Void-God

Ur kicked the door down with a single blow, causing it to crash loudly against the wall. He strode down the long corridor, fists clenched. At the end of the hallway, he pushed open another set of double doors, revealing a spacious room. The room featured a plush purple carpet with a mosaic of Nierman's nude form, her long locks covering her private areas. The four windows in the room overlooked a serene river, where wildlife roamed freely. There was a rectangle table near the entrance, at which some of the Nierman's maids sat at.

In the center of the room, in between two white pillars, Nierman sat on top of a man on all fours. As she noticed Ur's entrance, she gracefully crossed her legs and smirked. Her beauty was out of this world, captivating all who beheld her. Her skin, possessing a radiance that defied mortal comprehension, surpassed earthly colors, as if a new shade of ivory had been crafted exclusively for her divine form.

The women in the room, though clothed unlike their goddess, stood respectfully, awaiting orders. Unlike the serious demeanor of Ur or the other gods, Nierman opted for a much more relaxed approach. Her attendants were permitted to converse and even share jokes in her presence.

"My champion is dead!" Ur's voice thundered in the room as he got closer to her. "He is dead!"

"My lady is relaxing. Please come back another time," a woman said after bowing.

"Get your whores out of my face!" Ur yelled. "I know you tried to help that silver-haired son of a bitch!"

"He killed your champion. Alone. I was just there to watch, Ur," Nierman's voice was like a drug that would make every man want to hear it over and over again.

"Why are you helping Lilith? She's trying to kill us! She is a demon! A demon!"

"You come into my personal space and swear at me." Nierman stood up from her 'chair' and sighed. "Someone should teach you manners."

"To hell with your manners! Help me deal with Soul and Lilith," he said. "Or our fate will be the same as Uinerva."

"Uh-oh. Someone is afraid."

"Afraid?" He asked, gritting his teeth.

"Kill him yourself. Why ask for my help?"

"We are gods! Gods! We should work together."

"Nope, we should not. Because we are the opposite. You torture people for your own goal." She walked to a nearby woman and patted her hair. "While I show them love."

"Love? More like an over-glorified orgy."

"Eh, same thing." She said, still looking at the woman in the eyes.

"You… fuck! Think for a second and –"

"Goodbye, Ur," she turned and waved to him. "Come again."

"Fucking slut..." he muttered under his breath. "Guess I'll have to deal with them alone."

Ōkora, the champion of Nierman, entered the room with a bloody bag in hand. She respectfully bowed to her goddess and shot Ur a look that, if it had a smell, would reek of rot. Nierman gestured her forward.

Ōkora opened the bag, revealing the heart of Ur's champion.

"My Lady. My Lord," she said. "Soul asked me to deliver this to Ur. He said, quote unquote, 'Be ready, Ur. I'm coming for you.'"

"This..." Ur grabbed the heart from her hands and crushed it, sending blood splattering everywhere. "I'll kill him over and over again! I'll torture him!"

"Yeah, you would know about torturing people," Ōkora said.

"What did you say to me?" Ur took a step toward her.

"If you touch my champion..." Nierman said with a chilling smile, "I'll save Soul the trouble of killing you."

"All of you are crazy!" Ur stormed out of the room. "Crazy!"

Ōkora smiled nervously. "Sorry. Had to say something after that discovery on the temple. Still haunts me to this day."

"It's okay. Ur is just scared. He's like a kitten under normal circumstances," Nierman said, sitting back on her 'chair.' "How did Soul kill his champion?"

"He opened a rift to the Void. I saw a monster – but the rift wasn't fully opened, so I couldn't see its whole body. It was dark and had... eyes? Eyes all over its body."

"Scary." Nierman began to twirl a lock of her hair around her finger absentmindedly.

"Indeed, my lady. It was."

"Do you fancy him?" Nierman asked, tilting her head slightly and raising an eyebrow.

"A little," she admitted with a smile. "I've never met a man who can resist my charm and isn't interested in me."

"Blood magic users have resistance to those kinds of spells. It's not unheard of."

"I meant… my own charm. My own beauty. It's kind of sad, to be honest."

"Don't be upset," Nierman said. "I'm sure he's just shy."

"Or doesn't care about anything. Have you seen his eyes, my lady? There's no emotion – nothing behind them. And for some reason that's… interesting to me."

"Some men are like that. Selfish."

"I think it's more than just selfish –" She shook her head. "Umm – what's our plan, my lady? Are we going to watch Lilith and Soul try to take Ur down?"

"Yep. We won't intervene."

"But if you don't do something, Lilith will come after you," Ōkora insisted, stepping closer to Nierman. "I saw it in her eyes, ma'am. She is burning with revenge."

Nierman gazed at the ceiling, drumming her fingers lightly on the arm of her chair. "Mm… I still haven't decided yet. With that boy on her side – I think we have no chance of winning if they were to attack us."

Ōkora shook her head. "No! We would…"

"Nalothar. Have you ever heard this name before?" Nierman interrupted, looking directly at Ōkora.

"No." Ōkora furrowed her brow, placing her finger on her chin as she thought. "I don't think I have."

"Do you remember Eldrin? The first blood mage," Nierman continued.

"Oh… right. Eldrin Nalothar. His surname was Nalothar." Ōkora tried to follow Nierman's line of thought, her expression puzzled.

"After his wife was sent to the Void, he got banished from Gum'n." Nierman's voice softened slightly. "They say his pregnant wife died along with the baby. Then, he ended his life."

Ōkora's curiosity grew. "His wife was thrown into the Void? Anyone can open a rift to the Void?"

Nierman nodded, walking toward the window. "Yes, but no one can control the monsters within. Not even Take was able to do that."

"I – I don't get it."

"The baby never died. The Void offered the mother a trade; her freedom for her baby. She took it and freed herself."

"The baby lived?"

"The Void nurtured the baby, looked after him. But seeing he wasn't able to grow up – since time had no meaning in there, they sent him to this realm. The Soul tribe found him, looked after him."

"Soul tribe?"

"They are a group that prays to the Void. Pray for this realm to end. Weird bunch, only a few know of them," Nierman said, brushing her hair back with a casual hand. "They branded Soul as one of themselves and locked him in the Void when he was only eight, a few days before his ninth birthday."

Ōkora's eyes widened. "I've got two questions, ma'am." She said, "Branding?"

"It's a curse that prevents branded people in the village from running away. Only one thing can break the curse; killing the man – or the woman who used the curse. Probably their tribe chief."

"Oh – okay. Second question; why lock him?"

"I have no idea. The things I just said aren't the absolute truth, I'm just guessing," Nierman said, shrugging slightly.

"But how did you guess Soul was locked away? And you were oddly specific about him being locked away just before his ninth birthday."

"Because I remember Take's champion talking about him. She apparently found some sort of a ledger – or a book that had Soul's records in it. Turns out, the tribe would send someone to Soul every ten years. They would talk to him, be friends with him. Record his every movement, every mimic. I think… they must've somehow understood that he could control the monsters of the Void. And – I guess they wanted to run some experiments on him? I don't know."

"So Ruby… this girl, was one of the people his tribe sent to him?" She asked. "To spy him?"

"Yes, she was the last one."

"So… Soul is – Eldrin's kid and he can… do whatever he wants with the Void?"

"Mm." Nierman confirmed. "He is Eldrin's kid. The Void-God Soul."