The massive temple in front of Xeik was something to behold. The young thief was impressed at the overall presentation, and despite the reason he came here, it felt strangely welcoming. The water beneath the great bridge was almost deafening, and by the time he made his way to the ornate oak doors, he was starting to realize just how small he was in the eyes of the temple.

Whether or not the goddess realized it, Lady Sironia had crushed Xeik’s entire life. The boy had built the thieves guild from the ground up, raised the poor orphans on the streets of Hoja Mesto and other locations to be self-sufficient, and ultimately tried to
create an environment for those less fortunate to survive. And then that damned crusade against the ‘dens of evil’…that event crushed the small, innocent guilds. It was all Sironia’s fault.

What happened next, wasn’t. The crushing weight of the loss was so much, that Xeik found himself wandering the world without a goal. In the end, he lost himself to the vices of drug dens. It started small, with leaf. Every time he took a small hit of it, he felt something try to fill the void. And then, it wasn’t enough. Soon, he moved up, until it turned into stronger, more patent types of drugs. He was living back in a world where nothing was wrong, and soon his physical body started to waste away.

It was luck that he was found before it got worse. The recovery was brutal, and after several months of slowly rehabilitating himself, he finally made it back home. A lot had changed, but there was still a massive void in his heart from where the guild was. Everyone else had moved on. Even Lewis…he had started a family, and somehow even started his own orphanage. It was a safe option…

So it was time to move on. But first, Xeik had to do something. He had to confront Sironia. It was a risky thing to do, and if the goddess chose to, she could smite him down for even coming here, but…

The young adult stood at the doors, wearing his usual thief attire. The sleeveless shirt and baggy pants swayed in the wind alongside his cloak. The golden rings around his wrists shimmered in the sunlight, reminding him that the guardian rings had deemed him worthy enough to use them. He took a deep breath, and pushed the doors open, walking inside.

“Lady Sironia!” Xeik called out as the doors closed behind him. There were a few clergy members who gave him a look, an arrogant boy who walked in and called their goddess. But this was something he had to do. Even if it cost him his life. He had to find a way to move on.

”Yes?” Came the almost immediate reply as Sirona turned from where she had been standing not too far from the doors when they had been opened by the young man who had called out her name. Her voice was calm, though the way she had answered suggested that she wasn’t exactly happy about how he had called out to her.

The angelic Goddess excused herself from the clergy member she had been speaking with and walked a few steps closer to the young man. She wore simple clothing that was lose enough to hide any of her figure, her large wings still stuck out behind her, and since she wasn’t wearing any kind of face covering her facial tattoos showed. Along with her brilliant blue eyes that were, at the moment, staring at the young man before her, not down at him though, figuratively or literally, as she wasn’t that much taller than he was, only a few inches, minus the wings.

From under the pew she was standing next to her came Lume, her maine coon sized owl griffin companion. He hopped up on the pew and turned to look at Xeik and hooted at him, large eyes unblinking as he watched the young man. ”So, is there something I can help you with, young man? You wanted my attention and now you have it, so, what do you want?” Sirona questioned, normally she’d be a little nicer, but she was matching the way he had barged in and called out for her.

The immediate response caught Xeik off guard, and he almost jumped. The fact that the goddess had answered him so quickly almost threw his entire streak of confidence, and it showed when she approached. Despite being only a few inches shorter than her, Xeik felt intimidated at her presence. He had been in the presence of another deity before, and just like before he felt as though with a snap of a finger, he could be wiped clear off the face of the world.

“L-Lady…” Xeik started shakily. “Lady Sirona.” He put a figurative foot down, and attempted to stand his ground. Surely this was a bad idea. He wondered if any of his friends mouthed off to any of the gods or goddesses before. Even Rhenakos couldn’t have been this dumb. “There was a small tavern in Hoja Mesto….” He paused. What exactly did he expect from her? Starting to say it now, it sounded almost stupid. “It housed a guild of thieves. But it wasn’t just a place for thieves. We stole, but only to survive. It was more than that, though. We stole from slavers and those who tried to do harm. We housed children who had nowhere else to go.” Tears started to form at the corners of his eyes. “And with a simple command from you…all of it was destroyed. My friends. My family…” He clenched his fists, shaking. “It’s all because of you….”

It was about this point where Xeik realized that Lewis might be the tiniest bit right. What was a cause without the power to back it up? Xeik had been caught up with trying to be a pacifist, and trying to find a way to resolve it all without death, but here he was, confronting the goddess who destroyed his life, whether she knew it or not, without an ounce of power to his name. Nothing to back it up.

Why…did I think coming here was a good idea? Xeik stood his ground though, and wiped away the tears with the back of his sleeve. “Why? Why did you do something so ruthless? Why would your followers try to destroy something that was giving to the world? We weren’t just thieves for the sake of it…we were trying to help!”

He started speaking, though it was shaky, but Sirona waited and didn’t say anything, and after a moment’s pause he continued just fine. He spoke of a tavern in Hoja Mesto, that housed a guild of thieves. Then he came to the crux of the issue; her Revolution had destroyed all of it. He no longer had the guild, his friends and family. It was all Sirona’s fault, on her order the Outsider Angels would have torn apart the tavern, but they would no have attacked those that did not attack them, but still, the place was gone and it seemed that any survivors of the guild had scattered.

She wasn’t blind to the tears in his eyes or the balled up fists, and she allowed him to finish before she spoke. The few Clergy that had been close by and heard what he was saying glanced to Sirona before looking at each other and giving the Goddess and the young man some space to talk in private. Sirona’s stance relaxed as she started to speak. ”I am sorry, young man, for what happened, I have no excuse that can ease you pain, however, though, I can attempt to explain why things happened the way they did. Again, it’s no excuse, but it’s at least a reason.” She started. ”I was over zealous, I was trying to make the world a better place by trying to stamp out sin and evil, and that extended pretty far, my orders to the angels were clear, however, vague; destroy places of sin and evil, do not attack those that do not attack you. So they would have only seen a tavern and destroyed it, regardless of the guild’s presence or not.”

”I thought I was helping the world, but I was wrong, I only made more enemies.” She thought a moment on how much more to explain and decided not to hold much back. ”I am not from this world, I come from another. From that world I had another Aspect, Revolution, but once I was forced into this world it never had a chance to fully realize its potential. When the Voice picked me and gave me Strength, that Aspect and kind of hooked onto Revolution and started to increase Revolutions strength, which started to affect the way I think. It took things I would normally think to myself and made me speak them out loud, and take more drastic actions. Revolution has since been removed from me by the Voice, and since then I have felt myself becoming more myself.” She explained. ”Again, I am truly sorry for everything and for the pain, and I know there is little I can say or do to help. You mentioned that you stole from slavers and housed children with nowhere to go, that’s incredibly noble of you. If you wish, I can help you rebuild again, find you a place to use in a city of your choice. It’s the least that I can do to try and make amends for what I have done.”

There it was. The explanation. The reason behind it all.

I don’t know what I expected.

Lady Sirona’s apologies were there. They even seemed sincere. But it all felt so hollow. There was no resolution. Everything happened, and that was that. Sure, the goddess had been punished for what she had done, and had even offered a place to stay, but it did nothing to satiate the feelings of emptiness inside.

There was the offer to rebuild, but the whole thing had shown Xeik just how weak he was. His ideals of pacifism had gotten him nowhere. What if another God decided to go on a rampage, but this time kill everyone in their path? What was to stop them, if not someone with power?

Suddenly, Xeik wondered if his old partner had been right. Power…the ends justifying the means. Is my path wrong? The young man glanced down. “Thank you for the offer, Lady Sirona. I….need some time to think about it.” Could he trust her good will? Would he?

“Actually…” Xeik paused. “There is a request, if I may…” It was a strange one. And he wasn’t sure where to go with it, or even if the goddess would go for it. “There’s a man by the name of Lewis Terrowin. He and I no longer see eye to eye, and he’s…a dealer of death, by trade. At one point, he aligned himself with the God, Raith. The thing is…while I’ve been wasting my time…he’s gone and taken in a bunch of kids, given them homes. He’s…not even remotely a good person…at least, I don’t think so…he kills in order to save. But…if anything were to happen to him, could you…make sure that his kids have somewhere safe to go?”

He thanked her for the offer but said he needed time to think about it, which was perfectly acceptable and expected. Sirona had not expected him to decide right now what he wanted to do and accept her help or not. This was a difficult situation he was now, thanks to her, so her offer would stand until he might formally decline it, until then, it was open to being accepted ay any point going forward.

But then Xeik quickly turned it around and said that he did have a request for her. She waited for him to explain it. Very interesting request and Sirona nodded. ”I will happily do this, we work with a few orphanages around the lands and we’ll make sure any siblings and close friends are kept together. In the meantime if you believe they need any kind of help please do not hesitate to get in contact with me, Xeik.” Sirona offered with a smile. ”However, my offer of helping you rebuild is still on the table should you want the help. I’m not forcing you, and you take all the time you need to decide, so, please do think it over.”