My eyes began to bleed, and as an overwhelming amount of pain flooded my body, I attempted to scream but was muffled by the strange invisible force wrapping my mouth.

I could only roll around before feeling the invisible chains restrict me even harder, giving me absolutely no control over my body.

It was like I was frozen in time, unable to speak, move or even think of my own right.

"STOP! IF YOU HURT HER! I SWEAR UPON EVERYTHING I LOVE, I WILL KILL YOU!" My mother screamed, only getting a small smile out of the woman sitting next to me.

"And how are you going to do that? How exactly are you going to kill me? Hm?"

My mother shook with anger, her eyes darting between the goddess who had captured me for her own selfish reason and me.

"W-What do you want?!"

"I don't want anything from you. If I wanted something from my precious servant, I would have just taken it," The goddess rolled her eyes, her hand slowly working its way to my hair, where it slowly began to run through it.

"Th-Then why bring me here? For your own amusement?"

Tears began to leak from my eyes, and my mother's face paled for just a moment before darting back towards the goddess, who was clearly enjoying this.

"I'm just kidding… I'm not that mean. But I do need to extract something from her and can't do that without your help. Mainly because your DNA is inside of her, and I can't really tamper with that shit unless I know what I'm looking for."

"J-Just, please stop hurting and scaring my daughter,"

"Okay, well, since going down to the mortal realm really takes a lot out of me, I'll make you my apostle. I will extract your DNA here for the sake of my own convenience, but then you will go down there and retrieve the shard. If you do not bring it to me, then I will go out of my way to take it and kill your daughter while I'm at it," The goddess turned towards me, her hand slowly cupping my face with a warmth that slowly put me to sleep.

"You're the devil!" Was the last thing I heard before quickly falling into a deep sleep, my mind fully relaxing like it was getting a massage.

…

"Ugh… my head," I muttered, sitting up from the softest bed I had ever slept in, the sheets almost attempting to pull me back in as I turned to look around.

I looked to be in some kind of cottage made of white and glistening marble, and as my throat was absolutely parched, I reached to the bedside table and grabbed the pitcher of water seemingly left for me.

As soon as I had quenched my thirst, a man with long green hair tied into a loose bun, pale white skin, and a soft, beautiful face appeared at the door.

"Who… are you?" I asked, backing up in the bed as the man slowly walked towards me, pausing upon seeing my frightened appearance.

"Don't worry. I'm your father," He gently smiled, and as a familiar warmth wrapped around me, tears leaked from my eyes.

My body shook with excitement, glee, and pure and utter happiness as the man's arms wrapped around me, bringing me into a tight squeeze that made me cry even harder.

It was an ugly cry as I hugged him back, but it wasn't something I was ashamed of, and instead embraced it, letting all my pent-up emotions just run out of my body until nothing was left.

"Honey? Is she awake?" A head poked into the room, and as my father backed up, allowing me some space, I saw my mother, whose eyes immediately began to leak tears.

As we both embraced each other, my mom showered me with a thousand kisses to the top of my head, and my father sniffled, holding back a stream of tears.

My mother and I just sat there, on the edge of my bed, me dangling my feet while my mother's feet were firmly planted on the floor, her beautiful and sparkling rainbow eyes staring deep into my soul.

"It's alright. You're safe now," She muttered, wiping the tears from her face before embracing me with another hug, as if trying to make up for the time we had spent apart.

"W-Where are we?" I sniffled, slowly standing up but then feeling the world spin, my mind attempting to tear itself apart as I took a single step.

My father quickly sat me back down where I tucked myself back into the bedsheets, feeling like a child once again-

"Hm? What? Why?"

I was stunned as I saw myself in a large mirror just across the room where I was in my high school form just after my mother died and when Tolf was just in its early beginnings.

"Don't be surprised. This is the reflection of your soul, so I guess you haven't matured much, huh?" She lightly chuckled, but soon my image began to distort, and I returned to my mature adult form. "Oh my."

"To answer your question from before… you are still in the realm of the gods but in our own domain. Nobody can hurt you here besides the supreme god, although we have already settled everything. You still need to meet with her one more time and-"

"N-No, I don't want to see her again. She's terrifying," My voice quivered, my body shaking in tandem as my mind itself began to go back to those horrifying minutes.

"Oh, baby, I'm sorry," My mother whispered, hugging me once again and then lay down right next to me. "My Mistress may be harsh, but she will never kill or torture you. She is justified in her own right to act like this… but I've made sure and guaranteed that she won't touch your daughter… as long as you retrieve the blade for her. It's as simple as that,"

"I-I understand…."

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