"Little girl," Master Kissit started, "are you lost?"
In Edda's entire life, she'd always regarded Kissit as a man of intellectual fortitude. A man who could read a room and morph himself to fit the paradigm expected of the ruling class within said room. He was eloquent, steadfast in his beliefs and a lethal foe to anyone who stood against the closed council. In that moment while standing, as the three of them observed the little girl dressed in a green dress fashioned of sea reeds who'd appeared out of nowhere, Edda realized that Master Kissit might actually be a fool.
On the night Edda had met the little girl, her eyes had been brown, now green pupils peered up at her and the gaze held a weight so immense the small curve of her tiny lips did little to draw the eyes away from them.
"Edda!" The little girl said in a squeaky childlike voice and reached out with a small pudgy hand, Edda stumbled backwards, tripped on her own feet and had her bum meet the ground. She crawled away, eyes on the girl and the transparent canteen in her other hand. The girl, puzzled, cocked her head at Edda as if regarding something she'd seen for the first time yet wondering as to how it held a tinge of familiarity.
"Get away from me!" Edda shrieked. Panic warred with something else within her, a recognition of sorts of how utterly helpless she was before the being who stood before her.
Patron of the innocent. Daduts had spoken of the title of the Goddess of Depth. In the days before Binoria rose to yoke the realm. The Goddess Alietsi lay claim to the lives of children, seeking to ensure that they knew neither pain nor torment. She was a symbol of protection, and beyond that a paragon acting as a beacon for all to find the way to lead a life that would ensure children within every society lived a shielded life. Now she appeared as a child, but behind those green eyes, Edda knew she was anything but.
"Why are you afraid of me?" The girl asked. "I thought we are friends!"
"Little girl, we are quite busy here. You seem to have wandered far from your home." Master Kissit said while walking towards the little girl. She was so small, she barely reached Kissit's thigh. The old Master stooped so his eyes would be level with hers. "Odd eyes for a Remu, that's for certain, must be a malady of sorts. Best stay clear of her Dadu—" Kissit turned in the direction of his lover and his words cut short in his mouth at what he saw.
Daduts knelt on the ground, hands held above her. Tears streaming down her face. Her face, contorted in what one could only deem as an expression of immense emotion, took on the full weight of her age. The wrinkles lining her face becoming stark and her trembling lower jaw threatened to fall free of her face. "Goddess!" She cried out and fully prostrated herself on the ground.
Master Kissit stood upright and peered at Daduts as if she'd sprouted another head. "Daduts, have you lost your mind? Can the Kolotian's influence truly reach this far?"
Daduts raised her head and spat at Kissit. "You fool! Can't you see this is the same girl who Edda had encountered? You're in the presence of a Goddess! Act like it!" And she lowered herself to the ground once more.
Master Kissit tilted his head back and laughed. Edda had only heard Kissit laugh once before, when a fellow Master had tripped on his robe and met the ground with his face. He'd laughed hard but only for a few seconds. This time round his laughter was louder and not as brief. Once done, shoulders shaking to a halt. He turned to the little girl. "Little girl, are you a Goddess?"
Alietsi lifted her head and observed Master Kissit in that fascinated way children regarded everything from a sword to a mbengo. "Little? I'm not little, I'm very big!"
Master Kissit smiled. "How big are you?"
"Kissit—" Daduts started but an irritated wave from Kissit silenced her.
"I'm very big!" The little girl insisted.
"Okay, okay, you're very big. But are you bigger than a building?" Master Kissit asked.
"Building?" The girl wondered, a small frown touching her features, making her look terribly adorable if it wasn't for the fact that Edda knew what she saw wasn't truly what was.
"Yes, a building. A big building, you know, where people live?" Master Kissit pressed.
The girl turned her eyes to the flames and Edda had an uncanny feeling she was looking beyond the flames, towards the sea. "I have been asleep for a very long time." The girl said, her words sounding odd now that she was taking on the mannerism of an adult. "Back when I was awake, the realm wasn't divided, further back and the one whose finger you've burnt to summon me, did not hold the essence of a departed Goddess. Neither was the essence linked to my sister Meena. Back then there were no... Uhmm... Buildings? Mankind existed as we willed them to."
A short silence ensued, a silence that was abruptly broken by Kissit's hearty laugh. Thrice now Edda had heard him laugh. "Little girl, your parents named your sister after the Binorian Goddess?" Of all the girl had said, Kissit had picked one small part and made it the basis of his reply. Edda understood it to be a common trait of most men, but at the time she wondered how potently stupid was one to bank on masculine ignorance in the face of divinity. "What fanatics we have among the Remu!" Kissit continued. "Imagine if we'd maintained a strong grip on our heritage instead of imbuing the beliefs of another civilization!" Kissit bowed to be level with the girl once more. "Let me give you a piece of advice, girl, the Gods do not care about us. Our prayers fall on deaf ears hence why the young no longer pray and the old no longer hope. Your parents named your sister to tie you to their wayward belief, seeking a glimpse of divinity they force the only proof of supernatural existence on you through naming. What is your name?"
"Alietsi." The girl answered and Kissit laughed. The girl laughed with him and together their cackling laughter sounded across the night. Edda trembled where she was on the ground, and Daduts gawked at Kissit, no doubt wondering as to the extent of the Master's denial. "Why did you stop praying, Kissit?" The girl asked and the Master's laughter abruptly cut short.
"Well," Master Kissit started after a moment of pondering. "We were forced to abandon our ways to take on the ways of another Kingdom. Our King was burnt alive, our traditions burnt with him too. We took on the worship of Meena, and lost the name of our Goddess. The one you are named after."
"But you still prayed to her, right? To the one I'm named after." The girl said.
"Once, and then no more." Master Kissit said. A melancholic haze touched his features, his mind transported back into the past. To a time when he had hope.
The little girl shook her head from side to side. Then lifted the transparent canteen to her lips and drunk from it. Edda felt a sudden thirst overcome her, making her aware of her dry throat, she wanted water, not just any water but one that came from the sea. The girl lowered the canteen and stared at Kissit. "I remember your prayer, Kissitavicho." Daduts gasped. Kissit took a step back. "You said, 'Alietsi, where are you? Look at us! We are dying! The children are dying! Patron of the innocent! Where are you you insolent bitch? Where are you!'" The girl lifted the canteen to her lips and drunk once more. Kissit visibly paled. "I doubt that was a prayer, does it sound like one?" Kissit did not answer. "No, a prayer must be laced with humility. A vanquishing of anger in favor of providence. Yet you called to me with insults, then abandoned my worship with rage when I failed to answer. Tell me, Kissitavicho. Do you know when I raise myself from the depth of the sea, my head breaks surface of the water while my feet stay rooted to the darkness far below? Do you know what such movement would cause to your Kingdom, the closest to the shore? When a wave crests, larger than all your buildings perched one above the other from my awakening, a wave carrying my children, the leviathans. Do you know what such a thing would do to those children who aren't dead within your Kingdom? If I came to you then, answering your so called prayer, what gratitude would I have received from you once you were dead from my mere stirring?"
Master Kissit took a step back and away from the girl. Then another step.
"ANSWER ME!" Alietsi screamed, the voice of a child gone from her. And Master Kissit brandished his knife from his blue robes. Alietsi stared at the knife and to the Master's credit, he flung it away and went down on his knees. Prostrating himself before the Goddess of Depth.
Alietsi turned to Edda. "Child, touch the sea. Or drink from the crystal cup. Take me on in full and you might have a chance of surviving what is to come. What I will give you will require something of you but I am sure you will meet my demand." She held out the transparent canteen to Edda but Edda shook her head from side to side. Alietsi sighed. "I understand you, Edda, that's why I like you. Each step is calculated, each decision weighed and tested before ventured into. YES, a desire for power lies at the heart of all men, but you are hesitant in accepting it for you know its burden. I will not rush you, but I know potential when I see one." She turned her face from Edda, staring in the direction of the sea. " The realm needs the Rad es Maalas, the realm needs Sin." Alietsi turned back to Edda, a look of immense sadness etched upon her small features. "The realm needs you."
"What is the Rad es—" Edda started but a jerk of Alietsi's neck silenced her. The Goddess peered below the sandy hill, in one specific direction. It was too dark to see what had Alietsi's attention and—
"He comes."Alietsi said.
"Who?" Edda wondered.
"The champion of Locha, the bringer of the endless night. He comes now, he comes for you. I cannot intervene, the laws deny me this and even if I am to break them, this is not my strongest form. I am sorry, run, run for your life Edda. Run towards the sea!"
Edda turned to observe the place Alietsi faced as she talked, then she turned back to her to find the Goddess vanished.
XXXXXX
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