The Battle That Does Not End

Talua felt her long before she saw or heard her. A suffocating presence like a wet blanket across your soul, but also a feeling like an unquenchable rage in your very bones and blood. The trees of the forest trembled, and the surface of the lake rippled. The air seemed to still, like a wildfire was sucking all life from it.

Just as suddenly the feeling let up, like the eye of a storm. Talua exhaled a sigh of relief for a moment, but wondered what caused it. Looking around, she spotted a woman at the edge of the lake. The woman seemed to be angry and was shouting at the lake, and as Talua cautiously drew nearer, the words became legible.

"Fight me!" The woman shouted. "Get out of the water and fight me you coward!"

As Talua inched nearer, the woman's ear twitched, but she didn't take her eyes off the water. When Talua drew within a couple dozen feet of the woman, she suddenly turned and stared Talua directly in the eyes.

"Who are you?" The woman demanded, her legs spread, hands on hips. "I'm kind of busy."

"I could ask you the same question!" Talua shouted back at her. "You're giving off a terrible aura!"

"Oh aren't you a feisty one?" The woman shouted back with a grin, and closed the distance between them seemingly in the blink of an eye. "Come on, tell me what's on your mind."

"Who are you!" Talua shouted, her anger rising. Why was this woman making her so mad?

"The little spirit shows no fear. Good, good." The woman said, nodding her head approvingly, and yanking the quarterstaff off her back in a smooth practised motion. "Fight me, little spirit."

Talua started to answer, but the woman was already swinging her staff, grinning like a lunatic. She barely dodged in time.

"Hey!" Talua shouted.

"That wasn't a question, spirit. Fight me!"

Talua did her best to study the woman's movements as she continued to duck and weave her attacks. It was clear she was just playing with her, but there was clear killing intent with each swing of her staff.

"Quit dodging and fight!" The woman shouted, suddenly landing a hit and sending Talua flying and into the side of her shrine, downstream.

Talua coughed and sputtered. Just what was this monster? The woman stood over her glowering as she shakily got to her feet.

"Not much of a fighter are you?" She asked, a frown on her face. "We got time enough for you to learn."

"Will you at least tell me your name?" Talua groaned, holding up her arms to block the next blow, causing the woman to laugh.

"You've earned that much. I am Neptis, Goddess of War! Of Revolutions! Of Violence!" Neptis smacked the ground with her staff at the statement of each title, causing a thunderclap with each smack.

"So you are my next test." Talua said through gritted teeth. "So be it, I'll rise to your challenge, like all the rest."

Neptis howled with laughter. "Good! If you refuse to fight you're as good as dead!"

The minutes crawled by like years as Talua withstood the onslaught of Neptis. But encountering the other Gods over her life made her realise there was a purpose behind all of this. At least, that's what she hoped.

"Not bad, kid!" Neptis shouted with a laugh. "You almost parried me that time!"

"Can we take a break?" Talua moaned, her arms practically vibrating they were shaking so much.

"War never rests!" Neptis barked. "But for you, I suppose I can make an exception. No sense in teaching if you aren't listening. Come on, scenery change!"

Neptis grabbed Talua's wrist in a vice like grip and dragged her off inside her shrine, and practically threw her onto a chair.

"Discussion is a battlefield as well, little spirit. Ask your questions. Attack me with your words!"

Talua sat in stunned silence for a moment, this woman is nuts she thought to herself.

"Why me?"

"Hmmmm?" Neptis raised an eyebrow.

"For millennia you've all seen fit to test me. Lady Eigengrau visited me once, thousands of years ago. Hundreds of years after that, the Raven King, blessed be his name, walked through this valley. Then Lady Vordea challenged me to grow a thousand years ago. Now you."

Neptis grinned like a cat. "Little Talua, have you ever left your valley?"

Talua narrowed her eyes. "I don't see where this is going, but no. My valley is all I need."

"You sit at the crossroads of destiny, girl!" Neptis said, slapping her knee and laughing. "It's going to get worse."

"What does that mean?"

"Enough talking!" Neptis said, jumping back onto her feet and very obviously ignoring the question. "More swinging!"

Neptis stayed for what felt like years.