"What is the hell is this!?", Mirellia asked as she and her daughters moved behind me, "Was it a Cursed Book?"
"No, this is an illusion that was recorded in the past.", I replied examining the magic at play, "Similar to the television shows your daughters have been watching at my home."
Giving the illusion a second to come into focus, we found ourselves surrounded by wounded and dying people. Sensing the Divinity leaking from all of them it was pretty clear these were the deceased deities of this world. Glancing over my shoulder at Cis, the pained expression she wore looking at them confirmed this assumption.
"Hello Otherworld Deity, I am the God of Destiny Chernol and the original owner of the Book of Souls you now hold. As you have likely surmised we are all that remains of our Pantheon in this world.", a voice explained, "My power is failing me rapidly so I will make this brief. The book in your hands controls the fate of this world in its entirety. A single thought from you would be all it takes to alter this world and those born into it. As I have no other choice, I am bequeathing it to you in the hopes you will not abuse your power…as several of our kin tried to do in the distant past."
Assuming he was referring to Medea and her ilk, it did not surprise me one bit that she attempted to steal such a powerful relic. That said, now that all the obstacles in her way were dead I was curious why did not try to steal it again. Could it be that as a Spiritual Deity she lacked the requirements to use the tome, or did Chernol place other safeguards on it?
"Please show the mortal races of this world kindness and mercy. We did all we could to enlighten this world, but the damnable Wild Hunt has ruined it all. All we can do now is hope that the future I saw will still come to pass under your watch.", Chernol said as the recording abruptly ended.
Realizing that this tome was far more than a normal Book of Souls now, it appeared that they had imparted their full Divine Authority over this world onto it. This amount of control gave me unrestricted access to do whatever I pleased here. I could bless the world with bountiful harvests every year, prevent plagues from ever occurring here, or even wipe the slate clean to start fresh. Considering everything else I could do to turn this ship around, I began to go down a rabbit hole that would take things down a dark path.
"Cole, please do not do anything rash with that book.", Shino said shaking my shoulder with a worried look, "I know you are thinking about all the good you could do, but as you have told us repeatedly…for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. You cannot make a paradise for everyone, in the end, someone will end up suffering for the betterment of everyone else."
"You…you are right, I am sorry about that.", I agreed shaking the cobwebs from my mind, "Now then, since I have never done this procedure before I would like to test this out on someone before patching up Aultcray. Malty, unfortunately for you, you are the only test subject we have available to us. If I am successful you will be free from Medea indefinitely and can begin rebuilding your life normally. What do you say?"
"...I do not like the 'If I am successful' part of that sentence.", Malty remarked backing away from me, "As much as I want to be rid of her, I do not do well with pain. Seeing how much pain Dad is in while in a coma, I cannot imagine how much pain I will be in. How about we skip me, and just fix him up? I am sure with your vast amount of knowledge and experience that you will succeed without any practice."
Grabbing Malty and pinning her to the floor, Mirellia was determined to save Malty and Aultcray no matter the cost. Jumping in to help, Melty pinned her sister's legs to the ground using all the strength she could muster. Seeing that the two of them would be insufficient to keep her down my family and Cis joined in to seal her movements.
"I am sorry dear but this is for your own good and for your father.", Mirellia stated biting her lip, "Cole, please just get this over with! As much of a pain as she may be, my little girl is still inside this monster. Please bring her back to us in one piece!"
"I will do what I can.", I agreed swiftly plucking her soul out of her body.
Withering around in pain, Malty began foaming at the mouth as everyone struggled to keep her pinned. Taking a moment to examine her soul, now that it was free from her body, I could see how twisted Medea had made it. Compared to a Pure or Corrupt Soul, Malty's looked more like a cancerous organ than a soul. Seeing what I was as well, Mirellia let out a horrified shriek looking at it.
"What did that bitch do to my baby girl!?", she growled.
Using my Astral Form to carefully cut away the corruption around her soul, with every incision I made, she let out an ungodly cry of unbridled pain. Once her soul was back to look semi-normal again, I inserted it into the Book of Souls. Injecting my own Divine Energy into the book, it sprung open and quickly turned to a page solely dedicated to Malty.
Watching the words levitate off the page I noticed that some of the words had a sickly, black coloring to them. Carefully removing them, as I suspected they were parts of Medea's Soul, piece by piece I removed Medea from Malty. After meticulously separating Medea and Malty's Soul, the book began reassembling the piece that Medea broke off of Malty while she was in the womb.
Slamming shut roughly twenty minutes later, Malty's reforged soul slowly departed the Book of Souls. Quickly pushing it back into her before it floated away into the Reincarnation Cycle, she began to cough violently as black liquid started spewing from her mouth. Jumping out of the way, Mirellia asked me what was going on.
"This is all the crap Medea left in her body.", I said eviscerating the black liquid with the Omega Force.
Once she settled down and could speak again, Mirellia asked her how she felt. Asking for a cup of water first, the princess jugged it down like it had been days since she last drank anything.
"Minus the shooting pain throughout my body, I feel a lot better now. It feels like an oppressive weight has been lifted off of my shoulders and I can truly breathe now.", Malty sighed with a blissful expression, "That said, if it is fine with everyone I would really like to sleep…for a few days."
"I suppose I can let you take a few days off from work.", I agreed, "Cis, can you escort her to her room? She may pass out between here and there again."
"Of course.", Cis acknowledged helping the princess to her feet.
Opening a portal back to the house, Malty asked Cis to wait for a moment. Turning to her mother and sister, I bore witness to the first genuine smile on her face.
"Thank you both for never giving up on me, even after everything I did. While it will take some time to rebuild our relationship and regain the parts of me that never were, I want you to know something really important.", Malty said with a smile, "I love both of you and Dad."
Feeling the true sincerity in her tone, Mirellia saw the little girl she remembered bringing into this world. Breaking down into tears she ran over to Malty and pulled her into a big hug. Joining their mother, Melty hugged her sister as well.
"Welcome Home Sis!", Melty choked up.
"Yes, welcome home indeed.", Mirellia agreed showering her daughter with all the love she had been suppressing for years.
Feeling a bit out of place here, the rest of us quickly joined the librarian and waited for them to collect themselves.