I looked down to see it wasn't a mouth at all! The dark hole had arms covered in burns and maggots, there were things in there with eyes and crawling out of her openings. It glowed colors that I'd never seen before and instantly brought me to tears. "Join us in here, it's quite fun after we ravage your flesh, and taste your organs." "I call the eyes!" "I want the liver." I felt like I had been sold to a trafficking ring. I saw beings oozing blood and some other slimy substance begin to fight over me as they all wanted to taste me. "NO!" I yelled out as I flung my right hand out in front of me. With my eyes closed I heard a loud crack and suddenly I am falling through the air, the goddess stumbled and fell to the ground. I frantically claw at the air thinking about how I just came back to life and I'm already going to die again. I land with a soft umph and look around to see that I'm once again in the goddess's hand, but this time I'm lying flat, and she is once again the happy version, and laughing? I think? I really need to sort out a name for each version.
Hebenami continues to laugh for what feels like forever. It is a very peaceful sound. It causes the trees to shake, and all of the flowers seem to grow bigger and more vibrant in color. Correction, they are growing! I look around me and see that the forest has grown an immense amount. Trees which were already huge are now ginormous, from my place in her hand, I can see far out into the horizon. I see a sparkling ocean on one side, and a vast mountain range on the other. As the goddess catches her breath from laughing, she shrinks back down and gently places me back on the ground.
"Do you know how long it has been since I have felt pain or even seen my blood? I can tell you that it has been ages. Eons ago, when all the gods and goddesses were at war, blood was all we knew, I guess that's why they are fine with all the beings here waging war on each other." She wipes the liquid from her cheek and shows it to me. "Feast your eyes on the blood of the gods, isn't it just beautiful." She trails off talking about some war that happened where she had the entrails of another god wrapped around her throat. I shivered at the thought of it, I mean aside from the grotesque idea of the deed, someone's guts must be slimy and revolting. Imagine the smell." I back away from miss Hebenami before she grabs me by my shoulders and carries on.
She shakes my shoulders, and I swear I lost a few brain cels when my eyes finally stopped rolling around. "You have the ability to injure the gods. Something not many beings on this plane of existence have managed to do. I'm so excited that my idea about you may come to fruition! You'll go down in history being a god slayer and things li- Why are you looking at me like that, like I've grown a second head or something?" I continue to stare at her waiting for her to magically read my mind, when she doesn't, I sigh. "Look miss, I'm not saying I'm not the right person for the job, I've had some ideas about murdering people in my past life, but never really done it. I wouldn't even know how to kill someone. What if I have a guilty conscious, never mind that I'm a Gemini, I never feel that way."
Now it's her turn to look at me and my two heads for a second. "What I'm saying is, I don't think you picked out the right person yet, I'm not a murderer." Hebenami sighs as she lets go of my shoulders and backs away. She waves her hand and a cloud that smells like vanilla and softer than anything I've ever known appears around us and she motions for me to sit. "I don't expect you to be onboard fully with this plan, but it's all that I could do to get it fleshed out and at least gather the help I needed. How about we wait it out for a few days and reconvene later. You have a lot you need to work out and I understand this is all a lot. I'll come back in a few days, and we can talk it out, okay?"
I nod my head at the lady before me as the clouds began to slowly disappear with her going with them. "Oh! I almost forgot, make sure you make yourself comfortable with the system and get to know it, I also ask that you become familiar with your abilities and skills! They may become useful for your stay here. And finally stay away from the south side of the island, the beings there are not kind to outsiders. Also don't go to the mountains or the ocean, and if you can, stay out of the sky too, okay bye!" Before I could get a question in about the places not to go to or the systems and skills, she said to familiarize myself with, she disappeared. Now alone with my thoughts and everything that's happened I settle down on the grass below me. I decided to go ahead and lie down on the ground behind me, and stare at the skies and clouds before me.
I reach for my phone to try and call my sister and that's when it hits me. I feel my chest getting tighter and my hands begin to shake. I start to pick at my nails and lick my lips as I tell myself that everything is fine. I take a deep breath and try to let out a controlled sigh but all I do is let out a cry instead. My walls come tumbling down and curl up into a ball on the ground as I weep over the loss of my family friends and my original life. My shoulders shake and my cries have turned into full blown sobs. I probably have snot bubbles and red eyes, I laugh at the thought of it, but I'm still sad about all the things that have changed in such a short period of time.
I continue to cry when I feel something rubbing my nose and making me sneeze. I open my eyes and see a tiny green being touching my nose and wiping my tears. I look around me to see quite a few of them have surrounded me. I roll over from the ground onto my hands and knees, as another tear falls from my face to the ground, I witness the most magical thing I've ever seen. When the tear hits the ground, it dimly grows green before a small mound starts to form. After a few seconds, the green foliage breaks away and out tumbles another one of the green beings. I stare in awe as the little green being waddles to me before giving me the tiniest of hugs, I'm then covered in all the little creatures. I can't help but laugh.
I still want to cry; I want to scream at the sky and curse everything around me. I want to burn the world and myself from the inside out. Anything to get a chance to see my friends and family once again. To tell them that I'm here. That I love them, and I didn't want to go away. I want to hold them, to hug them again. I want to hear them call my name and laugh with me or sing to music in my car as we drive around town. I want to get early morning coffee with them and go bowling again. It was all ripped away from me by Hebenami. I understand she saved me from dying on my planet, but I can't help but resent her just a little.
I stare at a single star in the sky and tell myself all the things that I would hear from my people back home. I think about how Hebenami told me that time works different here and while a hundred years have passed here, milliseconds have passed back on earth. I close my eyes and take a deep breath, this time surer of myself as I stand to my feet and breathe again. I look at the star again and this time I steel my gaze at the star and vow to help save this world if I can go back to my world when it's done. "I will slay the evil gods here, and I will make my way back home." Tiny sounds erupt around me as the cute creatures below throw their hands in the air and celebrate at my declaration.
***Elsewhere***
"Master, it seems like Lady Hebenami has successfully brought over her prophesized champion." What a development that is. I never thought she would actually go out of her way to try and end all the suffering in this realm. "No matter, continue with our planned tactics and make sure we stay undiscovered. We can not be seen aiding the Tengo Sed Kiri Empire." This really does throw a kink in my plans but pretty soon I'll be sure to have her and her little champion eliminated. "Bring me the list of all of our active mercenaries." My little single player game has now become multiplayer.