Once, the continent worshipped twin goddesses of the sun and moon, Elyon and Iah, but the goddess Iah is no longer revered by the masses because of the legendary appearance of a monster who allegedly fell from the moon. Recently, the Iah Society has made great strides in rehabilitating Iah’s image.

—Professor Leif Eiberg, Ancient Vinleaf History 101, Kraej University

Asteria

Everything had worked out alright. My only real worry was that Seraphiel would go looking for Doctor Greve, the man who had killed his birth mother, but Seraphiel was content to let the Kraej handle it. I gathered that Seraphiel had no real emotional attachment to his deceased parents.

“My family were the other orphans and the matron. They’re all dead except for Freja,” said Seraphiel when I asked him how he felt about the recent revelations.

“So Freja is your only family now?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“You don’t feel like getting revenge on Doctor Greve?” I asked.

“Perhaps other people won’t understand it, but I think you will. I like being an EL. I like being the strongest warrior alive. Even though I would have preferred less traumatic EL treatments, I have no regrets about my past,” said Seraphiel.

“I see.” I could definitely understand that. When the goddess offered to give me her power, I had hesitated at first, but now I had no regrets. I liked being Asteria.

“When I came of age, I and a few other ELs sent a formal complaint through a lawyer. The more… unscrupulous scientists in the EL Project were removed from authority. Many of them disappeared,” said Seraphiel.

“You mean…?” Was he saying what I think he was saying?

“No, it wasn’t me. It was the Kraej cleaning up after themselves. I don’t know for sure, but I’d hazard a guess that they sent Alfred, which is why he was able to arrange for Dr. Greve’s fake death,” said Seraphiel.

“That makes sense.” I’m glad that Seraphiel was content with that much. The Seraphiel from the game was a lot more bitter about the rough treatment he’d received at the hands of the Kraej scientists. Then again, I don’t remember the scientists being punished by the Kraej in the game.

“Most of the scientists behaved professionally, so I have no personal animosity towards them. Besides, we need their expertise. Did you know that most of the ELs who plan to have children want their offspring to undergo the EL Process, too?”

“Whoa, I hadn’t even considered that!”

“As for Doctor Greve, he won’t have it easy under Kraej custody,” said Seraphiel. The corners of his lips curved upwards in a not-smile. It was at times like these that I understood why he was considered more scary than beautiful by most people who didn’t know him as well as I did.

If Seraphiel was satisfied, then I didn’t need to worry about it, so I dismissed these trivial concerns from my mind. I had something more important to do.

The three Iah spawn were dead, therefore the only thing left to do was to use Glory of the Divine Conqueror, the ultimate skill the goddess had given me to eradicate Iah in the physical and spiritual planes.

 

***

 

It took a little bit of schedule juggling, but I managed to organize a little trip out of town for Seraphiel, Uriel, Sariel, Magnus, and myself. Uriel drove us to a nondescript spot an hour away from Kraej City. We got out of the van into a grassy open field.

“Why did we have to leave my bodyguards behind? What is this about?” Magnus looked irritated. Today he was wearing his usual three-piece suit, but he seemed more harried than usual.

“I wanted to ask you why Alfred shot me in the head,” I said. By rights, I should be very angry at the Lifer. The thought of revenge crossed my mind once, but I dismissed the thought at once. Murdering an old man in cold blood wasn’t my style. I’d leave Alfred’s punishment to his employers.

Magnus looked away from me. Running his fingers through his hair, he frowned and said, “He was babbling something about not wanting the next generation of Kraej to be too powerful.”

“The next generation? Pfft, he actually believed that brain-dead rumor that I’m an illegitimate Kraej daughter? That’s weird,” I said.

“He’s grown old, you know. Lately, his behavior has been so eccentric that I’ve been suspicious of him.” Magnus wouldn’t meet my eyes. He was hiding something, but if it was about Alfred then I didn’t want to get involved. It was none of my business if the Kraej’s most trusted henchman turned against them.

Besides, I knew from the sequel game that it was widely rumored that Alfred was an illegitimate child of Magnus’ grandfather. That was allegedly the reason why the Kraej had trusted him so much. I’m guessing that Alfred probably got tired of doing the dirty work for the Kraej when, by rights, he was a Kraej himself, albeit born out of wedlock.

I also knew that Alfred was an early subject of an early version of the EL Project. Perhaps he’d suffered some side effects that affected his mental state? But all those possible reasons weren’t important. I had to focus on the task at hand. I said, “Okay. Anyway, I’ve brought everyone here because I have some requests for you all. And punishments to give these three.”

I waved my hand at the three ELs.

“Candy?” Seraphiel tried to give me a bag of candy, but I pushed it away. Candy wasn’t going to help this time.

“I’ll start with you, Uriel.”

Uriel looked down at his feet. Shoulders drooping, he was the picture of dejection.

“Since I know it wasn’t your fault, I’ll give you the lightest punishment. You’ll be in charge of the Holck-Guldberg Charity.” I took some papers out of my pocket and handed them to him.

“You just need help with the charity? I can do that,” said Uriel. He looked relieved.

“I, um, ran into some small problems,” I said.

“What problems?” asked Uriel.

“You’ll find out,” I said.

The charity had gone wrong from the start. The moment it was announced that all students in East Thuesen would be receiving free school supplies, there had been a migration of students from other districts. The local schools couldn’t handle the influx of new students and the charity didn’t have enough money for them either. Uriel would have to do a lot of fundraising.

“As for you, Sariel…” I waited for Sariel’s reaction, but he just folded his arms on his chest and thrust his chin out. “I’ve reserved the worst punishment for you. Sariel, you’ll have to be the responsible one and take care of Ely and Uriel.”

“What the hell, Asteria?! I can’t be the responsible one! I’m the crazy, reckless one!” said Sariel. He must have sensed that something bad was going to happen to him today because he was dressed like a deranged hedgehog on the warpath. His hair, dyed green, was spiky and threaded with black spiral beads. The rest of his outfit was made of white and black leather, lavender lace, and dagger-shaped pins.

“Lies. I know that’s just a pose. The truth is that you’re the most stable and dependable S-class,” I said.

“I am not!” said Sariel.

“Yes, you are.” At least, I hoped he was. “You’ll have to take care of those two while I’m gone.”

“Gone? What do you mean ‘gone’?” Seraphiel’s golden eyes narrowed.

I took an artifact I’d prepared beforehand out of my pocket and flung it a few meters away. The others made exclamations of surprise when a crystal appeared where the artifact had struck the ground. Inside the hazy white crystallized anima was a fake copy of my body.

“Magnus, could you do me a favor and take this back with you? You can tell Oren and the others that I got bitten by a poisonous monster or something.”

“I don’t understand,” said Magnus.

“I’ll explain in a moment. Seraphiel, you’re next.” I paused. There really wasn’t any way to soften the blow so I should just say it. “I’m leaving.”

“No, you’re not.” Seraphiel’s already pale face paled even further, and his pupils dilated. “I won’t let you leave.”

“As everybody here except for Magnus knows, I have a mission. I must eradicate the Iah virus once and for all,” I said.

“The virus that’s found in almost every living organism? That’s impossible, even for you,” said Magnus.

“Correct.” I triggered the special skill I’d prepared for this occasion, Harmony of the Spheres. A chorus of angelic voices burst forth from high above us. The others gasped and shied away from the sound. “It’s impossible to do it unless you’re in the spiritual plane.”

“No! Asteria, you can’t leave.” Seraphiel tried to grab my hand, but I snatched it out of his grasp.

His new, more youthful look reminded me of the other time I’d told him I was leaving, ten years ago when I’d been a bodiless voice. I said, “It’s not that I want to leave. I have to leave. I’ll be back.”

“Again? How long will you be gone? You were gone for ten years last time,” said Seraphiel.

“It won’t be ten years this time.” I scratched my nose. “Probably.”

I needed to leave now before I lost my nerve. A pillar of light came down from the heavens, scattering the clouds above us. That was my special skill, In the Goddess’ Arms, which sent one’s soul to the spiritual plane. Golden light enveloped my body, and I knew there was no turning back now.

“Are you the goddess?” asked Magnus. His eyes were opened wide, and his expression was full of wonder and awe.

“I’m Asteria.” I grinned at him.

“Don’t leave me, please,” said Seraphiel.

The look on Seraphiel's face almost made me weaken, but I had to leave. If I didn’t get rid of the virus, Seraphiel and the world would never be truly safe.