Ari (Child of the Beastman Goddess)

My consciousness came back and realized that Ayla was flying to the sky at a fast phase.

“You finally got your memories back? I know you hate this, but I need to confront your mother,” she mumbled upon realizing that my consciousness came back.

“She’s also your mother. What are you planning to do?” I asked nervously.

“Keep calm, my dear sister. I just want to play and see how she would react,” she answered with malice in her tone.

“You know I can feel your emotions. Don’t do anything you might regret. I’ll do my best to stop you if ever you go overboard,” I responded.

She opened a portal on the clouds and entered it while smirking in excitement. She masked her energy to transform our form into my passive form and went towards the palace gate.

The guards opened the gate upon seeing us and bowed down while greeting us, “Welcome back dear light of Nirvana, goddess of the sun.”

I was surprised that they didn’t notice that it was Ayla whom they were greeting. Ayla felt extremely excited upon hearing the greeting and ran towards the direction of the throne hall.

“My goddess, welcome home,” a minor god suddenly appeared before our eyes.

His name’s Adler, a Chimera. His beast form was a mixture of snake, goat, lion and an eagle beast. He was casted aside when he was young, but my father took him under his wing. He grew up with us in the palace and served as our butler after his coming of age. He’s older than us and witnessed our birth-he knew us pretty well.

“Ayla, what are you doing?” I asked when I felt her menacing emotion.

“Silence… Arie,” she whispered.

“Your highness?” Adler asked with confusion.

“Don’t mind me. May I see my ‘queen mother’?” she answered with quite an awkward emphasis on the words “queen mother”.

I saw him looking at us briefly with his sharp eyes before responding, “Yes, my goddess.”

Ayla walked towards the throne room and Adler followed us from behind.

“You know he knew, right?” I asked nervously.

“I know! Just keep quiet!” she whispered.

I felt quite hurt from her words.

She was flustered and whispered, “S-Sorry… I didn’t mean to be mad at you.”

I knew she could feel my emotions too, but I remained silent and just observed what she was planning to do.

We haven’t even arrived at the throne room yet, but our mother suddenly appeared before our eyes.

“Mother…” I mumbled.

“I’m back, Mother,” Ayla greeted with a tone of gloom.

“Ayla… Do you really think you can deceive your mother with that kind of trick? Stop fooling around and separate this instant,” she ordered as she pulled Ayla away from my body.

Our mother has the ability to separate us, though she has no ability to stop us from fusing together.

“No!!!” Ayla screamed in fury.

“Welcome back my dear daughters,” she greeted and smiled at me without letting go of Ayla’s head.

Ayla moved away briefly and pulled her bow and arrow that emerged from her power.

She suddenly attacked our mother while screaming, “I am not your daughter!”

I instinctively dashed and caught the arrow, then stood in front of our mother.

“Ayla… Why are you doing this?” I asked furiously.

“She let you and Father Lev die in Sephtis’ hands!” she screamed furiously with her eyes drenched in tears.

I was horrified after hearing her words, “Ayla! It’s not our mother’s fault!”

“Adler, lead them to their father,” our mother ordered while rubbing her forehead in anxiety.

The door to the throne opened so I dashed inside crying while remembering the last memory I had when I was still Arie. I landed in front of the throne where a core of a god that was barely living was placed, covered in shadows and restricted by darkness. The other gods and goddesses were surrounding it trying to sustain the life of the core.

Immortals vanish if they die, but they can turn into a core to preserve their life in desperate times. They can regain their strength in time if the core was not broken and as long as their part soul should return to them in time.

“I have already fused his part soul, but the curse is still affecting his core. We need to pacify Sephtis as soon as possible or else, Lev might perish in this world,” our mother said.

“This can’t be true… You’re lying!” Ayla screamed.

I stumbled to the ground, losing my strength in fright while remembering how Sephtis killed my father and me then caused chaos in my life.

“I’m scared,” I mumbled while crying in fear.

Ayla dashed to me and hugged me whispering, “I’ll kill him for you and Father Lev. I’ll make sure to seek revenge for what he did.”

“Ayla…” I cried, hugging her back.

“But why can’t you face him?! You are the queen! You have the highest authority with the most power in Nirvana,” she asked our mother anxiously.

“I am no longer the strongest, but the weakest among the Immortals since I gave birth to the two of you. Lev was the only pillar of the throne, keeping his promise in front of the Supreme God,” she explained.

It was true. According to rumors when we were young, our mother lost a huge amount of power within her due to the curse that was casted by Sephtis. Father did his best to defend my mother’s throne according to the will of the Supreme Being.

“How could it happen? It’s impossible!” Ayla shouted in disbelief.

“I was cursed the night I accidentally mistook Sephtis as Lev. I was deceived. It was already too late when I realized he wasn’t Lev. He copied Lev’s appearance and acted like him perfectly. If not for Arie’s crest that was missing on his chest, I wouldn’t know he wasn’t Lev.”

“Was it the reason you didn’t love me as much as Arie?” Ayla asked while crying hysterically.Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

“No! I love you all the same. I just don’t know how to face you, because every time I see you, the memories of that disgraceful night keep haunting me. Despite that, I didn’t abandon you. I gave the finest things to you, not to Arie. You might not remember much, but I did my best to love you despite the struggle in my heart. Lev even treated you like his own, trying to mediate between us.

“Sorry if my actions lead you to that conclusion, but I couldn’t help myself feeling guilty towards Lev because of that night,” our mother confessed in guilt and regret.

“Sorry, Mother… I should have known how you felt. I already knew your situation because Father Lev explained it to me, but I was too immature to understand what he meant,” Ayla said, hugging our mother tightly for the first time.

They cried their hearts out-I felt relieved but sad at the same time because my father couldn’t see the sight. He would be happy if he saw that my mother and my sister have already reconciled.