“Just as I said. With your death, it sparked an unfortunate civil war between our Chosen One’s and those who harbored hatred for them.” Gwendolyn’s eyes widened in shock, her breath shaking as depressing thoughts along with images of her brother dying –that never happened– slowly began to fill her mind; that this was somehow all her fault. “And because of the unforeseeable amount of deaths of our children, the Evil Being that us Gods had struggled to deal with, will be set free onto your world and will destroy it–before moving onto the next world.”

“What? But that doesn’t make any–...!”
She stopped herself from saying anymore and began to think deeply on what the God Marat had just said.
‘If they gave a portion of their power to create their Chosen One’s, wouldn’t they just get that very power back after they died? Why would the Gods be so concerned if they actually get stronger from that happening?’
Widened eyes stared up in disbelief at Marat, as Gwendolyn’s voice wavered with uncertainty.
“You’ve been using the Chosen One’s to keep it earthbound, haven’t you?” When none of the Gods spoke to correct her, Gwen angrily scoffed and suppressed the urge to scream in desperate frustration. “Is that why the Chosen One’s were created to begin with?!!”

Nothing.

Silence filled the room to the point of a ringing echoing in her ears. Gwendolyn felt utterly betrayed and defeated more and more by the Gods than with her own family. The anger that sparked in her began to rise like flames and boiled over until all she saw was red.

The temporary shock Gwen felt from how angry she got —since she never did when she was alive— helped her from blacking out and saying something she’ll regret. The Gods took her silence as her mind processing as Marat continued. “Since you have a better understanding of the situation, we will have you leave as quickly as possib–.”

“No.” The Gods stared at her in shock. It was one word, but it held just as much authority as a God speaking, and enough anger mixed in for it to be taken seriously.

“You cannot say no to this.” The God of War; Belliger, decided to step in and speak, but Gwendolyn turned to the God with an empty yet serious expression, sending a shiver down the Gods spine.

“A God spoke earlier saying that the others can’t interfere with another’s Chosen One. So It’s Kessem who needs to deal with my decision, while everyone else can just give them their input. And since Kessem said that neither of you can talk with your respective Chosen One’s either, it’s leading me to believe that this Evil Being can either hear you communicate with your Chosen One’s, or can somehow interfere with ‘any’ form of communication.” Belliger glared furiously at Gwen, but she turned back to Marat before she saw and tilted her head slightly. “I’m guessing the reason you want to send me back so quickly and inform your children to help against the Evil Being, is because I’m an exception since I died prematurely. And can therefore be used by all of you to relay a message without it getting distorted.”

Marat glared furiously at Azarios who’s been silent the entire time since entering while daring not to look up, knowing he had to have schemed something for Gwendolyn to act like this. 'Manipulating her to follow our order should've been easy, since I had Azarios show her the misery in her life, and that this would’ve been the hope she wanted for her to change her fate! What the hell else did Azarios do for her to be this bold amongst the Gods!?'
Clenching their teeth until they began to grind their jaws against one another, Marat's terrifying yet calm gaze bore a hole in Azarios who struggled slightly to not look up.
After a moment of relaxing their features, Marat sighed their stress away. "You are very quick-witted for someone who has never stood up for themselves all these years."  Gwendolyn's lower eye twitched in annoyance. 'Are they mocking me? I can't tell yet so this is frustrating.'

Seeing Marat’s furious glare at Azarios earlier, Gwen came to the conclusion that he was somehow in trouble because of her. Since she didn’t want him to be harmed after comforting her, she inhaled while holding her head high up and spoke confidently.

“After I was killed and was left in the black abyss until Azarios found me, I had some time to reflect on not only my actions, but the actions of everyone I had known. I realized I never had any confidence in myself, and had to literally teach myself how to bow my head to others in order to survive my cruel and unfortunate abuse...in the household that was supposed to treat me with the respect I was owed and deserved.” 

Marat’s eyes lowered, not enough to be a glare, but just enough to show that their patience was waning. "We will not apologize for the harsh life you've endured all these years as it was unbeknownst to us, however we are willing to compensate you. We understand you may be frustrated and angry, but we cannot change the fate bestowed onto you."

Gwendolyn grinned happily, showing sheer determination in her gaze. "I have more than one demand. But the most important one I want fulfilled first, is that I want to live a new life before I return!"

The Gods became speechless, their widened gaze of disbelief stayed on Gwendolyn who wasn’t backing down.

“THAT IS UNACCEPTABLE!”
“IF YOU DON’T GO BACK, YOUR WORLD WILL BE DESTROYED!!”
“OUR CHILDREN WILL BE MERCILESSLY BUTCHERED!!”
“HAVE YOU NO SHAME AS A CHILD BLESSED BY KESSEM!”
“HOW DARE YOU ASK SUCH A THING IN FRONT OF YOUR OWN GOD!!”
Despite the other Gods anger, Kessem’s aura was a mixture of several colors; navy, lavender, coral, and rose. Gwen’s eyes danced with appreciation at the amount of affection and support her God was giving her, but she could see a barely small amount of grey in the mix, knowing that her God was still blaming themselves for her circumstance.
With a raise of their hand, Kessem smiled warmly at Gwendolyn as the other Gods settled down. “Let’s hear the list of demands my child has to say. I am sure she did not just say it without any meaning.”
“That’s right.” She smiled back affectionately at them, gaining a shred of courage. “What I want is to experience a new life in a new world...one where I’m actually loved by my family, and the friends that I make.” Her eyes fell to the ground while her hands formed into shaking fists. “A life where I don’t have to worry about whether or not I have to be proper all the time, or always having to watch what I say to not get abused–to show everyone around me that I’m not just a “perfect daughter” like my last life in order to receive fake love and adoration, only to be treated with scorn.” Staring at Kessem who never looked away, tears welled in the corners of her eyes, a desperate expression out on display. “I want to be free to express my true self!!”

The Gods whispered amongst themselves in thought, Gwen could only hold her tired hands together so her resolve didn't disappear. “This demand is understandable, but before we reach a final decision, what else is there you want?” It was the God of Time; Amser, who spoke curiously, wanting to know more of her other demands.
She puffed out her chest, straightening her back and looked the God dead in the eye. “I only have a few demands I believe are not that hard to fulfill. Firstly, I want my current memories of this life to be sealed away. So that I may enjoy my new life to the fullest without having any self loathing of the past. Secondly, if death is unavoidable, then I want the lifespan of my new life and the premature death of my old life to be switched.”

The Gods whispered once again, wondering how she came up with this idea, and the answer is very simple.
Rather than spend most of her days out at salons, or tea parties since she wasn’t a very social person, Gwendolyn spent most of her days in the library at school or in bookstores that were held in the city her education was set in.
During one of her trips to the school's library, she came across a book with endless theories about time, death, and the possibility of different universes. She thought whoever wrote it was a mad person at the time, but a good majority of what she read made sense in a way, so the book became one of her favorite pastimes.
“This way,” she spoke again to gather the Gods attention, “no one here will have to worry about me dying before my destined date again. However, one year before I die, I want all memories of my past life to come back.”
Amser raised a brow at this. “Why would you want your memories back before you die, and not after?”
“When I was killed...I couldn’t see the murderer’s aura until just before I died." Kessem's eyes bulged out of their head, their mouth dropping in shock from what she said. "But this time, knowing how I’ll die beforehand will allow me to make proper arrangements towards the end of my new life.”

Most of it was true, however Gwen had thought of a secret agenda for herself that she’ll refuse to say here. “You understand that if we agree to this, you’ll experience the same death. Dying in an explosion at the same age, on the same day, at the same time of death?”
“I do. And I’ll be prepared for it when the time comes.”
Seeing the God sighed tiredly while placing a hand to their head, Amser gave their approval for the second demand. However the other Gods were whispering loudly amongst themselves, almost as if they were trying to distract themselves from Gwndolyn’s next demands.

After seeing this happening Gwen glanced at Azarios for a moment and thought of a perfect idea for her last demand, speaking over the Gods to regain their attention. “I have three demands left. So please, will you listen till the end?" When she saw several Gods nodding a bit forcefully, she continued. "Thirdly, I would like it if you’d bless my brother, Kessem, before the civil war takes place but preferably not too long after my sudden death...even if Lysander’s future you saw is true, nothing is quite certain anymore–since I am proof of that.” Smiling sadly at the meaning behind her words, Gwendolyn turned the sadness she felt into something to be happy about, since she knew her brother had always had good intentions. “My brother should be able to help turn the tides in the war, even if it’s just a little.”
While her God thought longingly, Gwen knew by their aura that they would eventually agree to this demand.

“You’re asking for quite a lot. We could always send you back without fulfilling any of your demands.” Smiling at the unknown Gods words, Gwendolyn gave a wide cheeky grin.
“If you do that, then I’ll have no choice but to ignore my responsibilities!”
Several Gods shouted at her again, screaming about how irresponsible she was being as a Chosen One.
She placed a hand to her cheek and made a pitiful expression. “And you can’t send me back without my current memories, since Marat said so themselves that my unfortunate death will keep occuring.”
After a moment of silence, her hand stayed where it was as Gwen smiled devilishly, her voice giving off a cheery tone.
“Silly me I nearly forgot. If you alter my memories without me or Kessem agreeing to this, then I’ll eventually figure out what you all did to me. And if that happens, I’ll go on strike anyways. And in case anyone here has forgotten, I’m also not afraid to die as I have nothing to lose. So I’ll just keep getting myself killed without warning a single Chosen One.”
Marat angrily smiled at Gwendolyn’s happy expression. “You are truly Kessem’s Chosen One.”
Giving a polite friendly smile, she spoke excitedly. “Thank you, I’ll take that as a compliment!” Kessem proudly smiled while the others could only exasperate at their expression.

Gwendolyn then looked solemn with a light frown on her face, taking a page from the book she remembered earlier. “For my fourth demand...please allow a time loop to occur when the Evil Being begins to descend upon our world, and the Chosen Ones who died by it are brought back some time after my brother was Chosen. So they are aware of what’s to come without allowing the Evil Being to be fully released. However I understand that this may be risky, so I will trust the Gods in this room to decide how the start and potential end of the loop to go about.”
“The demand is a good one with some adjustments. After all, most other Gods had the same suggestion but weren’t sure without Amser’s approval.” After overhearing a God speak a bit too loudly when they meant to whisper, Gwendolyn smiled and silently sighed in relief.
“And as for my last demand...” She spoke with content at the overall positive reactions of the Gods. “In addition to you sending me back around the time someone was plotting my death, I want you to allow Azarios here to accompany me with no restrictions.” 

The room became deathly silent as a frigid chill could be felt throughout the air.
It was then Gwendolyn knew something was wrong.