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Kohra

The gods are real. How do I know this? I've seen all of them with my two eyes. If I thought the council was self righteous, then nothing prepared me for the gods.

Muni in particular. She was the leader of the gods on the Quitri continent. Legends portray her as a benevolent leader who vanquished evil and founded the illustrious kingdom of Ataliya.

While latter was true, Muni was neither benevolent or a hero. Everything she did was for herself.

Founding a kingdom? She just wanted to become queen. The people of Ataliya were people who ate up her lies and would follow her to the grave. She used them and till date, none of their descendants know what she had done.

Muni was rejected from being queen in her former kingdom because she was a woman. I guess that was the one thing I admired about her. She showed the world that women are more superior to men by far.

As she built her kingdom, her brother tried to tear it down. So, she went to war with him. She lost at first but after fighting for a hundred years, she conquered her old kingdom.

That was when her rave for blood began. She started to rage war and crusades against other kingdoms around. At one point in history, the Quitri continent had more than 60 kingdoms. Muni's campaigns reduced them to 6. She caused bloodshed, destruction and pain wherever she went.

That was how the curse of the Muni bloodline came. Anyone of Muni's bloodline would be cursed with blood lust and darkness.

Every night, I can feel the curse rolling in my blood, scratching at my skin, begging to come out. I have the urge to destroy, to shed blood. It's the reason I have to be calm and indifferent all the time. It's not like I don't have emotions, I can't just express them.

Then came the priestess of Muni, the first priestess. She was last in line to become queen so she went to Muni for help. She traded half her soul to the moon to help calm the curse down and become queen.

That's just the brief history of the priestesses of Muni and Queens of Ataliya. Muni may be percieved as a hero by millions she brainwashed but I'm part of the few that she can never brainwash.

As for the other gods, they aren't any better. Burmi was a monk but he had a special taste for young boys at the age of four. They always had a strange mark he would brand on them and he would suck their magix from them.

"You saw it didn't you?" Jeir asks, swinging from the roof. I look at her and back at the painting. I brushed my hands against it and it felt alive.

I could smell the night sky and feel the coldness of the moons. It was peaceful and calm.

"Hey! Answer me!"

"If I ignore you Jeir, don't you know that means you should go away?"

"Nope! It only means I should annoy you further. You have a strange attachment to this painting. Perhaps, I should take it away"

"I believe you have no use for your arms again if you do"

"The way you say that with a blank face makes me almost believe you. But come on Kohra, he's got the mark"

"And why should I care? He seems oblivious to it and he has lived this long. Leave him be"

"But...Kohra"

"Jeir, please"

She wasn't having it. She jumped down from the roof and yanked me away from the painting. She sat me on the bed and shook me. I give her hands a pointed look and she drops them fast.

"This may be your chance to get back at her. For all she has done to you"

"That's insane Jeir and you know it"

"But you can't just sit still and watch her ruin your life like this. She shouldn't have that power"

"But she does. She has gotten away with it for years. What makes you think I'll make a difference? There is no prophesy Jeir, no supreme power, no hand of fate that can help me defeat or kill her. You need to accept that and move on"

"She took everything from you! From us! Aren't you mad?"

I stand from the bed immediately. My temper is rising. Chaos magix swirls around both of us and I can feel my magix surging out of control. Jeir's magix responds to mine, trying to protect her. I'm stronger than her, that I know.

"I am angry Jeir. But faced with helplessness and a way to survive, I chose to survive. It doesn't matter if I'm helpless, I chose to survive. No matter what she did, I chose to survive. So Jeir, I can't defeat her. What I can do, is survive"