It slept for a time, but eventually, roused with a long groan. It had been sleeping on its back like a lazy dog, but now, it rolled onto its stomach and blinked lazily. When it saw the trail of fish, it began crawling along the seafloor using its arms. 

It licked up the fish, following the trail gladly. Belle wished she could take the opportunity to swim into its cave while it was gone, but whaldroon's intuitively knew when other sea creatures were trying to enter their caves, and would teleport back to the cave once it knew she was there.

Belle and Uther watched it from the kelp until it had nearly left their field of vision. It was headed toward the trench, as expected. Belle and Uther used their knowledge of the terrain to hide behind dunes, seagrass, and algae. Belle was glad that the whaldroon had poor eyesight, otherwise it would probably see that it was about to fall into the trench. Hours earlier, she and Uther had used shovels to dig the trench deeper and bigger, and had placed traps in the trench. 

The creature poked one arm out over the trench, seeing more fish therein, and then wiggled off the edge of the flat land, falling into the trench with a whaling groan. She and Uther immediately left their hiding spot and dashed to the where the whaldroon had fallen. It was trapped by a snare when it tried to move forward that cinched around it–barbs digging into its skin and holding it still. 

Belle charged forward with her spear and jabbed at it several times. Uther, with his own spear, followed suit. The water around the creature turned red, and it howled in pain. 

Belle braced herself when she saw the creature shine brightly, and then disappear. She and Uther looked around frantically, knowing it had used its magic to teleport, but not knowing where. 

She heard a howl behind her, and the creature reappeared in a flash of light. Its head swiveled back and forth and golden light erupted from its horn, hitting Belle in the back and causing her to fall to the ocean floor. She lie there, immobile, as the creature repeatedly began to launch further magical attacks at her. 

Uther shouted a warcry as he plunged into the whaldrokn with his spear. The creature shrieked in pain, blood streaming out of it's newly punctured wound.

Belle watched helplessly from below, still unable to move. The whaldroon's magic had paralyzed her. Her eyes widened as the whaldroon's whole body flashed, and uther's spear disappeared in the fladsh of light. 

She watched with a frown as the creature turned it's attention to her father, allowing her to go free once the paralyzation wore off. 

The creature slammed it's body into Uther at lightning speed, its body sparking with electricity, and with a roar, the electricity spread on a circular radius, engukding Uther, his body going lank and floating upwards slowly. 

Belle growled and propelled herself through the water at lightning speed, repeatedly stricking the whaldroon, pockets of blood escaping its wounds.

She gritted her teeth, letting anger fuel her, until, finally, the creature gave a final wail, and stopped moving. She swam to Uther’s side, his breathing was shallow. He whispered, “Get a soul. I believe in you.”

Belle felt something alien pulling on her heart, and didn’t know what to make of it as her father heaved his final breaths. She didn’t have any friends, and he was probably the closest thing to a friend she ever had. Almost reflexively, she swallowed, despite the fact that she had no tears for him. She took his body and buried him deeply in the seafloor, and hoped no predators would find him. 

She was reinvigorated. I will get a soul no matter what.

***

Jan was shaking throughout the following day, even when his twin had left. He closed his eyes and saw flashes of Kaz sneezing his flesh off just like he had done to Shiske. Shiske, for his part, had barely reacted to the duel, and Jan couldn’t understand how. He saw Galatea patching up his significant wounds, and Shiske hadn’t even flinched. 

It seemed as if his wife being present brought him great peace. He looked a bit shaken after throwing his twin in an iron box, but once she had come in the room and checked in on him, he smiled easily, and didn’t shake at all. 

They had ensured he was OK, and once they did, they let him go back to sleep at his own request. He slept through the day, and now, the next morning, he didn’t know what to do with himself, and was too scared to know what to do with himself.

He went back to sleep, hoping Shiske could protect him while he did. He didn’t dream, and was eventually shaken awake by Galatea. “Little God, are you OK with the people of the city coming to pray to you and make offerings to you?” 

“No! Send them away! I don’t want to see anyone!” Jan exclaimed. 

“I understand… if you change your mind, Shiske will be there to protect you.” Galatea said. “I will get you something to eat and drink.”

She left the room, and he thought about what she had asked him. 

He thought, perhaps, if he did as she asked, he might stop feeling so useless and purposeless. When she comes back on, a I'll tell her that I would like to be worshiped. And… I would like to try and contact mom through prayer again."

He fell asleep again, and when he woke, Galatea reappeared with water and food. She placed the plate very close to him this time, and he smiled his thanks. He wrestled his way out of the blankets, and stepped onto the plate, where he began eating tiny, bite-sized eggs. He asked Galatea, "You promise you will protect me if I allow these people to worship me?"

"Of course. My husband is the most talented warrior in the land." Galatea promised him. "If need be, we will lay down our lives for you."

Pleased by this announcement, he finished his meal and allowed her to carry him to the Room of Reverence. Once there, she put him on a very, comfortable, tiny chair, with plush, red cushion, set atop a dais between the incense. 

Jan waited, sweating profusely. Shiske was outside, and he could hear his voice. "Apologies, but you must be checked for any weapons before I admit you into the room."

"Anything. I just want to see the little lord." The other person--a woman--said. 

The door creaked after a moment, and Jan's hands shook on his cross-legged knees. 

He relaxed a little when the person admitted was an old woman, who he was certain could not hurt him. The old woman fell on all-fours in front of him and said "I bet of you, I bring you tithings if you could only save my husband."

"Tithings?" Jan repeated, trying to sound as confident as possible. 

"The Little Lord does not understand what tithings are? I bring you this, a box of chocolates." The woman was in tears, but Jan's eyes widened with delight. He said cheerfully, "Yes! Bring me the chocolates, and I will bless you--your husband will be saved!" 

The woman's face brightened as she lifted her head, tears spraying from her eyes.

"You will save him? Truly? I will accept your blessing." She lowered her head again, and Jan was baffled as to what to do. He looked over at Galatea, and she modeled putting a hand on her head.

He cleared his throat. “Step forward, offer your head, and I will bless you.” he tried to sound as commanding as possible.

The woman did as he commanded, and lowered her head beneath him. He put a tiny hand on her head, and made up a blessing as eloquently as he could on the spot. “You will now receive my blessing, blessed follower of the Goddess of Love.” he then proceeded to chant mumbo-jumbo and hoped she would think it was some sort of language of the gods. 

The woman then gave him the chocolates, thanked him again, and backed out of the room, bowing the whole time. 

Jan licked his lips and bade Galatea to open the chocolates. Galatea did as he asked, but she whispered to him, “My Lord, I am not sure it is decent to accept tithings such as these. Perhaps, if we only accepted currency and put the money towards the temple to further glorify you and your mother…”

“Don’t be ridiculous! The chocolates glorify me plenty.” Jan waved her concerns away. 

Galatea grimaced, but cut up the chocolates into even tinier pieces for him, and he munched on them while another person entered the room. 

This time, it was a man and his two-year-old son. Jan frowned upon them entering. The boy looked pale and out-of-sorts. Sick. Humans get sick. Jan reminded himself. 

The man lied prostrate before him and asked him, “Please… I beg of you. My son has pneumonia. You must save him.” 

Jan stuffed his mouth of chocolates and asked awkwardly, “What is pneumonia?”

there was silence for a moment, and then the man let out a laugh. “Even in trying times, the Goddess of Love’s son is so funny! Pneumonia is quite serious. It took me and my son all our energy to come up here for your blessing.”

“Bring him forward, and I will bless him.”

Note to self, find out what pneumonia is. He thought to himself. 

The man brought forward his son, and Jan places his small hands on his cranium. "In the name of the Mother and Son, I bless you. I wish you longevity."

The man bowed lowly and said, "I leave you this gold coin as a tithing."

"A gold coin? Don't you have something more useful, like chocolates?" Jan asked. 

"But, My Lord, a gold coin could buy you…" 

"Give me food!" Jan demanded. 

"Very well… I have a cookie in my rucksack." The man retrieved said cookie and gave it to Jan. 

The man went on his way with his son after that. Jan thought to himself, I could get used to this. 

The rest of the day, Jan lounged in his tiny chair, munchin on food offerings brought to him by the people he was blessing. 

Before he knew it, the temple was closed. 

Galatea picked him up once the day was done and smiled at him. "You have brought to much joy and relief to these people. I am so excited to see them be cured and relieved of all their hardships."

"Cured and relieved…? Um, right, me too." Jan cleared his throat awkwardly. 

I'm supposed to cure them? How?