Legacy of Forgotten Times 35 I can accept being your pawn; but not your puppet!

The deities suddenly went silent but Linri knew that they were discussing among themselves so he was not worried.

"You were right!"

"What was I right about Goddess Solas?"

"We trapped you here and you are no chosen one."

"Then why was I brought here?" Linri asked sternly. He knew the answer but he had to play along.

"Because we need you to stop someone."

Linri was amused by her word choice. She was telling the truth but not the whole truth. She said 'stop' instead of 'defeat' meaning she knew that Linri could not defeat him.

"Who?"

"We do not know. We received a revelation that someone will appear at the place what you call 'Hanawa'. We will give you powers and in exchange you will fight him."

She really was good with her wordplay. She knew that the one who will appear was Udcek's avatar but she did not know who the avatar was hence her words. Honestly if he did not know the truth he really would have fallen in to her trap and believed he got the better of them.

"Can I defeat him with what you give me?" Linri asked the critical question. He knew that he was supposed to fight some kind of avatar but because he abandoned this plot line and instead focused on his bloodlines he knew nothing about the person which disturbed him.

"Depends on how much you improve." Another vague but reasonably answer. Now Linri understood why his father always told him that you can not win against a women in a war or words. What he got till now was due to his own knowledge meaning if he knew nothing he would have already lost against her.

"Okay then! I accept. Now what are you gonna give me?"

Upon his question the ground started to shake. and an altar rose in the middle of the room from the ground. There were two shining stones sitting atop of it. One was azure in colour. Just taking a look at it made Linri shiver. The other one was orange and it felt like it was ablaze.

This was the moment he worked for. Not the stones themselves but what he was going to say next. Otherwise he would have just played along with them and accepted being a 'chosen one'.

"Goddess Solas I thought we had a deal. Why are you showing me this?"

"Do not let the appearance of the stones fool you. Once you touch them, you will gain powers you can only imagine."

Linri inwardly commented that She did not know how right she was since he literally was the one imagined their powers.

"I am not talking about that. Do not forget who my mother is. These stones. They have a connection with the both of you. If I touch them they will fuse with me but they will also give you access to my mind. I can accept being your pawn but not your puppet!" shouted Linri

The truth of the matter was as Linri was based off of him he had a rather similar personality. It was good at first but eventually he found it boring. Time in Autumnfall was very slow there were days that they played the same day for over 3 months so he could not make it so that Linri's personality change over time. He needed a catalyst. So he came with this idea. Through the powers of stones the gods would slowly manipulate Linri and change his personality. At day he would be hot blooded just like fire and at night he would be as cold as ice. The reason for that was since at day Goddess Solas was in charge of providing powers and Lozna was influencing his mind. At night vice versa. The real reason though they usually role played at day and night was a rarity. He found it hard to play some so cold so he made the hot blooded personality the main one.

This was fun and obviously fine for a game but for reality there was no way that Linri could let someone manipulate him. He decided to go back home. How was he going to do that if he was someone's puppet?

"If we do not do that how are you gonna get stronger?"

This woman was really vicious. She obviously knew that he could power up with his bloodline and that would eventually make him implode. Still she wanted to control him. She even baited him by asking such a question while avoiding lying. Linri now was afraid of his interactions with this so called Goddess in the future because there was no way that you could tell her 'lie' if you do not know the entire truth yourself without any doubt. She was definitely the epitome of hypocrisy. If he could only turn back time.

"Miss Solas no need to ask such a question. We both know that these stones will fuse with my bloodline which will empower me. I do not need to draw power from you. But seeing you like this I need a show of sincerity. I need you to give me a secondary ability. I need you to make it so that I can change my body temperature at will and I can see heat of everyone and everything around me. I also need you to swear on your name that it is and will be you who changed the stones not Lozna or any other God. It will also be you who will bestow me this power. Also if you can add a communication part that I can talk to you with whenever I want but you won't be able to observe my actions unless I allow you to. As I said I am willing to be your pawn but not your puppet. Do not find my actions illogical. I know that I will implode once my power reaches a certain level. So at least I want to die with my dignity not as a puppet. Since I am gonna die here either I might as well go outside and battle your enemy so that I can have some fun before death." This was the exact words Linri spent so much time formulating before coming here. There were no apparent loopholes he could find and by playing the death card he hoped to drop the goddess' guard against her.

After saying these words Linri felt empty and tried. Just to reach this step he planned schemed and calculated his every action, every breath, every step. If he still could not cross it he might as well die right here. He did not want to become anyone's puppet. His will belong to him and him only.

Silence.

"I accept your terms Linri Harclaw. I have to say you were more interesting than I thought. So I will be 'watching' you at every chance I get *giggle*" That laugh felt like it came from the abyss no matter how cute it sounded. He suddenly felt like he made a big mistake but that was for future him to solve. For now though. He had won his battle.

After that the Goddess swore upon her name according to her terms and made an additional swore that she was not gonna do anything to take advantage of any loophole to go against Linri's wishes. Once she said Linri could not help but shiver. There really were loopholes he just weren't able to find them. Still he could not understand the Goddess' intentions was she simply good hearted? No he was not going to believe. There should be an underlying reason he just could not figure it out for now.

Chapter end