7 The purge (1/2)
Ariama woke up with a headache and flipped his brother off for disturbing his rest. Sending a telepathic message for a supreme being like Bolsa was easy but when the recipient is another supreme being, namely Ariama, who cut off all telepathic passages, the message has to be forcefully sent and that causes a rebound. Unfortunately, it was Ariama who suffered it.
\”Really Bolsa, you had to cause a headache just to remind me to catch a bratty god? You already know I'm going to torture him once I catch him yet you did this, why?\”
\”Look into the water brother and you'll see why\” a cool voice replied in his head.
Ariama grunted and did what his brother said. His old man disguise had worn off and a handsome looking youth with the silkiest white hair and pretty white eyes was staring back at him.
\”Dryad is going to be there two minutes from now. I was just doing you a favour\”
\”You could've just recast the disguise spell you idiot\”
\”Well, it's not my fault my brother choses to ignore me all day. Watching you is like watching an interesting drama unfold and the best part is, I get to interject and relate to the man in characters, especially to tell them when they're being stupid, like now\”
Ariama raised a brow. \”My life is like a drama to you?\”
\”Of course it is and it's very entertaining. Say brother, why don't you show her your true appearance\” another chippy voice interrupted.
\”None of your business Simour. Leave me alone you two!\”
\”You should tell her before she misunderstands and calls us perverts too. No god has the appearance of a child or an aged person. Each and everyone of us have youthful appearances with beauty unparalleled\” Simour said proudly.
\”It's my choice anyways. You left me in charge of this life seed so she's my responsibility now, not yours. Go away\”
\”You're being selfish brother. You know us three look alike and she thinks I'm an old man too\” Bolsa cried out in injustice.
Ariama rolled his eyes and cut the link. He then realised that Dryad was standing in front of him when he was arguing with his brothers. He subconsciously checked his face and was contented to find wrinkles on it and was happy that she couldn't probe into the telepathic link between head gods. He coughed in embarrassment that Dryad had seen him staring into space with an angry expression.
\”Who were you talking to? I tried to check it but I felt a rebound. It wasn't too rough but it was enough to warn me not to intervene\” she said with a frown.
\”It was Bolsa. He was bothering me about a completely insignificant matter. Don't worry about it\” Ariama said with a comforting smile.
A lightning bolt came from outer space, headed straight for Ariama. He sidestepped at the last minute and it landed in the water. He would've flipped his brother off again but he remembered Dryad was there and she was a young tree spirit.
Speaking of Dryad, she was arched over in pain. Bolsa swore and quickly retracted the lightning bolt. If it were a normal bolt of lightning, then it wouldn't bother the god. However, it was a lightning bolt from one of the head gods, it was bound to hurt.
\”Hey, are you alright?\”
\”Yeah, I'm fine. Let's go\” He nodded and opened up a portal. Since they knew where they were going, they wouldn't need a boat like last time. Dryad summoned Shadow and it stepped into the portal first, followed by Dryad then Ariama. Once he arrived his destination, the portal closed if its own accord.
They arrived in front of a ten metres tall tree surrounded by a glass covering, resembling a modern glasshouse. The tree was being tended to by the Head Priestess, who was currently gaping at the recently arrived gods.
\”Your holiness, our beloved goddess\” the Head Priestess and the priests greeted as they saw her. They also greeted Ariama but they couldn't see Shadow. Only those at the Divine level could see it.
\”My people, after five long years, I'm back. How did our plans go?\”
\”My beloved goddess, we have indeed taken full control of the country and three more, expanding our territory to the size of an empire. I'm the one in charge as you requested\” Ditoria said and bowed.
\”Good, good. We shall name our Empire Amethrita, meaning risen from the earth\”
\”Yes goddess\” they chorused.
\”Great. This world has about twenty continents and this is the smallest one. Although this is the smallest, I still want you to take control of the whole continent. I will go and plant more daughter trees and will appoint more Head Priestesses. I'm taking back control of my planet\”
\”Yes goddess. However, we've encountered a slight problem\” Ditoria said warily.
\”What is it?\” Dryad asked frowning.
\”When we were about to conquer the fifth country, we encountered a repelling array which killed off all the plants that got near. It must be an ancient array which was made to perfectly counter the plants. It greatly diminished our powers\” Ditoria said bitterly.