His Devious Harbinger: How To Tame A Wicked God?

He drops on his knees. The sharp pain in his head makes him dizzy. Feeling nauseated, Adira places his hand on the floor to support his body. He looks at Ai who is holding his head tightly. The boy's skull is broken. Blood pours out of the crack, soaking his shirt. 

Misaki and Chaos are gone.

There are loud shouts. Everything happens in a blur. Noras is beside Adira. He grabs Adira's shoulders and screams at him. Adira blinks his eyes. Memories are rushing in his head like a tsunami. 

Takayama Ari. Kresi. Ari Ashbourne. 

He remembers her now. 

"Where…" Adira gasps, realizing what that look in her eyes meant. That day when he was being cruel to her… 

"Ari." His nails dig into the wooden floor, crushing it under the strength of his palms. He pants for air, calling her name again and again. "Ari… Ari... ARI TAKAYAMA!"

Feeling like a hundred daggers have been stabbed into his chest, Adira gasps for air, calling her name again. "How could I forget her?"

Noras releases his breath. His friend remembers everything.

"S-She's…" Adira can't forget the way she looked at him the day he returned from Qeshaya. She asked him if he really forgot her. She ran away because of him. He had been cruel to her and ignorant of her beliefs. Why did he do that?

The nameless boy is sitting in front of him. She succeeded in naming the boy. If he hadn't been acting like that, she would have trusted him. She left Iravan because of him. Only him.

"Why was I like that?" He covers his face. "How could I say those things to her? How could I think that about her?"

"You didn't remember." Noras tries to comfort his friends. "Your mind was stuck in the time before you were released from Qeshaya for the first time. You only did what you thought was right."

Now, he knows what kind of person he would have been if he hadn't met Ari. "Where is she? I need to see her. I need to apologize to her."

He abandoned her in this world. She could be hurt by that fake god. Tears stream down on his face. Adira quivers restlessly. Ari isn't someone who would abandon her own daughters. He should have looked for her that day. If he couldn't find her, he should have looked even harder… Other gods got the chance to hurt her and their child because he wasn't trying hard.

"Ai, let me see your wound." Aren places his hand under his younger brother's chin and raises his face. Chaos' strength is too much. Ai's forehead is split open. The only reason why he is alive is that Ai is not a human completely. 

Ai's eyes are closed. His head is throbbing with pain. He lets his brother heal him. It's been such a long time but he hasn't forgotten the time that he spent with his brother and father. He has a lot to say; however, he needs to find his sister first. 

"Dark God," Ai utters with closed eyes. His voice is pained. The wound is healing slowly. "Get a grip of yourself. We must find Mother and Misaki first. I have been looking for Mother. All I know is that she went after the fake rain god. I couldn't find her because the last trace of her scent is gone."

Adira looks at her boy. The rims of the Dark God's eyes are red and swollen. He inhales sharply, trying to stop his tears. It's not the time to cry. Ari. He must find her first. "I will go after Ari."

"What about Misaki?" Noras questions him. "We don't know what kind of goddess chaos is."

"If she can bring back my memories," Adira says to him with a calm voice and storms in his eyes, "if she can do something that even you couldn't do, Noras, do you think that she's any minor god?"

Noras purses his lips. Kresi is a god? Why is that woman full of surprises? If something happens, one can guarantee that she's behind it. "A true god then?"

"No." Adira shakes his head. "A god who is highly self-aware of its existence, unlike you and me."

Adira and Noras know that they have limited their consciousness. Light and Darkness are too strong. To exist in mortal realms, gods often suppress their consciousness. That's how they take mortal names. Gods' true names are often unknown to the world. 

"It explains how she could control your core," Noras mumbles anxiously. How much did she suppress herself to be born as a mortal? To die and exist as a soul? Did she already know that this would be happening? No, it doesn't make sense. She died countless times on Iravan. Is she crazy? A god won't go through that without an objective. "What kind of goddess is she?"

"Ugh." Ai opens his eyes after Aren has healed his wounds. He blinks his eyes several times before he tells them about the conversation between him and Kresi, "She said that Misaki called her. Misaki could be one of her faces. I don't understand how. Misaki is half-human."

Cina, leaning against the doorframe with a deep scowl on his face, chimes in, "How could an infant call a goddess? Misaki is Misaki. She can't be a god's face."

And why are there faces anyway? Cina wrinkles his nose. Then, he remembers a certain rain goddess whom he was supposed to meet after a month. Time has been running strangely in all realms. On Iravan, it's been more than two months. Judging from Ai's appearance, Ai couldn't have spent more than a day in the toadfolks' world. But it seems that months have passed for this house. Isn't it a good time to visit that huggable goddess? Maybe she knows something about the fat god.

"We didn't know that Kresi was a goddess." Noras releases a pronounced sigh. He turns his head toward his friend, Adira. The Dark God seems to have made a decision. "I will look for Kresi and Misaki. You should look for Renasir."

"I am going to check up on the main rain god." Cina says, "I am not strong enough to do world travel for a while. So, I will be waiting here if I find any information. Since I don't like misinformation, take communication keys with you. They will work in any realm. If I find anything or if Renasir comes back, I will inform you all."

He takes several small keys out of his inner pockets and hands it to each person. "I am not sure about the range or how long they will work for. I made this for the first time after being inspired by the technology that humans of this world use. They are like walkie-talkies. So, don't break it."

Noras furrows his brows, taking the keys before his eyes. "Are you sure that they will work?"

"Do you have another option, Noras?" Cina rolls his eyes. "I am too weak to travel. So, I will be here recovering my strength and waiting for all of you. I will be working on a gate that leads to Renasir Ari, just in case all of you fail to find her. This world has many surrounding realms. She could be in any realm."

Cina gives a glance to Adira. "I know that you want to find her as soon as possible, Adira. But don't do anything rash. Rilyah didn't tell you because she was afraid of your temper. She was worried about this world too. If you do the same thing that you did on Iravan and that world where Renasir's soul went after her death on Iravan, it won't be only one world that would crumble down. Balance is important. Make sure not to harm anyone before you are sure that he has done wrong."

"I only want to find her." Adira places the key in his pocket. "If she appears here… inform me."

The chances are low, but Ari might come back here.

"I will," Cina replies. In the next instant, Adira is gone. 

When Cina turns around, he finds Noras gone too. "Tch! Not even goodbye."

"I will go to the surrounding realms." Ai stands up and tells him, "I will keep looking for her until she's found."

"I am coming with you." Aren pats his brother's back. "You are clearly not in a state to travel alone."

Ai looks at his brother and smiles. "Elder Brother, I am glad to see you."

"Not more than me." Aren gives him a smile back. Renasir Ari saved his brother. He will do anything to find her. He thinks about Kresi for a moment. A goddess, huh? For some reasons, it suits that self-entitled woman. He wonders if they are meant to always stand on the opposite sides.