I gasped at that.
His words struck me in the sore and lonely part of my heart that had seen rejection after rejection after rejection. It rolled up all the scars and tossed them out the window.
"You are worthy to be loved."
The words filled that lonely hole in my heart. There was a slight stretching and aching sensation in my heart, and then the Creator's love rushed in to fill the vacated space, swirling, settling, condensing until I realised that the hole had been filled.
I burrowed my face into His chest and hugged Him tight. He held me for as long as I needed and didn't disdain all my tears.
Finally, I was able to control my gushing emotions and rein them in enough to speak again. Once more, I held His face in my hands. This time, I kissed Him, as a young daughter would her father, and sent Him all the heartfelt gratitude and love that I could find in me.
"Thank you," I said, voice breaking a little. "Thank you. And I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
It had been a close thing. I had almost given up on the other side of the river. I hadn't believed in the power or words passed down through the lines of judges from Shigure to me. I hadn't believed in the Creator or any of those stories. I had only been interested in the power of the words I was taught and how I could use them.
He loved me so much and I had almost missed meeting him altogether. Now that I had met Him, I could almost see the Laws of Heaven that were a natural part of Him. The Creator, my new heavenly and royal father, was super powerful and uber awesome. The more I looked at Him, the more I realised that this was actually the supreme ruler of the universe. That made me panic a little.
"My princess," said the Creator, "peace."
Instantly, the panic calmed down.
It was ok. I would be ok. Surely as a princess of his royal family, I'd be trained and taught before I was out in any sort of position of power. Even if I met something out of my depth, I would still be able to communicate with Him. After all, I could see that He pretty much lived in the spiritual world and I had recently learnt to communicate in the spirit. I'd be able to call for help. No problems.
"Thank you," I said again. "A thousand 'thank you's."
"I love you," the Creator said, kissing my cheek.
"Love you too," I kissed Him on the cheek and giggled at His smile.
"Now," the Creator pointed at where the stinky black demon on the other side of the river was sitting. The big warriors were still pointing their weapons at it. "What would you like to do with that?"
"Me?" I pointed at myself. "Not you?"
"You used to belong to it and now that you are my daughter, you have authority over it. If you don't get rid of it yourself now, it may still try to pester you in the future. You can get rid of it without fear. I'll be standing right behind you."
My eyes widened.
"I have the authority?"
No wonder the Creator's enemy was trying so hard to stop people from entering into the blood covenant with Him. It gave the people authority over the enemy who had previously tried to crush them.
Normally, once a person has given permission to a spirit or demon, it is near impossible to get rid of them unless a stronger spirit or demon was found. But now, through the blood covenant, it was possible to break free.
Exciting! Exciting! This was great news!
"This is the leader of the band of filthy spirits who have been making your life miserable," the Creator said. "Why don't you get rid of them all? Use my name."
Whoa-ho-ho. I had the power.
Wah-ha-ha. I finally had the chance to kick some butt.
I leapt over the river in one bound without even thinking about it and strode over to where all the big warriors were holding the black smelly thing at sword point. I held my nose so that I wouldn't be able to smell it.
The warriors all immediately dropped to one knee and bowed their heads to me. At the same time they held the demon at sword point without slacking in alertness, despite greeting me.
"Princess."
I nodded at them.
"Thank you for your hard work," I told them.
"Princess, we are at your service," said the hoarse voice of the big warrior who I had first seen earlier. His wounds were healing at a rapid speed and some of others were helping repair his clothes and armour. He looked at me with red rimmed eyes and suppressed emotion. "Princess, give the order."
I looked at the filthy demon cringing in the dirt at my feet. How the tables had turned. I had never completely understood that saying but it felt suitable for this situation. The stinky demon looked at me with panicky fear in its eyes.
"How dare you want to make my Creator Father cry?" I kicked it over. "How dare you try to hurt my Father through me?"
I kicked and kicked it, venting at it using words of power to tell it who was in control now.
"Who do you think you are?" I shouted at the demon.
"Despair," cried the demon. "I'm Despair."
I paused for a moment. It had been a rhetorical question but the demon had been compelled to answer the question. So its name was Despair?
"Princess," said the big warrior. "Don't dirty your feet. Give us the order."
"You think you're Despair? I think you're a stink bug," I snorted.
The demon wailed and shrieked, shrinking. Its limbs warped and cracked. It was grotesque to watch. It also made me realise the importance of minding my words. My words had greater authority and power than I knew now. In the end, a larger than normal stink bug grovelled before me.
"From now on, in the Name of, " I spoke the Creator's name with confidence, knowing He was behind me to back me up, "I want you to get lost from my life. You and your friends. I never want to see any of you again."
The large stink bug trembled and farted.
"Kick it out of here," I said to the big warrior.
"With pleasure, Princess," the big warrior and his friends all bowed in my direction and then aimed their feet at the big stink bug. As one, they kicked and it flew a good distance away. They chased after it and kicked it like a soccer ball all the way into the distance where I couldn't see it anymore. Every time they kicked it, it farted again.
I waved my hand to dispel the bad smell.
Someone behind me waved his sleeve and a fresh breeze chased the smell away. Turning around, I found the Creator standing behind me, just like He said He would be. The almost completely healed big warrior who had returned to my side and knelt with bowed head in front of the Creator.
"Well done."
The Creator briefly laid a hand on the big warrior. In an instant, his wounds were gone, his uniform fresh and clean, and his sword looked like new again. The big guy took up a guarding position behind me.
"This is your primary guardian spirit," the Creator told me. "As of today, you will have many more join your service to be your guards, messengers and ministering spirits."
As He spoke, those who had been chasing the stink bug returned one by one. A few more flew over from somewhere else to form ranks behind my primary guardian. At a glance, there were two ranks of four.
"Princess!" they shouted with fervent gazes. "We are at your service!"
"In the future, as you grow and mature, I will send you more. The more work you find for the ministering spirits to do, the more I will send to you. There are many of them idly waiting for some work to do," the Creator told me and waved a hand at them. "Go do your work."
The ministering spirits dispersed with a slight bounce in their footsteps.
"Go back first," the Creator told me with a hug. "Feel free to come visit often. I have whole storerooms of things I've set aside for you that you can come and get as you need as well. Don't be afraid to ask."
"Then my body," I scratched my nose, thinking of my current needs. "Can it be healed? It's so weak. I can't even sit up. There's also that big hole in my mind and my ability centre is gone. Can you help me replace it all?"
The Creator beamed.
"What do you believe I can do for you?"
I thought for a moment, feeling that this question was quite deep and required appropriate contemplation to correctly word my reply. It was a question asking more than the sum of the words used in the question.
"I believe," I replied, thought a bit more and then repeated, "I believe you can make me whole."
"Then according to your faith, so be it. Arise out of your bed and walk."
I jumped over to give Him a hug and a kiss before allowing myself to be sent away.