“So you didn’t actively betray the other gods then? Is that what you’re trying to tell me?”
“I knew the planned date of the Purge, but I had told the Lord of Light, and he had assured me he would excommunicate Elandriel and put a stop to it all. So I said nothing to the other gods. I didn’t want them to start a war against the Lord of Light, which they surely would have done had they caught word of any of this. I knew, and I said nothing because I believed, I believed…”
She trailed off, cupped her face in her hands, and burst into tears, weeping with heavy sobs that racked her whole body. These were no crocodile tears; her outpouring of grief was absolutely genuine. I went over to her and put an arm around her. I knew she had been telling the truth because I’d been paying very close attention to her gestures and expressions, and they had not been those of a liar.
“Damn, Isu, that’s quite something to have been carrying around for so long,” I said in a gentle, sympathetic tone. “I can see why you blame yourself for the Purge going ahead and happening, but most of the blame is obviously on the Lord of Light. You were just misguided in trusting him.”
Isu sobbed, wrapping her arms around me as she wept.
“Shh, shh,” I said, stroking her hair. “You couldn’t have known. Maybe you should have given the other gods a heads up. But you trusted that asshole. The massacre is on his aloof and distant ass alone. Not yours.”
“Try… telling the… other gods… that,” she wept. “They all… hate me… and I can… see why.”
“Well, I will tell them that. And if they don’t agree, fuck them. I know the truth.”
She gripped me more tightly, and her sobs died down. “Thank you Vance,” she murmured. “But my confession isn’t complete yet. This is difficult to admit because… because…”
“It involves betraying me, right?”
“Yes. How did you know?”
“I saw you sucking off that wooden cock you modeled after mine. I knew something was up when you kept disappearing on your own, and when I saw you working on perfecting your dick-swallowing skills, I knew that you had to be plotting something. So, what was it, suck me off, get me to lose focus while you’re giving me the best head of my life, then stab me in the heart with my own sword when I emptied my seed into your mouth? Reverse the whole thing and resurrect me as a mere necromancer as you restore your own divinity?”
She looked up at me, and her beautiful face was twisted into an expression of shame. “That was exactly my plan,” she admitted. “But it’s no longer my desire. I gave it up, and I’m ashamed I even thought of doing something like that to you. Obviously, I was upset that you stole my divinity from me and relegated me to the role of a mere necromancer. And yes, I fashioned that wooden cock after yours, so that I could practice with something of the exact size and shape. Your member is incredibly large, and it’s not exactly easy to swallow to the base.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “What changed?”
“I came to realize something. I wanted you to take my divinity from me. Why else would I have provided you so many clues on how to do it? Why, if I wanted to remain a goddess, would I have made it so easy for you to take my divinity? I knew, deep down, for a long time, that I had become tired of being a goddess. It had become more of a burden than a blessing to me. I had grown so weak when you first found Grave Oath that I was no longer able to take physical form—just like your physical body will vanish into nothing one day if you lose all of your devotees and worshipers. But, you see, I could have found more devotees. I wasn’t killed in the Purge the way many of the other gods and goddesses were. I simply became weary of the divine life. I gave up. I allowed myself to fade into obscurity because it was all too much for me. It gets that way after a few hundred years.
“And yes, it came as a shock; it was a shock to be resurrected into a mortal body once again, a shock to have been stripped of most of my powers. But it was also a relief, a relief beyond compare. No longer did I have all of the worries and burdens that come with divinity. You had rid me of them by taking my place as the God of Death. But of course, when you are accustomed to being something for a few centuries, and then the rug is suddenly ripped out from beneath your feet, it’s difficult to become acquainted to your new reality. And for me, that shock turned into anger and resentment. I thought I wanted my divinity back, so I started with that stupid plot to suck your cock like it had never been sucked before, then stab you in
