Aila looked around the room as she put the English horn reed to her lips, staring into the audience. This was a first for her; at least, in goodness knew how many years. No, she had not given up playing; she’d just given up on getting performances for the longest time. After all, when you live to be about three or four centuries old, but still look like you were eighteen—and that was all in the time before you had chosen your successor and returned to a mortal life. The part that had Aila the most baffled was how those of the Pantheon resumed aging as though they had never been a part of the Pantheon.
And yet, here she was now, having been a Goddess since she was sixteen in the Re’klettan realm, and she looked as though she had not aged a day since her eighteenth birthday. Most of the Pantheon had been scattered throughout the worlds, but some of them had returned: Deraj, Nyera, and Yesac of the High Pantheon had returned, and only one from the other assembly had returned—Ekal, the God of Darkness and her eternal heartthrob.
Aila knew that Deraj, her other mate, was eternally against her affiliation with the Darkness God, but Aila always had feelings deeper than normal for him. These feelings had started when the two were nothing more than entering their most trivial years of their lives—the two had been but twelve years old when they met. From there, their feelings for each other only deepened. From there, the two continued to become closer and closer, until Ekal had been stripped away from Aila, which had been devastating to them both.
However, Ekal never knew how much he had affected Aila.
Even now, Aila could remember the curse that she breathed when he told her that; maybe, they ought to see other people. She remembered the words as clearly as though she had just spoken them in the ancient Re’klettan language.
“May you never find another who can touch your heart as I did. May these chains forever haunt you and stop you in your tracks...” she had said after they had said their farewells, and they would not see each other again for the longest time. When they did cross paths, he seemed hurt when he saw the scorn in her eyes. She could tell from the chain that he had tried to move on from her. However, when she discovered who it had been, she was infuriated.
My sister? You thought that you could score my sister, my guardian, after what you did to me? Are you mad[i], Ekal? What must she think of you, now that she knows? How do you think she feels, after I told her how I was hurting after you left me, and then you tried to alter your appearance so that you might win her?[/i]
However, all that had changed now that they had been a part of the Pantheon for a good several years now. At Aila’s last reckoning, it had been five years since they turned eighteen, but neither had aged a day since they turned eighteen. Aila had not considered the fact that maybe Ekal would be a part of the Pantheon before this, but ever since he returned to her life—looking little older than when they had last met before they were freed from high school—she suspected that, maybe, he’d won the favor of one of the Gods in the Lesser Pantheon.
“Are you ready for this?” she asked, smiling coyly.
[1.1]
And yet, here she was now, having been a Goddess since she was sixteen in the Re’klettan realm, and she looked as though she had not aged a day since her eighteenth birthday. Most of the Pantheon had been scattered throughout the worlds, but some of them had returned: Deraj, Nyera, and Yesac of the High Pantheon had returned, and only one from the other assembly had returned—Ekal, the God of Darkness and her eternal heartthrob.
Aila knew that Deraj, her other mate, was eternally against her affiliation with the Darkness God, but Aila always had feelings deeper than normal for him. These feelings had started when the two were nothing more than entering their most trivial years of their lives—the two had been but twelve years old when they met. From there, their feelings for each other only deepened. From there, the two continued to become closer and closer, until Ekal had been stripped away from Aila, which had been devastating to them both.
However, Ekal never knew how much he had affected Aila.
Even now, Aila could remember the curse that she breathed when he told her that; maybe, they ought to see other people. She remembered the words as clearly as though she had just spoken them in the ancient Re’klettan language.
“May you never find another who can touch your heart as I did. May these chains forever haunt you and stop you in your tracks...” she had said after they had said their farewells, and they would not see each other again for the longest time. When they did cross paths, he seemed hurt when he saw the scorn in her eyes. She could tell from the chain that he had tried to move on from her. However, when she discovered who it had been, she was infuriated.
My sister? You thought that you could score my sister, my guardian, after what you did to me? Are you mad[i], Ekal? What must she think of you, now that she knows? How do you think she feels, after I told her how I was hurting after you left me, and then you tried to alter your appearance so that you might win her?[/i]
However, all that had changed now that they had been a part of the Pantheon for a good several years now. At Aila’s last reckoning, it had been five years since they turned eighteen, but neither had aged a day since they turned eighteen. Aila had not considered the fact that maybe Ekal would be a part of the Pantheon before this, but ever since he returned to her life—looking little older than when they had last met before they were freed from high school—she suspected that, maybe, he’d won the favor of one of the Gods in the Lesser Pantheon.
“Are you ready for this?” she asked, smiling coyly.
[1.1]