Umi, The Emerald Goddess
There was salt in the air: my palace oversaw the sea, and the bustling ports. Alone, my kingdom supplied the two “great empires”, and many, many more smaller territories with unparalleled commercial strength.
The other deities were always ridiculing me, the weakest type of ‘Intermediate [Goddess]’, comparing me to other ‘Lower [Gods]’ and, but the truth was that they simply couldn’t possibly keep their warmongering, barbaric and uncivilized tribes without… me, of course, the other lower deities were definitely worthless existences that didn’t deserve attention.
“Your majesty, Queen [Goddess] Umi”, speaking of worthless existences, a mortal called me, bowing down from behind the couch I laid on with my slaves, who fanned and fed me.
“Yes…”, I believed I had seen that particular mortal before, but I couldn’t really tell, once they were all so similarly pathetic. Oh, of course! “Killer man?”, the great entity that I was, noticed the stains of blood all over the clothes and hands of the mortal who looked so wrinkled, and deduced that he must have been the butcher who dealt with the cattle. The sacrifices.
“…Yes, I am your [High Priest], your majesty, Queen [Goddess].”
[High Priest]? Quite a high and mighty title, for a mortal. Maybe I should use his life as fuel for daring being so arrogant?
…Well, whatever, that particular wrinkled thing had never really bothered me, so I’d let him live for then. He wouldn’t continue to breathe for much longer anyway, such was the fate of the cattle.
“Yes, of course. Anyway, [High Priest], you came in a good moment: a man from my harem broke his spine last night, and became useless, but he still lives. Butc- Sacrifice him while he still breaths”, they could never handle the perfect supreme being that I was; whenever I started to get excited and morphed into my out-of-this-world emerald form, they always ended up all mutilated and broken. Honestly, mortals were so ever disappointing.
“Yes, your majesty, Queen [Goddess].”
I turned to one of the slave girls, who I recognized only because I forced them to use distinctive clothes, and asked:
“I believe you were getting married, yes?”, the mortals believed I couldn’t hear their whispers, so low were their [Attributes] that they couldn’t even comprehend the numbers I had in [Perception].
The girl, who held one of the feather fans froze as I called for her, muscles tensing. She held her breath.
“Don’t make me repeat myself, mortal.”
“Y- Yes, your majesty, Queen [Goddess]”, the girl finally answered me, her eyes losing their focus.
“Is he hot?”
“Y- Y- Yes, your majesty”, the slave girl stuttered, tears coming from her eyes.
And that was enough from her:
“First you almost made me repeat myself, and now you forget to address me properly?”
I could barely believe the little thing had forgotten to add to her reply the “Beautiful Master”, or whatever they said after the “majesty” part!
“Ugh, [Tall Butcher], cut off her tongue, please”, I ordered rolling my eyes and weaving the crying slave girl off. “But don’t kill her just yet, I need her to get her hot groom here.”
“Yes, your majesty, Queen [Goddess]”, the wrinkled mortal agreed, as it was just natural… and waited, still bowing towards me, and still in my private chamber with view to the city. As I quickly lost my patience, being repeatedly bothered, I was about to shot a crystal straight through the wrinkled mortal’s leg, when he talked again: “I bring you a message, your majesty, Queen [Goddess].”
I sighed, massaging my temples.
Had I got too lax? Had I really allowed the mortals to become so loudly annoying? Maybe I should go out for a walk, and put some deserved fear into them once again.
“It’s better be a really important message, then”, I said, filling the room with my aura, so impeccable that the slave girls fainted.
“Yes, your majesty, Queen [Goddess]: I bring reports of attacks from the southern border. Three [Gods] dead in a single night near the Cloud Fortress City; one [Zemi], one [Apacheta], one [Stelae].”
I recalled my aura immediately, as I lost myself in thoughts: had the asshole in gold armor moved again?! No, no, no, impossible, he was sealed and locked away, his Silverange Empire had stopped its expansion ages ago! Was it, then, that sword maniac? F***, this wasn’t much better either!
“Was it another small [God]?”, I asked, reticently.
That was it, right? It must have been it. I needed that explanation to be the truth!
But the wrinkled man of unknown name whose title I forgot became reluctant, and gulped loudly before replying. And I felt chills go down my spine.
“…No other deity has claimed the territory: someone simply came, killed the [Gods], and went away.”
“And so?!”, I rushed the mortal, impatiently. “Do we have any idea who did this?”
“…O- Our investigation brought up some clues: a pair of adventurers visited the city in the eve of the event, and, apparently, had an ongoing grudge against a slave trader who supplied the dead [Gods].”
I trembled, with a blank face.
My shaking hand, slowly, moved toward the wrinkled mortal, but I forced my stop. Instead, I got up and moved closer to one of the fainted slave girls.
I was infuriated, but after all, I still needed the butcher. So I directed all my ire into the girl on the floor: bearing my teeth, feeling my veins pulsing, my blood boiling, I stomped her right on the middle of her back, splitting the mortal into two halves. The slave girl immediately woke up from her aura-induced slumber screaming in pain and terror, and pulled herself away from her disconnected lower section. Her entrails stained all of my pretty floor, until I kicked her upper half off my balcony and into the square in front of my palace.
“Mortal…”, I turned around, hands tightened into fists in such a way that my nails were piercing my palms, and blood dripped from them. “You will find the cattle who think of itself high enough to defy the [Gods]. And you will set an example”, I ordered, opening one of my hands, which hen carried a small emerald, and threw it to him.
