“Yo wake me up when it’s time for the meeting. Yi”

“Alright, Nugget, I will go get some ration.”

“Just don’t forget!”

“I know. I know, the valkyrie chick already got to you.”

“Oh piss off!”

Even gods need time to restore their divinity from their believers’ prayers, sacrifices, and deeds. After a whole day’s battle, Dalang fell asleep as fast as any other creatures.

The dreams lead to some even deeper and older memories of Dalang. For Persephone, observing dreams inside of someone’s memory was a confusing trip. Different from experiencing and feeling Dalang’s memory, she could only observe his dreams like an audience in his memories, with his voice as a narrator.

Like watching dramas in a theatre, the void curtain unfurled itself in front of Persephone…

It was spring in his dream. An early morning, to be exact.

When countless dawn dew gleamed in the verdant tea field, a young couple was harvesting what would be the first batch of green tea that year.

With a noticeable mole on the middle of his chin, the handsome man in his thirties carefully inspected the fresh tea leaves that had just budded.

“Yong, go check on our son, make sure he isn’t digging up lotus roots down in the ponds. He could get bitten by a lot of things.” Similarly, his wife was painstakingly picking the suitable leaves for tea.

“It’s fine, he’s with another kid from our village. Yi is his name, I think. Strong as a bull and I heard the kid crushed two snakes on the day he was born. Bare hands, too.”

“Pfff. now you are believing the words of the housewives, Yong.” The young and beautiful woman had an aura that radiates life and growth. Sparrows were resting on her shoulders and chirping her news of nature.

“Dalang will be fine. You worry too much, my love.” The man replied with a smile.

There Dalang was. A chubby kid covered in mud with a handful of things he caught from the ponds.

“I hate to be right all the time, you know. What did I say about him digging in the pond?”

They both stopped their work at hand and looked at their son.

“If he were to live as a demi-god, this life would hinder him.” She sounded worried. “We should help him achieve his destiny. By all means.”

“V, at least wait until he can make his own choice as we agreed.” He picked up Dalang and let him sit on his shoulders despite the mud and the stench on his son. “He can barely speak in sentences, V. It’s a bit too early to talk about his future. Maybe he will grow up to be a smart and lucky mortal just like me. A son of a goddess should make his own choice, don’t you think so?”

“Pfff. Yong, have faith in our creation. One day he will be revered like I was. His stories will be told through the nine states, and be spread to the west.” She wanted Dalang to exact her will, her words, and her glory. “Livestock would be butchered in his name to exchange harvest and opulence; altars would be constructed with his stories engraved on them for thousands to retell...”

“Getting way too ahead of ourselves now, aren’t we?” He interrupted her. Remember what we wanted at the beginning, V. We just want him to be healthy and happy, no matter what he becomes.”

Everything transitioned to total darkness. The first act has ended.

The summer stars above and the buzzing cicadas commenced the second act.

In the cooling summer breeze, Dalang was holding a fava bean in his hand to feed a grasshopper in the bamboo cage. Dalang, who was ordered to memorize the efficacies of all the herbs in the forest and practice the world’s common tongue, was chasing and catching grasshoppers for recreation.

He got tired and laid on the grass, belly-down with two short chubby legs kicking back and forth.

After gnawing down bits of the fava bean he gave it, the grasshopper paused, flapped his hind legs against its wings, and made a loud and distinctive sound.

Gratification was written all over Dalang’s face as time and effort were behind catching the majestic grasshopper. Imagine the validation he would receive from other village boys as he shows off his new insect pest. The insect had a copper-brown body, leathery shells, and thick wings. Its slender legs, obsidian eyes, and uneven antennas made it look like a battle-ready chariot.

Suddenly, the insect was hit by an invisible force. It flipped itself upside down and helplessly kicked its legs in the air. Its wings slowly stopped flopping against the bottom of the bamboo cage as the last bit of life was drained from it.

“Revive it, it's just an insect. If you have time to play around, you sure have mastered the power of nature, haven't you? ” Dalang's mother appeared behind him. She evaporated all the water in the sorry grasshopper, all it remained was a lifeless, crusty shell of a body.

One of her powers from one of her names. In the west, she controlled the life cycle and the seasonal cycle as Vesna, Morana, Mara…... Here in the east, she became Nüba, or Hiderigami, the spirit of drought. Feared more than revered in all the lands, people often forgot the harvest and natural wonders she brought to them, rather, she became the symbol of death and destruction. The scythe in her hand was meant for the crop and belonged to the fields.

"It's not the grasshopper’s fault. It's mine. Mother, please save it. It's innocent! I'll let it go, I swear I would memorize everything I am supposed to do!" With tears in his eyes, Dalang fell to the ground and begged his mother.

Without any expression on her face, she replied, "Hide your emotions. Don't show your weakness. It's your incompetence and your misbehavior that killed that insect, not me. ”She turned back and left, leaving Dalang sitting there, helplessly attempting to transfer his life energy into the dead insect.

Dalang understood the burden of expectations and the lack of choices at a young age, much like Persephone herself. Her mother Demeter used her as a priced product, Dalang’s mother wanted to use him as a trophy. For beings that inherited divinity through bloodlines rather than developing them like Persephone and Dalang, serving their creator

The curtain fell and the play shall have its climax.

The scenery changed to winter. With hails like glass pebbles and snowflakes like swan feathers.

Dalang was looking for his father in the storm, with a few cuts and bruises on his body caused by the sharp hails. The tea field along with the whole village had disappeared in the snow. The place he called home was there no more. Destruction and despair thickened the already heavy and freezing air. Screams were covered by the howling wind, tears were frozen into hanging frost. For centuries, his hometown has never met any winter storms. Villagers carried their livestock and belongings, evacuating in shock and terror. Their protector, their war hero, their goddess has unleashed her wrath on them.

Dalang’s mother came from a harsher and less forgiving land. She had been framed, burnt, and banished by her kin. She left her land and moved, few knew who she was. Her legends, rewritten; her cult, gone; her effigies, burnt; and her names, forbidden to be mentioned.

She wanted Dalang to be her messenger. She wanted him to claim the belief and worship of those who were once her people. She wanted him to be seated with the gods, the way she could not. She wanted Dalang to spread her promise of rebirth and opulence into the barren tundras. She wanted people to recall the goddess that was once Vesna.

However, he denounced his birthright, he denied his mother’s will and he refused to do what he was told. A rebellious soul at a rebellious age. He wanted to be someone on his own. Clearly, his mother was not happy about it; her anger and disappointment have awakened the other side of her.

Vesna gave birth to Dalang when Morana was an audience to that. The two goddesses share their body and their memories, but not their divinity. They usually make their shifts based on the seasons and the weather. After Dalang’s birth, mood swings can cause her divinity to change, thus affecting the weather. Marriage and childbirth clearly affect the immortals, too.

In the cold long winters of the tundras, Morana was in charge, reaping all the unfortunate creatures’ life who failed to start a fire or find shelter.

Dalang covered his mouth and nose, bent down to cough. And the hail still hit his head, his back. However, the more he coughed, the more cold air poured into his lungs. For centuries, his hometown has never met any winter storms.

In the center of the raging cold wind in his dream, a grim figure came slowly to him.

She came up to him and touched his face with her crimson fingertips.

"Mother...?". The figure has his mother’s appearance, but she is not her mother. The divinity felt drastically different.

"The child of spring and life, good to see you again..." With her face as pale as the snow and her robe as dark as night, she called Dalang out in her harrowed voice. “She never wanted me to see you, yet again and again we meet. She wished for destruction and I answered. She wanted you to obey her will. This whole thing is just a warning. If I were you, I’d check on that fool of a man you call father.”

“Please, mother, the whole village is gone, have some mercy on the people we know.” With his face covered in his own blood, he kneeled on the snow and begged for forgiveness. “They are innocent! Why? Why!” This time, his eyes were not filled with tears, but burning with anger and hatred.

“Look at you, where did the timid cry baby go? I will say this for her: she loves you, you will understand that one day.”

“You know I am only in charge of destruction, rebirth, and warm weather is her ability. There is no way to undo the damage I do.” She replied

“I hope that day never arrives. You only love me for what I can be, not for what I am.” Something was definitely burning in Dalang’s eyes.

“We created you with our image! Son of Vesna. We gifted you something that you could never repay. Everything you own, you owe it to her and me.” The goddess of death, the reaper of souls grabbed Dalang by his face, piercing his chins with her sharp nails.

“Those eyes, they are burning with anger. How dare you look at me with such disrespect. You are nothing without us, you will achieve nothing without us. You are but a bag of sentient meat that can only last one century without us!”

From the grasshopper to the whole village, he had enough of his mother’s love. He had enough of his mother’s punishment. He had enough of her ambitions expectations.

“I am no longer your son then. I have now become a worshipper and a follower of you. I will not follow the path you had envisioned for me. In return for giving me my life, I will make offerings and make your effigy, I will revere you as my goddess, but I will not exact your will, nor would I fight for you. I am Dalang of the Dong clan. My father is a great tea trader and I was raised by his mother, the elder of the village. My mother has nothing to do with anything good that has happened to my life.”

“She is going to be sad and mad about this, but me, I love your decision, boy.” She released him and hugged him. “I told her before, a believer is easier to manipulate than a successor. Vesna claimed you as her son and you just gave that status up. Now I claim you as the champion of Morana. A pact between us is sealed. I will seize the storm and leave you in peace. Now, I overpower Vesna, and finally, I can leave this mortal life and be the goddess I never got the chance to become.” She then flew away in her dark robes and her oversized scythe on her back.

Vesna’s divinity was suppressed, along with warm weathers and grand harvests. Nature was about to be cruel again in that area.

All of the sudden, the storm disappeared. A blinding beam of sunlight pierced through the thick snow. Most of the huts and barns down the terraces were covered in snow. Most of the villagers have evacuated. The villagers surely had to rebuild their town. The only good news was that no life was taken that day.

In the cave with a bonfire on the hillside, Dalang found his injured father. His arm was still bleeding as a piece of splinted wood was stuck in his shoulder.

“I am sorry my son. I was too young and dumb to think that I could keep a foreign goddess by my side for a lifetime. It seemed I have asked too much of the heavens.” He sighed and pulled out the splinted wood in one go. Droplets of sweats were all over his balding scalp. He had to stay strong in front of his son. That is what a father does.

“Here, let me help you. Father.” For the first time in his life, he successfully used his divinity to heal someone. The bleeding stopped and the wounds closed themselves, barely leaving any marks behind.

“I cannot feel my arm, Dalang. What is going on.” His father’s arm turned into a lifeless grey tone as soon as the healing was done. “Wait, this divinity feels like...her. What have you done, my boy? ”

Dalang has failed to wield his power inherited from Vesna no matter how hard he had tried, however; the moment he decided to serve Morana, he had awakened the forgotten half of his divinity. The irony was uncanny. He was weak and useless with what he had been given, yet he was powerful as ever with what he had chosen.

Yong’s harm was not healed, his arm died. What is dead cannot be killed, what is dead cannot bleed or feel. And that was one of the most feared and persecuted abilities throughout the fifth world: Necromancy.

“I am no longer her son, but I will remain yours. Father. She will leave us alone so long as I serve her.” Dalang’s face was covered in his own blood, no expression can be seen from all the coagulated red liquid.

“No, you cannot stay with me here, the Tribunal considers Morana’s power sacrilege and has always put her on their surveillance list. Now you can do what she can and you let her loose, I have no clue how much and how soon will they know about the situation here. The best they would do is to capture you and draft you into the celestial army. The worst, I cannot even imagine. You have to leave, now! Go with Yi, he was planning to go west, let him take you. It’s time for you to find your own path as a demi-god now.”

“What about you, father?”

“I will live with the consequences. Love and duty, I knew one of them would get to me one day if I cannot balance them well. And now I paid for it. I will stay and rebuild what your mother has destroyed. To be honest, I dunno if the villagers would forgive me for the trouble I have caused by marrying Vesna.” A long sigh, filled with guilt and regrets, covering the tears that were fighting to stay in Yong’s eyes.

“I never knew she had two sides and when I do, it was too late. I thought having a son would calm her destructive side. I guess we still know too little about the immortals and the gods. I am sorry you have to grow up in so much pain and ordeal...”

“Nah, you are the best father and I am the sole judge of that. I will return with glory, father. I swear wherever I go, my tales would reach here, to the tea fields that nurtured me.”

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