”King Alabaster, what is it that you want from this girl?” Sylvia asked in an unusually humble manner. “Her freedom is imperative for my purposes.”

Alabaster returned to his throne and taunted the goddess. “Sylvia, huh? You used a different name last time we met. Guess I missed a spot and an ember of your flames got left behind. Anyway, I need the girl to restore the necromancers to their original glory and take back our rightful place as the rulers of the world.”

“The nation of Mournvalley will be restored to a degree by the rebellion, even without your interference. I only ask that you’ll stay your hand for once, and let the world turn on its own.” The goddess pleaded.

Every sentence of the conversation surfaced a million new questions in Anastacia’s head, but she assumed that her input was not needed at all and her opinion simply didn’t matter. The two continued to argue over Anastacia’s fate for what seemed like hours, without really getting anywhere with it. Alabaster was clearly trying to rile up the goddess, almost like he wished for a fight. Slowly but surely, the flames around Anastacia and Alabaster grew taller and hotter.

“Guys... Can we not do this?” Anastacia tried to interrupt them before she would get burned.

“Ah, the lass is right. How about you show yourself so we get to chat face to face? This chamber of mine is not a part of the world outside, I know you can do it here.” Alabaster agreed.

The flames started to gather towards one spot in the distance as the goddess prepared to show her physical form. In a blinding flash the fire disappeared and left behind Sylvia. The goddess’s appearance was almost nothing like Anastacia had imagined. She was about two meters tall, yet frail. Her eyes were hidden by a smooth iron mask that reached all the way to the back of her head, only letting the goddess’s locks out from the back. Her hair was made of iron wires with red-hot ends reaching halfway down her back. Wearing a black iron corset that looked like it was burned into her snow-white skin and an asymmetrically cut leather skirt that had been charred by the flames spreading from the goddess’s feet, Sylvia looked like she had very little to do with any of the aspects she had as a god.

Sylvia walked to Anastacia and embraced the girl. Despite looking like she would melt metal with a touch, Sylvia was only slightly warm compared to a normal person. Anastacia recognized the feeling from when she had died and met the goddess for the first time.

“My intention was to spare you from seeing this hideous form, but Alabaster has forced my hand. I am truly sorry.” Sylvia explained.

“D… don’t worry about it. I’m just a bit surprised since you don’t look at all like the descriptions of the ‘demon’ in Crescent.” Anastacia said and smiled, hoping it’d calm the goddess.

“The form I used to cleanse that city was simply my chosen one’s body imbued with my presence. In truth, I could take almost any shape I chose, but he would see through it.” The goddess pointed out and let go of Anastacia.

“This is heartwarming and all, but it really makes me question how much the girl knows about your past. I feel like she’d be quick to change allies if someone told her about our previous meeting.” Alabaster interrupted. “Say, Anastacia, do you wish to know of her past?”

The king’s words made Sylvia look worried, but Anastacia figured that the past was the past and she’d only judge Sylvia on her actions as the goddess of joy. After all, everyone has a past and most people aren’t exactly proud of it. Why would gods be any different?

“I’ll take the silence as a yes. Well then, let us start with her name! Before you stands The Lady of Torture, The Maiden of Agony, the one and only Pyria!” The necromancer king introduced the goddess now called Sylvia. “You see, back in my time, she and her kind walked among us mortals. They did as they pleased, as there was no one to stop them. Genocide, rape, pointless torture… whatever is the worst thing you can think of and worse! In my opinion, ‘Sylvia’ here is among the worst of them. She’d force babies to crawl in fire whenever she had the time. Instead of killing anyone quickly, she’d have them suffer for as long as possible.”

Sylvia stayed silent during the whole time, as she couldn’t deny any of the accusations made by Alabaster.

“Despite near godlike abilities, these beings had one weakness… they were made of flesh and bone! With a few of my more capable followers, I fought back. For five years, we traveled through the lands and tore down every single one of them. Well, except lady Sylvia right here apparently.” The king continued. “But there is something I do not know. How did you survive and end up as a god?”

“Why does that matter? With all due respect, even with all your power and skill, you are stuck here. Doomed to sit on your throne without ever even seeing the outside world again. The necromancers will rise again on their own, so none of this is needed.” Sylvia argued.

Anastacia didn’t know what to say about Sylvia’s past. It was about a thousand times worse than she had expected, and Sylvia didn’t even try to deny any of it. Was there a chance that she would return to her old ways? Did Emilia know about this and if not, should she? While the goddess as she was, was definitely a force for good in the world, this could not simply be ignored. But getting out was at the top of the list for Anastacia, so she would be on the side that would help her with that.

“The lass might be against this right now, but she’ll eventually come to understand that everything I do is for the good of our people and the world.” Alabaster said and grabbed Anastacia’s hand. “It may have been done by mistake, but this child was meant to meet me eventually.”

“Well you see… I kind of think the world would be a better place without necromancers.” Anastacia pointed out.

Alabaster let go of her hand and leaned back, obviously bothered by what Anastacia had just said. For someone who had spent the better part of his life by defending the world from all kinds of powerful beings and genuinely trying to make it a place worth ruling over, hearing one of his kind say that necromancers shouldn’t exist hit the king pretty hard.

“I may be ambitious, merciless and all that, but I take pride in the fact that my actions improved everyone’s lives, not just my own. And now you’re saying that we should not exists?" He asked and suddenly turned serious. "You’re breaking my heart, Anastacia”

Anastacia sighed “I think that the necromancers of today are irredeemable, cult or no cult. You may have been a great king once, but your legacy is long gone and I’m certainly not the one that can rekindle it, no matter under whose control I am.”