Maeve did not answer for a short while and the Abomination Champion stayed still before he sighed,
"If it is your desire, I shall fall on my blade, although I hope my end would come via battle, I shall not lament my fate."
"What is your name?" "I don't have one, Handmaiden, because I believe I've not earned one."
"This belief of yours, about earning your name, where did you learn it?" Maeve inquired, curiosity flashing in her eyes.
"The moment I freed myself from the hold of Lamia, and after her influence over me vanished when her Core was consumed, the knowledge of earning my name filled my Spirit, and I have been on the quest ever since to understand that calling."
"If you feel this call deep in your Spirit, it means your heart is firm and your mind uncluttered." Maeve sighed, "I believe you understand that you must be deeply tested."
The Abomination Champion shuddered as his eyes lit up, "Does this mean that my services are accepted?"
Nodding at the ecstatic Champion, she turned away and vanished into the forest,
"Hey, I have not told you the reason we are here!" Absomet screamed as a couple of children holding massive ropes giggled and began making a game of tying up the metallic woman.
Maeve's voice came from the forest, "Don't worry, I will have all the information I need from you all soon enough."
"That's good because you will want to hear what this Abomination Core needs to say, this is related to your lord. Trion and their gods are not what they seem on the surface, we were all wrong about their purpose… hey, be gentle with the goods, they are metal, but they are still soft… hey..hey… stop touching that you little pervert."
Part of the people began to deeply scrutinize the Champion if they were standing beside a truly powerful being that gave no indication, but they could all see the familiarity in the features of the Champion, and finally, a barrel-chested man holding a hammer walked forward before exclaiming,
"Regolf… boy, is it really you?"
The shoulders of the Abomination shook as he knelt, "Master, I do not deserve that name any longer."
"Nonsense you are one of us, we have all changed but our nature remains, you are a child of Calcutta, a loyal vassal of Lord Rowan, and no matter what form you wear you are still one of us."
"I am a monster."
"You think you are a monster?" The man laughed deeply, "Look around child, we are all monsters here. To survive in this cruel world change is inevitable, and it is nothing to be ashamed of… come child, you look like you have a lot of story to tell, no better place than to shed your mind of its load beside a fire and with your people."
The champion slowly walked into their midst and before long a massive fire was started up, and the people of Calcutta surrounded it, laughter and song broke out and dances erupted to loud cheers and laughter.
A couple of inquisitive children surrounded the Champion and began poking him in curiosity, one of them got too close to his hair, and one of the worms bit her.
She cried out in pain, and looked at the worm in anger, and before the Champion could apologize she seized the worm, dragged it off his head, and thrust her arm into the bonfire.
The worm shrieked in pain for a long time before curling weakly around the arm of the child where it began to lick her fingers like a dog.
The girl laughed and petted the worm and was about to leave before turning to the Champion, her big eyes were wide open, and without speaking the Champion nodded, "It is yours if you want."
"Yay…" the child cried out and hurried to her mates to show off her new pet.
"Monsters…" The Abomination Champion muttered to himself.
His master, who was not far from him, laughed, "I told you, boy, we are all monsters here."
Before long the Champion lost a third of his hair and a new favorite pet arose among the children of the village.
®
Keeping the head of Lamia alive was simple, her bleeding veins were burnt shut, and with her vitality, she could live for years in this state. The Abomination Core and Absomet were all placed inside a mountain to be watched over by the rest of the people of Calcutta.
With that out of the way, Maeve returned back to her Ascension to godhood, this distraction was still a minor affair compared to becoming a goddess.
She had sent everyone out of her Territory in the event that she failed her Ascension, they would be able to survive. However, she knew it was unlikely for her to fail because of a simple reason—The Incarnation of Rowan in her Territory.
This power inside her Territory gave her a connection with the past and it was a conduit to powers so great, that she knew that the barrier of godhood that stifled so many others would be nothing before it.
Maeve rested for another week before she began her Ascent, and on the day she was to become a goddess, the wind across the entire planet went still.
She stood before the road to eternity and in her right hand was the green tribulation lightning, that could bestow both death and life, on her left hand was a tree whose root wrapped around her entire arm.
This was a merger between the past and the present that would lead to her future.
She recognized that this power was in line with her Aspect, after all, was she not one of the first guardians of the earth and all that was green?
The earth rumbled and reality shook, and when a green lightning bolt that connected the heavens and the earth lit up the stars for countless miles.
Wave after wave of Tribulation came for her, but they were nothing but nutrients to nurture her Divine Spark.
The tree in her left hand grew until its branches covered the stars and the lightning bolts on her right hand lit up this corner of the cosmos.
With a cry that could be heard for eternity, Maeve became a goddess.
She took back her memories, and she took back her name bestowed by Elura the Empyrean of Life.
Anihuruhdda, Guardian Of The Green.
