I told her everything. How Isharnnat was responsible for my drowsiness. Her little trial. My burning. My escape. Me being hunted. Everything.

  Well, mostly everything. I did omit a few things since I thought it’d be better to talk about those things when we were alone. If you know which things, you know.

  Besides that, I didn’t hold back. And with every word I said, Dark Nerinne became smaller and smaller. At the same time, the eyed tentacles that covered this whole realm began slithering back into her, their eyes closing one by one as color returned to this place of Love. As for her others, they also went back into her as their forms unraveled and turned into more tentacles, but not before helping me fix my clothes and kissing me on the cheek… or the ‘cheeks’ in the case of a specific other… haa… Never change ass girl other Nerinne, never change…

  Then, there was only Nerinne. Not dark. Not eldritch. Just Nerinne. And she kept listening to my words as she looked down while clenching her fists with so much strength that I feared she’d hurt herself. She was mad. She was really, really mad. But she was also… incredibly frustrated. Even with our bond I cannot fathom how powerless she must’ve felt knowing that she was unable to notice what was happening to me… even if Isharnnat was actively hiding it from her… I can only say that I’m sure I’d feel the same if I was in her shoes.

  Sob…

  Still, I couldn’t stand seeing her like that. It hurt. It hurt so, so much more than having my soul burned by soul blazing flames or almost torn apart by cosmic lightning. So I went and tried to grab her hands, to stop her before she hurt herself in her frustration and anger, but I was stopped by her looking up at me, tears falling down her eyes, and embracing me.

  Sob… sob…

  That is where we are now. That is why you can hear sobs. Neither of us have let each other go. We’ll stay like this for as long as she needs. And as I console her by caressing the back of her head, I also gaze at Isharnnat, who’s been watching all of this in a silence she knows she has no right to break, and I look at her not with anger, or hatred, only questions. What else did you think was going to happen? Did you see this happening and still did it?

  Sob… sob… sob…

  I don’t even need an answer, for even if I don’t know the full details, I have more than an inkling as to what would push her to do it despite knowing this would happen. And that’s why I can’t get mad at her. I should be, but I’m not. I guess I have Nana and Gramps to thank for that too. It’s difficult not to care and try to understand others when raised by people who made that their lives’ purpose after all.

  The sobs stop. The silence breaks. Love speaks. “I am… so, so… sorry… Auros. You went through something so… horrible and yet I! And yet I…!”

  “Shhh, there, there.” I whisper to her, softly, caringly, my hands still caressing the back of her head again and again to comfort her. “I am here, darling. I am fine. Yes, getting burned hurt, but again, I’m here.”

  “But I wasn’t there for you! And then, in my misunderstanding, I let myself become clouded in my fear… my possessiveness… and acted on it by making you bear it all, only adding to the wrongs you’ve endured. It’s all my fau—" She sniffled, trying to blame herself but I stopped her in her tracks.

  “You did nothing wrong. You didn’t make me do anything. I enjoyed it as much as you did. You know that. I made that quite clear, didn’t I? Seriously, it was an amazing reward for everything I went through.” I giggled before I moved away just enough to be able to show her my smile and give her a reassuring kiss on the forehead. Then, as I gently wiped her tears away, I continued. “And I know that you wouldn’t do anything I wouldn’t want even in that darkened state of yours. For it is just as you said, I trust you as much as you trust me. It’s that same trust, that same love, that kept me from falling for Isharnnat’s words. Words I never believed, darling. Not even for an attosecond. I could’ve burned until there was nothing left, and I still wouldn’t have believed her. ”

  “Auros… you dummy… don’t put that horrible image in my head while trying to console me! Who’d want their beloved burning for them…? Seriously… how can you be so good and bad at this? Fufu… you…” She giggled, her trembling smile trying to turn into her usual, teasing one as she hugged me even more tightly. And I smiled back, gazing at those still teary eyes before she… kissed me on the lips.

  It was a kiss full of emotions, not just love. She was still afraid for me, yet relieved. Happy, yet sad. Hurt, yet recovering. It lasted for as much as she wanted. And when it ended, she picked up right where she left off. “You really are my Soul Partner… I love you… I love you so much. Thank you for trusting me… for loving me.”

  “I love you too. Forever and always.” I declared as I lovingly gazed at a widely smiling Nerinne whose tears had stopped, and her cheeks had recovered their blush. She is as beautiful as the day I met her. Of course, she is hearing all of this, which is why she is happily snuggling up her head on my shoulder.

  Still… there is one word that she said that I can’t help but latch on to. Trust. That one word has kept popping up throughout this whole ordeal. Be it from me screaming it at Isharnnat when she was testing me, or from her when she went as far as binding herself to the Divine Law. Heck, you could say her entire trial boils down to that. Trust. And I know I’m stating the obvious, but that is clearly not a coincidence.

  “That is because, for us gods, trust is just as vital as love in a relationship with a mortal… perhaps even more…” Said Isharnnat, finally speaking up now that the silence was broken by us and not her, and in doing so, she made Nerinne’s recently regained smile fade away as she turned to her. Soon, she stopped hugging me and began walking towards her, anger and hurt painting her face once more.

  Yet, Isharnnat didn’t stop speaking, nor she shied away from Nerinne’s gaze in shame. On the contrary, she continued, she faced Nerinne while adding even more emotion in her words. An emotion called remorse, yes, but also... conviction. “We need trust because mortals, in all the beautiful contradictions that make them, can both think that we gods are like them and yet fail to see beyond the ideal god in their mind… They think that the scale of our morals is the same as theirs, that we think like them, that we… love like them, and then, when tragedy strikes… they ask us for the impossible.”

  The more Isharnnat said, the more it was clear to me that Nerinne was letting her talk, letting her explain herself, but that didn’t mean that it was easy for her to do that. Just look at her hands… those soft… gentle hands… they were once again turned into trembling, angry fists, only held back by the fact that love was greater in her than any other emotion. Yet… my instinct was telling me that things could boil over at any second. I just hope things are not burned to the point of no return.

  Isharnnat also knows this. I call her an idiot, deservedly so, but she isn’t blind. Especially when it’s about Nerinne. As for what she’s saying, not only do I understand, but I can feel the grief in every single one of those words, a grief so palpable, so close to her, that’s still stabbing her heart. But those words are not meant for me. Not really. After all, she already said all of this to me. They are meant for Nerinne and… herself. And so, she keeps talking.

  “They ask us for the impossible and when we cannot grant it, either because we simply can’t, no matter how much we want to, how much it… kills us to be unable to”—she pauses briefly, repressing a sob that wanted to come out as much as the tears she too held back, for she wanted to face Nerinne properly—“or because to do so would risk the balance of our worlds, a balance we must protect… at all costs, it is there that a seed of distrust is planted in their hearts. A seed that blooms into thoughts of us letting that tragedy happen, that we wished for it… that we planned it…”

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Tragedy. Distrust. Both heavy words that remind me of when she spoke of demi-gods born from mortal and godly parents. One implicitly mentioned, the other a consequence. After all… what else could bring forth such grievous distrust but a tragedy born from a source of joy becoming a source of grief through their loss? Especially when one is not strong enough to see beyond such tragedy… to see that their other is suffering just the same if not more… However, to be able to do that is a task easier said than done when one of the lights of your life is gone…

  Just imagining myself losing my daughters is enough to fill me with despair… yet, I simply know that I wouldn’t forsake Nerinne because of that. Never. Yet, I also cannot truly fathom the reality Isharnnat and… Dammit… I’m sorry, I promised I wouldn’t pry. I shall stop with this…

  In response to these thoughts of mine, Isharnnat glanced at me and shook her head as if to say that it was fine before continuing. “Did we as gods plan it? Did we wish for it? Did we just let it happen? No… we did not… we would never want to see them hurt… we would rather hurt ourselves first than seeing our beloved hurt… be it our partner or our people, our world. Yet, life is still riddled with both joys and hardships. Because such is what comes with the freedom all mortals have and the consequences of it. But that is not important to them, not at that point where distrust is so deeply rooted. Why would it? Thus… love dies, and it turns into hate. The worst kind of hate.”

  For the first time since she started speaking, Isharnnat’s eyes stopped meeting Nerinne’s as she lowered her gaze, pulled down by whatever memory had appeared in her mind.

  Then, after briefly closing them and pushing back such remembrance, and the wave of feelings it brought with it, Isharnnat once again gazed into Nerinne’s eyes and, with trembling lips, she said, “you are Love, Nerinne. And I did not want to see you hurt, much less become twisted by someone breaking your heart through such... betrayal. I could not permit that. I needed to see that Auros was not like… that. That is why I did it, but now I am glad to say that it was needless. Nerinne, mine dear, dear friend, you have someone who not only loves you but trusts you to the core of their being. You are quite fortunate—”

  SLAP!!

  It was then, as Isharnnat showed her a smile of pure, genuine relief, that Nerinne slapped her across the face one time and one time only. All that anger, that frustration… everything that she had been holding back all this time was released all at once, creating not only a deafening, thundering sound from it, but also a helix-shaped lightning. Although, that could’ve been just me seeing things, as there wasn’t any sign of it the next instant. What was there the next instant was Nerinne gazing, no, glaring at a reeling Isharnnat with the same boiling emotions before she finally spoke up.

  “How dare you… How dare you say all of that after what you did to her?! To my love! Not only did you insinuate many things to try and shake her, but you then took my form, MY FORM, and said things that I would never say! Things that I would NEVER DO! You know that well! You did all of that”—Nerinne’s voice began to break, a knot clearly forming in her throat, and I instinctively took a step forward to go and comfort her, but she stopped me with a single, gentle hand gesture telling me as such—“and yet… you never came to me to ask about her, not even once…”

  Nerinne’s voice was drowned in hurt… a hurt that stabbed my heart with every painfully uttered word to Isharnnat, who could do nothing but put her hand on her slapped cheek and take it all in silence, all as those ruby eyes of hers reflected naught but regret. Again, it’s not that she didn’t expect this… but it still pains her to see Nerinne like this.

  Sadly for her, it wasn’t over. Not yet at least, as Nerinne continued. “You could have done so many things… you could have tried so many, many different approaches, but you didn’t. Instead you made Auros go through the most painful trial a mortal’s soul could EVER experience!! You ignited her soul!! And why?! Because you couldn’t trust me to fall in love with the right person on my own?!”

  “What? N-No, Nerinne…!” Blurted Isharnnat as she shook her head profusely, horrified. “That is not it! I just did not want you to repeat the same mistake I did…”

  Seeing Isharnnat’s horrified and hurt expression, Nerinne swallowed up the shout she was about to let out and took a deep breath, cooling whatever was left of the boiling emotions within her before saying, “I’m sorry I said that, Isharnnat. It’s just… I want you to understand that what you did was not the right choice. Those doubts… those fears… those misunderstandings… They are things for us to deal with, to tell each other about and grow closer through solving them.

  “Yet… even if I know that it’s not the case, it feels like you couldn’t trust me to do that with her when you should have. After all, aren’t you one of my best friends?”

  Hearing that question, Isharnnat crumbled completely, falling to her knees as whatever conviction had kept her standing vanished. Then, between guilt-ridden sobs, she said, “I… overdid it… I am so sorry, Nerinne… I just wanted you to be happy… to keep you from harm… Please, forgive me…”

  In response to that, my darling, my lovely, lovely darling went and did what I knew she would do because she is love in all its forms, including forgiveness and second chances. She hugged Isharnnat right then and there, surprising her friend and saying, “you better be! Because it would hurt me so much to hate you… you idiot!”

  There they are. Tears. But this time they are not tears of anger or frustration. No, they’re tears born from the relief of not losing a dear friend today and the joy of knowing that she was not irredeemable. As for me, since Nerinne is fine with this being the end of it, then this is the end of it for me as well. I’m not as petty as to push the issue further after all of this, much less desire more revenge than the one I already enacted on Isharnnat on my way here, which was plenty.

  That is not to say that I suddenly like her or that I have completely forgiven her… I’m but a mortal. It will take some time, even if I understand why she did everything…

  In any case, with this scene of two goddesses hugging each other while crying profusely, our Divine Drama, our Godly Telenovela ends…

  …aaaaaaand we return to our usual lovey-dovey programming in the best way possible! Nerinne is smiling fully once again! Not only that, but she is also stroking my hair as we gaze into each other’s eyes by her looking down and my looking up. Why? Because she’s giving me a GODLY lap pillow! Pun totally intended! And all while we’re wearing matching gyaru outfits to boot! What’s not to love?!

  “Fufufu~, let my thighs heal you, dear.”

  “Oh, they are, darling.” I stated with ABSOLUTE certainty, so absolute in fact, that the only thing comparable was the absolute territory where I was resting my head! I mean it. This softness. This plumpness. This scent. Ahh… it’s truly another piece of paradise.

  A paradise made even comfier thanks to the warm floor of Nerinne’s divine realm now that it has gone back to looking like the room of a lovable weeb. In other words, it’s gone back to normal now that everything has been properly dealt with. And yeah, that means that both me and Nerinne are on the fluffy carpeted floor and not the bed. Isharnnat too…

  “Kaka, you went a bit monotone right there. Almost as if you did not like mine being here still.” Said that very same goddess, making her continued presence here even more known, much to my dislike indeed. “Hey! There is no need for you to be like that! I already apologized! I am even wearing what Nerinne asked me to as penitence! And I also was about to praise you for not even needing to get over seeing Nerinne in that darkened state!”

  “Meh. I don’t need your praise.” I scoffed at the goddess whose cosplay fit her to a ‘T’ as both the character and her shared the traits of being an idiot goddess. Guess who. Then, while hearing her fume about me calling her that, I turned to the side and hugged Nerinne from where I was, snuggling up to her tummy with a smile and making my darling giggle since she’s the ticklish kind. “Ahhh, this is the best~.”

  Ah, right. I forgot to mention that Isharnnat has a board hanging from her neck that says, ‘I’m an idiot goddess’. Heh.

  “Kaka, you said you are an idiot goddess, Auros.”

  “You are the idiot.”

  “Guh!”

  OH! WE SHOT BACK AT HER AT THE SAME TIME, DARLING!

  “It is proof that our hearts are as one, dear. Just as our gacha rolls, fufu~.”

  “I couldn’t have said it better myself, darling.”

  With that, and a depressed Isharnnat in the background, we kissed once again.

  To be continued… (cue chibi depressed Isharnnat dressed as a goddess whose name rhymes with water in Spanish)

  th edition! And it’s filled to the brim with new NPCs, Species, Classes, Monsters, and four exciting realms to explore! One of said realms being the Celestial Shards! There you will find the terrible avian monster I created alongside an amazing artist, Bethan Valerious! And believe me, it’s been a blast working on its lore, its abilities, and so on! Furthermore, working with the rest of the Celestial Shards team, as well as the project’s team in general, has been an incredible learning experience and I cannot wait for all of you to enjoy the feast we’re cooking! It’ll be launching on Kickstarter very soon! So please, if you’re interested, follow the project on Kickstarter! Link in the comments below!

  That’s it for today! If you want to read more Waifu, you can go to my patreon and check out the first volume of In Another World as My Waifu's spinoff, Waifu Bites, FOR FREE! Just like the new +18 commissioned short-story involving Auros and some very horny elves! If you want to check either out, you know where to go!

  Please do not translate my work without my permission. Por favor no traduzcas mi trabajo sin mi expreso permiso.

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  Thank you for your support and for reading! Sorry for the thesis but you know me, I prefer to be transparent with all of you and keep you all informed.

  Love you all! Look forward to the next chapter!