Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

"Then they crowned me, the daughter of Aphrodite–Athenia, a goddess who was meant to watch over a small pascal of land. Suddenly, I gained authority, and power, just because none other wished to deal with the mess of their own making." Resting on her throne, the goddess veiled as a dead god, gripped tight against the armrests.

Confined in an eternal prison of darkness, she cursed her own luck. While the rest of the gods were busy chasing their ideals, she'd been forced into a cell of her own father's making. Yet, she held no contempt–not for her father at least, for along with her mother–the goddess of sexual pleasure, her father had too succumbed to the forces of evil.

'Nexa…Nuvia…Nerva…Nexa…Nuvia…Nerva.' Repeating that name again and again, she hoped the goddess would rise up from the ground and save her the trouble of relying on souls that had already suffered enough. 'Nightsilver, I'll–'

A sudden flash of light cut her thoughts short. Turning to its source, she found a creature made of a cloud in the shape of a floating monkey. Its tail circled over its head like a crown was puffed like cotton ripe for the picking. Holding a scroll between its fingers, it kept a bright smile while bowing to the goddess.

"What is it?" Asked Athenia to the messenger.

Nodding back at her, the imp opened the scroll wide. His eyes scanned through the contents for a few seconds, and then with a throat-clearing cough, he finally announced what was written.

"Goddess Aphrodite! The council of heavenly bodies has found you in direct violation of its decreed laws!"

'A council?' Nobody had informed her, why would they? She was only the scapegoat for the more experienced to exploit.

"Reviving a dead human and granting him divine gifts without approval!" Coughing over his clenched fist, the monkey squinted its gaze and looked up at Athenia. "These aren't my words, but that of the gods…"

"Just finish quickly," fanning her hand at him, Athena rested her fingers on the chin and leaned forward in curiosity.

"You must strip the man of his power and life! For such acts of insolence would only embolden mortals to gain favors from their individual gods and attempt to attain godhood!" Folding the scroll back, the messenger bobbed up and down with his eyes focused on Athenia for an answer.

Thinking over the matter for a bit, Athenia took a deep breath and leaned back into her throne with a smile.

"If the gods wish to control the world through me, then they're well invited to my prison," astounded by the goddess's words, the messenger knew his life would be over the moment he repeated her response to the council. "Let them know that I'll prepare the best wines, the greatest feast, and an army of souls to fanfare their arrivals–but!"

Shifting one leg over the other, Athenia's smile grew wider.

"They must first arrive, and speak to me themselves in this prison made for gods," breaking into cold beads of sweat, the messenger simply gulped and disappeared into a cloud of white powder.

The moment he was gone, the smile on Athenia's face was instantly turned into a foul grimace. She knew they all had their own agenda, and ideally would love to feast alone on the faith of her world's people. But alas, to rule Nexa's flesh one must confine themselves in the prison made inside her dead mind.

'Father, did you foresee that this would happen? Is that why you pushed me to sit on this throne of lies, deceit, and falsehood? I don't want this, I never did–but if I abandon my duty now there would be–'

"One holy war after the other, an infighting amongst the people of god, instead of fighting against the buried forces of evil," the goddess that put up the farce of being a simpleton, knew the consequences of her actions, and abandoning her duty was not something she could choose to do lightly.

With a wave of the hand, she summoned a translucent film that showed the current position of Raven and the others. Standing by the city's gate, they were getting ready to leave, but it seemed like the dark mage was explaining something to the rest.

'I'm counting on you, don't disappoint me.' Her faith in him was growing every day, but being raised as a sheltered adventurer who hadn't stepped a foot outside Athenia, she knew there were far too many challenges for him that he wasn't ready for.

However, low on time with the way the tension was building in the heavens, she wanted the forces of evil to be dealt with so she could focus on other things. 'If only the gods weren't so stingy, I would've showered you with my gifts, but just that one was already me toeing the line.'

Athenia knew that it was time for another tug at that rope, but before that happened, she needed some time for things to cool down after that message she'd sent. The gods wouldn't dare step inside her prison, but that didn't mean they wouldn't try and hurt Raven and his party, or even convince their followers to hunt them everywhere they went.

"I pray that it doesn't comes to it," hoping for the best yet keeping an eye out for the worst, the goddess brushed off the screen and began preparing for whatever was to come.