Chapter 5: The Challenge

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A playful reply came. "Nope. Hey, the author seemed to know very little about us. His story stopped on the part where the Creator Bathala was said to disappear, leaving the whole Skyworld to be managed by the other deities. And. Well, that's it." She then rolled up the bamboo scrolls and left it on top of the small round table. "This should be a work of some mortals from thousands of years ago, correct? They are quite amazing to know a bit about us, don't you think so?"

The man who yearned for some peace but couldn't find it due to the woman's presence signed and replied, "You are correct. That scroll was brought to this world by one of the priestesses of a human tribe from one thousand years ago. When I read that mortal's memories, it was still a time when tribes worship beings like us, calling us their gods and goddesses or anitos."

"Oh," the woman responded before laughing. "Anitos… Really foolish mortals. How dare they say Gods and Goddess of the Skyworld are the same with the anitos, mere deities of the mortal world?"

Finally, the male deity Sitan could no longer stand her laughing. He said, "They don't know. And I hope you can now state the reason for your visit."

"I think you know." She laughed. 

"Is it really because of a single soul here?" 

She nodded. "Yeah, one of the recently deceased. Your servant, that goddess Anda, should be the one currently leading that person to the ritual of the dead."

"My pet said your sister Mayari is among the people currently undergoing the ritual," he said with mild irritation.

"Oh. No worries. One of my incarnations is also down there, searching for that soul. I won't let him rampage much, if ever. I hope you won't mind. Please don't interfere with our search. You know, it's a sacred competition so the less involved, the less who would know about it."

The man's eyes stared at her with a complicated gaze. He was silent for a few minutes before he nodded hesitantly. "Even though for me, your sister and your cause were really meaningless, I still wish you the best of luck. I will be the one to explain to Anda later. However, let me warn you, Andalapit's temper is not really good and she really hates deities like you who dwell in the Skyworld."

The woman's eyes had traces of laughter for an unknown reason. "Actually, you don't have to warn me. It's me who should apologize in advance because my sister Mayari is also very notorious above for her bad temper. Unfortunately, your Andalapit is merely a fifth-generation deity so I beg your pardon in case she faces off with my sister. You know, Mayari is the goddess of moon and war. Please excuse her for that. Your Anda is no match for her."

The Chief Deity of the Underworld gave her a brooding look. He was not offended by what she said since it was the truth. The two worlds Skyworld and Underworld had several deities living in it and their strength differed on either generation, or number of authorities wielded. As mentioned earlier, the daughters of the Creator, the woman before him included, was second generation deities wielding many authorities, while his concubine was merely a fifth-generation goddess.

But… "You seemed to be forgetting that I exist, Hanan." He said without a smile. "And that I'm stronger than you or your sister Mayari."

The woman only kept her slight smile.