It was a nice day out, so me and Ophis were laying on the grassy hills, just cuddling and relishing in the silence…
"Ophis."
"Yes, Kazu?"
"What do we do now? We managed to convince the towns-people to agree to be under Yang Guang's rule, with some struggle, so what now. We have some leads on what was wrong with China, which was a demon corruption spawned by one of Hades' minions trying to prove to his master that he was powerful or something. I just… I feel like there's something bigger at play in all of this, and I don't like it."
Ophis gets up off my chest and looks at me. "Well, you'll just have to get used to that feeling, Kazu, there is nothing in this world that isn't influenced by the gods. They stick their grubby little hands into everything and anything, it just so happens that this time, a big shot decided to get in some action… Though you're right, there might be something big happening that I don't know about. It's been so many years that I don't know the current politics happening, maybe Hades' broke off from the Greek pantheon at some point? I don't know, well, I could figure it out quickly using my powers, but that would be boring wouldn't it?"
"You're right, that would be quite boring, for you anyways. The only thing I can think of doing is politics and what not, but Yang Guang has that part covered, so I don't know what to do." Ophis flopped her head back down on my chest and sighed. "Well, I have a friend I could ask, though I doubt you would like where we're going."
"I'll be fine, as long as it's not somewhere like Greece or Japan I'm sure we'll be fine…."
"..."
"The place we're going to is one of those two isn't it?"
"Yep." I just sigh and smack the back of my head into the ground.
****
"So, Ophis, mind telling me where the fuck we are?"
"A gateway to where my friend lives. Now, go in the fucking hole!" Ophis says as she kicks me into the hole, before stepping into it herself. I tried to open my wings, but for some reason I couldn't, in fact I couldn't move at all. I quickly approached the ground, but before I hit it, a flat piece of wind forced me to a stop. Preventing me from smashing into the ground.
"Oi, Maybe a fucking warning before you kick me into the damn abyss!" Ophis just grabs my hand and starts walking in a random direction. "This is the place, just follow me and we'll get there, do not touch anything, do not eat anything, if you do you will be trapped in this dark polluted place until you die."
".... Where in the hell are we?"
"You'll figure it out soon, I don't feel like telling you. Plus I want to see your reaction to my friend." We walked around for hours, just walking straight the entire time, encountering many weird creatures and people, though they never attacked us, in fact, they were afraid of us… Well, probably afraid of Ophis more, though I never felt her exude her power, so I don't know how they're afraid of her. After another hour or two of walking, we encountered a strange thing, a bright green forest, not having even a murmur of dark, a sharp contrast to the deep blackness of the area around us.
But that wasn't even the strangest part about the forest, it was what was in the forest. It exudes such a strong sense of death and despair, I'm surprised that I'm not dead already. But instead of going around the thing, Ophis just walked into the forest with the biggest smile on her face, so I reluctantly walked in after her. After walking in a bit deeper, I hear a soft flute, echoing around us, coming from the middle of the forest. As we got closer to the flute, my head started hurting more and more, until it felt like it was about to burst.
"I would like it if you stopped playing your flute, my companion is barely hanging on." Ophis said calmly, and as easily as that, the flute faded, and my head went back to normal. "Sorry about that Kazu, I forgot the effect her flute can have on people."
"It's… Fine. It was nice until it felt like my head was about to pop like a balloon."
"It's called the flute of sin, it seeks out those who have sinned the most in life and breaks their mind as punishment. Seems you're one sinful man."
"No shit, let's just go and meet this person already."
"Okay, make sure to follow behind me still." I just sigh and walk behind Ophis as we go deeper into the forest. The closer and closer and closer we get, the more lively the forest becomes, birds chirping and bugs flying around. Sometimes a rabbit will jump out in front of us before skittering off. After another 20 minutes we finally reached the person Ophis was talking about.
A woman with long black hair was sitting with her back to us, playing a calming melody on a traditional Japanese Koto. "So, why are you looking away from me?" Ophis asks, slowly walking towards her.
"It's been so long. I can't look you in the face, the amount of guilt I feel even thinking about you is too much, I don't want to imagine the amount of guilt I would feel looking you in the eyes. Whenever I think of you… I think back to the crying child I would always hold, the same one I was forced to trap away for trillions of years." The woman said, her voice quivering.
"You're right, it has been a very long time… I hated you for a very long time, untill, but I thought back to all the time we had spent together, and realized that you would have never done that to me by your own volition. I forgive you, so turn around and give your little sis a hug."
As soon as those words left her mouth, the woman turned around and hugged her so fast that it created a wind vortex behind her. "I've missed you so much, Ophis."
"Me too, Izzy."
"So, mind telling me about your little boyfriend over there?"
"Damn, was it that easy to figure out?"
"Ophis, I can literally smell him on you." She then walks up and whispers something in her ear, causing Ophis to blush and punch the woman in the face. But the woman dodged and laughed it off. "Ophis dear, if you want to spar we can do that later… Oh, I believe I haven't introduced myself to you." The woman looked at me before walking towards me.
"I am Izanami-no-Mikoto. The creator of the hell you spent a couple hours walking through, I hope the trip wasn't too much of a bore."
"Oh no, you are fine… Wait, Izanami? Oh shit, you're Izanami!" I say before getting into a bow as fast as I can. She is one of the strongest gods, the Japanese god of Creation and Death, who also helped create Japan. "Oh god no please stop, don't bow. I consider Ophis a sister, and since you're her boyfriend, I, by association, consider you my brother-inlaw."
"Sorry, I just heard a lot of stories about you as a child. So I naturally learned to respect gods like you."
"No you're fine, so Ophis hun, mind telling me how you guys met? Because I remember you telling me about your lover when you were still Katria." Ophis just sighed and laid down on the grass. "It's complicated."
Izanami smiles and lies down next to her, I exhale and lie on the other side of Ophis. "So, long story short. The original Kazu died, then I got reborn, then got sealed, and then after about a trillion years, this dumbass somehow breaks the Cycle of Infinity and SOMEHOW, ends up in the Void for however long before I notice him. And yada yada yada, I did some shenanigans and gave this guy 2 dragon hearts, and Ancient Norse Runes."
Izanami sits up and looks me in the eye, making a shiver run down my spine. She then looks at Ophis with surprise. "You aren't pulling my leg… I can tell he has died, you know the power of a death god and stuff, he has an aura of somebody who has died. I can also see the dragon hearts and Runes in his soul."
"Yep, that happened."
"Why?"
"Boredom."
"... Fuck that's a good point."