All Mother Asherah's apparent past was normal.
A genius who rose in the tribe from a prestigious clan, wedded to the brightest genius of her times—Keman Aurik.
Together, they were the couple that led their race to a brighter age, one where Genesis matched the power of Mors after a long time.
Asherah took up the job of strengthening the empire and went on creating races. Hundreds of races each with its uniqueness.
There were wars fought by these created races on the legitimacy of their lineage. They wanted to be the only ones laying claim to be her descendants.
Such was her influence.
If Keman's authority evoked a mix of mystery and fear, hers was purely charisma and worship.
But the past was a little more complicated than that.
The price of creating all these races was not as simple as everyone thought.
For the sake of big picture, Asherah made a quiet sacrifice that wasn't acknowledged by history.
She regressed from mid rank 2 to low rank 2 just so she could create more races with the potential to reach divine ranks.
In a way, her experiments succeeded as more and more races produced divine rankers.
The gap with Mors and even the gap with Jai was shrinking at a soothing pace.
But they also failed.
There was no rank 2 from all of her creations.
It was as if she was punished by the universe for trying to play god. There seemed to be fundamental flaws in her creations, one where a rank 2 could not create another rank 2, opening up the possibility of an infinite replication over time.
Perhaps it was not as complicated as that. Perhaps it was much simpler.
Perhaps she was just incompetent. Or perhaps the races she created were the ones that were incompetent.
"Arghhh!"
A storm raged.
Runic words of the long lost tribal language engraved on the turtle shell and hung in the air. They mixed together to form complex geometric shapes, all connected together by string of runic alphabet and circles of runic words.
The formation was built purely from the power of Order and Chaos. Like all such formations, it would enforce a 'rule'.
It could be a <stagnation of energy flow> or the <chaos of organic matter> both of which would severely affect the All Mother.
But what happened wasn't a simple Order and Chaos attack.
The power of life flowed into this formation.
The green light moved through the complicated geometric structure, contrasting against the black and white runic words.
The structure was still built of order and chaos, but it was now powered by life.
An unprecedented situation.
Asherah's instincts screamed and she took a step back without even noticing. But when she took another step, the laws in the region changed.
Her life force stagnated for a moment before surging back in reverse. The soul fluctuations that would always be emitted from a living soul started to stagnate, as if they were curtailed by an invisible hand.
It wasn't even a direct confrontation. No punches were exchanged, no beams of energy were fired and not even fingertips were touched.
And yet, the All Mother fell to her knees, gasping violently as she slammed her chest.
"Arghhh!" With a roar that sounded like the cry of a female beast, she slammed the turtle shell under.
A large phantom appeared in the void, the phantom of a woman bathed in green.
Truding to the center, he knelt down.
Aurora's eyelashes fluttered.
Varian's heart pained at her state.
Arms and legs bruised red and purple.
So weakened that she couldn't even heal. And inflicted so much pain that even a divine body was bruised.
A pale face drained of blood. Lips trembling, teeth chattering.
She was always so energetic. Wherever she went, she filled that place with energy, with life.
That bundle of energy was drained of that very energy. The lively girl's life was barely hanging by a thread.
The woman who mingled with everyone to heal their wounds was curled up, trying to cover up her wounds.
Varian tucked the lock of hair behind her hair and called gently.
"Aurora."
Aurora's body shook and her eyes slowly opened. Her vision was still hazy and she tried to open her eyes to see him clearly.
"D-Dream?"
But she was too weak to do anything.
Forget lifting her arms, even her eyelids felt impossibly heavy.
Looking at him through her vague sight, she said in a weak voice. "I-Is this my last dream?"
Varian lifted her up and Aurora kept her eyes locked onto him with a confused, dreamy gaze.
"Y-You came into my...dream?" She muttered, her faint voice filled with disbelief.
Varian shook his head with a chuckle.
"L-Laughing? I-I am in so much pai—ouch!" She winced as her head hurt, the weakness of her body penalizing even a few words, even if they were in spoken in a dream.
"Didn't you wish for this?" Varian walked out of the cage, asking in a teasing voice.
"I..." Aurora who still treated this as a dream, closed her eyes with a contemplative expression before glaring at him. "I didn't! Bad, bad liar!"
Varian made a mischievous expression. "You were disappointed that I rescued you from your mother with just a warning. You wanted something more fairytale. Rescued like a princess."
Aurora's eyes widened and her sleepiness began to fade. But she still remained in that half-awake, half-asleep state. "I..."
It was only then that she notice he was holding her in a princess carry.
"Princess?"
Varian nodded.
Aurora's eyes began to well with tears. "T-Those fairytales lies to me! W-Weren't the princesses supposed to be rescued in a few days? I-I was here for m-months!"
"Fourty-nine years."
Aurora's lips twitched and she began to bawl even harder, wetting his chest.
"Seriously, don't believe those fairytales." Varian shook his head.
"B-But..." Aurora's voice grew faint, her consciousness fading back into sleep. "T-They were right..."
"Hm?"
"...about the prince."
Aurora fainted.