Chapter 378 – The Issues with Future

Nanoka was right. Even for the next day, she was right about no new kids. How long that will last, I don't know. But with the number of women I have pregnant, one will be coming up soon. Calli or Elora are likely, if not Annoris or Esiyae. Then Shyla...

'The main Goddess temple is going to pick you up,' Space sends to my mind. 'Don't leave my temple until Geta is here. She should be here shortly. The main temple is a bunch of asses that would love to lick the toes of the elder Goddesses who care about that temple. But don't worry too much about them, they aren't anything special. The temple exists mainly to keep the elder Goddesses content, so don't let the Priestesses bully you. You have more support behind you than they do, after all. You have the support of Sea, Death, and Hearth, while Future doesn't care. Nature is spending too much power on her army to do anything inside the temple, and as for War, it's hard to tell what she thinks, but killing you ends the war. Sure, there are a few that would care about the disrespect, but they know they can't really do anything to you.'

'Ok,' I think back. Tanatsu isn't going to like this, but I owe at least this much to Sarania and her Mother. It sounds like it may be the case that she's been getting tortured for longer than Fertility was. These Priestesses don't sound like they are the greatest women to be around.

"We need to wait a bit," I say. "My request to meet with the ones holding your Sister, Sarania, is being answered; they'll pick us up soon to bring us there. But we need to wait for Geta before we go outside."

"They'd better let her go," Sarania says.

"They'll figure it out," I say. "Do you happen to have a dress that will fit me? I think showing off my tattoos would be smart. Apparently, these Priestesses are prideful."

"Sorry, my Mistress," Sarania says. "I don't. Not with your pregnancy. Sorry. Our wings are a bit too different. Only my overly skimpy outfits will fit you."

"That would be too far," I say. It's probably best to trust a succubus when they say it's too skimpy. Only my Shadow's outfit shows more skin than her outfits do. I need to be respectful. I am asking the stupid Priestesses for something.

"I'm ready," Geta says. "Nanoka filled me in."

"Can you just claim Death asked her to be free?" I ask.

"No, Death isn't really part of the main temple, so they won't release her just for me. But it will make it hard for them to say no, unless another Goddess says something," Geta says.

"Nature."

"Yes."

Nothing can ever be easy. "Will I get to talk to the other Goddesses there, if needed? Offering some pregnancies should speed things up."

"Maybe. Death doesn't care about the main temple much."

"Well, then I guess we can go find out about the temple," I say, starting back towards the door.

Through the great doors is a single woman in pure white, if you ignore the golden emblems sewn into her flowing robes. Which I probably shouldn't when the biggest out of the bunch is a tree. I'm not great with the symbols of Goddesses, they all have too many of them after all, but if that isn't Nature's, I don't know whose it would be.

"Hello, Champion Alzi, I've been asked to take you to our temple," the Priestess says.

"Yes," I say. Does she not go outside often? She's blinking quite a lot for someone who should be 'one with nature.'

'Remind her who gives her the ability to move around in space.'

"Space told me to remind you who gives you the ability to take me to your temple," I say.

"Yes," the Priestess says through her forced smile. "Thank you, Goddess of Space."

This time, we teleport, and more than just I come along for the ride. I'm guessing it was supposed to be just me, based on all the sharp objects pointing at us right now.

"The Goddesses demanded and made it so," the Priestess huffs. The swords and spears relax and slowly retreat from my group as the Priestess starts moving through the hall.

"I didn't know you all respected Death so much," Geta says. "Wanting to be taken to her after just a glimpse of me."

"This way. We can start the talks," the Priestess says, ignoring the Valkyrie of Death. Nature really is a bitch.

The entire group came through, Sarania, my Shadow, and Geta. Shyla is busy helping her Mother with her sisters. I'll need to get used to not having her around for a bit. She's going to be going into labor more than once, most likely. I've gotten used to taking a peek into her womb, and the kids are all at different stages, so I hope they don't all come out together. While I would love to hold them, I don't have the time to keep them all alive right now. I would figure it out, I hope, but I would rather not have that stress. I'd have to give something up for it.

The Priestess takes us through a number of halls that would make even giants feel small. The walls are all covered with paintings framed in gold, and not an inch of the space is left undecorated. She leads us to a normal-sized room, at least. It makes me wonder if Space is doing more here than just helping them teleport. Could I bully them instead?

"Now, I was told you wished to make a request," the Priestess says.

"I've been informed you are holding Sarania's sister here for no reason," I say. "Goddesses stopped her punishment years ago, yet you still have her. That needs to end."

"No. Is there anything else you wish to talk about?"

"Killing you all, then?" Geta says. "Death never told me just how strong a connection she had with you all. She always acted like this was just a fun show to look at here and there. To think she was hiding just staunch supporters from me."

"The jokes aren't funny," the Priestess says. "Death wants nothing to do with us."

"Yet you all keep asking for her to come."

"The succubus is dangerous," the Priestess says. "She's insane. Multiple times, she drained a village's worth of men dry. No, she is where she needs to be. That is it."

Nothing can be easy. Nothing is simple. I just have to run into a woman who wants to fuck me over. Why would that matter? Bitches are so pissed off about someone else milking the men instead of them.

"Didn't ask," I say. "I'm taking her with me. I don't care that you love working for a woman who loves to rape people. You act like the succubus is dangerous, yet here you are, supporting a woman who loves rape. Nature is the real danger to the world, not a succubus that is going to be in my hands. We know she'll need help to recover from your temple's abuse. She'll do much less damage than your Goddess has done. And don't worry, she won't need to do anything like that if she still wants a kid. Though I'm sure with Nature's skills for rape and torture, she'll need to have plenty of recovery time before she would even care about a kid. Fertility is still getting over her capture, and I'm struggling with my own."

"No, her punishment has not been stopped," the Priestess says. "Only the level of punishment has been lowered. Don't make such mistakes."

"I have to see her and at least make sure she is alright, and I need to have more than one Priestess tell me that she can't be freed. I don't believe someone backed by your Goddess. Not when I have so many more behind me, and not one of them has told me this is a bad idea. Makes it feel like you and your Goddess are the problem."

The Priestess doesn't react much to my request. She does let more of her breasts show, for some reason. She still isn't my size, so what she's hoping for, I don't know. Geta and Sarania can beat her easily as well. Her only power is the emblems on her robe.

"I can let you see her. But you have to keep your distance."

"If I don't check on her, I can hardly count it as fulfilling my request," I say.

"You'll be able to see from a distance that she is alive. We keep her on good display."

"I'm sure," I say.

*** Malralloz ***

Progress is being made, but it means I'll have to fight the Goddesses again. Not that Sex and Nature are powerful. Nature is burning most of her extra divine power in the war, and Sex hardly ever has any. It'll be good to have a Goddess's blood spill again.

Maybe it'll open a path for a few new Goddesses to come here, and maybe Sarania can get promoted to a divine being as well, that loyal little girl.

"Hello," Future calls out.

"What do you want?"

"Same as you," Future says. "Family. You have kids, somehow, something that annoys some of us a bit more than it should, but you have no equals. I'm missing my sisters. There's nothing to ground me in the now or let me feel the past. All I do is move forward. The present is all that is real, yet so fleeting, as mortals like to say. Yet, the present doesn't exist. Not to me. Us. The world only has a future."

"Saying you want a few more goddesses to be around doesn't explain anything about why you are here."

"You came to me. I was already here before you stumbled into the clearing."

"I wonder why," I say. "Maybe you saw the future and placed yourself in my way. So, you wanted to see me. Why? You know, the question I asked."

"I told you, family."

"You have family."

"I want more, just as you want more. We are sisters, are we not?" Future says, slowly moving towards me. "You wish for another sister. For all of us old women to have another sister."

I let her take another step before I slash out with my sword. I catch nothing but air, obviously. Future isn't really a Goddess you can kill. She'll just casually lead you to your death as she avoids everything. If she's getting me to attack, it must be for a reason.

"My paths where I get my sisters are drying up," Future says. "You are the best chance for me. Us. You wish to get the world to birth more life, and I want that as well. There are paths for me to birth Past, but the Present must come from the world. For that, I need Alzi alive and well. But I can't be too seen."

"You call me your sister, yet all of you hunt me down."

"You would be dead if I or death hunted you. The possibilities of you living would slowly be culled until Death took you. We are sisters, our only parent being the world. I wish to help Alzi. How is this bad for you?"

"I don't know," I say. "But can I trust you? Once you have your sisters, you made it very clear you could just kill me."

"There's no need to second-guess. Just act. I wish you no harm. We'll both walk away with what we want. Aim for my neck," Future says.

Now I have no choice but to believe her. Either I attack, or I run, and I don't know which one she saw going her way.

If she thinks she can, then so be it. Worst case, I end the future of the world. People can live without the past, so they can do without the future as well.

I leap forward and swing. Future never pulls out a sword. No, she can just dance, stumble, jump, and whatever else she decides to do to dodge my blade. Not that our duel last for long. Just fifteen strikes or so, and she disappears.

"Remember, I helped you," echoes through the forest. I guess this means Space is working with Future.

I move towards the tree that always managed to be on the far side of my blade and look for the message. Talking with me didn't provide me with anything, so there has to be something of value etched into the bark.

"You fucking bitch. You think I'm going to get them to walk into this? You Goddesses are a bunch of assholes."