BXBX NOVEL Chapter 384
The human mind wandered about its thoughts. Unconsciously trying to discern what was real and what wasn’t. Her imagination ran rampant with memories from random parts of her life. Her childhood, the time she spent in the Sirius empire and the short time she got to spend with her mate when she was in the Lycaon empire.
Happy memories caused her unconscious floating body to smile while sad ones did the opposite. Impulses tore at her mind trying to get her to see to her mission, but the strong hands of sleep held her back and kept her still in the magical pool of water. Time was incalculable and when the day came that her eyes did flutter open, she was unaware and incapable of calculating how long she’d been lying there adrift in the pool.
“Careful now, Katie. You don’t want to sink when you’ve only regained consciousness,” a sweet feminine voice sang into her ear. The alluring voice would have commanded her attention if she hadn’t been in presence of the divine entity for a long time. It was unmistakable.
Maybe it was this same commanding effect that forced her limbs to remain still or the way she felt her wolf relax and felt the tension leave her shoulders. In the presence of the goddess, everything made sense... and didn’t make any sense at the same time. It was all as it was. The mess of memories and thoughts stilled and her desperate need to grab control of time and what was happening in her life ceased at once.
“How long have I been asleep?” Katie’s voice resounded hoarsely through the white room.
“It’s good to see you too,” the goddess was now floating in the air above the girl lateral to her horizontal floating body. The two of them stared into each other’s eyes while speaking in the almost empty room.
“Forgive me, goddess,” the Luna replied humbly. Without a way to bow, she hoped simply averting her gaze would do the trick.
“You’re being oddly respectful. It’s unnerving,” Celeste replied with a giggle.
.....
“Would you rather I didn’t give a hoot what you said or did then?” Katie returned a questioning gaze.
“It’s not like it matters, but I would like it if you showed me a little more respect,” the goddess replied, folding her arms across her chest.
“I do respect you. Although the first time we met, you sort of come across as someone that cared so much about their looks and to an obnoxious level. With the way Ashley couldn’t take her eyes off you, it was obvious that was your intention.”
“Huh, fair enough. However, as a goddess, I must look my best when appearing to my champions. Tell me, Katie. How do you feel now?” the goddess asked her.
The girl noticed the goddess had dodged her question, but couldn’t bring herself to snap at her. It soon became clear to her why she wouldn’t simply lash out. When the girl reached out to the woman above her, the hand she felt was trying to reach out didn’t move an inch. The girl turned to her side, observing how her fingertips twitched at the slightest effort to move them, “I’m... I can’t move. No...” Katie began panicking.
“Hush little one,” the goddess placed a hand on the girl’s chest, “Relax, we had to do it to keep your muscles from being exerted every time you moved. It was a necessary precaution. Thankfully, your body is well-preserved that you won’t awaken weaker than you were before,” the goddess explained to her.
Feeling the touch of the goddess, the girl’s attention was snapped away from her paralysed body and to the goddess. She was a mortal... being touched by one of the beings that was considered divine, “How long have I been here? Would you please tell me that at least? Is Cole fine? What about the others? Sandra? I was at her birthday...”
“I see some habits never change. All in good time, warrior princess. You will get your answers all in good time. For now, you shall heal,” the goddess finally released the girl’s chest and returned her hands to her chest, “While that happens though, I would like to have a chat with you.”
Katie searched the goddess’s eyes for an ounce of pity, but there wasn’t a single speck. Either that or the woman before her was trying to protect herself, “Goddess of the Moon!” the girl stopped her from proceeding with her narration. A one-sided conversation was simply too unbearable for Katie, even in her state. If they were going to talk, she wanted to at least have her questions answered.
Celeste sighed at the mention of her title. The girl was weak, but it didn’t stop her from being as stubborn as she always had, “I would like to tell you, but to the gods, time is tricky. I can’t tell you how long you’ve been here.”
“You just won’t tell me, will you?” the girl asked her. The mask that the goddess had been keeping collapsed and was replaced with a look of sadness.
She shook her head in disapproval, “I can’t tell you how long you’ve been here. It’s better that way,” she replied.
“I see you won’t let my patient rest,” a male voice interrupted them. Looking to the left, Katie noticed a handsome man walking up to them with a silver staff in his hand. He was dressed in white robes and the staff itself had two snakes coiling along its shaft. It was a caduceus, a symbol that Katie was sure to have seen somewhere. She couldn’t remember where it had been. In place of the man’s eyes were two white orbs... with no iris to stare back at her.
The man raised the serpent staff and waved it above the girl’s paralysed body. The eyes of the two snakes began to glow, red in one and blue in the other. The same happened to his eyes, one turning blue and the other red, as he seemed to have an internal conversation for a short moment. When the staff had returned to its normal state, he sat by the pool cross-legged and stared at the two snakes on his staff, going perfectly still.
“Who is he?” Katie asked the goddess. The Luna could have sworn she saw the man’s lips twitch at the question. ‘Can he hear me or is he pretending...?’