The woman turned left and right, and Jan observed the crowd around them looking at him with excited faces. They approached him, and all began shouting and begging him for gifts.

“I need one gold piece to pay my mortgage!” one said.

“My son is dying! Please help him!” another said.

“My wife ran away! Bring her back!” yet another claimed. 

Jan sweated profusely, knowing he could solve none of these problems. The woman who held him dashed through the crowd with the man she was with retrieving a sword from his back and fending off the crowd. The crowd gasped and backed away. 

Jan was impressed by the man’s strength and speed. 

Jan stayed quiet as they moved quickly through the mob. The man pointed his sword at many members of the crowd who got too close. “Away!” the man barked. 

The woman who held him whispered, “Stay close, little god. Me and my husband will make sure you get to our home safely.”

Jan held on tightly to the woman’s thumb as she ran. 

The crowd was getting riled up as they ran past. Many shouted at him in anger, and a man frothing at the mouth charged them aburptly. Jan yelled and saw the woman’s husband jutting forward with his blade, piercing the frothing man’s shoulder, who then shrieked and backed away. The blood splurted onto the man’s straw hat, and he didn’t even flinch.

The crowd kept their distance for a long time. Jan gulped and eventually asked once he was comfortable enough, “Where are we going?”

"We're taking you to our home--the temple." The man said gruffly. 

"The temple?" Jan said.

"It's where we worship the Goddess of Love." The man said. 

"My ma?" Jan gasped. "You worship my ma?"

"Ah, so you are her son. That is good news! The goddess is the patron goddess of Jarnelle, our little town. She is a good, kind goddess. The only one worth worshipping--"

Just as he was finishing the sentence, another one is the townsfolk charged them, and the man shoved did his hilt into his stomach, knocking the air out of him. 

In the distance, Jan saw a humble building coming into view on a hill overlooking the little town. That's probably the temple.

He heard suddenly shouting and footsteps rushing toward him. 

He turned his head and saw the crowd charging them all at once. The man he was with moved so swiftly and smoothly that Jan could hardly see him as he fended off the crowd. He blocked the blow of a man charging his wife, cutting the hoe he was armed with in half with a decisive blow. He blocked the blow of a man armed with a sword by turning his wrist slightly, and then ducked a blow from a man coming at him with his bare fists. While ducking, his body twisted smoothly like water and he swept the legs of the man who had given a punch. 

Jan shrieked as someone grabbed the woman who was carrying him by her free hand and jerked her toward him. Jan held tightly to her thumb and cried to the man who was with them, "Help! Hurry!"

But then, Jan remembered that he might be able to help. He saw the man who was grabbing the woman was wearing gloves. 

Jan clenched his fist as hard as he could, and the glove tightened so firmly around the man's arm that he saw the arm had stiffened and was shaking. He backed away, grumbling hysterically and trying to get his glove off. 

The woman thanked him and she began running again. Jan glanced backward and saw her husband staying behind, controlling the crowd. He was blocking blows, using the blunt side of his blade to push them away. 

Jan asked, "We're leaving him behind?"

"He will be fine, My Lord. He is the strongest warrior in the land." 

Jan was silent. He observed the man dancing gracefully around the crowd--the crowd becoming a half circle as he pushed those in the middle back. 

Jan saw a member of the crowd to the man's left rushing him and successfully landing a blow to his arm. The man unsheathed a second sword and jutted quickly with it forward, delivering a cut to the crowd member's side. The blood splurged, and the crowd finally stopped in their tracks. The woman's husband sheathed his blades swiftly and caught up to them swiftly. The trio made their way easily to the temple, and Jan immediately fell asleep again once they made it. 

***

While Jan was running with the gentleman and the lady who had helped him get to their temple, his mother, the Goddess of Love, was being held in a cage in the underworld. Her attire, hair, and skin were disheveled. Her dress was torn and charred, her skin was covered in soot and dirt, and her hair was tangled and frayed. 

She sighed, twiddling her fingers. She was not allowed out of this cage for the next thousand years. To a mortal, this would have been unbearable, and to her, it was slightly more bearable. 

A thousand years passed far more quickly to her than a mortal, as she did not age and could not die, but the heat of the lava rushing below her suspended cave combined with nothing to do was torture enough. 

She heard a thunderous voice below her, and knew her husband had come to taunt her. “My darling, why would you do such a thing? You know it is forbidden to send a demigod to earth.” 

The Goddess of Love crossed her arms and would not look him in the eyes. She and him argued plenty over the years, but for him to have turned her in was an act of cruelty and cowardice not expected of a man she loved. 

“Talk to me.” he groaned. “Don’t freeze me out like you always do.” 

“People send demigods to earth all the time. I don’t see the harm in it.” she huffed.

“Last time a god sent a demigod to earth, he ended up razing an entire village and his father had to go down to earth to hunt him down and kill him himself.” the God of Thunder reminded her. 

“That was just two years ago. Besides, there have also been demigods sent to earth who hid the fact that they were demigods, and lived peaceful, good lives.” The Goddess of Love retorted. 

“But why my lovely? Why? Why not let my son win, and give birth to a better, more powerful god?” the God of Thunder asked. 

“Because the God we made was a God of War. The last God of War immersed the earth in a worldwide battle. Jan is a good person. The God of War would not be.” The Goddess of Love replied. 

“You just don’t like that my boy won. I sent him down after Jan. He will find him, and they will become Kazajan again.” The God of Thunder said. 

The Goddess of Love stood up and gripped her bars. “You… you didn’t! And… maybe I don’t like your son, but that’s because you raised him to be crazy and crave violence! Why would you put him in a world where he constantly has to fight wild beasts to survive?” 

“Why did you raise yours to be a lazy, self-absorbed slug who sits around and lets you take care of his every whim?” the God of Thunder demanded.

She had no retort, and she looked away. “I never saw Kaz smile once… I saw Jan smile thousands of times. Isn’t that what matters?”

“No. It’s not. What matters is whether or not you have made a successful god. What happened to you, Andira? I thought you agreed with me that a cruel god is better than an inefficient one. When I tore your pinky finger off you to make Jan, and you took mine to make Kaz, I thought we agreed on that point.” The God of Thunder sighed. 

“We agree on nothing. I haven’t even seen you, other than when we parent our children, in years. He needed love, just like I do, Lant.” she said bitterly. 

“Love? You know I am not capable of giving you that.” Lant grumbled. “Gods are above such things, other than you.” 

Andira glared at him. “Really? Because you seemed to love me a few years back, when we first had our children. It seems to me like you only stopped loving me when the God of Light told you to.” 

Lant glared at her in return. “Stay here, then, and think upon your actions. When you come to your senses, perhaps I can convince the God of Light to set you free.” 

Andira watched him go, and then Andira lounged and hung her arm out of her cage, dangling it above the lava. Hard to believe I was once head-over-heels for that man…