Puppet...
That was all I could think of when I looked at the person before me. It was like a puppet with its strings cut, still and lifeless, its eyes holding no spark that signified life.
"Who is this?"
I said to the Mother while keeping my gaze on the 'puppet'.
"It separated from you when you awoke. It seems to be a nascent persona."
She replied as her body shrank to match that of a mortal.
"Is that so?"
I thought for a moment.
A persona.
This was a manifestation of different aspects of a divine, representing different powers, titles, or even parts of their lives. A persona could be kept within or separated into different bodies—Avatars.
While avatars overlapped with personas, it was a different ability entirely. It allowed divines to create, control, and live through different bodies of many shapes, sizes, and powers. The variety of shapes a divine could make their avatars was tied to their own form and powers. There was also a limit in the amount, depending on their strength.
I studied the persona for a moment.
'It seems to have taken the form I took yesterday.'
I looked at it for a few moments longer before placing my hand on it and absorbing it into myself.
I turned to the Mother.
"Let's discuss what you need from me."
"Ah! Yes"
She waved her hand, the white space responding by transforming into an outdoor garden. Two chairs manifested around a table, which had an umbrella in it, shielding them from the 'sun'.
We both sat down, sitting opposite each other.
"Moth— no, I guess I should call you Annarith now... Anyway, you said you needed to discuss and give me something, and just a moment ago, you said you needed something from me."
Annarith looked at me with serious, but pleading eyes, as if to say, 'Please just agree.'
"I am currently in quite the predicament at the moment."
Slightly surprised, I leaned forward. "A goddess like you having problems?"
"It isn't as though gods have no problems." She laughed as she said, "In fact, we have more stressful problems than mortals."
I laughed as well, doing so to hide the fact that her laugh plucked at his heartstrings. It had been so for a while, but her laugh almost pushed him over the edge.
Sigh... she let out a longing sigh as she returned to being serious. "As you know, I am worshipped as the Mother of Desire."
She paused for a moment before continuing. "But what you, or any of my believers, may not know is that I was worshiped as a different god in a tribe up north. I was hailed as the Fox of Lust."
My head tilted slightly. 'That doesn't seem much different from her.'
As if hearing my thoughts, she spoke. "Although I teach my followers to embrace lust, my teachings also encompass other desires. That persona focuses purely on lust and sex."
"Ah..."
'I understand it now.'
She continued. "Things were going well, and I was quickly getting the tribe to become more advanced, but things didn't stay this way. After encountering and defeating a corrupted demigod three years ago, the persona went rogue.
I managed to take away a lot of its power before she fully separated from me, and I've been keeping her at bay for a while, but I felt her regaining some power. For the past year, I've been unable to descend.
I fear that by the time of the next ritual, I'll be unable to keep her at bay any longer."
While listening to her story, I came to an understanding.
"You need me to protect your people from your rogue persona or even defeat her when you are unable to keep her down."
She nodded.
"What's in this for me?" While I had planned on helping, I couldn't do something this dangerous for free, especially as a newborn demigod.
Without wasting any time, Annarith summoned two boxes; the smaller of the two was a red jewel box, and the other was a larger black box.
"I plan on giving you these." She pushed the two boxes toward me.
Motioning to the jewel box, she said, "The red box has a pair of earrings that contain the abilities to sense others' desires and emotions, and manipulate emotions."
Now pointing to the black box. "This box has a pair of gloves with the authority of illusions and hallucinations."
I stared at her wide-eyed. For a few seconds, I stayed silent, then opened the boxes.
Just as she said, the red one contained a pair of diamond earrings in the shape of wings. And the block box containing two white gloves with golden fingertips. I closed the boxes and looked at Annarith.
"Are you sure?" I asked.
"Don't get me wrong, I know I am overcompensating, but I need you to also act as my agent for a while, as I have no emissaries just yet." She explained so that I wouldn't get the wrong idea.
"Ah..."
I nodded before saying. "I'll do it. I'll help you."
Phew... She let out a relieved breath. "Thank you."
She stood up. "Put on your things, I'll send you back now. Also, don't worry, although it's been a while in here, only about five minutes have passed in the real world."
"Alright." I did as she said and put on the gloves and earrings. I felt a foreign strength enter me as I did. As I did, I found that the white space had faded, and I was now kneeling in front of Annarith's statue once more.
I looked up at her beautiful figure, the edges of my lips curving up as a small smile found itself on my face.
'Time to put [Dramatizing] to work now, I guess.'