"Ugh... my head," Gideon groaned, his eyelids fluttering open. "What... what happened?"
He tried to sit up, but he couldn't. His wrists and ankles were bound, not by normal chains, but by Null-Cuffs, a powerful, mana-suppressing tool that the elves managed to develop after I gave the ones I found in the ogre's cave to Sylvana for her study.
"Where... where am I?" he mumbled, his mind still foggy.
He looked around. He was in a large, stone office-like room, with a big desk and a comfortable-looking chair. The walls were made of smooth, polished obsidian, and the floor was covered in a plush, red carpet. He could see the sunlight streaming through a window.
He was half-naked, wearing only a simple pair of black loincloths that barely covered anything. His legendary golden armor, the symbol of his status and power, was gone. His sword, Sunfire, was also missing.
"Ah... you're finally awake, Grandmaster," a familiar, melodic voice purred, a sound that made his skin crawl.
Gideon's head snapped in the direction of the voice, only to see a silver-haired woman.
Me.
Sitting on a comfortable sofa across from him, swirling a glass of deep red wine in my hand. I was wearing a simple, black silk dress that hugged my curves in all the right places, my red eyes watching him with an amused, predatory glint.
"You..." Gideon's face darkened, a wave of rage and helplessness washing over him. "Where am I? What do you want from me?"
"I should be the one who is asking you that," I said, taking a slow sip of my wine. "After all, you're the one who invaded the holy land of my goddess with an army of thirty thousand men."
Yup... I was playing the role of the goddess's messenger; after all, I can't just say I'm the goddess herself. Yet.
"This is a holy land!" Gideon spat, his voice filled with a righteous fury. "This is a forsaken land, a den of monsters and heretics! We came to cleanse it! To bring the light of Uriel to this wretched place!"
"Cleanse? Bring the light?" I chuckled, a sound that was both beautiful and infuriating. "Is that what you call it? Burning down our forests? Killing our people? Torturing our creatures for sport? You call that 'cleansing'?"
"Creatures? People?" Gideon scoffed. "You mean the monsters? The elves? The beastfolk? The abominations that crawl in the dirt? They are not people! They are filth! And it is our sacred duty to wipe them from the face of the earth!"
I sighed, placing my wine glass on the table. I stood up and slowly walked towards him, my hips swaying with a hypnotic rhythm. I stopped right in front of him, so close that he could feel the warmth radiating from my body, could smell the faint, intoxicating scent of my perfume.
"Is that what your goddess told you, old man?" I whispered, my voice a seductive murmur. "That you humans are some sort of chosen race? That everyone else is beneath you? That you have the right to judge, to condemn, to kill?"
I leaned in closer, my lips almost touching his ear.
"Or is that just what you humans tell yourselves to justify your greed? Your bloodlust? Your cruelty? Your insatiable hunger for power?"
Gideon's jaw tightened, a bead of sweat trickling down his temple. He tried to look away, but my presence was overwhelming, a suffocating, intoxicating aura that clouded his mind and weakened his resolve.
"You're a demon," he said, his voice a strained rasp. "A tempter. A liar. Your words are poison."
"Am I?" I said, pulling back a little, a playful smile on my face. "Or am I just the only one who's brave enough to speak the truth?"
I walked back to the sofa, sat down, crossed my legs, and took another sip of my wine.
"Let me tell you a little secret, Grandmaster," I said, my eyes glinting with a mischievous light. "The goddess you humans worship, the one you call Uriel... isn't actually Uriel herself but one of her subordinates named Aurelia."
Gideon's eyes widened in shock, unable to believe what he was hearing.
"What? That's... that's blasphemy! A lie! A trick!"
"Is it?" I said, raising an eyebrow. "You're a smart man, Gideon. You've dedicated your entire life to her. You've prayed to her, you've fought for her, you've killed in her name. And for what? What has she given you in return? Silence. Indifference. Your prayers have gone unanswered for centuries. Have you ever wondered why?"
I leaned forward, my expression turning serious.
"The real Uriel, the goddess of light, is in another world doing her own thing. As for this world, she left a piece of her power to one of her seraphim named Aurelia to manage."
"What?! This is impossible!" Gideon roared, his entire world collapsing around him. "I would have known! The church would have known!"
"Would you?" I said, with a cold, mocking smile on my face. "Or were you all just too blinded by your faith, too arrogant in your own self-importance, to even consider the possibility that you were being lied to? That you were just... pawns in a game you didn't even understand?"
I stood up and walked over to the window, looking out at the lush, green landscape outside.
Gideon thrashed against the Null-Cuffs, the heavy metal clinking uselessly against the sides of the stone chair. His face was flushed, a mixture of righteous fury and a deep, terrifying seed of doubt beginning to take root in his chest.
"Aurelia... a seraphim?" he muttered, his voice shaking. "No. No, the High Priestess speaks directly to the Light! We receive the holy blessings! The smiting lights that rain from the heavens—that is the undeniable proof of Uriel's favor!"
"Oh, the flashy lights?" I chuckled, swirling the crimson liquid in my glass before draining the rest of it. "Darling, Aurelia is Uriel's creation, her daughter, if you will. She inherited a portion of the goddess's power. Of course, she can call upon some of the holy light. It's the very authority granted to her by the goddess herself. She is, for all intents and purposes, the acting goddess of this world."
I set the glass down with a soft clink that echoed in the silent room, the sound like a judge's gavel.
"So, in a sense, you do worship Uriel through her daughter, Aurelia," I admitted, but then I leaned in, my voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "But think, old man. Think of the silence. The long, cold centuries of prayers going unanswered. Why would Uriel, or her proxy Aurelia, allow her most devout followers to suffer? To watch as her influence wanes, as her holy lands are defiled by 'heretics' like me, and do nothing? A real goddess would care. A real goddess would act."
He stared at me, his golden eyes wide with horror. I could see the gears turning in his head, the decades of unwavering faith starting to crack under the weight of my words.
"She... she tests us," he stammered, clinging to the last vestiges of his indoctrination. "Our faith is a test."
"A test?" I laughed, a loud, mocking sound that filled the room. "A test for what? To see how long you can suffer in silence before you break? That's not a test of faith, old man. That's neglect. At best. At worst... it's a prison. And you're all trapped in it."
I turned back to the window, my back to him, allowing my words to sink in.
"I'll tell you another secret," I continued, my voice soft, almost compassionate. "This world, Elytheum, doesn't belong to Uriel or her children."
"Of course it does! It was created by the Gods! The scriptures—"
"—were written by men," I cut him off, turning to face him again. "Men who wanted power. Men who needed a justification for their conquests. But the truth is, this world has been asleep for a very long time. Its own goddess, its own ruler, was sealed away. And Uriel... was the one who stabbed her friend in the back and helped the others lock her up."
Gideon recoiled as if I'd struck him. His face was pale, his body trembling.
"No... No, you lie!" he whispered, shaking his head. "No... you're twisting history."
"No, Gideon," I said, walking towards him again. I crouched down in front of him, my red eyes locking with his golden ones. "I merely had the privilege of learning it."
I reached out and gently touched his cheek. He flinched but didn't pull away. The aphrodisiac was working its magic, lowering his defenses, making him susceptible not just to pleasure, but to uncomfortable truths.
"Your crusade was a mistake," I whispered. "A political ploy by a greedy king and a power-hungry church, sent to die in a land they don't understand for a goddess who doesn't care. But it's not too late for you."
I stood up, leaving him breathless, confused.
"My goddess, the true ruler of this world, has returned. She's strong, she's powerful, and she's... generous. She rewards her followers. She answers their prayers. She gives them power, pleasure, and a purpose beyond blind, empty faith."
I gestured towards the nearby wall.
"Your men... they're being given that opportunity right now. As we speak, they are learning a new truth. A new gospel."
My finger traced a symbol in the air, and the obsidian wall shimmered, becoming transparent. It was no longer a wall, but a magical window into one of the "cells" below.
And Gideon's heart stopped.
"NOOOO!"