And who is this Nona?"
They looked at each other nervously when I asked about Nona.
Gennaia spoke first. "Nona is the one who writes this fate for humans. Basically, she is the Goddess of Fate."
"What do you mean about waking her up?"
Delios explained. "When fate flows like her writing, she will be in deep sleep. But when something alters the fate, she will be woken up by it. She will immediately fix it. And by 'fix it,' it means something that you can't imagine."
"So you two are here to tell me to follow her writing, not alter it?"
They just nodded in unison.
"And why do you try to help me regain my memories from that woman's body or life?"
"Because it resolves the anomaly problem," Gennaia said. "And we hope that you will follow the real fate of your fake body by using your real memories."
"That is the body's memories. You want me to have the memories of fate in this body and hope for me to follow everything about it. That is what you want... But what happens if I don't follow any of that?"
They immediately stopped mid-sip and mid-bite. They froze, looking at each other with wide eyes.
"AH!" they gasped in unison.
"Don't tell me you didn't think about it? You didn't realize it??" I asked incredulously.
They didn't answer. They just stared blankly.
I put my hand on my face, groaning. "I don't know that goddesses are so imbecilic like this. What will happen to the world if they are this imbecilic?"
I stood up from my seat. "I think it is time for me to leave. Thanks for the sign for my life."
"Wait wait wait!" Gennaia cried out, reaching a hand toward me. "Before you leave, are you willing to follow the flow of fate from your real memory?"
"About that…" I paused, looking back at them. "If I have the memory about this fate, I will try to follow what is beneficial for me. And thanks for the treat, Delios. It's quite delectable."
I immediately raised my hand and slapped my own face as hard as I could.
SLAP!
… ..
In a moment, I woke up in the temple.
Mother was standing beside the platform, holding my hand tightly. Father was waiting behind Mother, while the others kept their distance from the platform.
"Aurelia, you woke up…" Mother breathed, relief washing over her face.
"Yes, I am," I murmured.
I slowly sat up on the podium, Mother supporting me.
Father slowly walked in front of me. "What happened in your sleep?" he asked gently.
"It is great."
"Did you meet someone?"
"Yes, I did."
Everyone in the room gasped, looking surprised and shocked.
"But it is better for all of you not to blindly follow the Goddess."
I saw everyone try to come closer, curiosity warring with fear.
"What do you mean, Aurelia?" Mother asked.
"I thought Goddesses are smart because they are divine," I said flatly. "But after I met them, it is not what I imagined. And still, there is no clue from her."
I looked at Mother. "I just want to go home because of this."
"Alright, Aurelia. It seems like a waste of time again to come here."
Mother led me out of the temple. As we walked, I saw the temple priests eyeing us curiously, desperate to know what happened, but Father blocked their path, preventing them from approaching.
We left the temple without giving any explanation to the priests. On the way home in the carriage, Mother and Father tried to ask me about what had happened in my sleep, but I simply answered that I didn't want to talk about it.
After some time, the carriage suddenly stopped.
Father opened the window and asked the coachman what was going on. The coachman answered that there were two women blocking the road.
Mother and Father got out to check, with two guards standing by. I stuck my head out of the carriage window to see what was going on.
My eyes widened. I was shocked to see those two women.
"AH!!" I shouted uncontrollably.
Mother immediately rushed back to the window. "Is there something wrong, Aurelia?"
"Nothing… so who are they?" I asked, trying to steady my voice.
"They said they were wanderers, wandering to seek new knowledge. And it seemed your father took an interest in it."
"Does that mean they will come to our house?"
"Mostly…"
After the conversation between Father and the two women was done, Father walked back to the carriage with the women trailing behind him.
I saw them clearly now. One had long red hair with orange eyes, while the other had short blonde hair with blue eyes. As they approached, they looked directly at me and smirked.
Father climbed back into the carriage, while the two women took seats up front next to the coachman.
I couldn't believe they were coming with us.
On the trip, I turned to Father.
"Why did Father bring those two women to the house?"
"Because I think it will be great for the house," he explained cheerfully. "They can be your tutors, or substitute tutors for the four children if Mother is absent. And their knowledge seemed great for Sofia—to learn more about physicians in different views."
Of course they have that knowledge, I thought bitterly. Because they are Goddesses.
"Is there anything on your mind about them?" Mother asked, noticing my expression.
"Nothing… If Father thinks it is beneficial for the house, it is enough to assure me."
Suddenly, I saw their faces appear in the small window between the coachman's seat and the passenger cabin behind Mother and Father's heads.
They looked at me with smug smirks.
Father and Mother turned around immediately to look, but the faces were instantly gone.
We continued the trip home in silence.