IGIWS: FIRST DRAFT: Chapter 260

"O' Great Goddess Iyomelka... Hear our prayer... I beseech you O' Great Goddess, to bless this Kingdom and grant us a sign of your favor yet again!... For this Dark Elf wishes to receive your blessing... Allow her to join us on the path to the divine by accepting balance into her heart..." Mother Astra chanted as all the other priestesses finished their chant and joined the Mother.

Rya was standing on the middle of the platform staring at the five sets of commands that only she could see. She waited for the Priestesses to finish their prayer and once they did she immediately do all five of the commands or instructions from the base of the statue.

'Oh, I can't wait to see the looks on their faces once I get all five of these done. But that last one is so going to piss off the Princesses... I still don't know why that one is there... Maybe I should just skip that one?...'

"Now, Princess Rya! Pray and ask the Goddess Iyomelka to allow you into her kingdom!" Astra's voice brought her out of her thoughts.

'Fuck it! Do them all!' Rya smirked and began the ritual of prayer.

But unlike what Hilda did during her blessing, Rya balled her right hand into a fist and brought it up chest level before she put the palm of her left hand to the side of her fist.

Everyone who witnessed this wasn't sure why the Dark Elf wasn't repeating Hilda's actions.

'Okay... Now time for the first instruction. I can't believe this is an actual instruction but okay. Let's do this.' Rya thought.

Rya then swirled both arms around clockwise two times before snipping on her heels which caused her long skirt to swirl. Then she gracefully went down on her knees mid snip and her dress flared out around her. Her momentum stopped perfectly in front of the Idol and her body was in a kneeling position.

The crowd gasped while Duval smirked.

'Alright... Here's the grand finale.' Rya smirked as she opened her arms wide and looked up at the Idol and said.

"Hear me, Iyomelka the Lame!" Rya yelled which shocked the High Priestess.

Duval had to hold back his laughter as all the priestesses were furious at the dark elf. Cyndre and Rianna where panicking as the King was the one two vouch for Rya's presence here. Quinus on the other hand was stoic and waited to see what would happen next. Hilda wasn't sure why the Dark Elf would openly mock the Goddess and was curious to see if the Goddess would strike the Dark Elf down.

Alaric smiled at first when Rya started her ritual but was getting a bad feeling with how confident she was when saying something so blasphemous in front of everyone.

Dalia, Nieren, and Yuliana were laughing at all the humans flabbergasted looks from the side entrance to the auditorium while Percy, and Sir George looked like they had secondhand embarrassment.

Mother Astra was red in the face with anger and stormed up towards Rya and when she was within arms reach was when the circle platform underneath Rya light up with a language that has been long forgot.

Duval's smirk faded and noticed everyone was looking at the Idol beside him.

'N-No!... This isn't supposed to happen!' Duval thought as he quickly walked around the idol and looked at the platform below the Idol and saw the old ancient language of the Gods.

'She has to be touching! She has to know that we did the same thing for Hilda! But she's not touching it!' Duval panicked looked at the Idol beginning to light up faster than the time Hilda did the ritual.

"W-What's happening?" Cyndre asked no one in particular.

All the Priestesses looked upon the Idol in fright and awe. Mother Astra was tearing up as she witnessed the Goddess's power and couldn't look away.

The circle lit up and the light traveled towards the idol and it was only a few seconds before the Idol's right arm stretched out towards Rya who was smiling as the statue moved.

'Fucking eat your heart out Hilda...'

Rya didn't realize that her eyes began to glow light blue and the same was happening to her Platinum hair which made the whole crowd gasp and whisper.

"M-Mother Astra! The princess!?" Mother Wanda cried out as everyone's attention went to Rya.

Astra was reluctant to turn away from the idol at first but when she did she nearly fell down on her knees when she saw the Dark Elf.

'The scriptures... She's talking to the Goddess! We will get the answers we seek! If the scriptures are right...' Astra was shaking with excitement as she stared at the Dark Elf.

Rya could see in her peripheral all the shocked faces around her and then her eyes caught Mother Astra's eyes.

'Well crap... They are probably going to treat me like a messiah or something now... That's annoying... It's not like I Jesus! I can't heal—Ugh... Maybe that's not the best example... Hmm... How am I going to down play this?... Because they are totally going to ask if I saw a vision or heard Iyomelka's voice or something... But like that's ever going to happen... Speaking of getting visited by a goddess, where here those two idiots Goddesses have been... It's not like I'm looking for attention... But I haven't seen Nils or Nebulus in quite some time... I wonder if they found someone new to entertain them. Which is fine by me!... I can go the rest of my life without ever hearing a word from those two idiots!... Hey? Why are all the Priestesses just standing there like statues?... And why is the Idol getting shorter?... Wait!? Am I floating!?' Rya was brought out of her inner monologue and noticed that she was floating five feet above the ground.

She frankly looked around and noticed that everyone wasn't moving.

'What the fuck!... What's happening!... How do I get—Oh, come on!?'

When Rya looked down and behind her she noticed that everyone in the congregation were still as statues as well but what took the cake was when she saw her own body kneeling on the platform below her.

"Fuck!" Rya cursed as looked at her hands and saw her skin was glowing a bright white.

'Am I having an out of body experience!? How the hell am I going to get back in my body!?... And I'm naked!?'

Where I looked down at her temporal form and saw her big glowing tits and ass. She tried flailing her arms and legs about in hopes of somehow falling back down into her body.

'Damn it! What did I do this time!?' Rya screamed inside her mind as she floated closer to the Idol's outstretched hand.

"Ho, boy! You can stop on Iyomelka!... I-I didn't mean to offend you!... But you shouldn't have had one of your commands saying to call you LAME!" Rya yelled out in frustration as her voice sounded more angelic than before.

She was only a foot away from the Idol's hand and was starting to freak out a little.

"I didn't mean to piss off... Um creator! Please put me down!... You-You made your point! I'm sorry I called you lame!... But like come on! AAAHHH!!!" Rya screamed as she was pulled into the Idol's hand.

Rya felt like she was pulled through a wormhole like the time she got caught by that floating orb back on Earth. But this time she didn't feel sick when it happened and instead of feeling like her molecules were being ripped apart and being able to witness it happening. Rya felt like she was speeding through a blinding white light.

'Fuck me! This shit again!' Rya screamed internally as she closed her eyes but the blinding light was still there and she could feel herself moving.

Soon the white light started to fade into darkness like she was zooming through space. And after a few more seconds of being in darkness, she stopped abruptly.

'Ugh... My head...'

She was floating in what seemed like a black void but then these bright blue particles slowly started appearing around her like fireflies. They were all over the place and soon the blackness around her faded away and was replaced with a vast sea of blue particles moving about.

It felt like she was standing on a cloud as the particles slowly moved around this open space. She looked down at heet and noticed nothing but darkness below her.

'Where the hell am I? And what the hell are these particles?... They remind me of those yellow ones that helped heal that jackass Darius when I made him into Swiss cheese... And it looks so familiar to ether particles but these are less... Eerie?... Or sickly?... What are these things, and where the hell am I!?'

Rya noticed a small particle floating by her face and she reached her hand up to touch it and when her pointer finger was only a inch away from the small blue particle, she could feel a warmth emitting from it. It was almost like the particles were giving off their own light.

'It feels soo soothing... Should I touch it?...'

Rya felt no danger from the warm particle and when she was about to touch it was when she had a stern voice from behind her which made her move her hand away and turn around.

"Don't touch that!..." Said an angelic voice that was strick and commanding.

Rya quickly turned around and saw a glowing woman who was wearing a toga like dress, had exotic jewelry, and had her long flowing hair tied in a ponytail. She was strikingly beautiful and she had a presence about her that reminded Rya of Nils and Nebulus.

'I-Is she a God?... Is she a goddess?...'

Rya took a small step back from the beautiful woman and spoke.

"W-Who are you?..." Rya said cautiously as she looked at the goddess.

"That's the question!... that... I should?..."

The Goddess trailed off when she realized who this person was floating before her.

'Rya!?... How did this mortal get to my astral domain?... Wait a second.' Iyomelka furrowed her brows and moved quickly towards Rya who tried to avoid her. The Goddess grabbed the jawline of the Dark Elf and pulled her closer too her eyes so Iyomelka could examine something.

Rya wanted to escape, but the grip from this woman was too strong, and Rya's body wouldn't listen as the Goddess's touch soothed her. The Dark Elf was stunned to be this close to a woman like this. Their noses were almost touching as the goddess focused on her eyes. If Rya were still a man, she would have tried to kiss her, but being a woman, she's lost that part of her old self thanks to her feminine side.

"W-What are you doing?... Get off of me..." Rya struggled to speak as her eyes were wide when staring right into the Goddess's eyes.

Iyomelka didn't listen to a word Rya had said as she continued staring into the dark elf's eyes. Once the goddess found what she was looking for, her face turned to surprise then morphed into annoyance.

Iyomelka sighed, "So those two little idiots gave you Omni Eyes... Tsk!... Mortals were never meant to see what deities can see... I wonder what other passive abilities they gave you as well, Rya," the Goddess said while releasing Rya from her grip.

'Gah!... I'm free! Wait!... She knows my name?... And was she referring to Nils and Nebulus when she said those two little idiots?' Rya thought and then asked the Goddess.

"H-How do you know my name?..."

"Because I have been watching you for quite some time, Rya... I must say, you are too worthy to be the Chosen One for those morons... But I'm glad you survived their incompetence," Iyomelka said while looking down at Rya with her golden eyes.

Rya raised her right brow while rubbing her chin, "So, I'm not the only one who despises them... Do you Gods enjoy tormenting your summons?..." Rya asked.

The Goddess chuckled and waved her hand, "Those two are a special case of stupid... But they seem to be righting the wrongs that they have committed... But it may be to late to fix everything. The fates might finally be turning against them..."

'Huh?... So there's somethings that not even Gods can predict?...' Rya thought.

"Nils and Nebulus trying to right their wrongs? Hah!... I don't believe that for one second... And I'm not a fool to fall for their lies again. They are the reason for putting me in dire situations by trying to kill me multiple times. So how am I supposed to trust them at all."

The Goddess shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest. "You know that what happened in Ironside was your fault for getting captured. They wanted to warn you but they used up too much of their Primordial Essence. It was you who had to prove to yourself that you were still a man on the inside ever thought you fell for my Chosen One... You were a naughty girl to make my Summoned almost die for your stupidity..."

Rya's anger toward the twins faded and she was embarrassed by her actions. "Y-You were watching me that whole time?..."

Iyomelka smiled and leaned close to the dark elf's face, "I'm a goddess... I see lots of things... And I have to say, you were such a good girl to please my Chosen One... You two were meant for each other," she said while looking deeply into Rya's soul.

The Dark Elf felt a shiver run down her spine and her heart beat a bit faster every thought she wasn't in her body. "What?... Why did you look at me like that?..." Rya said.

The Goddess smiled and pulled her head back. "Because I can feel that you were meant to be my Chosen One... And I don't mind having a smart, capable, sexy, and seductive Dark Elf as my Chosen One's soulmate... I just hope that you appreciate him..."

'Even if there's a little bit of your male persona still floating inside you that wants to tease women...' Iyomelka thought.

Rya couldn't help but feel intimidated by this being. This is what a true Goddess should be. She was a beautiful, powerful, and a wise creature. She could tell the Goddess was very serious about her chosen one unlike the two Dark Elven Goddesses that Rya was used to.

"Huh!..life course, I do. He's my everything... I don't know what I would do without him."

Iyomelka nodded and patted Rya's shoulder. "You are a blessing to Tertius, Rya... I can tell that things are going to change... Possibly for the better... But how did you create an astral form of yourself?"

Rya became confused, "I thought you were watching over me and Quin?"

Iyomelka smiled a,nd shook her head, " This may be hard to comprehend for a mortal; I see a lot of things but not everything at once... I only see events that are happening at the same time, and even then, it's not as if I'm always focusing on what's going on... I am also not omniscient, and there are certain things I don't know..."

This was surprisingly refreshing for Rya. Iyomelka didn't seem like she was hiding everything from her to use her.

"W-Well, I prayed to your Idol... Back in the Temple. Hilda lucked into doing four of those commands that were written in the base of the Idol when she prayed to you... And the Prime Minister was ready to exile me from the Fiafyr Kingdom right then and there. So I thought I would do all five commands and pray to you. And when I prayed, I had an out-of-body experience before getting teleported—no wait. My body is back on Tertius... I guess my soul is here..."

Iyomelka looked displeased as she closed her eyes. She connected to the Idol in the city of Tairal. She saw Rya's body with everyone else staring in awe at her.

'What in the void!? I thought the last of the Primordial Essence had ran out in that thing after Rianna used it!'

She couldn't help but frown as she looked back at everything that had happened to this Idol. Iyomelka saw Hilda's fumbling about and getting the Idol to light up and then saw went back further in time to see a acolyte placing a glowing crystal on the statue. It absorbed into her Idol and powered it back up again.

"Damned Ether..." Iyomelka muttered as she shook her head. 'Looks like It's going to be another century or two before that Idol's energy runs dry again... It was so nice not hearing the prayers of every greedy little idiot... At least it's only—Wait! There's another one that's been recharge!... Oh that little weasel, William Lysander!... You and your little Alchemist will pay for messing around with my idols!'

Rya could tell Iyomelka was deep in thought and heard her mutter about Ether. She wanted to stay silent but her curiosity got the better of her.

"What's the problem with Ether?"

Iyomelka opened her eyes and looked at Rya. She would like to talk about it but it would go over Rya's head.

"I could tell you but I don't think you could understand... Just forget about Ether," said Iyomelka as she waved it off.

Rya frowned, "Try me... I may not know much but I like to listen to people—well, beings that are wiser than me so I can improve myself. Even if I don't understand everything, I try to at least learn a few things."

Iyomelka was pleasantly surprised by Rya's comment. She liked how this mortal treated her like a person instead of a mindless idiot who would do nothing but kiss her feet and would ask how they could serve her.

"Fine... I will tell you... But I won't have time to explain the full concept of Ether," said Iyomelka with a huff.

"That's okay, just tell me what you can," said Rya with a smile.

"So, the short story is that Ether is a foreign energy that came to Tertius about 100 million years ago. And it is similar to energy to Primordial Essence," Iyomelka said simply. Usually when one of her curious worshipers would ask her a question, she would give them a similar answer to what she gave to Rya. They would mostly groveled at her. Thinking that she gave them insight into her godhood and would be forever grateful for her wisdom. But Rya didn't look satisfied with the answer.

"That really didn't explain much... And it raises more questions... Are you saying that Ether wasn't on this planet when you started creating life on it?" Rya asked, her mind trying to piece everything together.

'Huh?... A mortal that's not satisfied with my answer? That's a new one...'

Iyomelka was taken back by Rya's statement. Rya was right though. Ether didn't exist when she started creating life on this world. It came when a meteor shower happened over 100 million years ago and it complicated everything.

"I appreciate that you are a little more curious than the other mortals. But I don't think it's worth digging into how we Gods create life. It would be too foreign of a concept for you to grasp," Iyomelka replied calmly, hoping to deter the mortal's curiosity.

Rya's curiosity was peaked ever more now. But on Earth when she was doing her daily routine of work, hanging out with friends, workouts, and reading Sci-Fi and unquestioningly novels, she would also watch videos of scientist debating flat earthers. And one of the streamers she enjoyed watching also debated creationist as well. He would go through a powerpoint presentation showing formulas of other famous biologists works in the origins of life. And he talked about how scientists have synthesized small RNA molecules called ribozymes that can self-assemble into functional, ribosome-like structures that can make proteins. And that it's the first time humans have managed to make these kinds of structures from scratch and he said it was a huge accomplishment in scientific history and could be the key to how life started as scientists were working to create a living cell from scratch.

"Well, I may not know how to draw out the sequence of chemicals that make up a RNA protein or write out how a molecular machine does what it does to create the complex chemical reactions for a living organism to function. But I do know that peptides are the building blocks for cells," Rya said trying to recall to the best of her knowledge about what she knew about life science.

"Huh?" Iyomelka was dumbstruck by Rya's knowledge.

'She knows the basics of the Universal Equation?... She's knows what we used to create everything...'

Iyomelka looked at the Dark Elf and could feel that the Dark Elf had no idea she had just said the basics of the universal equation.

"So you're telling me that you know the basic fundamentals of the Universal Equation?"

Rya looked around to make sure that Iyomelka was speaking to her and pointed to herself, "Me?"

Iyomelka nodded her head.

"Y-You mean science?" Rya asked.

"Well, I don't know if it's the same thing as science, but yes, the Universal Equation. It is what allows us to create live from nothing... We us are Primordial Essence to create the beginnings of life... Granite it takes quite a while for things to grow and evolve, and the longer the time frame, the less essence is required."

Iyomelka clapped her hands and a chair that was made with the same white stone that her Idols were made of appeared and Iyomelka sat down and crossed her legs.

"So, You can't make a fully fledged being from nothing?" Rya asked as she noticed a white stone floor appearing out from the stone chair that allowed her to walk around this weird void.

"Certain things we can, yes. But it would use up and unfately amount of Essence. That's why doing small incremental changes to single celled organisms is better than creating a single sentient mortal. It would be curl to create one creature on a desolate planet only for them to die before their time."

'Yeah... That makes sense... Adam probably should have died within a week from dehydration, exposure and starvation if God couldn't create food and water on a whim.'

"Ok... That helps a bit but I'm still trying to figure out something that was troubling me."

"Oh, and what's that?" Iyomelka asked.

"You say you have to use Primordial Essence to do things as a God right?... How does it get replenished and how did you ever had some to begin with?"

"That is an excellent question... First, I was born from an explosion of a star... When I gained consciousness, I knew enough about the cosmos to understand what was happening around me... And I had this primordial essence since that day," Iyomelka said as she held her hand out and had a few blue particles flying towards her hand.

Rya, couldn't help you mesmerized by the dancing light and she didn't get a chance to ask another question before Iyomelka continue.

"This is was allows us to create live, influence people, and even create miracles. The amount that we have is finite... But we will never run out as long as followers keep praying to us... Do you see this?" Iyomelka raised her other hand as a few sparks started to appear in the air above her hand. Rya looked closer as a blue particle spawned out of nowhere.

"When enough of my followers pray to me and think about how much they believe in me... That's when those thoughts become real and they will form the particles of Primordial Essence in the air and it will get absorbed into my Astral Domain... And when a deity is strong enough, they can start influencing reality in the mortal realm."

Rya took this information in stride and a few thoughts popped into her head that she wanted to ask.

"So, you could use your Primordial Essence to heal someone or make them stronger?"

"Well... In the Mortal Realm, that's where things can get tricky..."

"How so?"

"In the Mortal Realm, Primordial Essence can have an effect on the person we want to bless. You probably witnessed it with those Omni Eyes of yours when you ran into the Paladin back in the palace garden, yes?"

"Yeah... I saw a yellow particle getting absorbed by that zealot, and all his wounds were healing as if I were healing him..."

"So you did see it... You saw Paul's blessings..."

"Paul?"

"Yes, he is the elder brother of the Divine Three... What a God's blessing can do it give a mortal heightened regeneration, strange, and the ability to use a deity's energy through holy weapons, armor, and shields... But there's a drawback to vessels receiving such gifts... A mortal's body becomes dependent on the god's blessing. Which means a vessel can no longer function without it."

Rya wanted to laugh, but Iyomelka's comment made her respect her. This goddess didn't like it when people didn't think for themselves or when a follower was so blindly devoted to a deity. She wished for them to have their own freedom, whether they want it or not. Iyomelka was a goddess she would pray to if she wanted.

"I guess it depends on the God... Maybe there are Gods that want to make their followers dependent on their blessings."

"Yes, that is true... But those are the type of deities that are playing with fire so to speak," Iyomelka said as she put both of her hands down and let her Primordial Essence drift off into the air.

"So there's something out there that deities are afraid of?"

"Yes... The Void," Iyomelka said in a dark tone.

"The Void?"

"You could consider it the great nothingness, the end, the final frontier. There's not a lot of knowledge on what's out there... But you can see it in the night sky where no stars shine," Iyomelka says with a frown.

Rya had a puzzled look and thought for a moment, "Are you talking about Dark Matter?"

Iyomelka's brow rose, "You've heard of it, too? Is this a Earth thing or did these scientists come across the same concept in your world?"

"It's a scientific theory. But it was based on our observations of the universe... I don't believe anyone has recorded it with any instruments," Rya explained.

'These human earthlings are ridiculous!... Why did their Gods abandoned such a world?... I fear that they will transcend into godhood at this rate... I then there might be another War of the Gods...' Iyomelka thought and had a grimace on her face.

"Is there something troubling you?" Rya asked.

"Yes... There is something that's worrying me..."

"What is it?"

"Your world. The earth humans are making discoveries that are changing the world... Don't these scientists of yours get labeled as heretics, or witches, when such discoveries are made?"

Rya scratch her head and thought about it before responding, "Well, they probably were despised and labeled as defiers of God but it was probably worse back over two hundred years ago. By the time I was brought here, there were a lot of science deniers that refuse to listen to reason... I don't know the percentages but it feels like over forty percent of the world's population doesn't believes in science... Man... I'm kinda glad that I'm not back on Earth to deal with that crap anymore... But now I have to deal with being discriminated against, Dammit! Now I feel annoyed again," Rya sighed heavily and was grumbling to herself.

This news made Iyomelka sigh in relief.

'Good!... They are self sabotaging themselves... I knew that creating humans was a good idea because how adaptable they are is a boon for their survival... But that's also a bane if some of them can understand the Universal Equations... You know what... It's not going to be a problem. And if the fates decide that they should find out then who am I to halt their progress,' Iyomelka thought and a smile graced her face.

"Now what does this Void have to do with the gods' fear?" Rya asked.

"The Void is what devours deities," Iyomelka said with a straight face.

This made Rya's mind race, 'So Gods can die!?... That could be useful... Be I need more answers before I think I can use an idea on how to deal with those fucking paladins.'

Rya looked at the goddess and she readied herself for the conversation.