Chapter 232 - Just Desserts

"No. He likes to hide from his brother, Perun, so he won't get scolded."

Huh?

The light from Kazehaya Gin's eyes died and he groaned as he covered his face. "Lame. My ancestor's so lame…"

Ryuu hid a chuckle as he reached out and gave the man another pat as if in sympathy. "Don't fret. Stribog might be an idiot, but he has some good points as well."

His voice sounded so convincing that Gin looked up and stared at him with hope. "Really?"

In all of Ged's history, there were just very few good things said about the Wind God. One was that he was the God of Smiles. Another was that he was a very good-natured deity – although it came with being an idiot.

In an alternate history, it was said that when the twins Perun and Stribog were born, the other twin took all the power and the intelligence, while the other was left with the morsels. It was why Perun ascended to the throne as the King of Heaven, while the other became the glorified assistant.

It was a sad existence, truly. However, in all of heaven, there wasn't a deity much loved by everyone aside from the God who always smiled. Even the vile creatures which originated from the depths of hell fell in love with him and chose to follow him for all eternity: the harpies.

At least, for Ryuu who only had bits and pieces of his memories as Kresnik knew this so well.

"Yeah. Stribog's a very likable fellow. It's why he's my best friend in the celestial plane," Ryuu told the other and Gin seemed to cheer up.

"Oh, that's right," Gin agreed, remembering the fact that like he was with Ryuu now, his ancestor was very close friends with Kresnik.

"Just sometimes he gets too impulsive and causes unnecessary trouble,"Ryuu added, as he pointed at the portal and Gin's spirits plummeted once more.

After all, it was Stribog who had caused the portal that they had been guarding for centuries. But Gin was depressed not for long as the Returner to Ancestry laughed indicating that he was just jesting. Knowing history, they knew that the reason why it was there was because of Kresnik.

"Stribog had predicted I'd be here even when I, as Vladimir was still alive back then. If it weren't for him, there was no way for the people of Ged to be here in this world, and there would have been no way for me to find Ara."

Ara who was a broken soul was born a normal human. In the event that she was born and there was no bloodline of Kresnik in this world, they wouldn't have been together now. Why?

Because only broken souls had the chance to be born in another world.

It was heaven's will. It was to keep the normalcy of all worlds. People who had divine inheritance were meant to be born and die in Ged, while humans would be born and die as humans on Earth. Because of Stribog, the cycle was broken, and the Homura House and the Kazehaya House were established and came to live with ordinary humans.

"If we never came here on Earth and Ara died in Ged, I would have lost her again in this lifetime. It's because of Stribog's Portal, that we are able to be together now."

"That's right," Gin agreed, feeling better.

Then he realized they had another topic that was interrupted when he got upset and Aello came to them.

"By the way," Gin started as he leaned closer after throwing Aello a glance to check if she's still relaxed. "What do you mean Ara's been assassinated?"

Oh.

Ryuu recalled his conversation with his wife before they went to the wedding reception.

"Ara was a Princess of Ritz. She's a warrior princess who was the heroine of the Immortal War."

Gin whistled upon hearing this. They both knew what the Immortal War was, and how strong one must be in order to participate in it.

"She's not a simple deity is she?"

Ryuu smiled. "She's Alencica, Perun's daughter, my wife. What do you expect?" he answered, making Gin's eyes widen.

"Oh, God. I forgot about that even if you just told me earlier. It's why she's a broken soul," he commented and Ryuu nodded.

In their knowledge, broken souls were very rare and were only done to cursed beings by Perun to save them. The most popular case was Alencica, the King of Heaven's beloved daughter who was cursed by his jealous wife, according to the legends. But it was not clear if this was the truth. However, the fact that his daughter was indeed cursed, and had her soul broken in two was real.  

"That's right."

"Did she say why she was… killed?"

"Well, it's a bit complicated as Ara used to be a host to a shadow lurker," Ryuu said, alarming Gin again, making Aello turn to them with her eyes curious.

"I'm okay. Okay?" Gin called out to the harpy who returned to her old position after checking up on Gin.

"Are you saying that Okada's guest used to be Ara's?" Gin was talking about the parasite from the underworld which now feasted on Okada Koharu's soul.  

"Probably. It appeared after Ara had the accident and her soul got transferred. The portal probably broke the parasite apart from Alinea – that's Ara's other half and transferred to Okada somehow. It seems that woman was near Ara's car when it crashed."

Gin smirked. It was possible that Okada who orchestrated Ara's accident followed the car and saw the wreck before anyone else did. Being the only human in the vicinity when Ara was crushed and died, the shadow lurker attached itself to her.

Karma.

The nasty woman got her just desserts from being so rotten. Now, she's on the verge of dying and getting killed because she was a time bomb that would cause a disaster to humanity if let live.

"But it means Ara's memories from that world was questionable too," Gin mused. "Shadow lurkers' hosts have muddled memories."

The shadow lurkers amplified the hosts' inner desires and modify their memories accordingly. It's a fact that Ara might only remember things because it was how she wanted to remember them and not because it actually happened.

"Yes, but it shouldn't be much."Ryuu sounded so confident. "My wife's a broken soul. Broken souls sadly only wanted to die. If she's a heroine there, then her goal should only be to become a martyr. Her assassination was real."

"Was that Alistair guy involved?" Gin asked, remembering the name of his lookalike.

Ryuu nodded. "Alistair was her brother in that world. In her muddled memories, he was the one who set her up."

"Son of a –"

"But," Ryuu interrupted before Gin could complete is expletive. "But it seems he was not the one to blame. Since Ara was a broken soul before, her memory problem was temporary. She can remember better now. The ones to blame are her brother's faction probably. They probably saw her as a potential rival to the throne and got rid of her."