"You created everything?" Mia asked.
"Well of course I did! Who else do you think created it all, Sir Knight?" Vanessa teased Mia.
"Well the church teaches that the Goddess made all life." Mia was trying to put her thoughts together. "Aren't you the demon lord though? I mean if you created everything that would make you the Goddess!"
"Yes." Vanessa smiled.
"To which part?!" Mia was starting to lose it.
"Both." Vanessa explained. "I was once called the Goddess by my babies, and now they call me the Demon Lord. I really don't care what my babies call me, I love them anyways."
"But, the church, they trained me since childhood to kill the Demon Lord and save the kingdom." Mia paused. "They said it was all in service to the Goddess. Oh what have I done." With that Mia immediately got up and prostrated herself on the ground in front of Vanessa. "Please forgive me Goddess, I knew not what I did."
Vanessa looked puzzled. "It's ok, I already punished you for thinking I was a man." She smiled.
"And I accept that punishment! But Goddess I was talking about how I tried to kill you!" Pleaded Mia who was now crying at the thought of what she had done.
Vanessa paused, she was trying to think of something to say to calm Mia down. "My goodness Sir knight! I didn't mean to make you cry."
This of course made Mia cry even harder. "Goddess please don't apologize for my mistakes. I swear from this day forward I will serve you with everything I have."
"Well as long as you have fun!" She smiled back. "All I want is my babies to be happy." Vanessa gently patted Mia on the head. "Sir Knight?"
"Yes my Goddess?" Mia raised her head to answer, eyes still covered in tears.
"What's a church?" Vanessa asked.
"It is the holy place where you speak to your servants and tell them your will." Mia answered with a canned response that the church had drilled into her. "Their mission is the most holy mission there is, to serve the Goddess."
Vanessa thought about it for a moment. "I speak to my babies there? But I don't even know where there is!" Vanessa continued to think. "Maybe my babies can hear my thoughts…?" Vanessa turned to Mia and stared at her. Her face was turning red from straining. Mia was clueless as to what the Goddess was doing. "Well Sir Knight, did you hear my thoughts just now?"
"I am sorry my Goddess, I could not hear the wisdom you wished to give me." Mia answered.
"Ah poo!" Vanessa responded. "So that's not it either. I wonder why this church says I am talking to them." Vanessa pats Mia's head some more. "You're just too cute, you know that! So besides talking to me, what else does the church do?"
"They are the organization responsible for training the hero." Mia answered. "I was lucky enough that the church took in an orphan like me and gave me purpose. They trained me nonstop so that I could defeat the Demon Lord in the Goddess's name."
"And what of that nasty curse that was on you?" Vanessa asked.
"What curse? I was cursed?!" Mia asked.
"It was an accelerated aging curse, basically you aged at twice the rate." Vanessa answered. "Don't worry though, when I changed your body I removed the curse. I also made you a bit younger as well to give you back some of your lost time. You should be about eighteen in physical age now."
"I can't believe I was cursed like that!" Mia was in disbelief. "I mean I know I grew faster than everyone around me, but I thought that was just how I was."
"It also made your training twice as effective!" Vanessa smiled. "It's how you got so buff."
"Thank you for removing my curse Goddess. I am not worthy of your charity." Mia said bowing her head down once more. "Goddess, I don't mean to be impudent but could you tell me why you made the demon horde?"
"Boredom mainly." Vanessa responded. "I made the animals, and they were so cute. Then I made the humans, the elves, the dwarves, the fairies, the lizardmen, and umm snake people? I think it was snake people. Anyways I got sleepy after making so many different babies, so I decided to take a short nap for a few thousand years."
"A few thousand, my Goddess?" Mia was astounded.
"Yes, like I said it was a short nap." Vanessa smiled as she continued her story. "When I woke up I saw that humans were the only babies left to be found! I didn't want my babies to be lonely and I do enjoy molding life forms. So I set up my nice little home in the woods and started creating new life. I wasn't happy with how they looked at first, but after years and years of rearranging their appearance I finally decided I liked the horned look. Of course for some reason, unknown to me, my babies just left me! I assumed that they wanted to go play with my other babies so I let them be and just tended to my garden."
"So you didn't know about the war?" Mia asked. "And you said you made other races besides humans? The church has no mention of other races at all. They say we are the Goddess's chosen race."
"Chosen?" Vanessa was puzzled again. "I love all my babies equally! A good mother never plays favorites! Of course humans are the first race to survive my nap so that's something."
"Wait what?" Mia was confused. "What do you mean the first race to survive your nap?"
"Oh silly Sir Knight!" Vanessa snapped back. "This isn't the first planet I have made. I think it's number three hundred ninety two? Yes, that seems right. Normally after I make all my races for the planet and take my nap, when I wake up all my babies are gone. I was happy that I still had some in this world." Vanessa lifted Mia's head with her hand. "Enough about the past! Let's talk about the future! Do you have a place to stay? You can stay here with me."
"My Goddess, I am not worthy to stay in the same house as you." Mia responded. "I have a few coins and I was planning on staying at the local inn."
Vanessa looked saddened at Mia's response. "Well ok, but if you decide you want to stay with me I will have a bed ready for you."
The meal continued and Mia learned more about her Goddess. After the meal, Mia decided it would be best to head to the inn and book a room for the night. She told Vanessa farewell and pledged to see her again soon when she was strong enough to serve her.
Mia finally made it to the inn where she was able to check in to a modest room for the night. The nice worker had given her enough coin to last her a couple weeks. As she was inside her room getting ready for bed, she heard a knock on the door.