Chapter 413: Hierachy (1st Bonus)
A smile appeared on Dark Bella’s lips. "You speak as though we’re two different people."
"To the best of my knowledge..." He shrugged lightly. "It certainly feels that way."
"Well," Dark Bella said with a smile, "I hate to tell you this, husband, but you’re wrong.The woman you call your wife is me. We are one and the same."
Then she raised three fingers. "You see, there are three kinds of deities. Lower gods, Higher gods, and Elder Gods. The first two are runts, but Elder Gods, however, are fundamentally different."
"Each Elder God is the embodiment of a concept that exists within creation. We do not merely govern those concepts, we are those concepts."
"I am not simply the goddess of the Endless Dark... I am the Endless Dark."
"So long as the concept itself continues to exist, an Elder God can never truly perish."
She continued, "When an Elder God is slain, our existence enters another cycle. Given enough time, we will inevitably return. The duration, however, is another matter entirely. Left to occur naturally, that return may take countless ages."
"Fortunately, we are not always bound to wait. Elder Gods possess the ability to choose their own reincarnation. In that case, we may decide when we return and allow the cycle to begin by our own will."
A smile crossed her face as she added. "That was the path I chose. I willingly entered reincarnation."
Her expression gradually became more thoughtful. "But...something happened which changed the cycle of my reincarnation. I was supposed to return more closely to my status as a god, but Instead, I was born as the daughter of a human woman."
A slight frown appeared on her face. "Even now, I do not know what altered my true course, but that alteration created another situation that should have been impossible."
’Hm..’ Ethan muttered. "What was that?"
She sighed. "The Endless Dark cannot be removed from me, nor can it exist apart from me, because I am the concept itself."
"And yet...It did. When I was reborn, the darkness that I embodied did not awaken alongside the child. The Darkness carried everything that truly defined me. My memories, identity..my nature. It retained within it, the being known as the Mistress of the Endless Dark."
Her voice softened. "And the child...The child simply lived, learned and formed friendships with human society."
"The child became Isabella."
Dark Bella’s smile returned, though it carried a trace of melancholy. "Then, as my power gradually began returning, so too did the Endless Dark."
"It was not another person taking over, but my true nature returning to the very body that had, in the meantime, already become someone else."
"That is why she and I seem different. One consciousness spent its life growing as Isabella, while the other remained within the Endless Dark, carrying everything that had once made me who I was."
Ethan was quiet for a moment, thoughtfully processing everything she had just told him.
Then another question came to mind. "Why did you choose to reincarnate in the first place?"
Dark Bella answered almost immediately. "Because my alternatives were considerably worse. Had I allowed the others to lay their hands on me before my reincarnation began, they would’ve found ways to further delay my return."
"So...I chose to begin the cycle myself as it was the only way to ensure I returned when I intended to."
Ethan slowly nodded before asking another question. "And what exactly did you do to piss off all the other gods?"
Dark Bella hesitated with giving an answer to that, which prompted Ethan to take a few steps closer towards the throne.
"Babe...come on." He said.
Her eyes widened just slightly. Then, an amused smile returned to her face. "Are you truly that desperate for an answer that you’re willing to address me exactly as you would the other me?"
Ethan shrugged. "You were the one who just told me you’re both one and the same."
Dark Bella chuckled softly. "I suppose I did."
She was silent for another moment before finally speaking. "It wasn’t one thing...The others have accumulated quite a lengthy list of grievances against me over the ages."
"But it all stems from one fact; since the dawn of creation, I have always chosen to live by my own rules. And you can only imagine how many rules the Celestial Court has."
"Ofcourse.. I broke a lot of them." A hint of amusement crept into her expression.
"However, the fortunate thing about being an Elder God is that there exists no higher authority capable of passing judgment upon us. No punishment imposed upon Lower or Higher Deities could truly be enforced against one such as myself."
Her smile gradually faded. "But...There is one matter they hold me responsible for above all others."
Ethan’s expression grew more serious. "What is it?"
Dark Bella met his eyes. "They blame me for the World Cataclysm three thousand years ago."
Ethan’s eyes widened. "The end of the world?"
Dark Bella slowly nodded. "Yes. The old world that existed before this new reality."
It wasn’t the first time Ethan had heard of the World Cataclysm.
Several of his strongest summons, including Nina, Arael and even King Arthur, all originated from the era before the cataclysm. They had lived during that age and ultimately met their end when the world itself fell.
The event was also common historical knowledge among the Awakened. It was taught in academies as one of the greatest turning points in recorded history; the catastrophe that brought the old world to its end and gave rise to the current era.
Ethan looked at her in disbelief. "How?, why do they blame you for it?...What exactly happened?"
He seemed so eager to know this.
But Alter-Bella shook her head. "I’m not going into that, husband...I’ve already answered the question you came here to ask."
"You wanted to know why the gods hate me, now you know."
Ethan sighed. The expression on her face made it really clear that she had no intention of saying another word about the World Cataclysm.
After a brief silence, she spoke again. "Once they placed the blame upon me, my persecutors were no longer the feeble runts, but the Elder Gods themselves who have wage war against me for centuries."
"I could’ve dealt with one, perhaps even two...But all eight members of the Celestial Court..."
She slowly shook her head. "That was a battle even I couldn’t continue fighting. So...I chose another path."
Ethan looked thoughtful once more, and after a few seconds he raised his head towards her with a new question. "And where did the Spirit King fall in all of these?"